Almond had never really considered the possibility of running into another streamer as an ally.

‘Don’t they play as teams?’

After all, the Platform War would take place in Survival mode. Most streamers practiced as teams.

Almond was in the unusual situation of not even finishing placements yet, but surely others weren’t. That assumption didn’t come from some belief that the world revolved around him. It was because of what had been said in the group chat that morning.

[SweetPotato: @Almond, can you do ranked now?]

SweetPotato had tagged Almond in the group chat.

‘Hmm...’

At the time, Sang-Hyeon had been busy figuring out how to execute EggPlant in a way that would serve as an example to all.

‘Oh, right. We’re supposed to be preparing for team games.’

He had completely forgotten.

[SweetPotato: We thought it’d be good to start practicing ranked as a team, so everyone is briefing their positions right now.]

Right, this was a team game. Playing Survival mode was for the Platform War. Of course, practicing as a team made sense.

[Almond: Uh... I haven’t even done placements yet.]

At that point, he still had three normal games left. He hadn’t even started placements.

[SweetPotato: Ah... you didn’t finish ten games yesterday?]

[Almond: Yeah :(]

Sang-Hyeon had assumed there would be lots of people like him.

[Sweet Radish: I play survival casually, so I’m Grand Master.]

[SweetPotato: Casually and GM, damn.]

[SweetPotato: I’m Gold.]

[BlackTea: I played a bit too, so I’m Master.]

[Lemon: I’m Platinum hehehahaha]

‘What the hell. Everyone finished placements ages ago?’

Every single member of the Knights just happened to play Survival mode occasionally. They all had ranks already.

[Lemon: Gold? What a noob~]

Lemon even teased Sweet Potato for being below her.

‘I’m unranked.’

A sense of urgency crept over Sang-Hyeon.

‘I have to get past Gold at least. Getting Platinum through placements isn’t easy, is it?’

He remembered exactly what had happened the last time he was placed straight into Platinum. The flood of gamer reports had landed him on a major broadcast analyzing him. That was how hard it was to place Platinum.

‘Hmm...’

[Lemon: Nooooob~]

Lemon’s words kept echoing in Sang-Hyeon’s head.

[Sweet Radish: LOL drop Sweet Potato to lackey tier.]

[SweetPotato: Nooo...]

The Lord’s right-hand man advised to demote Sweet Potato.

[SweetPotato: Gold is good too!]

[BlackTea: LMAOOOO]

[Lemon: Golden Sweet Potato hahaha]

The team openly mocked Gold.

[Lemon: There are Challengers even in bot tier! Drop him!]

Lemon escalated it further, suggesting a bot tier. Almond didn’t get it at first.

[Almond: Bot tier?]

[Lemon: I watched the Omelet video.]

[Sweet Radish: As expected of the Lord.]

[BlackTea: Ah! LOL that was so funny.]

Everyone had seen the video where he had mistaken Omelet for a bot.

Sang-Hyeon felt his anger toward EggPlant rise again. “Ugh...”

[Sweet Radish: Do you at least acknowledge Sweet Potato as human?]

[Lemon: We’ve got a bottom bottom bottom bottom bot tier now, my lord~! Woohoo~!]

[BlackTea: Prove it, SweetPotato LOL]

They kept teasing SweetPotato, but Sang-Hyeon felt like they were teasing him.

‘EggPlant...’

He waited for the topic to pass.

[BlackTea: Then until the Lord finishes placements, everyone is solo?]

[Sweet Radish: Go go.]

[Lemon: Sweet Potato, our team doesn’t need Gold. Climb to Platinum.]

They agreed to play separately until everyone finished their placements.

‘Even Bubblegum is in the same situation...’

Was it really a coincidence that all the Knights played Survival mode occasionally? Now, he ran into Bubblegumin in a queue that supposedly only matched placement players. Bubblegum was also solo-queuing without a team just like Almond.

‘I need to hit Platinum.’

Remembering the group chat from that morning, Almond swallowed dryly. This was a matter of pride. He had to be higher than Gold.

‘I have to overcome this. This mountain.’

Almond looked at Bubblegum and steeled his resolve.

“Bubblegum...”

“?”

“You’re picking Iron Ball... right?”

— LOL is that a threat?

— Iron Ball LOL

— He has to pick it

— Iron Ball isn’t a joke, that’s Platinum level

Iron Ball was Bubblegum’s main champion. He was notoriously hard to use, but Bubblegum alone handled him well for some reason. Bubblegum had even carried Challenger-filled nightmare matches with Iron Ball. He was a true specialist.

“Ah... I’ve played that champion too much, though....”

Almond leaned in close, blinking rapidly. “You said it’s been a year.”

“No, th-that was Survival mode, Almond. Do you have a really expensive mission or something? Why are you so aggressive?”

“It’s not about the money.”

“Huh?”

If he failed to reach Platinum, the Lord’s dignity would be impossible to maintain. That mattered more.

— ?

— ...?

— So it’s basically the money LOL

— Bubblegum himself is the problem, is that what you’re saying?

— Holy shit LOL

“Bubblegum himself is the problem? That’s not what I meant.”

“???”

Misunderstandings piled up.

— Why did you read that? LOL

— Almond, you need to change your mic channel LOL

— He read that on purpose, I swear

— LOL this is pure king-burn

Then, it happened.

Thump. Thump.

The instructor inside the airship stomped to get their attention. “Listen up, soldiers!”

Ranked matches worked a little differently from normal games. They had to do one extra thing in this airship.

“Soldiers! With courage, you have wagered everything you possess, perhaps even your families, to step on this battlefield! This will be on an entirely different level from the fakes you’ve faced so far!”

Entering ranked meant a real battlefield. It referred to the placement queue, but landed a little differently for the players.

— Betting even your family, LMAO

— If you play bad, your family really does disappear, that part is true

— This is where the real ones actually show up

— The instructor’s speech is insane lol

— A soul-link game where your family dies instead of you... “Life Is Legend”

— Placements are honestly easy

“And thus! By the mercy of the Sanctuary’s Administrators, each team shall be granted one boon! Request one champion you do not wish to see, and the Administrators shall remove it from the battlefield!”

Boom!

At the same time, a screen filled with countless portraits appeared before them.

Almond froze. “Who’s who?”

— Holy shit lol

— Who is that?

— LMAO

— Who even is this

— If you haven’t played in a while, faces alone don’t ring a bell

He couldn’t tell anyone apart. Fortunately, this wasn’t Almond’s decision to make.

“Champions are chosen by each team’s leader. You may consult if you wish!”

Survival featured fifty players. If they all had a ban, then fifty champions would vanish. That would be a disaster. Each team only had one ban, chosen by the leader. The problem started there.

Ding.

[Team Three Leader: Bubblegum]

Their team leader was Bubblegum.

“Uh...”

Almond panicked for a moment, but it wasn’t actually a big deal.

— Bans don’t matter that much here

— It’s fine, it’s fine

— Not a big deal

In Survival, bans didn’t have a huge impact. Most of the time, it was manageable.

“Gum, who are you going to pick?”

“Ah. I’ll just do that one.”

“That one?”

“That one. The one you told me to.”

Boom.

[Ironball – Lett]

[Banned]

Bubblegum suddenly banned his strongest champion. Why?

“Am I frightening you, fool?” Lett’s line answered the question.

“W-wait?! Th-this is the banning phase?! Not the pick phase?!”

Bubblegum was, in fact, a fool. He thought it was for a pick, not a ban.

— HOLY SHIT LMAOOOOOOOO

— LMAOOOOOOOO

— AHAHAHAHA

— Is Bubblegum actually insane?

— No way this wasn’t on purpose lol

— My stomach hurts from laughing

Almond started to suspect this was because of a lose-on-purpose mission. “Gum... what mission did you get?”

“I-I thought it was a pick, Almond. Seriously. I didn’t do it on purpose!”

Confusing bans and picks was a surprisingly common mistake.

“There is no picking here, hyung.”

“I-is that so...? Wahahahaha!”

Players didn’t pick champions in Survival, which meant Bubblegum had entered placements without remembering anything about how Survival worked.

— ?

— ...?

— ?

— Wow LMAO

— Legendary

— That sandbag is looking extra heavy

— I swear I’ve seen this scene somewhere before

Almond made a decision. “This won’t work. I’ll play Raina, at least.”

He decided to pull out Raina, whom he hadn’t used in normals.

— At least ??

— Raina crying lol

— Is Raina just on cleanup duty now?

— FYI Almond didn’t pick Raina once in all ten normal games because it was boring

— The man who can play Raina when he has to

— Only looking for her now? lol

The bans hadn’t ended yet. After all, many more teams existed. More champions appeared on the ban list.

‘Huh?’

Boom.

[Cold-Blooded Evil Archer – Raina]

Raina was banned.

[You wouldn’t be able to handle me anyway.]

— Damn

— Ah

— Extreme difficulty unlocked

— No chariot, no pawns, plus Bubblegum on top

— Hell mode lol

— Look at the mission money going up, holy shit

Jingle. Jingle.

Almond’s mission reward started climbing steadily.

Ba-bam!

[LOOL has donated 10,000 won!]

[Who are we? Ghost Busters!]

— LMAOOOO

— Rank Busters!

— For real lol

— Bus busting confirmed

“No, Gum bro isn’t riding a rank bus or anything. He hasn’t even boarded yet, so don’t say that.”

“That wasn’t the chat, was it?”

“No, it’s real. People really say stuff like the rank bus is gonna crash and all that...”

— LMAOOOO

— Rank bus is crashing holy shit

— Surprisingly, something like that actually exists

— Nah lol

— Get on the ghost bus

Despite the mess, Almond figured he would lighten the mood. “By the way, Gum, who’s on your team for the Platform War?”

“Our team has ForeverAlone and...”

“Get off. Now.”

Thud!

The instructor kicked Bubblegum square in the back.

“Whaaa?! W-what is this?!”

Maybe because his ten normal games happened a year ago, Bubblegum clearly didn’t remember this either.

— LMAOOOOOOOO

— This feels bad already

— Ranked in this state...?

— The teammates’ faces behind him are legendary

As Bubblegum flailed and fell, Almond’s expression didn’t look much different from the three other teammates standing behind him.

‘This won’t be easy.’

***

[Beginner’s Tip]

[Starting ranked for the first time? Brace yourself. Even now, countless legends are being born there!]