If Blank's remarks had mainly been about shifting blame while subtly taking a jab at Faker, then Untara's comments that followed were outright trying to make everyone dislike Faker.
Untara first bowed repeatedly in apology, doing his best to embody the spirit of a bowing general and convey his sincerity. Then, looking ashamed, he said:
"I played terribly in these two games. I'm sorry for disappointing everyone, and for disappointing Sang-hyeok hyung as well. During these two games, Sang-hyeok hyung was always directing me to do things and fulfilling his duty as an older brother, but I was never able to keep up."
"I feel terrible and ashamed. Of course, I'm also a little scared. Sang-hyeok hyung will definitely scold me when we get back, won't he? Of course, I'm willing to accept that. It's what I deserve. After all, I failed to make sure I did everything exactly as Sang-hyeok hyung wanted."
"I'm truly sorry. I don't ask for everyone's forgiveness. I only hope Sang-hyeok hyung can forgive me. Next time, I'll definitely do my best to follow every one of your instructions. I absolutely won't do anything outside your decisions."
In the LCK, SKT had plenty of fans, and Faker had plenty as well. Naturally, there were also quite a few people who weren't fans of either—and more than a few pure haters.
Seizing the opportunity, the haters suddenly became frenzied, using the situation to stir things up. Their questions grew sharper one after another, while Untara seemed to sense it and continued playing the role of an innocent little brother who had supposedly been bullied, calling out "Sang-hyeok hyung, forgive me" over and over.
At last, as the interview neared its end, kkOma, who had remained silent the entire time, finally spoke. "For the next match, Pirean will temporarily take over the mid lane position. Faker will be resting for a while."
Untara, who had been pretending to be innocent all along, was overjoyed.
Blank's eyes also gleamed in secret.
This was in the bag!
For kkOma to say that in an interview meant they had truly crushed Faker!!
"The top lane position will also see Thal promoted, and he will rotate with Untara," kkOma added.
Untara's expression changed. He anxiously looked at kkOma, but kkOma did not look back. After saying that, he left.
Untara could not help clenching his fists, gritting his teeth. He felt as though he had won, yet somehow, he had not won at all.
"Pfft!"
Xu Junyan, who had watched the interview from start to finish, burst out laughing again and gave an earnest assessment. "An idiot who only knows how to stir up internal conflict and play innocent really is perfectly suited for RNG."
He was still in a fairly relaxed mood.
Although it seemed SKT's palace intrigue had indeed broken out earlier than expected—no, much earlier—it was still far easier to deal with fools like Untara and Blank than RNG's Royal dogs.
After closing the stream, Xu Junyan opened ranked again and began queuing to climb. He had already reached second place on the Korean server and was only fifty points behind first, faster than the three days he had anticipated. As long as he pulled another all-nighter tonight and won four straight, first place would be secure!
During the gaps between queues, he did not forget to check Weibo, Douyin, and other social media platforms to see how the series of events caused by the bait he had thrown out the day before yesterday had developed.
It would have been better if he had not looked. The moment he finished, Xu Junyan nearly laughed out loud again.
These brainless Royal dogs really were something!
In just two days, they had actually made viral video clips of Xiaohu and Damon's heartfelt, sincere invitation for minnaaQAQ to join RNG during their livestream that day!
On Douyin, the most-viewed video had already received more than 300,000 likes, 87,000 comments, and over 30,000 shares.
As far as the eye could see, the comments were all praising RNG, praising Xiaohu for being magnanimous, praising RNG as such a warm and humane club, and lamenting how lucky minnaaQAQ was.
On top of that, quite a few Royal Hooligans had gotten carried away because of Damon's claim about winning an imaginary championship. In many people's eyes, RNG was already guaranteed to become this year's World Championship winner!
The most-liked comment read like this.
'Come on, brother. Our Royal Family needs an expert like you to protect the best RNG in the whole world!!'
Xu Junyan nearly threw up. He found himself wondering what kind of person could even produce such a mindless comment.
It was just strange—and disgusting.
Then he checked Weibo.
Sure enough, as the Royal Hooligans' number one target of hatred, he had been dragged into the matter as well.
The locusts who cursed him day after day had found a new angle of attack, barking madly in the comments and flooding his private messages.
"Did you see that, you parasite?! Look at the kind of people qualified to join our RNG! Korean server rank one!! What the hell are you? I seriously suspect trash like you only got in through connections!"
"Lmao, you ungrateful bastard, hurry up and look at this! Don't pretend you didn't see it! You had the nerve to claim RNG was cold and heartless before, huh? Feeling embarrassed now? This minnaaQAQ brother even argued with Xiaohu and Letme before, but RNG still invited him to join! /Sunglasses"
"Even the team manager personally came out and made promises! His tone was so sincere that I was moved just watching it! This is what it means to respect talent and humble yourself to recruit the worthy! This is what a club that truly wants results looks like!"
"This shows exactly what kind of freak this ungrateful bastard is. He could even fall out with a club like RNG. Disgusting!"
"Hold it, hold it! Everyone, go easy on him. He just couldn't resist the temptation of match-fixing. He was simply born to love match-fixing, otherwise why would he be called Match-Fixing Bro? /Sideways grin"
"I'm really curious—when exactly will an ungrateful bastard like you just die already? You parasite and scum of the LPL!"
"Come on, everyone. There's no need to keep posting pictures of minnaaQAQ's stats for him to see. What is he, anyway? Does he deserve it? He could probably never produce results like minnaaQAQ's in his entire life. And Korean server rank one? Could he get there with his life on the line?"
"After all, he's Match-Fixing Bro~ Other than fixing matches, does anyone seriously think he has any skill? No way, no way, no way, right? /Sweating face /Sweating face"
"..."
As Xu Junyan scrolled through the clamoring remarks of these little Royal Hooligans, the smile at the corner of his mouth only grew wider. He opened Weibo's payment channel and directly spent money promoting those comments and posts, buying trending searches! Let the storm rage even harder!
After making the purchase, he temporarily reined in his thoughts and threw himself wholeheartedly into ranked games, seriously grinding points.
The night quietly passed.
Because the former Korean server rank one was also fighting for the top spot, Xu Junyan kept playing all night until nine the next morning. With seven wins, one loss, and 2781 points, he successfully took first place, surpassing the former rank one by a full twenty-four points!
"Ah~"
After more than a month of grinding day and night, Xu Junyan had finally completed the little goal he had set for himself. He stretched comfortably and let out a soft groan, yet he was not sleepy in the slightest.
There was still a big show waiting for him to put on!
He opened Weibo, saw a certain topic hanging high on the trending list, then clicked into it and saw the explosively outrageous comments coming in real time. He became even more energized.
Before you continue