Chapter 13 – Friends
“By the way, Clear, I haven’t added you as a friend yet…”
The two of them turned off the lights and came out of the small kitchen together. Suddenly, Lin Xingling remembered an important matter.
“Ah…” Cheng Che shook his head. “No, I’ve added you.”
If he remembered correctly, it was about a year ago, in the early hours of the morning, around 2:30 a.m. It was when Stars led the SYG team to win the 2017 Summer Championship. With a stroke of luck, Cheng Che entered that account repeatedly and sent countless friend requests, hoping for acceptance.
He had intended to send the request and then go to sleep, but to his surprise, they accepted it just three minutes later.
The first thing Stars said at that time was: “Hello.”
The second thing was: “Do you have something to ask?”
At that time, Cheng Che was so excited that he couldn’t type properly. After stammering for a long time, he used voice-to-text to eliminate the stuttering parts:
“Hello, senior Stars. I’m your fan. I watch every one of your matches, and I really like you.”
[SYG-Stars: Thank you for your support.]
After that, the young fan poured out his admiration for Stars, expressing his obsession with Stars’ skills, leadership, and more.
He rambled on, while the idol on the other side merely repeated phrases like “Thank you,” “That’s nice,” and “Thank you for your support.”
It felt like being politely rejected from a distance.
Finally, Cheng Che expressed his hope of meeting Stars in person someday…
[SYG-Stars: I look forward to that day.]
Happiness is always fleeting. After Cheng Che unilaterally expressed himself that day, they had no further interaction.
Since then, Cheng Che joined the TG team’s training as a marksman player under the alias Clear and successfully joined the second team. Until now… the “Cheng Che” account, nicknamed “Clear,” had only added Stars as a friend.
“Did I add you… I’m sorry, it seems like I forgot.” Upon hearing his words, Lin Xingling entered the ID “Clear” in the search contacts field. “Let me check again.”
No! In the instant Cheng Che was about to tell Lin Xingling his nickname, he suddenly realized something:
If he mentioned “Clear,” wouldn’t that imply that he himself was Stars’ ultimate fan? They shouldn’t have a personal fan in the team, right?
“Clear… No, I don’t think I added you.”
Rubbing his eyes while wearing his gold-rimmed glasses, Lin Xingling looked like a little hamster with his mouth slightly open, revealing his front teeth.
Cheng Che quickly changed his words, “I… I’m sorry, I… I forgot… I didn’t add you, but now… should I add you?”
His nervous stuttering became even more pronounced.
“Well, okay.”
They added each other as friends through QR codes. The message sent by Lin Xingling came with cute emoticons.
[[New Friend Request] DCT-Stars: Hello, I’m Lin Xingling, also known as Stars. Moon God informed me to add you~ (*￣︶￣)]
Moon God… Since he is a star, Moon God is an acceptable name.
What a cute friend request message… Cheng Che looked at the white lotus flower avatar called “Clear Mind” and fell into deep thought.
In an instant, it felt like something shattered.
The filter of godlike admiration Cheng Che had for Stars, he thought, had already shattered into pieces on the ground.
Thinking this way, the first message
he sent to Lin Xingling was an introduction: “Cheng Che, Clear. Aspiring marksman player for DCT team.”
Lin Xingling smiled and replied:
[DCT-Stars: Remove the word ‘aspiring.’]
“Uh, DCT team, marks… marksman player,” Cheng Che looked up at him.
Is this outgoing, mature, and adorable boy in front of him really the aloof and godlike figure he had admired for a total of seven years across two lifetimes?
The answer was obviously clear, it wasn’t him…
Then who else could it be…
Cheng Che: Uh…
The aloof and godlike figure stared at the phone screen for a while and asked, “Why did you use a donkey as your avatar?”
Cheng Che didn’t understand, “Huh?”
“Here.” Lin Xingling clicked on his avatar and showed it to him, while saying, “If you don’t have an avatar to use, should I give you a big red flower?”
Looking at his own goofy rabbit avatar, Cheng Che rolled his eyes in his mind: Who needs your big red flower?
But what he said was, “That, that’s a rabbit, a goofy rabbit.”
Lin Xingling:…
He adjusted his glasses and looked again, oh~~~ Now he finally recognized it!
“Haha, sorry, sorry. My glasses weren’t properly adjusted, so I couldn’t see clearly.”
“You really have a way,” Cheng Che nodded silently, not saying anything.
Lin Xingling, the senior, started again.
“Speaking of the goofy rabbit, I remember he has the superpower of teleportation. Can you do it?”
In real life, who could possibly do that? Cheng Che shook his head. “No, I can’t.”
“I can,” Lin Xingling was determined to play the role of a mentor for him.
Cheng Che: ???
“Yeah right, like you can,” Cheng Che’s face expressed disbelief. Lin Xingling’s mouth curled up, and he smiled, saying, “If you don’t believe me, close your eyes.”
“Okay,” Cheng Che obediently closed his eyes.
What kind of trick is he trying to pull?
Half a minute later, Lin Xingling’s voice came from afar, “Open your eyes.”
Cheng Che opened his eyes and saw that Lin Xingling was already behind the sofa in the rest area.
Lin Xingling stood proudly with his hands on his hips. “I didn’t lie to you, did I?”
Uh… Senior, idol, captain, can you be any more childish?
Cheng Che nodded and walked over without saying a word.
“Alright, alright, let’s get to the point,” seeing his lack of reaction, Lin Xingling also felt annoyed.
He didn’t do these things because he was foolish or trying to act dumb. It’s just that based on his age before his rebirth, he was already twenty-five now. Seeing Cheng Che and the rest of the eighteen-year-old boys, it really felt like they were just children.
To exaggerate, it was almost like he involuntarily treated them as kindergarten kids.
A flaw.
In order to avoid that flaw, Lin Xingling went straight to the point without much ado, “Let me add you to our team’s group chat.”
Oh…
Cheng Che agreed with a simple “okay.”
【Long Legs Club】
[DCT-Stars invited Clear to join the group chat.]
Since everyone had already gone to sleep, Clear’s entry into the group was particularly quiet, without any flower emojis or welcoming messages.
Cheng Che was happy about that. After changing his group nickname to “DCT-Clear,” he closed his phone.
Looking at Lin Xingling, he asked, “Captain, is there anything else?”
Is there anything else?
Suddenly, this sentence popped into Lin Xingling’s mind, but he couldn’t recall when he had said it before.
“No, nothing. We can deal with the remaining matters tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Cheng Che asked again, “Um… do I have a place to stay?”
A place to stay… Nuo’s room hasn’t been tidied up yet, Fu Cheng and Hua Xin are occupying the other room, and the guest room hasn’t been cleaned up… Only the living room sofa is left.
Lin Xingling shook his head, pushing the last thought out of his mind. “Our conditions aren’t that great, and we don’t have any guest rooms. How about… you stay in my room?”
If the question mark could be visualized like in an anime, Cheng Che would definitely have a head full of question marks right now.
Is it possible, Captain Stars? Is it really possible?
I only knew that DCT team was the poorest team in the K-League, but I didn’t expect you guys to be this poor…
Cheng Che swallowed and pursed his lips, blinking his eyes repeatedly, seriously contemplating life.
Can a mortal like me casually stay in the room of an idol?
It should… be possible, right?
“My room is quite clean, not messy or dirty…” Lin Xingling thought he was concerned about hygiene or safety, so he immediately reassured him, “If you prefer to sleep alone, I can go ask Feng-ge if I can share his bed.”
Cheng Che shook his head.
No… I came here specifically to find you. It wouldn’t make sense if you go find someone else.
Lin Xingling misunderstood his intention again, “No… Just take a look first and decide if you want to stay, alright?”
“I, I, I’ll stay… Can I, can I stay with you… together?” Cheng Che almost couldn’t speak due to his anxiety.
Why does Stars always have such strange ideas…
“…” Stay… stay with me???
Looking at Cheng Che’s expression of keeping a distance from strangers and not getting too close, Lin Xingling frowned slightly.
I hope the kid won’t mind me.
Cheng Che looked at him with a cold face, feeling hopeful inside.
Lin Xingling: Umm… Although, I really want to sleep with the kid.
One has to be shameless in life: “Of course… you can.”
“Okay.”
…
While Lin Xingling went to fetch spare pillows and blankets, Cheng Che opened Weibo.
His phone was charged to 87%, enough to use.
The news that TG won the Eastern Finals with a score of 3-4 was trending on the real-time search list, with himself occupying the first and second spots.
Top trending search: [Genius rookie shooter Clear]
Second trending search: [Clear signs contract]
He saw his Weibo followers increase from over three thousand to two hundred and seventy thousand. His private message inbox was filled with numerous messages from people he hadn’t followed… Cheng Che’s face showed no expression.
It was just a small-scale event, not a big deal.
He noticed that the official Weibo account of the TG team had followed him.
Cheng Che: ???
What does this mean? TG is, after all, the most influential among the Big Three in the KPL. They won’t try to ride on this trend as well, will they?
He clicked on the trending search to see what it was about.
The second trending search was a mention from the TG team, where they posted his contract termination. It was sent at 1:26 in the morning, with clear black text on a white background stating: Contract termination date: 2018.08.28.
The meaning was clear: The little dog tried to put on a good act, hurry up and come back.
“Damn…” Cheng Che read it and couldn’t hold back his anger.
Zhang Hui, you damn traitor, so sinister… He turned the tables on me.
“Hmm?”
Lin Xingling, who was making the bed, heard it and stood up, looking at him.
A death stare, he was just one step away from having “Kids shouldn’t use foul language” written on his face in big letters.
Cheng Che waved his hand at him, “It’s nothing, it’s nothing.”
… I didn’t say anything.
Only then did he lower his head and continue spreading the bedsheet.
Author’s Note:
【Mini Theater】
No Mini theater, no author.
oh so both the mc and ml are reborn??
Yes.. both of them reborn…