You're Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 1

"Yao Yao, I broke up with Ai Jia."

Tong Yao opened her WeChat to see a message from her good friend Jinyang. She was taken aback for a moment, bago kumuha ng cracker from her desk and bringing it to her mouth to calm herself. She replied pagkatapos ng ilang sandal: "Why?"

"He's someplace beyond my reach."

She stared the message and react a small "oh". Makalipas ang ilang sandali, she realized ng hindi naririnig at nakikita ng kanyang kaibigan ang kanyang reaction.

Ang boyfriend ni Jinyang ay si Ai jia, isang professional League of Legends player, an esports player. Since esports has been recognized by the country as a sports event, their status has gone up a notch.

Sa kabuuan, ang karamihan sa mga professionals na ito are simple-minded teenagers ng addicted sa internet who can live happily with just a computer.

But if you date them, it probably isn't that different from dating a famous movie star.

"...... Sinabi ko ito mula sa simula sayo, hindi ka dapat pumayag na makipag-date sa isang teenager na addicted sa internet."

Kumuha si Tong Yao ng isa pang cracker at inilagay sa kanyang bibig. Hindi niya alam kung paano tutugon sa galit na kaibigan, nagpasya siyang hintayin niya mawala muna yung galit ng kaibigan sa pamamagitan ng pagbubukas ng League of Legends sa kanyang computer.

Lahat ng text on her screen suddenly became Korean. Recently she switched to the Korean servers to play since they had a more mature esports landscape. Ang mga Professional players from all over the world tended to play on the Korean servers for this very reason.

Tong Yao had encountered several such professional players.

Matapos mag-sign in sa League of Legends, habang naghihintay siya for a match in queue, isang window ng chat ang lumabas mula sa bottom left screen niya na may isang English ID. Dinilat niya ang kanyang mga mata, hinihintay ang pagdating ng message, before discovering that he was quite direct.

"HI, friend, would you like come to china and play game"

...... gumagamit ba siya ng Google translate?

Nahulog ang cracker ni Tong Yao na nakalawit sa kanyang bibig mula sa pagtawa.

Might as well reply.

"I'm Chinese."

The other side was silent for a few seconds.

Then sent a flood of "hahahahahah"

"Magaling ka maglaro. Ilang taon ka na?Do you want to come and play professionally? I'm part of China's ZGDX's team."

Medyo matagal niyang tinitigan ang message sa kanya screen bago sumigaw. Ang kanyang ina, na naglilinis ng mga isda sa kusina, ay mabilis na sumugod sa kanyang silid na may dala isang cleaver pa rin sa kamay:

"Ano ang problema? Mayroon bang ipis? "

"Ma, may nag-iimbita sa akin na maglaro professionallyl!" Itinuro ni Tong Yao ang screen, "Ito ay isang sikat na team, they're sponsored by China Telecom, headquartered in Shanghai."

Her mother had a look of understanding, but otherwise her demeanor remain unchanged. "Noong nakaraang linggo, may tumawag upang sabihin sa akin na nanalo ako ng isang Rolls-Royce mula sa kalapit na supermarket."

Tong Yao remained silent.

"How can you be so gullible? Maglaro professionally? Tapos ano paano naman yung school mo? Just from playing these lousy computer games na lang lagi nandyan sa ulo mo. ulo. Natapos mo na ba yung mga summer homework mo? "