LPL didn't want me? I joined SKT instead!

"Command?"

The moment those three words were uttered, the conference room fell into a deathly silence. You could almost hear the air itself moving.

Wolf's pen clattered onto the table. He stared wide-eyed at Xiao Yan as if he were an alien. Huni and Peanut exchanged bewildered glances, too afraid to even breathe.

In SKT, or rather in the entire LCK, Faker is not only the mid-laner, but also the absolute spiritual leader and tactical core. To question Faker's leadership is, in some ways, more unbelievable than questioning his mechanics. This is not merely a tactical challenge, but a severe blow to the team's hierarchical system.

"Xiao Yan, do you know what you're saying?"

Coach Koma's face darkened, his tone becoming stern. "You have skill and talent, we acknowledge that. But command and skill are two different things. Command requires a strong overall perspective, understanding of minion waves, prediction of the enemy jungler's movements, and precise control of team fight timing. Sang-hyeok has thousands of professional game experiences, while you are just getting started."

"I know." Xiao Yan did not back down because of Koma's severity. He still looked directly at Faker with an open and honest gaze. "Sanghyeok's command is textbook-level, precise, rational, and almost without mistakes. But that's precisely the problem."

Xiao Yan paused, then continued, "SSG understands this kind of 'textbook' strategy all too well. Sect Leader An is best at using calculations to dismantle rational operations. If we continue to fight according to conventional logic, with every step within their calculations, we will only be dragged into the quagmire and suffocated to death."

"To beat SSG, we need 'variables.' We need decisions that are completely illogical, even contrary to common sense. Sang-hyeok can't make those kinds of decisions because he's too rational. But I can."

Kouma frowned. He had to admit that Xiao Yan's words made some sense, but handing over command to a newcomer was too risky.

"This is too risky, I can't..."

"Coach, if you're not comfortable with that, we can give it a try." Xiao Yan interrupted Koma and made a bold suggestion, "Call up the second team's youth trainees, and Xiang He and I will each bring four. Both sides will have the same lineup, and we'll play a practice match."

"If I lose, or if my command is a mess, then I take back what I just said, and from now on I'll obediently follow orders without question. But if I win..." A sharp glint flashed in Xiao Yan's eyes, "The command of the playoffs will be mine."

Koma was stunned. This was utterly absurd! Sending Faker to lead the youth academy in an internal competition? If word got out…

Just as he was about to refuse, Faker, who had been silent all along, suddenly moved.

Lee Sang-hyeok pushed up his round-framed glasses, and his usually calm eyes revealed a rare hint of interest. He looked at Xiao Yan as if he were looking at a mathematical problem he had never encountered before.

"I think it's okay."

Faker's voice wasn't loud, but it instantly ended all the controversy.

He turned to Kouma and said calmly, "Coach, I also want to see what kind of 'variable' he's talking about. Besides, if he can't even beat me, he really doesn't deserve to be in charge."

Koma looked at Faker's determined eyes and sighed helplessly. He knew that once Faker made up his mind, nothing could change it.

"Alright." Koma rubbed his temples and conceded, "Since Sang-hyeok has agreed, let's go to the training room. I'll go call those guys from the second team up."

……

Ten minutes later, in the SKT training room.

The trainees, who were originally playing their daily ranked games, were urgently summoned, their faces filled with excitement and nervousness. To be able to compete against Faker and the recently rising star Xiao Yan, even in a practice match, was a tremendous honor for them.

Koma divided the eight trainees into two groups as evenly as possible based on their current Rank and position.

To ensure fairness, both sides agreed to use the exact same mirror lineup.

Top lane Maokai, jungle Jarvan IV, mid lane Galio, AD Kog'Maw, support Lulu.

This is a standard four-protect-one system, and it's also the lineup that tests the commander's skills, operational abilities, and team fight coordination the most.

"Ready?" Koma stood between two rows of computers, holding a stopwatch. "Let the match begin."

As the game screen lit up, the atmosphere in the training room instantly became tense.

Once the game finished loading, the only sounds in the training room were the rapid clicking of keyboards and mice, and the distinctly different voices on both sides.

Faker's voice was concise and efficient.

"Push the mid lane, I'm going top."

"Let's check the jungle."

"Prepare for the baby dragon."

This is typical SKT-style command, relying on Faker's strong individual ability to influence the entire situation, and snowballing the advantage through continuous small-scale team fights.

However, Xiao Yan's situation was completely different.

His mouth was almost constantly moving, speaking at an extremely fast pace, but with terrifying clarity, as if a sophisticated supercomputer was broadcasting instructions in real time.

"Jungler, don't gank top lane. Maokai has Flash, so you can't kill him. Go straight into his enemy red buff area, clear the R6 camp, then place a ward in the red buff bush and keep track of the time. He has 15 seconds left to clear the jungle camps."

"Support, don't camp in this bush, move back two spaces. The enemy Galio has disappeared, he's most likely in the river, and your current position will get you taunted and flashed in."

"Top laner, let the wave go. Don't last hit that siege minion, let him push it over. We need to control the minion wave in front of the tower, forcing the Prince to come and clear the wave, so that our bot lane can move."

At first, the four trainees were a bit flustered, but under Xiao Yan's unquestionable orders, they gradually became like puppets on strings. They didn't need to think, they only needed to execute.

The match has been going on for 10 minutes.

Faker, relying on his individual skill, out-farmed the opposing academy mid laner by nearly 20 CS and, with the help of his jungler, secured the first dragon. Faker's team appeared to be on a roll.

But from God's perspective, Kouma's brow furrowed more and more.

He discovered something terrifying.

Although Faker's team secured kills and the dragon, Xiao Yan's team's economy... was actually in the lead!

"How is this possible?" Koma stared at the economic panel in the upper right corner of the screen, his mind reeling.

Upon closer observation, he discovered that Xiao Yan's operations were abnormally "stable".

When Faker roams, Xiao Yan directs his teammates to aggressively raid jungle resources and push tower plating. For every kill Faker gets, Xiao Yan will inevitably trade a tower or Rift Herald for one on the other side of the map.

This is a concept that transcends the current version of "resource swapping".

Xiao Yan never engaged in direct team fights with Faker. Like a slippery viper, he avoided Faker's attacks and relentlessly devoured all visible resources on the map. His understanding of minion waves was also ridiculously high. Every time Faker returned to support, he would find that his minion wave had just been eaten by the turret, leaving him extremely frustrated.

PS: It should have been released around midnight. I update at 00:01 every day. If nothing else happens, the update time will remain the same. Please continue to support me. The upcoming playoffs will not be written in a glossed manner like the regular season. It will be more detailed and may be longer. I hope you won't think I'm just padding it out.