novelODS 010 Lee Sang-hyeok
010 Lee Sang-hyeok
Inside the SKT training room, the atmosphere became somewhat somber as the announcements of the dragon's death and the fall of the first tower rang out one after another.
MVP completely changed after that team fight in the bottom lane.
The pace of those few minutes was completely unexpected.
It's too smooth, and too sharp.
It was as if their decisions had always been within the expectations of the other side.
Take this team fight for example. Even if they win, they can't really do much because there are no minions in the mid and bottom lanes. At most, they can only take a small dragon.
On the other side, MVP had already controlled the mid and bottom lane minions, allowing them to push down two extra turrets.
There's no other reason than this is purely a difference in command.
Behind him, the members of SKT's first team also had their brows furrowed.
They had previously played scrims with MVP and knew that MVP's leader, Mata, was a player with a clear mind and was the team's biggest strength.
But... it doesn't seem to be that powerful, does it?
Lee Sang-hyeok also lowered his head, clenched his fists, and kept replaying the scene in his mind.
Actually, his performance in this game was quite good. He not only had a brilliant moment in the team fight that sealed the victory, but his damage output was also undoubtedly the highest in the team.
Even if he can't compare to Impact, who dominates the top lane, he can at least rank second in terms of impact.
However, it's not very meaningful.
They still lost decisively.
Neo is such an outrageous person.
Even professional teams can be toyed with by him!
It's truly baffling that someone this skilled hasn't joined any professional esports team yet.
Although Neo has appeared in MVP's mid lane, Lee Sang-hyeok does not believe that a team like MVP is worthy of this player.
Of course, the one who suffered the most in this game wasn't Lee Sang-hyeok, but Piglet, who had just been instantly killed from full health.
The short-lived pig is still making me wonder how he could be instantly killed by a Sion.
With just two skills and a bit of Hellfire, he can instantly kill someone at full health?
Is this a hero who can kill in an instant?
Piglet saw Sion's Mejai's Soulstealer stacked to fourteen layers, making it even easier for him to finish off the enemy next, and felt a pang of unease. He couldn't help but say, "There's probably no chance this game, GG."
Anyone with eyes could see that the game was already decided, and with no objections, they typed "GG" amidst laughter and cheers.
SKT coach Kkoma felt a headache coming on as he watched the first scrim game go so badly.
SKT invested heavily in assembling a second team, not just to give others a piece of their minds.
He couldn't accept that the team had lost so badly and needed to find out where the problem lay.
Kkoma coughed twice and then said, "Sang-hyeok, why don't you rest for a bit and let Eo-jin try out a game?"
Pei Yuzhen is a professional player who has already played in amateur leagues. His ID is Dade. Before Li Zhixing and Li Xianghe rose to the top, he was always the number one player in the entire server.
Today's training match was actually a competition between the two to secure the starting position.
It's not just the mid-lane position that's being contested; there are others in the top lane too. A young man with glasses is waiting to take the stage, but Impact has performed quite well so he hasn't gotten a chance yet.
Lee Sang-hyeok paused slightly upon hearing this, then silently stood up, lowered his head, and retreated to a corner of the lounge, watching Dade sit in his seat, attracting everyone's attention.
Just then, Wolf, a support player, walked over while eating potato chips and gently patted the boy's thin shoulder, saying, "It's okay, Sang-hyeok. This game wasn't your fault; everyone could see that. Even if Dade doesn't play well, you can still get a contract."
Lee Sang-hyeok kept his head down and didn't reply. He waited until Wolf turned and walked away before quietly leaving the training room.
A young man's spirit is the most precious and irreplaceable thing. Even though he lost to Neo many times, he never thought he was weaker than his opponent.
He couldn't accept pinning his hopes for a starting position on the defeat of his competitors.
In the entire SKT training room, only one person could understand Lee Sang-hyeok, and only one person noticed his departure.
It was the substitute top laner waiting to take the field.
......
Meanwhile, inside the MVP training room.
Kim Hyuk-kyu, still somewhat dazed, logged out of the game with his teammates. "Huh, it's over already?"
The pace of this scrim is too fast. They immediately switched to the next game as soon as they saw things were going wrong? Don't they play the late game?
For AD players, this mode is completely unenjoyable; they don't even have the chance to get three items.
Mata and Dandy also stood up, exchanging a knowing glance with complex expressions.
Winning against SKT in a scrim is certainly something to be happy about, as it proves that their lineup is capable of competing against any team.
The awkward part is that... their own people didn't play much of a role.
This trial was originally intended to probe Neo's capabilities, but before they could figure them out, the other side figured them out first!
This guy is amazing!
Is this even possible?
Mata looked at Li Zhixing somewhat nervously: "Brother, how are you feeling?"
Li Zhixing remained calm and said, "There are many problems. The players lack discipline and don't follow instructions. The bot lane's laning phase is weak, their vision control is poor, and the top laner's mechanics are lacking..."
Upon hearing this, the MVP team was slightly taken aback, especially Redmi in the top lane, who didn't know what to say for a moment.
Bro, why are you making comments? Who was actually giving whom a trial today?
But to be honest, they are certainly aware of the team's shortcomings...
"Apart from that... they're pretty good, a very excellent team," Li Zhixing concluded.
Li Zhixing never lies, and the performance of the MVP team is actually not bad.
Both the jungler and support players have extremely strong execution skills, their mechanics are flawless, and they can basically carry out any commands they are given. They are all top-notch players.
Although the top laner is a bit lacking, his role as a blue-collar worker is what it is. As long as he listens to commands and is willing to sacrifice, that's enough.
That's actually quite remarkable.
A champion team doesn't necessarily have every player who is a master, but they must have good chemistry and complement each other, with the five players taking turns supporting each other and playing to their strengths while avoiding their weaknesses.
MVP is that kind of team.
If they were to be paired with an excellent commander and two carries of similar skill level to the jungler and support, this team would have a very promising future, and it's not impossible for them to reach the top.
Of course, this is definitely not what Li Zhixing wanted.
His two three-peat championships in his previous life had made him look down on those teams that were supposedly capable of winning the championship; what he wanted was absolute dominance.
Upon hearing this, Mata was delighted and asked, "Then... bro, do you want to try a few more games? It seems like the other team has changed their mid laner."
Li Zhixing has a youthful face, typical of a high school student. Mata, born in 94, is actually much older, but he calls him "brother" very naturally.
Upon hearing Mata's words, Li Zhixing astutely grasped the underlying point and asked, "Did the opposing team change their mid laner?"
"Yes, that's right." Mata glanced at the message, "It's been changed from Faker to Dade."
Li Zhixing thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Do you know who that Faker is?"
"I don't know, I only met him for the first time today," Mata said honestly. "But SKT's base isn't far from here. If you want to know, we can go check it out later..."
Before Mata could finish speaking, he saw Li Zhixing turn around and walk out of the training room.
Kim Hyuk-kyu was startled when he saw this and shouted, "Hey hyung!" He also rushed out.
The MVPs looked at each other in bewilderment once again.
He's just a defeated opponent, is he really worth all this attention?
......
Lee Ji-haeng walked hurriedly on the streets of Cheongdam-dong in Gangnam-gu.
After the recent training match, Li Zhixing is now completely certain that Faker is Hide on bush.
After all, the two of them played games at the same time every day, and they were constantly in close combat. Li Zhixing had long since gained a deep understanding of this person's playing habits.
Moreover, the ability that the opponent just demonstrated in the training match is by no means something an ordinary person could possess.
Talent doesn't lie.
But the question now is, who exactly is Hide on bush?
It's rare to find a contestant who suits his taste so well, so of course he doesn't want to miss out.
"Zhixing-ge!" Kim Hyuk-kyu jogged up to catch up, his steps hurried.
Although he didn't know why his older brother suddenly left, he just followed along no matter what his brother did.
These practice matches weren't really that great. Kim Hyuk-kyu had already sensed through the practice matches that professional players weren't all that great, not as skilled as he had imagined.
But that's understandable, considering he's ranked third in the Korean server. If a professional player is truly exceptional, their score wouldn't be lower than his.
When he ran to Li Zhixing's side, he saw his elder brother staring blankly into the distance, motionless.
Kim Hyuk-kyu followed the gaze and saw the boy with his messy hair standing up and boarding the bus at the bus stop.
The bus slowly started moving and headed towards Jiangxi District.
After getting into the car, Lee Sang-hyeok sat by the window, lost in thought, unaware of Lee Ji-hyung and Kim Hyuk-kyu standing by the roadside.
They passed each other again.
Li Zhixing's gaze followed the path, and finally a look of relief appeared on his face. He smiled and shook his head, "Let's go back."
"Aww."
In the end, Lee Ji-hyung and Kim Hyuk-kyu returned to the MVP training room.
Since we've already made an agreement with MVP, we definitely need to finish these practice matches.
Lee Ji-hsing has been a professional player for many years; even a fool could guess what happened in the SKT training room.
These elite clubs are the least likely to understand the meaning of trust; they think they're just going to a karaoke bar, where if things don't work out, they'll just switch to a different club.
Out of loyalty to his classmates, Li Zhixing decided to step in and teach SKT a lesson.
If they don't teach the other side a painful lesson, SKT might actually think Dade is better than Lee Sang-hyeok.
In the following training matches, SKT failed to make any further waves.
In the first game, Li Zhixing played extremely aggressively, killing Dade's Orianna with Syndra within the first three minutes.
At six minutes, Dade was already laning under the second tower...
As the former number one player in the Korean server, when has he ever suffered such treatment!
The situation wasn't much better in the second game. The two sides switched heroes, with Li Zhixing playing Orianna and playing even more aggressively.
In the early laning phase, Li Zhixing first used his agile movement to dodge seven "Dark Orbs" in a row, causing Dade's Dao Heart to collapse. Then, he seized the opportunity to start with a wave of auto-attacks, slowed down Dade with QW, and chased him down with auto-attacks all the way, easily establishing an advantage in the lane.
From that moment on, Dade never raised his head again.
Fifteen minutes later, SKT typed GG again, and the game ended.
After two rounds, Dade was completely demoralized, and Kkoma was left questioning his existence.
What is this?
I thought Dade would be able to exchange blows with Neo right away, since both of them had been ranked number one in the entire server, unlike Lee Sang-hyeok who was always second.
But now it seems that's not the case?
Lee Sang-hyeok actually did a great job. At least he didn't get crushed in lane when he picked the first hero and even managed to make some impressive plays!
Kkoma looked towards the corner of the lounge, where the boy who should have been sitting had vanished without a trace.
With no other option, Kkoma had to make another change, deciding to try putting Looper, the substitute top laner, in the game.
Although the mid-lane problem cannot be solved by replacing the top laner, at this point we have no choice but to try anything.
To be fair, the looper's performance was unexpected.
Although his playstyle isn't as aggressive as Impact's, it's still balanced and stable, with a clear mind, making him a super-sized Redmi. His main strength lies in his ability to split push, and when he pulled out Alchemist, he actually put a lot of pressure on MVP's side lanes.
But it was still no use. Li Zhixing overwhelmed all opponents with sheer force. Li Zhixing's Ice Maiden made a perfect entry, hitting four people simultaneously with W+R, and winning the game in one fell swoop.
Kkoma watched this scene from behind, completely stunned.
In four training matches, they failed to win a single game!
They're a well-known powerhouse team, yet they got beaten like this by an amateur team. What's the point of them playing? They might as well disband!
The training match ended there. After sending off all the trial players, including Looper and Dade, Kkoma thought for a moment, then took out his phone and made a call.
In any case, this training match wasn't entirely fruitless.
He at least learned who the real masters were.
"Brother, is something wrong?" Mata answered the phone.
Kkoma asked, "How did you get in touch with Neo?"
SKT is financially powerful and has always wanted to build a super team. Of course, they wouldn't miss Neo, who has a huge lead and dominates the Korean server, and Deft, who is clearly tied to Neo.
However, he couldn't contact the other party at all... He couldn't add them as a game friend, they didn't reply to his YouTube private messages, and he even left comments under their videos, but it still didn't work.
However, judging from Neo's sophisticated self-media skills, he is probably not young.
Esports is ultimately a game for young people, which is why he found the second-best, Hide on bush, and the previous-best, Dade.
"Well... it's because I have him as a game friend. He actually adds very few friends."
Mata began by saying, "I tried talking to him, and to my surprise, he agreed."
Kkoma fell silent for a moment.
Is the reason we can't add each other as friends because our players are too bad?
Our club doesn't have any low scores either!
Kkoma then asked, "So, how did your tryouts go today?"
"Um... He said he'd get back to me in a while, and then he left." Mata's words carried a hint of embarrassment.
We'll give you a reply in a while. Everyone knows what that means. That's what Kkoma just told Dade.
Kkoma thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Is Neo old?"
Neo's age directly determined his subsequent decisions.
"You might not believe it, but Neo is actually a high school student."
"Ani?" Kkoma's mouth dropped open in disbelief. "High school student? Which high school?"
A high school student can simultaneously maintain the top ranking in the entire server, while also managing social media and an online store? Without any formal education?
"It seems to be Mapo High School, that's a really good high school..."
"Mapo Junior High School???"