Story #5 - Tit for Tat

After the 2019 iConquer world championships came to a close, it was time to start planning for the next year.  As this year’s winner, the Phoenix team would have an automatic entrance into the next year’s world championships, but that didn’t mean they could rest on their laurels and not worry about the next year.  There were plenty of teams eager to replace them at the top, and that included teams within China as well. 

Every shift between the competitive seasons always brought changes and now that everyone was looking ahead to the fall season, there were already major transitions happening within the Chinese league. 

The team having to undergo the greatest transformation was perhaps the VNG team.  Not only had they lost their longtime coach, Shu Wen, but one of their top players had been suspended for an entire year.  Add to that, they’d already lost Pei Xi the prior year, followed by Ji Xiang Kong, and with only a skeletal crew remaining, both Lu Sheng and Tong Wu had opted to not renew their contracts with VNG and had instead combined forces with the remaining members of the Legends team. 

CEO Jin, it was said, was determined to return the Legends team to its former glory and the infusion of new blood into the team was his first step in that journey.

Li Gan, on the other hand, was scrambling to put a new string of players together to avoid having VNG downgraded to the relegation league.  It was going to be an uphill battle for him with only Shen Yue as his seasoned player, especially when Shen Yue had always been more of a follower than a leader.  There were times when Summer would sigh and say he pitied Li Gan and his current situation, but Shu Wen would always shake her head and say this was a product of his own making.  It wasn’t that Shu Wen was unsympathetic.  She hated seeing a team she’d worked so hard for years to help build floundering as it was, but she wasn’t one to dwell on things beyond her control either.

Instead, she now poured her energies into the Phoenix team having decided to join officially by becoming its coach.  She wasn’t the team’s only new member.  Gu Fang had also decided that he’d had enough time off and returned to the esports world by signing on as the team’s business manager.

Ever since the conclusion of the world championships a lot of attention, focus, and interest had turned in the direction of the Phoenix team and Xiang Kong knew it was beyond his abilities to continue wearing the multiple hats that had been required of him when he’d first founded the team.  If he wanted to continue competing as a player, which he did, and if he wanted to see the team continue to grow, which he also did, then he knew, he needed help from others.  That was why he turned to the people who’d been by his side from the beginning, and the people he’d long admired and trusted.

The good thing about working with people who knew him as well as Gu Fang and Shu Wen did, was that their visions and motivations were perfectly aligned.  In fact, one of the things reporters would always comment on whenever they wrote news articles about the Phoenix team was how it wasn’t only the players themselves who worked cooperatively when playing in a competition, but it was also the team members and their management who had a harmonious working relationship.  Truly, everyone’s ability to get along like family and friends was the Phoenix team’s greatest asset and strength.

The bad thing about working with people who knew him as well as Gu Fang and Shu Wen did, was that they could anticipate his every reaction from a mile away.  Which was how it came to be one afternoon that Xiang Kong was sitting in front of his computer screen, tapping his fingers aimlessly against the keyboard, while Gu Fang and Shu Wen stood over him with determined expressions on their faces.  Shu Wen even had her arms crossed, which Xiang Kong knew was the key point of her “I’m not budging” look.

“I know,” Gu Fang repeated for the millionth time, “You don’t like participating in these kinds of events.”

“But it’s just one afternoon at an anime convention,” Shu Wen pointed out.

Xiang Kong couldn’t hold back the eye roll, but he did manage to at least wait until dinner that night to vent his annoyance. 

“It’s not like we’re a string of puppets,” he complained.  “I really don’t understand these sponsors who insist on making us attend these types of events.  What’s the point?”

Across from him, Qiu Ying tucked in her chin and swallowed a smile.  It had been like this ever since Phoenix had signed their first sponsorship contract. 

Since everyone liked a winner, it hadn’t taken long after the world championships before various companies were lined up outside their door hoping to form a strategic alliance.  That was one of the reasons why Xiang Kong had turned to Gu Fang for help, and Qiu Ying actually thought Gu Fang had done an admirable job of sorting through their options to pick only those that were the most advantageous and relevant to form sponsorship relationships with. 

“At least the anime convention is scheduled for when you guys are on a break anyway,” Qiu Ying tried to placate.  “It won’t affect the team’s training.”

“I think it’ll be fun,” Lin Yi Xuan piped up.  “I’m looking forward to it.”

Xiang Kong shot his friend a dark look.  “You would.” 

“What?  Why shouldn’t I feel that way?  At least it’ll be better than those other types of events that we sometimes have to attend, where all we do is eat, drink, stand around, and make small talk with random strangers.”

“So instead you’d rather stand on a stage and play stupid games while random strangers watch?”

“I’m sure Manager Gu will arrange with the organizers of the anime convention to make sure the team doesn’t have to do anything unreasonable,” Qiu Ying cut in.

“And it’s not like you haven’t participated in these kinds of events previously.  Didn’t you once go on a television program and play stupid games?  You even made Qiu Ying fall into a pit of balls; as I recall, it wasn’t just once but multiple times!” 

It was Qiu Ying’s turn to shoot her friend, Lu Yi Yi, a dark look.  “Don’t get involved,” she whispered to her on the side. 

“What?” Yi Yi said, e