Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 564

“Did you prepare at all?” Park Yu-min nodded, his face showing a hint of composure.

‘Oh, this guy… he actually seems prepared?’

Seeing Park Yu-min’s expression, Director Oh Jin-hyung was taken aback.

He had seen this before.

The life of a pro gamer is one where effort and skill aren’t always proportional. You could work your butt off, but if your condition dips, you’d make unbelievable mistakes. Conversely, you could slack off, and if your condition is on an upswing, you’d play a perfect game.

But there was one exception.

‘Whenever that guy makes that face, he always causes trouble….’

Basically, Park Yu-min was a person who lacked a bit of confidence. To be precise, he was someone who, even if he was confident inside, didn’t show it on the outside.

He would always whine when he opened his mouth, and he never relaxed, even when playing against someone with a clear skill gap. You could say he was the type who didn’t trust himself.

Anyway, there were times when Park Yu-min would make that kind of face.

When constant practice and effort overlapped, and after dealing with all the variables, he felt that no matter how he calculated it, he couldn’t lose, Park Yu-min would have that relaxed look, and the result was clear.

‘A sweep.’

A clean victory.

A perfect victory with no room for argument.

‘No. Let’s calm down.’

Oh Jin-hyung shook his head.

That was possible because it was Park Yu-min in the past. The current Park Yu-min wasn’t the young and energetic Park Yu-min of the past, and the current game wasn’t one where he could do everything alone like before.

But one thing was certain.

‘This guy practiced like crazy.’

He wasn’t the type to make that face with just an average amount of practice. Moreover, showing that kind of composure clearly meant that he had found a solution to the ‘aggressiveness’ he had assigned as a task.

“Really?”

“Yes?”

“Ah, no.”

Oh Jin-hyung was flustered by his true feelings that had unintentionally slipped out.

‘Is that really possible?’

This was Park Yu-min’s chronic problem.

People have their natural tendencies. You can compromise to some extent with effort, but you can never completely overcome your nature.

Park Yu-min was naturally lacking in aggression.

There were many times when a game that should have ended in 10 minutes would drag on for over 20 minutes because he was being overly cautious. In the end, he would win more perfectly, so there was no problem, but….

‘Thanks to that, he had some haters.’

The only reason Park Yu-min, who had no flaws in personality or gameplay, was criticized was because his games were boring. Fans usually like exciting games where players go back and forth, so many disliked Park Yu-min’s style of slowly cutting off his opponent’s limbs and suffocating them.

Park Yu-min himself had tried to change his style several times, but in the end, he couldn’t fix it.

But he had fixed it in such a short time?

“Let’s go in.”

Oh Jin-hyung patted Park Yu-min’s shoulder.

Whether Park Yu-min had truly overcome his limits would be revealed by watching him. There was no point in talking about it here.

“Yes.”

Knowing that, Park Yu-min walked into the practice room without saying anything.

“Hyung, you’re here?”

“Yeah.”

Park Yu-min smiled and extended his hand to Choi Jung-woo. Choi Jung-woo took Park Yu-min’s hand and shook it.

“Did you practice a lot?”

“Yeah, I did a lot. But it wasn’t easy.”

“……Well, yeah.”

Choi Jung-woo looked at Park Yu-min with a pitiful expression.

The disadvantage of this game was that individual practice was difficult. In the past, when Park Yu-min was famous in Galaxy, if he felt he was lacking in a certain area, he could focus on practicing that area.

But this was a team game, and unless a player of a similar level was attached to him to practice separately, intensive training was impossible.

“It’ll be okay. Because it’s you, hyung.”

Choi Jung-woo’s words were only half sincere.

‘Still, it’s Yu-min hyung.’

He knew that the game was different and the situation was different, but he felt that this person would be able to overcome it.

“Oh? Hyung, you’re here?”

Kwak Hyun-tae approached Park Yu-min without hesitation and slightly bowed his head.

Seeing that, Choi Jung-woo frowned.

‘Seriously, that cocky bastard.’

In the pro scene, skill is everything.

He also thought so when he was young. But now his thoughts were completely different. It was because he had seen Park Yu-min.

While you’re a pro, personality doesn’t matter much. In the end, fans prefer a skilled player with a bad personality over a bad player with a good personality. If you have the skill, they’ll tolerate even a terrible personality. They’ll overlook it.

But that’s only during the short pro gamer life.

When you get older and your prime passes, and your skills start to decline, everything that was tolerated until now starts to come back at once.

Those who were foolishly kind have their image rise even higher, and those who acted recklessly because they had some skill lose people and their image plummets.

Park Yu-min was the one who proved that.

‘This hyung is really amazing.’

Choi Jung-woo respected Park Yu-min.

If he didn’t take on this challenge and started a personal broadcast, he could probably make a fortune. According to rumors, personal broadcasting companies had offered him contracts worth hundreds of millions to get him to broadcast. But Park Yu-min said that it was still time for him to take on challenges and turned down the offers to come here.

“Hyung, show them what you’ve got.”

Such passion should be rewarded. Definitely.

At Choi Jung-woo’s words, Park Yu-min opened his mouth with a subtle expression.

“I don’t know what I should show you, but…”

Park Yu-min, who slightly trailed off, looked at Kwak Hyun-tae and smiled slightly.

“I don’t feel particularly nervous, so I guess my condition is good today.”

Park Yu-min couldn’t help but smile.

When he had a 1v1 with Kwak Hyun-tae before, he couldn’t properly handle Kwak Hyun-tae.

He was flustered by the unexpected attacks that didn’t fit his calculations and the reckless aggression that charged in even when it was clearly a disadvantage. But that wouldn’t happen now. Absolutely not.

‘At least in the game, there’s no one crazier than Jin-ho.’

He had trained with the king of recklessness. Now, the attacks of most people didn’t even feel like attacks.

“I won’t go easy on you this time.”

“Did you go easy on me last time?”

“Well, you’re my senior, so I treated you with some respect. But I won’t go easy on you this time. It’ll be better for you if I show you the clear difference in skill.”

“Hey, Kwak Hyun-tae.”

Choi Jung-woo was about to get angry, but Park Yu-min reached out and stopped Choi Jung-woo.

“Why? He’s right.”

“No, but…”

As Choi Jung-woo huffed, Kwak Hyun-tae opened his mouth as if he didn’t understand.

“There’s no reason to be angry. The truth is, who are we to go easy on Park Yu-min? Get a grip, hyung. That senior can make millions in one night if he turns on a broadcast and does some reactions.”

“Dude, but he’s taking on a challenge.”

“What challenge? You can say that because you’re at the top, but I’m about to lose my job because someone who could make more money elsewhere is just poking around for fun. I need to make a living too. I won’t go easy on him.”

Park Yu-min nodded.

“Don’t go easy on me. I don’t want that either.”

Kwak Hyun-tae turned away and went back to his seat without answering, as if he was slightly upset.

“Seriously, that bastard!”

Choi Jung-woo was about to say something, but Park Yu-min put his finger to his lips.

“Shhh.”

“……No, hyung.”

“Calm down. He’s not wrong at all. It’s called a test, but I came here to take his spot, so what’s with the courtesy?”

“……Yes.”

“That’s how pros are. And I’ll take it with my skills. I don’t need any special treatment. It’s a hundred times better than hearing later that it turned out this way because they went easy on me. So don’t take my side either, and watch me objectively.”

“Okay, hyung.”

Choi Jung-woo sighed.

‘He’s being cold in weird situations again.’

Well, that’s probably why he made it to the top.

“Yu-min, get ready.”

“Yes, Director.”

The atmosphere when a test starts is always like this.

A slightly tense atmosphere.

A strange feeling where the anticipation of a strong team member joining and the anxiety that the new recruit might take someone’s spot coexist.

‘Whatever.’

Park Yu-min chuckled.

He had done everything he could. Enough to have no regrets. Now, he just had to show his skills. He was confident that he wouldn’t regret the result, no matter what it was. Because he had truly given it his all.

However, what should he say….

‘Still, I should show them.’

That the training he had with Kang Jin-ho wasn’t useless. If he couldn’t, he would feel sorry to Kang Jin-ho, who had taken the time to be with him. At least, he wanted to leave the impression that he was clearly different from when he came last time.

Park Yu-min took a deep breath and took out his keyboard and mouse from his bag.

“Yu-min, come into the director’s office.”

“Yes.”

Park Yu-min gathered his equipment and headed to the director’s office. As Park Yu-min’s figure completely disappeared, a subtle silence fell over the practice room.

The background music from the computer was the only thing that filled the air.

The first one to speak was Choi Jung-woo.

“……It doesn’t feel like Yu-min hyung?”

Choi Jung-woo rubbed his eyes with a bewildered expression.

“What did I just see?”

It wasn’t that Park Yu-min was so good that he was dumbfounded. The memory of Park Yu-min coming for a test before was still vivid in his mind, but in that short time, his style had completely changed.

“That was crazy. What kind of game is that?”

“……That’s how you should play the game. That’s how it’s supposed to be… Wow, is this also a fixed idea? I didn’t know Yu-min hyung could play like that.”

Choi Jung-woo slightly turned his head and looked at Kwak Hyun-tae.

Kwak Hyun-tae still couldn’t take his hand off the mouse. Because the large chair back was blocking him, he couldn’t see his exact expression, but he didn’t need to see it to know what kind of expression Kwak Hyun-tae was making.

‘Serves him right.’

Choi Jung-woo clicked his tongue.

Kwak Hyun-tae was literally crushed. Just like Kwak Hyun-tae had trampled on Park Yu-min before, no, even more so. Along with his character, Kwak Hyun-tae’s mentality had probably turned to dust.

“He should have been more careful.”

Did he know who that guy was?

Respect was evident in Choi Jung-woo’s eyes as he watched Park Yu-min’s back as he entered the director’s office.

That person was always like that. He would calmly do things that others said were impossible. If it was in a game, Park Yu-min was the king, Park Yu-min was the emperor.

And probably, as a result of today’s test, he would become the emperor’s loyal right-hand man.

‘The return of the emperor….’

Choi Jung-woo grinned.

If the fact that Park Yu-min had returned was known, all the online gaming communities would explode. All Choi Jung-woo could do was mourn the administrators who would suffer from server management.