95. Baekya
95. Baekya
***
"The third match is a Gauntlet Match, so it's 1:1, right?"
I already knew from seeing the rules after the opening, but I asked again anyway.
[yeah its 1:1]
[for match 3 theres no player selection like matches 1 and 2, they just reveal all 3 players and the opener second and anchor are all decided in advance]
[G1's gonna win today and make it 7 in a row right?]
[G1's individual players have greater name recognition, but Baekya is insane in 1-on-1s, so who knows]
[G1's still gonna win lol what do you mean who knows lol]
[Don't you know every match BS took points from went to Game 3 and Baekya hard-carried?]
[yeah but G1 beat TSJ recently]
[that's because Jeanne d'Arc wasn't there lol]
[oh so did BS beat TSJ without Jeanne d'Arc? lol]
......
—The final match between the two teams! We will now reveal the list of players taking part in the Gauntlet Match!
As time passed, the caster's shout rang out, and the players taking part in the final match between G1 and BS, the Gauntlet Match, were revealed.
Since things like side selection meant nothing, the three players from each team taking part in the Gauntlet Match were displayed, along with the order their team had assigned them next to their names.
The first player to go was called the Opener, the second the Second, and the final players were each called the Anchor.
*
————
[G1]
—Opener: Shotgun Gunner - Hajun.
—Second: Sniper Gunner - Minha.
—Anchor: Greatsword Warrior - Kang Hyeok.
[BS]
—Opener: Longbow Archer - Baekya.
—Second: Crossbow Archer - Jeongmak.
—Anchor: Spearman - Longinus.
————
*
Next to the order, the weapons and classes the pro players used were also shown. Serin watched with interest, but felt a bit puzzled.
'Do aces usually go as the opener?'
Anyone could see that Baekya was BS's ace, yet she was going out as the opener, while Kang Hyeok, who looked like G1's core, was in the final position as the anchor.
On top of that, the Gunner Class and Spearman players she was seeing for the first time drew her interest too.
"BS... it's interesting that Baekya is going as the opener. And now that I look, why are the G1 players' nicknames their real names? Is there some special reason?"
As she watched, the contrast between the nicknames was so stark that she even felt a sense of disconnect.
G1, whose nicknames were clearly their real names, versus BS, whose players' nicknames clearly looked like they had something behind them.
[that's just because G1's captain is Kang Hyeok lol]
[Kang Hyeok's been a core player since G1 was founded, and apparently he said they should deliberately use their real names as pro stage names]
[I heard he banned the team from using English nicknames or whatever because he wanted them to take the game seriously]
[that's actually insane lol and the G1 kids actually went along with Kang Hyeok and did it lol]
[even the G1 trainees are probably using their real names as nicknames]
***
—Gauntlet Match rules.
You cannot see your opponent and choose players to match them, nor can you know the opposing players in advance.
It is simply a match where each team fields three players confident in their individual skills, predicting the opposing player pool and placing them in the Opener, Second, and Anchor positions.
Because of that, though it was truly rare, if the matchups were extremely lopsided, a dramatic situation could unfold where a single pro player subdued all three opposing pro players.
The Gauntlet Match, which only takes place in the ACK Pro League when a multi-game series ends in a tie, was also called the highlight of the pro league.
......
And the Gauntlet Match now beginning looked different from the very start compared to matches 1 and 2.
Not the wide Colosseum backdrop of the 3:3 team format, but a Colosseum that looked like something you'd only see in Solo Rank.
【Players, enter!】
A pleasant female voice rang through the Colosseum, and through two prepared entrances at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions, two players emerged from opposite sides at once.
The male Gunner Hajun, dressed as a cowboy holding a massive black shotgun,
and in contrast, the female Archer Baekya, clad in pure white cloth and holding a large white longbow.
As the two stepped into their designated positions, a massive hologram appeared.
—G1's Opener, Hajun.
—BS's Opener, Baekya.
As if announcing the current Gauntlet Match matchup, the hologram was vividly visible even in each player's field of view.
And facing each other, the two players both smiled without either being first.
"This matchup is... really cruel."
Hajun, who had laughed because this matchup was too absurd, spoke first.
"It is cruel. Really."
Baekya, deliberately speaking in an annoying voice, looked at Hajun and smirked.
It was common knowledge that for Ranged Classes, range mattered more than anything else.
And now, Baekya, who had the advantage in long-range and mid-range shooting, was overwhelmingly favored against Hajun, a Gunner with a shotgun.
'This is really something. Coach Baek.'
Baekya laughed silently to herself once more.
The moment the player matchups were revealed, Baekya had let out a cheer.
The Opener and Second were both Gunners, and every matchup was even favorable to Baekya herself.
The strategy of putting herself, the team's ace, as the opener was Coach Baek's strategy, accepted through Baekya's support after the match 1 victory.
—The duel begins.
At the hologram notification that appeared before long, Hajun and Baekya wiped the playfulness from their faces and readied their weapons.
—3. 2. 1.
The moment the countdown ended, both players kicked off the ground.
Thud!!
Compared to Hajun, who was trying to close the distance somehow, Baekya calmly held her longbow and quickly retreated backward.
She didn't even forget to raise her longbow and fire suppressive shots while throwing her body into motion.
—Rapid Fire.
Rapid Fire was famous as a close-range response skill even for long-range-oriented Archers in Sniper Mode.
Swish!
Hajun threw himself toward nearby cover to avoid the swiftly fired arrow.
Swish!
Swish!
Under the continuous Rapid Fire, Hajun couldn't easily close the distance.
"Ha."
A sigh escaped him from sheer frustration, but no good option came to Hajun's mind.
Firing from this distance would mean nothing.
Gripping his shotgun tightly as he watched Baekya, who had already widened the gap, Hajun soon made his decision.
Since this wasn't a matchup where stalling would bring victory, he would throw a gamble from the very start.
Instead, Hajun swung his shotgun behind him, kicked off the ground, and immediately activated a skill.
—Infinite Blow.
A skill that unleashed dozens of rapid shots in the direction the shotgun was aimed, it was long a nightmare for Melee Classes.
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!!!!!
Hajun, who had already launched himself into the air with a leap, fired madly into the empty air, using the recoil to shoot himself sharply forward.
Watching Hajun fly through the air at high speed, Baekya nocked an arrow to her longbow without a moment's hesitation.
Whatever gamble a close-range Gunner-type could pull, Baekya had already predicted it, so her response was near-instantaneous.
—White Night.
A pure white light seemed to settle on the longbow, and then a massive burst of light erupted along Baekya's slender fingers as she released the bowstring.
"...Ha."
In that moment, Hajun sensed his fate in midair. By the time he saw the trail of light illuminating the Colosseum, it was too late to shift his trajectory with recoil while shooting through the air.
WHOOOOOSH!!
The characteristically delayed sound of the skill White Night burst out along the trail of light.
And in one corner of the player Baekya's vision, a notification tinged with gold appeared.
—Victory!!
Looking at those words, Baekya recalled a resolution once more.
'I'm definitely making playoffs.'
Before today, she had honestly half given up, thinking beating G1 was nearly impossible, but the current situation made hope look so much bigger.
【Players, enter!】
At the female voice that rang out next, another opponent began walking out from the opposite side.
As Minha appeared—a sharp-featured woman in special black clothing holding an enormous sniper rifle—Baekya smiled brightly and waved her longbow.
Seeing that, Minha frowned and muttered with a sigh.
"Baekya, please... stop smiling like that."
"I'm smiling because I'm happy to see you. Why?"
Baekya giggled, not forgetting to get under her opponent's skin.
As the two took their designated positions again, a massive hologram appeared.
—G1's Second, Minha.
—BS's Opener, Baekya.
A showdown between a Gunner-type with a sniper rifle and an Archer centered on sniping.
One might think the sniper rifle would have the advantage in a ranged fight, but Baekya was a pro with high proficiency in close-range, mid-range, and long-range shooting alike.
She was a skilled player who could somewhat ignore normal matchup dynamics. In contrast, G1's Second, Minha, was a female pro with an outstanding advantage in long-range sniping but conversely showed considerable vulnerability in close combat.
—The duel begins.
The pleasant female voice announcing the duel rang out immediately.
***
"You seem busy..."
Watching Serin, who was broadcasting the ACK tournament, Hayoon momentarily wondered what to do.
She had just finished all the work on the first video to be uploaded to RinTube and was about to get it approved, but Rin seemed busy watching the match even though it was past 10 p.m., as if she planned to stream long today.
"For now... let me at least get Soyul to check it."
So she sent a message first to Soyul, a more experienced editor and colleague.
Kim Hayoon.
[Soyul, I finished working on the first video for RinTube. Could you check it?]
Soyul.
[Yes, Hayoon, if you send the video now I'll check it right away.]
Hayoon smiled slightly at Soyul's warmly familiar message and felt a small sense of relief at the message saying she would check the video right away.
When she sent the video file immediately after, a message appeared saying it had been transmitted normally.
Five minutes passed like that.
Then another ten minutes passed, and Hayoon was still waiting for a message with Rin's stream on.
—Baekya won again... at this rate, isn't she really going to all-kill by herself?
Even as she listened to Rin speak in admiration, Hayoon felt a different anxiety.
'What if Soyul says the video isn't good...'
From wondering whether ten minutes was enough time to finish checking a video, to worrying that maybe there was a problem with the video and Soyul was polishing it, all sorts of thoughts ran through her head.
BaTalk!
The moment the notification rang, Hayoon checked the message right away.
Soyul.
[Hayoon, I think the video is really good! I just think it would be better if you changed the font to something a bit cleaner. I'll leave a font file I think is clean in the chat, so could you switch to that and upload it?]
Kim Hayoon.
[Thank you, Soyul! I'll work with the font you told me about and then upload the video!]
Soyul.
[Yes, I think that'll work.]
Tap tap tap.
After that, Hayoon worked on changing the video to the font Soyul had told her about. Since it was just a simple font replacement, it didn't take long before the video was uploaded to RinTube.
[RinTube open!]
And so, the first RinTube video went up.