---

Tianjin, China.

The distinct cold air of the frozen warehouse seeped into the lungs, but surprisingly, no one was shivering from the chill.

To be precise, they couldn’t afford to.

Nail scratches, blood stains, broken nails, torn flesh.

If someone witnessed this scene, they would surely wonder what had happened here, but Li Zhi-Xuan was completely indifferent.

It wasn’t that he was used to such sights.

Li Zhi-Xuan never regarded the remnants around him as belonging to a fellow human with the same blood running through his veins.

It was a fundamental difference in perspective.

“I guess I need to clean up.”

“I’ll finish it today.”

“Oh, and…”

Li Zhi-Xuan added.

“Now that the tiger’s gone, the fox cubs hiding in their holes are bound to cause a ruckus. You know what to do, right?”

If they had decided to move, they better do it properly.

“Understood. Leave it to me.”

While he would temporarily have to place his capable secretary elsewhere, Li Zhi-Xuan showed no signs of disappointment.

It was a task worthy of his attention.

‘Better to do it right than to leave it half-done.’

That was his grandfather’s long-taught lesson.

Thus, Li Zhi-Xuan chose to endure a few annoyances and finish the related tasks at this opportunity.

“Let the others handle the cleanup here. Can’t just stand by and watch.”

“Got it.”

The betting company he had taken action against was quite large in China.

They had ties that were pretty close with local party officials.

However, Li Zhi-Xuan’s smooth cleanup also had to do with support from other organizations, namely the sponsors backing them.

They had no reason not to lend a hand now that Li Zhi-Xuan took the initiative to deal with something they had been avoiding.

Right now, they were probably questioning why Li Zhi-Xuan decided to act himself, but as time went on, they would likely shrug it off, thinking that he must be dealing with a troll planted by the company in solo queue.

After all, for them, good was good.

This kind of betting company had been a headache for various teams in China.

And…

Li Zhi-Xuan gazed quietly at the storage area and muttered.

“Trash.”

He wasn’t wrong. Their fates would likely be no different from that of real trash.

Discarded, burned, vanished.

That was the destiny of garbage, and Li Zhi-Xuan named them as such.

“Wrap it up well.”

“Yes. Consider it done, young master!”

With his secretary’s shout, a knight opened the door to the waiting car.

It was about time to head out for practice.

*

Only about five days were left until the end of the broadcast.

Currently, the top rank was held by MAX King God Emperor with 1646 points.

In contrast, my score was just 1242 points.

Although King God Emperor hadn’t played ranked games recently, the gap was still massive.

‘Just by simple calculations, that means I need to win nearly 20 times in a row.’

Considering the time left is 5 days, it’s possible to win about 4 times a day, but…

‘Did those damned trolls really disappear?’

[Searching for a game!]

[Accept / Decline]

Despite having a queue pop up, I hesitated a couple of times before hitting decline.

And then started searching for another game.

[Searching for a game…….]

It had been less than a month since I started streaming, and so many things happened.

I almost quit streaming after being targeted for the most absurd reasons, and out of the blue, I ended up on a betting site dealing with all sorts of trolls.

Naturally, it was only expected to develop a form of PTSD-like obsession in such an environment.

‘I can’t keep going on like this… but I still need verification.’

Verification that those damned brats who bet on me had indeed vanished.

Ironically, to verify that, I had to play the game.

Only then would I be able to see with my own eyes if those brats had really disappeared.

[Searching for a game!]

[Accept / Decline]

“Ha…”

How long has it been since the duo disappeared, and here I was in this miserable state… I couldn’t stand how pathetic I felt.

‘Alright, let’s do this.’

Taking a moment to compose myself, I pressed accept.

.

.

.

───────────────

BAN EZ joined the lobby.

SY Rainbow joined the lobby.

SCV BlackDog joined the lobby.

Outlaw joined the lobby.

SCV WhiteCat joined the lobby.

───────────────

Huh… what’s happening?

Am I seeing things?

-Team real?

-What is this?

-All-Star match? LOL

-At this rate, we might win the Red Cup!

-No joke, LOL

-Seriously LOL

-Wow LOL

I felt like this was a gift from the game developers after being targeted by countless trolls.

For the first time in a while, I had a team that made no sense.

I didn’t think I’d ever felt so urgent about a team member, but more importantly, it was reassuring to know that there were verified professional gamers instead of trolls.

-If we dodge, it’ll be an absolute blast, LOL

-For real, LOL

-Really?????

-LOL

…Please don’t let that happen.

As I nervously waited, the bans were underway.

+

[BAN LIST]

Viego / Lee Sin

Raise / Ezreal

Talon / Tryndamere

Shaco / ⛝

Amumu / Elise

+

Our team’s position was the lower side.

In other words, it was first pick.

[BAN EZ: Anyone for first pick?]

[Outlaw: Give me Lee Sin]

Normally, I would never let someone take a late pick like this, but given that our top was first picking EZ and that I’d finally met some normal team members, I found myself typing without realizing it.

It wasn’t uncommon for a first pick top to dodge when facing a counter.

[BAN EZ: Thanks]

[BAN EZ: Oh, it’s a ban]

Ah.

-?

-OMG

-??????

-Wow

-The host is so cute?

-Girl, I’m dying! Girl, I’m dying! Girl, I’m dying! Girl, I’m dying! Girl, I’m dying!

-What’s this? So cute, LOL

-Haven’t seen the host flustered in a while, so cute

-Is this… a female streamer?

『The user ‘IAmABuffalo’ gifted 1,000 balloons.』

『“WOW”』

“…You’re making too much noise.”

As soon as the viewers rushed in, my face felt hot.

[BAN EZ: You?]

[Outlaw: Give me Rek’Sai]

[BAN EZ: Sure]

I almost got delayed.

-Rek’Sai?

-First pick Rek’Sai?

-Hmmm…

It wasn’t surprising to see those reactions from the viewers.

Rek’Sai was banned against Lee Sin, who could counter her, and Rek’Sai herself wasn’t particularly great as a first pick.

In truth, I had blurted out whatever champion came to mind due to panic.

‘But… I can still do it.’

Even with the unfavorable conditions of first pick Rek’Sai, I believed I had a solid reason for it.

‘When our side is the lower team, Rek’Sai has a deadly move.’

Rek’Sai consistently holds a relatively high win rate, even at lower tiers.

In short, she could be considered one of the champions optimized for solo rank.

[Braevin]

[Thresh]

The two most troublesome picks to face as Rek’Sai popped up simultaneously.

Braevin is traditionally considered a counter pick along with Kindred.

While Kindred counters Rek’Sai with their skill set, Braevin does so with his sturdiness and burst damage thanks to ranged kiting.

In other words, depending on the growth situation, Braevin could simply face off against Rek’Sai head-on without needing kiting control.

‘But I can manage.’

Statistically, when facing Braevin, Rek’Sai often comes out on top despite being labeled as a counter.

If you asked why, it’s simply because, in a solo rank context, Braevin’s advantages rarely surpass those of Rek’Sai.

That’s what I intended to exploit.

This was solo rank.

No matter how high the rank, the essence remained the same.

‘Thresh might be a slight nuisance… but our bot lane is a beast duo.’

BlackDog and WhiteCat.

As the core of SCV and one of the best bot lanes in the world, I felt confident against any opponent.

And…

The ban/pick phase was completed.

+

[Allied Team / Enemy Team]

Top: Aatrox / Sett

Jungle: Rek’Sai / Braevin

Mid: LeBlanc / Jui

ADC: Vayne / Jiksoo

Support: Ruler / Thresh

+

The ban/pick itself wasn’t particularly suitable for Rek’Sai’s strengths.

Moreover, although our team was more of a dive composition, the initiation was rather weak, while the enemy possessed a fundamentally long-reach poke composition.

Given that both sides had clear strengths, it was hard to declare which side was superior just like that, but it didn’t seem like we’d have much benefit as time passed.

‘In that regard, 1AP LeBlanc’s role became crucial.’

Though I didn’t need to worry overly much about that.

Because our team’s LeBlanc was none other than Rainbow.

As the game began and the loading screen appeared, I saw the enemy team’s usernames pop up.

-Huh?

-Wow

-How did this happen?

-Whoa

-Wow

-Big match, LOL

-Cool

The chat exploded into chaos.

 

---