Season 5: Chapter 80. All In (1)

Clap. Clap.

Ju-Hyeok applauded.

"She came. She actually came."

Honestly, Ju-Hyeok had his doubts until Choi Sa-Rang actually appeared. She put considerable effort into concealing her identity, so why would she expose herself here for something that wasn't even on the scale of a world championship? Ju-Hyeok couldn't quite understand, but Sang-Hyeon had assured him that she would probably pull through.

‘And she actually did.’

Choi Sa-Rang had genuinely shown herself in This World. Her name, Choi Sa-Rang, had come out. No one would be able to connect her to Choi Seong-Hyeon, the legendary player known as JeonJaPa.

‘Her body code is different too.’

Ju-Hyeok had checked it the moment she entered This World. It wasn't JeonJaPa's code. He'd somewhat expected this ever since learning that she had disguised herself as a man.

‘But how did she manage it?’

From what Ju-Hyeok had looked into, having a second body code was no simple feat. Even going the illegal route would require a deeply organized, systemic operation.

‘She comes from considerable wealth.’

Choi Sa-Rang’s family was very well off. Enough money had probably solved it somehow. Regardless, she was here entirely as Choi Sa-Rang with no illegal elements or traces of her past prestige.

‘Good. This will work.’

Ju-Hyeok actually liked that everyone felt confused by who Choi Sa-Rang was.

‘Finding the coach is content itself.’

The real value of streamer competitions like the Platform War or the national tournament was never in the outcome. It was always in the process.

‘The process is where the actual money is.’

The process had a direct and decisive impact on revenue. Why? Simple. The tournament itself lasted a moment, but the preparation period stretched on for a long time. Showing the team's chemistry and growth during that process generated content that earned real support.

People called this “blowing up.” The process of finding a coach was one of these stages for content. Now, the hidden JeonJaPa had appeared for this content. As far as Ju-Hyeok was concerned, he couldn't have drawn up a better picture.

He walked over to the editing team. "Ji-Ah."

"...?" Ji-Ah felt startled at his sudden appearance.

He murmured, "You're watching the live right now, right?"

"Yeah. I've got it running on the side."

"When you edit this, center your focus on this person."

"Right, she's the one Almond brought..."

"No, more than that."

"?"

"She's definitely going to win."

Ju-Hyeok essentially already knew the outcome of the coach selection, which made the editing process significantly smoother.

"You'll be able to put the video out first."

In collab streams, whoever uploaded first always had an enormous advantage. Since all five Knight Order members had experienced the same events, viewers could watch any of their streams and get a similar experience. What if someone’s edit went up first?

‘You would have to watch the first one.’

People would watch it no matter what.

‘The problem is what comes after.’

The next streamer's video and the one after that? The further back they went, the less likely viewers would watch. While collabs were cheerful and friendly occasions on the surface, it was essentially a competition for the management companies behind them.

‘That's the whole point of the Platform War.’

Two platforms would co-host the same competition. Depending on which teams drew more popularity and how quickly they could produce quality edits, viewers would really migrate from one platform to the other.

‘This is a war.’

It was literally a war with no weapons drawn, and they had advance knowledge of who the best coach in the competition would be. This coach would be central to the team throughout the tournament. Ji-Ah would be able to maintain focus on Choi Sa-Rang from the start. From the company's side, the entire workflow got so much easier.

‘Good work... Almondoyle.’

Yu Sang-Hyeon had occasionally done this back at the Ah-Sung too. He seemed completely thoughtless most of the time, but would come through in ways no one expected at the most critical moment. This was one of those moments.

‘He brought that person in as a coach.’

This could prove enormously beneficial to Mixed Nuts going forward. The odds were high that Mixed Nuts would be fighting at the front lines of this war.

***

Sweet Radish, who was good at these things, came forward first to say hello. "You were a commander in Civil Empire, right? I watched the world championship! You were brilliant."

"Oh, yes."

"I didn't know you played LIL, though."

"I did. For around..." Sa-Rang's eyes moved for a moment. She wasn't great at lying. "About five years."

It was her actual time playing professionally.

"Wow, so from basically the beginning then."

"You watched the world championship, so you know. My legs aren't great. There isn't much else to do."

"Ah..."

— Oh man...

— Oh...

— Makes sense...

— So that's why she played games...

— I didn't expect to see her here, wow

Choi Sa-Rang's current avatar stood comfortably on two feet, but she'd always been in a wheelchair every time she appeared at the tournament venues in person. That had drawn considerable attention.

A beautiful female commander in a wheelchair? The surreal quality of it had captivated many viewers. However, she had made no use whatsoever of that attention.

‘Then, she just suddenly disappeared.’

Best Yi Sun-Shin had never appeared at another public venue and slowly faded from memory.

"Alright, introductions done."

Clap!

Sweet Radish said, "Some of you may have heard what we discussed. We can only select one coach from among you."

All four coaches slowly nodded. They'd all come already knowing.

"You might be wondering why we're going through all this for something that's not even that serious..."

Sweet Radish went quiet for a moment.

‘Fair enough. Why are we going through all this?’

He was thinking the same thing himself.

"Well. Here we are."

— lmaooooooo

— Hahaha

— What lmao

— Even he thinks it's kind of extra lmao

— LOL

“Pfft.”

A light laugh passed between the coaches and streamers alike.

"Still, thank you all for agreeing to participate. I hope we can make it fun. First, we'll need to download the LIL Champions Simulator. Those of you with pro experience will already have it..."

Sweet Radish's eyes moved to Choi Sa-Rang. She was the only one in the room without a professional background.

"I'll send you a download link."

Whoosh.

He made a gesture, and the link flew over automatically.

"Ah... yes." Choi Sa-Rang briefly hesitated before nodding.

‘I can't say I already have it.’

A person with no professional background wouldn’t have this program. She just said nothing and pretended to download it for a bit. However, she had installed it so long ago that she'd forgotten it was a massive program.

After roughly five minutes, she finally announced, "It’s downloaded."

"Wait. That was incredibly fast."

"What? Already?"

Everyone looked surprised.

Almond stepped in. "She's always fast. She's just fast."

Nobody had any idea what he was talking about. They looked at each other, even more baffled.

For some reason, Choi Sa-Rang bowed her head.

‘He's fixated on that again.’

She simply said that she hadn't picked up the phone quickly, and now it had come to this. Some unknown mental mechanism had caused him to become obsessed with the concept of fast. Since she was the reason for Almond’s strange behavior, she bowed her head accordingly.

— What does "always fast" even mean? lmaooo

— Nut man lmao

— Is he like this because he brought her? He's being weirdly attentive lmao

— lmaooo so cute lmao

— Does he know what he's saying?? lmao

"Ah... So, she's just naturally f-fast?"

"Good capsule, probably."

"A good capsule makes download speeds fast?"

"I don't know. Maybe her internet provider is good."

The baffled coaches talked among themselves.

"Alright. We'll draw lots to set the matches. It’ll be a very simple and short tournament format."

Ding!

A large purple lottery tube appeared.

Dududu...!

The tube began to spin. Within moments, slips of paper shot out toward each coach.

Whoosh.

Everyone was about to unfold their paper.

"Oh, hold on!" Sweet Potato suddenly cut in. "Shouldn't we be placing bets?"

"Bets?"

Everyone looked at him quizzically.

"I mean, does it make any sense for us streamers to just stand here and watch while the coaches play?"

— LOL

— lmaooo

— Fair point though

— Sweet Potato says what needs saying!

— lmao fr

— Oh wait, is this a horse racing track lmao

— Hahaha

"We could... bet on which coach will win?"

"Oh." Black Tea's eyes lit up. "I like that."

"Me too!"

The This World server owner, Sweet Radish, generated some chips. They received thirty chips each.

"How about whoever ends up with the most chips today gets to choose where and what we eat at the next dinner?"

"Done!"

"Love it!"

Everyone agreed enthusiastically. Only Almond took a moment.

The Knight Order members whispered to each other.

“What? Is the Lord not confident?”

“Does he think his coach will lose?”

“But wait, then he can just bet on someone else.”

“Come on. He's the one who brought her here. That would be weird.”

“Would the Lord actually think about that?”

They assumed Almond was hesitating because Best Yi Sun-Shin had no professional background and would likely lose.

‘Should I make it ten thousand won per chip?’

However, Almond already believed he had won. He was just thinking about whether he could make the stakes even bigger.

"Almond hyung?"

"Ah, yeah..."

"You're fine with it?"

"Yeah. Of course."

Everyone agreed.

Pop.

A betting layout that looked like something from a casino materialized.

"Oh~ This is a good visual."

A camera was placed at the dealer's position, and everyone sat in a row.

"Should we change our outfits too?"

Poof!

Everyone's clothing changed to formal attire across the board.

— Nice~

— lmaooo feels like a casino trip

— Black Tea in a dress

— Almond is giving 007

"Alright~ Perfect. Let’s proceed to the first match."

Whoosh!

The coaches held up their drawn slips.

"Best Yi Sun-Shin, a.k.a Choi Sa-Rang, versus the soldier! BokChoy!"

— Oh

— BokChoy got a soft bracket lmao

— Come on soldier, let's go~

— He's in it for sympathy anyway lmao

— lmaooo BokChoy is hyped

"Ahem. I look forward to it."

"Likewise."

Whoosh.

They exchanged bows and disappeared into the LIL Champions Simulator.