Everyone Really Is a Newborn

That evening, Xu Junyan finalized the team joining details with Faker. They exchanged Twitter accounts, and at Faker's recommendation, Xu Junyan registered for Kakaotalk and added Faker as a friend.

The next day, when Xu Junyan woke up, Faker had already sent many messages on Kakaotalk, all related to joining the team.

The most important matter was undoubtedly the contract. Faker mentioned that he and kkOma had urged the staff to draft a contract first thing that morning, wanting him to review it.

Since the LCK transfer window had already closed, unless they were SKT's own youth trainees, the contract period for other free agents could only be for a maximum of one season. This was to ensure that the free agent would still be a free agent when the next transfer window opened.

Therefore, the contract SKT sent now was only for a one-season term, ending after MSI, with a salary of 300 million Korean Won, which was about 1.5 to 1.6 million Chinese Yuan.

If the SKT club were to pay it, given SKT's management's decision this year to invest heavily last year without achieving results and prepare to tank, they absolutely wouldn't offer this much. At most, they'd offer 100 million Korean Won as a gesture. The additional 200 million clearly came from Faker's salary reduction to subsidize it.

Below the drafted contract document, Faker also sent a message saying that if he was unsatisfied with the salary, they could discuss it further. He also mentioned that due to official restrictions, the contract could only be signed for six months, but he should rest assured that once the summer transfer window opened, they would definitely offer a longer-term contract with a higher salary.

Xu Junyan rubbed his eyes and read for a while in his sleepy state. Finally, he decided to go wash up. After doing so, feeling refreshed, he ate his breakfast bread while concentrating on carefully reviewing every part and clause of the contract.

Although SKT's club had a generally good reputation and hadn't had any unusual scandals so far, it was still wise to be cautious. Xu Junyan maintained his highest level of vigilance.

After a careful review, feeling that there were no major issues, he asked Faker if he could sign it online directly if he wanted to. Faker quickly replied: "Sign online first, then as soon as possible. You need to come to the SKT base in Incheon to sign a new one in person. The project terms will be the same as now."

Xu Junyan thought for a moment and felt it was fine. Besides climbing the ranks in China, he didn't have much else to do. It would be good to go to SKT early and build synergy with his teammates, so he agreed.

Following that, Xu Junyan and SKT smoothly signed the six-month contract online that morning. After the signing, Xu Junyan added several more friends on Kakaotalk. Besides SKT staff, the most notable person was SKT's head coach, the legendary coach kkOma.

Interestingly, this legendary three-time champion coach of SKT had sent him a message just a few minutes ago, a message with a rather intriguing content.

"[MinnaaQAQ] Junyan, I've actually been paying attention to you for a long time. The kid who duo queues with Sanghyuk, your skill is very strong. Sigh~ If I hadn't pushed Sanghyuk like this, I really wouldn't know when he would have invited you to SKT. Happy cooperation!"

After signing the contract, Xu Junyan stared at this message for a long time, especially the part about "I've actually been paying attention to you for a long time" and "If I hadn't pushed him?!"

So Faker's alternate account wasn't that well-hidden. At least kkOma knew about it long ago. But what does "If I hadn't pushed him" mean? What's happening in SKT?

Xu Junyan suddenly had a premonition that his trip to SKT, at least initially, might not go very smoothly.

Something must have happened to SKT!

With such doubts, Xu Junyan specifically tuned into the LCK Spring Split opening match that afternoon.

The first match was Corki's team versus BBQ. There wasn't much to see, as both teams were considered mid-to-lower tier in the LCK.

The second match was very interesting and an extra focus for Xu Junyan: SKT versus KZ!

This year's KZ boasted a luxurious lineup. Top laner Khan was arguably the top top laner in the LCK of the current era.

Jungler Peanut, since S5, had maintained his peak performance. Although he was quiet for a period last year due to the designer's adjustments targeting the jungle, no one doubted his skill.

Mid laner Bdd was a top mid laner who had recently emerged last year. His skill could only be described as incredibly strong! The bottom lane was the Twin Elders, the legendary old ROX bottom lane. The Ashe and Miss Fortune combination that PraY and GorillA had picked back then was still memorable.

Facing a KZ like this, SKT's current lineup had no chance of winning. Even with SKT's large, very large fanbase, no one expected them to take down KZ today.

As the saying goes, no expectations mean no disappointment. Therefore, the SKT fans, having no expectations, were quite relaxed. But what no one expected was that SKT would lose, and why would they lose so ugly?

During the laning phase, Faker was repeatedly targeted by his former teammate Peanut. Peanut, having been on SKT before, knew exactly how to beat SKT. The strategy was simple: target the mid lane!

Faker, being so targeted, was left isolated and helpless because jungler Blank was constantly in the top lane helping or counter-ganking, effectively turning the top lane into a duo lane. He even helped Untara secure a kill on Khan.

As one side gained an advantage, Faker in the mid lane was naturally out-CSed by Bdd. However, Bdd had a natural fear of the "科" (likely referring to Faker, as Faker's IGN is "Faker" and the Chinese pronunciation of "科" is similar), so besides out-CSing, he didn't do anything else.

Then, an even more exaggerated scene unfolded.

After the laning phase, SKT's macro play became a complete mess. They lost all their composure, wandering the map like headless chickens.

As a result, they lost dragons, lost heralds, and even the Baron was easily sniped by KZ.

The team fights were the funniest. Whenever Faker initiated and charged in, Bang and Wolf followed quickly. However, the top and jungle were either flanking and not arriving or using Flash and abilities to miss. This led to Faker repeatedly being put in awkward positions, forcing Bang and Wolf to retreat in a hurry.

The funniest moment was when Blank's jungler Gragas, in a team fight, used his ultimate to knock KZ's top laner Gnar towards Faker. Khan then casually used his "Buddha's Palm" (a powerful strike, referencing Journey to the West) to knock Faker back and kill him. The execution was as disgusting as when he used Trundle's pillar to block Faker's movement in the World Championship, ultimately costing them the game.

This opening match between SKT and KZ thus ended anticlimactically and bizarrely.

Xu Junyan even specifically watched the post-match interview for the losing team, wanting to see how Faker and the others would explain it.

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

Blank sincerely reflected on his operational errors during the match, awkwardly stating that Faker's calls were too fast and he was constantly urging them, causing him to panic and make that blunder.

After watching two hours of the match, Xu Junyan, who had been silent for two hours, finally couldn't hold back and let out a scoff: "There really are newbies everywhere, aren't there."