Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 341

“Incredible! The Avand team has triumphed over the underdog Wellingham team with a decisive 3-0 victory, earning their first points in the third round of the World Cup qualifiers!”

The Avand team secured a resounding victory against the Wellingham team in their away game on the first day of the third round of the World Cup qualifiers. While Wellingham was considered a weaker team, this win provides Avand with an encouraging start as they pursue qualification for the final World Cup tournament.

Emma approached Beom-seok as he prepared to leave the dugout.

“Excuse me, Chairman. Would it be alright if I met with my family today?”

“Family?”

“My mother came to support me today. I was hoping we could have dinner together nearby.”

“Hmm. Well, since it’s free time after the game, that should be fine. Just check with the coach.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Emma nodded and approached Clark, who was seated in the coach’s chair, engaging in a brief conversation. After a moment, she bowed, expressing her gratitude. It seemed she had received permission to leave. She quickly gathered her belongings and departed from the dugout.

Beom-seok glanced at Rebecca. With Emma gone, she was now the only modified human woman remaining on the team.

‘This is a perfect opportunity.’

Beom-seok had met Rebecca early on, but her favorability [a measure of relationship progress in the game-like world] hadn’t increased significantly. They had been on different teams until recently, limiting their opportunities to connect. While they were now teammates and saw each other frequently, he found it difficult to focus on improving her favorability due to his awareness of the other women.

If he didn’t seize this golden opportunity to raise her favorability, he feared it would be challenging to ‘攻略’ [a gaming term for conquering or winning over a character] her.

“Rebecca? Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”

Rebecca stared at him, surprised by his sudden invitation. Even though dinner after the game was free time, going out required Clark’s permission.

“Now?”

“Yes, that’s right. I have something important I’d like to discuss with you privately.”

“Well, dinner isn’t a problem, but I need the coach’s permission.”

“That’s not a problem. I have plenty of blank outing passes.”

Beom-seok waved a stack of outing passes in front of her, passes he had received from Clark four years ago. He had kept them just in case, and they were proving useful today.

However, the passes were four years old, raising questions about their validity.

“Are you sure these are okay?”

“Well, there’s no expiration date, so they should be fine.”

Rebecca glanced at Clark and said,

“Still, you should get the coach’s permission just in case. There might be problems later.”

“There won’t be any problems. You know I’m a bit of a rebel on the national team.”

“But, that’s a bit…”

As she continued to express her concern, Beom-seok sighed deeply.

“Okay, then I’ll get permission from the coach, alright?”

“Yes, then I’m okay with it too.”

Beom-seok immediately walked towards Clark, who was getting up after backing up the data from the game.

“Coach, I need to talk to you.”

“What is it?”

“Rebecca and I are going out for a while.”

Clark gave him a sharp look.

“You know you’re the captain of the national team, right?”

“Yes, of course, I’m well aware of that.”

“Doesn’t it occur to you to go back and reflect on today’s game results?”

“Of course, I’ll do that later. But I have something very urgent to do right now. Hahaha.”

“What is it? Did family come to visit like Emma?”

“No, it’s not that, but I have something to discuss with Rebecca in depth.”

Clark narrowed his eyes at him.

“What do you have to say?”

“Well, I noticed that Rebecca didn’t perform to her full potential today, so I’m going to talk to her about it.”

Clark tilted his head, puzzled by Beom-seok’s words. Rebecca had played in the second round and performed well, even scoring 2 kills.

“Hmm, I didn’t see any problems.”

“But I see a lot of problems.”

“What specifically?”

“I can’t tell you that here, which is why we’re going out separately, isn’t it? It’s a matter of personal pride. But I can say that she’s not showing her full potential.”

Clark remained suspicious. Rebecca consistently displayed high-level swordsmanship and stable basic abilities. As a coach, he had no complaints about her performance.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. In my opinion, Rebecca is someone who should be showing W2~W3 level skills [in-game skill rankings], but so far, she hasn’t shown more than C0 level skills. I brought her here hoping she would improve by joining the national team, which has a strong sense of responsibility, but it was the same today. So I’m going to discuss this in detail today.”

Clark rested his chin on his hand. For the Avand national team to pass the final qualifiers and play in the World Cup finals, they needed many world-class gladiators.

The opposing teams were excellent, and unlike the season games, the national team games were held twice a week, leading to significant physical strain. They needed a stronger team to handle the demanding schedule.

If there was an opportunity to develop even one more outstanding gladiator, they had to take it.

“Don’t tell me you’re lying just to go out and play?”

“Absolutely not. I don’t know if I can fix it quickly, but she definitely has the ability to reach the world-class level. If she overcomes her current issues, Rebecca will become an excellent starter for the Avand national team.”

At Beom-seok’s words, Clark relented. He trusted Beom-seok’s judgment, knowing he had a good eye for gladiators. The third round of the World Cup qualifiers had a relaxed schedule, so he could afford to be flexible.

“Okay, then go and come back. But come back as early as possible.”

“Yes, I understand. Then goodbye…”

Beom-seok immediately took Rebecca and left the dugout.

The entertainment district of Heath City, illuminated by the night view. Beom-seok entered a luxury hotel with Rebecca. He had found a highly-rated Western restaurant through a restaurant review site. They were seated by the window, overlooking the city.

“One steak and one barbecue 폭립스 [pork back ribs] here.”

After the waiter left, Rebecca turned to Beom-seok.

“Beom-seok, you’re very capable. You even got an outing pass from that 까다로운 [picky/difficult] Clark coach.”

“Hahaha, I’m a bit capable. Actually, if I act up, the coach will have a hard time. If I took all our team’s gladiators out, the Avand gladiator national team would be ruined right away.”

He made a cutting motion with his hand, and Rebecca smiled brightly. If he ignored the fans and was willing to damage his reputation, the Avand national team would be in trouble, as most of the main force came from God’s Knights.

“I guess so. But I don’t think Coach Clark is the type to be 넘어가시다 [be easily fooled] by such threats. He seemed pretty 대가 [experienced/skilled] to me.”

“Tsk, of course, that’s right. So I added a little 양념 [spice/embellishment].”

“What did you say?”

“I didn’t say much. I just said that I would talk to you today and help you show your full potential. When I said I would make you a world-class gladiator soon, he immediately gave me the outing pass. Hehehe.”

She chuckled and replied,

“No, is it okay to lie like that? The coach will be very angry if he finds out later.”

Beom-seok picked up his water glass and emptied it, then said,

“It’s okay. When you think about it, it’s not a lie at all.”

“It’s not a lie?”

“Yeah. In fact, you’ve already become a world-class gladiator. But there’s a problem, so you’re not showing all your skills right now.”

At those words, Rebecca looked at him with wide eyes. She was actually a skilled person reaching the world-class level… It was necessary to clarify this.

She had lost her starting position on her former team and had even been relegated to the reserves and the second team, causing her great distress. Becoming a world-class gladiator had been her dream since she was young.

“So, am I really a world-class gladiator?”

“Hmm, definitely. You’ll be about W2~W3 level.”

She felt a surge of joy. Beom-seok’s reputation for identifying gladiators with potential was well-known throughout the gladiator world.

Many gladiators with problems had returned to the Colosseum with improved skills after working with him. Recently, even Shaila, who had been in poor condition, had shown better performance than before after meeting Beom-seok, surprising everyone.

If Beom-seok said so, there was a high probability it was true.

However, she knew her body better than anyone else. Rebecca still couldn’t fully trust his words.

“But my detailed physical test results showed that my basic abilities, including physical abilities, don’t reach the world-class level? Do you mean that I can fill this gap by correcting some technical flaws?”

Beom-seok immediately shook his head.

“No. You have a problem with your mental state. In my opinion, your physical abilities are already at the world-class level, but for some reason, you’re not fully utilizing them, which is why you’re stuck where you are.”

“Really? What’s the reason?”

The reason was simple: her ‘Power of Affection’ characteristic, which granted a +7 bonus to all stats when near a lover.

Rebecca’s current potential was 889. With the +7 bonus to all ten stats, she could reach a total of 959, potentially ranking her at least W3 level.

But it was difficult to explain this honestly, as it would imply that she needed to become intimate with him to unlock her full potential, which could be misconstrued as a manipulative tactic.

He decided it was better to subtly create an atmosphere and make her aware of the possibility rather than directly stating the truth.

“Well, I don’t know the reason yet. After you joined our team, I tried various methods to help you unlock your full potential, but they all failed. So I can’t say for sure right now.”

Rebecca sighed in disappointment. Reaching the world-class W3 level from her current C0 level was a significant challenge.

Her potential had been fully developed, and she held several positions, making it difficult to improve her swordsmanship skills. While she had been focusing on swordsmanship training since joining God’s Knights, she had to balance it with learning 창술 [spearmanship] professionally.

“Sigh~ I see. Then have you given up, Beom-seok?”

Rebecca, regaining her composure, looked at him expectantly.

“I haven’t given up, because there are still many methods I haven’t explored.”

“What is it?”

“For example, receiving support from loved ones like family or lovers. I’ve seen a few cases like yours before, where gladiators showed their true skills when supported by their families or, if not, by their lovers.”

Rebecca frowned. Her immediate family members were busy with work, making it difficult for them to attend her games. Her grandfather and father were passionate about gladiator fights and often visited the Colosseum, but only for Chaplin Whisper games, not God’s Knights.

“Then, would it be okay to just receive support from my family in words?”

Beom-seok immediately shook his head. Words wouldn’t be enough, especially since even watching through real-time camera feeds hadn’t worked. And it was her lover’s presence, not her family’s, that triggered her characteristic.

“Well, I don’t think it’ll work.”

“Why?”

Since she was showing so much interest, he thought it might be okay to be more direct.

“You’re definitely not getting support from your family.”

“Why?”

“When you were playing in Chaplin Whisper, your grandfather and father must have come to support you, right?”

Rebecca readily admitted it. Her grandfather and father had often visited when she was active in Chaplin Whisper, but her performance hadn’t been great.

“Th, that’s right.”

Just then, the waiter placed their food on the table. Beom-seok took a spoonful of the meat soup and said casually,

“Well, it might be another reason, so don’t worry too much.”

Rebecca stirred her vegetable soup and said,

“Still, that’s the most likely possibility, so isn’t that why you mentioned it, Beom-seok?”

“Well, that’s right, but since we’ve ruled out family, you have to find another way.”

Of course, she knew it wasn’t family. But she kept focusing on it because she hadn’t been able to confirm her lover. Rebecca had never dated before.

However, she couldn’t help but worry about actually trying to find someone. Dating was difficult in this era. There were ways to pay for companionship, but she couldn’t guarantee it would work since the concept of genuine affection was missing.

There were heterosexuals like Beom-seok, but they were rare and often hid their preferences for social reasons, making them hard to find. In the end, Rebecca remained silent and focused on her meal.

============================ Author’s Note ============================

It was really hot today. Sweat was dripping from my back. I remember turning on the heater not long ago, but I’m worried that summer is coming too quickly. Well, I’m not worried about the global crisis due to global warming, but I can’t use my strength in the summer. ㅠㅠ.

Then everyone be careful of the heat. I’ll see you again tomorrow.