Season 5: Chapter 87. According to Plan (2)

After JeonJaPa's Draco killed the opposing jungler, nothing further happened in the mid lane.

Sweet Potato tilted his head. "After Draco got that kill, there have been zero more incidents. That's not good for Tortilla's team, is it?"

BokChoy nodded. "Right, obviously not. Saury's Solia is supposed to be running around and stirring things up everywhere. That's Dragon Tamer Jeremiah in the jungle. He can fly practically anywhere."

"True."

"Those two need to be applying pressure all across the map, but that kill completely threw off their tempo. If you've ever played LIL, you know what happens once tempo slips?"

"It keeps slipping. Falling behind in items and levels means the damage potential dries up and kill windows shrink!"

"Exactly. The CK team is especially built around growth-scaling champions. It'll only get harder and harder, but one thing still puzzles me."

"Yeah? What?"

"How is he even playing Draco like this?!"

— lmao fr

— Right

— What is happening lmao

— Literally a shop pick lmao

Draco hadn't even existed as a champion during JeonJaPa's active years, yet a simulated JeonJaPa was successfully playing Draco. This was deeply strange.

"Right!? Is it that even after falling apart, a great fortune lasts three generations!? I wouldn't know, being a Potato Servant! But JeonJaPa is playing Draco quite decently!? Even against Saury!"

Sweet Radish, not a commentator, added his own observation. "Decent isn't the word... At this level, it's perfect. He's on par with Saury's Draco mastery."

That shocked them. Saury's Draco was one of his signature picks, and he was from the generation of players after JeonJaPa. How could JeonJaPa, running on nothing but past-era data, match his mastery?

BokChoy added more. "And what's even stranger is that the teammates are playing beautifully around Draco's tempo! CK is a team that has never experienced this extreme dual-cannon high-value meta. How is this possible!"

Sweet Potato, who'd never gone deep into LIL, couldn't relate. "Why, why are you so excited, Gyeong-Tae?"

"Because! How could you not get excited watching coaching and tactics like this?!"

"He's right!"

Sweet Radish and BokChoy marveled at Choi Sa-Rang's smooth team play.

— Is it really that good?

— What the?!

— What high praise

— BokChoy is just hyping her because he lost to her lmaooo

— Fr?

— Just lucky fangirl?

— You're all just underestimating how absurdly good JeonJaPa is lmao

The viewers didn’t fully buy it. An active and retired pro was suddenly praising a woman, known only as a Civil Empire commander, in LIL? Viewers couldn't be blamed if someone asked if this was scripted.

"CK is playing absurdly defensively! After that one Draco kill, there have been zero more kills! If this weren't on fast-forward, the mocking would've started by now!"

Even after that, Choi Sa-Rang's team held firmly to the fundamentals of a high-value composition. That one kill's worth of tempo gap was doggedly exploited, and they gave up their own turrets at the absolute minimum rate.

"Ahhh! Tortilla's team! They're finally... f-finally pushing the first-tier bot turret! This is good news! But it's genuinely, insanely, incredibly slow!?"

— lmaooo fr

— fr incredibly slow

— Is Gyeong-Tae mad? Lmao

— We're done here

— mid-jungle is already snowballing...

"Tortilla's team built the bot lane as high-value. Shouldn't it be workable!?"

"But CK is pushing the top right now! And that gold! It's going to JeonJaPa!"

With a slight differential, a turret exchange arrangement took place between top and bot.

"Sure, Bonnie has great value, but she's nowhere near Draco! Above all, CK has both mid and ADC at high value right now! Cosmic is on Cannon Boy, isn't he?"

"Ah, right... It’s not as popular a value pick as Bonnie, but Cannon Boy does have serious late-game performance..."

"Still, Tortilla's only real card is Bonnie! Frankly speaking, the silver lining is that Cosmic isn't exactly in peak form." BokChoy smiled and dissed Cosmic.

They were actually close friends in real life.

— lmaooo that's fair

— It's CoMIC now

— He's basically cooked

— lmao fr

— Just full comedy character now lmao

— The old data might actually be an advantage at this point lmao

— Ouch...

— He wasn't great near the end but he was still good

The same happened in every sport. Once a player hit their peak, the decline began. Cosmic was one of those cases. His performance had notable highs and lows, a so-called dice-type player. Aggressive ADCs tended to be like this.

"Cosmic's variance was actually lower when he was in CK, though... Wait." BokChoy raised a hand. "Oh!?"

Something just happened. The LIL Champions Simulator ran at several times the normal speed.

[Cosmic Double Kill!]

Cosmic suddenly killed both the opposing support and ADC. The opponents hadn’t even overextended.

BokChoy reacted as if the real Cosmic had just done something incredible. "Holy! Cosmic! An absolutely superhuman play!"

— Cosmic rolling a six lmao

— Whoa?!

— Insane lmao

— Game's basically over lmaooo

Cosmic kept it up, stacking perfect play after perfect play, as if his prime-era self had returned.

"AHHH! Draco! He's become an ADULT! Draco is a GOD NOW!"

***

The former CK members also felt stunned by Cosmic's explosive carry.

[Popcorn: wait, what's going on with Cosmic? he's doing better in the sim than in actual games? lmao]

[Banana: I ran the lil champs sim a few times when I was bored and that guy was genuinely tier trash in it... this is weird]

[Marshmallow: Seong-Hyeon was always Cosmic's trainer lol]

Cosmic had been watching silently for a while until Marshmallow's comment struck a nerve. He suddenly responded.

[Cosmic: trainer? I just have a naturally high ceiling. don't lump me in with you guys. Huh?]

[Popcorn: sure, so why has that ceiling only popped up randomly since leaving CK, and suddenly shows up again right when Seong-Hyeon is coaching? Lmaooo]

[Cosmic: that's just how it goes sometimes. pure coincidence.]

However, Cosmic knew it wasn't a coincidence. He understood why his simulator self was performing so well right now. A very specific set of conditions had all aligned perfectly. The allied jungle pathing, Cosmic's champion, even the opponent's champions, and the side selection on top of that. Every single condition had been arranged with extraordinary precision.

‘This can't be.’

Cosmic wanted to believe it was a coincidence. He'd even said so, but he knew deep down.

‘She designed all of this.’

This had been thoroughly engineered. If Cosmic hadn't performed, CK would struggle no matter how early Draco got that first kill. The opposing ban-pick had been excellent.

‘This level of...’

Cosmic closed his eyes tightly.

‘She really knew us.’

Because she liked them. The answer she'd given, it seemed like there hadn't been a single falsehood in it. A pro would know. Not just Cosmic, but probably every single member felt the same right now. She had loved this team more deeply than anyone.

***

Dun dun.

The game ended.

[Choi Sa-Rang]

[Victory]

A scream erupted from somewhere.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

Thud...!

Astonishingly, it was Sweet Radish. He collapsed to his knees and hit the floor.

— ?

— ???

— Is it really that serious??

— You're not the only one who lost?? LOL

Lemon and Black Tea, they had all lost too. Why was Sweet Radish the only one in despair? Because his friend Tortilla had lost? That couldn't be it. If a friend lost, he’d probably be more excited instead of screaming.

"No... not the Smart Young Man... Please... not that!"

— Oh...

— Right

— lmaooooo

— Oh no...

— He was only despairing for the team's sake

— What

— Is this actually happening?

Almond had placed first again in this round of betting. Now, their coach had been decided too. Their promise that first place would get to make the calls also had to be honored.

— Just don't honor the promise?

— Just forget it ever happened ^^

— Can't we just flip the chips table and pretend the money doesn't exist??

— We'll pretend we didn't see anything~ LOL

The viewers wanted to forget that this ever happened too.

— Even as an Almond loyalist, you can't fool around in a real competition

Viewers, who called themselves Almond loyalists, didn’t want him calling the shots in the Platform War either.

"Ahem." Almond stepped forward with a small cough as if he'd known all along that they'd try to bury this. "First, thank you all for entrusting me with command. First place should naturally claim it, but thank you all the same."

He started speaking as if giving an acceptance speech.

"I'd like to thank Choi Sa-Rang, who helped me get here, and my manager Ju-Hyeok..."

— ?

— ??

— ?? LOL

— lmaooooo

— Choi Sa-Rang didn't help you

— she just did everything herself lmaooo

"Hold on."

Whoosh.

"Why is command going to him?" Choi Sa-Rang, who had just returned from the game, cut into Almond's speech.

— Oh no lmaooo

— She hadn't heard...

— Wow

— What?!

— lmaooooo

— She came all this way to be coach and the caller is the Smart Young Man lmaooo

— lmaooo please stop him...

"Well, because I placed first..."

Once she caught up on the situation, Choi Sa-Rang stared at everyone with a look of pure disbelief.

Everyone sat silently as if guilty of something. Inwardly, every single one of them thought the same thing.

‘Please stop him!Stop the Smart Young Man Invasion, Best Yi Sun-Shin...!There is still one coach remaining...’

***

Meanwhile, five other streamers had gathered in another This World channel.

"Find a coach?"

Zelo adjusted his sunglasses and asked, "A cooo~ach?"

Bubblegum poked at his own stomach and asked from the side, "A coach~?"

Choco Shroom let the words drift out while looking vaguely to one side. None of them had any intention of finding a coach. They all looked at one person.

‘Why is everyone looking at me?’

It was ForeverAlone.

"I, I can't do the coaching too, guys."

Tap.

With a grin, BokChoy smacked him on the shoulder from behind. "The perfect coach exists! Gi-Chan!"

"...?"

"So go out there and find them!"

‘Insane.’

ForeverAlone finally read the room.

"Haah... My back has been acting up lately." Bubblegum was claiming back pain in virtual reality.

"And I physically can’t get up in the mornings, man." BokChoy brought up morning hours even though he had no intention of getting up anyway.

Zelo claimed blurry vision. "Oh goodness, my eyes have been giving me trouble."

‘Then take off your sunglasses...’

The words made it all the way to the tip of his tongue, but ForeverAlone stopped himself. Actually, he'd never intended to say it because he was too nice!

"So, for the coach..." ForeverAlone was about to ask how they would find one.

Zelo saw an opening and shamelessly hijacked the sentence. "Oh? That would be so great of you."

— ?

— ??

— What lmao

Zelo threw his hand up and declared, "Everyone! ForeverAlone said he'd find us a coach!"

"YEAAAH~"

— LOL

— lmao

— Gi-Chan's suffering...

— How many logs on the fire?!

— lmaooo going insane

ForeverAlone still felt lonely, not because he was ForeverAlone, absolutely not.

‘The Knight Order was full of saints by comparison.’

He simply envied the Knight Order.