The Seeds of Betrayal
At those words, Lee Dong-pal smirked.
"Why are you laughing?"
"I'm laughing because, for all your complaining, you actually seem to trust him."
"I trust his skills. Just his skills. Honestly, there's no denying his talent... No, wait, if it weren't for his ridiculous skills in the first place, I would never have associated with such a twisted person!"
As she spoke, Lee Se-yeon felt a fresh wave of grievance wash over her. Come to think of it, she really had been wasting her time because of Tae-hyun! It all started back in Pan-On 1 when he rejected her offer of, "You, become my subordinate!" Because of his unique, undeniable skill, she hadn't been able to give up on him and kept getting dragged along.
"In any field, skill is everything. You know that, right? There are plenty of eccentric personalities in the entertainment industry too. The only reason they survive is because they have the talent to back it up."
"That's not comforting at all, you know."
"Well, isn't it better than Kim Tae-hyun having no skill?"
"If he had no skill, I wouldn't have even given him the time of day."
When Lee Se-yeon turned her head away in a huff, Lee Dong-pal stopped talking. Though she usually appeared perfect and composed, once Se-yeon got sulky like this, it lasted a long time. There was no reason to poke the embers and fan the flames!
"Right. My dear niece, please bring home that championship trophy."
Dong-pal spoke with absolute sincerity. The Pan-On Arena tournament was garnering a far greater response than anyone had anticipated. It wasn't for nothing that professional gaming organizations were moving so quickly to establish contact. Everyone could feel it. The moment this inaugural tournament concluded, Pan-On competitions would transition to a much grander stage!
Dong-pal was certain of it. After a long lull following a few massive gaming blockbusters in the past, the pro-gamer craze was about to sweep the nation once more. And at the forefront of that trend would undoubtedly be young, charismatic players like Kim Tae-hyun and Lee Se-yeon.
'Of course, of course. She's talented, great at gaming, well-spoken, beautiful... And of course, Kim Tae-hyun is quite handsome too, as long as he wears makeup...' Dong-pal thought to himself, harboring sentiments that would have made Tae-hyun fly into a rage had he heard them.
"We'll have to do our best in the finals. We'll use everything we've been hiding..." Se-yeon's voice trailed off. How on earth were they supposed to fight their opponents? The enemy team was keeping their information under wraps, while Tae-hyun's team had already exposed a vast amount of their hand. The enemy possessed solid teamwork, whereas Tae-hyun's team had absolutely zero coordination. On top of that, their weaknesses were glaringly obvious. No clear strategy came to mind. Even if they used their hidden skills and gave it their all, she couldn't shake an ominous feeling.
'Can we really pull this off?'
Se-yeon's anxiety proved to be entirely justified. In Game 1 against Team Eight, the Korean representative team suffered their very first defeat of the tournament.
Team Eight utilized a highly unusual composition: two Priests, two Tanks, and a single Dealer. Instead of a Mage, they brought a second Priest, operating in pairs of one Priest and one Tank to move in a 2v2 fashion. While they lacked the long-range burst damage typically provided by a Mage, they held a massive advantage in defense, crowd control, and pure survivability. Team Eight had won their way to the top by outlasting opponents with the sheer sturdiness of their Priest-Tank duos, allowing their lone Dealer to run rampant.
"Team Eight's Dealer is no joke," Se-yeon had warned. "They climbed up from the opposite bracket, but public opinion ranks him almost on par with Kim Tae-hyun."
Ryu Tae-su. He was the captain of Team Eight and played a Berserker-class character as their main Dealer. With powerful class mechanics and flashy, high-level controls, he had single-handedly carried Team Eight to victory. It was easy to see why people compared him to Tae-hyun. In tournaments, the Dealer naturally drew the most attention, and Ryu Tae-su was executing that role flawlessly.
The only real difference was that while Tae-hyun relied on bizarre, unorthodox schemes to overcome his weaknesses, Ryu Tae-su had no need for such antics; he simply coordinated with his team to execute optimal, textbook strategies. Furthermore, Ryu Tae-su's class was highly stable.
"For starters, Kim Chul-soo and I will handle one of the Tank-Priest duos," Se-yeon had said. "We might not defeat them instantly, but we won't lose either, so don't worry about that side."
"I'd prefer if Cain and I took on the other duo, but that leaves Do Dong-su to face Ryu Tae-su alone. Can he even win that?" Tae-hyun had pointed out.
"..."
Do Dong-su had remained silent, keeping his mouth shut. He looked the same as always, but Tae-hyun had sensed a strange sense of incongruity. 'What is this?' It was an aura only Tae-hyun, a man who had made countless enemies, could detect. The distinct vibe of someone plotting a scheme—that was exactly what was radiating from Do Dong-su.
"Quiet down," Se-yeon had interjected. "It's not like we can match up exactly how we want anyway. Let's just do our best. Do you have a plan in mind?"
"Not for Game 1."
Tae-hyun actually had several hidden cards up his sleeve, centered around using Cain as a human bomb, but he chose not to voice them. He had no intention of revealing them in the first game anyway, and more importantly, Do Dong-su was making him feel inexplicably uneasy.
"By the way, did you watch the other team's interview?"
"Nope."
"Right. Good for you, then."
"?"
Tae-hyun tilted his head. What was that supposed to mean? He nudged Cain in the ribs and whispered, "Did you watch it?"
"N-No. I've just been analyzing their gameplay videos the whole time..." Cain's voice was laced with exhaustion. Terrified of the upcoming finals, he had done nothing but review the opponents' match footage on loop.
"What kind of interview was it? Did they declare war on me or something?"
"Why don't you just watch it?"
"What would I gain from that? Lee Se-yeon knows me too well. She knows that even if she says that, I'll be too lazy to look it up."
"..."
"Eh, if they insulted me, I'll find out eventually. It's not like I'm short on haters. And honestly, wouldn't they have insulted you instead of me?"
"W-Why me?!"
But the reason Se-yeon had said "good for you" wasn't because of some simple insult. It was because of what Ryu Tae-su had actually said during his interview!
Tae-hyun had consistently used the excuse, "Haha, the reason my name is the same as the Kim Tae-hyun from Pan-On 1 and our playstyles overlap is just because I'm a huge fan of his~" Of course, the victims who had been tormented by him in both Pan-On 1 and Pan-On 2 scoffed, thinking, 'Who do you think you're fooling?' but the vast majority of the public believed it. Ryu Tae-su believed that excuse as well. And that was precisely what infuriated him. For a self-proclaimed fan to copy his idol's name so lightly! To him, that wasn't confidence—it was sheer arrogance and frivolity!
"I plan to verify it in the finals," Ryu Tae-su had declared. "Just how amazing he is to copy him like that."
"Ah, right..."
The host had stared at Ryu Tae-su with a startled expression. Up until then, Ryu Tae-su had always been polite and taciturn in interviews, giving brief answers like "Yes," "No," or "I'm not sure." He was almost boringly quiet! Yet, with the finals looming and a clash with Tae-hyun imminent, he had suddenly become incredibly talkative. It was practically a declaration of war. Sure enough, once the interview aired, the fans' reactions were explosive. It was an all-out clash between Team Eight fans and the Korean Representative Team fans!
Watching the chaos unfold, Lee Se-yeon had pressed a hand to her forehead. She knew that if Tae-hyun saw this, he would probably react in some completely unpredictable way, like, 'What? He was my fan? Haha, what a sweet kid.'
'Well... Kim Tae-hyun probably hasn't watched this anyway, so I'll just tell him after the match.'
Once Game 1 began, Tae-hyun and Cain moved out, Se-yeon and Kim Chul-soo advanced, and Do Dong-su made his move. Dong-su was deeply lost in thought. It was all because of the visitor who had sought him out the night before the match: the explorer player, Jekas.
"Doing well for yourself, aren't you, Do Dong-su?"
"What do you want?"
"Why else would I be here? It's because of Kim Tae-hyun."
"..."
"You haven't forgotten why you were ruined in Pan-On 1, have you?"
"Shut up."
"Surely you don't actually believe Kim Tae-hyun when he claims he's not the same Kim Tae-hyun from Pan-On 1? Other idiots might buy it, but we know better. There's no way two people like that exist in this world."
Jekas's words struck a painful chord. Indeed, there couldn't possibly be two such monstrously vexing bastards in the world!
"I understand how you feel. It's a tournament, and a highly important one for you, so you want to believe his excuses. You want to deceive yourself."
"..."
"But it's not true. It's time to face reality. Wake up and look at the situation! No matter how hard you try, you're just dancing in the palm of Kim Tae-hyun's hand. Have you seen the public's reaction? No matter how hard you perform in this tournament, you've already lost any chance of surpassing him!"
"I told you to shut up! What do you want me to do about it?!"
"You're trapped because you keep playing by his rules. Step out of his palm. Break out of the mold."
"What?"
"Throw the tournament. Just let it go."
"...What kind of crazy talk is..."
"Why? Do you think anything will change if you win the finals? Kim Tae-hyun will hog all the spotlight, and his status will only soar higher. You'll have to watch that happen with your own eyes. How is that going to make you feel?"
Grit! Do Dong-su ground his teeth involuntarily.
"On the other hand, what if you lose the finals? It won't hurt you that much. Sure, it's a shame to miss out on the trophy, but a player of your caliber has undoubtedly received offers from pro teams already. Your image? Your image was already ruined because of Kim Tae-hyun anyway. What is there left to care about?"
When Dong-su failed to answer, Jekas pressed on.
"Fine, I know it's hard to accept my words right away. But keep this one thing in mind. Do you know why you and I always lost to Kim Tae-hyun? It's because we were too greedy. We wanted to secure this, protect that, and defeat Kim Tae-hyun all at the same time. But that bastard Tae-hyun doesn't have that kind of greed. If necessary, he throws everything away just to screw someone over. If we want to win, we have to do the same! Wake up!"
Jekas's words were filled with raw, burning sincerity. Under the weight of that passion, Dong-su's eyes began to waver.
"I... I..."
Before the match, Lee Se-yeon had anticipated many variables. One of them was Do Dong-su. She had assumed that no matter how bad his relationship with Tae-hyun was, since this was the finals, Dong-su would cooperate at least a little bit unlike before. However, that was a grave miscalculation. Having never lost to Tae-hyun in Pan-On 1, Se-yeon could not comprehend the sheer depth of humiliation and resentment harbored by the rankers who had been thoroughly crushed by him. It was an emotion that only those who had suffered at Tae-hyun's hands could truly understand.
Having made up his mind, Do Dong-su clenched his fists. The answer had already been decided.
"That guy is acting incredibly suspicious..." Tae-hyun muttered.
"What's wrong?"
"I have a bad feeling about this. We need to prepare."
"??"
Cain could only tilt his head in confusion at Tae-hyun's words. Why was he pointing at their own teammate and calling him suspicious?
"Hey, aren't we going to capture the base?"
"Let's do some gathering first."
Tae-hyun began wandering around the ruined buildings, searching for edible ingredients. This was a critical moment where they needed to rush to the central base and secure their positions as quickly as possible.
"Can you really afford to be this relaxed?!"
"It doesn't matter. They can't fully capture it with just this much time anyway."
"But there are good defensive spots..."
The map was the Ruins. While it didn't have a massive forest area to burn down like the previous map, there were patches of vegetation near the ruins containing occasional cooking ingredients. Tae-hyun had brought out a massive load of equipment just like in the last match, but now he was even gathering ingredients on top of that.
'What on earth is he thinking?'
Cain stared ahead anxiously, plagued by a nagging feeling that the enemy had already arrived and set up before them.