120. There Are Winners Because There Are Losers
120. There Are Winners Because There Are Losers
***
"Why... am I the one feeling bad?"
The duel between the knight and the sniper a moment ago had gone beyond being anticlimactic—watching it had actually made me angry.
I'd always hated seeing melee classes toyed with by ranged classes, but when it went this far and I saw such an extreme matchup, I couldn't help but empathize.
To the point where I almost resented G1's Minha, a player who had done absolutely nothing wrong.
'And on top of that... I thought he was some kind of real Roland.'
In the world of Black Ark, he had been known as the embodiment of tenacity—a character who never bent his convictions no matter how much pressure was applied.
He had even been called a genius of hard work, and yet he was a tragic knight who never got his moment in any storyline.
Roland.
'...'
The match itself had also looked like the player Roland refusing to give up until the very moment he turned into light and vanished, so my eyes had kept drifting to him.
What I saw was clearly different from simply a pro player who couldn't afford to give up on a match... Watching him, he genuinely looked like someone struggling desperately.
"No, what am I saying. It's just a league match..."
I let out a small sigh and shook my head. Too many things were overlapping and making me overthink it.
Now that each team's opener had fallen, Charlemagne's second player made an appearance.
Charlemagne's second player was an Archer Class.
And judging by the massive longbow, it was a sniper-type Archer Class.
—G1 Second Player, Minha.
—Charlemagne Second Player, Olivier.
The Charlemagne player name displayed on the screen.
The moment I saw Olivier following Roland, a thought struck me.
"...This is literally the Twelve Peers of Charlemagne."
The Twelve Peers of Charlemagne.
I wondered why I'd only just now thought of something so obvious, but I was curious how the match would play out, so I focused on the rest of it.
And the result of the match that followed...
It was so brutal that even Serin stopped watching and shook her head.
G1's second player, Minha, had gone on to defeat both the opposing second player and anchor, setting yet another all-kill record.
—G1's momentum is absolutely insane!! Who on earth can stop G1?! Who?!
—That's eight straight wins! Eight straight wins! No other team in the league has ever put together a streak like this except TSJ in their prime!
—In the previous gauntlet match, G1's captain Kang Hyeok got the all-kill! And now Minha gets an all-kill in this gauntlet match, making it back-to-back all-kills! G1 is creating yet another record with their devastating form!
The casters and commentators shouted with seemingly endless energy. The commentator's voice boomed through the arena, forcefully explaining exactly why G1 was a powerhouse.
Then came the MVP interview and the highlight reels.
And yet, for some reason, behind the G1 players filling the screen for the MVP interview, my eyes kept catching the small inset view of the Charlemagne players leaving the arena with bitter expressions.
"...Ah."
The Charlemagne team's utterly deflated atmosphere.
They say winners shine so brightly only because there are losers who put up a good fight alongside them. Honestly, until now I had never empathized with that saying at all.
My eyes had always gone to the winning teams and players. I'd always thought the victorious side that claimed everything was naturally cooler and in the right.
But.
More than the brilliant winners filling the screen right now, the sight of the Charlemagne players bitterly leaving the arena in the corner of the screen held my gaze to a strange degree.
"Seriously, this feels so weird..."
Muttering that in my unsettled mood, I turned off the ACK channel.
And right on cue.
—BaTalk!
My BaTalk went off.
Park Soyul.
[Rin, how should I respond to the scrim requests coming in from pro teams? Other pro teams are sending scrim offers too... But considering your current schedule, I don't think you have nearly enough room to accept them.]
For a moment, I couldn't process that scrim offers had come in.
I hadn't even scrimmed against G1 yet. Apparently other teams were sending scrim offers too, and while I wondered if this was also G1's influence, it was also kind of absurd.
A pro team requesting a scrim against a streamer—that was pretty surprising.
And I really didn't have the personal time to accept scrims.
A scrim wasn't just showing up on the day and killing time by facing the players.
At minimum, I'd need to research each player and figure out how to deal with them.
Honestly, I did wonder if I really needed to prepare that much, but the fact that G1 players had donated in my stream and the rumor about the scrim had spread so widely was just too big a deal.
The stakes had grown too large to half-ass a scrim.
I cleared the distracting thoughts from my head and gave a small laugh.
"Still, I should turn them down."
One way or another, declining the scrim offers felt like the right call.
Me.
[Please decline all scrim requests for the time being. I have new plans next weekend too, so I don't think I'll have any free time for a while.]
Next weekend, the 21st and 22nd, had become completely booked.
All of it related to Eunha.
'To think I'd end up making personal plans as repayment for a donation...'
As far as I knew, Eunha was returning to the TSJ team house the day after tomorrow.
But then she'd suddenly said that after this weekend she wouldn't have any more personal time, and she'd made a request that wasn't quite a request... I couldn't bring myself to refuse.
In the end, I had so many promises and filled-up plans ahead that my head was starting to hurt.
BaTalk!
Park Soyul.
[Ah, then I'll decline all the pro team scrim offers.]
Me.
[Yes. That would be great.]
I brushed off the scrim offers just like that.
Then, on a sudden whim, I sent another message.
Me.
[Oh, before that, um... among the teams that sent scrim offers, is there one called Knights of Charlemagne?]
Park Soyul.
[Ah, one moment. I'll check and get back to you.]
"Well... no way there is."
They'd already been eliminated from playoff contention, and all they had left was the Worlds qualifier. Would they really send me a scrim request knowing that?
Within just a few minutes, Soyul replied.
BaTalk.
Park Soyul.
[Rin, I checked, and there is a team called Knights of Charlemagne on the scrim list.]
"Oh..."
I went blank for a moment at that.
But only for a moment. I quickly did a web search to check the Worlds scenarios and whether they had any matches against G1.
......
After checking, I found a post that laid out the Worlds qualifier scenarios along with various other possibilities.
The post covered the Worlds qualifier scenarios, and in that process, there were no matches against G1 or TSJ.
TSJ and G1 had already secured their Worlds spots by finishing first and second in the summer season, on top of their spring results.
So accepting a scrim wouldn't really be a problem.
"Knights of Charlemagne... Should I do this? Or not?"
I was torn even as I said it.
The team name Knights of Charlemagne.
Seventh place in the ACK League.
They were a team that had already been eliminated from the playoffs, and there was a lot of talk about their unstable form.
The individual players clearly had potential, but their average performance wasn't consistent.
So accepting a scrim wouldn't cause any issues.
Honestly, the scrim terms G1 had offered were so extraordinary that there was little reason to accept, but still, the image of the Charlemagne players leaving the arena with bitter expressions came to mind.
And the image of Roland desperately struggling while being helplessly toyed with by his opponent.
"...Ah, whatever."
I let out a small sigh and just sent a message following my gut.
Me.
[Please reply to the Knights of Charlemagne team that I'd like to schedule a scrim for the week after next.]
Park Soyul.
[Yes. Understood.]
***
The Charlemagne team vehicle heading back to their team house. Inside the massive van, a heavy silence hung in the air.
Even though there were quite a few people, no one spoke.
Neither the coaches in the van nor even the managers made any attempt to open their mouths.
—A 1:2 loss against G1.
Considering the opponent, it could be seen as a hard-fought match, a decent performance.
The objective gap in team strength was far greater than that.
Within the league, G1 was considered a powerhouse in a class of its own alongside TSJ.
But the reality was that the situation was too bad to be satisfied with that.
The current situation of playoff elimination was bad enough, and suffering an all-kill in the gauntlet match was the kind of thing that crushed the players' morale in one blow.
Sihyeon—Roland—leaned his head blankly against the van window and let out a small sigh.
"Hoo..."
The devastating loss in the gauntlet match still hadn't faded.
When he'd first taken down the opposing opener, his spirits had been soaring high enough to pierce the sky.
But the moment Minha—the knight's nightmare—came out for the other side, his mood froze cold.
Because no matter what he did, he couldn't see a way to win.
Being unable to close the distance against a user with near-perfect aim was, in itself, an enormous penalty and source of stress.
No matter how he tried to approach, the black trajectories fired from every angle were nothing short of chilling.
If he had managed to force even the slightest opening in his opponent, or successfully parry and close the distance, the outcome of the match would surely have been different.
"Sihyeon... don't go blaming yourself all alone like that again."
Yena, who had been quietly watching Sihyeon, let out a small sigh and spoke.