Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 403

“Alright. Safe travels.”

“Yes. Please train hard too, Beomseok.”

After a brief farewell, Margaret’s flying car ascended and disappeared into the sky. Beomseok watched her go for a moment before turning toward the training grounds. But he paused, glancing back at the distant sky. Another flying car was approaching the parking lot where he stood.

‘What’s this? Did Margaret forget something?’

However, Margaret’s flying car was pure white, while the vehicle descending now was black. This meant it was someone else entirely.

“Who could it be? This early in the morning? I’m not expecting anyone.”

Still, the confident landing suggested it was definitely a visitor. He stood there, waiting to see who would emerge from the vehicle.

Soon, the car door opened, and a tall man appeared. It was Clark, the coach of the Avand national team. He looked at Beomseok and smirked.

“Heh. Have you taken up fortune-telling? How did you know I was coming?”

Beomseok frowned and said,

“If I knew, would I be here? I would have gone out somewhere.”

“Ah. Is that so? Well, it doesn’t matter since I found you anyway. Actually, I have something important to discuss with you.”

“If you had something to say, you could have called. Why come without contacting me? Don’t you have any manners?”

“Ah. This was something I needed to discuss and decide with you urgently.”

Beomseok glanced at Clark.

“Is it important?”

“Hmm. You could say that.”

Beomseok clicked his tongue. Since the national team coach said it was important, he couldn’t ignore it. Grumbling, he nodded.

“Well, I guess I have no choice. Where should we go to talk?”

“It’s cold, so it would be better to go inside.”

“Yes. Good. Let’s go to my office then.”

“Alright.”

Beomseok got into the waiting autonomous vehicle with Clark and headed to the office building where his office was located. After riding the quiet escalator to the third floor, he led Clark to the chairman’s office.

“This way.”

Clark looked around and said casually,

“It’s quite cozy.”

Beomseok chuckled. Everyone said the same thing when they came to the chairman’s office. He always prioritized functionality, so he didn’t waste money decorating the interior or making the space unnecessarily large. Since all documents and books were digitized, he only needed a reception sofa and a desk to do his work.

“So you know how to sugarcoat the word ‘shabby.’ You must have a big favor to ask.”

“A favor? You could say it’s a favor.”

Beomseok looked at him with a knowing gaze and plopped down on the sofa.

“Then tell me what this favor is.”

Clark, sitting across from him, immediately pulled out an electronic notepad from his pocket. He didn’t like wasting time with long introductions. He wasn’t good at talking, and he wasn’t the type to beat around the bush.

Clark displayed an electronic blueprint that looked like a panorama of a coliseum on a holographic screen and said,

“You know what this is, right?”

Beomseok leaned forward slightly, examining it carefully, and tilted his head. The city in the center and the steel bridge on one side made it look like the Lima City Coliseum, but the structure of the stadium was somewhat different.

Lush forests stretched along both sides of the river flowing through the center. Excluding the river, each side was about 15 meters wide, taking up about 30% of the stadium.

“Is this perhaps the Lima City Coliseum?”

“You recognized it quickly; you’re not an idiot after all.”

Beomseok glared at Clark, who had started with the insults again. This was God’s Knights training camp, not the national team.

“Did you come to ask a favor? Or did you come to pick a fight?”

“Well, if I had to say, I came to negotiate. To help you, an idiot, perform even better on the national team.”

Beomseok sighed deeply, crossed his arms, and leaned back on the sofa. Insults were just his nature, so there was no point in getting upset. It was easier to just let it go.

“Negotiate? Tell me about it.”

“It’s about changing the terrain of the Lima City Coliseum.”

“You mean adding forest areas on both sides of the river?”

“That’s right. Are you interested?”

He was interested. Beomseok excelled in combat in forest areas compared to any other gladiator. Although it was only a part of it, having a forest would greatly help improve God’s Knights’ strength. And since the opponent couldn’t easily detect their movements, it would be very advantageous for surprise attacks.

“Hmm. It’s somewhat intriguing. But when did you start planning this?”

“After you fought the Forest Elves. You were amazing that day. How about changing it?”

Beomseok, seeing Clark’s sly smile, turned his head as if he wasn’t interested. He was interested, but adding such forest areas to the home coliseum would require a lot of additional equipment.

A significant number of bird cameras [small, agile cameras that can fly through the air] would have to be prepared to show the audience the battles inside the forest, and some holographic projectors would also have to be newly installed. In addition, expensive trees would have to be transplanted with their roots, and special temperature control devices would have to be added to keep the leaves lush 365 days a year. Furthermore, numerous gardeners would have to be hired to tend the forest, and devices that automatically watered and fertilized would also be needed.

The problem was that they, not the city hall, would have to bear most of the costs. The city hall would only lend the coliseum, and the user would have to pay for all the costs of the internal terrain features, filming, and additional holographic video transmission devices.

Of course, now that God’s Knights had made it to the World League, they could afford the funds, but there was no need to open their wallets. He knew that if he resisted, the Avand Professional Gladiator Association would cover most of the funds, as the saying goes, ‘the thirsty dig the well’ [meaning those in need will take the initiative].

The Avand Professional Gladiator Association was currently elated with the first-ever World Cup qualification. They were working hard to achieve a top-8 or higher result, so they were ready to invest huge sums of money at any time. And Coach Clark had a strong sense of patriotism, enough to dream of Avand’s national team reaching the World Cup finals.

He would definitely keep pushing the Avand Professional Gladiator Association, saying that the forest area was necessary for good results.

But money matters were sensitive. It was difficult to bring it up easily.

“Well, is it really necessary?”

“Why?”

“Honestly, we can’t change the stadium just based on our own desires, can we? The Bluebird team, with Lexter as their leader, also uses the Lima City Coliseum as their home, and so do several other amateur gladiator teams. We could barely manage to put in a steel bridge before, but to add a forest area of this size, we would definitely need to consult with them, right?”

Clark stroked his chin with a troubled expression. The amateur teams were grateful just to be able to rent the Lima City Coliseum, so it didn’t matter to them, but the Bluebird team was different.

Although it was overshadowed because God’s Knights made it to the World League, they also caused a sensation by being promoted to the Central League last year. They had fame, and this team also had a significant number of national gladiators, so it seemed like consultation was necessary.

“Well, that’s true. But don’t you think we can persuade them through negotiations?”

“Well, yes. Chief Lexter isn’t that stubborn.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“What else? It’s because it’s a hassle. I’m a busy person. There’s no problem even if we leave it as it is, so I can’t keep running around to change the home coliseum.”

“Really? Then would you allow it if I took on all the negotiation work?”

Beomseok shook his head. His goal was strictly money. He wouldn’t allow it on the condition that Clark would handle the negotiations alone.

“Well, I’d be more comfortable, but I feel uneasy because it seems like you’re doing something futile.”

“Futile?”

“No. The terrain change doesn’t end just because we’ve reached an agreement, does it? Of course, we have to get permission from the Federation Professional Gladiator Association. But you know that they react sensitively to these forest areas, right? Because of the Papilan Coliseum.”

The Papilan Coliseum was the home coliseum of the Forest Elves. All the terrain there, except for the area around the entrance tunnel, was forest, making it a nightmare for away teams and advantageous for the home team.

Although it was broken by Beomseok, the Forest Elves had recorded 29 consecutive home wins until then. Because of this, other World League teams had no choice but to keep raising complaints, and the Federation Professional Gladiator Association was in a somewhat difficult situation. However, it had been glossed over so far.

That’s because the chairman of that team was a member of the Ibrahim faction, the current chairman of the Federation Professional Gladiator Association, and because the regulations allowed free rein over the terrain as long as there were no places like cliffs where fighters could be seriously injured.

But with other teams complaining, it was impossible to easily allow forest terrain. Once a terrain change was allowed, the association could never demand a re-change later due to regulations.

Clark frowned for a moment. Nevertheless, there was an error in Beomseok’s words.

“That’s also true, but you know you’re being stubborn right now, don’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you think I would start this without considering that? As you can see, the newly added forest area is only a part of it. There are plenty of cities with coliseums like this all over the world. The Federation Professional Gladiator Association is only worried about coliseums where more than half of the terrain is forest. But we only have about 30%.”

Beomseok nodded because it was true.

“Ah. I guess that’s true.”

“Then you’ll allow it, right?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t seem to make sense.”

“Why not? You know better than anyone how skilled you are in forest battles.”

Beomseok looked at him with a brazen gaze.

“I’m also skilled in flatland battles. I’m also good at underwater battles. And since many of our team members are inexperienced gladiators, I doubt they’ll adapt well to this unique terrain. So there’s no need to be so attached to this expensive construction. I like it as it is.”

Clark looked at him with narrowed eyes. Other gladiators might not be as skilled in jungle warfare, but Beomseok’s abilities in the forest were beyond imagination.

He had single-handedly defeated all the Forest Elves gladiators, who were currently ranked second, so there was no point in saying more. In other words, it wasn’t a matter of whether other team members were experienced or not.

Besides, no matter how promising they were, the home terrain where they always competed would soon become familiar.

So the only reason Beomseok was acting like this was money.

“You. You’re doing this because of money, aren’t you?”

Beomseok slightly raised one corner of his mouth. The time had come to reveal his true intentions.

“I can’t deny it. Hehehe.”

“Good. Our Avand Professional Gladiator Association will take responsibility for all facilities, equipment, and management personnel. How about that?”

At those words, Beomseok expressed satisfaction.

“Well, in that case, I won’t refuse. Do as you please. Hahaha.”

“Phew~ Alright. Then I’ll consider it agreed.”

“Yes. Of course.”

Clark, having finished the negotiations, turned off the holographic video. Now that he had agreed with Beomseok, he had to go visit the Bluebird team. The forest construction was for the World Cup finals next summer. Of course, he needed to finish the construction within this winter vacation season, so he had to hurry.

“Alright. Then I’m busy, so I’ll be going.”

Beomseok stood up to see him off.

“Yes. Then I’ll escort you to the parking lot.”

Clark, who was about to refuse, looked at him carefully as if something had suddenly occurred to him.

“Oh, by the way, do you know about that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I met Director Vincent a while ago, and he was saying something quite interesting.”

“What was it?”

“He said that Devil Spirits might be subject to court receivership [a form of bankruptcy protection] due to financial problems.”

Devil Spirits was Amelie’s parent team and a deeply rooted World League team. And in this league, they were in 7th place, closely following God’s Knights.

Beomseok widened his eyes and said,

“Devil Spirits?”

“Yes. It seems that the problem is that they poured huge sums of money into the transfer market to win the championship in recent years.”

Beomseok slowly nodded. Certainly, that team had spent a lot of money in the transfer market. In particular, the funds spent to recruit Irolita, who was 19 years old, ranked S3 [a gladiator ranking], and ranked 9th in the world, were astronomical.

“Well, I knew that team would have problems someday. Except for Irolita, most of the acquisitions failed, so they lost a lot of money, didn’t they?”

“But the problem isn’t that. You also know that, according to the regulations, if the professional team fails to pay the salaries of the affiliated gladiators or becomes subject to court receivership, they will receive huge penalties, right?”

“Yes. That’s right. Isn’t it a story that they could face minus points as a basic penalty and be unilaterally relegated [moved to a lower league]? No, surely…?”

Clark, staring into Beomseok’s eyes, who was expressing shock, said with a serious expression. Since they couldn’t receive such penalties, Devil Spirits’ options were too obvious.

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

Alas, alas, I went to that brother’s funeral home again today. I was sleeping at dawn when he called and asked if I could carry the bier [a frame or platform on which a coffin is carried]. Thanks to that, I came to carry the coffin. Hahaha. By the way, it seems that many people are choosing Cheonan as the burial site these days. My maternal grandmother, great aunt, and great uncle all went to burial sites in Cheonan.

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