Season 5: Chapter 180: Variable (1) |
After Paprika had all been eliminated from Group B, Sa-Rang immediately began a meeting with Group A because Group A also mattered to her.
'Cheese needs at least one more team in the main round.'
If all five of Group B's teams in the main round placed first through fifth, five of the ten main round teams would be guaranteed Cheese. This seemed great, but that wasn't actually the end of it. There was a real possibility that Cheese needed to advance six teams to break even because of the hidden team.
The main round ran one more round of ten teams. At this point, the last-place team would be completely eliminated, and the hidden team would fill that spot. If Cheese were eliminated and a hidden team took their place, Paprika would have six teams, and Cheese would have four. In this situation, the likelihood of all Cheese teams getting swept in the main round was high.
'The qualifying round is an extremely important system when it comes down to it.'
The number of teams put into the main round from the start determined the direction of the entire competition. If such rules had been made in a professional match, they'd have been endlessly criticized. However, this was an event tournament. All they could do was prepare accordingly, which was why she'd quickly joined the meeting for Group A.
She asked, "How about Group A? Are you inclined to try dispatching?"
The way to rapidly strengthen Group A was to apply the dispatch system. Initially, they had gone with a different strategy because no slaves could be designated in this group. Now that they'd seen the power of the dispatch system, perhaps a little inclination had developed.
'Sorry to the team going as dispatch…'
Sa-Rang had been prepared to push through forcibly and dispatch one team. Forcing a team to lose was too malicious for her, so she felt some guilt. Perhaps that was why, uncharacteristically for her, she added these words.
"You don't have to do it. The practice isn't there yet either…"
"No! We'll do it!"
The coaches responded with vigor. They were willing to do it for the sake of victory.
"Who will do it?"
This was the walkie-talkie team's problem. Who would bell the cat?
"That would be…"
The coaches looked at each other.
"Sigh. Can't be helped. Let's decide it by rock-paper-scissors."
Sa-Rang nodded reluctantly and decided to leave it to chance. They had no time to continue multiple discussions. Practicing even once and running through simulations was more important.
"The team that loses rock-paper-scissors becomes the walkie-talkie team."
"Yes!"
The coaches proceeded immediately.
"Rock! Paper! Scissors!"
"Rock Paper! Scissors!!"
They played rock-paper-scissors with fire in their eyes.
'The competitive drive is remarkable.'
Everyone was trying not to become the walkie-talkie team. With this much competitive drive, she’d be sorry to the team that would lose at rock-paper-scissors.
"AHHHHHHHH!! Jackpot!!!"
The person who lost called out jackpot.
"Our team is the slave! No, the walkie-talkie!"
— ?
— ???
— lmaooooooooooo
— That person lost, right? LOL
— These lunatics lmaooo
— Well from Group A's perspective they're already weaker, so they at least gotta make some money
— Just trying to do whatever they can~
— ?? lmaooooooooo
Sa-Rang wasn't running a personal stream, so she couldn't see this public reaction.
'How is this working out? Why are they so happy?'
This was probably related to that other reward Almond had mentioned, but she had no way of knowing what it was other than Almond having persuaded them.
'What method on earth did he use?'
The man named Yu Sang-Hyeon was becoming frightening. How had he gotten them to raise their hands and voluntarily become slaves?
'Honeytrap?'
The most plausible possibility came to mind, but she knew herself it wasn't that. She had no choice but to just accept their culture.
"I see. Then… PizzaPub team?"
"Yes!"
"You'll be the walkie-talkie."
"Yes!"
"You know how it works, right? The highest-ranked team takes two people and…"
"We know it well! After becoming a solid stepping stone! We'll be swiftly sacrificed!"
"You don't have to tell your team members specifically."
"Ahahaha… ehehe. You know how streaming works, coach? Of course."
She'd told them in case the team members didn't follow orders. Anyway, this was how Group A's dispatch team was settled.
"Well, first… I'll explain the core of the dispatch strategy quickly."
***
Meanwhile, the commentary desk continued talking.
"Who says you can't put fish cake in green onion cake!?"
They were excited that Cheese had brought out the dispatch strategy. More precisely, it was OrangeKing rather than the commentary desk.
"Ultimately, the dispatch strategy has been transplanted! Cheese! On top of that, the slaves are smiling!"
"Maybe they just lost their minds?"
The analyst evaluated this strategy as them losing their minds. It wasn’t the strategy itself but the system making these people execute this strategy since they voluntarily became slaves and invited defeat.
"Oh, analyst, are you a bit annoyed that your analysis was completely off the mark?" OrangeKing teased with a smirk.
There were also practical external disadvantages.
"Hmph. That's not it. This dispatch worker thing looks simple but isn't. How much experience to give the walkie-talkies, at what moment to sacrifice them as fodder, there's much to consider. Suddenly bringing this out without practice seems like a poor choice."
It had merit. Even just looking at the minimap movements, the intricacy was slightly lower compared to Group B. There wasn't quite the feeling of each team communicating and moving as a single organism, but more like having an emergency contact network.
"In restaurant terms… it's like someone running a meat grill place after seeing their friend's gopchang[1] place doing well and thinking they can just grill gopchang on the same grill."
— What the
— lmaooooooooo
— Actually this happens a lot irl
— lmaooooo
— Oh no
"But that's a mistake. The cost budgeted for cleaning time for gopchang is completely different from regular meat…"
When the speech got too long, the caster cut in. "Enough about restaurants! OrangeKing, what do you think?"
— LOL
— lmaooooooooooo
— fr endless loop
— Red Glasses just had a hit and you cut him off :(
— Enough about restaurants lmaooo
OrangeKing had been waving his hand, saying he had something to say. "This~ is exactly why you can't communicate with people who only look at data! The field matters! The field!"
— lmaooooooooooo
— lmaooo what
— Wow
— These two fighting for the first time in a while LOL
Even in regular LIL Champs broadcasts, these two were famous for going back and forth to narrow their differences. At an event tournament, OrangeKing challenged him even more.
"Half of Cheese's coaching staff has already used the walkie-talkie strategy, right? On top of that, the operation's lead is head coach Choi Sa-Rang."
"Oh! Right!" The caster nodded in agreement.
"Then look, the BBQ restaurant owner comes to your place and does the prep work for you. That's consulting!"
"Oh…! That's true!?"
— Fr
— Right
— lmaooooooo
— Countered with a restaurant lmaooo
— The commentary has turned into BBQ now
"Now, you’ve heard both opinions well! Who's right will come out from the results anyway!? How well Cheese uses the dispatch strategy! Watching will tell us! What's Paprika's situation right now? Analyst!"
"Yes. They’re hunting at a decent pace. Paprika is moving with the same strategy as Round 1. Looks like they didn't think Cheese would dispatch. I wouldn't either."
— Keep up the shade LOL
— Holding a grudge lmaooo
— Red Glasses hahaha
— Genuinely petty lmaooo
Even if petty, what he said was correct. Paprika's movement was not very different from Round 1. They were using the funneling method, sending good monsters to the ace team, Underwater led by Cutlassfish.
The caster summarized everything. "Yes~ Paprika is going all-in again! Growing only the head, having the head eat everything, and clearing all the enemies. In return, they’ll take first~! On the other hand, Cheese looks a bit different from Group B, right? OrangeKing, how do you see it?"
As the caster said, Cheese's formation differed from Group B's.
"In Group B, the Nonghyup and Knights drove in between the enemy lines and played very aggressively. But Group A isn't taking that kind of positioning."
They were much more defensive and conservative than the Knights. This time, the territory was split honestly down the middle, Cheese's territory versus Paprika's territory.
"Yes, it seems like a proficiency issue regardless. They’re just leveling up without much happening, splitting things half and half… Oh, at this rate, the walkie-talkie team might be at a slight disadvantage…"
Going the standard way, the six-person walkie-talkie team was slightly disadvantaged.
"The overall situation is not very different from Group A Round 1!"
Just as the caster said, looking at the minimap, the only difference from Group A Round 1 was one fewer team. In that same formation, Cheese had been swept back in an instant.
— Why even use walkie-talkies then??
— What
— Just the same???
— Hmm.
— Head is growing insanely
Paprika's Underwater team was lavishly gulping down experience without any interference at all.
"Excluding exactly one team, Cheese has everyone eating experience evenly! Excluding exactly one team, Paprika isn't eating experience evenly! This dynamic is interesting!"
Just as he said, their respective strategies were split to extremes. In that state, the Red Turtle appeared.
"Now, the first epic monster, the Red Turtle has appeared. Again, it’s just four, right?"
All ten teams were still alive, but only four Turtles spawned.
"This will be a bloodbath… Wh-what!?"
For the first time, Cheese made an extreme move.
"Cheese! They’re moving!?"
Now, truly like one body, they launched into enemy territory.
"Except for one team, the remaining three teams are running toward the enemy's Red Turtle!"
"Out of 25 people, 19 are running!"
Cheese was effectively operating as four teams. Among them, three teams sprinted toward a Red Turtle.
"Paprika has no idea right now! Because they determined Cheese wasn't in their territory! They're planning to have Underwater take the Red Turtle solo!?"
Paprika had everyone step aside to give this Red Turtle to Underwater.
"This is… Paprika!? Aren't they being too optimistic?"
Knowing Cheese wasn't in their territory, they'd assumed Round 1 would repeat.
"They’re trying to close the head-growing gap and taking too big a bite!"
Paprika wanted to funnel more decisively. This could become a fatal mistake.
"Cheese charges in as if they knew it all along!"
"By the numbers, this is nearly 19 vs 5! Even if there's almost a two-level gap! It's not actually a two level gap yet!?"
Eating about one Red Turtle would make it a two level gap. Right now, there was a 1.9 level difference. Effectively, it was still just a one level difference.
— What
— What the
— How did they know??
— Wow
— This is something;
— What is this
— Keep staking everything on the Turtle
[Shadow of the Abyss descends!]
Simultaneously, shadows fell across various parts of the map. Variables erupted.
"OHHHHHH!?"
[First Blood!]
[Pepperoni → GeneralSeabream]
The tanker of Underwater, who was serving as the head role, died.
"Th-then? Then they can't take the Turtle!?"
"No, that's not it! Underwater! Can they even escape!? Right now, 19 people are nearly forming an encirclement!"
"This is…" OrangeKing was amazed and let out a screech. "This is just deciding to make things messy no matter what!! Cheese has no intention of taking first through fifth for themselves!!"
The ceiling they were aiming for differed from Group B's to begin with. Their proficiency in the walkie-talkie strategy was lower, and there was a base skill gap to begin with. They had to somehow break the game, create chaos, and get at least a few of Cheese's teams to place in the top five.
— What
— Wow these are scary people LOL
— Cheese's solidarity is something else
— Insane lmaooo
— All of Group A are slaves…
— Wow lmaooo
— Just who… who turned them all into slaves…
1. A Korean dish with grilled beef intestines.