That One Rich Fan of Mine

The ‘Ji Beiling’ name made a small splash in Lin Xizhou’s fan group; so small that the water quickly returned to normal. 

Naturally, Ji Beiling had no idea about this, because he already had a lot of things to deal with these days. 

Since they won the championship, the weather above BLK’s gaming house in B City seemed to have become unusually sunny. 

But it couldn’t be the same for the coach’s spirit. Although no one in the main team was being replaced or retired this year, as the team’s coach, he knew that Northland, BLK’s core, had an injury that had reached a point where it could no longer be ignored.  

Although Ji Beiling was very insistent that he could continue to play, the fact was that under the high-intensity training, his hand injury was getting worse. Even if he could hold out for one more year, it would require longer rest periods and increased treatment.

The substitute was very important during this crisis.

In recent years, BLK also recruited lots of new talent into the trainee team. There was no shortage of emerging players, with the most being ADC players. Most sixteen- to seventeen-year-olds joined the team out of their admiration of Northland and wanted to pursue their own esports dreams. 

Maybe because it had taken too long for BLK to win another championship, a lot of kids on the trainee team were getting restless. It was like they were the one wearing the team uniforms in Seoul, South Korea, and won the championship. Completely delusional. 

So, with Ji Beiling, Ling Feng discussed taking two members from the main team to play a few practice games with the members of the second team, which was composed of members selected from the trainee team. 

Ji Beiling was only sixteen years old when he was recruited by BLK’s team manager, but he was able to make his debut in the main team from the start and was forced to shoulder the burden of carrying the team to advance when he was young and wild, so he matured faster than average. 

He also had a mental breakdown from the pain of losing the championship. After returning home, many people insulted him as if was an immortal statue that had fallen off his altar. In the world of esports, without winning the championship, all the previous hard work was shrouded in the shame of defeat. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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The second team lost ten matches in a row against a team composed of three members from the main team and two other members. 

From noon until dusk, all the teenagers were red-eyed. They didn’t believe that they could win, even if they were against only the three members from the main team. 

One of the ADCs, in particular, was Glutinous Rice. Before he joined BLK, he was famous in the community as a tyrannical player. He was like the sixteen-year-old Ji Beiling, who believed in his own strength and thought of himself as a genius.  

But with the power difference right in front of him, he realized that to reach his destination, he needed to cross over a mighty mountain. 

Ji Beiling sat face-to-face with the five teenagers in silence. 

The five lowered their heads dispiritedly. They wanted to hiccup. Their complexion was in shades of blue and purple, like an eggplant. No ounce of spirit from winning the championship was visible. 

During these matches, Ji Beiling didn’t use his full strength, but his hands on his lap were still slightly shivering.  

He remembered that time when the inexperienced and new him had defeated the myths of the past. At that time, the older man in his twenties shook his hands. Those hands were also trembling. A dark, helpless smile appeared on his senior’s face as he said that he was getting old. 

Ji Beiling suddenly wanted to light a cigarette. 

He sighed. There was no need to scold these young players—they all came here because of their love of gaming. In fact, it wasn’t like none of them worked hard and yet wanted to win. Sometimes, when their responsibilities were not pressing down on them, there was no sense of urgency. 

He stood up and his tone was calm.  

“Many people say Northland is a genius, a myth. But actually, I’m just a normal guy who plays a little bit better than most gamers. I can also get hurt and my reaction speed decreases over time. I’ll be twenty-one this year. Sixteen-year-old and twenty-one-year-old reaction speeds are not the same. The me now has accumulated more experience than you. However, I’m not as young as I once was.”

“Anyone can get old; any immortal can fall from their altar. I don’t know if I can continue playing after next year. Maybe next year I won’t be in good shape, and I may not even be able to play in the playoffs. I just love this game and want to hold on to it a little longer.”

“The future belongs to you, and it will soon be yours as well. Glutinous Rice, I know you wanted to play in competitive matches, but you aren’t playing like you’re in one. You think it’s going to be a long way away, but it’s actually not. Spring’s coming. My hands need rest and treatment, and you’re going to be on the field soon. Are you ready?”

“No matter how well everyone is playing now, the audience has seen none of you. But that’s about to change soon.” 

Ji Beiling watched the teenagers who suddenly looked up—their eyes filled with disbelief at his words. 

“There will be more practice matches between the second and the first team, and hopefully, the next time I see you, you will make me feel like I can pass the future of this team over to you without worry.”

He gave Glutinous Rice, who had reddened eyes, a look, and walked out of the room. 

There was a burning, brilliant sunset outside the team’s villa in B city as if a tailor cut down some coloured fabric to make a curtain.  

Ji Beiling went to the hanging chair in the backyard and sat down. He lit a cigarette. 

When he was sixteen, he thought he would never lose, but he had lost so badly on the World’s stage in the past. 

He was reminded of the time when he was just playing a simple game and rarely encountered any worthy opponents. One day, he was finally matched against a player who played very well in a five-member ranked match. Each time he won, it was a clutch. That player was probably going through a mental breakdown but still persisted in the match. In the end, he saw a friend request from that player and a demand for a 1v1 afterwards. 

In fact, he rarely accepted friend requests on this account, but he had a soft heart, and he felt the other person was decent but with pretty bad teammates. In order to win fair and square, he accepted the challenge.  

He won the 1v1, but he also did something very regrettable. 

He typed: [Not bad, but you’re one step short of being a genius.]

Ji Beiling set himself as the ‘genius’ standard. The child who lost angrily replied, saying that he was only fifteen years old and would only become more powerful over time. It was the boy’s dream to play professionally. Ji Beiling, being only sixteen years old at that time, naturally wouldn’t accept that the defeated player could be qualified to play professionally. 

But, after playing and facing professional players on the field, he found that, in fact, there were many different types of players in the expert community. Many players were an one-trick pony. There were also many players who were not as talented as he was. But with hard work and staying composed, they beat him when he started to tilt.  

He later wondered: did the younger teenager really go professional? But he never met a person who played like that again. 

Perhaps his own comment destroyed the younger boy’s path. He placed the cigarette in his mouth and sucked in a breath. The nicotine calmed him down. The strongest player in the trainee team should be Glutinous Rice, who should be sixteen-years-old this year. Now that he thought more carefully, Glutinous Rice was no better than that young boy. 

But it might also be a good thing. 

Now it seemed that the ever-popular esports market was like a melting pot, with countless teenagers abandoning their education and lives to jump into the esports world, and then being thrown out after they became unrecognizable.  

Ji Beiling thought that perhaps, the youth who didn’t become an esports player would be living a happier life than him. 

His hands stopped shaking after one cigarette. 

To be successful, one must work a hundred times harder. He got up from the hanging chair and looked at the twilight sky, caressing his wrist lightly. 

Whatever the case was, he didn’t want to leave yet.  

The never-ending ranked matches, the tedious training…these things were uncool and uninteresting. It was not as exciting as playing on the big screen, but those have become like his eating and sleeping—his daily routine. 

He didn’t know how long he would last, but he’d keep going until his body fell apart. 

He would make this promise for the young man who told him: [I won’t go professional, since I’m not qualified] after his genius comment.

Ji Beiling stretched his waist and walked back to the villa lit with warm lights.