"Our Ocean Emblem boys have won the match!"came the announcement from an enthusiastic male voice. Cheers erupted from the audience,fans showing off their crafted banners with the names of their favourite team players displayed on them. A boy from one of the two teams sprang up from his seat and joined the audience, jumping and howling like a madman in celebration of their victory,not minding about being judged. That was Ren Siyuan,the ever hyped member of the team- he was a walking ball of energy- overzealous,awfully loud and cheerful,an adrenaline junkie.
"Calm down you're embarrassing us,"one of his teammates to his right tugged at the sleeve of his jacket, forcing him to settle down.
"What's wrong? Can't I celebrate?"Ren Siyuan sassed.
"Fine. Fine. Our dear Fox wants to celebrate. How about I talk to Shu Jie Jie maybe we can celebrate more at Cipher?"
"ChenChen you're the best,"Ren Siyuan squealed excitedly almost forgetting the large number of people in the room that were able to witness his craziness. But his fans were used to it and loved him for who he was.
As the group of five boys dressed in ocean blue tracksuits with the name "Ocean Emblems " walked down proudly from the stage after winning,their opponents who had lost were standing in line waiting for the final handshake that usually happened at the end to make peace between winners and losers. It was almost like a custom and definitely no hard feelings.
Ocean Emblems was one of the well known and strongest eSports teams. Their glory was known all over the country and their fanbase was large as expected. After the handshake,Chen Hao,the leader of the team walked over to the media area where a number of reporters were waiting for him to interview him about the match. Team players were allowed to express their opinions about the match and some reporters would find opportunities to slip in personal questions which may or may not be answered by the players.
"Phoenix,"one female reporter started, addressing him by his professional game or rather gaming ID name,"How did you manage to win today's match considering that Hunters Squad is a strong team? Was it by luck?"
"Luck?"Chen Hao almost scoffed feeling slightly offended by her words but he chose to be a little respectful,"We're a strong team too and we've won many matches before as well. Our team prepared well for the match and as you saw we won easily that is if you were following the match. So we won out of hard work and devotion not out of luck,"he declared strongly feeling the need to prove her wrong.
The reporter only gave a slight nod feeling a little embarrassed because she hadn't been following the match and she dared to make baseless assumptions.
Li Yang dipped his hands in the pockets of his baggy trousers as he walked towards the exit of the venue. Many people had left and there were only few people left in the auditorium,him being one of them. His friends had already left yet he found himself stalling for no reason exactly. On his way outside he passed by the crowd of reporters surrounding the very familiar boy on the podium. For no particular reason,he paused in his tracks to watch the boy who was repeatedly answering the questions shot at him by the reporters. He felt intrigued especially by the boy's comeback answers aiming to put some reporters in their place.
Ocean Emblems' leader was always outspoken,he was confrontational and he dared to express his opinions and thoughts without hesitation . Li Yang smiled slightly having been able to confirm the theory.
After watching for a while Li Yang satisfactorily turned around to walk out from the area. His thoughts were filled with the other boy's words and he kept smiling in amusement. He was the exact opposite of Chen Hao- during interviews,he preferred to say less and he always kept his answers strictly professional and rejected personal questions directed at him. It was his life after all they didn't need to know what was going on ,it was none of their business. He could only spend a maximum of five minutes for interviews not any less not any longer.
Li Yang was brought out of his reverie when he bumped into a soft chest at the doorstep. The lady backed away apologizing immediately. She was in a hurry and had no time to get flustered by the little action.
"Oh Little Yang it's you,"the lady acknowledged in her soft voice.
"Shu Jie Jie,"Li Yang acknowledged back, bowing slightly at the older.
"Is ChenChen in there? Is he not done with the interview? It's getting late and we have to go,"the lady spoke anxiously.
Shu Meihun,a twenty eight year old beautiful sophisticated lady,was the Ocean Emblems' manager. She was like an older sister to the boys always taking care of them, both professionally and at a personal level when necessary. Seeing the lady's urge to go in,Li Yang stepped aside paving way for her to get inside to drag Chen Hao from the reporters. Li Yang looked around for a while before deciding to walk away to the parking lot.
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"Yang where were you?"His best friend Bai Yiran gave him a questioning gaze immediately he entered the van.
"I had to use the washroom,"he lied and his friend of course believed him hence not questioning him further. As he settled in his seat,he caught a glimpse of Chen Hao and Shu Meihun heading towards the white bus parked some meters away from the van. His gaze lingered on them till they disappeared into the bus.
"It's that crazy boy from Ocean Emblems. They are always so hyper. Can't believe we're from the same company,"Bai Yiran commented having noticed the boy Li Yang was looking at.
Li Yang was the leader of Red Dragon Chess,one of the two eSports team under Beihai Games. Their team and Ocean Emblems were from the same company even though Red Dragon Chess debuted two years earlier and its members were slightly older. Today they had come under the company's instructions to support their brother team despite the members of the two teams barely interacting at all. They were not close enough,their managers were different,their dorm rooms were away from each others' and even their gaming studios were different. They belonged to the same company but their interactions were limited to practice matches or running into each other once in a while.