Idiots Really Are Everywhere

That night, after settling the matter of joining the team with Faker, the two of them added each other on Twitter. At Faker's recommendation, Xu Junyan also registered a Kakaotalk account and added him as a friend.

The next day, when Xu Junyan woke up again, Faker had already sent him a whole stack of messages on Kakaotalk, all related to joining the team.

The most important matter was undoubtedly the contract. Faker said that early that morning, he and kkOma had urged the staff to draft one for him to review first.

Since the LCK transfer window had long since closed, unless they were SKT's own academy players, any other free agents could only sign contracts lasting a single season at most. This ensured they would still retain free-agent status when the next transfer window opened.

Therefore, the contract SKT had sent over was only for one season, ending after MSI. The salary was 300 million won, roughly equivalent to 1.5 to 1.6 million Chinese yuan.

If SKT had been paying for it themselves, given that the higher-ups believed last year's heavy investments had yielded no results and were preparing to coast this year, they absolutely could not have offered that much. At most, they would have given him 100 million won as a token gesture. The additional 200 million clearly came from Faker subsidizing it with his own pay cut.

Below the draft contract, Faker had also sent a message saying that they could negotiate if he was dissatisfied with the salary. Also, due to official restrictions, the contract could only be signed for half a year for now. But he should rest assured that once the summer transfer window opened, they would definitely offer a longer contract with a higher salary.

Xu Junyan rubbed his eyes and stared at it sleepily for a while. In the end, he decided to get up and wash first. Once he was refreshed, he ate breakfast bread while carefully reviewing every clause of the contract.

Although SKT had always enjoyed a fairly good reputation and had yet to be involved in any major scandals, one could never be too cautious. Xu Junyan remained highly vigilant.

After reviewing it carefully and finding no major issues, he asked Faker whether he could sign it directly online. Faker swiftly replied, "Sign online first. Then, as soon as possible, you'll need to come to SKT's base in Incheon and sign another copy in person. The terms will be exactly the same as this one."

Xu Junyan considered it briefly and felt there was nothing wrong with that. Aside from climbing the ranks, he did not have much else to do in China anyway. It would be good to head to SKT early and build synergy with the other teammates, so he agreed.

Over the course of the morning, Xu Junyan and SKT successfully signed a six-month contract online. Once it was done, several more people added him on Kakaotalk. Besides SKT staff, the most notable was SKT's head coach, the legendary coach kkOma.

Interestingly, this legendary three-time world champion coach of SKT had sent him a message just minutes earlier, one with rather thought-provoking content.

"MinnaaQAQ Junyan, I actually noticed you a long time ago. You're the kid who duo-queued with Sang-hyeok. You're very strong. Sigh... if I hadn't pushed Sang-hyeok like this, I really don't know when he would have invited you to SKT. Happy working together!"

After signing the contract, Xu Junyan stared at that message for a long time, especially at the line, "I actually noticed you a long time ago," and, "if I hadn't pushed Sang-hyeok like this?!"

So Faker's Alternate Account wasn't all that secret after all. At least kkOma had known about it for a long time. But what exactly did he mean by pushing him? What happened to SKT?

Xu Junyan suddenly had a feeling that his trip to SKT, at least at the beginning, probably would not go very smoothly.

Something must have happened to SKT!

With those doubts in mind, Xu Junyan deliberately watched the opening matches of the LCK Spring Split that afternoon.

The first match was Corki's team against BBQ. There was not much to watch; both teams were considered lower-mid-tier in the LCK.

The second match was much more interesting, and it was also the one Xu Junyan paid special attention to: SKT versus KZ!

This year's KZ roster was nothing short of luxurious. Their top laner, Khan, was arguably one of the best top laners in the LCK at the time.

Their jungler, Peanut, had maintained peak form ever since S5. Although the designers had targeted the jungle last year, causing the role to suffer and leaving him quiet for a while, no one doubted his ability.

Their mid laner, Bdd, was a top-tier mid laner who had only risen to prominence last year. As for his skill, he could only be described as extremely strong! On the bottom lane were The Twin Elders, the legendary former ROX duo. The Ashe plus Miss Fortune combination once picked by PraY and GorillA was still unforgettable to this day.

Against a KZ like that, SKT's current lineup had no chance of winning. Even though SKT had a huge number of fans, no one believed they would take down KZ that day.

As the saying went, no expectations meant no disappointment. Therefore, SKT fans who held no expectations were quite relaxed. But what no one had expected was that SKT did lose—but why did they lose so ugly?

During the laning phase, Faker was repeatedly targeted by his former teammate Peanut. Having once played for SKT, Peanut knew exactly how to beat them: four words, target the mid lane!

Under such relentless pressure, Faker found himself isolated and helpless. Their jungler, Blank, was constantly helping top lane or waiting for counterganks, practically turning it into a two-man lane. He even helped Untara secure a kill on Khan.

As one side rose, the other fell. Faker was naturally pushed behind Bdd in CS. But Bdd seemed to have an innate fear of Faker; aside from building a CS lead, he did nothing else.

Then, an even more absurd scene unfolded.

Once the laning phase ended, SKT's macro play became a complete mess. They had entirely lost their former composure and wandered around the map like headless flies.

As a result, they lost dragon after dragon, Rift Herald after Rift Herald, and even Baron was easily stolen by KZ.

The funniest part was the teamfights. Whenever Faker initiated and charged in, Bang and Wolf followed quickly. But either the top laner and jungler were still flanking and had not arrived, or they wasted their Flashes and abilities. As a result, Faker was repeatedly left in awkward situations, forcing Bang and Wolf to retreat in a hurry.

The funniest play came when Blank's jungle Gragas used his Ultimate Ability in a teamfight and blasted KZ's top-lane Mega Gnar right into Faker's face. Khan casually followed up with a Buddha's Palm and smacked Faker back into KZ's ranks, killing him instantly. The play was just as disgusting as when Blank had used Trundle's pillar to block Faker's movement at Worlds, throwing away a winning game.

SKT and KZ's opening match thus ended in an utterly bizarre anticlimax.

Xu Junyan even watched the post-match interview with the losing side, wanting to see how Faker and the others would explain themselves.

However, only Blank, Untara, and kkOma attended this post-match interview.

Blank deeply reflected on his mechanical mistakes during the game. Embarrassed, he said that Faker's calls had been too rapid and he had kept urging him on, so he got nervous and made that blunder.

After watching two hours of matches and remaining silent for two hours, Xu Junyan finally could not hold it in any longer. He let out a derisive laugh. "Idiots really are everywhere."