Chapter 299
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The World Champions League.
For Seong Jihan, this tournament held little significance in reality. His main focus was on the global ranking in the Space League. Moreover, to prepare for the confrontation with Longinus, he had to devote himself to training every day.
Seong Jihan had planned to leave the Champions League group stage matches to other Korean players.
'Then when the timing was right, I was going to just sit there and use up my ban cards...'
However, due to the quest he received this time, Seong Jihan's view of the World Champions League completely changed.
'The matter about the constellation candidate, it was Pythia's suggestion.'
Saying it was to save Seong Jihan's life, Pythia had informed him of the 'Chasing the Stars' option that could make him a constellation candidate.
The gap between humanity's 1st place Seong Jihan and 2nd place was still huge, so the Chasing the Stars option remained in effect.
At this rate, with time, Seong Jihan would be able to become a constellation candidate.
Especially by the time the Champions League winner was decided, the deadline for becoming a constellation candidate would also arrive.
Even without the Celestial Cube's quest, there wasn't much time difference anyway until he became a constellation candidate.
However,
'Still, it's significant that they're giving this as a reward.'
If the Celestial Cube really gave rewards suitable for the user's situation, it could be inferred that advancing the constellation candidacy by a month or two was very important.
'Hmm... Could it be that Longinus's descent is not far off?'
The constellation Longinus, wielder of the Spear of Judgement.
No matter how powerful Seong Jihan had become, if a constellation directly descended, the scales would inevitably tip in their favor.
Perhaps the Celestial Cube's reward was to prevent this.
'For now, I must win no matter what.'
Even to become a constellation candidate, Seong Jihan decided to take the World Champions League seriously.
"What should we do for Korea to surely win?"
As people gathered one by one and Seong Jihan brought up the topic while watching TV,
"Oh, Uncle seemed uninterested... But your heart is pounding after seeing the group draw, right?"
"According to experts' evaluations, the most important thing against our country is luck. Whether player Seong Jihan gets banned or not has a decisive impact on the match."
"1st and 2nd bans are confirmed, and from the 3rd it's a 50% chance... If we're really unlucky, the boss could get banned for all 5 matches."
"And they'll definitely pick the Supporter map too. Even though Uncle showed Supporter prowess last time, without Uncle, our country's Supporter power is lacking after all."
"U.K, whose Supporter power is similar to ours, is said to only bring out the Mage map. After all, Mage and Support are our country's weaknesses."
Everyone chimed in about the Champions League.
The strategies other countries were preparing against Korea largely fell into two categories.
The first was banning Seong Jihan and the second was selecting the Supporter or Mage maps.
"Then we should recruit talented Mages and Supporters from Korea."
"That's... right. But finding players with national team-level skills isn't so easy..."
As Lee Hayeon trailed off,
"Me, me!"
Sophia, who brought her plate from the kitchen, raised her hand high.
"National team-level player! Supporter, lacking in Korea! Here I am!"
"Ah..."
"Well, we do have Sophia as a Supporter."
"But didn't the US national team call up Sophia? If she's on the roster, she can't play for both teams, right?"
"Ah, my level is still lacking so I wasn't called. The US national team has a very high level requirement."
The US national team, composed of only the world's best players.
To be selected as a national representative there, no matter how good one's gift was, they had to surpass the level limit set by the national team.
In Sophia's case, she fell slightly short of that, so she couldn't make it into the US national team lineup.
"But the Boss kept saying why bother naturalizing..."
"That was because of the Sword King's case."
Perhaps because of the case of the Sword King, who went to Japan last year and dealt great damage to the Korean national team, Seong Jihan did not welcome foreign players going out of their way to naturalize and come over.
In the first place, at this time when the Space League was most important, he felt there was no need to go that far for a national competition.
Until now, Seong Jihan had not agreed with Sophia's naturalization either, but now the situation was different.
"Sophia, want to come to Korea?"
"Re...really?"
"Yes, we must win this time."
"Wow!"
Perhaps surprised that Seong Jihan accepted after she brought it up herself, Sophia's eyes widened.
"What's up with you, Uncle? You kept telling her not to come."
"I received a quest to win."
"...There's even a quest like that? Uncle, are you playing a different game from us?"
"It was suddenly given."
At the mention of receiving a quest, the people around looked at Seong Jihan with surprised faces, but only for a moment.
Lee Hayeon pondered deeply and put forth her opinion with a serious expression.
"If it's because of a quest, how about publicizing this to the world? Against strong countries like the US and China, the outcome could be determined by whether the Boss is banned or not."
If they ended up facing the US in the finals, and the US coach was lucky enough to realize a 5 streak ban on Seong Jihan, the outcome of that match would be hard to guarantee.
So Lee Hayeon suggested openly demanding the championship victory through publicizing this.
"Would they go that far, Unnie?"
"If the Boss says he needs to clear a quest, people should naturally accept it. Plus, the Daegi Guild's effects have greatly increased this time, so everyone's being more cautious. For one championship, they'll probably concede."
Seong Jihan and the Daegi Guild were so important to humanity, she was confident they could sufficiently negotiate and have others concede the Champions League championship.
However,
"No, it's a bit much to openly reveal the quest details to the whole world."
Seong Jihan rejected this proposal.
'There's no need to openly demand the championship and invite needless wariness.'
The Martial God's subordinates in Tuseong were also watching humanity's situation.
There was no need to show them Seong Jihan making a fuss over the Champions League championship.
"Rather, let's say Sophia's recruitment was actively pursued by the Korean association."
"Aha... As if the coach recruited her while Boss was training?"
"Yes, that narrative would be better."
"Alright, I'll contact them right away."
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=Group B has been decided! Korea, U.K, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.
=How do you view the group draw results?
=Very good! Although the U.K is a strong team, they are no match for us.
=That's right. Even if player Seong Jihan can't participate in the group stage matches due to training, advancing to the round of 16 won't be difficult!
Listening to the commentators' voices saying the Group B results were favorable for Korea,
"Coach, this is Lee Hayeon..."
Lee Hayeon immediately pushed for Sophia's inclusion in the national team.
The next day.
[Round of 16 already confirmed? Group B draw results smile upon Korea.]
[Coach Noh Youngjun makes a surprise announcement to include player Sophia in the national team lineup!]
[Who is player Sophia? A promising Supporter prospect with the gift 'Trinity'.]
[The US BattleNet Association expresses bewilderment at the sudden recruitment announcement.]
The optimistic articles about the group stage results were short-lived.
As Coach Noh Youngjun announced bringing Sophia from the US to the national team, the public's attention was entirely focused here.
-Wow, Sophia is really naturalizing?
-No, she kept saying she'd come but never did, so I didn't expect it...
-Didn't Seong Jihan say there's no need for her to naturalize?
-Yeah, he said that while mentioning the Sword King case that he doesn't like that.
-Hey, but is Sophia the same as the Sword King? She didn't even make to the US national team lol
-So the coach made the surprise announcement despite Seong Jihan's opposition? Whoa!
-No way. There must have been some coordination.
-Yeah, no matter how much of a coach Noh Youngjun is, he can't do something against Seong Jihan's wishes.
The reactions to Sophia's recruitment were explosive.
After all, she was a card that could supplement the Korean national team's chronic weakness in Supporter power in one go.
In fact, if not for her special relationship with Seong Jihan, rather than coming from the US to Korea, she would have been recruited from Korea to the US.
Although Lee Hayeon borrowed Coach Noh Youngjun's name to announce the recruitment proposal, perceptive people were saying it was possible because Seong Jihan agreed to it to some extent.
-Then our only weakness is Mage now. Can't Masied come too? Hehe.
-Masied ended up playing as Argentina's national representative last time. So he won't be able to participate in this Champions League.
-That's a shame... Can't we recruit him next season at least?
-Well, Masied is the breadwinner of his family in Argentina, so it's a bit sorry to take him away lol
-Right, Sophia couldn't become a US representative due to lacking levels, but Masied's case is different.
-Don't we have any Mages to nurture ourselves?
-Yeah... Strangely, no Mage talents are emerging.
-Seong Jihan emerged, so that's enough lol!! What more do you want?
People expressed regret that if Masied was recruited too, Korea would be the definite strongest team in this Champions League.
However, with Sophia joining the national team, expectations for the championship grew even higher.
And the match schedule released afterwards,
had matches against the three countries scheduled consecutively in 2, 4, and 6 days.
A considerably tight schedule but there was a reason for this.
-Why is the schedule so packed?
-There's a Space League match in early next month, so it seems to be because of that.
-The opponent this time is... World Tree Elves.
-Ah, those guys again?
-World Tree Elves No. 200. Rank 1.
The Space League match held in early July. The opposing race for this game was the World Tree Elves again.
Moreover, No. 200, who was running 1st in the Space League rankings.
The Champions League had to end before the match against them so this schedule was arranged very tightly.
"Therefore, we will be handling the schedule at the BattleNet Center here until early July. It will be a hard march for everyone, but let's work hard for our goal of winning."
"Yes, Coach!"
Meanwhile, at Korea's BattleNet Center,
Coach Noh Youngjun was explaining this situation to the selected players.
And after finishing the schedule talk,
"Ah, and Sophia, who just joined the national team this time. As you all know, she's one of the most promising prospects among Supporter players. She made a really difficult decision this time. Let's welcome her with applause."
He introduced Sophia, who joined the national team, to the players.
"Hello everyone~ I'm Sophia. Nice to meet you~"
Clap! Clap! Clap!
As Sophia bowed her head, applause erupted from the crowd.
Although she gave off a considerably different vibe from the Korean national team, the national team players, knowing their Supporter power was extremely weak, welcomed her with big applause and looked at her curiously.
"Wow, her accent is really like a Korean. Just like when watching BattleTube."
"Is it true she naturalized because of player Seong Jihan?"
"Why else would she come from the US to the Korean national team?"
"But player Seong Jihan... Isn't he dating the Daegi Guild Master?"
"Well, that's true, but..."
The players whispered like that while glancing at where Seong Jihan was sitting.
They didn't dare ask him directly, but it was a situation where gossip-like interest was bound to arise.
"It's unexpected that Jihan let Sophia join the national team. He was so against it..."
Yoon Sejin, who had left home to find artifacts according to the constellation's will, also returned to the BattleNet Center because of the Champions League and was watching this scene with interest.
"Dad, the coach recruited her."
"Hoho, if Jihan didn't allow it, do you think the coach would have recruited her arbitrarily?"
"Well... That's true."
Seong Jihan smiled wryly as he listened to the father and daughter's words.
Originally, Seong Jihan hadn't even agreed, but they tried to make it seem like the Korean BattleNet Association recruited Sophia because of the Champions League.
'My status was too high.'
Perhaps because Seong Jihan's position in the BattleNet industry was so high, people naturally accepted that he agreed to this.
In fact, if he opposed, with what power would the Korean BattleNet Association recruit Sophia?
Seong Jihan roughly explained this situation to Yoon Sejin.
"A situation arose where I have to win at any cost this time. So I brought out a surefire card."
"Is that so? A situation... It must not be an ordinary problem if even Sophia is joining."
Hearing those words, Yoon Sejin nodded his head.
"Alright, I'll also do my best to win."
In his eyes as he said that, a golden light was flickering ever so slightly.
And that,
'...That light is peculiar.'
Seong Jihan did not miss.
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