Chapter 57 – Finals (1)
“Yes, boss. Oh, of course, if you win, public opinion will be overturned. Let me show you. Right now, he appears to be a bit talented, but compared to our Jusung’s skills, it’s nothing. Aren’t you all set for the finals? We have no choice but to win, that’s it.”
The Diamond Club Hunter hung up the phone and sighed. Kim Joo-seong was working hard right next to him, and Chun-bae was fiddling with a mobile phone game a little further away. The TV was broadcasting the current status of the tournament in full swing.
‘Ada Bomber’ Jeong Su-hyeon, who had defeated ‘Howling’ Min-yeong Oh, who was a strong contender for the championship, broke through the 8-strength and became a candidate for the championship, receiving everyone’s attention. It was a completely unexpected situation for his man. It was because that pervert rugged man with the name ‘Ada Bomber’ and his face covered in a helmet was getting more attention than Kim Joo-seong, who prepared hard and even spread articles.
There was half the negative interest, but anyway, the center of the topic was not Kim Joo-sung, but Ada Bomber.
“Hey Chunbae.”
Chunbae shuddered at the sound of his call and raised his head. He clutched his phone and looked at his man. The man said with a sharp face.
“Hey, did you check that place this time?”
“Yes. At the arena, I heard that you rented a darkroom, so I went there.”
“Okay. All you have to do is cheer for our Juseong. You know what I mean You just need to do well this once.”
“Yes.”
Chunbae obediently nodded his head. The man tapped Chunbae on the shoulder and said.
“When I finish this job well, I’ll tell you above and I’ll take care of you too. Our Chunbae has good skills, works well, and listens well. Yes?”
“Yes.”
“Hyung is doing this to take care of our chunbae. Chunbae, what game are you playing right now?”
“It’s the [Flower Dream] Game board. This is the highest level of SSR, and I collected all of them.”
“Okay? That’s great.”
The man had no interest in the game at all.
*******
Kim Joo-sung’s opponent in the quarterfinals was a heat manipulator. With a powerful ability to burn what he touched, he was a friend who used a tactic of using flexible grappling ability to grab an opponent’s arm or leg and then holding it until the sound of surrender was heard. He was confident even in a fight with Kim Joo-seong, who was good at close combat.
Even if you are a person with natural recovery ability, you shouted surrender as soon as you start to lose, but is there anything different if you are a person with simple strength strengthening ability? He brushed her legs off and looked at Kim Joo-seong with a confident expression. Kim Joo-seong looked around her with an expressionless face.
The sound of cheers was ruling the world. He stared at her counterpart as he stretched his tight body. When he stretched once to use his powers, his height and limbs stretched out, as if he had increased the size of a person in Photoshop. His tight muscles packed his stretched limbs like a balloon filled with air.
“After… !”
Up close, it was an imposing figure, as if Talos, the giant from the legend, was alive and moving. The opponent, who had been touched for a moment, drew in a breath after seeing Kim Joo-sung.
“Then let the match begin!”
The count started ringing. 3, 2, 1. As soon as the count was over, a noise announcing the start of the game rang out. The two stood in their seats, looking at each other. Kim Joo-seong was looking down at his opponent, and he looked carefully, hesitant about how to approach.
Now, Kim Joo-seong seemed to be over 2M tall, and it seemed that he could block his approach just by kicking with his feet. His swollen muscles made his sweatpants look like they were about to burst, and his fierce eyes were actually blazing like rays.
Kim Joo-seong nodded his head and walked forward slowly. The ground shook with each heavy step he took. Overwhelming gait and power. I realized that my opponent would lose without being able to do anything. He ran as fast as he could in front of him.
Kim Joo-seong swung his arms wide at the running opponent. The opponent, who narrowly avoided his arm, grabbed Kim Joo-sung’s arm and tried to use his ability.
“Profit!”
While he gritting his teeth and heating his hand, Kim Joo-seong grabbed the opponent’s head with his other arm. His palms grew so large that the opponent’s head fit into Kim Joo-sung’s grasp. The man looked at Kim Joo-seong with a puzzled face. Heat slowly rose from his hands, and a haze wrapped around him. Kim Joo-seong opened his eyes wide and began to squeeze the man’s head with the palm of his hand.
“Aaaaagh! Wow! Aaaaagh!”
The man who clung close to her and tried to warm her up had no choice but to let go of her arm while going mad. Kim Joo-sung gritted his teeth and lifted her man up to the height of her head. Holding her by the collar and her hands holding her head high above her head, the man screamed as if he were being hanged.
“Aaaaagh! Aaaaagh! Aaaaagh! Surrender! Antibooooo! Surrender!”
With the sound of surrender, Kim Ju-seong let go of his hand. The man who fell to her floor clutched her head and whimpered like a baby. His duty squad came running, and Joo-Sung Kim rejoiced in his victory as he raised his arm like a victor.
There was someone in the audience watching this simple yet destructive victory scene. It was Seong Ha-yeon, a D-class hunter in the Black Dragon’s room. She squinted her eyes as she chewed on her dried squid she sold in her audience. There was something strange about her, even to her own eyes. To be precise, the current match definitely felt different compared to the match against Ichigaya Ichie.
“Strange. It’s definitely weird.”
Seong Ha-yeon, Kim Yu-jeong, and Ichigaya Ichie gathered in a room and nodded their heads. Everyone nodded their heads at Seong Ha-yeon’s words. Kim Joo-sung is strange. This was not an argument made simply because Ichie had been defeated.
Kim Joo-seong, whom Ichie faced, was different from Kim Ju-seong in other matches. Perhaps this was simply a sense of incongruity because Kim Joo-sung harbored a prejudice that he manipulated it. It could be the difference between watching the video and seeing the actual game scene directly, and the difference in strategy could be the movement.
The reason Seong Ha-yeon felt strange now was a suspicion that could not be publicized. Because she could refute as much as she refuted. However, Seong Ha-yeon’s intuition was telling her. Kim Joo-seong said he received help from outside during the match against Ichie.
“It was manipulated during a specific game.”
“How?”
Ichie asked. Seong Ha-yeon thought deeply and then opened her mouth.
“Probably, it seems like someone used a medicine or put a buff on it… If you use a normal buff, you’re saying it’s all caught in the detection machine? I have this… I hope you didn’t bribe the referee. Then the referee will just turn off the machine.”
When she brought up the story of bribing the referee, she spoke very cautiously. Ichie narrowed her eyes and Kim Yu-jung nodded her head with her serious face. Seong Ha-yeon said.
“The other day, Suhyeon went to the smoking area with him, and the boy from the diamond club was saying hello to the referee. But the judge. He was a former member of the Diamond Club and became independent. And, I looked at the match schedule again this time.”
Seong Ha-yeon took out her pad and accessed her site. In the match list, the matchup until the final was left blank. But the referee was fixed. Seong Ha-yeon pointed to the name of this referee, then she went downstairs again and pointed to the match of the preliminary match [Ichigaya Ichie VS Kim Joo-seong]. The referee for the finals and preliminary matches was the same person.
“In the first place, there were not many talented players who could be a threat to Kim Joo-sung in the bracket. The long range kids are on the other side, and all of the melee body strengthening abilities are being pushed by Kim Joo-sung. It just makes it easy to get to the finals.”
Kim Yoo-jung looked at Ichie. Seong Ha-yeon said.
“Except for the reason that I used a knife from before. So, Kim Joo-seong saw Ichi-e and the final opponent who didn’t know who would come up as the most dangerous targets. I don’t know why, but the Diamond Club joined forces to try to win Kim Joo-sung in the Rookie of the Year competition. If you really did the manipulation and bribed the referee.”
Seong Ha-yeon left room. Because it was an issue she was unsure of even as her own. Kim Yoo-jung said.
“Then what should I do?”
“I won’t be able to do something like an investigation request. Because there is no evidence we’ll be stupid therefore… My personal opinion is…”
After taking another look around, she brought Ichie and Kim Yoojung closer. As the three faces gathered, she said in a low voice.
“I’m going to try Mac honey once in the final. This fucking baby. “
“Are you Mac?”
“Fuck you.”
Seong Ha-yeon explained again for Ichie. Ichie nodded her head and said.
“Ah, I know what you mean. But rigging in the finals? You may not.”
“If you manipulated it in your game, would you do it almost unconditionally in the final?”
Seong Ha-yeon was convinced that if Joo-sung Kim manipulated in the match, she would definitely manipulate in the final. Kim Yoo-jung asked.
“Are you sure?”
“Originally, in the finals, in addition to the referee, an S-class hunter would attend and observe as a special referee…”
Seong Ha-yeon turned the pad and showed her list.
“Two out of three S-level attendees are Diamond Clubs. Is it a strange coincidence?”
Kim Yoo-jung swallowed her breath. She somehow seemed to be getting a little bigger. Are you really connected to the S rank? Kim Yoo-jung couldn’t believe it.
“It’s only a rookie king, but even S-rankers are involved? Aren’t things getting too big?”
“Then, will the guild members arbitrarily commit fraud? Of course, it is tied up to the top line. Therefore. I can’t even make it public, let’s just screw up the plan. Listen carefully. If you’ve put in this much work in the finals, you’ll be putting the buff somewhere nearby to see the buff effect as much as possible.”
Seong Ha-yeon took out a large piece of paper from the corner of her room and unfolded it. A plan of the stadium was drawn on a wide sheet of paper. She said, checking each room on the drawing.
“Whether the Bombers make it to the finals or not, we will be there no matter what, and as soon as the game starts, we’re going to search all the rooms around the stadium. And if you spot a buffing pup.”
The three raised their heads at the same time and met their eyes.
“It’s a joke.”
“Are you satisfied?”
“Half killed.”
“Ah, I know what you mean.”
