Opening Author's Notes
Whoa, another chapter that got a lot bigger than I thought it would! This is also both an epilogue/wind-down chapter with some extra goodies thrown in. Also was hoping we'd get something other than Korea vs. Korea again in the Worlds final just for variety's sake, but I'm still hopeful we'll get some riveting action.

Aurora woke the morning after the final with a big smile on her face. We had been overcome with happiness as we'd made our victory lap at the World Cup Stadium, stopping by the Riot broadcast and analyst desks to say hello to them and to the fans. After we'd left the building, we'd had dinner together at a place serving some high-end Korean barbecue, and it had included drinks. I normally didn't drink at all since I wanted to be the sober one just in case something happened to me or to someone close who was drinking, but I allowed myself a glass of champagne and even a bit of Bailey's, which thankfully wasn't enough to get me drunk. Hai, Meteos, Sunny and Yuri were among those who had drunk a little more and who had gone home that night tipsy.

She came out in her nightshirt to find that I was at my station in my pajamas checking out the reaction from the previous night now that 12 or so hours had passed. I'd spent a lot of time on Reddit, where the topics that had caught my eye included,

• [Spoiler] Oh My God vs. Cloud 9 / 2014 World Championship FINAL / Post-Match Discussion [/r/LeagueOfLegends]
• "As One" – Discussing the bombshell SNSD/C9 partnership [/r/LeagueOfLegends and /r/KPop]
• Cloud 9 welcomes Jessica Jung as consulting manager [/r/LeagueOfLegends and /r/KPop]
• [Live] Kissing You – Girls' Generation featuring Cloud 9 and Wayne Parsons (Imagine Dragons) at the LoL 2014 World Championship Finals [/r/KPop]
• [Spoiler] The Genie Pentakill [/r/LeagueOfLegends]

In the "As One" topics, a Rioter had come up with the following table:

I got a big kick out of it, smiling as I replied to it, "Cool work! Will run the nickname list by the others. We'll be interviewed back at the World Cup Stadium by Riot and Arirang."

Thankfully, the interview was in the afternoon, so those of us who had slept late, drank a lot or both had ample time to wake up and shake off any hangovers. When we got there, we found that the interviewers were Jatt, Sjokz and Isak. Some of my favorite questions and responses included:

Sjokz: We'll start with a simple question – what's been the reaction from your fans about this one-of-a-kind parnership?

Taeyeon: It's been incredibly positive. A lot of our fans play League, and a bunch of them say – and I'll leave this up to debate – that they don't think even a Korean team could have produced the same result if we'd partnered with them.

Hai: A friend back home texted me and asked whether Cloud 9 League had become the League of Legends sub-unit of Girls' Generation. I got a big laugh out of that.

Balls: On a more humorous note, I had a friend asking me if Girls' Generation passed A Pink on my list of K-Pop favorites.

Isak: Before the final, from those of us looking at it from the K-Pop side, it feels like there was this overriding feeling of something coming to an end...and now it feels like it's the start of something big, potentially something huge. What do you want to do next?

Hai: We're just trying to take it one step at a time because this is obviously uncharted territory, but we know we want to continue to be there for the girls because we're going to need each other's support going forward. From our end specifically, we're going to enjoy this win back home and then make sure we're ready for IEM San Jose in December. We know that Season 5 is going to be underway soon and we know we have to start strong.

Taeyeon: On the immediate front, this is Cloud 9's last full day in Korea. Jessica's headed to Los Angeles with them, and so are Tiffany and Krystal for some well-earned R&R.

Sjokz: When was the first time you heard of the other group?

Me: I remember seeing Yoona first in that cool Intel commercial playing Wings of Liberty with Boxer.

Tiffany: All-Stars when they beat SKT. There was quite the stir over here because of it...of course, Jessica and I, being the two "NA imports" so to speak, were interested to see who did it and how. You can imagine our surprise the first time we tuned into their streams and they were basically DJs taking requests and playing our music as they were streaming.

Isak: This one's for Cloud 9 – favorite Girls' Generation song?

Sneaky: Gee for me. I'm among those who likes it because it's got the obvious connection to "GG" – I actually like it as a kind of fight music that way.

Aurora: Genie. Honorable mention goes to their cover of Tell Me.

Jatt: I'm admittedly trying to get a decent basic understanding of K-Pop, but as in Wonder Girls' Tell Me? Because I remember seeing that on YouTube because it was just so hard not to see it in the sidebar.

Sunny: That very one. It was Music Bank on the Fourth of July, 2008, and we actually swapped songs with Wonder Girls – we covered Tell Me while they covered Kissing You. It was the first time we'd gone with a ier, more mature concept instead of just being cute.

Aurora: We've been listening to it a lot since this morning because it's fit so much, since we've been saying, "Tell me we're not dreaming this." That's to say nothing of everything else it's got going for it – it's a classic, it's sweet, it's sassy, it's got some rap in it...

Me: Yo, can we pull it up on the monitor so those who haven't seen it can check it out?

Isak: We certainly can – we're actually going to take a commercial break and then come back.

Up until now, I've basically given you lyrics as we heard them. This time, tough, I'll spread it out because it's a song that summed up a lot of our feelings from all sixteen of us and continued to do so. That's to say nothing of how fun the performance was and is to watch and listen to.

[Tiffany (originally Sunmi)] Neodo nal johahal jureun mollasseo
Eojjeomyeon joha neomuna joha
Kkumman gataseo na
Nae jasineul jakku kkojibeo bwa neomuna joha
[Seohyun (originally Sohee)] Niga nal hoksi an johahalkkabwa
Honja eolmana ae taeunji molla
Geureonde niga nal saranghandani
Omona! Dasi han beon malhaebwa

English (translation)
[Tiffany (originally Sunmi)] I didn't know that you'd like me too
What do I do? I'm so happy
In case it's a dream, I keep
Pinching myself – I'm so happy
[Seohyun (originally Sohee)] Do you know how much I worried
About you not liking me?
But you love me too
Oh my! Say it again

Meteos: Oh, man, Jatt, the look on your face once you'd seen the whole thing! You were having fun watching it – you had this look on your face as if to say, "Hey now!"

Tiffany: Oh, don't about that. To be fair, that was one of the reactions we were going for when we did that cover.

Jatt: Hey, you rocked that. Thanks for showing me that – give yourselves a round of applause!

Sjokz: Early nicknames we've heard for you guys as a whole have included Cloud 9 Generation, Team Genie, the Genies...is there one that's your favorite?

Jessica: I think it's simply Cloud 9 Generation because that's one that Tiffany and I decided on right after the quarterfinal because it was the first series they'd won after they'd decided to play for us too. But those other nicknames sound cool.

Jatt: One of our colleagues at Riot – and I know he works with us in the Los Angeles office – posted a combined roster on Reddit with names, nationalities, hometowns, ages and nicknames. I understand he used a lot of the existing Girls' Generation nicknames and also came up with some for Cloud 9, including using a few that some in the community have given. I know you've had some time to look it over – what do you make of the nicknames in particular?

Seohyun: Me being the Soshi Maknae instead of just the maknae is important because while I'm the youngest in Girls' Generation, I'm older than every single Cloud 9 player except for Lemon.

LemonNation: There are times when I'll still address Seohyun – and for that matter, Yuri, Sooyoung and Yoona too – as "noona" because it feels strange being the only one who doesn't have to.

Taeyeon: I also like that it's 'little leader' instead of 'kid leader' in this case for similar reasons – I'm still young, but I'm the oldest of the sixteen of us.

Isak: That impromptu huddle after the performance and those speeches seemed to say so much. You guys look like you want to do and accomplish so much more together even if we don't know what's in your sights yet, and I think that's one of the things that's been so moving about this.

Tiffany: Carlo was telling me it was like he felt love and hope in the air and from the people. I think it was because when the stakes were high, we came together and showed them something they hadn't seen before and accomplished something that we hadn't before, and that's why we got such a feeling of "Thank you" and "We love you."

Jessica: Between all that was going on – our last performance before my title changed from 'current member' to 'original and honorary member' and no North American team having won Worlds before – I felt like our combined fans were looking for a reason to believe...to fight...to sing. Because I know I was...

Taeyeon: I think we all were at some point during this run, Sica, so no shame in that.

Hai: We weren't exempt from that either. But that's what people have told me and told us – one thing that they've liked so much about us as a whole is how much we're willing to fight for each other and the people around us even though we come from incredibly varying backgrounds. I think it's safe to say that as long as our fans keep giving us their energy, we'll try and amplify it and give it right back to them. And maybe it's through that that we can really accomplish some great things beyond just championships or fame or glory, as great as those are.

[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Taeyeon (originally Yeeun)] Nareul saranghandago nal gidaryeo watdago
[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Taeyeon (originally Yeeun)] Naega pillyohada malhae malhaejwoyo
[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Jessica (originally Sunye)] Jakkuman deutgo sipeo gyesok naege malhaejwo
[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Jessica (originally Sunye)] Kkumi anirago malhae malhaejwoyo 

English (translation)
[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Taeyeon (originally Yeeun)] That you love me and that you waited for me
[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Taeyeon (originally Yeeun)] Say you need me
[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Jessica (originally Sunye)] I want to hear it all the time, say it to me again
[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Jessica (originally Sunye)] Say it's not a dream

The next night, I had another dream.

I found myself in a white barong Tagalog with blue pants and a blue undershirt, and I was at what was apparently a brightly lit nighttime wedding. Judging by the fact that the air smelled uniquely sweet and that it was warm and humid with a view of the ocean behind a priest, I guessed I was in Hawaii.

I also found I was next to the other Cloud 9 boys, who were wearing blue tuxedos with white vests. The only one I didn't see was Hai until I looked towards the front and saw him in an all-white tuxedo with an ornate aquamarine lapel alongside a lady in a pink-accented white wedding dress.

It suddenly occurred to me to check who the bridesmaids were if we were the groomsmen and groom, and my insides jumped again as I did. Girls' Generation was there on the other side in its entirety in pink dresses, but with Aurora instead of Taeyeon. Aurora and then Tiffany caught my eye and beamed at me, and Tiffany gave me an eye smile before she tilted her head to the front, as if to tell me to keep my eyes there lest I miss something special.

And she was right. Right as I did so, the priest said, "You may kiss the bride."

Hai then beamed and turned to the bride, who handed her bouquet to the priest and drew back her veil herself. All at once, I smiled as my mouth fell open and my eyes went wide. It was Taeyeon.

She then cupped his face in her pink-gloved hands and kissed him. The other fourteen of us, along with the crowd, all whooped at that and burst out into cheers and applause that turned into a standing ovation.

"Look at them...it's so beautiful!" Seohyun said, clasping her hands.

"Oh, my God, that's just awesome." Sneaky said, also beaming.

"Yeah, Hai! Yeah, Tae noona!" Meteos cheered.

"Yeah, get him, Taengoo unnie!" Hyoyeon agreed.

"Oh, my goodness!" Aurora breathes, wiping away a tear of joy.

"Good God, that's amazing!" I said, laughing.

Taeyeon and Hai turned, still glowing and holding each other close, and looked out at the crowd. There were so many people who we knew from both the K-Pop and League of Legends worlds – Heechul, Kyuhyun and the rest of Super Junior, Baekhyun and the rest of EXO and Big Bang were among those on one side, while pro gamers and Rioters like Faker, MadLife, xPeke, Dyrus, Froggen, Doublelift, Sjokz, Riv and Zirene were on the other side. It wasn't a massive audience, but it felt like they had enough noise and good wishes for the entire world.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Hai Du Lam and Mrs. Kim Taeyeon!" The priest announced with a big smile on his face.

It was one of those rare dreams where instead of a sudden awakening, the image gently and smoothly faded to reality. We were on the plane back to Los Angeles, and it was still the dead of night. All eleven of us – the seven players and coaches, plus Jack, Jessica, Krystal and Tiffany – were flying first class after we'd upgraded. Looking across the aisle, I could see Hai asleep with the Summoner's Cup nearby, while the Jungs were in the seats behind him (we had been changing seats occasionally so else weren't stuck with one person the whole flight.)

"Carlo..." I heard Tiffany say from the seat next to me.

I looked over at her to find that she had just awoken too and was wearing an amazed, fascinated expression that I could feel resembled my own. A thought suddenly hit me.

"What did you see?" I asked. "Were you in Hawaii too?"

"I was!" She answered. "Were you at the wedding?"

"Taeyeon's and Hai's?" I asked in response.

She nodded and said almost breathlessly. "Oh, my God, it was so beautiful."

"No kidding." I said fervently.

"You know, I remember looking down at my hand before we saw each other and seeing that I was wearing a ring too...it knew in my heart that it was from you." She said with a loving look.

"Another beautiful thought." I said with a warmly smile. "Okay. Let's get this straight – we both just dreamed about all sixteen of us being bridesmaids, groomsmen and the newlyweds at Hai's and Taeyeon's future wedding in Hawaii, and we were engaged to boot?"

"Yeah. I'm fairly certain it was that – if you and I were engaged at the same time as Taeyeon and Hai, I think they'd get married first every time." She replied. Then she added, "One other thing I remember...It felt as if the world was celebrating all of us being together and them getting married. It was like we had indeed continued to give hope to people and they were celebrating that too...One thing I know for sure – I'm ready to do my part to make that dream a reality." Her voice was firm as she finished.

"Me too, Fany noona." I said, taking her hand gently but firmly. We smiled at each other.

[Seohyun (originally Sunmi)] Eojjeom nae gaseumi ireoke ttwini
Gaseumi jeongmal teojil geot gata
Niga nal bol ttaemyeon
Jeongie gamjeondoen saramcheoreom jeongiga olla
[Sunny (originally Sohee)] Eolmana orae gidarinji molla
Eolmana orae kkum kkwonneunji molla
Geureonde niga nal saranghandani
Omona! Dasi han beon malhaebwa

English (translation)
[Seohyun (originally Sunmi)] My heart is beating so fast
I think it's going to pop
Whenever you look at me
I feel like I've just been electrocuted
[Sunny (originally Sohee)] Do you know how long I've waited for this?
Do you know how long I've been dreaming of this?
But you love me too
Oh my! Say it again

About 100 or so fired-up people were waiting at LAX to welcome us back, see the Summoner's Cup and say hello to Jessica, Tiffany and Krystal. It was also the first time Jessica, Tiffany and Krystal had worn the new C9 jersey in public, which further added to things. While Tiffany and Krystal were still with us, we indeed brought the Summoner's Cup to the Riot office in Los Angeles and got a tour for them and Jessica of the office and the NA LCS studio. We did, of course, still mix in outings, including a few times where Tiffany and I took each other out around LA, including at Disneyland (I'm a big fan and had actually done the College Program while I'd been in school.)

At the end of October, we all split up for a few days to visit family and recharge by ourselves. In early November, we reunited, and Hai picked up Taeyeon at LAX as she wanted to visit us – especially Hai – and attend BlizzCon. She toured the event with us and was excited to try out the upcoming StarCraft II expansion, Legacy of the Void, and watch the WCS Global Finals.

At the start of December, we traveled to San Jose, where we were due to participate in the Intel Extreme Masters event there, which would include StarCraft as well as League. This would be our first event of Season 5, which also meant it would be our first pursuing a second straight World Championship.

It would only have six teams in it and two of them were from Wild Card regions, although TSM would also be there along with Alliance, but there was a lot at stake. We understood that this was our chance to make a great first impression – and that that was what we had to deliver as the reigning world champions. Victory would also enter us into the IEM World Championship in Katowice, Poland, to be held in March. As Taeyeon and Hai had said, it was the last tournament that Cloud 9 had entered and not won (we'd lost to Fnatic in the semifinals two months before Aurora's and my call-ups for All-Stars.)

As we had the first day off since we had a first-round bye as NA LCS champions, we watched the first-round games both just to enjoy ourselves as spectators and to size up the competition. Once that was done, we split up for the time being. I went to watch the StarCraft tournament, and I smiled and waved to the crowd when cameras picked me out and they elected to put me on the screen. During a break, my phone went off, and I silently gasped when I saw it was Tiffany.

"Hello, honey!" I answered, picking it up on my headset.

"Hi, Carlo!" She replied brightly. "How are you?"

"Oh, good, thanks! Just winding down a bit after watching the first-round games." I said. "How about you?"

"I'm watching as well, actually. Liked how you reacted when the camera singled you out!" She replied, and we shared a laugh. She then added, "It looks like they're in between series – is it okay if we talk during the break?"

"Sure, I'd love to!" I answered.

"Great!" She replied. Then she replied a bit cryptically, "Just one thing...not over the phone this time."

"Oh, sorry...Skype, then?" I asked apologetically.

"Good guess, but no." She replied. "I've got an even better idea. Look behind you."

I looked behind me and jumped. Tiffany had just sat down in the row behind me. She was wearing pants, a jacket and a baseball cap that didn't give much away, but the light in her face and eyes revealed it was her.

"Oh, my God! What are you doing in San Jose, Fany noona?" I asked, as she came down and sat next to me before we shared a hug.

"We've got a video shoot, actually, in a few days in LA, so we decided to come a few days early and say hello to everyone!" She replied.

"'We'? Are you telling me the whole group is in San Jose?" I asked, bewildered but even more thrilled.

She nodded and almost squealed, "We made it!"

As if in further answer, my phone went off again. Seeing it was from Jessica, I quickly put the headset back on and answered. "Hello, Sica noona!"

"Hi, Carlo!" She said brightly. "Does Tiff have you?"

"She does!" I replied. "And she just finished telling me that we're sixteen strong here, never mind eight or nine!"

"We sure are!" Jessica answered, and I could see her smile even though we weren't on a vieo call. "Even I didn't see this coming – Jack was the only one who knew they were coming to San Jose before today. Listen, we're at the Starbucks on Santa Clara Street with a fan of ours who wants our help. Can you meet us there?"

"We're on our way." I said eagerly.

"This is Mary. She's a SONE and C9 fan who's visiting us from Lucile Packard Children's Hospital up at Stanford." Jessica told us once we'd arrived, indicating a brunette girl no older than 10 who was standing in the midst of the others.

"Hi, Mary!" I said, shaking her hand. I then turned back to Jessica and said, "That makes sense – Palo Alto's only 30 minutes away from San Jose."

"Hang on...she must have just beaten an illness if she's visting us from a hospital and looks this healthy." Tiffany said.

"She did, actually." Jessica replied. "She just managed to beat lupus!"

"Really?" I said. "Congratulations! I have a friend who's been fighting it too, so I always like seeing someone beat it."

"Thanks a lot!" Mary replied. "I wanted to ask, though...I'm so glad I'm able to meet everyone now that I'm better, but I don't want to be the only one of us in the ward who gets to meet you guys. I have friends there who have gone through worse or are still not over their sicknesses yet, and we're all either C9 or SNSD fans...is it okay if you visited the ward to cheer everyone up?"

We all looked at each other and quickly smiled and nodded. Seeing that, Jessica replied, "We'll be glad to! Let the people know you're coming back with visitors, but don't let them know it's us."

"Don't worry, Jessica, I've got it covered. I'm good at keeping secrets." Mary replied with a smile.

[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Jessica] Nareul saranghandago nal gidaryeo watdago
[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Taeyeon] Kkumi anirago malhae malhaejwoyo 

English (translation)
[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Jessica (originally Yeeun)] That you love me and that you waited for me
[All] Tell me, tell me, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell, tell me
[Taeyeon (originally Sunye)] Say it's not a dream