The Player Gap
The dead of night.
"Hah! Hah!"
"Huuurgh—hk, hck!"
The training grounds were still thick with the sound of ragged breathing.
His four disciples' determination was truly something to behold. Because he refused to advance the curriculum until their stamina training was complete, they had taken to coming out at the crack of dawn to drill on their own—all to meet the minimum standards Baek Jinwoo demanded.
"No, seriously, damn it! What's so great about stamina anyway! Hah, hah!"
After thirty laps around the training grounds, Hong Ari grumbled as she collapsed flat onto the ground. The running was done, which meant a short breather before strength training.
Honestly, she felt like she was going to keel over and die.
"Still, don't you feel a little different?"
Gulp, gulp!
Beside her, Oh Seon-young downed an entire water jug she'd brought along, drinking so desperately that half of it dribbled down her chin.
She had a point. Hungyo's training methods were remarkably effective.
"It's amazing. Even when I barely sleep, I recover so quickly, and I can focus better than I ever used to."
The postures used during strength training were on a completely different plane from ordinary workout routines. It was like drawing in the energy of nature itself through every breath.
And that wasn't all. Her eyesight had sharpened, and her recovery and immunity felt like they had skyrocketed overnight.
"That's why we're out here in the middle of the night, noona."
Ki Jaehyeok grinned.
For the record, this was voluntary. Nobody was ordering them to train. Even Hong Ari, grumbling away over there, knew it: as grueling as the conditioning was, their bodies were reaping the rewards.
"Hyung-nim wouldn't be emphasizing stamina for nothing. Come on, next up is strength training. Let's get ready right now, ladies! Let's go, let's gooo!"
"Ugh, fine. I said fine."
Scrunching up her face, Hong Ari hauled herself to her feet.
Two weeks later.
"Okay, you pass."
The declaration finally fell from Baek Jinwoo's lips.
"You've all come quite far."
Truthfully, he was surprised. Speed, endurance, agility, and even raw strength—in so short a time, they had climbed well beyond the level of ordinary people. They weren't as fast as Baek Jinwoo himself, but it was proof enough that his disciples had trusted his word and followed it to the very end.
"I'd say it's about time we moved on to the next stage."
"Me!"
That was when Hong Ari raised her hand.
"I have a question!"
At some point, she had started speaking to him casually. One might ask what kind of disciple dared drop the honorifics with her master, but Baek Jinwoo didn't mind. They were the same age, after all. As long as she did as she was told, that was enough.
"What is it?"
"The conditioning's great, the training's great, it's all great. But I'm curious—if we keep up with your training, how far could we go at this World League?"
The World League, huh...
Baek Jinwoo shook his head. Honestly, he had no idea. He'd been too busy to look up last year's World League or anything of the sort. So he gave a perfectly clean answer.
"No idea. Put simply, if you're strong, you win. If you're weak, you lose."
"......"
What did he just say?
Hong Ari was dumbfounded. That hadn't been the kind of self-evident answer she'd asked for.
"But one thing is certain. If you keep up with my training, you will get a lot stronger."
"...Stronger how, exactly?"
"Hmm."
Claiming they could beat Five Emperors–tier veterans would obviously be a lie. But they could probably hold their own against your average world ranker. Of course, strength was relative, so he couldn't say for certain.
"If you're that curious, just feel it for yourself starting today. Let's see... who's the weakest of you four?"
Just as at the national team consulting, his four disciples occasionally tested themselves against one another in the Battle Hall to sharpen their instincts. Because of that, they knew each other's level better than anyone.
A hand shot up.
It was Kang Jiho.
"That would be me, hyung-nim."
And that was the truly funny part. Oh Seon-young, who wasn't even on the national team, was stronger than Kang Jiho. From her standpoint, it was nothing short of unjust. If meeting Baek Jinwoo in a multiplayer match was a crime, then it was a crime.
"Is that so?"
The corner of Baek Jinwoo's mouth curled up into a grin.
"Then let me show you, starting right now. Jiho, hand over every summon you use."
...Hand over his summons?
All four disciples' eyes went wide as saucers.
Without a word of protest, Kang Jiho handed over a full team of summons. It was the lineup he ran as his main in player battles.
That was trust on a staggering scale. The levels he'd ground out, the runes he'd socketed, the skills they'd learned—every bit of it, ownership and all, would pass straight into Baek Jinwoo's hands. Even with the disciple contract's mutual pledge never to betray one another, transferring ownership still took real courage!
"What's everyone's record against Jiho?"
"A hundred twenty-five matches. One hundred twenty-three wins, two losses."
Ki Jaehyeok answered first. Being guildmates, the two of them had clashed more times than anyone.
"Five wins, zero losses,"
Hong Ari replied.
"Seven wins, one loss."
Oh Seon-young answered as well.
'No doubt about it.'
Kang Jiho's summon pool really was weaker than theirs. Lower levels, and his runes weren't anything special either.
"Kang Jiho."
"Yes, hyung-nim!"
"You think you lose because your summons are weak, don't you?"
"I... suppose so."
He'd counseled him during the national team consulting too, and even then he'd gotten the same impression: that the boy lost because his summons were simply far weaker. Half right, half wrong. The player's role mattered far more than most people realized.
"So what would it mean if I took your team and beat all three of them right here?"
"...That's..."
Kang Jiho's words caught in his throat. It made no sense. Even granting that a player's instincts and control mattered, in the end, weak summons simply could not beat strong ones.
"Starting now, I'm going to show you—no, not just you. I'm going to show you how badly the rankers of this country have been missing their fundamentals."
With a smirk, Baek Jinwoo looked at Hong Ari.
"Hong Ari."
"Yeah?"
"You're first. Come at me."
"...Huh? Not in the Battle Hall? Right here?"
"Yeah. We do it live."
All they had to do was keep each other's HP above zero. Then a healer could refill the lost blood, and the practice could go on indefinitely.
"You good with that?"
Hong Ari had gone five matches against that summon team. So she knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that she absolutely could not lose.
"Yeah. Bring it."
Moments later, the ten summons began their duel.
Player battles are, in truth, simple and complicated all at once. Their strength or weakness shifted with everything—basic movement, skill timing, coordination between summons, synergy. Put simply, it all rode on the player's hands!
"Th-this is insane."
Hong Ari couldn't wrap her head around it. The very summons that had seemed laughable under Kang Jiho's control now pressed down on her with crushing weight in every single movement.
Damage, tanking, healing, buffs—and even the timing! Baek Jinwoo's control, weaving everything into one living, breathing organism, was nothing short of divine.
"Why are their attacks this strong? Are these even the same runes?"
Attacks she could once have brushed aside with ease now carried real menace. Every time she watched her HP gouged away, chunk by chunk, her heart clenched.
But the most astonished of all was none other than Kang Jiho.
'This can't be real.'
Look at those summons' faces! Weren't they moving with sheer delight, as if they'd finally found their rightful master?!
All of five minutes. Within five minutes, Hong Ari's tank balance had shattered, and from that point on, it was easy. He preserved his own formation intact while gnawing away at her HP, bite by careful bite.
And before long—
"...I lost."
Hong Ari raised the white flag.
"......!"
Ki Jaehyeok, Kang Jiho, and Oh Seon-young all stood gaping, mouths agape.
Yes. This was a whole new world. Just as the same champion in a MOBA could be night and day depending on who piloted it, Battle of Summoners was no different.
'It was never my summons that were weak... it was me?'
'The reason he told us to hone our instincts through conditioning. Was this it?'
'This is what we—no, what every ranker out there has been missing!'
Honestly, the thought had crossed their minds before: that Baek Jinwoo was strong only because he wielded such absurdly overpowered summons. How could anyone not think it? Hungyo, Ramba, Pokryong—even just his publicly known summons were all Unique, each one displaying power that defied belief.
But that had been an illusion.
Baek Jinwoo. No—Jinugod was the veteran of veterans, an old guard so entrenched he had all but fossilized. No matter what summons a newbie brought against him, they could never withstand a player of his caliber.
That was the fundamental gap in skill. The absence of fundamentals.
"Next. Oh Seon-young."
"Yes, Master!"
"Come at me."
The result was the same. Ki Jaehyeok, Oh Seon-young—every one of them was made to taste a bitter defeat.
"Do you get it now?"
Baek Jinwoo murmured, quiet and even.
"You're all still nothing but baby chicks. No need to get carried away just because people prop you up as rankers. In my eyes, it isn't just you—every world ranker out there is at chick level."
If there were exceptions, it would be the Five Emperors. And the veterans of seven years or more. They were the ones who had internalized the basic mechanics of combat in their very bones.
"For you, the summons aren't what matter. First, grow into actual chickens."
Through this bout, the four disciples felt many things. A sense of something snapping into place.
'I'll follow him. Unconditionally.'
'I'll stick close and improve, whatever it takes.'
'...He's unbelievable.'
Every doubt that had piled up in their heads melted away at once. Baek Jinwoo was the best. Not just the best—world-class. The one and only sky! Ilcheon! The four disciples' eyes brimmed over with trust in him.
Hwang Myeonghui's old classmate Jeonghye was curious. So curious she thought she might go mad.
'How did dirt-poor Myeonghui come to own a Rainbow Snail?'
Her son gave it to her? Then just who was this son of hers?! Or had some clueless boy handed it over without ever realizing what it was worth?
That was possible, she supposed. Myeonghui had said as much back then:
"Oh, it was just a simple gift. I don't really know what it's worth. It probably wasn't even all that expensive?"
She didn't know how much it cost. She had said that, plain as day.
'Hmm.'
Even after the reunion ended, that snail was all she could see in her mind's eye. And then a thought struck her.
'If she truly doesn't know its value... couldn't I buy it off her for next to nothing?'
In high society, the Rainbow Snail was a first-class item. With just that one thing, she could draw the envy of every Gangnam housewife in a single stroke.
Jeonghye deliberated. When the deliberating was done, she called her son.
"My wonderful, pride-and-joy son~ are you busy?"
"Uh, Mom? What is it? I can talk for a minute."
Her son's curt reply drifted through the receiver. He sounded terribly busy, too.
'Of course.' That made sense. What kind of guild was Baekho, after all? Having only just joined the country's number-one mega guild as a rookie, the fact that he'd answered the phone at all was saying something.
"You know my little friend group? Apparently one of my friends' sons is doing quite well for himself."
"Uh-huh. And?"
"A friend named Hwang Myeonghui. Word is she received a Rainbow Snail as a gift?"
"...What's that? Mom, just give it to me straight."
Why, this little—! A vein bulged on Jeonghye's forehead, but her voice remained honey-sweet.
"Yes, yes. It's nothing much. When you have time later on, could you come out to a little gathering with Mom's friends?"
"Mom, I'm busy."
"You brat! Back your mother up for once! Do you have any idea how much I gave up raising you—"
"Ah! Fine, fine!"
Her son cut her off.
"But one hour only. Tell me once you've set a date. I'll take a half day."
"That's my boy~!"
Click!
Beeeep, beeeep!
"That little punk."
Grrr. Jeonghye ground her teeth. If it weren't for Baekho, she'd have beaten him to a pulp... Still, small mercies. He had agreed to make time.
Jeonghye picked up her phone.
"Whew."
She exhaled once, then fired off her messages.