[TS] The Return of The Gamer - Chapter 97

"Could you drop me off here?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'd like to walk alone for a bit."

The place I got out of Secretary Kim's car was a sidewalk a little ways from my house.

A distance that, by my pace, would take about ten minutes.

It was a decision I made because I needed some time to sort out my thoughts alone.

"Alright, I'll be nearby, so call me if you need anything."

"Yes."

After starting to walk, I realized I'd overlooked a very important fact.

'There are a lot of... people.'

It was, when I thought about it, an obvious thing.

This is Seoul, and specifically Jongno.

It would be stranger if there weren't any people.

People here, people there.

A bustling crowd brushed past.

If there was one fortunate thing, it was that I didn't experience something like a panic disorder as I had in the past, even being in a crowd.

It could be seen as a great development from the long, or short, stay at the lodgings.

"Oh my..."

"Hey, hey, over there."

"Huh."

"Is it a celebrity?"

"Isn't it a foreigner? Ah, is it someone like a foreign movie actor?"

I felt people's gazes, but I was starting to get used to it, so I continued walking.

At first, my steps were light, but they became heavier as I got closer to home.

And then, suddenly, a thought came to mind.

'....Did I screw up big time?'

Without realizing it, my steps stopped.

When I left the filming set, my head was like a field of flowers, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I'd made a huge mess.

'Wasn't that a bit... too much?'

No matter how you look at it, to just abandon the filming and run... even I thought it was absurd.

'What should I do? Should I go back and finish filming now?'

No, even if I filmed it, whether I could use it would be another problem, so it would be useless.

'Why did I do that?'

Thinking it over, there were many better options than running away.

First, I could have filmed all the commercials and, later, gone through the proper procedures to terminate the contract, wouldn't there have been no problem?

'No, is there a problem from the moment the contract is terminated? What do I do?'

It was too impulsive, even for me.

I reflected on the absurd action I had taken.

"What do I do..."

Without realizing it, tears seemed to well up.

Gradually, the thing I had done felt like it was choking my heart.

"Ah."

Lost in various thoughts, I arrived at my house.

Calming my anxious heart, I got on the elevator, and when I arrived home, my mother greeted me.

"You're home early today?"

The moment I saw my mother's face, I felt a surge of emotion.

"Ah, that..."

In the end, I vaguely told my mother about what had happened today.

"So... you just ran away from there? And you came home like this? Why did you do that, exactly?"

"Just... that's what happened."

With that, my mother's face was dyed with a dumbfounded expression.

Of all the excuses in the world, why "just"...

Of course, the reasons went beyond that, like the atmosphere within the team, and the atmosphere at the scene at the time, but it was difficult to express them in words.

"Ugh..."

And then, a sigh escaped.

"I knew you'd cause some trouble someday, you rascal."

"...What should I do?"

"Even if there's no problem with the contract, don't do things that make others resentful. Moral responsibility and legal responsibility are different. If you wanted to break the contract with the team, you should have called your mom beforehand, instead of running away from there?"

Every word was right.

"I'm going out for a while, so reflect on this. You'll be in big trouble when I get back."

"...Yeah."

My mother hastily got ready, grabbed the car keys, and left the house.

It seemed like she was going to resolve the karma I had created.

As if I were being punished, I paced restlessly around the house, but even after several hours, my mother showed no sign of returning.

'What's going on? Is something wrong?'

I was about to call and ask what was going on, but I worried that my call might interfere with something.

It was a situation where I literally couldn't do either.

'...I'm a complete moron.'

As the situation was, self-reproach increased.

Fool, idiot, incompetent, sea squirt, sea cucumber.

I wouldn't be surprised if I received any insults for my stupidity.

While I was blaming myself for my foolishness.

Beep-

The sound of the front door opening was heard.

"Mom, are you back?!"

I rushed to the front door, hoping she was late, but, unfortunately, the person who entered the front door wasn't my mother.

"Oh, Yujin. You were here?"

It was my father.

Come to think of it... it was about time for my father to return.

"Oh, um... yes."

"Did you wait? Go to the living room first. I'll go wash up."

I wasn't exactly waiting for my father... somehow, the situation became strange.

"...Ah, okay."

I had some things to talk about with my father anyway, so it wasn't a bad thing... but wouldn't there be a difference in the seriousness of the situation?

My father said, as he passed by the bathroom.

"Ah, and Mom called and said everything went well with your situation, so don't worry too much. Mom happened to meet an old school friend and is chatting at a cafe for a while."

"...Really?"

"Yeah. So, don't worry too much."

I was hoping it wouldn't be true, but it seemed Mom had somehow resolved it well.

'...She didn't contact me, though.'

I felt a little resentful towards my mother, but maybe she didn't contact me on purpose.

I'm sure she was thinking I needed to be punished.

'...I'm going to be in big trouble when Mom gets here.'

With the heart of a sinner, I sat on the sofa in the living room in a seiza position and quietly waited for my father.

About twenty minutes later.

"Have you been waiting long?"

My father, exuding the scent of men's skin care products, or rather, the scent of an older man, sat on the sofa.

"You want to start a team?"

"Uh... yeah."

"Do you have a specific plan?"

"...Not really."

Of course, I had thought about it in my head, but I hadn't specifically decided on what to do!

I just thought, "I need this and that, and also this and that, so wouldn't I need this much money?"

"Yujin."

"Huh?"

"If you had asked to buy a 1 billion won house, I would have bought it for you no matter what. It's the same with other things. But you said you want to create a team, right?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Then this is a business discussion."

Why was that?

My father, who was usually so gentle, started to look overwhelmingly heavy and immense.

"So this is like an investment presentation for business funding. What reason do I have to invest in you?"

"...Potential for the future?"

"What potential?"

"...Well?"

I hadn't imagined this kind of question and answer.

I felt pathetic, thinking that if I just acted cute, he'd lend me money...

"Yujin, a billion is a lot of money."

"I know that, but..."

"No, some people lose their lives because of this money. You don't know the fear of money."

My spirits were completely deflated.

I, I thought too lightly.

"Okay, let's say I lend you a billion. Then how are you going to pay back my billion?"

"...Red Cup victory?"

"Do you have any guarantee that you can do it?"

"I... don't."

It was a given.

Could any team or player in the world guarantee a Red Cup victory?

'Even Rainbow can't.'

Winning and being able to win in the future are two very different things.

Of course, the possibility might seem high, but the current Legend of League scene grows every year, and the competition is becoming fiercer.

No player or team could dare to be sure of a Red Cup victory.

"Then I can't lend it to you."

...So it's going this way after all.

"Can't you just lend it? Ah, there's naming sponsorship and stuff."

"What do I have to believe in?"

"...Because I'm your child?"

I wanted to say, "Because I'm your pretty daughter?" But... I couldn't, as of yet.

No, I don't think I'll ever be able to.

"Hmm."

My father seemed momentarily embarrassed, then put on a stern expression.

But he was still my father.

"That's definitely a significant reason, but it's not enough reason to lend you a billion."

"...I'm really confident, can you just help me once?"

"No."

My father was firm.

It's been a while since he showed this side to my younger sibling or me.

'...Well, my sibling never asked for a bag worth a billion.'

No, did they?

...I don't know.

I don't memorize the price of the bags my sibling has, so it was natural that I wouldn't know.

Well... anyway, that wasn't important, and as my father said, if it was a bag worth a billion, he might have just bought it.

But the reason I was trying to borrow money from my father was to build my team.

The reasons were completely different.

"Yujin, can you prove your value to me?"

"Value?"

"Yes, no matter what you do. Can you repay the money I lend you?"

"Well..."

Of course, I couldn't.

The words that were about to burst out of my throat.

'Ah.'

I had it.

A way to earn a lot of money in a short amount of time.

"I do."

"...You do?"

Perhaps my father didn't expect me to answer like that, he was slightly flustered.

"I don't just lend money because you insist, you need to have a solid basis─"

"One month. I'll earn a hundred million in that time and show it to you, is that okay?"

"If you can really do it, it's enough. ...Are you by any chance trying to borrow from a financial institution?"

"What do you think of me?"

My father shook his head, sensing something odd in my confident attitude.

"Ugh... Yujin. A billion is a lot of money, but so is a hundred million. You're going to earn that much in a month?"

"Yeah."

"Well... okay. Try it. But you can't back out later. Even if we didn't write a contract, this is a kind of contract. Got it?"

"I know."

Having made a contract, or rather, a promise, with my father, I went straight to my room.

'...I didn't think it would turn out like this.'

I recalled the past.

When I was Prisoner, I was desperate about not becoming a pro and wanted to find another path.

Internet broadcasting was that path.

Although my body was changed at the moment when I was trying to start the first broadcast, the situation was completely different, but I still had the idea of wanting to broadcast once.

I have all the necessary equipment at home.

It was all chosen during the time when I was dragged around the department store by my mother and younger sibling.

"Found it."

After setting up the camera and microphone roughly, and after going through a few tests, I connected to the RedTV website.

'I'm a person who has no recognition on the broadcast. I need a sure-fire way to attract attention.'

One month.

It's a very short time to earn a large sum of money like a hundred million.

Therefore, I intended to broadcast, excluding the time I was sleeping, or even including the time I was sleeping.

'In this case... it's that, after all.'

Legend of League BJ or streamers have broadcasting content, which is called the special move.

I was going to use that special move from now on.

-GM1) Ranking 1st, non-stop broadcast