[Esports] I Started an Online Romance with a Big Shot After Retiring Chapter 13

Chapter 13: What Do You Think of Me?

Duan Mingyue swore he was definitely not gay. Asking the boy on the other end of the computer to call him “Brother” was just because he thought it was fun and wanted to tease him.

But Duan Mingyue never expected that the other party would actually call him that, and in such a… itch-inducing way.

Now, even with Duan Mingyue’s skin as thick as a city wall, he couldn’t help but feel a trace of embarrassment.

He coughed lightly, thinking to himself: Indeed, my cultivation is not enough.

“Entered.”

After calling out, Shen Yanjin was also dizzy and extremely shy. Just then, a match was found. He hurriedly clicked in, not forgetting to remind in a small voice.

“En.” Duan Mingyue straightened his expression. “I’ll take Blade Master jungle this game, follow me.”

Scores were at stake. Shen Yanjin hurriedly waved away the messy thoughts in his heart and responded: “Okay, any support you want?”

Duan Mingyue curled his lips: “It’s fine, pick whatever you want. If you’re too lazy to move, picking a cat to hang on me is fine too.”

This person!

Shen Yanjin, who had just decided to lock his heart and seal his love, broke his defense in a second: “How can I do that…”

“Why can’t you?” Duan Mingyue’s face thickness recovered really fast. In just this short while, he started teasing Shen Yanjin again. “You already called me Brother, can’t I carry you to an easy win? Is Brother’s Gold Badge unworthy?”

Shen Yanjin gritted his teeth: “…Worthy! Too worthy!”

Saying so, he still didn’t pick Faerie Cat, but chose Ice Witch.

As a support, this character couldn’t run or tank. Her only advantage was lots of crowd control, long control duration, and short cooldowns.

A slow here, a freeze there. Paired with Blade Master, once they had the advantage, they could make the opponents wish they were dead.

However, once at a disadvantage, it would be his own side wishing they were dead.

Reaching this rank tier, everyone was a “score slave”; a single point could mean life or death. Generally speaking, picking such a do-or-die character would cause teammates to start interacting in the chat box.

But perhaps Duan Mingyue’s blinding Gold Badge played a role; the teammates were quiet, not letting out a single fart. Even when Shen Yanjin typed at the start stating he wouldn’t go bot, the AD didn’t speak, directly picking a character with strong self-protection.

He instantly felt much more relieved.

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Shen Yanjin had played WL for two years, finally experiencing firsthand the thrill of riding on a big shot’s coattails to bully others.

Had to say, very comfortable, very addictive, very prestigious.

Duan Mingyue seemed long accustomed to such treatment. Watching the loading screen, he chatted with Shen Yanjin: “Little Yan, you working so hard to rank up is for the silver badge?”

Shen Yanjin was a bit unaccustomed to this address: “Yeah.”

“You play solo queue support every day, isn’t it painful? Never thought of finding someone to duo queue?”

“Painful, too painful.” The various “god” teammates encountered in solo queue reappeared before his eyes. Shen Yanjin had suffering he couldn’t express. “No suitable teammates, who can I duo with?”

Duan Mingyue pretended to be surprised: “I thought for a support as awesome as you, there must be a pile of people in your list waiting to be favored.”

Shen Yanjin laughed: “Am I an emperor? ‘Favored’?”

Hearing him laugh, Duan Mingyue’s mood unconsciously became very good too. He smiled and said: “Since you don’t have a fixed teammate, want to play with me?”

Shen Yanjin was stunned, hesitating between “Aren’t you a pro player?” and “Are you lacking supports?”, choosing the former: “Aren’t you a pro player? You have time?”

“Yes.” Actually, with the season approaching recently, the team schedule was getting tighter. Duan Mingyue slapped his face to look fat (pretended to be capable), boasting shamelessly: “I haven’t signed for streaming now. I’m free every day after training matches. How about it? I jungle, AD is fine too, both fierce. Guaranteed to carry you to get the little silver badge.”

While tempted, Shen Yanjin was still a bit hesitant: “You… why carry me?”

Afraid of scaring him off, Duan Mingyue didn’t dare tell the truth. Unable to come up with a suitable reason on the spot, in his urgency, he simply kicked the ball back to Shen Yanjin.

He smiled: “What do you think?”

This was originally a catch-all answer, but Shen Yanjin already harbored improper intentions towards Duan Mingyue. Falling into his ears, this sentence took on ambiguous flavors.

Shen Yanjin’s heartbeat uncontrollably quickened a few beats. Biting his lower lip, he really didn’t ask further.

The two muddled into a fixed team. Until the game started, Shen Yanjin felt a bit unreal.

He actually always believed in the conservation of everything and mutual generation. Once something good happened, something bad would be near. Similarly, the night before dawn is darkest; while being unlucky, one also accumulates good luck.

The current Shen Yanjin had only one thought.

Four games of points in exchange for a server number one teammate—this trade was worth it!

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Duan Mingyue indeed didn’t boast. In high ELO games of the top 100, he played Southern Tower Blade Master like a fish in water. Ganks succeeded repeatedly. The large blade requiring two hands seemed weightless in his palm.

Coordinating with the timing of the Blade Master’s charge, Shen Yanjin waved his staff, predicting the enemy mid laner’s movement, and accurately followed up with a slow.

Another head secured. Duan Mingyue savored his little support’s perfectly timed skill just now and didn’t stint on his praise: “Good slow, impressive.”

No support dislikes being praised.

Shen Yanjin hummed lightly in triumph. In the game, a cute emoji popped up above Ice Witch’s head.

Duan Mingyue smiled and replied with a similarly cute emoji.

Although both were in the voice channel, this silent interaction in-game was evidently more fun. While randomly spamming emojis, they roamed and caught people. The opposing team was beaten to pieces by the fed Blade Master and Ice Witch. Without even a team fight, their base was brutally dismantled.

Because Duan Mingyue’s rank was high, this game directly pulled Shen Yanjin’s score up by a large chunk, dragging his ranking back from the precarious tail end.

“What do you say?” Duan Mingyue exited the settlement screen, clicked queue, not forgetting to claim credit verbally: “Is Brother fierce or not?”

Shen Yanjin didn’t know where his thoughts wandered. His ears burned, and he responded with a very small voice.

Duan Mingyue pretended to be dissatisfied: “Tsk, so quiet, who are you praising?”

After a while, he heard with satisfaction the boy’s shy praise forced out from the other end of the headphones.

With a powerful duo partner, Shen Yanjin was no longer the unwanted cabbage “Solo Queue Support King.”

His daily routine became: wake up, wash up, chat with Duan Mingyue for a while, then wait for Duan Mingyue’s training matches to end, and duo queue with him.

They would rank while chatting until late at night, then say goodnight and rest separately.

Sometimes Duan Mingyue’s training matches extended very late. When entering voice chat, his voice carried fatigue. Shen Yanjin felt heartache for him, yet was reluctant to part—the ranking rewards were settling soon.

Duan Mingyue formed a fixed team with him to help him get this reward. Then… what about after getting the reward?

The longed-for little silver badge was within reach, but Shen Yanjin suddenly found he didn’t want it that much anymore.

While Shen Yanjin was worrying about gains and losses, Duan Mingyue wasn’t relaxed either. Time during the season was tight. Daily basic practice, training matches, review meetings. After going back at night, he still had to be a play-with/chat-with companion for the little support.

Days were lived like being squeezed in a wall crack.

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The coach noticed his state. Plus, RedMoon appeared almost bound with YanGold recently, so he teased: “If I didn’t know the other person is a guy, I’d think Moon God was in an online romance.”

Then feeling this wasn’t absolutely impossible, he pressed: “You’re not online dating, right?”

Duan Mingyue glanced at Lu Yuan and found she was indeed observing him with vigilant eyes, feeling extremely annoyed inside.

Picking up his phone, he opened the chat box.

[KW-RedMoon: Just now the coach asked if I was in an online romance.]

[YanGold: !]

[YanGold: And then?]

[KW-RedMoon: What ‘and then’ can there be? Wronged to death.]

[KW-RedMoon: However, if you were a girl, then it wouldn’t be wrong.]

[YanGold: …?]

[KW-RedMoon: Then it would be true.]

Shen Yanjin held the phone, his heart half bitter, half sweet.

Duan Mingyue was straight; didn’t he know that long ago?

What was he expecting here now?

Daily good mornings and good nights, sharing trivial matters, duo-queueing and voice chatting together… wasn’t that enough?

Not enough.

It was as if an insatiable beast was hidden in his heart, reaching out for a yard after taking an inch, frantically demanding, fueling his daily swelling desire.

—He wanted to see Duan Mingyue.

Not as a fan, but as a teammate.

As long as he entered KW Team, he could live in the same base as Duan Mingyue. Practice, training matches, reviews… they could have more time together.

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To be able to stay by Duan Mingyue’s side, even just as a teammate, Shen Yanjin was willing.

On the day ranking rewards were distributed, holding that small silver badge, Shen Yanjin opened Duan Mingyue’s chat box.

[YanGold: (Item: Silver Glory of Top 100)]

[YanGold: Thank you Brother Moon for carrying me to rank up.]

[YanGold: Um… Brother Moon, does your team need a support?]

[YanGold: What do you think of me~]

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