3 Unwanted Guest

After an almost sleepless night, Chang-Min started the day as always. He opened the official EoE app on his phone to check his account's rank. A deep crack ran through the display of his phone, which resulted from his fit of rage last night.

He scrolled through the Ascendant Leaderboard and searched for his only unbanned account named Exiled. He always had an account in the top 3 of the Chinese Excellence Server for the last 2 years with constantly more than 10,000 Era Points. However there weren't many serious opponents on this server, so he has given little significance to this fact. Most of the legendary EoE players competed on the Global Professional Server that connected players from the North American, Chinese, European, Korean and Russian Masterclass and Academy Eras to play against each other with a very low ping.

Yin & Yang Games invested a lot into the development of this technology and worked together with international tech companies to make the flagship project come true.

For the sake of interest, Chang-Min checked their leaderboard as well.

[Rank 1: SKN Hyung] [1,003 Era Points] [SP] [KR]

[Rank 2: PP Fate] [867 Era Points] [GS] [CN]

[Rank 3: V4U LeiC] [850 Era Points] [GS] [CN]

[Rank 4: SKN Gene] [803 Era Points] [EN] [KR]

[Rank 5: C8 Adamant] [752 Era Points] [TK] [NA]

[Show more…]

"My name could stand there right now..." thought Chang-Min and wanted to go back to sleep again out of discouragement.

RING!

Chang-Min raised an eyebrow in annoyance and put his blanket aside after he heard the doorbell.

"Now the pro teams will send their first player recruiters, to offer me a contract" he assumed. Chang-Min just put on his dressing gown and opened his penthouse's door.

In front of his entrance door, there was a young man in his early twenties who was wearing pajamas and had windswept dyed blond hair.

"Ji Yuan?" Chang-Min was surprised.

"Greetings and salutations, " Ji Yuan said and stumbled past Chang-Min on his way into the living room. Ji Yuan was a famous tank player known as Amber.

"Hey! Who allowed you to come in? And why are you dressed like you just woke up?"

Ji Yuan took a deep breath and ignored Chang-Min's question. "Ah! Do you feel that too?"

"The only thing I feel is the strong need to kick you out of my flat again."

"No, I mean the sweet taste of freedom."

"That doesn't explain why you visit me in a cloak-and-dagger operation."

"To make a long story short, I was thrown out of the team house by our managers last evening. They didn't even give me time to collect my clothes..."

"Ji Yuan, the same slob as always... Where did you spend the night?"

"I went to a 24h book store and faked the falling-asleep-while-reading scenario. But that sofa ruined my back so I woke up after a few hours."

Chang-Min shook his head "Why of all places did you have to come to mine?"

"Well, I considered my various options and I decided to come here. You got a beautiful apartment with plenty of vacant rooms, so..."

Chang-Min interrupted him "You don't want to stay here, right?"

Ji Yuan looked horrified before he started to laugh hysterically "Nah, of course not for long. What are you thinking, Chang-Min."

Chang-Min was relieved. "Good, I have to focus on EoE II now."

"Yeah… Good…. But maybe just until I find another place where I can go and my team sends me my possessions and some money? It will be like the old times when we were living in the gaming cafe together before I found a team. Now let's celebrate that you got a roommate. I'll prepare breakfast for you, Minnie."

"Don't call me that. And I don't need a roommate. I need an aura of concentration."

"Alright, then we can meditate together or go to the sauna or…"

"Hold on, Ji Yuan! You can't stay here, it is a bachelor apartment, not a living community."

"Come on, man! You won't even notice that I am here. And I can clean and cook for you every day. I can even learn how to make some Korean dishes."

"I don't need a handmaid either. Why did they remove you from the team?" asked Chang-Min.

"During the last season, I had no motivation to play 16 hours a day like the others. I am 23 years old, and I have spent my entire youth in this game. Maybe it isn't too bad to face some new challenges, right?"

"EoE is the only thing you are good at, how could you just give it up like it means nothing? You were the star of the LZ Reapers."

"How do you know it is the only thing I am good at. Of course, I am good at EoE, they said I am the best tank player in the east. But how should I find out if I have other talents as well if I never try? Maybe I can be a pianist?"

"Your fingers are too short."

"Or an actor?"

"You would need a lot of plastic surgery."

"The glass is always half-empty for you, isn't it?"

"No, there's just not a single drop in your glass."

Ji Yuan folded his arms "You are mean. Why did I even come here?"

"You don't know how lucky you are that you still had the chance to play in this league" Chang-Min was upset. "If I could play for such a team, I would have done everything in my power to perform as good as possible."

"You had the chance as well. By the way, how is the girl?"

Chang-Min was scared for a blink of an eye because he forgot that he had told Ji Yuan the reason why he was banned back then.

"I don't know. Did you tell anyone about this?"

"No, it is top-secret, Sir" Ji Yuan said.

"It's best for you when you don't tell anyone. I don't need their sanctimonious sympathy."

Ji Yuan didn't even listen to Chang-Min anymore, he was already in the kitchen preparing breakfast with some leftovers that he found in the fridge. At the same time, Ji Yuan was humming a joyful melody. When Chang-Min saw him like that he had to suppress a slight smile.

"This shameless guy Ji Yuan..."