Black Beetle (3)
‘He seems to have some willpower of his own. I’d like it if he can do well.’
As the test got underway, Park Yong-bin at least had a favorable first impression of Hajin.
For one thing, his salary was at the absolute floor despite his age and experience, so if he could show even the bare minimum of what they were looking for, Park was fully willing to bring him on. Even if they were only trying to debut rookies, it still took money to recruit the ones who showed real promise.
The more money you saved, the more you profited.
‘But this is…’
There was one thing neither Park Yong-bin nor the rest of the coaching staff had expected. The longer the test went on, the more there was for everyone involved to see.
“I guess you didn’t just climb to number one for nothing.”
“Thank you for thinking so highly of me.”
When the test ended, Park Yong-bin looked at him with a dazed expression that was quite different from when they’d first met. Hajin had performed far beyond what anyone had expected.
It had only been a simple test, of course, and things would be different once he was thrown into actual team play, but the eye of a coach who had once won championships could clearly see what was there.
“That’s enough for the test. Shall we talk in more detail, then?”
If his skill and his conditions both matched, there was really no reason to turn him away. Park Yong-bin led him deeper into the building and into his own office, where they could talk more privately.
“To be honest, Lee Hajin, you’re exactly the kind of player our team needs right now. Director Kim’s eye for talent was right on the mark after all.”
“Thank you.”
“...I’ve played professionally too, you know. I can imagine how hard it must have been.”
In the quiet office, with no coaches around and only the two of them facing each other, Park Yong-bin smiled faintly as he spoke.
He genuinely felt kindly toward Hajin. As an older colleague, and as someone who had been a few years younger than him, he thought he understood what kind of hardship it must have taken to survive in this merciless arena of endless competition.
‘Hardship, huh.’
Hajin, for his part, flinched under that sympathetic gaze and averted his eyes slightly. What he had achieved now was a level he should never have reached by relying on skill and talent alone.
‘I’m not denying it.’
But after a moment, he met Park Yong-bin’s eyes again, and he did not feel ashamed enough to deny it. He was a predator who hunted without mercy in both this world and another, all in order to satisfy his desires.
“I knew it.”
And Park Yong-bin misunderstood the look in his eyes. After all, gaming and Pandemonium were things ordinary people could never even begin to imagine.
“If you sign with us, the remaining four members will all be rookies making their first appearance in a broadcast tournament. We’ll personally screen promising players, so don’t worry too much. There is just one thing I should mention, though—when you’re living in the dorms…”
“It’s fine. I can manage without any problems.”
“Ah, right! You already did your military service, didn’t you? Ahem.”
Park Yong-bin, who had been speaking seriously about team operations while sneaking cautious glances at him, finished saying everything he needed to say and ended on a lighter note. After that, they moved into short small talk and trivial chatter meant to soften the atmosphere.
Even Hajin could tell the mood was blatant enough that Park Yong-bin wanted to see what he could do with him.
“Wow. Come to think of it, is that one of those idols making a comeback these days? She’s pretty easy on the eyes.”
That was when their small talk drifted to the TV in the corner of the office, which was only playing video. Following Park Yong-bin’s gaze, Hajin looked at the female idol dancing silently on the screen.
The camera lingered especially long on a young woman with a short blonde bob, her face still carrying a distinctly girlish innocence.
“That world is fierce too. Maybe even more than ours. If she’s managed a comeback like that, it just means she worked that much harder.”
“Right. With the kind of mindset that says you can do anything.”
“...Anything?”
Park Yong-bin, who had been grinning at the TV, let out an awkward laugh when he heard Hajin’s offhand remark. But Hajin was serious.
“Maybe she wanted it badly enough that the opportunity came to her. Of course, it would have been an opportunity that demanded a price, but she paid whatever it took for the chance.”
He was looking at the idol, smiling brightly yet somehow seeming desperate, and murmured as though he had seen something in her.
“Was it the same for you, Lee Hajin? Is that why you reached number one?”
“Yes. And... it’ll keep being that way. That’s why I came here.”
Overwhelmed by the strange atmosphere, Park Yong-bin asked cautiously, without really meaning to, but Hajin answered without the slightest hesitation.
In truth, he wasn’t speaking only to Park Yong-bin. It was closer to self-hypnosis, a way to steady his own wavering heart.
Of course, how Park Yong-bin received those words was another matter entirely.
‘There will be good results.’
As he left the company building in the late afternoon, the sun already beginning to set, Hajin felt certain after hearing Park Yong-bin’s final words. The coach was already on his side, so at a high enough probability, he would be able to save the team and secure the contract.
It was a victory achieved through Pandemonium.
“I hadn’t really paid it any mind until now. But I don’t think I can ignore it anymore.”
“Go on.”
As Hajin walked home and muttered into his phone as if he were speaking with someone on a call, Agares appeared on the screen and answered him.
“The other players are real people living in the real world, aren’t they?”
“Indeed. The seventy-two... no, by now the number is surely even lower, but each player is living in the real world for their own reasons while participating in Pandemonium, just like you.”
“What happens if something goes wrong with one of them?”
“Naturally, that player’s faction loses all its strength and is automatically eliminated.”
Agares smirked as if he had known this question would come, as if asking it were the most obvious thing in the world. But Hajin’s face only darkened further.
“The competition in the game won’t spill over into reality, will it?”
“That will depend on your actions. No one knows what will happen from here on. So there’s only one answer in the end: more achievements, more growth. Both your faction and you yourself must keep growing stronger if you want to stay safe from your rivals.”
The rabbit mask’s red eyes flashed for an instant. At the same time, the phone buzzed and spilled out a stream of notifications. Every single one of them was coming from Pandemonium.
“Your soldiers, who have achieved great deeds, are awaiting your decision. Tend to them at once, and choose the path our entire faction must follow.”
The game never stops, and it never ends. He got on the bus and, with a sigh, lifted his phone and began sorting through the options one by one.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Your soldiers carried out your orders and devastated nearly half of the barony. Since the spoils gained from that choice are enormous, let’s sort through them first.”
It was the first large-scale devastation operation his faction had ever carried out face-to-face. They had inflicted heavy damage on an enemy who had been unable to respond in time, and all of it had come back as profit.
And now, on the back of that profit, he was planning one major battle. Before that, however, they needed time to reorganize their strength.
Cocooning · 101 Minions
Cocooning · Robinson
He first cocooned the soldiers who had accumulated enough experience to evolve to the next stage. The minions would become warriors, and Robinson, who had already been a warrior, would become a knight.
The Great Lord, who had not taken the front line in this war and instead spent the entire time in the rear repeatedly using Essence Infusion and Devour to rack up experience at speed, was the same.
Even the Great Lord, whose body grew larger and larger until it too had to be cocooned, left only one thing to do now: distribute the experience earned through quests and the like.
“I guess I should give this to Lena. In some ways, she’s our strongest asset.”
With a wry smile, he dumped the experience into Lena, who had been expressing her emotions on screen the entire time of reorganization with a -_- emoticon.
It made up, all at once, for all the investment he had been unable to give her while focusing on raising the overall level of the faction.
She was delighted by it in her simple way and hopped up and down. It was a stark contrast to the savage frenzy with which she had slaughtered dozens on her own in this war. At least when she faced him, she remained a child in all her innocence.
But seeing her like that only made him feel more responsible.
All of Lena’s emotions, her growth, her body—everything was his work.
“The growth rate of Lena, whom you chose as your main force, is terrifying. Thanks to that, Lena has been given another chance to grow. Please press the evolution element. You must directly choose what kind of knight she will become.”