The Saintess Descends

The hierarchy within the team was spiraling out of control. The support player had started fighting back violently and eventually threw a punch. The head coach and coaching staff were rushing in to mediate, trying to prevent the brawl from escalating any further. In the middle of all that, the mid and top laners are just standing there watching... No, to be precise, the mid laner seemed to be smirking faintly every time the AD carry got hit by the support instead.

No matter how poorly managed the team had been, this was still supposed to be the first team. The thought that things had gotten this bad made my gaze naturally shift toward my sister.

"Hmm... I really haven't been managing them at all, have I?"

"But I had my reasons! If my clone existed in multiple places at once, it wouldn't make any sense, right? That's why I only left a clone at Crescent headquarters..."

My sister had been recording the scene when she noticed my stare. She shrank back and quickly began making excuses. But the colder and sharper my gaze grew as I listened, the faster she lowered her tail in submission.

"Okay, okay. I'll manage them properly from now on..."

Ha... Why does nothing ever go smoothly for me?

"More importantly, the ringleader of this bullying seems to be the mid laner. Who the hell is that guy, and why is he acting so high and mighty?"

My sister, who had been slumping dejectedly, perked up a little when I asked for the full story and began explaining.

"Oh, Choi Minjun? He's a parachute hire too. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠But if we're being technical, CSkiller—Shin Jaehyun—is the STD Group successor and actually has the skills to back it up, so they brought him in. As for the mid laner Choi Minjun..."

"He's the one who came in with sponsorship from a Chinese company."

After hearing her explanation, the whole picture became clear. Even though both were parachute ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hires, the mid laner must have been anxious because he lacked any real skill. To make matters worse, the AD carry had the STD Group backing him and possessed outstanding mechanics, making him the immediate primary target for suppression.

And the result of all that is the AD carry getting bullied by the entire team. I see.

But... that raised one more question.

"One thing I'm curious about. Doesn't the AD carry have a pretty powerful backer too? I don't understand why STD would just sit back and let him get bullied like this without intervening at all..."

However, my sister didn't seem to have any information on that part either. She simply shrugged as if she had no idea.

She doesn't even know this...?

Really... My sister usually handled things so well, yet there were always these sloppy blind spots. Though I can't criticize her too harshly since I do the same thing sometimes.

Anyway, I needed to turn this team into something far more human. To do that, I required complete information on the team and the detailed situation. I had to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠clearly distinguish between the players, coaches, and staff—who to keep and who to discard—starting from the starting roster all the way down to the bench players.

After observing the situation for a while, I concluded that the best approach was to rebuild the team around CSkiller, Shin Jaehyun, and a few decent coaches.

It was time to step in properly. I slowly descended the stairs.

I never imagined my first time appearing before people again as the pro gamer Oracle would be like this...

Even if I was going to kick people out, I needed to establish iron discipline so there would be no future backlash. I put on a relatively gentle expression and remained silent for a moment, as if I were their savior.

"Uh...?"

"Oh..."

The players, staff, and coaching staff all froze in place, letting out gasps of astonishment at my sudden appearance. Those who had seen my flashy entrance in the parking lot earlier looked at me with a mix of envy and jealousy while whispering about the Ferrari. Those who knew the Saintess reacted in two distinct ways—some with awe and joy, others with suspicion and fear.

The moment everyone's attention was focused on me, I spoke.

"Hello, everyone. Starting from Season 40, I'll be playing as SC's mid laner. My in-game name is Oracle, and my real name is Oh Sera."

Unlike the nickname tag that read STD Oracle, I deliberately introduced myself as SC's Oracle, speaking as if I were the one who would lead a new SC alongside them.

In reality, I'm closer to a grim reaper here to permanently end the esports careers of a few of them.

My goal was a complete overhaul of SC. While they stared at me with curious eyes, as if looking at a monkey in a zoo, completely unaware of the influence I would soon wield, I was the one who would simultaneously grant them both hope and despair.

From the moment I officially stepped in, the team's atmosphere began changing rapidly. The faction centered around Choi Minjun, who had been STD's starting mid laner, gradually lost power. Once I started completely crushing him with superior mechanics even in scrims, he was on the verge of losing his starting position entirely.

Even the top laner and support, who had been at the center of the bullying, began listening to Shin Jaehyun's calls to some extent and were carefully walking the tightrope now that their ringleader seemed to be falling from grace.

They're all such opportunistic bastards when you really look at them.

Of course, the biggest culprit behind the current situation was undoubtedly Choi Minjun. Still, the pathetic way the top laner and support—whose names I could barely remember—switched sides so quickly was utterly disgusting.

The more I watched them, the less I liked the top-mid-support trio. I was pondering the best way to finish them off when Choi Minjun made a final desperate proposal: a decisive best-of-one match to settle the starting position once and for all.

Not a bad attempt at using his head.

To a third party, it might have looked like a reasonable suggestion to settle the intensifying starting position competition before the season began. In truth, however, Choi Minjun—who was about to lose his starting spot—had already bribed the top laner, support, and even the second-team players.

He probably planned to win the direct confrontation, solidify his starting position, and restore the internal faction dynamics to their original state. In his mind, this seemed to be the only way to revive his standing.

It's a little disappointing that he thought I wouldn't see through such a blatant scheme.

Schemes like this had been my specialty ever since my days as the Saintess and all the way through my streaming career. I accepted his proposal with a smile.

With STD's coaching staff and various stakeholders watching, I picked Shin Jaehyun. The opponent chose the first-team top laner and support. The remaining second-team players filled the other positions, and the match that would decide the fate of the starting mid laner began.

For the sake of fairness, both teams drafted the exact same dive composition in the ban/pick phase.

But no matter how you look at it, it's just a composition that gathered all of the opponent's most-picked champions.

Considering the champion pools of the STD players I'd analyzed during scrims, the answer was obvious. However, the more they believed they had the advantage, the easier it was for them to become arrogant.

The opponent took an early lead with an intentional solo kill in the top lane and a successful bottom gank from mid. Even when our support overextended with initiates and handed the enemy multiple kills in a row, I kept following up and cleaning up the mess. The game simply reset back to even.

It never flowed the way they had imagined.

Every time the kill score evened out, the opponent's mid laner—whose distress was clearly visible in his gameplay—could never surpass me. He was consecutively solo-killed and collapsed miserably.

Even into the late game, there wasn't a single real crisis. I deliberately hunted only the enemy mid laner and crushed them completely. In the end, the opponent had no choice but to surrender.

The result screen, filled with bizarre kill-death ratios, made it crystal clear who had become STD's starting mid laner.

After completely dismantling them with an overwhelming mid difference, I stepped out of the booth. The expression on Choi Minjun's face was a work of art. His look of having hit a wall and his completely shattered mentality made it difficult for him to even stand properly.

"Then I'll be taking the starting mid position for SC... correct?"

When I drove the final nail in, he nodded with a dazed expression. It must have been quite the shock.

"Thank you for your hard work all this time. I hope things go well for you in the future."

I helped the collapsed man up and offered words of encouragement, but of course, I had no intention of letting things go well for him. When I thought about how he had dragged me into this pointless starting position competition for several weeks...

He would definitely have to pay the price.