The Greatest Moment?
“Congratulations. With this victory, Team SKY has sealed the unified Grand Slam. Everyone is saying that you played the greatest role in achieving this momentous feat, Head Coach. What are your thoughts on this?”
Although Lee Sanghyeok had turned down almost all of the interview requests flooding in following their championship victory, he couldn't bring himself to refuse LGN—Live Game Net—the network that had practically served as Team SKY's dedicated broadcaster since the beginning.
“The credit doesn't belong to me, but to the players and the coaching staff. I was merely someone who offered them modest advice.”
A humble reply from Lee Sanghyeok, yet it was nothing more than a boilerplate comment polished for the broadcast. Sanghyeok knew better than anyone that Team SKY's triumph was entirely his own doing.
Even the signature Cheonryong Paebeop—the pride of the team's ace, Choi Sangyeol, alias Crash, who was universally celebrated as the undisputed sovereign of Eternal Life—was a technique perfected by Sanghyeok's own hands.
To sculpt Choi Sangyeol into the pinnacle of competitive play, Sanghyeok had leveraged the full, unyielding backing of SKY Telecom to bring the Card Master to life—a class long relegated to theoretical supremacy—and Choi Sangyeol was the direct beneficiary of that vision.
Countless other achievements had been forged through Sanghyeok as well. In truth, it was no exaggeration to say that Team SKY had been built from top to bottom by his design alone.
From the start, when SKY Telecom's professional gaming roster finished dead last in the EL Master League for three consecutive years, management had virtually dismantled the organization to rebuild from scratch. Scouting Sanghyeok while he was creating a sensation across the online sphere, they had pledged unreserved support, demanding that he elevate Team SKY into the world's best within three years. True to his word, Sanghyeok built an immaculate, flawless Team SKY in three years flat.
Of course, the journey had been fraught with trials, but he had kept his promise regardless.
“Every fan already knows the truth, yet you remain so humble.”
“I am merely stating facts.”
Sanghyeok was no hot-blooded youth in his twenties; he was well into his thirties, an aging man merely four years shy of forty. Unlike the younger coaches in the scene, he had little patience for flamboyant, headline-grabbing interviews.
Naturally, the broadcast crew had little fondness for such an uncooperative style. Perhaps that was why the reporter suddenly lobbed an ambush question completely absent from the cue sheet.
“Could you tell us if there's any truth to this as well? Rumors have recently been swirling across various online communities that you will be parting ways with Team SKY following this tournament. Is that true?”
“It is completely groundless.”
Sanghyeok kept his answer brief. Since it was off-script, there was no reason to indulge it with an elaborate response. Yet behind his composed demeanor, thoughts entirely contradictory to his words raced through his mind.
It's true. Infuriatingly true... but entirely true.
In fact, he had already received his termination notice. However, the news was slated for official release in three months at the earliest, meaning going public now would risk legal repercussions for breach of contract.
At Sanghyeok's dry refusal to elaborate, the reporter put on a slightly crestfallen face and pressed on with the interview. Normally, interviewees would force a playful remark or crack a smile to liven up the atmosphere, but Sanghyeok lived up to his moniker of 'the Ice Man,' offering nothing but a stone-cold expression and monotone replies from start to finish.
In the end, the interview concluded without flair or emotion.
Having expected as much, the reporter still felt aggrieved that the segment had produced virtually zero usable soundbites. In one final attempt, they threw out another unscripted question.
“Is this moment right now the greatest moment you have ever dreamed of, Coach?”
Faced with yet another off-the-cuff question, Sanghyeok paused to chew on the words.
The greatest moment...
Reflecting briefly on the weight of that phrase and the harsh reality weighing down upon him, a faint, wry smile crept onto Sanghyeok's lips.
“Of course. For me, this is the greatest moment.”
That, too, was a lie.
This could never be his greatest moment.
Though he had clawed his way out from the very bottom of despair to stand at the summit... this was never the summit he had envisioned.
Even after the interview wrapped up, Sanghyeok remained seated in silence for a long time, the reporter's parting question echoing ceaselessly in his mind.
The greatest moment I truly desired... That's something I'll probably never achieve. Is this truly the absolute limit of what I can realistically attain?
A bitter smile traced his lips as he slowly shook his head.
What infuriated him even more was that the very ceiling he had painstakingly reached was about to be stripped away from him entirely.
Failing to thoroughly examine the fine print of the contract was undoubtedly his own blunder, but even taking that into account, this was sheer cruelty. He had built every single piece of this dynasty with his own sweat and blood, yet they were forcing him to surrender it all and walk away with nothing.
While it was true that he had locked horns with SKY Telecom's upper management over countless disputes during the past two years, he had never imagined they would plant a dagger in his back so ruthlessly.
“Haa... I'm so exhausted.”
Sanghyeok let out a heavy sigh, muttering in utter hollow despair.
His entire existence had been defined by having things stolen from him. And now, on the verge of being plundered once more, everything felt thoroughly meaningless.
“Where on earth did it all go wrong?”
Sanghyeok wanted nothing more than to turn back the hands of time. If he could truly undo it all, he wouldn't live as someone preyed upon and stripped bare; he would live as someone who took everything for himself. Yet, as always, it was nothing more than an empty daydream.
If only I could be born again... No, if only I could just return to that time...
Tens, hundreds of times a day, the very same thought plagued his mind.
No matter how desperately he yearned for it, it was an impossibility. Sanghyeok knew that full well, but because his life had been riddled with so many agonizing regrets, he could not stop the yearning from surfacing day after day.
Longing upon longing, desperate and suffocating, continued to pile up within him.
And so, he kept heaping desire upon desire, longing upon longing, unendingly.