Chapter 57

Kato Mikane rotated and stopped with disciplined movements, striking the Russian players.

Each time her pistol spat fire, a player would cry out and fall, reminiscent of a scene from a movie.

‘What in the world?’

Seo Dami zoomed in to watch Kato Mikane’s play, and Han Youngin, observing the footage with her, couldn’t help but be amazed.

Usually, when people talked about a performance-style play, it was often flashy on the outside but lacked a solid foundation. Kato Mikane was different.

She was performing the feat of precisely striking the enemy’s vitals, and with every spin of her body, she dodged incoming attacks by a paper-thin margin.

If Seo Dami were to face Kato Mikane head-on, could she win?

Han Youngin pondered this and, before long, came to the conclusion that it was impossible.

Not difficult, but impossible.

It meant that if they fought 100 times, she would lose 100 times.

At Kato Mikane’s super play, the Japanese fans, who rarely showed such passionate support, rose from their seats and let out fervent cheers.

‘Is this even possible?’

Han Youngin glanced at Kim Seunga’s face, who was sitting next to him.

She wore the same serious expression.

Kim Seunga must have also been running a simulation of a battle against her in her head.

And she must have reached the same conclusion.

That it was impossible to take down this monster in a one-on-one, head-on confrontation.

It was utterly incomprehensible.

Because until the year before last, Han Youngin had been observing the World Championship stage, diligently keeping track of the meta and skill levels of world-class players—what their classes were, their specialties, their most-used strategies, and so on.

He had admittedly forgotten about the World Championship last year, as it was his first season with Seo Dami and things had been hectic.

But while trends could change at any time, the limits of a world-class player were unlikely to undergo such a dynamic transformation.

Had there been some kind of Great Cataclysm in the World Class level in the mere year he hadn’t watched the World Championship?

Having never seen such a monster in his life, Han Youngin asked Seo Dami to pose a question for him.

And so, Seo Dami relayed his question to Kim Seunga.

“Unni. Was Kato Mikane always that good of a player?”

“No.”

Kim Seunga shook her head.

According to her, Kato Mikane had started to make a name for herself on the world stage three years ago.

She had appeared in the World Championship since she was nineteen, so her skills were naturally outstanding, but Kim Seunga explained that she was definitely not at her current level.

“Even just last year. Her team, Kamui, made it to the Semifinals at last year’s Worlds. A team that makes it to the Semifinals is obviously skilled. But she didn’t have this kind of destructive power…”

Can a person change this much in a year?

She was already a good player, but now she had reached a completely different dimension.

‘Come to think of it, she’s also…’

Then again, there was someone right next to him who had shown insane, monstrous growth in just one year.

Seo Dami.

A player who had changed as if she’d become a different person in a year, now receiving the undivided attention of Korea’s UA fans.

There was definitely some connection with Youngin Oppa.

There was no proof, but it was Kim Seunga’s gut feeling.

And based on her past experiences, her intuition was exceptionally sharp.

Ever since Seo Dami had caught her attention, Kim Seunga had even done some simple research on her phone.

The steep rise in Seo Dami’s skills coincided with the time Han Youngin had collapsed and been hospitalized.

It was a very unscientific and movie-like story, but what if Han Youngin’s soul had entered Seo Dami’s body?

Then it would all make sense.

The sudden, astonishing improvement in Seo Dami’s skills.

And how she had completely mastered the build she used as a National Representative in a single day.

What was the truth surrounding Seo Dami?

While Kim Seunga was lost in thought, Seo Dami spoke again.

“Do you think we can win?”

On the Battlefield, Yekaterina had been shattered, and Svetlana had also fallen after failing to withstand three attacks.

As Kato Mikane took down five members of the Russian team by herself with storm-like movements, the broadcast team, as well as the spectators, erupted like a volcano, pouring out cheers.

“We’ll have to think about that.”

She had been trying to see how Japan would attack Russia, since they wouldn’t be able to use the Slope Operation, but it hadn’t really been helpful.

All she had confirmed was that there was an out-of-spec monster on the enemy team who could wipe out five players on her own.

“Still, it’s better than being caught off guard, right? Don’t you think?”

That sounds exactly like something Youngin Oppa would say.

Kim Seunga thought to herself and nodded.

Alone, she couldn’t see a path to victory, but UA was, in the end, a team game.

At the very least, wasn’t Korea’s second-string player level far superior to other countries?

“Oh, right. But tomorrow is the match against Russia, so we need to focus on that too. It would be ridiculous if we got tripped up by Russia while preparing for the Japan match in advance.”

“You’re right. We have to pay attention to Russia too.”

Looking at Seo Dami, who was only saying the right things, Kim Seunga let out a small smile.

If the two of them put their heads together, there had to be a way to take down even a monster.

Kato Mikane, who had finished her interview with a smile and come down from the stage, grimaced as soon as she stepped out of the Access Device.

When she momentarily staggered, the surrounding players were startled and approached her, asking, “Unni, are you okay?”

They were about to help by supporting her if she was dizzy, but she waved her hand irritably, telling them to leave her alone.

Having barely made it back to her room, Kato Mikane coughed up blood again and reached for a handkerchief.

‘Still, I did it…’

To calm the rampaging energy flowing through her body, she sat on the floor, crossed her legs, and sank into meditation.

An injury that would have taken only a week to heal if she had returned to Japan for treatment was worsening because of the tournament schedule.

It wouldn’t have mattered if she had held back and played only within the limits of her current condition, like when she lost to China in the practice match.

But for the first official match, Kato Mikane had wanted to announce Japan’s victory and who she was as a player, so she had used her energy to forcibly activate her body.

And the result of that was the monstrous movement she had displayed today.

Watching Korea take down China, Kato Mikane had decided she couldn’t let the tournament end like this, and that very day, she had flown back to Japan to replenish her chiki (earth energy).

It was only natural for her body to be strained, as she had replenished her depleted power and forcibly activated it at a time when she should have been focusing on recovery.

An aching pain spread throughout her entire body.

It felt like needles were circulating through her veins.

It was excruciating, of course, but Kato Mikane thought of the roar and praise from the spectators that had just been showered upon her.

At that, her expression softened slightly.

The reason she was pushing herself through the tournament schedule and pulling off super plays.

It was her will to become the protagonist of this event.

‘I’m the protagonist. I won’t give this attention to you.’

After controlling the pain, Kato Mikane opened her eyes and checked the clock.

There were two hours left until her flight.

Tomorrow, the match between Korea and Russia was scheduled, and Japan had no match.

If she flew to Japan today, she could activate her chiki again and replenish her energy for about a day and a half.

When she returned, the next match would be Japan versus China.

The game against Korea was last.

The most bothersome opponent in the current situation.

The Onmyoji, and having vowed to win at all costs for the pride of Japan, Kato Mikane headed for the airport.

The Event Match between Korea and Russia.

With immense interest focused on whether Korea could secure its second international victory, a ticket-booking war was unfolding in the country.

Usually, a certain number of tickets were distributed to the teams for players’ acquaintances and families to attend, but there was nothing of the sort this time.

According to an article, it took only 30 seconds for the 100,000-seat Grand Stadium to sell out.

30 seconds.

A short time that disappears if you just hold your breath for a long moment.

Russia and Korea.

The number of users who tried to log in from both sides during that time reached the hundreds of thousands.

-Hya. Why am I so excited for this?

-I want to just pass out and wake up when it starts.

-Time is going by so slooowly.

-Will General Seo pull through for us again?

-It’s a bit of a “please carry us” meta, but if she does it again, she’ll become a truly incomparable superstar.

A nineteen-year-old, next-generation World Class player with both visuals and skills has emerged from Korea?

For the Korean UA fans who had been waiting for this for so long, they had no choice but to cheer for Seo Dami.

‘Oppa, look at this. The tickets are all sold out.’

<Isn’t this all thanks to you?>

‘Thanks to me?’

<Not me, you.>

When I told her that it was because she had captivated the fans’ attention that we were gaining so much popularity, Seo Dami laughed foolishly, “Uheheh-,” and touched the back of her head.

<Go watch over the kids’ practice a bit more.>

‘Yes!’

As a solution to increase our win rate against Russia, we had agreed to focus on managing the youngest members, including Han Chaei.

Watching over them for just a day or two wouldn’t bring about a huge change, but it was better than doing nothing, and since we planned to use the Slope Operation again anyway, there wasn’t much more for Dami and Kim Seunga to work on.

Their coordination was already perfect.

It might be a different story if we were aiming to break through our limits and reach a monstrous level like Kato Mikane, but helping the team members practice would be more beneficial for increasing our chances of victory.

While Dami was in charge of the kids’ training.

I was alone, pondering in my head how we could beat Japan.

No matter how I thought about it, the performance from a little while ago was strange.

It felt as if she had surpassed human limits.

Perhaps the red aura surrounding Kato Mikane’s body was giving her special power.

No, I felt there was a high probability that was the case.

At this point, it felt less like a fight between humans and more like a battle of superpowers, but since I was a coaching soul giving real-time advice, I didn’t really have a leg to stand on.

<Should I just slam into her?>

One more clash with Kato Mikane.

If I could deplete her energy, I might be able to see a weakened Kato Mikane.

However, this method had its risks.

First, I couldn’t be sure if I would truly be safe if I left Dami’s body and confronted the Onmyoji in an out-of-body state.

When I was hit by the fan at the barbecue, I honestly thought my body was going to split apart.

Since I don’t have a body, it would be more accurate to say my soul was splitting, but anyway.

It was a pain I never wanted to experience again.

After some thought, I decided it was too dangerous and shelved the Out-of-Body Experience body-slam plan for now.

Then the only thing left was to join forces with Kim Seunga…

Since UA is a team game, a double team play where two players join forces to pressure a highly skilled player was quite common in-game.

For example, when a Defender and an Attacker team up, they hide behind the Shield and one-sidedly pressure the opponent.

Or strategies where a dedicated Supporter is assigned to an Attacker to let them run wild freely.

In this case, since there are two Attackers, it would be normal to split up and create a pincer attack from the left and right, but the fact that the opponent was Kato Mikane bothered me.

<That Gun Kata is just ridiculous.>

Kim Seunga and Seo Dami closing in from the left and right in a pincer attack.

The image of Kato Mikane, attacked from the center, moving her body dazzlingly and blowing both of their heads off with headshots slowly came to mind.

Given the movements she showed in the last game, I felt she was more than capable of doing just that.

Just as I was thinking it might be better to try coordinating as a Defender and Attacker duo again, like in the China match, a visitor came to the practice room.

The unexpected visitor was Liu Xuan.

Seeing that our whole team was inside the Access Devices practicing, she rang the call bell and asked if she could talk for a moment.

“I’ll just go for a bit.”

Since there was no need for everyone to stop practicing, only Seo Dami logged out to go and talk.

“What can I do for you?”

“Can we talk for a moment?”

“Yes.”

After asking through a translator, Liu Xuan got straight to the point.

“Are you thinking of joining Shanghai Cheonhwa after this season ends?”

“Pardon?”

“I wanted to let you know that if you are thinking of going to Cheonhwa, we can also make an offer with better terms.”

The reason Liu Xuan had visited the practice room.

It was none other than to recruit Seo Dami.

It was the second love call from China, following Shanghai Cheonhwa.

Liu Xuan’s team was Beijing Cheonryong.

It was a powerhouse team, ranked among the top three in China, that regularly participated in the UA World Championship.

Liu Xuan said she had actually wanted to talk right after the match, but it took a day to contact her team and get permission to make a recruitment offer.

“I heard your annual salary in Korea this year was 350 million Won. And with the championship bonus, it’s 700 million, right?”

“That’s right.”

“If you come to our team, we’ll match the amount we give Chen Sui.”

At those words, I gasped without realizing it.

The same amount as Chen Sui meant Dami’s annual salary would become 1.5 billion Won.

The student surpasses the master, they say, but the fact that Seo Dami could already receive 1.5 billion made me feel strange for some reason.

“It’s not very likely, but if Cheonhwa offers you a higher salary, just let us know. We can match it too.”

Liu Xuan spoke in a confident tone.

It seemed she wanted to prevent Dami from joining Cheonhwa by any means necessary.

I had heard that Beijing Cheonryong was a rival team to Shanghai Cheonhwa, so she probably thought that if Seo Dami joined them, the balance between the two would be completely shattered.

“I don’t need an answer right away, so you can take your time to think about it.”

Liu Xuan said, extending her hand.

Seo Dami dazedly took her hand and shook it, and she added a few more words.

Liu Xuan offered her good wishes, saying that although she had lost, yesterday’s match was very impressive, and she hoped they would meet on the world stage next time if the opportunity arose.

“Contact me anytime.”

After leaving her phone number, Liu Xuan left. Dami, after a moment of silence, asked me.

What should she do?

<Why are you asking me? It’s your life.>

‘I came this far thanks to you, Oppa, so it’s a bit difficult when you suddenly say it’s my life. Haven’t we been through thick and thin together?’

<Sharing both hardships and joys?>

‘Of course. For a long, long time.’

Lately, it seems like Dami has a tendency to be a bit clingy with me…

As I was thinking that, Dami revealed her own thoughts.

‘I like the team I’m on now.’

She likes the Super Sylph team.

The team members, and the atmosphere.

You can’t judge the profession of a Pro Gamer solely on money, can you, Dami said.

I agreed with that.

Of course, money isn’t everything.

But where Dami’s true goal lay was quite important for this decision.

Now the representative UA gamer of South Korea.

In this situation where it was almost certain she would become the future National Representative Seo Dami.

If her goal was beyond winning the domestic league and aimed for a higher place, for the world.

Then, regardless of the annual salary, it was a matter that needed serious consideration.