CAMP: Chapter 156

Since Song Cheng and An Seungyeob left the Chinese competition area together, their reputation in the domestic circle had always been bad. On the other hand, their high strength meant they were definitely eye-catching existences in the World Competition. In recent years, the KING team had Song Cheng behind the scenes. There was also An Seungyeob to perfectly implement his tactics and they were undoubtedly the favorite to win the World Competition every year.

In the first half of the year, the KING club had some problems with its operations that required them to abandon the spring competition but it had now been readjusted. Once they returned to the field, they still won the championship of South Korea’s autumn division in one fell swoop. Their strength couldn’t be underestimated.

Song Cheng attracted attention the moment he appeared. Now he walked over and the surrounding gazes followed him all the way.

This made Lin Yan frown even more. Lin Yan’s hostile attitude was very obvious and this made Song Cheng freeze slightly as he walked over. Then a look of realization flashed in his eyes. He retracted his gaze and greeted the people around him like he wasn’t aware of it.

The team representatives of the China division teams were in this area. They weren’t players of the same era but they heard a lot about Song Cheng’s previous relationship with the BK team. Even Luni responded politely before having the sense to shut up and turn his attention to Jing Yuanzhou.

In recent years, several god-level players had attended this occasion as representatives of their teams along with Song Cheng. Yet in the past, everyone had taken the initiative to keep their distance. This was the first time they had come forward to talk to each other.

Jing Yuanzhou obviously didn’t expect Song Cheng to suddenly come over. He was slightly stunned for a moment. He was just about to say something when his vision darkened.  A figure had stood up from the side and directly stopped in front of him.

Lin Yan’s tone was light and there wasn’t too much emotion in it. There was clearly an attitude of rejecting people. “Is there anything?”

He almost had the words ‘drive people away’ on his face.

Jing Yuanzhou glanced at the back of the person in front of him. He paused for a moment before slowly leaning back in his chair. He really didn’t speak any more.

Song Cheng’s gaze shifted between the two of them and a smile appeared on his face. “You must be Coach Lin. It is our first time meeting. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

According to reason, there was an old saying ‘you can’t beat a man who reaches out his hand with a smile.’ Unfortunately, this smiling face fell into Lin Yan’s eyes and he just felt it wasn’t very pleasant. Lin Yan lazily raised his eyes and repeated once again, “Courtesy isn’t needed. I just want to ask, is there anything?”

This seemed a lot more insensitive than Song Cheng’s attitude. It could be felt that the surrounding air pressure instantly dropped.

An Seungyeob came with Song Cheng and couldn’t hold back. He had just opened his mouth to say something when he was secretly stopped by Song Cheng. In front of so many people, Song Cheng didn’t look angry. After all, he generally knew the reason for Lin Yan’s attitude. In regards to this matter, he had a guilty conscience.

Song Cheng stood in place for a while. He was looking at Lin Yan but he was obviously speaking to Jing Yuanzhou.”I owe Titans something. Today, I came to return it in person.”

Lin Yan didn’t hear Jing Yuanzhou mentioning that Song Cheng owed him something. Lin Yan glanced over suspiciously and wondered, “What is it?”

“An apology.” Song Cheng’s gaze shifted to the side but unfortunately, Lin Yan was blocking Jing Yuanzhou too much. He could only see a vague outline covered in shadow. “I was too selfish at that time. Due to personal reasons, I chose to leave BK and left a mess to Titans. I owe Titans an apology.”

In fact, Song Cheng had wanted to say these words for a long time. Then every year at the World Competition, he watched Jing Yuanzhou take the BK team to aim for the championship trophy again and again, firmly becoming the backbone of the team, and he lost the courage to face this former teenager again and again. Perhaps this was his essence. Not only was he selfish but he was also cowardly.

Only Song Cheng knew that he felt relief when he heard Jing Yuanzhou make the decision to leave the BK Club this year. It was different from the surprise and amazement of the outside world. It was for this reason that he made up his mind to face Jing Yuanzhou at today’s drawing ceremony.

The moment his words were expressed, the atmosphere around them became more delicate.

An Seungyeob finally couldn’t restrain himself. “In the final analysis, I should be blamed for this matter. If it wasn’t for me, Song…”

Song Cheng stopped him again. “It has nothing to do with you. It was my own choice.”

Lin Yan vaguely heard that An Seungyeob chose to go back to South Korea for a personal reason. At that time, Song Cheng and An Seungyeob were already in a romantic relationship. It was a personal choice to go abroad together.

If it were just this matter, Lin Yan could actually understand the situation of the two people. After all, if it were him then he would probably make the same choice as Song. However, the one thing Song Cheng shouldn’t have done was to use their ‘counter’ to add a shackle to Jing Yuanzhou.

After all, they were all people in the circle. Lin Yan didn’t believe that Song Cheng wouldn’t know the level of BK’s coaching team when he was the captain of the BK team. He should’ve known what leaving would make Jing Yuanzhou face when he was a young man who had just joined the league.

Lin Yan never regarded himself as a saint. In the end, what did the situation of Song and An have to do with him? The only thing he needed to consider and care about was Jing Yuanzhou.

Lin Yan sneered at Song Cheng’s attitude and all attention fell behind him at this point. He worked very hard to control his urge to look back. He couldn’t see Jing Yuanzhou’s expression but he could clearly feel the man’s subtle and complex mood. The more this happened, the less he wanted Jing Yuanzhou to step forward to face this distasteful senior.

Lin Yan had a faint sneer on his face when he looked up again. “There is no need for apologies. Coach Song is from our competition area. Since you are Chinese, you should’ve heard of an old saying.”

He jokingly raised his tone and enunciated every word. “Excuse me, if an apology is useful then why do you need the police?”

An Seungyeob had learned some commonly used Chinese words during his time in the BK team but he really couldn’t understand this sentence. He couldn’t help looking at Song Cheng with some doubts.

Song Cheng, “……”

Song Cheng was at a loss and tried to organize his language. “I know that what happened in the past was really my fault. I never thought of asking Titans for forgiveness. I just came here today in the hopes I can face him and…”

Lin Yan unceremoniously interrupted him. “Yes, you’ve said it. Is there anything else?”

Song Cheng, “……”

Lin Yan saw that Song Cheng was speechless and his playful eyes became more intense. “Speaking of which, don’t you think your appeal is a bit strange? You know that you’ve done something wrong and it has been so many years since you did it. So what did you do when Titans was still in the BK team? I believe you should know more about the internal situation of BK than anyone else? If you feel guilty, why didn’t you stand up and say something before? Why is it only now that Titans made the transfer decision that you feel you have to run out and apologize?”

Lin Yan smiled coldly. “In all honesty, if you never thought of forgiveness then there is no need to apologize. It is just hypocritical and wastes everyone’s time. It doesn’t matter what previous fate you had with Titans. It has all been cleared up in the many years he played for the BK team. From the day Titans joined GH, he has nothing to do with you, former captain. As for the future, the only possible intersections will be on the field. In this year’s World Competition, our GH will completely defeat you and send all the KING members home. Please put it away by yourself.”

Once he finished speaking, he didn’t look at Song Cheng again. Instead, he asked Jing Yuanzhou, “I want to go to the bathroom. Do you want to go together?”

Jing Yuanzhou didn’t speak from beginning to end. It was only now that he slowly stood up from his position. “Let’s go.”

The two of them passed by Song Cheng without so much as a glance. Along the way, they could feel the gazes cast from all directions. Those present were the representatives of teams from all major competition areas. Although not many people could understand the conversation in Chinese apart from the few teams in the Chinese division, the subtle atmosphere just now was enough to arouse a lot of speculation.

It wasn’t until they passed around the corner at the end of the corridor that the gazes behind them were completely cut off. Lin Yan’s pace finally slowed down a lot. He didn’t actually want to go to the bathroom. He had just turned around to comfort Jing Yuanzhou. Unexpectedly, he turned his head and met a pair of vaguely smiling eyes.

Jing Yuanzhou’s smile was light and such a look showed no signs of the gloomy and annoyed emotions that Lin Yan had expected.

Lin Yan, “……”

He seemed to understand the other person’s thoughts. Before Lin Yan could speak, Jing Yuanzhou had already told him, “I really don’t want to have too much intersection with Captain Song. I don’t like to see him. Just now, he suddenly came over. If it wasn’t for you, I probably would’ve treated him with the same attitude. It’s as you think. Contact with him will really affect my mood.”

“…So why are you still smiling?”

“I’m smiling because—” Jing Yuanzhou suddenly took two steps forward. He stared down at Lin Yan and his smile became stronger. “What should I do? Although I know it isn’t very good but I seem to… like seeing you become angry for me.”

Lin Yan, “……”

“It is the first time I realized that being protected feels like this.”

Lin Yan’s mouth moved slightly. He couldn’t stand the gaze of the person in front of him and couldn’t help muttering in a low voice, “What is this? It isn’t a big deal. If you really like it then I’ll protect you more next time.”

***

Lin Yan’s face was strangely red when the two of them returned. Fortunately, the lights at the scene were very dazzling. It was also near the beginning of the ceremony and they didn’t attract much attention.

After they left, Song Cheng and An Seungyeob had returned to the Korean division area. Originally, Nilay from Win had thought about coming over to say ‘hello’ but due to KING acting first, he could only temporarily give up.

All the participating teams arrived and the draws for the grouping officially began. Lin Yan didn’t believe in his own hands and insisted on letting Jing Yuanzhou take to the stage as the representative.

All the teams drew their lots one after another and the final groupings of the group stage were officially announced. Jing Yuanzhou had drawn Group C. They failed to meet Win as Lin Yan wished but at the very least, they didn’t meet any other teams from the China division.

It was a group where they just needed to play normally to proceed to the next stage. It was really good luck.

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Proofreader: Nao