My Computer is Fast!

After kkOma and Park Ji-young left, Faker took Xu Junyan to his dorm to arrange his living situation.

Previously, Faker had shared a dorm with Peanut and Untara. However, Peanut had left the team, and Untara had moved out a couple of days ago, leaving a perfectly good spot for Xu Junyan.

The dorm was spacious. After dragging his suitcase inside, Xu Junyan glanced at the beds and realized there wasn't much to unpack.

The bedding and sheets were neatly arranged, looking like fresh supplies ready to go. He could just lie down and sleep.

Xu Junyan then started hanging his clothes in the wardrobe. He also noticed Faker, who seemed preoccupied, and teased him, "Coach kkOma is a really great person."

Faker turned to look, processing the meaning of the sentence, or rather, mentally translating the not-so-difficult English.

"Mhm."

Faker nodded slightly and sighed, "Perhaps the loss in S7 really drove me mad. I've been restless ever since, otherwise, I should have seen the coach's intentions much earlier..."

He couldn't help but recall what kkOma had said when recruiting him: If you come, I'll buy you a good computer that doesn't lag and has a clear camera.

At the time, he was struggling with his blurry webcam feed and agreed without a second thought.

It was from that point on that SKT gained an undisputed mid-lane king. From then on, he, kkOma, Bengi, and others gradually forged a legend in the professional league, creating the dominant SKT dynasty with three championships!

"Actually, being a substitute for a while isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's time for me to properly sort myself out and clear my head, to completely shake off the shadow of the S7 loss."

"Especially with your addition, Junyan, I need to get serious!"

As Faker spoke, he suddenly realized he had been speaking Korean, and Xu Junyan couldn't understand. He immediately felt awkward.

"Sorry, I got carried away talking to myself... Ah, crap!" Faker awkwardly patted his own head and rubbed his nose.

He spoke Korean again!

Xu Junyan couldn't help but laugh and cry. He opened his translation app and spoke into it, "It's okay. Speaking more Korean in daily life will also help my learning progress. I plan to start studying this afternoon and aim for rapid progress, at least enough to handle simple conversations. Then we can mix English and Korean, and communication should be much easier."

Faker leaned in to read it and nodded enthusiastically, "Good, good, good!"

After tidying up, Faker and Xu Junyan had a quick instant ramen lunch in the dorm before Faker personally led Xu Junyan to the SKT training room.

At SKT, the training room and the streaming rooms were separate. The former was a large room, while the latter were small, individual rooms.

Most of the time, everyone practiced ranked games in the training room. Just like now, SKT's starting players, including Untara who was competing that night, were engaged in intense practice matches.

Faker brought Xu Junyan in just as they were finishing their last practice match. Wolf and Bang spotted the two of them immediately.

"Sang-hyeok hyung? Who's this?"

"A new guy?"

The bottom lane duo looked at Xu Junyan with synchronized confusion, scrutinizing him.

Ah, crap! This guy is actually quite handsome! Even more so than Peanut, who joined us last year!

No, is the entry bar for pro players this high now? If you're not good-looking, you can't even play anymore? Wolf suddenly felt insecure.

Faker showed the first smile he had in days and introduced, "This is Junyan. He just signed with SKT, and he's from China."

"From China???"

The few who were initially surprised by Xu Junyan's looks and confused about his signing now had their eyes wide open.

From China! That meant an LPL player?

A foreign player?!

They were all incredibly shocked.

After all, ever since the OGN era in S2, their teams had never hired any foreign players.

Later, in S3, when Faker led the team to their first championship, and then in S5 when OGN rebranded as LCK, and even now, in the S8 season! They had consistently dominated the global League of Legends professional scene. So why would they need to hire a foreign player?

Even weaker teams in the league like JAG and BBQ didn't hire foreign players, let alone a top-tier powerhouse like SKT.

Because of this, they were super surprised, almost dropping their jaws, their eyes filled with disbelief.

"Junyan is very strong. You'll see when the time comes," Faker said, remembering how intense their duo queue sessions were with Xu Junyan, his expression growing more expectant.

Seeing that Faker had vouched for him, Bang and Wolf suppressed their thoughts and warmly approached Xu Junyan, shaking his hand to greet him.

It didn't matter that they couldn't communicate verbally. As long as Faker acted as a good bridge, Xu Junyan quickly became familiar with Bang and Wolf.

Blank and Untara, on the other hand, seemed hesitant. Untara's expression was particularly grim.

Just moments ago, as soon as Faker introduced Xu Junyan, he had quickly messaged a staff member he knew. The result was that Xu Junyan was also a top laner!

What did that mean? It was one thing to have Thal rotate with him, but now they signed another new top laner, and an import from China at that! Did they really look down on him, Untara?

Suddenly filled with anger, Untara was now completely confused, unsure if his political maneuvering had truly paid off.

"Hey~!"

At some point, Xu Junyan had walked up to them. His slightly gruff shout startled Untara, Blank, and Pirean.

The three of them looked at Xu Junyan in front of them, caught off guard. He wasn't particularly muscular, but for some reason, he gave off a very strong sense of pressure?

Was it an illusion?

Slap!

Xu Junyan placed his ID card on the table, pointed at his birthdate with his finger, and grinned at the three of them, asking, "Understand?"

Untara and the other two looked down in confusion. They couldn't understand the Chinese characters, but the birthday column showed '96...

As Koreans, the three of them understood immediately!

Did he mean for them to call him "hyung"?

Was he crazy!

Although juniors were absolutely forbidden from disobeying their elders in their culture, and would deserve any bullying they received, Xu Junyan wasn't from South Korea...

"Yaa~! It's a bit hot," Xu Junyan suddenly muttered in Korean, a phrase he'd specifically learned from Faker. He then took off his jacket. Back when he was in university and playing professionally, he'd also made time to work out. His muscles weren't overly developed, but they were shaped, at least compared to the three pure internet addicts that were Untara and his teammates. He was significantly stronger.

"Hyung Junyan!" Blank, ever the opportunist, blurted out without a second thought.

SKT had never experienced bullying incidents where seniors picked on juniors, but this new Chinese support player was definitely an anomaly! They had to be careful!

Pirean's lips moved a couple of times. When he noticed Xu Junyan's gaze sweeping over him, he flinched and then bowed, chuckling dryly as he called out, "Hyung Junyan."

Finally, Xu Junyan's gaze fell upon Untara. This rebellious kid, who had once gone against the grain and even suggested Faker be benched, now had red eyes and was seething with anger. Just as Xu Junyan was surprised, thinking this guy might actually be difficult to handle and truly unburdened by their rotten culture.

Untara suddenly stood up, grabbed his gaming chair, and pushed it forward. He declared loudly, "You might not have a spot on your first day, Hyung Junyan, you can use my computer! My computer is fast!"