Chapter 71

In Asia, Japan boasted an undeniably supreme combat prowess.

And this year, the UA World Championship was scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan.

A World Championship held in their home country.

While Japan was steeling its resolve and aiming for victory, a total of two teams from the Korean Women’s League were set to participate.

Ilsung Electronics’ Galaxy team, which had won the domestic league.

And SNT’s (Super Network) Artemis team, led by Kim Seunga.

Artemis had placed third in the Regular Season, but thanks to Kim Seunga’s phenomenal performance after an epiphany during an international exhibition match, they succeeded in defeating Blaze and Star Force to earn a spot in the World Championship.

Of course, even after qualifying like this, it was sure to be an extremely difficult tournament, as their schedule would have them starting from the very bottom.

Every year, based on the previous year’s World Championship, leagues that had a team in the Semifinals were given a Seed Right, and the teams that played in the Regular League Finals were granted direct entry into the Group Stage, which could be considered the Middle Stage.

The total number of teams participating in this year’s World Championship was 32.

Among them, Western Europe, North America, Japan, and India had each secured a team in last year’s Semifinals, earning them one extra participation slot apiece.

Twelve teams participated from these regions, known as the Semifinal regions.

And the rest.

China, Southeast Asia, Oceania, North Africa, South Africa, the Middle East, South America, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Korea each sent two teams, for a total of 20.

A total of 32 teams.

It was a lineup that might make users who paid close attention to the participating regions, which could easily be overlooked, raise some questions.

The point in question was why Korea was granted two slots.

It made sense, as Africa was divided into North and South, receiving a total of four slots, but this was a mega-populated region with a combined population of over 3 billion people.

On the other hand, Korea’s population had long since dropped below 30 million, a minor nation where UA wasn’t particularly strong.

The complaint about why Africa was given only four slots while Korea was allocated two had been a consistently raised issue for a long time.

Of course, it was undeniable that Korea had contributed to the development of the gaming industry by leading e-sports for decades.

But the stance of other regional teams was, how long should they be allowed to maintain their benefits by soaking in the past?

Amidst the persistent complaints, the UA Association actually boosted Korea’s morale, saying, “Korea still gets it done when it matters.”

From Korea’s perspective, it was a truly grateful thing, but there was a calculated move behind it all.

It was because while Korea’s competitiveness in UA was still weak, it had shown outstanding competitiveness in Gaia, which could be called the head of the current VR Sports industry.

The game Gaia, with billions of users worldwide.

And the place that led the meta of the Gaia League was none other than the Korean League…

The UA Association seemed to think that if they just seized an opportunity, they could pull that interest and power over to their side at any time.

-Korea got two participation slots again this year?

-They’re getting ridiculous special treatment again.

-For a country the size of a grain of millet!

-No matter how good Korea is, they can’t do it in UA!

-Aren’t they only interested in Gaia in the first place?

-Kimchi power doesn’t work in UA.

-Maybe Koreans just lack the gene for shooting guns in the first place.

Amidst the rampant complaints from global users, the World Championship Preliminary Round began.

A total of 24 teams competed in the Preliminary Round.

And they were divided into 8 groups of 3 teams each, where they would play their own league.

The night of November 3rd.

The Preliminary Round Group Draw Ceremony was held in a broadcast booth set up at the Tokyo Stadium.

“Group B! It’s the Galaxy team.”

“Group F! It’s the Artemis team!”

Galaxy, the winner of the Korean League, had no luck in the group draw.

The winner of the Chinese League, Beijing Cheonryong, was placed in the same group.

-Damn it;;

-What bad luck.

Korean fans watching the Group Draw Ceremony sighed.

In the Preliminary Round, only the first-place team out of the three could advance to the Main Stage, the Group Stage, but there was no hope of winning against Beijing Cheonryong, not even in their wildest dreams.

The Captain of Beijing Cheonryong was Liu Xuan.

Although she had suffered humiliation at the international exhibition match on Jeju Island, her skill as a Defender was undoubtedly Top Class.

And what about the other players?

Galaxy fans were already reacting as if they should just pack their bags and prepare to return home.

On the other hand, Artemis was quite lucky.

“Group F! It’s Kyzylzhar GC!”

“Group F! It’s the Queensland Angels team!”

Kyzylzhar Gaming Club, a Kazakhstani team from the Central Asian League.

And the Queensland Angels, an Australian team from the Oceania League.

This was arguably the best possible placement one could get in the Preliminary Round.

No matter which country or team they faced, there was no opponent Korea could look down on, but these were teams they had a chance of competing against.

As I, who was spectating Artemis’s strong luck, clapped, Yunseuli tilted her head.

‘Oppa. Are you cheering for the Artemis team?’

Come to think of it, Yunseul doesn’t know that I’m close with Seunga.

She would probably only know her as the Team Leader of the team we practiced with back on Jeju Island.

Even if she was a huge fan of mine, there was no way for her to know what kind of training I did in the Athletes’ Village in the past, or who I was close with.

<I’m pretty close with Kim Seunga.>

‘Ah. I see.’

<Yunseul. Can you pull up the results again for a moment?>

‘The results?’

Just in case, I also checked the Group Stage results for the Korean teams that advanced in the men’s World Championship division.

The World Championship, a stage I once dreamed of.

I took a look for that reason, and it was just as I expected.

This damn country had no skill, and on top of that, no luck.

The two teams that advanced from Korea were grouped with the North American and European seeds respectively, so the results could be easily predicted.

The only place Korean fans could have any hope was Artemis.

And so, the Japan World Championship began.

“Don’t look at them lightly. These teams, they’re all teams we’ll have to fight next year.”

Park Chaerin, who was watching the World Championship with us, said.

Both Galaxy and Artemis are teams we’ll face in the First Division League next year.

Park Chaerin emphasized the need to analyze the strengths of the upper-bracket First Division teams during this World Championship period.

And Director Lee Gangseon, beside her, hummed in agreement as if everything she said was right.

And so we watched the matches, gauging how these teams moved, what strategies they mainly used, and what their level of skill was.

‘Their level is high.’

Yunseuli said as she watched the match.

Artemis, who finished the season in 3rd place in the First Division League.

But despite being 3rd, their level was much higher compared to Super Sylph.

First, the Ace, Kim Seunga.

Kim Seunga’s instantaneous destructive power was on par with Seo Dami’s.

There were times when Seo Dami showed a sharper side, but in the end, UA matches were much more often about prolonged battles rather than short ones.

This was because of Battlefields like Deathmatch or Domination Battle.

Moreover, the gap widened even more if a best-of-three series went to a Full Set.

Kim Seunga’s perfected Stamina was not a Level that Seo Dami could catch up to yet.

In my estimation, even if she invested the entire Off-Season in Stamina Training, she wouldn’t be able to close the gap completely.

In that case, it was a situation where Kim Seunga had the overall advantage.

Then we would have to gain an edge with the remaining team members to win a team fight, but comparing our overall strength, we were severely lacking.

Yunseul, who had received my crash course, could take down the Artemis players one-on-one, excluding Kim Seunga, but the rest.

The skills of Shin Aram, Kim Dain, and Hwang Jua were far behind.

This was to be expected, in a way.

Just last year, Super Sylph was a team that ranked 8th in the Second Division League.

No matter how much advice I gave, it was too much to ask to turn such a team into one that could compete with a top-tier First Division team in just one year.

<In the first place, there’s no director or coach in the world who could make that happen.>

There probably wasn’t.

If such a thing were possible, that person would have to be a psychic, or someone who uses fraudulent methods like Kato Mikane.

‘Ooh…’

Jung Yunseul, who had become engrossed in the game, sat next to Seo Dami and focused her attention on observing Kim Seunga’s Performance.

On the other hand, Dami, who was next to her, couldn’t seem to focus on the match at all, frequently glancing at Jung Yunseul’s face.

I could tell.

The reason Dami was looking at Yunseul’s face wasn’t because she wanted to see Yunseul, but because she was looking for me inside Yunseul.

If I could speak to her directly, I would have warned her, “Hey, Ms. Seo. Stop getting distracted and focus on the match!” but unfortunately, my voice couldn’t reach her right now.

Therefore, I too decided to focus on Artemis’s match for a moment through Yunseul’s eyes.

I felt that I also needed to analyze them accurately to give our team members even slightly more helpful advice.

<Hmm…>

But it was strange.

The feeling.

I felt like my Vision had gotten better.

Should I say my analysis was going well?

It didn’t seem like it was just my imagination.

When Artemis won their first match against Kyzylzhar GC, I analyzed the problems and immediately relayed them to Park Chaerin.

It was a chain of me telling Yunseul, and Yunseul telling Park Chaerin.

“Looking at Kim Seunga, it seems like her coordination with the Attacker is off when they Double Team. And the Sniper’s usage rate of Drive Shot was a bit high, and I think the Defender was supposed to put up a wall, but the angle was slightly off. If we use this well, I think we can land a blow on them too, you know?”

“…Yunseuli?”

Park Chaerin was greatly surprised by Jung Yunseul’s analysis, her eyes wide.

It was surprise at how she had rattled off data that was difficult to discern even when spectating in person, just by looking at a flat screen.

I was surprised by my own Analytical Ability too.

My eyes were always good, but not to this extent.

Perhaps while living as a ghost, and while being with the kids, I had blossomed a talent I didn’t know I had.

Maybe it was an ability cultivated by sharing senses with others and seeing the game from a new perspective.

Well, whatever the case, it was a good thing.

It meant I had one more weapon to provide Support with, beyond just teaching by moving my body directly.

<Then I guess I’ll have to test just how far this will go…?>

Just how far would my Analytical Ability reach?

I decided to gauge its true worth with this World Championship.

「Artemis Team! Advances to the UA World Championship Group Stage!」

Artemis, led by Kim Seunga, broke through the Preliminary Round and achieved the feat of advancing to the Group Stage.

It had been a long time since Korea had made it to the Group Stage.

Seeing Kim Seunga giving an interview full of confidence, I couldn’t help but smirk.

It made sense, as the Artemis team had won in the preliminary group stage by using the Slope Shield Operation against the opposing Sniper.

It seemed the memory of cooperating with Seo Dami on Jeju Island had been intense for her as well.

“Congratulations, Kim Seunga. It’s been three years since Korea has had its name in the Group Stage, across both the men’s and women’s leagues. How do you feel?”

“I think this is just the beginning.”

Kim Seunga said.

That she wouldn’t rest on her laurels here and would climb to even greater heights.

However, her bold interview turned into a joke just one day later when the Group Stage schedule was confirmed.

Kamui (Japan 1st Seed)

Goa GC (India 2nd Seed)

Highlander (Western Europe 3rd Seed)

Artemis (Korea 2nd Seed)

A group of death that was impossible to break through.

Korean fans who saw the group draw immediately went into an uproar.

-lololololol

-Where the hell is this higher place?

-I think she misspoke and meant the basement.

-How is the team name Goa lolol

-Our draw luck is an orphan;;

-Goa GC is a team based in Goa, India, and they’ve had a distinguished performance in the Indian Super League…

-Shut up! You curry long-text bastard! I’m not curious at all!

-Our luck is freaking terrible.

-Even with Kim Seunga, it’s not going to work, right…?

-You think it will?

-Kim Seunga can barely hold her own, the other members will just be completely outmatched, right?

The fans’ reaction was natural.

Kamui was the team led by Kato Mikane, a strong contender for victory in this tournament, and Goa GC, despite its unusual name, was an undeniable powerhouse in terms of skill.

And what about Highlander?

They were a formidable team that had proudly achieved 3rd place among Europe’s renowned teams this year to make it to the World Championship.

Naturally, their skill was incomparable to Korea’s.

For Korea to advance to the Tournament, they had to defeat two of these teams and achieve at least 2nd place, but that was truly out of the question.

I prayed for the souls of Kim Seunga and the Artemis team and looked forward to the match.

The very first match was scheduled to be between Artemis and Kamui.

Kato Mikane, the Leader of the Kamui team, had taken a break for a while after losing face on Jeju Island.

Since it was a break that started without notice and with no end in sight, the team had to urgently Call-Up a trainee to replace her.

Because of this, all sorts of rumors circulated, such as Kato Mikane developing a stress-induced illness from losing to Korea, or that she had fallen into a Slump.

But just one month later, Kato Mikane returned to the League and unleashed a fierce onslaught, proving once again why she was the world’s best player.

And now, they faced the World Championship Group Stage.

On the day of the match, the UA Association officially activated the World Stadium.

It was an Arena with a massive stadium Setup exclusive to the World Championship, capable of accommodating up to 500,000 paying Spectators.

But even though it could hold 500,000 Spectators, the ticketing war was extremely fierce.

This was because these 500,000 Spectators were people who could Log In from their own homes, regardless of nationality.

The accessibility of being able to get a ticket and watch the match from anywhere in the world.

This was the reason why the paid spectator revenue of VR Sports could overwhelm that of old-era offline sports.

I had asked the Front Office early on if they could get me tickets, and the Front Office brought me a total of three.

And so, we picked the people from our team who would go to watch the match.

Coach Park Chaerin.

And Seo Dami, and Shin Aram.

It was a reasonable decision.

Park Chaerin had to attend since she needed to continuously build the team’s Strategy, Seo Dami to develop her eye as the Ace.

And for Shin Aram, it was a chance to learn by listening to the Orders of a world-class team in person.

The problem was that I was left out.

If I had been attached to Dami, there would have been no problem, but since I was with Yunseul now, I was stuck having to watch the match on TV.

But then, Seo Dami told Director Lee Gangseon that she wanted to send Jung Yunseul in her place.

“I experienced it firsthand on Jeju Island. For the team, I think it’s important to let Yunseul gain experience too.”

That’s what she said, but the reason Dami voluntarily gave up her ticket was because of me.

She seemed to have judged that it was better for me to watch the match than for her to.

The fact that Yunseul could also watch the match as a bonus with one ticket must have played a part.

And so, the person to spectate in person changed from Dami to Yunseul, and the three of us activated our Access Devices.

It was time to fly to the World Stadium set up in Tokyo for a moment.