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Chapter 4
August 18, 2018
“Kang Ming, you used to complain about how much you hated Genji, but look at you now.” The barrage comment that was spoken aloud carried an underlying tone of bitterness.
In the past, Kang Ming found Genji to be the most aggravating hero in Overwatch.
Whenever Genji harassed a target in close range, they would die no matter what. Even Kang Ming’s impressive McCree couldn’t prevent getting eliminated by the cyborg ninja.
At the moment, the summertime limited event was displayed on the home screen. Without any hesitation, Kang Ming purchased 200 lootboxes in order to obtain Genji’s “Nihon” skin. The epic skin replaced Genji’s original gray cybersuit with a snowy white exterior. The edge of his blade and the eye section of his mask glistened blood red. According to the barrage, his viewers also adored his new skin.
“Kang Ming is precious, yet hopeless.” His viewers sighed at his fixation on Genji.
Kang Ming read over the comments but refused to reply. It wasn’t his fault that he was a talented streamer who played for indulgent female fans.
90% of his 300,000 diehard fans were female. It made Kang Ming so optimistic that he ignored the remaining group of men.
After all, even if there was a large JJ, he would still prefer the women.
Due to Kang Ming’s Overwatch commentary, his image as a livestreamer spread throughout the country. In an environment where eSports weren’t valued, Kang Ming emerged out of nowhere and swept the internet. His former 300,000 subscribers were just a base number; in reality, his viewer count on an ordinary livestream often exceeded 500,000 spectators.
However, in Kang Ming’s eyes, since he wasn’t able to reach one million viewers yet, this recent exposure wasn’t a big deal to him.
“Moderators, silence the fake fans.” If you don’t pay attention, the rhythm of the barrage can go astray at any point.
Some viewers cheered and some typed snarky comments like, “why do you enjoy being killed?” while Kang Ming queued up for competitive mode.
He had reached Masters last week and then started playing a bunch of competitive games. It seemed like he always encountered teammates who focused on doing damage instead of keeping up their shield. Reinhardt, a tank hero, could never kill the Widowmaker in the entire game. Even if he switched off to McCree and got six picks, he couldn’t save his trash teammates. He finally ended up with a baffling record of 19 consecutive losses.
Thus, he was once again demoted to Diamond.
Losing and winning in Diamond was a learning experience. He must abandon his Top 500 McCree to advance his Genji through the ranks.
Once his Genji climbed the ranks, then he would no longer be bad.
Traveling to Hanamura.
His computer promptly loaded into the new map with his team starting off on the defensive side. Before any of his teammates selected their heroes, Kang Ming chose Genji. Afterwards, he no longer cared about the team comp.
Players who had a desire to win tended to fill. Those who didn’t care chose whichever hero they wanted.
“Hanzo…” A teammate sighed in the voice channel.
Kang Ming, who was in the process of lifting a glass of water to his lips, suddenly paused and reached his hand out to navigate the screen.
Their team indeed had a Hanzo, but more importantly, his ID gave off a sense of familiarity.
He recognized him as the enemy from earlier that had killed him innumerable of times.
Considering he was in Masters, Yun Yun had not expected to be matched up with Kang Ming again. If it weren’t for the fact that there were hardly any other Master players, he would never had to encounter Diamond players in his matches.
In the previous game, both teams had a mix of Diamond and Master players; therefore, the match was balanced.
But this time, Kang Ming was the only Diamond ranked player in the game. The shimmering white icon below his character’s profile stood out against his team.
3499. He only needed one more point to be able to return to Masters. Winning this game was essential.
Yun Yun had to admit that Kang Ming undoubtedly played an expert McCree, however, his comprehension of playing Genji lacked.
“Hanzo didn’t switch off?” The teammate chided in a curt manner, “Playing Hanzo will drag the entire team down.”
Yun Yun thought to himself, ‘here we go again,’ and drawled lazily into the mic, “Dear, I just don’t want you to die.”
The current events kept Kang Ming’s audience completely entertained and the atmosphere in the barrage was lighthearted.
“This is a good gay, ah.”
“Not only is this Hanzo clever, but his voice is also very pleasant to hear.”
“This teammate’s words are too much.”
As his viewers commented on the barrage, Kang Ming glanced up at it frequently.
He also believed that the teammate had gone too far.
In usual circumstances, even if it was said in a joking manner, it would be taken as malicious slander.
The man snorted and attempted to justify his opinion, “I have come across multiple Hanzos, and whichever team had Hanzo lost.”
How could he play this hero in a competitve game where every second is critical? It would certainly lead to a lost situation.
Kang Ming listened as the unique voice countered, “Of course, that’s because you’ve never met me. If you have me on your team, you will win. Believe me just this once?”
The Hanzo player who was boasting shamelessly had a voice so charming that it covered up his deception.
Kang Ming was prepared to type something out in the Hanzo’s defense, but right when he was about to press Enter, he caught onto Hanzo’s lies and changed his mind. He knew the truth as the winner from the last game and was considering exposing his dishonesty.
“You’re that confident in your Hanzo?” His teammates inquired skeptically.
“Yes. After all, this was once my home.” The player ShadowBlade hinted with amusement.
“This was once my home. No longer.” That quote was one of Hanzo’s hidden voice lines in Hanamura.
As the Shimada Clan’s successor, Hanzo was forced to kill his playboy younger brother, Genji, when he refused to conform with their family of assassins. Hanzo, who was ridden with guilt, denounced his family and departed. Hanamura became the aftermatch of the Shimada Clan’s gradual decline.
The heartbreaking narrative of the Shimada brothers’ confrontation was developed into an animated short named “Dragons” by Blizzard, as a form of lore. Countless boys and girls were touched by their bitter history, thus Genji and Hanzo’s popularity skyrocketed.
Fanart created from the animation short was constantly posted in Yun Yun’s groupchat of 40 other people. Every other day or so, he would catch a glimpse of fresh drawings.
Each time he opened up the groupchat, he was swamped with messages relating to the Shimada brothers. He could only choose to brush it off silently and pretend he wasn’t poisoned.
Yun Yun currently made Hanzo climb up the huge doorway in front of the point and stand on the highest level to carefully observe the other direction.
Hanamura truly proved to be Hanzo’s home. Every corner of the building had a ledge that was suitable for Hanzo’s climbing ability. It had an open view and was easy to defend. They could win as long as they guarded the chokehold.
With a soft thump, Genji also positioned himself next to a small window.
This also used to be Genji’s home.
“Hello!” Yun Yun greeted Kang Ming with the system’s default voice line. He witnessed Genji turn his head to glance at him, then turn back around as if nothing happened.
“Oh, Kang Ming ignored me.” Yun Yun mused helplessly to his audience. He wasn’t able to live up to his viewers’ expectation that he and the really big streamer, Kang Ming, would have a good relationship.
The spectators who stayed in the livestream for a long time suddenly felt resentment towards Yun Yun for his lack of progress. Yun Yun pressed the button for “Hello!” once again, yet the Genji continued to act indifferent. It was most likely due to his immodest behavior that caused Kang Ming to dislike him.
The barrage sympathized with Yun Yun, but he pretended to remain undisturbed. He assured, “Don’t worry, I will kill the enemies and cover for Kang Ming so that he will feel the love that comes from the depths of my soul.”
Instead of realizing Hanzo’s affection, Kang Ming felt that the enemy Genji was obsessed to death with him, literally. Even if his Genji retreated back to the defensive side, the enemy rival climbed up to the window and exposed himself to gunfire just to pursue him.
The aspect that Kang Ming hated the most about Genji was if his teammates weren’t attacking with him, he wouldn’t be able to get eliminations as efficiently and wouldn’t be able to charge up his ultimate. He could only press E to deflect the enemy’s attacks, then turn around and use swift strike to escape.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean he could always escape from their clutches.
Soon enough, Kang Ming noticed that his hp was so low that a single bullet could take his life. Just before he had given up, the enemy Genji was killed on the spot by Hanzo’s scatter arrow.
“Good job, Hanzo.” Yun Yun’s recent kill was showcased in the kill feed at the top right corner; it was the first blood in that game.
“It’s because I want to protect my younger brother.” Yun Yun clarified.
Hmph, how insincere.
No matter how much his audience praised the Hanzo player, Kang Ming didn’t believe that he was anything special. He was just doing what a Master ranked DPS player should be doing. Exactly what was praiseworthy?
In his opinion, whatever Hanzo could do, McCree could do better.
He couldn’t understand why players would choose Hanzo over McCree, just like how he couldn’t understand why Genji, the hero who was nothing without his ultimate, was the main DPS hero in this team.
Genji didn’t use guns and wasn’t as strong as the other heroes, so it was hard for him to sweep.
In addition, he predicted that Hanzo would never be capable of a team kill in this lifetime.
Unless the opponents were noobs.
Kang Ming scoffed at the enemy Reaper who was trying to sneak around and flank.
“Six, six, six, six! One more!” A burst of cheers emerged from the team channel.
As the chanting persisted, Kang Ming solo eliminated Reaper. The system’s female voice announced, “Team kill.”
He walked out of the temple’s narrow attic and spotted corpses littered on the floor. The kill feed displayed the recent deaths and confirmed the player responsible was Hanzo.
Meanwhile, his teammates were waiting to respawn.
ShadowBlade eliminated everyone. Even if they weren’t solo eliminations, he still got five kills.
As if it were planned, the opponents played like noobs.
The first round ended.
The tragedy of not even capturing the first point was a rarity in Master games, therefore, when their team switched to the attacking side, there was no pressure at all.
As long as they captured the first point, they would win.
At this point, only one ultimate out of the six would gain enough momentum for them to win.
“DJ down.” The kill feed brushed out a prompt for Hanzo’s elimination of Lucio, while ShadowBlade’s voice appeared in the team channel.
He was unexpectedly laidback. Kang Ming had anticipated he would have flaunted his abilities and brag about how he eliminated Lucio, etc.
But he didn’t.
Their teammates took advantage of the enemy team losing a significant healer and pushed into the point. They picked off the remaining defensive forces one by one.
Genji played the most important role in that group battle. All of the enemies were finished off by him, which refreshed his swift strike and deflect abilities each time.  In no time, he had acquired his ultimate and pulled out his blade to eliminate the leftover enemies.
They achieved victory easily because of him, yet the play of the game was not his.
The victory came so easily, and the final play of the game was not his.
It was ShadowBlade’s Hanzo.
The system played a scene from the first round before Kang Ming killed Reaper. ShadowBlade was fighting on the point with his team, and just as they were going to lose the point, he released his ultimate.
The enemies in range of the Dragonstrike fled, however Hanzo still killed five people in succession.
Two enemies with full hp were headshot. Two more were killed by a scatter arrow. Moreover, Lucio died to his Dragonstrike.
The play of the game seemed a little interesting?
OneMoon: Shadow, you can’t miss this opportunity! The previous phrase, “It’s because I want to proctect my younger brother” was warm and affectionate. I feel that if you say a few more words, Coming will fall in love with you!
Yun Yun spent the entire game reflecting on unintentionally saying in the mic that he was “protecting his younger brother.” Now he had to fix it. He responded seriously to his barrage, “Don’t start trouble. Kang Ming is famous and known by all, we only make up a small part of his large fanbase.”
Jiji: Yeah, Kang Ming has thousands of fans.
“Yes.” Yun Yun noticed the game prompt that indicated Coming left the match as he waited for the game’s final score to be established. “Why would Kang Ming pay attention to what a stranger says?”
He would only get annoyed.
Translator Notes:
JJ –  slang for penis
skin – a different costume/appearance for a character
team comp – the roles and heroes that make up that team
fill – picking whatever position is needed to complete the team
lore – history/background of a game or character
chokehold – the area (usually a doorway) where the fight for entry takes place
first blood – the first kill
DPS – damage per second/attack hero
kill feed – list that shows who killed who
sweep – winning every game
flank – sneaking around to get to a team’s backlines
down – dead
Genji has an ability where everytime he kills someone, his cooldowns are refreshed.
At the end of each game, the system picks a “Play of the Game” during the match and shows the best scene.
i am so sorry for the delay guys!!! unfortunately, i’m changing my update schedule from once a week to once every two weeks . school has started and i do prioritize school first. this is the best i can do since i’m only one person and my classes are pretty hard.
i might publish a few chapters earlier (most likely on holiday breaks) if i have the time.