Faker, Next Match, You and Junyan Go On!

Honestly, Untara, Blank, and Pirean are truly miserable! If SKT lost to KDM today, there's probably no one more miserable than those three!

After countless hardships, living in constant fear, gritting their teeth, and fighting with all their might, they schemed and engaged in internal power struggles within SKT, finally managing to bench Faker.

They had thought that by doing so, they would no longer have to bear the pressure of playing with Faker and not keeping up with his rhythm, nor would they have to endure the intense criticism from SKT fans for their own lack of skill after SKT lost matches.

But! But! Who could have predicted this! After Faker left, they couldn't even beat KDM. Who the hell could have imagined such a thing?!

Pirean's expression was particularly grim.

He vividly remembered at 7 PM that evening, when he made his debut for SKT, the atmosphere at the venue wasn't great. After all, SKT's top star player, Faker, was benched, and the SKT fans in attendance were naturally very unhappy.

At the player's seats, Bang and Wolf didn't look much better. Even Blank and Untara, while secretly pleased, put on frowning faces.

Only he was genuinely excited, grinning from ear to ear, almost smiling like a daisy.

He thought, today was finally his chance to shine. Faker had merely benefited from the times; if he had been born three years earlier, the title of the "Demon King of Mid Lane" might not have belonged to him.

Fine, even if they didn't talk about the past, let's just talk about the present. Faker was old, and it was time for SKT's mid lane position to be taken over by him, the new genius mid laner!

Countless times in the past, he had fantasized that all he needed was a chance to showcase his skills, and he would immediately secure SKT's starting position and make a name for himself.

Now, he had gotten that precious opportunity! But he was utterly dominated by KDM's mid laner, Edge, and then the entire team was crushed 2:1 by the team predicted to finish last in the LCK Spring Split!

Pirean was completely dazed, from the stadium to the present moment. One sentence kept echoing in his mind: The genius mid laner, me, was defeated in my debut like this?

Why!

To get this opportunity, to bench Faker and take the starting mid laner position for SKT, who knew how much he had gone through? How much hardship he had endured? He had suppressed one arrogant young SKT trainee mid laner after another.

He was a genius rookie! A genius! He couldn't understand it!!

Xu Junyan's entrance affected the atmosphere in the room. Faker was the first to look up and see him, then he gave Xu Junyan a slight nod.

Bang and Wolf followed suit. The most amusing was Untara. This guy was probably truly traumatized by bullying culture in his childhood. After what happened this afternoon, he was genuinely afraid of Xu Junyan, his senior. He no longer put on a brave front; as soon as he saw Xu Junyan enter, he quickly helped push a chair over.

Just as Xu Junyan was about to jokingly ask him, "You brat, do you think I don't have hands and can't get a chair myself?"

The thought just arose when Xu Junyan quickly extinguished the terrible idea. He had only meant to scare those guys who were all bark and no bite this afternoon. He didn't want to truly adapt to this bizarre bullying culture of South Korea and become one of the villains himself.

"Thank you."

Xu Junyan smiled at Untara and politely took the chair.

Untara shivered, his heart suddenly pounding. No! This guy is thanking me? What's going on? Did I do something wrong and displease him?

He didn't dare accept this thank you!!

KkOma looked at Xu Junyan and said, "We lost again this afternoon, and we lost to KDM, who was considered the weakest team before the spring split started. Junyan, you're part of SKT now, so tell me your thoughts."

"My thoughts? To put it simply, just let Faker and me play together. No matter who we play against in the next match, I guarantee we'll win." Xu Junyan said.

"Guarantee you'll win?"

KkOma sized up Xu Junyan meaningfully and said, "Do you know, Junyan, your position is actually quite awkward. Firstly, SKT is going through the most awkward start to the season since S3. This is the first time we've had such a record at the beginning of the season, two consecutive losses, and we're facing countless discussions from the outside. Secondly, and most importantly, you are not an LCK native player, but a foreign aid. Do you understand the implications of that? It's already an extremely unusual move to bring in foreign aid in the LCK's history, and it will definitely be questioned by countless LCK viewers. Therefore... the room for your performance is actually very small. You can't just play and experiment like other native players. Once you play, you can only win, not lose. Even if you win, you and SKT will still face a lot of public pressure. So, you need to keep winning, and you need to win beautifully in every match, very beautifully!"

It had to be admitted that kkOma's spoken English was really good, worthy of being a successful graduate from college.

Xu Junyan listened to his lengthy explanation with a serious expression and nodded. "I understand. After deciding to accept Faker's invitation, I had already considered these things, especially the last point. But I can responsibly tell you, coach, that being a foreign mid laner in the LCK isn't that difficult for me."

KkOma's gaze towards Xu Junyan became even more intriguing.

Honestly, just looking at Xu Junyan's performance in those two games for RNG during the World Championship didn't give him much confidence.

However, when combined with Xu Junyan's performance in solo queue rank matches with Faker recently, it was a different story.

Admittedly, rank matches couldn't represent everything, and a high rank didn't necessarily mean they could dominate in actual matches. But as a professional coach, and a legendary LCK coach, the things he could see in a rank match were naturally different from others.

Besides Xu Junyan's mechanics, he saw more of this person's macro play, awareness, and other abilities, which were truly exaggerated. And what made him most excited and determined to take a gamble was actually Xu Junyan's synergy with Faker!

When they played rank matches together, Xu Junyan could easily understand what Faker was going to do at every moment without any communication, and quickly adapt and cooperate.

Faker was discovered by him, and he was the one he had the highest hopes for. In kkOma's eyes, as long as Faker, this foundation, was there, the team would always have infinite possibilities.

Since that was the case, his requirements for other SKT members had never been about how strong their individual skills were, but whether they could perfectly fit with Faker, the strongest engine in the Summoner's Rift! As long as they could fit, what match couldn't be won?

Bengi could do this before, and now, he felt Xu Junyan might be able to try as well.

Of course, without officially playing a match to see the results, he couldn't offer any further evaluation.

"You are very confident."

KkOma smiled and nodded, with admiration in his eyes. He said comfortingly, "But you still can't be too hasty. Didn't you go to learn Korean this afternoon? How about this: after a month, when your Korean proficiency improves, I'll help you choose a suitable time to play."

"My Korean is actually okay." Xu Junyan said this sentence in Korean. Although his pronunciation was a bit strange and he stumbled a bit, he undoubtedly expressed it accurately.

KkOma was surprised, "Junyan, you..."

"Coach, trust me this once. Let me play, I can even sign a military order, or any other conditions. No matter what, I will definitely bring you victory." Xu Junyan said more directly, requesting to play again!

KkOma slowly lowered his head and remained silent for a good while, probably about 7-8 minutes, constantly weighing the pros and cons in his mind.

The training room was eerily quiet.

The others didn't know what Xu Junyan and kkOma were talking about and looked bewildered. Untara, Pirean, and the others felt uneasy but didn't dare to interject, just watching quietly.

Faker seemed to have noticed something, a hint of anticipation showing in the depths of his eyes. He clenched his fist, as if ready to unleash his power.

Suddenly, kkOma stood up, drawing everyone's attention. They all looked towards him, and he walked towards the door.

Xu Junyan gave a wry smile. He couldn't say he was disappointed, as, for everyone else, the matter had indeed been rushed.

"Sanghyuk."

Ahead, kkOma, who had already walked out of the training room door, stopped. Facing away from everyone, he slowly began, "Starting today, you and Junyan will practice together. You and Junyan will play next match."

Faker's head snapped up.

Xu Junyan's head also snapped up.

Bang and Wolf exchanged a smile.

Only in the back did Untara and Pirean lower their heads, clenching their fists, their eyes filled with unwillingness, yet also helplessness.