The Smoke Demon's Rampage
Combative is a team game. If four people play well but one doesn't, you lose. When all five teammates share the same problems, the situation becomes even more dire. This was the discussion about the results of three days of scrims. Yeonggun, the coach and former pro gamer in the Combative Challenger tier, spoke up.
[I'm sorry!!] The apology was for stubbornly pouring every point into Serena and dragging the team into this mess. [But honestly, I didn't expect it to be this bad!] That was in reference to our scrim record. A staggering 0 wins and 22 losses. Every match followed a first-to-ten rule, yet our round win rate never even reached 30 percent. In other words, we got absolutely demolished every single game. Even when we occasionally broke through on attack with a single-point push, the moment we planted the bomb and had to defend the site—or during defense phases—the team crumbled like a sandcastle.
Let's go over each person's issues one by one. First: Serena was trying to call, but Keugaemang's massive voice kept swallowing her orders.
[Watch B long.] [Copy, B side pushing in—] [Aagh! I'm dead! Mid connector! There's a ton of them here! Damn it.] (¹Mid connector: the central hallway linking A site and B site where the bomb is planted) [Kamik, what's the situation on long again? The sounds overlapped just now—] [Ah. Sorry. I got dropped too. They're pushing in way too fast.]
It would have been fine if he only interrupted the calls, but in those split-second gaps without orders, Kamik—the team's main carry—kept getting picked off from the side or behind. [Keugaemang, let's shorten your calls. Just say 'dead' and the location. If you can tell us how many you saw, even better.] [Aigoo. Sorry about that. My voice is just too loud.] [Loud is fine. But keep it short. Yours are too long.]
It was the expected outcome, and Yeonggun had pointed it out clearly, but urgent situations happened so often that even when Keugaemang tried to consciously hold back, there was a limit. Second issue—the complete opposite of Keugaemang: Bajubi's voice was so quiet that communication dragged on forever.
[………over……] [Huh? Bajubi, can you say that again?] [………and…… ah, I'm dead.] [Aigoo. Where? Give us your location.] […………but—] [Aagh! A down! A down! A emergency!]
This problem even synergized with the first one. Bajubi, Keugaemang, and Kamik would all get wiped at once, instantly turning the fight into 2v5 or 2v4 and collapsing the round. [Bajubi, nobody's going to scold you. Speak up more. Louder. Your voice is actually really pretty!] [……………] [Louder!] [I… can't…]
Yeonggun's coaching wasn't bad, but his unnecessary extra words forced me to step in. This guy had no idea how to handle someone from a small stream. "Coach, ease up on the compliments." [Huh? I didn't throw any compliments?!] "You're making her uncomfortable. Just say what needs to be said. No extra fluff." [Ha. My consideration is being mistaken for flirting. This is insane.] "Want me to bow?" [No, that's not necessary.]
For the record, the third problem was me. Thanks to Serena's coaching, I'd learned Combative-style combat and even picked up an AR, which extended my survival time. But the FPS ego I'd built in Battle Colosseum was so strong that I occasionally went berserk. Maybe because Serena felt she owed me, she couldn't rein me in properly either. "I feel like I could wipe them all if I push in right now." [Ugh… uh… Then give it a try.] "Let's gooo—ah. I'm dead." [Ah.]
No matter how much I messed around, Combative didn't allow the same ridiculous movement as Battle Colosseum. Even when I thought I moved well, if the opponent aimed properly, my head would pop. And what about my smoker plays? Where did all my personal smokes go? I used every single one to open paths and block enemy advances for the team. Like I said before, if this were a game I could carry, I wouldn't have done this—but it was Combative. And my constantly fidgety movement was always a problem. Unlike Battle Colosseum, where dashing, sliding, jumping, and even mid-air spins didn't mess up your aim too badly, in Combative, spraying while moving drew perfect outlines around your character model. Even though Yeonggun had ruined the team by drafting me, he still pointed this out every time as the coach.
[Jia, do you have a disease that makes you die if you don't rush? And I told you to stop moving when you shoot. I said no spraying while running, sliding, or dashing.]
In the end, whether those three problems triggered separately or all at once, we lost. If none of them triggered, we could at least coordinate well enough to win on defense. But there was another issue. In Combative, gold is awarded based on wins and kills, and without buying expensive guns with that gold, one-taps (headshots that kill in one hit) are impossible. It's a game where you snowball gold through kills, wins, and bomb plants to reach ten rounds first… but because we lost so many rounds, even when we won one, we couldn't maintain momentum and would easily lose the next set or the one after. After all, the opponents had accumulated a lot of money from all the rounds we'd gifted them. They'd suddenly full-buy and brute-force their way in, and once we lost the guns we'd worked so hard to afford, we were trapped in an endless ouroboros of defeat feeding defeat.
As the losses piled up, the team members seemed to be losing confidence. Kamik, whose shots were normally godlike, started making more mistakes. Serena began missing parts of the map she should have been watching. Even the usually talkative Keugaemang went quiet. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing that meaningless calls decreased, but with the person who usually helped set the mood now silent like me, the voice chat atmosphere grew unbearably heavy. We were practically in a half-given-up state. At least I hadn't lost hope yet. But I had another problem of my own. The more scrims we played, the more restrictions Yeonggun started imposing on me. Only then did I realize Serena had actually let me play quite freely. Just looking at the accumulated notes from the past three days:
Don't spray while moving. (Battle Colosseum habit) Don't use the mini-barrel in the pistol slot. Smoker smokes are never for personal use. If we're retreating, use smokes even without an order. No, retreat first…
Even though I was already holding back the urge to rush in and wreak havoc so I wouldn't disrupt the team, if my teammates weren't ready, I couldn't push either. While I waited, they'd get picked off first. It was so frustrating.
The next day. "This isn't working. Jia, let's just swap positions with Keugaemang. It'd be better if you took the anchor role. It'll also help restrain Mazia's impulsive plays and improve our defense." In the end, following Yeonggun's order, Mazia exploded.
The anchor was the team's rearmost position. On attack, after planting the bomb, you set up turrets or traps to control the area. On defense, you held a single site and stalled the enemy from entering. In other words, it was ridiculously unfun. It didn't suit Mazia at all, and she couldn't even use her favorite champion, the Smoker. Yeonggun had put a lot of thought into it for the sake of a team that kept getting destroyed on defense, but Mazia—who had been suppressed the entire time and was already irritated—immediately pushed back against Yeonggun. [Before we change positions, can't I just play one round however I want? I know it might be forcing it, but honestly, these past four days have been way too suffocating.] "…What exactly do you want to do?" [I'm going to run it down with a shotgun as Smoker. I'm using all my smokes for myself.] "No. That's… um…"
In Combative, running it down was the number one thing you shouldn't do. Wasn't it a serious military RPG? The original game required studying CQB (Close Quarters Battle) because strategy was that important. The division of roles into infiltration, assault, and tactics existed precisely to enable single-point breakthroughs, strategic flanks, fakes, and other maneuvers. Running it down? In a game where you could die to a single headshot, it was worse than doing nothing. It absolutely couldn't be allowed. However, after watching the team for four days, even Yeonggun knew. This team played decently when things went smoothly, but the moment each person's weaknesses surfaced, they collapsed helplessly. Mazia's urge to run it down was one of those weaknesses. She was like a puppy that launched itself the moment it saw a ball flying. The second she spotted an opening in the enemy, she'd go berserk trying to bite them, and neither Serena nor Yeonggun could stop her. But that Battle Colosseum-derived charging instinct had to be suppressed. Even if she shot well, deviating from Combative style made the team suffer. That wasn't a mindset a tournament player should have.
'…There was bound to be a time to strongly suppress it.' More than anything, the atmosphere in chat had turned ugly from the accumulated losses, so we couldn't just let it slide.
It was better to let her crash into it once herself, get destroyed, and then rebuild her playstyle around Combative fundamentals. Once she became a true Combative player and secured even a single scrim win, the dismissive looks would sort themselves out. After all, she was someone who could at least pull her own weight if she followed the strategy properly. She just couldn't stay still because of her Battle Colosseum experience.
"Alright. Let's try it. At this rate, our team won't accomplish anything anyway." [Thank you.] And it wasn't just because he wanted to put a leash and muzzle on Mazia either. After four days of scrims with a 0-22 record, if we kept going like this we'd obviously get destroyed in the actual tournament too. It was time to try different approaches. Yeonggun's mind had started adopting a bit of a "just have fun" mindset. After all, he'd seen Mazia's Battle Colosseum footage. The way she turned everyone who entered her smokes into tired corpses during the internal war with MoovGun, transforming smoke into its own bizarre domain, was genuinely impressive. In Combative, her main weapon—the shotgun—was too disadvantaged by range, and smokes were most beneficial when used for the team, which was why he'd been suppressing her. But who knew? Maybe the person he thought was a puppy would suddenly turn into a wild wolf and tear through the enemies.
"Serena, from now on, please assume Mazia's smokes don't exist. We'll rebuild the strategy with just your three smokes." [Understood.] "Kamik and Bajubi, don't react to Mazia's calls. Only follow orders based on Serena's judgment. Don't get pulled in—hold your positions until entry is confirmed." [Copy that.] [……Yes.] When Yeonggun didn't call his name, Keugaemang asked, [Coach, what about me?] "Keugaemang, please observe radio silence. We don't know what'll happen after Jia runs it down, and if you keep reacting to kills and deaths, it'll mess up the team's orders. You understand?" [Got it.]
Thus, the new strategy was complete. It was the start of a two-track approach separating Mazia's run-down plays from Serena's site entry calls. The chat reaction was predictably negative.
No matter what anyone said in chat now, it would look like they were agreeing with the criticism of Mazia. So Yeonggun kept his mouth shut tight like it was sewn closed, waiting for Mazia to either show something brilliant or realize her own mistakes and completely sink.
Meanwhile, on the Gongsa Damang team's side, preparing for their 23rd scrim against Yeonggun's team, the shot-caller Subak Jeongol muttered leisurely after seeing their next opponent. "Everyone, let's take it easy for the next match." [Ah, next up is Yeonggun's team?] [Yeah.] [Thank god. Wow, Pandral's team was really tough because of Tarot.] [Her flashes are insane. Getting flashed nonstop is so annoying.]
Yeonggun's team had already been labeled the weakest and the "healing food" among the four teams, so the news that they were next brought everyone relief. After running scrims all week and practicing on the side, everyone was getting tired, and a healing match against a weak team like this would do wonders for mental recovery and confidence. Naturally, everyone prepared while thinking of the old Yeonggun team. "First, just like last time we faced Yeonggun's team—whenever the enemy pushes in, we open the way and let them plant. Their defense is really weak, so even on defense, let's just aim for retakes." [Roger.] [Copy that.] [Let's go~.] Everyone was relaxed. Since it was a round-robin format where each team played once and the top three advanced to playoffs, there was no need to expend energy or prepare new strategies against Yeonggun's team, which was practically confirmed for fourth place. Normally, focusing hard from the first pistol round to buy better guns faster than the opponent and secure the win would be important, but… why bother? They were the weakest team.
{{ Defense }}
The first round of the first-to-ten match began that way. Starting on defense meant they'd be defending for the next ten rounds. Everyone on Gongsa Damang's team moved to their positions as if on cue and began watching their angles. Among them, the player holding A short (the straight corridor leading to site is called long, while winding paths are called short) was Kaljaem. Though he was the team's 4-tier player, he had considerable talent for holding angles and was doing his job well. As usual, he hid beside the arched corridor, aiming at head level and waiting for the enemy to push.
How much time had passed? Tap-tap-tap—the sound of footsteps began. [One enemy on A short. Hasn't entered yet—] Attackers usually paused for a moment before entering. They needed to throw a flash or pop a concussion to shake up the waiting defenders first. But the opponent didn't stop. The footsteps rapidly grew closer. They kept sprinting. [Wait, they're pushing straight in. Need backup on short!] With a whoosh, a white mustache and dreadlocks appeared through the archway. It was Smoker—Mazia. Kaljaem immediately aimed at her, but a smoke flew in faster, trapping him inside a spherical wall of smoke. 'What? Is she telling me to back off?' Combative had its own language. For example, a smoke dropping during a fight meant "let's stop here"—a signal to cease combat. Mazia had always played Smoker and only placed smokes in strategic locations. The message was clear: we'll control the area inside this smoke, so back off. In other words, the spot Kaljaem was standing in was the enemy's desired boundary line. Since preserving numbers was key for the defense, Kaljaem immediately moved backward. Getting out of the smoke and finding a new position was the priority. But just as he was halfway turned to escape, an assassin with silenced footsteps appeared inside the smoke. [Hrk.] Kaljaem's heart sank, yet the sound that followed was the cheerful pop of a mini-barrel. Thud! {{ Mazia >> (head)(mini-barrel) Kaljaem }} [What the hell, are you insane?]
Until now, she'd used smokes as a "ceasefire" tool while leaving judgment to Serena, but for Mazia, smoke was actually an attack signal. Inside the smoke was exactly where she belonged, so this play was completely natural to her. Why place a smoke if you're not going in? Are you a coward? Anyway, that was Mazia's thinking. Suddenly, someone had gone down. Gongsa Damang's talk channel erupted. [A short, what happened?] [She threw a smoke at me so I thought she was expanding her area and backed off, then she rushed in and popped my head.] [She used smoke and immediately pushed in?] [Yeah.] The shot-caller Subak Jeongol spoke up immediately. "They might have prepared a new strategy. Everyone, if an enemy smoke lands like Kaljaem's did, don't back off—wait and shoot whoever comes in." [Got it.] [Yep.] [Wait, footsteps on A long… ah, smoke landed on me this time too.] The same situation that had just killed Kaljaem was happening again. This time, the one trapped was Dudungi on A long. Thanks to the coach's advice, Dudungi didn't move and held position inside the smoke. Standing in the middle was risky, so he deliberately shifted slightly to the side— Thud! [Damn it.] But a sudden shotgun blast grazed Dudungi's body. Startled by the health loss, Dudungi immediately moved. Letting the smoke ghost hear your footsteps was asking to die. Sure enough, the second mini-barrel pellet cluster flew in. Thud! {{ Mazia >> (head)(mini-barrel) Dudungi }} [What the actual hell?]
"Situation report! Keep it brief." [I… got scratched by something shooting from outside the smoke and moved, then another shot came out of nowhere and popped my head. My bad, sorry.] "…Hmm?" Subak Jeongol tilted his head. The situation was turning strangely amusing. '…Did she actually make him panic with the scratch, listen for the footsteps, and then headshot him?' It was the pistol round, so using a pistol was natural due to lack of money. But choosing the mini-barrel among pistols was abnormal. Its range was ridiculously short and it only held two rounds. But if she'd really intended the previous situation, that was even more abnormal. Making someone produce footsteps and then headshotting them? While he was thinking, a report came from mid connector. [Footsteps in mid connector! Sounds like Mazia, what do we do?] "Maintain your stances for now. B short, move between mid connector and A short." [Copy!] [Roger.] Before the conversation even finished, smoke landed around Jinsam in mid connector. It was the Smoker's final smoke. […Huh?] But unlike the previous two cases, it didn't form around Jinsam. Instead, a spherical smoke appeared blocking the wide corridor ahead, slightly offset to one side and leaving a gap on the other. If you stayed inside the smoke in this situation, the enemy could pass through the gap between smoke and wall without you knowing. So instead of entering the smoke, Jinsam chose to backpedal while aiming at the gap. Since enemies emerging from smoke were at a relative disadvantage in vision, he figured that even aiming to the side, he could swing and catch them. It was the confidence of a team's 1-tier player. But just as he was slowly backing away while aiming, sudden footsteps sounded from inside the smoke. Thinking she was about to push out, Jinsam stopped moving and aimed at the smoke, but— Thud! {{ Mazia >> (head)(mini-barrel) Jinsam }} [Ack! What?!] He died without seeing anything. The teammates who had been watching Jinsam's screen after he died shouted. [What the hell, sound baiting?!] "Sound? What's the situation? Explain." [So……] It was truly a cunning play. The sound had seemed to come from inside the smoke, but it was actually footsteps made while pressed right against the outside of the smoke. After making Jinsam focus on the smoke, she slipped out through the gap between smoke and corridor and blew his head off. It was a trick that clearly recognized how non-pros couldn't perfectly judge sound distance. Instantly 2v5. Dark clouds slowly gathered over Subak Jeongol's head as he tried to call. It was good that the opponent had changed their strategy. Yeonggun's team probably didn't want to stay in last place forever either. But wasn't this a bit bewildering? Just because she started using team smokes for herself, this happened? 'No need to be surprised…' But this was still the pistol round. It was fine to give it up. They could just do another pistol round to save money. They could also fight well and steal the enemy's guns. "Everyone, it seems like you got too complacent thinking they were an easy opponent. Let's focus." More than anything, they'd all been relaxed because it was supposedly an easy team. The same thing wouldn't happen in round two either. In a game that could go up to 19 rounds, sudden variables could occur at any time. As long as they didn't keep falling for the same trick, the game wouldn't be thrown. "This time, if you spot the Smoker, immediately support from the nearest side." [Yep.] [Understood.]
The new round began. Not long after giving the order, Kaljaem heard footsteps from the same position again. [A short again!] [I'll cover right away.] Since Kaljaem had died on A short and then another death followed, this time Jinsam—who had been waiting in mid connector—moved to back him up. It was rare for someone holding a crossfire to get wiped by a single pushing enemy. Kaljaem stared intently through the archway. The moment she entered, he'd turn her into a honeycomb. But this time, the smoke landed in a different spot. It wasn't on Kaljaem's side, nor on Jinsam's side as he came to cover from mid connector. It was a smoke blocking the arched doorway where the two had formed a crossfire. "What?" At this point, even the shot-caller Subak Jeongol was confused. In round one, she'd clearly used a different style and brought smokes into the attack, but the moment round two started, it felt like she'd returned to using them as area control tools. But reports started coming in. [I keep hearing footsteps inside the smoke, what do we do?] [Should we shoot? If we shoot from both sides, we can kill her, right?] Mazia was inside. She wouldn't make footsteps by mistake, so it had to be baiting. Then why make sound? To draw attention? And if drawing attention, for what? Did she think only one person was holding? Then— Bang bang bang! Sudden single-fire pistol shots rang out. "What, did a fight break out?" [No, I saw her for a second.] [Damn, couldn't land the shot. My bad.] The person who'd always used smokes strategically was now randomly peeking through smoke for no reason? That couldn't be right. What information had she risked getting tagged to secure by coming out of the smoke? Her teammates' positions. She'd confirmed their positions to take the next step. The continued footsteps were also to make them focus on the smoke. She was definitely going to attack again. "Don't just sit there staring at the smoke—use frags to pressure and rotate! Regroup!" [I'll throw a frag!] Every ability had a cast sound. Smokes came with a hissing wind sound. Grenades came with a ting of the pin being pulled. And that sound was also an attack signal to Mazia. [What the hell?!] Mazia burst out of the smoke at full speed and charged at Kaljaem, who was throwing the frag. Thud! {{ Mazia >> (head)(mini-barrel) Kaljaem }} Jinsam, who had been watching from the side, tried to aim and shoot her, but— hisss. Another smoke immediately flew in and enveloped him. It was the same situation as round one. "What happened!" [She heard the frag pin and came out to headshot him. Wait, I'm trapped in smoke again right now…] A clicking sound rang out. It was Mazia reloading the mini-barrel. Jinsam couldn't just let this happen. Outside the smoke, where the reload sound came from, was open terrain with no cover. If he pushed out immediately, he'd have the advantage. [She's insane, I'm spraying right n—] But what greeted Jinsam as he burst out of the smoke was Mazia already aiming. […Huh?] She'd pressed the reload button on purpose to make noise, then picked up Kaljaem's pistol and waited. People kept getting distracted by the smoke and mini-barrel, but Mazia was originally quite good with other weapons too. Bang! Bang! {{ Mazia >> (head)(Outlaw) Jinsam }} At yet another kill log, Subak Jeongol shouted in a panicked voice. "What? What just happened!" One time could be called luck or a mistake. But from the second time onward, it was skill. The people watching the broadcast from Gongsa Damang's side couldn't hide their shock. It felt like the opponent who'd been getting destroyed had suddenly dropped a sandbag, and it was a one-ton one that made the ground shake the moment it landed. Some even felt PTSD. Most of them had watched MoovGun's Battle Colosseum internal war. Viewers from the side that had suffered damage from Mazia.