"Ah~!"
At three in the morning, a soft groan rang out in a private booth at the internet cafe.
Having played ranked for an entire day, Xu Junyan stretched and yawned, ready to wrap up today's grind and get some rest.
Today's results were still excellent. He had only lost one game and won all the rest, gaining a net total of 182 LP.
At this rate, conservatively speaking, he would be qualified to compete for the number one spot on the Korean server in half a month.
As he was about to log off, Xu Junyan glanced over and noticed that his only friend's icon was flashing again.
This guy was still here!
Xu Junyan did not know whether to laugh or cry.
At first, Xu Junyan had thought this guy called want to breathe was socially anxious. After all, he had been baselessly accused of match-fixing and cursed out in every way imaginable, yet he had not said a word. How good-tempered did someone have to be for that?
But after the guy spent the entire day constantly messaging him and inviting him to duo queue, Xu Junyan gradually realized that he was probably a chatterbox.
Otherwise, after being rejected, any normal person with a bit of social awareness would have stopped bothering him.
This guy was different. Ever since that ranked game ended at seven thirty, he had politely asked in English almost every hour whether Xu Junyan had time to duo queue now.
After every inquiry, the guy also attached his match history.
Xu Junyan clicked it open again and found that the guy's record showed a nine-game win streak.
"So good?"
Xu Junyan could not help but be surprised.
He remembered this brother going on a losing streak before. How had he suddenly become so fierce today, winning nine straight games?
He instinctively opened the other party's match history again. One glance told him everything—the guy was hard-carrying every match! Just like him, he was smurfing as a booster in Master and Challenger games!
"Could he really be a booster? Was his client playing during that earlier losing streak, and now he's switched to playing with customers?"
Xu Junyan thought it over carefully, but after a moment, he felt that did not seem likely.
If he were a booster, while some people could indeed hard-carry Master and Challenger games, their champion pools would never be as deep as want to breathe's. At most, they would have three or four highly proficient champions. Otherwise, if you were that good, would you not have gone pro and made a name for yourself already?
But this guy was different. It was as though he were deliberately showing off his skills. Across nine consecutive wins, he had used nine different champions. That champion pool was downright terrifying. Not to mention anything further back, even in the most recent LPL Summer Split, the number of champions each team's mid laners had brought out was mostly between seven and ten.
In other words, this guy was unquestionably pro-level!
Since the two of them communicated in English, he was most likely not an LPL player, but someone from the neighboring LCK region.
The only question was who he was.
Xu Junyan searched for him on OP.GG, but there was no detailed identity information. At a glance, he looked more like an ordinary solo queue player.
"No, why am I thinking so much about this when I've got nothing better to do? Why not just ask him?"
Xu Junyan laughed at himself and simply typed out a question, asking whether he was a professional player and where he played.
Ding!
want to breathe gave him an affirmative answer, but did not explain who he was or where he played. Instead, he tossed the question back and asked whether Xu Junyan could duo queue with him now.
Seeing that the other party did not want to say more, Xu Junyan did not press him. Naturally, there was still nothing to discuss regarding duo queue. He decisively logged off and went to sleep.
Even after learning that the other party was a highly skilled professional player, Xu Junyan's resolve did not waver in the slightest.
Reaching Korean server rank one through solo queue and reaching it through duo queue carried different weight. Given his current reputation in the LPL, if he wanted to sign with a new team next season, he could only make himself look even stronger.
Of course, even if he did that, could he really continue finding work in the LPL? Would any club truly dare to take him?
Lying on the couch, Xu Junyan suddenly fell into deep thought.
Through occasional browsing online these past few days, he had realized that he had probably underestimated RNG's influence, underestimated RNG's determination to wipe him out completely, and, more than anything, underestimated the proportion of Royal Hooligans among LPL fans.
What if no LPL team was willing to take him in ten days?
Xu Junyan asked himself that question deep down.
This was not alarmist speculation. Given the atmosphere in the LPL, those teams that never acted without profit might genuinely do such a thing.
Besides, even if all those teams believed he had not fixed matches, that he was innocent and clean, would they dare to sign him while facing the fury of so many Royal Hooligans?
Difficult!
RNG's marketing was simply too good. Before the S8 Spring Split had even begun, they had already pulled over half of the LPL audience under the banner of their Royal Hooligans. There were pitifully few people who still had clear heads.
And in the days ahead, RNG would continue marketing. Their influence among LPL fans would keep expanding, and the number of Royal Hooligans in the LPL would continue soaring.
To put it bluntly, once the LPL really became like that next year, with fan-club Royal Hooligans everywhere and every seat filled with "distinguished guests" who were RNG dogs, what meaning would there be in staying? Just to disgust himself?
"Junyan Oppa! How about coming to our LCK?"
All of a sudden, a question Kim Min-ah had once asked him resurfaced in Xu Junyan's heart.
Go to the LCK.
Of course, if he went to the LCK, all these problems could be easily resolved. There were no Royal Hooligans in the LCK; that place was forbidden territory for them.
Moreover, going to the LCK meant naturally standing on the opposite side of the Royal Hooligans. He could curse RNG and the Royal Hooligans even more freely, break their mental defenses hard, farm system titles hard, and avenge the baseless slander he had suffered that day, without any restrictions.
Thinking about it that way, it suddenly did not sound bad at all.
The only trouble was that going to the LCK meant leaving his homeland. Any Chinese person would feel some attachment to their native soil.
"And the LCK isn't somewhere I can just go whenever I want. If I want to become the LCK's first Chinese import..."
Xu Junyan pondered quietly and, without realizing it, fell asleep. When he woke again, it was already noon the next day.
The first thing Xu Junyan did after opening his eyes was not rush out to wash up. He turned on his computer and immediately logged into the client.
Seeing want to breathe online in his friend list, Xu Junyan grinned and proactively sent him a message. "You there? Wanna duo?"
Ding!
want to breathe actually replied instantly. "gogogo!"
Xu Junyan smiled faintly and told him that he would wash up and eat first, then come back later. The other party replied with several oks.
He had made up his mind.
The LPL? Not even dogs would stay there!
Since that place was destined to become overrun by Royal Hooligans, a murky, chaotic mess, why should he not go have fun in the LCK instead?
A living man could not let a bladderful of piss kill him.
As for his plan for going to the LCK, Xu Junyan had already worked that out as well.
First, his own strength still had to be solid enough. Therefore, he still needed to reach Korean server rank one. Ranked points were not the most important thing, but they would always be the foundation.
Second, Xu Junyan was prepared to take a gamble.
Though he did not know who want to breathe was, he was definitely a professional player, and an LCK professional at that.
Then all Xu Junyan needed to do was duo queue with him more often and keep amazing him up close with their incredible mid-top synergy. If he was amazed for long enough, he would grow dependent on it. And if that dependence lasted long enough, might he not take the initiative to invite Xu Junyan onto his team?
The only question was whether this guy had that much say within his team—and whether the team he was on was strong enough?
Before you continue