Season 3: Chapter 214. Fake Journey (1)
The next day, Ju-Hyeok prepared for his departure to Japan. He had booked the flight tickets and reserved a hotel near where the players were staying. All he had to do now was pack his bags and leave.
He took out a large suitcase and stuffed it with clothes.
At some point, his busy hands stopped.
‘Ah.’
He almost packed Sang-Hyeon’s stuff by mistake.
‘It's just me now.’
He still hadn't fully adjusted even though he had been living alone in this house for over two weeks. Yesterday, he accidentally cooked two servings of soft tofu stew and ended up eating it all by himself. Then, did that mean it was only one serving?
Anyway, Ju-Hyeok took out the unnecessary items and grabbed a more appropriately sized suitcase.
Thud.
He placed it in the living room and opened it. This was the suitcase he had brought in a fit of anger when he first came to this house. Seeing it reminded him that he hadn’t been home in a long time. At the same time, that really didn’t bother him.
Parents seemed crucial, yet their absence didn't cause significant problems. It felt puzzling.
Ju-Hyeok packed only his clothes and toiletries while pondering various thoughts.
Bzzz.
[Ji-Ah: You're leaving today, right? I'm really sorry... Let's go together next time.]
Ji-Ah sent him a message.
He had asked if she wanted to come along when he booked the tickets. She said she couldn't go because she had other things to do.
“Sigh.”
He felt disappointed, but accepted it.
[Ju-Hyeok: It's okay~ Let's go next time.]
He hadn't seen Ji-Ah much lately and thought it was because she was free during the national competition while he was busy.
‘She must be working on something.’
She seemed to be preparing something on her own.
Thud.
He closed the suitcase and stood up abruptly.
“Oof, my back.”
Crack.
He raised both arms high to stretch and loosen up.
“All right! Let's go! Mixed Nuts! Heading to Japan!!”
No one responded.
“Haha...”
***
Ju-Hyeok wasn’t the only one whose fate hinged on Joseon's advancement to the quarterfinals.
“Oh, okay!”
It was also the same for PD Jang. His fledgling company had found the most success with the Fake National Team project. In other words, his company would also temporarily come to a halt if this project stopped.
“Smooth sailing to the quarterfinals!”
Joseon's advancement to the quarterfinals was great news in many ways. As a bonus, their opponent in the quarterfinals was also Japan.
“This is... amazing. It’s like the heavens want to mess with SCB and blessed me!”
PD Jang felt ecstatic. However, only he felt this excited.
“Haha... Yes... Yes...”
“Wow...”
The staff, who were so hopeful and enthusiastic when they filmed the first episode of Fake National Team, now had panda-like eyes and forced smiles.
“Hey. You guys are... Ha.”
PD Jang stopped speaking and sighed. He knew it, too.
The Fake National Team content kept the company afloat. However, it also consumed too much time, manpower, and mental energy.
The editing staff in the office were just the tip of the iceberg. The freelance writers and cameramen following the players also felt overworked. They only hung in there because of the project's success.
“I'll try to hire more staff. Just hang in there a bit.”
“PD, you’ve been saying that since episode three. We’re now on episode eight... Ha. Hahaha...”
“...”
To be honest, they had no money. The revenue hadn't been fully accounted for yet. They had to hold out until next month for the full accounting.
Then, he could give out incentives and hire more editors.
‘Just hang in there!’
He wanted to tell them, but even that had its flaws.
‘The problem is... that’s after the Fake National Team is over.’
Even if they held out until then, the Fake National Team would be over already even if Joseon won everything. Even if they could hire more staff by then, those staff would no longer be needed immediately. This was the president’s dilemma.
“Hey, do you think we’ll make it to the semifinals? Japan came first in the preliminaries and beat the Ottomans. We’ll probably lose.”
In the end, he could only console his employees by suggesting this would be the last time.
“... PD, you said Joseon wouldn’t even make it to the main tournament.”
These employees had good memories. PD Jang swallowed dryly.
“Hey! It wasn’t just me saying that!”
“... So we might make it to the semifinals too. It’s Korea vs. Japan. They’ll give it their all.”
“Do you think this is soccer!? Do you think they can run more if they just grit their teeth!? Gritting your teeth doesn’t increase VNS levels! This isn’t that kind of sport!”
“They’ll at least concentrate more. Seriously, you don’t really plan to hire anyone, do you? Right?”
“...”
Jang Tae-Soo was at a loss for words.
“I’m not an idiot. I know this will only last until the end of this month. Even if you hire new staff, they’ll have to leave soon. Right?”
“...”
“Then at least bring in some freelancers.”
“Hey. Which freelancer would...?”
Who would want to do this? And did they know how much freelancers cost?
Tap.
Jang Tae-Soo rubbed his forehead and swallowed his words.
“I’ll give you more incentives, so...”
In the end, he could only pacify them with rewards. Just then, someone knocked at the office door.
“So... just hold on a bit. Okay?”
“How much will you give us? How much!”
“I can’t tell until the accounting is done! Are you an idiot!? Huh!?”
Of course, they didn’t hear the knock while yelling at each other.
Then, more knocks came again.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
This time, it sounded louder.
One of the employees grew curious and stood up from her chair.
“Ah, you two! Be quiet for a moment! Stop fighting! Didn’t you hear something?”
“... What?”
PD Jang paused from shouting, but the heated male employee shouted even louder.
“Why! I’m speaking up for everyone! Huh! You complain so much when we’re drinking and now you say we’re fighting—”
“That’s not it! Someone’s here!!” she said and ran to open the door.
“Haha... You seem busy.”
Sensing the atmosphere, the visitor looked around nervously.
“Hello. I’m Seo Ji-Ah, the editor for Almond’s channel.”
“...!”
Everyone stopped and turned to her in shock.
“Ms. Ji-Ah, what brings you here? Please, sit down.”
PD Jang, acting as if the argument had never happened, gestured for someone to bring a drink and placed a cushion on the cheap sofa for her.
‘What’s going on? Could it be...?’
He had a strange sense of anticipation.
***
While some resolved their problems upon reaching the quarterfinals, others only faced new issues. The national competition team was experiencing this.
“Sigh. This is bad.”
Pang plopped down on the hotel lobby sofa with a sigh.
Sang-Hyeon watched him and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“We can’t practice.”
Joseon had lost the reservation war for practice venues.
“To practice, we need to rent a stadium or book one of the capsule rooms from the list.”
The Civil Empire organizers provided the stadium and fairly distributed practice times to teams, but that alone wasn't enough practice.
“The stadium isn’t a problem. The capsule rooms are.”
The rest of their practice time needed to be covered in capsule rooms. That was the problem. The capsule rooms on the list were already fully booked.
“We didn’t get any while other teams booked everything, especially the Japanese team. They have their schedule fully booked every day as locals.”
During the week-long break, Joseon could only practice once.
“What do we do?”
The nearby cameraman and writer from the Fake National Team filming crew also felt worried.
“I don’t know. Damn, we’d know how this works if we made it to the main tournament before.”
They struggled to figure out the reservation system and only got one slot because Joseon had never made it to the main tournament or the quarterfinals before.
“It’s our first time in the quarterfinals and Cookie is hospitalized. Nothing is going right. Dammit...”
Cookie’s hospitalization wasn’t just a game issue. In the game, there could be substitutes. In reality, no one could replace him and manage things.
“And something strange is going on,” Pang whispered to Sang-Hyeon.
“Everyone’s attitude changes when we say we’re the Korean Civil Empire national team. The think tank guys are looking into it. Those places seemed willing to book tourists initially. When they saw the reservation numbers, they realized we were a national team and refused. Well, who knows, but...” Pang muttered.
Sang-Hyeon felt a pang of guilt.
‘Could it be because of me?’
Was it because of his “short and Japanese” comment that they couldn’t get any reservations? Even without that comment, those places could still have refused them for being an opposing team. Wasn’t it a home game for them?
He had heard such stories from his seniors. In Europe, opponents would make noise during away games to keep them from sleeping or give them free drinks to ruin their practice the next day. Those were considered the more gentlemanly ways of sabotaging with countless other unspeakable dirty tricks.
He knew well about the shadow that always lurked behind the facade of fair and honorable sportsmanship...
‘Dammit.’
Even without doing anything, they would’ve faced such obstacles. And now, he had added fuel to the fire with his “short” comment.
‘It’s my fault.’
Sang-Hyeon concluded that it was his fault. Therefore, he tried his best to come up with a solution.
‘Hmm...’
As he racked his brain, a bright idea struck him.
“Kim Ju-Hyeok!”
“Oh, you scared me. What is it!?”
He just had to ask Ju-Hyeok for help. That guy could always solve things like this.
“Kim Ju-Hyeok. Let’s ask Ju-Hyeok for help?”
“...”
Pang looked in disbelief at the cameraman and writer as if to say, “Look at this guy.”
However, they seemed delighted by Sang-Hyeon’s suggestion.
Realizing their priorities differed from his, Pang turned to Sang-Hyeon.
“Are you serious? You think that’s a solution? After all that thinking...”
“It’s a perfect solution.”
Pang didn’t know Ju-Hyeok. He clenched his fist and seemingly wanted to give Sang-Hyeon a flick.
It felt like the camera was zooming in on them.
“Hey, he’s not here. We can’t solve this ourselves. All the capsule rooms are booked.”
“Hmm...”
“So, how would Kim Ju-Hyeok solve this if he was here? Let’s do that.”
“I don’t know.”
Sang-Hyeon thought about calling Ju-Hyeok, but didn’t say anything. If he did, Pang would probably hit him.
Pang seemed to think that Sang-Hyeon’s comment had also contributed to the problem. Pressing him any further could make him explode.
‘If only Ju-Hyeok was here... he could solve this.’
Sang-Hyeon thought Ju-Hyeok could resolve this issue if he was here, but he wasn’t.
He had to become Ju-Hyeok himself. What would Ju-Hyeok think if he was here?
‘Hmm...’
He pondered again.
‘If Ju-Hyeok was here...’
Another random thought interrupted him.
‘If Ju-Hyeok was in Japan... Dammit. Again!?’
Did having someone solve everything for him cause his brain to regress?
‘Oh?’
Then, something bright flashed in his mind. This time, it was real.