Crushing the Academy Tournament (3)
“What’s this?”
“Coffee.”
“·····”
In the head coach’s office inside the P1 building, Coach Song Hochang had brought over a canned coffee. Jang Yaohwan found the gesture rather abrupt.
“How are the kids?”
“Just sighing all day, then each of them resting however they want.”
“Same here.”
The finals dream, crushed. It was a moment every single person in P1 found hard to accept.
“Huuu····· I really feel like an idiot.”
“Sorry.”
“No, I’m saying I’m the idiot.”
Yaohwan let out a hollow laugh.
“Maehwa suddenly throws together that kind of lineup and I’m sitting there wondering what the hell is going on—and instead of even reaching Maehwa we get our ankles grabbed by Gen.G and fall.”
“Aigoo.”
Self-pity always tasted bitter and left a sting of shame, no matter when you indulged in it.
“During scrims I never really thought we’d lose to Gen.G.”
“The real thing is always the match itself.”
The game plan they had built for the playoffs through scrims should have been enough to beat Gen.G on paper. Every single piece of that plan had gone up in smoke for P1.
“Changmin·····”
Yaohwan brought up “Blur,” Shim Changmin.
“He’s good, but the mistakes that keep showing up in actual matches just won’t go away.”
“·····”
For the coaching staff, an athlete’s unpredictable condition was something painful even to mention.
“Maybe it’s because he’s prouder of being a P1 player than anyone else,” Hochang said carefully. “Remember? The second the signing announcement dropped he was telling everyone, bragging left and right. When we first met him he said his biggest goal was joining P1.”
“Yeah.”
Getting recognized for his skill and going to P1—that had been the dream he’d carried in his chest from the start. Both Yaohwan and Hochang remembered how he had lit up like a little kid when they met him back then. Being one of the main characters in the lineup that would announce P1’s revival was something Shim Changmin had been prouder of than anyone.
“Maybe it’s hard because he wants to do even better, wants to be loved by the fans even more.”
“That’s possible. But if that’s the problem, the fact that it makes it even harder to fix is the real issue.”
Yaohwan’s tone was cold.
Looking at it this way·····
Maybe professional gamers who had none of that romantic attachment actually had the advantage, Yaohwan thought. If it translated into skill, fine—but in the end, stray thoughts were just more noise in the mind.
“Park Jimin and Kang Jun, those kids····· hmm.”
“No words needed.”
Hochang grinned. After all the heavy talk, just hearing those names was enough to fill the stomach.
“I need to meet Oliver one-on-one again.”
“Again?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think it’ll get through.”
“This is the best window. He was the one who approached me first, so saying this feels a bit disgusting, but he’s probably going through a pretty rough time right now.”
“Hmm.”
Oliver had been the one who actively pushed to bring in Head Coach Jang Yaohwan. Because Yaohwan had left Japanese Sensekai Gaming after clashing with the front office, there had been plenty of internal opposition. Then there was the top-laner debate between Blur and Gunth that had split the organization. Oliver had backed Blur, who could be signed for a lower salary. But Gunth’s monster performance this Summer and the clear disadvantage in the playoff head-to-head had left Oliver in an awkward spot.
“If it had gone to the wire Gen.G could have offered more money anyway, so P1 probably would have ended up with Changmin either way.”
“I think so too. But results are what get judged, so even if it’s unfair, Oliver was never in a comfortable position to begin with.”
Oliver had clawed his way up through pure stubborn grit inside P1’s parent company. He was the man who had pushed out John Nash—the CEO who had delivered the proud Worlds three-peat—and taken the seat himself. After Maker’s retirement he had held P1 together through the financial mess and the dark years of SOL’s decline, and he had believed he was finally ready to write a new chapter of P1 history. Yet his footing was still unstable. Clear results still weren’t showing. And somewhere along the way a subtle friction had started growing even with Jang Yaohwan, the man he had sworn to share destinies with.
It’s hard.
Reviving the team while also protecting your own position—that was why the leader’s seat was so brutal. Of course Yaohwan felt zero sympathy for the other side.
This is why P1 is fun.
A powerful fandom. A tangled political structure. But once you stepped into the SOL pro scene—once you decided to make a living in esports—there was no dodging that name. The name P1 carried an endless, almost magical pull.
“Yes, C-Plus Dia Challengers players. We hope you show us a fantastic match today. And now!”
“Waaaaaaaaaah!”
Cheers were already exploding. Camera flashes popped.
“P1 Academy!”
The 2031 SCK Challengers Spring Finals. After the C-Plus Dia Challengers players, the P1 Academy roster walked out onto the stage.
“Huuu·····”
Jimin breathed carefully, tension written across his face. He knew perfectly well that defeat was not an option. Lose once and the second chance would never come again. Steps toward a dangerous place always trembled.
“Everyone’s worked incredibly hard. Just do what we’ve always done.”
P1 Academy Head Coach Kim Hyeonjin spoke. Even if it was only the second team and not the main roster, today might be the day a championship trophy—something that had never touched his hands even in his playing days—finally landed in them.
“·····”
Jimin closed his eyes for a moment and thought. He had considered it quite a bit. He had wanted to call his mom, or Yu Dahye. But he hadn’t. Not because he hated the idea or didn’t want the support—this time those feelings had just felt a little too much like running away, like clinging to someone.
“We don’t know how the draft will go. But don’t panic.”
“Yes.”
Jimin nodded at Coach Kwon Ohyeon’s words.
[Alright, Game 1 draft begins!]
The finals Game 1 draft had started.
[Heh, in that case·····]
[Aatrox is open.]
[Yes, exactly.]
Blue side, which got first pick among the ten champions. In the finals, blue-side P1 took Aatrox.
[Jimin’s Aatrox. He terrified so many teams this Spring that he was mostly banned, but C-Plus Dia boldly left him open.]
[What champion can they possibly counter this terrifying Aatrox of Jimin’s with?]
The draft continued.
[Mordekaiser!]
[Heheheh.]
Jimin answered flatly.
[Game 1 draft is complete. The long-awaited finals match begins!]
The draft between P1 Academy and C-Plus Dia Challengers finished, and the champions began to appear.
Aatrox – Mordekaiser.
Vayne – Lee Sin.
Ahri – Orianna.
Ezreal – Kai’Sa.
Braum – Renata.
[How do you see the Game 1 draft?]
[As the game goes late Kai’Sa and Orianna’s carry potential comes online, so C-Plus Dia needs to help Lee Sin get through the early game cleanly.]
[Yes, and P1 brought a strong skirmish combo with Ahri-Vayne, plus an Ez-Braum bot lane. If that bot duo can win lane, it’s a composition that never really runs out of power. Overall it looks like P1 is trusting their players’ individual skill.]
[And finally, how well Mordekaiser can suppress Aatrox will be the key.]
[Yes, a really exciting draft. I’m curious what kind of spectacular plays the ten best players of this Spring will show us.]
Early on Ezreal kept landing every skillshot.
[They’re getting hit way too much already.]
[C-Plus bot should have backed off a bit at that timing.]
P1’s bot duo was already ahead from early trades.
[Mordekaiser needs to hold on until level 6.]
[Wait a second though.]
Aatrox’s aggressive movement. The moment Mordekaiser’s skill missed, the outcome was decided.
[With the wave state like this, if his HP drops·····]
[This is bad.]
The long top lane had formed into a wave that was extremely uncomfortable for Mordekaiser. But he couldn’t trade properly, so there was no choice.
P1’s bot duo kept hammering them. And Vayne was casually heading top.
[If a dive comes in at this stage!]
Mordekaiser was stuck under tower. Aatrox raised his greatsword. Vayne clenched her fists.
[He tries Flash but—yes, exactly.]
[P1!]
A clean top dive. P1’s Aatrox and Vayne took down Mordekaiser.
[The loss is way too big.]
The growth gap between the two tops was already opening up.
[C-Plus Dia’s plan was probably to let Morde get to 6 safely and then suppress Aatrox for the rest of the game. It’s already twisted early.]
[Lee Sin showed bot again. Now he has nowhere to go.]
The favorable structure for P1 just kept rolling.
[Charm! Charm!]
Ahri’s charm and Vayne’s ultimate. When the second Voidgrub spawned, the fight ended with P1 taking down Lee Sin and monopolizing all six grubs.
[P1 needed to explode early with this composition—and they exploded.]
[Incredible from P1!]
P1’s smooth play, and P1 fans who were watching far more relaxed than they had been right before Game 1 started.
[Like this Morde just can’t beat Aatrox anymore.]
[The level gap hit two levels for a moment.]
Mordekaiser still hadn’t recovered from the early death.
[Morde took Aatrox with him!]
[The remaining champions!]
The fight right before the third dragon.
[Ez! Ez! Ez!]
Ezreal was dealing damage from the perfect distance. Ahri’s charm missed, but the enemy still couldn’t approach.
[Shockwave!]
Orianna’s Shockwave landed on Vayne.
[Whoa, Aatrox!]
And Aatrox, who had escaped from Mordekaiser’s Realm of Death. His greatsword came crashing down on Orianna’s head. Then Ahri and Vayne followed up for the second wave.
[Orianna! She’s gone! And Kai’Sa!]
“Waaaaaaaaaah!”
Even with the growth gap already massive, the P1 players moved with perfect composure. The result had been half-decided before the fight even started.
[Ace!]
[Incredible teamfight power from P1!]
“P1! P1! P1! P1!”
The crowd roared at the massive teamfight victory.
[Whoa, Mordekaiser on the side·····]
Mordekaiser, picked to hold the side lane. Yet right in front of the second bot tower he nearly gave Aatrox a solo kill.
[They can’t stop Ez.]
P1 blacked out vision and took Baron. C-Plus Dia had no way to stop the march.
[Charm! Yes, they keep falling.]
[P1 takes Game 1!]
[GG!]
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
Applause poured down for the clean, satisfying performance.
“That was good.”
“Ugh, laning was rough.”
“You did amazing.”
Kang Jun’s grumbling earned encouragement from his teammates. Even with almost no jungle attention he had still won a tough lane, and he was pretty exhausted from it.
“·····”
Thank god.
Jimin had shown confidence on the surface, but he knew that if they hadn’t created a growth gap and the game had gone late, it would have been hard to beat Mordekaiser on Aatrox. He was just glad it had worked out.
[C-Plus Dia’s draft didn’t look bad, but if it keeps going like this····· heheheh.]
[I wonder what answer they can come up with next.]
Their plan was already in pieces. But time waited for no one.
[Sonic Wave!]
[It missed!]
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
A play that dragged the fans’ cheers out of them without even trying. Game 2 of the finals.
Jimin’s Gnar reverse-killed a K’Sante who had just popped ultimate, then even shook off the Lee Sin gank from jungle.
[The top lane structure is completely shattered!]
If Lee Sin’s Sonic Wave had connected he would have died for sure. The thought sent a chill down Jimin’s spine. But the result that came out of it was an overwhelming top-lane advantage.
[Quadra kill!]
[They can’t stop Xayah!]
The final teamfight of Game 2. Rapid’s well-fed Xayah ended the game.
[GG!]
[P1 Academy! Only one step left!]
“·····”
Game 3, which might be the last. Saying he was scared of getting reverse-swept at this point would have been a little dramatic. Of course he wasn’t letting his guard down either.
Just·····
He would simply do what they had practiced. The days spent shaking off the fear of defeat—and the deeper fear that his pro career might not go as well as he hoped—had emptied his mind for this decisive moment.
[Game 3 draft begins!]
[C-Plus Dia, backed against the wall—what choice will they make?]
P1 was on red side. One by one the champion portraits revealed themselves.
[After failing to counter Aatrox in Game 1, C-Plus Dia has taken Aatrox for themselves this time.]
[What champion will P1 give this destructive top laner?]
P1’s fifth and final champion was about to appear.
[Wooooooah!]
[Yone!]
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
P1’s choice was Yone—one of the most popular champions in all of SOL.
[Yone into Aatrox! Not just anyone can do that. Top lane Yone has a really hard time getting through lane.]
[It feels like we’re watching a new superstar being born.]
Even without seeing anything in-game yet, that level of confidence was enough to make him feel special.
Game 3 began.
[Whoa, Yone’s movement is insane.]
Yone danced with impossible precision, blades flashing. He almost seemed to be laughing at Aatrox’s greatsword.
[Aaaagh! It doesn’t reach!]
The C-Plus Dia jungle gank. Aatrox and Lillia failed to kill Yone. Before long Yone was shoving the wave in. C-Plus Dia still had zero ways to stop a Yone whose late-game scaling was terrifying.
And at that exact moment—
[Scanner!]
A Scanner that shoved Aatrox into the tower. Then Yone’s ultimate, Fate Sealed, detonated.
[They got him!]
[Jimin!]
[How are you supposed to stop this player?]
“P1! P1! P1!”
The carry power Jimin had shown. Top lane was getting nuked in Game 3 as well. P1 fans were already almost certain of the win.
[Piercing Arrow!]
[Uwaaaaagh!]
Next, Varus’s Piercing Arrow into the fleeing Jinx. Rapid already had a kill.
[This is looking scary.]
A teamfight standoff. C-Plus Dia mid and ADC had picked Corki and Ezreal. Leona’s ultimate dropped on top of them.
[Fate Sealed!]
[Wooooooah!]
And then Yone’s ultimate followed. Both Corki and Ezreal got clipped by the slash.
“P1! P1! P1! P1!”
The well-fed Yone poured out savage damage and won the fight. P1 took Baron.
[Games 1, 2, and 3—P1 takes Baron every single time.]
[And not a single inhibitor tower has taken damage.]
[Perfect from P1 Academy!]
By now even the fans were less focused on winning and more just waiting for beautiful plays.
[Varus! Varus! Varus!]
[Varus won’t die!]
An immortal Varus in front of the enemy twin towers. There was only one scene the fans wanted to see.
After picking off Aatrox near the main force, Yone simply walked forward.
[Shashashak!]
[Yone only needs to swing his sword a few times and they vanish.]
Corki, out of mobility, got hit by Yone’s blades. It didn’t take long for his body to be carved apart.
[P1 Academy! You could call them the strongest Challengers team in history and I’d believe it! Overwhelming performance!]
[The Nexus·····]
[GG!]
[It breaks!]
“·····”
We won.
Teammates hugging and celebrating. Fans rising to their feet and clapping. This place might not be Worlds. Even for a finals they hadn’t rented a special arena—just the usual Hongdae venue where they always played. But what mattered was that they hadn’t let down the people who had cheered for them all the way to the end.
[A player who shakes the game just by existing. A new fantasy star has been born in P1’s jewel box.]
[How brilliantly will he shine from here?]
Last year P1 had drawn attention just from having “Rapid” Kang Jun, results aside. And now, with Jimin’s appearance, they had reached the peak. Everyone could feel a new wind blowing.
“Yeah Mom, I’ll be right there. Okay.”
Click.
After the finals ended and he had rested, Jimin finished the call.
Finally.
He could have taken a break in the middle if he wanted, but he hadn’t. Only the day after the finals did Jimin finally decide to go home.
“Happy?”
“Yeah. You?”
“Not yet.”
Seriously.
Jimin let out a dry laugh. This was Kang Jun’s first championship too, yet he was still only looking toward the call-up.
“But you don’t need to go home right away?”
“Me? Well····· the dorm TV’s better, so I might as well watch the finals before I go.”
“The finals?”
“Yeah.”
“·····”
He didn’t watch P1’s main team matches, but he was going to watch Maehwa versus Gen.G in the SCK finals. Jimin still couldn’t quite figure out Kang Jun’s standards.
“I’m heading out.”
“Yeah.”
An awkward goodbye between two nineteen-year-old guys. They would see each other again soon enough anyway.
But·····
Jimin wanted to see his mom as soon as possible. At the same time he was also curious about the finals. Maybe because the pressure of competing had lifted, he was confident he could enjoy watching it quite a bit.
“·····”
He smiled. He could still feel that huge affection for SOL living inside him.