New league

"Kickoff is pretty interesting," Chao said. They were sitting in the meeting room around the table watching the presentation that the higher-ups of the league sent them.

"They changed the leagues?" Wuchen asked, and Chao nodded. 

"There are more new teams in Macau and Hong Kong. A lot more teams advanced from challengers. And the Taiwanese got more teams advancing too. So we have our league now, with them." Shan watched the explanation and the new logo it had. Huobai sighed and gritted his teeth so loud Shan next to him could hear it.

"They didn't want to let us know earlier? I need to change the uniforms because they have the Chinese league logo…" Shan felt his pain but chuckled when he heard Chao answer.

"They sent it early. Already in October, but it got lost in spam somehow. So we should be glad they were counting on us and sent the admission papers. The second time was in December. I just didn't have the time to tell you yet," Chao admitted, and Huobai watched him with obvious disbelief. He got up and simply walked away without a word. 

"He went to take care of it. It takes time to make so many uniforms." Yixing excused him, but Chao shook his head. 

"I get it. It was my fault. Tell him he can take time off the game if it's needed." Shan was… surprised by Chao's change. He used to be a bit too authoritative for Shan's taste, yet Yitian toned down Shan's displeasure. Now, Chao was more of a suggestive person than the 'you-have-to-do-it-because-I-said-so' type of person.

"Oh, there is another issue," Chao started, but Yitian stopped him and pointed at the door with his head. Everybody looked around to see who had just come in. A tall, lanky person came inside in a black turtleneck and jeans. His messy hair made him look younger than the thirty-two years old he was.

"Doctor Bai, you are here in time," Yitian said, smiled, and gestured for him to come to the head of the table.

"Hello, guys. I guess Chao told you what was going on…" They all shook their heads, confused. But Shan somehow knew what it was. It wasn't hard to guess it had something to do with their health, otherwise, Chao wouldn't beat around the bush so much.

"We will all go to have the general checkup. We already rented a hospital," Chao finished and looked at Doctor Bai Qiao. it must have been him. Shan shook his head and knew it was his fault. But he wouldn't say sorry, as it was important.

"You will have a general medical exam." doctor Bai frowned when he saw the denying shaking of their heads, so Chao had to step in. 

"You will ALL have it. No exceptions. You have a clause in our contract that you will take care of your body and try to prevent any injuries. So you need to oblige." That was the end of it. No one could say anything at all.

"When?" Mei asked, looking a bit frightened.

"Tomorrow, and so you can't flee, I will have your cards blocked and you can go out tonight only if you have an actual emergency. Which takes me to your free time. We will have a new schedule as we have to train more towards the new season." Everyone groaned because they all knew that it meant less free time. Yet Shan felt good. If he had less free time, he had less time to think about unnecessary things.

"I will send the schedule in the group chat but know that during games it will be different as we need to travel a bit. But there were many changes made." Chao nodded towards Yitian, who smiled and continued.

"There will be two types of training, team training, where we try team tactics and fight as a team, and individual training, where you can basically do what you need. Then there is weekend streaming. You will have six hours assigned every day of the weekend. Completely, you will need forty hours of training per week to fulfill the contract you signed. And yes, even the academy team has the same timetable." 

Shan had to laugh inside. The academy youth team… It was the new members they recruited last summer that still weren't united as a team, made many mistakes and during the practice matches they had, the academy team was always slaughtered. Luhan and Aijie became captain and vice-captain as they were the first ones recruited. But Shan still wondered if it was the right choice. 

They were so different from Yitian and Chao, who were united as one. Luhan and Aijie were like Tom and Jerry, always bickering and arguing about banal things like who would be streaming when or what to have for a drink. The strategies they made were direct copies of Chao's but without the skills to adapt them. Yet…

"There is a talk that eSport players are living unhealthy lives and other talks, so to prove you are not living unhealthy, we added physical training points. Every weekend there will be pilates or gym class. But you can visit the gym anytime and the points will be added; one point for every hour of exercise. Exercise points and streaming hours are needed and controlled weekly. To fulfill the contract, you need at least 5 exercise and streaming points per week." Chao was holding up the ID card they all got. And that was acting as the pass for everything in this damn house.

"And another thing is we need to shoot new promo videos and pictures. I still don't know the theme of it, but the league management will give us a heads up." Yitian looked at Shan, worries were flowing out of his eyes. Shan only vaguely smiled at him and nodded. He could take it… Probably. 

The times why he was so afraid of cameras flashed before his eyes. The grieving screams, the blanket over his head to cover his face, while he was crying into his mother's arms, having the cameras shoved almost into his face… Shan shook his head and took a deep breath to get back into the present.

"And because we moved to a new league, we need to win the summer part of NSL, Nexus's Secret League, our league sponsored by Nexus, to get qualified for Worlds. The second place given to Worlds will be someone with the most championship points, so with the highest standing in both the spring and summer part." Shan was trying really hard to comprehend everything. 

Everything was changing so much and so fast. Just a year and a half ago, there was no league, no points, nothing, only playing, and yet now. It felt like a genuine organization. Somehow, it felt really satisfying to be part of it.

He has been enjoying the game more lately. Somehow, it became more than a tool for forgiveness.