"Hurry up, hurry up! It's starting, it's starting! Are you ready?"
"Ready, ready!" Fang Jueyu hurriedly pushed a small cart into the private cinema in the villa.
Today was the League of Legends World Championship finals, and Huaxia's ZZ Team would have a legendary showdown with the GE Team from Europe and America in France.
In previous world finals, Fang Jueyu watched with his three roommates crowded in front of a computer screen, and this year was no exception, except for the change of venue.
"Old Fang, isn't this popcorn a bit over the top?" Cheng Kai pointed to four nearly one-meter-high paper buckets.
"What's over the top about it? When I used to go to the movies, a small bucket wasn't enough, and buying too much made me feel guilty. Now that I have money, why not eat more popcorn?" Fang Jueyu grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his mouth.
"And this isn't just any popcorn; you might not find this anywhere else!"
"What, did you grow this popcorn with '82 Lafite?" Fu Jun joked, "Or is your popcorn made of gold?"
"Pretty much," Fang Jueyu said. "The salt used for this popcorn is imported from Males Island, the world's most famous salt, costing 10 US Dollars per pound. Besides that, it includes the world's best butter and vanilla extract made from Madagascar vanilla pods."
"Are you crazy? Who makes popcorn sound so extravagant?"
"I'm not done!" Fang Jueyu continued, "This stuff even uses gold, see? The surface is coated with 23K edible gold leaf!"
"Show-off!" The three of them simultaneously flipped the bird at Fang Jueyu.
But with this stuff being so expensive, they weren't going to let it go to waste, and soon the room was filled with the rustling sound of them munching.
"Old Fang, did you catch last week's match? It was fantastic!" Fu Jun started animatedly, "We used to get crushed by Korean teams in strategy, and this year we completely dominated them in all three games!"
"Yeah, we suppressed them from start to finish. That tight rhythm was suffocating, like the ZZ Team knew exactly what the STT Team was going to do at every moment. It was ruthless!"
Fang Jueyu smiled slightly. With Xiao Yi's strategic guidance, wasn't that an easy task? Unfortunately, he was busy dealing with Ladinic family matters and couldn't witness STT getting schooled.
"Oh, and that guy Jin Zhengzhe has to cosplay as a female hero to cheer for our ZZ Team today. I wonder if he's going to make good on his promise." Fang Jueyu was sometimes forgetful, but he would never forget this kind of thing.
"There's a special performance today!" Fang Jueyu said. "I ran into STT Team with Wang Cong in the Kingdom of Seroth and bet with them. If they lost, their coach, Jin Zhengzhe, would have to cosplay as a woman and cheer for ZZ."
"Really? Isn't that going to be utterly embarrassing for them back in Korea? Hahaha!" Cheng Kai had always had some grudges against that country, so he was more than thrilled.
"But it looks like that guy's trying to weasel out of it!" Fang Jueyu's cinema was unlike the online livestreams; he had someone dedicated to streaming the match live for him.
Fang Jueyu picked up a communicator nearby, "Switch the screen to the spectator seats for me!"
The movie screen immediately shifted view, switching to the spectator area below. Fang Jueyu saw several familiar faces. Although many teams' competitions were over, they still came to watch this final. The STT Team members were in one of the sections, but there was no sign of Jin Zhengzhe.
"Hey, Old Wang?" Fang Jueyu dialed Wang Cong's number, "Where's that punk Jin Zhengzhe?"
"Don't get me started, I'm pissed just talking about it!" Wang Cong's indignant voice came from the other end. "I just went to their team to find him, and that dog of a man disappeared."
After losing the match, Jin Zhengzhe never intended to fulfill the bet. He knew Wang Cong but not Fang Jueyu. He knew Wang Cong had considerable clout in Huaxia, but this was abroad, and they only had a verbal bet, none of it in writing. Without evidence, what could Wang Cong do to him?
But feeling guilty, Jin Zhengzhe took the team to the match venue and then directly hid in the team's hotel, putting on a facade of being unbothered.
"Dare to back out on a bet with me? You can't possibly be disregarding me !" Fang Jueyu said indignantly.
"Well, yeah, maybe he doesn't even know who you are. He might think you're just a minor substitute for ZZ Team, so why would he be afraid?"
"Fine, he's done for!" Fang Jueyu angrily hung up the phone.
"Old Fang? Someone stood you up?" The three of them grinned mischievously at him. "Who knew you'd get slapped in the face too, hahaha!"
"Bastards!" Fang Jueyu growled through clenched teeth. "Give me a few minutes, and I guarantee this guy will be showing up in Ahri's outfit soon enough!"
"Xiao Yi, help me figure out what resources I can use in Korea..."
In the hotel, Jin Zhengzhe was leisurely drinking, waiting for the game to start, not giving a second thought to his bet with Fang Jueyu.
"Coach, the boss of the ZZ Team is looking for you again," reported an STT team member.
"It's alright. They don't know where I am anyway," Jin Zhengzhe said with his legs crossed. "It's really their fault for not signing a contract for such a big bet. Even if we're in the wrong, they have no evidence. What can they do to me?"
"Focus on today's game. We must win next year's mid-season tournament and avenge this defeat!"
"Yes, Coach, we'll study it closely."
Just as Jin Zhengzhe put down his phone, it rang again. He answered it impatiently, "Didn't I say not to bother me unless it's important? Don't bother about those Huaxia folks, I..."
"Coach Jin, it's me! Bai Xiongzheng!"
"B-B-Boss!" Jin Zhengzhe's hand almost shook at the phone. Bai Xiongzheng wasn't just the boss of the STT Club; he controlled a substantial entertainment group, one of the top in all of Korea.
"Sorry, boss, I thought it was the brats from the team. Boss, we were overconfident this time, but next season we'll have the right mindset to win back the trophy!" Jin Zhengzhe thought Bai Xiongzheng was here to hold him accountable for the match.
"I'm asking if you had a bet with a Huaxia person." Truth be told, Bai Xiongzheng wasn't overly concerned with the outcome of the match. The entire STT Club didn't rely solely on the League of Legends; they had many ways to profit and didn't need this one championship to bring in gains.
"H-how did you know?" Jin Zhengzhe trembled all over. Only the two parties involved and their teams knew about this; there was no reason for this to reach the big boss's ears.
"I'm telling you, if you've lost the bet, then you need to follow through. I'm giving you only one chance, don't make me call a second time!"