Chapter 19

Five of us, including me, were gathered at the restaurant.

The place was divided into two groups: the one that chattered all day and the one that said nothing.

Hwang Jua, Kim Dain.

The two I’d seen in the reception room were fundamentally talkative.

They were high-energy kids, and as long as they weren’t too moody, it was a decent personality for a player.

It was easier to share opinions with someone who talked a lot rather than someone who was quiet.

On the other hand, the rest of Super Sylph were quiet.

Aside from a brief self-introduction, they just ate their meal in silence.

That kind of personality wasn’t very good for gaming.

UA was a game where communication was extremely important.

Where the enemy appeared, what my status was, how I was going to move.

You had to communicate with your teammates in real-time to increase your win rate.

‘But for them to be so tight-lipped…’

It wouldn’t matter if they were only like this while eating and talked fine in-game, but I had a feeling that wasn’t the case.

‘What were those kids’ names again?’

<That player with the long hair is Shin Aram. The one with her hair tied back is Jung Yunseul.>

‘Ah, right.’

Seo Dami seemed to be paying close attention to the team decision as well, as she had memorized the players’ names.

The player who pushed her long hair behind her shoulders and silently cut her meat, Shin Aram.

She was the oldest on this team and played the Defender position.

And the other one.

The player picking at her food with her spoon, as if she had no appetite, was named Jung Yunseul.

She was an Attacker on the team.

I couldn’t tell if she was naturally low on stamina or if something was depressing her, but her face looked a bit gloomy.

‘Hmm. At this rate, the atmosphere doesn’t seem that great.’

Just as I finished my meal while roughly gauging the mood, Kim Dain spoke to me.

“I thought the Coach would be here soon, but he’s still not here. You came to see the Coach, right?”

When I nodded, she said she would give me a tour of the team house since we had some time.

“Then let’s go upstairs!”

“Ta-da, this is our training room~.”

“The facilities are really nice.”

“Right?”

Super Sylph’s training room.

Compared to Universe Cat, the size was similar, but the quality of the equipment inside was much better.

It was good enough to do almost all the training I had done with Magnus.

“By the way, Dami-ssi, how old are you?”

Hwang Jua, who had followed Kim Dain, asked.

No matter how I looked at her, she was a blonde foreigner, but it was still a bit awkward how well she spoke Korean.

When I said I was eighteen, Hwang Jua’s eyes widened.

“I’m eighteen too! Eight-teen! Hehe.”

“……?”

Seemingly in a better mood, Hwang Jua took a candy from her pocket and handed it to me.

“Have a good day.”

It was an orange-flavored candy.

It seemed she meant for me to eat it and have a good day.

I unwrapped it, planning to eat it for dessert, but I could tell it was a sticky, melted candy that wouldn’t come off.

It wasn’t on purpose, was it?

“See you later, then~.”

And with that, Hwang Jua disappeared.

The next place Kim Dain took me was the access room.

What could be so special about an access room?

After I checked the capsules I saw every day, Kim Dain patted the long chair against the wall, inviting me to sit.

“If you have any questions, ask me anything. You didn’t just come here for no reason today. You came because you were curious about what kind of team we are. Right?”

This friend with the glasses was pretty sharp.

I answered honestly that she was right.

“I knew it! One of our members left, so we have an open Attacker spot. If you joined us, Seo Dami, it would be a really, really big help!”

Kim Dain pleaded, clasping her hands in front of her face and squeezing her eyes shut.

To her, who seemed to genuinely want to recruit me, I asked what I had been curious about.

The first question was why their rank was only 8th.

There could be several reasons for that.

A lack of communication, or a lack of individual skill.

Whatever the reason, I wanted to hear the thoughts of the person involved.

“Uh… well. To explain this, the story might get a little long, is that okay?”

“Yes.”

“Our team actually did pretty well until last year.”

Last year, Super Sylph’s record was 4th in the Second Division League.

According to Kim Dain, Super Sylph had consistently been a team that performed above the middle ranks even before that.

The reason they had collapsed this season was due to the retirement of their veteran players.

As you could tell from the Magnus team, which had completely fallen apart without me, the role of a single veteran player in UA was bigger than one might think.

If that player was also the Ace who doubled as the Leader, it went without saying.

But for Super Sylph, not just one, but two veteran players had retired at the same time, so the team was bound to be shaken.

“It was so hard when the unnis who were also our leaders suddenly retired together. Still, Yunseul and Hyeona did a good job, but…”

Jung Yunseul was the player I saw at the restaurant earlier.

The other one, Kim Hyeona, who had been responsible for the Attacker position this season, had already accepted an offer from another team and left.

Apparently, she was a player who had joined on a one-year short-term contract in the first place.

“Honestly, I get it. Who would want to stay on a team that collapsed to 8th place because its teamwork fell apart?”

Kim Dain said that if Jung Yunseul’s contract wasn’t still active, she might have already been looking for another team.

“What about the other players? Do they have any complaints about being here?”

“Jua, Aram Unni, and I have good memories of being on this team.”

Kim Dain looked up at the ceiling for a moment, as if reminiscing about those days.

And just then, Hwang Jua pushed the access room door open with her back and came inside.

“Here, take this.”

What Hwang Jua gave me was a cup of vanilla ice cream.

She had to use her back to open the door because she couldn’t use her hands while carrying two, including her own.

“What the. Why don’t I get one?”

“Unni, you have hands, you have feet.”

“Oof. So mean…”

“No. I didn’t realize, but all the candy in my pocket had melted.”

Saying so, Hwang Jua wore an awkward expression.

“But your dessert got upgraded to Häagen-Dazs instead, so it’s a total win, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Speak comfortably. We’re friends. Friend.”

Hwang Jua, who had cheerfully taken the seat next to me, asked if I had decided.

“Actually, I knew who you were the moment I saw you. You came because you’re thinking about joining our team, right? Right?”

Hwang Jua said that any UA player would know me because she’d seen so many articles about me, and she expressed pure curiosity, asking if I had really used a viral marketing company.

“Hwang Jua! Stop with the nonsense!”

“Why! I can ask if I’m curious.”

“There’s no way Seo Dami would do something like that. It would feel bad to be asked that if you didn’t do it!”

“It’s okay.”

“Ah, I guess that’s true. Sorry…”

Seeing her expression, she seemed genuinely sorry.

I kindly replied that I hadn’t done any viral marketing.

And what do you know.

This kid looked incredibly envious.

Every pro player wants to receive attention, but it seemed to be a bit stronger for Hwang Jua.

“So, your decision? Are you going to join our team?”

“I’m still thinking about it.”

“Huh. Why?”

Hwang Jua had a look of disbelief.

“Our team is really great.”

“How would I know? This is my first time seeing it.”

All I had learned since coming here was that there were two talkative players and two quiet ones, and that the food at the restaurant was excellent.

I couldn’t possibly decide on a team I would have to spend at least a year with based on just that much information, could I?

“Can’t you tell us which other teams are candidates?”

To Kim Dain’s question, I answered Star Prism.

“Ah~ Star Prism? They’re good, yeah. But honestly, I think we have way more potential.”

Hwang Jua shrugged while eating her ice cream.

“Look. You’re eighteen, Dami. Same age as me. Yunseuli is seventeen. Dain Unni is nineteen. Aram Unni is twenty-two. Now, do you feel anything?”

“…Everyone’s young?”

“Bingo~.”

Hwang Jua said that one of Super Sylph’s biggest strengths was their age.

It was certainly a convincing point.

A low average age for the players also meant a high potential for growth.

In the pro scene, there were often cases where a player’s skills grew significantly in just one year.

‘Next year, I, no, Dami will be nineteen…’

I calculated what the average age would be if I were part of the Super Sylph team next season.

23, 20, 19, 19, 18.

Average age 19.8.

From the First to the Third Division, it was clearly a very young team, even considering the entire league.

“I wonder how old everyone on Star Prism is…”

As I muttered to myself and took out my phone to search, Kim Dain, adjusting her glasses, answered right away.

“Twenty-five, twenty-three, twenty-two, and twenty-one. Based on this year. If Seo Dami joins them, the average age next year would be… 22.8.”

How did she have all that memorized?

I thought she was just talkative, but it seemed she had a whole encyclopedia of trivia in her head.

And hearing that, Hwang Jua added an exaggerated remark.

“Whoa! That’s a huge difference! If you’re picking a team, wouldn’t it be better to choose our team, which is full of potential~?”

“Instead of this, why don’t we play a game together? We’ve eaten, so I think it’d be fine to warm up a bit.”

“Let’s play a Rank Game. A Rank Game. I’ll carry you.”

The two players, who had seated me between them, started chattering again.

Just as I felt my mind going hazy, the training room door opened.

I wondered who it was this time, but it wasn’t a player.

“So you were here. What are you two doing with a guest?”

“Ah.”

He was the person I was originally supposed to meet today, the coach of Super Sylph, Lee Gangseon.

“I’m truly sorry for being late when we had an appointment.”

“It’s alright.”

I went to the reception room with the Coach and we discussed the contract.

An annual salary of 350 million Won.

Among the Second Division League teams that had proposed a contract to me, Super Sylph had offered the second-highest amount.

The unusual part was that they proposed a one-year contract.

Usually, a team offers a player a one-year contract when that player isn’t very valuable.

If a player is skilled and has high value, they would want to lock them into a long-term contract, no matter what.

But my case was a bit different.

Wasn’t I a high-value player?

It’s a little funny to say it myself, but in the industry’s eyes, Seo Dami was a player with solid skills and a large fanbase, someone any team would welcome.

So why did Super Sylph offer me a one-year contract?

The reason was to deliberately create a contract that was advantageous to me.

With a short contract period, I could re-enter the transfer market in a year and pick a team to my liking.

If I performed in the Second Division League as I had this year, even more teams would show interest in me.

Even if I couldn’t perform to that extent, as long as I played reasonably well, other teams would still covet me.

In other words, a one-year contract was better for me to raise my market value.

By making such a player-friendly offer, Super Sylph was appealing that they could take good care of me.

And if I lived with the team for a while like that, I might grow to like the team and decide to stay.

“If you need more time to think, we can certainly give you plenty.”

Coach Lee Gangseon said I could take a few more days to think about the contract.

It was already mid-November.

It was a time when players were starting to decide which teams they would go to, so even though he said that, I suspected the Coach was anxious inside.

What if I dragged out the contract until the end of November and then went to another team?

He would have to find a replacement player then, but the chances of a decent player being left on the market were slim.

“No. I don’t need that much time.”

I also knew how the market worked, so I intended to make a decision today if possible.

And to make that decision, I made one request to the Coach.

“If it’s alright, I’d like to watch the players train today.”

“Train? They have about an hour of rest after eating, so there’s some time left. Would that be okay?”

“Yes. It’s fine.”

I had plenty of time today anyway.

I was scheduled to visit the Star Prism team house in the evening, and I had time to spare until then.

To quietly observe the players’ usual behavior, I asked the Coach to keep the fact that I would be spectating a secret.

The Coach readily agreed, and so after all the players entered their access devices, I was able to secretly observe their training.

When I put on the headset, I could hear the players’ voice chat.

Today’s training was a Rank Game.

It was a training session where the five of them formed a team to maintain their practical skills through team rank.

There were currently four players left on Super Sylph.

I was curious how they would fill the last spot, and it seemed the coach would be helping with the training himself.

‘This hyung was here.’

Seeing Super Sylph’s coach, I felt a sense of gladness.

Coach Bae Yungi.

He was a player who had once been active in the UA First Division League, retired from active duty three years ago, and was now serving as a coach for Super Sylph.

In the First Division League, where countless players shone briefly before disappearing without a trace, Bae Yungi was a capable person who had held his ground for a long time.

Since he had been active for that long, I had naturally faced him in matches several times during my active days, and I remembered them being quite fierce each time.

‘Having someone of that level fill in a spot is a foul.’

It had been a long time since he retired from active duty due to his age, but he was still a man who had once been a First Division League Attacker.

The opponents they would meet in a Rank Match would mostly be regular players, so I thought this side would win one way or another.

Soon, the Super Sylph team’s match was found.

Their opponents, as expected, were a team of five regular players.

‘Alright, let’s see your skills.’

A best-of-three series played with the same official rules as the league.

The opposing team was all male, with a mix of Master and Grandmaster ranks.

‘Their ranks are pretty high.’

Grandmaster was the rank just below Legendary, the highest rank in Universe Arena.

It was the second rank in order, but it was an incredibly high rank.

Legendary was a realm that only 500 people could enter on the East Asia Server, which combined Korea, Japan, and China, so it was practically an area that non-pros couldn’t even dream of.

Even just reaching Grandmaster was a level that most regular players couldn’t reach.

It was a level that wasn’t easy to achieve even if you did nothing but eat and play the game, on the premise that you had talent.

‘The regular players’ team will have better reaction speed.’

At the Grandmaster level, their accuracy and reaction speed would not fall behind the Super Sylph team.

The story would be different if Super Sylph were a male pro team, but female teams tended to have slightly slower reaction speeds.

<Then aren’t they going to lose?>

‘That’s not it.’

<Why?>

Reaction speed and accuracy are clearly important factors in a match.

But pros had a definite advantage that more than made up for that.

‘The difference in other metrics besides reflexes, like teamwork, stamina, and tactics, will be huge.’

Universe Arena was a team game.

No matter how good an individual’s stats were, if they couldn’t be woven together harmoniously, they would never be able to defeat a pro team that moved as one.

The first battlefield was a Deathmatch that took place in Boundary.

Super Sylph moved with Coach Bae Yungi’s orders as their core, showing a very organized movement.

It was a different class from the regular players’ team, which looked somewhat disorganized.

And the difference in organization soon had a strong impact on the score.

Super Sylph began to pull far ahead, overwhelming the regular players’ team by a double score.

The regular players’ team, getting beaten up with a “Huh? This isn’t right,” look on their faces, collapsed without showing any decent counterattack for the full 15 minutes.

“Noob-noob-noob-noob-noob~.”

Hwang Jua cheerfully muttered things that would make the opponents furious if they heard.

Even Kim Dain was muttering, “Ahh- the future of Korean UA is dark.”

It was from this point that my expression as I watched the game became quite serious.

‘They were this skilled?’

I had thought Super Sylph would win.

But the performance they were showing now was far superior to their past matches that I had reviewed.

Considering the skill level of the Second Division League that I had looked into after receiving offers from multiple teams, this team was definitely not at a level to be in 8th place.

Only then did I think I understood a little about why this team kept catching my eye.

‘These kids. If they’re polished just a little, they’ll soar.’

A team with the potential to change drastically with one small trigger.

In my eyes, Super Sylph looked like such a diamond in the rough.