Chapter 151: Worth!
Hydralisk the Terrible! Well, they weren’t terrible. They played in the secondary pro league in Korea. That made them one of the better teams in Korea! But they were performing terribly. For a team like them, their eyes were supposed to be on the entry tickets to the LCK, and not on the relegation spots of the pro league like they were right now. And normally, when a team went through a rough patch, they’d work even harder to turn things around. To battle through the blockade and come out the stronger! But not Hydralisk. The players, coaches, analysts, and everyone else who worked in a function for the team had stopped trying. They weren’t going to turn this around. It was easier to just give up.
Zeal and Ron, the Botlaners for Hydralisk, were the perfect example for this. Instead of working on their game in high ELO games. Instead of trying to get that little extra training in, those few extra hours that might see them win their next games. Instead of that, they were fooling around on their smurfs. This was a grave sin for professional players. Most professional teams across the world even forbade their players from smurfing, because it could negatively affect their gameplay when it really mattered. It was to the point where a team’s management watched over their players’ shoulders to make sure they didn’t do it. Except for Hydralisk. Management had given up. Their players could do whatever they felt like.
The morale scale had hit an all time low in Hydralisk. It was to the extent that management didn’t even notice that Zeal and Ron were smurfing in the headquarters. It was to the extent that Zeal and Ron smurfed just to feel better about themselves. To let out their frustration and just win a couple of easy games. There wasn’t any pressure here, nor were there players at this rank who could pose any kind of challenge to them. These were quick and easy games that helped them feel a little better about themselves. And, even though they weren’t in the best of form right now, they were still professional players. Even if they met another smurf, it wasn’t that hard to get the advantage. As was the case in this game.
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Old Huang watched Cup Noodles struggle in this Tristana and Nami versus Vayne and Thresh matchup. Cup Noodles’ Tristana was being pushed back and forced to miss out on last hitting minions. Everytime she did try to come forward for a last hit, specifically when it was about last hitting a cannon minion for the extra gold, the Vayne would Tumble and hit her with an Empowered silver bolt, while the Thresh aimed his Death Sentence. Old Huang took a puff of his cigarette, inhaled the smoke, and then blew it out. “Ah! What the fuck is this shit!” he exclaimed. “They’re smurfing together, right? It must be. This is ridiculous! How good are they!”
Cup Noodles gritted his teeth, frustrated, then said, “Yeah. They’re duoing. Their synergy is too good for it to be a coincidence.” He looked at the two Champions. The Vayne and Thresh that still had a perfect last hit record this game. “Shit! This shit is annoying!” He wanted to teach this Vayne a lesson. This asshole who’d said, “Fuck all Chinese!” That was unforgivable. Cup Noodles wanted to do something about it! It was just, even with his skills as a Master on the Ionia server, he was getting played around with by these two. Whether he liked to admit it or not, they were better.
Before Level 6, Vayne didn’t have a lot of killing power. So Cup Noodles could still trade with his Tristana and get some last hits on minions in. In a normal situation! This wasn’t a normal situation. His Support Nami was a regular Platinum player. One of countless. While that Vayne had a Thresh, a strong Champion, and an incredibly skilled player. There was such a massive difference between both sides that even before Level 6, this lane was dangerous. Case in point when the Thresh landed a Death Sentence on the Nami, hooking her and dragging her back towards him. If she hadn’t flashed away, that would’ve been first blood.
The Nami didn’t have Flash anymore. For the next few minutes until it got off cooldown, she had to be extra careful. One misstep, and these two smurfs would take advantage of it and kill her. Cup Noodles knew this, so he pinged the Nami back when she tried to walk forward. Just a quick warning. He figured it’d be enough. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t even half a minute since she flashed, but she was already going back in. Moving forward to poke the Vayne. “Uh?” Cup Noodles mumbled. “What’s this guy doing? Shit.” He pinged again, several times in quick succession. He then hit enter and typed a few letters and slammed on the enter key again. Anything to get her to retreat!
Cup Noodles forgot to look at his Tristana. His entire focus was on the Nami. And on the Thresh. The Thresh who reacted to the Nami engage by flashing forward! He disappeared in a flash of light. And then. Then he didn’t reappear on the Nami. Cup Noodles felt his heart drop. His eyes went wide. He looked at his Tristana. There was the Thresh. “Fuck!” he exclaimed. Then he slammed down on his W key–Rocket Jump!