A Changed South Korea (1)
Fwabat!
His vision tumbled and swapped places, a foreign wrongness prickling across his body. And there, before Baek Jinwoo — returned once more to the Battle Hall—
"Guild Masteeeeeer!"
"Master Jinwoo!"
"WAAAAAAAH! Boss!"
"Wahahaha! Splendidly done, sir!"
The guild members were beside themselves with excitement. As if unable to contain the emotions boiling in their chests, they charged at Baek Jinwoo and, in perfect unison, hoisted him up and tossed him skyward.
'First place in the Battle Royale!'
That impossible achievement — a first in all of history — had been accomplished in South Korea's name.
"WAAAAAAAH!"
"Long live Baek Jinwoo!"
"Long live the Guild Masteeer!"
This carried enormous weight. It would be written into the history books and spoken of for generations — an achievement that would make him a living legend of South Korea.
"Ahh..."
Hong Ari clasped her hands together without realizing it. She had seen it with her own eyes, experienced it firsthand, and still she couldn't believe it.
Truly.
'Our master...'
Was he really not just a match for Rachel, but strong enough to actually beat her?
There was Baek Jinwoo, flung up into the air — boing! — looking utterly bewildered. After two or three more rounds of it—
Wheee!
— he folded into a midair somersault and touched down neatly on the crowd's outer edge.
"Hey, hey, hey, hold on, everyone — calm down. Calm down!"
Baek Jinwoo waved them off.
"Anyone watching would think the league was already over. None of that fussing, now."
With that, he rounded on his guild members. The Battle Royale was merely a seeding event match; it didn't count toward league standings at all.
"So — how many kills did everyone get?"
Sweep. The instant Baek Jinwoo's gaze raked sharply across them, the air froze over.
'No, damn it.'
'Can't we just enjoy the moment while it lasts?'
'Do we seriously have to count kills right now?'
As it happened, a scoreboard was floating at one side of the Battle Hall.
"Hong Ari, five kills. Ki Jaehyeok, five. Kang Geonho, two. Oh Seon-young, two. Jiho, one...?"
"..."
"..."
Every last one of them was struck dumb. Compared to Baek Jinwoo's fifty kills, their numbers were pitifully meager.
"Song Yeonhee I can understand, but the Ilwol seniors are sitting at a flat zero? Hasn't it been a good half year since you all started learning from me?"
"Haha, well, you see..."
"We kept running into heavy hitters early on... died before we got to do anything at all."
Hwang Juwon scratched his head.
"...Heavy hitters?"
Heavy hitters? What heavy hitters?
The real heavy hitters — the five great powers — hadn't so much as touched South Korea. What the hell kind of "heavy hitters" was that?
In the end, Baek Jinwoo's words came down sharp.
"Don't go getting comfortable just because you've become my disciples, now."
The disciple seats that even the Five Emperors had begged for and been denied — they had claimed through nothing more than the luck of being South Korean national team members.
And it wasn't as if Baek Jinwoo had taught them carelessly, either. Together with Hungyo, he had delivered deep, thorough consulting — advice he proudly considered the finest in the world.
"If you get weeded out here, you might not have a national team spot next year. Don't assume being a SKY member means you're set."
"W-we'll keep that in mind."
He understood how they felt. It must feel like joy and fulfillment erupting out of the chest like a volcano.
'But.'
Not yet.
The real celebration could wait until the league was over and the title of champion was in their hands — it wouldn't be too late then. Right now, they needed to review what had gone wrong and shore up their strength by even a hair.
That was what served them best!
Just as everyone was settling down at Baek Jinwoo's words—
"Huh?"
"B-Boss, look over there."
Ki Jaehyeok pointed behind them.
A blonde woman was walking their way.
"...Rachel?"
Baek Jinwoo called up his translation bird at once. As Rachel approached with a stiff expression, the players around them stirred.
'It's Rachel.'
'Why is Rachel walking up to the South Korean players?'
'...Is she pissed about the results?'
'Can't blame her, honestly. From what the feeds showed, that summon of his — Hungyo? — completely wrecked her...'
During the break, the players in the Battle Hall had all checked the broadcast coverage on their phones. Otherwise, there would have been no way to know what had happened during the Battle Royale.
"Baek Jinwoo."
She stopped dead. The corner of Rachel's mouth curled up ever so slightly, and she held out her right hand.
An offer of a handshake.
"That summon of yours, Hungyo... He really is something. I was no match for him."
"Oh?"
Baek Jinwoo tilted his head. He still had no idea what Hungyo had gotten up to.
'So Hungyo ran into Rachel, huh.'
Reading the mood, that seemed to be the shape of it.
"He's something else, our Hungyo."
Swoosh! Baek Jinwoo reached out and clasped her hand.
Rachel smiled.
"I won't fold that easily in the finals."
The finals!
Rachel had just mentioned the finals.
The impact of those words was seismic.
'Good lord!'
'Does she actually think South Korea will make the finals — over all five great powers?'
'Well, having seen that Jinugod footage, you can't really blame her.'
'He did take first in the Battle Royale, after all.'
A buzz ran through the crowd. The players whispered among themselves.
That remark would no doubt spread across the entire world through the player communities before long.
After a brief parting word with Rachel, Baek Jinwoo settled back into his corner.
A message had been blinking at the top of his vision for some time now, and it was getting on his nerves.
A hidden reward has arrived.
Would you like to check it?
[Y / N]
A hidden reward.
The thing that, as far as anyone knew, only Rachel had ever received — three times, in all of history!
What on earth could it be?
Baek Jinwoo locked his gaze onto Y. And then—
Pah!
◈ Player 'Baek Jinwoo' has acquired 5 Ultimate Summoning Scrolls!
Wh... what?
Insane...!
They were handing out five Ultimate Summoning Scrolls just for winning this?
The king of all summoning scrolls — the kind that could yield an S-rank summon at a 1% rate — had dropped. Five of them, no less.
'Whoa. If that's the payout...'
Did that mean Rachel had racked up fifteen Ultimate Summoning Scrolls over the years?
Of course, that was only a guess. The Battle Royale rewards might well change from year to year.
I'll have to ask Rachel about it separately later.
'Either way, these are getting banked.'
He already held seven Ultimate Summoning Scrolls. And once he gathered enough?
He was more than willing to tear them all open in one go.
'Still, I'd need a hundred before... At a hundred, I'd be guaranteed to land at least one S-rank, right? Two, if my luck held.'
Granted, the very idea of gathering a hundred was absurd in itself...
"Hoo."
If the Battle Royale paid out this much, what in the world would the league championship reward be?
His expectations were climbing.
'If this is how things are going, there's no settling for the semifinals.'
For the briefest instant, a cold light flickered through Baek Jinwoo's smiling eyes. He still couldn't gauge just how strong Rachel was...
'But I will win. Without question.'
Rachel's free ride had lasted right up until last year.
'Now that I'm here...'
That era was over. The runner-up's seat suited Rachel perfectly.
Group seeding is now beginning!
Now the league proper would begin — the road to the round of 16.
Nine groups.
Over roughly a week of group league play, the two highest-scoring teams in each group would advance to the round of 16... and of the eighteen nations that advanced, the two with the lowest scores would be automatically eliminated.
Shhhrrrrk! Country names and figures unspooled down the scoreboard in a long list.
South Korea — second overall in combined Battle Royale kills — had drawn Group 2.
South Korea · Indonesia · Philippines · Tanzania · Spain · Canada · Uzbekistan · Venezuela · Malawi · Belgium
Ten nations in all had been assigned to Group 2. Going by Battle Royale standings, South Korea was the group's powerhouse, with Indonesia and the Philippines behind it.
"Honestly? This actually looks doable."
Hong Ari's expression brightened.
The league format was the same as ever: tournament style. Ten national team members fought in sequence, with each player's slot randomized. A win earned three points, a loss cost one, and any battle that dragged past thirty minutes was ruled a scoreless draw.
"Best play by far is you getting slotted first and sweeping a all-kill, Boss."
Ki Jaehyeok offered, and Baek Jinwoo huffed a laugh.
"Would be nice, but the slots are random, remember?"
"Right."
"But then again," Baek Jinwoo went on.
"You all know the round of 16 is a done deal. I don't lose."
It might have sounded insufferable, but it was simply the truth. Whatever slot he drew? The moment Baek Jinwoo stepped up, it was an all-kill. From the national team's perspective, peace of mind was guaranteed.
"First things first." Baek Jinwoo gathered the guild members together.
"The round of 16 is a given, so wipe it from your minds. Everything you learned through all this training — show it to me."
Not for the nation. For him.
The guild members took those words in with taut nerves. He'd said it before, and here it was again.
'The Guild Master is no philanthropist.'
'The moment you stop measuring up, he can cut you loose.'
'Sure, SKY holds ten national team seats right now — but if the roster grows, getting dropped from the team becomes a very real possibility.'
'Look at Song Yeonhee and Hwang Jiwoo. Show him ability, and he'll field an unranked player on the national team any day of the week.'
There was exactly one reason Baek Jinwoo could do that: his own strength was simply peerless. Under a tournament format, a single overpowered player could carry the results no matter what.
Baek Jinwoo thought to himself.
'The reason I'm raising them.'
The league had never been the final goal. He wanted to protect the people he loved from every danger yet to come — the Chaos Dragon arriving in a future update, geopolitical convulsions no one could foresee.
'And for that...'
A corps of strong players had to be forged — one that could take a championship in stride even without Baek Jinwoo on the field. In the end, they would need control polished enough to beat the Five Emperors with ease.
Otherwise, there was no reason to bother teaching them at all.
"I am a man who treasures his time."
"..."
"So prove it to me in this league — prove that you are worth the precious time I spend on you."
Gulp. At words that could, from one angle, sound utterly cold, every member of the national team swallowed hard.
"WAAAAAH!"
"WAHAHAHA!"
South Korea had become one enormous street festival. Everyone was dressed in red, spilling out along the roads to dance and drink their fill, while giant screens replayed Baek Jinwoo highlight reels alongside nonstop live coverage of the league.
Their first league opponent: Venezuela. A minor power in the summoning world — one that had once stood shoulder to shoulder with South Korea.
South Korea's lead-off was Hong Ari. Random placement, naturally.
Stepping up first, Hong Ari showed a caliber of control unlike anything from her past. Perhaps Baek Jinwoo's words — prove it to me — had scraped at her pride? She made the Venezuelan players feel a gulf of class they could never cross, and devoured them without mercy.
If the highlight of the Battle Royale had been Baek Jinwoo, the highlight of this first league match was Hong Ari. Everyone passing by was talking about her, singing the praises of the national team's transformation.
And then—
South Korea's first all-kill!
And the glory of it went to SKY's Vice Guild Master, Hong Ari.