Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 286

“So, what do you want?”

“It seems Chaplin Whisper has a lot of gladiators to spare. I’d like you to lend me one of your decent second-string gladiators for free. For about a year.”

Chaplin Whisper had recruited many world-class gladiators in a short period, so they had plenty to spare. Because of that, some gladiators with considerable skill couldn’t compete.

Director Vincent nodded. There was a second-string elf gladiator named Treya who had been a starter until two years ago, but she had been expressing dissatisfaction with the team lately because she couldn’t get into matches. Moreover, her agent and even her owner kept complaining, which was quite a headache.

“How about Treya? But you’ll have to cover her appearance fees and other allowances.”

Beomseok smiled in satisfaction. Treya was a vanguard gladiator belonging to the C3 class [a mid-tier ranking]. Currently, Gods Knights was severely lacking in the number of vanguards, so renting her would greatly help in managing the team throughout the league.

“Sounds good.”

“Then tell me what this ‘roughly’ is about.”

“First of all, the unidentified gladiator is a man.”

If he was a man, that meant he was almost certainly a cyborg. Unlike elves, cyborgs gained their enhanced bodies after 20 years of growth, so they often had excellent swordsmanship. Prominent examples were Zelsomina and Beomseok.

“What’s his name?”

“His name is Zakidra. He used to be a restaurant employee.”

Vincent twitched his eyebrows. The combination of a powerful gladiator and a former restaurant employee didn’t quite add up.

“No, are you sure he was really a restaurant employee?”

“Yes, that’s right. I saw it with my own eyes, so I’m sure.”

“Really? What does he look like?”

“He’s a hairy guy who’s well over 2 meters tall.”

“Good. Then how good is he?”

“I don’t know the specifics, but he apparently took down three of Dark Hyenas’ ace-level gladiators in an instant while the Hyena Group chairman and executives were watching.”

At those words, Vincent looked at Beomseok with astonished eyes. If they were Dark Hyenas’ ace-level, they would be in the W1 to W2 range [top-tier rankings]. If he had the skill to easily defeat three of these guys, he could be considered a gladiator surpassing Amelie. No matter how good she was, she couldn’t easily fend off the combined attack of three world-class gladiators with good teamwork.

“Are, are you sure?”

Beomseok scratched his head. He had only heard it from Julian, so he couldn’t say for sure if it was accurate.

“Well, it’s such an unbelievable story that I’m not entirely sure either. However, since the person who gave me the information is a high-ranking official of Dark Hyenas, I’m inclined to believe it.”

“Who is he?”

“Julian.”

Julian was the director in charge of managing the Dark Hyenas team. If it wasn’t a lie, the information could be considered reliable.

‘Hmm. Zakidra……’

Vincent was lost in thought for a moment, comparing the strengths of the two teams based on this information.

Currently, Chaplin Whisper had 20 world-class gladiators. Their strength had increased somewhat due to the recruitment of Yoshia and the return of Amelie.

Although they were not as good as the top world league teams, they could overwhelm the Dark Hyenas team easily enough. They only had 14 world-class gladiators, and their individual skills were also inferior.

Zakid was a bit of a concern, but one person’s excellence could not overcome the overall difference in strength. And Amelie was more effective in team battles than in individual battles. Her whip attack was excellent for disrupting the opponent’s formation.

If Beomseok’s words were true, and Director Vincent was faced with a choice between Zakid and Amelie, he would naturally choose the latter. Gladiator matches are not solo matches.

“He seems like a great guy, but I don’t think he’s a major cause for concern.”

Beomseok reacted to Vincent’s mutterings.

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re ahead in terms of overall strength, so we can lead the game favorably. A gladiator match is a competition of 19 people.”

“But Dark Hyenas said they’re recruiting Iena from Sky Jackals and Charlotte from Snow Girls this year. And they said they’re going to continue to strengthen their team with group-level support, starting with these kids.”

At those words, Vincent immediately made a troubled expression. Iena and Charlotte, whom Beomseok mentioned, were outstanding gladiators ranked 22nd and 51st overall. If they joined, Dark Hyenas’ strength would increase rapidly. If more strength was added, even Chaplin Whisper couldn’t rest easy.

“Are you sure?”

“Well, Julian said it himself, so I don’t think he’s wrong. Why? Are you worried now?”

Unexpectedly, a faint smile appeared on Director Vincent’s lips. It had been a long time since he had felt such tension.

He had spent more than a decade with the Dragon Knights, raising the team to the Central League through fierce battles and gladiator recruitment. But when he came to Chaplin Whisper, it was incredibly boring. He could buy any gladiator he wanted just by asking, regardless of their price, and he was able to rack up wins with the powerful team strength he had.

Operating such a team as a director was truly attractive, but on the other hand, it was too boring because there was no tension.

“Huhu. Really? Anyway, this league is going to be exciting. Dark Hyenas… It’s going to be very interesting.”

“That’s only if you win.”

Vincent glared at him sharply.

“You. Do you think Chaplin Whisper, which I lead, will lose just because a few brats have been added?”

Beomseok rolled his eyes. He couldn’t imagine Director Vincent, who led that force, losing to anyone. Gladiator matches were not won by just one good gladiator.

“Well, I don’t think you’ll lose.”

“Huhu. That’s obvious.”

“But you have to be careful. It’s difficult to predict the future in a game. If you’re careless and lose, it will tarnish your reputation, Director.”

“Don’t worry. There are cases where that happens, but there are far more cases where it doesn’t. Especially if I’m paying attention.”

“Then I’ll rest assured.”

At that moment, a middle-aged man with red hair stood on the stage in front of the banquet hall and grabbed the microphone. It seemed like they were about to start the dinner.

Beomseok slyly pointed to the emcee and asked Vincent a question.

“Director Vincent, who is that guy?”

“Hmm. That’s Klein, the chairman of the Federation Professional Gladiator Association’s working committee. You can think of him as the third-in-command of the Ibrahim faction [a political group within the association].”

“Hmm. Really? What kind of guy is he?”

“You can say he’s a pretty reasonable guy. So he’s also close to other factions and plays the role of the Ibrahim faction’s external channel.”

In the meantime, Klein finished adjusting the microphone and started the proceedings.

– Well, everyone in the hall. The dinner will begin soon, so please enjoy your meal. And in an hour, we will have time to decide the direction the Federation Professional Gladiator Association will take this year with the distinguished guests in attendance, so please feel free to express your opinions.

Soon, classical musicians next to the stage began to play a song. As quiet music spread throughout the hall, Beomseok called a hotelier who was passing by and ordered caviar, foie gras, and truffle dishes. Since it was free anyway, he was thinking of trying the world’s three major delicacies on this occasion.

However, after tasting the dishes, Beomseok ordered rice separately and ate the steak and pudding that came with it as side dishes. Other than the caviar, it didn’t really suit his taste.

Just as Beomseok was scooping up a spoonful of caviar, a man approached him. He was a blond man in his early 40s, and he stood next to him and asked for his attention.

“Excuse me, are you Mr. Beomseok?”

Beomseok put down his spoon, looked at him, and tilted his head. He was definitely someone he had never seen before.

“Yes, that’s me, but who are you?”

“Hello, I’m Ben, the new secretary of Vice President Lewis. It’s nice to meet you like this.”

After shaking hands lightly, Beomseok politely offered him the empty seat.

“Nice to meet you. Please, sit down.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Beomseok carefully watched Ben as he sat down. If someone he had never seen before approached him in a friendly manner, there was a reason for it. He didn’t know about others, but as Vice President Lewis’s secretary, he couldn’t help but wonder why.

He asked directly.

“So, Mr. Ben, what brings you here to see me?”

Ben smiled awkwardly and said.

“It’s nothing like that, but I came to ask you for a favor.”

“A favor?”

“Actually, the Cooper faction is scheduled to submit two proposals to the association shortly. Vice President Lewis intends to stop this. So we are going to gather all the strength of our faction and push back against them. We ask for your cooperation.”

Beomseok smiled slyly. Vice President Lewis had built up bad feelings towards the Black Society over Sheila’s case, so it seemed like he was doing something like this today. The Cooper faction was the stepping stone for the Black Society to enter the gladiator world.

He nodded immediately. It was interfering with the Black Society’s ambitions, so there was no reason to back out.

“Of course, I have to help you.”

“Thank you. It will probably be of great help to Mr. Beomseok as well.”

“What do you mean it will be helpful to me?”

“In fact, an agenda that is harmful to Gods Knights is included this time.”

Beomseok looked at him with a puzzled look.

“What exactly is the agenda?”

“One is to eliminate the practice of allocating gladiator relay matches exclusively to TNGL broadcasting and to give equal broadcasting rights to other major broadcasters such as WBS broadcasting and MKKN broadcasting. And the other is to add a requirement for a joint-stock company to the promotion conditions for gladiator teams entering the Area League in the future to improve the quality and management rationality of professional gladiator teams.”

Beomseok immediately made a sour face. There was no way he didn’t know what the latter agenda was aiming for. It was Gods Knights. If this agenda was passed, gladiator teams in the form of private companies like Gods Knights could not advance to the pros.

‘The Black Society guys are clearly harboring resentment over the previous incident. These guys, they’re doing all sorts of things!’

To be honest, Gods Knights had already advanced to the pros, so there was no problem even if this agenda was passed. However, the disadvantage for private company teams that had started once would not end there. At some point, they might suddenly expand this rule to the entire league and try to expel Gods Knights from the pros.

In fact, professional teams with the characteristics of private companies had become the object of envy for other teams, making it easier to acquire gladiators. This meant that if you had enough money, you could buy world-class gladiators. And since the team operating costs were extremely low and there was no need to divide the profits among the shareholders, the team owner was bound to handle quite a bit of money.

Because of this, the growth of teams whose chairmen invested with passion was very fast, and existing teams were expressing concern.

Beomseok immediately took out his electronic notebook and looked at Esther. No matter how suddenly the agenda appeared, there was a possibility that it would be easily passed and go to the general meeting. Humans are always honest about their own interests.

“Esther, you have a list of professional teams in the form of private companies that you made before, right?”

Esther nodded. Recently, seeing Beomseok’s success, a considerable number of wealthy people who liked gladiators founded teams similar to Gods Knights. There were quite a few, so if they joined forces, it would be a great help.

“Yes, I have it.”

“How many teams are there?”

“There will be about 80 teams.”

“Go out now and tell the staff to contact them. And gather their opinions and create a signed document opposing this agenda.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Esther hurriedly left her seat while eating. That’s how serious this agenda was for Gods Knights.

Soon, Beomseok opened his electronic notebook and contacted Lexter. Although the Blue Bird team belonged to the National Police Agency, it was not in the form of a joint-stock company, so it would suffer the same damage from this agenda.

– Ah, Beomseok. What’s going on?

As Lexter’s face appeared on the screen, Beomseok hurriedly got up from his seat.

“Inspector, I have something urgent right now, do you have time to talk?”

– Hmm, I do. But what’s wrong?

“Actually, I’m at the Federation Professional Gladiator Association’s annual banquet……”

Lexter suddenly brightened his face. He also had experience in the gladiator world, so he knew the meaning of participating in the Federation Professional Gladiator Association’s annual banquet. Several agendas passed there were calculated at the Federation Professional Gladiator Association’s regular general meeting held at the beginning of each year.