Winter, Seoul, Blazing Holy Grail S7 Global Finals.
The cheers from the live audience were so loud they could be clearly heard backstage. Yan Jie leaned against the terrace railing, feeling the cold wind, occasionally taking a drag from his cigarette. The ember at the tip glowed briefly before quickly dimming.
“What are you thinking about?”
Chenghua came over, patted Yan Jie’s shoulder, borrowed a light, and put a cigarette in his own mouth:
“It doesn’t feel right not being on home turf. Look at that venue, all Koreans. It’s hard to even find a sign supporting our team.”
“Well, wait until next year,” Yan Jie chuckled:
“Next year, no matter where you compete, I’ll hire a crowd of extras for you, ones who can shout loudly. They’ll just chant your name, giving you the full VIP treatment. I’ll even have a huge flag made, and I’ll stand in front waving it. I’ll cheer when you get a solo kill, and I’ll curse when you get killed. How’s that, brother?”
“Come on.” Chenghua snorted, hearing the meaning behind Yan Jie’s words, his smile fading:
“You… after this match, you’re really leaving?”
“Mm, I’m leaving,” Yan Jie stretched:
“Not playing anymore.”
“Why?”
“No point. I’ve won the championship, reached the top.”
“Bullshit, we haven’t even played yet and you’re already claiming the championship? Who talks such big game?” Chenghua rolled his eyes.
“Ha.” Yan Jie laughed along:
“Confidence! If you don’t believe in yourself, who the hell will? But seriously, if we win, I’ll have reached the end. If we can’t win… I don’t want to come back for another year either. Leaving some regrets in life is another kind of experience.”
“Well, that’s fine, but Little Le and the others will be sad when they find out… So what do you plan to do afterward?”
“Don’t know yet. First, I’ll fulfill my father’s wish and go to school.”
Yan Jie extinguished his cigarette:
“Life has too many possibilities, too many interesting things. I need to try them all one by one.”
Chenghua shook his head with a smile:
“Such an enviable mindset… Well, you’re nineteen, life is just beginning, you should go out and explore.”
“What about you?” Yan Jie looked at Chenghua:
“You’re only a year or two older than me. What about you, still want to keep playing?”
“Yes, I don’t have your mindset or enlightenment. I just love esports and am willing to spend my time here.”
Yan Jie nodded and raised his fist toward Chenghua.
“Good luck.”
Chenghua bumped his fist:
“I won’t let you have regrets. Let’s win the championship.”
–
Qinxi, Yuanfeng County.
A heavy snow fell today, piling up past people’s ankles. A-Shu walked along the road with uneven steps, his flat shoulder bag containing all his possessions.
As he walked, he looked at the shops along the road, stopping to look at recruitment advertisements and going in to ask.
But he was too young-a thirteen-year-old child that no one wanted to hire.
The weather was too cold, and A-Shu was shivering.
He was dressed thinly, unable to afford a thick coat. He only had an ill-fitting jacket he had picked up, which couldn’t shield him from much of the cold.
His feet were nearly numb from the cold, moving forward only by instinct, step by step.
Ahead was a shop with warm yellow lights, its glass door had a printed paper stuck on with dirty transparent tape.
A-Shu went over to look.
It was a recruitment advertisement.
He didn’t recognize the character for “recruitment,” but remembered what it looked like, knowing these two characters meant the shop was looking for workers.
So A-Shu pushed open the heavy glass door and walked in.
The smell inside wasn’t pleasant-a mixture of instant noodle seasoning and choking tobacco smoke.
It was an internet café, crowded with people, mostly young men, gathered around a TV shouting excitedly.
A-Shu didn’t care what they were doing. He glanced at them and walked straight to the front desk:
“Hello.”
At the desk sat a young woman with dyed red hair. She had a cigarette in her mouth and was staring at the screen, not even bothering to look up when someone came in:
“How many hours? Or overnight? Prices are on the board.”
“No,” A-Shu pulled his jacket tighter:
“Are you hiring? I can work.”
But the woman seemed not to have heard what he said. After a moment, she just slapped the table hard: “Beautiful!”
At the same time, the men gathered around the TV erupted in cheers.
A-Shu didn’t understand what was happening and was confused.
He didn’t know if he should say anything else, so he just waited quietly until the red-haired woman finally looked up at him:
“How many hours… What’s your situation? This is a legitimate business, we don’t serve minors, okay? Better leave now.”
“No, I’m here looking for work.”
A-Shu explained, but the red-haired woman ignored him again.
Maybe she was really busy.
A-Shu thought, so he didn’t bother her anymore. He decided to wait until she was less busy to discuss the job, so he walked in and sat down by the radiator near the front desk to wait patiently.
The shop was so warm that A-Shu’s frozen body gradually warmed up, causing his limbs to feel numb and itchy, as if tiny ants were crawling on them.
He curled up and looked through the gaps in the crowd at the screen they were surrounding.
The screen seemed to show some kind of computer game, with little figures topped with red and blue bars fighting. The spectators watched, sometimes cheering, sometimes sighing.
A-Shu couldn’t understand any of it.
The surrounding environment was noisy and the smell unpleasant, but in this rare warmth, A-Shu found himself growing drowsy.
His vision became increasingly blurry, and he couldn’t help but close his eyes.
Until a cheer erupted, everyone in the shop was shouting and screaming, cheering wildly as if they had gone mad.
The noise woke A-Shu up, and he opened his eyes in confusion.
“We won, we won! Holy shit! SG is awesome!!!”
“Ahhh, damn it, after so many years we finally won! Awesome!!!”
“Damn, brothers, I’m treating everyone to an all-nighter tonight!!”
“Spring is amazing, damn!! Who’s up for a five-player game?!!”
“Hey!”
Lost in thought, A-Shu was suddenly called back to reality by a female voice:
“Kid, what are you doing here? I told you we don’t serve minors, you should leave now! Sitting here is in the way and affects business.”
“I’m sorry.” A-Shu stood up from the ground and explained:
“But I came looking for work.”
“Looking for work?” The woman looked him over and waved her hand:
“We need someone who knows how to use computers, and you’re too young, you can’t do it. Hurry back to your parents, what time is it already?”
“Oh…”
A-Shu lowered his eyes, not saying anything despite being rejected. He just put his shoulder bag back on and walked out.
The woman took a drag of her cigarette, not caring much at first, but as she watched his back, for some reason, she suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.
She saw that he didn’t linger or plead, just quietly walked out, shivering when the cold wind hit him as he opened the door.
The boy looked thin and frail, his jacket dirty and ill-fitting, his pants so thin and short that they exposed his bare ankles, not even wearing thermal underwear.
He stood under the eaves with his small worn bag, looking up at the increasingly heavy snow, lost in thought.
Tsk.
The woman looked away, irritably blowing out a smoke ring.
Damn it, there are so many pitiful children in the world, if she helped each one, how could she live? Was she a philanthropist???
But…
The woman glanced at the TV screen in the shop.
On the screen, five young men stood on stage holding up a trophy, and when the people in the shop saw this, they cheered again.
Forget it, forget it.
The woman sighed a bit irritably, as if making a decision, walked over to open the door, and looked at the young boy who hadn’t left yet. Her tone wasn’t particularly friendly:
“Hey!”
“?” A-Shu turned to look at her.
“Never mind, everyone’s happy today, I won’t chase you away, come in.”
The woman stepped aside to let A-Shu in and asked:
“You look like a country bumpkin, can you read?”
A-Shu nodded: “A little.”
“Can you help deliver instant noodles and drinks to customers?”
“Yes.”
“If you can do it, then stay, you can be my errand boy. But let me be clear, I don’t want someone who causes trouble. Once you start, work diligently, don’t complain about hardship or fatigue, and don’t be lazy. I can’t pay you much, five hundred a month, is that okay?”
“That’s enough.”
A-Shu nodded, then asked:
“Does it include room and board?”
“Tsk…” The woman seemed a bit hesitant:
“Such a hassle… You can eat with me, whatever I eat, you eat, once or twice a day. As for lodging… I don’t have a dormitory, you can only stay in the shop.”
A-Shu nodded again, his requirements really weren’t high:
“As long as I have a place to stay, sleeping on the floor is fine.”
“Good, I like that you’re not picky.”
Saying this, the woman looked at the order slip, took two grilled sausages from the machine and handed them to A-Shu:
“Eat one yourself, and deliver one to computer number three.”
A-Shu took the sausages, looked at them, then at the woman, and then gave her a serious bow:
“Thank you.”
“Oh, no need, no need… You’re lucky, we won the finals today, I’m in a good mood, doing a good deed.”
After saying this, the woman sat back at the front desk to do her own work.
A-Shu delivered the sausage to computer number three as she had instructed. When he returned, he paused in front of the television, looking at the screen.
He didn’t understand what finals the woman had mentioned earlier, nor did he understand what was playing on the screen.
He only saw a shiny large trophy and five young men holding it.
That was something very far from him.
So he looked away and returned to the radiator, sitting on the floor next to that warmth, taking a small bite of the sausage in his hand.
The snow was still heavy, who knew when it would stop.
But at least he had found a place to stay.
#
