Faker Requests to Add You as a Friend

The end and beginning of each season in the League of Legends Pro League are accompanied by different joys and sorrows.

This year, as the S7 season concluded, SKT, a team that had won three world championships, experienced the taste of defeat for the first time.

After being swept 3-0 by SSG, Faker was seen weeping at his desk after the match. As he walked off stage, he looked back multiple times, filled with unwillingness and loneliness, tears streaming down his face.

This SKT mid-laner, a three-time champion and the "Great Demon King" in the eyes of countless people, was undoubtedly on the verge of collapse at that moment.

Unlike other teams that could boast about a runner-up finish for a lifetime, using it as a shield, for Faker, a runner-up finish was undoubtedly a source of shame.

Not to mention the S7 season, which was full of regrets. Besides the failure to win the championship at the end of the season, he had also suffered a huge blow at the beginning of the season.

This blow did not come from anyone retiring within the team, but from outside the team, or rather, from a certain presence in the broadcasting world who officially announced their departure from the LCK.

Host Jo Eun-jung resigned!

At that time, Faker felt as if the sky was falling, suffocating him, and he was extremely dejected.

He hadn't even had a chance to confess his feelings, so why did she have to leave?

Because of this, Faker was suppressed for a whole half-season, barely managing to cheer himself up.

Who knew that at the end of the season, another huge blow would come, causing him to falter in the finals for the first time and painfully take the runner-up title.

Faker was almost broken.

Even with his resilient and firm mentality, the series of setbacks in the S7 season had created a stubborn psychological shadow in his heart.

After this, Huni proposed his plan to retire in the North American region, and Peanut also said he was preparing to transfer, which made Faker feel despair for the upcoming S8 season.

Therefore, after the World Championship, Faker first locked himself in his room and remained silent for three full days!

Three days later, while other teams were on vacation, he applied for a smurf account and officially began climbing the ranks.

He was too suppressed, almost suffocated by the regretful S7 season, so he desperately wanted to use his smurf account to regain his original mindset and then take a deep breath and clear his head.

Unexpectedly, his smurf account climbing journey was extremely bumpy, likely related to his mood. Even playing 15 hours of ranked games a day, his climb remained arduous.

For nearly a month, with his skill, he had only managed to reach Master tier with 272 points, which was truly pathetic.

He remembered the past when he was full of spirit, talking eloquently, describing a teammate who was a bit of a troll as "you're as bad as a Master player." Now, he himself was stuck in the Master tier and couldn't climb any higher.

Yesterday, he had lost streak after losing streak, and in the last few games, he couldn't even maintain his composure and started playing poorly.

Faker once again began to question his own skill and state of mind, wondering if he shouldn't have started climbing with a smurf account, if it was really useful, or if it might even have the opposite effect.

Thinking this, Faker became increasingly uneasy and was ready to completely give up on the smurf account.

However, before giving up, he decided to play one more day, as a final farewell.

Alas, it was a pity that when host Jo Eun-jung announced her departure from the LCK, she didn't even say goodbye to him, which was truly heartbreaking...

In short, Faker gritted his teeth, suppressed the jumbled thoughts in his mind, and started the ranked games for his farewell day.

The ranked games that day were still very difficult, and his own condition was extremely poor, leading to a losing streak of 7 games.

Faker had already decided that if he lost one more game, he would completely bid farewell to this account. However, in this final game, something unexpected happened.

Before the game started, someone in the chat box asked him for the mid lane position. Faker followed his usual style: if he couldn't get mid, he wouldn't ask for it, and he would play whatever he got. But since he had already gotten mid, he wouldn't give it up, so he didn't reply. A normal person would have understood his meaning by now.

However, this time it seemed different. The other party was babbling incessantly, calling him a professional player, RNG, Xiaohu, and demanding the mid lane for him.

Faker had some impression of RNG, but who was Xiaohu? Was he a famous person? He couldn't recall, and he still didn't reply.

The chat box suddenly became lively, with two other teammates joining the conversation.

Because they were speaking Chinese, he couldn't understand. He could only vaguely guess that they had recognized the professional player and were asking him to give up the position, with those two teammates constantly hyping him up.

He frowned repeatedly. His mood was already suppressed, and now he had to encounter such an ungrateful person!

With a sense of helplessness and curiosity, he copied and pasted the chat to translate it. The more he read, the darker his expression became, and the worse his complexion grew.

These people were truly boring! Because he didn't give up the position, they forcefully labeled him as an "actor" and threatened to report him.

Slandering him out of thin air!

That professional player was also like that; his fans were so unreasonable, yet he just stood by and watched, saying nothing.

Even though he didn't know the professional player who was proudly boasting about being from RNG, Faker seemed to be able to imagine the ugly expression on the other person's face at that moment. His character could be determined at a glance.

He frowned, no longer wanting to translate, and prepared to ignore it. But at this moment, a fourth person joined the chat.

Faker initially thought it was another fan of that unknown RNG professional player, coming to scold him for slandering him. He didn't want to translate anymore, but for some reason, he inexplicably copied and pasted the translation again.

Upon translating, his eyes lit up.

This person was actually defending him, speaking from his perspective, and fiercely scolding that unknown professional player and his two sycophantic fans.

Even from a bystander's perspective, Faker felt the scolding was exhilarating, let alone the fact that the person was standing up for him, instantly earning Faker a ton of goodwill.

However, the game ultimately didn't start and was disbanded prematurely. Faker felt a sense of regret, as he had originally planned to have a great game with the top laner who defended him.

But he had barely finished regretting it when the next game started, and they ran into each other again!

Not only that, but the not-so-famous professional player was on the opposing team! Faker suddenly felt a sense of mission.

This was a grudge match!

Before he could fully adjust his state and become serious, the game began, and the enemy top laner once again sent a taunting inquiry through the public chat.

He almost laughed in exasperation when he translated it.

A professional player! Another one of those players who made no impression, yet insisted on throwing around their professional status to pressure people.

He was utterly bewildered and couldn't understand why professional players had become so arrogant.

Even he, Lee Sang-hyeok, a professional player with three S-tier championships, had never acted like this. He played whatever champion he was assigned, always honestly and humbly. Was this other guy so great just because he had a few championships?

Seeing that the top laner in his team hadn't replied to the opponent, Faker felt even more stifled. He vaguely guessed that the opponent was worried about facing a professional player, afraid of losing face if they lost – after all, this was a grudge match.

This person had gotten into trouble because they were trying to stand up for him. It was all his fault!

As Faker felt a surge of shame, his depression, which hadn't been properly managed for a long time, suddenly reached its peak at this moment. Not only did it reach its peak, it even directly adjusted to Grand Perfection!