Rebirth is fine, but I get eight hundred dollars right from the start?

Solo kill.

In the commentary booth, Su Xiaoyan opened her mouth, but the words stuck in her throat for a full two seconds.

Miller quickly added, "Uh... Twisted Fate didn't disappear after using his ultimate; he was just... left in place by Clockwerk!"

Yes, it's not that Twisted Fate didn't want to come, but he was left behind by Orianna and went back to the fountain for a bath, so of course he couldn't come to the bot lane.

Without a core mid-laner, WE's bottom lane tower-diving strategy has failed.

The director thoughtfully switched the camera to the mid lane, where Twisted Fate's corpse lay quietly in the bushes outside the red buff wall.

The replay of a dozen seconds or so passed quickly.

There's nothing particularly special about it.

The card was at half health and was trying to use its ultimate from the bush outside the Blue Buff wall, but Lin Shu caught it by blinding its vision and then used a combo to kill it.

Miller and Su Xiaoyan exchanged a glance and smiled wryly.

"Oh... it seems like the Wind team got tricked. Emperor deliberately gave you the illusion that you could get away, and then used the magic ball to widen the gap the moment you activated your ultimate, resulting in a solo kill."

"I have to say, Emperor's individual skill is truly terrifying. He confidently widens his blind spot, as if he knows the exact location of the cards."

Hahaha, I'm dying of laughter, I can't take it anymore!

[You think you can just fly around with your cards to protect your 2nd tier, kill everyone, take towers, and win in one fell swoop? That sounds nice, but you can't pull it off.]

[Emperor: What makes you think you can fly past me? Come back and play mid lane against your buddies.]

[Exactly! E-God hasn't even started causing trouble for you guys yet, and you're already trying to desert?]

【Wait, how did E-God guess the card's location? There was only one area in his vision, and he just confidently zoomed in, wasn't he afraid of missing?】

[I have a thought, it's just a guess, but WE was planning to tower dive, trying to catch the duo who flashed behind the tower. Twisted Fate could only move towards that position; any further distance and his ultimate's cooldown wouldn't be enough. E probably used this information to gank them.]

[I don't understand it, but it sounds impressive. That's just how it is.]

【WE is finished. Their bot lane couldn't get anything going, and Strawberry got wiped out in the top half of the map.】

That's right, the mid laner is dead, and the purple team has an Orianna eyeing the dragon, so you can't even take it.

To be fair, HWG's bot lane duo is quite strong; they didn't suffer any problems even when facing off against WeiXiao and being targeted so much by Clearlove.

[On the other hand, WE's top lane...]

HWG-LN has eliminated WE-caomei!

(The purple team has destroyed the defensive tower!)

On the road?

What happened on the road?

Oh, your prince is already hanging in the bottom lane, and the mid laner has been sent back to the fountain. The two of them thought they might as well tower dive and send Shyvana there to keep her company. Then, seeing that the tower's health wasn't high, they decided to push it down together.

The top lane tower collapsed with a crash.

On the screen, the economic gap jumped one level.

Quiet.

At the LPL match venue, the originally noisy audience seats seemed to have been muted.

The shouts of "WE, keep going!" that were just moments before were now stuck in their throats, unable to be swallowed or spat out. The blood-red 4-0 score on the scoreboard, and the economic gap that had widened to thousands on the right, were like two cold hands, tightly gripping the necks of every WE fan.

In the front row of the VIP section, a boy holding a WE support flag silently and slowly lowered the red flag in his hand.

He understands the game.

Because he could see it clearly, he was able to realize just how exaggerated the gap in strength between the two teams on the field was.

World champion?

A newcomer to the league?

This is completely the opposite of what you'd expect, isn't it?

Next to the boy sat a young man in a black T-shirt, clutching a banner that read "HWG" in his hand. His fingernails were digging into the edges of the banner, and his lips were pursed tightly.

He had originally wanted to shout "HWG is awesome!" but after looking around at the silent faces in the sea of ​​red, he swallowed his words.

Cough!

Stop talking so loudly!

Let's talk about it after we win in the end.

If I speak up now, I'm likely to be ganged up on.

……

South Korea.

OGN region, SKT club training room.

Kouma pushed open the door, a hint of weariness etched on his brow.

"Where's Sang-hyeok?" he asked the teaching assistant beside him.

The teaching assistant stood up and gestured towards the corner with his chin: "That spot on the far right is probably where they're playing ranked games."

Kouma nodded and strode forward.

As he got closer, he adjusted his expression slightly. He was willing to give this genius boy, whom he had personally unearthed from the random crowd, some extra patience and preferential treatment.

"Um?"

Upon approaching, Kouma paused slightly.

The opposing team wasn't playing ranked matches as the assistant coach had claimed—a replay of a game was playing on the computer screen.

"Have you become lax...?"

Kouma frowned, about to reprimand someone, but when his gaze swept over the screen, he swallowed his words back.

It's a League of Legends match video.

Although it wasn't ranked training, actively watching match recordings to learn from the experience of outstanding players can't be considered slacking off.

"Teach...coach".

After an unknown amount of time, the team battle on the screen came to an end, and Lee Sang-hyeok finally noticed the person standing behind him.

He turned to the side, his earphones slipped down his neck, and his voice carried a hint of embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry, I... didn't notice you."

"fine."

Kouma waved his hand, "I came here today mainly to tell you—the decision to promote the second team to the first team has been made. You'll come with me to report to the first team later."

During the Spring Split, SKT's first team's performance was not ideal. After discussion, the management decided to make a personnel swap between the first and second teams for the mid lane position, which had the most problems, to see if it could improve the situation.

"Watching WE's match?"

"Yes."

Kouma asked casually, his gaze falling on the blue and white team logo on the screen.

"Has the LPL season started yet? I've been so busy lately that I've forgotten to even check WE's matches."

He muttered to himself. As a member of the OGN region, he had naturally been keeping an eye on the movements of that legendary team that had inflicted such a great humiliation on them at the Dragon Tiger Cup.

"Wait...wait a minute—"

Kouma suddenly stopped.

He took a closer look at the scoreboard in the lower right corner of the screen.

"Did the LPL broadcast get the shot wrong? The score... is it 4-0?"

"Is WE on the zero-point side?"

"That's right, Coach. WE's opponent is HWG, who is very strong."

Faker thought for a moment and then added, "I was just watching Emperor's solo kill replay."

Koma ran the name through his mind, "Oh—that player who's been dominating the top spot on the Chinese server. There was news a while back that he was going to go pro… turns out he formed a new team?"

He stared at the screen for a while, then pulled up a chair and sat down next to Faker.

"The LPL is surprisingly strong; a new team was able to suppress WE in the early game."

"It's not just about suppression," Faker's gaze returned to the screen, "I think WE's overall operational rhythm has been completely crushed by HWG, and it won't be difficult for HWG to win this game."

"Their individual skills, operational tactics, and discipline are all ridiculously strong."

"Coach, I think we should change our research subjects."

Faker spoke very honestly, offering advice on the trend of the team and even the entire region frantically studying WE.

He genuinely felt that HWG was significantly stronger than WE, whose playstyle remained largely unchanged from the previous season.

Kkoma did not respond to Faker's comment, but he also did not refute it.

A newly promoted team in the LPL completely crushed the IPL5 champions...

He suddenly realized that he really needed to raise his assessment of the neighboring region's strength this year.

"...Watch this match before you leave."