Former Vici Gaming (VG) coach and Chinese Dota legend, Bai “rOtK” Fan, has announced he will be taking a break from the competitive scene and revealed why he did not end up coaching the Four Angry Men (4AM) superteam.

rOtK confirmed in an emotional streaming session he will be taking a break as a result of being stood up by 4AM, adding that he was “exhausted” by the situation.

Xu “fy” Linsen notably leaked the members of the superteam, as well as the fact that rOtK will be coaching them, shortly after the coach parted ways with VG at the start of last month’s major roster shuffle.

However, despite months of negotiations and multiple attempts at compromise on the side of rOtK, 4AM’s management apparently told the coach that they will be unable to pay for his salary.

“My main purpose in joining 4AM was to win more achievements. At the beginning of the transfer period, we reached an agreement on my salary, and both fy and [Lu “Somnus丶M” Yao] helped me talk to them, so I declined offers from [Team Aster] and Vici. In order to show my sincerity, I told them to sign a valuation adjustment mechanism (VAM), saying that I could get the other half of my salary only if we won a Major and [The International]. However, they didn’t confirm it,” said rOtK.

“In the end, the players persuaded me to accept a lower salary and to forget about the VAM, to which I said okay. But, one day, the management suddenly told me, “Sorry, our boss doesn’t have the budget for a coach.”

Despite that disappointing answer, rOtK added that his negotiations with the team did not stop there. After some convincing from 4AM’s players, the coach was promised to hear back from the organization regarding his desired post after two days.

In the span of those two days, 4AM made a surprising roster reveal with Liu “Sylar” Jiajun listed as the team’s carry player instead of Zhang “Eurus” Chengjun, only for them to delete their initial announcement, backtrack, and say Eurus will be joining them after all the next day.

With 4AM ending up paying for Eurus’ transfer fee from VG — despite a concerted attempt at acquiring him for free that caused their controversial roster reveal — the organization apparently had no money left to pay for a coach, especially one of rOtK’s stature.

“Two days later, they told me that it was not going to work, because if they signed Sylar, then they would have enough budget. But since Sylar was gone, there would be no budget,” rOtK said.

The coach went on to say that he went to a dinner with VG co-owner Chen Qing after the end of the 4AM fiasco. There, he was told that he will always be welcomed by his former team should he wish to return.

A tearful rOtK explained that in his six years with VG, during which time he coached the team to two Major championships and a Top 6 finish at TI9, he and the players were always treated well by the management.

Despite being assured by Qing that VG “will always be his home,” rOtK said that he will not be returning to his former team and would rather take a break as his “ambition has already been drained out.”

While rOtK did not say when he intends to return to coaching, it is expected that he will come back with a new team once the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) restarts early next year.

READ MORE: The troubled history of the Dota 2 superteam and why the odds are stacked against 4AM