Everyone had a chance to say something in the interview. They were all tired, so with Jian Rong setting the example, the remaining members got straight to the point in their âspeeches.â
Pine took the microphone and said concisely, âWe won.â
Xiao Bai latched onto Pineâs hand and brought the microphone up to his own mouth. âHi everyone this is the worldâs number one Sett support speakingâŚâ
Pine said, âIf you want the mic, then hold it properly. Donât grab my hand.â
Xiao Bai: âStingy.â
Yuan Qian snatched the microphone from the bot lane duo. As he wiped away his tears, he said, âThough I really want to seem cool like them and only give a short speech⌠I still have a lot of things I wanna say. I received a ton of private messages at the end of last year. Of course, many of those messages were comforting me and cheering me on, but a small portion of them said that I wasnât suited to this meta and that I should retireâŚ
âHere, I want to say that I absolutely will not retire. Iâm not a support-style player, Iâm an all-rounder. I can still adapt to countless more metas, and Iâm going to play until I physically canât anymore⌠Also, I want to thank my teammates, my team, my teamâs staff, my boss, my parents, my fans⌠and my wife. I love you guys. Wife, I love you.â
The camera zoomed in on Yuan Qianâs girlfriend, Youyou.
Her eyes brimmed with tears, and the tip of her nose was thoroughly red. Towards the camera, she lifted her boyfriendâs support banner high in the airâŚ
Last was Lu Boyuan.
When he took the microphone, the entire audience stood up. Some Korean audience members even pulled out small posters of Lu Boyuan from their pockets to hold upâŚ
Currently, there were many star pro players in League of Legends, but very few were well-liked throughout all the competitive regions.
Road was unquestionably the first person that came into peopleâs minds when they thought about a pro player with region-wide popularity.
He had debuted at the peak, and to this day, he had never lost his title of âthe worldâs number one jungler.â New metas never affected his gameplay, and he was always able to carry; he was the most reassuring presence in the LPL.
Lu Boyuan smiled at the camera. His voice was slightly raspy because of exhaustion. âWeâll continue to work hard in the second half of the year. Our goal is a grand slam. Thank you everyone.â
When Lu Boyuan started to return the microphone, the host said hastily, âIs that all, God Lu? Everyone was really looking forward to what you have to say! Could you add a little more to your speech?â
Lu Boyuan lifted his eyebrow and turned to face the camera once more.
As a result, he spoke again a few seconds later. âThank you to my team and my teammates⌠and thank you to my lover.â
Surrounded by the noisy clamor of the audience, he finished, âThe LPL is badass.â
âŚ
The MSI stream ended. The water friends were still submerged in joy from winning the competition, so the viewer count dropped extremely slowly in the livestream room. After they finished shouting âbadass,â they began collectively flaming HT, and after they finished flaming HT, they began hyping up their favorite pro players.
Once the liveliness in the stream dispersed, the festivities started anew on Weibo.
Since the grudge against HT had been blown out of proportion, TTC essentially encompassed all the topics on the hot search tonight.
The number one hashtag was naturally â#TTC won the championship#â. In that topic, the Weibo post that had the most interactions wasâ[Little Children Of TTC Eat And Drink Well: Congratulations to TTC for winning MSI, the little children have truly been under too much pressure lately.]
[Itâs true, you can check their match history and search up their recent Korean server rankings. Nothing comes up in the afternoon or evening, which means thatâs evidently when TTC has practice matches. The scores start up again around nine PM, and each personâs record lasts for at least five hours every night.]
[The one who practices for five hours is Road, since he has a hand injury. Adding on the time from the practice matches⌠five hours is definitely exceeding his quota. The others practice for even longer.]
[Qian-ge braved the danger of losing his wife and abandoned our sister-in-law to solo queue by himself until late at night. Pine stopped playing Lulu ADC, and Xiao Bai also stopped playing non-support champions.]
[âŚif youâre gonna put it that way, then that dumbass son of mine⌠spent each day as if it were a decade.]
[Indeed. Before, he killed people on the Chinese server. Later, he went to kill people on the Korean server. After he was done with that, he still wasnât satisfied, and he went to solo against the other LPL mid laners like he was scheduling a fight with them⌠an intrinsically heartless murderer.]
[They really gave it their all, my heart aches for the members T-T they can finally rest well tonight~~]
âŚ
Right as the hashtag #Heart aching for TTC# started slowly climbing up the hot search, an official stream notification suddenly popped up on everyoneâs Weibo homepageâ
[TTC ŕź Bye: Iâm going live on StarTV in Room #1188 under the category âLeisure â Outdoor Entertainment.â Come and watch me ^^!]
The fans, who were in the middle of furiously spamming their concern: â?â
Going live?
Leisure?
Outdoor entertainment???
Confused, the fans clicked on the provided link. The moment they joined the stream, they were met with Xiao Baiâs face.
He was clearly drunk, as both his cheeks and eyes were red. It was quite rowdy around him, and so loud that it could instantly drive headphone users mad.
Xiao Bai stared fixedly at the camera. âIs it okay? Can you all see me or not⌠hic. Friends who can see me, type out 18341331373âŚâ
[?]
[Do you want to be beaten up?]
âSo you canât see me? Well, whatever, you guys can just listen.â Xiao Bai flipped the camera and showed the viewers his current surroundings.
They saw an exquisitely decorated banquet hall, along with Ding-ge, Pine, Yuan Qian and his wife, and numerous TTC staff members.
Of course, the most conspicuous part was still the piles of empty alcohol bottles and tables covered in gifts.
Judging from the packaging, there were laptops, phones, iPads⌠and all sorts of other prizes.
âYeah, we flew back to Shanghai earlier tonight.â Xiao Bai did his best to read the comments flying across the screen. âWhy were we in such a rush⌠because we didnât really have anything to do in Korea either, so naturally we wanted to get back as soon as we could.
âRight now, weâre in the middle of our celebratory banquet! Look at these gifts. Apparently, just in terms of presents tonight, our boss prepared this muchâŚâ Xiao Bai made a three with his fingers in front of the camera and said haltingly, âOh yeah, Boss also bought each of us a car, hahahahahaha this is my first car ever! I bet you guys donât have one hahahahaha!! And these are only the gifts from winning the spring season⌠ah, Iâm so jealous of myself.â
[âŚâŚâŚâŚâŚfuck!]
[Iâm so pissed that I got out of bed and ordered some egg fried rice to-go.]
[What did I just post on Weibo? That my heart was aching for the TTC members??? Am I a fucking dumbass????]
[My monthly income hit my bank account two seconds ago, 5,193.80. Even a single phone there is worth more than that.]
[Zhuang Yibai, this counts as jumping categories, doesnât it? Why is he streaming under Outdoor Entertainment? If I report him, can I force this stream to stop???]
Although the water friends said that, Xiao Baiâs livestream room was still extremely lively.
Xiao Baiâs camera swayed violently. Everyone saw Ding-ge holding a microphone in a white dress shirt, suit jacket discarded, as he shook his head and sang emotionallyâ
âItâs so hard to be a man1, itâs so hard to be a good person⌠itâs been a few decades but Iâm still scared and on edgeâŚâ
Before he could finish the song, someone said something to him. Ding-ge abruptly stopped singing and whipped his head around.
âWhat??!
âHe really flamed them in the all chat????
âWhat⌠English? Does he know it?
âHehe, I donât believe you.
âGo away, donât show me a picture. You definitely edited that just now, how could he possibly screw me over like that?â
In the end, Ding-ge stared at the picture that the assistant manager showed him for a full two minutes before he put down the microphone, picked up his phone, and strode out of the banquet hall.
[Iâm crying.]
[Such sincere singing, what a moving performance. My eyes are wet.]
[This Meteor Shower is for Ding-ge.]
[How come I donât see my husband and Soft?]
[Show God Lu show God Lu show God Lu]
[Can you tell my son to get in the shot and come up with a few insults for his dad? Iâll send you five Seas of Stars.]
âMy ge, ah, my ge said he was tired earlier and went to rest.â Xiao Bai looked at the screen, chin propped up on his hand. âJian Rong? He also went to rest⌠five Seas of Stars, are you being serious?â
The water friend immediately sent one Sea of Stars and said: [Down payment.]
âForget it, I just got a huge red envelope from the boss, I donât need your money.â Xiao Bai wagged his index finger. âIâm not a money-grubber.â
In the hotel hallway, Ding-ge was in the middle of a passionate argument with an LPL official.
âI know that this kind of behavior really crosses a lot of boundaries, but itâs also true that he won the championship and brought glory to our pro leagueâŚâ
Someone patted his shoulder. Ding-ge turned his head and mouthed, âWhat is it?â
Xiao Bai glanced at the Seas of Stars streaking across his phone screen and asked, âWhat room is Jian Rong staying in again?â
Ding-ge originally wanted to ask him if he needed something from Jian Rong, but taking into consideration the phone call that he was currently on, he said hurriedly, â8801. Why are you holding up your phone like that? Did you drink too much?â
Xiao Bai swiveled around and waved his hand. âIâm making money.â
Xiao Bai took the elevator all the way up to the 88th floor.
Once he was in front of room 8801, he confirmed that his stream hadnât disconnected. It was then that his beer-addled brain finally sobered up a little.
â88?â He pulled out his own room key from his pocket and checked it. âWhy is my room on the 67th floor?â
After he was done talking out loud to himself, he pressed the doorbell under the urging of the livestream barrage.
Nobody answered.
A short pause later, Xiao Bai frowned retrospectively. âMaybe he went to bed already⌠whatever, I can return the gifts to you guys. Iâll get beaten up if I disturb his sleepâŚâ
With a click, the door was unlocked.
Someone pulled open the door to room 8801.
In the wake of that sound, the water friends instantly started spamming the barrageâ
[Dumbass dumbass, the worldâs number one!]
[Dumbass dumbass, parallel to none!]
[Dumbass dumbass, let Daddy kiss you onceâŚ]
A few seconds passed.
Through Xiao Baiâs phone camera, everyone took in the scene before their eyesâ
[?]
[???]
[??????]
They didnât even have time to comment âWTF.â
Lu Boyuan appeared on the screen with water still dripping from the tips of his hair. His cheeks were damp, and the viewers could clearly make out the droplets of water scattered across his collarbones. It was obvious that he had just finished showering.
Because he had looked through the peephole in advance, Lu Boyuan already knew who the visitor was. He used one hand to rub his hair with a towel as he asked lazily, âWhatâs up.â
Lu Boyuan said, âHeâs showering. Do you need him for something?â
âNo.â Xiao Bai paused briefly. ââŚge, what if I told you I drank too much and got possessed by greed and came knocking on your and Jian Rongâs door while streaming on my phone, all for the sake of a few Seas of Starsâwould you beat me up?â
ââŚâ
When Jian Rong came out of the bathroom, Lu Boyuan was leaning against the window as he sent a text to Pine, telling him to come upstairs to take away the drunkard outside.
Jian Rong had noticed some activity earlier. âWho came by?â
Lu Boyuan turned to look at him.
They hadnât returned to the base beforehand. Like a flock of birds freed from a cage, they had all charged straight for the hotel after the competition was over, luggage in tow.
Jian Rong hadnât brought much clothing with him, so he no longer had any clean clothes he could change into after showering, but he also didnât like wearing bathrobes. As a result, he took some of Lu Boyuanâs clothes to wear.
Lu Boyuanâs clothes were a size too big for Jian Rong. Both the shirt and pants were loose and baggy.
âXiao Bai. He was drunk and acting like one too.â Lu Boyuan carded his fingers through Jian Rongâs hair and asked, slightly surprised, âYou blow-dried it on your own?â
Even though Jian Rong was already accustomed to these little gestures, Lu Boyuanâs touch this time was evidently different from the way he behaved in front of other people. They had just finished competing in the finals not too long ago, and Lu Boyuanâs palm was still hot.
Jian Rong was quiet for a moment before he let out an âenâ and mumbled something else.
Lu Boyuan ducked his head a little. âWhat?â
Jian Rong could smell the peppermint fragrance on Lu Boyuanâs breath. âSaves time.â
Lu Boyuanâs eyelid twitched, after which his gaze swept downward.
Lu Boyuan rubbed Jian Rongâs hair with a bit more force as he chuckled lowly. âSaves time for what?â
Jian Rongâs ears were bright red, and his head felt feverish. Back when Lu Boyuan was giving his championship speech, Jian Rong had already wanted to do this. Now that they were completely alone, he directly took a step forward and stretched up to kiss Lu Boyuan on the lips.
On the first floor, TTCâs staff and a portion of its members were still having fun in the celebratory banquet. It was a grand, vibrant occasion, with champagne and streamers serving as dazzling decor.
Ding-ge went through alternating periods of joy and worry. Finally, he couldnât help but pick up his phone and give his teamâs trouble-causing mid laner a callâexcept it rang less than one time before it was promptly cut off.
Several pieces of clothing, all around the same size, were scattered chaotically across the carpet.
Lu Boyuan shut off the phone before he lowered his head to kiss Jian Rong. âIâm turning it off.â
Jian Rong tilted his head back. From his chin downwards, everything was flushed red, and there were quite a few spots where the color was so dark that it was instantly clear those werenât naturally-occuring marks. He gasped for air, eyes glistening, as he let out a vague grunt. âMnâŚâ
It was hard to tell whether that was a response or a different kind of sound.
Jian Rong suddenly remembered something. It was only when he opened his mouth that he discovered his voice was already utterly hoarse. âToday, myâŚâ
Lu Boyuan stopped moving and stroked Jian Rongâs lips with his thumb.
Jian Rong seized the opportunity to rub against his fingers as he finished, âMy solo kill today⌠was it handsome.â
Lu Boyuan: ââŚâ
Lu Boyuan truly wanted to laugh, and his heart felt unbearably soft. He spread his right hand open across Jian Rongâs neck and kneaded it firmly before he brushed aside Jian Rongâs wet bangs. In a deep, smile-steeped voice, he said in Jian Rongâs ear, âIt was so handsome that it made me dizzy.â
Jian Rongâs pulse abruptly quickened even more, and from that point on, he was unable to say another word.
âŚ
This is a real song (lol) about the woes of being a man. ^
Yan: The first episode of the ICDI audio drama was just released! You can (try to) listen to it here. Unfortunately, the link isnât working for me right now, but you can also download the app and find the audio drama there (search 柍ć in app store, itâs an icon of a white cat on a purple background). If anyone really wants an in-depth guide, lmk haha.