League of Legends: League of Unknowns

In mainland China, thousands of miles away from the Korea peninsula, Luocheng was deeply troubled.

 This was obviously a trap set up by the Koreans, should he still jump right into it and continue the third game while streaming live?

 He had promised the viewers three matches. If he did not finish the third match and ended the live stream (that had racked up 200,000 live views at the moment) prematurely with one game apiece, he would surely be lambasted by the unforgiving local LOL society.

 Backing out was not an option. The problem was, he knew that the probability to win the next game was extremely slim. He risked losing his reputation if he and Shallow Dream were to be thrashed in the third game.

 ‘These bastards from Korea are truly despicable.’

 Luocheng knew that he had to keep calm amidst the challenging situation, and so, he excused himself by telling the audience that he needed a short break to make some adjustments.

 “Luocheng, you cannot play the third game. Your team only had one renegade in the second match and look how bad it went. What if you were queued along with two in the upcoming game? Besides, I heard that those who joined this manhunt included first-tier players from Korea. It would be an enormous uphill battle if you were lined up against them. The Koreans can’t wait to see you fumble. Sigh. Just explain to the audience and apologize properly. There would be complaints but it’s better than jumping into this sh*thole. Tell them you will compensate by organizing another live stream later on. You must not fight the third game no matter what!” Xie Lianda advised Luocheng solemnly through the phone.

 “I would look bad either way. If I refuse to play the third game, God knows how terrible the Koreans’ mouth would become,” Luocheng replied.

 “Sh*t! Who is the whistleblower? I will punch the hell out of him!” Da Luo raged angrily.

 Judging by Lianda’s intel, it appeared that the Korean players were determined to embarrass China’s E-sports this time.

 This kind of video meant nothing if Luocheng was just an ordinary player, but unfortunately, Luocheng had just guided Team Skycrown to win the LPL, meaning he represented the best players in this country. If he were to lose two out of three games while playing on the Korean server, the boastful Koreans would definitely seize this opportunity to dwarf China’s reputation in the international LOL forum.

 Luocheng was puzzled and disgusted at the same time. He never thought that the Koreans would target him while he was contributing to the gamer society by organizing live stream matches. Luocheng didn’t mind if they challenged him fair and square, but he was pissed by how they had preposterously manipulated the game!

 “Then, what should we do? There are 200,000 viewers online waiting for the third match. I believe someone is broadcasting his match in Korea too,” Da Luo urged.

 Luocheng was in a dilemma.

 “Are we still playing?” Shallow Dream messaged him and asked.

 “I’m still thinking. The opponents have more than fifty professional players in line waiting to beat us up, apparently,” Luocheng replied.

 Shallow Dream gave no response.

 Luocheng was still contemplating. Soon, some of the viewers grew impatient and questioned the delay.

 For some unknown reason, even after all these years, keyboard warriors still persisted in the internet world.

 When one person started the mockery, others would soon follow and aggravate the quarrel. It then escalated to bringing out grudges over each other due to regional differences.

 Those who commented irresponsibly on the internet showed nothing but his/her own immaturity. Similarly, those who responded in kind were equally childish and should not be taking the internet too seriously.

 “I can never understand these users. What’s the point of chastising other’s birthplaces? Why are these people criticizing Henan people?” Da Luo read through the rapidly refreshed comments and lamented. Henan citizens had nothing to do with the live stream, leave them alone!

 

“Typical. Some people just want to watch the world burn,” Lin Dong explained.

 Luocheng was having a headache. ‘What should I do now? It’s getting more hostile the longer I drag on.’

 The professional players were also having a heated exchange in the QQ chat group.

 “The Koreans are clearly coming after Luocheng. Who is the one behind this? This person has managed to amass 50 professional players to back him up,” Wind said.

 “Who knows?” Hao Yue replied.

 “In my opinion, this affects not only Luocheng, but the entire Chinese E-sports circle. We should not sit here and do nothing!” Xiao Wang commented.

 Everyone had been paying close attention to the development but they couldn’t do much since this had happened on other people’s turf…

 “By the way, who has played on the Korean server before? How do the Diamond 1 players over there fare?” Xie Lianda asked in the group.

 “Nope.”

 “Never played there. No time to spare.”

 “I have several accounts. I sometimes play with my friends over there,” Ye Kuang from Team Dusk voiced out.

 ***

 The regulars of the Demacia Cafe knew what had happened and had not stopped cursing the filthy Koreans.

 Nonetheless, unlike those present in the cafe, the internet viewers had no idea what was happening. Judging by how some lowly users had brought up the birthplace issue, soon, someone might even come forth and ridicule Luocheng for being a coward.

 “Wait a minute… If the Koreans have 50 players on standby, why can’t we gather people and do the same?” Lianda suggested.

 “What do you mean? Speak up, quick,” Luocheng urged.

 “I think at least a dozen people we know should have a Korean account, they should be able to borrow one quickly even if they don’t. We should ask them to log in right now and queue for a game at about the same time as you. This way, the probability of you getting a traitor would be lessened and our people might even get into the opposite team as well!” Lianda explained.

 Everyone was impressed by Lianda’s suggestion!

 ‘That’s right! Why can’t we do the same? If they ambush us, all we have to do is counter-ambush them. This is a classic LOL strategy. We should have thought about this earlier!’

 “The problem is, can we get enough help in time?” Lin Dong questioned.

 Lin Dong was wary about the unity of the professional LOL players in China. He wondered whether they could assemble as many players as the more united Koreans could within such short notice.

 “We won’t know unless we try. Anyway, I have asked my teammates to start looking,” Lianda said.

 “Ten more minutes. Regardless of how many players we can get, we will start the game in ten minutes,” Luocheng grit his teeth and decided to carry on.

 “Alright!”

 Xie Lianda, Lin Dong, and Da Luo immediately got to work. They sent the SOS message to their closest acquaintances discreetly. Team Daemons was the first team Lin Dong attempted to seek out, however, the reply he got was that most members of Team Daemons were on vacation now.

 

Team Daemons were not in a good mood after missing out on this year’s international competition, and only Anubis and Mephistopheles were left in the training base at this moment. They had been playing a Challenger rank game but decisively left the game as soon as they heard the news. Five minutes later, they had gotten a Korean server account from their friends and logged in immediately.

 Lianda had great connections within the gaming circle and managed to gather six people.

 The Demacia Cafe had two computers that had been connected to the Korean server before, and Da Luo and Lin Dong were ready to fill in as well.

 A lot of attendees inside the Demacia Cafe were also making calls, reaching out to their friends with a high rank in the Korean server, hoping to provide as much help as possible to their idol, Captain Yu. Anyhow, this was a matter of their homeland’s dignity, they had do something to revolt against the shabby Koreans!

 7 minutes later, they were only able to find 14 players.

 14 against 50 was still a heavily unfavorable ratio.

 This was when, as a last-ditch effort, Wu Sen pleaded for everyone to check on the LPL chat group as they waited anxiously.

 “Luocheng, just go ahead and queue. We’re here to back you up,” Hao Yue from Team Revelation said.

 “I have five friends with me as well, let’s teach the Koreans a lesson!” Wind spoke up too.

 Wind knew a lot of players and he had multiple connections in the first and second-tier circles.

 “We trained on the Korean server before so everyone in our team has an account there. We’re at your disposal, Luocheng!” Ye Kuang from Team Dusk said.

 

“What a joke. Have they not played in our Ionia server before? Our actors are ten times slicker than theirs. If the Koreans were to play here, we can have 9 out of 10 players turned against them. They wouldn’t even know which side they’re on!” Xiao Wang from Team 71 snorted.

 “Lol! That’s right! Luocheng, we are ready as well. Just go ahead and queue. Their balls sure have grown after we didn’t show up for a while!” Earth from Team Stardust chimed in.

 Luocheng was not active in the LOL chat group because he was unsure of the relationship between the teams there.

 Unexpectedly, they had offered their help without being asked and had managed to assemble about twenty more high-rank players within a short period of time.

 This meant that they now had 40 people on their side, and this number almost equaled the Koreans!

 Luocheng was touched by the unexpected aid. Although the Koreans had used a wicked approach to get revenge on him for the video that was dated one year back, he admitted that they were indeed a united group, seeing as 50 Korean professional players were willing to spend the whole night waiting for him.

 However, how could the China E-sports circle stay quiet when their comrade was being bullied? Obviously they could no longer sit tight after finding out the truth!

 “Let us have bloodshed!”

 “Cut the bullsh*t and fountain farm them!”

 “Don’t forget about our Captain Yu’s expertise, writing with wards!”

 “Hey, stop with the sarcasm. We have to stay united.”

 They would never forget how Luocheng had blatantly humiliated Team Sky by imprinting those words in front of their base using wards when he had first come back to professional E-sports. He had escaped punishment from ACE since the organization was unable to penalize him as he was under the direct surveillance of the International E-Sports Federation. ‘That’s what we call omnipotent!’

 

Luocheng had a wide smile when he saw the LPL players who were more eager than him.

 ‘Korean dogs. You are not the only one with reinforcements. I have a band of brothers behind my back as well! Now tell me, do you prefer death, or demise?’