Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 177

“Hey, Director. You’re not really leaving, are you?”

Vincent stopped walking and stared at the ceiling with a troubled expression.

“Well, I’m still thinking about it. My contract expires at the end of next season, and the team hasn’t said anything about renewing it. It seems like the frequent clashes I’ve had with management since the year before last are causing them to cut ties. There’s bound to be a lot of noise about this next season, and there’s no reason for me to stay and suffer. Considering my history with the team, it’s better to leave quietly, contributing my transfer fee to the team.”

Beom-seok couldn’t know the internal affairs of the Dragon Knights, but it seemed like he was referring to the various conflicts that started with the Oscar incident. At the time, Director Vincent had ignored the management’s administrative warning to send Oscar to a mental health center and continued to keep him.

“No way! Are they really kicking out the benefactor who brought the team up to the Central League!”

“Well, they’re eager to appoint a director who listens to them, and Chaplin Whisper offered them a good amount of money, so they must have been tempted.”

Hearing this, he couldn’t find a way to stop him. Since he was being pushed out against his will, he couldn’t tell him to stay with the Dragon Knights.

But he couldn’t let him go to Chaplin Whisper.

“Director, don’t do that. Come to our team. I’ll take good care of you. Hehehe.”

Vincent shot him a sharp look and said in an annoyed voice.

“Are you telling me to skip over my disciple Diana and become the director of your team? Are you kidding me? Maybe if God’s Knights were a top team in the World League, I might consider it. But it’s not, is it?”

Indeed, it was difficult to bring a renowned director like Vincent to God’s Knights. His salary was no joke, and even if it were possible, other leading teams wouldn’t stand still. Moreover, he would have to remove his disciple Diana from her position as director, which would not be easily accepted due to the uncomfortable feelings involved.

“Sigh~ Still, why Chaplin Whisper of all teams?”

“What else but money?”

Beom-seok pouted and said in a sulky tone.

“Well, there’s no competing with money.”

“Hey! Do you think I coveted money for my own personal gain? I’ve already earned enough to spend lavishly until I die!”

Beom-seok flinched at Vincent’s roar.

“Th, then what’s the reason?”

“You know that Chaplin Whisper’s recruitment funds are no joke, don’t you? As a director, it’s only natural to want to recruit good gladiators and grow the team. As a director, I can’t escape that.”

“Really? How much recruitment money are they giving you that you’re so tempted?”

“I asked Rebecca Go, that shrewd woman, for 500 million Krang [currency unit in this world] this summer transfer period, but she said it was difficult, making a troubled face, because they had already prepared 1 billion Krang for recruitment funds this year. She jokingly asked if I had any intention of spending another 500 million Krang, and I was dumbfounded.”

Beom-seok stiffened with a bewildered expression. 1 billion Krang was nearly ten times the amount of money God’s Knights currently possessed. If Vincent used this money to sweep up gladiators with outstanding growth potential, his team’s growth plan would be greatly disrupted. It was a situation that made his spine tingle.

“H, hey. Director. You’re not going to pour all that money into recruiting promising players, are you?”

“Of course, I have to. Chaplin Whisper’s ultimate goal is the World League. Since we have to build the team over time, it’s better to focus on promising players.”

Beom-seok stamped his feet and expressed his frustration.

“Director, aren’t you going too far? What about our team if you take them all?”

“Hehehe. There’s no need to worry about your team. Our recruitment targets are different.”

“Different?”

“Hasn’t your God’s Knights been recruiting unproven promising players until now?”

“Yes, we have.”

“But if I go to Chaplin Whisper, I have to recruit promising players who have proven their skills. That’s because I have to produce results that satisfy the management.”

With 1 billion Krang poured into one transfer period, there was no way the management wouldn’t care about the results. Director Vincent would probably be under considerable pressure, making it difficult to recruit promising players who lacked skills. However, gladiators who had both skills and high growth potential had the disadvantage of being expensive. They were recruitment targets that God’s Knights could never afford.

“But there will still be some impact, won’t there? Other teams, pushed back by Chaplin Whisper’s financial power, will be eyeing my recruitment targets.”

“Of course, there will be. But it won’t affect you for long.”

“No. How?”

“You know very well, don’t you? There are plenty of professional teams in the upper leagues with as much financial power as Chaplin Whisper. But God’s Knights isn’t particularly affected, is it? It’s a painful thing to say, but God’s Knights and Chaplin Whisper are in completely different leagues. The reason your team is being affected now is only because you happen to be at the same level. As time passes, things will change. Chaplin Whisper will soon disappear to a place too high for you to even see.”

It was a truly cruel statement. Just because of money, a team that started on the same footing would transform into a completely different team that they couldn’t even approach. The world of professionals was truly cold.

Beom-seok sighed deeply and nodded. His heart didn’t want to, but it was a truth he couldn’t deny.

“Sigh~ Some people struggle to climb up, while for others, it would be strange if they didn’t…….”

“Hehehe. That’s just how this world is. Alright, let’s stop talking about such bitter things and talk about something else. By the way, is your shoulder injury from the last league match against Peace Griffins?”

Director Vincent tapped his casted shoulder, and Beom-seok nodded. It was an injury he sustained at the LHN headquarters building, but he couldn’t tell the truth, so he was telling everyone else that it happened during the match. At the time, he had feigned injury to avoid playing in the match immediately after the second round.

“Yes, it is.”

“Really? But you know, I watched that match, and I don’t think there was any scene where you could have been injured……. It didn’t seem like you were pushing yourself too hard, and there were no scenes where your left shoulder was twisted or strained…….”

Seeing Director Vincent’s suspicious eyes, Beom-seok quickly made excuses. To create a perfect alibi, he had to make it seem like the injury occurred during the match against Peace Griffins.

“H, haha. I was just unlucky. And I didn’t get to stretch before the match.”

“Tsk tsk. How could you make such a mistake? Isn’t stretching before a match essential?”

“Ah. Well, it was an important match to determine our advancement to the promotion tournament, so I was a little nervous.”

“Really? Well, I guess that could happen.”

Beom-seok scratched his head awkwardly and closed his mouth, and Director Vincent continued to speak.

“Come to think of it, there was someone else who was injured around the same time as you.”

At the sudden remark, Beom-seok looked at him.

“What are you talking about?”

“Hmm. Wasn’t there a pretty noisy incident recently? That crazy guy named Gade infiltrated the LHN headquarters building and extorted Chairman Balbar. I saw the video on the internet, and it looked like he injured a similar part of his body as you did, around the middle. His movements seemed different.”

‘This old man is a monster! He figured that out!’

A scream rose to his throat, but he barely managed to hold it back and pretended not to know.

“Ah, ah. Really? I saw it too, but I didn’t notice anything like that.”

“Oh. Really? I thought someone with your skills would have noticed.”

“H, haha. It was such an absurd incident that I just watched it for fun.”

Vincent glanced at Beom-seok, who was giving an awkward smile.

“But what’s strange is that I saw Gade being arrested on the news, and he didn’t have any signs of a shoulder injury at all. Isn’t that strange?”

“W, well. Maybe it wasn’t a serious injury. Maybe he just sprained it a little?”

“Hmm. But what’s even stranger is that I looked at Gade’s highlight reels from his prime, and his skills are much lower than the guy in the video. Unbelievably so. So, I think the police might have caught the wrong person.”

Beom-seok, sweating on his forehead, grabbed Vincent’s arm and quickly moved towards the event hall.

“Oh, Director Vincent……. We’re busy enough just trying to survive, why are you bringing up something that happened a week ago? Come on, let’s go to the event hall. What’s our purpose for being here today? It’s for the rookie draft, isn’t it? You need to go check out the gladiators.”

Vincent smiled and reluctantly followed him. In fact, he was inferring that Beom-seok was the culprit who infiltrated the LHN headquarters building. The skilled person he saw in the video wasn’t that common, and coincidentally, Beom-seok’s whereabouts were unknown during that time, and he even injured the same shoulder area. And the most important thing was that his glib tongue was a dead ringer for him.

But he didn’t think there was any need to pry any further. He knew that bringing this fact to light would put him in a difficult situation.

Crowd.

Beom-seok arrived at the event hall and pushed through the crowd to reach the reserved seat written on his invitation. His number was A16, right in front of the stage where the rookie gladiators would be introduced. The host, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, had placed him in the front seat to use him as a figurehead. Once the event started, the hosts would call Beom-seok up and ask him various questions, which he would have to answer in front of the invited guests gathered there.

He looked at Director Vincent and asked.

“Hey, where’s your seat, Director?”

Vincent looked at his invitation and said quietly.

“It’s F32.”

“Ah, so that’s the fifth row.”

“You could say that.”

“Then we’ll have to part ways here for a while. Our seats are a bit far apart.”

Director Vincent glanced at his seat and nodded.

“Alright. I’ll see you later then.”

“Yes. I’ll be going then.”

Beom-seok smiled slightly as he parted ways with Vincent. He had gotten rid of the nuisance so easily. If the seats weren’t assigned, he would have had to drag him around all the time, which could have led to a difficult situation.

Beom-seok went to his assigned seat and sat down, closing his eyes for a moment and waiting for the event to begin. After a while, the team officials who had been outside the building trickled in and filled the seats, and two male and female hosts went up on stage to begin the event in earnest.

“Hello, professional gladiator team officials. Today is the day of the 1st Rookie Draft, which the sports world will remember forever. In the meantime, the world of sports has been dominated by elves with strong bodies, and humans have been marginalized. In order to correct this problem, our Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has performed modified body procedures on talented athletes from school sports and is introducing them to you.”

Following the male host’s remarks, the female host continued.

“In fact, elves go straight to the pros immediately after birth or after graduating from elf school, so their swordsmanship is very lacking. However, the people you are about to meet have been selected from the best 100 veterans who have experienced kendo or gladiatorial matches for over a decade. We hope that you will make a choice today that you will not regret and that you will find new vitality in your difficult journey.”

“Now, before we introduce the first graduates, let’s meet Oh Beom-seok, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s proud 0th graduate. Please come up.”

At the host’s gesture, Beom-seok slowly stood up. Scenes of him performing were edited and shown on a giant hologram video screen that had been prepared in advance on the stage, and exclamations of admiration were heard from some of the audience. This was from some team officials who didn’t know who he was yet. No matter how famous Beom-seok was through broadcasting, not all professional gladiator teams around the world could know his face.

As he walked onto the stage, the male host approached him, clipped a microphone to his collar, and began the conversation.

“Gladiator Oh Beom-seok, hello. Last year around this time, we heard that you were selected as one of the world’s top five famous people by WBS Broadcasting. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you, albeit belatedly.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“I heard that you have been active in the Area League despite receiving recruitment offers from several top professional gladiator teams. What’s the reason for that?”

“I’m running a professional gladiator team called God’s Knights, so I didn’t go to the upper league because I was playing there.”

At that moment, the female host showed a surprised expression with large, awkward movements. Since she was trying to follow a pre-arranged script, it was bound to show.

“Oh! Isn’t God’s Knights the team that advanced to the promotion tournament to the Wide League in less than two years since its founding? It must be thanks to Gladiator Oh Beom-seok.”

“Well, it’s partly thanks to that, and partly thanks to the other team members who worked hard.”

Beom-seok, who answered, scratched his neck as if he was embarrassed. Even though he was a master of acting, it was still awkward to do it so openly.

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

Have a good day, everyone. I’ll see you again tomorrow.