Wiped Out!
The battlefield was in ruins.
At thirty-five minutes, every death was a death sentence. Sixty-five seconds. That was how long the rest of UnFazed had on their respawn timers. Sixty-five long, impossible seconds.
Among everyone on the battlefield, only one remained.
Zeno.
He didn’t hesitate as his cursor shot forward, dragging his milky hero straight into the middle line.
“He’s going straight for the Nexus tower!” Crabby gasped from the commentary booth. “It’s over! This game has been determined by the last five minutes. What is happening?
“Sixty seconds on the rest of UnFazed,” Real-Faker muttered, eyes narrowing. “It’s possible to win.”
Knots and the other players of ToMB couldn’t believe their eyes. They were silent as they watched Zeno destroy the turrets with the three flunkeys by his side. His items had made it easy for him to clear the enemy’s gigantic flunkeys.
At thirty seconds into their respawn counter, he was already in front of the Nexus.
With this build, his speed was unmatched.
The final Nexus tower stood like a monolith. Its health bar was already at half.
– What the fuck is happening?
– Are we in a simulation? In what world will Faze lose against two decent players, two complete noobs, and an even stupider noob?
Zeno didn’t wait for anyone—not even the flunkeys that were quickly being killed by the Nexus’ protective beams.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Basic attacks. Just sheer, stubborn clicks. Once the flunkeys were out, the tower fired back immediately, locking on with force, whittling his health down chunk by chunk. But Zeno didn’t back down.
“He’s not backing down,” Crabby exclaimed. “He needs to stay alive! He can’t do this!”
Backstage, Phoenix was frozen in place, soda still dripping from his fingertips. “What happened?” he muttered, wondering why Team Lacta was the winning team now.
Jace sat like a statue. “Come on,” his gaze fixed on the screen.
Mimi gripped her stuffed toy, mouth parted in disbelief. “Please…”
Minji’s nails dug into her seat. “Go. Just go.”
– ZENO GOAT
– HE’S GONNA DIE
– BRO YOU BETTER CLUTCH
– JUST THREE MORE TAPS
– MY HEART CANNOT HANDLE THIS
The tower flashed again.
Zeno’s health bar dropped to one-third.
Another shot—now at one-fifth.
But his cursor never moved.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
One final tower shot.
His health hit zero.
Zeno’s body crumpled into white particles, vanishing from the
screen.
Respawn time: 70 seconds.
And then—
BOOM.
The Nexus collapsed.
Flames burst into the enemy base, and the screen lit up with one simple word.
VICTORY.
The commentator booth exploded.
“HE DID IT!” Crabby screamed, voice cracking. “ZENO TOOK IT DOWN ALONE!”
Real-Faker stood from his chair, hands pressed to his headset.
“That shouldn’t have worked. He didn’t even have flunkeys.”
“He just did a world tournament skill in this game,” Knots whispered.
– I’m crying
– He died, but he won.
– I had zero expectations, and now I feel high after seeing him win.
– LEGEND
– THE ONLY LACTA LYNX PLAYER IN THE WORLD!!
In the UnFazed booth, no one said anything.
Faze stared blankly at the screen, feeling like his entire career flashed in front of his eyes.
They had lost.
Backstage, Phoenix nearly dropped to his knees. “What the hell just happened…”
Jace let out a strangled laugh, burying his face in his hands. “I can’t breathe.”
Even Hyunbin and Sangwon—who hadn’t spoken a word since their deaths—were frozen, mouths open.
***
Team Daebak was now going against an actor team, and they were dominating the game. It appeared pretty obvious. So, compared to the last game, the reactions were pretty lukewarm.
There wasn’t any thrill.
Meanwhile, Team Lacta (yes, they were named by Zeno) was back in their waiting room, still in disbelief.
“WE WON?!” Jace hollered as he launched himself onto the couch.
Mimi was already halfway across the room, sprinting toward Zeno before stopping a foot away. “What. The. Hell. Happened?”
Zeno looked at her and raised one eyebrow. “Hi.”
“What do you mean hi?! What was that?! Did you eat something weird? Did a god possess your soul midgame?!”
Even Hyunbin—who had barely lifted a finger that match—stared like he’d just watched Zeno walk on water.
“No,” Zeno said. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure you’re fine?” Sangwon asked, walking over and squinting at him like he was trying to spot alien antennas.
“Like… are you really, really alright? Like… really?”
Zeno nodded. “Yeah.”
“Are you possessed?” Jace asked. “No, but seriously. Blink twice if you’re secretly a diamond-rank Korean smurf player in a Zeno skin suit.”
Zeno kept his eyes open until they started to water.
“Alright, alright, I believe you!” Jace exclaimed. “Seriously, though. How the heck did you do that? You weren’t the same person who was being killed by towers a few days ago.”
“Just how hard did you practice?”
Meanwhile, the ToMB players, despite commentating on the current game, covered their microphones from time to time to talk about the previous one.
“I thought that guy was supposed to be comedic relief,” Smitzy whispered.
“Yeah, what happened?” Knots asked. “Did he download cheats midgame?”
“I think he is the cheat,” Crabby chuckled. “Man, I want to talk to him even more after this game.”
Even Ian Seo, who decided to take a day off to watch the game and was part of the VIP crowd, couldn’t get over what happened. He placed his hand over his chest.
“That was so cool. I can’t forget about it,” he muttered.
Minji, Doha, and Eli also discussed Zeno’s plays.
“He sold his boots,” Eli muttered. “He exchanged them for something that would speed up his attack speed. Genius!”
“He died, too,” Doha said. “But he died for their victory. Goodness, if that doesn’t describe who Zeno is.”
They all froze after Doha said those words.
“Don’t say that,” Minji muttered. “We don’t want to jinx anything.”
Meanwhile, inside the waiting room of Team Lacta, they were still trying to figure out the reason why Zeno had suddenly become a decent player.
“Seriously, what’s the secret?” Hyunbin asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest, genuinely curious.
Zeno let out a deep breath and met their eyes. They held their breaths as they waited.
Then, he gave them a small, confident smile.
“I told you that we’d win, right?”
They stared at him.
“I’m just keeping my promise.”
