Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 485

487

During the first week of scouting, Beom-seok didn’t achieve the results he wanted. The gladiators he was interested in were W1 class, and those weren’t easy to find on Central League teams. Still, he accomplished his secondary objective to some extent.

He found promising prospects who could immediately serve as substitutes and who showed potential for significant growth, making them attractive options.

If all else failed, choosing a decent one among them to fill the ranks wouldn’t be a bad compromise.

Leaving the Eaton City Colosseum after watching the match between the Sun Lightning and Blue Lows teams, Beom-seok sighed deeply. It was the same story here. He managed to scout one prospect, but they lacked both impressive abilities and outstanding growth potential.

“This week is over with this…”

Theresa, who was walking with him, said,

“Yes, it seems so. What are you going to do now? Are you going back to Lima City?”

“Well, what should I do?”

Beom-seok delayed his answer because he wasn’t eager to return to Lima City. He’d just gone back last week, and his progress in winning Theresa’s favor hadn’t been significant due to the presence of other women. He needed to create more opportunities to spend time alone with her.

Theresa said to him,

“Let’s just go back. We have to wait a few more days until the next match, and we can’t just hang around here, can we? And you probably have a lot of work to do back there.”

“That’s true, but I feel somewhat disappointed because this week hasn’t been very fruitful.”

“But there’s nothing we can do right now.”

Indeed, there wasn’t much to do at the moment. But he had to come up with something. He pondered for a moment, searching for a clever plan to extend the trip.

‘I don’t have any ideas.’

The most logical option was the League Cup, but unfortunately, it wasn’t until next week. But thinking about it, there was something else.

“Ah! There will be a match soon.”

“What match?”

“The GA Cup.”

At that, Theresa chuckled. Of course, the GA Cup was an important match, but the teams participating were all Area League teams or amateur teams. Naturally, it would be a waste of time.

“Why watch the GA Cup now? They’re all lower-tier teams.”

“But there might be a decent gladiator.”

“But there won’t be any gladiators above W1 class. Other top teams nearby wouldn’t have overlooked them. Of course, there might be some promising prospects. But it takes a long time for lower-tier teams’ prospects to develop, and our primary goal isn’t to find prospects. You know that, right?”

Beom-seok was speechless. Her words were entirely correct. It seemed he needed another excuse.

Scratching his head, Beom-seok gave an awkward smile.

“Hahaha. That’s right.”

Theresa stared at him knowingly and said,

“Yes. I’m glad you understand. Then we should go back now, right?”

“That’s a bit… I have something to do.”

‘What do I know?’ Beom-seok thought to himself and shut his mouth. As of now, he didn’t have a suitable excuse. But soon, he thought of something and immediately spoke up. It was a bit of a stretch, but it was the only option now.

“Ah! Come to think of it, I had something to do in Acroyal City.”

“Acroyal City? Why there?”

“I need to find someone.”

“Someone to find?”

“The one impersonating Gade.”

Theresa narrowed her eyes and looked at him. She had heard of Gade, the petty thief who had blocked their car last time.

“Why do you need to find him?”

“I have to get revenge for what he did.”

“But all he did was block our car. Why revenge?”

“But a big accident could have happened. If we had crashed back then, our car could have fallen. Then boom!”

Beom-seok exaggeratedly acted out an explosion scene, and Theresa gave him a strange look. It wasn’t entirely impossible, but the chances of that happening weren’t high. Perhaps the expression ‘one in a million’ would be appropriate here.

“You know you’re being unreasonable, right?”

“Unreasonable?”

“If everyone took revenge for such a small thing, this world would be stained with blood by now.”

As expected, Beom-seok gave an awkward laugh. It was a bit of a stretch.

“Hehehe. I guess so.”

“Yes. Then can you tell me why you’re doing this? Honestly, you’ve been acting strange since earlier. Going to see the GA Cup, and now taking revenge on someone named Gade… Do you not want to return to the team?”

“It’s not that.”

“Then?”

“Actually, I’m curious about the identity of the one imitating Gade. He’s a petty thief, but his actions are strange. And what he does is… interesting.”

“But what are you going to do about it? Are you going to catch him and hand him over to the police?”

Beom-seok waved his hand. There was no need to go that far.

“That’s not it. I just want to confirm his identity and ask why he’s doing that.”

“So, it’s just a matter of curiosity?”

“If you want to put it that way, yes.”

Theresa sighed deeply and said,

“Okay. Let’s say that’s the case. How are you going to catch him?”

“I’m going to catch him.”

“No. I mean, how are you going to find a thief that even the police haven’t caught yet in a city of 1.3 million people?”

Beom-seok slightly raised one corner of his mouth.

“Do I need to find him? I can make him come to me.”

“How?”

“That will become clear as I investigate.”

Theresa licked her lips slightly and shook her head. She would let him have his way.

Honestly, if she helped a little, she could catch him easily. She had the ability to know the future one hour ahead, so she could figure out where he would appear.

The problem was the limitation of only being able to use it once a week, so she had to time it well. But if she could figure out his behavior pattern, it seemed possible.

“Okay. But if you catch him, are we going back?”

“Yes, of course. Hehehe.”

“Then let’s go to Acroyal City quickly. We’ll have a lot to do there.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Beom-seok, with a triumphant expression, headed straight to Acroyal City with her. He had secured time with Theresa and was going to catch the one imitating him.

On the way, he searched the internet for information about him, such as his behavior patterns and distinguishing characteristics. By the time he arrived, he had gathered some useful information.

First, his appearance pattern was every three days. Of course, there were cases where he was late by a day or several days, but after that, he consistently maintained the three-day cycle. And it was confirmed that he almost never appeared with a two-day interval. Looking at this alone, it seemed that he was under some unknown restriction regarding the three-day period.

Second, it was the activity time. He mainly appeared between noon and one o’clock and from six to seven o’clock in the evening, which seemed to coincide with meal times. This suggested that his actions were somewhat restricted due to group living.

Third, judging from the leaked CCTV footage, he was expected to have considerable martial arts skills and superhuman strength. Even when surrounded by a dozen elf guards, he easily subdued them and escaped, which left Beom-seok speechless. It was estimated that he had the skills of a top-tier World League gladiator.

Fourth, he was quite smart. When Beom-seok checked the distribution of witness reports, he was appearing evenly throughout the Acroyal City Colosseum.

Even though it was a city of 1.3 million people, the population density was bound to be different in each area. The fact that he appeared evenly in all areas meant that he was intentionally trying to conceal his base of operations.

While walking along a quiet downtown street, Beom-seok quietly said to Theresa, who was following beside him.

“He must be a professional fighter, right?”

“Yes, he must be. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have such skills. He must have practiced martial arts in the wilderness for a long time, or he must have been active in the gladiator or martial arts world. And he may be involved in the underworld or violent organizations.”

That was too broad. It had narrowed things down somewhat, but there were still many people to investigate. Moreover, he had been active for a long time but had not yet been caught by the police. It was certain that he was thoroughly covering his tracks.

“As expected, I need to make him come to me rather than looking for him.”

“Yes. I also think that’s better, but is there a way?”

That was a bit of a problem. With the information obtained so far, he couldn’t think of a way.

“Well, I don’t know yet. I’ll have to think about it later.”

At those words, Theresa smiled slyly. For her, catching him was only a matter of time. Since he mainly appeared during lunch and dinner times on a three-day cycle, he would be caught at least once if she used her ability three or four times.

“If you just trust me, you don’t have to do that.”

“No, how?”

“I can predict the place and time he will appear. I can’t tell you exactly how [referring to her precognitive ability].”

Beom-seok rolled his eyes. He knew Theresa’s abilities, so he already knew the method. Perhaps, if he was lucky, he could figure out where he would appear right away, or at least within a month.

“Hahaha. That’s really fortunate, but is it really possible?”

“Of course. But I have a favor to ask.”

“Yes. Tell me.”

“If we catch him this time, please stop the trip we’re doing now.”

Beom-seok watched her with subtle eyes. That was absolutely not allowed.

“No, why?”

“I’m tired, and I have to go and learn the work of the Gods Knights team. This trip seems to be a waste of time.”

“Yes, that’s true. But what we’re doing now is very important. If we recruit one more decent gladiator this time, the Godsknights’ chances of winning this season will greatly improve.”

“Yes, that’s true. But if we catch him, that condition will be met, so this trip will be meaningless.”

“Why?”

“It’s very simple. I saw the video, and he’s a considerable talent that I can covet. If we recruit him, he’ll be very helpful to the Godsknights team.”

Beom-seok agreed with that opinion. With that much skill, he could be used in the game even if he didn’t have gladiator experience. That was the free role. Then there would be some flexibility in the squad, so it could be said that the purpose was achieved.

“But isn’t he a criminal?”

“That’s even better. After all, the police haven’t identified him yet, so it doesn’t matter if we threaten him with a report and make him join the team. And even if the police notice, you can smooth things over through Lexter, who is friendly with you.”

“Well, that’s true…”

Seeing him make a conflicted expression, Theresa began to joke.

“Well, if you don’t like it, I can’t help it. I’ll just catch him alone and make him a gladiator for the Desert Scorpions.”

At that moment, Beom-seok’s hand touched her shoulder. Until now, he had used him as an excuse to work on Theresa’s favorability, but after seeing his skills, the situation changed.

Certainly, he had the ability to help the team. The only problem was that he didn’t know his gender yet, but he would know soon after checking. And there was no reason to agree to her conditions in particular. After missing him on the spot, he could secretly follow him and find out his base.

Then he could visit him in the future and recruit him.

“Okay. Let’s do that. But you have to help me for sure?”

“Hehe. Of course. If you trust me, you’ll catch him within a month.”

“Thank you. Then I’ll trust you, Theresa.”

After that, Beom-seok began several preliminary operations to catch the one impersonating Gade. He set up a base in a downtown hotel and purchased a high-performance aerial mobile suit. He also secretly contacted Margaret and deployed a large number of employees and tracking vehicles to Acroyal City in preparation for anything.

Now, all he had to do was get Theresa to tell him the location and time of his appearance. And exactly ten days later, he received welcome information from her.

“The appearance location is the Nielsen’s mansion in the northern luxury residential area of Acroyal City. The time is about 30 minutes later.”

“Hehe. Thank you. Then I’ll go catch him, so please rest well, Theresa.”

“Yes. Good luck.”

Beom-seok, who immediately got up from his seat, left the hotel room. After boarding the vehicle that was waiting in advance, he put on the aerial mobile suit.

As soon as he started the vehicle, he contacted Margaret. He needed help because he didn’t know the exact location of Nielsen’s mansion.

“Margaret. It’s Nielsen’s mansion in the northern luxury residential area. Find out quickly!”

Margaret, who had been waiting, searched and immediately identified the location.

– “Yes. I found it. I’ll enter it into the navigation now, so please check.”

Soon, a smile appeared on Beom-seok’s lips. The exact point appeared on the map with a red mark. Now, catching him was as good as done.

“Okay, I’ve confirmed. Then deploy the tracking team around that location and wait. If I miss him, I’ll contact you, so be prepared to launch the tracking team at any time. Got it?”

– “Yes.”

After finishing the communication, Beom-seok immediately flew to northern Acroyal City. There were 30 minutes left, but he couldn’t let his guard down.

============================ Author’s words ============================

Everyone, have a nice weekend. I’ll see you again tomorrow.