Chapter 371 SKT, complete.

At the hospital bedside, SKT management saw such a cold-blooded Faker for the first time.

The shy and taciturn little boy in the past seemed to have completely disappeared, and in his place was a team leader with flaming eyes and great ambition.

This made the SKT manager feel depressed.

“Sang Hyuk… why are you being so aggressive?” The manager was still trying his best to keep a smile on his face, making his last effort.

He hoped that Lee Sang-hyuk had this attitude only because he was very unhappy with SKT's recent poor performance, so he was in a bad mood.

But it was obvious that Lee Sang-hyuk was going to disappoint them.

He is really no longer the big boy who only had games in his eyes a year ago.

"If not...how could you be willing to listen to me?" He just replied indifferently, without any intention of wavering.

For today, he had already forged an invulnerable shell on his appearance.

No matter how perfect the flattery and deception are, it can't impress him now.

Seeing that Li Xianghe was unmoved, the smile on the manager's face finally disappeared completely.

He waved his hand, and the accompanying staff immediately retreated.

"Are you in such a hurry to replace Coach Quan because he has too much say in the team?"

The manager, no longer pretending, had a slightly dangerous and vicious look in his eyes.

From this moment on, he finally began to view Li Xianghe's request as an equal transaction, rather than a child's angry prank.

Seeing this, the manager suddenly had a headache.

SKT's current coach has big problems, and SKT certainly knows this.

Autocratic, infighting, power-hungry... the management is well aware of this.

But one of the biggest reasons why they still feel confident and bold to hire this coach is because these qualities of his happen to play an important role:

Restrict Lee Sang Hyuk.

SKT has spent a lot of effort to make Lee Sang-hyuk the current top star in LCK. Needless to say, the cost is huge.

In order to ensure that this investment can bring returns, it is definitely necessary to impose certain restrictions on Lee Sang-hyuk.

One of the most important limitations is SKT's coach.

His selfishness and desire for power just happen to be the weapons that SKT management uses to restrict players like Lee Sang-hyuk.

Competing with a social figure like the coach for the right to speak within the team is enough to give SKT's young players a headache.

The coach also has a unique skill, which is how to coax people. His tactics, at least on the surface, seem to give Lee Sang-hyuk enough face, and he usually cares for Lee Sang-hyuk in every possible way.

He knows very well whose thighs are thick enough and worth hugging tightly.

In the view of the management, this kind of tactful behavior will leave a relatively high impression on Lee Sang-hyuk.

In this way, the coach will be able to stir up trouble within the team more unscrupulously, leaving these players with no chance to rebel against Tian Gang.

Even if the truth is revealed and some players can't hold back and explode with the coach, their management just needs to come out and act as a peacemaker. If all else fails, they can replace the coach and make him apologize, and basically, nothing will happen.

However, although the management had a good plan, variables arose when it came to actual implementation.

They underestimated Lee Sang-hyuk's determination and ruthlessness.

He did not show any leniency to this coach who, at least on the surface, was absolutely devoted to him, but chose the most brutal way of playing.

First, they used a combination of public opinion to quickly force the coach into a situation where everyone wanted him to be punished, and then they confronted the management directly, openly commercializing the incident.

The coldness and decisiveness he displayed throughout the whole process did not seem like that of a child who has not yet reached adulthood.

The SKT manager was sweating profusely.

Lee Sang-hyuk has become smarter, which is something the SKT management absolutely does not want to see.

Let’s not talk about future contract renewals and training plans for now, just this hurdle is not easy to overcome.

"Who on earth gave him this stimulation..." the manager groaned in his heart.

What? The weak Lee Sang Hyuk is also dead, right?
"Tell me what you want." The confrontation lasted for a while, and the manager finally gave in and surrendered.

There is no other way but to give in.

The resources SKT has now invested in Lee Sang-hyuk are already an astronomical figure.

If the two sides really fall out, even SKT will suffer heavy losses.

It is the consensus of SKT management that Lee Sang-hyeok must stay in SKT and lead SKT to glory.

We must keep him steady.

"Request? Didn't I say it? Change the coach and everything will be easy." Li Xianghe replied coldly.

"What kind of coach do you want to change?" the manager asked patiently.

Originally, I thought this fully expressed their attitude of compromise and accommodation, but after hearing this, Li Xianghe's anger visibly rose again.

"Should you ask me about this kind of thing?" One could clearly feel the tension in Li Xianghe's tone.

"What else?" The manager was confused.

Aren't we the ones who should be anxious to delegate power in coach selection?
Why are you in such a hurry as a vested interest?
Li Xianghe was silent for a second, as if he finally understood what the manager meant, but this did not reduce his anger.

"Ask the training team."

“…Ah?” The manager was really stunned this time, and his brain froze for a second.

"I say, go ask the coaching staff what kind of coach can best lead SKT to victory, and then recruit one accordingly!"

Li Xianghe, whose anger had reached the breaking point, simply ignored the identities of both parties. Every word he uttered seemed to have the force of a hammer.

"Uh... Oh! Got it. Let's get ready right away. The new coach will be coming to the base in a few days!"

The manager's business-filled mind finally came into focus. As he agreed repeatedly, a hint of joy flashed in his eyes.

Li Xianghe's condition didn't seem as bad as he imagined.

He has indeed changed. He is no longer as docile and submissive as before.

He became shrewd, rational, cold-blooded, and ruthless, just like a truly shrewd and adult.

But there is one thing that he still holds tightly to this day, and it has not changed at all over the time, and that is the desire to win.

I want to win. I want to win.
That means as long as SKT still maintains its unique competitiveness in the league, Lee Sang-hyeok's contract renewal will not be too difficult, and he does not need to give up as much interest as he does when renewing contracts with some old foxes.

At the same time, it is destined that as long as the coach is good enough, Lee Sang-hyeok will not step on the coach's head and turn SKT into his one-man show.

These are what management would like to see.

After all, a pure player who only wants to win is much easier to deal with than someone who treats e-sports as a business...

The manager's mood suddenly calmed down, and he patted his chest and assured on the spot: "Don't worry, Sang Hyuk, I guarantee that the new coach's level will definitely be able to make up for most of SKT's current problems!" It is difficult to find a coach who is willing to do the dirty work for the management, but to find a coach with strong skills who can help the team... Well, it is also difficult, but not that difficult.

After all, what LCK lacks the least right now is unemployed coaches.

As for the original full coach?

Wish him all the best in the future...

……

Shortly after the conversation ended, SKT's former coach Quan, who was still racking his brains to calm public opinion, received a termination notice from management.

The management didn't even give him a chance to explain before directly announcing that there was no longer a place for him in SKT.

How sudden was this termination?

SKT didn't even have time to make a leaving poster for the coach or write a farewell.

It was just a cold notice posted on social media, and a bunch of SKT fans cheered as if they were opening champagne.

After seeing this news, the coach did struggle, but SKT was very alert and blocked almost all channels for him to counterattack in advance.

The desperate Coach Quan even called Lee Sang-hyuk many times. He still doesn't know that Lee Sang-hyuk himself is the mastermind behind this incident, and he thought that he was deceived by Park Jae-yoon.

But Li Xianghe simply closed all his contact methods and even asked his manager to change his hospital room, cutting off any possibility for the coach to find him.

After struggling for a day or two, the coach finally gave up in exhaustion, packed up his things, and left SKT's base.

Looking back on his coaching career at SKT, there are indeed many noteworthy aspects.

At least it allows SKT to switch from defending the top to defending the middle. No matter what kind of selfish desires it carries, it is an extremely correct decision for the SKT team.

Perhaps the only two mistakes he made during his coaching career at SKT were his excessive desire for power, which resulted in his coaching not being pure enough, and his lack of time in the industry, which ultimately led to his lack of coaching ability.

But these two points are enough to sentence his SKT career to death.

In fact, even if he was ruined in this incident, he would not have to worry about not being able to find a new employer in the future.

But he may never encounter a platform of SKT's level in his lifetime.

In sharp contrast to him is Park Jae-yoon, who was the first to form the group.

Coach Quan acted as the great saint who settled all the accounts. He took almost all the blame for SKT's internal conflicts, divisions, and game losses.

In this process, the person who was whitewashed most thoroughly was Park Jae-yoon.

He used to bully and suppress his teammates, fight for power, and then become a war criminal in crucial games. Everyone wanted him to get out of SKT.

At this point, he had become the first generation victim of the power struggle among all coaches.

He was originally the mainstay of SKT, but became a victim of being driven out of SKT bit by bit due to the targeting of his own coach.

Considering Park Jae-yoon's vigorous performance after leaving SKT, this statement quickly replaced his original image and became the mainstream.

Many SKT fans even recalled with tears in their eyes how terrifying this SKT would have been if Park Jae-yoon had not left the team, with such 3C in charge and no coach to mess things up.

Well, it is indeed scary, especially the atmosphere within the team, it is extremely scary...

……

“Is this the new coach?”

Lee Sang-hyuk, with a bandage on his head, has returned to the base and is looking at a resume in front of him with Kim Hyuk-kyu.

"Kim Jong-hoon, ID: kkOma?" Lee Sang-hyuk recalled and did not find such a person in LCK.

Yes, at this critical juncture, instead of going to great lengths to recruit an active coach whose level might be even worse than the previous one, it would be better to try for some awards and see if a miracle can happen.

But this person in front of me...

"He's a bit old, born in 85." Li Xianghe couldn't help but mutter.

"But he's very handsome," Kim Hyuk-kyu commented fairly.

At first glance at the resume of this coach named KkOma, it seems that there is nothing outstanding. He was a professional player in StarCraft for a period of time in his early years, but was unable to achieve any results.

Later, he served as the host of an e-sports TV program in South Korea for a period of time, so he was considered an insider, but he had no coaching experience before that.

Is such a person reliable?

"To be honest, we didn't plan to choose him at first. After all, there are many coaches who came to interview with better resumes than him."

The manager explained.

"But one thing he said during the interview touched us a little bit, and we thought that maybe you would be interested in him."

When the manager relayed the words from the KkOma interview to Lee Sang-hyuk, Kim Hyuk-kyu was surprised to find that his eyes began to light up a little bit.

"Let him come to the base." Li Xianghe made a quick decision and took the lead in welcoming the new coach.

So, before long—

"Hello everyone, my name is Kim Jung-hoon, IDKkOma, and I will be your rookie head coach in the future. Please give me your guidance."

A handsome guy who looks like Wang Leehom stood at the door of SKT's training room and bowed gently to the players.

Except for the two Cs, the other three looked at each other, and they could see some suspicion in each other's eyes.

KkOma, who is it?
But before the three of them could think of a way to test the new coach's approach, they saw KkOma take out a document from the folder he was carrying, find a central position in the training room, and motion for everyone to come over.

"Time is limited, let's get down to business first and review the game we lost to KT."

While the others were still hesitating, they saw Lee Sang-hyuk and Kim Hyuk-kyu taking the lead and striding up to the coach, looking well-behaved.

The eldest and the second in command took the lead, and the others naturally did not dare to slack off and all gathered around KkOma.

"Tell me, how do you think we lost this game?" KkOma was not in a hurry to review the game, but asked everyone a rather pointed question first.

Khan was silent for a moment, then suddenly an idea came to him and he burst into astonishing wisdom.

The new coach is suggesting that we blame the old coach.

"Because there was a problem with coach Quan's tactical thinking before, our tactical position distribution was not reasonable enough, so we lost." He answered quickly.

But KkOma was not very happy after hearing this answer which was obviously stepping on his former coach's praise. He just shook his head slightly.

"As for the allocation of tactical positions, we will have plenty of time to study it in the future."

"Donghe's answer makes sense, but I'm not satisfied with it. I hope that in the future, after you lose a game, you won't blame the objective conditions so much."

“I hope you can remember one thing, always remember:”

"After you lose, everything you say will sound like an excuse."

　Update, update, LNG is so powerful.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)