Chapter 44
National Team Selection (6)
The final results of the selection!
By the end of this year, the players who would represent the country on the world stage were decided.
The list, organized by points, was as follows:
[National Team Player List]
- Unranked, Baek Jin-woo
- Rank 1, Kang Gun-ho
- Rank 2, Park Ho
- Rank 3, Hong Ah-ri
- Rank 15, Gi Jae-hyuk
- Rank 8, Hwang Joo-won
- Rank 4, Ahn Ki-jung
- Rank 25, Kang Ji-ho
- Rank 6, Bok Jeong-hee
- Rank 7, Seo Sang-won
Although the selection process often had surprises, this year’s results were extreme.
Rank 5, Oh Sun-young from the “Five Wolves,” along with the 9th and 10th ranked players from headquarters, Oh Ji-myung and Park Ho-seop, were eliminated in team matches.
As a result, three new players from outside the top 10 entered: Baek Jin-woo, Gi Jae-hyuk, and Kang Ji-ho.
Their ranks were unranked, 15th, and 25th, respectively.
“Wow…”
“Gi Jae-hyuk and Kang Ji-ho are legit. They fought insanely well lol.”
Gi Jae-hyuk and Kang Ji-ho were from the same guild, Carpe Diem.
Gi Jae-hyuk was the guild master, and Kang Ji-ho was the vice-guild master.
“Young blood is something else.”
“Gotta admit it. Kids are so quick in games.”
“They didn’t lose in team matches and crushed it in individual matches too. Totally worthy of being national players.”
They were also very young — high school students, in fact.
Gi Jae-hyuk was 19, Kang Ji-ho 18.
Carpe Diem itself was formed by talented players from a nearby high school alliance. Normally minors can’t establish a guild, but the headquarters made an exception.
Realistically, if a ranked player wanted to create a guild, no country could stop them — especially in a country as weak in players as Korea.
“Our country’s future looks bright!”
“Gi Jae-hyuk literally defeated the players ranked 4th, 6th, 7th, and 8th by points lol.”
“Lucky that he didn’t face Baek Jin-woo in the bracket.”
“True. Kang Ji-ho faced Baek Jin-woo and dropped to 8th.”
“No matter how good you are, against Baek Jin-woo it’s a one-minute cut lol.”
And the biggest surprise of this year was none other than Baek Jin-woo.
The unranked player overwhelmingly won first place, becoming the hottest superstar in Korea!
Every screen in Korea — building signboards, all three major broadcasting networks, online communities, YouTube — was filled with Baek Jin-woo’s matches.
His undefeated record and spectacular performance instantly made him a national hero.
“Wow.”
“Insane~!”
“Can’t get tired of Baek Jin-woo highlights.”
“But his name… seems familiar?”
“Baek Jin-woo = JinuGod? Jin-woo, Jinu… sounds similar. The nickname even has that middle-school swag.”
“Oh, true lol.”
Naturally, more people began to suspect he might be JinuGod.
His name was similar, and his dominance was overwhelming.
“The world’s top players fear that JinuGod.”
“Shouldn’t the Five Emperors make a statement?”
“No reaction yet, though.”
The public was curious — was Baek Jin-woo really JinuGod?
Meanwhile, in England.
Ding!
A young blonde woman, freshly out of a dungeon, heard a message notification from her pocket.
Slowly, she took it out to check and saw a video had been sent.
[Xenos: Everyone, check this video. Korea is going crazy right now.]
“Video?” she wondered. Rachel pressed play.
Baek Jin-woo’s highlights appeared on the screen.
“Hmm?”
A flicker of recognition passed across her eyes.
[Sugoi: Whoa, is that the training instructor? Haven’t seen him in ages!]
[Baekcheon: Bro, he even has Wind Fairy and Fire Dragon Summoner. These were summons deleted long ago due to balance patches. Wow, Fire Dragon Summoner is the cutest ever.]
[Sugoi: Wind Fairy… yeah, after the patch I knew about it. Attack speed increases a lot. But why does he have these summons? Haven’t seen them pulled in the last 3 years. Thought they were locked.]
[Baekcheon: Exactly.]
After the world went haywire, Rachel had been searching for Ichil-Ohje.
She used SNS to create a group chat, but so far only Ichil (One Day) had been missing. The other Emperors were all present.
[Xenos: Korea is celebrating this as the arrival of JinuGod. Thoughts?]
Rachel stared silently at the screen, then paused at one scene:
A black scythe suddenly sweeping the surroundings.
It vaguely reminded her of past experiences.
“…Could it really be JinuGod?”
It might or might not be. But the combat style matched perfectly. Summons moved freely and confidently.
“…But why now?”
Why emerge after all this quiet time? And if he really is JinuGod… why hasn’t he contacted anyone?
“…Well, maybe he just won’t.”
Since it’s reality, trusting someone blindly isn’t normal.
[Rachel: Honestly, I don’t know. 50-50 chance.]
[Xenos: Should I try to reach out?]
If he is really JinuGod, he would remember the memories with the Emperors.
Although it’s just chat, they had formed a fairly deep bond over five years. A few conversations would reveal the truth.
Many players claiming to be JinuGod had been exposed in minutes.
[Rachel: The problem is, if we ask, will he even answer? Or will our approach be unwelcome?]
[Xenos: True. But if he really is JinuGod… maintaining contact is good for us.]
JinuGod is great, a treasure of humanity.
He alone conquered the 100th floor of the Tower of Trials. Humanity will need him in the future to conquer it.
However, not all Five Emperors thought that way.
[Moscowman: I’m honestly a bit scared.]
Moscowman of Russia had a different view, as always. He feared JinuGod.
[Moscowman: We’ve been doing fine on our own. If JinuGod appears, won’t he push us out of our positions?]
[Rachel: Don’t go too deep, Moscowman.]
Rachel warned him. As the central figure of Ichil-Ohje, she managed and coordinated the stubborn veterans carefully.
If Moscowman acted recklessly and JinuGod really appeared… the whole Emperor group could incur his wrath.
To Rachel, JinuGod was the sky. One sky. Ichil.
[Rachel: We don’t even know if it’s JinuGod. Having patched summons could just be Tower of Trials rewards.]
Tower rewards are random. Any reward could appear. It might just be lucky that he got patched summons with unique tags.
“Training Instructor, Wind Fairy, Fire Dragon Summoner.” Three summons seemed unusual, though.
[Rachel: Did JinuGod normally use these summons?]
[Xenos: Not sure. But I remember that when the Training Instructor was deleted, some player’s growth rate was insanely fast.]
[Moscowman: Really? I also don’t know if JinuGod used them.]
[Sugoi: Of course we wouldn’t know. We learned about JinuGod in year 5 of the open server… these summons were deleted before that.]
Hmm. That’s true. Yet Rachel strongly suspected JinuGod had used those summons.
[Rachel: For now, let’s observe.]
Click. Rachel played the video again and began carefully analyzing Baek Jin-woo’s gameplay.
Half a year later, they would meet him anyway. No need to rush.
Player Headquarters – Assembly Room
After the selection results, the head of headquarters and ten assembly members gathered.
Of course, Park Chang-seok and Im Hee-soo were present.
“First,” Park Chang-seok said with a relaxed smile as he stood.
“A man’s promises must be kept, right? There’s a contract, and the headquarters head witnessed it too.”
He fanned out a piece of paper. It was a contract stating that the loser in a bet voluntarily resigns if the other proves superior.
“Penalty is 1 billion won if broken. Well, you probably have plenty of money… maybe just pay the 1 billion?”
Park Chang-seok felt an exhilarating relief.
“All thanks to Jin-woo!”
Honestly, he could have been as obedient as a dog if Baek Jin-woo told him to.
“Woof!”
“However…”
One assembly member looked at Im Hee-soo with a peculiar expression.
“Representative Im, why does your face look like that?”
“….”
Im Hee-soo’s teeth clenched as he hung his head in shame.
His left eye was black and swollen, as if he had been beaten. Ugly to look at.
“Damn.”
He remembered yesterday. After the matches had ended and some time passed, his former subordinates, Oh Ji-myung and Park Ho-seop, came to see him.
At night.
“What… what do you want?”
Im Hee-soo was startled and cautious.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“Exactly. We’re not tigers from the Joseon era, after all.”
They were surprisingly brazen.
In short: “You told Jin-woo to target him, so you take responsibility! Compensate for any losses from his dislike and lost opportunities, or else…”
And then they beat him. A member of the assembly!
“Report us if you want. When the time comes, we’ll take care of you and your family through our gang.”
“Behave. You’ve enjoyed the benefits of us so far, haven’t you?”
Even as they laughed while assaulting him, Im Hee-soo could do nothing.
“Eek!”
He could only grab their pants and beg for mercy. His pride from years of work was gone.
Reporting? No police or military could catch ranked players. Provoking them would be even more dangerous.
“…Ugh.”
Im Hee-soo shivered thinking about past events.
Park Chang-seok watched silently.
“How did a person become so ruined?”
No sympathy. Only a sense of poetic justice.
“I… admit it.”
Im Hee-soo finally spoke.
“I’ll admit everything… and resign from the assembly.”
He just wanted to escape. To leave Korea, go far away, and live in hiding.
The assembly members were shocked at his words.
Even those who knew the situation were surprised. Especially the members who teased Park Chang-seok — they were in despair.
“Then let’s settle the issue like that.”
Park Chang-seok smiled calmly.
“Head of Headquarters?”
“Uh, yes? Speak.”
“Don’t you think the headquarters should act more Baek Jin-woo-friendly from now on?”
Park Chang-seok clearly pointed out past mistakes.
“Of course.”
“No objections?”
“Huh? Objections? What… no way! Don’t I know? I tried hard later to contact Baek Jin-woo while regretting it!”
Now even the headquarters head had to watch Park Chang-seok’s lead.
Assembly terms are four years. In a year, Baek Jin-woo would soar even higher, and Park Chang-seok could easily take the head position.
“Hahaha, Representative Park. No hard feelings so far, right?”
“Hard feelings? Honestly, yes.”
When Park Chang-seok spoke plainly, the headquarters head was flustered.
“Really? What were you upset about?”
“Hahaha, sometimes words aren’t needed. So, how can that frustration be eased?”
“I already said it, Head of Headquarters.”
“Huh?”
“During the remaining term, run the headquarters in a Baek Jin-woo-friendly way.”
That was all that mattered. The head’s only path to survival.
“First,”
The headquarters meeting was now moving under Park Chang-seok’s lead.
“Shall we discuss the upcoming national team training plans?”
