The New National Team (3)

Squeeze!

At Baek Jinwoo's command, Hungyo reset the Bone-Rooting Agony for another ten minutes.

"My ears ache."

Complaining that the screaming was too loud, he pressed their silencing points as well. Park Ho and the rankers, wracked with pain, could no longer make a sound.

"……"

Silence flooded the room in an instant, and Kang Geonho swallowed hard.

This made no sense. How on earth had he raised his summons, and what runes had he equipped them with to produce power like that?

The three of them had once been comrades. That was exactly why he knew how strong and how troublesome they were. When he had stood against them in the name of his convictions, he had steeled himself for the possibility that he might lose his life.

Yet Hungyo had shattered men like that with a single stroke of his sword. It hadn't even qualified as a fight. He had subdued them the way a person swats an annoying gnat—snap!—without a second thought.

So this was Jinugod?

'Park Ho never needed to make a move in the first place.'

Honestly, he had never dreamed it would be this extreme. Park Ho, too, had sized up Baek Jinwoo's strength as nothing more than that of a future upper-tier world ranker. If he had known it was at this level? Complaints, my ass—he would have groveled like a dog long ago.

"Mr. Kang Geonho."

At the sound of Baek Jinwoo's voice, Kang Geonho swallowed dryly. He hadn't noticed, but his back was already soaked through with cold sweat.

"Y-yes, sir……"

"Please take care of these men. Hand them over to headquarters once the ten minutes are up."

"To headquarters, you say?"

For reference, civilian crimes were handled by the police, while player crimes were managed directly by headquarters.

"We'll send them over with the evidence, on charges of instigating murder."

"Ah, yep! Understood."

Kang Geonho was thirty-three; Baek Jinwoo was twenty-seven. And yet Kang Geonho bowed with perfect courtesy. Having witnessed Hungyo in action, even the most venerable of grandfathers and grandmothers would have done the same.

"Hah."

Watching Kang Geonho so thoroughly wound up, Baek Jinwoo let out a long sigh.

'It's not as if I have anything to say to him.'

He had seen the footage. Every crime had been orchestrated by Park Ho, and the remaining executives had simply moved to grab their own share in the moment. He could see nothing there that Kang Geonho had done wrong.

"That aside—thank you for standing up for Yoo Jia."

"Not at all. If anything, I owe you an apology. I should have stepped in and shut it down the moment I saw the warning signs, and I failed to."

In truth, he had tried to stop it a few times. The problem was that the man simply refused to listen. If anything, he had partly followed along out of fear that Park Ho might leave him behind and cause even worse trouble.

Baek Jinwoo nodded.

"Originally, I had no intention of ever accepting a former Baekho executive onto the next national team."

"Yes, I consider that only natural."

"But you're an exception, Mr. Kang Geonho. When we hold the next national team selection, apply if the mood strikes you. Ah, of course—"

He pointed at the tiger badge on Kang Geonho's chest.

"You'll have to take that badge off first."

With a grin, Baek Jinwoo turned away.

Kang Geonho. Honestly, he wasn't bad. The rankings would reset next year, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for now he was Korea's domestic number one, and the combinations possible with his Paladin (A-rank) were countless. Given the right tuning and a little support, he could make a fine ally.

"Shall we get going, then?"

When he spoke to Yoo Jia, she answered brightly.

"Yes!"

Fortunately, the sports car had come away without a scratch.

"Damn it all, there's nothing to weigh here—no choice to make at all?"

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Director let out a hearty laugh. Before him lay the footage of Park Ho threatening Yoo Jia.

"Haah, that Park Ho. I thought he was sharp, but he was a complete fool. With the whole world to pick from, he goes after Baek Jinwoo's people? And Yoo Jia, of all people—his closest confidante."

Of course. No matter how desperate headquarters was, they could hardly keep a criminal on the national team. National team, my ass! With evidence this airtight, the man would be spending the rest of his life in a cell.

Truthfully, if he had been handed to the courts, he might have gotten off with around five years for attempted murder. Ex-judge courtesy lawyers and all the rest of it—Korean law had always been a bit of a mess.

But those men were different. For one, players never went to court. They went to headquarters, which held the authority of summary judgment. The greater and more dangerous their power, the harsher the sentence—and the more special the treatment.

"Director, you do understand? Life imprisonment. Non-negotiable."

"I know, I know. Haven't I told you? For the rest of my term, your word is law to me."

"An excellent choice. Daesung has been saying the same—that unless it's life imprisonment, they'll respond forcefully. They were so anxious they wanted him executed outright; I talked them down."

Of course Daesung was furious. The man had attacked the founder's bloodline and his heir—not raging would have been the strange part.

In any case, thanks to Park Chang-seok's forceful insistence, they were shipped straight to a player-only prison.

What if they escaped later?

They couldn't.

"……Uh."

"Hiii…"

"Heh… heh."

The Bone-Rooting Agony seemed to have carved itself into them as trauma; they could barely string words together. Whether they would ever recover was anyone's guess, but by then they would already be far beneath their former level. They would be controllable enough.

"Ah, Assemblyman Park Chang-seok."

"Yes, Director."

"You remember that press conference? Announce our position tomorrow. Headquarters will respect Baek Jinwoo's views and actively embrace them."

"Heh heh, the public will love that."

"Heh heh heh."

These days the Director felt as though he could fly. He had merely shifted headquarters' official line to backing Baek Jinwoo, and his popularity had shot skyward. At this rate, the next election was as good as won. Park Chang-seok might even end up taking the Director's seat from him—but what a seat that would be!

"The national team reselection—start it immediately! Just tell Yoo Jia to do whatever she wants."

The Director's voice was unusually light.

The nation cheered. They actually liked that the decision had been made so boldly, without a vote.

Then an article dropped. It had been published by Yoo Jia.

It was a truly perfect counter. If they lost, it was heartwarming; if they won, an absolute jackpot! Naturally, public opinion soared.

Words carry responsibility. The rankers of the past had faithfully collected taxpayers' money time after time, yet had never once delivered a real result. Hadn't they crashed out of the preliminaries at every turn, then swaggered about calling themselves the "Big Three" without a word of apology?

This time was different. Baek Jinwoo had been bold, and he had staked money itself to stand behind his word. Nothing in this world was as honest and certain as money.

The people were beginning to feel it too.

Ah.

Something about South Korea really was changing.

And at the heart of that storm of change, of course, stood Baek Jinwoo.

Yubaek posted an announcement. Summarized, it read:

It was stunning content, and its crown jewel was, without question, the part about ranker status not being required! Most of the nation responded that they couldn't make sense of it.

And Yoo Jia was no different.

"Jinwoo."

"Yes."

"Something about this feels off. Shouldn't we still be picking rankers? We can't possibly take non-rankers to the World League. We've staked a full 10 trillion on this, after all……"

Yoo Jia trusted Baek Jinwoo unconditionally. And yet she felt uneasy. She had spent the last three years feeling the world's towering wall with her own body, so she couldn't help it.

"I'm a non-ranker myself, you know."

"Oh, come on—you're the exception, Jinwoo!"

"The truth is—"

Pfft.

Baek Jinwoo laughed.

"Honestly, Korea's rankers and non-rankers are all about the same level anyway."

"……"

At least, that was how it looked through Baek Jinwoo's eyes.

And looking further ahead? World rankers and non-rankers were all much of a muchness.

'I have to look far ahead.'

Only three years had passed since the world changed. No one knew who would grow strong and who would fade. Rather than a generic ranker, a player specialized in something was far more valuable.

Like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hwang Jiwoo's Flame Body, for instance.

Honestly, he had even entertained the thought. Of simply putting Hwang Jiwoo on the national team. Hungyo's praise for her never stopped, because she was truly putting in the work.

'But that would be a bit too soon.'

That was why he had settled on three.

The confirmed national team roster currently looked like this:

Exactly six. Add Oh Seon-young, and it made seven.

Ahn Gijeong and Hwang Juwon had left Ilwol Guild and were now waiting to join SKY.

'No telling whether Kang Geonho will apply or not.'

Either way was fine. If he did apply, Hungyo would cut the field in the first round, and Yoo Jia would conduct the interviews personally. Using Mind Reading, she would test how sincere and passionate he was about being a player, and how loyal he intended to be to the organization.

Since Mind Reading had a cooldown, she could only interview one person a day, but……

'Still, that was nothing to complain about.'

The moment someone entered SKY, they became his direct disciple. Better to select carefully than to select many.

"Whew."

Ninety days remained until the World League. They would have to be selected in time.

"Are there many applicants?"

"Don't even ask……"

Yoo Jia shook her head.

"So many people flooded in that the website has already crashed twice."

"Whoa, already?"

Baek Jinwoo clicked his tongue.

Hmm……

Could they really interview all of them?

Who knew.

If it came down to it, he would just slot in Hwang Jiwoo.

"When are the tests?"

"Exactly one week from now. Until then, we have to grind through the paperwork. First we screen the documents before sending anyone to Hungyo."

This was going to be a problem.

He was already busy, and things were about to get busier.