In League of Legends , the 20-year-old Hu “Leave” Hong-Chao was considered an exceptional talent with extremely good mouse and keyboard skills. In April 2023, he was named “Rookie of the Season” of the LPL and played for EDward Gaming, one of the strongest LoL teams in China as ADC. But just a few weeks later, his career lies in ruins: the starting spot is gone, his reputation is ruined, and he is publicly humiliated.
That was the success story of Leave until 2 months ago:
- EDward Gaming had an outstanding ADC for 2 years with Viper, but he was lured back to South Korea – allegedly for love. He was replaced in December 2022 by the young Leave, who had made a name for himself in the academy league with strong performances and two Penta kills.
- Leave played 39 games for his team in the Spring Split 2023, achieving a respectable KDA of 3.9. Moreover, the 20-year-old was at the top of the LPL in terms of monsters killed per minute alongside superstar Ruler. He also performed statistically well in terms of damage per minute.
- On April 6, the LPL named Leave “Rookie of the Split”. He was celebrated for his “exceptionally strong performance” (via twitter).
Women? That would never happen to him; it is said: As long as Faker has no girlfriend, I won’t have one either:
Famous role model advises: Forget women, play LoL first and get rich
How was he seen? Although Leave is such a great talent, his attitude was criticized early on. It is said on reddit that the best ADC of all time, Uzi, once said in a stream about Leave: The boy should focus on his career rather than girls. In this way, Leave should first become rich. Then he would be set for life.
At least for 3 years, he should keep away from women, the elder advised.
With plays like this, Leave made a name for himself:
Uzi, however, showed enthusiasm for Leave otherwise.
The expert praised his mechanics, meaning his skills with the mouse and keyboard, and his playstyle. And Uzi knows what he’s talking about, he is considered the mechanically best ADC of all time.
Player had multiple false accounts, costing him his career
This became his downfall: Through social media in China (Weibo, Hupo, and Teitba), it became known that Leave used several so-called “burner” accounts on social media. He posted under various names with disposable accounts in the hope of remaining anonymous.
This was noticed by some cunning internet detectives who immediately shared their findings on Twitter (via twitter).
The player allegedly used these accounts to:
- defend himself
- express criticism of team members
- contact prostitutes
The debate about Leave escalated when he chose the champion “Nilah”, a pick that no one had chosen for almost 300 days, in an important match against a direct competitor on June 7. Previously, he had already lost 2 games with Jinx.
However, with Nilah, Leave saw no success and ended 2-8-6.
At the end of the match, it was known that Leave had sought contact with “women of questionable moral character” through his secondary accounts, as the site “Tear of the Goddess” formulates. Furthermore, he allegedly sharply criticized his own teammate, the jungler Jiejie, for his performance using a burner account.
According to the site, while prostitution is nominally illegal in China and severe penalties are threatened, in practice it is hard to prove guilt against prostitutes and clients unless they are caught in the act.
More serious than the “prostitution scandal” for many fans seems to be that Leave anonymously attacked his own teammate.
Player loses starting position and is replaced by idol
This is now the consequence: For EDward Gaming, the Summer Split started poorly. With a 1-3 record, they stand in 12th place and have already lost as many games after 4 encounters as they did the entire summer.
Leave has lost his starting position at EDG – instead, the previous academy botlaner “Thesnake” played this weekend.
Furthermore, EDG has since brought Uzi out of retirement, exactly the streamer who advised Leave to stay away from women for 3 years and focus on his career. Maybe he should have listened to Uzi:
