KeG Presidential Cup National Finals: Round of 16 to Semifinals

The Seoul team was unstoppable.

Round of 16. Their opponents: the Incheon team. Seoul was on the red side.

Jin Gyeo-wool locked in Ornn.

Her play was no different from usual. She held the weight of the top lane, shielding her team, while her teammates supported her as if it had all been rehearsed.

Three minutes into the game.

The moment Gong Je-hyeon tossed a Q into the raptor camp and confirmed the enemy jungle had been cleared, a ping lit up toward the top-side golem jungle. Choi Do-yun had started at blue and was already heading toward Gyeo-wool's top red side.

As if on cue, Gyeo-wool's call dropped — and Do-yun's Kindred tore through the jungle beneath the golems without a second's hesitation, cutting straight for the tri-bush.

Ornn, Kindred, and the enemy Sejuani collided in that bush as though the meeting had been scheduled. Sejuani must have figured she could simply create distance — she flashed out of the brush in a hurry.

It was the wrong choice.

She should have gone a little farther, or at least waited to confirm Ornn's headbutt was on cooldown. Because she flashed while clipped against the wall, the straight-line distance fell just short — and Kindred caught it, flashing in a clean line to land the slow.

Slowed footsteps. Ornn followed up with a flash headbutt that launched Sejuani into the air and casually claimed First Blood.

What did it mean that Jin Gyeo-wool had taken the first kill?

It meant Seoul was going to win. Even when the game rolled along smoothly with zero resources invested in her, Seoul holding the advantage was simply a given.

Game time: twenty-eight minutes. Kill score 9–1. Seoul victory.

A fast, flawless game without a single mistake or hitch.

A few hours later came the quarterfinals.

This time the opponent was the Gwangju team, who had climbed over Ulsan to get here.

Gyeo-wool went for a rare blind pick — Camille in her hands. And maybe because it had been a while, she played with a little too much aggression.

It wasn't exactly purposeful. She was just… frustrated, maybe. Holding back her usual lectures to her teammates for about a month must have poisoned her patience. Poor Coach Chae Hojin's standing within the team had risen, but Gyeo-wool had paid for it by grinding down her own self-control.

In the end, playing uncharacteristically reckless, Gyeo-wool got caught in front of the enemy's tier-two top tower — and Choi Do-yun, who had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been covering her, joined her on the gray screen.

She had told him to fall back. Fall back. Over and over. And still Do-yun stayed by her side to the end, trying to save her.

The loyal retainer died smiling even as his temperamental lord snapped, "I told you to go, why won't you just go?" The dumb, blissful grin on his face was a free bonus.

Global gold was even, but the enemy had taken all four dragons, and Elder Dragon was up. Seoul had to somehow scramble through an extremely unfavorable 3v5 and stop the Elder take.

And then — Gong Je-hyeon's Galio, the best-fed member of the team, worked a miracle.

He dove in first, drawing every eye. The five Gwangju players hammering Elder Dragon got snared and couldn't move, and as they swarmed in to melt the locked-down Galio—

As if it had been planned all along, Galio activated the Sonia's Hourglass in his inventory.

The five Gwangju players who had been spread out suddenly clumped together beautifully at the mouth of the dragon pit. Gyeo-wool's order dropped.

"Gong Je-hyeon — taunt ready?"

"Got it. Was about to use it anyway!"

The second they heard that, Ha Jeong-uk and Yu Min-jae saw the same angle Gyeo-wool had seen.

In a crisis that had slammed down out of nowhere, all five teammates — for the first time — cleanly traced out the future scenario Gyeo-wool was reading.

Elder Dragon at thirty percent HP.

And right before the invulnerability that had frozen Galio solid ticked out—

Exactly as Gyeo-wool had predicted, the enemy top laner Gragas fired his ultimate, Explosive Cask.

A massive barrel came flying in to drag Galio toward the enemy side.

The cask detonated off Galio's right the instant invulnerability dropped. But Galio, who had been mashing W like a madman, got the taunt off faster.

"Taunt used!"

"Covering!"

Gathering the surrounding air with a deep pull, Galio tucked his wings and rode the blast's aftershock. And of all places, he landed dead center in the enemy formation — right where all five of them were neatly clustered.

Gwangju must have screamed in that moment.

"We're fucked!"

On landing, Galio successfully taunted a full four enemies.

As if he'd been waiting for it, Yu Min-jae's Ezreal — standing at a carefully measured distance — poured out a torrent of damage. Shen, who had been calculating the exact end of the taunt, swept through the enemy line the instant Galio's taunt was about to expire and taunted them all over again.

"DIIIIIE!"

Burst damage rained down on a pile of seven champions locked in consecutive taunts.

Yu Min-jae howled like a berserker, shredding enemy HP in seconds with Q and his passive's AoE auto damage, while Galio timed the end of his taunt to dash in again with E, landing an airborne and stretching the damage window as far as it would go.

And with Elder Dragon's AoE damage dumping onto that same seven-champion clump, it was Gwangju's champions who started dropping first.

No casters had been invited for the first day of the national finals, so the only people on site were industry figures, players from other teams, and the families and friends of the invited competitors — but in that moment, the venue filled with a roar of cheers.

An absurd 3v5 stomp. And without Jin Gyeo-wool, no less.

Watching from a short distance away, Coach Chae Hojin bounced on his feet in a way that did not match his massive frame and bellowed, "YEAH!"

A thrilling current ran through the three people watching from the stands.

"Holy crap, what just happened?!"

"Uh… it's complicated to explain, but Je-hyeon probably predicted the Gragas ult and had the taunt ready in advance."

"Even if you say that, Yeo-reum still won't get it."

"Ah. Right."

It had been a team that seemed to lean too heavily on Gyeo-wool. But this time, the three of them had properly shown they could do it without her.

"Anyway — the three of them handled it well while Gyeo-wool and Do-yun were dead."

"Yeah."

"That means they were amazing! Whoa! We should eat something delicious today, right?"

"Is food the only thing on your mind?"

"Well, yeah! They did great! What else are we supposed to do for them? Should I give each of them a big loving hug?"

"…Eating something good would be better than that."

This wasn't allowed, that wasn't allowed — under Cha Ga-eul's tight control, Han Yeo-reum stuck out her lower lip.

Lee Yeong-bin pointed at the match screen, saying this wasn't the time for chatter.

"Look — the game's about to end."

"What? We won?"

"They just killed everyone."

"And that means it's over?"

Cha Ga-eul scolded her. After watching the kids play this much, she still couldn't read the flow of a game?

Han Yeo-reum's mouth fell open like an idiot.

"Oh. It ended?"

Game over.

Respawning and sprinting all the way to the dragon pit, Jin Gyeo-wool and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Choi Do-yun simply pivoted and marched mid.

A game ended by a perfect counter-engage in a moment when victory had been theirs for the taking. The Gwangju team's faces were blank with the hollowness of someone waking from a fleeting dream.

The unbroken win streak carried into the next day.

National finals, semifinals.

The opponent was the Gyeongnam team, who had beaten Jeonbuk in the round of 16 and Busan in the quarters.

Whether yesterday's enemy Gragas play had caught her eye or not, Gyeo-wool's pick this time was Gragas.

But the game was not exactly easy.

"Seriously, how do you never deviate from the formula?"

"…I'm sorry, Commander-nim…"

"If you know you're sorry, then do it right. Yesterday you were fine without me."

"Hey, is that… entirely my fault?"

The game had been rolling so smoothly that Gong Je-hyeon let his suppressed weirdo instincts out. The ultimate expression of that weirdness: Yasuo. A champion even pros hesitated ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to bring to tournament stages — far more likely to produce comedy content than a highlight reel.

"A scientific 0/3/0."

"Yu Min-jae. Shut up."

"Science itself."

"I'm sorry…"

Clutching that shameful scoreline, Je-hyeon tried to push back against Min-jae's brain-dead pick commentary — but he couldn't withstand Gyeo-wool's nagging on top of it.

Coach Chae Hojin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had even asked during draft if he was really sure. The result was 0/3/0. Right now, Je-hyeon wouldn't have had a word to say even with ten mouths.

"They're pushing mid tier two."

"Ah… we're gonna lose this."

"Lose and we're eliminated. Don't jinx it."

"Yes, ma'am…"

Ignoring the dejected Je-hyeon, Gyeo-wool — who had been reading the reverse-sweep angle — tossed a line at Choi Do-yun.

"Choi Do-yun. Kill the lights."

"Now?"

"The second they touch the tower, shut it off!"

"Got it!"

Do-yun's pick this game was Nocturne. Nocturne's ultimate blanketed the battlefield in black mist and completely cut off the enemy's vision. Gyeo-wool planned to use that window to launch the clustered enemies into the air in one stroke.

"The second my ult pops, come in!"

"Yes!"

Using the blackout to loop through the jungle beneath the tower, Gyeo-wool's Gragas waddled his bulky frame straight at the Alistar holding the choke and charged.

Thud — Alistar got blasted back by the body slam.

Gyeongnam's four champions bunched together. Their vision was still dark.

A massive cask sailed in and detonated dead center among the four — and at the same instant, Yasuo, who had been mashing R like a man possessed, appeared on the battlefield.

— Hasagi!

At the same moment, Gragas's barrel was already waiting at the four champions' landing spot.

As Gyeongnam's champions hit the ground, Braum's ultimate — Glacial Fissure — ripped forward through the floor as if on cue. The four champions launched skyward again, and from off to the side Lucian's light barrage and Yasuo's steel tempest damage poured in without pause.

"Lamb's Respite down!"

Right in front of the tower, the only one who hadn't been airborne — Kindred — dropped the ultimate Lamb's Respite on the ground to save the team.

A magic circle of the Lamb unfurled. Gyeongnam's four champions, reduced to scraps of HP, clung to life — but the health gap had already ballooned so far that they needed to disengage as cleanly as possible.

Gyeo-wool was the tank and the team's primary initiator. She had already circled back toward the raptors, flash-engage primed and ready.

"I'm re-engaging the second Respite ends."

"Vlad first!"

"Copy."

Respite ended. Warm light restored a portion of the four Gyeongnam champions' HP. But for amateurs who lacked a pro's certainty, a health deficit bred passive fighting.

Gyeo-wool knew that — which was exactly why she judged they had to force the fight now.

"Vlad."

"Kill him!"

The instant Vladimir's escape tool — W, Sanguine Pool — came off, Gragas came over the wall with a bang and landed a perfect body slam. The Alistar beside him hurriedly headbutted Gragas off, but Gragas wasn't the problem.

Yasuo closed in on the incoming minion wave, chaining steel tempest combos, while Lucian held his distance and carved Vladimir's HP into pieces.

"Next — Johnny."

"KIIIIILL!"

Following Gyeo-wool's orders, the Seoul team began cutting down the enemy's primary damage dealers one by one. By the time that coordinated movement finished, Gyeongnam had only a single champion left.

"Yo — we're eating beef tonight!"

"Beef party today!"

"KILL HIM!!"

The Alistar who had fought desperately to protect his teammates couldn't escape the fate of cattle at the slaughterhouse — he died a pitiful death on the run.

Seoul rode that momentum to take the Peacock buff and smashed through the mid inhibitor in high spirits. And once the tide had turned and Yasuo started collecting kills, the 0/3/0 disaster bloomed into a 3/3/2 and began swinging the blade of vengeance.

"LET'S GOOO FINALS!"

"We lose and our paychecks are GONE!!"

Someone for a grand dream.

Someone for the living expenses they needed right now.

Someone for a happy married life.

Someone for a pitiful noona's rest.

And so the Seoul team earned their place on the final stage that would crown the Presidential Cup national finals.