Korean netizens discuss: Is SKT still salvageable this year?

After kkOma left, the training room was silent for a moment, but Bang and Wolf were the first to break the quiet, jumping up and cheering loudly.

These two were genuinely happy, but also deliberately exaggerated their reactions to get back at Untara and the others for their previous internal drama.

Honestly, if they hadn't gradually realized that kkOma was setting them up, they would have lost their tempers and cursed them out long ago!

"Congratulations on Faker's return to the starting lineup."

Blank, ever the opportunist, followed Bang and Wolf's lead and quickly stood up, also happily congratulating Xu Junyan, "Congratulations on getting the starting spot, Junyan hyung."

Xu Junyan's eye twitched.

This guy! He really had a thick skin.

"Let's all calm down. The next match is also a tough one. We'll be facing Samsung... no, KSV. Let's quickly use solo queue to get back into our rhythm."

Faker, displaying his leadership as captain, instructed Bang and Wolf, who still looked like they wanted to celebrate further.

KSV, in reality, was last year's championship-winning Samsung SSG. They had changed their name this season due to a sponsorship change, and their roster remained largely the same: top laner Wraith, jungler Ambition, mid laner Crown, and bot lane duo Ruler and CoreJJ.

This was a very formidable team. After all, they had just proven themselves to be the strongest team in the world at the World Championship, and they had done so by defeating SKT!

This was precisely what kkOma had been struggling with and agonizing over.

The conditions for using an imported player in SKT were truly harsh, even for him, he had to be extremely cautious and choose the timing of their debut carefully.

His initial plan was to wait until Xu Junyan had fully mastered Korean and had practiced with the team for a while in scrims, allowing them to build synergy. Then, he would pick a lower-ranked team to test the waters and make their debut, which would be the safest approach.

Who could have predicted that SKT, led by Untara and Pirean, would actually lose to KDM, who was predicted to finish last? This put SKT in a very passive position. If they didn't make a change soon and continued to play like this, they might not even make the playoffs, let alone win a world championship. And now, Xu Junyan's proposal put him in an even more difficult spot.

To make a change, should they really have Xu Junyan tackle a tough opponent like KSV right from the start? If they lost, it would be devastating! Not only would Xu Junyan be flamed, but he and SKT would also face immense criticism, and their reputation would truly plummet.

What ultimately swayed kkOma wasn't Xu Junyan's persistence and his guarantee, nor was it the interference from others like Faker. It was his own internal shift.

If you don't trust someone, don't use them; if you use them, trust them. Since they had decided to have Faker bring Xu Junyan to SKT, why were they afraid to use him?

Five years ago, he had boldly brought in and utilized Faker, who many didn't know would become the number one player in League of Legends, an invincible mid-lane demon king.

"Junyan, duo queue?"

Faker looked at Xu Junyan beside him.

Xu Junyan grinned and teased, "My current number one account on the Korean server takes a long time to queue."

"We can just get a new super account, I'll take you with my main account," Faker said, as if it were no big deal. He quickly logged into Kakaotalk and contacted the official Riot Games Korea to request a new Korean server super account.

Faker, true to his status as the number one player in the LCK, even while benched, got a new account within moments of making a call.

Xu Junyan received it and skillfully started duo queuing with Faker's Korean server main account, 'Hide on bush.'

Around them, Bang, Wolf, Blank, and the others were all stunned, their mouths agape, wide enough to fit an orange.

"Ah, heck! Am I dreaming? In the booth, Faker actually initiated a duo queue with someone?"

Bang swallowed and asked hesitantly.

Wolf, sitting beside him and watching the scene, was now staring blankly, lamenting, "Junshik, Junshik ah~, I'm so jealous! I was here first!"

That evening, Xu Junyan didn't duo queue with Faker for too long. They stopped at precisely 1 AM and returned to the dormitory together.

This scene made the others envious once again. Wolf and Bang were to be expected, but Untara's gaze was the most complex.

If Faker had shown him this much enthusiasm earlier, he wouldn't have caused such ridiculous internal drama, no matter how much he was criticized.

In SKT, who wouldn't want to build a good relationship with Faker?

However, Lee Sang-hyeok was a reclusive and uninteresting child, always making it difficult to truly get close to him. For example, when drinking Coke, he only drank 1/5 of the bottle! For example, he never duo queued with anyone! For example, he clearly had a crush on the former LCK host Jo Eun-jung, so why didn't he share and discuss it with his good friends?...

Back in the dormitory, after brushing his teeth and washing his face, Xu Junyan, with nothing else to do, prepared to browse Weibo and tease the little Royal Hooligans. However, before logging into Weibo, he had a flash of inspiration and first checked the public opinion on the Korean internet's Instagram regarding SKT's match against KDM today.

Faker's influence in the LCK was, after all, immense. Today, with Faker benched, SKT was heavily defeated by KDM, and as expected, the entire team was severely criticized.

Faker's fans were extremely angry, furious about why SKT had benched Faker. Even more infuriating was that before the match started today, almost everyone on SKT's team didn't seem to be in high spirits, except for the substitute mid-laner Pirean, who was grinning ear to ear, looking incredibly happy. And what was the result? He was directly dominated by KDM's mid-laner and treated like a dog.

"What happened to SKT?"

"What's wrong with SKT, are they sick?"

"If they continue like this, the three-time dynasty will never be my pride again. Also, why bench Faker? I don't understand!"

"Yeah, after Faker was benched, the whole team had to rely on Bang and Wolf to carry them. As for guys like Untara, they just give me a headache!"

"With such a terrible lineup, is SKT still salvageable this year?"

"..."

After reading through the various comments from SKT fans, Xu Junyan also took the opportunity to look at the comments from SKT's anti-fans and Faker's haters.

Faker being benched and SKT's heavy defeat against KDM undoubtedly brought joy to this group of SKT anti-fans and Faker haters.

They were shouting excitedly, making sarcastic remarks on Instagram, spewing incredibly nasty insults, cursing that SKT was doomed this year. Faker? What was Faker anyway, just a product of deification with nothing but a pretty facade, anyone could do what he does.

The three-time champions were products of deification, Xu Junyan shook his head slightly, finding it somewhat amusing.

The trolls in the LCK were no pushovers either. In fact, it could be said that the anti-fans and trolls in the LCK were even more vicious!

It was no wonder that kkOma hesitated for so long when he proposed to play directly. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but the risk was truly immense!

Ding-dong!

Kakaotalk suddenly notified Xu Junyan of a message from kkOma.

Xu Junyan tapped it open, and kkOma's message read: "Junyan, it's all settled. The club will officially announce your joining tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, we'll face KSV together. Good luck!"

The message was brief, but even through the screen, Xu Junyan could sense the heavy tone and deep concern in kkOma's words.

Xu Junyan smiled slightly and replied with an "ok." He put down his phone, ready to sleep, but on a whim, he remembered Weibo.

He hadn't logged into Weibo for over a day. He wondered how the "white lotus" RNG and their helplessly enraged Royal Hooligans were handling being thoroughly toyed with and humiliated by him.

Xu Junyan was a bit curious, so he logged into Weibo. He didn't know what he was getting into until he saw it. After reading, he almost laughed in anger again.