The Korea-Japan Friendly Match (3)
"……What kind of confidence is that?"
Shusuke was dumbfounded.
Is this for real?
South Korea was actually talking about being confident going up against Japan?
Seriously?
'Hmm.'
It certainly wasn't the reaction he'd been hoping for.
Had this been the South Korea of the past, they would have accepted the terms without a second thought. A friendly match wasn't just a single game and done — both sides filmed each other's matches, using the footage to analyze fundamentals, skill timing, and overall strategy. And the price for all that was one hundred million won?
By industry standards, that was dirt cheap.
A ripple of murmurs spread through the room. The rankers who had tagged along couldn't make sense of it either, and neither could Yoo Jia nor the disciples.
"Jinwoo…… this isn't a bad offer."
Yoo Jia stepped close and whispered, and Hong Ari chimed in to push for the match as well.
"You're strong enough that you obviously don't need it, but real match experience against Japan would do us a lot of good. It's something headquarters has been asking for repeatedly over the past three years."
'Right. That reaction is the genuine one.'
Shusuke nodded to himself. As far as he knew, South Korea was in no position to be picky about fire and water alike. Historically and geopolitically, it was a nation that had to keep building its strength.
He's just putting on a tough front.
He'd heard it from Hikaru himself. Jinugod, was it? Supposedly the most rabid of hardcore players from an old game called Battle of Summoners. Shusuke had even watched Hikaru's interview about him.
But so what?
That was all ancient history now, wasn't it? A washed-up gamer. This wasn't a game — this was reality, and Japan's summoning combat capabilities had grown by leaps and bounds over the past three years. No matter how high the old gamer had once flown, he was no match for them.
"No, I'm being completely sincere."
Baek Jinwoo looked at Yoo Jia as he continued.
"You only pay someone to fight you when there's something you stand to learn from them, don't you think?"
"……Well, yes. That's true, but—"
"I mean it sincerely. There is nothing we can learn from these people. You all think it over carefully too."
Baek Jinwoo turned to his disciples.
"Rather than spending money to fight them, you'd get far more out of continuing the training we already do with me. One hundred million? Please. Use the money to help someone in need instead. Or just give it to me."
With that, he turned his back on them.
An unmistakable order to get out.
Which meant the one suddenly under pressure was Shusuke.
Ah, damn it. We're screwed.
Hikaru had given him explicit orders: assess their true strength properly. Which required actually fighting them — and things had gone sideways right out of the gate.
What do I do?
If he went back to Japan and reported, Sir, one hundred million seemed too cheap, so… what would Hikaru say?
A hundred million? Are you insane? I told you to fight them for free, didn't I?! He'd blow up, going on and on.
As long as he only yelled, that would be a mercy. Shusuke could be stripped of his right-hand position. The only reason he held World Rank 30 at all was thanks to Yoshida Hikaru. If he got cast aside?
He'd be shoved down the rankings in no time. Someone else would slide right into that right-hand seat.
That was how colossal the gap between the Five Emperors and ordinary world rankers was — and Hikaru's standing within Japan was just as absolute. There was a running joke that Yoshida Hikaru outranked the Japanese Emperor himself. Enough said.
"Wait a moment!"
So he grabbed Baek Jinwoo by the shoulder as he walked away. He was panicking now.
"What is it?"
"Free!"
Screw it. It was a drastic concession.
"Excuse me?"
"We'll do the friendly match for free! No charge — just play the games!"
"……?"
Baek Jinwoo frowned all over again.
What is he even saying?
At the same time, the words that left his mouth landed like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
"It seems you still haven't quite caught on……. Why on earth would we play friendly matches for free? Maybe if you paid one hundred billion won per match, we could talk."
Frankly, in Baek Jinwoo's estimation, Japan was the side with far more to gain from these matches.
At that — not just Shusuke, but Yoo Jia and the disciples' jaws all dropped wide open.
What?
Not receiving money…… but paying?
One hundred billion won per match?
Is he out of his mind?
"Hey!"
Hong Ari shouted, her face a picture of sheer disbelief.
"H-hyungnim! Isn't that going a bit too far……?"
"Sheeeesh."
Ki Jaehyeok and Kang Jiho kept nervously glancing at the Japanese rankers' faces.
Offering a friendly match for free was already a tremendous gesture of goodwill. Who were these people, after all? Rankers representing Japan — a global superpower. Demanding a hundred-billion-won match fee from them wasn't even a rejection; it amounted to picking a fight purely out of spite.
Even if Hyungnim is strong…… that's pushing it.
Isn't this just going to sour relations for no reason?
In truth, anti-Japanese sentiment in present-day South Korea had faded considerably. Not because anyone particularly loved Japan, but because the country sat in an allied position, applying pressure toward North Korea and China. In a world where nukes no longer worked, the mere existence of Yoshida Hikaru was a check on China's ambitions.
And sure enough — Shusuke's face had flushed red, then white, then red again.
"……Those words. Just now."
His voice was thick with fury.
"Can you take responsibility for them?"
"Hmmm."
Baek Jinwoo crossed his arms and shut his eyes for a moment.
Fair enough. Given his history with Sugoi-hyung, had he drawn the line a little too hard? Still, it wasn't entirely wrong. A hundred million per match, against them? He could understand being paid, but paying it himself? No. Besides, these people simply didn't know any better.
Having sorted out his thoughts, Baek Jinwoo nodded.
"Then how about this?"
"……Go on."
"If both sides are so confident in their skills, let's settle it with a tournament. The winner takes money from the loser."
"You want to bet?"
Well, well.
Shusuke laughed, incredulous. Did the man before him seriously believe he could beat them? Not as some bluff — genuinely?
"Exactly. After all, you'd hardly have used wording like 'we'll play for free' about an opponent you couldn't even beat, now would you?"
Baek Jinwoo grinned as he said it, and something about that grin made Shusuke's blood boil.
"Fine."
Shusuke's voice went razor-sharp.
"Nothing to lose. After all, nothing teaches an ignorant upstart his place quite like money."
"You're sure about that?"
Why, this little—! Of course he was sure. What did this guy take Japan for? The money was the only issue here.
"How much shall we wager?"
"I'm flexible. Whatever amount you like — I can match it."
Baek Jinwoo smiled easily. Yubaek had been growing at a staggering pace lately; money was no object. And besides, it wasn't as if it was money he could lose.
The more they bet, the more I profit. Simple as that.
"Understood. We'll discuss it and contact you tomorrow."
"Yes. Yoo Jia-ssi?"
"Yes! Y-yes!"
Yoo Jia, who'd been listening to the exchange, stammered out a reply.
Good heavens.
He could hold his ground without yielding an inch against Shusuke — a ranker people called a heavyweight. And he'd even staked money on it. She felt it every time, but whenever she looked at Baek Jinwoo, hope for South Korea surged in her chest.
Of course, Yoo Jia had also caught something in his eyes.
Absolute certainty. One hundred percent.
"Prepare a room for them. It doesn't look like they have anywhere else to go."
"Understood."
Inside the apartment.
The Japanese rankers, having been given a guest room, wore grave expressions.
"What was that all about?"
One ranker looked at Shusuke with visible unease.
Hikaru's instructions had been clear. Absolutely do not provoke him — and if at all possible, find a peaceful way to secure his cooperation.
"He struck me as far more seasoned than I expected."
"Agreed. Most rankers would grovel or panic in front of a heavyweight, but…… his back was ramrod straight the whole time."
"He seems to have real skill, too. Did you watch the footage?"
They had watched the footage. Every clip was over in under a minute, though — hardly anything worth studying.
"I could do that much myself."
Shusuke muttered, his face sour. The Baek Jinwoo he saw was a frog in a well. Running wild against second-rate Korean rankers? Any Japanese national team member here could manage the same.
"So — how much do we bet?"
"That's the problem…… If we win, it's a problem. If we lose, it's a problem."
True. If they lost, they'd hemorrhage money. But if they won and hauled off an enormous sum, it would be a direct violation of Hikaru's orders.
"Either way, we can't lose."
The man had proposed a tournament, after all. And what was a tournament? A winners' bracket. In other words, as long as they had a single player who never lost, victory was guaranteed.
"Because I'm here."
"That's right."
"Well said, sir."
Shusuke was World Rank 30. He simply operated on a different tier. However much the non-world-rankers scrambled, they were helpless against a heavyweight. To exaggerate only slightly: he could win even using a summon outside his main lineup. That was the size of the skill gap!
The rankers all nodded along with Shusuke. The only real question was how much to bet.
"We already agreed to this. We don't exactly have alternatives, do we? Then let's just bet big. One hundred billion won — how about it?"
"One hundred billion?"
A flicker of hesitation crossed Shusuke's face.
Isn't that a bit much?
"What matters is showing the insolent fools the difference in our levels. We're going to win anyway, so — we take the full hundred billion, then magnanimously hand half of it back like a gracious gift. Won't they be left marvelling at our generosity?"
"Oho."
Now that's a plan!
Not bad at all.
"So we're going with one hundred billion?"
"Let's do it. There are four of us, so two hundred fifty billion each— er, two hundred fifty each. Everyone agree?"
"Agreed!"
"Money playing with money — of course we're in."
The Japanese rankers exchanged grins. Shusuke nodded.
Okay.
"Let's do this."
And so the Korea-Japan friendly match began.
Four against four. The format: a tournament. Yoo Jia handled the filming, and one hundred billion won was locked into a formal contract — notarized by the System itself.
"We'll handle the recording and send you the footage separately. As originally agreed, this is a private friendly — the match content stays strictly between us, and we tell no one else in the world. Not a soul."
"One moment."
Shusuke raised his hand.
"Let me confirm one thing. We must be allowed to report to Yoshida Hikaru. Without that, we can't accept the terms either."
"Confirmed. The footage will be seen only by the people in this room and Yoshida Hikaru."
"Then we have no problem."
The agreement came together quite cleanly. With one hundred billion won riding on the matches, restrictions on information sharing were only natural.
"Who's stepping up first?"
Shusuke looked at Baek Jinwoo. Yoo Jia had withdrawn to the back.
The duels would take place in the training hall, and a player lost once five of their summons were reverse-summoned.
First up, the Japanese side put forward a man named Atsuto. Not a world ranker, they said — Japan's domestic Rank 5.
Then for their side—
"Kang Jiho."
"Yes, Hyungnim!"
"You're up first."
"Understood!"
Gulp.
Swallowing hard, Kang Jiho stepped forward.
"Win or lose, it doesn't matter — just relax. Do your best with what you've learned."
Those words from Baek Jinwoo washed over Kang Jiho like an enormous wave of relief. What could "losing is fine" possibly mean?
It defies logic, but…
It had to mean Baek Jinwoo alone could take on all four of them!
Besides, Yubaek had put up the entire wager themselves. That was how confident they were. Sure, the winnings would all go to Yubaek too — but just being able to gain real combat experience with zero risk on the line was more than enough for Kang Jiho.
"Then — I'm off!"
And so it began.
Kang Jiho versus Atsuto.
The first match of the Korea-Japan friendly was underway.