Chapter 145: Chapter 144: The Bosses of RNG and WE
Gu Bai stayed in Kyoto for two days.
................. (Omitted)
However, the celebrities who had experienced the whole incident at the Internet Celebrity Festival vaguely knew some inside information, but none dared to step forward and expose it.
Are you crazy? When a top stream says to send someone in, they do. In the internet and entertainment circle, who dares to claim they’re squeaky clean?
If asked who would be the happiest to see this incident unfold?
No one else.
It’s all the LPL clubs.
Just a day ago, Goryeo’s SSG won the championship at Bird’s Nest, and all 12 LPL teams were trending for criticism, with RNG and WE getting the worst of it.
No other way about it, as it was the first time the League of Legends world championship was held in Hua Country, and two Goryeo teams were contesting the championship at the Bird’s Nest, it made the official data showing over 110 million Hua Country players simply unacceptable. Originally, only WE and RNG got criticized after the semi-finals, but after the finals, all 12 teams were dragged into the mud.
But after this incident broke out, the hashtag #SuggestionToCancelLPL# was instantly pushed down to beyond tenth place, allowing all major clubs to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
For example, Principal Wang saw a popular comment under the IG official blog.
"Let me finish eating the melon from President Gu first, then I’ll come back to roast you unambitious people!"
Seeing this comment, Principal Wang felt a strange sense of gratitude towards Gu Bai.
And as the instigator of the entire situation, Gu Bai, at this moment, was cuddling Peng Shiba, enjoying the fruit she fed him.
"Honestly, Gu Bai, I really should thank you."
Principal Wang put away his phone, glancing at Gu Bai sitting across the table.
"?"
Gu Bai gave him a puzzled look.
"If it wasn’t for the explosive gossip you produced, these past few days, not only IG’s official blog but even my personal Weibo might have been bombarded. So should I thank you or not?"
Hearing this, Gu Bai couldn’t help but laugh silently.
The S7 loss was something he experienced in a past life; it was arguably the year LPL was most scorned, with RNG bearing the brunt. The phrase "Why not ban Galio?" became a thorn in the side of League fans.
Since the LPL was established in S3, the S Series has been the common goal of all Hua Country League fans. But regrettably, for five whole years—runner-up, semifinalist, quarterfinals, sixteenth place—they made the rounds but never atop the podium. This time, being the host was supposed to be the most hopeful year but fell at the semifinals.
However, there was an upside; the S7 failure bankrupted a bunch of old bulls.
Before the match, tickets were like gold dust.
During the actual competition, not many people attended.
Until S8, when Principal Wang’s IG took the first LPL championship, heralding what’s called the first year of esports. Gu Bai vaguely remembered the echoing shouts of "IG rocks" in the dormitory halls that year.
Originally planning to tease Principal Wang further.
Suddenly, Gu Bai thought of something.
He had a task earning 100 million attention points, and if the S8 championship team was under his name, could he use the 110 million League player base to complete it directly?
Thinking of this, Gu Bai’s eyes lit up!
There’s potential!
Thinking about this, Gu Bai gently pushed away Peng Shiba beside him and looked at Principal Wang in front of him: "Principal, let me ask you something."
"What is it?"
"Any LPL clubs planning to make a move?"
Hearing this, Principal Wang sized up Gu Bai before slowly speaking: "Why? Is ruining the entertainment industry not enough? Now you want to ruin the esports scene too?"
Gu Bai was immediately unhappy.
................... (Omitted)
Principal Wang rolled his eyes: "Alright, stop trying to glorify yourself."
Then continued: "But if you really want to invest in an LPL club, I couldn’t honestly recommend it."
Gu Bai inquired, "Why do you say that?"
"The way LPL is now, entering means losing money. Maybe two years ago it was still manageable, with a club worth at most ten or twenty million and could barely maintain operations through sponsorship fees, but it’s different these past two years.
The market expanded, entry fees for an LPL club are in the nine-figure range at the minimum, plus contract fees for players, salaries, all inflated, unless you can win the championship right from the start, it’s harder to make money than to reach the sky. You see Suning, JD, they all entered the scene, but they never expected to make money from the onset, they aimed to expand their brand influence. Didn’t Qin Fen’s KING get sold for the same reason? Because they couldn’t afford it."
Principal Wang’s words were quite truthful.
The esports industry isn’t popular in Hua Country. The market is only so big, making big money off it is purely wishful thinking.
But was Gu Bai planning to make money off LOL?
If to say yes, it wouldn’t be wrong either. If he could actually fulfill the task of earning attention points through League of Legends, wouldn’t the 10 billion reward after completing the mission count as making money?
However, it wasn’t possible for Gu Bai to disclose the system task to Principal Wang, so he smiled and said: "Do I look like I’m trying to make money off esports? You don’t understand, it’s love. I want to contribute to Hua Country’s esports industry.
Lu Xun once said, where there’s light, one must radiate heat..."
"Speak like a human."
"I want to find a group of pro players to boost me to gold."
"At least you’re self-aware and only aiming for gold. If your target were to be a king, only God could carry you there."
Gu Bai’s level with Yasuo was something Principal Wang remembered all too well.