Chapter 391: Outrage Boils Over
In the lounge, Chen Mo listened to the recording of that crucial team fight twice, then glanced at the translation text provided by the interpreters.
Sun Xiao stood nearby without speaking.
Chen Mo looked at Sun Xiao. "This translation, you're sure it's correct?"
Sun Xiao nodded. "Of course. Our translators are all professionals. How could they possibly mistranslate a few curse words?"
Chen Mo thought for a moment. "Release it."
Sun Xiao hesitated. "President Chen, if we release this, won't it stir up hatred among the players toward the Korean team? This..."
Chen Mo shook his head. "Since you already released the censored version, isn't that basically 'protesting too much'? The more you let the audience guess, the more they'll imagine all sorts of nasty things. It's better to just give them the original recording."
Sun Xiao asked, "Then, what about these Korean players?"
Chen Mo looked at him. "You at Blaze don't need to handle it anymore. Those Korean players will face appropriate punishment and must issue a public apology. As for fines or bans, that's unnecessary—after all, during a team fight, getting so caught up in the heat of the moment that you lose control is unavoidable. I'd rather see our domestic teams beat them on the battlefield."
Sun Xiao nodded. "Yes, President Chen. I'll handle it right away."
Originally, the microphone segment hadn't been explained to the players. These players didn't know their in-game voice chat during the match would be fully recorded.
Since this segment wasn't present in the group stage or quarterfinals, these Korean players clearly got carried away. After winning that final critical team fight, they spewed a lot of foul language.
Of course, their character wasn't exactly stellar to begin with.
Blaze was also dealing with this issue for the first time. When editing the video, the translators had already produced the original translation. The person in charge of the microphone segment hesitated but ultimately decided to release the censored version.
After all, this team fight directly decided the outcome of the entire BO5. If all previous team fights had voice recordings but this one didn't, it would be too strange.
With this in mind, the person in charge of the segment released the video after muting the audio, never expecting this incident to cause such an uproar.
Chen Mo only found out about this after the video was posted, but by then, online public opinion was already spiraling out of control. So he had to act decisively, release the original recording, warn those Korean players, and order them to issue an immediate public apology.
...
Blaze's official tournament Weibo account released the original microphone recording of the team fight. Although it didn't translate the Korean curse words, there were plenty of Korean language experts among the player base, and the full translation came out quickly.
"I ulted EZ, EZ is charging in, ah, wait!"
"Win, win, win, win!"
"Plane! Plane!"
"Behind, behind, they're hitting me, Nocturne is hitting me!"
"Jarvan! Jarvan! Jarvan!"
"Win! This round is won! Win, win!"
"Wooah!"
"Push mid, push mid, push mid, kill Jarvan then push mid!"
"F**k him! F**k him! You little b**ch!"
"F**k you, you son of a b**ch!"
"F**k you, you b**ch-born!"
"Hey, come here, you son of a b**ch..."
"Haha, f**k him, you b**ch-born!"
"F**k him!"
"OK, win, win!"
After this translation was exposed, all major forums exploded!
"Damn, what do these Koreans mean by this?"
"Ha, this is their quality? I've really seen it now. I had some goodwill toward SOT before, but now? Forever blacklisted!"
"This is basically verbal abuse, right? What about Chen Mo? No punishment from the organizers? A ban would be too lenient!"
"These guys don't want to go home alive?"
"Damn, just thinking about it makes me angry. It's also IF's fault for not pulling through—it was just that last team fight!"
"Ha, SOT won, and the live audience even applauded them, and they pull this? The audience should have thrown their glow sticks and hit these idiots!"
Clearly, SOT's players' behavior amounted to verbal abuse. From any angle, it was a complete violation of competitive spirit and highlighted these players' low character.
Except for SOT's mid-laner, Frost, who remained silent throughout, the other four players all cursed to varying degrees, with the team's jungler saying the most.
As soon as this video was released, Chen Mo also posted a Weibo, officially ordering the Korean players to issue a public apology.
Soon, under pressure, the four Korean players who had cursed at IF's players in the microphone all issued public apologies.
However, SOT's jungler was clearly still unconvinced, privately stating that he had no idea the microphone would be recorded and that this situation was just bad luck.
The netizens' outcry was overwhelming, even SOT's overseas official accounts were flooded with angry comments.
But as the organizer, Chen Mo couldn't do much more. Although the incident's impact was severe, it didn't involve racial discrimination—just a few curse words—and didn't warrant a ban.
All that could be said was that after this incident, the conflict between domestic teams and Korean teams skyrocketed to its peak. Every viewer was eagerly anticipating the final match, hoping NRG would thoroughly slap SOT's players in the face.
...
In NRG's training room.
NRG's jungler, Jiang Hao, leaned back in his gaming chair and let out a long breath.
"Not bad, this strategy works. Take a ten-minute break, summarize the experience from this round, and then we'll test the next strategy." Jiang Hao said. "I'll also notify the IF players to take a short rest."
Soon, Hu Jing pushed the door open and entered.
Jiang Hao looked up. "The strategy from earlier worked. Thanks for your hard work."
After the semifinals ended, IF stayed directly at the hotel to practice with NRG.
Of course, the two teams were still in different training rooms, mainly for soundproofing reasons.
Hu Jing sat down in the seat next to Jiang Hao.
"It's nothing. This S1 championship trophy must stay in our country. We're probably the team that understands SOT the best, and our style is closest to theirs. Only we can simulate SOT's play."
Hu Jing paused, then added, "Besides, those SOT guys can't just get away with their foul mouths."
Jiang Hao nodded. "Yeah, MAD will definitely be practicing with SOT too."
Hu Jing continued, "By the way, your team's AD is a bit weaker in laning. Tomorrow, have Luo Yongchang practice laning against him properly, at least to ensure the bottom lane doesn't fall too far behind."
Hu Jing patted Jiang Hao on the shoulder. "Keep it up. The hopes of the domestic teams all rest on you. You're the best jungler in the country right now. I believe the jungle is a position that can create miracles!"
"I understand." Jiang Hao's expression was serious. "If we don't win the championship this time, all of us might regret it for the rest of our lives."
Genius remembers this site's address in one second: