Walkover (Just Chatting)

For Byeongsik and the Kids, the third round was one they were supposed to win—and if they were going to win it, they would rather have won it in a rout.

Youngest and Oldest's bait, called by Nebula, and one absurd shot from Eunha's Sheriff blew the shape of the round apart. They lost the fourth as well, the eco they had saved for, and in a blink the score was 0–4. Four straight losses on the map they trusted most. The kind of hole where a team's mental has no choice but to crack.

"Oh, BS! He's finally come alive!"

"When you talk about the ace of Byeongsik and the Kids, there's no argument—it's BS. He's the one player who can keep from falling behind Eunha and Nebula!"

Even so, they grabbed that shaking mental with both hands and pulled the game back under control. From 0–4 they clawed their way to 4–7, then won the last round of the half and closed it 5–7.

"And right after BS, the rest of Byeongsik and the Kids come alive too!"

"If it stays like this, today's match is still anyone's! Byeongsik and the Kids can absolutely do this!"

Down 7–5 at the half, two points back. Remember that this map favored the defense, and that gap had no choice but to feel larger than the numbers.

"BS with the finish!"

"Youngest and Oldest drop a pistol round for the first time!"

They had won the pistol and climbed to 7–6, and for a moment it felt like a reverse might actually be coming.

"Oh, and Eunha shuts it down!"

"They can walk in if they want. She has no intention of falling off. Eunha!"

"That's confidence! How many of you are there? Think you can beat me? Come on in. Jiggle her, double-swing her—she doesn't even care!"

"BS on the entry! Ah—but Nebula doesn't allow it!"

"Nebula, clutch! Even if they somehow find Eunha, Nebula is still standing!"

"One mountain after another. Kill either of them and the other one appears. From Byeongsik and the Kids' side, you can't even breathe!"

Once the defense began and Eunha and Nebula each took a main—A and B—Byeongsik and the Kids folded almost at once. These were the two they hadn't been able to beat even with site and position on their side. Now that the advantage had flipped, there was no world in which they beat them.

In the end, aside from the second-half pistol and the full buy that followed it, Byeongsik and the Kids produced nothing that mattered. Loss after loss.

"And with that, Youngest and Oldest reach match point first!"

"Byeongsik and the Kids are shoved all the way to the cliff. This was supposed to be their home map, and the wall in front of them is simply too high!"

"Eunha and Nebula, this pair of aces, are making every strategy meaningless. It's like they're saying aim this overwhelming doesn't care about tactics."

Set Nebula aside—he was already rated at a pro's level—and set Eunha aside too, a former player from the very top of the scene, though no one else knew it. Everyone else who had walked into this showmatch was simply not in the same conversation. You could feel the wall. The round score was 12–7. Match point.

Byeongsik and the Kids had lost the round before and didn't have the money for rifles.

"Byeongsik and the Kids are emptying every credit they have left."

Spectres, the heavier 2,050-credit SMGs, even the cheaper 1,100-credit Spectre—they shook out every credit they had and every credit they didn't, and bought whatever guns that bought them.

"They have to. Lose this round and it's over. Weak guns or not, Byeongsik and the Kids have to find a way to win it!"

Just as the caster said. Drop this round, and that was the match.

"Huh? Byeongsik and the Kids are gambling on this!"

All five, mid rush. Depending on how Zzangdol's Snake answered from mid control, the round could split to either extreme. A coin flip with the round itself on the table. But—

"He's jumping! He's in!"

Raze was holding the 1,100-credit Spectre, and that Spectre's fire rate sat at the top of its class—savage, point-blank damage ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the moment a fight got close. He threw his body on the Blast Pack and vanished into the smoke Snake was holding in mid. Whoever saw the other first would decide the duel, and there would be nothing close about it.

Taka-taka-taka-tak!

Raze was the one who found Snake first. Snake had been waiting inside the toxic screen with a Judge, and Raze simply melted him.

"BS! He's through!"

"Then you run, right now! Do not stop, Byeongsik and the Kids!"

They didn't stop at the Snake pick. The whole attack sprinted for the ramp into B. Stealing one gun didn't change the gap across the rest of the lobby, so the site had to be cleared before the rotate arrived. Pola had been on the B ramp to answer a mid rush, and he was already coming—

He got the Raze, and that was as far as it went. The enemy Snake traded him on the spot.

"Oh, Pola forced that way too fast!"

"They already knew it was a rush, and he still moved too soon! That's two rifles handed over!"

Which left Nebula alone on B. Except Nebula was already out through B main.

"Astra—Nebula—got out to B main clean. You give them the plant and wait for Raze, Eunha, and Sage, Oldboy, to come over from A."

"If he tries to hero it and Nebula dies too, this round is done."

KAY/O's ZERO/point went out to check heaven for bodies.

Heaven was empty. Byeongsik and the Kids planted on B at once.

And immediately Snake's ultimate, Viper's Pit, came down.

"There's the Pit!"

"They picked up Ground, got the plant, finished the ult, and used it on the spot. It's match point. No reason to save it."

Viper's Pit. A circular smoke that spread outward from Snake, laying a debuff called Decay on anyone caught inside, bleeding their health down until a single point was all that remained. Everyone in the smoke lost vision. Only Snake could still see, an ultimate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that really did build a world of its own, just as the voice line promised. And if Snake stayed inside, the smoke lasted forever. Unless something like Killjoy's Lockdown drove him out, you had to accept the risk, walk in, and kill him yourself.

"And that is a beautiful world for a team holding short guns!"

"Sage and Raze have reached the B ramp, but the Pit is already down. What they do from here..."

"Wait. They're using it now?"

Sage's ultimate, Resurrection. The name needed no explanation: it brought a dead teammate back, and it cost eight points.

"Youngest and Oldest mean to win this. Spending Sage's ultimate here is a real investment!"

Eight points. The weight matched the cost, and burning it from a losing position carried real risk. But Youngest and Oldest showed, immediately, why they had spent the Resurrection at all.

Ground's ultimate, Seekers. Three projectiles that hunted. The moment one recognized an enemy it screamed and lunged. Dying to Snake had ticked the ult to full, one point over the line, and the instant Resurrection stood him up he fired it.

"That's why they used the res. Seekers, to see who's inside the Pit."

That told them, roughly, where the bodies in the smoke were. It wasn't hard info the way Fade's Haunt was, or Sova's recon bolt, so the exact spots stayed hidden.

"Does that mean Eunha spends hers too?"

Youngest and Oldest threw one more gamble. Raze's ultimate—Eunha's—Showstopper. A rocket launcher with ruinous damage, the kind of ultimate that killed through full health if it landed true.

"She used it! Is she going?"

Ground's Seekers had just tagged several of them, and the odds were good that Snake, the heart of the Pit, was among the tags.

Fwoooosh—

And Eunha fired the Showstopper at the one tucked deepest in the corner.

Boom!!

"Showstopper, enormous!"

"Eunha!! That's the Pit coming down!"

With Snake dead, the smoke ran out of fuel and slowly thinned away.

Byeongsik and the Kids had stayed on site with nothing but that Pit to lean on, and one by one they were picked apart.

"Plenty of time! Youngest and Oldest!"

"What a retake. Oldboy and Pola's Resurrection into Seekers, all the way through to Eunha's Showstopper..."

"Showstopper, and it quite literally stopped the show!"

The planted bomb was defused.

"And with that, set score 13–7! Youngest and Oldest take the win!"

The second match was over. Before the third could start she had stepped out to the bathroom, and in that short gap the chat had gone loud.

"...What? What's all this?"

"What's going on?"

She flipped the mic on so the viewers and everyone in the Discord channel could hear her ask.

Spax sounded blank, almost hollow, as if he couldn't quite believe the words himself. The words deserved it.

"...What?"

And what was that supposed to mean?