Swordmanship Veteran's Game Stream Chapter 139
【Read only at hivetoons.org】
Arin, who was positioned in the center, shouted energetically from her seat.
“The auction is over! Just like that, all the teams have been decided. Now, while the members of each team gather and greet one another, shouldn’t we do our own job as well?”
“Now, then, shall we take a look at the teams?”
What the auction system guaranteed was merely the tier of the users. It was not their positions.
In other words, the team leaders had to carefully think about the positions of their team members and recruit them on their own during the auction.
From the perspective of the operations team, this could be seen as an invisible hand that entrusted the balance to the participants.
Unfortunately, though.
Humans were not subjects who were solely rational and selfish.
“Hahaha! First, let’s look at Mental’s team!”
Arin smiled and shifted her gaze to Bangju, who was sitting on her right.
The reason she smiled was simple. It was because Mental’s team was decent.
Finally, Mental’s team appeared on the screen.
“Yes. We can see that Mental-nim’s team is really well-balanced. It is unexpected.”
“Hahaha, indeed. There was a crisis at first, but someone took them instead. After that, the auction weirdly flowed smoothly, didn't it?”
“Yes. Perhaps due to the shock of losing Seo-jun-nim, he seemed to have lost his touch. Thanks to that, he showed himself bidding quietly without any more sudden outbursts. But that went amazingly well, so they can be considered a strong team with the best balance.”
Arin called out the next team as well.
It was a team that boasted a golden balance, just like Mental's.
“We can say that these two team leaders finished their auctions quite successfully, right?”
“Naturally, because they brought in team members well without overlapping positions.”
“But of course, not everyone can come out clean!”
Explanations for the subsequent teams followed.
To be precise, they did not distinguish between strong and weak teams.
What they judged was the apparent success or failure of each team leader's auction and the chemistry between the members.
“In truth, only the team leaders themselves will know whether it was a truly successful bid or not. And now, the team leaders are gradually starting to turn on their streams.”
“Then shall we talk about the next team while watching their broadcast?”
Among the things they judged to have gone wrong, there could have been something intended.
If so, what on earth was this team leader's intention?
Arin heightened the suspense as she proceeded.
“It just turned on. Let’s look at Team Leader Kim Tae-woo, who made a choice that made everyone tilt their heads near the end.”
[Kim Tae-woo is starting the broadcast.]
[Hey! Why did you pick me there! You should have picked Wind Sword! Wow. Wow, seriously. There's no one whose main position is mid, you team leader! If I come in there, it's bad for you and bad for me!]
The team members were gathered in Tae-woo’s lobby, and a fight was visible as soon as they entered.
“Yes, let’s stop watching.”
Arin made a quick decision.
-The 'I don't know' guy LMAO
-Still, they have a sub mid, so it's actually pretty okay
-But is it to the point of giving up Wind Sword? He was right there for the taking?
“Hahaha. Team Leader Kim Tae-woo has appeared in LiOS several times, but this is his first time as a team leader. So maybe he was nervous?”
“That could be the case.”
“What do you think, Penguin-nim and Taeyang-nim?”
“I think he might have avoided him on purpose, considering that Wind Sword-nim plays almost exclusively Kael. No matter how perfectly the position fits in that situation, if you weigh it against other alternatives, the scale might surprisingly tip to this side. Although I don't think that's the case!”
“That is a unique perspective, Taeyang-nim.”
That he had done so simply because he wanted to keep Seo-jun in check while still being able to form a decent team.
“And what about you, Penguin-nim?”
“Actually, I have decided to give up predicting the thoughts of streamers.”
“It’s because of the last remaining team. I realized that there might be something I am failing to see.”
Having understood, Arin introduced the last remaining team.
“Now! This team was formed by bidding all points to win the first player, and then receiving the remaining three—B, C, and D—from the players who went unsold until the very end!”
“Excluding Wind Sword-nim, this team is made up of people who have all done collab streams together before. And Seo-jun-nim, who will be giving the orders, has done collab streams with everyone.”
“Perhaps their team chemistry might be the best. Therefore, they are a team that could show an upset!”
Bangju said, recalling Seo-jun’s personality.
In his opinion, Seo-jun surprisingly had good social skills.
“Shall we take a look at what kind of conversation this team is having?”
“A-A warm atmosphere where they understand each other even without saying a word, and it's not awkward at all...”
“It looks like the team leader is standing in punishment right now...”
“Should we turn it off?”
The decision was quick this time as well.
-Wow! It's really harmonious, LMAO
-Ha Yun-ho LMAO, he has his hands up LOL
-Upvote if it clearly looks doomed LMAO
Once the auction was over, teams could be divided into two cases: those that went wrong and those that did not.
And usually, there was not just one team that went wrong. This was because if one team leader trolled, it would inevitably affect the other teams as well.
It was not for nothing that Mental was notorious for being the biggest variable in the auction.
Considering that every single team had ended up slightly messed up due to Mental’s choices in the previous tournament, one could even say his notoriety was rather understated.
‘In the first place, they divided exactly six people by grade, but they didn't divide them by position, so there is bound to be a ruined team.’
Although it was not absolute, for example, many of the lower-tier players were placed in the bottom lane.
And in the case of top and mid, as the number of users who played both was statistically the highest, there were many players who could play these two as secondary positions.
Under these circumstances, the team leaders conducted the auction reasonably on their own.
And then, someone would troll and ruin it.
However, Ha Yun-ho was...
‘He couldn’t even ruin it.’
In the first place, without any choice, having poured all his points into Seo-jun when he came out first, he was in a position where he had to beg, ‘Please don’t take that player and leave him for us!’, so he could not possibly ruin things for others.
He had simply sunk on his own.
Was it because of that? Except for Seo-jun's team, everyone else could be seen as being in relatively decent shape.
Because even Tae-woo's team was in a surprisingly good position compared to past tournaments. This meant that they were the only team that could be considered completely ruined.
‘Let’s get in first.’
Seo-jun entered the lobby where the team members were gathered through Ha Yun-ho's invitation.
The first thing that caught his eye was Ha Yun-ho standing with his hands up, and the team members glaring at him.
‘Everyone is doing well.’
-The host is the latest
-Logging into the capsule seems to be the slowest? Is this also because of the assimilation rate?
-This seems like a tech-illiterate issue LMAO
-Ah LOL, tech-illiterate issue LMAO
It was correct. There was no big difference in connection speed. He was just a little late because he was switching the stream from the computer to the capsule.
They were quite sharp.
The silence broke as Seo-jun entered.
“Seo-jun-nim! It’s been a while! It feels a bit strange meeting like this, but I feel so reassured now that we’re on the same team!”
Alpaca ran over and greeted him first.
-Typical Alpaca: said with his own mouth that he's only played mid
-Age entering his 30s, an appearance that strangely looks like an ugly alpaca, an assassin pest, and a low ranking of high Platinum, which is low for a C-grade. This guy is garbage!
-No wonder he went unsold LOL
The viewers were too much.
Because Seo-jun was thinking that, on second thought, it wasn't all that bad considering they were all team members he knew.
“Wow, I’m seeing you on the same team, Seo-jun-nim. I thought I would meet you as an opponent because of our positions.”
And the viewers, too harshly, began to recite his profile again.
-He was originally a Challenger mid, but after meeting Kael two years ago, he took a nosedive.
-First of all, in Master tier, his Kael win rate is 48% and pick rate is 64%.
-He's a Kael one-trick. On top of that, when he loses points with Kael, he raises his score with other heroes LMAO
-Honestly, Wind Sword might actually have incredible potential, but looking at it safely, it's right to skip him. Wind Sword also deserved to end up in this team LOL
-Looking at it now, everyone just had a good reason not to be bought LMAO
-Wow! The team is so good! Insane!
Even if they were left behind for good reason, the players weren't at fault, were they?
Lay with the team leader who was currently kneeling and raising his arms while subtly avoiding Seo-jun's gaze.
“Good to see you again, Rumi-nim.”
He greeted Rumi, who was monitoring next to Ha Yun-ho.
At any rate, the atmosphere was harmonious. Except for Ha Yun-ho.
To repeat, the team members were not to blame, after all.
“Excuse me, since this is virtual reality anyway, I don't feel physical fatigue and only have a bit of mental fatigue, so can't I just put them down?”
“Then you can just keep holding them up for the rest of your life, Yun-ho.”
-Still, Rumi is decent
-It seems she didn't go unsold because of a weakness, but just because there was no matching team.
-Sorry, but whether D and E are decent or trolls doesn't matter anyway.
-Anyway, the problem is definitely the mid trio!
Well, what was already decided could not be helped. Unless they were going to give up, there was no need to jump to conclusions and get frustrated beforehand.
“Let’s just decide on our team name.”
“How about ‘Ha Yun-ho and the Victims’?”
Rumi offered her opinion first.
“That’s good too. Or, on a more extreme note, ‘The Chosen and the Unchosen’?”
Wind Sword said as well.
“That’s too sad. And long.”
“Then, ‘Total Mess’?”
“You’re talking about the team name, right? Not my naming skills?”
Wind Sword, feeling needlessly poked, asked back.
“Yes, yes, of course. Hahaha.”
It was indeed harmonious and nice.
Seo-jun smiled with satisfaction.
“I also came up with a good idea!”
Though everyone froze the moment Ha Yun-ho opened his mouth.
Under the watchful glare of Rumi, who stood with her arms crossed to see how well he would name it, Ha Yun-ho’s mouth opened once again.
...quite asking for a beating, wasn't it?
“You bastard! Are you teasing us because we went unsold?”
“Stomp him! Stomp that bastard!”
“I... I’m not close enough to do that...”
“Wind Sword-nim! I’ll give you permission! Hurry up and stomp him!”
...was more violent than she looked.
When Seo-jun was slightly intimidated, Rumi, who had been stomping Ha Yun-ho to her heart's content, suddenly turned her head toward Seo-jun.
“Seo-jun-nim. Why aren’t you stomping him? Is it because you’re 995 points…”
He had also been wanting to stomp him anyway.
It was not because he was intimidated. Really.
In the end, the team name was decided as Wealth Gap. This was because it fit perfectly.
The viewers also said that a wealth gap was only natural for the Capitalist Heavenly Demon.
Seo-jun did not know what kind of nonsense they were talking about.
As a side note, it was said that Tae-woo’s team name was highly likely to be ‘Self-Twisted Fate’ (screwing over one's own life). Everyone except Tae-woo reportedly agreed.
In any case, the team names were going to be announced tomorrow.
“So, what are we doing today?”
“We’ll probably play a simple game?”
“The team that wins today's game will get the benefit of organizing the groups in the group stage.”
“Last time, a racing game came out for everyone. I don’t know what will come out this time.”
They stared at the official streaming window right in front of them.
This was because the advertisement was about to end and Part 2 was about to begin.
[Now! Thank you for waiting. Let's run straight into Part 2. I am Caster Arin, in charge of broadcasting LiOS.]
[Then let’s get right to it. The warm-up games for this group selection! There are two in total. One is a fighting PC game where E-grade team members battle! Beast Cartel!]
-First of all, it's a noob battle
-Then do the other four play a different game?
-They're bringing in a PC game here of all places, LMAO
-Those characters are so floppy that PC really brings out the charm LOL
[Yes! And the second is the VR battle royale game Ground Zero! It will be conducted in a 4-man squad, single match. Players excluding E-grade will participate. For those players who do not have the game, the organizers have just sent it as a gift, so please check and download it!]
[Aha! Ground Zero and Beast Cartel!]
[Bangju-nim, why are you talking as if you didn't know?]
[…Because the script told me to act surprised. Why are you doing this to me?]
[Haha. It was a joke. Then please continue with the explanation.]
“Yes, Seo-jun-nim. Do you happen to know it?”
“Hmm, I think I know how to play it.”
Anticipation swept across the faces of the team members.
They were well aware of Seo-jun's physical abilities. Yet he knew the game?
Naturally, they could not help but picture Seo-jun carrying them.
The moment their gazes locked onto him!
“If you see enemies, you just have to kill them. Right?”
Alpaca quickly wore an 'I knew it' expression.
“Ah… That’s the same for every game, though.”
And Wind Sword, perhaps because he did not know Seo-jun well yet, answered seriously.
“Haha… Let’s talk after seeing how Yun-ho does first.”
Rumi, who gritted her teeth for a moment, resolved to become close friends with Seo-jun quickly.
Otherwise, it was certain that she would not even be able to fight back due to the awkwardness and would keep getting unilaterally beaten throughout the tournament, just like now!
[Now! First, all E-grade members in each team, please install the game on your PCs!]