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

Xiao Yan looked at his phone screen, his finger lightly tracing the edge, a playful smile curving his lips.

When replying to a girl, the worst thing you can do is ask probing questions or be overly obsequious. You need to be like flying a kite, sometimes pulling tight, sometimes letting loose.

[Xiao Yan: Sang-hyeok just gave me a very serious warning, saying that the muscular expression meant if I acted arrogantly again, he'd call security to drag me out of the stadium. I was so scared I almost didn't dare reply, but seeing the goodnight message at the end, I bet that smiley face is a "get-out-of-jail-free card."]

send.

Almost the next second, my phone vibrated.

[Eun-jung: What?! Sang-hyeok hyung really said that?! Hahaha, he's so mean! That expression clearly meant he was praising your move! You won your bet, that's a get-out-of-jail-free card^^]

back in seconds.

Xiao Yan's smile deepened. There are only two possibilities for an instant reply: either he happened to be holding his phone, or... he was waiting.

He didn't reply immediately. Instead, he picked up his water glass, took a sip, and waited about two minutes before slowly typing:

[Xiao Yan: Oh, it's a reward. Looks like my performance today wasn't perfect enough, only earning me a meme. Next time if I get a pentakill, could Host Zhao upgrade the reward? Like... buy me that legendary special coffee that only winners get?]

[Eunjung: That depends on your performance~ If you keep winning, there'll be plenty of coffee! But, you were so domineering on stage today, but you're surprisingly... glib-tongued in private. 罒ω罒]

Xiao Yan: Being domineering is for your opponents; being glib... that's a privilege for your friends. After all, you can't exactly yell "I'm going to beat you up" at a beautiful host, can you?

[Eun-jung: Pfft... You're really interesting. Much more interesting than those blockheads who just say "I'll try my best." By the way, aren't you asleep yet? Don't you have training tomorrow?]

Seeing the words "I will try my best", Xiao Yan couldn't hold back. Was this referring to Sang-hyeok? Of course it was. Wasn't he afraid that he would show this message to Faker?

Xiao Yan wouldn't actually show this message to Faker, since Faker didn't actually end up with Eun-jung in the future.

The two are simply a professional player and a beautiful female host in a working relationship.

Xiao Yan continued to bring up new topics, and Eun-jung followed suit, changing the subject as well.

The two chatted about the competition, then about late-night snacks in Seoul, and finally about their favorite music. Xiao Yan, with his experience from two lifetimes and his sense of humor, maintained control of the conversation throughout.

He didn't show any youthful impetuosity; his words revealed the confidence and humor of a mature man, occasionally interspersed with a few words of praise for Eun-jung's professional competence, which made Eun-jung extremely pleased.

They chatted for about twenty minutes, the atmosphere was just right, and Eun-jung seemed interested in continuing the conversation.

But Xiao Yan glanced at the time and decisively chose to close the net.

Xiao Yan: I really want to continue discussing with you which restaurant's stir-fried rice cakes are the best, but to avoid getting yelled at by Coach Kkoma during tomorrow's practice match, I have to go to sleep. After all, only by maintaining peak performance can I have a chance to drink that "special blend coffee," right?

This demonstrated professionalism, reinforced the previous invitation, and left the audience in suspense.

[Eun-jung: Ah...that's true, rest is very important for professional players. Go to sleep now! Goodnight, future champion AD.]

Xiao Yan: Goodnight, goddess of victory.

Xiao Yan locked his phone and tossed it next to his pillow.

This was a perfect tug-of-war.

……

The next day, in the SKT training room.

The atmosphere was more relaxed than usual. The scrimmages were just to maintain our form, unlike the playoffs where even the slightest mistake could be seized upon by the opponent and affect the entire course of the game.

"We've arranged our scrimmagine match today." Coach Koma walked into the room with his notebook, his gaze sweeping over everyone before finally settling on Xiao Yan. "It's the LPL's WE team."

Upon hearing the letters "WE," Xiao Yan, who was adjusting the mouse DPI, suddenly stopped.

His previously relaxed expression vanished, and he leaned back in his chair, his eyes revealing a mixture of sharpness,感慨 (gǎnkǎi, deep emotion), and amusement.

"WE..." Xiao Yan murmured softly.

Memories flooded back like a tide.

Before joining SKT, his last stop was WE, where he went for a tryout full of hope...

The portly manager sat on the leather sofa, looking at him with the eyes of someone looking at a beggar, and threw the ten-year basic salary contract in front of him like trash.

That condescending, almost condescending tone, and that ten-year contract that was practically a servitude agreement, remain vivid in Xiao Yan's memory to this day.

"Xiao Yan?" Kouma noticed that Xiao Yan's expression was a little off. "What's wrong? Is there a problem? If you want to practice with a hero, you can try this round..."

"No, Coach."

Xiao Yan shook his head. If it were any other team, he would really like to practice his heroes properly, but he didn't want to practice any heroes against WE.

It's not because WE is very strong. Even if he practices new heroes, with his current stats and good opponents like Faker, he is confident that he can dominate the lane. He doesn't even need to dominate the lane; he can crush them through macro play. But he doesn't want to win that way. He wants to crush them and completely destroy them from start to finish!

"I don't practice heroes. In these few scrims, I want to play the heroes I'm most confident in."

"I want to... properly 'thank' WE."

He really has to thank WE, because without them, how could he activate the defense-breaking system? After all, it would be very difficult for him to break through the defense without his knowledge.

Kouma was taken aback for a moment. Although he didn't understand why, he nodded when he saw the burning fighting spirit in Xiao Yan's eyes: "Alright, do as you please."

Xiao Yan is now the second best player on the team after Faker, so he won't have any unpleasantness with him over a practice match.

……

The business proposal (BP) phase begins.

WE is clearly eager to test their skills against the legendary SKT in scrims. Their bot lane duo, Mystic and Ben, is one of the top bot lane duos in the LPL, known for their aggressive laning.

WE is on the blue side, SKT is on the red side.

Mystic immediately locked in his signature Ezreal, paired with Ben's Karma, focusing on lane dominance.

It was Xiao Yan's turn.

He looked at the screen, the mouse hovering over several heroes, finally settling on a figure wearing sunglasses and carrying a giant crossbow.

"Let us hunt down those who have fallen into darkness."

Vayne, the Night Hunter.

The moment the lock was made, Wolf whistled: "Wow, a confident pick. It's Mystic on the other side, notoriously aggressive in lane."

Xiao Yan adjusted his posture, a barely perceptible sneer playing on his lips: "Fierce? I'm afraid he won't be fierce enough."

If they weren't fierce, how would they take the bait?

Games start.

Upon logging in, Xiao Yan did not display that suffocating pressure. On the contrary, his movements seemed somewhat "stiff".

While last-hitting the enemy, he seemed to have "accidentally" taken an extra step forward, taking a hit from Mystic's Q skill. His health dropped by one bar.

"That positioning?" In the WE training room, Mystic raised an eyebrow and said to support Ben in Korean, "Is Xiao Yan still half asleep? He took such an obvious Q!"

Ben was also a little doubtful: "Maybe they haven't warmed up yet. Be careful, it might be a trap."

"A trap? At this distance, eating Q is child's play." Mystic snorted, his previously tense nerves relaxing considerably.

Three minutes later.

Xiao Yan's Vayne made an extremely basic mistake when finishing off a siege minion—he attacked too early, causing the siege minion to be killed by his own minions with only a sliver of health left.

The blade missed!

Moreover, in order to finish off the enemy, he positioned himself too far forward again.

"Chance!"

A glint flashed in Mystic's eyes; his keen intuition as a top-tier AD carry allowed him to make a judgment instantly.

E skill jumps directly to the face, QW combo is instantly unleashed, and basic attacks are seamlessly connected!

This burst of damage was extremely high, and Xiao Yan's health was instantly reduced to less than 150 points!

"Die!" Mystic frantically pressed the keyboard. If he could just follow up with another auto-attack, or wait for his next Q to be ready, Vayne would be dead for sure!

However, the moment Mystic raised his hand, Xiao Yan moved.

Q skill.

Instead of running backward, it moved to the side and forward—at an extremely strange angle, just managing to get stuck at the edge of the bushes and lose sight of them!

Mystic's basic attack was forced to be canceled, and he was stunned for 0.1 seconds.

In that mere 0.1 seconds, Xiao Yan placed a ward and unleashed his E skill.

"Snapped!"

With a crisp sound, EZ, who was originally full of confidence in his pursuit, was pinned to the river wall!

dizziness!

Xiao Yan didn't rush to deal damage; instead, he first consumed a health potion before starting to kite.

Once, twice, three times.

A light tap of the silver crossbow unleashed devastating true damage.

Mystic woke up from his dizziness, saw his health plummeting, and hurriedly used Flash to try and create distance.

"Trying to run away?"

Xiao Yan used Flash almost simultaneously, followed up with a basic attack, triggered his passive speed boost, and chased after EZ, spamming attacks.

Mystic stared at his grayed-out screen and Vayne, who had only 28 health points left, and slammed his fist on the table in anger.

"Damn it! Just one more hit! Just one more auto-attack and he'd be dead!" Mystic scratched his head in frustration. "That kid's luck is just too good! He went into the bush to hide in the enemy's vision, and luckily I hadn't placed a ward yet!"

WE's support player, Ben, comforted him, saying, "It's okay, he didn't use Flash, and he's low on health too, so he has to go back to base. He's lost a minion wave."

Mystic gritted his teeth: "Next wave, next wave I will definitely kill him."

However, this was only the beginning of the nightmare.

Six minutes.

Xiao Yan logged on again. This time, he seemed to be more "cautious," but there was a hint of "flaw" in his caution.

He always stayed at the edge of Mystic's skill range. Whenever Mystic thought he could hit him, he would wiggle his butt to dodge. And when Mystic thought he couldn't hit him and wanted to last hit, he would suddenly roll in, attack once, and run away.

This feeling of being neither close nor distant made Mystic feel nauseous.

Finally, Mystic caught Xiao Yan in a "positioning mistake" and unleashed his ultimate move in anticipation!

A golden energy wave swept past.

Xiao Yan's Vayne seemed to be stunned, standing still in place.

Just as the ultimate attack was about to hit his face, he pressed the S key.

The energy wave grazed past Vayne's clothes.

Unharmed.

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Yan displayed an emoji – Timo's thumbs-up.

"Damn it!!!" Mystic's blood pressure spiked instantly. "Is he mocking me? He's definitely mocking me!"

Once your mindset changes, your actions will become distorted.

Mystic started to get impatient. He desperately wanted to prove himself and kill this "lucky" player who could turn the tables on him even when he was down to his last sliver of health.

Ten minutes later, a 2v2 broke out in the bottom lane.

Mystic executed his maneuvers flawlessly, landing every skill he landed, and it looked like he was about to take down Xiao Yan.

Ten minutes later, a 2v2 broke out in the bottom lane.

Mystic executed his maneuvers flawlessly, landing every skill he landed, and it looked like he was about to take down Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan activates his ultimate skill, using his Q skill to become invisible.

Mystic predicted the position and blindly used Q, but missed.

Xiao Yan appeared, fired an arrow, and once again used the bushes to block the enemy's vision.

Mystic placed a ward, but Xiao Yan had already used his passive high movement speed to get around to his flank.

Another E skill to pin someone to the wall.

Another comeback victory with a sliver of health remaining.

This time, Xiao Yan had 12 points of health left.

Watching Vayne dance back to town on her own corpse, Mystic's face turned a deep purplish-red, and his breathing became rapid.

"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible..." Mystic muttered to himself, "How can he always be just a tiny bit off? Is he invincible?"

Inside the SKT training room.

Faker switched screens to check the bottom lane, adjusted his glasses, and smiled slightly: "Xiao Yan, you're having fun."

Wolf was dumbfounded: "Wow, your health control... are you a demon? The enemy's brother-in-law is probably furious."

As Xiao Yan purchased the Ruined King's Blade, he said casually, "I just wanted to test my control over damage output."

Xiao Yan knew this was a lie; his Vayne skills were 100, and he didn't need to practice at all.

The ensuing match turned into a one-man show for Xiao Yan, or rather, an "execution scene" for Mystic.

In team battles, Xiao Yan didn't attack anyone else; he just focused on killing Mystic.

Even if Mystic hides behind his teammates, Xiao Yan will use his Q skill to become invisible, like a ghost, and sneak into the backline, whittle down Mystic's health with three arrows, and then...

He didn't kill.

He deliberately stopped attacking, flashed his weapon, watched as the low-health Mystic used Flash and Heal to escape, then leisurely chased after him and finished him off with a final auto-attack.

This "cat and mouse" game was played out three times.

The atmosphere in WE's training room was terribly oppressive.

"Bang!"

Mystic stared at the black and white screen again, finally unable to hold back any longer, and slammed the mouse hard onto the table.

"How do you play this?! How do you play this?!"

He completely lost his composure.

The feeling of being so sure you can win, so close to victory, yet being constantly outmaneuvered by the opponent, is even more despairing than being completely crushed.

He felt like a clown, dancing in Xiao Yan's palm.

"Is this person using a script? Huh? Is this kind of distance control even possible for a human?" Mystic's eyes were red, and his voice was trembling.

Just as Mystic was about to have a mental breakdown, a crisp electronic notification sound rang in Xiao Yan's mind, who was far away in Seoul.

【Ding! 】

[Detected a significant emotional fluctuation in the enemy's key player, Mystic; defense successfully breached!]

[Congratulations, host, you have obtained...]