Chapter 34

CEO Oh Suho.

He held a position at Superwind, the manufacturing company and Parent Company of the Super Sylph team, and was the manager in charge of the team’s operations.

For reference, Superwind was an affiliate of the SP Group, so while my Annual Salary didn’t come directly from the CEO’s pocket, he was undoubtedly a high-ranking figure that players would rarely ever meet.

“Nice to meet you, Seo Dami. I believe I met the other players last year?”

At the appearance of the CEO, who arrived with an entourage, the team members and the Coach all bowed their heads in greeting.

With a single word from him, changing not just a player but even the Coach was a piece of cake.

It was also the CEO’s capability that brought in money from the group to provide the team with robust Support, so everyone was extremely cautious in their dealings with him.

“I’ve been enjoying your streams.”

CEO Oh Suho offered me words of encouragement with a humble smile.

He added that the group was also keeping a close eye on Super Sylph’s progress and that, while it would be difficult, he hoped I would succeed in the Legendary Challenge.

I also heard that if that happened, the Parent Company was considering making an additional donation in the nine-figure range in my name.

“Coach.”

“Yes, CEO.”

“Please make sure to assist player Seo Dami so she has no inconveniences while streaming.”

“Yes! I am taking special care to ensure nothing bothers her.”

Coach Lee Gangseon’s words were true to some extent.

In fact, the Coach had gone so far as to tell me to take it easy with training to support my streams.

The Off-Season is the best time for a player to build up their body.

That’s why, during this period, players usually lived with muscle soreness.

But the more severe the muscle soreness, the more one’s In-Game skills were bound to drop compared to when they were at their peak.

The Coach was concerned about this.

He was worried that training would lower my Performance Level, causing me to fail the challenge.

Of course, a Second Division player succeeding in the Legendary Challenge was an almost impossible feat in itself.

Still, he was trying to support my challenge success to the point of reducing my training, and I had wondered why he was doing that. Now I finally understood the reason.

He must have received a call from the higher-ups before visiting the Team House, telling him that they were watching my streams closely.

It made perfect sense.

A stream I was running all by myself.

Wasn’t it dramatically boosting our positive recognition, something money couldn’t buy?

How fond the group must have been of me.

With this, I had achieved at least half of my goal of strengthening my position within the team.

Though I hadn’t expected the CEO to visit in person like this.

“Player Seo Dami.”

“Yes! CEO.”

“You just transferred, so you must be having a hard time adjusting, right? Are there any inconveniences living with the team?”

“The team members are all kind and take good care of me, so I haven’t had any trouble adjusting!”

“Is that so.”

A smile blossomed on the CEO’s face, as if he was pleased with my spirited answer.

“Still, if you need anything, feel free to tell me. I’ll do my best to provide whatever I can.”

“Then there is one thing I’d like to ask of you.”

The CEO’s eyes widened as he asked, perhaps not expecting such a quick reply.

“Go on, tell me. What is it?”

“Our team is currently in the Second Division League, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

“We also finished the Season in 8th place, and frankly, I think it was not a very good year in terms of results.”

The CEO hummed in agreement, his brow furrowing for a moment as he nodded.

It was, without a doubt, a disappointing Season to look back on.

Checking the CEO’s reaction, I cautiously brought up the story I had prepared.

“Actually, before my pro debut, I trained at an academy based on European-style data.”

“Europe?”

<What? When did I ever do that?>

A startled Dami was shocked, but I continued the conversation nonchalantly.

“Yes. Looking at the World Championship statistics, Europe is a powerhouse in Universe Arena.”

There was even analysis in the public sphere that Japan’s firm hold on the number one spot in Asia was because they had best adopted the European style; that’s how outstanding Europe’s FPS skills were.

“But when I first debuted in the Third Division League, I couldn’t really use the data I had learned. I was the youngest, and the team wouldn’t listen to me, saying that Korea has its own Korean style.”

“Oh, dear…”

The CEO let out a sigh at my freshly fabricated, piping-hot story.

He said that such things were commonplace when running a company and that he understood the feeling well.

“If there’s a good idea, it should be accepted regardless of position, regardless of age. How long are they going to insist on outdated methods and, huh? Try to run things. Ahem, I’m sorry. Please continue.”

“Yes. I haven’t been on this team for long, but I felt that the team members’ Talent is truly excellent. I thought that if we all changed our training methods just a little, it could greatly improve our constitution.”

“Is that so? Then we should do it. There’s no reason not to.”

At the CEO’s words, “we should do it,” that bastard’s shoulders trembled slightly.

It seemed he had an inkling of what was about to unfold.

“I thought it would be great to try First Division League-style training based on the global style, so I really wanted to tell you, but…”

I trailed off after “but,” and the CEO looked at my face, asking why.

“No, if you have such a good idea, you should just say so. Why? Did someone say something to you?”

“Well… I haven’t been on the team for long and I’m young, so I guess voicing such an opinion so suddenly seemed a bit arrogant…”

Here, a single, fat teardrop.

I pinched my thigh while picturing my parents in the hospital, my face scrunching up.

<Ouch! That hurts!>

‘If it doesn’t hurt, the tears won’t come out…’

At the moisture welling up in my eyes, not only CEO Oh Suho but everyone around was quite flustered.

“No, which son of a… Who said such a thing? Tell me, step by step. Something like that shouldn’t happen on our team. Absolutely not.”

Afterward, the CEO soothed me and had his secretary dismiss the people around us.

Judging by the atmosphere, he seemed a little angry.

“There, no one is listening, so speak freely. I’ll take responsibility and scold the person who said that. Don’t feel burdened.”

“…I’m sorry. I think I spoke rashly.”

As I mumbled, the CEO, looking frustrated, pleaded with me to just tell him the bastard’s name, promising that he would make sure nothing to worry about would happen.

“Then I’ll tell you…”

After a brief pause.

I revealed to him the main culprit who caused this whole mess.

Coach Bae Yungi.

That bastard is the culprit eating away at our team.

When I relayed those words in a slightly softer tone, CEO Oh Suho’s eyes flashed.

The CEO, who had been muttering “that’s not right” over and over, patted my shoulder and told me to go back and rest, saying he would resolve it without any harm coming to me.

And on that day.

Less than an hour later, Bae Yungi packed his bags and left the Team House.

The official word was that his coaching position was on hold until the truth was ascertained, but it was effectively a dismissal.

Afterward, the CEO’s executive secretary even came to me and separately asked if I had a certain type of coach in mind.

Even Dami seemed surprised by this swift handling of the matter.

<How can things be resolved so quickly?>

‘Of course. The other party is me.’

In fact, this incident had turned out much better than expected.

Originally, I had no intention of making a move until I reached the Legendary Tier.

According to my plan, I was going to reach Legendary, plant the perception that I was an irreplaceable resource in the Second Division, on this team, and only then start making my move in earnest.

‘I wanted to be certain.’

In a fight between a player and a coach, the player usually has the advantage.

Because the coach isn’t the one playing the game.

Ultimately, the weight is bound to fall on the side of the players, who are the driving force of the League.

The story might be different if the player has a rotten personality or is a controversy magnet, but I was far from that.

Of course, if the coach was a legendary player in the past or has a good career, the player doesn’t always have the upper hand.

That’s why I had planned to execute my plan after proving my worth for certain.

But yesterday, an unexpected stroke of luck occurred.

Offers came in from Shanghai Cheonhwa and Artemis, and an article was published.

I was told that not only the Front Office and the CEO, but also many people in the group were keeping an eye on me.

I bet everyone was surprised by what happened yesterday.

They knew a talented player had joined the team, but was she this amazing?

To the point where top-tier First Division teams were rushing to send Offers?

At this point, the team had no choice but to listen more closely to my words.

Otherwise, they would have to find a new player in a year.

Of course, there would be no other player like me anywhere in the world.

And was that all?

I am leaving the team due to an unfortunate incident.

I will now expose the problems I experienced on this team, and so on.

If I just let a few complaints slip, reporters would swarm like bees.

With the recognition I had built up, I could make the name Super Sylph dominate the UA Community for a whole day.

It’s hard to create that much buzz with a simple general stream, but if I started an exposé, it was more than possible.

‘Still, I didn’t expect to get rid of him this cleanly.’

I thought they would keep him in the Team House for a few more days for reasons like “ascertaining the truth.”

The fact that things were handled this quickly allowed me to read a certain message from the team.

A message with the nuance of, “We care this much for you. So let’s continue to do well together in the future!”

‘I should thank Chen Sui and Seunga for this.’

If those two hadn’t helped me, my argument wouldn’t have been this powerful.

‘Anyway, it turned out well. Right?’

<Yes. It couldn’t have turned out better.>

‘You could say we did it together.’

<What? Me?>

Dami seemed to have no idea what she had done to help.

‘I did the Control, but you’re the owner of this body. So you could say you did half of it, couldn’t you?’

<Are you serious?>

‘I am.’

<Dami… is touched!>

What’s with that tone.

It seemed she had been influenced by Hwang Jua.

Anyway, I hope the next coach isn’t a weirdo.

Then our team would have nowhere to go but up.

That’s what all of us on the team, including me, thought.

Who would have known.

That the fire would reignite before a full day had passed.

The incident, which was supposed to have concluded with Bae Yungi’s expulsion, was reignited that evening.

A post appeared on the Super Sylph team Community.

「Hello. I am Bae Yungi, the former coach of the Super Sylph team.」

It was an ‘accusation’ post that began with this line.

「Player Seo Dami, who joined the team through this Transfer Market, actively used her position to ignore me, her coach, and unilaterally abused her power.」

‘This bastard?’

To summarize, the content was as follows.

Seo Dami overstepped her position as a player and tried to control everything about the team.

Coach Lee Gangseon did not actively intervene in this situation and took a bystander’s attitude, dismissing it as a problem between me and the player and telling us to resolve it amicably.

As her popularity grew, the Coach, the players, and the Front Office all had no choice but to follow her words, and when trouble arose over training methods, she unilaterally treated me like a useless person.

I was kicked out of the team without being able to offer a proper defense, and I am in so much emotional pain that I feel I will never be able to do this job again.

Bae Yungi’s post spread like wildfire across all UA communities, gathering attention.

It was by no means positive attention.

Looking only at the accusation post, I was a piece of human trash who, just because I was good at a game, unilaterally swayed the team and ignored the coach.

Looking at the comments, there were many fans who doubted I would do such a thing, but some people also sympathized with the content of the post.

Talk like, “Now that she’s suddenly famous, she must think she’s all that.”

Even sneers like, “How many players have changed their attitude after gaining popularity?”

Thinking I couldn’t let this be, I immediately tried to start a stream.

I wanted to explain to people that it was all lies.

But the Front Office stopped me.

I received a message saying that the team would resolve this matter as quickly as possible at the team level, and to please wait a moment.

‘Haa…’

Naturally, I had to take a day off from streaming.

The message boards went crazy.

There were quite a few angry voices asking why they couldn’t watch my stream because of this bastard Bae Yungi.

In the evening, I got a call from my parents.

Asking if everything was okay.

I told them not to worry.

If worse came to worst, I was thinking of doing an interview with all the team members.

If we revealed even a part of the gaslighting our kids had endured, this guy would be kicked out of the industry.

-Hang in there, Dami! You know I believe in you, right?

One of the few people Seo Dami was in contact with.

A message also came from Kim Harim.

Kim Harim was now the Leader of Universe Cat.

With me gone, and the trash gone too.

Universe Cat, which had four spots open up at once, had filled them all with prospects and was preparing for the next Season.

It was obvious they would struggle, but I thought Kim Harim would at least be happier playing games than she was this year.

I chuckled, picturing Kim Harim carefully typing out each character of her message, and decided to wait a little longer.

The team had promised to resolve it as quickly as possible, so I was going to trust them.

And, just like that, two days passed.

The head of the PR team came running, out of breath, looking for me.

“Player Seo Dami! It’s over!”

“What is?”

“Bae Yungi. He’s completely finished!”

How on earth was he finished?

For the past two days, the PR team had been putting out various articles on my behalf, stating that Seo Dami was absolutely not that kind of player and that, on the contrary, it was coach Bae Yungi who was hindering the team’s growth.

However, Bae Yungi, banking on his career as a former First Division Starter and team Ace, persistently argued that there was absolutely no problem with his coaching skills.

As the situation dragged on without a conclusion, the Front Office had finally found the evidence to completely finish Bae Yungi.

“We’ve captured evidence of match-fixing. An illegal betting site was involved.”

Match-fixing.

A taboo that no one involved, whether former or current, should ever get entangled in.

In that moment, Bae Yungi’s life course was confirmed for rock bottom.