Episode 95. The opponent has not revealed the hidden card yet.
A few hours before the matchup was announced on TV.
Baek Jun contacted Tak Nam-gyu to request additional manpower, and received a response from Tak Nam-gyu asking him to meet in person and talk over dinner together.
So the two sat across from each other at Tak Nam-gyu’s favorite quiet Korean restaurant.
And at that moment, Baek Jun heard something very shocking from Tak Nam-gyu.
“… yes?”
Baekjun asked back with an expression of still disbelief.
“Kim Jin-seong… Do you mean Shinwoong?”
Tak Nam-gyu nodded and raised his water cup towards Baek-jun, who was suspicious that he had misheard.
Then, he slowly took a sip to quench his throat and opened his mouth.
“This time, bin Nasir watched the preliminaries in person and praised it every day, saying it was really fun.”
“They had the same reaction to me.”
“okay. Then he suddenly said that he wanted to see the match between Kim Jin-seong and Shin Woong today.”
“… Minister.”
Tak Nam-gyu immediately raised his hand to stop Baek-jun, who opened his mouth in a lower voice.
“First, look at this and talk about it.”
Tak Nam-gyu immediately turned on his smartphone, touched it a few times, and then held it out to Baek Jun.
Baekjun’s eyes wavered as he checked the smartphone screen.
“… … !”
Tak Nam-gyu continued speaking to Baek Jun, who could not take his eyes off the screen.
“Bin Nasir gave Sabiya when he asked for a fight between the two.”
“This is Sabi… “What?”
“okay. That huge amount of money is money. “I didn’t believe it at first either.”
Tak Nam-gyu put his cell phone back in his arms, looked straight at Baek Jun, and started talking.
“I know better than anyone else what you’re going to say. Who am I? “Isn’t it safe to say that he co-created the Colosseum and is one of the best helpers?”
“… … .”
“Do you think I don’t realize how unreasonable this is to ask? But why would you bother asking me this, huh?”
Tak Nam-gyu continued to speak impassionedly toward Baek-jun, who did not respond.
“Don’t just think about reality right now, look at the future. “If we invest the last investment plus the bonus amount, we can transform Korea’s miserable hunter training academy system into the world’s best!”
“… … .”
“If that happens, we will be able to produce far more promising players of the level of ‘uniqueness’ than we have now. “Kids with the same level as Kim Jin-seong and Shin-woong!”
“… … .”
“What was your and my ultimate goal? Wasn’t the goal to produce more talented people capable of conquering the New World than any other country in the world? Has that thought changed? uh?”
“… no.”
Baekjun finally answered.
Tak Nam-gyu looked intently into his eyes and spoke in an earnest tone.
“This is a choice to complete the future we have longed for. “By sacrificing one person tomorrow, we can raise more talents of similar level in the future.”
“… … .”
“I would like to ask you a favor, Representative Baek. huh?”
Baekjun, who was looking at Tak Namgyu’s earnest eyes, had no choice but to sigh and give the answer he wanted.
“… “I understand, Minister.”
If Tak Nam-gyu, who was no other person, made such a request, Baek Jun had no way of refusing.
As someone who has known him for a long time, Baek Jun knows well that Tak Nam-gyu cares more about the country than anyone else.
“Thank you. thank you.”
Tak Nam-gyu warmly wrapped one of Baekjun’s hands with both hands.
“You said earlier that you need more security forces, right? Just say as much as you want! “I’m going to forcibly drag you by the collar and attach it to you, whether it’s a general or something!”
Tak Nam-gyu speaks loudly. But that was definitely not a lie.
He was truly a man with the strength and authority to drag a general-level hunter by the collar.
“… thank you.”
Baekjun had no choice but to answer like that while laughing bitterly inside.
In fact, since the two are scheduled to join tomorrow, there is virtually no need to increase security forces.
* * *
After the meal is over.
As soon as Baekjun got into the car, he immediately called Jang Seungwook with a stern expression.
– yes.
“For the last game tomorrow, put Kim Jin-seong and Shin-woong together.”
There was no response to Baekjun’s words from the smartphone speaker for a while.
– … You ordered it above again, right?
It was a long time later that Jang Seung-wook’s low answer was heard.
Baekjun didn’t bother to answer those words. It is an unspoken expression of positivity.
– No, really, isn’t it too much to do?!
Soon Jang Seung-wook exploded and shouted.
– Everyone around the world knows what Kim Jin-seong and Shin Woong’s position is this season, so why are they selected in the preliminaries, not the finals… !
“From now on!”
When Baekjun interrupted and shouted, Jang Seungwook kept his mouth shut.
After a moment of silence, Baekjun spoke in a very quiet voice.
“… Listen carefully to what I say and put it into practice. Don’t tell anyone what to do; you have to do it yourself. “You know what that means, right?”
At those meaningful words, Jang Seung-wook also changed his tone of voice again.
——————
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– I guess it’s a top secret that only the two of us should know.
“okay. When you hang up, all automatically recorded call files are deleted. “There shouldn’t be any evidence left.”
As he said that, Baekjun thought to himself.
‘Even if we can’t stop the confrontation between Kim Jin-seong and Shin Woong, we can’t just sit still. ‘I must do the best I can.’
In fact, the two people who are currently responsible for more than 90% of Season 12’s popularity are Kim Jin-seong and Shin Woong.
From Baekjun’s perspective, he couldn’t lose one of the two in vain in the preliminaries rather than the finals.
* * *
next day.
The Colosseum’s regular broadcast began at noon.
As soon as the live broadcast began, images of the caster and commentator bowing their heads politely toward the viewers were broadcast around the world through cameras.
[Hello to all viewers who love the Colosseum survival program!
The day of the final preliminaries of Season 12 has finally arrived! The player who wins today’s match will now advance directly to the long-awaited finals!]
The caster, who started broadcasting like that, soon greeted the commentator, chatted briefly, and then looked straight ahead again.
[Now, let’s check the final 3rd round matchup of the 3rd preliminary round held today.]
Soon, numerous match charts appeared on the screen.
The caster continued the broadcast while looking at the bracket.
[Today we will be playing a total of 61 games with you. however… . Can you see one matchup that stands out?]
[yes… . How did those two players meet? And that’s exquisitely in the final sequence.]
The gazes of the casters and commentators who continued speaking were fixed on ‘Kim Jin-seong vs. Shin Woong’ written at the end of the bracket.
[Is it true that after the match between Kim Jin-seong and Shin Woong was confirmed yesterday, there was an explosive reaction in internet communities, iTube, article comments, etc.? And it is said that a lot of scalpers were caught around the Colosseum arena where the game is being held today!]
[It has caused a great stir in many ways. It’s a worthy matchup. But you shouldn’t buy scalped tickets, right?]
[The match between Kim Jin-seong and Shin-woong, which everyone around the world is looking forward to, can be seen today as the final match… . uh?]
The caster who was continuing the broadcast opened his eyes wide at the suddenly changed screen on the monitor.
[What you see on the screen now… I think this is the waiting room for the two players, right?]
[Is this really a private waiting room?]
Two screens were being displayed simultaneously on the monitor.
Kim Jin-seong was seen on the right, and Shin-woong was seen on the left, and they both had one thing in common: they were alone in what seemed like a solitary cell.
Soon the caster began reading the sentences exactly as they appeared above the prompt.
[Ah, it is said that Kim Jin-seong and Shin Woong were given separate private rooms this time due to concerns about security issues.]
[To put it briefly, it is so strong that there is a high risk of escape.]
[ha ha ha… !]
[But I think the production team made a good decision. If the two of you decide to escape, it will be really dangerous, so you have to be careful.]
[Let’s take a look at what the two players are doing at this point.]
The caster began to look at Kim Jin-seong and Shin Woong’s actions on screen in more detail.
[Shinwoong appears to be meditating with his eyes closed.]
[Even in normal times, Shinwoong is known to enjoy meditation.]
[On the other hand, Kim Jin-seong is lying on the sofa and watching a video on his smartphone! He looks much more relaxed!]
[ha ha ha… . I’m curious what video you’re watching?]
Unfortunately, only the back of the smartphone was visible from the angle taken by the waiting room camera, and the front was not visible at all.
* * *
What Jinseong Kim was watching with a relaxed expression was nothing else but an analysis video about Shinwoong.
[…] Considering this, I believe that Shinwoong may not have any abilities… .]
Jinseong Kim, who watched the conclusion of the video, immediately clicked on the Shinwoong analysis video that appeared in the next algorithm.
‘… I saw it. I also saw the one next to it… .’
Kim Jin-seong kept scrolling to find a new Shin-woong analysis video.
But most of it was just stuff I looked up on the computer at my dorm yesterday.
‘No matter how much I search, I can’t find a video that clearly analyzes Shinwoong’s abilities.’
The reason why Kim Jin-seong continues to look for videos of Shin-woong from yesterday until now.
This was because there was no information at all about Shinwoong’s abilities.
In fact, Shinwoong has never shown his individual abilities since Season 12 began.
In other words, from the first round of the preliminary round until now, he has risen to this position by slaughtering his competitors using only his physical abilities and swordsmanship.
‘Since he didn’t show any ability during the preliminaries, analysts can only make wild guesses.’
In fact, if you look at the analysis video of Shinwoong, no one came to a definitive conclusion about his abilities.
Some say it may be an ability specialized for swordsmanship.
Some say it is most likely a physical strengthening ability.
Some say there may be no ability at all.
Many other videos with different conclusions also end with the assumption that ‘it will be like that.’
‘Even Park Jin-woong said he didn’t know… .’
Jinseong Kim displayed a text message on his smartphone.
These were the texts I recently shared with Park Jin-woong.
– I searched all night about the abilities of Shinwoong you asked about, but in the end I couldn’t find any clues.
– I researched his past actions before entering the Colosseum, and even then, I found that he never used any special abilities other than swordsmanship.
– We’re continuing to look for information, so we’ll let you know as soon as we find any clues. However, considering that no clues have been found even after investigating to this extent, I think it would be better not to get your hopes up in the future.
– I’m really sorry that I couldn’t give you the answer you wanted. Since I failed, I will not receive the fee for this request.
Considering that even Park Jin-woong, the president of an information company, couldn’t find it, it might actually be better to give up on finding out Shin-woong’s abilities before the fight.
‘Still, there has to be at least some clue. ‘If I fight you without any hints, I’ll be at a huge disadvantage.’
The other person knows almost all of his or her abilities, but I don’t know the other person’s abilities.
In a fight between masters like Kim Jin-seong and Shin Woong, the winner and loser are decided by just a single point. And it is highly likely that Shinwoong’s hidden ability will act as more than just a variable in the confrontation between the two.
‘Let’s search a little more. ‘Because there’s still a lot of time left.’
Jinseong Kim turned on his smartphone again and began searching for analysis videos and articles.
* * *
Time passed and it became late at night.
Unlike the past few days, today there were no empty VIP seats at all, even at this late hour.
Even from their point of view, who have seen numerous competitions between expert players, the match between Kim Jin-seong and Shin Woong was an exciting match that could not be missed.
Even Oh Byeong-guk and Kang Gyeong-kwon, the masters of the 4th clan, were still sitting in their seats.
“Again, you can’t have no ability.”
The two had been talking about Shinwoong’s abilities for a while now.
“If you’re well past your 30s, it’s hard to reach the level of ‘magical unity’ in your 20s without good abilities.”
“That is correct. “Everyone assumed that Yoo Jun-ho didn’t have any ability, but that wasn’t the case.”
Yoo Jun-ho, the greatest star in Colosseum history, initially slaughtered everyone with pure sword skills. Just like Shinwoong now.
“What kind of ability is this?” . “If I had similar abilities to Yoo Jun-ho, it would be great.”
“Hehehe… . “It seems like God doesn’t like Korea that much.”
“Hahaha, what are you saying… .”
When the two were looking at each other and laughing meaningfully.
A loud voice rang out from the speakers in the hall.
[Everyone, you’ve been waiting a long time! From now on, the last match of the day! Let the showdown between Jinseong Kim and Shinwoong begin!]
“Waaaa!!”
The crowd that filled the stadium responded with thunderous cheers.
(Continued in the next part)
fantasy,
