The moment SKT's base exploded, a roar burst out in the arena. The volume wasn't huge, but the momentum was beyond imagination.
"TES is awesome! We're champions!"
"TES is awesome!"
SKT losing the final on home turf—Chinese international students basically took over the Busan Esports Arena in Korea. With that one-two combo, without thirty years of internal cultivation, you really couldn't withstand it.
Most of the people in the arena were young, and in that moment their faces turned ugly. They didn't even want to watch the post-game interviews. They stood up and left the arena, muttering nonstop:
"Washed Faker…"
"Gumayusi, why don't you just go die!"
This kind of in-your-face humiliation wasn't something ordinary people could handle.
So they poured all that anger onto SKT.
If SKT hadn't lost, how could something like this happen?
If they'd won, this would've been their celebration time.
Damn it!
They were already planning how to attack online after this.
If you lose, you pay this price!
In no time, nearly half the arena had emptied out.
The broadcast director even aimed the camera at the now-empty player booths and held it there—frozen—for nearly ten full seconds.
"What does this mean? What does he mean by this? After winning, shouldn't you cut to the base immediately?" Crystal, who was connected on voice with everyone, chose to engage right away.
"When I used to play, I always felt the LCK side's directors had a ton of little thoughts," Erzi immediately followed Crystal's charge.
"It doesn't mean much. TES wasn't even on site and still took the championship. They should reflect on themselves first—why wasn't TES on site, and why couldn't SKT beat TES?" Letme said.
"Fair point!" AJ—whose Mandarin was never great—couldn't do long speeches anyway.
The cut came a little late, so everyone missed the immediate celebration.
But they did catch the moment everyone hugged into a pile—then White Moon pushed the door open and squeezed right in.
Guo Hao came in afterward. He glanced at the group hug, said nothing, yanked Duke out, and gave him a hug too.
"Hahaha, White Moon's Ban-Pick today—I can only say it was invincible!"
"Guo Hao: Come celebrate with me."
"This scene feels really familiar."
"Hahaha, Principal Wang has something to say."
"TES finally ended the 'find the mole' arc and lifted their first MSI trophy!"
"Don't say that—Knight is probably watching chat right now."
"No way. Feels like he switched streams the moment they won. Watching the celebration is just salt in the wound."
"I don't care about anyone else—where are those Korea-biased fans who were stirring narratives from the semifinals? Where'd they go?"
"Didn't they say Brother Infinite Borders would get blown up by SKT if he didn't train?"
"They probably didn't expect not only did he not get blown up—he even made Faker take true damage."
"Hahaha, the three champs Brother Infinite Borders picked this series—Ryze, LeBlanc, Azir—are all Faker's famous champions."
"Faker 'crime'?"
"Ahem, ahem… can't say that, can't say that. Hehehe—but it's pretty funny."
Meanwhile, back at TES's base—
"Your mom's kiss—Fan-ge is insane!"
"You're insane. Last game your Zeri blew up Gumayusi's Varus."
"You're both insane, you're both insane—insane, insane, insane!" Zoom didn't care who said what. Anyone who carried him was a big dad.
All that pressure-tanking top lane was worth it. This title was his proof.
Lin Fan noticed Tian hadn't said a word after winning.
He turned around and smacked Tian hard on the shoulder.
"Well played. These three games, our coordination was perfect—we completely outplayed their mid-jungle."
Only then did Tian's face break into a smile.
"It was all because Fan-ge crushed Faker. Otherwise I really couldn't beat Oner."
Hearing that, Lin Fan pulled Tian into a hug.
He'd heard plenty of stories about Tian getting depressed easily—sometimes over something small, and then his mood would just collapse.
In the LPL official stream, the three casters' mouths were practically curled up to the sky.
"Champions. We're champions again."
"The championship streak continues. In S11 our region won Worlds, and in S12 we win MSI again. I'm proud of our players. Our region has never been weaker than the LCK," Miller said, especially since TES was an all-Chinese roster.
They didn't rely on a single Korean player from start to finish—everything was Chinese players' own effort. That made it even more exciting.
"Yeah. TES is a team we've watched all the way. From the losing streak at the start to the winning streak afterward, every step was their own hard work.
And seeing them win now… it really makes you emotional," Wawa added.
Guan Zeyuan nodded without saying much. After all, his favorite team was Samsung, so it was hard to relate to Wawa and Miller's feelings.
It was like back when Samsung got eliminated at Worlds—Wawa and Miller were laughing, while he slumped in his chair, lips trembling, not knowing what to say.
Some mischievous viewers clipped that scene.
Then paired it with Lu Xun's classic line: "People's joys and sorrows are not the same. I only find them noisy."
It became a legendary meme.
Of course, TES beating SKT was still worth celebrating for him too.
For Samsung fans, the best outcome was always SKT suffering.
But as a caster, he couldn't say it out loud.
Still, he was already ready to check the post-match forums.
"Once again, congratulations to TES for winning the 2022 MSI Championship Trophy. Congratulations on turning hard work into results."
That's competition.
The winners celebrate. The losers wail.
LCK caster desk—
The Roaring Emperor frowned, his face miserable. During the match he'd shouted his throat raw.
But the gap in strength was just too big. No matter how hard he yelled, it changed nothing.
After all, whatever happened outside the game couldn't affect the match…
Unless you pulled the plug.
But Riot Games had four official referees sitting there, positions locked down tight. It wasn't like you could just unplug things.
So in Game 3, once they fell that far behind, besides waiting to die, there was nothing else they could do.
The Roaring Emperor thought for a moment.
"I hope they can recover quickly from today's match. And congratulations to TES for winning MSI."
"Dine's performance at MSI was absolutely dominant, and his teammates' coordination was perfect. With a team like this, it's hard for me to imagine how they could lose," he said.
"For T1, the biggest mistake was thinking about how to beat TES. They should be thinking about how TES could possibly lose," Kim Dongjun sighed.
"The gap between the two teams is simply too big—especially mid. Faker is indeed a legend, but he no longer has his peak strength or form."
"If the club still insists on playing around mid, then this year's Worlds will probably be another disappointment."
"My suggestion is: play through top. Zeus has talent and skill, and in these games he actually performed quite well. He really should be developed as the core."
The moment Faker's fans heard that, they instantly held a grudge.
But it was still a losing moment. And Kim Dongjun had been an LCK caster for ten years—his status was second only to the Roaring Emperor.
They couldn't move yet. So they recorded it first, saving it for a future reckoning.
Once Faker returned to the league, blew everyone up, and became the Demon King again, they'd dig these clips out and strike back.
A caster isn't qualified to evaluate a player.
"T1's players are still young. This loss is a good thing too. They'll remember this feeling and work harder. MSI is over, but we still have Worlds!"
But the moment Worlds came up, the LCK side's expressions turned sour again.
Last year, RNG beat DK at MSI, and then EDG took Worlds too.
The entire region won nothing last year.
And this year, MSI started off like this at home…
Is Worlds going to be doomed too?
Looking at the big screen where TES was still celebrating, they shivered unconsciously.
If Dine could keep this form all the way through, it would feel extremely dangerous by then.
Could TES really take Worlds this year?
Probably not. Usually, winning MSI means you've already cashed out your potential—at Worlds, your performance will be average…
TES has no hope of winning Worlds now.
That's what those fans thought as they watched TES celebrate.
As for SKT's player booths, even after all this time, they still hadn't recovered.
Especially Faker…
He could accept losing.
He just couldn't accept losing because of him.
Where did this mid laner even come from?
Why was he so strong?
Strong to an incomprehensible degree. If the opponent had pulled out some weird tech and blew him up, then fine—it would've been a tactical gap.
But the three champions the opponent played were Ryze, LeBlanc, and Azir.
All classic mid champions—the oldest of them was twelve years old. These were champions every mid laner should know.
He simply lost in laning strength.
That made him feel awful.
So he packed up slower.
The other teammates had already finished packing and were waiting for him.
They didn't dare leave early…
If you wanted to keep surviving in the Korean league, you had to learn the unspoken rules.
The only good news was that TES wasn't on site, so SKT didn't have to watch their trophy celebration in person.
After packing up, they finally headed into the backstage player tunnel.
Before leaving, Zeus glanced at the big screen where TES was still celebrating. His eyes filled with envy. The longer he looked, the bitterer it felt.
This year, they could only place their hopes on Worlds.
He didn't want to end up with only a domestic title and win nothing on the world stage.
But because TES won online, the award ceremony looked a bit shabby.
Compared to an offline event, it just wasn't the same—though they still had the trophy.
A 1:1 trophy model. The real one would be air-shipped back to their base from Korea.
The one handing out TES's championship award was Riot Games' China-region president—sincere to the max.
The broadcast quickly transitioned into the final interview segment.
And this time, the interviewer was none other than the Roaring Emperor, the LCK caster.
This was their usual tradition—after the title is decided, the Roaring Emperor interviews the players.
Xia An stood by, ready to interpret at any moment.
"Congratulations to TES, and congratulations to you on winning MSI. At this moment, what do you want to say?"
"Thanks to my teammates! Every time I charged forward, my teammates supported me—especially our jungler Tian. In every key moment early game, he was by my side. That's what made my mid-lane so easy."
"Oh? Dine is being too humble. These three games, everyone saw it—you were the one who started the tempo," the Roaring Emperor said.
"No. Simply put, our bot lane is very strong. As long as we help bot, we can win. So Tian and I agreed from the start: if there's a chance, play for bot. The result matched our judgment—under bot lane's explosive output, we successfully led the team to victory."
Hearing that, the Roaring Emperor didn't know how to respond for a moment.
He'd intended to shove all the credit onto mid lane.
Young players usually get inflated.
And with how outrageous Dine's performance was, wouldn't he naturally just "eat" all the credit?
That would make other teammates feel bad.
Especially the jungler—he dogs for you every game, and in the end it's like he did nothing.
When you win, you're the carry. When you lose, everyone blames me for not coming mid.
Who could accept that?
That would plant a seed.
But now Dine made himself sound useless, like every win was because of his teammates…
And then when Finals MVP still went to him, it felt like a slap to the face.
"Can you evaluate Faker?"
Lin Fan took the microphone. The smile on his face slowly faded, turning serious.
"Faker is absolutely among the strongest players in the world. Today's match actually proves that."
"He already pushed himself to the limit, trying to win MSI. But the player he ran into was me—so I can only say, sorry."
"Of course, this is only MSI. Compared to Worlds, we'll face bigger challenges. Before we lift that trophy, we still need to stay humble," Lin Fan said, blinking.
The moment he finished, chat started flying.
"Damn it—this is humble?"
"He basically didn't say: 'Faker is trash, stop bumping into me.'"
"I think the last sentence is the true finishing touch. If he didn't want to 'stay humble,' he'd probably just advise Faker to retire."
"Honestly, if Faker is among the strongest pros, then what is Brother Infinite Borders, who just smashed Faker?"
"Do you even have to ask? World's number one mid, obviously."
"Hahahaha, I love this about Brother Infinite Borders. Even when he insults someone, he does it indirectly."
"And that blink—100 points. He's definitely being held hostage!"
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup