One Week Before the World League (3)
Jinugod.
The living legend of Battle of Summoners, and the genius once hailed as Ilcheon. Conqueror of Floor 99 of the Tower of Ordeal — and the No. 1 player in the PvP rankings!
As if that were all.
He'd rewritten every daily dungeon time-attack record in existence, and the rotten scoundrel had even torn down the notoriously nightmarish Chaos Demon Dragon raid in under a minute.
And get this — he hadn't spent a single cent doing it!
But for all that fearsome reputation, Jinugod's influence in the real world had been negligible.
"Jinugod? That legend the Five Emperors used to fawn over? Did the man even exist?"
"Sowf Korea? That tiny little country had someone like that? Give me a break."
"Even if he did, so what? Reality is what matters, no? So who's World Rank 1 right now! It's Rachel, isn't it?"
"Sorry, but the game and real life are two different things. At best, he's nostalgia goggles on an old game."
"Honestly, isn't it most likely he just dropped dead somewhere overseas and nobody noticed?"
He had been completely out of contact for a full four years. Naturally, the name 'Jinugod' — mentioned only in the earliest days — was doomed to remain a phantom, little more than a cloud grasped at from below. Slowly, he was forgotten. Bit by bit, he dulled. Now, nobody spared the name a second thought.
And even when it did surface, the standing of the current legend, Rachel, towered far above it.
There was, however, one exception.
South Korea alone had not forgotten.
As a backward nation in summoning, it desperately needed hope — and so a potent dose of national pride began to brew.
"We may be a backwater now, but we once had a player like that!"
"A player all five of the Five Emperors revered, no less!"
"We were a nation of gamers from the very start! In raw potential, even the five great powers can't ignore us!"
Jinugod.
Truth be told, that nickname was famous only in South Korea. Everywhere else, it drew exactly one reaction: Who the fuck? — as in, who the hell is that guy?
Even the Five Emperors had brought it up only in passing at the very beginning; after that, Jinugod was a name that never once appeared in any official setting.
Ka-chak-kak-kak-kak!
The reporters working their shutters furiously couldn't make sense of it either.
No — why on earth was the British Prime Minister shaking hands like that with a national team player from that country?
Could it really be because of that one figure — Jinugod — whom South Korea still believed in and insisted upon?
Videos of Baek Jinwoo had been floating around, sure. The man had put on quite a show in the qualifiers.
'But so what?'
'Isn't he just some kid from a youth soccer club kicking a ball around?'
'Beating up on Sowf Korea players — what's so impressive about that? Frog in a well, the lot of them.'
'And even if he is strong, none of it's been proven yet...'
Reporters from every nation stared holes through him as they wired the news back home.
Was he a true legend?
Or a fraud?
Either way, he was one of the storylines to watch at this tournament.
"Ughhhhh..."
"Haaaah..."
Baek Jinwoo and his guild members, wrung out like dishrags, sprawled across their beds — in an ultra-luxury hotel suite the British side had put them up in.
Watching them, Yoo Jia shook her head.
"Is everyone all right?"
"Ugh... do we look all right?"
The hangovers were merciless. Not one of them had ever drunk this much, this fast, in their lives.
'And yet.'
It had been fun. The hours spent laughing their heads off over one gourmet dish after another had been wonderful — and so had setting down their stress for the first time in ages and simply enjoying themselves, minds blissfully empty.
If only they could chase the hangover off a little faster. As his Geoncheongsimgong grew stronger, wouldn't even that become possible someday?
"By the way."
Hwang Juwon, sprawled in the next bed, snorted a laugh.
"That British Prime Minister was remarkably courteous. Honestly, that was a first for me. It was like the man had been swapped out entirely."
"Seriously. He shook hands with every single one of us, and even took pictures."
The guild members nearby nodded along, agreeing with fervor.
"To think our country would get this kind of treatment overseas! I'm genuinely moved."
"Do you suppose people around the world actually believe in Jinugod's existence?"
Baek Jinwoo shook his head.
"I doubt it."
Even mid-drink, he had felt the eyes on him. Suspicion — and beneath it, a faint trace of suspicion still.
So why would the British Prime Minister be so courteous to him?
'There's only one answer.'
Flop!
Baek Jinwoo collapsed back onto the bed and closed his eyes.
'Rachel.'
The alliance forged this time, the treatment he was receiving now — all of it had to be Rachel's doing.
And yet she still hadn't come to see him. Was she treading carefully?
Well, they were bound to cross paths soon enough once the matches began. It hardly mattered.
Just then, Ki Jaehyeok spoke up with a grin.
"By the way, Boss! If you really are Jinugod, you must've been pretty tight with Rachel back in the day, right?"
"Tight, huh..."
Baek Jinwoo murmured, half to himself.
"If trading a few words counts as friendship, then I suppose so."
"What's she like, though? She's huge overseas. They call her a peerless beauty."
When the world crowned its most beautiful people, every factor imaginable went into it — presence, charm, elegance. Among them all, Rachel had been named the woman with the most flawless proportions, claiming first place in the annual fashion magazine rankings year after year without a single upset.
"I couldn't tell you what she's like. All we ever did was trade a few words in-game."
Though those "few words" had spanned five years...
Anyway, that wasn't what mattered right now.
"All the same, everyone get some proper rest."
Baek Jinwoo addressed the entire guild.
"We're back to serious training starting tomorrow."
Six days until the World League. Time to shake off the jet lag and give their control one final tune-up.
"Haaah..."
London. Red Rose headquarters.
In the training room there, a blonde woman drenched in sweat ran a towel through her hair. Rachel — owner of a figure and proportions that defied belief.
A player who had been watching her walked over.
"Sis, aren't you training a little too hard?"
The one calling Rachel 'sis' was a monstrous ranker in her own right. None other than World Rank 6 — Olivia!
"Hardly trying hard."
Rachel's curt reply came with a face full of worry.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"Nothing."
"Don't tell me... it's not that man from South Korea, Baek Jinwoo?"
"......"
Rachel didn't bother to answer.
Olivia heaved a deep sigh.
"Haah, thought so. Just go see him. It's as simple as walking up and saying what you have to say — why are you agonizing over it like this?"
"He doesn't like people approaching him out of nowhere."
That had been Jinugod's reputation back in Battle of Summoners. Sensitive. Prone to grudges. A difficult man in some indefinable way. No ranker alive knew just how much effort Rachel had poured into keeping him in their group chat.
"Oh, come on. Who could possibly turn you away?"
"Why should I have to go?"
"Because you're gorgeous."
"......"
Rachel's face contorted.
'It's not that simple.'
She, who had stood closer than anyone to Jinugod's talent back in the day, knew it instinctively.
'He isn't the kind of genius that ordinary humans like us are permitted to approach.'
He was something that lay beyond what people called genius. If he weren't, there would be no explaining how he'd punched through BoS — the hell among hells — all the way to Floor 99 without spending a single won.
'I absolutely cannot get on his bad side.'
Do not feud with Baek Jinwoo!
She had grasped that instinctively, and sworn it — like divine scripture carved into a zealot's mind.
'First: no approaching until he comes to me.'
And then—
"Olivia."
"Hm?"
"We may actually struggle to win this World League."
"Huh? Is that even possible?"
Olivia was dumbfounded. She, more than anyone alive, knew exactly how strong Rachel was.
"Don't tell me it's because of Jinugod? That makes no sense. I've seen that video making the rounds. Setting you aside, he's at a level I could settle myself..."
"......"
'True. That could well be.'
If the Baek Jinwoo from that video fought the her of today? She was confident she'd win more than ninety-nine times out of a hundred.
'But.'
You couldn't measure a match against Baek Jinwoo in probabilities. He was the player who always manufactured the impossible.
"Oh, sis."
Olivia smirked.
"All that Tower climbing must be stressing you out lately. Take it easy, why don't you."
"...Whatever."
Rachel nodded. Arguing with someone who had never truly experienced him was pointless.
She'd find out at this World League — the scale of his greatness. Explaining it after that wouldn't be too late.
"Now then, everyone, gather round."
Hwang Juwon collected the guild members with his trademark smile.
"Guild Master over there — and Director Yoo Jia, you come over here too."
Training wrapped up, he had called everyone together and now rubbed his palms with a gleeful, expectant look.
"So! There's a little something I'd like to propose."
What now?
What on earth could it be, that he had to make that sly a face?
Curious despite himself, Baek Jinwoo took a seat on a nearby sofa.
"First things first, Guild Master."
"Yes?"
"Do you really think we can reach the semifinals or beyond on our own strength?"
"Hmm."
Baek Jinwoo pondered a moment, then nodded.
Everything before the round of 16 was team battle, but from the round of 16 onward, it became a nation-versus-nation tournament. And as long as Baek Jinwoo was standing? It was a game they could not lose — unless the variable of meeting Rachel in the round of 16 reared its head.
Not that it mattered. Baek Jinwoo had never once in his life gone into a match contemplating defeat.
"The semifinals I can't speak to. I'm only looking at the championship."
Rachel or anyone else. Walking into a game already resigned to losing? That wasn't Baek Jinwoo's style.
"Whoo!"
"That's our Guild Master!"
"Of course. If anyone can do it, it's him."
"Gah, my heart's already racing! South Korea winning the World League... is that even possible?"
To any outsider it would have sounded like lunacy, but not to the national team. To them, Baek Jinwoo was a sanctity that went beyond mere faith. The longer they trained beside him, the less they could picture him losing — even against the phenomenal Rachel.
"So here's the thing."
Hwang Juwon pressed on.
"How about we place a wager of our own?"
"A wager?"
Yoo Jia's eyes sparkled. A wager — money staked on an outcome, winnings collected at the odds! A golden opportunity to swell Yubaek's assets beyond measure.
"Not one soul on the planet is picking us to win. Which means the odds on us are astronomical, yes? And we're supposed to just let that sit there?"
"No way!"
"Absolutely not! Where do we go?"
"Can I just slam my entire net worth down on us making the round of 16?"
"No, no — hold on, hold on."
Hwang Juwon settled the excited guild members, then turned to Yoo Jia.
"Director."
"Yes?"
"There's exactly one casino recognized by the British Player Association. The betting limit there is one billion won per person, and they run it so tightly there's no gaming the system."
"Hehe. And are you asking me to bankroll you?"
"No, no."
Hwang Juwon waved the idea away and looked her in the eye.
"What do you say we take the eleven billion won we have at our disposal and see how far we can grow it? Whatever else comes in can go toward SKY's operating funds."
Oh ho.
Baek Jinwoo, listening in, nodded. Hwang Juwon. The man had real polish. And he put the group's gain ahead of personal greed. If Hong Ari held the vice guild master's seat, then an advisor's chair would suit this one just fine.
"Okay. I like it."
The one who answered wasn't Yoo Jia. It was Baek Jinwoo.
"Where's this casino of yours? We're done training anyway — shall we go have ourselves some fun?"
At his proclamation — whooo! — cheers erupted all over again.
Honestly, his guild members had been blessed in every way imaginable lately.