Rise

“Boom!” Lin Feng shouted, laughing. He relaxed back in his chair and breathed out. It’s almost morning already! I feel like I’ve run a marathon… But shit! Those games were great! Finally some strong opponents, especially in that third game! That was fucking awesome! He took the glass of water Su Xue had filled for him from the desk and drank it empty. “Haaaah!” he exclaimed. “So good!”

Su Xue sat next to Lin Feng, scrolling through the Korean Challenger Ladder. She hit the refresh button several times, waiting for the results from the previous game Lin Feng played to be added. It finally did. She pushed the phone in front of Lin Feng’s face and shouted, “Look! Look! You’re almost in the Top 100! If you hadn’t lost that one game…”

“Eh, losses are part of the game,” Lin Feng replied. He grinned and continued, “Can’t win everything! That’d be silly! And those two I was playing against? The Mid and Top? Those two were really good!”

Su Xue looked at Lin Feng and shook her head. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Of course they were good! You’re in Korean Challenger! You’re playing against the best players in Korea! And those two specifically… She breathed out and opened her eyes again. She lectured, “Of course they were good! Those two play in the OGN! That’s the highest competition in Korea! They play against Rake!”

Lin Feng laughed awkwardly and mumbled, “I guess…”

“You guess?” Su Xue asked. I wanna punch him! She breathed in deeply and said, “You were playing against Seo! He’s a really famous Midlaner! Yet you beat him! You beat him in lane! If it wasn’t for the Lissandra, who by the way is also an insanely strong player…” She shook her head and sighed before continuing, “FAC•Ason is one of the best Toplaners in the entire world right now! He carried really hard on his Lissandra! But somehow… somehow you actually put up a fight against him! You made him tryhard!”

Lin Feng ruffled his hair and said, “Yeah, he was pretty good. But we could’ve won it! If only I got to the backline in that teamfight at the end! But Lissandra locked me down with her ultimate before I could kill them.” He stared at his screen and mumbled, “The OGN really has a lot of strong players, huh?” Just like Rake in Season 1… All these Koreans are so good! You can never underestimate them! But that’s exactly what I need right now! This is perfect! They’ll help me get good again so much faster! And all I have to do is keep queuing up for more games! Right, enough time wasting! He clenched his fist and shouted, “Again!”

✹

The Shanghai Esports Organization announced the semi finals matchups for the East China Regionals early the next day. This game wasn’t technically part of the Winter Collegiate Cup. All four remaining teams had already qualified for the main tournament. The semi finals and finals for the East China Regionals were played purely for pride and bragging rights. And more importantly, to get some extra practice in before the main tournament.