42. National Team Selection Match (4)
Inside the arena, waiting room.
“U, uweeaaagh!”
O Ji-myeong, who’d just been bounced outside, clutched his abdomen and started vomiting.
It hurts. It hurt. It hurt too much.
He’d definitely been hit by a person, so how did it feel like he’d been run over by a truck?
“A-Are you alright?”
“Ranker!”
Headquarters staff rushed over, but O Ji-myeong, scowling, raised a hand to stop them.
‘Fuck, this is humiliating.’
If you got hit by a summon, you could protest as-is. Call them an unmannered player.
But he’d been hit by a person, so it was awkward to say anything. And since his pride was usually sky-high, it felt even worse.
“Khuh… I’m fine, so just go.”
Wiping his mouth with the bottom of his clothes, O Ji-myeong recalled Baek Jinwoo from moments ago.
A monster. He admitted it. Baek Jinwoo was a monster. His summons were monsters, and Baek Jinwoo himself was no joke either.
So that confidence wasn’t for nothing.
He’d been overwhelmed so completely that instead of understanding the process, he just accepted the result.
And then—
“Uweeaaagh!”
He saw Park Ho-seop, who had been thrown out the same way and was vomiting too, even though O Ji-myeong hadn’t been out here long.
‘So you got hit too.’
This was insane. It was shocking enough that he’d been eliminated in seconds, but Park Ho-seop got stripped in under ten seconds too?
The two rankers’ eyes met.
“Senior, that bastard isn’t human. Ha… it’s hard to breathe.”
“Yeah. Looks like we picked the wrong guy to mess with.”
Suddenly, O Ji-myeong remembered.
—They say the media’s been pushing him lately, so maybe he’s getting cocky. But if you keep standing that tall, there are cases where you never get selected for the rest of your life.
The very words he’d said while swaggering at that monster.
At the same time, he realized it.
‘We’re fucked.’
The one who’d never get selected for life wouldn’t be Baek Jinwoo. It would be them.
Because next year’s selection match would have a team battle again, and every time, Baek Jinwoo’s hammer would come crashing down on their heads.
There was only one way out. Retire—or swallow their pride and apologize, whether it killed them or not.
O Ji-myeong didn’t want his ranker career ruined by a single mistake.
And at that moment—
“Hey, you bastards!”
A shout came from Assemblyman Im Heesoo as he burst out of the inner waiting room. His face was flushed red then bluish, like he was furious beyond belief.
“Do you know how much I’ve done for you? Not only did you get knocked out in the team battle, you had to get beaten by that guy of all people?”
‘That guy’ of all people? Grit.
O Ji-myeong ground his teeth. What kind of nonsense was that?
He’d told them to drop that guy first, so of course they got beaten by that guy.
“Honestly, I could tell from the moment you started settling into reality without training, trusting your rankings. Sheesh!”
Im Heesoo fumed.
It wasn’t just that the rankers he’d counted on got wrecked. What really wounded his pride was that he’d lost his bet with Park Changseok.
“Hey, watch what you say.”
“What?”
“If you think about it, isn’t this your fault, Assemblyman?”
“What, you little shit?”
“Little shit?”
O Ji-myeong wiped the vomit off his lips and glared at Im Heesoo.
“Just because you’re an Assemblyman and we’ve been humoring you, you think we’re a joke?”
“W-what…?!”
As if his blood pressure spiked, Im Heesoo grabbed the back of his neck.
Whatever. O Ji-myeong had to say what he had to say.
“If we’d known Baek Jinwoo was that strong, we wouldn’t have followed you in the first place. Right, Ho-seop?”
“That’s right, senior. Because of him, our careers are screwed. What do we do next year? He’s a player we’re going to keep seeing from now on.”
When a common fool runs into a problem, they think the cause isn’t themselves, but someone else. O Ji-myeong and Park Ho-seop pinned the blame for everything on Im Heesoo.
It wasn’t completely wrong—but still. Not my fault. Your fault.
“Assemblyman. We should be getting compensated for damages.”
“You crazy bastards!”
“Whether we’re crazy or reasonable… you’ll find out later. You’re smart enough to be sitting where you are, so I’m sure you understand what we’re saying. We’ll see you again soon. Let’s go, Ho-seop.”
“Yes, senior.”
Step.
O Ji-myeong and Park Ho-seop walked out of the arena.
“W-wait?”
Im Heesoo panicked.
What the hell did that mean?
Compensation, and “see you again soon”?
Are those bastards threatening me right now?
One hundred percent.
Saying “let’s meet separately” meant “watch your back in the alley”.
In truth, if rankers moved in formation like that, there was nothing you could do.
Even if they’d been shredded by Baek Jinwoo, weren’t they still among the top talents in South Korea?
If they started using force like a gang, you’d be helpless.
‘Fuck.’
Im Heesoo felt, down to the bone, that everything was getting tangled up.
* * *
Baek Jinwoo, who had overwhelmingly taken down the two rankers, didn’t bother moving.
‘Honestly, me moving around doesn’t really fit the balance.’
He had no intention of roaming around and knocking out innocent applicants for no reason. He just kept stacking Lamba’s stacks.
In fact, there wasn’t much more to stack.
HunGyo in its current state? Even if every remaining player teamed up and rushed him, it wouldn’t matter.
One stomp from HunGyo would be enough to slaughter them all and then some.
[Participating Players: 22/40]
Baek Jinwoo looked at the number of players floating at the very top-left of his vision.
‘Two left.’
When two more players were eliminated, the team battle would end and it would move on to the individual league.
So who managed to survive?
Lulu.
Humming to himself, relaxed—
Rustle.
A player emerged, pushing through the bushes. She was a woman with rather sharp features.
‘Never seen her before… so she’s probably outside the top 10.’
Her eyes were brimming with malice—she looked like she’d eliminated quite a few players.
“……”
They faced each other and stared in silence.
‘Why.’
Baek Jinwoo was simply sitting right where he was. He didn’t even think about attacking first.
The choice was hers. With only two more eliminations needed for everyone to pass together, would she fight? Or cooperate?
If she suggested cooperation, he’d accept.
‘But if she picked a fight… then…’
That would be the woman’s fate.
-Grrrrrr…
-Grrrk!
Judging by the wolves that appeared behind her and took hostile stances… it looked like she’d given the order to attack. Didn’t seem like she was particularly smart.
‘She must think I look easy. That was possible.’
He’d put away all his other summons and only had HunGyo and Lamba out.
But—
That’s her problem.
Baek Jinwoo wasn’t kind enough to let someone attack him and just let it slide.
Just as HunGyo, catching Baek Jinwoo’s gaze, was about to draw the sword it had sheathed—
“Regrettable.”
The woman spoke first.
Oh? So she had manners, at least?
“Rules are rules. I’ll be eliminating you. Try again next year. You don’t need to think you were unlucky. Luck is also a skill.”
Dash!
The wolves—likely her summons—charged.
But…
“No, it’s not that regrettable.”
Baek Jinwoo smiled faintly.
At the same time—
Slice-slice-slice-slice-slice!
All five wolves’ necks were severed at once.
Baek Jinwoo only learned much later that the woman’s ranking had been 5th.
“Honestly, I’m the one who’s regretting it. If you’d just brushed past and gone somewhere else, you might’ve passed. But no matter what, you had to run into me.”
“W-what…?!”
The woman stared at Baek Jinwoo, her face twisted in shock.
“But hey—who said it again? Luck is also a skill.”
That part was true. After all, Battle of Summoners was basically a luck-dependent trash game.
“T-that’s impossible…”
“Good work.”
The player vanished.
And then—
[Participating Players: 20/40]
[Ending the team battle.]
Maybe someone else got taken out somewhere, because the number dropped to twenty.
The first match ended just like that.
* * *
“……”
“……”
The commentators and the audience alike were frozen in silence. Because the screen had been showing Korea’s rank #5, Oh Sunyoung.
-W-what was that just now?
-I… I didn’t see it. It just flashed and… it looked like it ended.
-We’ll check the slow-motion replay for a moment.
It was so shocking that even the professional commentators were stammering.
The highlight looked similar to the previous one. No—it was even faster than before. A sword strike so quick that it wasn’t visible even after slowing the playback speed!
-Th-that Training Instructor summon… it cut Orang’s wolves down in a single slash!
Orang.
That was the nickname of Oh Sunyoung, rank #5 and one of Arirang’s “Big 3”, serving as a sub–guild master. She got the name because she carried five wolf summons.
-T-then does that mean after #9 and #10, even #5 has been eliminated?
-By the rules, yes.
-Th-this is truly overwhelming. It’s scary. At this level… even Korea’s rank #1 doesn’t seem like they’d have an answer. Where was a prodigy like this hiding until now—
-It’s a blessing for Korea! At this rate, we can take on the world league too!
The commentators’ praise poured out.
And it wasn’t just them. All of South Korea was buzzing.
[Breaking shock news! Rankers dropping one after another!]
[Player Baek Jinwoo confirmed as next year’s rising ranker! Insane rookie!]
Articles streamed in real time, and every community was filled with talk about Baek Jinwoo. Clips of HunGyo’s performance were already circulating everywhere.
ㄴHoly shit…
ㄴNo matter how many times I watch it, it makes no sense. At this level, doesn’t that mean even Kang Geonho gets ten-second’d?
ㄴ Seems likely. Domestic rankers are all around the same level anyway. At that level, he might be able to hang even globally.
ㄴ Come to think of it, yeah. He swept all the domestic records in the weekday dungeons—so of course he’s #1 in Korea. Doesn’t that mean he clears way faster than the current rankers?
ㄴ Whoa… so can we actually go all-in and cheer for Korea in this world league?
ㄴ Dae-jinwoo! God Jinwoo!
ㄴ Jinwoo oppa, I love you!
ㄴ But that Training Instructor summon looks handsome too? If it’s E-rank, why don’t we get it?
Especially—
Talk about the Training Instructor started bubbling up more and more.
ㄴIs that thing even on the market?
ㄴDon’t think so. Even if it is, it’d sell instantly.
ㄴ Even overseas people are starting to talk. They say there’s nothing like that on the market.
Then what the hell is it?
Then—
ㄴ Wait, come to think of it, isn’t that fairy behind him also a summon we’ve never seen before?
ㄴ Huh? You’re right!
Talk about the Wind Fairy came up too.
Gamers are saying that’s called a Wind Fairy.
ㄴ They say it’s a summon that disappeared after an early balance patch in the very beginning.
Then how does Baek Jinwoo have all that?
Well, wouldn’t there be a way?
ㄴ What way is that?!
ㄴ If I knew, I’d have done it. You think he’d tell you?
People were curious, but honestly, that wasn’t what mattered most.
What mattered to the public was one thing: A talent capable of shaking the world had appeared in South Korea.
* * *
Baek Jinwoo’s family was just as shocked.
“Daughter.”
“Y-yeah…”
Baek Ajin stared blankly at the screen, even stopping mid-bite of her chicken.
“So… right now our Jinwoo is… beating all those players everyone says are the best in Korea?”
“Yeah, Mom… I think so. Our brother might be a lunatic.”
“Hey. What kind of language is that about your brother?”
“Mom, I mean it in a good way…”
Baek Ajin and Hwang Myeonghui looked amazed.
Jinwoo, that kid…
Baek Jincheol sprang to his feet. Clenching his fist, he muttered with an intense, emotional expression.
‘He’s really going to become a world-class player.’
“Dad, what are you doing?”
Baek Ajin asked.
“I’m going to fry chicken.”
“Huh? Suddenly chicken…?”
“It’s a celebration! We’ve gotta hand it out to the whole neighborhood. It’s the Golden Bell, the Golden Bell! Wahahaha!”
In this moment, at least—Baek Jinwoo’s family was happier than any other.
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