Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 386

“Hello. How have you been?”

“I’ve been well. But what are you doing here?”

“Well, I saw Beomseok-nim.”

“No, you should have said hello. What is this all about?”

Tiela seemed speechless and pursed her lips. She couldn’t possibly admit that she had tried to compete out of competitiveness.

Clearly, until a moment ago, she had been in a very advantageous position. She had found Beomseok first, and this was her home colosseum where she was familiar with the terrain. And he didn’t even know she was here first. In this situation, she had exposed her neck, which meant her utter defeat was undeniable.

“Well, I’m training now. I was following Beomseok-nim as part of my training.”

“Goodness. You’re working hard. Anyway, let’s go down. We can’t keep talking here.”

“Yes……”

Beomseok jumped down to the ground first, and Tiela followed. She looked around and asked him a question.

“But where are the other team members?”

“Ah. They didn’t come.”

“Why not?”

Beomseok leaned his palm against a nearby tree trunk, brushed the bark off his shoes, and said.

“There was no reason for them to come. You can’t become familiar with this terrain by looking around for a day. It’s better to focus on other training during that time.”

“But that applies to Beomseok-nim as well. How can you know all the terrain of Papilan City Colosseum in just one day? Even those who have been active in the World League for years don’t know this terrain at all.”

Indeed, she was right. The area of Papilan City Colosseum’s terrain was 7,850 square meters. That meant there were 7,850 plots of land, each 1 square meter in area.

On the other hand, most World League gladiators, except for the Forest Elves, played here only once a year, and even if they were unlucky, they would only play a total of three times, including League matches, GA Cup, and League Cup. Naturally, having a lot of World League experience didn’t mean they knew the terrain in detail.

However, what Beomseok wanted to know wasn’t the detailed terrain. A few unique points that could identify location and direction were enough. Other than that, he could overcome it with the senses he had gained from numerous mountain and jungle battles.

“Ah. It doesn’t matter. There’s no need to know everything. To be honest, there’s no need to examine the terrain anymore. I’ve roughly figured it out.”

Tiela’s eyes widened at those words. He had only been in this forest for about 20 minutes. There wasn’t much he could have done during that time.

“That’s impossible! How can you know all the terrain of our colosseum in such a short time!”

“Ah. I told you, there’s no need to know everything. Do you want me to show you proof?”

“Yes. Please show me.”

Beomseok glanced at the central giant tree barely visible through the dense trees. After confirming its approximate shape, he calculated his current location.

“This is about 30 meters northwest of the south entrance tunnel.”

Tiela’s face immediately stiffened as if she was surprised. It was exactly right. She had lived here for a long time, so she could figure out the location just by looking at the shape of the nearby trees.

‘I, it can’t be. How did he know? Today, no other team member besides me knows this terrain.’

On the day of the match. In this Papilan Colosseum, a huge video was displayed on all four sides of the central giant tree so that the audience could watch the match. Because its shape was a square structure, the team members nicknamed the video a hologram cube. And they calculated their approximate location based on the shape of each side of the cube, which varied depending on the viewing position.

But today was not a match day, so the cube was not up. That meant there was no guide to indicate direction and location. For reference, the Forest Elves had a draw against a weak team struggling in the relegation zone at home two years ago, and it was on the day the cube video device broke down.

“How did you know? There’s no hologram cube today?”

Tiela immediately covered her mouth. It seemed Beomseok didn’t know about the cube.

Most World League teams openly knew about it, but they were not trained to use it to determine their location, so it was of no help. But it was different for him. He could figure out his current location even without anything, so who knew what would happen if he knew about the cube.

“Ah. There’s something like that.”

Beomseok chuckled and turned his head. He didn’t need to ask further because she seemed reluctant to answer, and he had roughly guessed what the cube was. He remembered the scene from the Forest Elves’ match footage where a square-shaped hologram video screen was floating above the central giant tree. It was definitely a unique point that could serve as a guide.

“Well. It doesn’t matter.”

He brushed it off as if it were nothing, but Beomseok continued to walk towards the entrance. If it was something Tiela mentioned in the current situation, it was clear that it was an important guide for the Forest Elves team gladiators. There was a way for him to use it, but it seemed much more profitable to use it in another way.

Arriving at the narrow flat ground at the entrance, Beomseok glanced up at the sky.

‘Hehe. That’s it. Good.’

The device that displayed the hologram cube was about the size of a watermelon and was hanging from four wires connecting the ceiling of the colosseum. The approximate distance was about 80 to 90 meters from here. It was a very suitable distance. He himself or Liza could definitely hit it with a throwing weapon.

‘I should urgently change Liza’s training today. To do that, it would be better to chase Tiela away first.’

Beomseok turned his head towards Tiela. He had to train Liza in throwing daggers, but she shouldn’t know about it. Destroying that display device had to be a complete accident. Naturally, Tiela had to be away if he wanted to contact Diana.

“Tiela. Are you going to keep following me?”

“Ah, no. But why?”

“Well, I need to keep figuring out this terrain, so I don’t have time to keep talking to other people. I only have a few hours allotted to me. And I shouldn’t meet an Elf gladiator from another team in a private setting. It would be a bit of a problem if it became known.”

At those words, Tiela made an embarrassed expression and quickly lowered her head. He certainly didn’t have time to chat with her now. In fact, it was very rude to interfere with the opposing team’s training, so she should have avoided it on her own.

And due to Beomseok’s team management style, he had to avoid personal meetings with gladiators from other teams. It could easily lead to misunderstandings. He could fix matches or recruit gladiators from other teams at a low price if he wanted to. If his managers in this area witnessed the current scene, he could get into trouble.

“Ah, ah. I’m sorry. I didn’t think that far.”

“It’s okay. Anyway, it was nice to see you again today. We can see each other again tomorrow, so let’s part ways here.”

“Yes. I understand. Then, good luck.”

Tiela shook hands in farewell and quickly left the arena through the entrance tunnel. Beomseok, who watched this from afar, took out his electronic notebook from his pocket and contacted Diana. It was about changing Liza’s training immediately.

The next day, the second World League match between the Forest Elves and Gods Knights was held. The stands, which had been quiet yesterday, were crowded with fans. The surroundings were filled with cheers for the home team, the Forest Elves, and voices supporting the Gods Knights could only be heard from some of the away cheering seats in the south.

At that time, in the Forest Elves’ dugout, Tiela and the coach, Offen, were having a heated argument.

“Coach! A draw is enough for today. We must retreat to our dugout entrance as soon as the match starts and focus on defense!”

“Tiela. What are you talking about? The opposing team is Gods Knights. They are much weaker than us, and this is our home, Papilan City Colosseum. There is no reason for us to focus on defense at all.”

Offen looked at Tiela with a displeased expression. It was because she had been persistently coming to him since yesterday, suggesting a draw. She was an S3-class gladiator until recently and the second strongest in the team after Lypris, but he couldn’t understand such a proposal.

In Papilan City Colosseum, even the great Jakidna Amelie had been miserably defeated and returned. There was no way they could play a draw against a newly promoted team expected to be in the top 10 at best.

Tiela, who knew this, requested a change of strategy again.

“Of course, I know that well. But this terrain, which is extremely advantageous to us, is now tightening our noose. If we go into that forest, all of our team members will be defeated.”

“Hey. Talk sense. How can Gods Knights know this terrain better than us? Don’t say anything else and do as I say.”

“That’s why I’m saying there’s a high possibility of losing. A draw is the best option now!”

Offen glared at her with a frustrated expression. Even good words become nagging if you keep hearing them. And as a coach, he had a reason why he had to win today’s match. It was to win the World League championship, which was this year’s goal.

Last year, the Forest Elves finished third in the league. They unfortunately missed the championship with 2 draws and 4 losses on the road. And they were only 1 point behind Chaplin Whisper, who was in second place. Of course, the points were somewhat far from Ancient Warriors, who were in first place, but this year was different.

Last week, they lost their ace, Prisica, while playing against Gods Knights. She had not attended the match on Saturday due to an unknown mental shock.

Thanks to this, the team was extremely depressed and played a draw against Menex Odins, who barely made it to the mid-ranks. In other words, they had already lost 4 points.

On the other hand, the Forest Elves won big on the road last week and were facing the weak team Gods Knights at home today. If they won this match, they would have 6 points, putting them 4 points ahead of Ancient Warriors, who were strong candidates for the championship.

Of course, even if they drew, they could maintain the 2-point difference, but the problem was this Chaplin Whisper. They had won not only the first match but also yesterday’s match, so they had 6 points now.

If they drew today, they could be left out of the championship race.

“You. Are you saying that now? You know that Ancient Warriors are in extreme slump this year, right? In other words, this season is the best opportunity for our Forest Elves to win the championship. You’re telling me to give that up now. Chaplin Whisper has 6 points now.”

“Who told you to give up? I’m saying it’s better to get even 1 point. A 2-point difference is much better than a 3-point difference. We can make up that difference when we bring Chaplin Whisper home. Of course, we’ll win.”

Then, an elf with silver hair came to her and patted her on the shoulder. It was Lypris, the team’s ace.

“Tiela. The coach is right. We must win today’s match. We should try to hold the championship trophy once.”

Tiela glared at her. She felt bad because Lypris had a tendency to ignore her since she had fallen to W0 class after the appearance of Jakid and Amelie. Besides, she was much weaker in combat than herself in this kind of jungle battle.

“Lypris unnie [older sister/term of endearment], it’s because you haven’t experienced how scary Beomseok-nim is. I told you before. When I was called out for external work a few years ago, I felt his terror deeply. He is a master of this forest terrain battle.”

“That’s just a coincidence. In fact, the statement that you can fight dozens of people alone is absurd. And it was dark at that time, right? Then you couldn’t see anything, so you couldn’t distinguish between enemies and allies. On the other hand, Beomseok-nim just grabbed anyone he could and they were enemies. So you were unlucky. But now it’s bright daylight and this is our home where we always play matches. We will never lose, so don’t worry.”

Of course, Tiela had thought so before. At the time, it was too dark and she was not familiar with the terrain, so she could not do anything. But after meeting him here yesterday, she erased that thought from her mind. Yesterday, she had found Beomseok first, but she couldn’t even try and was defeated.

But she couldn’t talk about it here now. If she revealed that she had met Beomseok yesterday, the coach might suspect match-fixing. She had been insisting on a draw, and on the surface, it would be great for Gods Knights to just draw today.

“No, I’m telling you. We can never beat Beomseok-nim. A draw is the best option now.”

“Tiela. Why are you keep doing this? You’re breaking the team atmosphere. Then we’ll lose even a match we can win. I know your worries, but you have to follow the coach’s words now.”

Tiela, who made a face that said, “You don’t know anything,” turned back to Offen. She still had a way to persuade the coach.

“Then, Coach. Let’s just have Lypris unnie and me go into the forest in the first round. Then even if both of us are defeated, there will be 10 people left, so we can definitely draw against Gods Knights.”

“Well, if it’s Gods Knights’ strength, we can draw even without you and Lypris. That’s right.”

Tiela smiled brightly at Offen, who was finally understanding her.

“Then are you going to do as I say?”

“But why should we be afraid of an opponent that we can draw with even with 10 people? Especially in our front yard. I can’t understand that point.”

Tiela, who bit her lip, clenched her fists tightly. Since he was so stubborn, it was just a waste of time to talk more. She shut her mouth and returned to her seat. She recalled that even if the team won the championship, the only benefit that would come to Tiela was a few pocket money.

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

Wow. It’s raining cats and dogs. Thanks to that, my body is a mess. I’ve been suffering from eczema lately. I really hate this humid weather. Ugh.

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