Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 106

The incident at the Rainbow Hotel sent shockwaves through the Avend Pro Gladiator Association. Byte, the association president, was exposed for corruption with irrefutable evidence presented to the media. In a hastily called emergency vote, driven by public scrutiny from gladiator fans, Brian was immediately appointed as the next president. This solidified the Cooper faction’s control over the Avend region, while the Black Society secured a valuable foothold in the sports business.

Meanwhile, the Dark Hyenas’ doping scandal, triggered by Beom-seok’s actions, dominated the news daily, creating a public uproar. WBS broadcasting, leading the charge, ensured the issue remained in the spotlight. The entire nation focused on the situation, forcing the Hyena Group to tearfully sell Jermia and two other gladiators to Central League teams at bargain prices as a form of disciplinary action.

Although this transfer strained the team’s strength to some extent, keeping these three would have been an admission of guilt, leading to additional penalty points. The only way for the Dark Hyenas to prove their innocence was to expel the gladiators from the team.

However, the problems didn’t end there. The team’s morale plummeted, resulting in a complete losing streak for three weeks, pushing them to the bottom of the league. Fortunately, the issue arose early in the season, leaving room for resolution, but it would require a significant amount of money.

Interestingly, the team that suffered the most from this incident was actually the Great Hyenas.

With the Dark Hyenas facing a -3 point penalty after three league games, relegation seemed inevitable, necessitating a massive investment to acquire capable gladiators. The easiest target was the Great Hyenas, who had no income but possessed formidable strength. Moreover, their strategic value had vanished after handing over the Avend region to the Black Society. Consequently, the Hyena Group made the drastic decision to disband the Great Hyenas, scattering its members and funds across the transfer market.

However, such extreme measures inevitably had repercussions. The gladiator fans of Lima City, who had staunchly supported the team, couldn’t tolerate this behavior. First, they siphoned off funds, pushing the team into a relegation battle, and now they were eliminating the team altogether. Naturally, the enraged Lima City gladiator fans protested daily in front of the Hyena Group headquarters.

Around this time, the GodKnights were smoothly managing their league games and cup competitions. In the league, they secured 6 points with a record of 2 wins and 1 loss, placing them 5th in the intermediate standings. They also safely advanced past the fourth round of the GA Cup against a semi-pro team. In the first leg of the League Cup away game, they defeated the Ultra Krakens, last year’s 15th-ranked team, with a round score of 3-0, greatly improving their chances of advancing to the second leg.

During this period, Beom-seok earned 7.2 million Krang [currency] from the League Cup and GA Cup, and 1.5 million Krang from league games. Additionally, anticipation surrounding the completion of the professional sports medical center led to the sale of 3,000 more season tickets, and strong sales of team emblem products generated 1.64 million Krang in revenue. As a result, he newly acquired 14.95 million Krang, increasing the team’s usable funds to 115.3 million Krang.

“Seriously, this is driving me crazy. What’s happening now?”

After lunch, Beom-seok briefly visited the chairman’s office and frowned at a sports news article that popped up on the network. It was about the trade issue between the GodKnights and the Dragon Knights. Of course, the fact that such news was circulating wouldn’t directly affect him, but the swarm of unwanted attention was a headache.

Teams like Chaplin Whisper, Ultima Cheetahs, and West Wings… Even the Red Hyenas joined in, adding fuel to the fire, causing Beom-seok, the subject of the issue, to put down his spoon. The news had spread that Vincent, known for his sharp eye for Elf gladiators, and Beom-seok, who was exceptionally good at finding outstanding gladiators, were both interested in her.

‘That damn Hyena Group. If the Dark Hyenas are falling apart, they should focus on that. Why are they meddling here? By the way, her name was Goria, right?’

Goria was already a thing of the past for him. With her value soaring to nearly 90 million Krang due to the competition, Beom-seok had no intention of buying her. With that money, he could buy two or more Elves with decent growth potential, even if they weren’t well-known. He couldn’t waste such a large sum by unnecessarily fueling the competition.

However, since showing interest didn’t cost anything, he pulled up Goria’s match footage and quietly watched. She was an Elf he almost acquired, so he intended to keep an eye on her.

‘Hmm. Her current skills are surprisingly good.’

Despite being only seven years old, Goria was quite skilled in both strength and technique. Each sword movement was filled with smoothness, and her strikes were imbued with a fierce spirit. At this level, she could easily hold her own against Erica.

Impressed, Beom-seok leaned back in his chair and adopted a serious expression.

‘Hmm. Did Vincent make a mistake? Her skills are far beyond the Area League level… She’s much more advanced.’

When Vincent suggested the transfer, he said that the Elf was barely at the level to be投入 [entered] into Area League matches. But no matter how he looked at it, Goria was closer to a Wide League-level starting gladiator. Of course, it could have been embellished for the gladiator introduction video, but the subtle experience flowing from her swordplay couldn’t be faked.

“Well, she has to be this good to be worth 90 million Krang as a prospect.”

At that moment, a woman’s voice came from the wireless intercom on his desk.

– Chairman, you have a visitor.

Beom-seok, who had closed the screen of his electronic notepad, said,

“Who is it?”

– Inspector Lexter, sir.

Inspector Lexter was his relative who had recently been transferred to Alphas, the central city of the federal government. They had already had a farewell dinner, so the sudden visit was quite unexpected.

Beom-seok tilted his head and spoke into the intercom.

“Really? He’s an important guest, so please escort him in politely.”

– Yes, Chairman.

Shortly after the red light on the intercom went off, the chairman’s door opened, and Lexter entered in a neat suit. Beom-seok greeted him with a bright expression.

“Oh, Inspector Lexter, what brings you here? I thought I wouldn’t see you anymore.”

Lexter frowned and waved his hands frantically.

“Hmm. I thought so too. But not anymore.”

“What? Didn’t you go to Alphas?”

“I did. But I’ve been reassigned here.”

“Why? Was the police agency’s plan to create a pro team for promotional purposes canceled?”

“Canceled? It’s going too well, that’s the problem. Sigh~”

Judging from his poor complexion, something significant must have happened. Beom-seok soon seated Inspector Lexter on the reception sofa and looked at him cautiously.

“What exactly is going on?”

“Sigh~ Well, you see…”

Lexter let out a long sigh and began to lament his situation.

After being transferred to the Federal Police Agency in Alphas, Lexter worked more enthusiastically than ever, developing a plan to create a soccer team. It was the moment he was fulfilling his lifelong dream, so even he, who loved alcohol and being slick, couldn’t help but feel motivated.

Then, on the day of the briefing for the central high-ranking police officials, Lexter made a mistake he should never have made. One of the officials, who had expressed admiration for the perfect soccer team creation plan, asked where he had heard about such matters. Lexter proudly stated that he had easily found out through his relative, Beom-seok, the chairman of a pro gladiator team, and Hera, a pro gladiator under his command.

After that, the atmosphere in the audiovisual conference room where the briefing was held became strange. Many of the police officials in attendance were gladiator fans, and the idea of creating a gladiator team rather than a soccer team subtly emerged. Most of the other officials agreed. Upon closer examination, it required less initial cost and was better for projecting the police’s strong image.

The most expensive part of creating a sports team was forming the roster. However, many of the mobile strike forces in police stations across the country included Elves who had previously been pro gladiators. Many Elves purchased from the Walker Auction Market had supported the economic needs of their owners by leveraging their past careers to join the police strike forces.

There were over 50,000 of these Elves stationed in police stations around the world, so there was no way there wouldn’t be capable gladiators among them. If they were selected and formed into an elite team, they could certainly match the strength of a regular pro team. Thus, Lexter’s dream of becoming the director of a soccer team vanished into thin air, and a gladiator team was created according to the police officials’ intentions.

After listening for a while, Beom-seok barely suppressed his laughter and said,

“Heh. Is that so? But why did you come back to Lima City?”

“Well, it’s a matter of infrastructure. After looking into it, most of the major cities are almost saturated with pro teams. But Lima City is unique in that there are no other pro gladiator teams besides the GodKnights. Moreover, the training camp of the Great Hyenas team, which was disbanded this time, came onto the market at a very low price.”

Beom-seok stared at him with wide eyes. That meant the gladiator team that the police agency was going to create would become a derby team [rival team] with his GodKnights. Considering the enthusiastic support stemming from the animosity between the western and eastern region fans, at least two games a year would have to be held amidst considerable commotion.

“Inspector, aren’t you being too much? Why Lima City of all places? You know the atmosphere here.”

“Of course, I know. I’ve been eating here for years, how could I not know? But a derby team isn’t all that bad. It’s a bit noisy, but you make a lot of money because of it. Hehehe.”

Beom-seok nodded. Certainly, the derby fever was intense in Lima City. Even in the quarterfinals of the last promotion tournament, which was just an amateur match, nearly 40,000 people came to cheer enthusiastically against the Great Hyenas.

“I guess so. The stadium will be packed with spectators whenever a derby match is held. Since the eastern residents wouldn’t support our team, which is supported by the western region residents anyway, there wouldn’t be any problems if another team came in. Ah! But Inspector, if you’ve made Lima City your home base, that means you’re starting from the amateur team.”

Lexter immediately nodded. Saying that he would base himself in Lima City, where the GodKnights were the only pro team, meant that he was creating a new team.

“Yeah. That’s right. It’s been decided to start with the amateur league first. We can’t invest a huge amount of money from the beginning for a promotional event, so we’ll watch and adjust. And with the strength that will be built in the future, we should be able to easily pass the promotion tournament without any surprises.”

“Oh, really? You’re very confident.”

“Because we have the strength. It’s a force of 40 people selected from 50,000 pro gladiator veterans belonging to mobile strike forces around the world. They’re a bit old, but there are plenty of guys like your Erpina and our Hera. And the coaching staff is formidable too.”

Well, if they picked 40 of the better ones out of 50,000, how could they not be good? Considering that there are Elves trying to manipulate things to go to the Walker Auction Market, it seemed that a considerable force had gathered.

“Ah. This is scary. It’s said that the rival who will become our derby team is so powerful.”

“Hehe. Right? I think our team is scary too.”

Beom-seok was puzzled by his unexpectedly energetic appearance. He thought he would be discouraged because his dream of becoming the director of a pro soccer team had gone down the drain, but he was quite energetic.

“But you’re quite enthusiastic about the team. Weren’t you originally not very interested in gladiator matches, Inspector?”

“I wasn’t. But the Chief said that if the gladiator team we’re creating this time gets on track properly, he’ll try to create a pro soccer team too. So, I have to be enthusiastic. If we get promoted to the pro league and accumulate funds, we’ll have the resources to create a soccer team. Hehe.”

“Ah. Is that so? That’s good. Your dream hasn’t completely vanished into thin air.”

“That’s right. Well.”

Beom-seok nodded and slowly looked at him.

“Ah. But what brings you to our team today?”

“Oh, damn it! Look at my mind. I haven’t said what I really need to say. I have a favor to ask of you today.”

“Yes. What is it? Tell me.”

“Hand over Hera to our team.”

Beom-seok didn’t seem surprised by the sudden transfer offer. Hera was Lexter’s Elf. No director would allow his Elf to play for the opposing team that might become a derby team. He thought he would probably try to take her away if he were in Lexter’s shoes.

However, Hera was one of the main forces of the GodKnights. If she transferred to another team now, it would have a significant impact on the team.

‘Tsk. But I can’t say no.’

On the day Lexter was transferred to Alphas, Hera was overwhelmed with sadness and couldn’t perform to her full potential for a while. The fact that she was separated from her owner brought great sorrow to the Elves.

In this situation, the opportunity to spend time with Lexter at all times was unfolding before her eyes. She would definitely be overjoyed, but he couldn’t coldly reject the transfer offer here.