LPL History

Chapter 254 The Deliveryman's Eavesdropping Scandal: Japan and South Korea Clash, Samsung Blue Deeply Entangled in the Emperor of Public Opinion's Decline

Even as the game was about to begin, the Emperor still couldn't understand why the Japanese were so despicable.

Just like the emperor, South Korean netizens were furious!

They simply couldn't understand why the Japanese had to get involved, and why there was another Japanese person at the competition venue!

Let alone the semifinals, there isn't a single Japanese team among the sixteen teams in the World Championship.

What the hell does it have to do with you guys?
Driven by this sentiment, Korean netizens launched a fierce online attack on Japanese netizens.

The Japanese netizens who were criticized were also completely bewildered.

What is League of Legends?
I've never even heard of that!
Japanese netizens, who were inexplicably showered with friendly greetings from Koreans, initially tried to demonstrate their "humility and politeness" on the internet.

They were so utterly unyielding, never fighting back or arguing back. Even when the Koreans insulted their mothers, they would still give the Koreans a thumbs up and loudly praise how well the Koreans had done it.

But the South Koreans' firepower was simply too overwhelming.

It should be understood that, as the saying goes, Sino-Japanese friendship depends on South Korea, and Sino-Korean friendship depends on Japan, but it is impossible for Japan and South Korea to be friendly.

Due to historical reasons, as a former Japanese colony, the Koreans harbor deep resentment towards the Japanese.

Soon, the verbal battle between the two sides was no longer limited to the game.

The Japanese were initially indifferent to the Koreans' accusations regarding their gaming practices.

Therefore, they can also maintain their dignity online.

After all, because of their deep-seated past sins, the Japanese people are now extremely adept at pretending to be kind and friendly in front of the world.

"Look how friendly our great nuclear nation is. Your previous accusations against us are clearly just mudslinging."

But when the Koreans started bringing up history with the Japanese, the Japanese couldn't help themselves.

After all, lies don't hurt people; the truth is the sharpest knife.

Thus, Japanese netizens were inexplicably drawn into the flame war.

The Koreans vented all the anger they had accumulated over Zhou Li on Japanese netizens.

This sparked a massive online war of words between Japan and South Korea.

This scene left Chinese netizens completely bewildered.

They discovered that the Koreans who had been arguing with them had suddenly abandoned them and turned to arguing with Japanese netizens.

After a brief period of confusion, Chinese netizens also became amused, watching the dogs fight and get all worked up.

Many people have even brought these disputes from overseas websites to China to watch the live flame war between Japan and South Korea.

Amidst this grand occasion, it was not long before someone noticed a problem in the video.

The last line in the video, "private Marseille," sounded distinctly Japanese, perfectly matching the tone of Japanese officers in early anti-Japanese war dramas.

Then netizens dug deeper, analyzing the photographer's physique from the reflection on the ground and the leather shoes visible in some shots, and quickly identified the culprit—

Zhu Kai!

WE.A Lounge.

Zhou Li was preparing to lead his teammates onto the field for the second game.

Zhu Kai, standing to the side, paced back and forth anxiously.

"What are you doing, Azhu?"

Zhou Li was still worried about his chief eunuch and asked him.

Seeing Zhou Li speak up, Zhu Kai felt like he had grasped a lifeline and quickly replied:

"Brother Zhou, you have to save me! Netizens have already dug me out and are saying that I filmed the video."

Upon hearing Zhu Kai's words, Zhou Li calmly replied:
"I know."

He then added a sentence that struck Zhu Kai like a thunderbolt.

"The video I posted of you was posted by my alternate account."

Zhu Kai stumbled back three steps, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He never imagined that he would be betrayed by his most trusted brother, Brother Zhou!

He wanted to ask a few more questions to find out what he had done wrong, but Zhou Li had already led his team onto the stage.

Zhu Kai walked back to his chair absentmindedly, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

For a spy, the most taboo thing is having their identity made public.

And now, it is his master who has cast him out in the public eye!

What does this mean?!

Zhu Kai began to repeatedly recall whether he had done something wrong during this period.

But he was absolutely loyal to Zhou Li, always regarding Zhou Li as his mentor in life, and never did anything wrong!
The Khan, who was present at the time, later wrote the following about the incident in his memoirs:

Tabe, who was standing nearby, couldn't bear to watch Zhu Kai's face turn pale and bloodless, and spoke up:

"Old Zhu, you're so dense! You're always the one who enlightens me, and you see things more clearly than anyone else. How come you're so blinded by your own involvement today?"

Hearing Tabe's words, Zhu Kai said bitterly:
“Tabe, you don’t need to persuade me anymore. I believe I have done nothing wrong to Brother Zhou. Brother Zhou has been kind to me, and even though he has now discarded me like trash, I will not feel the slightest bit angry. I just lament that I am not capable enough to continue to follow Brother Zhou.”

Tabe suddenly burst into laughter a few times, then sighed deeply, patting his chest, and said:
"Old Zhu, you've really made a huge mistake this time. Although your identity has been exposed, just look at what netizens are saying about you online right now. Let me read you a few words—"

"Zhu Kai is amazing! He single-handedly got two dogs fighting, it's hilarious."

"Holy crap! Deliveryman!!"

"I hadn't paid any attention to Zhu Kai before. As expected, WE.A doesn't tolerate idlers!"

"All I can say is that Zhu Kai scored a huge point this time!"

Zhu Kai was skeptical.

"Do they really say that?"

“Of course it’s true,” Tabe said with a smile. “When it comes to understanding netizens’ psychology, Brother Zhou is the best I’ve ever seen. The reason he made you public now is probably because he already guessed that netizens would react this way. And why do you think he did this?”

Zhu Kai had already figured out a few clues, but he wasn't very confident, so he continued to ask:

Why is that?

Tabe laughed and said, "Now that the world is at peace, among those of us who follow Brother Zhou, only you, Zhu Kai, are unknown to outsiders. You have done a lot for Brother Zhou and for WE.A, and Brother Zhou certainly doesn't want your name to remain unknown. Therefore, he devised this plan to bring you to the forefront and make you known to everyone!"

After Tabe finished speaking, Zhu Kai choked up and couldn't speak, his face covered in tears.

The authenticity of this account recorded by Khan in his memoirs has been widely questioned.

Because they felt that Zhu Kai and Tabe in the memoirs seemed unable to speak human language.

In response, the Khan swore to God that everything he had recorded was true, and that the dialogue between the two parties was an artistic embellishment he had made to demonstrate his love for Chinese culture.

It was precisely because of this memoir that Khan was definitively diagnosed with mental problems and exempted from military service in South Korea.
-
"Viewers watching the live stream, you are now watching the semifinals of the 2014 League of Legends World Championship. The two teams facing off are WE.A from our LPL region and SSB from the OGN region! I'm your commentator, Miller!"

"I'm the commentator, Waa!"

"I'm Bella, the commentator!"

The three commentators in the commentary booth were all smiles, as if it were Chinese New Year.

Although there was a mix of excitement and nervousness, compared to the Korean livestream room next door, it was like one was celebrating the Lunar New Year and the other was celebrating the Qingming Festival.

"In the first game that just ended, WE.A finished the match in just 21 minutes! Now the two sides are moving on to the second game! WE.A is on the blue side, and SSB is on the red side! Let's look forward to the second game of today's showdown!"

As Miller's voice faded, the doll smiled and said:

"To be honest, I'm still a bit shaken up. The first game ended way too quickly. Before the first game started, I was mentally prepared that this might be the toughest game WE.A had played during the finals. But after the whole game, it felt no different from any of WE.A's previous games."

Bella also spoke up:
"During the break, I also looked at the comments on foreign websites. One comment said: Watching WE.A's matches, you can clearly feel that they are no longer on the same level as any team in the World Championship. So whether it is FNC, who was eliminated at the bottom of the group stage, or the so-called number one seed of OGN, they are like children who have just learned to play this game in front of WE.A."

Hearing Bella's words, Miller smiled and said:

"Hey, hey, hey, saying that is a bit...we should be more humble, more humble."

"This isn't my opinion; it's the most popular comment on the internet right now."

The atmosphere in the commentary booth was relaxed, and the WE.A players also showed no signs of the tension they would have felt facing the semifinals.

Although the average age of WE.A's players is less than seventeen years old, and it is their first time participating in the World Championship, they have already built up their confidence by playing all the way up and with the influence of Zhou Li.

Especially on Flandre's face, the smile was practically blooming into a bright chrysanthemum.

Because of his good performance in the previous game, he continued to play in this game, not giving the Khan a chance to seize power.

What kind of skill is it to play more games in the group stage?
If we're really going to win, we'll have to rely on Flandre!

Khan, you're only fit to win a championship. You have to understand that even champion top laners have different levels of skill.

On the other hand, let's look at Samsung Blue.

A thick, low-pressure atmosphere hung over every contestant.

Although this is a best-of-five series, and the match is only in its second game, the Samsung Blue team has completely lost all morale.

If the crushing defeat in the first game dealt a severe blow to their morale, then Coach Choi Yoon-sang's harsh words to the Emperor were the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Normally, if someone says something like that in private when they're really angry, it's just a form of encouragement, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The crux of the matter is that this statement has now been filmed as a video, directly posted on the internet, and has caused a huge reaction!

At this moment, the emperor's hatred for Choi Yoon-sang was so intense that he wished he could tear him to pieces.

In just one match, he went from being a star mid-laner in OGN to a trash mid-laner who was a hundred times weaker than a seventeen-year-old rookie.

It's worth noting that even if SSB had lost to WE.A and fallen in the semifinals today without Choi Yoon-sang's words, his value wouldn't have been greatly affected.

After all, they are already among the top four teams in the world!

However, now, because of Choi Yoon-sang's words, it is foreseeable that if the Emperor leaves Samsung Blue in the near future, he will probably have a hard time finding a good job.

Since things have come to this, what's the point of fighting anymore?

Let's just give up!

At this point, both sides had entered the draft phase. The teammates were discussing in voice chat, while the Emperor just listened quietly without saying a word.

WE.A's strategy for removing key players remained unchanged; they removed Treant Protector, Time Traveler, and Rengar.

Since the group stage, WE.A's ban strategy has remained largely unchanged, consistently targeting only a few of the stronger heroes in the current meta.

As for which heroes the opposing player is good at playing—

What's it to me?

WE.A basically didn't do any targeted bans against the opposing players.

This is absolute confidence in one's own strength.

On the SSB side, they eliminated Nidalee, Olaf, and Kha'Zix.

The right to vote has fallen into the hands of WE.A.

Without much hesitation, WE.A immediately locked up the bull's head on the first floor.

This hero can now be played as either top laner or support, and whether in the top lane or support role, he is a Tier 1 hero, so he can definitely be picked immediately.

The right to vote has fallen into the hands of the SSB.

To everyone's surprise, SSB locked down Lee Sin on the first floor!
Then, SSB played Lulu on the second floor!
"Hey! Samsung Blue's selection of people is quite something!"

Seeing that Samsung Blue's first and second items were immediately sold to the mid-field, Wawa couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"Samsung Blue is still going to focus on mid and jungle! I was wondering why they chose to ban Kha'Zix, which Zhou Li had never used before, in their last pick, while letting Alistar through. It seems they had a plan hidden in their draft!"

Bella nodded and said:

"Furthermore, now that Samsung Blue has acquired Lulu and Lee Sin, and they have also banned Nidalee, it's safe to say that it will be difficult for WE.A to find a mid-jungle duo that can compete with this combination."

It's not that Miller and Bella are overthinking things; in fact, this is indeed Samsung Blue's tactic.

Although Samsung Blue's mid and jungle had performed terribly in the past, there was no other way. In order to stop WE.A's fast-paced offense, they had to focus on the mid and jungle.

So they deliberately let Alistar go, and then directly picked up the mid-jungle duo of Lulu and Lee Sin!
After locking Lulu up, Spirit glanced at the Emperor silently.

He was terrified that the Emperor would say to him again, "I'm going to play the 'Za' game."

Fortunately, the emperor was unusually quiet at this moment and did not make any move.

This relieved Spirit.

With Lulu and a strong mid-jungle duo like Lee Sin, we might still have a fighting chance in this game!
(End of this chapter)