Chapter 90: “You’re Serious?”

It’s obvious, but what made Abyss a god-tier game?

There are many conditions for a game to be considered god-tier.

It has to be fun to play.

It has to be easy to access.

It has to evoke a wide range of emotions in players.

But above all, there’s one crucial factor—it must also be enjoyable to watch.

That’s how leagues continue to run and how a game thrives over time.

They say a sport can’t remain a sport without an audience.

Abyss was a game that proved this statement more than any other.

In fact, its leagues shut down before the game itself ever died.

In that sense, Abyss today is more than worthy of being called a god-tier game.

A game that’s entertaining to watch.

A game that viewers can easily understand and relate to.

That’s why Abyss is at the top among games designed for streaming.

It’s easy to grasp and empathize with.

If someone has even a bit of game knowledge, it’s not hard to figure out how a skirmish just played out.

Of course, the level of detail one understands varies greatly depending on their rank.

Because of that, the chat began to strongly relate to the current situation.

[Lee Minwook, you bastard!!!!!!]

[Ao, Minwook-sh*t]

[-Spoon-]

[Spoon, is it you again?]

[I’m a bot laner myself, but even I can’t defend this ᄋᄋ;]

[This is how we supports live every day ᅲᅲ]

[Aah, Theodora, how did you even survive that…]

[And then he had the audacity to request a Mooncheol session? ᄏᄏᄏᄏ Seriously, I wanna bash these ADCs’ heads in.]

[I don’t get his logic, but hey, he’s willing to donate 1 million won, so…]

“Hey now, the verdict hasn’t been reached yet.

Please refrain from excessive criticism.”

As the chat continued to lean heavily toward blaming Minwook, I had no choice but to freeze it again.

“Come on, I told you not to do that.

I understand how you all feel, but in this world, you can’t just say whatever you want all the time.

That’s just how society works.”

I replayed the clip once more, reviewing the key moment.

To be honest… just from this alone, it’s obvious Haven was at fault.

No need to even weigh fault ratios—it was entirely the ADC’s mistake.

However, there was still the gameplay from the 4-minute mark that needed reviewing.

If I just outright declared, ‘The ADC is at fault, case closed!’ the content would end way too quickly.

So, for now, I decided to bring the involved players in and hear them out.

Even in court, testimonies come after reviewing the case summary.

Depending on their statements, I might even consider leniency—like reducing the penalty from 1 million won to 500,000 won.

With that, I summoned the two players, Theodora and Minwook, who had played Haven, back into the Discord channel.

“I’ve reviewed the replays for the 8-minute and 9-minute marks that you mentioned.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Whoever wants to speak first, go ahead.”

At that, the claimant, who had a deep voice, immediately jumped in as if he’d been waiting for this moment.

“You’ve seen it, right?

It’s obvious that Haven made a bad play.

Cutting off Dan in the 8th minute was fine, sure.

But at the 9-minute mark, going in to kill Miriam?

Honestly, I have no idea why he did that.

Even if we both linked our skills perfectly, no, even if we did go in well, it still would’ve been a close call.”

The chat erupted at his seemingly resentful words.

Of course, since emotes were the only thing enabled, the screen filled with shocked Twitch emotes and nodding character gifs, all silently agreeing.

“So, what you’re saying, Theodora, is that this fight shouldn’t have happened in the first place?”

“Yeah, basically.

But Haven kept insisting we engage, so I went along with it.

And then, before I could even join in, he dove in first.”

“I see.”

“So after I died, he started complaining—‘Why did you take the long way around? Why didn’t you use your E skill right away?’—and kept spamming pings… That’s how we ended up arguing, and it escalated all the way to Mooncheol.”

Theodora’s statement clearly outlined the incident and how it all started.

And as soon as he finished speaking, Haven also opened his mouth.

“Can I speak now?”

“Yes, go ahead, Haven.”

“First of all, I used my ult here to take down Dan, right? Just like that, I thought if we took down Miriam too, we could turn the game in our favor—”

Unlike before, when his voice was small and lacking confidence, Minwook spoke fluently when it came time to explain his decision-making.

He must have watched the stream and seen how public opinion had turned against him.

He must have noticed that most viewers were blaming him.

And yet, he didn’t seem shaken at all.

Maybe it was just his unique way of playing.

Or maybe it was his pride as a gamer, his strong sense of conviction.

At the very least, he didn’t seem like the type to let others’ opinions affect his gameplay.

That was something I personally liked about him.

“No matter how fed their Miriam was, even with just one and a half core items, I thought we had a decent shot if the two of us jumped her—”

“No, but no matter how you look at it, that was never going to work. The two of us couldn’t win that fight, not in a million years.”

At that moment, Theodora spoke with clear frustration, as if he genuinely couldn’t understand the logic behind it.

“Look, can you let me finish talking first?”

“Ah, right. Sorry about that. Please continue, Haven.”

“A-ah, yeah. My bad. I got a little worked up…”

Minwook remained calm, while Theodora quickly apologized.

Hmm, this might shift public opinion a bit.

Interrupting someone mid-sentence is always a negative factor.

But at the same time, public opinion isn’t the only thing that matters.

“To be honest, I did have a feeling it might not work.

But I still went for it because, without a play like that, I thought we had no chance of winning the game at all.”

“Oh, so that’s why you decided to go for it?”

“When you’re behind, you have to take risks.”

“That’s true.”

He had a point.

At the very least, he understood what needed to be done to win.

He had the decisiveness to act on it, too.

And even after getting crushed, he still hadn’t given up.

He had the mentality to keep going.

But then, with his next words, all the trust he had built up came crashing down.

“Anyway, I told Theodora that we should go for Miriam and then immediately went in. But he took the long way around instead.

If I hadn’t gone in first, Theodora would’ve just died alone, and Miriam would’ve escaped scot-free.

That’s why I engaged first.”

“I mean, yeah, I took the first hit, but if Theodora had linked his E skill with mine, I still think we could’ve won.

But he didn’t use it.”

“The range wasn’t enough. I was spam-clicking, but the buff just wouldn’t apply.”

Theodora’s E skill—Virtue of Radiance.

A buff that grants a shield based on missing HP while also increasing attack speed, making it a crucial ability for fights.

Haven was claiming that they lost because the buff didn’t land.

“You should’ve just stuck with me instead of taking the long way around.”

“I was covering vision because I was worried you’d get caught while farming. Then, out of nowhere, you called for an engage.”

“Then you should’ve at least pinged me back. Like a ‘E range not enough’ ping or something.”

And then, a voice filled with disbelief rang out.

“…You’re in Diamond, and you don’t know Theodora’s skill range?”

“I’ve only ever played ADC.”

“So when you go up against other heroes with dangerous skills—like Jerome’s hook, for example—you have no idea what their range is?”

“I kind of know… but not in detail.”

“Then what about at the 4-minute mark? That too, perhaps?”

“Yeah, I didn’t know our Alex’s skill cooldown. But shouldn’t someone have pinged it?”

“Uh…”

At a loss for words, Theodora fell silent.

At this point, I made up my mind.

I watched their argument unfold, waiting for the right moment.

Then, as the tension began to die down, I finally spoke up.

“Well, first of all, I acknowledge both of your passion for the game.”

“Especially Haven’s reasoning—that going after Miriam was a way to turn the game around—it makes a lot of sense.”

However.

“Looking at the situation overall…”

“If we had to determine who played worse, I’d have to say it was you, Haven.”

I rewound the footage to the critical moment at the 9-minute mark and continued.

“Knowing the cooldowns and ranges of other champions’ skills is part of what makes a skilled player.”

“There are plenty of players out there who calculate these things meticulously.”

“But if you don’t know, and then you blame your teammate for not using their E skill…”

“That’s not how it should be if you want to climb higher.”

A suffocating silence filled the air.

Even so, I wanted to give him one last chance.

“Haven, do you have any final words?”

After a brief silence, Haven finally spoke again.

“No, but seriously, if he had just pinged the range—”

And with that, Mooncheol concluded the discussion.

Theodora had won.

A week later, I heard an update on Minwook from one of my viewers.

<User OO has donated 1,000 KRW!>

– Did you hear that Minwook made it to Master?

“Minwook made it to Master?”

There was no leniency for him.

He had ended up losing 1,000,000 KRW to Theodora.

Back then, my final remark was meant as a hint—an indirect suggestion that he should apologize and try to reduce the settlement amount.

But Minwook wasn’t that kind of guy.

He was a no-nonsense, charge-ahead type of man.

And now, hearing this news?

I was utterly shocked.

He reached Master?

Even after losing a million won, he kept playing?

I couldn’t believe it.

[Wow, if that were me, I wouldn’t even touch Abyss for a while.]

[Damn, this guy’s built different. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Absolute gaming lunatic;;]

The chat’s reaction was exactly the same as mine.

“Minwook… he really is serious about this game.”