Did The Captain Catch Up With The Coach Today [Esports] Chapter 42
byChapter 42
Compensation? What compensation?
Wei Xiao had genuinely forgotten.
He tried hard to recall when he had ever wronged Wen Shi Yu… Impossible, shouldn’t he be at Wen Shi Yu’s beck and call?
But whatever the compensation was, it definitely wasn’t anything valuable, because he wasn’t the type of person who would bankrupt himself chasing a star.
He could treat Wen Shi Yu to a meal, buy him gifts, bring him breakfast every day, and run errands for him, but he wouldn’t buy him a villa—at least not until their relationship progressed further.
Wei Xiao liked Wen Shi Yu, but he wouldn’t sell himself for him.
So… what exactly was the compensation?
Think, you idiot!
Wei Xiao was silent for too long.
Wen Shi Yu raised an eyebrow: “Forgotten?”
Wei Xiao still couldn’t remember and could only admit: “Mhm… can you remind me?”
“Training doesn’t start until the afternoon, but someone set an alarm for 8 AM on their first day of joining the team, waking me up through two doors, and said they would treat me to coffee as compensation. Then they ended up buying coffee for the whole team, turning the compensation meant for me into a welcome gift for everyone, and then said they would compensate me with something else later.”
“Holy cow! That was ages ago!” Wei Xiao instinctively cried injustice, then followed up with a cough to cover his embarrassment, and immediately changed his tune, “Yes, yes, yes, it was definitely my fault. What do you want? I’ll make it up to you in the next couple of days!”
He thought it was something that happened this month, but it turned out to be from when he first joined the team.
How long ago was that? The Spring Regular Season was already over; only a ghost would remember!
He hadn’t expected Wen Shi Yu to still recall it.
What Wen Shi Yu didn’t mention was that he had dismissed Wei Xiao back then with a simple, “I haven’t thought about it, maybe later.”
At that time, he hadn’t wanted Wei Xiao to spend money on him.
The reason he brought it up now wasn’t because he genuinely cared about the compensation, but because… he suddenly felt it was okay to ask.
He suddenly wanted to be more deeply entangled with Wei Xiao, even deeper.
“You’re the one compensating me, so naturally, it’s up to you to decide,” Wen Shi Yu said, smiling as he kicked the ball back to Wei Xiao.
There was nothing specific he wanted; whatever Wei Xiao gave him, he would accept.
“Oh, and skip the coffee. I need to rest well these two days, no need for a pick-me-up.”
“Then milk, to help you sleep,” Wei Xiao blurted out.
“Tsk.”
“Hahahahaha!”
Wen Shi Yu’s look of annoyance was overly cute. It took Wei Xiao a while to stop laughing before he adopted a slightly more serious tone: “Tell me if you want something to eat, something to play with, something to look at, or something to wear.”
“Wear?” Wen Shi Yu immediately thought of a ring. “Are you planning to propose to me?”
Wei Xiao froze, also thinking of a ring… He hastily denied it: “I mean, something to carry on you, like, a Pop Mart figure, to hang on your bag, or a keychain or something?”
“What about something to play with?” Wen Shi Yu smoothly moved past the topic.
“I could buy you a single-player game.”
“I don’t have time to play. Just get me something ‘to look at’.”
“A Phantom Assassin figurine?”
“That works.”
“Let me search for it.” Wei Xiao said, picking up his phone to search. Halfway through, he remembered that the screen recording hadn’t been stopped, and he quickly tapped the end button.
He planned to wait until after the playoffs, assuming their results were decent, to edit this recording and post it on JJ, showing the world his “team camaraderie” with the coach.
Wei Xiao found the official plush figurine for Phantom Assassin and was about to place the order when a phone call suddenly came in, startling him!
He usually contacted people through social accounts and rarely received calls unless it was urgent.
His first reaction was that it was a spam call, but when he saw the caller ID, good heavens, it was his mother!
“I need to take a call,” Wei Xiao told Wen Shi Yu, then took his phone and left the training room, answering it in the hallway, “Mom, what’s up?”
“Did you win the championship?” A somewhat playful female voice came from the other end of the phone. “Your dad said your team won the championship? Why didn’t you call home to share the good news?”
“Huh? He’s talking nonsense! I just made it into the playoffs! We’re in the top eight now, and we play the playoffs in a week. Only the top two have a chance at the championship.”
“I see. I don’t follow this, so I don’t really understand. Do you get prize money for the playoffs?”
“Yes, of course. First place gets over three million, I think, but that’s not just for me alone. Why?”
“If you win the championship, won’t you treat us to a meal?”
“If we win, absolutely, I must treat you!”
“Are you still living in the internet café?”
“Mhm.”
“Are you used to it?”
“It’s alright.”
“Do you want me to buy you an apartment nearby?”
“No!” Wei Xiao was thankful he hadn’t answered the call in front of Wen Shi Yu.
He lowered the volume on his phone and then said, “I’m living quite well in the internet café. Everyone has their own room here, unlike the four-person dorms in college. I’m very comfortable.”
“Alright then. Tell me when you want to move out, and I’ll buy you one.”
“Mhm.”
“When are you coming back next?”
“After we win the Spring Split championship.”
“When is that?”
“Mid-April?”
“Bring your teammates over to visit then.”
“Mhm… I’ll consider it.”
“That’s all then. I have work, so I’m hanging up now, bye.”
“Oh.” Before Wei Xiao could finish his sentence, the other party hung up, cutting the call decisively.
Wei Xiao smiled helplessly.
He had a pair of very doting parents. When he said he wanted to play E-sports, they agreed almost without batting an eye.
But they were both quite willful and didn’t always consider other people’s feelings.
Buying an apartment nearby… his mother certainly had an imagination.
It would be better to build a proper E-sports club nearby.
Wei Xiao flipped the page back to the figurine purchase page while returning to the training room.
Just as he finished placing the order, he heard Wen Shi Yu ask: “Your mother?”
Wei Xiao: “…”
Wen Shi Yu: “What’s wrong? Why are you frozen?”
“Nothing, it was my mom calling.” Wei Xiao knew Wen Shi Yu hadn’t deliberately eavesdropped, but simply couldn’t help it because his hearing was too good.
He wasn’t sure how much Wen Shi Yu had heard, but even if he had… it didn’t matter.
He didn’t want others to know his family was wealthy, fearing it would create distance, but with Brother Wen, it should be fine—after all, Brother Wen was also very rich.
Wen Shi Yu hadn’t actually heard much, only “championship,” “prize money,” and “treat to a meal.”
He felt that Wei Xiao’s mother was even more optimistic than Wei Xiao; the playoffs hadn’t even started, and she was already planning the celebratory dinner after the finals.
“I need to upload the screen recording to the cloud drive for safekeeping. Do you want to play something else later?” Wei Xiao asked Wen Shi Yu.
Wen Shi Yu thought for a moment, just about to suggest a break, when a notification suddenly popped up on his social app. Someone had tagged him in the “E-sports Alliance Hero League Professional League Division” group chat.
KPI: @FHM, scrim request, scrim request, scrim request!
KPI: @FHM, yes or no, yes or no, yes or no, yes or no?
MID: Bro, calm down. It’s just the second match, isn’t it? The pain will be over quickly. Don’t struggle; the more you struggle, the more it hurts.
KPI: Damn it! Your opponent in the third match is them! Aren’t you worried?
MID: Not worried.
Wen Shi Yu clicked on the dozen private messages MID had sent him requesting a scrim: “…”
They were indeed… not worried.
Interesting.
When he first joined the group, MID was loudly shouting in the chat to request scrims, but they never poked him privately. In the end, FHM only confirmed match times with CHIP and KCD.
Today, MID wasn’t shouting in the group, pretending to be nonchalant, yet they were poking him privately so much their fingers must be smoking.
Wen Shi Yu really wanted to screenshot the private messages and post them in the group… Of course, it was just a thought; he wasn’t that mean.
After MID said “Not worried” in the group, they immediately sent him another private message.
MID: I poked you first! Scrim with us first!
Wen Shi Yu didn’t rush to reply, instead asking Wei Xiao: “KPI and MID are requesting scrims. Who do you want to play against first?”
“Me?” Wei Xiao instinctively wanted to look at Wen Shi Yu’s phone screen, but halfway through, he realized it was inappropriate and pulled his head back.
Unexpectedly, Wen Shi Yu simply flipped his phone over and generously showed him the screen.
Since that was the case, Wei Xiao didn’t hesitate to look. After reading it, he couldn’t help but laugh: “The MID coach is so funny… If you ask me, definitely MID. KPI is a Jungler core team; Fei Yu has been defeated by me countless times. MID’s style is more similar to CHIP’s, and we lost our scrim against CHIP, so MID is perfect for practice.”
“Mhm, I think so too. How about the day after tomorrow?”
“We’re going straight into it after the break?”
“Then the day after that?”
“The day after tomorrow is fine. It’s good to play against them sooner.”
“Okay.” Wen Shi Yu agreed, clicking into the chat with the MID coach. Without any unnecessary chatter, he directly threw out a time.
FHM: The day after tomorrow, 8 PM, BO5.
MID: Good, good, good.
Then he responded to KPI in the group chat.
FHM: @KPI, the day after tomorrow, 8 PM, BO5.
KPI: OK!
KPI: @DIE, aren’t you requesting a scrim?
FHM’s first opponent was DIE, but today, DIE was as quiet as the dead.
CHIP enjoyed the drama.
CHIP: They’re probably busy thinking about what to say during the loser’s interview right now.
FOU was a troublemaker, and they definitely had to join in the fun.
FOU: They usually talk so much, but today they haven’t made a peep. It’s quite unusual.
WI’s coach was a joker and very outspoken.
WI: At least they made it to the top eight. Even if they get another -14 points, they’re better than some teams that couldn’t even make it to the top eight.
—Referring to EN.
Wen Shi Yu raised an eyebrow, his favorable impression of the WI coach soaring.
However, the WI coach’s next sentence was…
WI: Our match against FHM is the fifth one. What a shame. If we could start with a 3-0 win, it might help suppress their arrogance a bit.
KPI: Are you doing this for us? I can’t even be bothered to expose you.
For WI, if they were in first place, anyone other than FHM being in second place was better. Compared to a familiar strong enemy, an unfamiliar dark horse was harder to deal with because there were more uncertainties.
“He’s certainly bold,” Wen Shi Yu scoffed.
Although he had also told Wei Xiao about starting with a 3-0, was it the same when he said it versus when WI said it themselves?
“Look at what WI said.” Wen Shi Yu shoved the phone screen in Wei Xiao’s face. “Do you know what to do?”
Wei Xiao made an “OK” gesture: “On the field, we’ll crush them!”