Ch35 - Are you claustrophobic.

Edited by yuuki, kat, and Noks

Mo Chen froze, and didn’t answer for a long time.

All of his fans wanted to know the answer to this question, whether they were real fans or anti-fans.

No, it should be the entire SGH professional circle. Every fan of the SGH professional league wanted to know.

Wen Xi hadn’t asked him this before. On the one hand, he felt that it was a sensitive matter, and he hadn’t been that familiar with Mo Chen, so he couldn’t ask.

On the other hand, he also felt that simple curiosity wasn’t a good enough reason to ask such a question. If asking it damaged the feelings between him and Mo Chen, wouldn’t the losses outweigh the gains?

But now, Wen Xi had promised to join Mo Chen’s team, and subconsciously already regarded Mo Chen as his teammate.

So, he felt it was necessary for him to ask for the truth about that matter.

——This was both him being responsible about his own life choices, but also out of concern for Mo Chen.

Mo Chen obviously knew and understood this.

Therefore, after a long silence, he spoke faintly, “I should tell you.”

Wen Xi looked at him, and carefully and patiently waited for his answer.

Mo Chen remained silent for a while before sighing and saying, “That incident could count as an accident ba. Do you still remember what happened when I was in the bathroom…”

Wen Xi immediately recalled it and asked, “Are you claustrophobic?”

Mo Chen froze for a moment, obviously not expecting Wen Xi to already know about this.

As a matter of fact, Wen Xi had thought of this possibility all the way back when the incident had happened. After he had gotten home, he had searched for a lot of relevant information. The more he read, the more sure he became of his guess.

He had then thought, could it be that Mo Chen’s late arrival in the global finals last year had something to do with his illness?

“Yes, I am claustrophobic.”

Mo Chen readily admitted to it and said, “On the day of the game, I had travelled to the venue with my teammates, and we had used a side door in order to avoid being surrounded by fans.”

Wen Xi was momentarily stunned. He had never thought it would have been like this.

He didn’t know what had happened after that, but since he didn’t show up after already arriving at the venue, something terrible must have happened ba…

Thinking up until this point, Wen Xi suddenly no longer wanted to hear the rest of the story, but in the end, braced himself and kept listening.

“Because we had entered through the side door, there was no receptionist to point us in the direction of the preparation room. Since we also couldn’t contact the person who was in charge of all the teams, we decided to separate and look for the room,” Mo Chen said, “I went to the fourth floor by myself.”

“At that time, we were competing in Korea, and all the door-plates were in Korean. I couldn’t understand them, so I checked each room individually. Then, I suddenly needed to go to the bathroom, so it turned into me looking for a restroom… ”

Speaking until this point, Mo Chen’s tone seemed to sound a little helpless.

He really didn’t want to recall it at all. It wasn’t because it was terrifying, but because it was… too shameful.

“I finally found a bathroom, but the light was broken and it was a little dark. En, it was similar to how it was on our date. To be honest, I was a bit afraid of entering it,, but it had taken me a long time to find this bathroom, so I didn’t want to give up on it,” he said and sighed again, “It’s normal to close the door for a private thing like going to the bathroom ba? But after I finished, I found that the door couldn’t be opened. I became very desperate ah…”

Wen Xi: “….”

Mo Chen continued, “You should be able to guess what happened afterwards—I had a panic attack and directly passed out. My teammates thought I was just lost and called me crazily, but sadly my cellphone had been on vibrate and couldn’t wake me up.”

“They couldn’t find me by the time the competition began, so of course they could only let a substitute take my place.”

“In fact, they said that I was there, but because I hadn’t registered, I could only count as being absent.”

“Uh, then?” Wen Xi didn’t know what kind of expression to show.

Having said this much, Mo Chen decided to go for broke and said, “After the morning competition ended, my teammates scoured the place for me, and only then did they find me, lost in a coma. In fact, I had woken up before the start of the afternoon competition, but I wasn’t in a very good state of mind, so I also skipped the afternoon competition.”

Wen Xi: “….”

Mo Chen had said he had “skipped” extremely naturally and unrestrainedly, but Wen Xi knew that the matter wasn’t so simple.

It wasn’t that his mental state at that time was “not very good,” but “very bad.” Otherwise, based on Wen Xi’s understanding of Mo Chen, Mo Chen would only give up on playing as a last resort.

“Why didn’t you publicize the truth?” Wen Xi asked.

Mo Chen laughed at himself, “Publicize that I have claustrophobia, or that I locked myself in a bathroom with my own two hands?”

Wen Xi was struck dumb.

“And even if I made everything public, do you think that would have stopped people from cursing me out?” Mo Chen asked, “While knowing that I have claustrophobia, I still went into a dark and enclosed space—if this was made public, wouldn’t I be cursed out even worse ba? Since I’d get cursed out regardless of whether or not I publicize it, why should I make it public?”

Wen Xi was speechless.

The two of them sank into silence, before Mo Chen spoke again, “I really need to be responsible for the loss at the finals.”

He continued, “I was wrong from the beginning—I shouldn’t have gone out of my way to avoid the fans, I shouldn’t have gone to find the preparation room alone, and I shouldn’t have gone into a potentially dangerous place to use the bathroom.”

Wen Xi pursed his lower lip, and turned to look ahead.

Although he didn’t agree with Mo Chen’s words, he also didn’t know how to refute them, so he could only stay silent.

At the end of the day, it was an incident that had happened so long ago that it was meaningless to discuss it anyway.

The future was more important.

Thinking in this manner, Wen Xi tentatively opened his mouth and asked another question, “Do your teammates know you are claustrophobic?”

“Yes,” Mo Chen replied.

Wen Xi asked, “Did they learn from that incident, or did they know from the beginning?”

Wen Xi thought that if they had known from the very beginning, then Mo Chen’s teammates really had problems. He was unable to tell if they were too careless, or malicious.

However, Mo Chen’s answer was, “After.”

After a pause, as if knowing what Wen Xi was worried about, he added faintly, “My teammates didn’t do anything wrong. I was the one who hid it from them. I had thought it would be okay since after all, my claustrophobia hadn’t acted up for years. Before that day, I thought that I simply hated being in dark, enclosed spaces.”

Wen Xi thought of Mo Chen’s panicky and pale appearance from last time. He definitely hadn’t looked like he hadn’t suffered an attack for many years.

Mo Chen’s claustrophobia probably hadn’t been so serious originally, but it was suddenly aggravated by the accident on the first day of the global finals….

“Have you seen a doctor?” Wen Xi asked.

Mo Chen let out an “en” and said, “I’ve been receiving treatment ever since that day, and it’s stabilized a lot.”

Wen Xi asked, “You didn’t go to see one before?”

“It wasn’t that serious before ah…” Mo Chen smiled helplessly and said, “Don’t worry, my illness doesn’t affect me playing professionally, and I won’t hold you back.”

Wen Xi was momentarily startled, turning his head to glance at Mo Chen in surprise.

These words…should be spoken by him ba.

It would be really nice if he didn’t hold back Mo Chen.

However, after hearing this sentence, Wen Xi suddenly realized that he had asked too much, and he wasn’t sure if Mo Chen had misunderstood him. “Don’t misunderstand ah…. I’m not worried about your condition affecting the competition.”

Alright ba, he’ll admit that he had been worried when he had initially asked Mo Chen about why he had been absent from the competition, but that hadn’t been the case when he had asked the subsequent questions….

“Not worried about the competition, but worried about me?” Mo Chen raised an eyebrow as he asked, “Do you care about me so deeply?”

Wen Xi’s face turned uncontrollably red, and he completely didn’t know how to react.

He thought about it for a moment. It seemed that he really had been worried about Mo Chen when he had asked the series of questions after…

Mo Chen glanced to look at Wen Xi’s reaction, and the corners of his lips rose. In the end, he decided to stop teasing him and said, “It makes sense. We’re about to become teammates, so caring for each other is very normal.”

These words could count as giving Wen Xi a way out and let Wen Xi let out a secret breath of relief as he went along with him with an “en.”

“What else do you want to ask?” Mo Chen said, “It’s fine if you ask more questions. I’ll satisfy you no matter what.”

……What kind of predatory words were these?

Wen Xi gave up, feeling that this person Mo Chen really didn’t know how to use words correctly.

In fact, having already questioned him to this extent, Wen Xi already had no intention to dig any deeper.

Knowing that that matter had been an accident and that no one had intentionally hurt Mo Chen, his heart had already more or less settled down.

However, even if he didn’t intend to dig deeper, someone else still wanted him to.

Mo Chen asked, “You’re not going to ask how I became claustrophobic?”

Wen Xi truly was curious, so he almost instinctively asked, “Why?”

Mo Chen really answered him, “When I was very young, I snuck into my mom’s underground wine cellar when I was playing. The housekeeper didn’t know, so I got locked inside.”

Wen Xi: !!!

Wait?! Wasn’t this kind of a lot of information?

Mo Chen glanced at Wen Xi to take in his reaction before adding, “Not only was that place dark and enclosed, but it was also cold. I was locked up there for a long time, and I was freezing. They say that I wasn’t in there for more than a day, but I felt like I had been locked up for seven or eight days. Anyway, ever since that day, I have not dared to go into dark and enclosed spaces anymore.”

Wen Xi replied, “…How pitiful.”

Mo Chen continued, “No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t escape… I thought I was going to die there.”

Wen Xi looked up at the sky.

In fact, now he really wanted to complain. Not just anyone could experience being shut in an underground wine cellar as a kid.

To be exact, not every family had something like an underground wine cellar.

Or even a housekeeper….

Thinking of how Mo Chen always smashed him with deep-water torpedoes, alright ba, Wen Xi knew that Mo Chen was really very rich.

So what did he mean to say by telling him about this matter?

Wen Xi stealthily glanced at Mo Chen. Mo Chen made eye contact with him, before the two people looked away at almost the same time, pretending that no one had glanced at anyone.

But internally, they had their own calculations.

Mo Chen: My family is super rich. Come and hold onto my thigh!

Wen Xi: If you have the ability to flaunt your wealth, then you have the ability to support me ah!

——En, even they themselves thought they were being way too much, so of course they couldn’t say it out loud for the other party to hear.

*

“We’re here.”

“En?”

Wen Xi had originally been a little drowsy, but after hearing Mo Chen announce they had arrived, he immediately perked up to look out of the window.

CLM’s club was even cooler than he had imagined. The entire architectural style was out of tune with the surrounding area. It was so unique that Wen Xi could spot it at a glance.

After Mo Chen parked the car, Wen Xi opened the door and got out.

At the same time, Ling Shuyi and others, who had been waiting in the lobby, rushed out of the club one after another, eager to see what this new person that their family’s team captain proffered special treatment on looked like.

“Wow, so cute.” Ling Shuyi spotted Wen Xi’s hoodie at a glance. The two round ears on the hood made people want to pinch it.

“You just saw his back, and you’re already calling him cute?” Chen Wei had just finished talking when in the next second, Wen Xi turned around. He sucked in a breath of cool air and exclaimed, “So cute!”

Lan Yan couldn’t help laughing, and Chen Xiao gave Chen Wei a look of great disdain.

After Wen Xi got out of the car, he just stood in place. The only movement he made was to turn around and take a look at the club.

His heart was beating a little fast now, and he was quite nervous.

Especially when he saw four monkeys in front of the club…. No, when he saw the four people sizing him up.

Soon after, Mo Chen got out of the car.

After getting out, he walked over to Wen Xi’s side and lightly patted him on the back, saying, “Let’s go ba.”

Wen Xi let out an “en” and obediently followed in his steps.

At this time, the group consisting of Mo Chen’s teammates and coach were unscrupulously sizing the both of them up.

And not only were they just sizing them up, but they were also commenting on them.

“Looking at the newbie’s little wife-like footsteps, like I said, he should be the sweetheart the captain’s developing ba?” Chen Wei said.

Chen Xiao rolled his eyes and replied, “If you have the ability, then speak louder and let A-Chen hear you.”

“No, no…” Chen Wei wussed out.

“Speaking of which, this newbie…” The more Chen Xiao looked at him, the more he felt he had seen him before. “Why does he seem a bit familiar?”

He didn’t know why, but he kept feeling like he had seen his face somewhere before. However, he also felt like it was a very different feeling from when he had seen him before.

En, Wen Xi in women’s clothing was of course very different from what he looked like right now.

“What are you all doing bunched up at the door? Acting as door gods?” Mo Chen was speechless at these four people, who were acting as if they had never seen a newbie before.

Almost following Mo Chen’s steps, the four people retreated passively into the lobby. They kept glancing at Wen Xi, appearing as though they wanted to greet him, but didn’t dare to.

Wen Xi had already been nervous, and the more they looked at him, the more nervous he got. He instinctively shrank behind Mo Chen, before tentatively raising his hand to say hello, “Hello everyone…”

“Ah, hello, hello!” Ling Shuyi was the first to react. He directly rushed forward and shook Wen Xi’s hand, which gave Wen Xi a scare!

Mo Chen glared at Ling Shuyi, lifting a hand to grab Ling Shuyi’s hand and very naturally breaking them apart. As he did this, he didn’t forget to introduce him to Wen Xi, “This is Kitty, Ling Shuyi.”

“Hello, my name is Wen Xi.” Wen Xi took back his hand and gave a friendly smile to this young man bubbling with youthful vigor. “I saw you in the league competition’s livestream.”

“Really ma, haha…” Ling Shuyi raised his hand and scratched his head, a little embarrassed.

League competition… He didn’t know how many times he had landed and turned into a lootbox….

Ling Shuyi was dressed quite differently than he was during the league competition. He was dressed more casually, and with the sun shining down on him, he gave off a kind of leisurely and carefree feel.

He was only 19 years old, but he wasn’t short at all, and was almost the same height as Wen Xi.

“This is Lan Yan,” Mo Chen continued to introduce people to Wen Xi. He placed his arm around Wen Xi’s waist as he spoke, turning him to face Lan Yan.

Wen Xi was caught off guard and became absentminded for a moment before realizing what was going on, and then greeting Lan Yan, “Hello.”

Lan Yan smiled back and also said, “Hello.” Having learned from Ling Shuyi, he didn’t try to shake Wen Xi’s hand.

Lan Yan’s first impression of Wen Xi was that he was quite gentle and elegant. He looked more like a scholar than a gamer.

“This is Chen Wei, and this is our coach Chen Xiao,” Mo Chen introduced the last two people together.

After Wen Xi greeted them, he found that they looked a little alike. He couldn’t help asking, “Are you brothers?”

“Yes ah!” Chen Wei replied, “I’m two years younger than my Ge, but we both joined CLM at the same time! At the beginning, he was also a regular player, but after playing for a year, he retired and became CLM’s coach.”

“Oh…” Wen Xi was a little surprised. He had originally thought that coaches would be much older than the players, no matter in age or in experience…

Chen Xiao said, “Don’t feel pressured when you talk to me. Although I’m the coach, my main job is to collect and analyze intelligence. Commanding and analyzing post-competition replays are both A-Chen’s job.”

“A-Chen?” Wen Xi repeated, subconsciously turning his head to look at Mo Chen.

He had thought that this way of calling him was pretty good, and called it out smoothly. However, it was only after meeting Mo Chen’s gaze that he noticed that it was a bit off. He coughed and asked, “…Would it appear too intimate if I call you that ah?”

“No, you can call me whatever,” Mo Chen laughed and replied.

At this time, Wen Xi was only paying attention to Mo Chen’s expression, so he didn’t notice that— as soon as Mo Chen started smiling, his teammates and coach all looked panicked, as though they were seeing something inconceivable.

Chen Wei’s mouth hung open for a long time before he reached over and bumped Chen Xiao with his elbow, saying, “I won.”

Chen Xiao gave him a disdainful look.

Ling Shuyi, aware of their small movements, felt that it was time to verify everyone’s bet, and investigated by asking Wen Xi, “Have you ever played professionally before?”

Wen Xi knew that this question was for him, so he stopped focusing on Mo Chen’s laughter, turning to meet Ling Shuyi’s gaze. He replied, “Nope.”

Ling Shuyi, finished.

Chen Wei followed up. “How did you get to know our captain, and how long have you known each other ah?”

Wen Xi was just about to answer, but before he could open his mouth, he was pulled by Mo Chen to sit down on the sofa. “You sit first, and I’ll pour you a glass of water.”

His teammates and coach suffered a second shock!

Wen Xi looked at Mo Chen’s back as he walked towards the water dispenser and blinked. After a while, he only then remembered that he needed to answer Chen Wei’s question and turned back around reflexively.

This time, he saw the surprise on Chen Wei’s face.

Wen Xi asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing…” Chen Wei sat down across from Wen Xi and said, “It’s just that this is the first time our captain has poured water for anyone. It’s very strange…”

“Eh?” Wen Xi instinctively turned his gaze back towards Mo Chen. He really only poured him a cup of water before bringing it over.

“Thank you.” When Wen Xi took the cup of water from Mo Chen,his hand accidentally touched Mo Chen’s, and it felt like he had been electrocuted.

Even though Mo Chen had heard the “complaints” of his teammates, he didn’t have the slightest inclination to pour them water. After Wen Xi took the water, he sat down beside him.

His gaze stopped for a moment on Wen Xi’s hand, and he asked tentatively, “You didn’t wear it today?”

“What?” Wen Xi took a sip of water, and he was initially a bit puzzled when he heard this question. It was only after seeing Mo Chen gaze at his hand that he realized what was going on—Oh, he was asking about the ring?

What unmarried man goes out wearing a ring every day ah!

Wen Xi was a bit speechless and said, “…It’s not convenient to play games while wearing it.”

“That’s true,” Mo Chen said. His tone was very flat, but Wen Xi could hear a trace of disappointment in his words.

In the end, he decided to not tease him anymore.

“It’s here,” he said, holding the paper cup in one hand while reaching into his collar with the other and fishing out a red string from around his neck.

When he pulled the red string from under his shirt, a uniquely shaped ring was strung through it.

It was the one that Mo Chen had given to him.

Mo Chen was startled, then started laughing in satisfaction.

Wen Xi saw that he had noticed it, so he stuffed the ring back into his clothes and pretended that nothing had happened.

However, the eyes of the masses were bright!

“Fuck!” Chen Wei was convinced, “Even giving a ring, you’re really something…” He decided to get straight to the point and ask, “Just directly say it ba, what relationship do you guys have exactly?”

This question made Wen Xi a little confused—had he misunderstood something?

Before he could think about how to answer, Ling Shuyi blurted out, “When did you guys get together?”

Wen Xi: ?

Chen Wei asked, “What stage have you guys reached?”

Wen Xi: ???

“All of you, shut up.” Mo Chen had endured all he could, and finally interrupted their “interrogation”, saying, “Clear any strange ideas out of your minds. Today isn’t Sunday ba? You don’t have to train when newbies arrive?”

Each of them gave Mo Chen a deep, profound look—are you getting anxious? Did we step on your tail?

Chen Xiao looked down at his watch and said, “There’s just half an hour until noon, so let’s eat now ba.”

Mo Chen paused for a moment, and only then did he remember that it was already lunch time.

He turned his head to look at Wen Xi, and forcibly choked back his instinctive refusal to compromise. He instead said, “Okay, let’s go eat first.”

However, after actually arriving at the restaurant, the other people casually found seats in the public dining area and sat down, while Mo Chen took Wen Xi into a private room, saying, “It’s too noisy outside. Let’s go in and eat.”

Teammates & Coach: ???

Could you dare to give an even more perfunctory reason? You’re talking like you’ve never eaten in a public dining area before!

When Mo Chen pulled Wen Xi into the private room, Chen Wei couldn’t help it anymore. He slapped the table, exclaiming, “Okay, I won! You all lost! Don’t forget breakfast for the next month!”

“You bet on him being his lover?” Ling Shuyi couldn’t accept it, “I admit that the captain is a bit infatuated, but seeing that Wen Xi looked completely ignorant, it doesn’t seem like he is involved with the captain.”

“Infatuated…” Lan Yan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He really wanted to know what reaction Mo Chen would have after hearing this word.

“Come on, come on. If you can bear to bet, then you can bear to lose. It works out perfectly that there’s four weeks this month, so is it okay for one person to take charge of breakfast per week?” Chen Xiao said.

Chen Wei also wanted to argue against him, but hesitated for a while, and finally chose to accept his fate, “Alright ba, isn’t it just breakfast for a week? It’s not like none of us can’t afford that.”

In this way, Mo Chen’s breakfast for the next month was secured √

At the same time, Wen Xi was sitting across from Mo Chen in the private room. He had noticed something from Mo Chen’s teammates’ reactions, and asked Mo Chen, “Is the way you act towards me different from the way you act towards others?”

Mo Chen asked in return, “Has it caused any trouble for you?”

“No…”

“Then it’s fine,” Mo Chen said, and without waiting for Wen Xi to ask more questions, he started ordering dishes from the waiter.

By the time he finished ordering, Wen Xi had already forgotten what he wanted to ask.

He tried to recall, but his thoughts kept drifting, and he fell into a daze.

When he returned to his senses, he just saw Mo Chen looking at him quietly, with his head resting in his hand.

Wen Xi froze, asking, “What?”

Mo Chen laughed and said, “Nothing. When we get back to the club after this meal, I’ll show you around.”

Wen Xi let out an “en” sound.

Mo Chen added, “There’s a free room on the second floor. If you’d like, you can move into it.”

Wen Xi replied, “….okay.”

Wen Xi was just guessing, but shouldn’t you sign a contract before you move in?

He mentioned the place that he’d live in so quickly. How hopeful was Mo Chen that he would move in?

En, Wen Xi certainly wouldn’t have thought that his room had been tidied up by Mo Chen himself.

On the other side, the conversation between Mo Chen’s teammates and their coach was more serious.

“It’s no use to just have a good relationship with A-Chen. Ultimately, e-sports is based on strength,” Chen Xiao said. His gaze swept across all three faces in turn, and he said what he had been eager to say, “Who will try him out later?”

“Try him out?” Ling Shuyi didn’t understand.

“I guess Ge means to test his e-sports strength,” Chen Wei translated for Chen Xiao before saying, “Forget about me. I can only make up the numbers in duos and squads. I can’t do solo.”

“If it’s solo, then it has to be Kitty,” Lan Yan said, “Neither Chen Wei nor I play solo matches very often.”

So Chen Xiao looked at Ling Shuyi and confirmed, “Okay, then it’s up to you.”

Ling Shuyi said, “Wait?! Are you guys going to decide just like that? Do I not need my face?”

They wanted to let him play a solo match against Wen Xi?!

If he lost, he wouldn’t have any face, and if he won, he was afraid he’d be hammered to death by the captain!

Chen Wei comfortingly patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him, “Go ba, break a leg.”

—

Juurensha: I really like the CLM teammates hahaha, so gossipy and friendly.

kat: momo’s backstory was kinda anticlimactic… but xixi was like a cute white bun this chapter, i can see his future teammates slowly corrupting him in the future haha

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