Chapter Text
November of Glory Alliance Season 8 - H City, Xiaoshan Gymnasium
“Sister, are you okay?”
Chen Guo sniffles and wipes her nose, furious that someone’s discovered her crying. She’d picked the quietest, most desolate corner backstage she could find. There shouldn’t even be anyone around except the stadium workers!
“I’m fine,” she insists, ruining her words when her eyes won’t stop streaming. Damn! She’s the boss, she shouldn’t be the one crying! But that just reminds Chen Guo why she started blubbering in the first place, and her eyes overflow again.
“Are you lost?” the same male voice says in a doubtful tone.
Chen Guo gives a watery-eyed glare past her tears at the man who’s found her. “I am not lost. I’m Team Happy’s boss, and I can cry in my own stadium if I want!”
The man bothering her isn’t remarkable except for the listless expression on his pale face. Just looking at it makes Chen Guo inexplicably angry for some reason. He’s carelessly wearing plain clothes, and stands with a slumped posture. Must be one of the stadium staff, Chen Guo decides.
The man’s eyes flicker over her tearstained face. “Your team lost today to Excellent Era. Is that why you’re crying?”
Chen Guo draws her sleeve over her face. This guy’s irritating face makes it hard to keep crying. “Not exactly. We’ve lost lots of times before.” Most of the time, in fact. They’d never ranked higher than seventeenth in the whole time they’d been in the league. “I just thought...Excellent Era is ranked nineteenth. I thought that at least we’d be able to beat them.”
But they hadn’t.
“To avoid relegation,” the man fills in. “Team Happy is the only new team to ever win the Challenger League. You could do it again.”
Chen Guo shakes her head violently, hands balling into fists. “Bringing Happy to the Pro League was my Father’s dream. He never got to see his team play there, but he died knowing he’d achieved his dream. I can’t let them fall, not when he worked so hard to get them this far. I promised myself. This is the team whose future my Father entrusted into my hands! I can’t let his glory die!”
Just for a moment, the man’s eyes burn, and his fingers twitch toward his pocket, like he’s reaching for something. Strong emotion passes over his face before settling back to relaxed confidence.
Chen Guo feels a little stunned, though she doesn’t understand why. Without the listless expression, his face doesn’t look so ordinary.
“So that’s why you can’t accept relegation?” the man asks.
It feels like there’s a different question underneath, but Chen Guo answers anyway. “Yes.”
The stranger nods once. “Are you a fan of Su Mucheng?”
“What?” Chen Guo stares. Where had that question come from?
“The keychain on your bag,” the man clarifies.
Chen Guo looks down. Oh. “She’s my favorite player,” Chen Guo admits. It feels a bit disloyal to her team Happy, but it’s true. She’d been Su Mucheng’s fan before team Happy even existed. “I play a Launcher too.”
“Mmm.” Just like that, the man is back to what Chen Guo is beginning to understand is his normal irritating self. “Your team isn’t bad. You have a few rookies with potential - that Battle Mage especially. Your veterans aren’t anything special, but they’re steady. But your tactics are bland and stiff, and anyone outside your main roster isn’t worth much. ”
Where does his guy get off, speaking like some kind of expert! Chen Guo draws up, offended on her team’s behalf. “You, you!”
The man leans back, and smiles. “I’m a pro player, and my team is going to ask me to retire soon. You should help me buy out my contract and hire me instead.”
Chen Guo is so furious that her tears are a distant memory. She pokes this stupid man in the chest, hard. “You! If you’re a pro player, so am I! I wasn’t born yesterday, you know!”
He winces, but his calm expression doesn’t change. “I am a pro player. There are teams who dream of me joining them, you know.”
Sputtering, Chen Guo tries not to imagine strangling this bragging idiot.
The strange man sighs. “Can I borrow your phone?”
Chen Guo nearly gives him a concussion when she throws her phone at his head. “You better not steal it!”
Ignoring her, the man begins to dial. He has very beautiful, elegant hands, Chen Guo realizes - then scolds herself for believing this phony pro for even a second.
Putting the phone up to his ear, he’s silent for a moment as it dials, rubbing at the dark bags beneath his eyes. “Hi, it’s me. Can you introduce yourself to someone? Thanks, I’m going to put you on face-to-face.”
Holding the phone out to Chen Guo, the strange man gestures for her to take it.
Suspicious, Chen Guo snatches it back, and only after glaring at him once more does she look down.
Su Mucheng looks up at her and waves. “Hi hi!”
Chen Guo screams.