Season 5: Chapter 136. Scrimmage Prelude (3)

The scrimmage channel opened in This World. All ten teams gathered.

[Cheese Scrimmage]

[51/51]

"Beeeer-beber-ber! How do you do, everyone? I'm Camebert, your scrimmage moderator for this event."

Camebert, the moderator, also appeared.

— Hey hey

— Ber-ber-ber~

— Extreme jobs: moderator lmaooo

— Hi Bert~

He'd served as moderator during Cheese Village too, so quite a few viewers were happy to see him.

"Everyone's here? Please check your teammates beside you."

He quickly ran through the headcount first.

"There could be a Paprika spy lurking here or a traitor like Zelo..."

"N-no! What era are you referencing!?"

"Ber-ber-ber~!"

— lmaooooooooooo

— lmaooo Zelo

— Zel-out

— He's on our side now though?

— Cheese Village LOL

Everyone had a good laugh.

"You all know this already, but let me run through it once more."

Camebert gave a brief overview.

"We'll play a total of five games and compile a ranking. This being the first scrimmage, just go in relaxed. I'll be observing all scrimmages to gather data. That's all!"

With Camebert's signal, everyone connected to LIL.

Whoosh!

[Loading...]

'It's starting.'

Gulp.

Almond swallowed dryly and ran through the strategy in his head.

'Secure the route first... split is Black Tea and Lemon... regroup at Turtle, then again...'

The split strategy was complex enough that going through it like a memorization drill was the only way to adapt.

— Let's do well!

— Let’s go Almond~!

— Knight Order! Let's gooooo

Viewers were all in a supportive mood too.

[Welcome to the Abyss Shadow!]

After closing and opening his eyes, Almond found himself in the airship.

"Map first!"

"Oh, okay!"

The Knight Order rushed to the map.

***

Was it a coincidence? At the same time, Paprika began their scrimmage too. With both platform scrimmages beginning in earnest, Streamer Garden was overflowing with conversation.

[Cheese and Paprika going at the same time lol, watching both die]

[Everyone is scrimmaging today wow lmaooo]

[This format is so good lmaooo, keep them apart]

[Such a relief with matching schedules, props to the planning~]

Due to the scheduled structure, the platforms wouldn't meet before the actual event. Streamer Garden users found it awkward at first, but they were satisfied once the scrimmages actually began. It was much more exciting to imagine what would happen when teams that had never faced each other met in the real thing, almost like an international tournament.

"Ohh~ people are saying it was a good idea." Popcorn, aka Ok Su-Hwan, was sitting next to Sa-Rang.

Sa-Rang didn't take her eyes off the monitor and said flatly, "I didn't do it for it to be good."

"Kyah~! Right, you did it for your own convenience. I know. Impres-sive! Impres-sive!" He put in plenty of sarcasm, but it bounced right off.

"Aren't you practicing? You're on the hidden team."

"Hey, I have pride. Would we join the scrimmage? We're separate."

"Then the numbers don't add up."

Wasn't it supposed to be ten Paprika teams and ten Cheese teams? They'd be mixing in groups of five.

"You'll see when you see."

"... Is that so?" Sa-Rang frowned slightly as if displeased that she didn’t know about something.

Even while doing that, she never took her eyes off the monitor.

"Anyway, don't you have to watch with the other coaches in This World?"

"Even without using my legs, I can't handle the capsule long. Being in there just scatters my focus."

"... Oh."

Even without using her legs, it was a problem. A bitter feeling passed across Su-Hwan’s face.

'It's gotten worse.'

Her leg problem wasn't improving, only worsening. Maybe that was expected, but Su-Hwan found it hard to accept. Even now, he occasionally had a fantasy.

He fantasized that if JeonJaPa ever returned someday, maybe their team would reunite and compete in the league one more time... Of course, everyone would have aged. Their form would be at rock bottom.

It would be beyond JeonJaPa and the Kids, or more like JeonJaPa and Dead Weight. Still, what would it be like to step on stage and play again? Just that alone, wouldn't that be wonderful?

"It's starting."

The Cheese scrimmage started on Sa-Rang's monitor. Her mouse moved busily to screenshot things.

Click, click...

"Ha. Still trapped in the same frame of thinking. Same type of route again. This..."

Click.

"Route 1, 2..."

Su-Hwan smiled bitterly while watching her become absorbed in a mere streamer event match.

'It seems like it can't happen.'

His wish was starting to feel increasingly impossible.

Su-Hwan turned his head.

Bang!

Sa-Rang suddenly slammed the desk. "Ugh!"

Su-Hwan turned around in disbelief. "Why, what happened? Did things fall apart?"

'But this person is extremely calm when gaming... What on earth... hm?'

He'd been thinking what could possibly make JeonJaPa slam a desk, but she hadn't been looking at the game screen. The game had nothing significant happening. She was looking at a message someone had sent.

[Han Woo-Joo: Lmaooooo]

[Han Woo-Joo: You're getting SO roasted lmaooo, saw it? lololol]

[Han Woo-Joo: (photo)]

[Han Woo-Joo: As expected, LIL Pro's superstar even when hiding your identity~]

Han Woo-Joo was the master of poking fun at JeonJaPa.

She had reacted to his messages. Thanks to him, Sa-Rang ended up reading community posts she'd otherwise never have looked at.

"The haters always come back..."

"Hey, they've been doing that every day for forever. They just won't stop until we win."

Even winning didn't stop them... However, Su-Hwan chose not to add that. Ignorance was bliss barely applied in modern society, but here it did. Sa-Rang clearly knew that too.

"I think I need to exercise some power."

“Hm?” Su-Hwan asked in disbelief, "What? Did you forget? You're a coach."

"I know."

Sa-Rang had a method in mind.

'Why is she going this far over a game?'

***

Beeeeeep!

[Game 1 Over]

[1/5]

The first scrimmage ended.

[4th place]

They placed fourth out of ten teams. In ranked games, this was called defending and maintaining rank points without losing them. It was hard to call that a bad result.

Given the Knight Order's expectations and the outside world's expectations, this was doing poorly. Most of them were thinking privately.

'Wow, this is harder than I thought...'

'The split totally failed.'

'These bastards know we're splitting and they're countering it...'

Being evaluated as one of the strongest teams had a significant disadvantage in Survival mode. By Survival mode's structure, other teams could counter them very easily. Three teams had even launched a simultaneous joint attack.

They had exploited the Knight Order's split operation. The wider a team spread out, the more information they gathered. Everyone knew they were attempting to split and adapted accordingly.

Other teams weren’t teaming up or playing maliciously. They also had former pro coaches and a few former pro streamers. The Knight Order's still-raw coordination couldn’t help but break down.

"Everyone, connect to your team's This World! Start feedback!"

Whoosh!

Portals appeared near where the teams clustered. These passages connected to other channels.

The Knight Order walked inside. Coach Sa-Rang, who had just connected, waited with her arms crossed. After facing each other, nobody moved to speak first.

Beeeeeep!

[Feedback Time]

[09:59]

Ten minutes of feedback time had been given. Even then, Sa-Rang said nothing.

Sweet Potato threw out a joke as if trying to break the atmosphere. "Oh. This was basically tiering, right~? We got ganged up on~."

Sa-Rang still said nothing.

— What?

— Hm?

— Hm?

— What on earth??

— Coach? Knock knock~

Time kept passing, but they only continued staring at each other uncomfortably.

'What is going on?'

Sweet Radish was almost sweating. Even Almond couldn't figure out why Sa-Rang was doing this.

Around three minutes passed.

Sa-Rang raised her hand and put up four fingers. "Four games."

"...?"

"There will be no feedback at all until four games have been played."

Sweet Radish couldn't hold back and asked, "... Why?"

Honestly, Sweet Radish was less curious and more concerned about what was being said about Sa-Rang outside. He was worried.

'If she does it this way, she'll get even more criticism.'

He had trusted her as a coach since she beat Tortilla, but this woman's provocative conduct made viewers uneasy. That viewer unease directly affected the streamer Sweet Radish too.

"What do you mean, why? Because I decided it."

"??"

— ?

— ??

— What?

— What

— Decisive lmaooo

Sa-Rang decided to take all the criticism on herself.

"... Understood." Of course, only Almond responded.

'It's JeonJaPa. She has a reason.'

He trusted Sa-Rang despite Sweet Radish's worries. More precisely, he trusted JeonJaPa's thinking.

— lmaooooooooooo

— LOL

— Almond...

— Almond just thinks feedback is annoying~

— He probably likes it better

— What kind of bizarre method is this???

— Did Almond butter someone up with this person?

— Hmm...

Other teams would receive feedback, grow stronger, and come back for the next game. The Knight Order had to go back in with an ambiguous 4th place.

"Could we do feedback among ourselves?" Sweet Radish tried to at least do it among themselves.

"Do as you like."

— ?

— Why is she like this fr

— Wow

— Sis! Why are you sulking!?

— Being the villain... she's used to it...

— What's wrong...

— ???

— Like self-study?

***

They played three more games after that. The Knight Order's results shockingly declined. They placed 4th, 4th, 3rd, and 7th. Only after hitting 7th did Sweet Radish really feel it.

'Damn... my own Survival split understanding is too low.'

He was a former pro in Siege. In other areas, he was effectively amateur-level. Even handling champions in Survival mode was essentially ground zero for him. Most of all, other teams were coming back increasingly improved. His side couldn't find its footing.

"Uh... sis... I just don't have talent for splitting..."

"Hm? No. We hunted well, though?"

"What good is leveling up well if..."

"It's my fault! I'm the one who's bad at the game!"

"We all know that, Sweet Potato."

Black Tea, Lemon, and Sweet Potato were all lamenting.

"It's those bastards' fault for ganging up on us!"

Sweet Potato started blaming himself. Everyone agreed and suddenly shifted to blaming others.

"Ahaha! What, ganging up?" At that moment, Zelo approached.

— Emperor Zel

— Back again lmaooo

— Zelo just really likes the Lord lmaooo

— lmaooooooo came to taunt

"No, doing a split so OPENLY! Just CONTINUALLY dividing the same time with the same numbers! Then shouldn't your head also get split? This isn't ganging up! This is the people's judgment!"

Zelo gestured as if lifting his skull off its hinges and cackled.

— lmaooo fr

— Who's going to leave you alone when you're openly trying to eat everything with a split LOL

— Head also gets split hahaha

— lmaooooo

— Came over and actually told them something loool

"Sigh."

"Rotten one..."

"Zello, you...! Should have banished him from Cheese Village for good!"

Everyone muttered something.

Strangely, Almond had nothing to say.

'Why is the Lord not saying anything?'

Zelo had actually come to get a word out of Almond.

‘Tch.’

Since there was no reaction, he just awkwardly shuffled off and left.

— ?

— ??

— What the

— lmaooooo

— Suddenly leaving LOL

Zelo found Almond’s silence puzzling, but so did Sweet Radish.

'What?'

The most competitive person on the team, someone who had even been called the Devil of Interviews, had said nothing to Zelo? He'd usually speak up for the stream.

Almond just stood there with his gaze fixed somewhere.

Sweet Radish went closer. Then, he heard Almond muttering and understood.

'Ah.'

Almond’s head had no room for Zelo to enter right now.

"What is it? What's wrong? Where did it break down? Could it actually just be that Sweet Potato is too bad..."

He was panicking over the greatest achievement of his life, the split strategy, being in crisis.

"The split isn't the sin. Sweet Potato is the problem... Sweet Potato..."

— It's just Sweet Potato lmaooooo

— There's a reason Sweet Potato is Sweet Potato tsk

— Sweet Potato is very Sweet Potato...

— LOL

— If someone who won with Bubblegum is saying this, he must really want the split operation to work

— Going insane hahaha

Sweet Radish had been considering abandoning the split.

'Whatever else, let's stick with the split.'

This madness seemed impossible to stop.

Beeeeep!

When the feedback notification sounded, Almond's eyes finally lit up.

"Oh. Let’s go get feedback. She'll tell us something now~."

He went into the portal like someone finally about to hear the answer.

Whoosh!

***

Sa-Rang was waiting with her arms crossed as she had been throughout all four games. Something was slightly different. From this game onward, she would give feedback.

Behind her, countless screenshots were floating.

"Wow... what? What is all this?"

"It's a gallery~ woohoo~!"

"Are, are all those things what we did wrong?"

Everyone stared in surprise at the enormous number of photos. A countdown notification appeared behind them.

[Time Limit]

[09:59]

Sa-Rang opened her mouth. "From now on, we're getting first place."