A Precarious Alliance
"Who on earth would try to screw me over like this..."
"Aren't there way too many candidates?"
"That's true."
Normally, if someone experienced something like this before a tournament, they would naturally suspect their rivals. Is another team trying to stop us from competing?
But Tae-hyun's case was different. For him, it was a matter of sorting through the massive pile of people who held a grudge against him!
I've made way too many enemies, Tae-hyun thought, shaking his head.
Still, to concoct a poison like this and set a trap, the pool of suspects narrowed down.
First, they'd need exceptional cooking skills. And to have the ability to acquire poison and feed it to Cain right before the tournament... Could it be the Restaurant Guild?
The Restaurant Guild. They were closely allied with the Suning Guild. It was a guild made entirely of chefs, and they had a history of trying to poison food to secure an easy victory before. Tae-hyun had caught them red-handed back then, so it wouldn't be surprising if they were behind this.
"But how did you even notice?" Lee Da-bi asked, looking amazed.
No matter how she looked at it, the other player had seemed like a genuine fan. In fact, Cain had been completely swept off his feet by them. Yet Tae-hyun had immediately sensed something was off. What on earth had he seen?
"Ah. I just thought it was suspicious that they seemed to like Cain."
"..."
"..."
Lee Da-bi, Cain, and even the poisoned players collapsed on the floor awaiting their logouts all stared at Tae-hyun with utter disbelief.
To suspect someone for a reason like that!
"What if you were wrong?"
"Well, they're my fan, so they would've forgiven me. I could've just said I ordered it because Cain looked suspicious. Besides, he's got a bit of a bratty image in this tournament anyway."
"Hey!!"
"Quiet, punk. You should be thanking me for saving your life. Otherwise, you wouldn't even have been able to participate in the tournament."
Cain flinched at Tae-hyun's words. Cold sweat broke out on his back. If he had been forced to log out here, he wouldn't have been able to reconnect before the tournament. He had harbored doubts, but to think there were actually people trying to sabotage their participation like this!
"Are there really people who would do something so underhanded?"
"Why wouldn't there be? I'd do it if I were them."
Tae-hyun spoke with absolute nonchalance.
"You were attacked?!" Lee Se-yeon cried out in shock.
It was only natural for her to be startled. Out of everyone on this MBS team, she felt the heaviest burden of responsibility!
Tae-hyun was just casually thinking, Well, if we fail, we fail~ I don't really care~ while Do Dong-su was constantly muttering, Kill Kim Tae-hyun, kill Kim Tae-hyun.
Cain and Kim Chul-soo were cooperative, but neither of them had the ability to keep Tae-hyun or Do Dong-su in check. In other words, Lee Se-yeon was the only one with the authority to manage this chaotic bunch!
"It's fine. We didn't die."
"Are you seriously saying that right now?!" Lee Se-yeon grabbed Tae-hyun by both arms and shook him back and forth. "Who was the attacker?"
"Well... I have too many suspects to pinpoint just one..."
"...Right. Of course you do. This won't do. I'll assign a few of my guild members to you, so you and Cain should stick together."
"I'm more than enough on my own, though?"
"I'm not worried about you, I'm worried about Cain. You'll survive just fine even if left alone, so I'm not worried about you at all."
The expressions of the onlookers turned bizarre as they listened to the exchange. Was she actually worrying about him or not?
"True... Cain is weak, so he could die easily."
"Who's weak?! If we're talking about pure survivability here..." Cain choked on his words.
He was indeed a tank-type class with high survivability, but when he actually thought about it...
Tae-hyun had his absurd evasion, Kim Chul-soo possessed powerful and diverse healing skills, and Lee Se-yeon, despite being a mage, held the devastating special skills of a Legendary Class. None of them were easy targets.
"...Still, I'm not the absolute worst!"
Realizing what Cain was implying, Do Dong-su glared at him. However, Cain, who had grown through all kinds of trials, didn't care about a glare of that caliber.
"Anyway, I get that you guys have a lot of enemies."
"Not me! This jerk is the one with all the enemies!" Cain jumped up and down, pointing at Tae-hyun, but no one agreed.
The two of them were basically a package deal at this point! People who hated Tae-hyun usually detested Cain as well.
"Once the tournament starts, stay near the arena until it's over. Honestly, isn't this just common sense?! Every other team does it!"
"Calm down. We will."
"Whose fault do you think this is?! And I'm assigning guild members to you, so stick together! We cannot afford to compete with only four players due to some stupid mistake. Got it?"
"Got it, got it."
As Tae-hyun nodded and walked out with the others, Lee Se-yeon turned her gaze to Do Dong-su.
"You heard that too, right?"
"Hmph. I can take care of myself."
"I trust you can. But I'd appreciate it if you followed basic instructions."
"Hmph. I didn't join this team to take orders from you."
"I assume you don't want to embarrass yourself in the tournament?"
Do Dong-su didn't answer and simply stormed out. Lee Se-yeon let out a deep sigh. Watching her, Kim Chul-soo spoke up apologetically.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't much help..."
"No, it's fine. It's not like anything would have changed if you spoke up, Chul-soo... I don't know how we ended up with a group of people who are so incredibly hard to work with. Though I suppose it's partly my own doing..."
She had been greedy to enter the tournament as a team with Tae-hyun, but she hadn't expected it to turn out like this. Honestly, if either Do Dong-su or Tae-hyun weren't here, the atmosphere would have been much more harmonious.
Still, it seems like things will run properly for now.
Tae-hyun would listen to her for the time being, and Do Dong-su wanted to perform well in the tournament, so he wouldn't do anything openly crazy. It was precarious, but it seemed manageable.
"Ugh, seriously. So annoying."
"..."
"Seriously, seriously annoying! Why do I have to do this?!"
The guild members Lee Se-yeon had summoned to guard Tae-hyun and Cain were Kim Hyeon-ah and her friend. Naturally, there was no way Kim Hyeon-ah would look at Tae-hyun with friendly eyes. She was venting her frustration so openly that the other guild members wondered if this was really okay.
Of course, Tae-hyun was not the type of person to quietly empathize with her feelings.
"Hey! Se-yeon! The younger sister you trusted and assigned to us hates me so much she's not going to do her job properly! We'll just go on our own— mmpf!"
Tae-hyun immediately tried to snitch!
"Are you crazy?!" Kim Hyeon-ah turned pale and scrambled to cover his mouth.
To think there was someone in this world who could do something so petty with such shameless confidence!
"I'm just being considerate since you said you didn't want to do it."
"How is that being considerate?!"
"Fine. I'll show consideration in a different way. I'm fine, so just protect this guy. He's the weakest." Tae-hyun pointed at Cain.
Cain wore an incredibly humiliated expression.
"Is this person really the weakest?"
"That's right."
"He certainly does look a bit weak."
"He looks it on the outside, but he's weak in reality too."
"No, I'm not! I'm not, you jerks!" Cain finally exploded.
"Everyone, please come to the waiting room. The match will be announced shortly," an MBS staff member approached and said.
The upcoming battle against Team Blue. The arena map for the match was about to be decided.
"Is there a map you want?"
"Well, I don't really care either way..."
Tae-hyun fell into thought. He had watched Team Blue's videos because Lee Se-yeon had sent them repeatedly (and called him until he checked). As expected of a team that had fought through a fierce preliminary round, they were exceptionally well-balanced. A solid team with a standard class composition and the ability to handle any variable!
In contrast, Tae-hyun's team possessed great individual skills but had the teamwork of loose sand.
It could get annoying if we don't shake them up a bit. As for the arena map... I hope there are a lot of obstacles.
Meanwhile, Team Blue was also in the middle of a strategy meeting. Unlike Tae-hyun's team, their atmosphere was warm and friendly!
"Everyone ready? Just do as we practiced."
"Leave it to me. I'm going to utterly crush that Cain bastard. I'll make sure he's completely humiliated." Lee Ju-hyeong gritted his teeth as he cursed Cain.
Tae-hyun was the one who had caused all the trouble, yet no one was cursing Tae-hyun. The sheer absurdity of it!
The other teammates didn't bother stopping him.
Ju-hyeong always plays better when he's fired up like that.
It's good to be motivated.
"Cain and Kim Tae-hyun will definitely move together. They'll probably split 2-2-1."
"Like they did in the practice matches? That's definitely the safest bet. Do Dong-su is hard to catch if you avoid him, and Tae-hyun-Cain and Lee Se-yeon-Kim Chul-soo are both powerful duos..."
"We can easily block Do Dong-su if we just do what we practiced. Won-chul, you can do it, right?"
"Of course. Just set the target properly."
One of Team Blue's players possessed a tracking skill. It allowed him to designate a target and pinpoint their location for a short duration. If used correctly, they could track Do Dong-su's movements.
"Do Dong-su is a Thief anyway. His compatibility with me is the absolute worst."
"Good. I'm counting on you. Then the rest of us just have to hold out... but Tae-hyun and Cain are dangerous. Lee Se-yeon and Kim Chul-soo can be stalled, but Kim Tae-hyun is no joke. Looking at the practice matches, he deals burst damage in the blink of an eye."
"Cain pulls them in, and Kim Tae-hyun deals the damage. Simple, but incredibly hard to deal with."
At level 100 scaling, the Lee Se-yeon and Kim Chul-soo duo didn't have destructive damage. However, Kim Tae-hyun and Cain still showed terrifying damage output even under those conditions.
"It really has to be a map with lots of obstacles. That's the only way to avoid getting targeted."
"Please, a map with lots of obstacles. A map with lots of obstacles..."
The players of Team Blue prayed fervently.
And the result was revealed.
The map selected for this match is the Forest of Magic Rampage!
"Yes! We got it!"
Team Blue cheered. They had been on edge, but fortunately, they got the exact map they wanted.
Meanwhile, Tae-hyun's team was also discussing the match.
"Do you think Cain is going to embarrass himself in this match or not?"
"I think he will."
"Really? Then should I bet that he won't... No, actually, I want to bet that he will. I think he's going to."
"If you both bet that he will, the bet doesn't work."
Cain's tightly clenched fists trembled. Even Kim Hyeon-ah looked at him with pity!
"Ahem. The map has been decided."
Everyone turned their heads as Chairman Yoo approached, clearing his throat.
Lee Se-yeon whispered to Lee Da-bi.
"By the way, who is that gentleman walking around with Kim Tae-hyun? Is he an elder in his family?"
"They do seem close."
"Really?"
Lee Se-yeon, who had been planning to ask unrelated people to leave, hesitated. If he was Tae-hyun's relative, it would be awkward to kick him out.
But why is he here? Did he come to cheer for Kim Tae-hyun?
"How about we all take a photo together?"
"...Old man..."
"N-No, it's not like I really want to take one!"
"Why don't we just take it at the broadcasting station? We'll all gather there for the main match anyway."
"...Well, due to certain circumstances... I can't go to the broadcasting station."
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