Season 3: Chapter 266. Spring (4)

On this day, the main thing Ju-Hyeok wanted to boast about wasn't just the merchandise sales. While that was part of it, everyone expected merchandise sales to peak during the fifth game. The real highlight was Ah-Sung's sponsorship offer, something Sang-Hyeon would never have anticipated.

"Now, there's some really great news─"

"─Uh, excuse me."

"Huh?"

Ju-Hyeok’s face twitched and he tilted his head like a puppy being interrupted while doing its business.

"What, what is it!" Ju-Hyeok shouted, urging Sang-Hyeon to speak quickly.

"Why are you shouting...?"

"What is it!"

"Uh... since our company manages the national competition..."

Why was he bringing this up now? Right when Ju-Hyeok was about to reveal the big news. However, Ju-Hyeok would have noticed that Sang-Hyeon's eyes were fixed on the other players' merchandise sales figures if he had been observing closely. The other players' sales were barely above volunteer work levels. The team merchandise with the national competition logo sold far better.

"... What if we supported players like Pang and other streamers who might be interested?"

"Huh?"

For a moment, Ju-Hyeok forgot about Ah-Sung and felt stunned.

"Support other players?"

It was unusual for Sang-Hyeon to suggest supporting other players.

"Not support exactly... more like an investment. We don’t have any other streamers, right? How can we succeed without them?"

"So you want to share the merchandise revenue... because it's thanks to the national team players’ efforts that we have this income, right?"

"No, I mean invest based on that."

"That's sharing, idiot."

"It's investing. When you buy stocks, you don't call it sharing with another company."

"So do you call it investing when giving company shares to employees?"

They engaged in a pointless argument with neither side yielding.

"So do you call it sharing land when you buy a house?"

"Do you call it investing when you buy a gift for your girlfriend!?"

"..."

Whenever the argument took this turn, Sang-Hyeon was bound to lose. He tried to find a witty comeback but found none.

"Puhahaha!"

Ju-Hyeok laughed victoriously and concluded, "Alright, let's distribute to the players who want to become streamers."

Sang-Hyeon remained silent, acknowledging his defeat as always.

"Do as you see fit."

***

Ju-Hyeok had met Sang-Hyeon’s archery club friends before. They talked about the young Sang-Hyeon, who was described as being even colder than his time at Ah-Sung. He was often associated with terms like arrogant, cold, annoying, and pretentious. Many girls in particular seemed to badmouth him.

"Among the girls, Sang-Hyeon oppa really had a bad image."

Dong-Su clarified that this was because Sang-Hyeon was popular with girls.

"They badmouth him because they couldn't get his attention."

"Like boys teasing girls they like?"

"Something like that."

He added that someone who truly had no interest wouldn’t criticize. Unlike Sang-Hyeon, girls never badmouthed him. Everyone agreed.

"Right, no one really badmouthed Dong-Su."

"Yeah, we hardly knew who he was..."

Dong-Su ended up recalling his gloomy school days for a few minutes.

"Anyway, it was hard to approach Sang-Hyeon oppa before getting to know him. That's why I thought So-Yeon unnie was amazing."

"She was quite bold."

The young Sang-Hyeon’s coldness not only covered his inner self, but also his entire demeanor. Anyone who approached recklessly would get frostbite. His exterior armor only melted in his twenties, but a large ice chunk remained inside.

Ju-Hyeok often felt it. Ah-Sung had melted Sang-Hyeon’s exterior, but seemed to freeze the ice inside even harder.

Now approaching his thirties, Sang-Hyeon was no longer an Ah-Sung employee but a streamer. He proposed supporting his underappreciated national competition teammates. The solid ice inside him was slowly melting.

Time eroded everything. Even Yu Sang-Hyeon was being chipped away. Whether this was erosion or sculpting remained unknown, but Ju-Hyeok opened the hotel room window slightly and thought that perhaps spring was coming for them too.

"... Oh, I forgot to mention."

They had only discussed the support policy. He completely forgot to mention Ah-Sung.

"They’ll call again. I'll tell him then."

***

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Meanwhile, beyond the blue curtain walls in a dull office somewhere in downtown Seoul, a man with a bulging belly sipped on his mixed coffee and tried to ward off the post-lunch drowsiness.

"Manager Koo, is it true?"

"Huh?"

The marketing team's Koo Jin-Mo, his employee ID dangled like a loose collar and identified him as Manager Koo.

"That game has been all the rage recently. The Korea-Japan match, is it true that Kim Ju-Hyeok is managing the national team project?"

"Ah...

haha."

"So does that mean Assistant Kim is Manager Kim now?"

Hearing this, several employees peeked over their partitions.

"Really? Ju-Hyeok is doing that?"

"Why didn't you tell us, Manager? Is that Kim Ju-Hyeok our Kim Ju-Hyeok?"

"Huh? That big guy?"

At Ah-Sung, stories about Yu Sang-Hyeon were already famous. However, only a few knew about Kim Ju-Hyeok, who also left with him.

"Ah...

haha."

Manager Koo scratched his head and debated whether to say anything.

'I got rejected.'

Moreover, their proposal had been rejected by Ju-Hyeok.

“We have too many sponsorship offers at the moment. Large corporations with strong commercial images are not ideal.”

“Ah... what?”

“Ah-Sung has a strong commercial image, which doesn't fit the esports theme of the competition.”

“Ah... haha. Okay, I’ll look for a better match. We contacted you early because we didn't have much time.”

“Yes, I understand. Let us know when you're ready and we'll review it.”

Manager Koo hadn’t expected this. Normally, any company would jump at Ah-Sung's sponsorship.

"What...? We got rejected?"

In the end, Manager Koo shared the story with his colleague, Manager Lee.

"

Ha.

That Kim Ju-Hyeok..."

Sssss.

Manager Lee lit a cigarette and frowned.

"Is he playing hard to get on purpose?"

"Maybe, but did you see the street cheering for the Korea-Japan match in the national competition?"

"Yeah, I did."

"He just knows his value. We’ll have to work overtime to make a better proposal."

"Huh? Isn’t it fine if they don’t take it?"

"Everyone knows Yu Sang-Hyeon worked at Ah-Sung."

"...?"

Manager Lee looked surprised and finally understood the big picture.

"Our job is to improve Ah-Sung's image. If people know Yu Sang-Hyeon struggled at Ah-Sung and left..."

"Sang-Hyeon... he struggled to fit in no matter how nicely we put it, but he never played the victim."

"Right, but he joined Ah-Sung under the disability quota. Then he struggled and left. It would look like Ah-Sung couldn’t accommodate disabled employees, making our welfare seem pointless."

"Ha."

Manager Lee exhaled smoke bitterly and nodded.

"It's complicated. The politicians will jump in, talking about disability welfare and pressuring us. They never care about our daily work."

"Exactly. They want to attach their name to the success story. It looks good. Ah-Sung helping a former athlete who gave up due to his disability. Supporting him even after he left."

"Wow~"

The executives had a clear vision. Even though they were the ones offering money, they had to act like beggars figuring out how to hand it over. This was the reality for most people.

Ju-Hyeok had grasped this reality perfectly and understood that he was now in a position of power. He knew he was in control even when the power dynamics were complex and intertwined.

Manager Lee reminisced with a smile while exhaling smoke.

"That Kim Ju-Hyeok, he was great at his job. I thought he'd go all the way to the top. Then he said he was managing a team. I thought it was some rich kid playing commoner."

"Some are just destined to succeed."

Manager Koo lit a cigarette too.

"Manager Koo, you said you quit smoking?"

He smiled bitterly and took a deep drag.

"Manager Lee, you know what was the hardest part of that call?"

"What?"

"I couldn't speak formally."

"Ah..."

"It just wouldn't come out. My tongue felt twisted. Just because I was his superior for a while. Now we're in completely different ranks."

"Hey, you should still show respect to your juniors."

"No way..."

Sss.

Manager Koo snubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and shook his head.

"I lost. He won. That's all."

He spoke as if it had always been that way.

***

Sunday arrived after the tournament on Saturday. By night, many players would return to Korea for work the next day. They received an unexpected announcement while feeling like they were being dragged back to reality from a dreamlike weekend.

[Notice: Sponsor Briefing Session]

All the players received this text message on their phones.

[Hello, national competition players.

This is Manager Kim Ju-Hyeok.

There have been many developments and our team has gained significant attention. We believe that we now have the resources to form a professional team next year.

We are holding a briefing session for those of you interested in pursuing careers as professional gamers or streamers focused on Civil Empire. With the support of various sponsors, we will offer several opportunities.

If you are interested, please attend.]

The Korean team had always consisted of amateurs, but the future looked different now.