The Heavenly Demon Joins the Company Dinner (2)
The two weeks flew by far faster than I had anticipated. There was still so much left to teach Bae Min-hwang and Nabi-rin, yet when I heard the tournament was tomorrow, I was utterly stunned. ‘It’s already time?!’
My daily routine consisted of going to school, coming home, watching Enry’s teammates scream during scrims, running Bae Min-hwang and Nabi-rin through the wringer, checking in on the growth of those in the Hwasan Sect within the world of Hwaryong Muin, and finally playing with Baru. Looking at it this way, it seemed like I had been living quite a fulfilling set of days.
Anyway, because my routine was so similar every single day, I hadn’t even noticed how much time had passed. Once I realized how urgent the situation had become the day before the event, I immediately summoned Nabi-rin and Bae Min-hwang.
The two of them insisted they needed rest to maintain peak condition for the tournament the next day, but I ignored them completely. What condition? What condition could you two possibly need? That sort of thing is what people who have already fully awakened their potential seek in order to slightly increase their chances of victory. For those who are fundamentally lacking, it’s far better to spend that time accumulating even a little more knowledge and experience.
Besides, don’t you think I would adjust things appropriately? No matter how much I enjoy putting people through the grinder, I still know how to exercise discretion. There’s no way I would tire them out so badly that they couldn’t even control their bodies properly on the day of the match. So give up on resisting and just follow my instructions. There’s still a mountain of things I haven’t taught you yet—what rest are you even talking about?
Thanks to me mercilessly drilling them right up until the day before, both of them showed excellent form in the tournament the following day.
Other members of the team also put on impressive performances. Bunny, who had been criticized for lacking impact despite being the ace, seized victory in every single duel against the opposing ace and rode that momentum hard. Enry had an uncanny knack for finding the exact spots where our team was being pushed and prevented the match from tilting. As for Na-hee… well. Since I am a martial artist, I’m not very familiar with the performance of someone who wields the unfamiliar power known as magic. Still, since Dalbit kept shouting that she was doing great while watching the match together, I decided she must have performed admirably.
In that manner, Enry’s team easily advanced through the tournament bracket with six participating teams, delivered an overwhelming victory against their semifinal opponent, and ultimately succeeded in reaching the finals.
Those watching the matches chattered about massive upsets and underdog stories, but I didn’t find it particularly surprising. After receiving my teachings, how could they possibly fail to achieve at least this much? If they had, I would have continued calling Bae Min-hwang and Nabi-rin alongside the others to keep training them even after the tournament ended. Seeing them show such good form in various ways, I figured there was no longer any need for that.
And so the short tournament schedule raced toward its conclusion.
On the day of the grand finals, Enry stood in front of the VR capsule and felt her heart pounding like crazy. It wasn’t as if she had only started streaming and competing in tournaments one or two days ago, so why did she get this nervous every single time?
She tried to calm her cowardly heart with deep breaths, but eventually gave up and stepped outside the streaming room to pop a soothing pill into her mouth. After that, she felt a little better.
Looking back, the past two weeks had been an absolute death march that nearly drove her insane. Sleep, eat, briefly attend school, play Apis—repeat. Just the time spent doing scrims against other teams was already comparable to that of professional gamers, and on top of that, she had Bunny’s guidance and Ara’s brutal training. There had been almost no time to rest. Lately she had been dozing off so much in class that her neck was constantly stiff by the time she got home.
What was truly strange, though, was that Ara was living almost the exact same schedule yet had never once shown any sign of fatigue. Was that person a superhuman both in-game and in real life?
Anyway, this brutal daily routine would finally end today. Whether she became the protagonist by winning the championship or the pitiful supporting character by taking second place, once the tournament was over, it would all be finished.
After taking one deep breath, she entered the capsule and connected to the VR world. Before turning on her stream, she first headed to the room in Apis where her teammates were waiting. The others were already gathered there.
Bunny. Bae Min-hwang. Nabi-rin. Na-hee. Dalbit. They were all familiar faces, but the expressions they wore were all different. Bunny looked completely deflated for some reason and was muttering that he was trash. Na-hee was comforting him from the side. Nabi-rin and Bae Min-hwang were discussing their enemies and stoking their desire for revenge.
By now everyone knew, but the target of that revenge wasn’t the opposing team in the finals. They hadn’t even faced the enemy team on their way up to the championship match, so how could they hold a grudge? What they were after was revenge against Ara.
After being put through hell by Ara for two whole weeks, they were discussing how they could possibly repay the humiliation they had suffered. That was more or less the content of their conversation.
Enry knew their discussion was just over-the-top roleplay for the stream, but there were moments when she genuinely wondered if they were being serious. Hmm. I wonder what kind of reaction those two would have if they saw the real Ara. If they saw someone who looked exactly like her VR avatar, they would definitely be shocked. Maybe they would even get scared out of pure conditioned reflex.
Imagining the two of them acting all tough because of what they had said earlier, only to shrink back in fear the moment Ara opened her mouth, Enry couldn’t help but laugh. Ah, but it is a little disappointing. The only one among the streamers who knows what Ara really looks like is me.
“Enry. You’re here?”
A voice came from behind, but Enry didn’t turn her head. It was a voice she knew all too well.
“Hwaryeong. Were you already here?”
“I had to do one last check on those two and Bunny.”
A check? Does that mean she drilled them again today?
“A check?! What kind of check?!”
“Exactly! What kind of check is that?! You completely broke our spirits!”
“Look at this! Our ace, Bunny, has hit rock bottom in confidence!”
Despite the fierce protests from multiple people, Ara didn’t shrink back in the slightest.
“To be a man and yet lose your spirit over something so trivial.”
“That’s sexist!”
“Men can be delicate too!”
Watching the team members gradually grow louder with their “Waaah, waaah,” Enry felt the tension that had gripped her just moments ago completely dissipate.
“Hello. I’m Bunny.”
“Today’s ace match is between me and Dang So-il. Honestly, compared to Hwaryeong, Dang So-il isn’t much, right? I’ll win cleanly.”
“I will do my best to produce results that match the effort I’ve put in so far!”
“Isn’t a normal interview for the official broadcast supposed to be like this?!”
…
“Although I am the coach, it feels like Hwaryeong has been the mental pillar for the team. Still, as a coach should, I will do my best to show off a cool ban-pick at the end.”
“Me! Me!”
“Hwaryeong! You remember that you promised us a company dinner if we win, right?! I’ve screen-capped it, so you absolutely have to show up!”
“Do you bastards really want to see me in real life that badly?”
I never expected her to say something like that in front of tens of thousands of viewers. Weren’t people supposed to talk about their determination and raise each other’s morale in a spot like this?!
“Of course! That’s the whole reason we came this far!”
“That is our determination and our goal!”
“Not winning the championship?”
“We can win the championship next time, but Hwaryeong only comes once!”
How baffling. In this case, it must be that I am normal and they are the strange ones, right? Even the official broadcast viewers are all calling them crazy, so it must be true.
Sigh. If I really say I won’t go, it feels like they’ll pester Enry until they find out where I live and show up at my door. I was planning to go anyway, but rather than seeing them swagger around triumphantly after winning, it might be better to meet them while they’re a little deflated from taking second place.
No, that won’t do. That would mean the people I taught lost in terms of skill. That is something my pride would never allow.
While I wrestled with these two contradictory thoughts, the tournament continued on its own, and Enry and her teammates left to compete in the finals. Still, it would be better if those brats won. No matter which way it goes, I’ll be the one suffering, and it will only last a single day. Most of all, I don’t want to see Enry looking depressed.