Chapter 3

That night, I couldn’t sleep properly out of worry.

Seeing me like this, Seo Dami suggested I go to the hospital if I was so worried, but I shook my head.

Not only did I not know which hospital it was, but an unrelated outsider wouldn’t be able to find out that information anyway.

And so, with my eyes wide open, I clutched my phone, anxiously waiting to see if a new article would pop up.

The articles made it sound like I was going to die at any moment.

It went without saying that the atmosphere on the Team Forum was grim.

The mood was so down that I was almost grateful for the post asking why the hell that bastard Han Youngin decided to do a face-plant into a truck on a weekend.

‘But what happens if I die like this…?’

Do I go back to my original body?

We were still in the middle of the First-Half Season.

Thinking about the teammates I’d leave behind and the chaos the team would be in, I couldn’t help but worry.

As I mulled over this and that, the time flew past three in the morning.

<You’re still not sleeping…>

‘No. I should sleep.’

Seo Dami, overcome with drowsiness, had been repeatedly waking up and falling back asleep.

It seemed her consciousness falling asleep and the body’s sleep were two separate things.

I apologized to her and forced myself to try and find the sleep that wouldn’t come.

Worrying like this wasn’t going to solve anything anyway.

Besides, Seo Dami had a schedule to follow tomorrow.

‘Let’s not borrow trouble. It’ll work out somehow…’

When I woke up, my head was much clearer.

It was eight o’clock when I woke to the alarm.

Sunday.

Pro teams usually have training on the weekends.

<We eat at nine and then start our day.>

In other words, it meant I had to go down and make breakfast for those insufferable brats again.

“Hmph.”

My own situation was a problem, but Seo Dami’s situation was also a problem.

Perhaps because we had formed a bit of a bond in less than a day, I found myself wondering what she would do without me.

‘What do you mean, what would she do? She’d just go back to being pushed around like before.’

In that sense, Seo Dami was lucky.

Of all people, she had to run into someone like me.

If it had been someone else, not me, who had entered this body.

If it had been a layman who knew nothing about this industry, no matter how much they racked their brains, there would have been no clear solution.

There’s a clear limit to the advice or solutions an ordinary person can offer.

‘But I’m different.’

Skill.

Overwhelming skill seemed to be enough to solve most of the problems surrounding her right now.

At least, that’s what I thought.

Before going down to make breakfast, I checked the names and faces of the team members on my phone and even watched their match videos.

<Are you going to watch the match?>

“I need to know what’s going on to solve your problems, don’t I?”

<You don’t have to go that far…>

Don’t have to?

She should at least try to hide the overflowing anticipation in her voice.

Was she getting used to it now?

Or was it because she felt sorry for my predicament, with death looming over me in the news?

She compromised to some extent on the bathroom and showering, which she had hated so much.

It was something we had to address anyway if we were going to live in one body for the time being.

The condition was that I had to close my eyes while washing, but that was better than her not letting me wash at all.

“It’s a good thing your hair is short. I heard it takes a long time to dry long hair, right?”

<I find short hair more comfortable, too.>

After getting out of the shower, I continued to watch the videos while quickly drying my hair.

The Third Division League team, Universe Cat.

As expected, their skills were ridiculously terrible.

Of course, this evaluation of ‘terrible’ included Seo Dami.

If her skills were any good in the first place, she wouldn’t be a Third Division player.

I focused and watched two matches, then decided that was enough and said we should go down.

“After breakfast, it’s morning training, right?”

<Yes.>

“Then shall we have a little educational session?”

<……?>

My worries about my original body still lingered, but I wanted to forget about it, even for a moment, by solving Seo Dami’s problems.

That would surely be more helpful for both of us.

A Pro Gamer’s day starts a little later than others.

Playing games and training late into the night naturally sets their biological rhythm that way.

Eating breakfast at 9 a.m. was on the early side for the team house average.

“It’s Tteok-galbi.”

<It’s Tteok-galbi.>

As I was setting up the main dish, the brats came swarming in.

What’s for breakfast today?

Without even a conventional greeting like asking if I slept well, they treated me like I was invisible and started eating.

Right. Eat up.

I’ll make you puke it all out.

I started my meal with a faint smile.

Training, which would have normally been so tedious.

Today, I felt like I could do it with a very joyful heart.

While we finished our meal, neither the Director nor the Coach showed their faces.

I later learned from Dami that those two more often ate their meals outside.

10 a.m.

The real training began.

Universe Cat handled both training and sleep in the team house building, and the second floor was the physical training room.

“Alright! Everyone, let’s start training! Stretch first so you don’t get hurt.”

Coach Kim Hakseong.

His age… I wasn’t very curious, so I don’t know.

The Director was still nowhere to be seen, so it seemed he was slacking off somewhere.

“Ugh, I hate this so much.”

“I’d take a 50% pay cut to my Annual Salary if we didn’t have training.”

“If I run for you, will you give me half?”

“Fuck off.”

With the Coach watching, they couldn’t just not run, so the brats started training while grumbling.

They began to half-assedly jog on the treadmills at an intensity that could hardly be called training.

I clicked my tongue with a ‘tsk.’

Training, by its very nature, was an act of sweating and getting results proportional to the effort.

At this rate, it would be better to just grind games than waste time like this.

Dami. You can’t be like that.

That’s the perfect way to become a useless player.

As I was about to say that to Seo Dami, a thought occurred to me.

But how do I tell her this?

If I were alone in a room, I could just talk naturally.

But right now, with the Coach and the brats around, muttering to myself would look extremely weird.

‘I wonder if she can’t hear me if I think it? Ms. Seo Dami? Seo Dami-ssi? Can you hear me?’

<What did you just say?>

‘I called you!’

<Ah. You called me.>

I consciously imagined a loud voice and spoke in my mind, and what do you know.

It seemed we could communicate to some extent this way.

<I can’t hear it well, but if I concentrate, I think I can understand.>

As long as you can understand, that’s good enough.

Besides, it would be a problem if my inner thoughts were too clear to her.

I’d rather not share every single one of my stray thoughts with her.

‘Then let’s begin.’

And so, the training began.

First was cardio.

A treadmill speed far faster than the other brats.

At this speed, she would probably be out of breath in less than a minute.

And Seo Dami, too, was gradually feeling the strain on her body.

Around the time I started panting, she complained of feeling dizzy herself.

‘Endure it!’

<What if I die from this?>

‘You won’t die.’

I told her to hang in there.

I said that if it wasn’t painful, it wasn’t training, and the sweat she was shedding now would raise her value.

‘Seo Dami. You’re not going to stay in the Third Division League forever, are you? Then endure it!’

<What if I, what if I throw up!!!>

Becoming a First Division League player without ever throwing up once?

There probably isn’t a single player like that anywhere in the world.

Universe Arena was a Virtual Reality game.

The physical abilities of one’s real body were directly linked to one’s in-game self.

It wasn’t for nothing that players ran and built up their Muscular Strength.

Of course, if you focused too much on Muscular Strength, your Agility would drop, so you had to maintain a proper balance, but Seo Dami’s current body was…

Sorry to say, but she was a complete novice who needed not just a definite tempering, but a complete disassembly and reassembly.

Running at a pace more than twice as fast as the others naturally drew stares.

It got to the point where even the Coach, who usually paid no attention, came over and asked if I wasn’t going too fast.

“Dami. That’s too fast. Slow it down a bit.”

“It’s too slow, so I feel like it’s not effective enough. I’ll keep running like this.”

“But it’ll be tough…”

The Coach tilted his head, and the team members were busy whispering as they looked at me.

Things like, why is that bitch acting up on a weekend morning.

<Urgh…>

Right. No throwing up.

After barely enduring the run came strength training.

After an hour of that punishment, the feeling of my whole body’s muscles tightening was palpable.

To feel like this without even lifting any heavy weights.

It made me think that the road ahead was going to be rough.

‘But Dami. How on earth is that guy, the Coach, still on the team?’

During the one-hour training session, the Coach was busy on his phone, aside from occasionally glancing at us.

Shouldn’t a coach, of all people, be guiding the players in a helpful direction?

Take the brats right next to me, for example.

Their training form was a complete mess.

The Coach should obviously be correcting them, but this was no different from complete neglect.

Was the Coach incompetent, or was this just the atmosphere of the Third Division League itself…?

It even made me think that on a team like this, no matter how outstanding a player’s Talent was, it would be difficult to showcase it.

“Alright, that’s enough training! Everyone, let’s go play the game. Wash up and assemble!”

“Yessir~.”

The players slowly made their way to the shower room.

I waited, trying my best to avoid overlapping Movement Paths, and once no one was there, I washed off the sweat at top speed.

Normally, showering together would save time, but I had a feeling that if we showered together, Seo Dami would nag me again about where I was looking.

Oh, and if I was caught showering with my eyes closed, I wouldn’t have a good excuse.

“Dami. From now on, shower with your eyes open…”

<No way!>

“Alright…”

After a quick wash, I went to the third-floor Training Room.

“The rookie is the last one to crawl in, huh?”

“Did you eat something weird today?”

“You were acting up during the run, and now this? I can’t stand to watch.”

Leader Kim Yujeong and Lee Seyeon.

Both were Attackers and senior players who had been on this team for a long time.

As they glared and growled, I could feel Seo Dami’s fear.

I could tell how much they must have tormented her on a regular basis.

“Hey. Look forward to today, okay?”

“Ah, looks like I’ll have to use some strength for the first time in a while.”

It wasn’t funny at all, but I don’t know what was so great that they were cackling.

Uh-huh. Go ahead. Laugh all you want.

I’ll make sure that today is the last day you get to grin like that.

<Are you really going to be okay…?>

‘What is?’

Watching those devils cackle, Seo Dami worried about me.

It seemed she was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to last in the training that was about to begin.

‘Just you watch.’

I may not have been able to dodge a truck, but I’m still a Starting Player in the First Division League.

The only question is how severely I’ll school them.

Putting brats like them in their place was nothing.

‘Now, shall we see how these brats will play this?’

Actually, I had a pretty good idea.

The methods for establishing discipline in Universe Arena were obvious.

“Everyone, Log In.”

Under the Coach’s instruction, we all logged into the game.

Capsules were neatly arranged in front of the Training Room wall.

As I settled my body inside one, darkness fell, and a new world unfolded before my eyes in an instant.

With a message welcoming me to Universe Arena, I opened my eyes in the Waiting Room.

It was a Waiting Room with checkered tiles and maroon wallpaper.

‘Hmm. Sensitivity feels fine.’

I was checking how my senses might have changed compared to before the accident when the Leader spoke to the Coach.

“Coach. We’ll start with Close-Quarters Training.”

“Why not start with Shooting Practice?”

“Close-Quarters Training seems urgent today.”

The brats insisted that they had to do Close-Quarters Training.

Their intentions were so transparent that I couldn’t help but laugh.

A Virtual Reality FPS Game.

Universe Arena was a game where hitting and dodging opponents well was important.

Following the trend of Virtual Reality games, it also implemented a certain degree of realistic pain.

Of course, getting shot didn’t feel like your body was being pierced.

If it did, all the players would have ended up in the hospital with post-traumatic stress.

However, there was one area in Universe Arena where the most pain was inflicted: Close-Quarters Combat.

When you got close to an opponent, you sometimes had to trade punches and kicks, and in those moments, you felt a very raw pain.

In other words, they were revealing their intention to legally beat me to a pulp under the pretext of practicing Close-Quarters Combat.

The Coach knew this too, which was why he suggested just doing Shooting Practice, but it was no use.

With all the team members except me insisting on doing Close-Quarters Training first, it seemed he had no choice.

“Let’s just start with Close-Quarters Training, Coach.”

“Huh?”

It was then.

I was the one who suggested to the Coach that we do Close-Quarters Training.

The Coach must have known.

How much Seo Dami had been bullied under the guise of training until now.

That must be why he was so surprised.

After all, the kid who always had a long face was now asking to be beaten.

The Coach approached me with an awkward look.

“Dami. Why don’t you just sit this one out today? I think they’re going to kill someone today.”

He should just say it confidently.

Why is he whispering it?

A coach isn’t in a position to be wary of his players.

Well, I figured everyone has their own circumstances.

Still, seeing him try to provide Cover Fire somehow, he seemed like a better person than the Director, who still hadn’t shown his face.

“It’s okay today.”

“……?”

I patted the worried-looking Coach on the shoulder.

“I’ve been waiting for this with bated breath, too.”

<Ah…>

Establishing team discipline through Close-Quarters Combat wasn’t exclusive to the Third Division League.

The method for handling disobedient players is similar in both the First and Third Divisions.

Establishing discipline with Close-Quarters Training?

Who’s disciplining whom?

Seven years as a Pro Gamer.

When it comes to discipline, I’ve been on the receiving end and dished it out countless times.

I struggled to suppress the corners of my mouth, which were threatening to curl up on their own.

Otherwise, I thought I’d look like a truly crazy bitch.

“Then the train is departing~.”

<Aah, why are you really doing this?>

Seo Dami clung to me, begging me not to do this with her body.

No, Dami. Just wait and see, okay?

I’m going to take all those bastards down with me in a blaze of glory.

“Then, our Leader, step forward~.”

It was time for the train to hell to depart.