Chapter 4 - – Old Gamer(3)

Four bug-like workers were summoned in front of the Hatchery, the headquarters of the Bioform Army. Minho put three of them down for resource gathering, then he took the fourth and advanced it towards the middle of the map.

Oh, oh! What is player Minho doing?

In the beginning, the workers need to be concentrated on resource gathering. Lacking one worker could snowball and end up being a huge blow to him.

I’m guessing that he has prepared a new strategy.

Taekyong’s Guardian Scout entered Minho’s main base. It was about to run away after checking the unit production and building development but got caught by a quick-footed Armored Beetle.

The first combat has started!

After checking Minho’s main base, Taekyong made a surprise attack by sending five Guardian Soldier units. The audience was impressed by Taekyong’s control as he advanced forward while cheekily avoiding more than ten Armored Beetles.

There are not many Armored Beetles left! Minho is in crisis!

The second batch of Armored Beetles moved straight in the direction of the Guardian Soldiers that were mockingly surrounding Minho’s headquarters in a circle. A Guardian Soldier that was surrounded was killed in an instant.

Minho Kang’s easy-looking M Surrounding! Is this player really someone who took a two-year break? Taekyong Lee retreats for now!

His skills have definitely not rusted.

During that time, the worker that Minho had put aside started to establish a building at the corner of the map.

The Guardian Army units have become occupied.

We can say that the number of Armored Beetles, which were the main force of the headquarters, were few. Taekyong might be thinking that Minho is secretly building his Tech somewhere else.

The corners of Taekyong’s lips twitched up in a smile.

‘He believes he’d surely be overpowered in terms of basic skills, so he’s thinking of using tricks?’

The units of the Guardian Army meticulously spread across the map,unveiling it.

Oh no! The Crypt Lord that he was secretly creating was discovered!

The Crypt Lord is a unit of the Biological Army that consumes a lot of resources. Even with one unit, if it hides underneath the main base, it can deal a great amount of damage. But now that it’s discovered, it probably has become a waste of resources.

Urgent production started at the main base of Taekyong Lee!

A blue light lit up everywhere in Taekyong’s main base, which contained buildings that resembled medieval castles closely arranged together. The portals opened and Immortal Tanks poured out, walking on four legs.

The Immortal Tanks are the perfect counters to the Crypt Lords. They specialize in cutting down opposing units from a superior range.

Oh no, will the strategy that Minho Kang has worked on since the beginning of the match fail?!

If his gamble is discovered, it’s the end.

The Immortal Tanks headed straight across the map.

Minho Kang has met his second crisis!

Look, the range upgrade has already ended. It means it’s ready. He can easily kill the Guardian Soldiers with the Crypt Lord, but not the Immortal Tanks.

It was unclear whether Minho knew that the building he had secretly constructed had been discovered, but he was focusing on expanding his production buildings.

“Minho Kang! It’s the end for you!”

Taekyong, eyes filled with ecstasy, invaded Minho’s main base. And then he faced a screen showing a row of Sky Lords and an aerial unit, instead of the Crypt Lords.

“Nice to meet you~”

Minho smiled brightly and gave an order to the squad of Sky Lords to stomp on the Immortal Tanks.

What is this?!

The broadcaster shouted excitedly at the Sky Lords that suddenly popped up. The debris from the Immortal Tanks that were brutally cut down by the Sky Lords piled up in front of Minho’s main base.

Applause along with cheers poured out from the audience.

It wasn’t a gambling move. It was a counter against a counter. He dug a trap and waited. He pretended to be operating the secret building by repeatedly producing and then cancelling the unit. And with those resources, he produced the Sky Lords at once in his headquarter. This is truly crazy psychological warfare!

Did you hear, everyone? If Taehyung says it’s crazy, then it’s really crazy!

The match isn’t over yet. Look at Taekyong’s headquarter. As soon as he confirmed that the Immortal Tanks had fallen, he has quickly expanded and prepared a group of High Templars and Giant Templars. It seems he has decided that he won’t lose if he starts to increase his unit supply and expansions.

Taekyong Lee established a base in the expansion and knocked down Minho’s secret building. Minho’s Sky Lords that went out from his headquarters could not break the Guardian Army’s defense, which had turned into a field of anti-aircraft facilities, and had to return.

Taekyong has lost dozens of his units, but having lost the Tech building for his Crypt Lords, Minho’s losses aren’t minimal either! So the outcome of the match is still unclear!

Minho, who had a relatively good number of attack units, decided on two expansions at once. Taekyong attacked Minho’s expansions everywhere by controlling the Terror units, and held out by meticulously building his defense.

The match came to a slight lull.

Finally.

The broadcaster and commentators shouted at the same time.

Taekyong Lee’s all-out attack is starting!

A great number of units!

Player Minho Kang! How will he block this?

Minho felt that it was not going to be easy since he had not been able to defeat Taekyong even after obtaining an advantage in the early and mid game. As the Armored Beetles that went out to scout disappeared, the north of the minimap became covered with black fog.

In this situation he could not see what was in front of him.

Now it was army versus army. There was only a great battle between formations left.

The beauty of real-time strategy games was in foretelling the opponent’s moves and planning a strategy to surpass them. With that in mind, Minho preferred to seize the chance for victory with a strong strategy in the beginning and middle of the game.

The opponent was undaunted by that and brought the game this far. The skill of the Eagles, who were complimented endlessly by everyone, was quite outstanding.

‘Shall we see the winning move?’

Minho fixed his gaze on the pocket watch to the left of the keyboard. He put his hands on the lid of the pocket watch during the close battle.

The watch opened with a click and the hand quickly spun around once. The situation of the minute instantaneously passed by in Minho’s head like a compressed panorama.

A great battle. The Biological Army pinched to the corner. He barely blocked the opponent but his expansion fell to a decisive drop in units. A losing streak of small battles that started everywhere. Then defeat.

“Tss!”

The taste in his mouth was quite bitter!

This was not the exact future that would happen a minute later. It was closer to a prediction that might happen.

What he had learned about the pocket watch, which had an actual appraised price of 300 million won, was that its previous owner was a scholar who became famous through his research about the future. Regarding the question ‘Can people change their destiny through their efforts?’ in the predestination theory, this scholar stated this:

“It is possible. One can change any future if they have the guts and basic skills to take action.”

‘I’m sorry but I can’t be beaten right after returning from my military duty.’

He went into action right away for the victory. Cause analysis!

The main reason for defeat started from failing at the large-scale battle. Minho had restored his skills but he was overwhelmed in terms of control during the large-scale battle.

If that was the case, what would be the outcome if he exerted himself and overcame this factor?

Player Minho Kang! He’s loading half of his units into the Transportation Lords! A massive drop! Taekyong Lee was taken by surprise!

Minho, who had just barely won the large scale battle, did not forget to check for expansions that had a weak defense.

Ah ah! The 12 o’clock expansion of the Guardian Army! The Crypt Lord that player Minho secretly sent stretches out its thorny tentacles over the workers!

The High Templar’s Thunderstorm technique was cast above the Crypt Lord. The audience cheered at Taekyong Lee’s defense that had barely protected his multi. But that came to a quick end when flying entities appeared above the exploding Crypt Lord. The audience’s cheers reached a peak as Minho’s control brought the Sky Lords here and there to avoid the Thunderstorm as they just killed the workers and disappeared.

In order to meet Taekyong’s counterattack, Minho carried out a composed rush straight across the map.

-이택용 선수의 돌격기사 멀티 급습! 동시에 민호 선수 본진의 중요 건물을 노립니다!

Player Taekyong Lee’s Assault Knight suddenly attacks an expansion! At the same time, Player Minho goes for the critical buildings in the main base!

Minho withdrew the second group that was heading for the center and blocked the Assault Knights.

A head-to-head battle that makes your hands sweat! Taekyong Lee is lacking resources. He has hit a limit!

Taekyong Lee, who had continuously lost the small battles that had unfolded all around, made a stupefied expression. Just a minute ago, he definitely had the upper hand in the number of units. But now his front line was pushed all the way back.

“Damn it!”

키보드에 손을 올린 이택용의 손끝이 부들부들 떨렸다. 그가 두 글자를 치고 엔터를 누르자 채팅창에 글자가 떠올랐다.

Taekyong’s fingers shook on the keyboard. He typed in two letters. As soon as he clicked enter, the letters appeared on the chat.

[GG]

Taekyong Lee! GG~!

At last, as Taekyong Lee declared defeat, the audience’s cheers filled the stadium. On the giant screen, it displayed Minho firmly grasping his hands while shouting ‘Yes!’

Taekyong Lee, who was defeated for the first time since his debut, vented his anger as he pounded on his keyboard like a child. That too was displayed clearly on the giant screen.

The Eagles’ coach, after noticing this a bit too late, angrily stormed into the booth.Taekyong hastily fixed his posture and pretended to be serious. The audience laughed.

After removing his keyboard and mouse so the next player could set up, Minho stepped outside and met Taekyong Lee, who came to greet him. His awkward countenance, in comparison to his expression during the match, was like that of a child.

Taekyong bowed and greeted him first.

“I have learned from you. Your reputation is well earned.”

“It was a fun match. You’re not so bad yourself. If I had slipped up, I might have had to retire after one match.”

These weren’t just empty words; Minho meant it. If Taekyong had been more perceptive, with eyes that could judge who the other opponent was rather than having well-trained, fixed movements, Minho couldn’t guarantee that he would have had the upper hand even after seeing one minute into the future.

Minho waved his hands coolly and headed towards the competitors’ waiting room. When he opened the doors, Garam and Chulsoon descended on him with fierce expressions.

“That was the best, Sunbaenim!”

“As expected, you knocked him down a peg or two. Can we ask your secret technique for winning?”

Minho wanted to give advice to the two, who had been spectating in order to analyze the opponent’s strategy, and briefly thought about it. However the difference in skill level between the two and the current Taekyong Lee was great.

“Are you guys both disqualified from the preliminaries if you lose next time?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

Minho slowly tapped Garam and Chulsoon’s shoulders.

“You guys have worked hard. Let’s see each other next season.”

“What? Wha-what about this season?”

Minho clicked his tongue as he shook his head at the two who looked dumbfounded.

“Do some special training during the off-season. If you want, I’ll practice with you guys. Or just enlist in the army.”

“Sunbaenim!”

——-

Relic: The Future Scholar’s Pocket Watch

Effect: One can see one minute into the changeable future.

Translator’s notes:

Sunbae/ Sunbaenim: Upperclassmen in school, team, or organization.

M Surrounding: This refers to a player surrounding the enemy’s hero and other major units using their own units. In English it’s called “Surrounding”. The “M” is used because it was common to surround the opponent’s unit by repeatedly pressing the M key.