"Pentakill? It's more like a guarantee for the enemy team's Pentakill!" In the empty corridor, the scoffs from the commentators seemed to echo on endlessly. If anything, the loneliness only amplified the mocking.
"Do you see the trend here? When Pentakill was on BTE, they failed to make it out of Groups. But hey, now that they kicked him off the team, it seems like they're at least going to stay on the Worlds stage a bit longer than last year." If Yu Pengkai wasn't mistaken, he had heard a similar statement made the prior year as well.
"Look how happy BTE was when they flashed that emote! That's what I call pure disdain right there!"
"Yeah, I don't know about you, but I think Pentakill is set for retirement this time. I just don't see why any team would hire him again after yet another fiasco run at Worlds. It just seems that this former five-time regional MVP isn't up to it anymore!"
Yu Pengkai tried to block out their voices, the very same that had once praised him for excellent skill and execution.
"We'll be back shortly after a quick fifteen-minute break for the next match between Wamdon and Pot eSports." Luckily, the commentators finally cued for the commercial break.
Yu Pengkai breathed out a sigh of relief, savoring the long-sought silence.
There were no windows in this part of the arena, only motion-detecting lights. A few years back, he discovered this hall when he slipped away from the interview following yet another defeat. The only thing he didn't expect was to sneak here again every year after that. If there was anything he hated more than losing a game, it was the interview that followed and the eyes of millions witnessing his humiliation.
Slouched against the wall, he could feel the vibrations from the roaring screams the room over, the only connection he had left to reality. The fans were probably greeting the arriving members of the two teams. To think, he once had fans as well, entire crowds holding neon signs of his name and asking for autographs. He forced back a bitter smile.
He was so very still, minus the barely noticeable massaging of his pained right wrist, and if anyone happened by at the moment, they would have surely thought a man passed out.
Even the sound of his breathing seemed too loud in the still night. The darkness that enveloped him was familiar, comforting in a strange way. There would be no one to judge him here. However, this emptiness was a sharp double-edged blade.
No one on his team had come to chase after him, and although it wasn't like Yu Pengkai had expected them to do so anyway, it still stung in a special sort of way.
There is a common saying that your memories come to haunt you when you are alone in the worst place in life, and that phrase couldn't be more true for Yu Pengkai. More than anything, he wanted to block out his past. But as hard as he tried, he couldn't.
"Omigod, it's actually you!" He remembered the first time he had met his current team's newly recruited support, his new laning partner. "You're literally the first idol I've ever had! I started watching you when I was thirteen! Omigod, I can't believe I'm playing alongside you as your support!"
The eighteen year old's enthusiasm was blinding. Still, after a few days of suffering from Yu Pengkai's fiery temper, he began to dodge all conversations, limiting their interactions only to practice and the occasional awkward eye contact here and there.
The rest of the team soon followed, their respect chipping away game by game. Sure, they spent their days training together, but with upwards of a ten-year age difference, he was more like the weird distantly-related uncle who was somehow living in the house's spare room.
As hard as he tried to keep up with their small talk, he didn't know what kids were watching these days. Plus, he would much rather spend time practicing rather than wasting it on pop culture research.
The four of them must be huddling together now, and he could imagine the scene so clearly in his mind. Under the bright lights, they would be standing arm in arm, vowing that they would be back the next year, better than ever. Everyone would feel their deep connections, and the picture would be complete even without their aloof fifth member.
A team. Yu Pengkai scoffed. In the depths of his heart, despite serving on five separate eSports teams, he had only ever thought of one as family. Obviously, judging from how BTE reacted, his former teams thought of him in the same light. To all other teams other than his original, he was nothing more than a short-term contract worker, discarded when their crushing expectations were not met.
Thinking back, he should have retired when the rest of his team did five years ago. At least he could've found a coaching job back then. That is, before he became the community's biggest meme.
But time doesn't flow in the opposite direction, he thought as he closed his eyes, finally accepting the delayed defeat as he slowly slipped down the wall until he sat on the cold floor. It was as if the past ten years of blind determination had suddenly piled onto him in the span of seconds, utterly crushing him.
His contract was up. It was time to find a real job and to start his life anew. Distant dreams couldn't fuel his entire life. Yet what could he actually do? What other skills did he have? He buried his head into his palms in frustration.
"If you could go back in time, would you end up here again?" An eerily-distant voice sounded from around the corner.
It must have been his hallucinations, the countless all-nighters from his youth finally catching up to him.
Without opening his eyes, he scoffed.
If he had the chance to tell his seventeen year old self never to download this game, he would.
If he were able to say no to the recruiting eSports team and deny the professional offer when he was eighteen, he would.
If he could go back in time and tell his nineteen year old self that a game wasn't worth getting disowned by his family and never even saying his final goodbyes, he would.
If he could hold the Championship Cup with his real team members, his non-blood-related kin, before they all retired…
Without knowing, he had been chuckling to himself, an icy self-mocking. To this day, he still couldn't wipe that former dream from his mind.
"Is that a bet or a challenge?" Yu Pengkai looked up, unable to hide the competitive gleam in his tired eyes.
All he saw was darkness. He shook his head lightly, trying to clear the illusions of that voice.
"Then let's do this. If you end up here again, don't say that the entire world was against you." The same voice sounded again, no louder than before. "The choice is all yours. I'll see you again in ten years."
In the stories, this is normally when you cue a blinding flash of light. But for Yu Pengkai, all he saw was continued darkness.
The vibrations against the wall beat on.
The needle-like pains in his wrist still hurt.
The motion-sensor light remained off.
The darkness…
The darkn…
The dar…
…