Suspiciously Familiar
The mimic that had transformed into Baekseol fought Choco.
The mimic that had transformed into Choco fought Baekseol.
A battle against a boss that copied not only every skill with perfect precision, but even its target's personality and speech patterns.
There had been one crisis — no, several crises — but the crowd seemed to have forgotten all of that already, swept up in euphoria over the final battle while I simply stared at it all in a daze.
What was that, just now?
The mimic had changed into something else a moment ago.
It had been standing there blankly, Sacred Fire still burning itself away, and then with a strange expression on its face it transformed into the opposing team's captain.
As if to say, 'This is how you finish a situation like this cleanly.'
—WoW's boss is unleashing a storm of Golden Burst! Baekseol summons a glacier to block it and immediately launches a counterattack. At this rate—
—We need to keep our eyes on CO as well! CO's boss, transformed into Baekseol, has already recovered—
Both teams fought on, teeth and claw, refusing to yield an inch.
The stadium roared, the commentators found their early-broadcast energy again, but I remained lost in thought.
“Waaaah!!”
...That expression.
SHRAK!!!
—Die!
—Let's end this, Hana!
—And the winner is...!
It was definitely that person.
WAAAAAAAH!!!
[Hungry Mimic has died.]
[The winning team of this round is...]
[Team CO!]
—Not bad, Hana.
Someone who once called 'that person' their teacher.
The one who walked up to me with a body that should have been dead. I'm certain of it.
Fireworks erupted.
As if celebrating the true victor of the DCK, the fireworks bloomed across the stadium's dark night sky, and the cheering grew even louder.
On the screen, Team CO embraced one another in joy.
Choco in particular smiled brighter than she had at any point in the tournament as she welcomed her resurrected teammates back.
When the feed cut away again, Baekseol of Team WoW was staring blankly at nothing, her face hollow with exhaustion.
Another mimic — the one that had failed to die by the narrowest of margins.
With an expression that didn't suit Choco at all, the mimic looked straight into the camera.
Its mouth moved a few times, shaping words no one would ever hear, and then it crumbled away into blue light.
“Wow... did you see that at the end? The storm split into two—”
“Yeah, I saw it.”
“...You're not happy?”
“I am happy.”
Why wouldn't I be?
I'd been rooting for Choco personally, and in the end the team Choco belonged to — CO — had won.
“Thank you, Yena. That was a great show thanks to you.”
“All I did was share my extra spectator tickets, that's all. Honestly, I should be thanking you for putting up with my nagging.”
Bathed in the shifting colors of the fireworks, her face flickering from hue to hue, Yena giggled.
I nodded along, and then remembered the words she had murmured earlier.
'I already got paid in full.'
Paid for what, exactly?
And why would she intervene like that in the first place?
I gazed up at the night sky for a moment — at the fireworks bursting open so beautifully.
...I should pay her a visit sooner or later.
Rasty too. There was something going on that I didn't know about.
I needed to see them again.
After every set had wrapped up came a short intermission.
While the players logged out of DeoEn to recover and reorganize in the real world, the broadcast cut to the commentator's desk.
“The set score is three to one! Team CO has claimed victory in the third DCK championship!”
“There were all sorts of twists and turns, but in the end, isn't it the result that matters?”
“Exactly. All those reversals and the captains' heroics! And of course, the surprise appearance of Lily in the final round made this match all the more entertaining. Her finish was clean, too.”
[CO! CO! CO! CO!]
[Choco! Choco! Choco! Choco! Choco!]
[Wow, Choco actually won lmaooo]
[Simply GreatLily]
[That Baekseol VS Choco at the end was INSANE, was that planned??]
[Whoa]
[The production value, I can't even, i admit it]
[lololololololololololololololol]
[fr that was legendary]
[I thought the whole thing went off the rails but it was all in the plan?? lol]
[Nah they just screwed up mid-match and slapped a nerf on it lmaoooo]
[This is unhinged and I love it]
[No way lol]
[DeoEn NEVER touches anything mid-game. Even if the balance is wrecked they just eat it and move on]
[I told you Choco would win]
[WoW down! WoW down! WoW down! WoW down! WoW down!]
[They never once said Choco's full name lololol]
In the end there had been plenty of complaints and plenty of talking points, but by any measure the tournament had ended well.
A reversal in round one, the favorites taking rounds two and three.
The boss monster that copied Lily burst onto the stage in round four and seized the internet's attention, and just when it seemed the match was sliding completely out of control... it had transformed into the opposing captain instead.
The true protagonists of the finals had been the two team captains all along, and the finale came down to a duel between the captains themselves.
Lily's fans and DCK purists alike — even the viewers who had tuned in knowing nothing — had all gotten a show worth watching.
Caster Kim Yong-woo picked up the thread.
“I would say this final ranks among the very best I've called in my entire casting career. Round one in particular left me genuinely stunned.”
“The ferocity of that first round had every viewer gripping their seats, didn't it? The hidden card the players kept up their sleeves played its part too.”
As the commentators spoke, the screen split and the round one highlights began to roll.
The teammates syncing into a single unit to chain their skills together, and even the final desperate escape through the cube.
There wasn't a single frame worth skipping.
[I admit it]
[Honestly round one is legendary, no debate]
[fr so many god-tier moments in round 1 lmaooo]
[fr lol]
“By contrast, rounds two and three were somewhat one-sided affairs... but they still showed us a different side of both teams, which I appreciated. Personally, I view those two rounds in a fairly positive light.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“Well, DeoEn has a large population of rankers, and a ranker's capabilities differ enormously from those of an ordinary user. Myself included, of course.”
Crack, ranked sixth overall.
He was a high ranker in a class of his own — one of those rare figures who attracted considerable buzz precisely because he so rarely appeared on broadcasts.
And, inevitably, one of the most envied players in the scene.
“But I believe this match helped a great many people understand the danger of the 'Penalty' that rankers carry.”
“Penalties certainly are frightening. Even after recovering, Baekseol's movements remained sluggish, didn't they?”
“That's right. What we saw tonight was already balanced for broadcast; in an actual ranked environment, the penalty would be applied far more severely.”
And beyond that, many rankers suffered considerable constraints on their minds, their bodies, and countless other facets of themselves.
[Penalties really are terrifying fr]
[fr lol]
[Leo's penalty is the real deal, even if they paid her she said she didn't want it]
[lololololololololol]
[Still, that's the ranker life for you]
[Leo got it rough]
[Lily has it bad too though]
[Lily does have a penalty]
[When Lily's penalty erodes her she turns absolutely terrifying, that was genuinely chilling to watch]
[lol fr]
[FACT: honestly, a few exceptions aside, penalties aren't that scary]
[Crack defending his own locker lol]
[huh??]
[Ranker penalties ARE scary, that's a fact. Talk about an inferiority complex lmao]
“Round four was... truly legendary, in every sense of the word.”
The boss had been powerful, growing stronger and stronger until it crossed into outright absurdity — and then it detonated its finale.
“I'd like to offer Lily my personal thanks. Speaking as a broadcaster, of course it's wonderful when she shows up as a boss and puts on a performance... but we can't have her doing it too often, can we?”
“Quite right. Anything excessive enough to damage the essence of the game does more harm than good.”
Moderation, as always, was everything.
[Simply GreatLily]
[Lily is an angel]
[From Lily's perspective, she had every right to be annoyed lol]
[fr lol]
[If it had ended like that, our inboxes would've been FLOODED with complaints to DeoEn]
[Yeah, overworking Lily really would be crossing the line]
[lolololololol]
[Lily is in the stadium rn]
The commentators continued their banter after that.
It was filler talk to stretch out the waiting time while the players returned to their stations — but even after the scheduled thirty minutes had passed, the players did not reappear.
“Ah... we've just received word that Chukachip's recovery will take a little more time. We appreciate your patience.”
“Chukachip did carry the weight of her entire team on her shoulders, after all. The way she threw herself back into the fight without giving up until the very end was truly impressive.”
“Indeed! And speaking of which... oh! There's a fan of Chukachip in the crowd!”
The screen cut away, and the moment a fan holding a placard appeared on camera, she jolted in shock and hid her face behind it.
The placard read: WE LOVE YOU, CHUKACHIP
[lololololol]
[that's adorable]
[Chukachip is the real deal, I admit]
[why's she hiding??]
[so cute]
Leaving the placard girl behind, the cameras swept across the vast sea of faces captured on the giant screen.
Fans of both teams, cosplayers, foreign spectators — even players from rival teams who had been knocked out of the DCK made it onto the broadcast.
The last person the camera caught, however, was not in the general seating at all, but up in the VIP section.
[IT'S RAGUEL]
[Raguel! Raguel! Raguel!]
[oh, the angel]
[Whoa, her team got eliminated and she still came to watch lololol]
“Team AG's Raguel has come to watch as well!”
“AG fell painfully short in third place, but they showed real tenacity all the way through the playoffs.”
“That's right. If WoW hadn't landed that one decisive blow in the final qualifying match, it would have been AG sitting in that finals seat.”
“Exactly! Oh — Raguel! There, she's smiling brightly for the camera. Thank you very much!”
“And next we have... a cosplayer, is it?”
“Huh?”
[?]
[?]
[what]
[?????????]
[cosplayer?]
[what?? Yena came to watch?]
[???]
The camera that had been on Raguel panned slowly sideways.
Hunting for someone worth putting on air, the lens snagged on something — some invisible pull — and locked onto two women in a single beat.
The stadium's signature dim lighting made them hard to make out, but since the camera had found them, they were visible enough.
One was a famous streamer, giggling as she sipped at something.
And the other was...
Crunch.
A woman so suspiciously familiar that my breath caught.
She wore a black hat, but beneath it spilled hair of unmistakable blue, and two blue eyes glinted faintly from the shadows of the brim.
A mask pulled down to her chin left the lower half of her face — the half it had been hiding — plainly on display.
The woman bit into a stick of pocky-style snack, pulled her mask back up, and lifted her head.
...Well, well.