Brutal’s pick, Cruyff, was one of those new character types, having been released not too long ago compared to the old-school hero Camilla.
With a refreshing skill set and a unique character personality, he quickly became one of the popular characters right after his release. If I recall correctly, the concept was… an experienced mercenary from the back alleys or something like that.
A character that was popular from the start, huh? It made me a bit jealous. While Camilla was popular too, she wasn’t picked as often in-game as Cruyff was.
Anyway, these days, new characters come with ridiculous, game-breaking traits right from their release, making you forget what game you’re even playing for a second. Simply put, it’s like they have no roots.
“-Gah-.”
“What do you mean, ‘gah’? For us Abyss users, that’s blood, sweat, and tears right there.”
If the broadcast was live, there would probably be a flood of chat messages agreeing with Riri. But since we were just playing without a stream, no such messages popped up.
Thinking back, maybe I should’ve turned on the broadcast. I randomly ran into a named user like Brutal; if I had, it would’ve definitely drawn some attention.
Just as I was mulling over that, I heard something that I couldn’t overlook from the side.
“Mun Ah, you could also use a good new character. Looking at the stats, Camilla seems pretty lame right now.”
“What did you say…?”
Are you telling me to ditch Camilla? I felt something boiling deep inside as I glanced at Riri, who was casually saying nonsense.
“-Go away!”
“Ahhhh! What the heck! Why are you suddenly yelling like that?!”
This cheeky Riri didn’t even realize she’d said something terribly wrong. That just fueled my anger even more.
“Are you trying to tempt me with such despicable words? No matter how much Dahee you are, you can’t separate me from Camilla!”
When I leaned in and spoke firmly, Riri seemed shocked and turned her head away. It looked like my true self was coming back to her mind.
Riri mumbled quietly from behind.
“You are such a boomer. Whatever…”
“What does that even mean, Dahee?”
“Oh, it’s nothing!”
Riri’s words weren’t entirely wrong, though. ‘Boomer’ refers to someone stuck in their ways, unable to accept change.
That’s what I meant.
I accepted the change, but I still miss those days. The brief moment when Camilla was OP, people loved her, and everyone picked her, flooding the scene with fan art. Even while being called a bad game, we laughed it off together.
“Isn’t fan art coming out more now? The number of users is on a whole different level compared to then.”
“Hey! Aren’t you just interrupting when an adult is reminiscing?”
“It’s totally up to me…”
Anyway, I guess Riri isn’t a fundamental user from those days, so her patience is pretty thin.
I rambled on, but what I wanted to say is,
-Victory!
Brutal was saying he couldn’t beat me due to a lack of foundational skills. He definitely came at me strong, but it was just not enough to hit me.
By the late game, whether the game tilted or he just lost focus, things got a lot easier compared to the beginning. I even got to share banter with Riri during the match because of that.
It was a fun game. After a long time, I managed to play a thrilling match with full concentration.
It was a good competition, young boy. Keep working hard going forward.
*
“….”
-Defeat.
Brutal stared blankly at the screen above his monitor.
It wasn’t his first time losing during his dojo-breaking broadcasts. Right after entering the Korean server, losing was almost a daily occurrence.
However, seeing him like this after a game, doing absolutely nothing, was a first.
Usually, he would lash out at teammates, shout in anger, or sip on something tiredly before jumping right into the next round; that was what he usually did right after a loss.
What was happening now was unprecedented. Brutal sat there after the game, doing nothing, seemingly lost in thought, so viewers could easily guess how they would react.
[Are you losing?]
[‘Yeah’]
[Oh dear….]
[The opponent is Kayak, no wonder]
[Camilla’s doing well, lol]
[Is the opponent a pro gamer? Who is this Camilla player?]
[Get up, Brutal! You’re America’s pride!]
[We need to recruit Weak Camilla into MG; scouts watching this broadcast should offer immediately.]
[If the scout is watching this broadcast, they’d have to make an offer right away.]
[Kayak is someone who also beats a lot of pros, so it’s not impossible to lose ㅋㅋ]
[Is Kayak really looking like she’s from the past who shared builds with Lee Jun Hyuk? ㅋㅋ]
[If Kayak had set her mind to it, she could have been a real pro.]
[Brutal… did he just get normalized?]
[This too must be the glory of Camilla… ]
[Brutal is just an ordinary person in front of Kayak.]
[But Brutal is still 17… there’s a lot of room for improvement.]
[Next time they meet, he just has to win, but losing one game feels like the sky is falling ㅋㅋ]
[Looks like BruBung’s mental has shattered?]
[Kayak has ruined another person’s mind.]
The mental has shattered. Viewers were judging Brutal’s current state. It wasn’t unreasonable to think so. After all, Brutal was just staring blankly at the monitor, looking like he had burned out.
Kayak has again inflicted the heart demon on this perfectly fine young man. He shouldn’t lose his enthusiasm for the game or feel disillusioned about the game itself.
For the viewers who were rooting for Brutal, it was nothing but worry. Once talented young players hit a wall, they often fell deeply discouraged and lost their motivation.
However, contrary to their expectations, Brutal hadn’t actually shattered mentally. He wasn’t trapped by a heart demon. He was merely replaying the game he had just played in his mind.
In his head, the intense battle with Kayak was playing back like a movie. The reason he was replaying the battle with Kayak was simple: he didn’t understand.
‘How did that happen?’
According to Brutal’s calculations, the skirmish should have ended in a narrow victory for him. But standing at the end was Kayak, and this battle had completely changed the flow of the game.
Fearing that his memory might be faulty, Brutal straightened up at the computer and began to run the replay again.
[ㅠㅠ Brutal, don’t cry ㅠㅠ]
[Looks like BruBung really has his mental shattered this time.]
[But he seems really serious about the game, which is cool.]
[Why is it so heart-wrenching to see him silently running the replay?]
[Who said Brutal was arrogant when he’s trying this hard?]
[This is how you grow more, Brutal! You’re the pride of America!]
This sight was seen by viewers as just a brilliant boy who couldn’t accept defeat, full of sorrow. The actual person, Brutal, didn’t care at all.
But it wasn’t happening.
“Here.”
Brutal started replaying the problematic section.
According to Brutal’s calculations, this was definitely a phase he needed to win. How did the opponent, Camilla, respond to his attack? How on earth did she manage to counter and end up almost taking him down instead?
Despite having a nickname that meant “savage” or “brutal,” Brutal was actually a highly intelligent player. All the praise about his incredible sense for fights stemmed from that very calculation.
While his unique physical play kept that side of him from showing, he was essentially a cerebral player who designed and advanced the game in his head. It was precisely because of this that he couldn’t comprehend the game more clearly, leading him to replay it.
“I didn’t die with just one tick.”
In that critical scene, Camilla’s health had dropped considerably. An ally tank seized the opportunity to charge in, and the rest of the team followed suit. After getting hit first, Camilla didn’t die but rather turned around and pulled Brutal’s entire team into a counterattack.
Looking at it this way, one might feel she was too over-committed, but that’s a purely retrospective viewpoint. After all, even if Brutal had been the tank, he would have jumped in—his opponent had gaping vulnerabilities, and the angles were just perfect.
“Did she intentionally expose her weaknesses?”
To draw in the enemy?
It was a high-risk play, but there was no other explanation. In the video, Camilla seemed to have waited for her team to enter, expertly dispersing the aggro and surviving on the battlefield. It was a bait play often favored by top-tier players.
“It’s been a while since I thought I couldn’t replicate a play just from watching a replay…”
Very few players had given Brutal this feeling. Among the pro gamers considered the best were Lee Jun Hyuk, the legendary ADC AK of the renowned MG team, and the beast that had been dubbed a Bruiser to the extreme.
And now, there was one more added to that list. An unnamed, now-known Korean gamer. Challenger rank 87—Kayak.
“Kayak.”
Brutal remembered that name. Another player who made him feel like he was hitting a wall.
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