Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 202

204

“Seriously. What are they doing? This has completely turned into Amelie’s comeback press conference.”

Beomseok was also pushed out to the entrance door by the reporters. Because the reporters had folded all the banquet hall tables and dragged them outside to secure their spots, there was no place to sit. He wanted to flip everything over out of anger, but he was forcibly holding back for the sake of his image. There was no point in getting into a scuffle with the reporters.

“Master, let’s go back. It seems like the event will be canceled today anyway, so there’s no reason to linger here.”

He shook his head at Diana’s request. No matter how bad the situation had become, the other team officials didn’t seem to be leaving. It was rare to see the face of Amelie, a legend in the Combat world, in this backwater, and now even a comeback press conference was being held. No one here wanted to miss this historic moment just because they were annoyed. And although their intentions for staying were different, Beomseok certainly didn’t want to leave either. Chaplin Whisper was a rival team in the same league. He needed to examine the information of their main Combatant to prepare for the future.

“Later. Let me see Amelie’s face.”

At that moment, a woman was shouting from the hallway far away, pushing through the crowd and entering. Beomseok frowned, as the voice sounded familiar.

“Excuse me! I’m Natalie from LKS Broadcasting!”

As Natalie approached with her camera crew, Beomseok rebuked her.

“Natalie, why are you so aggressive?”

Seeing him, Natalie ordered the camera crew to go inside and find a spot, then approached him with a bright smile.

“Beomseok. I knew you’d be here.”

“Of course. It’s been a bit distorted because of Amelie, but today’s press conference was originally a meeting for the Delroy Wide League teams and local sports media reporters.”

Natalie knew that very well. That’s why she had a PD [Production Director] and camera crew waiting in advance.

“Hehehe. But things have gotten strangely twisted.”

“Yeah. Twisted badly. But why are you here today?”

Natalie looked at the LKS Broadcasting staff struggling to get into the banquet hall and shouted in an excited voice.

“Well! They told me they were pushed out by the major broadcasting reporters! I can’t leave Amelie’s comeback press conference to those idiots! So, of course, I came.”

“Hehehe. With your guts, you could probably make an Amelie video collection today.”

“I don’t need a video collection. I just need one interview.”

Beomseok looked at the reporters filling the banquet hall and said in a troubled tone.

“I don’t know if that will be easy. You can squeeze in and film a video, but you need to be chosen by Chaplin Whisper for an interview.”

“No. I can definitely do it.”

“How?”

“You can designate me, Beomseok.”

Beomseok pointed to himself and replied.

“I designate you as the interviewer? I was pushed out to the entrance, what power do I have?”

“Hehehe. You’re being too modest. The rumor has already spread all over the network. Chaplin Whisper’s first league match is against GodsKnights. So, the GodsKnights homepage is flooded with chrysanthemum tributes.”

He frowned. Chrysanthemums are a representative flower used in funerals, meaning they were wishing him the best in the afterlife.

“Those rotten bastards! What do they think I am!”

“So, you need to give them a good punch. Come with me.”

“Why you?”

“You need to go on stage and greet Amelie.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re Amelie’s official comeback opponent. Viewers love a show. They’re more interested in a story than a bland conversation. Now, come on.”

Natalie grabbed Beomseok and Diana’s wrists and began to push through the reporters.

“Everyone, move aside! The GodsKnights team, Amelie’s first comeback opponent, is coming in! Please move aside! Oh Beomseok, the strongest Combatant in the Delroy Wide League, will greet Amelie on stage!”

Surprisingly, the reporters and camera crew were parting to the sides. They were interested because it was the team that would face Amelie’s comeback match. And some local media staff were pushing out the staff from other media outlets to help them enter. They knew the meaning of the name Oh Beomseok very well. He seemed more than capable as an opponent to face Amelie.

Thanks to that, Beomseok and Diana were able to safely get on the banquet hall stage, and Natalie and the LKS Broadcasting staff took the front seats and set up their cameras.

‘This… It looks like I’ve been tricked by Natalie again. This is so embarrassing.’

Beomseok, receiving countless flashes on the empty stage, scratched the back of his neck, feeling awkward. He was standing in a place where he was receiving a lot of attention, but he wasn’t the main character. He felt like an outsider, and the current situation was very uncomfortable.

He glared at Natalie. It was a resentment for doing unnecessary things and making him feel embarrassed.

‘Well, I can’t help it. Now that it’s come to this, I’ll check Amelie’s stats.’

If he had been outside the banquet hall, it would have been impossible to grasp Amelie’s information. If he greeted her on stage now, he could open the information window and grasp her exact stats.

At that moment, Natalie, who had finished preparing for the filming, came to the center of the stage, approached Beomseok, and quietly gave him a short piece of advice.

“Beomseok, you have to do well. If you get good media coverage today, you’ll get a lot of money.”

“What do you mean a lot of money?”

“Can’t you tell by looking? It’s Amelie’s first comeback match. If you add some spice to it, a lot of Combat fans from all over the world will flock to the league on the first day. And that admission fee will go straight into your pocket.”

At those words, one side of Beomseok’s mouth slightly turned upwards. The opening match was held at the Rima City Colosseum, which could accommodate 110,000 people. Considering that the admission fee for the Wide League match was 350 Crang [currency unit], a simple calculation meant that nearly 40 million Crang in revenue would be added. Of course, 50,000 season tickets were allocated, so only 60,000 general admission tickets could be issued that day, but that might increase revenue even more. It was obvious that Combat fans who had not been able to reserve general tickets would turn to season tickets.

Currently, GodsKnights had sold about 20,000 season tickets. If the remaining 30,000 were sold out, he could earn about 130 million in admission revenue, and the maximum revenue including general ticket sales was approximately 150 million Crang. If he combined this fund with the 60 million Crang he had left, he could recruit a promising prospect with decent skills. GodsKnights would become even stronger.

He looked at Natalie with sparkling eyes.

“Natalie, can you do well?”

“Of course. I’ll make GodsKnights’ opening match the biggest event in the Combat world this year, so don’t worry.”

“Okay. I’m counting on you.”

Natalie, nodding with a confident expression, picked up a microphone nearby. And as if she were the host, she took the lead in directing all the reporters and camera crew gathered in the banquet hall and maintained order.

After a while. An event official approached her with an electronic document and explained the changed schedule. Someone among the staff, impressed by Natalie’s sociability, mistakenly thought she was a host who had been urgently brought in.

“The Chaplin Whisper team, including Amelie, will be coming up soon. So, please proceed with the event according to this schedule.”

Natalie glanced at the electronic document and immediately shook her head. The schedule was unilaterally focused on introducing Chaplin Whisper.

“The reporters will find it boring if you proceed like this. More stimulating elements need to be included.”

“Yes? What do you mean by stimulating elements?”

“You have to create a competitive structure. No matter how legendary Amelie is, our Delroy Wide League will not be easily conquered. There are enough opponents to face her, so if you underestimate them, you’ll get a big nose [face consequences]. You have to push it like that.”

The event official easily understood. He was also an employee of the Delroy Professional Combat Association, so there was no reason to refuse to make the Delroy Wide League stand out. Frankly, he was very worried that the league looked too shabby compared to the appearance of a big name like Amelie.

“So, you’re saying there’s a competitor who can stand up to her?”

Natalie pointed to Beomseok, who was standing blankly on the stage, and said.

“That’s Combatant Oh Beomseok over there. He was selected as one of the world’s top 5 prospects around this time last year, and he’s an outstanding Combatant recognized as an upper-tier force in the World League. Frankly, if he wanted to go to the upper league, there would be far more scouts bustling around than the reporters in this room.”

The event official looked at Beomseok with a hopeful expression. He had heard before that one of the newly promoted teams had a Combatant with world-class skills.

“Ah. Is that so? Then is that the one from GodsKnights?”

“Yes. That’s right. And ironically, he’s also the opponent who will face Amelie in her comeback match. How about it? Would you like to try it?”

The event official said with a slightly shaded face.

“But GodsKnights is evaluated as a lower-tier force in the league. I doubt a proper competitive relationship will be established.”

“Oh, come on. Don’t worry, there’s a way. We just need to create a rivalry between Amelie and Beomseok.”

The event official clicked his tongue and nodded. Even if this intention didn’t work out as planned and ended as just a happening, they could definitely imprint the name of the Delroy Wide League on the world’s Combat fans. This kind of opportunity was rare, so it wasn’t bad to try it once.

“Okay. Let’s do it then. Well, I’ll trust you and go, so please ensure a smooth process.”

“Hehehe. Don’t worry.”

As the event official left, Natalie completely revised the schedule, changing it from an introduction of Amelie to a talk show format with a rivalry between her and Beomseok. And as time passed, when the signal from the event organizers came, she shouted to all the journalists gathered in the banquet hall.

“Now! Combatant Oh Beomseok of GodsKnights, representing the Delroy Wide League, will greet the Chaplin Whisper team and Amelie, whom you have been waiting for.”

Beomseok felt a tickle on his face at her very brazen comment, but he calmly went to the stage entrance and greeted the Chaplin Whisper team, who were stepping up the stairs. There were three of them in total, two of whom he knew well, Director Vincent and Rebecca, and the other was a beautiful elf with green hair neatly braided to one side.

Beomseok, guessing it was Amelie, opened the information window and examined the contents.

‘Damn it! I knew it!’

Judging by her stats alone, Amelie was a monster. Her potential was 992, higher than any number he had seen so far, and 988 of it had been developed. All of her physical stats were at 100, and her mental stats were only 1 or 2 short of the maximum. In addition, the characteristic of being a legend in the Combat world, with a bizarre option that added +10 to all stats no matter what weapon she wore, made him quite afraid.

Beomseok sighed deeply and greeted Director Vincent, who was passing by.

“Welcome, Director Vincent.”

Vincent looked at him with somewhat curious eyes.

“Oh. What are you doing here?”

“What else? The Chaplin Whisper team is causing me a lot of damage, so I came out to try to get my money’s worth.”

“Hehehe. Is it because our team is having the opening match?”

“Of course, isn’t it? We’re about to become the sacrifice for Amelie’s comeback match, so how can our team be okay? Honestly, I’m disappointed in you, Director. You should have given me a heads-up when there was such a big event.”

Vincent, standing in the center of the stage, responded to him with an embarrassed smile.

“I never dreamed that your team would be Amelie’s official comeback opponent. Just take comfort in being unlucky. There are days like this and days like that in life.”

Beomseok said, shielding his face from the continuous flashes of light with his hand.

“But it won’t necessarily be unlucky.”

Vincent, waving his hand at the press, raised one corner of his mouth and said.

“Is that so? The current Amelie is not the Amelie of the past.”

“Hehe. Did she get dementia and forget all her skills from her younger days?”

“On the contrary. Amelie has been reborn as a different being. She is armed with a more powerful body than in her prime, and she has upgraded her whip skills to the next level.”

Beomseok made a deep snorting sound. Her main weapon, the whip, was effective for mid-range attacks, but it showed weaknesses in close combat. No matter how much she improved her skills, if he could get the distance and timing to swing his sword, he could win.

“It’s just a whip. It’s over if I break inside.”

“Is that easy? I guarantee you, there is no one in this world who can avoid Amelie’s whip and break inside. And even if you’re lucky enough to break in, you’ll be immediately blocked by her sword.”

Beomseok looked at Vincent with anxious eyes.

“What do you mean? Amelie uses a sword? Wasn’t she using whip skills?”

“Didn’t you know? Rebecca showed you the modified swordsmanship that Amelie taught her, right?”

“Th, then could it be…?”

“That’s right. I’ll tell you in advance because it’s you. Amelie has become a master of One Sword Style. She has not only compensated for her greatest weakness, close combat, but has also doubled her attack power. Hehehe.”

Beomseok swallowed hard and turned his dazed gaze to the audience. He had no idea how to deal with Amelie, who had become stronger in close combat.

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

Did you all have a good New Year’s Day? I had a difficult time. I slept and didn’t even get to see the first sun of 2012. Hehehe. That’s why people should go to bed early and wake up early.

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