The opposing team’s clan was a name Limousine had never seen before. As a seasoned veteran of battlefield matches who could recite all the top-ranking clan names, this unfamiliar name meant they likely weren’t from a high-tier bracket. Skimming through the opposing team’s details confirmed it—they were here more for participation than to win. A perfect group to practice coordination with. Limousine casually gave the orders.
[Clan] Limousine: There’s no assassin there, so if Chu-nim loses the foot race, you’re just a useless survivor at that point
[Clan] Pichuragi: ㅋ Fuck, useless survivor ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Assassins generally had higher movement speed than other classes and came with extra speed boosts and evasion skills, so they were almost always the ball carriers in battlefield matches. Their damage output was terrible, so an assassin not carrying the ball was utterly useless.
[Clan] Limousine: As soon as Chu-nim grabs the first ball, I’ll pop the party protection buff first
[Clan] Limousine: Who’s backing up Chu-nim
[Clan] Jaheun: I’ll do it
[Clan] Limousine: The rest, push up through midfight
[Clan] Limousine: Anyway, the necro and summoner will kill the rest, so Mambo-nim, just land your debuffs properly and you’ll be adored
[Clan] BananaMambo: ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Yessir
Limousine and Jaheun had monstrous stats and output great damage, but normally, the core of midfights were ranged dealers. As long as melee dealers prevented enemies from reaching the backline, the ranged could wipe out everything from behind.
< The battlefield has begun. >
< A Milky Way Sphere has appeared! >
Pichuragi bolted forward the instant the match alert appeared. It felt good to play with reliable teammates for once…… Limousine chased after her, feeling oddly at peace.
< ‘Pichuragi’-nim has taken the sphere. >
< ‘Limousine’-nim has defeated ‘LetGoOfThis’-nim. >
< 30 points awarded to the White Team! >
< ‘Moto’-nim has defeated ‘RicottaCheeseSalad’-nim. >
< 30 points awarded to the White Team! >
There may have been blood, but it was the most healing time in recent memory.
There were wins and losses, but they won far more often. Carnival quickly climbed from Bronze and Silver to enter the Gold bracket.
Just like the Battlefield, once in Gold-tier clan matches, players had proper gear and team coordination. Charging through with brute force and no orders only worked up to Silver. Even the overwhelmingly dominant Carnival began to see the score gap shrink against opponents.
[Clan] Moto: Things are starting to get fun
[Clan] Moto: Was getting tired of stomping scrubs anyway ㅎㅎ
There’s a kind of fun in mercilessly killing weaker players, but winning against skilled ones using strategy? That’s even better. Why else would people try so hard to climb the ladder? Because the higher you go, the better the players.
Except for the very beginning, the chat had been quiet, but now the orders were getting more detailed.
[Clan] Americano: Limousine dead?
[Clan] Limousine: Ambush fuck
[Clan] Americano: Run over right after you respawn
[Clan] Moto: Ball first
[Clan] Moto: If that goes in, it’s over
It was the final stretch of the game. On his way to help with the last team fight, Limousine got caught by two enemies and was ganged up on and killed. As he waited for the short respawn timer, he quickly assessed the team’s situation.
With only 30 seconds left, their team had 1,410 points, while the enemy had 1,350. The ball was in enemy hands and already at the doorstep of their base. Since the ball was worth 200 points, letting it through would mean a come-from-behind loss.
There wasn’t enough time to steal it and run it all the way to the opposite goal, so the only real option was to stall for 30 seconds and win by score. The enemy team seemed just as desperate, sending five players charging up together, including the ball carrier. Carnival had Pichuragi, Banana Mambo, and Limousine down, leaving only three to defend the base. They were outnumbered—a bad sign.
Of the three, Jaheun, the tankiest melee DPS, moved toward the assassin carrying the ball and started drawing aggro. Naturally, attacks focused on him. While Jaheun held out using various defensive and invulnerability skills, the ranged DPS Moto and Americano supported him and attacked the ball carrier. But being outnumbered, even taking down one enemy was tough.
[Clan] Americano: Fuck we’re getting pushed back
[Clan] Limousine: Just hold out a little longer
< ‘Moto’-nim has defeated ‘SpeakFormally’-nim. >
< 30 points awarded to the White Team! >
< ‘Americano’-nim has defeated ‘FriedChickenWorker’-nim. >
< 30 points awarded to the White Team! >
< ‘PinkHot’-nim has defeated ‘Jaheun’-nim. >
< 30 points awarded to the Black Team! >
After a grueling struggle, Moto managed to kill the assassin with the ball, and Americano took down the nearby summoner. Jaheun, who had tanked all the firepower, went down having done his part. 30 seconds remained.
Right at that moment, Limousine respawned. The moment he could move, he dashed toward the spot where the final battle was raging. There was no time to assess the situation.
[Clan] Americano: He threw the ball
[Clan] Americano: Holy shit
[Clan] Americano: There’s someone there
Americano screamed in chat. Just before dying, the assassin had used the Ball Throwing skill and lobbed it toward the goal area. It landed just in front of the goal—just one step with the ball would make it a touchdown.
To make things worse, an enemy elementalist suddenly appeared from the opposite side with an invulnerability buff. Moto rushed toward them, but he was too far. Wait—why had there only been five enemies earlier? The sixth had circled around the map for a surprise attack. The realization hit too late.
The elementalist picked up the ball. Before anyone could interrupt with a skill, they walked it in. The ball touched the goal.
Everything moved in slow motion.
< The battlefield has ended. >
[Clan] Americano: ffs…… Well, that was a good fight, though
[Clan] Moto: ㅠㅠ Yeah, we did well
[Clan] Jaheun: So close
[Clan] Pichuragi: ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Everyone was bummed by the close loss. Then the results screen popped up.
< White Team Victory! >
[Clan] Moto: ?
[Clan] Jaheun: ?
[Clan] BananaMambo: ???
We won……? Even though they made the touchdown? Was it a bug? Everyone looked at each other in confusion—until Americano suddenly burst out laughing.
[Clan] Americano: Oh my god
[Clan] Americano: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ HOLY SHIT
[Clan] Americano: I love you Limousine
[Clan] Americano: I can’t live without our clan leader!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Clan] Pichuragi: ???
[Clan] Americano: Before the touchdown registered
[Clan] Americano: Limousine ended the game with kill points ㅋㅋㅋ
[Clan] Moto: Wait, what?
When Limousine respawned, Americano and Moto had just taken down one enemy each, netting 60 points for the White Team, bringing them to 1,470.
Just one more kill would make it 1,500 and end the game.
Limousine hadn’t even looked at the ball—he sprinted straight to the combat zone. It happened just as the enemy team let their guard down after the assassin’s flashy Ball Throwing move.
Their defensive skills were all on cooldown after prolonged combat, while Limousine, freshly respawned, had everything ready to go.
It took less than two seconds to kill the nearest enemy.
[Clan] Limousine: ㅎㅎ
[Clan] Limousine: It’s not over till it’s over…… that’s what I’m saying
[Clan] Moto: ㄷㄷ Damn…… whoa……
[Clan] Moto: Just…… wow……
[Clan] Jaheun: Nice one……
[Clan] Pichuragi: Crazy, you’re amazing
[Clan] Pichuragi: Clan Leader…… you’re like a damn hero……
[Clan] BananaMambo: ㄷㄷ Whoa…… whoa……
Everyone was stunned by the unexpected victory. Limousine smiled with pride. Winning—and being praised for it—always felt good.
After four hours of non-stop fighting, Carnival finally pushed their Clan War tier into the opening ranks of Platinum. The moment they hit Platinum, Pichuragi declared her freedom like Dobby and logged off. Moto also said he was getting hungry and wanted a break.
They really had been playing for a while. It hadn’t felt like it, though, since they’d been chatting the whole time.
[Clan] Americano: Wow…… just swapping one person made this much of a difference
[Clan] Americano: (Not hating on Ratan-nim, I love you Ratan-nim)
[Clan] Ratan: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Oh come on
[Clan] Ratan: So how’d it end up
[Clan] Pichuragi: We’re in Platinum ㄷㄷ wild
[Clan] Ratan: ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ Dang, huge
[Clan] Ratan: You all did great ㄷㄷㄷ
The win rate was nearly 80%. Unheard of. If only solo queues went this smoothly—Limousine grumbled at a dream he knew would never come true.
[Clan] Moto: Great work, everyone!!
[Clan] BananaMambo: Good game!
[Clan] Americano: MiaMambo, homework for next time: learn the map routes
[Clan] BananaMambo: Ack ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Okay master ㅠㅠ
[Clan] Limousine: Prism tier, who died to self-destruct, should reflect as well
[Clan] Americano: ㅠㅠ
Since the Clan War matches were made by gathering whoever was available, no one was overly obsessed with rankings. And because everyone got along well, there was no trolling or stubborn ego-tripping, so the mood was always cheerful. Even Limousine and Americano, who could be intense, approached the game with a mindset of, ‘It’s great if we win, but it’s fun even if we don’t.’
Sure, it was nice to reach higher tiers, but it wasn’t like they had to, nor were their results poor for their skill level. And when someone messed up, it was always clear whether it was just an honest mistake, so there was no need to nitpick or get sharp. That level of trust was already in place. Even if someone got a little heated mid-game, the rest of the party knew how to diffuse the tension and keep things light.
Because of that kind of party, mistakes turned into lively moments of teasing. Like when Banana Mambo took a completely wrong route mid-fight and ended up sprinting solo on the exact opposite side of the map while everyone anxiously screamed in chat, fearing she’d bump into an enemy and get killed. Or when Americano got way too relaxed and stopped watching the screen for a moment, only to get instantly one-shotted—those kinds of moments were fondly immortalized.
[Clan] Limousine: Jaheun
[Clan] Limousine: Let’s finish that battlefield queue
[Clan] Jaheun: Invite
[Clan] Americano: I feel bad for those two now……
[Clan] Americano: I feel bad for the Platinum players who have to deal with them, and I feel bad for those two who still haven’t climbed up……
[Clan] Pichuragi: All that for the main story, sob ㅠㅠ
[Clan] BananaMambo: I’d help if it were a dungeon ㅠㅠㅠ
Another outcome of the Clan War was that Jaheun had grown much closer to the clan members. In fact, aside from the people running the matches and Ratan as a bonus, Jaheun had pretty much become a core member of Carnival. At first, maybe due to Jaheun’s intimidating image, some clanmates seemed unsure around him, but after just a few rounds of Clan War matches, they built solid teamwork, and banter and jokes started flying comfortably. Even Limousine was surprised at how quickly he blended in.
What is this social butterfly energy? It was starting to feel like Jaheun was closer to them than Limousine was.
💔
[Title: Is it true that JH joined Carnival??]
Were they close before?? Or did they just party up for Battlefield and fall in love mid-match??? What’s this romance storyline omg;;;
Replies (83)
└ Pre-marriage post-love?? This is better than any K-drama
└ Wasn’t it because of the Clan War? I saw he joined just the other day
└└ Fr. I met them during the Clan War, too. Our clan has good specs too, so honestly, just Limousine and Americano alone aren’t that scary. But when f***ing Jaheun showed up, we literally couldn’t do anything
└└└ And there’s that Prism tier summoner too, right? He suck at solo ranking but have cracked battlefield rankings
└└└└ No wonder the summoner was crazy strong. Turns out it was Prism-tier deity, huh
└ From what I know, they had zero interaction before this;
└└ 222 Heard from a trusted source—they were strangers before forming the Bond
└└└ ‘Trusted source’ yeah, ok, sure
└└└└ Who asked you
└ Carnival is totally a friends-only clan ㅋㅋㅋ If you don’t pass Coffee or Limousine’s deep-dive interview, you can’t get in;
└└ Wow…… both options sound like hell……
└└└ A 1-on-1 interview with Americano?? Holy shit…… I just wanna see *his face and leave
└└└└ Coffee stans, out
└ Carnival’s record is insane now that they’ve got Jaheun. Even with three Prism-tier players, the rest were average, so they used to hang around Gold, but with just one more Prism-tier added, they hit Platinum in a day ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└└ Jaheun wings—activated
└└ Even one more Prism-tier is a huge buff…… Honestly, if Jaheun didn’t have attitude issues, every clan would’ve tried to recruit him
└└└ 22 The gap between three and four Prism-tier players is massive
└ Recruiting Jaheun? Guess Carnival’s doomed now ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Bold move
└└ Carnival has Limousine though…… sounds like a clash of titans to me
└└└ Exactly why it’s doomed
└└└└ Ah fuck ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ this **whales fight’s gonna be epic
[See more…]
TL/N:
* Other players don’t know that Americano is actually a girl using a male avatar, so they still use “he/him”.
** “Whale fight” comes from the Korean idiom “When whales fight, the shrimp’s back gets broken” which means “When the big players clash, the little ones get caught in the crossfire”.