LPL didn't want me? I joined SKT instead!

He first used the bushes to block vision, dodging Spirit's Lee Sin's Q skill, then countered with a combo that severely damaged Lee Sin. When Kiin's Gangplank used his ultimate and Flash to try and lock down the enemy, TheShy's Lucian, amidst a hail of bullets, dodged Gangplank's double barrel combo with an incredibly unbelievable twist, then used his E skill to create distance, unleashing his ultimate "The Culling," instantly killing both of them under the tower!

"A double kill in a 1v2 situation!! TheShy!! He turned the top lane into his personal showcase!!" In the commentary booth, Jeon Yongjun had completely gone crazy.

Meanwhile, in the mid and bottom lanes, Xiao Yan and Faker's dominance reached an unbelievable level.

They are no longer satisfied with just pressing the blade, but have begun to pursue the ultimate "line kill".

Xiao Yan's Draven, in the second match against KT, killed five people in the bottom lane in fifteen minutes, which made Deft cry after the game.

Faker's LeBlanc solo-killed Bdd's Zoe three times in a row during the match against KZ, completely disorienting the talented mid laner.

There was no operation, no tactics.

Only pure, suffocating, and unreasonable individual ability can overwhelm.

……

The final game of the regular season.

SKT will face KSV once again.

This was portrayed by the media as the ultimate showdown between "ultimate operation" and "ultimate management".

But the course of the competition took everyone by surprise.

In just twenty-two minutes.

KSV's base crystal collapsed with a deafening roar.

There were no complicated tug-of-wars, no strategic maneuvering.

Because in the first fifteen minutes of the game, KSV's three lanes had already been completely broken through.

TheShy's Jayce solo-killed CuVee three times in the top lane and pushed to the high ground; Faker's Syndra out-farmed Crown by 80 CS in the mid lane; Xiao Yan's Kalista trapped Ruler and CoreJJ in the fountain in the bottom lane and killed them.

Ambition's Sejuani was in the jungle and was countered by Peanut's Graves, failing to get even a red buff and falling behind by a full three levels.

KSV's much-vaunted operations were utterly crushed before they could even get a chance to function in the face of absolute power.

The handshake after the match.

Looking at the five expressionless SKT players in front of him, Ambition felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

SKT doesn't need to focus on macro-management, not because they can't. On the contrary, they are currently the best team at macro-management. They have already won the game with their strong individual skills. So how strong would SKT be when they go all out and focus on macro-management?

That evening, on Inven, South Korea's largest esports forum, a post was pushed to the top of the trending list.

The post title is only one sentence long:

Who can stop this unreasonable SKT team?

As the smoke of the regular season gradually dissipates, the LCK standings have finally been finalized.

Despite SKT's terrifying dominance in the latter half of the regular season, ruthlessly crushing a host of strong teams including KSV, their final regular season ranking was set at third place due to the lessons learned from their "zero-operation" experimental period in the middle of the season.

Ahead of them are LZ and KSV, who were psychologically traumatized by SKT in the final match.

In fourth place is SKT's "old rival"—KT Rolster, a super team composed of Smeb, Score, Pawn, Deft, and Mata.

According to the LCK playoffs gauntlet format, AFs, ranked fifth, will first play against KT, ranked fourth, in a wildcard match. The winner will have the opportunity to challenge SKT, ranked third.

However, looking at this leaderboard, no one in the entire Korean esports scene, including the top-ranked Longzhu team, dared to regard SKT as an ordinary "third-place" team.

In a post-match interview, Khan, the top laner for Longzhu Gaming, unusually lost his smile and even unconsciously rubbed the sweat from his palms when asked about his thoughts on potential playoff opponent SKT: "SKT... their current form can't be measured by their ranking. TheShy... is a completely unreasonable monster. If we meet in the finals, I can only guarantee that I won't get crushed."

……

Inside the spacious and bright training room at the SKT base.

On the huge projection screen, the first round of the playoffs, the do-or-die game between KT and AFs, is being broadcast live.

Unlike the tense and intense atmosphere outside, the atmosphere inside the SKT training room was relaxed to the point of being somewhat eerie.

Wolf was slumped in the soft gaming chair, holding a bag of potato chips and munching away. Occasionally, he would grab an ice-cold Coke from the side and take a sip, looking exactly like a casual observer watching a weekend popcorn movie.

Little Peanut lay on the table, listlessly twirling the carbon pen in his hand. Although his eyes were fixed on the screen, his mind had clearly wandered elsewhere.

The only people truly watching the game seriously were Xiao Yan, Faker, and TheShy.

But their "seriousness" wasn't about studying their opponents' tactics; it was like a tutor grading a primary school student's homework, scrutinizing the flaws in the actions of the ten top professional players on the screen.

"Too slow." Xiao Yan shook his head slightly, watching Deft's Xayah use her ultimate in a team fight on the screen. "If it were me, I would have used my ultimate a fraction of a second after Rakan raised his W, and even managed to hook three enemies with a backhook. Deft's reaction time has declined somewhat compared to last year."

Faker pushed up his round-framed glasses, his eyes fixed intently on Pawn's positioning: "Pawn's Azir was about fifty yards off in controlling the sand soldiers. If he had placed the sand soldiers a little more in the bottom left corner last time, AFs' mid laner wouldn't have even had time to use Flash and would have been killed. This kind of mistake is fatal in the laning phase."

TheShy stared intently at Smeb and Kiin in the top lane. His eyes no longer held the fervor of the past; instead, they were filled with an extremely cold, precise calculation, like that of a computer.

"Smeb lost that trade," TheShy said in slightly broken Korean, tapping his fingers lightly on the table. "He miscalculated the aggro of a melee minion, taking thirty more damage. Thirty points of health... that's enough for me to solo kill him twice."

Listening to the comments from these three "monsters," Coach kkOma, standing at the back, couldn't help but let out a wry smile.

This is SKT now.

They watch the game without looking at team composition, vision control, or resource allocation; they only look at the purest and most exquisite micro-management.

In the end, after three hard-fought games, KT team, with their more experienced players and Mata's command, narrowly defeated AFs 2-1, successfully securing their ticket to challenge SKT.

"KT won." Wolf patted the potato chip crumbs off his hands and stretched. "Another telecom war is about to begin. Deft is going to cry again."

……

There are three days left until the playoffs against KT.

SKT didn't sit idle during those three days. They needed to maintain their form through scrims.

…………

Time flies.

Seoul, LoL Park eSports Arena.

In the second round of the LCK playoffs, SKT faced off against KT, and the highly anticipated "telecom war" kicked off once again.

Having a reading slump? Check out these game-themed novel recommendations!