Chapter 232 Please learn from the Executive Deputy Goat!
(The ending of the previous chapter was a little controversial. After reading it, I found that it was indeed a bit too radical, so I modified it a little.)
"This is..." Li Xianghe's gaze froze for a long time, and then a hint of dissatisfaction appeared in his eyes.

"If we do this, LCK will be emptied out by us, right?"

The manager smiled and waved his hands: "Not really!"

"If you ask us to get the absolute core of a strong team like smeb, imp or ambition, then we will have to pay a huge price."

"After all, the power behind them is not much less than ours, so it's impossible for them to let us off so easily."

"But those on the list are basically either mid- to lower-level teams or are still struggling in the secondary leagues."

"If we recruit them, we won't have to worry about being blocked. It will also be a good thing for them to be able to join a top team."

Only then did Li Xianghe's expression relax.

Since I am keen on studying the opponents in the competition area, I know which players are more outstanding.

In Li Xianghe's opinion, this list is indeed quite important.

But judging from their value and the teams they belong to, they are definitely not the non-saleable players of championship contenders.

Although recruiting them is also a way to strengthen the team, it is not as difficult as imagined.

At least it doesn't seem like the entire region is helping SKT win the championship.

However, when the conversation suddenly turned to such a sensitive topic as replacement, he still subconsciously felt uneasy.

Not to mention that Xiao Hei and Effort are his teammates who he has been with day and night, even Park Jae-yoon, with whom he has always had a bad relationship, has been playing for such a long time.

Lee Sang-hyuk, who had just entered the professional circle, was not able to abandon them without batting an eyelid.

"Sang Hyuk, I have something to say to you about this. How can you only look at the surface of things?" The coach keenly noticed Li Sang Hyuk's uneasiness and immediately took out the persuasive words he had prepared long ago.

"You might think that it would be too cruel for them to blank them."

"But is there a possibility that forcing them to stay with top players like you when their own strength is not yet sufficient is even more cruel to them?"

"Once they lose a game, they will definitely be the first to be questioned and attacked by fans. Even if they are in good shape, it will be difficult for them to outperform geniuses like you."

"There is no motivation from positive feedback, and negative feedback is everywhere. I don't think Shanjiu and his friends would like such a life."

Li Xianghe was silent.

He is also well aware of the dilemma of blank and effort.

Although after Park Jae-yoon's downfall, the Mapo duo tried their best to help them grow.

But compared to true geniuses, their strength is far behind.

Take the three consecutive defeats just now for example.

Although there are many reasons for the defeat, including tactics, team style, and player performance.

But fans cannot understand these things. What they can refer to are the data and the visual performance on the field.

So what can they see?

I saw Faker's Lulu suppressing Maple's Gangplank during the laning phase, but Gangplank still managed to thrive after picking up a kill each from the top laner and the support.

Effort suddenly went up to activate perkz, but because he was out of sync, he was caught by Yangkousi who arrived immediately and cooperated with the bottom lane.

Seeing the extremely obvious contrast in the data panels between the double C and the other three, and seeing the confused and unwilling look in Li Xianghe's eyes after the game.

What else can they do except blame all the reasons for the failure on Uenosuke and then attack them?

Although Park Jae-yoon, who has a lot of dark history and is a big shot, has to bear the vast majority of fans' attacks alone, the jungler and support have also been affected a lot.

Their performance was indeed not as good as expected.

Lee Sang-hyuk could clearly feel that jungler Blank's emotions and confidence were collapsing bit by bit.

He bore a weight that was not his responsibility.

"Sang Hyuk, let's face it. Sun Gu and his team's current strength is not suitable for competing with you for the championship."

When the coach saw Li Xianghe's expression, he knew that the time was almost right and immediately pressed forward to take advantage of the situation.

"They are also the heroes who helped us win the spring season. We will not treat them unfairly even if we trade them."

"When they go to a weaker team and get more tactical weight and a more tolerant environment, maybe their growth will be brighter."

"And you and He Kui can work together with new and stronger teammates to compete for the championship. Isn't this the best of both worlds?"

I have to say that the management understands Lee Sang-hyuk.

On the one hand, the seventeen-year-old boy values ​​friendship and righteousness, and is even a little bit immature in his pride, and he sneers at those shameful little actions.

He will not let his teammates fall into the abyss in this way.

On the other hand, he is the most competitive player in the team, the only one who has the strongest desire for victory, and his desire for victory far exceeds that of ordinary people.

Almost every word of the coach's advice hit his soft spot.

After a long silence, Li Xianghe replied sullenly: "Let's talk about it after the MSI is over."

"Okay, we're not in a hurry." The coach smiled.

At this moment, the manager suddenly thought of something and reminded: "Sang Hyuk, speaking of which, do you have any plans for the next game?"

"Plan?" Li Xianghe was stunned, not quite understanding what he said, and answered honestly: "Although the three consecutive losses at the beginning are indeed not optimistic, but FW and Gam are not very strong teams in essence..."

In his opinion, despite the terrible start, SKT will have no problem getting out of the game.

If they can perform more stably in the future, they may even have a chance to surpass C9 and move to third place, thus avoiding Fanhua in the semifinals.

If we play against G2... we might have a chance to advance to the finals.

"No, no, no, that's not what I'm talking about! Winning the game is up to you!" Seeing that Li Xianghe had wrong ideas again, the manager hurriedly explained.

"Sang Hyuk, have you ever thought about making a breakthrough in your personal data?"

"Personal data?" Li Xianghe repeated in confusion at first, then he realized it and his face immediately turned red: "Do you want me to brush my data to maintain my KDA? You must be kidding!"

Are you kidding? After all, he is a talented player with ideals and aspirations. How could he do such a disgraceful thing as inflating stats to maintain KDA?

"Look, he's anxious again!" Following the coach's thoughts, the manager was almost able to grasp the thoughts of Li Xianghe, who was obviously not mature enough at this time.

"I've already said that we can't just look at the surface of things."

Li Xianghe stared at the manager suspiciously. He always felt as if he was being led by the nose by something today, but he couldn't figure out what was going on.

Seeing the fish taking the bait, the manager laughed inwardly and continued to speak righteously:
"Sang Hyuk, you don't want your career to be destroyed by your own fans instead of your opponents, right?"

"Don't you know what kind of people our Korean e-sports fans are?"

Lee Sang Hyuk thought about it briefly, and immediately got goose bumps. The e-sports fans in South Korea can no longer be described by the soft word "crazy".

How fanatical they are when supporting the players, how vicious they are when it comes to liquidating them.

The national character of South Korea is inherently extreme, and it is common for people to lose control of their emotions.

In addition, the Korean government has set a very high tone for e-sports, and Korean e-sports did have a glorious past.
As a result, fans' expectations are frighteningly high.

Once a gap occurs, the backlash will be equally terrifying.

Just like when Park Jae-yoon exploded and fell from his throne, his angry fans not only destroyed all his social media, but also threw bricks and dead rats at his mansion.

As for those who sent razor blades and made death threats, there are countless of them.

Even in the recent three-game losing streak, Xiaohei and Effort still suffered a heavy blow with Park Jae-yoon taking the brunt of the damage.

Didn’t you see that Xiao Hei has become autistic?

When he thought of this, and the slim chance of winning the MSI championship, Lee Sang-hyuk suddenly shuddered.

After all, he is just a 17 or 18-year-old kid who has just stepped out of the ivory tower and has seen very limited worldly experiences.

It is impossible not to panic when faced with a problem that could potentially threaten your life.

"It seems that you have understood..." The manager laughed secretly.

Children are easy to coax. They are much easier to fool than old foxes like Park Jae-yoon.

"Sang Hyuk, look at the venue we are in." The manager suddenly pointed to the wall beside him.

"What?" Li Xianghe was a little confused.

"This is the home court of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the two legendary giants in the NBA. This team has produced countless legends that are worthy of being recorded in the annals of NBA history."

The manager's age is obviously due to his age at the time when the NBA was popular in South Korea. At that time, Baseball's top center Ha Seung-jin entered the NBA and also set off a small basketball craze in South Korea.

"But now," he said, changing the subject, "this stadium belongs to LeBron James."

"LeBron James..." Li Xianghe read this familiar yet unfamiliar name.

He had indeed heard of the name of this big star.

However, as a teenager addicted to the Internet and not good at sports, he was not aware of the specific deeds of this person.

"How should I put it? Although LeBron James can be considered a groundbreaking superstar, his sports career is not glorious."

It seemed that he wanted to be exiled to Jinzhou. The manager was particularly excited when he mentioned this matter, and explained to Xiaobai Li Xianghe the dark history of Executive Vice-President Goat in a very eloquent manner.

What about the three finals sweeps of 4-6, the eight-point release of military power, the nomadic dynasty, the most All-Star teammates in history, but he used them all to waste...

Li Xianghe was stunned when he heard this.

"Is such a person really qualified to be called an athlete?" Li Xianghe felt that his three views had been refreshed.

"It's a pity, he is not only an athlete, but also the most successful basketball player of this era." The manager sighed.

"The reason why he can still maintain a high status in the hearts of fans despite so many black histories is, in addition to the protection of public opinion and the media, the most important thing is data."

The manager explained.

"No matter whether his background is legitimate or not, or whether he has a lot of water or not, he is a legitimate player who has the NBA's all-time scoring title, 4+4+4, and the 411 Project."

"These luxurious statistics enable him to challenge the true god of basketball despite his lack of hard honors and performance."

The manager took out his cell phone, found the comments that advocated James as the greatest player in history, and showed them to Li Xianghe one by one.

Seeing such a guy who could be said to have no competitive spirit being worshipped as a god, Li Xianghe really didn't know what to say.

“Sang Hyuk, we certainly don’t want you to become a guy like LeBron James. That doesn’t fit your aspirations.” Seeing that it was working, the manager started to fool around again.

"But I think it's still necessary to learn how he uses data to protect himself."

"In our country of Korea, which is a relatively... unique e-sports public opinion environment, we really don't want a talented young man and future star like you to fall because of the blow of public opinion."

"You and He Kui are both irreplaceable treasures of our SKT. I hope you can understand our concerns."

I have to say, these soft words are easy for people to listen to.

Even though he still felt physically nauseous about James' deeds, Li Xianghe had to admit that the manager had some point.

He also didn't want to be completely ruined by angry fans because of the MSI defeat.

But, he was asked to brush the data...

"Coach, manager, I know your concerns, but I still insist that we have not reached that desperate situation." After a long silence, Li Xianghe raised his head and said firmly.

"Our MSI journey is far from over. Isn't it too early to think about how to end it after the defeat?"

Even though he started 0-3, Lee Sang-hyuk still set his goals high.

He is confident that as long as he makes adjustments, he can help SKT return to the fighting power it had in the second round of the group stage.

Before that, he really didn't want to ruin the team's hopes of victory just to improve his stats.

After saying this, Li Xianghe, who had experienced the power of management's verbal therapy, didn't even dare to stay in the meeting room and quickly found an excuse to flee.

Looking at his somewhat embarrassed back, the manager narrowed his eyes slightly.

"That's how Sang Hyuk is. He has a pure competitive spirit and he's young. You shouldn't take him seriously," the coach explained to the manager with a smile.

"No, no, no, why would I care about his problem?" The manager looked at Li Xianghe's hurriedly leaving back and a playful smile appeared on his face.

"Although there will be all kinds of disturbances in the process of creating stars, for the stars themselves, it is still more pure, which will please the fans more and there is no need to worry about the collapse of the reputation."

Lee Sang Hyuk's personality is indeed a bit straightforward and pure, but for an idol, this kind of personality is just right and quite likable.

At least he is much more pleasing to the eye than the smooth-talking Park Jae-yoon.

"Then the next game——"

"It's okay, Sang Hyuk doesn't play like this, so we can just find another player."

"It's a good opportunity for those two to contribute their last bit of strength before leaving the team."

“…Go call Zenhisa over here.”

　The first update is 4,000 words, and there will be more in a while.

　　I am on internship these days and get off work at 6:30, and I am not allowed to play with my phone during that time, so the update will be a little late.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)