LOL: I'm in the LPL, that's my fight!

Chapter 68: PDD: We're guaranteed to win!

"Damn, why are there so many people here today?"

Wu Chen had just peeked halfway out from the backstage passage when he was startled by the ridiculously exaggerated scene inside the venue.

Lights, screens, and a dense crowd of people.

"Well, while it's true that our Brother Yan really showed his prowess in the City Championship, crushing those teams one by one and that was really exciting—but isn't today's performance a bit over the top?"

As always, Li Rui was talking nonsense, and he even made an exaggerated gesture that almost hit Zhou Heyang next to him.

Zhou Heyang clicked his tongue, his gaze sweeping over the almost full stands, his tone carrying a hint of youthful shock: "If you didn't know better, you'd think we were playing in the LPL."

Zhu Dan, who was walking at the very back, seemed much calmer than the other three.

He pulled out a chair and sat down, wiping the table as he went. He glanced in Fu Shiyan's direction and said seriously, "When I watched the secondary league before, there weren't this many people. For a small city's championship to have such a spectacular scene, it's definitely a record-breaking event..."

"But I wasn't surprised."

"The finals tickets were already cheap, practically given away for free by the organizers. Plus, both Yan Ge and PDD, the boss of MGB, are well-known figures in the LOL esports scene. Just considering our leader alone, I think this attendance rate is entirely justified."

Fu Shiyan was silent for two seconds, his expression subtly shifting.

"...Your analysis was very good. Don't do it again next time."

His tone was casual, yet it made the people around him burst into laughter at the same time.

Li Rui was the first to lose his temper, turning around and pointing at Zhu Dan: "Dan, you with thick eyebrows and big eyes, when did you learn to flatter?"

Zhu Dan was taken aback, then earnestly defended himself: "I didn't, I'm stating the facts."

Wu Chen patted him on the shoulder: "Your statement is more convincing than flattery."

"Ahem, serious, serious indeed—"

Mo Ziye cleared his throat, deliberately lowering his voice, yet with a slightly serious tone, "Let's chat casually, but the camera is right in front of us. We're professionals, so don't burst out laughing."

After saying that, he didn't completely suppress the smile on his face; he just quickly turned his face away and pretended to straighten his tie.

Today, he was dressed in a rare light gray suit, and his hair was neatly styled. Standing behind several young men in team uniforms, he cosplayed as the team coach.

I must say, he does look quite presentable.

Of course, everyone knows that the real head coach of BJBS is Crush, who is sitting in the middle lane, resting his chin on his hand and looking at the screen.

There are reasons why we see this scene.

Today marks the "starting point" for BJBS as they officially enter the professional arena. In fact, it's also the last time this team will stand on the stage under this name.

The young men got together and decided to ask Boss Mo for a "seat"—even if it was just a mascot, they wanted him to sit openly on the competition stage.

What they didn't know was that even for this purely perfunctory opportunity to go on stage, Lao Mo had put in a lot of effort.

He and Lao Qi played rock-paper-scissors to decide the winner, and the game went from best of three to best of seven. In the last round, he took advantage of Lao Qi's distraction, secretly changed his hand gestures, and won by cheating.

"Check the equipment carefully and report any problems to the referee immediately."

After the group had finished joking around, Fu Shiyan added, "The equipment is fine, you can practice in custom mode to get a feel for it."

"learn!"

"clear!"

On the opposite side of the stage, in the MGB team's competition area.

Compared to the relaxed BJBS members who were even joking around with each other, the MGB members looked extremely serious on camera.

"Oh dear, should I have been more pretentious today, insisting on imitating Crush and doing this drafting and banning thing on stage?"

"If anyone ever tells me again that being a LoL coach is as easy as having hands, I'll argue with them!"

PDD stood behind the crowd, wearing noise-canceling headphones, his face contorted in bitterness, his signature round face etched with regret.

His original plan was wonderful. It was the finals, so he planned to put on a show of "personally leading the charge"—to sit on the coaching bench, cheer on his players, and let the fans see how much his chubby brother valued this final.

I made sure to pick a well-fitting suit, and before leaving the house today, I practiced my "strategic" expression in front of the mirror several times.

But when it came time to actually play, he realized that he had probably oversimplified the role of a coach.

Even if it's just a position.

Upon arriving at the competition area, he almost stole his teammate's top laner's spot as he instinctively sat down.

After being forced to stand up, he didn't know whether he should stand in the middle behind the contestant, or to the left or right.

He tried to take a couple of steps, but then hesitated for fear of blocking the contestants' peripheral vision, so he just stood there, his hands sometimes in his pockets, sometimes behind his back, and finally awkwardly resting them on the back of the chair, facing the camera, looking completely out of place.

Anyway, he's quite different from the handsome, skinny coach I had imagined.

Next is the pre-match communication.

While waiting for the BP to start, my mind kept replaying the jokes we used to exchange at the base.

He intended to pat the overly tense mid-laner on the shoulder and tell him to "relax," but when his hand landed, he didn't control the force well, and with a crisp "smack," the mid-laner shuddered, turned around and glanced at him, clearly quite frightened.

Even more critical is the psychological counseling aspect.

The BJBS team members on the other side were chatting and laughing, while on their side, the five of them sat up straight, staring at the screen, their whole bodies radiating tension.

PDD opened his mouth several times, trying to say something to ease the tension.

For example, you might tell a joke or chat about the hotpot you ate last night, but then you swallow the words back down.

He was afraid that if he opened his mouth, it would have the opposite effect and make the atmosphere even more awkward.

After all, he was the boss, and it was his first time coaching. The players looked at him with a mixture of awe and nervousness. The more he tried to appear friendly, the stronger the sense of pressure that came from "the boss personally overseeing the battle" became.

Something's not right, absolutely not right.

Why is it that Crush, that inexperienced young guy, so relaxed and carefree when leading the team? His draft picks and bans on the field don't seem to have anything special about them, but when it comes to me, it's like I'm being pricked all over?

When you're a player, all you need to do in a match is focus on your own gameplay, and all you have to do is listen to that guy, Yabolong, yell "Go! Go! Go!"

How come there's such a big difference in perception when I switch identities?

After a long silence of more than ten seconds, PDD, whose mind was completely blank, finally managed to stammer out, "It's okay. We've played a lot of scrims against IG, and our understanding of the current meta is definitely better than BJBS's. Just play normally in the finals, and we'll win!"

Xiao Ming, who plays the support role, is getting a little numb from what he's saying.

Guaranteed win?

Boss, we've only just sat down, we haven't even started the business plan yet, and you're already setting a goal... Is that really okay?

Xiao Ming didn't dare to say it out loud, but quietly swallowed and glanced at his other teammates, especially the mid-laner who had to face off against Da Yun Ge and had been terrified by his own boss. His expression was now quite sullen.

I hope so...

"Players from both teams, please enter the room. The first game of the BO5 finals of the TGA Winter Grand Prix is ​​about to begin."

The referee's reminder brought Xiaoming's wild thoughts to an end.