Chapter 6: “Same pattern”

[TryitTVUsum: Join the Discord.]

[TryitTVUsum: Sent the link via whisper.]

On the results screen, the terrible word Defeat appeared. Usum sharpened the blade of revenge.

He had underestimated them. With five Masters, winning had seemed guaranteed.

It was complacency.

He believed he could do better if they tried again.

Thinking this, he resolved to continue.

<What’s with shamefully enabling Discord? You need voice chat now against someone you looked down on? >

<After being utterly destroyed, they have to try something, right?>

<Is “Master tier” just a bubble?>

<Lol, what’s even different between this and Silver or Bronze? >

Usum, whose only pride and life achievement was his tier, began to truly fume as it came under mockery.

“Shut up, you bottom-dwellers.”

<Oh, struck a nerve?>

<Phase 2: Extremely angry Hahoe mask .>

<What’s with the attitude toward your viewers? No wonder you’re a forever small-time streamer. >

<Yeah, I once said ‘wow, bad play,’ and got banned right away. >

[Message temporarily blocked.]

<There’s always a reason for being a small-timer.>

[Message temporarily blocked.]

“Only Masters and above can chat.”

He tried to assert dominance by flaunting the one thing he had over the viewers: his tier.

But to anonymous viewers, especially in numbers, this meant nothing.

<All those “Masters” were utterly crushed by Legend though. >

<So if it’s only Masters and above, even you can’t chat since you’re hosting?>

<World’s first stream where even the streamer can’t chat.>

<Hahaha, can’t breathe from laughing here.>

<Alright kids, today we’re learning about “greater than and equal to,” and “less than and below.” Stay tuned!>

<Stop it, guys; you’re gonna make him cry.>

The endless ridicule began to crack Usum’s mental state. He started regretting even starting the stream today.

There was only one way to recover from this crash in public opinion: Defeat Legend.

Luckily, even after setting up Discord, intel revealed that Legend hadn’t yet entered another game.

Their win rate in normal matches was so high that the matchmaking system couldn’t find a suitable opponent.

“There they are!”

As a result, Usum’s team successfully sniped Legend for a rematch.

It was time for a revenge match, the second showdown with Legend.

This time, they had a pre-coordinated strategy.

“Play for fights and track Legend’s location.”

“Usum’s group, stay sharp!”

There were only ten starting and respawn points.

While respawn locations could overlap, starting points were always unique for all ten players.

Thus, focusing on fighting could help them pinpoint Legend’s position.

“Not at the Northwest Tower.”

“Not to the right of the jungle.”

“Not at the Dragon’s Nest.”

One minute into the game, Usum’s team started clearing nearby neutral monster camps as quickly as possible while moving to potential enemy locations and engaging in fights.

The allied starting points were five, and they had found three enemies.

Now, only two locations remained where Legend could be.

At Master tier, no further words were needed.

They knew the terrain of battlefields they had roamed thousands of times.

Naturally, the team split into groups of two and three to check the final two locations.

This was something they had agreed upon during voice chat before the game started.

From the start, they would move in pairs or groups, locate Legend, and relentlessly pressure them.

Those not near Legend would focus on farming and leveling up.

After all, aside from Legend, the other four enemies were low-level players barely better than scarecrows.

All they needed to do was suppress Legend’s growth.

Their strategy sounded solid on the surface.

— “Damn it, why is it so hard to hit them!”

“Argh!”

But that strategy only works when two can overpower one.

They found Legend—or so they thought.

In truth, they were the ones discovered.

It’s like a frog spotting a hawk: the hawk becomes a predator, and the frog becomes prey.

“What do we do if none of the crowd-control skills land?”

—”It’s because the enemy dodged them!”

<Is it about the enemy dodging, or our side missing? The eternal debate.>

<Legend’s movements were incredible.>

<Dodging everything and landing everything, no wonder they can’t lose.>

<Legend! Legend! Legend! Legend!>

In the blink of an eye, two Masters were slaughtered.

A bead of cold sweat dripped down the back of Usum’s neck.

This was no mere game anymore.

It was a battle tied to a man’s pride.

And the outcome seemed almost certain.

“Is the game already screwed?”

The two allies sent to suppress Legend’s growth had quietly become prey themselves.

They ended up feeding Legend a lot of gold and experience.

This event proved one thing: whether careless or cautious, Masters were just food for Legend.

Even two working together weren’t enough.

[TryitTVUsum (All): Legend, hey.]

[TryitTVUsum (All): Legend, are you there?]

[TryitTVUsum (All): What’s your main account?]

[TryitTVUsum (All): What’s your tier?]

As the game tilted heavily against them, Usum began furiously typing in chat.

It was already clear they couldn’t win, so he desperately tried to shift his viewers’ focus elsewhere.

<Wow, starting an impromptu interview >

<He really sounds desperate to know, though.>

<Streamer’s inner thoughts: Please say you’re a Challenger. Please say you’re a Challenger. Please say you’re a Challenger.>

<Lol >

<Judging by the gameplay, it’s definitely a Challenger smurf.>

But there was one thing Usum didn’t know.

Teamfight Arena had implemented a patch to default all-chat settings to “off” because of constant arguments between players.

Only users who manually enabled all-chat in settings could see enemy messages.

Newbie Legend, of course, hadn’t changed this setting.

The only messages she could see were those from her own team.

No response would come.

“Ugh!”

Instead of a reply, Usum’s champion was ambushed and slain.

<Did he just die in real life too? Did he just die in real life too? Did he just die in real life too?>

<LMAO >

<Legend (being) justice-executed by the team>

<Wow, is it even possible to win with those clumsy teammates?>

<Who said it’s a team-dependent game? Can’t you just carry 9:1 yourself?>

<The Challenger 4th-ranked, RNG-ruined game player says it’s all about team RNG?>

<Of course, it’s sarcasm, but it seems another idiot actually took it literally >

The debate over whether Teamfight Arena is a game of pure RNG or skill-based gameplay has always been a hot topic in the gallery.

However, when it came to Legend, there couldn’t be any controversy.

Even with four burdensome teammates, Legend demolished everything with ease.

Supporters of the skill-based gameplay argument collected more evidence as the Master team of five faced a crushing defeat.

It was true that they experienced it.

But there was one player who, disgracefully and stubbornly, refused to accept the defeat and kept fighting…

“Look, here, the two skill paths are this one and this one, right? So, the normal reaction would be to use Flash to dodge, right?

But here, if you look closely, Legend walks right between the skills. The hitbox for champion collision is tiny, so there’s almost nothing left.

Do you really think this is possible for a human?”

TryitTV Usum, the player who was crushed and the one responsible for the defeat, switched to his last-ditch effort mode: the “nuclear mouth” mode.

He started replaying the match at 0.2x speed, analyzing how Legend’s play didn’t make any sense.

“So, a helper, right?”

Helper, literally meaning an assistant.

Specifically, he was referring to the Teamfight Arena Helper, an external program that assists players in gaining advantages in the game.

In short, it’s a cheat, aka hacking.

Usum claimed that Legend was using two hacks:

Automatic targeting, a hack that auto-hits skills.

Automatic evasion, a hack that auto-dodges skills.

<Isn’t he just really good at the game?>

<That’s pathetic, Usum >

<Infinity is the developer, not a cheat developer, right?>

Infinity refers to the developer of Teamfight Arena, Infinity Games.

Given that the game company had a good reputation and had likely dealt with hackers before, the users trusted them.

But Usum desperately pleaded.

“Which game company doesn’t get hacked? They’re always blocking and unblocking. And this bastard’s skill accuracy was 100% with a 90% evasion rate, okay? If it’s not a targeting skill, it doesn’t even land!”

At that point, Legend really was hitting everything that could be hit and dodging everything that could be dodged.

It would’ve been nice if there had been a few mistakes to make it seem human, but aside from the unavoidable skills, he dodged everything.

It wasn’t strange that some people might start thinking, ‘Hmm, maybe there’s something to this?’

<Doesn’t accepting friend requests mean he’s a hacker too? >

<Does he leave as soon as the game ends too?>

Usum smiled slyly, feeling relief as the public opinion slowly shifted toward his side.

At first, he had made those statements just to save himself, but as he continued talking, he had convinced himself too!

‘There’s no way someone could hit this well and dodge this well without hacking, right?’

It must be some psychological effect or whatever some psychologist talked about.

If not, so be it.

What will be the fate of Legend, who has now been falsely accused of hacking?