Season 5: Chapter 84. Because I Like Them (2)

Even back in Cheese Village, the very first Servant title had gone to Sweet Potato. Sweet Radish had been acting as the Lord and put Sweet Potato, who owed him money, to work as his errand boy. Potato Servant was the demeaning nickname that followed.

By the end of Cheese Village, Potato Servant had actually become an honorable title because every Lord needed a proper servant. Far too many servants had piled in beneath Sweet Potato, making him an executive by comparison. Becoming Potato Servant again in real life was another story entirely.

"Potato Servant... AGAIN!" Sweet Potato screamed, "How did we even lose that! You worthless BokChoy!"

Even if Sweet Potato's Siege mode rank was only Gold, that didn't mean he had no eye for the game. A team made up entirely of retired players beating the current meta in a simulator made no sense, especially when the opposing side was practically an all-star roster of players at their peak.

— They actually lost lmao

— Full Potato Servant now

— You got completely Potato Servant'd~

— lmaooooo how do you lose that?

— It's not even a close loss; getting completely steamrolled is something else

While Sweet Potato wailed, Black Tea bounced around and shrieked in delight. "Bwahahahaha! Potato Servant has been decided already? Hm? Hey, Potato Servant~ come over here and attend to your mistress! Hm!?"

Poke. Poke.

She went over and prodded him with her foot just to rub it in. The strange part was Almond's reaction.

“Phew.”

He just felt a mild sense of relief, no dramatic response. Almond wasn't typically the high-energy type. Still, he had brought this coach and seemingly put her at an insurmountable disadvantage. This felt like the calm of someone relieved that a person who was supposed to win had won. What was that about?

‘Does he... not see it that way?’

Sweet Radish found it puzzling. Actually, the match itself had been puzzling from start to finish.

‘To lose this one-sidedly...’

A high-value dual-cannon composition rarely lost like this, especially not with a roster like that. It didn’t seem possible.

‘How exactly did they lose?’

Even Sweet Radish couldn’t fully understand what had happened. Despite accounting for a strong understanding of the players, Choi Sa-Rang’s setup was fundamentally misaligned with the current meta. How had she not just won, but dominated?

‘Hmm...’

He started going through it piece by piece. First, there was a vulnerability in the jungle. She had banned the jungle champions best suited for the dual-cannon meta. While the jungler was highly skilled, his champion pool wasn't particularly wide in this season's meta.

‘BokChoy would have accounted for that.’

The jungle, being somewhat constrained in its options, was a known factor.

‘It shouldn't have been a big deal.’

This was a single-game format, wasn't it? No matter what got banned, only one meta-appropriate champion needed to slip through.

‘Hm?’

Sweet Radish felt the unease there.

‘Slipping through the bans...?’

BokChoy hadn’t slipped through the bans. Maybe the bans had forced a specific choice around that champion, the optimized jungle pathing, the mid's movements, and the top's movements. Then, the mid double kill suddenly made sense as part of the design.

Sweet Radish rewound the replay and saw it.

‘Everything after that... was also mapped out.’

It wasn't just the early game that had been designed. Every movement afterward had embedded calls. Was that even possible?

Honestly, from the mid-to-late game, the game was simply handed over to the simulated players' capabilities. Giving orders didn't mean much unless the situation matched those orders. There were even cases where it interfered, causing the program to behave erratically.

‘But she called it all right?’

The mid double kill hadn't decided the game. Incidents of the same magnitude kept occurring after that with clearly coordinated movements. These were tactical decisions from someone who knew the current meta. The player data in this simulator absolutely couldn't account for that.

‘Just who... is she?’

Sweet Radish looked at the coach who had just returned to the This World lobby.

Choi Sa-Rang swept her long, dark hair back and settled into the waiting area. There was nothing particularly triumphant about it. It just looked like the natural composure of someone who had won something they were supposed to win.

‘Is this the caliber of a Civil Empire commander?’

Civil Empire was certainly more strategic than LIL. Commanders had to lead real people and handle the production side of operations single-handedly. He'd known that in theory.

‘But this...’

Even after taking into account the fact that BokChoy was a bit rusty from his military service, he was still an active coach.

"Ah... I got completely demolished. What happened?"

Even BokChoy couldn't comprehend the loss.

"You're just dead weight. Get out of here."

Thwack!

Sweet Potato, unable to find anyone else to take it out on, kicked him.

— LOL

— Lmao

— Soldier incoming~

— lmaooo fr

— To be fair, the opponent was genuinely something else

— lmaooo

BokChoy kept reviewing and tilting his head, unable to make sense of it. "What the... Where did I go wrong? It’s impossible to lose like this. The build was optimal."

Third parties could accept it easily, but too many things didn't add up for him even after all his preparation.

Sweet Potato wouldn't stop poking at him. "Optimal my ass. Just die already."

BokChoy kept tilting his head.

‘The other side looks too calm.’

Meanwhile, Choi Sa-Rang sat with Almond at a table. Neither of them said a word. Apparently, no post-match review was needed.

‘Not that reviewing with Almond would accomplish anything...’

Practically speaking, a real review would be impossible anyway. Still, this calm felt strange. Choi Sa-Rang, in particular, paid absolutely no attention to BokChoy's visible confusion. Normally, the winner would at least toss something out when the loser couldn't accept the loss.

‘She knows the way she won isn't conventional.’

Sweet Radish moved the tournament along.

"Alright. Our soldier BokChoy can return to base."

"What do you mean, return to base! Are you insane! I'm on leave! You won't even let me watch?!"

— LOL

— Even hearing it out loud, the words hurt lmaooo

— Return to base...

— Oh no...

— He's on vacation, you maniac!

— Are you a demon?

"Moving on to the next match. We have Black Tea's recommendation, KnifeKnife."

"Yes. Pleased to meet you."

"KnifeKnife, a word on your mindset going in?"

"I'll win and return without shaming my academy students."

Losing would apparently be a disgrace before his students.

— This isn't a competition lmao

— What kind of stakes is this lmao

— lmaooo it suddenly feels like a real tournament lmao

— What's the prize pool?

"Next, my recommendation! Tortilla!"

"Yes. Hello everyone."

"Your thoughts?"

"Well... I'd say there's a certain gap in caliber between an academy coach and a proper league coach. I'll demonstrate that."

"Yeaaah~!"

The provocative opening got BlackTea and Lemon clapping enthusiastically.

"Love the trash talk!"

"Go get 'em~!"

— Hahahaha

— Black Tea is excited even though it's against her own team LOL

— Black Tea just loves trash talk lmao

— lmaooo

— Academy coaches are kind of lower tier tho

"Begin!"

With a charged atmosphere, everyone stepped up.

"Yeaaaah~!"

"Win it! KnifeKnife!"

It went like this sometimes. The room was small, but everyone made noise. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pocket of silence followed. Everyone oddly went quiet at the same time.

In that silence, someone said something very quietly. "Isn't that person also a Tier 2 coach?"

It came out louder than expected.

— ?

— LOL

— lmaooo

— Why is there suddenly trash talk from this direction lmao

— Well she did compete in the world championship~

— lmaooo it's true he's a Tier 2 coach lmao

— He's on break, so that's how he's here in the first place

It had been Choi Sa-Rang, who was looking sideways at something.

Sweet Potato missed nothing. "Oh~ That's some serious provocation?"

Sa-Rang clearly hadn't meant for it to come out that loud and looked momentarily caught off guard. Her eyes moved to Almond.

He read this as: ‘You know them. Do something about it.’ It wasn’t exactly reading, but he understood.

‘Hmm...’

Almond did want to help. He'd been the one to bring her here, so he couldn't let her get unfairly misunderstood.

"Ahem. Potato Servant."

Being called Potato Servant by the Lord carried a certain weight.

"Yes?" Sweet Potato's body went rigid with an instinctive jolt.

The body always remembered the Lord's authority.

"She wasn't provoking anyone."

"Ah... yes. Yes, sir."

"She just didn't know and was genuinely asking if he was a Tier 2 coach."

"Of, of course."

"Is he actually a Tier 2 coach?"

"... Yes."

"Is being a Tier 2 coach a bad thing?"

"Oh, oh no! Of course not! Tier 2 is still LIL Champions!"

"Then, why was that provocation?"

"... You know, that's fair? S-sorry!"

— Argument won

— What is happening?!

— Adult Almond is something else

Some viewers still thought Almond was just correcting Sweet Potato's misstep.

"No, but why would saying he’s a Tier 2 coach be a provocation?" Almond was genuinely asking.

"So, the thing about Tier 2 is..."

"If you're in Tier 2, then you're a Tier 2 coach."

"That's correct."

Choi Sa-Rang pressed her forehead and lowered her head.

‘Please stop saying Tier 2...’

She just wanted to stop Tier 2 from being mentioned endlessly.

— LOL

— lmaooooo

— How many times is he going to kill her...

— Killing the Tier 2 coach twice

— May the blessing of the nut be upon her...

— lmaooo

— There'll be nothing left, you nut

Like the saying went: “Hide a leaf in a forest.” Unintentionally, this approach had something of an effect. Nobody paid attention to what Sa-Rang had originally said anymore.

— How bad is Tier 2 anyway?

— Let's count how many times he says Tier 2 lmao

— lmaooo

— He's fixated on this now

Everyone simply grew curious about how many times Almond would say Tier 2.

***

The Tier 2 coach, Tortilla, now sat at the coaching seat.

"Ugh... Tier 2 is still good, you know."

He swallowed his tears and prepared for the ban-picks.

— LOL

— lmaooooo

— Tortilla...

— He was Tier 1 when he was a player... pour one out

— lmaooooo

Maybe those tear-soaked picks gave him something extra.

[Victory]

Ba-bam!

"YEAAAH! Tortilla! It’s a smooth, clean win to become a Masked Coach King finalist!!"

Tortilla defeated KnifeKnife comfortably and advanced to the final. His next opponent would be Choi Sa-Rang. She slowly rose to her feet.

Sweet Radish approached her. "Can we get a word on your thoughts?"

"Ah... the Tier 2... ah, no..." Choi Sa-Rang shook her head vigorously, banishing the phantom of Tier 2 from her mind.

‘I heard it so many times that it's lodged in my brain.’

Sweet Radish couldn’t let that go. "Yes. It would be appropriate to say something to that Tier 2 coach."

— Again lmaooo

— The Tier 2 coach again lmao

— Sweet Radish has also lost to many a Tier 2 coach in his day...

— lmaooooooo

— Ah LOL

— Her face is turning red, leave her alone~

"Ahem. I'll just go win."

"Going for a Tier 2 win, then?"

Zap.

The look she shot him made Sweet Radish immediately bow his head.

"My apologies. But one question!" He grabbed her before she could leave. "Are you planning to use the CK team again this time?"

"Ah, yes..."

"Is there a reason you're sticking with them?"

This question took longer to answer than expected. Something in the air shifted, just barely. Nobody would have caught it. The way her eyes wavered slightly at the weight of the question, more than the question itself warranted.

"Because I like them."

"Is that all?"

Choi Sa-Rang nodded once more. "Yes."

Because she liked them. That was all.

— Rogue fangirl lmaooo

— A cool fangirl is welcome~

— Decisive

— If you like something, you just do it~