86. The New National Team Representative (3)
Click!
At Baek Jinwoo’s command, HunGyo reset Tendon-Breaking Bone-Crushing to another 10 minutes.
—My ears hurt.
Saying the screams were too loud, he even pressed hearing.
As a result, Park Ho and the rankers could not even make a sound despite their agony.
"......"
In an instant, silence spread over the surroundings, and Kang Geonho swallowed hard.
This was absurd.
Just how had he raised his summons, and what kind of runes had he equipped them with to bring out that kind of power?
Those three had once been his comrades.
That was why he knew exactly how strong and troublesome they were.
When he had stood against them in order to keep his convictions, he had even braced himself for the possibility of losing his life.
But HunGyo had shattered people like that with a single sword strike.
This did not even qualify as a fight.
It was as though a human had simply gone smack! and swatted an annoying fly.
So this was what God Ji-nu was?
'Park Ho never even needed to step up in the first place.'
To be honest, he had never even dreamed it would be to this extent.
Park Ho, too, had only judged Baek Jinwoo’s full strength to be around the upper ranks of the next world rankers.
If he had known he was at this level now?
Forget dissatisfaction, he would have crawled like a dog long ago.
"Mr. Kang Geonho."
At the sound of Baek Jinwoo’s voice, Kang Geonho swallowed dryly.
He had not realized it, but his back was already soaked with cold sweat.
"Y-yes......"
"Please take care of these people. Once the 10 minutes are up, hand them over to Headquarters."
"To Headquarters?"
For reference, civilian crimes were handled by the police, while player crimes were managed directly by Headquarters.
"I’ll send them over with evidence on charges of solicitation of murder."
"Ah, y-yes! Understood."
Kang Geonho was 33 years old, and Baek Jinwoo was 27.
And yet Kang Geonho remained extremely respectful.
After seeing HunGyo in action, even elderly grandfathers and grandmothers would become polite.
"Hoo."
Baek Jinwoo let out a deep sigh as he looked at the visibly tense Kang Geonho.
'It’s not really Kang Geonho’s fault.'
He had seen it in the footage.
Every crime had been led by Park Ho, while the remaining executives had merely acted for their own benefit in the moment.
He did not see anything Kang Geonho had done wrong there.
"Separate from that, thank you for stepping in for Yoo Jia."
"No, on the contrary, I’m the one who should apologize. When the signs first appeared, I should have stepped in and stopped them more forcefully, but I failed to do that."
In truth, he had tried to stop them several times.
The problem was that they simply would not listen.
If anything, part of the reason he had come along was because he was worried they would leave him behind and go cause trouble.
Baek Jinwoo nodded.
"Originally, I had no intention of ever accepting a former Baekho executive into the next national team selection, you know?"
"Yes, I think that would be only natural."
"But you’re the exception, Mr. Kang Geonho. When the national team is reselected later, apply if you’re interested. Ah, of course."
He pointed at the tiger badge on Kang Geonho’s chest.
"You’ll have to take that badge off first."
Baek Jinwoo smiled and turned around.
Kang Geonho.
He was not bad, actually.
That would change after the reset next year, but for now, he was still ranked number one domestically.
And there were countless combinations that could be made with the Paladin (A-grade) he used.
If he was properly cultivated and given wings to fly, he could become a good ally.
"Then shall we go?"
When he spoke to Yoo Jia, she answered briskly.
"Yes!"
Fortunately, the sports car had not been damaged.
* * *
"Damn it, there’s not even anything to choose here, is there?"
The Director let out a hollow laugh.
In front of him was the video of Park Ho threatening Yoo Jia.
"Wow, this bastard Park Ho. I thought he was smart, but he was a complete idiot. Of all people to mess with, he had to mess with Baek Jinwoo’s people. And not just anyone, but Yoo Jia, his closest confidante."
Right.
No matter how desperate Headquarters was, it could not keep a criminal on the national team.
National team, my ass!
With evidence this clear, he would be spending the rest of his life in prison.
In truth, if the case had gone to court, it might have ended with only about five years for attempted murder.
Former-judge privilege lawyers and all that, Korean law was kind of messed up like that to begin with.
But they were different.
For one thing, players did not go to court.
They went to Headquarters, which had the authority of summary judgment.
Because the power they possessed was great and dangerous, the punishments were far harsher, and they were treated as a special case.
"Director. You know, right? It has to be life imprisonment, no matter what."
"I know, I know. I told you, didn’t I? For the rest of my term, I’d do well to just listen to you."
"An excellent choice. Daeseong said the same thing. They said if it wasn’t life imprisonment, they would respond very strongly. They were so uneasy they were even saying we should just execute them, and I was the one who stopped them."
It was only natural that Daeseong was furious.
They had attacked the bloodline of the founder and his successor, so it would have been stranger if they had not been enraged.
Anyway.
At Park Changseok’s strong insistence, they were immediately sent to a prison exclusively for players.
What if they escaped later?
That was impossible.
"......Uh."
"Hiiiii."
"Heuhhe."
Tendon-Breaking Bone-Crushing seemed to have become such a severe trauma that they could barely even speak.
Maybe they would recover later, but by then, they would already be far below their former level.
They would be controlled easily enough.
"Ah, Assemblyman Park Changseok."
"Yes, Director."
"You know that press conference thing? Make the announcement tomorrow right away. Say that Headquarters respects Baek Jinwoo’s opinion and will actively accept it."
"Hehe, the people will love it."
"Heh heh heh."
These days, the Director felt as though he were floating on air.
All he had done was change Headquarters’ stance to one of backing Baek Jinwoo, but lately his approval had been soaring through the sky.
At this rate, he would most likely win the next election too.
The position of Director might be taken by Park Changseok, but so what!
"Reselect the national team. Start it right away! Just let Yoo Jia do whatever she wants."
The Director’s voice was unusually light.
* * *
[Player Headquarters Makes a Bold Decision! "We’ll Select the National Team Again!"]
[The Director pushes it through without a public vote, and behind him is Assemblyman Park Changseok. "There’s no time left. The World League is just around the corner."]
[Public expectations rise at Baek Jinwoo’s refreshing promise of making the semifinals!]
Waaaah!!
ㄴKyaaaah! This is it!!
ㄴThis is insane. Why has Headquarters been doing such a good job lately?
The public cheered.
In fact, they were pleased that it had been decided boldly without a vote.
ㄴAre we seriously about to pull something off at this rate? Semifinals?
ㄴAre we really going there? Lol, just imagining it feels amazing.
ㄴ Ah, no way. He probably just means he’s that confident. Honestly, if making the semifinals were that easy, would we be in this situation?
ㄴ If they don’t make the semifinals, are you going to curse Baek Jinwoo out?
ㄴ Why would anyone do that?
ㄴ Why? No matter how much it’s Baek Jinwoo, if he doesn’t understand the weight of his words, isn’t it possible he could get criticized?
ㄴ Hey, didn’t you read that article?
ㄴ What article?
ㄴ I’ll send you the link, go read it ㄱ
ㄴ Okay lol
An article came out.
It was an article released by Yoo Jia.
['Yoobaek' makes a huge pledge! If they fail to reach the Semifinals, they will compensate the Nation with 1 Trillion Won Worth! To be used as subsidies!]
It was truly the perfect response.
If they lost, it still left a warm impression, and if they won, it would be an absolute jackpot!
Naturally, public sentiment skyrocketed.
ㄴ Damn!
ㄴ That’s crazy.
ㄴ 1 trillion, that’s fair.
ㄴ Isn’t that basically saying they’ll return everything the national team received?
ㄴ This is seriously leaving no room for retreat.
ㄴ It’s not just empty words, it means they’ll definitely take responsibility. You have to trust this. Even if they fail to make the semifinals, I’d still acknowledge it.
Words carry responsibility.
Until now, the rankers had done nothing but steadily siphon off taxpayers’ money, never once bringing back proper results.
Hadn’t they been eliminated in the preliminaries every single time, then strutted around arrogantly as if they were hot stuff without even a single apology?
This time was different.
Baek Jinwoo was bold, and to take responsibility for his words, he had even put money on the line.
In this world, nothing is more honest and certain than money.
The people, too, were beginning to feel it more and more.
* * *
‘Ah.’
Something really is changing in South Korea.
And naturally, at the center of that storm of change was Baek Jinwoo.
Yoobaek posted an announcement.
To summarize, it said this.
[We are recruiting national team members, so submit your applications! Players will be selected through document screening, a test, and a final interview!
Since national team members must share the same direction and values, only players capable of leaving their guilds may apply!
A total of three members will be selected! You do not have to be a ranker!
Those who pass must join the new guild SKY!]
It was incredibly shocking news, and the biggest shock of all was obviously that applicants did not have to be rankers!
Most people reacted by saying they could not understand it.
And Yoo Jia was no different.
"Jinwoo."
"Yes."
"This feels a little strange no matter how I look at it. Shouldn’t we still pick rankers? We can’t take non-rankers into the World League. There’s a whole 1 trillion won on the line….."
Yoo Jia trusted Baek Jinwoo unconditionally.
And yet she was still anxious.
There was no helping it, since for the past three years she had personally felt the huge wall of the world with her own body.
"I’m a non-ranker too, though."
"Come on, Jinwoo, you’re obviously a special case!"
"Actually."
Smirk.
Baek Jinwoo smiled.
"At this point, South Korea’s level is pretty much the same whether they’re rankers or non-rankers."
"......"
At least, that was how it looked in Baek Jinwoo’s eyes.
If you looked farther ahead?
World rankers and non-rankers were not all that different either.
'You have to look far ahead.'
Only three years had passed since the world changed.
No one knew who would become strong and who would become weak in the future.
Rather than an ordinary ranker, it was actually better to have a player specialized in something.
For example, someone like Hwang Jiwoo with Fiery Body.
To be honest, he had even thought this before.
‘Should I just put Hwang Jiwoo on the national team?’
That was because HunGyo never stopped praising her, and she was truly working hard.
'But that would be a little too early.'
That was why he was selecting three people.
The currently confirmed national team members were as follows.
[National Team Player Roster]
[1. Non-ranker, Baek Jinwoo]
[2. Rank 3, Hong Ari]
[3. Rank 4, An Gijeong]
[4. Rank 8, Hwang Juwon]
[5. Rank 15, Gi Jaehyuk]
[6. Rank 25, Kang Jihoe]
Exactly six people.
And if Oh Sunyoung was included, that made seven.
An Gijeong and Hwang Juwon had left Ilwol Guild and become waiting members to join SKY.
'I don’t know whether Kang Geonho will apply or not.'
Either way was fine.
If he applied, HunGyo would filter candidates in the first round, and then Yoo Jia had decided to conduct the interview personally.
Using Mind-Reading Eagle, she planned to test how sincere he was about being a player, how passionate he was, and how loyal he would be to the organization.
Because Mind-Reading Eagle had a cooldown, only one person could be interviewed per day, but…..
Still, it was better than nothing.
The moment someone entered SKY, they would become his direct disciple, so even if he was going to choose them, it was better to choose carefully and thoroughly.
"Hoo."
There were now 90 days left until the World League. He could only hope someone worthy would be selected within that time.
* * *
"Are there a lot of applicants?"
"Don’t even ask......"
Yoo Jia shook her head repeatedly.
"So many people flooded in that the homepage has already crashed twice."
"Whoa, already?"
Baek Jinwoo clicked his tongue.
Would they even be able to interview them all?
Who knows.
‘If no one suitable gets picked, I’ll just put in Hwang Jiwoo or something.’
"When is the test?"
"Exactly one week from now. Until then, we have to review the documents rigorously. Before they even go to HunGyo, we have to filter them through the paperwork first."
This was bad.
Things were already busy, and now they were about to get even busier.
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