Season 3: Chapter 141: Schedule (1)
The chartered bus provided by the game company arrived in front of the hotel. Players in their national uniforms boarded in droves. With no one managing the boarding, nationalities randomly mixed.
It didn’t seem like an oversight by the organizers. The announcement yesterday recommended everyone to install a translation app, which suggested that the organizers had anticipated this.
Sang-Hyeon wasn’t particularly surprised while boarding the bus with Pang and a few other Korean players as foreigners surrounded them.
“Ah, here comes the young lady. Take this seat.”
Pang, showing off his gentlemanly side, vacated his seat as soon as Jessie arrived.
“Wow, thanks~”
Jessie climbed aboard the Korean bus again.
“We’re meeting again?”
Pang openly laughed from behind, but Jessie just smiled as if it was a coincidence.
“Lucky me, I guess.”
“Let’s see how lucky you really are after today’s draw.”
Someone from the opposite seat started talking. The voice was hard to distinguish because it was mixed with the translation app’s audio, but the face was immediately recognizable.
He made eye contact with Sang-Hyeon and nodded.
“Didn’t expect you two to know each other.”
His long, curly hair was reminiscent of a mythical figure and his green eyes shone so brightly that it was hard to maintain eye contact. It was Pierre, one of Rome’s players.
Calling him just one of their players was an understatement. He was Rome’s ace and an exceptionally prominent figure. He looked even larger in person, possibly due to some training since they last saw each other.
‘What’s with that guy?’
Sang-Hyeon looked down at his own body, contemplating about changing his diet.
Jessie also recognized Pierre and spoke up, “Lucifer on a bus full of demons, huh?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“It’s a famous line from a Korean drama.”
Sang-Hyeon felt surprised. How did Jessie know about a drama that aired when he was a child?
“… Did the meaning get lost in translation? That’s not what I remember from the Korean drama I watched.”
“What drama did you watch?”
Jessie and Pierre suddenly started arguing about a strange topic.
“What? The masterpiece was Reborn Rich? Where getting hit by a truck was a dream?”
“So you think you can marry a third-generation chaebol?”
“Why not?!”
Meanwhile, Sang-Hyeon thought about something else.
‘I should have turned on the stream.’
Maybe he was a streamer to the bone. He calculated how many views he would have gotten if he had filmed two foreigners arguing about Korean dramas. However, their argument ended before he could start streaming. ℞ά𝐍ȫ𐌱Ê𝐬
“Ha… Whatever. I wasn’t talking to you anyway.”
Pierre wasn’t a fan of Korean dramas. He only brought it up to have a conversation with Sang-Hyeon. His real interest lay elsewhere.
“The last game was fun. Remember me?”
He extended his hand to Sang-Hyeon.
“Yeah.”
Pierre continued as Sang-Hyeon shook his hand, “I actually looked into you a bit.”
“What?”
This surprised Sang-Hyeon. Pierre was a veteran player and a favorite to win while Sang-Hyeon was a rookie who just debuted.
‘I wouldn’t even face him unless I reached the tournament.’
To Pierre, Sang-Hyeon was someone worth the trouble of researching. Even though Sang-Hyeon believed in winning the championship, no one else did realistically. Why would Pierre bother to research him?
“You were an archery athlete, right?”
Pierre mimed drawing a bow with his hands.
“Yeah.”
“That’s cool.”
Jessie, listening to them, felt startled.
“Hey, you were an archery athlete?!”
“…?”
It seemed that Jessie didn’t know.
Pierre smirked and teased her, “You didn’t even know that? Sitting next to him all this time.”
Jessie shrugged it off.
“True love doesn’t need to know the past~”
“Love?”
An awkward silence followed.
“… No, it’s a translation error. Translation error.”
Jessie rolled her eyes and fanned herself nervously.
“Haha, it’s hot.”
Sang-Hyeon reconsidered that it was probably a good idea not to turn on the stream.
***
Screech.
The bus stopped in front of a huge stadium. Sang-Hyeon naturally parted ways with Pierre and Jessie as the players disembarked in sequence.
Pierre seemed annoying, but he wasn’t too bad after talking to him like most people.
“This is your first time in the tournament so you might not know, but there’s a dinner party later. Let’s talk again then.”
“I know there’s a dinner party.”
“I’ll teach you what team play is all about.”
Pierre winked before disappearing. It seemed to be his idea of humor, but he still came off as a bit annoying to Sang-Hyeon.
Jessie overheard them and made some scathing comments about Pierre’s team play.
“...”
Sang-Hyeon decided to chalk it up to a translation error and pretended not to hear it.
“See you later~”
Jessie waved goodbye and headed to her team.
From there, the teams split up and regrouped. Sang-Hyeon looked around for the Korean team.
“Over here! Korea~!”
They weren’t far. Everyone gathered there wore white uniforms with [KOREA] emblazoned on the back, catching his eye.
Thump, thump—
Sang-Hyeon tried to calm his racing heart and quickly walked over. Cookie, the think tank team, and a few other familiar players appeared. About forty people in total had gathered.
“So… is everyone here?”
The first group to arrive was all there.
“Aren’t our numbers a bit small?”
Hui-Chul gave a slightly embarrassed smile. As he said, Korea’s first group was significantly smaller compared to other countries because Korean players didn’t have as much freedom with their time, unlike countries with active professional leagues.
“Shall we go?”
As Hui-Chul took the lead, Chi-Seung raised his hand.
“Um… is everyone here? Is that person not coming today?”
That person? The other players, including Almond, looked puzzled. It seemed like only the leadership knew something.
“Oh, their schedule is different. They said they’d be late. It’s a bit inconvenient for them. Barum will bring them in the evening.”
“Ah, okay.”
With that, the question was resolved and the Korean team headed inside the stadium.
***
When Sang-Hyeon first heard that Civil Empire was quite popular overseas, he honestly didn’t fully grasp it. How could he without seeing it firsthand?
“!”
Seeing such a sight in front of him, how could he not understand?
“… Wow.”
Each faction had two hundred and one capsules. The seats could fill tens of thousands of spectators and a massive hologram screen made the field look like in the game.
The scene before him seemed like the pinnacle of modern technology. There was no better way to feel the grandeur of Civil Empire than this. He could have never imagined this just by playing in Korea.
“… This is awesome.”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, this is incredible.”
The think tank members experiencing this tournament for the first time looked around in awe.
“Hey, hey. Don’t look around too much. You’ll look like a pushover.”
Pang nudged them, trying to maintain some decorum. The funny part was that he was looking around more eagerly than anyone else.
Even Hui-Chul, who had been to the tournament once before, slowly took in the surroundings. Sang-Hyeon thought it meant something different to him compared to the others.
After looking around for a while, Hui-Chul pointed somewhere with a knowing smile.
“Over there.”
It was the spot for the Korean team. Everyone headed there and sat down, looking at the enormous hologram screen. After a short wait, the MC appeared and greeted them.
“Thank you for waiting!”
Woong…!
His hologram grew into a giant.
“Representing each country! Wandering mercenaries! Today, we finally have the draw for the tournament!”
Behind him, the flags of the thirty-two participating countries appeared on the hologram screen.
“Oooh…”
Admiring sounds spread around because of the field implemented through holograms.
“Wow, it really looks like there are actual players on the field?”
“They say it’s a live technology made to compete with all-dive technology.”
Beneath the flags, the chief commanders of each country stood. One could clearly see familiar players like Anton from Italy and Cookie from Korea as if they really stood there.
“… At this level, it’s worth buying tickets for an offline event.”
“Right. It’s fortunate. There was a lot of talk after the all-dive system came out saying online might be more fun.”
The crowd’s murmurs died down and the MC resumed.
“The draw is simple! It’s a ladder game!”
At his words, all thirty-two chief commanders drew their swords.
Shing!
“Look at Cookie bro holding the sword.”
“Haha.”
The think tank members chattered at the sight of Cookie holding a sword.
“Wow, the Japanese really make these things amazing.”
Pang marveled as he munched on some snacks he somehow brought along.
“Indeed.”
Sang-Hyeon nodded, stealing some snacks and agreeing with him. Making the characters play a ladder game felt very Japanese and fun.
“But! It’s a ladder game where all characters start at the same time! As the chief commanders of each country face off with swords and shields, they cut down their opponents to advance! If they lose, they return!”
“Waaaah!”
Cheers erupted from the audience. They had expected something like this when the characters drew their swords, but seeing it for real still felt exciting.
“Ah! Of course, it’s all just luck! So please don’t blame the commanders for the results!”
“Hahaha.”
A wave of laughter passed through the audience.
“Alright!”
At the MC’s cue, the game began.
“Start!”
Numerous commander characters began running. Luckily, considering the hypothetical situation where actual combat ability applied, they were far from Anton. This brought some relief to the Korean team.
“Haha! Look at Cookie hyung run. It’s just like him!”
“Did you give them your physical data?”
“… I didn’t know they’d use it like this.”
“Hahaha!”
The players laughed at Cookie’s running form. It seemed other countries were the same. After all, it’s rare to see chief commanders run like this.
“Ah! The first fight is happening!”
Two commanders met on the ladder. It was Persia and Denmark. Jessie and a few Danish players jumped up. Even though it was all luck, people couldn’t help but cheer.
“Go, go!”
“Kill them!”
Clang! Clash!
With somewhat exaggerated sword-fighting sounds, the Danish and Persian commanders began fighting.
“Waaaah!”
One fight after another broke out. Korea’s commander, Cookie, was up against…
“!”
The Japanese commander. A long Japanese sword clashed with Joseon’s Hwandao.
“Of all the matchups…”
“Why does something this trivial get people so worked up!?”
Despite his complaints, Pang stood up and cheered loudly. The other excited members also stood up and cheered. Sang-Hyeon joined in, standing up as well.
Clang! Clash!
After a brief, somewhat exaggerated sound…
“Waaaah!”
A thunderous cheer erupted from Korea’s side. Cookie had defeated the Japanese commander.
“We must win against Japan!”
Pang waved his arms excitedly. Anyone seeing them would think they actually won a real battle.
“Huff… Huff… Wow. Why am I so excited over this?”
“Yeah, really.”
The players, exhausted from their excitement over the Korea-Japan battle, couldn’t cheer as loudly for the following fights. Perhaps because of that, Cookie lost one of his ladder matches.
After several more battles, the commanders began to find their positions.
“Now! The battle of commanders is over!”
Finally, Korea’s first opponent had been revealed. Jessie and Almond made eye contact in the audience.
[Joseon vs. Vikings]
Their first opponent was the Vikings.