Chapter 68

The Eternal World Olympics, or “E-Olympics” for short, is a platform-integrated tournament.

Because of this, any broadcaster could bring their own team members, but there was an unspoken culture of recruiting teammates from one’s own platform for the E-Olympics.

This was so that matchups like “V-TV vs. Mirinae!” could happen, which viewers loved.

I’m also an entertainer. I have to prioritize the audience’s joy. So, I started by looking for someone from V-TV.

I opened the program created by the tournament organizers and scanned through the 1-point participants.

Iron 5 was treated as 0 points, while Iron 4 to Iron 2 made up the 1-point lineup.

There weren’t many. Iron is the reverse Challenger. The numbers were small to begin with, and when you narrowed it down to those who actually streamed, it got even smaller.

I checked each one regardless of position. Iron players aren’t specialized in their roles anyway. Switching positions during the tournament wouldn’t make much of a difference.

First, a guy. His main position was Outer Solo, and his confident character was Marvin Flail, similar to Bunny Run.

Promising, right?

“Ugh. Where the hell is our Guardian?”

That was the first thing he said after getting killed by the enemy Outer Solo.

Uh… Hmm.

Can a Guardian even go to the outer lane at 3 minutes? (Even after 10 minutes, the outer lane is a neglected area, not one you go to help.) And why are you blaming the Guardian after getting solo-killed?

Do you think Outer Solo is the top lane?

You’re playing a 1v1 fighting game here.

Even the enemy Guardian didn’t come to the outer lane. They didn’t come either, so why are you only blaming “our” Guardian?

Let’s move on.

It’s just the Iron bias. Even in Diamond, people blame others like this.

Take off the tinted glasses and judge purely based on skill…

“Ah, so close. We could’ve won.”

The streamer muttered after the team fight ended.

I agreed, but I couldn’t empathize.

No one would empathize with that disastrous team fight.

Why are you wasting all your skills into thin air?

What about auto-attacks? Why are those going into thin air too?

And where’s the movement?

It felt like both teams were desperately trying to lose, which was oddly fascinating.

Both teams wanted to win. They weren’t playing to lose.

But believing the wrong plays were the right ones led to this catastrophe.

Honestly, missing skills is understandable. Even Challengers sometimes use skills in ways that make no sense.

But not knowing the basics of the game was unacceptable.

You’ve already played over 300 games this season alone.

Combined with previous seasons, it’s probably thousands of games.

Shouldn’t you at least remember the order of taking objectives?

I won’t say anything about not knowing advanced strategies.

But the early-game objective sequence is fixed.

You’d get the hang of it after a few games.

And there are a billion tutorial videos on MTube.

Why?

Before I lost my mind, I quickly escaped the stream.

My head was pounding.

I was arrogant.

To think a mere human could understand divine knowledge. I was lucky it ended here.

…I have to watch this dozens more times?

It was exhausting, but I made a promise to Pape. To assemble the strongest team in history.

I couldn’t back down now.

The next streamer was also a guy. His position was Main Carry. His main character was…

……No way.

I couldn’t believe it and hurriedly opened his stream.

I closed my eyes.

The sight of him playing Main Carry with the support character “Juan Da Mata” was brutal.

In League of Legends, it’s not uncommon to see supports playing as ADCs, even at the pro level.

But Eternal World isn’t League of Legends.

Support characters have clear limitations when it comes to carrying.

And.

What scared me the most was this.

The fact that none of his teammates reacted to his pick.

Why?

Do you guys have no hearts?

Or no brains—

Ugh.

I clutched my head and slumped into my seat.

A strange thought suddenly popped into my mind.

What was that just now?

A thought contrary to my intentions arose. It felt like I was possessed by a demon.

This is, well.

Bunny Run must’ve gotten her hands on a hypnosis app.

Give up, Bunny Run. No amount of hypnosis can control this Super Developer.

After composing myself, I checked the next streamer.

“……”

Han Yoorim: “Pape, should we just not join the tournament?”

Pape: “Give up?”

Han Yoorim: “I suddenly got a game idea. I think I need to go make it.”

It wasn’t a lie. I really did come up with an idea for a villain.

It was like how creativity surges when you’re forced to work. My brain was spinning from doing something I didn’t want to do.

Pape: “Give up?”

Han Yoorim: “We’re in this together, no matter what.”

After that, I checked out more streamers.

After about 34 of them, I started to compromise.

Wouldn’t it be better to pick someone who at least knows how to take objectives?

Guardians are just clickers. I’ll have Cheon Hye-eun memorize and act accordingly.

If I make a game…

[Heart Demon: What about the Main Carry?]

…Mos or Bunny Run could be the Main Carry, and the new team member could handle scouting or outer solo.

[Heart Demon: Even if Pape babysits as a Support, it’s still unsettling. Are you really going to let a scout with independent operation authority and an outer solo handle it? If the enemy Main Carry gets 10 kills and joins the 3-tier objective team fight, do you think you can win?]

Oh heavens!

Thud. I banged my head on the desk.

There was no solution.

[Heart Demon: So, are you going to give up?]

No.

Even if I suffer a crushing defeat in the tournament, I don’t want to give up.

I decided that from the very beginning.

[Heart Demon: Is it to keep your promise with everyone?]

No?

Anyway, just participating in the tournament will help with game development. There’s no reason not to go.

So what if I get flamed for losing? People live by getting flamed.

[Heart Demon: …Take care.]

Where are you going, Simbao!

Come back!

No answer.

I was sad that my teammate disappeared, but thanks to that, I could clear my mind and sort out the situation.

A decent Gold-tier. No, even a Silver-tier would do. Is there anyone?

Hmm.

[Chaenarin]

[Tier: Iron 2]

[Main Position: Support]

This time, it was a girl.

I turned on the stream.

The game had just started.

Chaenarin was following the Main Carry around like a puppy. A Support who should be leading early objectives being passive? Minus 1 point.

The character was ‘João da Mata,’ whom I saw earlier. Most of the skills were targeted, so it was a character anyone could play.

Choosing a character even a noob could handle. Plus 1 point.

Chaenarin and the Main Carry were moving all over the map. That insane pathing, worthy of a Nobel Prize, made me stop thinking altogether.

Tap. A scout appeared in front of Chaenarin. I was shocked.

Why?

Because in Iron-tier, scouts aren’t there to find enemies. They’re there to farm objectives and accidentally bump into enemies to fight.

It’s not a stream since I’m the only viewer. It’s not a coincidence because there’s no reason for Chaenarin and the enemy scout to meet on their path…

Wait, in this tier, that doesn’t even matter.

Both are creatively plotting their paths, so they might just bump into each other.

Let’s watch the fight.

The enemy scout, Yuzuru Ishikawa, throws out steel threads. I don’t know why he’s setting up trap threads right in front of the enemy, but he’s using skills, so plus points.

Can’t we recruit him to the team?

We can just start streaming him now.

No? Fine then.

Chaenarin’s ally Main Carry uses a skill. A projectile cuts through the air.

Isahyang is a pretty difficult character, but an Iron-tier player shamelessly picks her…

Hah. I caught myself mid-thought.

Did I get possessed by a demon again?

Bunny Run! Release the hypnosis now!

Whoosh. The enemy scout dodges the projectile with a wire action. According to Iron-tier big data, it wasn’t intentional, but just moving earns plus points.

So, can we really not recruit him?

Not everyone was a streamer from the start.

And Chaenarin slowly uses a skill. A targeted CC skill. If she had used it earlier, she could’ve synergized with Isahyang for a big trade advantage, but she dozed off and used it in a panic, missing the timing.

So, even though she caught the enemy, she gained nothing. The CC skill was wasted. The enemy scout probably thought, “What’s this?” and charged at Chaenarin.

Iron-tier players can’t count cooldowns. Even if they just used a skill a second ago.

The enemy scout’s blade cuts through the air. Slash. Chaenarin’s health drops.

No movement.

Skill timing like a snail.

Nothing to see here.

It was a disaster.

I sighed and reached for the stream end button. I needed to find the next streamer.

And at that moment.

Chaenarin’s movements changed.

Suddenly, Chaenarin was dodging every attack. And her weaving in auto-attacks was no ordinary skill.

What? Was she hiding her power?

Right after that thought, Chaenarin died, getting hit by skills as helplessly as before.

A coincidence?

But the movements were too natural for it to be a coincidence.

Just in case, I analyzed Chaenarin’s replay.

There were flashes of brilliance, but most of the time, she just stood there dazed and died. Over and over.

She couldn’t focus at all.

…She’s like *that*, isn’t she?

Found her. My Main Carry.

Now, all that’s left is the Guardian.

With a happy heart, I started searching for streamers.

The hardest mission is done, so the Guardian should be easy to find.