Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 429

The news of Beomseok’s acquisition of Tiela spread rapidly through local media. Consequently, sports outlets from around the world flocked to the Gods Knights’ camp, initiating a fierce competition for interviews and scoops.

Although several prominent gladiators were released into the winter transfer market, there had been no news of any deals being made. Tiela’s acquisition acted as a signal flare for this transfer market, so the media couldn’t help but pay close attention.

“Hoo~ This is quite tiring,” Beomseok sighed.

On a lazy afternoon, Beomseok, having wrestled with a throng of reporters, was relaxing in his office. The constant stream of media personnel left him with almost no time to train. Still, he felt great. The thought of the damage the Trio [Ancient Warriors, Chaplin Whisper, and Dark Hyenas, who formed an alliance] would suffer from this deal filled him with immense satisfaction.

Just then, a loud ringtone echoed from his pocket. Beomseok took out his electronic notebook, checked the number, and smiled broadly. It was Jade. He let it ring a dozen times before reluctantly pressing the call button, as if doing Jade a favor.

“Hello.”

– Beomseok! What’s the deal with Tiela!

Jade immediately started shouting. He was also targeting Irolita, but he considered acquiring Tiela even more important.

Although not yet announced to the media, he had planned to hand Tiela over to Peter, the head of Queen Blaze, a company he personally controlled. This was because, if her weaknesses were overcome, she would be as good as any S-class gladiator. And the benefits of acquiring her at an extremely low price far outweighed those of acquiring Irolita.

“What are you talking about?”

– Why did Gods Knights take Tiela?

“Well, as I stated to the media, it’s because her price was low. I heard from the Forest Elves that you were being quite unreasonable, Jade. Trying to buy her for 4.2 billion Krang [currency unit]. That’s highway robbery.”

– Are you even serious right now! Her skills would greatly diminish if she went to another team. She has that many flaws. 4.2 billion Krang was already a generous offer.

Beomseok picked at his ear and glanced at the screen nonchalantly.

“That’s true. But our team is different, isn’t it? An Elf who has found her master can certainly fix those flaws.”

– W, well, that’s not wrong, but isn’t it *our* team that should be fixing her?

“True, but what does that have to do with anything? Our team offered over 5.2 billion Krang, and you offered 4.2 billion Krang. And the Forest Elves, wanting to get more for Tiela, chose us. Isn’t this a beautiful principle of capitalism? There’s obviously no problem.”

– Do you think I don’t know that!

“Then that’s settled. Isn’t it?”

Jade was seething inside, but he forced himself to calm down. Tiela was the Ancient Warriors’ top target in this transfer market. They had to get their hands on her no matter what.

– O, okay. I understand. But I’m just asking, would you consider selling her to our team?

“Hmm. I don’t think that would be possible.”

– Don’t worry about the money. We’ll give you 7 billion Krang.

Without even pausing to consider whether he was satisfied, Beomseok shook his head. The bus had already left.

“I told you it wouldn’t work. She’s already become my Elf.”

Jade ran a hand over his face and hung his head. The card he had presented in hopes was now useless. Once she had served a master, a trade was impossible. Of course, a trade in the form of a salary was possible, but they wanted a complete sale.

– Are you saying she underwent the master recognition ceremony that quickly?

“Hehe. Yes. So please understand.”

Jade sighed deeply, shook his head, and spoke again.

– Hoo~ Well, there’s nothing I can do about it. But I have a question. May I ask?

“Yes. Go ahead.”

– I’m just asking, but what was the reason Gods Knights acquired Tiela so hastily?

“Well, I guess we were worried about the competition? We couldn’t predict how aggressively you would come at us.”

– But the difference in the amount we offered was over 1 billion Krang. You shouldn’t have been that anxious.”

Usually, that was the case. If the offered price differed by 25%, it was very difficult to close that gap.

Allen, the Forest Elves’ trade manager, had only contacted Ancient Warriors once, and when he couldn’t get through, he handed Tiela over to Beomseok for this reason. Knowing that Ancient Warriors would have difficulty offering a larger sum, he decided it was better to stick with Beomseok.

That’s how meticulously they analyzed the appropriate price and value of a gladiator before proceeding with a trade.

“Yes, that’s right. But I had no doubt that you would offer a larger sum. At least, I did.”

– Why did you think that?

“I think you know better than anyone, Jade?”

Embarrassed, he cleared his throat and tilted his head.

– Me? I don’t understand what you’re talking about.

“Well, it would be easier to understand if I gave you the example of Prisika. A big reason I bought Tiela was that the acquisition of Prisika fell through. So I needed a replacement, and she was chosen.”

– W, what are you talking about? I know Prisika well, and I agreed to hand her over to Gods Knights, didn’t I?

Beomseok put on a sly smile and brought his face closer to the screen. It was time to start working his angle.

“Hehehe. Oh, Jade. I’m not that naive. I know you have no intention of selling Prisika to me, so you don’t have to act like that.”

– Th, that’s…

Beomseok gave Jade, who was flustered, a piece of advice.

“You don’t have to play dumb. I understand. That’s how the world is. But there’s one thing you don’t seem to know, so let me give you a little life advice. When you’re buddying up with someone and trying to stab someone else in the back, the person you need to be most careful of is the one next to you. Do you understand?”

– Wh, what does that mean?

“Oh, come on. You know what I mean. Well, I’ve said what I needed to say, so I’ll hang up now. I have to go out for an urgent matter. Goodbye.”

Beomseok quickly hung up and left his office. He had baited Jade, so now he had someone else to meet: the dog owner [Julian, the leader of Dark Hyenas]. He got into his flying car and headed to Mairin City.

And a moment later, the ringtone echoed from his pocket again. Beomseok, who was about to hang up if it was Jade, calmly connected the call. This time it was someone else.

– What did you say to Jade!

Director Vincent’s shout burst out. Beomseok, who roughly knew the reason, calmly responded.

“What are you talking about?”

– Jade just called me. He told me to prepare for war.

“Oh. Is that so? But why would that guy call you, Director?”

– You. Don’t tell me you don’t know!

“Well, I don’t know. Hehe.”

Vincent momentarily calmed down and glared at him. He was furious, but he wasn’t in a position to blame Beomseok.

– Don’t tell me it’s that Spotty Puppy [Julian]!

“Well, I don’t know? Maybe it’s Jade himself? There’s a saying that the one who farted gets angry, isn’t there?”

– Don’t talk nonsense. It’s not Jade.

Indeed, there was no way that old fox Vincent would fall for such a simple trick. The one who would suffer the most from Beomseok’s acquisition of Tiela was Ancient Warriors.

“I guess not. Then who could it be?”

– Who else but that Puppy!

“Well, I don’t think it’s him. He’s too timid.”

Despite his denial, Vincent looked unconvinced. The only people who knew about this were himself, Jade, and the Dark Hyenas’ brat. If you exclude himself and Jade, there was only one person left. He had recognized him as an element of instability when forming the alliance due to his past nature, and he had finally caused trouble.

– Don’t lie. You must have colluded with him to screw us over.

“Well. I can’t help it if you don’t believe me.”

– Then tell me just one thing. Was it a coincidence that you met a Forest Elves official after visiting Ancient Warriors?

Director Vincent was hitting the nail on the head. Although it was a coincidence, if he admitted it here, he would not be able to achieve the plan to divide the Trio.

Depending on when they found out about their alliance, the betrayal would be judged. If they found out later, it was something Beomseok could have inferred.

He had to make them believe that it was an exaggerated coincidence.

But if he denied it outright, he was worried about Vincent’s intuition.

“Well. Don’t such coincidences happen in life? Don’t you think?”

– Hooh. So you’re saying that you accidentally got out of the car to avoid the paparazzi, and then you didn’t have bus fare, so you were just hanging around the Ancient Warriors’ training camp and met a Forest Elves official?

“Exactly.”

– Hey. Man. Are you telling me to believe that?

“Why? Doesn’t it make sense?”

– What makes sense! Do you think I’ll believe that you were just standing there on that desolate athletic field because you didn’t have bus fare? And Jade is inside, so why would you bother waiting?

Beomseok scratched his head and gave a faint smile.

“Ah. That’s right. I could have borrowed money from Jade. I forgot.”

– Besides, you knew about Prisika’s situation. How are you going to explain that?

At this point, Beomseok realized that the division of the Trio had succeeded. The fact that he knew about Prisika could not have been possible without someone’s betrayal.

“Well. Jade’s expression was so strange, I suspected it.”

– Don’t talk nonsense. Jade would never make such a mistake.

Beomseok, judging that it was time to end this, looked at Director Vincent and said in a quiet voice.

“Well. I have nothing to say. But isn’t life all about deceiving and being deceived? Just as you deceived me, I deceived you, and everyone deceived and was deceived for the victory of their team. The championship trophy is only one anyway. Wasn’t the alliance itself a mistake? Let’s compete fairly if possible. Hehehe.”

Vincent bit his lip. He really regretted this. To prevent the threatening growth of Gods Knights, he joined hands with two teams who thought the same way, but this only resulted in a huge loss. He sold Yoshiya, worth nearly 1 billion, for a pittance, and Beomseok, who he was supposed to stop, greatly increased his power by acquiring Tiela, one of the key players in this transfer market.

But he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing because his strategy had failed. Since preventing Gods Knights was out of the question, he had to do everything he could to stop Jade’s attacks and eliminate the traitor.

– I guess so. But don’t underestimate our Chaplin Whisper just because you won once. We joined hands with a few teams to acquire gladiators cheaply, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have enough funds to acquire them.

“Of course. That’s why I’m looking forward to it.”

– I see. Then I’ll hang up now.

“Yes. Goodbye. See you at the Colosseum.”

Vincent, who was about to hang up, saw the flying car Beomseok was riding in and the clouds passing by outside and asked one last question.

– By the way, where are you going now?

“Ah. I’m going to Mairin City. There’s someone I need to meet urgently.”

At those words, Vincent gritted his teeth and hung up. Mairin City was the home of the Dark Hyenas. Beomseok was clearly going to meet the Puppy.

“Now. Shall we go and punish our traitor?”

Beomseok, who had arrived at Dark Hyenas, could see Julian waiting for him. His expression was still relaxed, as if he hadn’t heard the news yet.

Beomseok, who knew exactly what was going to happen, felt sorry for him, but he immediately grabbed him by the neck and put him in a headlock. Pity was pity, and betrayal was betrayal.

The price of betrayal was immediate and terrible retribution.

“Beomseok! Why are you doing this all of a sudden!”

“Don’t ask if you don’t know! You dared to collude with Ancient Warriors and Chaplin Whisper and stab me in the back after begging me to form an alliance!”

Julian, with his head stuck in his arm, looked at him with trembling eyes.

“St, stab in the back, what are you talking about?”

“Damn it! Jade and Director Vincent told me everything on the way here! Don’t you dare play dumb!”

“Re, really?”

“Do you think I’d be talking nonsense after eating a good meal!”

As the headlock tightened, Julian shouted as if he was suffocating. He actually had a lot to say.

“Hey! Why are you only picking on me! You betrayed me too.”

“What betrayal did I do!”

“You bought Yoshiya cheaply with the Irolita and Bormia deal!”

Beomseok, feeling guilty, slightly loosened his arm. He had definitely deceived Julian a little. But he immediately tightened the headlock again and shouted in a deep, angry voice. In fact, Julian had not betrayed him. He had been planning to stab him in the back since he proposed the collaboration.

“What betrayal! Do you think I didn’t know you approached me to stab me in the back!”

After that, Julian had to walk around the training camp all day with Beomseok in a headlock. This physical revenge was not enough, but the rest would be taken care of by Ancient Warriors and Chaplin Whisper, so it didn’t matter. Dark Hyenas could not compete with their financial power.