The Man They Threw Away

"Of course not. It's won by winning." Chenzhou rolled his suitcase into the rain. Around the corner, he stopped beneath a convenience-store awning and checked his bank account. It would not cover three months' rent. His championship medal was locked in a drawer at his parents' home. The commercial rights to his main account belonged to Solarion. Even the computer he had practiced on was club property. He had left with an old pair of wrist guards and the reputation of a man who had lost seventeen games in a row. An esports report played on the convenience store television. Solarion's new starting jungler, Tang Ce, sat beneath the studio lights. The young man competed under the name King, and everything about him looked sharp.