I am Smart

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[[……]]

―――

The teammates are about to burst out laughing, lol.

What the hell is this, seriously, lol.

Are these people even human?

Where did Sansu’s effort go…?

Is this what a Grandmaster looks like?

―――

Unlike the last match, there’s finally something to tease in the chat, but a heavy silence settles over the defeat results screen.

[Hu…..]

[…… Ugh.]

―――

Cactus desperately trying not to laugh, lol. [5]

Cactus PTSD ON, lol. [4]

What is this turnaround, lol? [4]

―――

…… Of course, the latter was because, unlike the previous match, they were all trying not to ‘laugh out loud’ to avoid offending her despite the ironic humor between the results of the current and last matches.

“…… I’m sorry. Things didn’t go as I hoped.”

The first to break the awkward silence was Moon Si-hyun, who looked a bit down.

[It’s okay, unnie.]

[It seems like things didn’t go well for you this match, Ms. Moon Si-hyun.]

[I agree. You carried us last match, Si-hyun. We all make mistakes sometimes. But, Si-hyun, 21 deaths in 28 minutes… You didn’t do that on purpose, did you? Like ‘revenge for the last match’ or something.]

[Snort!]

[Oh!]

“……”

[Hey! Why are you saying that, San-deng? This match just didn’t go well for her. You know that’s her style, right?]

[That’s right. If it’s Si-hyun, she’ll do even better in the next match.]

―――

Pazzk Minor Gallery

Hako Virtual Minor Gallery

―――

No way (What the hell) [2]

Desperate shielding from the legend, lol. [4]

The Bomber Squad is really sucking up, lol. [4]

Si-hyun is going to lose her mind, you guys, [7]

But everyone’s really nice, lol. [4]

These guys can’t say a single bad word, lol. [5]

―――

[Just kidding. But honestly, I didn’t do well either. I should have tanked better.]

[And, Si-hyun, you carried us alone last match. We, as five people, not being able to carry is also our fault.]

[I admit that.]

―――

Wow

It’s warm, indeed…

The disastrous team, yet the atmosphere is somehow warm.

―――

Thus, as the strange atmosphere began to slowly warm up…

– The sound of someone entering Discord could be heard.

It was Sansu.

[Oh, San-deng, you’re here—]

[Hey, Si-hyun. Why did you throw it?]

―――

Gasp

Gasp

What?

In an instant, the shields collapsed, lol.

– …… What’s going on? It seems like you threw it on purpose?

Sansu muttered to himself as he glanced at the broadcasters and the game results screen just before entering Discord.

As soon as Sansu entered Discord, he half-jokingly, half-seriously brought Moon Si-hyun into a one-on-one call.

“Can you see the screen share right now?”

[Yes.]

Her calm voice was reassuring.

Of course, he didn’t actually believe Si-hyun had thrown it on purpose.

Despite barely knowing her, he was sure she wasn’t that type of person.

So, he wanted to find out why.

“First, look at this.”

Sansu replayed the moment the incident happened in the game.

The Fighter and Priest were facing off against two opponents in the Current Realm who had lost some health.

“Si-hyun, what was your reason for not going in here?”

It was a very basic mistake.

[…… Um. I think I was overly conscious of the feedback to think a bit more about the foundations.]

“Um. Okay, I can understand that.”

Sansu nodded in agreement.

‘It’s the first feedback, and these basic kinds of feedback can have a larger counterproductive effect. You can fix it moving forward.’

“So, – …… Oh here. Why didn’t you dash back at this moment? I was honestly expecting it. Normally, you would go in even if I told you not to, right? But you ended up dashing back instead. This is a bigger reason for—”

Then, he began asking more specialized questions.

―――

Ugh

This is dizzying

I can’t even follow what they’re saying…

Is this heavenly feedback?

The viewership feedback from the audience was really tailored to the level of expertise.

―――

The high-level story about Fiore.

A Grandmaster means someone who has already mastered Fiore. Plus, considering Moon Si-hyun had only been playing Fiore for less than half a year and reached Grandmaster, she could have gone even higher.

Moon Si-hyun continued to respond, but her answers were a bit lacking.

It seemed like she had some understanding. However, the responses and questions were a bit similar to before, which made him uneasy.

“……”

Suddenly, Sansu remembered something he had said about her on his stream.

– No, I don’t think Ms. Moon Si-hyun only has physical skills. Her brain skills are also outstanding.

Her flexible, intuitive, and aggressive playstyle.

That’s why Sansu was so fond of Si-hyun.

However, the term ‘intuitive’ as used by an average person is often an illusion. ‘Intuitive play’ usually comes from a lot of hard practice and accumulated data.

From Sansu’s perspective, every play of Moon Si-hyun had reason behind it. She was just overly aggressive.

But in this match, it felt like all of Si-hyun’s strengths had vanished.

Stiff, insensitive, and defensive.

“…… Ah.”

An idea struck Sansu as he pondered.

‘Let me compare her old plays with her current plays and provide feedback.’

“Hey, Si-hyun. Remember when you were climbing to Grandmaster last time? There was one match that really impressed me. Can we look at that together?”

Sansu said as he downloaded the replay from that time and played it.

Moon Si-hyun, who saw through the opponent’s bluff and dove in.

She took advantage of a moment when she was supposed to retreat and annihilated the opponents.

―――

Wow

Is that really the same person as earlier?

―――

“Wow……”

Sansu watched with a satisfied look.

Her skill brought to life his fantasies.

Even upon rewatching, her judgment was astounding, backed by her physical prowess.

And the unseen brain skills.

“Si-hyun, could you tell me the reasoning behind your play at that time?”

[At that moment.]

Moon Si-hyun paused for a moment.

[I just felt I could win if I went in.]

“…… Just? Could you explain a bit more about your reasoning?”

[U-um……]

Moon Si-hyun hesitated for a moment.

[It was as if, intuitively, it felt like the right moment to go in. Brain, you know, intuitively.]

“……”

Sansu stared blankly at Moon Si-hyun’s unexpected words, and the unnecessary euphism accompanying it, and he was left speechless.

“So, you’re saying you did it based on your gut feeling? Not with logic? You just thought you could do it?”

Sansu, momentarily dazed, rewound to another scene.

“So, even at this point, you didn’t really have any reasoning, but just felt you could win if you did it?”

[…… Yes.]

It clearly wasn’t a situation for physical moves.

What Moon Si-hyun did here involved the brain skills. A critical move in terms of operation.

Hence……

“……?”

―――

??

?

What

What does that mean

―――

Moon Si-hyun’s feedback had sunk deeper into the abyss.

– For now, Si-hyun, just forget everything I said and play as usual. And everyone else, just keep doing what I’ve told you. I think I’ll need to inform you about the next stage tomorrow.

Sansu, gathering his thoughts, issued instructions before starting group ranks again.

The average tier of the opposing team was even higher than before. Two Diamonds, three Masters, one Grandmaster.

‘This match might be tough.’

He thought to himself.

…… he expanded Moon Si-hyun’s stream to the maximum and watched closely.

“……”

Quadra Kill.

Penta Kill.

Hexa Kill.

―――

Wow.

Crazy.

Damn, she’s amazing, lol.

She’s doing everything herself, huh?

It’s like the more I leave her be, the better she gets, lol.

“…… Hah…… Heh……”

Watching Moon Si-hyun show solo carries that were incomparable to the previous match, Sansu couldn’t help but chuckle.

The puzzle pieces that had been missing until now began to fit together.

“…… Ah.”

‘So, she didn’t fully grasp what I was saying!’

And.

‘So far, the reasoning behind her plays were based purely on intuition.’

‘I’ve seen many pros, but I’ve never seen someone excel like this.’

“Let’s just leave Si-hyun be… Or maybe I should rethink how to give her feedback more differently.”

Sansu decided to somewhat bend his opinion for now.

[…… Yeah……]

“Hey, but why is Squirrel so down? You did just fine this time. Cheer up. Don’t go dark on us now.”

“And Harris, Satori, you guys did really well. You became noticeably more aggressive compared to before.”

[Hehe…… Thank you!]

After several hours of group ranks, it was now Sansu’s final feedback.

“So, Si-hyun… just do what you want to do. I’ll think about how I can help you.”

[Yes.]

Although it had only been a day, many of their deficiencies had been significantly filled in.

It seemed like Moon Si-hyun’s team was aware of that, as everyone’s voices were much brighter than at the beginning when they had sounded a bit heavy.

“Good job, everyone. Let’s do our best in practice tomorrow.”

[Thank you for your work!]

[Thank you for your work~]

Sansu, Moon Si-hyun, and soon followed by a round of farewells from several people, the streamers parted on good terms.

―――

Pazzk Minor Gallery

Hako Virtual Minor Gallery

―――

– Comprehensive viewer count by team.

(Captures of dozens of streamer viewer graphs)

Team Moon Si-hyun overwhelmingly ranked first.

– Wow

– How many superstars are there, lol.

– Well, this was expected.

– For real, I’m cheering the hardest for them.

– If they win here, it’d truly be legendary.

It could be possible, but, lol, looking at the other teams’ forms…

– How was it during practice?

– I only remember that Si-hyun was a strange girl.

– I don’t know yet since we’ve only done group ranks, but seems not bad.

―――

– Moon Si-hyun’s team is really funny, lol.

When Sansu had a leash on Moon Si-hyun, she was terrible, but now that it’s off, she’s completely carrying them, lol.

– As Sansu said, she’s really just acting on instinct, it seems.

[For real]

[For real.]

[From what I see, a style like Moon Si-hyun’s shouldn’t be corrected too much… or else it becomes worse.]

– She’s a beast with nothing but instincts…

[With that level of wildness, she must also have some raging hormones, right?]

[Remember when Squirrel helped Si-hyun by giving her a womb massage during her heat?]

[What?!]

[What?]

[Was that what happened??]

―――

– The reason Team Moon Si-hyun’s rank was so high…

Sansu had been wondering, ‘Why is it rated so high?’

The reason is…

(Capture of Moon Si-hyun’s 31 matches in group ranks)

Here comes the ridiculous Si-hyun again.

This isn’t the first time she mixed it up with solo rank.

– ???: Huh? Why isn’t my solo rank going up?

[Voice recognition is trash;]

– Is it you again, Moon Si-hyun?

– Thanks! I’ll need to spread this to my team tomorrow.

―――

– Team Moon Si-hyun… post-broadcast reflections before disbandment.

Cactus

{Thank you for your hard work. Yep. See you tomorrow.

……

Ah, that was fun. Team games are definitely different.

Ah… I should be able to do well, right?

Honestly, I came here because of the human scent… but as you know, the Demons Competition was my dream. It just wasn’t strong enough for me to show up.

But it was definitely fun. It still feels a bit awkward, but everyone is showing so much sincerity. Briefing with six of us before a team fight really made my heart race.

Sansu, you gave really great feedback. I really think I did well. Maybe after this tournament, I could actually reach Grandmaster?

(Funding: Came to smell the human scent (Except for San-deng and Moon Si-hyun, I couldn’t even step out until the end))

Get lost, you idiot. I mean, if it’s that much—… Never mind—(changes the subject)

(Funding: Feeling that the auction has definitely gone awry?)

…… Um. The auction did head in a bad direction, but, since Si-hyun is here, it should be fine—

…… Huh? Aren’t we fine? If I’m here and Si-hyun is here, we can’t lose. Don’t you know? Sansu bought a Grandmaster item for 50 points.

We will surely reach the top. I’ll prove it. Just how far I can go.

Even if you all laugh at me, effort never gets laughed at.}

Squirrel

{…… Are you telling me to stop with the replays? I’m just a bit disappointed…… I thought I could do just a little better…… Huh.

(Funding: Seems you have quite the competitive spirit.)

I just don’t want to be a nuisance. I don’t like losing because of me.

(After further questions through Discord messages with Sansu)

Ah, has the time passed so quickly already?

I’m a bit…… tired.

I need to see Si-hyun unnie tomorrow.

(The chat room is envious.)

It’s my privilege. Aren’t you jealous? I can meet her whenever I want.}

– Moon Si-hyun

{But I think the first day went well. How about you all? Did you have fun?

(While looking at the chat)

Um…… I have quite a competitive spirit. Losing in solo rank doesn’t feel good, but in a properly organized team game, my pride feels more hurt.

The reason for my competitiveness? I think it’s because I’ve always been in a competitive environment. That’s how I made it to the Korean playoffs…

(As expected, the chat is full of mockery.)

……

(Then, she gets into a verbal fight with the viewers.)}

– Looks like there are quite a few desperate kids.

– Why is Cactus like that, damn.

[For real, I want to hit her.]

– Ugh, Squirrel.

– Wasn’t Cactus here just to see Moon Si-hyun?

[She’s just pretending not to show it, but she didn’t mention the Demons Competition at all.]

[She originally wanted to go pro, right?]

[Cactus is just talentless but a hard worker, of course.]

– Why is it cute when Moon Si-hyun argues but I feel like hitting Cactus?

– You could see Squirrel was really nervous.

[For real, it looked like if Moon Si-hyun hadn’t been here, things would have gotten much worse.]

– Cactus, Squirrel, have they ever had Moon Si-hyun back them up? Why do they love her so much?

[For real, both of them adore Moon Si-hyun.]

[At least they should be thankful to Sansu, regardless of whether the tournament goes well or not.]

[For real, lol.]

[Some idiot who is throwing their life away over one girl…]

[Just freaking crazy.]

―――

The sun rose the next day.

Moon Si-hyun, as usual, finished her morning routine and put on the headgear.

She checked dozens of Discord notifications that came in her calls.