When Lin Feng had first shown up at her door and claimed to be a Challenger on the Ionia Server, Su Xue did not believe him. She could still recall that evening when Lin Feng joined her on her stream for the very first time.Ā Of course I didnāt believe him back then! Why would I? Who wouldāve believed a claim like that from some strange kid who appeared out of nowhere with the Landlady? I thought he was just trying to look cool in front of me! āIām a Challenger on the Ionia Server, Su Xue!ā āIām really good at League of Legends, Su Xue!ā It was too much of a stretch to be true! But since thenā¦ well, he was way better at League than I was at the time. I figured he was just good at the game, but I still didnāt believe everything he claimed about his past! But in the weeks and months that followedā¦ Hm. I guess I always knew that there was something mysterious about Lin Feng.
As Su Xue spent more and more time with Lin Feng, she started to pick up on little details that just didnāt make sense, and she started to think there was more to Lin Feng than she knew. But Lin Feng never appeared to be more than the average high school kid most of the time, and Su Xue wasnāt the kind of person who stuck her nose into other peopleās business when they didnāt want it. Besides, she was content with her relationship with Lin Feng and didnāt want to jeopardise that. Heād gone from an unwanted roommate to an unwanted nuisance to her little brother, and she cherished her time with him. Even if he did drive her crazy in one way or another every single day.
On top of all of that, her streaming career was taking off and that took most of her time and energy. So even when she had noticed the small hints that there was something mysterious and strange about Lin Feng, she never bothered asking about it.
And now, she was kicking herself mentally for being so passive.Ā I canāt pretend there isnāt something strange going on with Lin Feng anymore, and I need to know the truth! Itās odd that heās this good at League of Legends, thereās no getting around that. His skills are at an absurdly high level, way beyond any normal high school kid. Even his whole āIām a Challenger on the Ionia Serverā thing doesnāt make sense. Now that I think about it, thatās not even that rare. Thereās plenty of high schoolers across China who are at Diamond 1, Master, and Challenger rank. Thereās thousands of them! But Lin Fengā¦ heās not just a regular Challenger player.
Thereās no way that a normal high schooler who is normally good at League of Legends can play and win through the Finals of Collegiate Cup, and then go on to climb into the Top 5 on the Korean Challenger Ladder in the same day! And letās not forget that Lin Feng did that by beating Orion, a top Korean professional player, in his last game of the night! Thatās not something that a high school kid can do! Even in the LPL, thereās only a few professional players that can pull something like that off. So who exactly is Lin Feng?
Su Xueās head started spinning as she tried to put together all the facts that sheād learned about Lin Feng during their time together into a picture that made complete sense. Sheād completely forgotten about the game she was playing, and didnāt even notice that she was being zoned out of the lane completely. Pings from her teammates went completely ignored, and she was completely unaware of the discussion about forfeiting the game that was taking place in her teamās chat.
Su Xueās mind was focused on other parts of Lin Fengās life right now.Ā Thereās also the fact that he knows so many people in the Chinese Esports scene. Even Chu Fang, the Vice President of the Shanghai Esports Association, knew who he was and they have a tight relationship. Oh! OH! He also knows the new Midlaner for Team Rapids! The one that just came back from retirement. AyDeeCee! How does an ordinary high school player get to know people like that? And Lin Feng doesnāt just know them, theyāre close to him. All of them know Lin Feng, but not the Lin Feng I know. They have a history with him.
This wasnāt the first time that Su Xue thought about Lin Fengās past and wondered about his identity. There were days when she started to feel herself believing his loud claims that he was a former professional player. But then Lin Feng would act like Lin Feng, and sheād laugh at herself for being silly and dismiss the whole thing from her mind. No matter how many times Su Xue thought about it, there was just no way that it was possible. But she thought about it again right now.Ā Maybe he really was a professional playerā¦? Wait! NO! Lin Feng is in his third and final year of high school. If he really was a pro, when did he start playing? When he was in his first year? Or his second year? Thereās no way that heād be this unknown if he was a pro a couple of years ago. Forget me hearing about him, someone in my stream chat wouldāve known who he was and the rest of the chat wouldāve picked up on that and put it on blast! The only way he couldāve been a pro and be unknown today is if he started playing in middle school, and thatās just not possible. Thereās no way. Butā¦ what else explains everything about Lin Feng? Was he really a professional player? Was this kid telling me the truth the whole time, and I refused to believe himā¦?
As her teamās Nexus exploded, Su Xue was starting to doubt everything that she considered true about Lin Feng. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didnāt even notice the Defeat that splashed across her screen.
Su Xue decided the game she had just lost was going to be her last game of the night. It was starting to get late, and she wasnāt in the right headspace to continue playing anyway. Su Xue shared a few parting words with her viewers, bid them a good night and then ended her stream. It turned out to be perfect timing too, because the delivery guy arrived at her door right as she stopped streaming for the night.
Su Xue got up from her computer and went to the door to grab the food. She took it over to the dining table, where Lin Feng was already waiting, and unpacked it. Then the two of them sat down for their late night snack. Lin Feng started wolfing down his chicken cutlet the instant it was within range of his mouth.
Su Xue watched him tear apart the cutlet and smiled, but her thoughts remained in chaos. She slowly walked to her seat at the dining table, across from Lin Feng, and sat down. She started nibbling at her food, very slowly. She honestly had no interest in eating. But every few bits of food, she looked up from her plate to quickly glance at Lin Feng, and then looked back down. Lin Feng was too absorbed in his food to notice any of these glances or looks. He didnāt even notice that Su Xue wasnāt eating. Which is something that Su Xue did notice. She gave Lin Feng around 5 minutes to realise something was up and ask her about it, and gave up when it became clear that he wasnāt going to look up from his chicken cutlet long enough to see that she had something she wanted to say to him. Su Xue cleared her throat and asked, āLin Feng?ā
Lin Fengās attention was still completely on his chicken cutlet, and he didnāt even look up as he replied, āYeah?ā
Su Xue took a few seconds to gather her thoughts and decided to plunge into what was bothering her, āThe account you were playing with on the Korean Server, CNā¢HOOK2. You said someone gave that account to you, right?ā
āYeah,ā Lin Feng answered, food in his mouth.
āSo Iāve been wonderingā¦ well, what I mean is do you mind if I askā¦ who gave you the account?ā Su Xue carefully asked.
āOh!ā Lin Feng finally looked up from his food and replied, āHeās someone I really respect and admire!ā
Su Xue took a deep breath and fought the urge to facepalm.Ā Of course heās someone you really respect and admire! EVERYONE in China respects and admires him! Youāre being stupid, Su Xue! What did you expect out of Lin Feng when you asked him such a vague question? You need to get to the point. This is Lin Feng, heās not going to mind. You just need to ask him a straight question and heāll answer like a normal person.Ā She composed herself and gathered her courage before asking, āā¦ and that someone. Wellā¦ is his name One?ā
āYeah!ā Lin Feng replied right away, not hiding anything.
But that answer made Su Xueās heart stop for a few beats, and she felt a weight settle on her chest. She literally did not know how to react after having all her suspicions confirmed.Ā I knew it! I was right, it really is him! It really is THE One! Oh my god! Everything I read online was completely true. I donāt know what to say. Lin Feng knows One! He was playing on Oneās account!Ā Waitā¦ Lin Feng was playing on Oneās accountā¦ Why would One give Lin Feng his account? Why would he ask Lin Feng to do something so obviously impossible?
āLin Fengā¦ so, you and Oneā¦ you two know each otherā¦?ā Su Xue asked.
āOf course!ā Lin Feng looked at Su Xue, puzzled as to why she needed to ask such a dumb question.
Su Xueās cheeks flushed red, but she gnashed her teeth and suppressed her nervousness and embarrassment. She finally asked the important question, āSo, when you told me you used to be a pro, you werenāt lying?ā
Lin Feng opened his mouth and took another big bite of his chicken cutlet, but the piece was still hot. So, he breathed out and replied, āNo, Iām not lying. Didnāt I say that before? Just search up the name Maple. I was really popular back then!ā
Lin Feng, as always, was completely oblivious to how shocking the information heād casually thrown at Su Xue was considered. What heād just said would have made the heads of every old League of Legends fan and player across China explode. It had been a long time since Maple and One held the limelight, and esports were not as popular back then as they were today. But the real gamers all knew the lore, and all of them wouldāve killed to be sitting where Su Xue was sitting right now. But none of that factored into Lin Fengās mind. To him, this was boring and obvious. Something of little consequence or value, like he was telling Su Xue how heād gotten a C on a test.
It was so nonchalant that Su Xue had no choice but to nod along and mutter, āOh! Okay, alright. Iāll just goā¦ and read up about Maple. Got itā¦ā
Su Xue was still too stunned to think clearly. But a few seconds later, the gears in her mind started spinning again. Su Xueās eyes popped wide open as she finally remembered.Ā Mapleā¦ Iāve heard that name before. WAIT! MAPLE!?Ā Su Xue rocked back and forth in her chair and covered her ears with her hands, like a bomb had just gone off in her mind. Her eyes started to roll and the room was spinning. She screamed out, āYOUāRE THE MAPLE!?ā
Su Xue had only started playing League of Legends last season; right before Lin Feng showed up at her doorstep. At the time, she didnāt know much about the lore of League Esports. When Lin Feng had first mentioned that he used to be Maple, she didnāt know that name or what it meant. But when she started looking into the name CNā¢HOOK2, she found an article that also mentioned Maple.
The article was about the greatest players of all time in Chinese esports history. Obviously, One was extensively mentioned in the article, and that was where Su Xue found out that he also used to play on the alternate account CNā¢HOOK2 while abroad. The writer of the article concluded Oneās section by stating that One was a player who defined an entire era in esports history.
Su Xue continued reading the article to learn about the other players who built the foundation of esports in China. That was where she found a section on Maple. The writer spoke about how Maple was the most likely player to lead the future generation of Chinese esports, and how he was Oneās successor. Then he went on to list all of Mapleās achievements, none of which were insignificant. The article spoke about how Maple was the number one Midlaner in all of China and the team captain for the only Chinese team that qualified for the Season 1 World Championships. Then it went into detail about how Maple triumphed over many strong European and North American teams at Worlds. There was a paragraph about how Maple managed to utterly defeat Phoenix, who was undefeated until that match. And then the article went on and on about how Maple went toe-to-toe with Rake and took him all the way to Game 5 in the Grand Finals of the Season 1 World Championships.
According to the writer, Maple was a rising prodigy in League of Legends and one of the best players in the world. It also said that Maple was clearly the only player who could present a clear challenge to Rake, and possibly topple him from his throne.
Su Xueās mouth popped open and she let out a soundless scream as all of the information about Maple flooded back into her mind. The dining room really did start spinning and she struggled to catch her breath.Ā MAPLE! HEāS THE MAPLE! I thought he was just a pro playerā¦ but Maple!? This is Lin Fengā¦ but heās also Maple! Iām sitting across a table eating chicken cutlet with the best player in China and one of the best players in the entire world! How can this be real? How is he so calm about this? How was I so stupid that I never realized who he was all these months?
While Su Xue sat there completely stunned speechless by everything sheād just learned, Lin Feng finished the rest of his chicken cutlet. He didnāt even notice that there was something wrong with Su Xueās mental state. He calmly wiped his mouth and stood up and stretched. Then he yawned and rubbed his face. He was busy rubbing his eyes when he said, āSu Xue, Iām still a little tired from yesterday. Iām gonna go back to bed now. Good night! Thanks for the chicken cutlet! I really needed that. Youāre the best!ā
Lin Feng turned around and headed upstairs back to his own room, still completely unaware of the effect that his revelation had on Su Xue.
āH-huh? Bed, oh, uhā¦ Alright.. Sleep tight,ā Su Xue muttered. She was still dazed as Lin Feng walked out of the dining room. Su Xue stared at his back with a blank expression on her face. Her mind struggled to process everything sheād just learned about Lin Feng. She simply couldnāt believe that Lin Feng, the boy that sheād come to adore as a little brother, was Maple. Her heart was tearing itself with all the emotions pounding through her.
After several very long minutes, Su Xue finally got up from the dining table and walked into her bedroom. She fell into her bed and tried to sleep, but she had too much on her mind. She tossed and turned the entire night, sleep completely eluding her.