Ch.21 – Does Love at First Sight Exist in Esports?

Faced with their increased training intensity, nobody could slack off even a little, and they clenched their teeth and persisted through the arduous schedule. The only thing that allowed them to relax after the intense training, however, was none other than the European Alarm Dawn Open Championship that would start in December. 

Unlike the regional competitions on other continents, Europe was a region where long-established powerful teams converged and already had independent esports competitions since more than a decade ago. Since it was a competition for both professional and amateur players, professional teams didn’t only need to compete against each other, but also against amateur newcomers. It had always attracted a lot of attention from all walks of life. 

After the Swiss team Odin announced their participation, the level of attention to the championship was taken up another notch. 

After the championship officially started, Coach Gou purposely set aside a day of training time to specially watch the match broadcasts. The championship lasted one week, and in the end, the fight for first and second place went to two Swiss teams. The other competitors were endlessly depressed, while Swiss esports fans cheered for joy. 

The championship finally fell to Odin without much suspense, and Odin’s Captain, Ethan, received the champion’s trophy on behalf of the entire team. The awardee Ethan laughed carefreely, brandishing the trophy high up in the air and blowing an enthusiastic kiss to the audience. 

Coach Gou carefully analyzed all of Odin’s matches once through, and Odin’s captain’s performance above all. Ethan had won countless individual trophies; he ranked first in the European server, was the core of Team Odin, and he was the only professional athlete in the world whose comprehensive strength scored over 95 points these last several years. 

Truth be told, Couch Gou was really hoping that Titans would get lucky and not be grouped with Odin so early on in the WCAD finals next July. After all, besides Odin and Lincoln, there were also many strong teams from Germany and South Korea. On top of that, China also had the likes of Cobra and Noah’s ark who were like tigers eyeing their prey, so if they were to run out of energy after one match with Odin, their chances in the later stages of the competition might not be so optimistic. 

Coach Gou also found that when Yao Sen watched the matches, he always looked very solemn and serious. After all, he was the only active player in the whole of Asia who had made it into the world’s top 5. Odin’s captain was capable of bringing extraordinary pressure upon him. 

On the night the championship ended, Yao Sen was still in bed watching the broadcast. The tactical analysis had already been dissected though, and since Yao Sen didn’t feel like watching anything else, he simply watched it a few more times to find a feel for it. 

The more he saw, the more excited Yao Sen got. He looked up a past match video of Lu Kaizhi versus Lincoln’s vice captain Kevin and watched it for two to three hours. 

As a result, Yao Sen had trouble sleeping. 

Early the next morning, four people simultaneously sat down in the training room, yet once Coach Gou entered, he discovered that Yao Sen wasn’t there. 

Coach Gou’s eyebrows furrowed. “Where’s Yao Sen?”

The four people looked at each other in dismay, not one of them had a clue. 

“Did he oversleep?” Coach Gou shot a glare at Wang Yuxi. “Why didn’t you call him too? What kind of roommate are you!”

“After I got up, I saw that he was still sleeping, so I thought he wanted to sleep a little longer, that’s why I didn’t call him…” Wang Yuxi cried out in grief. “Yao Sen isn’t regularly on time though, right?! How was I supposed to know that he’ll oversleep? 

“Give him a call!”

Wang Yuxi rang him up, then froze and said, “His phone’s turned off…”

“Then go to your room and fetch him!”

Wang Yuxi could only get up and slip away obediently. 

When Wang Yuxi got back to his room, he opened the door and was gobsmacked to find that Yao Sen was still sound asleep in his bed. Wang Yuxi went up to Yao Sen and gave him a heavy smack, shouting: “President Sen! Coach Gou asked you to get up and sign a contract worth two hundred mil!”

Yao Sen stirred dazedly, but he didn’t wake up. 

“If you don’t get up, Shao ge is gonna run off with someone else!”

Yao Sen turned over and gave him a blank stare, “…run away with who?”

“Why are you sleeping like the dead? Don’t you see what time it is?”

Yao Sen grabbed his phone to check the time, only to realize that it had already shut down after he forgot to charge it following a night of watching videos.

Yao Sen sat up, rubbing his messy hair. Eyebrows wrinkling, he asked, “What time is it?”

“Twenty past eight, ge.”

Startled, Yao Sen immediately sobered up a great deal, then grabbed the clothes at the end of his bed and put them on. “I didn’t sleep until 4 or 5 am, how could I possibly get up? Is Lao-Gou there yet?”

“Are you getting ready to die?” Wang Yuxi looked at him in surprise. “Here, cover your ass up tight so it won’t get blasted open by Coach Gou in a bit.”

Yao Sen washed up in haste and went down to the training room. Coach Gou was waiting for him at a door with a dark face–seeing Yao Sen approaching, he smiled coldly. “What’s up? You want to rebel?”

“I had insomnia last night. Honest,” Yao Sen acknowledged his mistakes, “I’ll train for an extra half hour at noon.” 

Coach Gou looked at the dark circles under Yao Sen’s eyes and didn’t say much, then gestured for training to begin quickly. 

After morning training ended, Yao Sen stayed behind to train solo for another half hour. Probably due to lack of sleep last night, coupled with the fact that he didn’t have breakfast today, Yao Sen felt quite unwell and his hit rate even dropped a little. 

Coach Gou waved him down and motioned for Yao Sen to come over as if they were about to have a long face-to-face conversation. 

Coach Gou: “Why did you have insomnia again?”

“I accidentally watched matches for too long last night.”

Even though the coach was generally in charge of the players’ technical and tactical training, a player’s psychological matters were also an extremely crucial element on the field. As a coach, it was often necessary to pay attention to this.  

Coach Gou was a little worried about whether the pressure he usually put on Yao Sen was too great, on top of that, last night Yao Sen had watched Odin’s match broadcasts again. Yao Sen himself was already suffering from insomnia–Coach Gou felt that it was essential for him to properly guide the way.

“You can watch matches, but don’t pressure yourself too much,” Coach Gou, who rarely spoke meaningful and heartfelt words, said. “I know Odin and Lincoln are both strong, but as I said last time, those were the results at the end of Regionals. No one knows how far you five will improve in the months after this either.”

Yao Sen quietly listened till the end before finally saying, “Right, thanks Coach. But I know all this already. I had insomnia because I was too excited from watching matches, that’s all, not because life has been hard.”

Coach Gou stared at him suspiciously. “You really don’t have anything else on your mind?” 

 “……”

“If you do, then just spit it out. I’m your coach, what can’t I settle for you?”

“Okay, then I’ll just be blunt,” Yao Sen looked at Coach Gou sincerely. “Coach, these days, I’ve actually been really—especially—wanting to date.”

“……” Coach Gou resisted the urge to roll his eyes and said in annoyance, “This matter—I can’t settle! You young lovebirds have to work this out on your own! If you want to date, just date! It’s fine as long as it doesn’t interfere with training! What’s the point of dawdling and hesitating here!”

Yao Sen: “Coach, may I ask how you* pursued sister-in-law back then?”

*honorable you

Coach Gou internally thought, it turns out that youngsters are like this nowadays. As a man who was over thirty years old, why should he have to go through this? He then answered perfunctorily, “Flowers. Candlelight dinner. A ring.”

“Isn’t this… corny?”

“So what on earth do you want?”

“Take him* to see an esports match? Give them computer accessories?”

*the character used refers to men, but he/him and she/her both sound the same when spoken

Coach Gou glared. “You’re such a young, handsome guy, but why doesn’t your brain work? Which young lady would like these things!”

Yao Sen confidently answered, “Don’t worry, we have the same interests.”

“…Fine. I don’t understand today’s youth,” Coach Gou said. “I’m wasting my time with you on this. Hurry up and have lunch!”

“Mm, alright.”

That night, Yao Sen turned in early and tried to will himself to sleep, but a while after, not only did he not get sleepy, he was instead more conscious than ever. Sighing, Yao Sen resigned himself to the fact that the road to a peaceful night’s sleep was long and endless. 

Yao Sen stared at the ceiling blankly for a moment until his heart suddenly stirred. He looked at his phone on the bedside table, grabbed it, then sent a message to Shao Han. 

Yao Sen: Are you asleep

Three minutes later, Shao Han replied: Not yet, what’s up?

Yao Sen: My insomnia has been pretty severe lately

Shao Han: Is everything okay? Are you too tired from training?

Yao Sen: I don’t think so

Shao Han: I asked Xiao Meng before, she said she had a classmate who also has insomnia. She tried a sleep aid perfume and pillow spray and the results were pretty good. Should I help you ask where to buy them?

Warmth permeated through Yao Sen’s heart. Who says insomnia won’t benefit you? How was this not a benefit?

Yao Sen: No need for the trouble, Wang Yuxi gave me one of those ‘peaceful sleep’ nightlights before and all it did was make my eyes sting

Yao Sen: Is it convenient to voice call

This time, it took a while before Shao Han replied: Mm

Yao Sen made a voice call to Shao Han, who promptly picked up. As it turned out, Yao Sen didn’t speak first, and it was a while before Shao Han inquired, slightly suspicious, “Yao Sen?”

Probably because it was also late, Shao Han’s voice sounded both delicate and hushed, carrying his unique sense of coolness as it swept past Yao Sen’s ears, gentle and soothing. The corners of Yao Sen’s mouth slightly curved, and he put on his earphones and lay on his side, laughing softly. “I’m here.”

On the other end, Shao Han paused, then asked, “Why did you want to voice call?”

“It’s nothing, I just thought that your voice could help me sleep.”

“…Then what should I say?”

“Whatever you want, chatting like this is also fine.”

The two of them chatted idly about the European Championship, and Shao Han sounded much more natural once it came to talking about the matches, evidently also reminiscing about the lingering excitement from the competition.

Shao Han’s voice was like fine, ice-cool velvet that smoothed over his entire heart, leading his body and mind to relax, and before long, Yao Sen felt sleepy. 

Yao Sen: “I’m a little sleepy…”

“Mm, go to sleep,” Shao Han softened his voice as much as possible, not wanting to affect Yao Sen’s hard-won, precious sleepiness. “Good night.”

After ending the call, Yao Sen fell asleep peacefully, and yet on the other hand, it was Shao Han himself who completely felt that he couldn’t fall asleep. 

Curling up in bed and wrapped up in his blanket, gripping his phone that was still emitting light, his rapid heartbeat was like the beat of a drum. Shao Han’s hair on the pillow was somewhat messy, but the state of his heart was even messier.   

He had tried his best to make his voice seem gentle, but with earphones on and Yao Sen’s voice encircling him, hearing his soft laughter and the sound of his breaths—this was going a little too far. 

In all honesty, Shao Han already felt extremely fortunate to be able to be friends with such an open, generous, and charismatic person like Yao Sen. Maybe it was due to something that had happened in the past, but this precious friendship was especially important in Shao Han’s eyes. 

However, the two syllables of Yao Sen’s name were occupying his thoughts more and more; Shao Han would spare no effort to prepare a birthday gift for Yao Sen, whenever he watched Titans’s match broadcasts, he couldn’t help but stare stunnedly at the shots of Yao Sen, and when he received Yao Sen’s texts, he couldn’t conceal the joy that streaked across his heart. 

What happened between him and Shen You in the past had made him determined to separate friendship and love, and he had already planned on being good friends with Yao Sen, however… he was overcome with guilt from having betrayed Yao Sen’s friendship.

Moreover, when he thought of the fact that Yao Sen had initially hit on him in the game because he thought he was a girl, Shao Han felt faintly choked up in his heart, but at the same time, he felt annoyed that he would be so unhappy over such a trivial matter.

He sighed softly and closed his eyes to get rid of these thoughts.

☆ ☆ ☆

t/n – here is audio drama episode of this chapter, give it a listen if you want to hear yao sen & shao han’s late night phone call (it starts at the 12 minute mark), yao sen sounds so gentle ;___; protip: use google chrome and turn on automatic page translate to mtl the subtitles~

⟵ Chapter 20 | TOC | Chapter 22 ⟶