Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 197

Gods Knights, who placed third in the promotion tournament, received 15 million klang in prize money. Unlike their amateur days, the tournament was held at a neutral site rather than a home-and-away format, so their gate revenue wasn’t as high. However, they still managed to earn a decent 6 million klang from participating in four matches. They had promised a bonus of 30% of the annual salary upon promotion, which resulted in an expenditure of 4.65 million klang for all salaried gladiators, reducing the total revenue from the tournament to 16.35 million klang.

A week later, Gods Knights passed the promotion review conducted by the Delroy Pro Gladiator Association with flying colors, earning a near-perfect score and finally securing their spot in the Delroy Wide League. This was because they had invested 200 million klang in expanding the team’s training facilities last season, fulfilling all the requirements of the association in advance, such as operating teams for those under 8 years old and constructing more than three training arenas.

– It’s a shame, Team Avand. This defeat is truly devastating. With this, Team Avand is almost certain to be eliminated from the World Final Qualifiers.

In late June, with the refreshing scent of early summer in the air, Director Beom-seok was watching TV in his office, clicking his tongue with a very disappointed expression. Team Avand, with Oscar and Rapine as their representative gladiators, had unfortunately lost their fourth match in the final qualifiers with a score of 1 win, 2 draws, and 2 losses in round wins, almost confirming their elimination. Team Avand’s current record was 2 draws and 2 losses. Unless they won both of their remaining two matches, they would not be able to realize their dream of advancing to the World Cup finals.

“Tsk tsk. Why did you exclude me from the national team?”

Frankly, Beom-seok firmly believed that he would participate in the national team as soon as the promotion tournament was over and would definitely compete in the World Final Qualifiers. However, the call-up list sent by the national team only included Oscar and Rapine, and he was completely left out. Coach Clark had excluded Beom-seok, stating that he could not select him as a representative gladiator. Although there was so much controversy in the media, the coach stuck to his justification that he could not pick someone who had not fully recovered from an injury, and in the end, he excluded him from the national team.

‘Haa. What exactly does this coach not like about me? I helped them advance to the final qualifiers with my performance in the third qualifiers… Well, whatever. Is it my loss? It’s all Coach Clark’s loss.’

In fact, Beom-seok gained many benefits from not participating in the national team. The media’s sensitive reaction to his exclusion from the national team gave him a self-PR effect that was greater than participating, and he also shook off the fatigue and aftereffects of injuries accumulated over the year through a long rest. Furthermore, he smoothly handled the work that had piled up due to the promotion, and he also slightly increased his physical abilities through training.

He opened his information window to check the contents. It was to see how much he had improved.

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Name: Oh Beom-seok.

Classification: Modified Human (2 years).

Affiliation: Gods Knights GC.

Fame: 8921.

Infamy: 8.

Stamina: 7994/8000.

Social Skills: 74, Strength: 78, Stamina: 80.

Agility: 96, Balance: 83, Intelligence: 61.

Mental Strength: 69. Judgment: 82, Skill: 51.

Luck: 68.

Current Skill/Potential: 742/1000.

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Trait: Great Will.

Special Notes: Chairman and affiliated gladiator of the Gods Knights Gladiator Team, which has just entered the Delroy Wide League. Although not widely known globally, he has gained considerable recognition locally and is still receiving recruitment offers from leading gladiator teams.

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‘Hehe. It’s gone up quite a bit.’

Although his Strength stat was slightly lacking, his Agility had increased to 96, so it was no exaggeration to say that Beom-seok’s physical abilities had already reached the Central League level. It was all the result of his desperate efforts in physical training and the personal training he had received from Ellin over the past six months. She had the trait of doubling the efficiency of physical training for one person, so he was able to obtain the training effect of one year in a short period of six months.

However, from now on, he could not expect such rapid growth. This was because he had assigned Ellin as a personal coach to Gelsomina. It was a pity, but the sooner she improved her physical abilities, the more beneficial it would be for the team, so he couldn’t really interfere.

‘It’s a good thing. Gelsomina’s swordsmanship skills are already at the World League level, so if her physical abilities are supplemented, she will definitely be a great help to the team. And since I’ve already raised mine as much as I’m satisfied with, it doesn’t matter if I raise the rest gradually.’

Currently, there were a total of seven people in Gods Knights who could show equal or superior skills against ordinary Wide Leaguers: Beom-seok, Rapine, Oscar, Erpina, Erica, Hestia, and Gelsomina. Considering that even the team with the lowest power had more than 12 members, it could be said that the situation was very precarious. Fortunately, many of the remaining affiliated gladiators had excellent physical abilities, so it was not hopeless, but the risk of relegation was still high.

In this situation, if Gelsomina raised her physical abilities to a satisfactory level, it was obvious that it would be a great help to Gods Knights, like welcome rain during a drought.

‘The problem is that we have to wait at least half a year for Gelsomina’s physical abilities to grow to a certain level.’

At Beom-seok’s request, Gelsomina had even given up her vacation and was focusing on physical training under the guidance of Coach Ellin. Although it was a grateful thing, it would be impossible to reach a satisfactory level during the summer vacation period of less than two months, so he had to find another alternative. It was the recruitment of a gladiator who could become an immediate asset.

‘Indeed. We need Jeremiah. If Jeremiah is included with me and Rapine, Gods Knights’ power will increase significantly. Then we can secure at least 15 points by the winter vacation season.’

15 points was the score that could be obtained when recording 3 wins or 9 draws. Considering that about 18 games were played until the winter vacation season, if this record was maintained as it was until the second half of the spring season with a win rate of less than 20%, it would not be wrong to say that Gods Knights would almost certainly be relegated.

However, the reason why he set 15 points as the minimum target score was very simple. It was because the quality of the Delroy Wide League had increased significantly. In addition to the existing competition among the top teams, the Chaplin Whisper Team and the Dark Chaos Team, which were promoted together this time, had joined, so the lower teams had no choice but to take away meager points like shrimp backs bursting in a whale fight [a Korean idiom for a losing battle]. Therefore, Beom-seok predicted that relegation would be determined somewhere between 30 and 35 points this season.

Knock knock knock.

At the sound of someone knocking, Beom-seok put down the documents he was organizing and looked towards the door.

“Come in.”

Soon, Esther, with an electronic document tucked into her waist, entered the director’s office. Judging that there was something to report, Beom-seok brought up the approval screen and clasped his hands together.

“Esther. Yes, what’s going on?”

“Well. There are a few things I’d like to discuss with you.”

“Really? What is it?”

Esther brought up the electronic document screen and placed it on the desk.

“First of all, it’s about whether Polia will retire or not. She herself has determined that she no longer has the ability to handle the league. So she has decided to quit the team and has requested termination of her contract.”

Polia was James’s lover elf who currently works at Zeus Construction. They had a brief relationship when they recruited Erpina at the Walker Auction Market, and she had been with Gods Knights since the team was formed and had been very active. However, she was getting old and could no longer participate in league matches, and it was almost impossible to play in the Wide League.

“Well, it’s impossible for her to continue her gladiator life. When I first saw her two years ago, her physical abilities were so low that I thought it would be difficult for her to perform in the league.”

“Yes. I think so too.”

Beom-seok, who had been looking at the documents with a thoughtful look, soon opened his mouth.

“But you know what? Is there really a need to leave the team? She’s made contributions to Gods Knights, so I want to be considerate of her. What do you think?”

“Specifically, what kind of consideration are you talking about?”

“Our team is short of coaches anyway, right? Tell her that if she completes a professional coaching course for about a year, we’ll accept her as a coach. Of course, we’ll pay for the education expenses needed for this, and we’ll accept her as a trainee coach right away.”

Esther nodded without hesitation. She was sad that Polia was leaving, but if she did as Beom-seok said, she could continue to live with the team.

“That’s not a bad idea. I’ll ask Polia if she’s willing.”

“Okay. Do that. Have the staff edit the videos and photos of Polia’s activities and decorate them nicely. And prepare the gladiator items she used and empty a small office in the training camp.”

Esther tilted her head, not understanding this request.

“No. Why do you need that?”

“What else? Polia is the first retired gladiator of our Gods Knights team. Although she was active for a short period of time, let’s give her that much treatment. It’s something we need anyway.”

“Yes? What kind of treatment? And what do you mean it’s something we need?”

“I’m talking about creating a Gods Knights History Museum. Polia is to be made a legend of the team.”

Now that she understood, she picked up her electronic pen and wrote down Beom-seok’s requests. Honoring the history of the team was a very important thing in terms of public relations, so the project he had just proposed had to be carried out. Many prestigious teams with traditions had even purchased separate buildings in the city to create history museums.

“But Director. How about renting an office in the city and opening the history museum to fans?”

“Well, I don’t think that’s possible. Polia is the only team legend we’ve forcibly raised, and Gods Knights has only been founded for two years. It’s definitely going to be unsightly, so I think it’s better not to make it public yet. So let’s open the history museum when we have more to show after some time has passed and tradition and history have accumulated.”

Indeed, the history of Gods Knights was too short, so there were not many things to show off to the outside world yet. Rather than opening a sloppy history museum now and disappointing the fans, it would be better to prepare step by step from now on and open it naturally when some tradition and history have accumulated.

“Yes. I understand what you mean. I’ll take care of it as you said.”

“Okay, good. Then what’s the next report?”

Esther turned the page of the document and said.

“It’s about the recruitment request for Hina.”

Hina could be said to be a founding member of the team along with Polia. She was in charge of the mid-level role in the team, and she had Area-level skills, so she had been very active, and she was a valuable resource that could be used as a reserve or substitute member even after rising to the Wide League.

Beom-seok frowned and waved his hand.

“The transfer market hasn’t opened yet, so why are these small fries [잡파리] getting involved? If it’s an Area League team, just ignore it. Hina won’t want to go either.”

“It’s Fire Ox, a gladiator team belonging to the Ogre Wide League.”

Then the story was a little different. If it was a Wide League team, she might want to go, so he had to tell Hina about it first. He had previously promised his affiliated gladiators that he would definitely inform them of any recruitment matters that would benefit them.

“No, why do they want to take Hina?”

“I don’t know the details, but when I looked into it, it seems they had a lot of trouble last year due to a lack of replacement resources. The main players continued to participate in the games even when they were tired, so injuries broke out, and thanks to that, the team’s performance dropped significantly compared to the previous season. So they were looking for a cheap and useful gladiator, and Hina caught their eye in the process.”

Beom-seok tapped the desk with his finger, expressing his difficulty. Hina’s price was definitely very cheap compared to her performance. This is because all stats are +3 due to the influence of Diana’s trait. This means that the total stat sum increases by 30, which means that the gladiators of Gods Knights can perform better than their original abilities.

‘Tsk. Diana’s specialty is interfering in this way.’

However, since there were far more benefits than harm, there was no need to feel wronged. And if problems continued to arise, they could be solved by raising the salaries of affiliated gladiators, and the mid-level side, including Hina, had more resources than other positions, so even if one person was missing, it would not lead to fatal results.

“Okay, how much are they offering as a price?”

“They offered 4.4 million klang.”

Beom-seok, with his eyes wide open, looked at Esther. Since Hina was an elf with a separate owner, 4.4 million klang could be said to be a fairly high price.

“That much? I don’t think we’ve set that much of a price for Hina?”

“Yes. That’s right. It seems that they added a little more after seeing that we classified Hina as a necessary resource in the team and her performance last season.”

Beom-seok, in a situation like a millstone [another Korean idiom for being stuck between a rock and a hard place], clicked his tongue as if he was troubled. Although 4.4 million klang was a fairly high price, it was far from enough to purchase the necessary power for the team with that money. The gladiator Beom-seok wanted was a promising player with Wide League-level abilities and high growth potential, and most of them were forming a price range of around 80 million to 130 million.

After thinking for a while, he decided to leave it to nature. Since it was good either way, he decided to respect Hina’s wishes first.

============================ Author’s Notes ============================

Are you curious about the stats of Beom-seok and other affiliated gladiators? I’ve started organizing them now, and if you want, I’ll upload them soon.

Then everyone have a good day. I’ll see you again tomorrow.