47. National Team Consulting
As a new building was added to 「Yoobaek」, Baek Ajin also moved to a new workplace.
The 34th floor of the headquarters.
The entire floor was the department in charge of purchasing and selling Baek Jinwoo’s items.
Baek Ajin’s rank was director, and since they had hired quite a lot of employees, she no longer had to go out to the Samseong-dong market very often.
“Representative.”
“Yes, Director Baek.”
Yoo Jia and Baek Ajin had become close enough to call each other like sisters, but during work hours, they neatly addressed each other by their titles.
Right now, they were doing their utmost to acquire all-purpose runes.
“For now, we’ve searched every market in the world, and if we only count the listed stock, there are about twenty-five.”
Twenty-five was quite welcome news. At any rate, it meant there was supply.
“What about the price?”
“It’s all over the place. If I average it out, about 150 billion won per piece?”
It was truly an enormous price.
Considering that the market price of a Top-grade Light-Speed Rune had been 15 billion won, it was absurdly expensive.
In truth, that was only natural.
If the Light-Speed Rune only benefited attack-speed summons that wielded staves, then the all-purpose rune was, quite literally, all-purpose.
It was versatile enough to suit any summon.
“Hmm, Jinwoo said he wanted eighteen of them, and the budget is 2 trillion…”
“…We’re still far short.”
“Exactly.”
Just by simple calculation, buying them all would require 2.7 trillion won.
Yoo Jia, who had been tapping the documents Baek Ajin brought with her fingernails, continued.
“On top of that, we can’t trust all those prices. Even after tracking them down, negotiating everything, and getting right up to the point of purchase, a lot of sellers back out at the last second.”
“They’re testing the waters in case they can sell them for even more later, right?”
Originally, with high-priced goods, the psychological battle between buyer and seller was especially fierce.
“Yes, so even if we buy them, we have to do it carefully so word doesn’t spread all at once. If we buy them one by one too slowly, they’ll all contact each other and raise the price.”
“...Then what do we do?”
“We work the angle.”
Yoo Jia said it clearly.
Work the angle?
“We’ll each create completely different identities. We’ll disguise ourselves as people who look like they have purchasing power and approach them all at once. We’ll hit them before they have time to gather information.”
“…Oh.”
“And Director Baek, please write up a post saying we’re buying all-purpose runes. At a price much cheaper than the market…”
“Hmm, something like buying six of them at 100 billion each.”
“On markets all over the world?”
“Yes, and every week after that, we’ll gradually reduce it to five, then four, then three.”
“Ah!”
Baek Ajin clapped her hands.
“So we’re trying to make them feel pressed for time?”
“Exactly. If stock is still sitting there from the start, that means no buyer capable of swallowing those prices has shown up yet.”
“Wow…!”
Watching Yoo Jia, Baek Ajin learned a great deal.
Not just selling, but even buying had to be approached strategically like that.
“What should we do about the budget shortfall?”
“Let’s try to resolve it somehow within the national budget. And if that absolutely doesn’t work…”
“…Then even if we have to use Yoobaek’s money, we’ll get them.”
With limited-edition runes, you had to move quickly.
The more of them they secured, the more unique the value of the runes Baek Jinwoo used would become.
“Then let’s move fast!”
“Yes!”
* * *
The promised Saturday.
The day of the first national team assembly.
Baek Jinwoo only ran the Advanced weekday dungeon loop in the morning, then came out to the arena hall.
The meeting time was 10 a.m.
Even though he arrived twenty minutes early, at 9:40—
“Huh…?”
All nine rankers were already there.
They had been chatting in groups with the rankers they were close to, but the moment Baek Jinwoo entered, they all shut their mouths tight.
Those who had been standing with one leg cocked straightened themselves, and everyone put on polite and humble expressions.
The high school rankers Gi Jaehyuk and Kang Jihoe in particular—
“Hello, sir!”
“Hello, sir!”
They stared at him with bright, eager eyes, then bowed sharply at a right angle toward Baek Jinwoo.
What’s with them?
This is kind of burdensome.
Still, kids acting like that does make them look cute.
“Haha, nice to meet you.”
After bowing back, Baek Jinwoo stepped in and thought to himself.
Maybe it’s because they’re rankers?
They were all very punctual. Their first impressions pass, at least.
Even so, their captain had just come in, and none of them kept chatting, ignored him, or tried to pull seniority just because they had been on the national team before.
In truth, that was only natural.
Baek Jinwoo had taken down Kang Geonho, the No. 1 in the domestic rankings, in under a minute, so what seniority could they possibly pull?
If there was anything they could absorb from him, they should lower themselves and absorb it.
Half a year until the world league.
That was a long time if you looked at it one way, and a short time if you looked at it another.
If Baek Jinwoo was going to win anyway, he would rather see South Korea win.
“Hello. I’m Baek Jinwoo, lacking as I may be, but I’ve been appointed captain of this national team.”
Under the gaze of many people, he greeted them calmly.
Then—
As if they had made a promise, everyone introduced themselves.
“If I list the players from the Baekho guild, it goes like this.”
Rank 1, Kang Geonho (33)
Rank 2, Park Hoe (35)
Rank 6, Bok Jeonghee (31)
Rank 7, Seo Sangwon (30)
A guild in their thirties?
Even so, the specs were incredible.
Four of the domestic top ten rankers belonged to Baekho.
It was no wonder people said they were the strongest of the three major guilds.
The Baekho guild members came forward one by one and greeted him.
Then—
“As you all know, I’m An Gijeong of Ilwol.”
One of the three major guilds, Ilwol, had two members here.
Rank 4, An Gijeong (41)
Rank 8, Hwang Juwon (53)
An Gijeong was the guild master, and Hwang Juwon the vice guild master.
Both were in their forties and fifties, making them fairly old compared to the rest here.
“Brother Juwon and I have always taken part in the national team together.”
Their faces looked warm and familiar, like neighborhood uncles, and they seemed to have somewhat outgoing personalities.
They gave the impression of easing the stiff atmosphere.
Then—
“Hello, hyung-nim! I’m Gi Jaehyuk!”
“I’m Kang Jihoe! I became your fan after the selection match!”
“Please make us do anything! We’re fully prepared to play the role of the youngest members!”
Those two spirited high schoolers.
They were the guild master and vice guild master leading the hot new Carpe Diem.
Rank 15, Gi Jaehyuk (19)
Rank 25, Kang Jihoe (18)
Personally, Baek Jinwoo liked them.
Originally, 「Battle of Summoners」 required a fair amount of physical ability too.
Like when riding a wyvern or swimming with a dolphin…there were definitely sections where you had to use your body.
That was why Baek Jinwoo exercised consistently in his daily life.
‘They remind me of myself when I was younger.’
The fact that they had made the national team despite their lower rankings meant they had put in blood-soaked effort.
“Yeah, nice to meet you.”
Finding them cute, he immediately spoke casually. And as if those words moved them deeply, the two rankers beamed.
And lastly—
“I’m Hong Ari.”
Rank 3, Hong Ari (27)
“I run the Arirang guild, and I used to be on the national team with unni Sunyoung, but this time I’m participating alone.”
As she said that, she glanced at Baek Jinwoo.
“In the team match, we ran into a natural disaster.”
If she means unni Sunyoung…
She meant Oh Sunyoung.
The vice guild master of the Arirang guild, a tremendous powerhouse, but in the team battle she got cut down by HunGyo in ten seconds.
“Still, unni Sunyoung was satisfied. She said it was an honor to meet someone strong. You’re the same age as me, so if you guide me, I’ll follow well.”
“Yes, thank you.”
All the rankers had finished introducing themselves.
It was quite fascinating.
The heads of the domestic Big 3 had all gathered in one place.
And yet such big figures were all lowering themselves just because of Baek Jinwoo alone.
Well.
They were good at reading the room and had enough sense, which was probably why they had become rankers counted among the very best out of a population of fifty million.
‘How should I teach them?’
If this had been the old Baek Jinwoo, he probably would have just looked over their summons roughly and left it at that.
Wasn’t that how it had been even with the Five Emperors, whom he had known for five years? At most, he would only occasionally give them hints.
But.
Now that the nation had additionally given him the enormous sum of 1 trillion won, he could not just gloss over it.
He intended to give them consulting worth at least that much.
“Anyway, it looks like we’re now in a position where we’ll have to spend the next half year together.”
Having neatly organized all of their information in his head, Baek Jinwoo opened his mouth.
“I’ll tell you in advance that I’ll point out your intelligence, weaknesses, or bad habits whenever I see them. However, I won’t spoon-feed you directly.”
Baek Jinwoo’s honest feelings?
Everyone standing before him was below standard.
To the point that he could not even tell where to begin teaching them.
First of all.
They simply lacked too much experience.
As for Baek Jinwoo, when he was younger, he had been so obsessed with the game that he analyzed the skills of more than forty thousand summons of each grade one by one and compared their matchups.
He had struggled to defeat rankers in the player arena using weak summons, and he had also learned that certain “feel” by challenging the Tower of Trials at extreme difficulty thousands of times.
But?
Their summons were too standardized.
If you set up one fixed framework and only raise that, then you cannot respond when you encounter a bad matchup.
If you want to standardize your lineup?
You need broken summons.
Like Baek Jinwoo’s EX-grade summons.
Ordinary players should never standardize their summons.
But then again.
Did he really need to explain things that deeply?
“For now, we’ll start with sparring.”
One round each.
They would battle him, and afterward they could ask questions about anything they found lacking or puzzling.
After that?
He would give feedback on better options, summons, rune settings, mind games, and so on.
That was the best consulting Baek Jinwoo could offer them.
* * *
A remote area in South Korea.
An abandoned building deep within it.
From that grim place, which looked as though no one had set foot there for a very long time, a voice rang out.
“What do you think?”
“……”
The man, who had stayed silent for a moment at the question, slowly nodded.
“One thing is certain. We can’t just sit still and watch.”
In his hand were a large number of documents, and everything contained in them was about the exploits of a single player.
‘Baek Jinwoo.’
The man thought to himself.
He was an absurdly strong player.
“Then what do we do? Are we going to strike at Baek Jinwoo, Mr. Jihak?”
Jihak.
If someone had heard that name, their jaw would have dropped in shock.
Rank 30, Jo Jihak.
The leader of the gang alliance that had stirred up South Korea, and the one occupying the No. 1 spot on Headquarters’ blacklist.
Because he did not participate in the world league, his ranking had slipped somewhat, but his martial power could not be ignored.
“You idiot. Strike Baek Jinwoo?”
Jo Jihak laughed as if dumbfounded.
Had that bastard not watched the selection match footage?
How was a gang supposed to touch Baek Jinwoo, who had sliced through the current top rankers as if toying with them?
In truth.
That was the gang’s biggest concern these days.
Baek Jinwoo was simply too strong, and because of that, the balance with Headquarters had been thrown off.
If Headquarters got serious and controlled Baek Jinwoo as part of its movements?
That could spell the end for the gang.
“First, call back all the ones who are overseas. This is an emergency.”
For reference, the gang could not use South Korea’s 「Player Zone」.
Seoul, Busan.
All of it was perfectly controlled by Headquarters.
So they went overseas.
Nearby Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, and Myanmar.
They bribed those governments under the table and secretly used the facilities there.
“If we can’t hit Baek Jinwoo directly, then we just hit him indirectly.”
“Indirectly?”
“First, what happened to the matter I told you to handle last time?”
“Ah, you mean O Ji-myeong and Park Ho-seop. We’ve made contact with them. We haven’t heard their answer yet, but it seems likely we’ll get a fairly positive result.”
Recently, the gang had been trying to recruit two rankers.
Rank 9, O Ji-myeong, and Rank 10, Park Ho-seop.
They had been eliminated in the selection matches, and on top of that, they had recently been openly expressing a great deal of dissatisfaction with Headquarters, so the gang had aimed for that opening.
“For now, we wait for that result first. One week from now, we’ll meet here again.”
“Yes, I will obey, Mr. Jihak.”
The subordinate bowed his head politely.
Jo Jihak did not even bother looking at him.
He merely swept his gaze across the abandoned building once, and then vanished in a smooth motion.
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