Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 146

Seated in the dugout in his suit, Beom-seok scanned the stands. The stadium was so large it seemed sparsely populated, but there were well over 35,000 people. The recent focus on league games, which led to many victories, and the performance of Oscar and Rapine on the national team, including Beom-seok, had greatly increased the audience.

– Hehehe. Good. Very good. Keep growing, fans.

An increase in fans meant an increase in team revenue, which he was very happy about. He wished all 110,000 seats could be filled, but even half would make for a pleasing sight in the accounting books.

As he smiled and surveyed the scenery, Susan, wearing a white coat, brushed past him. Her cold demeanor made it clear that she hadn’t yet calmed down from the ‘virginity theft incident’.

Beom-seok composed himself and waved, but she ignored him and walked past. She was attending out of a sense of duty as the team doctor, but she still didn’t feel like talking to him.

Beom-seok wore an aggrieved expression.

‘This is too much. Honestly, what did I do wrong? I just hugged her because she wanted me to. And who was the one who interrupted Esther and me having a nice time?’

He always looked apologetic when dealing with Susan, but honestly, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t find anything he had done wrong. Of course, having love play in the bathroom with Esther was a problem, but that room was clearly hers. Love play wasn’t a crime, and it was happening in her room, so it couldn’t be called wrong.

And Susan hugged him, embarrassed, breaking up their pleasant time of affection. Until then, Beom-seok had no intention of doing anything to her. His only fault was responding to her drunken antics, but he didn’t understand why he alone had to be the villain. Even objectively, his responsibility in the situation didn’t exceed 50%.

However, he couldn’t just not talk to Susan for the rest of his life. He fiddled with his wrist and walked towards her.

“Susan, my wrist feels stiff. Could you take a look?”

Susan silently stared at him, then took out a pistol-shaped MRI diagnostic device from her bag and examined his wrist. She had no intention of talking to him, but as the team doctor, she couldn’t ignore a request for injury diagnosis from a gladiator [a professional fighter in this world].

After carefully examining Beom-seok’s wrist, she said in a dry voice.

“There’s nothing wrong.”

Beom-seok knew that too. He was just feigning illness to try to talk to her.

“But why does it feel a bit tingly and painful?”

“It’s neurological. If it really hurts, I’ll put you on the injured list for today’s game, and you can get a detailed diagnosis when we return to the team training camp later.”

Beom-seok waved his hands wildly. He couldn’t miss today’s important game.

“Well, it’s not that bad. I’ll get a checkup, but I’ll still play in the game.”

“That’s not allowed. If it’s an injury I can see with my own eyes, I’ll consider whether you can play, but as you know, a checkup isn’t possible. You shouldn’t play in case it’s an injury you shouldn’t push yourself with.”

“I don’t think it’s that serious.”

Susan glared at him with sharp eyes.

“Are you saying that the chairman knows more about medicine than I do, the doctor?”

“Well, it’s not that… today’s game is important… and it’s just a stiff feeling, not pain…”

“I have no choice then. If you insist on playing, I’ll put the chairman on the injured list by the authority of the team doctor.”

The team doctor had the authority to put injured gladiators on the injured list and prohibit them from playing. This was prioritized over the coach’s opinion for the protection of the gladiators, so if Susan put him on the list by her authority, Beom-seok could not participate in the game under any circumstances.

He had tried to strike up a conversation and ended up in a situation where he didn’t even break even. He shook his wrist wildly and said.

“Ah. It’s okay now. I guess it was neurological.”

“It might not be neurological. So, it’s better to do as I say.”

Just then, a signal of salvation came from an unexpected place. The internal phone in front of Diana rang.

Ring. Ring.

“Excuse me. I’ll take that call.”

Beom-seok quickly ran to the phone and pressed the link button before Diana could answer. Susan, watching him, snorted softly. She had known all along that he was faking it. Unlike elves, humans sometimes created non-existent symptoms depending on the situation. In this case, creating a situation that would embarrass the patient was also helpful for treatment.

The man on the screen looked at Beom-seok and said bluntly.

– Yo. Beom-seok, long time no see.

It was Chairman Lucas. Judging from the familiar interior behind him, it seemed to be the VIP seats at the Lima City Colosseum [a large venue for gladiator fights]. Beom-seok had sat there once to watch a game, so he knew it well.

“Ah. Chairman Lucas. How have you been?”

– Good. By the way, is our Emma doing well?

Of course, she was doing well. She was participating in games steadily without any major injuries, and she was scheduled to play today, so she was sitting on the nearby bench.

In fact, Emma wasn’t highly regarded by the public due to her low swordsmanship skills, but she was recognized as a starting member of the God Knights anyway. Her number of appearances was no less than any other gladiator, and the number of kills from her intelligent plays was among the top in the team. As a result, her name had recently appeared frequently in the media, and the Black Society [a powerful organization] was greatly satisfied. Thanks to this, they were in a much more advantageous position in the ongoing fight with economic organizations. Emma’s example created a clear precedent for free body modification users entering the sports field, which greatly undermined their justification. If things continued like this, the fight was likely to end in the Black Society’s victory.

“Yes, she is. Would you like me to put her on?”

– No, there’s no need for that. I’m just contacting her from time to time to cheer her on.

“Ah. Is that so? Then what brings you here?”

– Well, just checking in. I came here and thought I’d ask how things are going. By the way, how is it? Is your team worth fighting against today?

Beom-seok tilted his head.

“Well, I can’t guarantee it because the Black Cats are such a strong team, but our team is not easy either, so we won’t lose easily.”

Lucas in the screen nodded. Certainly, the God Knights were worth recognizing as a strong team. They had many losses in the early season due to focusing on the GA Cup [a gladiator tournament], but since then, they had been on a winning streak, running at 9 wins, 3 draws, and 7 losses, ranking 7th in the league. If they continued to climb at this rate, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to advance to the Wide League [a higher-level league] next season.

– Hehe. Well, our coach also says that your team is very troublesome. He says that you are the de facto second-place team in the league and he is not confident. Rapine and Oscar are gone, but you have leased some veteran gladiators from the Dragon Knights, and especially because of you, it is difficult to plan the strategy.

“That’s not all. There’s a kid named Hestia who we brought in this time, and she’s no joke. Strength, swordsmanship, she’s second to none. Victory is hard to guarantee, but the Black Cats team will have a hard time today. We’ll drag it to the 5th round and definitely wear them out, so be prepared. Hahaha.”

Lucas smiled playfully and said.

– Hahaha. Don’t do that. Our Black Cats team’s goal is to advance to the Wide League this year. I don’t want to waste energy on unnecessary games like today.

“I can’t help it. The world of competition is cold.”

– Well, it is cold. That’s why sports games are so popular. But it’s also calculating. If you have a goal, you’ll use any means to achieve it.”

Beom-seok made a dumbfounded expression. He felt that there was a hidden meaning in his words.

“Are you asking me to go easy on you?”

– Not at all. How can I ask for such a favor when we are indebted to you? Absolutely not.

It would be shameless to ask them to lose in the current situation. Beom-seok was receiving a lot of help from the Black Society, but he was bearing even greater losses. A prime example was antagonizing the economic federation and the youth business federation, which had enormous power.

“Then what do you mean by what you just said?”

– I’m asking if you have any desire to be ranked 2nd in the league.”

If they ranked 2nd in the league, they would receive the tremendous benefit of advancing to the promotion tournament. And if they achieved good results here, the team would be promoted and play in the upper league from the next season. Beom-seok couldn’t help but be very interested.

“You’re stating the obvious. The goal of a professional team is always to advance to the upper league and avoid relegation to the lower league.”

– Well, that’s right. So, I have some advice for you.

“Yes. Please tell me.”

– Well, yesterday our coach came to report a team strategy, and he was saying something quite interesting.

“What is it?”

– It’s nothing much, but it was a pretty favorable strategy for your team.”

Lucas began to explain. Currently, the Black Cats team had 18 wins, 1 draw, and 0 losses in 19 games, earning 55 points. On the other hand, the Peace Griffins, ranked 2nd, had 11 wins, 4 draws, and 4 losses, earning 37 points, and the Fire Phoenixes, ranked 3rd, had 11 wins, 3 draws, and 5 losses, holding 36 points. With nearly 20 points difference, it was no problem to evaluate that the Black Cats team had already secured the championship this year.

However, the Black Cats’ goal was not to be ranked 1st in the league, but to advance to the Wide League. If they played the remaining 19 league games and league cups, the stamina of the gladiators would be extremely depleted, which could have a significant impact on the promotion tournament games that would follow. In addition, the Dragon Knights, who had just been promoted to the Central League, were showing an unstable performance near the relegation zone. If this team was relegated, only two teams could be promoted to the Deloy Wide League. The competition for the promotion tournament would inevitably become more intense.

In this situation with many difficult problems, the Black Cats team had a 18-point lead over the 2nd place team. Even if they gave up a few troublesome games that would consume a lot of stamina, there would be no major problem in taking 1st place in the league. However, the problem was that no one knew what would happen in the world. If they were playing around like this and suddenly the 2nd and 3rd place teams, the Peace Griffins and the Fire Phoenixes, went on a winning streak and came up, a difficult situation would arise. There were still 19 league games left.

Beom-seok smiled and said.

“Hehe. You must be happy. You’re even worrying about such unnecessary things. An 18-point lead is a 6-win difference. No matter how many 19 games are left, it’s not a number of wins that can be easily overturned.”

– Of course, that’s true. But there’s no harm in preparing for the worst, is there? It doesn’t cost any money.

“Of course, that’s true. So, what are you going to do?”

– It’s very simple.

The strategy presented by the Black Cats coach to eliminate this instability was to create a fierce battle for 2nd place.

In fact, as Beom-seok had just said, a 6-win difference was not a number of wins that could be easily overturned. Perhaps the Peace Griffins and Fire Phoenixes teams were now planning their strategy for the remaining games with the goal of 2nd place. If a new promising team was added here, the battle for 2nd place would become even more heated, and the Black Cats team could advance to the promotion tournament for the Wide League with a somewhat comfortable play.

And the God Knights were the most promising candidates to be newly added to the battle for 2nd place.

The God Knights had 9 wins, 3 draws, and 7 losses, earning 30 points, which was not very threatening as they were 25 points behind the Black Cats. However, they were only 7 points and 6 points behind the Peace Griffins and Fire Phoenixes teams, so they could definitely join the battle for 2nd place. In addition, their main force was good, and they had the ability to defeat the top teams at any time if they wanted to. If the God Knights aimed for 2nd place and defeated the current 2nd and 3rd place teams after a fierce battle, the Black Cats could prepare for the promotion tournament with a somewhat comfortable play. Currently, the God Knights had a home game left against the Peace Griffins and an away game against the Fire Phoenixes team.

“However, for this to happen, we need to win today’s game. If we lose today, we’ll be that much further away from the battle for 2nd place.”

– Of course, that’s right. So, the coach said this. Today, we will have many promising players participate to gain experience. He said that he didn’t want to waste energy fighting a bloody battle with your troublesome team.

“Then the game will be boring?”

– Isn’t this our Black Cats’ away game anyway? If your team wins, the fans in the home stadium will be happy. And when your team came to our Yorde City before, didn’t you play the league game with some insignificant candidates and second-stringers? Understand it as a retaliatory measure for that.”

Rather than retaliation, it could be said to be repaying a favor. If the God Knights won an easy victory against the powerful Black Cats, it would be a benefit for the God Knights, and there would be no loss at all.

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

Have a comfortable day, everyone. I’ll see you again at the same time tomorrow.