The Dream Team Blueprint
He already had plenty of enemies; he had no desire to drag his enemies from Pan-On 1 into this as well. It wasn't as if Tae-hyun would die if he didn't participate, so he had no intention of going. While other players were risking everything to form teams and conduct joint training just to earn reputation and make a name for themselves... to Tae-hyun, it was nothing more than a pebble on the side of the road!
Just then, a whisper came from Bae Jang-wook.
Bae Jang-wook hesitated. He hadn't sent the whisper to talk about the Demon Realm. But...
'Can I really tell him, "You don't have to put on those useless concepts anymore!"?'
Unlike before, when Tae-hyun had simply handed over recorded footage, this video had actually been a nightmare to edit. But Bae Jang-wook held back. What if he accidentally offended Tae-hyun?
It seemed to be the tournament he had just been discussing with Cain. Tae-hyun nodded and replied.
Although he didn't say it to Tae-hyun, Bae Jang-wook was harboring a thought that would have horrified Tae-hyun had he heard it. Once Tae-hyun accepted, he planned to contact Lee Se-yeon and invite her as well!
'A dream team will be born. Just hearing their names will get people hooked!'
Strictly speaking, this Prika Arena League was a domestic league. Although Pan-On 2 was a global game, the hosting broadcaster was MBS, and while there were quite a few foreign participants, the vast majority were still Korean players!
In fact, Korean players made up an unusually large portion of Pan-On 2. An strangely high number of players compared to the national population!
However, Bae Jang-wook's junior, Cha Su-han, was looking further ahead, painting a much larger picture.
'If this Arena League succeeds unlike the failure in Pan-On 1, it can grow even bigger.'
A professional arena league running on a global scale! Not a league sponsored by Korean companies with mostly Korean players, but a professional league where global corporations participated as sponsors and players from all over the world competed.
There were already several precedents in other games. Cha Su-han dreamed of such a picture, and Bae Jang-wook admired and agreed with the idea.
'It's definitely possible. Everyone loves Pan-On 2 so much right now, yet surprisingly, there's no pro league within Pan-On 2.'
This was due to the nature of Pan-On 2 as an MMORPG, but this arena seemed capable of resolving that drawback. If so, what they needed right now, even for a domestic league, was players who could draw massive attention from people overseas!
Of course, Bae Jang-wook and Cha Su-han's grand dreams were completely separate from Tae-hyun's thoughts.
He had expected it, but hearing the actual response still left a lingering sense of disappointment! Clinging to straws, Bae Jang-wook spoke again.
Tae-hyun agreed without much thought. An exhibition match would just be a one-time participation, and he could probably get through it without drawing too much attention. Besides, if worst came to worst, he could always use lack of time as an excuse to back out.
"What were you guys talking about?" Cain asked curiously.
"They asked if I wanted to participate in the upcoming Arena Pro League as an invited team."
"What?! From where?!"
"MBS is hosting it. They definitely have the power to do that."
"Let's go! Let's do it!"
"No way, man. Do you know how many quests I have to clear right now?"
"Are quests really the priority right now?! The Pan-On rankings are great and all, but honestly, that's too hard to climb!"
There were tons of high-level rankers, and large guilds were constantly clashing. Honestly, breaking into the top tier of the Pan-On rankings seemed distant and impossible. It wasn't just a matter of skill; the gap was already too wide, and the difference in the power of the guilds backing them was massive...
In contrast, this Arena Pro League felt like a place where they could compete purely on skill. Besides, didn't Cain have Tae-hyun by his side!
"Instead of the rankings, if we can establish ourselves in this new Arena Pro League...!" Cain's eyes blazed.
"Establish ourselves?"
"I-if we establish ourselves, we'll get sponsors, and we can live as official pro gamers!"
"Why are you stuttering?"
"W-when did I?"
"More importantly, do we even need sponsors? I don't really care about being a pro gamer."
Lee Da-bi, who was listening to their conversation, chimed in. "Isn't someone of your level already basically a pro gamer, Tae-hyun?"
"Am I? I've never thought of myself that way."
"Now that I think about it, you might be closer to a broadcaster."
Listening to their relaxed conversation, Cain stamped his feet in frustration. "Hey! Where else are you going to find an opportunity like this?! All kinds of bastards are flocking to participate right now! They have to roll and crawl through the qualifiers to pass, but we get a free pass!"
"Look at this guy trying to get a free ride. Other people are putting in effort, and you want to play dirty like that?"
"I-I didn't propose it, the broadcasting station did...!"
Tae-hyun ignored Cain and turned to Lee Da-bi. "What's up with him? Did he always like the arena this much?"
"Isn't it because of the reason he just mentioned?"
"What reason?"
"Being able to live as an official pro gamer. For you, Tae-hyun, you probably make a decent income just by appearing on game broadcasts through your contract with the station, but..."
In truth, Tae-hyun didn't even need that income. The buildings registered under his name! The steady stream of rental income flowing from them! If Lee Da-bi and Cain had known about this, they would have showered him with curses, calling him a "golden-spoon bastard!"
"Cain doesn't have anything like that."
"Doesn't he do personal streaming?"
"Can just anyone do that? The competition is incredibly fierce. And Cain... after Red Zone collapsed... he stopped streaming..."
"..."
Suddenly, sympathetic gazes shot toward Cain!
"W-what are you looking at me like that for?!"
"Um... I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?! Don't pity me!"
Cain jumped up and down. Tae-hyun asked Lee Da-bi, "Wait. Don't you like money too?"
"I love it!"
"Then why aren't you telling me to join the arena?"
"That's because... I don't have the confidence?"
Lee Da-bi was a cold realist. This Prika Arena Pro League was drawing people's attention with advertisements like: 'An Arena Equal for All!', 'Forget Levels! Only Skill Matters!', 'Forget the Arenas of the Past! The Perfect Arena Is Coming!'
But in Lee Da-bi's eyes, that was false advertising. Just because stats were balanced didn't mean a skill-less person would suddenly become strong. And most of the rankers in Pan-On 2 were highly skilled players. In the end, those who would place at the top of this Arena Pro League were highly likely to be the current rankers of Pan-On 2.
"Even if I participate, I don't think I'd win."
"You're better than Cain."
Hearing Tae-hyun's words, Cain flared up. "What about me?! And what Lee Da-bi said applies to people who have to win from the qualifiers! We're invited! We get to fight directly in the main tournament!"
"Still, it's not like skill you don't have will suddenly appear..."
"Don't have such negative thoughts! I need results this time! Do you know how much pressure I'm getting at home?!"
"Huh?"
Cain gasped. He had accidentally blurted out his true feelings out of embarrassment! The looks the two gave Cain became even more deeply sympathetic.
"So there was such a story..."
"I'm sorry. I should have been more considerate..."
"N-no! It's just... I just said that! My family doesn't really pressure me!"
"Cain. Just be honest."
"...'How long are you going to just play games?'...'Go do something with your life'... *sob*... Should I start personal streaming again..."
"Give personal streaming a try. Though I'm not sure how many viewers you'll get."
Tae-hyun patted Cain's shoulder to comfort him. It was a desperate, undeniable reason!
"Every time I stream, there are so many bastards laughing at me in the comments, and so many linking me to you..." Cain whined.
Those who didn't even know how much he suffered under Tae-hyun would leave comments like, 'Is it fun hanging out with Kim Tae-hyun?', 'Where did your pride go?' He felt truly wronged. Cain's hidden circumstances!
However, this time, Lee Da-bi spoke firmly. "You shouldn't let things like that shake you!"
"?!"
"If you get shaken by a few comments like that, you don't have the right to broadcast. You have to be steadfast! Confident! Believe in yourself and keep going!"
"T-that's..."
Cain was flustered by how strongly the usually calm Lee Da-bi was speaking. Seeing this, Tae-hyun thought to himself:
'Is it really okay for the Guild Leader of Power Warrior to say something like that?'
If anyone else had said it, it might have sounded like a touching speech, but coming from Lee Da-bi, the Guild Leader of Power Warrior who plastered advertisements everywhere, it felt a bit strange.
"Nothing in this world is easy! To make money, you have to work hard at everything!"
"That's... I was too weak..."
Cain, who was about to reflect on himself, paused. "No, wait a minute. All of this would be solved if we just go to the Arena Pro League! This isn't even hard! We just need to get invited!"
"Ah, I said I don't want to."
"WHY?! WHY?!"
"I just don't want to."
"Waaah!"
Cain lay on the ground and flailed his limbs. Watching a fully grown man do that was quite painful. Tae-hyun and Lee Da-bi looked away at the same time.
"Let's just leave him and go."
"Let's do that. By the way, did the station only invite you?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"This Arena Pro League is a 5v5 arena. A team of five."
"Oh? Come to think of it, you're right. He only invited me. Did he mean for me to find five people and bring them?"
Tae-hyun tilted his head. Knowing Bae Jang-wook's personality, it didn't seem like he would ask Tae-hyun to put together a team of five on his own.
"Since MBS has contracts with many players, if you couldn't find five people, wouldn't they have filled the slots for you?"
"That could be it."
Tae-hyun brushed it off without much thought. If Tae-hyun had known who Bae Jang-wook was planning to pair him with, he would have flipped! However, the crisis was not yet over.
"An Arena Pro League? It sounds interesting, but... honestly, I'm worried it will take up too much time."
"If you participate, Se-yeon, you will join as an invited team. You won't need to pass the qualifiers; you just need to come to the arena when it's time for the match! We can support you with teleport scrolls and other means of transportation!" Bae Jang-wook spoke passionately. If only Lee Se-yeon would participate...!
"No... I have those things too. Well, I'll think about it first. I can form the 5-person team myself, right?"
"Of course."
"Wait a moment."
Something occurred to Lee Se-yeon. If she received an invitation like this... It was highly likely that MBS had invited Kim Tae-hyun as well.
"By any chance, did you invite Kim Tae-hyun too?"