Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 134

136

It was a Saturday morning. The overnight snow had painted the world white, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. Songbirds, seemingly forgetting winter, flitted and chirped in the bare, dry trees, and the sky was a clear, cloudless expanse, as if it had never snowed at all.

On a path within the God’s Knights training camp.

Beom-seok and Erda trudged through the knee-deep snow, heading towards the office building. Usually, they would have taken the unmanned electric vehicle, but the snow was too deep for it to operate.

He frowned and said,

“Esther, I think we need to buy a snow-melting vehicle.”

A snow-melting vehicle was an expensive, specialized vehicle costing about 3 million krang [a fictional currency], equipped with heating coils underneath to melt snow. Although quite expensive, it seemed worthwhile, as it was difficult to even move around, let alone conduct outdoor training, whenever it snowed. Especially since the God’s Knights’ training camp was located in the mountains, the accumulated snow was no joke once it started.

“Ah, yes. I’ll apply for the purchase today.”

“Good. And how is the Hestia acquisition going?”

Hestia was a gladiator that Esther was trying to recruit along with Lexter. Beom-seok had made an offer last summer, but her team, the Fire Lions, had been reluctant, so it was temporarily postponed. He had a knack for recruiting gladiators, and when he kept at it, her team decided to keep her for a while to see how things went.

So this time, he was trying to indirectly recruit her by asking Lexter, the leader of the Blue Birds. Fortunately, the Fire Lions team was planning to recruit an expensive gladiator recently, so there was a good chance they would sell her.

But recently, a problem had arisen. They were in competition with Mesa Combats, a Wide League team. In that case, a price increase was inevitable. Beom-seok couldn’t help but worry.

“Well, from the looks of it, Mesa Combats doesn’t seem to be offering a very high price either. If we play our cards right, we might be able to acquire her.”

“Still, look into other options as well. Mirlee recently transferred to another team, leaving a vacancy in the mid-tier, so we must fill it.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Beom-seok, who was walking, opened his mouth again.

“Oh, right. There’s another elf we need to recruit.”

“Who is it?”

“Her name is Elin, and she’s a coach affiliated with the national team.”

Elin was an elf who had been Beom-seok’s personal coach during his time with the national team. She had a trait that doubled the efficiency of physical training for one person, so recruiting her would be very helpful. He could immediately have her as his personal physical coach, and he could also assign her to gladiators with poor physical abilities, like Emma, to greatly improve their physical stats in a short period of time.

“Wouldn’t a national team coach be quite expensive?”

“Not really. I heard that she’s been working as a coach in the form of a training program for the past two years, and her salary is very low. I talked to her briefly, and she said that if we matched her salary to some extent, she would ask her owner and then join our team.”

“How much salary does she want?”

“About 350,000 krang.”

350,000 krang was 50,000 krang more than Esther’s salary, which was quite a large expense.

“Is she a necessary coach?”

“Well, there aren’t many people as good as her as a physical coach.”

“Really? But we already have a physical coach on our team, don’t we?”

There were a total of six coaches affiliated with the God’s Knights. There was no way they wouldn’t have a physical coach who played an important role. And thanks to Beom-seok’s careful selection, their abilities were also outstanding. With their current financial situation, there was no problem with recruiting her, but there was no reason to recruit another physical coach.

“That’s true, but I’m going to recruit her as a personal physical coach dedicated to a specific gladiator. She’s showing outstanding ability when it comes to physical guidance for one person. For now, I’m thinking of appointing her as a physical guidance coach for the second team and dedicating her to one of our main gladiators.”

Since Chairman Beom-seok had said this much, Esther couldn’t refuse. And because his recruitment activities had always been successful, she trusted him.

“Hmm, yes, I understand. Then I’ll proceed with the recruitment.”

“Good. Thank you. Oh! And I’ll be raising your salary soon, so keep that in mind.”

Esther waved her hands in surprise. Although the title of ‘Assistant Manager’ followed her name, she was a young woman who had been appointed as the team leader and was receiving a high salary. She felt bad about receiving another favor.

“It’s, it’s okay. I’m satisfied with my current position and salary.”

“No. Now that you’re somewhat familiar with the work, I’m thinking of removing the ‘Assistant’ title soon. Then you’ll need to maintain your dignity, so your current salary won’t be enough.”

“Th, then am I becoming the full manager now?”

“Yes. We can’t leave the manager position vacant for too long, so you have to do it. From what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think there will be any problems even if you take on the position of manager.”

Instantly, a bright smile appeared on Esther’s face. It was a burdensome task, but no one would refuse a proper manager position.

She immediately bowed respectfully and accepted Beom-seok’s offer.

“Yes. I’ll work hard in the future.”

– Ding. Esther’s favorability has increased to 88.

Beom-seok, who knew through the system message that a significant amount of favorability had increased, wore a satisfied smile on his face. He wondered if he had wasted time by delaying giving it to her, as she seemed to like it this much. At 88, he only needed to raise it by 2 to be able to target Esther at any time, under any circumstances. It was already quite high now, so if he just set the right mood, it would be enough to spend the night.

He smiled slyly and spoke to Esther.

“Esther, do you have anything to do after work today?”

“No. Is there anything you want me to do?”

“It’s not work, but I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me. To celebrate your promotion to manager.”

She nodded without hesitation. She wanted to share today’s joy with someone, and it seemed like it would be very enjoyable with Beom-seok.

However, there was one person she was worried about. It was Susan, who had been with her since her previous job. She was the one who introduced her to the God’s Knights, and she was her roommate, so she had to share today’s joy with her. She was usually a good older sister, but she tended to pout a little if she was left out of these kinds of events.

“Um, can I bring Susan unnie [Korean term for older sister or female friend] too? She’s the reason I was able to come to the God’s Knights.”

Beom-seok rolled his eyes and looked embarrassed. It was a plan to target Esther, so it was uncomfortable to have someone else there. Moreover, Susan’s favorability was not very high because he had targeted not only Venus but also Violet in the medical room. She felt a great sense of pride in her job as an elf doctor, so she didn’t look kindly on his actions. Perhaps she would have left the team if he hadn’t bought her expensive medical equipment and established a medical corporation for her.

But to target Esther in front of her? Considering the jealousy between women, it was something to be avoided at all costs. It was better to keep his relationship with Esther a secret until he succeeded in targeting her and her favorability reached its peak.

However, he couldn’t refuse her offer now. They were staying in the same dorm, so if he left her out, she might feel left out. This would lead to a drop in favorability, which would lead to undesirable results. Since he wasn’t satisfied with just one woman anyway, he thought it was necessary to bring Susan, even if it meant postponing the targeting for a while.

“Um, of course, she should come with us. Tell her about it later.”

“Yes, I understand. I’ll contact her as soon as I go to the office.”

Beom-seok nodded and continued to walk through the snow towards the office building.

That evening, Beom-seok took Susan and Esther to Romeo Street, a nightlife district in Lima City. Thanks to the beginning of the year and the weekend, the streets were crowded with people eating out. But there was one strange thing. Many of the crowds stopped and glanced at him. Beom-seok, who had a rough idea, went into an eyewear store next to the street, bought sunglasses, and went back outside. The expensive glasses with +20 disguise greatly reduced the gazes of passersby.

“Hoo~ I can’t even go outside carelessly now.”

Susan, who was following him, added to his mutter.

“I know. It’s probably because you were active in the national team. So you have to be careful in the future. If you get caught up in a bad scandal, it could be a disservice to the team.”

Beom-seok chuckled. In this era, there were hardly any sexual scandals. There was no way a physically fit man would have problems taking elves around, and there was no way there could be any love affairs between men and women, so it was hardly ever dealt with. Maybe a violent incident or drug use would make it to the newspapers? But if you’re a famous player, every move you make can be news, so it’s never a bad idea to be careful.

“I guess so. I don’t know what kind of problem might arise and make me miserable.”

“Especially the chairman, you have to be more careful. Sports reporters know roughly about the chairman’s sexual bias, so they’ll be watching closely.”

“Why? It doesn’t seem like there are many scandals related to men and women.”

“Well, that’s because men aren’t interested in ordinary women. But the chairman is different. Having a love affair between men and women is considered a more serious situation for men than homosexuals coming out. Of course, it’s newsworthy.”

Beom-seok scratched his head awkwardly. That would be really difficult. He didn’t care much if others knew about his sexual preferences, but if a scene of him having a love affair with a specific woman was exposed to the media, it would cause a lot of difficulties in targeting other women. For example, if the fact that he was having a love affair with Esther was reported in the newspaper and Gloria saw it, a very difficult situation would arise.

However, there was no need to worry about a scandal that hadn’t happened yet. Beom-seok pointed to the restaurant district in the distance and said.

“Come on, let’s not think about useless things and go eat. If we just worry like this, we won’t be able to eat. Hahaha.”

Then Esther stepped forward and said. Today was her day, so she had come prepared to treat them.

“Um, there’s a restaurant I know, would you like to go?”

“Where is it? Is it delicious?”

“Yes. If you go a little further, there’s a place that does teppanyaki very well.”

“Teppanyaki? What kind of teppanyaki is it?”

“It’s a buffet-style teppanyaki. If you just tell them what ingredients you want to eat, they’ll grill them for you. If you want to eat seafood, they’ll grill seafood, and if you want to eat meat, they’ll grill meat. I think they can make noodle dishes too.”

Beom-seok nodded slowly. Since there wasn’t really any special place to go, he thought it wouldn’t be bad to go to the restaurant she recommended.

“Okay, let’s go there.”

The place Esther led them to was a restaurant with a luxurious atmosphere. The chef was standing next to the teppanyaki grill and cooking, and most of the seats were full even though the prices were high, so it seemed to be a fairly well-known restaurant.

As he sat down at a table with Esther’s guidance, the dedicated elf chef greeted him lightly.

“Welcome, guests. We will serve you with sincerity.”

Beom-seok nodded lightly and looked at Esther.

“What are they good at here?”

“Well, the price is a bit high, but everything is delicious. You can eat whatever you like.”

Susan, who opened the menu and looked at it, looked at Esther with surprised eyes.

“Hey, this place is too expensive. One piece of steak is 150 krang.”

“It’s okay. I’m treating you to celebrate becoming the manager, so eat as much as you want.”

“No, but still…….”

Beom-seok smiled brightly and said.

“Susan, Esther’s salary will be raised soon, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Susan was somewhat relieved and began to look at the menu again. In fact, all of their housing and food expenses were covered by the God’s Knights team, so there was no need to spend money separately. As a result, the money in their bank accounts was growing exponentially, so it was okay to indulge in a little luxury on a meaningful day like today.

“How about eating a mixed platter?”

Beom-seok, who was rummaging through another menu, expressed his agreement. It seemed like a good idea to taste various ingredients such as steak and seafood. It would be a burden at 800 krang per person, but it wasn’t his money anyway.

“Let’s eat a mixed platter. Esther, is that okay?”

Esther nodded immediately. Frankly, it was much cheaper to eat a mixed platter and finish it neatly than to order this and that. She soon ordered three servings of the mixed platter and three glasses of 500cc beer from the elf chef.

A moment later. As the first course of the mixed platter, grilled clams, was grilled on the teppanyaki grill, Beom-seok turned to Susan.

“By the way, Susan, how is the treatment of the sequelae [long-term effects of injuries] of the affiliated gladiators going?”

Susan examined all of the God’s Knights gladiators for sequelae at the beginning of the winter vacation season. Originally, she was only going to target Violet, Rapine, and Venus, who were suspected, but due to the team’s characteristics, where reclusive gladiators were the majority, there was a very high possibility that sequelae had occurred in other gladiators as well. Treatment for sequelae costs a lot of money, so it was quite difficult for gladiators who were active in the amateur league or area league to receive treatment.

As she expected, there were quite a few gladiators in the team who had their growth potential cut short due to sequelae. So she urgently reported to Beom-seok, who was in the national team, and received a work order to treat them all.

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

Ego ego. There’s no baseball today. It was postponed to tomorrow due to rain, and I’ve been waiting for a long time. Hahaha. But I have a lot of things to do tomorrow, and it starts at exactly 2 o’clock. ㅠㅠ. I’m busy then. ㅠㅠ.

Then everyone have a good weekend, and I’ll see you again tomorrow.