Platform Exhibition, Day Two, Match Two: Youngest and Oldest vs. Byeongsik and the Kids

Was it really leftover longing that kept me from forgetting those days—and from hurting over them?

I still didn't have the answer. Right now, it wasn't what mattered.

"KKT... I heard they were a weak team at last year's exhibition, but they're a little different this year," Zzangdol said.

I was in the exhibition now. I knew my role on the team and how much of it sat on me, so I had to think about what one dip in my form would do to everyone else.

"The KKT players who showed up are in ridiculous form. They went toe to toe with AFS yesterday and only barely lost."

I didn't want to be a burden on teammates who hadn't done anything to deserve it.

"They went toe to toe with AFS?" Oldboy said.

Yesterday's second match had been KKT against AFS. Those were the two teams we were playing today, so most of us had watched it.

"Yeah. KKT's better than I thought," Nebula said.

After seeing both sides play, I figured the day was going to be a long one.

"Ugh, today's gonna be brutal..."

We had to face KKT and AFS both, and KKT—the side we'd assumed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was clearly a step behind AFS—had shown more strength than anyone imagined. There was almost no rest between the two matches. Back-to-back games against strong teams.

"Don't get scared. Maybe AFS just isn't as good as we thought," Nebula said.

Lifting the room at a moment like this was the coach's job.

It was the kind of line that might start a controversy. But Spax had always been like that. It probably wouldn't turn into one.

"Okay," I said.

And it wasn't as if he'd said anything untrue.

"Facts. Honestly, out of every exhibition roster there's ever been, I think we're the strongest?" Oldboy said.

"Uh... hyung, I don't think that's it."

"Hey— if even you say that, what does that make me?"

Same as the match against NPT. An important game was right in front of us, and not one of us was tense. It showed just how high everyone's confidence had climbed.

"Are we doing an afterparty once the exhibition's over?" Oldboy asked.

"Come on, obviously Spax is buying us something good, right? Facts?" Zzangdol said.

"Well, if we win, of course I'll treat you. But let's talk after we win. Don't get ahead of yourselves and bomb out."

"Yeah, you little punk, Zzangdol. Why don't you ever think?"

"Hyung...?"

While we were still chatting, an exhibition staffer joined the team Discord.

"All right. Everyone ready?" Spax said.

"Yep!" Oldboy, Zzangdol, Pola, and Nebula answered together.

"Yes."

At last, the second match for Kwitch's representative team, Youngest and Oldest, began.

"What an incredible match. Better than anyone expected, I'd say. A lot of people predicted a one-sided win for Sprout Patrol, but the game itself was nothing like the forecast."

"Right. Sprout Patrol did win in the end, but nobody really thought a team rated as a title favorite would get its ankle grabbed by Byeongsik and the Kids, a side everyone had filed under the lower tier."

"Which is to say Byeongsik and the Kids are in form. That's exactly why this next match is even more exciting!"

"All right, the match is set. Day two, match two: Kwitch's Youngest and Oldest against KKT's Byeongsik and the Kids. We'll be with you for all of it."

"And before we start, we can't skip the trash talk, can we?"

Trash talk had been added for this exhibition. If day one had been the shot-callers going at each other, day two was something else.

"Before the match, let's hear from both teams' entries—BS and Eunha!"

Trash talk between the entries.

"You're good, Eunha. You are. But honestly, I think you're riding a pretty big bubble right now. Allow me to dump a nice bucket of cold water on you," BS said.

"...."

"Our form is way up right now. You'd better be careful. Underestimate us and you'll get burned," BS said.

"Ah. Thank you for the advice."

"..."

"Eunha really does seem... pure."

"Yes. She's a streamer with exactly that fresh, high-school-girl charm you'd expect at her age. But in-game, she is a savage beast. A beast."

"That's right. Her only official match was that one Bind game against Pravengers, but the impact of that single game was enormous."

"This is just my guess, but I bet Yoru got instalocked a ton in ranked that day."

Day two was the same as day one: the map was chosen at random.

"The battlefield for day two, match two—Youngest and Oldest versus Byeongsik and the Kids—has been set. Split."

Split is a map where both A and B open onto wide stretches of high ground that look straight down on the sites, and the zone everyone calls mid—linked directly to both heights—matters more than almost anything else. Take that high ground away and each ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠site has only a single main lane to attack through, which is another reason mid decides the map. The lanes themselves, and the climbs up to heaven, are narrow, so certain agents are favored.

"Oh? If it's Split, Byeongsik and the Kids might actually have a shot."

Every player on an exhibition roster was a streamer, so their scrims couldn't help but be laid out in the open. Viewers who weren't staff could look at the scrim data and make a decent guess at how the tournament would go.

"That's right. As I remember it, Byeongsik and the Kids went undefeated on Split in scrims. That record includes AFS."

Just as each player has agents they prefer, a team has maps where its win rate climbs. Set aside Youngest and Oldest, who were tearing through scrims undefeated, and the preferences were clear enough: Pravengers liked Ascent, Sprout Patrol liked Pearl. And KKT's representative side, Byeongsik and the Kids, was a Split team.

"Agent select is locked in for both teams."

"Up to now, aside from that one recent Yoru game, Eunha has never picked anyone but Jett in a scrim or an official. I'm curious how her Raze looks."

In the pro scene Jett sits in the entry role's unshakable seat, but on certain maps she hands that throne to someone else. Split is one of them. With so much high ground, Raze—who can wipe a pile of angles by herself—gets picked more often than Jett. Even Youngest and Oldest, a team that likes Jett and the Operator play built around her, couldn't ignore what Raze does on Split. Their entry, Eunha, locked her in.

"All right then—the match starts now!"

First-half pistol. Youngest and Oldest on the attack, Byeongsik and the Kids on defense. Officials called Split a defender's map, the kind of place where the side holding sites starts with the edge, which meant Byeongsik and the Kids were in a spot to seize the momentum first.

"Youngest and Oldest's buys are weird again, huh?"

Same as the match against Pravengers: Eunha alone had spent more than eight hundred credits.

"Looks like they're committed to funneling this round into Eunha again."

"That's how absolute the trust in her is, inside that team."

The buy phase ended. The round was live.

"They're going straight for a rush?!"

On the pistol—the round everyone calls the most important, a two-point swing—Youngest and Oldest took off on a B rush the instant it began.