Chapter 149

The schedule for the ‘Eternal World Championship’ tournament is as follows:

Round of 8: October 16-19

Quarterfinals: October 25-26

Finals: November 1

We arrived in France on the 20th, and Bbangbbang won the Round of 8 the next day, so there were 13 days left until the finals.

“What should we do in the meantime?”

“Let’s go sightseeing.”

I traveled all over Europe with Pape and Bunny Run.

We saw the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum, toured canals and the Van Gogh Museum, and visited the Berlin Wall, Prague Castle, and Château de Cheverny.

“Unnie! It’s the Clock Tower!”

Time flew by, and on October 27, we arrived in London.

I warned Bunny Run, “The Clock Tower has the Magic Association. Be careful not to get sealed.”

“Unnie, what are you talking about?”

I looked up at London’s pride, Big Ben.

Bbangbbang, who fought fiercely in the quarterfinals, ultimately secured victory.

Now, there were only 5 days left until the finals.

Only 5 days remained until Bbangbbang’s last dance.

“Why end someone’s career?”

“These days, the meta is to call it a last dance and then keep going. Aren’t you joining the team?”

“It’s break time.”

I turned to look at Bbangbbang.

He was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and a brown wool coat, matching London’s chilly weather.

“Bbangbbang, you’re lucky. Your coat doesn’t drag on the ground.”

“That’s such a random thing to say.”

“Why is your scarf so sloppy? Hold still.”

I reached out to fix Bbangbbang’s scarf, pointing at him with my index finger.

“Pape, go ahead.”

“You’re really crazy.”

“Go ahead.”

At my request, Pape happily fixed Bbangbbang’s scarf.

As expected of Pape.

But then Pape frowned.

“Wait, why can’t you just do it yourself? Why do I have to do it?”

“…Good point.”

There was a slight hiccup, but it was resolved. Thank you.

“Where did you get that scarf? It’s quite pretty.”

Bbangbbang’s scarf had a blue base with a subtle gold diamond pattern.

“…Online. Why?”

My question made Bbangbbang slightly defensive. About 50%?

“Nothing, it just looks like it combines my image colors.”

“……”

Bbangbbang stayed silent.

Understanding, I patted his back.

“You wanted to absorb my energy. I am good at Eternal World, after all.”

“That’s true.”

“What do you mean, ‘true’?”

Pape looked annoyed, still bitter about losing a 1v1 to me.

Just admit it. You’re a loser.

“Han Yoorim, your expression is weird.”

“I’m always fine.”

I brushed off Pape’s comment and looked up at the sky, sniffing.

This smell…

“What are you doing?”

“It smells like dirt.”

“Since when does dirt have a smell?”

Pape tilted his head, confused. Instead of answering, I pointed at the sky. Then, plop. A raindrop fell.

“You’re like a dog.”

“Guess I called it.”

Bang! Umbrellas popped open, blocking our view. Then, whoosh—the sky opened up.

I looked down at the people under the umbrellas: Bbangbbang, Pape, and Bunny Run, all of them.

“Now we’re actually getting wetter because of this.”

“Looks like it.”

With three umbrellas overlapping, gaps formed. I had no choice but to pull out my own umbrella and mutter,

“England really isn’t a livable place.”

“Really? England doesn’t have extreme cold or heat, and the humidity is always just right. Isn’t it much better than Korea?”

“It’s raining.”

I stepped into a puddle that had formed. Water splashed, soaking my shoes.

“I hate being damp.”

“Fair.”

“And British food is tasteless.”

“That’s such a you reason.”

Bbangbbang chuckled. He looked so carefree, even though the finals were only 5 days away. It was fascinating.

“You seem completely unpressured. No wonder you’ve never won before. Honestly, all your past finals losses were because you couldn’t perform at your best.”

“Ouch.”

“The truth hurts.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

“Right? So why are you so relaxed this time?”

“Well, um…”

Bbangbbang hesitated, then spoke up.

“I was actually going to talk to you about this.”

“Go ahead.”

“Can you help me organize the meta?”

“Organize what?”

“The meta.”

I blinked, wondering if I misheard, but I hadn’t.

Wait. Asking an outsider to help organize the meta?

Is that even allowed?

*

The daily routine of the [Eternal World] pro team is as follows:

11:00 Wake up

12:00 Arrive at work

12:00-16:00 Scrims and feedback

16:00- Lunch and break

19:00-22:00 Scrims and feedback

22:00 Official schedule ends

After: Dinner and personal practice

04:00 Leave work

There’s barely any rest time.

It was a schedule that didn’t exist in the game.

During the season, they did this every day. Non-stop. Only after the season ended and a short break was given did pro gamers get liberated from that schedule.

The reason for such a grueling march was simple. They had to.

In *Eternal World*, patches were frequent, and the OP characters changed every time. So, the key to mastering *Eternal World* was finding the best character in each patch.

To do that, they had to extract data and absolutely had to scrim.

Only by trying it out could they figure out when a character was strong and at what timing they could win.

This process was what pros called “Meta Organization.”

Meta Organization was the alpha and omega of pro gaming.

It was also the reason pro players endured such a tough schedule.

“The team that organizes the meta best wins the tournament.”

That’s what one pro player said in an interview.

He wasn’t wrong.

In leagues where there was enough time to copy other teams’ picks, maybe not, but in short-term matches, like international tournaments, the team that understood the meta faster had the advantage.

And as far as Rumen knew, the best person in the world at Meta Organization was Han Yoorim.

Since the *League of Legends* days, she had memorized every champion’s skill hitbox, damage per skill level, skill coefficients, stat efficiency, and item efficiency. A complete madwoman.

She was his friend, so there was no reason not to ask for her help.

Professional pride?

On the contrary, not asking for help would be unprofessional.

Pros were people who had to do everything, except illegal things, to win.

“Wow, Yoorim noona. Hello.”

“Ah, Kim Young-soo, the spoon of the team. Hello.”

“Yoorim, nice to meet you too.”

“Prince Woo Jin-mok, right? I was impressed by how well you copied my Noah Weber.”

Rumen stared at Han Yoorim as she greeted his teammates.

She got along with the team better than he expected.

Well, Han Yoorim always got along well with people.

She didn’t “blend in” because of her my-pace attitude, but she wasn’t the type to shy away from others.

Han Yoorim claimed to be an extremely introverted indoor person, but Rumen, who had known her for quite some time, knew that was nonsense.

What kind of introvert acts like that?

This fraud.

“Noona, when did you meet Rumen hyung?”

“That was nine years ago, when Bbangbbang was wasting his talent and playing as a utility support instead of a damage support—”

“Guys, focus. We have five days left until the finals.”

Rumen’s intervention quickly restored order.

Han Yoorim sat down and said,

“Then, let me take a look at the scrim data.”

“Feel free to look, noona.”

At some point, Han Yoorim had become “noona” and was quickly reading through the scrim data handed to her by the coach.

She scrolled through the screen so fast that it was doubtful if she was even reading it properly.

“Hmm.”

After reading all the data in 10 minutes, Han Yoorim spoke up.

“I knew it, but the current meta is historically golden-balanced, huh?”

Golden balance—short for golden balance—referred to a state where the balance was excellent.

Rumen had felt it too. No, every pro team had felt it.

Except for one ridiculously OP character, dozens of characters were viable in this meta.

“So, your conclusion is the same? Just do what you’re best at?”

As a result, every pro team had different preferred picks.

Dive comps, poke comps, side comps, teamfight comps, etc. They chose picks that matched their honed playstyles, and the meta allowed for that.

That’s why people were calling it a historically golden balance.

“No.”

However, Han Yoorim firmly denied it.

She calmly continued,

“Actually, the golden balance is an illusion. There’s always a better pick.”

“I know that, but isn’t it better to go with a pick that suits you rather than forcing a pick that doesn’t fit? The performance gap between characters isn’t that big.”

If the performance gap were huge, they’d use a character even if their proficiency was 5 out of 10, but in this meta, all characters were viable.

It was better to use a character with a proficiency of 10, even if their performance was slightly worse, than a character with a proficiency of 5.

“That’s true.”

“Then why?”

Confused, Rumen tilted his head.

Then,

“But then, you’ll lose.”

Suddenly, Han Yoorim dropped a bombshell.

It was so abrupt that Rumen’s brain froze for a moment.

“Ah, I misspoke. Not lose, but the probability of losing is high.”

“Why?”

At Rumen’s panicked question, Han Yoorim slowly parted her lips.

“The current meta heavily favors our finals opponent, Omega Games.”