Winners and Losers
Normally, a winning team should be filled with a pleasant sense of victory, while the losing team is draped in a gloomy shroud of defeat. However, after the first match ended, a bizarre, subtle tension hung heavily over the waiting rooms of both teams.
On Tae-hyun's team, everyone was walking on eggshells, exchanging wary glances without uttering a single word. In moments like this, it was always Lee Se-yeon who had to draw the short straw and speak up.
"Everyone did great. You all did amazing, but... what in the world was that fire?!"
Even Lee Se-yeon couldn't completely keep her emotions in check. She and Kim Chul-soo had fought tooth and nail in the first match, putting their absolute faith in their teammates. Since the opposing mage and priest were no pushovers, Se-yeon had summoned her undead to form a vanguard while she kept the enemy at bay from the rear with a complex combination of curses.
But out of nowhere, a massive forest fire had erupted in the woods right beside them. It was utterly absurd. Everyone turned their gaze to Tae-hyun. He hadn't explicitly said, "I did it!" but they all knew. Who else but Tae-hyun would pull a stunt like that?
"Why the long faces? You don't have to thank me. We're a team, right?"
"What do you mean, 'right'?! Why didn't you say anything beforehand?!"
"Because if I told you, you would've stopped me."
Tae-hyun replied, gesturing toward Do Dong-su with a flick of his chin. Dong-su's face contorted in rage. “That absolute piece of—!”
"Look at him. He was struggling and couldn't even win a simple one-on-one. If I hadn't set that fire, our bottom lane would've collapsed, and then your side would've been overrun next."
Tae-hyun fired off the cold, hard facts. Normally, Do Dong-su would have barked back, but he couldn't utter a single word of protest. Every word was undeniably true! He had made an absolute fool of himself in that match.
Lee Se-yeon buried her face in her hands and let out a deep sigh. A throbbing headache was starting to form. They had won, but she felt like they were sitting on a ticking time bomb.
"Fine. Fine. So, what's the plan for the second match?"
"Let's set another fire."
At Tae-hyun's words, Do Dong-su whipped his head around and glared. "What did you just say, you bastard?"
To say right to his face that he was going to set a fire right behind him! Yet Tae-hyun didn't even blink.
"You do whatever you want, so why can't I? I'm going to do whatever I want too."
A bold, shameless declaration. If you can do it, so can I! Do Dong-su's jaw dropped. He had thought he was the only one who could act selfishly and threaten the team, but he was dead wrong. And to make matters worse, Tae-hyun was leagues ahead of him at his own game!
"Ugh... uuuugh..." As Lee Se-yeon clutched her throbbing temples in agony, Cain and Kim Chul-soo tried to comfort her.
"Just try to understand, Captain. That guy is a total psycho," Cain whispered.
"W-well, I wouldn't go quite that far..." Kim Chul-soo chimed in gently. "But surely he had a plan in mind? And hey, we did win."
Meanwhile, Do Dong-su and Tae-hyun were having a fierce, hushed argument of their own.
"If you're going to be like that, I'm not going to move a single inch!"
"Suit yourself. When they ask me in the post-match interview why Do Dong-su didn't move, I'll make sure to give them a very detailed explanation."
"..." Whiplash! Utterly speechless, Do Dong-su snapped his head away and shut his mouth tight.
"Alright, everything's settled then, right? We're setting another fire in the second match."
— "It seems Team Blue is still reeling from their defeat in the first match. Their expressions are incredibly grim."
— "On the other hand, the Korean team looks surprisingly tense. They don't look like a team that just secured an overwhelming victory in game one. I wonder why they're so wound up?"
— "That is what we call professional mindset! A true professional never lets their guard down until the very end. Back when I was a pro player, those were the kinds of players who always succeeded."
In reality, Tae-hyun's team was merely screaming silent curses and shooting daggers of pure hatred at each other. The only problem was that, to the outside world, this toxic atmosphere looked like a display of razor-sharp focus and intense competitive tension.
Just before the match began, Cain leaned in and whispered in a low voice.
"Hey, is this arson strategy really going to work a second time?"
"Let's call it a fire attack. 'Arson' sounds so unrefined."
"...Fine. Will this 'fire attack' actually work?"
"I have no idea."
"Hey!"
"What, do you think I'm some kind of god? How am I supposed to know everything?"
Cain flinched at Tae-hyun's retort. Because everything Tae-hyun had predicted in the first match had been spot-on, Cain had subconsciously begun to view him as an omniscient mastermind.
"If they're smart, they'll come up with a countermeasure. If they're smarter than me, they'll turn it against us. How should I know what they're going to do?"
"I-I suppose that's true."
"But I think it'll probably work for at least the second game. They lost the first match in such an absurd way that they must be in shock. Plus, from their perspective, all the skirmishes in their lanes were incredibly close, lost by just a hair..."
Although the final result was a ridiculous defeat, the actual process had been a series of close calls. In truth, Cha Won-cheol had been on the verge of killing Do Dong-su, and the mid lane wouldn't have lost two players if they hadn't chased after Tae-hyun and Cain.
That was why Tae-hyun predicted Team Blue wouldn't change their strategy for the second match. When people lost in that manner, they rarely had the resolve to completely overhaul their plans.
"Since it's a best-of-five, securing a two-game lead puts us in an incredibly advantageous position."
"Yeah, winning two games easily is a massive deal."
"Exactly. Getting two free wins is basically a free ride."
Tae-hyun didn't expect this fire attack to work past the second game either. The opponents weren't idiots. If they fell for it twice, they would find a way to block it by the third.
Meanwhile, Team Blue was wrapping up their strategy meeting. Just as Tae-hyun had anticipated, they intended to stick to their original game plan from the first match.
"Trust me just one more time. We can win this. We were caught off guard last time because we didn't know what to expect, but now that we do, we won't falter," Cha Won-cheol pleaded earnestly.
He had good reason to be desperate. He really had been on the cusp of defeating Do Dong-su before letting him slip away due to a minor slip-up.
Lee Ju-hyeong gnashed his teeth, blaming himself.
"I was so stupid! I let myself get baited by that bastard Cain and rushed in. I should have held my ground and waited. If I had, we wouldn't have thrown that first game!"
Cain hadn't actually taunted him, but in Lee Ju-hyeong's memory, it had been a calculated provocation.
"Calm down, Ju-hyeong. Just don't let it happen in the next game."
"Thanks, hyung. I won't fall for it this time. No matter how much they try to provoke me, I'm going to hold the line until the very end."
Cha Won-cheol would eliminate Do Dong-su. The other two duos would stall for time. It was the classic turtling strategy! Last time, they had been fooled by the rising flames and the sight of Tae-hyun and Cain fleeing, but they wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. Lee Ju-hyeong steeled his resolve.
The second match began, and after a brief hesitation, Do Dong-su finally made his move. He had realized that staying idle would bring him absolutely no benefit.
"Do Dong-su! Fighting! You can do it, Do Dong-su!"
— "Oh, Kim Tae-hyun is cheering for Do Dong-su! Why the sudden encouragement?"
— "It's probably because of the teamkill in the first match."
— "Ah, hahaha! That's it! That must be why. Kim Tae-hyun is surprisingly soft-hearted, isn't he?"
— "Indeed. Honestly, that was a brilliant play in that situation. If he hadn't done that, Do Dong-su would have been captured alone. It's really not something he needs to feel guilty about."
— "But between the players themselves, it can be a different story. Either way, it's heartwarming to see."
— "It looks like Do Dong-su is quite touched as well. His shoulders seem to be trembling..."
Just like before, Tae-hyun set the forest ablaze. Watching this, Cain remarked,
"I realize this every time I see it, but holy-attribute skills are seriously broken."
"There are plenty of useless ones too."
Mostly the ones related to Akisus! Of course, Tae-hyun kept that to himself. Speaking of it would only bring back painful memories.
I was even prepared to use Demer's Time Reversal if things went south, but the opportunity never presented itself.
If things had gone wrong in the first match, he had planned to rely on his recovery-type authority to engage in a head-on brawl. But since the victory came so easily, he hadn't needed to. While alternating recovery skills with Kim Chul-soo was mechanically impossible due to system limitations, even without that, the authority of Demer was exceptionally powerful.
"Are you done? Let's go then!" Cain was about to charge toward the center with high spirits, but Tae-hyun grabbed him by the shoulder.
"...?"
"We're not going to the center. We're following Do Dong-su."
"??"
Do Dong-su locked eyes with Cha Won-cheol. He didn't rush in blindly like before. That would be suicide. No matter how much HP you have, I'll chip it away bit by bit! He didn't care if the flames spread nearby. In a chaotic environment, a thief class like Do Dong-su held the upper hand.
Come on. Try rushing me like you did last time! Steeling himself, Do Dong-su exuded an immense pressure—enough to make Cha Won-cheol tense up again.
Cha Won-cheol took a deep breath. There's no need to be afraid. Even if Do Dong-su attacks, he won't be able to pierce my defense anyway.
Even if he had to take ten hits, he would land one solid blow. That was Cha Won-cheol's plan. Come on!Bring it! While both of them were sizing each other up...
"...!" Cha Won-cheol's eyes suddenly widened. Seeing this, Do Dong-su smirked. Scared already, punk?
"H-how are you here?!"
"...?"
Behind him, Tae-hyun and Cain were charging forward.
"Get him!"
"On it!"
"?!?!"
Normally, leaving an entire lane completely vacant was a highly risky strategy. If the enemy didn't show up, they could simply capture the point and immediately rotate to support other lanes.
However, that didn't happen in this match. Lee Ju-hyeong, who had gone to the center, was standing his ground, refusing to budge. He glared at the empty clearing with burning eyes, determined not to fall for any tricks.
"I don't see them. Where are they hiding?"
"It doesn't matter. We'll just wait, and the moment they show their faces, we'll crush them. That's all!"
Lee Ju-hyeong had plenty of pride in his own skills. He was fully confident that if he waited here and the enemy approached, he would emerge victorious.
Come on, bring it! How long are you going to hide? I won't fall for it this time! Even if the fire reaches all the way here!
Even if the flames swept toward him, he would retreat backward rather than step forward and trigger a trap. Meanwhile, Tae-hyun and Cain were absolutely pummeling Cha Won-cheol.
There was no way Cha Won-cheol could withstand the combined assault of Tae-hyun and Cain all by himself. He was nothing more than a high-HP punching bag.
"Ugh! Argh!"
"He's down. Let's head over to Lee Se-yeon's side!"
Just as quickly as he had arrived, Tae-hyun vanished. Cain followed him like the wind. Left entirely alone, Do Dong-su could only blink in utter disbelief, unable to process what had just happened.
2-0. In a best-of-five series, being down two games was a desperate, back-to-the-wall situation. That was exactly where Team Blue found themselves.
They had never imagined Tae-hyun and Cain would abandon their lane entirely to team up with Do Dong-su and immediately shut down Cha Won-cheol. It was a reckless gamble they hadn't anticipated.
What made it even more infuriating was that while the enemy pulled off this high-risk play, the two members of Team Blue in the center had stood completely still! Their faces flushed red with humiliation at the realization that they had been guarding against a non-existent enemy. They had been played like absolute fools.
As the members of Team Blue sat in their booth with expressions of pure rage, Tae-hyun turned to Cain.
"We need to stay focused for the third match. They'll definitely come out with a solid countermeasure to our fire attack. Unlike the first two games, this one is going to be tough."
Cain nodded with a grim expression. They were opponents who had made it all the way to the main tournament. There was no way they would collapse so easily.
The rest of the team agreed with Tae-hyun's assessment. Since Tae-hyun, who had orchestrated their victories in the first two matches, was warning them, his words carried immense weight. In the third match, their opponents would surely unleash their true, terrifying strength, gnashing their teeth for revenge!
Except, that didn't happen.
Having their spirits utterly crushed after losing two games in a row, Team Blue's mental state had completely disintegrated. In the third match, they made one ridiculous mistake after another, crumbling in an instant.
Without even a clear counter-strategy, they were dragged around helplessly before being completely wiped out. In the end, Tae-hyun's team swept the series 3-0, bringing a swift end to the day's match.
"...Didn't you say we needed to stay focused?"
"Shut up."