The Heavenly Demon's Merciless Coaching (5)
Enry's team suffered a crushing defeat, just as everyone had predicted. It wasn't that the opponents were too strong or that Enry's team was excessively weak. Although Enry's team lacked power compared to their opponents, the gap wasn't so large that it couldn't be overcome. The reason they experienced such a miserable defeat lay entirely with themselves.
Enry's team didn't exchange opinions with each other. The only one who tried to lead everyone was the one with relatively decent skills, the one called Bunny. No one else stepped forward actively. He looked exactly like a student who raised his hand but feared giving the wrong answer. Getting five people to cooperate isn't easy. Even couples who have spent their entire lives together fight because they can't understand each other. How could these complete strangers possibly move as one without a word? Such a thing was impossible.
Right now they probably thought of themselves as soldiers following their captain's orders, but the reality was different. They had simply become jiangshi, silently listening to the sorcerer's commands with their mouths shut.
That wasn't the only problem. Every time they suffered a defeat, they gradually became more passive and irritable. Both Dalbit and I noticed it. Even though none of their own teammates were scolding them for anything, it still happened. And yet they didn't seem to be reacting sensitively to their own mistakes. It was as if they were being criticized by someone.
Finding that strange, I spoke up, and Dalbit answered like this.
"They must be getting an earful from the viewers. My chat is already a mess right now, so imagine how bad theirs must be."
Once I heard that, it made sense. Come to think of it, even when I was teaching Enry last time, he had been extremely conscious of the viewers' reactions. Since every one of Enry's teammates was also a streamer, they couldn't help but pay attention to it. Hmm.
Indeed, maintaining composure while receiving criticism from others isn't easy. After all, I myself had simply grown numb to countless criticisms over the years.
Perhaps it was the aftermath of that criticism. The speed at which cracks formed among Enry's team members was far too fast. Bunny and Enry were somewhat better off, but the other three were clearly doubting themselves. It would have been fine if that distrust had stopped at themselves, but distrust never stays confined within one person. Self-doubt soon turns into distrust toward teammates, and eventually it grows larger and larger until it points toward Dalbit, their leader.
By the end of the scrim, signs of rebellion against Dalbit were already visible, so what more needs to be said? Everyone could feel it. That if things continued this way, nothing would improve. That only the cracks between them would grow larger.
Nevertheless, the reason no one could readily step forward was probably because they believed that the moment those words were spoken, the cracks would destroy everything.
In my opinion, a building with cracks should be demolished beforehand. Continuing to build on a shaking foundation only leads to greater damage. It is far more efficient to tear it down before the building grows taller and then rebuild it.
Originally this was a role the leader, Dalbit, should have played. But judging from his completely rotten expression, if I gave him this task it looked like Dalbit would collapse before Enry's team members did.
In that case, it couldn't be helped. I had no choice but to do it in his place.
"Dalbit. Do you have any schedule after this?"
"I do have one, but I can ask for their understanding."
"Then go ask for some understanding. At this rate, they're not in any condition to improve through real battles. I'll take them and give them some proper education. If anyone complains, just use my name."
Having obtained Dalbit's permission, I immediately created a room and gathered Enry's team members there. Perhaps because of the devastating defeat they had just suffered, their dejection was plain to see.
Enry carefully approached me and gave a bitter smile.
"Hwaryeong. I'm sorry. I spoke so confidently, but we lost every match."
"It's fine. It's not like this is the day of the actual competition. What does winning or losing matter?"
"So... what do you think? Do we have any chance of improving?"
At Enry's question, the gazes of all the team members locked onto me. Can we improve? Can we taste the joy of victory instead of these miserable defeats? That was what the question meant.
To be honest, in their current state it looked hopeless, but saying so outright would drive their morale into the ground.
"If there was no possibility of improvement, I wouldn't have called you here."
"Really?! You see potential in us?"
"Isn't it the role of a teacher to hold onto that potential?"
When I said that, a small spark of vitality returned to their eyes. It seemed they at least possessed the minimal will to improve.
"What will you do from now on? Individual training? Or team fight practice?"
"If I had to classify it, it would be team fight practice."
To be precise, what I was about to do could not really be called training. I planned to one-sidedly crush them. It would be closer to torment than training. However, if I told them that in advance I wouldn't be able to achieve what I wanted, so for now I would tell a white lie.
"First, let me say this. You all pay far too much attention to other people's opinions. And not even your teammates' opinions, but the viewers who are watching you."
I wouldn't say that was wrong. They weren't people like me who had to risk their lives in battle. They lived off the love of their viewers, so of course they cared about their opinions. However, that should still be done in moderation depending on the situation. If an enemy stands before you and you hesitate because you're afraid of being criticized by viewers, then what exactly are you going to do?
"That's because you still have some leeway. You have time to think about being criticized, which is why you end up watching their reactions."
While the other four tilted their heads in confusion, Enry alone seemed to realize what I was about to say and stiffened his lips. Since he had rolled under me several times before, he couldn't possibly fail to understand.
"From now on, the five of you will face me."
And you will be crushed miserably. A defeat more terrible than any you have experienced so far will arrive. The wall called me will be so high that you won't even dare look up at it, so you will fall into despair and frustration.
"There is no set time limit."
However, I will not leave you fallen. I will forcibly pick you up and make you charge toward that wall. No matter how much you scream that you're tired or exhausted, I will coldly force you back onto your feet.
"However, I will give you one condition. The spar will continue until you manage to wound me."
Within this spar you will collapse countless times. And at the end, you will regroup. Because I will make it so.
Do you know the easiest and fastest way to unite people who cannot trust one another? It is to create a common enemy. No matter how much a group grinds their teeth and criticizes each other, if a tiger appears before them they will join forces to survive.
It is the same now. I will personally become your common enemy. While they are being crushed they will pour their hatred toward one another, but that hatred will eventually converge on me. In that process, those five will become one.
"I won't listen to complaints. Weren't you the ones who appointed me as your coach?"
Once you become one through this spar, I will create an environment where I can focus on my own battles.
"Let's begin the forced march. Come at me."
Let us take the first step toward victory.
Enry, who had been lying on the ground watching the viewers' chat, felt a chill run down his spine and hurriedly got up.
"Alright. Get up quickly and prepare your strategy. I'll give you two minutes."
"Are you even human?!"
Nabi-rin, who had eaten the most dirt so far, shouted in pure resentment. Ara let out a laugh.
"If I don't look like a person, then what do I look like?"
"Even the demons living in the underworld would be kinder than you!"
Nabi-rin, who possessed the best skills among the five and had therefore faced Hwaryeong the longest, bit her lip and shouted.
"Seeing you all shout so enthusiastically, it seems you still have plenty of energy. Now it's one minute thirty seconds."
It had already been three full hours since Enry's team began their five-versus-one spar against Ara. As expected, Enry's team hadn't managed to land even the smallest wound on Ara. They hadn't succeeded in a single proper attack. Ara was simply that overwhelming of an existence.
From the beginning, no one had thought Enry's team could actually injure Ara. It wasn't that she had never been injured while playing the game, but every time it had been at the hands of monster-like NPCs who transcended normal users. Among users, the only person who had ever wounded Ara was Dekay. And even then, most people said it only happened because Ara had made a mistake while adapting to VR. So it was safe to say there was effectively no user who had ever injured her.
When even the top thirteen amateur named players had been crushed even after rushing in together, there was no way this weakest team in the Asda league could possibly wound Ara.
At first Enry had thought Ara was exaggerating. She knew that no matter how much Ara enjoyed rolling people, she always kept a certain line. But this time was different. This Ara seemed to have no concept of lines at all as she relentlessly drove Enry's team into the ground.
Whenever all five of them collapsed, she gave them three minutes until everyone stood up again. Then, after three minutes, she would begin attacking. Whether someone hadn't gotten up yet, whether they hadn't prepared a strategy, it didn't matter. She ignored the opponent's circumstances entirely and crushed them.
Then another three minutes would be given. As this cycle repeated for three straight hours, all sorts of things happened.
When the spar first began, everyone had been motivated. No matter how strong Ara was, it was five against one, so if they kept charging in they should be able to land at least one hit eventually.
But after roughly thirty minutes, everyone fell silent. No matter what strategy they came up with or which characters they chose, they were crushed anyway, so they began to think strategizing was meaningless.
Even among the viewers comments like 'What meaning is there to just beating them down like this?' and 'Isn't Hwaryeong just relieving stress?' appeared, but Ara didn't change her expression one bit and simply repeated the same process.
After another hour, the viewers' complaints began spreading among Enry's team members.
"Is this actually helping us?"
"It just feels tiring and nothing seems to be changing."
"Shouldn't we say something to Hwaryeong-nim?"
By the time two hours of this training had passed, Ara had become the enemy of Enry's team members.