Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 137

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 137

[Well then, does anyone have a different opinion? No one? Next, we’ll move on to Spoon, who lost to a Tier 10 unranked ADC.]

The center screen changed. The second A-tier player. It was Spoon.
And the introduction text was written exactly as Bang Ju had said—without a single typo, just like Seo Jun’s.
“Is that even allowed?”
Seo Jun asked the viewers with a smile.
Seo Jun had also received a request for permission from the Operations Team the day before. Was it the same situation?

-Who knows lol
-The operations team must’ve really planned this
-They actually approved that?

[So, Spoon’s position is ADC, and his tier is rock-solid Challenger. Maybe some viewers have a sense that he’s been demoted by someone recently, but. A Challenger ADC is literally a carry machine that leads teams to victory if things go even slightly well! They’re the bus driver themselves! Plus, since he’s the only A-tier ADC, his value is all the more precious!]

-True enough
-It’s nice that royal-tier ADC is the highest
-Since when was ADC royal-tier? You spoon guys

Spoon was an old, derogatory term for ADC that had been passed down since ancient times.
The idea was that ADC only added a spoon to an already-finished meal.
Or that they needed to be fed with a spoon.
Or hit with one.
But none of that applied now.
“I do have some expertise with spoons, though. Technically, it’s a pipe.”

-Pipe serial killer lol

[Oh, the Operations Team left me a message I forgot to deliver. Apparently the introduction was written at Spoon’s own request. He said he was preparing himself like ancient sages preparing for hardship. Haha. So, what do you all think of such a Spoon?]

So that’s what it was?

* * *

The Lirios pre-tournament show ended two hours later.

[Now let’s give our thanks to the team captains for all their hard work!]

-Clap clap clap
-Wow!
-Clap
-Clap clap clap

Those doubled consonants weren’t the sound of a tongue click but the clapping sound made when applauding.

[And to Bang Ju for providing commentary!]

Ha Yoon-ho added smoothly.
“But honestly, both you team captains and Bang Ju are impressive. Among 25 players, I didn’t see anyone you didn’t know.”

-True story lol
-I still don’t know anyone except you and Tae-woo
-That’s professional spirit
-Probably had his head splitting apart for the last few days

There was a reason Tae-woo had been glued to videos for the past two days.
“I only know Alpaca and Rumi, who I met during the Points Scrimmage. Malang and Wind Blade—really just those few.”
The new thing he learned was just that Alpaca played Mid.

-You just know people you’ve met lol
-Zero effort ㅋㅋ
-Doesn’t matter since you’re not the captain

Right.
Unless you were a captain, there was no need to know everyone.
Once the teams were formed tomorrow, that would be soon enough.
“Professional spirit is professional spirit. Well then, I should be going.”

-Ah…
-What, no streamer spirit?
-Please, the broadcast comes before health!
-When will you learn
-Covered it way too quickly…
-Find your roots again
-Don’t go back to the beginning!!!!

“It’s the tournament tomorrow. Thanks, everyone.”
Without the slightest hesitation, Seo Jun ended the broadcast and stood up from his chair.
Since he’d enjoyed the spectacle, he headed straight into Tae-woo’s room.
“Oh, bro, why’d you come in?”
Tae-woo hastily hit Alt-Tab, closing the window on his monitor.
“What are you hiding?”
“Hey now. Privacy. It’s a bulbul folder!”
Crazy bastard.
The way he was making excuses with something so absurd meant he was definitely up to no good.
“Doesn’t look like nothing to me. Were you maybe working out some strategy?”
Seo Jun hadn’t actually seen the content. He didn’t barge in abruptly—he’d opened the door gently—and Tae-woo had caught his footsteps the moment his hand touched the knob, hitting Alt-Tab at top speed.
But regardless, what needed to happen now was obvious.
“Yeah, so what. You’re not seeing it.”
Tae-woo admitted it readily.
Seo Jun gave a short laugh as if he’d known that was coming, then asked why.
“Why? I’m not a competitor—I’m a contestant.”
“Yeah, but still. I’m not showing you. Am I crazy? If it’s you, I have no idea what angle you’d use or how you’d screw me over if I told you. Why would I give that away?”
Damn.
‘He knows me too well.’
That was exactly why Tae-woo showed no sign of taking sides with him—because he had no idea what Seo Jun might do!
But Tae-woo didn’t know that Seo Jun had already seen through him from the start and had brought Ha Yoon-ho into the picture.
“Actually, I was thinking that maybe I should eliminate someone who’s learned too much about me.”
Seo Jun fell into contemplation with genuine seriousness.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
But judging that a friend like this—someone to serve as a counterexample in life—was worth having, Seo Jun scrapped the plan entirely.
“Nah, just kidding. I had something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“Remember at the beginning of the pre-tournament show earlier…?”
Tae-woo caught on to what Seo Jun was about to say and moved preemptively.
“Ah, right. My bad!”
‘I mean, I only forgot some facts—I didn’t actually lie and mislead anyone,’ Tae-woo thought to himself in his defense.
But realizing he wouldn’t listen anyway, he stopped.
“Seriously, I’m sorry!”
He figured he might as well go back to his parents’ place and sleep there tonight.

* * *

Tae-woo’s intentions were good.

It wasn’t because he wanted to get on Ha Yoon-ho’s team.
It was simply that auctions were better when players sold cheap.
That way—
‘He could take the championship more easily.’
Seo Jun wanted to be demoted reasonably, sold at a reasonable price, and placed on a reasonable team.
That much seemed like it would give him a shot at winning.
If he’d been placed in Tier B, he wouldn’t have needed to worry about his team, but he’d have to worry about streaming after winning, so that was off the table.
So Seo Jun had shown his skill while deliberately revealing some weaknesses.
Some people might know that the weaknesses a beast deliberately shows are traps, not weaknesses, but they’d think twice nonetheless.
‘A league is impossible to win alone.’
Honestly, he had no idea how things would turn out now, but seven years ago, he’d often experienced defeat.
That was natural for a team game.
‘The environment was rough back then, sure, but even accounting for that, teammates matter.’
He wanted to win.
That’s why today’s auction was important.

[Yes, hello everyone! The grand party of streamers is beginning! I’m announcer Arin, the caster for this Lirios tournament!]

-Yesss!

-I bet you’d be even prettier if you cross-dressed
-Cute
-Lirios officially starts!
-A-tier Rank 1 is Seo Jun right? A-tier Rank 1 is Seo Jun right? A-tier Rank 1 is Seo Jun right? A-tier Rank 1 is Seo Jun right?

[And the three people next to me are Bang Ju, who’s providing commentary, former pro Penguin, and Tae Yang!]

Seo Jun was similarly sitting down and streaming today as well.

“Among the commentary team, everyone except Bang Ju is a former pro, I see.”
They finished their brief introductions and chatted.
Stories from the past and things regular viewers would know about came up.
And as time passed, the caster began discussing today’s schedule.

[So! With 100 million won in total prizes, plus the latest Capsule units worth 100 million won for each individual player, the grand prize for this tournament is the best ever! Today we’ll hold an auction to form teams, and then we’ll play a game to determine which group stage bracket everyone goes to. What that game is will remain a secret!]

Bang Ju added to that.

[If we announce it now, team captains might pick people good at that game during the auction, so we’ll reveal the game rules after the auction! Once the teams are formed!]

Lirios proceeded with a group stage followed by a tournament format.

Then, after eliminating last place from each group, they held the semifinals and tournament.
‘Wasn’t that how they ran the world championship for that other league, too?’
Actually, come to think of it, European soccer leagues ran the same way.

[So, we have to talk about the auction, don’t we? Lirios has a pretty unique auction system. Penguin, could you explain it?]

A window with the rules filled the screen, and Penguin first explained the most basic system.

From a total of 1,000 points, amounts were deducted proportionally based on the captain’s Lirios tier.
The tier-based deductions, accounting for the average auction price from past Lirios tournaments, were as follows:
E was 5, D was 50, C was 100, B was 150.
In other words, if the captain was Tier E, they’d get 995 points; if Tier D, 950 points.
For reference, there had never been an A-tier captain selected in Lirios history. This time was no exception.
The order in which players were auctioned was determined by prior drawing.
The minimum bid for any auction was 5 points, and bidding had to occur within 15 seconds.
If a player went unsold, they’d be moved to the end of the queue. And once all but one player on a team were set by tier, the last person naturally went to the remaining team.

[Are there any important features to note?]

In the old days, they didn’t divide by skill level like now—they divided by position.

[Yeah. So you rarely saw teams totally fall apart.]

[But things are different now, right?]
[Yes. Honestly, most people probably know this, but once we moved to Lirios, the Operations Team stopped paying attention to positions for some reason.]

More precisely, once they started dividing players by skill tier, fitting 30 people into exactly 6 per position became meaningless.

[Well, whatever the Operations Team was on, they picked Penguin?]

[Ah.]
[Anyway, instead of position, they let people pick skill-similar players one each, which seems fair on the surface, but once your team members’ positions start overlapping, you’re in trouble!]
[That would be rough.]
[So that’s why lower-tier players apparently groan every time they learn a new lane. That’s the real viewing point! Alright, so we can’t ignore the auction talk. Team captains, let’s do a drawing for the auction order, shall we?]

-What position should the captain get
-Weren’t you only planning to buy Mental anyway? ㅋㅋㅋ

Players came up at random and their positions were locked in.
The first was someone Seo Jun knew.

The second was an unknown streamer.
The third was too.
And then—

[Huh?]
[Hehe, who knows how this’ll play out? The first A-tier player is quite an interesting person.]

It was Seo Jun.

They all looked constipated.

‘No matter how the order came out, it’d have been a headache anyway, so.’
What were the odds the auction order would come out exactly how you wanted?
But the real problem was—
‘I’m fourth.’
That wasn’t good. Far from it.
It would’ve been different if he’d been placed late, after most captains had already spent their points.

[Ah! Rumi goes unsold! Even though she had pretty decent reviews for a Tier D. Not even 5 points bid. Moving to the end then. Next streamer is……]

And the third streamer—

[Mental – 5 Points]

[Yeah. You always form teams in strange ways, yet somehow they never perform completely terribly. It’s a mystery.]

[Ah! No counter-bids! Next player is Seo Jun. Things didn’t look too hot for him yesterday, right? Let’s see what happens.]

The caster expected Seo Jun to either go unsold or sell cheap to Mental.
But Seo Jun just watched the monitor with a grimness in his eyes.

[Bidding begins! Huh?]

[Tae-woo – 10 Points]

[Tae-woo – 20 Points]
[Mental – 25 Points]
[Tae-woo – 30 Points]

[Oh, they’re just mashing the bid button mindlessly!]
[Captain Tae-woo, what’s the intention here? You were cursing him out yesterday. Are you telling Mental to give up on getting him cheap?]

[Mental – 85 Points]
[Tae-woo – 95 Points]

[Tae-woo – 105 Points]
[Mental – 110 Points]
[Tae-woo – 115 Points]

[Breaking 100 in under 3 seconds! Both captains are clicking frantically at incredible speed!]

The real problem was Ha Yoon-ho.

He’d soon find out.
He was preparing a massive blow.

[Ha Yoon-ho – 500 Points]
[Tae-woo – 505 Points]

[Huh?]

Then the next counter-bid came.

[Ha Yoon-ho – 600 Points]

The confidence in his bids was palpable—come at me if you want it.

So Mental stepped back in.

[Mental – 605 Points]

[Is this definitely buying him, or just jacking up the price?]

Silence fell, and for the first time, the auction timer dropped below 15 seconds.

[14]

[12]
.
.

And Seo Jun just watched the monitor with a look of utter disbelief.
Ah.

‘I should’ve asked him not to.’
Screwed.
After winning the auction, Ha Yoon-ho had 295 points left.
It looked like a lot, but it was only enough to get one popular prospect if he was lucky.
Since this was still an auction where he had to bid against others.
‘Pretty flashy.’
He should’ve known from the fact that Tae-woo was friendly with him.
‘Can’t be helped.’
Still, this wasn’t terrible.
Ha Yoon-ho had probably calculated this too. That this was the best he could do to both get Seo Jun and balance the roster decently.
But neither Seo Jun nor Ha Yoon-ho knew.
That this was merely a lull in the storm.

[3]
[2]

[Going once?]

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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