Losers of the Academy League (3)
"Hey, you guys see the enemy team anywhere?"
"Nah, nobody's in sight."
"They must be hiding in their lanes, scared shitless from that last beatdown, right?"
"Yeah, turns out it wasn't that big a deal after all, huh?"
The enemy team was nowhere to be seen, but our players brushed it off like it was nothing.
They figured it made sense—no point clashing during the invade phase and risking a kill that could snowball the game before it even started.
But even after the first wave hit the lanes and fights broke out, most of the enemy team still hadn't shown up.
Not even in the key lanes: carry, mid, or offlane.
That's when our team finally sensed something was off.
"Wait... where the hell did they all go?"
"Hiding in their base like cowards?"
"That doesn't make sense. They gotta be somewhere—what are they even doing—"
"Huh? What?"
"What the—? They took Rosi before two minutes? At level 1?"
"W-what is this? Hayoung, what do we do?"
"F-first, me, Eunjae, and Seon-ah, let's go check it out!"
Hayoung panicked visibly and rushed toward the Rosi Pit, but all they found was an empty, desolate crater.
In the meantime, the carry lane—now missing both supports—got pushed back by the enemy offlaner, losing CS left and right. Mid was getting shoved hard too, minions piling up under the tower.
"They're... not here...?"
"Ugh... uh... f-for now, let's just fall back, reset... Oh god!"
As the three tried to return to lane, Brilliant's supports ambushed them from the hill above. Caught off-guard by enemies in the fog, our girls flailed in panic, only to get chased down by the two supports, cut off by the offlaner, and surrounded by the rapidly pushing midlaner Oh Sujin.
"Aaaah!"
"Damn it... it's a total trap!"
"Of course it's a trap, you idiots. Didn't see that coming?"
Thwack.
Oh Sujin, having snagged the Mauler Warrior, swung her axe as she closed in. The level gap from the Rosi kill made her unstoppable now.
With max attack speed auto-attacks stacking bonus damage per hit, it only took a few swings for our champions' health bars to plummet.
In the end, the three who'd rushed to check the Rosi Pit fell completely into Brilliant's trap and got wiped.
"Pathetic."
###
The massive level gap from the Rosi kill experience.
The huge gold influx from that same Rosi kill.
Plus three more kills from the latecomers to the pit.
Less than three minutes in, and the gap was already massive.
This kind of deficit was recoverable for Division 1 pros, but our girls weren't there yet—and they'd never faced anything like this.
Every metric tilted hard toward Brilliant. Our team lost all composure.
With the game already looking grim, desperation took over: one big play to turn it around. Old bad habits resurfaced across every lane.
Hayoung spammed skillshots recklessly at the offlaner, ignoring her jungle stacks.
Seon-ah dove for solo kills, feeding gank angles.
Eunjae's roams kept whiffing, falling behind in levels.
Sera's frustration led to missed last-hits, and she skipped skirmishes to catch up on CS.
Yuna got rolled up tight by the enemy Phantom Lord—who she'd covered early—and their supports, feeding kill after kill.
No lane was functioning. For a team facing all this for the first time, collapse was inevitable.
In the ensuing teamfight, we got aced. Oh Sujin, now snowballed beyond control, sneered as she carved through our players.
She approached Sera for the finisher, flashing a venomous grin.
"Thought you bitches were rabid dogs in scrims? Turns out you suck at the game."
With that, she swung her axe, ending Sera.
The game was beyond salvage. No fed laners on our side, while their Mauler Warrior and Phantom Lord were monstrous—with no frontline to stop them.
Base exploded. GG. 0:1.
Shining Star suffered their first official set loss since the summer season began.
Back in the lounge, the stinging unfamiliarity of defeat had them fuming and muttering.
It was a total domination, dancing in the enemy's palm. Yuna sat red-faced, drumming the table. Eunjae silently headed down for a smoke. Seon-ah and Hayoung bickered over the game.
But Sera was in the worst shape.
"Fucking bitch... fucking bitch..."
Having lost so humiliatingly in front of everyone, Sera muttered curses alone, convinced she'd been looked down on again.
The players' states were a mess at a glance. This was when a coach earned their keep.
Start with the one about to blow: Sera.
"Sera."
I called, but she stared at the floor, still mumbling to herself.
I stepped right up to her.
"Shin Sera!"
She finally looked my way.
I dropped to one knee, leveling my eyes with hers.
"Sera, get your head in the game! I get how pissed you are about losing! But if you let those emotions take over, you're playing right into their hands! Getting manipulated like that by the enemy? You'll lose winnable games!"
"So what? We lost. Died like idiots. Now everyone's gonna look down on me."
Sera wouldn't buy it easily. The loss itself was bad, but crumbling without a fight had triggered her trauma. Her exotic looks and background had made her a target for half-thug bullies growing up—she was hypersensitive to being underestimated.
I cupped her cheeks with both hands, forcing eye contact.
"Win, and no one looks down on you. People who judge off one game aren't fans—they're worthless trash irrelevant to your life. No need to sweat every single one. And even if they do?"
Our eyes locked in the air.
"I've got your back."
"......"
Sera's pupils quivered slightly.
"Don't forget—I'm always behind you. Play your game. No need to shrink or rage. You're the type who rises above this shit without batting an eye, right? And we made a promise: no matter how mad you get, stay cool and composed. Give it your absolute best."
I hooked out my pinky. Sera's fierce expression softened; she dipped her head and linked her pinky with mine, nodding.
I released her cheeks. As Eunjae returned from her smoke, I gathered everyone and sat them down.
"You're all pissed about the loss. Can't accept it, feels unfair and infuriating. 'If only I'd spotted it sooner, moved faster, done this or that...' Regrets piling up. I get it."
No response from the players.
"But think about this: no pro in the world is undefeated. Our team's like a newborn baby. Babies don't walk or run right away—we're no different. Trial and error is inevitable, and that game was part of it. Even the world's best sprinter fell on their ass as a kid.
Don't forget the loss, but don't let it clutter your head. Focus on how to beat those bastards next game.
Have you never beaten them before? Hell no—you've already crushed them in multi-game scrims. You're better than them.
We lost for one reason: panicked in an unfamiliar spot. That's what they targeted—our inexperience."
"So what do we do now?"
Hayoung asked with desperate eyes. She'd just painfully realized her own greenness.
She kept regretting the call to check Rosi after the message.
"If they pull that weird strategy again... what do we do? I've never seen anything like it—I don't even know how to respond..."
"Exactly, it's normal not to know. We never practiced that. No need to blame yourself for the call, Hayoung. If you'd known and still did it, that'd be the issue. But you didn't—so that means room to grow."
"But the next game's right now..."
"Guys, seems like you've forgotten something."
I thumped my chest with my fist.
"Your coach is solo queue rank 1 Kang Yuseong. You think I've never dealt with this? Even a baby walks faster with help."
With that, I gave feedback on the previous game and laid out the strategy.
Brilliant must've thought we'd crumble against their cheese tactics. What they didn't know?
Their opponent, Shining Star's coach Kang Yuseong, had grinded Division 1 Eternal Combat for 7 years—11 domestic league wins, 3 season majors, 3 TICs. The world's number one pro.
Let's see whose experience runs deeper. Whose strategic insight is sharper.
They'll learn the hard way.
You picked the wrong team to cheese.