AWM: PUBG - Chapter 1

It was 2:00 PM at the Shanghai HOG Club’s PUBG base. The First Team’s captain had a team jersey draped over his shoulders as he padded downstairs in slippers, clutching a mug. His pace was leisurely as he passed the “Wall of Champions”, a stretch leading to the third floor embedded with countless trophies and medals. More than half of them were engraved with his ID: Drunk.

Drunk, or Qi Zui, sat at the very top of the domestic celebrity rankings for active esports players. Originally the captain of HOG’s CrossFire division, he had led his team to the world championships for three consecutive years, securing the title every single time. During Qi Zui’s era of “terror,” teams from Europe, North America, and South Korea were left struggling for runner-up spots, unable to close the gap to this day.

Because he had risen to fame early and stayed active for so long, he had accumulated a litany of nicknames over the years: God Qi, 7-God, Poison-Tongued Zui, Right Hand of God, the Light of Esports… They all referred to him.

Yet, despite the mountain of accolades, back at the base, Qi Zui was just a handsome young man with an internet addiction.

Now twenty-five—a “senior citizen” in the world of gaming. He stood outside the glass wall of the first-floor training room, expressionlessly unscrewing his mug to take a sip of warm water.

The first floor was where the youth trainees and the Second Team practiced. These kids averaged under eighteen years old; their mental fortitude was shaky, and nearly all of them were die-hard fans of Qi Zui. They viewed him with a mix of reverence and dread. The moment they caught a glimpse of him in their peripheral vision, it felt like needles were pricking their backs. They instantly sat bolt upright, and the sound of their mechanical keyboards clicking began to fall into a rhythmic, synchronized pattern.

Qi Zui’s gaze, however, remained fixed on a single person. The boy had his back to Qi Zui, his thin frame completely shielded by the high back of the gaming chair. From Qi Zui’s vantage point, only a pair of slender arms was visible. After watching for a moment, Qi Zui tightened the cap on his mug and headed back upstairs.

HOG was a powerhouse club, and its PUBG division was famously deep-pocketed. The base was a multi-story villa situated along the Huangpu River. The first floor was a mix of everything; training rooms, lounges, a kitchen, and a dining hall. The second floor housed dormitories for all players and staff. Meanwhile, the third floor—which boasted the best layout and lighting was reserved exclusively for the four members of the First Team.

Qi Zui walked straight into the First Team’s private training room. Their vanguard, Bu Nana, was already there, busy setting up a custom server for the afternoon’s practice matches. Qi Zui walked to his station, draped his jacket over the chair, and scanned the room. “Where are Lao Kai and Qianxi?”

Lao Kai and Yu Qianxi were the other two members of the First Team.

“Lao Kai was reviewing our match footage until ten this morning; he just went to sleep. As for Qianxi…” Bu Nana kept his eyes on the screen, typing as he spoke. “I think he was livestreaming last night? He went until 8:00 AM, so he probably can’t get out of bed yet.”

Qi Zui frowned. “We need to strictly control streaming hours. It shouldn’t interfere with regular training.”

“Oh, come on! Those rules are just to scare the kids downstairs. Yu Qianxi just renewed his streaming contract and is desperate to grow his fan base,” Bu Nana, a good-natured guy with a round build, said with a smile to smooth things over. “It’s not like he’s slacking. I checked his account; his rank is solid, so he’s clearly putting in the work privately. Don’t overthink it. You think everyone is like you? Making tens of millions a year just from endorsements?”

Qi Zui opened his mouth to argue, but Bu Nana quickly changed the subject. “Forget him for a second. What have you been up to lately? Why are you downstairs every day? I heard the Second Team captain filed a report with the manager. He said you’re ‘unnecessarily harassing’ their training—standing outside like some dean of students and staring them down. Those poor kids are about to develop stress-induced frequent urination. The manager just came to see me; he wanted me to pass along a message: stay away from your fans’ personal space and stop disrupting the ecosystem on the first floor.”

Qi Zui sat down at his station with a faint smile.

“Seriously, what are you looking for?” Bu Nana finished setting up the server. After sending the password to everyone, he pushed off his desk and rolled his chair over to Qi Zui. “Is there someone you know among the new trainees?”

Qi Zui booted up his PC and entered the custom server to grab a couple of guns for a warm-up. “Yeah.”

“Really?” Bu Nana was surprised. “Who?”

Qi Zui picked up a few attachments and snapped them onto his rifle. As he reloaded, he said casually, “Yu Yang.”

“Youth?” Bu Nana gasped. “I know him. Youth, real name Yu Yang. He’s pretty famous. He’s been in the top ten on the Asian server for three months straight, even hitting rank one several times this month. I was actually surprised he came here as a trainee. I think Qianxi recruited him. I’ve seen his games; his solo play is incredibly strong, though I heard his temper is… well, he’s supposedly quite antisocial. The guys in the Second Team are a bit scared of him. How do you know him? A relative? A friend asked you to look after him?”

Qi Zui toggled his gun to full-auto. His right hand remained perfectly steady as he controlled the recoil; after a full magazine, the bullet holes were clustered almost entirely in a single spot. After two more rounds, Qi Zui let go of the mouse and gently massaged his right wrist. He spoke with total composure: “Not a relative. He’s my ex-boyfriend.”

Bu Nana froze for a long beat. He had seen plenty of drama in his time and had long been aware of Qi Zui’s “private” sexual orientation, so he wasn’t shocked by the fact itself. He was simply baffled. “Since… when did this happen? How did I not know about this?”

Bu Nana was Qi Zui’s old teammate. For years, they had been practically inseparable except for the few days of annual leave. He truly couldn’t fathom where Qi Zui had found the time to conjure up an ex-boyfriend.

“Last year,” Qi Zui said, unscrewing his mug for another sip. “During that month I went to the ‘Flame Cup’ to act as a coach.”

The Flame Cup was an offline tournament held last year by several domestic clubs to scout for talented youth players. Since HOG never recruited through such open qualifiers, they had sent someone to provide guidance as a gesture of fairness.

Qi Zui and Yu Yang had met during that month.

Yu Yang wasn’t famous back then, but the moment Qi Zui joined the program, he noticed him.

The reason was simple: Yu Yang was just too good-looking. Hidden among a crowd of typical gaming shut-ins, it would have been hard not to notice him.

Of course, Qi Zui wasn’t that superficial. What truly piqued his interest was the fact that Yu Yang was genuinely exceptional.

He was so good that during an exhibition match on the first day, he nearly defeated a slightly tipsy Qi Zui.

Qi Zui had been dragged out to dinner by some sponsors that day. Unable to refuse their hospitality, he’d had two glasses of wine. Unfortunately, Qi Zui’s alcohol tolerance was pathologically low. Two glasses of red wine were enough to make his reaction time plummet. During the exhibition match that evening, Yu Yang had him pinned down, though Qi Zui ultimately managed a narrow victory.

And after that…

Qi Zui didn’t care to dwell on the memories.

“Spill it!” Bu Nana urged. “How did you break up? Give me the details; make my day!”

“…” Qi Zui glanced at him, his expression unreadable. “Can you try being a decent human being for once?”

“Come on, tell me,” Bu Nana was genuinely curious. “I always thought you were some old beast who had transcended such primitive interests. Look at you! Keeping it all quiet, sneaking off to have a romance with a younger guy!”

“Get lost with that ‘romance’ talk,” Qi Zui swatted away Bu Nana’s hand. “He had just turned eighteen… he’s only six years younger than me.”

“Don’t change the subject,” Bu Nana persisted, bubbling with excitement. “How did you get together? I heard his personality is… how do I put it… he’s like a hedgehog. One touch and he explodes.”

Qi Zui tapped his keyboard and shook his head. “Not really. Once you get to know him, he’s actually quite sweet. He’s just… easily embarrassed.”

The organizers of the Flame Cup provided good perks. Since it was summer, they provided fresh fruit and snacks every day, and after dinner, each player got two scoops of Haagen-Dazs ice cream. Qi Zui had offhandedly mentioned once that it tasted pretty good. From that day on, Yu Yang would secretly bring his own portion to Qi Zui’s room every single night. One day, Qi Zui caught him in the act; before he could even get a word out, Yu Yang had turned bright red and bolted in a panic.

“Then why did you break up?” Bu Nana, that heartless fat bastard, had zero sympathy. “If he was that good, why end it?”

“None of your business,” Qi Zui switched weapons. With the game’s recent patch, the stats on several common guns had changed, and he needed to relearn the feel of the recoil. He offered a casual brush-off: “It wasn’t a good fit, so we split.”

Old Rogue Qi had a sharp tongue and a lack of morals, and his “etiquette” was questionable at best, but he wasn’t the type of person to trash-talk an ex behind their back.

Moreover… as for why they broke up, Qi Zui had a bit of an ego; he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.

Yu Yang had incredible dynamic vision, great intuition, and lightning-fast reflexes. He had cruised through the Flame Cup. In the post-match analysis, Qi Zui had been lavish with his praise and hyperbolic comments that seemed a bit ridiculous in hindsight. Thanks to that, Yu Yang had easily taken first place that year.

At the victory banquet, before Yu Yang had decided which club to join, Qi Zui pulled him aside into a quiet hallway to ask if he was interested in joining HOG.

That day, Yu Yang had been drinking a bit. His face was flushed, making him look devastatingly endearing. Over the course of that month, the two of them had almost never been alone, and they hadn’t so much as held hands. Qi Zui felt a surge of impulse; before he even spoke, he pinned the boy against the hallway wall.

It was in that moment that Qi Zui realized he had seemingly been played for a fool the entire month.

Yu Yang’s face instantly turned a deathly pale grey. He began to tremble with suppressed emotion, and his hands, which were intertwined with Qi Zui’s, went ice-cold. Before Qi Zui could process what was happening, Yu Yang shoved him away with immense force, his eyes filled with nothing but wariness and sheer terror.

Yu Yang’s reaction wasn’t strange; it was a look Qi Zui was all too familiar with—the visceral disgust a straight man feels toward a homosexual advance.

Qi Zui froze for a moment, then held up his hands to show he wouldn’t touch him again.

With a blank expression, he asked, “You can’t handle it?”

Yu Yang was drenched in a cold sweat. It took a long moment for his eyes to find their focus before he gave a dazed, trembling nod.

Qi Zui let out a short, dry laugh. “You’re talented enough that you would have passed this competition without me. There was no need to force yourself to play along with this.”

Yu Yang looked at him blankly, as if he didn’t understand what Qi Zui was saying.

Qi Zui had no desire to linger. After years of being worshipped by the public, this had been his first romantic stir; he hadn’t expected to be toyed with. Being able to maintain a calm facade was already his limit. He snatched Yu Yang’s phone, deleted all his contact information in a blur of motion, and tossed the device back into Yu Yang’s arms before walking away.

After returning from the Flame Cup, Qi Zui had led his team to North America, competing for two full months before returning home. Months later, he’d heard by chance that Yu Yang hadn’t signed with a club. Later, he heard the boy had officially taken the ID “Youth.” After that, the only overlap they had was seeing each other’s names on the PUBG global leaderboards.

They had zero direct contact, until last month. Qi Zui, out of boredom, had been checking the stats of the new trainees and had unexpectedly seen that familiar name.

Qi Zui truly couldn’t understand how gentlemanly or how stupid Yu Yang thought he was to feel so comfortable signing with HOG without worrying that Qi Zui would make his life a living hell.

Qi Zui let go of his mouse and looked at Bu Nana. “You said Yu Yang was recruited by Qianxi?”

“Yeah,” Bu Nana nodded. “I’m sure of it. They seem pretty close; I’ve seen him go looking for Yu Qianxi several times.”

Qi Zui let out a cold sneer.

Bu Nana was baffled. “What are you smirking at?”

Qi Zui shook his head without answering. He picked up his headset, putting it on as he ground his teeth slightly.

A year later, and this little brat is using the same script to cling to Yu Qianxi?

That’s a shame. Yu Qianxi is a straight man through and through.

He’s also a straight man with a head full of schemes. Trying to play Yu Qianxi… he’ll probably get chewed up and spit out.

Qi Zui practiced his aim for a while longer before quitting the game. He stood up and said, “The practice match will probably be delayed for another hour. I’m going to the lounge. When Yu Qianxi wakes up, tell him to find me. I have questions.”

The team lounge had some equipment, like a few treadmills, but since esports didn’t require much physical training, they were mostly left idle. Over time, the lounge had become Captain Qi’s private room for lecturing his teammates.

Bu Nana jumped. “What for? You’re going to scold him again?! Qianxi’s only crime lately is streaming a bit too much, right?”

“Don’t worry, no lectures. There’s just something I can’t quite figure out, and I want to ask him about it,” Qi Zui grabbed his phone. “I’m going for a run. Make sure he comes over.”

******

Notes: 

In this novel, HOG is the name of the elite professional esports club that the main characters belong to.

While the author doesn’t explicitly spell out a “real-world” meaning for the acronym in the text, it stands for Hand of Glory.

The Club: HOG is described as a “wealthy” and prestigious club in the esports circle, with its base located in a high-end villa by the Huangpu River in Shanghai.

The Divisions: Originally, it was famous for its CrossFire (CF) division, where the protagonist, Qi Zui (Drunk), dominated the world stage for years. The story takes place as the club expands into the PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) division.

The Reputation: Because of Qi Zui’s “Right Hand of God” nickname and his absolute dominance in the league, the name Hand of Glory represents the top-tier status and the history of victory associated with the team.

In the dialogue, you’ll see characters referring to it as the “HOG Club” or “HOG Base,” treating it as the premier home for the “god-tier” players of the Chinese competitive scene.

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