A Clean Sweep and New Rules

"We've never even met, so how would I know? More importantly, how did you know, Father?"

"I heard people talking about it a few times, so I looked up the articles."

"?"

"Well, the Association President... *cough*." Kim Tae-san glanced at Chairman Yu. He didn't want to badmouth the guy if Chairman Yu was close friends with him.

"I'm not close with that fellow, so speak freely. And he's not an employee of our group anyway!"

"Ah. Is that so?"

"You didn't just fire him, did you?"

"No, the Association President isn't part of the Yuseong Group. Anyway, where did I see it... Ah, there were articles about unreasonable tournament schedules, player overwork, donation controversies, and favoritism toward specific gaming teams..."

"……."

Tae-hyun listened in amazement. Wow, he really did a number!

What I heard from Lee Se-yeon was just a drop in the bucket.

"That's enough. We can stop talking about him. At any rate, that's the kind of man he was, which is why I called him in and reprimanded him today."

"Wow. Well done."

"...The reason I asked your son to sit down as well is because this concerns him too. There was corruption regarding the national team selection."

Kim Tae-san was furious. How dare they...?

"How dare they... Did they demand money for my son to be selected for the national team?"

"They weren't quite that insane. They wanted to select him, drag him to promotional events, and force him to do interviews defending them."

"Ah."

Kim Tae-san's anger subsided by about half. It was milder than he had expected.

"I already heard about that. That's why I was planning to boycott the tournament..."

"Hey! You have to play for the national team!"

Kim Tae-san was even more shocked. Boycotting the national team?!

"Father, you don't even watch our team's matches anyway, so why..."

"You don't watch them? Do you watch Yuseong Gaming instead?" Chairman Yu looked at him with a slightly expectant expression. Did Kim Tae-san value friendship over his own son?

"My father does watch the matches."

"...But they're a 2nd Division team..."

"A-Ah, no. Their matches are actually quite entertaining, Elder."

"Why, when there are two 1st Division teams right nearby... No, that's not what's important. At any rate, there's no need to boycott. I will set everything straight."

"Ah. If you're the one choosing, doesn't that mean I won't be able to make the cut?"

"……."

Chairman Yu glared at Tae-hyun. This cheeky brat really had no filter...!

"I will hire a proper head coach and have them build a team based on proper standards. Besides, shouldn't you be worrying about something else?"

"?"

"What... Haven't you heard that the rules are changing?"

"Ah. The rules? Well, the rules always change a little bit every year."

Tae-hyun wasn't particularly surprised. Rules naturally shifted slightly to match the current trends. Since the Arena League had ended, the World Cup rules would likely change accordingly.

"It seems you haven't heard the specifics. It hasn't been made public yet, but there are two changes that are almost certain to happen."

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Chairman Yu counted them down on his fingers. One was the restriction on equipment and items. Players could only wear arena-exclusive gear provided by the organizers, and there would be a limit on the number of items they could bring in.

"Huh? They're actually doing that? Aren't the gaming teams protesting?"

"They protested, of course, but the AI made the decision, so what can they do? And..."

Chairman Yu stared at Tae-hyun. No matter how he thought about it, Tae-hyun seemed to be one of the primary reasons for this rule. Originally, the AI had judged that 'allowing items makes it easier to keep players in check than banning them, and items should be allowed as much as possible for diverse entertainment.' However, after observing recent events, the AI had changed its mind.

"Wow. Everyone must have spent a fortune preparing their items."

"Some gaming teams might actually find this to be a good thing. Polarization is already worsening because of equipment prices."

Mega-sized gaming teams spent massive capital to craft mind-boggling gear. It was no joke that a single piece of equipment could cost as much as a building. Teams with less capital simply couldn't keep up.

"Hmm. That's true. Once you fall behind in items, it's definitely hard to catch up."

Tae-hyun reviewed his thoughts. If the Adamantium Armor was banned...

We'll both be on thin ice.

While Tae-hyun would become vulnerable to curses and various 100% accuracy attacks, his opponents would also become vulnerable to his damage. It would become a much more brutal, one-shot battle.

Wait... Since barely anyone had Adamantium Armor in the first place, am I the only one losing out?

As Tae-hyun calculated, he realized he had surpassed level 200.

Ah. Come to think of it, I won't be able to get the level buff either.

While everyone else was trying to surpass level 200 and reach level 300, Tae-hyun had been the only one receiving a buff because he hadn't even reached level 200. Now that he had surpassed level 200, he would receive a debuff instead of a stat buff!

No Adamantium Armor, plus a level debuff... Hmm. It's definitely going to be a lot harder.

Tae-hyun calmly assessed the situation. Several unfavorable conditions had arisen, but he did not despair. He wasn't the type to despair over something like this anyway. In fact, the higher the difficulty, the more motivated Tae-hyun became!

"But you said there were two? What's the other one?"

"Player bans."

"...Excuse me??"

Tae-hyun doubted his ears. Seeing his shocked expression, Chairman Yu suddenly felt a swell of pride. Even this guy could be surprised!

"What on earth...?"

Player bans. If they could choose one player and prevent them from playing...

Wouldn't I be the only one who gets banned every single time?!

No matter how skilled Tae-hyun was, he had to actually play to win; he couldn't win from the sidelines. His opponents would gleefully ban him every single match.

"There's no need to worry that much. The rule is that if a player is banned once in a match, they cannot be banned in the remaining rounds."

A player banned once could not be banned in other rounds. A match was a best-of-three. This meant they would only be unable to play in one out of the three rounds.

"It's a rule that's possible because national teams have plenty of substitute players. Otherwise, we'd only see the same faces over and over again."

"If this rule is introduced to the league, it's going to be quite fatal..."

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Above all, Team KL had no substitute players. Other gaming teams prepared at least two or three, and as many as five or six, battle-ready substitutes just in case. Not only that, they even trained trainees in their secondary and tertiary teams...

Now that I think about it, we've been running on a real razor's edge.

If even one of their players had logged out, they would have been in deep trouble. They had been incredibly lucky.

"I don't know about the league since that's a matter for later, but for now, it seems the World Cup will proceed with these rules."

Tae-hyun did a quick calculation. Even if he couldn't play in one of the three rounds, he could theoretically win if he performed well in the remaining two. It was startling at first, but it was a better rule than the item restriction.

"Thank you for letting me know. I'll have to give this some thought."

"Hmph. Do whatever you want."

Beside them, Kim Tae-san grinned and said,

"You say that, yet you're still looking out for him... Thank you."

"Do you really have to say that out loud?"

Shocking news poured out in droves. On the surface, it concluded with the upper management, including the Association President and Secretary General, resigning voluntarily.

Of course, from the perspective of each gaming team, this was an incredibly absurd announcement. They had barely managed to secure spots for their players on the national team roster through all kinds of bribes, flattery, and donations, and now a sudden resignation?!

Those who had been furiously contacting the Association President were terrified when Chairman Yu answered instead. It was a level of influence that a mere gaming team manager could never hope to withstand!

"We will work hard from now on! For the players! Pan-On fighting!"

The other gaming teams trying to protest went through a similar process.

Attempted protest → Realization → "We will work hard from now on!"

And they all thought the same thing at the same time:

Why on earth is a corporate chairman interested in running a gaming team?!

At his age, what...?!

Once the association was completely swept clean, Pan-On fans began to react with anticipation.

"!"

A message window popped up while he was hunting in the desert! Tae-hyun's face lit up at the mention of being able to disguise himself. What an opportunity!

From Carbanog's perspective, borrowing power by using such a suspicious item was highly distasteful.

Maybe Carbanog doesn't understand because it's a divine beast.

Schemes like this were necessary sometimes, yet it just wouldn't understand!

"...Isn't this insane?!"

"No matter how I look at it, that's a bit much...!"

However, it wasn't just Carbanog; the others reacted similarly. Of all things to disguise himself as, a minion of the Hungry Chaos?!

"Why? Isn't it a great method?"

"How are you going to handle the consequences if you get caught? It's too dangerous! If you get caught, you'll just be forced to log out..."

"That's why I shouldn't get caught."

Their fundamental ways of thinking were entirely different! At Tae-hyun's words, the guild members were left speechless.

Beside ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them, the Power Warrior guild members looked on in admiration.

"As expected...!"

"Just don't get caught! That's incredibly logical."

"……."

Are we the ones who are weird?

Are we the crazy ones?!

Lee Se-yeon's guild members clutched their heads in agony.