Chapter 90

There’s a saying in the UA industry.

That first-class Pro Gamers are people who can sense killing intent.

It might seem like an unscientific story at first glance, but it was definitely true.

I was the same.

It would be more accurate to say that after playing the game for so long, I became able to tell the intent behind a person’s outstretched hand or foot.

Since UA now involves not just shooting but also close-quarters Melee Combat, I could intuitively tell when an opponent was about to hit me very! painfully!

As that developed further, I would hone an almost psychic sense, where I’d feel like an enemy was behind a wall, fire a wall shot, and there would actually be an enemy there.

Why am I suddenly talking about killing intent?

Because I realized that what the Family Head was trying to do, grabbing my face, wasn’t just to caress it.

In that moment, I felt my life was in danger and reflexively kicked out my front leg.

A front kick.

You bend your knee, quickly bring your leg up to your chest, and then kick straight toward the opponent’s solar plexus in one motion.

It was a technique that could inflict pain on the opponent and create distance again.

With a keoheok! and a clatter, the Family Head went tumbling across the tatami floor.

My heart sank.

I had kicked a civilian too hard.

A kick with almost all my strength.

I couldn’t help it; I had seen the intent in his gesture that he wouldn’t let me off easy, so I had put my all into it without realizing.

<W-w-w-what are you doing…!>

Kato’s scream snapped me to my senses.

A kick delivered with the full force of a Pro Gamer, even a woman’s, is not to be taken lightly.

And this time, hadn’t I hit him squarely in the solar plexus?

The Family Head was still clutching his chest, gasping and choking.

“Are you all right…”

As I awkwardly asked if he was okay, the Family Head of the Kato family, her father, glared at me with venomous eyes.

“You utterly ungrateful wretch…! I took in a thing that devoured its own parents, and this is how you repay my kindness, with a Kick! How dare you!”

<……>

Uh. I think I just heard something I shouldn’t have.

Was he saying that the Family Head wasn’t her biological father, and that he had adopted Kato?

Anyway, that wasn’t what was important right now. What mattered was that the Family Head was furious with Kato.

And from the way he was talking, it seemed he didn’t even know that I was the one moving Kato’s body.

It felt like he sensed my presence, but didn’t know the detailed circumstances?

He probably couldn’t imagine that someone else’s Soul was controlling his daughter’s body, which is why he was raging about her committing such an unfilial act.

“Did you become an Onmyoji just to be possessed by some ghost? If not, then…”

Grinding his teeth, the Family Head rolled up his sleeves and pulled out a talisman.

At that moment, the hair on my head stood on end.

I remembered the shock of the golden fan Kato had hit me with on Jeju Island.

When that fan had struck my forehead, I had felt a shock that seemed to split my Soul.

I couldn’t let the same thing happen again, so I clenched my teeth and drew upon the Power of the Ley Line.

As the energy of the earth traveled up from the soles of my feet and circulated throughout my body, the Family Head’s eyes became bloodshot.

“Gathering your power? Are you trying to pick a fight with me!!!”

<What are you doing! Stop!>

Kato screamed at me not to do it as I gathered power to resist.

But I couldn’t just take it.

Because if I let myself get hit by the attack that man, the Family Head, was screaming and preparing, there was no telling what would really happen.

If I was unlucky, my Soul might actually be split, or if I was lucky, Japan would have to compete in this year’s Olympics without its Ace.

It was an attack that would clearly cause great harm not just to me, but to Kato as well.

Just as the Family Head was about to press the talisman, charged with power, against me, I crossed my arms to protect myself, and with a BOOM!, the room was thrown into chaos.

‘Ugh!’

The red lightning that erupted from the Family Head’s talisman raged as if to pierce through my body.

‘What a bastard! How could he use an attack like this on his own family.’

Though it seemed he never thought of her as his daughter in the first place.

The attack, heavily charged with the Family Head’s power, was truly, incredibly painful.

So much so that Kato, inside my head, let out a pained scream.

Kato, who had already been in poor condition after overexerting herself with divination yesterday.

On her behalf, I gritted my teeth and unleashed the Power of the Ley Line, crashing into the Family Head with all my might.

The collision of our powers caused another explosion.

The successive impacts left the area in utter pandemonium.

This must be what it looks like when a Bomb goes off during a war.

The strange thing was that despite all this chaos, not a single person came to see what was happening.

After a moment of silence, a retching sound followed.

The Family Head, who had vomited blood, trembled and pointed a finger at me, vowing he wouldn’t let me get away with this.

As I started to back away to escape, the Family Head, still unable to control his anger, issued a Warning.

“You piece of trash… Go ahead and do as you please. I’ll make sure you can’t play your precious little games anymore.”

“Hey. I’ve been letting it slide, but you’re really going too far.”

“……?”

“Just because you’re a parent doesn’t mean you can decide your child’s life for them. So don’t make such petty threats. You never even thought of her as your daughter, did you? So what right do you have to talk about blocking someone’s future? Have you no conscience?”

“……”

“It’s amazing she grew up in a household like this without going crazy.”

I muttered as I left the building.

Around the half-collapsed building, a few servants could be seen, trying to figure out what on earth had happened.

As soon as they made eye contact with me, they all quickly turned their heads away as if they had seen something they shouldn’t have.

Geez, I know I shouldn’t say this about someone else’s house, but no matter how I thought about it, it was a shitty household.

‘Are you okay? Hey.’

As I headed for the main gate, I checked on Kato’s condition.

But there was no answer.

She had already been in a bad state, and it seemed the shock from before had made it worse.

She was still breathing, so she wasn’t dead, but it was doubtful whether she could just shake it off and get back on her feet after a few days’ rest.

Realizing this was no small matter, I opened the main gate and left the estate.

It was a house I never wanted to visit again.

“Unni, welcome back!”

“Yeah. You’ve been well, Haruna?”

“Yes? Yep!”

After spending the night at a hotel near the station, I returned to the Team House the next morning, and Haruna, who was on the first floor, bowed deeply.

“Unni. The Coach is waiting for you.”

“Okay.”

The Director must be on pins and needles.

While all the other teams had gone abroad to adjust to the time difference and what not, we were the only ones still in Japan.

The sole reason the Japanese team couldn’t depart was Kato, but they couldn’t bring themselves to say anything to her, so everyone was just anxiously tapping their feet and watching the situation.

When I went to the Director’s office, he greeted me, asking if I had a good trip home.

Director Ikeda Kohei.

He was a young Director in his 40s, in his second year of managing Team Kamui.

He was a Director with a somewhat lacking career to be in charge of a prestigious team like Kamui, but there was a reason for it.

The reason Team Kamui, which had been on an upward trajectory, had changed its Director was entirely due to the request of the team’s Ace, Kato.

Kato Mikane, who had been with the team since its founding.

As her skills improved, her influence grew stronger, and with that influence, she replaced the people she didn’t like, one by one.

Not just teammates, but the Coach, and even the Director.

The Director who had led the team before Director Ikeda came along had apparently clashed with Kato often.

Therefore, Kato pressured the Front Office, drawing a line in the sand by saying either the Coach goes or I leave the team, and she succeeded in getting what she wanted.

The ousted Director badmouthed Kato in an interview, calling her a truly awful player, but the fans’ reaction was one of indifference.

It was an undeniable fact that the Level of the Japanese League had risen several notches because of a player named Kato Mikane, and she had ultimately clinched the World Championship title, placing Japan at the top of the world.

To Kato, who had proven herself with results, the fans were supportive, saying, “Let our Kato do whatever she wants.”

This was why even Director Ikeda had no choice but to walk on eggshells around her.

She was practically a ‘player above the team,’ with more sway than the Director.

“The association contacted us. The Setup is complete on-site, and all we have to do is depart.”

“What about the other one?”

The other one I was referring to was the sixth National Representative player, chosen as the Sixth Man.

In addition to the five members of Team Kamui, the final member selected for the national team was the Fairies team’s Attacker, 21-year-old Nakano Ui.

The Director explained that she had already departed and arrived on-site.

Now, all that was left was for us to go.

In a case like this, it would have been normal for Kato to depart later on her own while the rest of Team Kamui went ahead, but it seemed the team members and the Director had all stayed behind until now to accommodate their Leader’s mood.

“Then let’s go today, Coach.”

“Understood. I’ll prepare immediately.”

Once permission was granted, the Director said he would get ready to leave right away, and I returned to my room for a moment.

Sitting quietly in my room, I checked on Kato’s condition.

Kato, who hadn’t regained consciousness even as dawn broke and we arrived at the Team House.

Now, she seemed to have come to, sitting quietly in my mind, curled up with her knees to her chest and her head buried.

I was about to ask if she was okay, but stopped.

She was sniffling.

I couldn’t tell if it was because of her disappointment in the Family Head, who was her father, or because of me, who had messed everything up, but I thought it was best to leave her alone for now.

At the news of Team Kamui’s departure, a cloud of reporters and fans gathered at the airport.

On Kato’s behalf, I waved to them.

“Kato-senshu! Your resolution for the Olympics! Ugh! Just one word on your resolution!”

Even while being pushed by the crowd, the reporters clung to me tenaciously, wanting my answer.

Without stopping, I just turned my head to look at them.

If I stopped here and gave an interview, an accident could happen in the already chaotic airport.

Toward the microphones visible between the Guards who were sweating profusely as they held back the crowd, I answered confidently.

“I will do my best to bring back the results you’re hoping for.”

“Kato-senshu! Do you have anything else to say!”

“I do not~.”

The reporters were very disappointed by my textbook answer.

The usual Kato would have shown a ton of confidence, saying that the Gold Medal was already Japan’s for the taking.

But I couldn’t bring myself to go that far.

Something about shouting, “The Gold Medal is Japan’s!” with my own mouth felt a bit… off.

It felt strange in many ways, so I gave the most subdued answer I could.

And so, on the plane to LA.

Kato’s gloomy voice spoke for the first time since returning from her family home.

<I’m not feeling well. Can you play the game for me for a while.>

‘Of course.’

To the listless Kato, I quickly replied that I would.

I was actually surprised at how calm she was. I had expected her to fly into a rage, asking why I had stepped in and made things like this, or accusing me of ruining her life.

<This tournament might be the last of my career. I want to be remembered as a good player by the fans.>

‘Your last tournament?’

<My father won’t let this go. I’m sure of it.>

Having wounded the Family Head’s pride to that extent, it was impossible for her to continue as a Pro Gamer, Kato explained.

I thought it was amazing that she still considered a person like that her father, even after what had happened.

Anyway, my thoughts on her future were a little different.

It’s not like Kato did anything particularly wrong in this matter.

If a player like Kato Mikane had to retire over something like this, it would be too great a loss for the development of the UA League.

‘Don’t worry too much. You probably won’t have any problem continuing your career.’

<What… do you mean?>

‘It’s a global era, isn’t it? The League isn’t only in Japan, is it?’

Well, fine.

Let’s say the Kato Mikane family, whether they’re Onmyoji or whatever, is powerful in Japan.

But no matter how powerful they were, it would be impossible for them to exert their influence in other countries.

‘There’s America. And Europe. There are many markets where you can play as long as you have the skills. These days, translation devices are so good that language isn’t much of an issue either, you know?’

As I said that, I subtly added that Korea was a good option too.

It was a small plug, born from the thought that if a player like Kato played in Korea, it would help the League’s development.

After hearing my words, Kato thought for a moment and then said she couldn’t do it because she’d feel bad leaving her kids behind.

Ah, so there was that problem.

This person was more of a true Leader than I thought.

As someone who had been a one-club man for Team Magnus, I could fully understand how she felt.

I also had the experience of staying with Team Magnus, unable to Transfer because I was worried about my teammates.

If I had moved to one of the championship-contending teams that had given me an Offer back then, I wouldn’t have been called a title-less loser…

Seeing Magnus’s Match Record hit rock bottom after I left made me wonder if I should have escaped sooner.

‘Anyway, don’t worry. I’ll fill in for you without any problems, so just focus on recovering.’

<That…>

‘Yes?’

<It’s nothing.>

Kato Mikane hesitated, about to say something more.

I figured that nine times out of ten, she was about to say thank you but stopped because she was embarrassed.

That was the vibe.

Though I didn’t think I had done anything worthy of thanks.

In any case, the important thing was that she wasn’t upset about the events that had transpired because of my actions.

‘Well then, I’m going to get some sleep too. See you in LA.’

<Okay.>

And so, the plane crossed the Pacific Ocean toward the coastal city.

A battle of pride between countries from all over the world, vying for a medal.

The 46th Olympics was about to begin here in Los Angeles.