Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 104

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 104

I checked the hologram screen before me.
Baek Jin-seong was on it.
“What’s going on?”

“It seems the Nakkhwa Guild has something urgent they’d like to say,” Baek Jin-seong said, stepping aside.

Yusera appeared in his place, and she dropped to her knees.
The sudden gesture caught me off guard, but I asked anyway.
“What is it?”

It was supposed to be quite a dangerous situation, wasn’t it?
I hadn’t mentioned it explicitly during today’s broadcast, but there’d been plenty of chat about them.
Given how much of that talk had spilled into my chat, which had nothing to do with any of this, it had to be serious.
But even so, there was only one thing I could tell her.
“I think you’ve misunderstood. There’s nothing I can actually do for you.”
The Kang Seong Guild and Mir Guild situations were just coincidence.
As for Kang Seong Guild, we’d somehow ended up collaborating on special materials.
Mir Guild brought their own business sources to the table.
Kang Seong Guild wasn’t so much something I pursued as it was something that just grew bigger by accident.
But Yusera seemed to think I’d designed and built it all myself.

“I’m confident I can do better than Kang Seong or Mir,” she said.

This was tedious. I almost felt like just hanging up.

‘There’s a bad history between them and me, if I’m being honest.’
Things had gotten tangled once because of Si-woo.
Though it was unlikely Yusera had ordered it directly.
Still, managing subordinates is part of a leader’s job.
She had every reason to look bad in my eyes.
Which made it all the more unexpected that Baek Jin-seong—who wouldn’t be ignorant of this history—had arranged this meeting.
I rolled my eyes toward him with the intent to reproach.
But he seemed oddly confident….
Which meant….
‘Hmm… or not?’
Was it because of the bad blood between us?
Why had Baek Jin-seong, who’d never budged before, suddenly put in a word for Yusera today?
Without a doubt, plenty of people had approached him seeking business collaboration over the years.
Yet he’d never once broken his principles—not even for the sake of his relationship with me.
And thinking about that now, I saw Yusera in a different light.
Not as an enemy.
But as a defeated commander who’d already lost the will to fight.
I could let go of the old resentment if I wanted to.
Or I could humiliate her thoroughly and send her away.
Baek Jin-seong had just created a space where I could do either.
‘The truth is, just a few swings back then felt a little insufficient, didn’t it?’
At that time, the timing was such that I—as a Player—couldn’t yet reveal myself, so I’d never gotten to strike down the real culprit, the Legend Manager of Nakkhwa Fighters.
I should have sent her straight into the abyss.
Perhaps this was a chance to correct that mistake from back then.

“Very well. I’ll give you a chance.”

“…Is that really true?”

I nodded quietly, and Yusera expressed her gratitude repeatedly.
I turned my gaze to Neia.
A question about whether she had any items suitable for business use.
With Nemesis’s technological prowess, she had to have something.
Sure enough, she nodded.
“Manager of Nakkhwa Fighters. Handle it cleanly. We’ll decide on collaboration after we see what you’ve got.”

“Manager Jeong Gi-ho…? Understood.”

After hearing Yusera’s reply, I ended the call.
Then Neia spoke.
“The business item is sufficient, but are you certain? There’s a chance your identity could be exposed.”
“I don’t mind.”
I’d been planning to reveal it soon anyway.
I couldn’t hide behind an alias forever.
The only thing that gave me pause was my family.
But I could go talk to them soon enough.
And I had confidence I could keep them out of harm’s way.
“Besides, even if they did find out, would they really go around spreading it?”

“…As you say, I believe the probability of that is quite low.”

“Right. They’re the ones asking for my help after all.”
They were clinging to me with the very survival of Nakkhwa Guild on the line.
There was no reason for them to go blabbing about it.
Given Yusera’s personality and position, she’d likely help my family out quietly—without any connection to me—just to earn favor.
That was how she’d rack up points.
“Anyway, keep an eye on things for now and handle the cleanup.”

“Yes, Seon-woo.”

* * *

Nakkhwa Fighters.
A prestigious baseball team currently dominating the KBC League.
The club was on a steep rise thanks to the parent company’s full backing and the management of Jeong Gi-ho, praised far and wide as a Legend Manager.
“Dismissal…? How could this be?!”
Yet that very manager of the smoothly sailing Fighters, Jeong Gi-ho, had been struck by a bolt from the clear blue sky.
A bolt named dismissal.

“It was a decision from above.”
Above the president meant the owner.
Why would the owner suddenly…?
But Jeong Gi-ho wasn’t fool enough to step down when he was entering the golden age of his career.
A Three-Peat if they won this year.
And with a seven-game lead in hand, it was virtually certain he’d step into the ranks of Legend Manager if he just saw it through.
How could he possibly step down now?
It was simply impossible.
Even if he had to resign eventually, he was determined to hold on until at least this year.
“I’ll file a formal objection with the league office.”
At Jeong Gi-ho’s response, the president stared him down intently, then let out a heavy sigh.
“Jeong Gi-ho, do you really not know the reason, or are you just pretending not to know?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Apparently the parent company really cleaned house thoroughly, I hear. From what I gathered, they did things so sickening it’d turn your stomach. I know athletes have that side to them… but… file an objection? Go ahead and try. I’m curious to see what happens to you.”
The president rose from his seat.
“Don’t bother coming in from tomorrow.”
Jeong Gi-ho’s face twisted, and he stood up.
“You think I can’t do it if I set my mind to it?”
Hiring and firing are ultimately the owner’s prerogative, true enough.
But you can’t just act on a whim in the middle of the season like this.
Why not?
Probably some trivial reason, obviously.
Because I’ve made sure to handle anything that could become a problem.
Jeong Gi-ho started by reaching out to journalists he’d cultivated relationships with.
And just like that, related articles came pouring in.

「’Nakkhwa Fighters’ Manager Jeong Gi-ho Dismissed Without Warning…」
「Fans Furious Over Jeong Gi-ho’s Firing!」
「Is This Another Three-Peat? Talk of Protests Already Stirring Over Jeong Gi-ho’s Dismissal?」

Internet opinion was on his side.
After all, what he’d done for the franchise was substantial.

ㄴ Why fire a perfectly competent manager?
ㄴ Come on!!! We already got our Three-Peat?
ㄴ When we’d still beg him for more… want a taste of the truck?

Satisfied that public opinion was flowing in his direction, Jeong Gi-ho began drafting his petition.
The fans’ reactions would serve as evidence supporting his case before the league office.
“You thought you could just cut me loose like this… well, you miscalculated.”
He was about to head to the league office with his documents in hand.
Then his phone rang.

– Sorry, Manager Jeong.
“What? I don’t understand…”

He wanted to brush it off as nothing.
But that was only the beginning.
Soon his phone was lit up with calls and texts from journalists flooding in.
‘What in the world is going on…’
Jeong Gi-ho, bewildered, opened the internet and went pale.
Public opinion had flipped in an instant.
And the exposés were relentless.

「’Nakkhwa Fighters’ Manager Jeong Gi-ho Dismissed Without Warning — Reason: Player Contract Fraud? Formal Investigation Launched.」
「VIP at the Gambling Den by Night, Esteemed Manager by Day… Double Life Exposed!」
「Shocking: Manager Jeong Gi-ho’s Affair Revealed, Illegitimate Child, Blackmail Recording Released!」

As sensationalist articles poured out from every media outlet—the kind that no baseball fan could possibly miss—he plummeted to the status of public scum.

「Formal Investigation Underway: Evidence Mounting, Contract Fraud Exposed.」

And the worst part wasn’t even the other stuff.
It was this.
The older scandals, he might have spun some explanation for.
But the recent frauds—how had they even found out about those?—were being heavily scrutinized.
Within hours, he’d become a tumor in the industry.
“How did this… how did this happen?!”

* * *

Yusera sat in her office reviewing these very articles.
The work had begun under Neia’s orders.
Yet now that she was actually burying a man, her conscience weighed heavily on her.
“Was it too much?”
Still, he hadn’t managed the team poorly in operational terms.
There was effort, genuine effort—and now she was thoroughly destroying it all.
‘No, this is a matter that our Nakkhwa’s future hinges on.’
Above all, it was something she’d learned during the investigation.
This whole affair seemed to involve Neia’s brother as well.
A minor trouble tangled up with a promising prospect named Kang Si-woo from the past.
If she denied it, suspicion would linger, but by Yusera’s judgment, the probability was nearly certain.
Just the fact that Baek Jin-seong was involved in that matter made it clear.
Even more so—if she thought about why Neia would single out Jeong Gi-ho, not just once but repeatedly, there could be no other reason.
‘And Neia herself must have known about this too….’
Yet she had still given her this assignment.
This was almost certainly a test.
A test to determine whether she could be trusted with various secrets going forward.
She couldn’t afford to show a pathetic display from the very start of that evaluation.
“One person sacrifices so that many can survive.”
Once Yusera thought of it that way, her mind eased.
She would forget about Jeong Gi-ho.
He was simply paying the price for his sins.
It was just as she closed the tablet with that thought that it happened.

Creeeeak—

The door suddenly opened on its own.
What on earth…?
As she moved to close it and stood up, a figure suddenly emerged from the gap in the doorway.
“Hup….”
Yusera started in surprise.
It was a face she recognized.
Was his name Pluto…?
He closed the door and greeted her.
“Hello…there?”
“Y-yes.”
Pluto was holding something like a Metal Sphere roughly the size of his own torso.
It was the same thing she’d seen at Baek Jin-seong’s residence a couple of days ago.
“I was told to deliver this to you.”
Yusera then took the sheaf of documents Pluto handed over and could only gasp in astonishment.
Though it was difficult to be certain, the content appeared to be design blueprints of some kind.
The titles of the blueprints were all extraordinary.

〈High-Efficiency Mana Generator Blueprint〉
〈Protect Barrier Module〉
〈Tactical Simulator〉

As Yusera marveled at the contents, Pluto spoke.
“It’s…a contract. Please read it…and sign if you agree…”
Once she finished signing, Pluto set a communication device down on the desk.
“If you need to contact us urgently…you can use this.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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