Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 135

“Yes, it’s going well. But the problem is Venus and Rapine.”

“What about them?”

The time required to increase potential ability by 1 during aftereffect treatment was about one week. However, Venus’s potential ability damage was a significant 12. After calculating that the probability of failure was nearly 40%, her expected treatment completion time was about 17 weeks. It was impossible to complete all treatment during the winter vacation, which was just over a month. And in Rapine’s case, it was only reduced by 3, but she spent this winter vacation with the national team, so she didn’t have enough time for treatment.

“It seems like Rapine will have to continue treatment during the upcoming summer vacation this year. And Venus will need treatment for a considerable period longer.”

Bum-seok, who had just put a grilled clam into his mouth from the plate, nodded. He couldn’t demand something that was physically impossible.

“Well, let’s do that. In Venus’s case, let her continue even if she needs to take a break during the season.”

Susan, glancing at him with subtle eyes, said as if to herself.

“If she receives treatment in a body recovery capsule with Camshlution [a fictional healing solution], the period is halved, and the success rate increases.”

Bum-seok, who was drinking beer, was surprised and spat it out. He really couldn’t understand why his wife was so desperate to find ways to spend money. Of course, if the treatment period for aftereffects was shortened and the success rate increased, it wouldn’t be bad for him either, but it was too much to spend 12 million Krang [fictional currency] to purchase one piece of equipment.

And once this period passed, there would be no need to allocate separate time for aftereffect treatment. If the injury was severe enough to cause aftereffects, a considerable period of rest would be required, and treatment could be done during that time.

“Ah. We will purchase that equipment when the team’s situation improves in the future. It is currently too difficult.”

As Bum-seok was embarrassed, Esther offered a helping hand. As the team leader, she couldn’t justify investing about one-tenth of the team’s funds to purchase medical equipment that wasn’t immediately needed.

“Oenni [Korean term for older sister or close female friend]. The chairman is right. Buying that medical equipment with the team’s current situation is really too much.”

As even Esther stepped in to dissuade her, Susan had no choice.

“Tch. Did I say to buy it right away? I just said it would be nice to have.”

Bum-seok, who let out a sigh of relief, winked at Esther to show his gratitude. Even though it was a subtle tone, if Susan had continued to request the purchase, it would have been difficult for him. It was difficult to coldly reject her request for the sake of conquest.

Bum-seok raised his glass to change the atmosphere.

“Okay. Let’s have a toast. In celebration of Esther getting her acting manager title.”

Esther and Susan responded to Bum-seok’s highly raised beer glass and clinked glasses. A toast was essential for a celebration.

“Cheers. Congratulations, Esther.”

“Thank you, Oenni.”

After exchanging simple words of blessing, they took a sip and put their glasses back on the table. Then, they picked up the grilled shrimp piled on the plate and continued their friendly conversation.

Some time passed.

Esther, who had been sipping her drink, glanced at the seat next to her and gently poked Bum-seok’s waist.

“Chairman. Take a discreet look at the seat on the right.”

At those words, he pretended to pick up a snack and glanced at the seat next to him. A woman with silver hair was sitting there, ordering and eating iron plate noodles, and had a camera hidden in a bag placed on the table, with the lens pointed towards them. It could be considered a coincidence, but the possibility was very low, considering she kept reaching into the bag.

“Is it a fan?”

“It’s not a fan. If she were a fan, she would have come to ask for an autograph or say hello.”

Then it could be divided into two categories. One was a reporter from a media company, and the other was a paparazzi who took pictures of celebrities and sold them to media companies. However, a reporter could confidently reveal their identity, so they wouldn’t secretly take pictures like that.

“Then it seems like she’s a paparazzi. This is troublesome.”

“When did she start following us? Our training camp is in a remote mountain area, so it’s difficult for paparazzi to approach. And there were no cars following us when we came out.”

“Hmm. Maybe she followed us when we were walking around the street earlier. She might have seen us by chance on this street.”

“Then, what should we do? I feel uneasy.”

Bum-seok shrugged his shoulders and said.

“It’s annoying, but there’s nothing we can do. If we get into a fight, there’s a possibility that problems will arise. It seems like she’s just going to take pictures and leave, so let’s just leave it as it is.”

“But we don’t know how she’ll write the article. For example, she might see us together and question the chairman’s sexual preferences.”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re the leader of the Gods Knights [fictional team name], and Susan is the team doctor. And today is a celebratory dinner for your inauguration as team leader. If they write such absurd articles after seeing our current situation, they’ll be the ones who suffer if we raise an issue. So don’t worry.”

“I guess that’s true. Then, are you going to pretend you don’t know?”

Bum-seok, who was glancing at the silver-haired woman, had a slightly troubled look. He couldn’t quite make out her beauty because she was partially turned away, but her posture was graceful, and she seemed to have a pretty good figure. Rather than letting it be a passing encounter, he thought it wouldn’t be bad to try to have a conversation if she was attractive.

“Well. What should I do? Let’s check it out first and decide. Just a moment……”

Bum-seok got up from his seat and slowly walked towards the paparazzi woman. Then, she seemed surprised and pushed the camera deep into her bag, quickly closing the zipper.

In response, he silently leaned down and observed the woman’s profile.

‘Oh. She’s okay. She’s exactly my type.’

The woman’s nose was high and refined. Her jet-black eyes were so clear that he felt like he would fall into them, and the skin exposed on her neckline looked white and soft. Was she about 160 centimeters tall? Her slender waist looked small enough to be encircled by one hand, and her slim oval face was beautiful. Her chest was slightly visible in outline, but it was quite small.

A pretty and petite figure with small breasts. She could be said to be a woman who perfectly matched Bum-seok’s taste. He decided to make his move and started checking the contents by opening the information window.

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Name: Natalie Taylor.

Classification: Human (20 years old).

Affiliation: LKS Broadcasting.

Fame: 12.

Infamy: 0.

Favorability: 49.

H Status: None.

Stamina: 774/800.

Sociability: 72, Strength: 5, Stamina: 8.

Agility: 11, Sense of Balance: 7, Intelligence: 82.

Mental Strength: 78, Judgment: 80, Skill: 70.

Luck: 62.

Current Skill/Potential Ability: 475/603.

————————————————

Personality: Interesting Response.

Special Note: Chairman, PD [Producer Director], reporter, and operator of LKS Broadcasting. She founded LKS Broadcasting with her friends last year, but everyone left, and she is running it alone. She is currently selling handmade accessories on Romeo Street to raise funds for the site operation.

————————————————

‘Oh. Amazing! To see such a great talent in this unexpected place!’

She was just a human, but her stats were pretty good. All her mental abilities except luck and skill were at a high level, and her growth potential was good, with a potential ability of 603. However, this alone was not the reason why Bum-seok was surprised. Although rare, he had seen such talents before.

The reason why he was sending greedy glances was because of the characteristic called ‘Interesting Response,’ which meant that the response to products, items, and productions produced by the organization she belonged to would increase by +20%. In other words, if she was recruited into the Gods Knights, the audience and game broadcast ratings would increase by about 20%. She was a talent that had to be recruited to secure team funds.

Bum-seok smiled slightly and spoke in the calmest tone possible.

“Who is it? Taking pictures of us?”

Natalie hurriedly lowered her bag.

“Wh, what are you talking about? Taking pictures? I didn’t do anything like that.”

“Oh, really? Then you’re not a reporter or a paparazzi?”

“N, no way. I just came here to eat.”

Bum-seok looked at the iron plate in front of her. Spaghetti well mixed with sauce was sizzling there, and it was certainly possible to say that she was a restaurant customer just by looking at this. Of course, he could find evidence by taking the camera in the bag and checking the contents, but he didn’t want to accuse her by taking such actions. His purpose was recruitment, not investigation.

“Oh, really? Then there’s no need to join us.”

“Join you?”

“Yeah. If you were a reporter, I was going to sit down and have a chat while eating. You may or may not know, but there’s nothing bad for me to be friendly with the media.”

Natalie looked at him with wide eyes.

“R, really?”

“Yeah. Anyway, there’s a big deal in the Gods Knights team that I wanted to let the media know about.”

“A big deal?”

“It’s not something to leak to the general public first. Mind your own business.”

Natalie suddenly stood up from her seat and rummaged through her pockets. The Gods Knights were a prestigious club that had produced three Avand national team members, even though they were staying in the Area League [fictional sports league]. Such important information from this team was enough to be newsworthy. She found a business card in her inner pocket and held it out to Bum-seok. It had the title of Chairman of LKS Broadcasting printed on it. Bum-seok, who received it, tilted his head.

“Chairman?”

Natalie snatched the business card back in surprise and rummaged through her back pocket again, taking out a business card with the title of reporter written on it.

“No. This is the real one. I’m Natalie Taylor, a reporter for LKS Broadcasting. Please, I’d like to ask for an interview.”

Bum-seok chuckled and put the business card in his wallet. He knew from the information window, but it was really interesting that she was doing everything from the chairman to the reporter of the broadcasting station alone.

“LKS Broadcasting……. It’s a media company I’ve never heard of.”

“Th, that’s because it was newly established last year.”

Natalie glanced at him slyly.

In this era, except for a few major broadcasting companies with worldwide broadcasting rights, all were broadcasting over the Internet. It was much more effective to broadcast over the Internet to the world than to attract viewers in a specific area with frequencies allocated to the region. Thanks to this, anyone could establish a broadcasting station if they had the ability to register a business and create a site, which led to the proliferation of very small broadcasting stations like LKS Broadcasting. Most of them disappear quietly because they don’t receive viewer response, but if they are lucky enough to be widely known to the outside world, they sometimes grow as much as large major broadcasting companies.

However, LKS Broadcasting was just a very small Internet broadcasting station with only a few hundred daily visitors. It was questionable whether a big shot like Bum-seok would respond to the interview.

“I see. You must be having a lot of trouble. I heard that newly established broadcasting stations are blocked by the shadows of existing broadcasting stations and disappear without seeing much light. So. How many daily visitors do you have?”

Natalie slyly spread out eight fingers. Originally, it was much less, but she couldn’t tell the truth as it was.

“Eight thousand is very few.”

Natalie shook her head wildly. In her honest feelings, she wanted to nod, but it was a lie that would be revealed as soon as Bum-seok accessed the site and checked it. Currently, LKS Broadcasting was not able to handle video information at all due to the slow line, and even text information was just a patchwork of existing media articles. And this was also because she was producing and selling accessories to cover the site costs, so there were many cases where she couldn’t update for days. But 8000 visitors? No one would believe it.

“Eight hundred.”

Despite the much lower number than expected, Bum-seok didn’t seem disappointed at all. He wasn’t expressing interest in Natalie because of the interview. If the broadcasting station she was running was at a level worse than a hole-in-the-wall store, it would be much easier to recruit her.

“Eight hundred? Can you operate with that? Such a broadcasting station wouldn’t have any advertising revenue at all?”

“There’s no advertising, but I can manage somehow. I’m covering the funds by selling the accessories I make. I don’t know if you know, but they sell quite well.”

Well, with the characteristic of ‘Interesting Response,’ which has a 20% increase in sales compared to other people, accessory sales must be very easy. Certainly, the more he looked at her, the more desirable she was.

“Okay. Then let’s move our seats.”

“Move our seats?”

“What else? I said it a little while ago. I said let’s join seats and have an interview.”

Natalie had a bright, excited expression. She couldn’t believe that a celebrity like Bum-seok would interview her, who was insignificant. He was a professional gladiator who wielded a formidable reputation in Avand.

“R, really?”

“Huhu. Then would I be talking nonsense after eating a warm meal? If you’re interested, come to the next seat quickly.”

Natalie smiled brightly, put the spaghetti cooked by the elf chef in front of her on a plate, and moved to Bum-seok’s seat. And she greeted Esther and Susan with a light nod.

“Hello. I’m Natalie from LKS Broadcasting. Nice to meet you.”

“Ah. Yes. Hello. I’m Susan.”

“Yes. I’m Esther.”

Esther looked at Bum-seok with a troubled look. She was uncomfortable with her sitting in the next seat and secretly pointing the camera, but she couldn’t understand why he brought her here.

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

Today, the playoff decision was made. SK’s 8 to 4 victory. I don’t know why these guys are so strong in the fall. Especially Park Jung-kwon. He killed Lotte’s spirit with consecutive two-run home runs. Hehehe.

And today’s Lotte. There were too many disappointing scenes. There were many errors and they didn’t take advantage of the opportunities. Then, of course, they lose. Hehehe.

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