Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 51

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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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Episode 51

The next day, lunchtime.
I received a call from Baek Jin-seong.
“So, did you look into it?”
The contact information I’d handed over to Baek Jin-seong yesterday.
Sharing a contact seemed like nothing much on the surface.
But to me it meant something.
It was the same as telling Baek Jin-seong that Kang Seon-woo was actually Neia.
Of course, part of it was because I trusted him.
But under normal circumstances, I would never have done such a thing.
It showed just how angry I was right now.
“Yeah, I spent some money digging around, and man, this is a complete mess. Looks like it’s not just the Director—the Nakwha Fighters team manager is mixed up in it too.”
The Nakwha Fighters were a baseball team under the Nakwha Guild as the owner.
“Do you have evidence?”
“Not exactly evidence, but what caught my attention was something Yu Jin-hyuk said in the video you recorded yesterday. I dug deeper, and it looks like his uncle is the Fighters’ team manager. Seems like he’s already got his draft pick lined up. You know how it is—top universities usually only get one or two aces drafted. So this Yu Jin-hyuk guy, who’s outmatched in skill, ended up harassing your brother.”
“So that’s how it went down.”
I could see the picture now, rough as it was.
“What do you want to do? Honestly, with video evidence this solid on Yu Jin-hyuk, it’s game over. I could just upload it to my channel and—”
“No, that doesn’t sit right with me.”
“Huh?”
Kang Si-woo’s baseball career hadn’t even properly started yet.
I didn’t want him dragged through scandal and gossip before it did.
“Then how should we…?”
“Let’s do it this way.”
If someone hits you, you hit back the same way.
I saw Kang Si-woo’s swing yesterday.
It was brutal.

* * *

The next day.
The Director’s Office at Chungpung University’s baseball department.
An unusual combination of four people was meeting face to face here.
The Fighters’ team manager, the baseball department’s Director, Yu Jin-hyuk, and Kang Seon-woo—and finally Baek Jin-seong, who had made this meeting happen.
“Well, thank you all for coming. Shall we get to the point then?”
The Fighters’ team manager, who had been showing obvious discomfort moments before, opened his mouth at Baek Jin-seong’s words.
“So, what’s this about Draft Fraud?”
Team manager Jeong Ki-ho had come after Baek Jin-seong’s contact telling him he knew about the fraud, but he wasn’t taking it seriously.
A fact only a select few knew.
Talking about fraud that hadn’t even happened yet—normally he would’ve blown it off entirely…
But the problem was the person bringing it up.
Baek Jin-seong was a player who’d made a name for himself recently through his massive subscriber base.
He’d shown up to avoid trouble if this somehow blew up into a fuss.
But Baek Jin-seong responded to Jeong Ki-ho’s reaction with ease.
“Ah, so you’re denying it?”
“Denying? Listen here, player Baek Jin-seong. I came because I was worried you might spread strange rumors—don’t fool yourself into thinking I came because I have something to be guilty about!”
Jeong Ki-ho barked at Baek Jin-seong, expressing his displeasure.
“Hmm, guess we’re not speaking the same language.”
Baek Jin-seong showed him the video.
The assault footage they’d filmed yesterday.
“This is…!”
As Jeong Ki-ho watched the video, his face flushed red and purple alternately.
What made it worse was what Yu Jin-hyuk had said plainly on camera.
A comment that seemed to hint at fraud.
It was irrefutable video evidence.
Jeong Ki-ho fixed his gaze on the panicked Yu Jin-hyuk.
Under his uncle’s harsh stare, Yu Jin-hyuk fell silent and bowed his head.
“What do you want?”
Jeong Ki-ho’s reaction was predictable.
When the other party held such a powerful hand, the wisest move was not to provoke them but to lie flat and give them what they asked for.
At least he had the courtesy to call him out first rather than release the footage immediately.
That alone suggested there was something specific behind this.
So Jeong Ki-ho actually thought things had worked out for the best.
If this video spread, every last one of them would be buried.
But someone of Baek Jin-seong’s caliber wouldn’t demand an excessive sum of money.
“So you’re finally ready to have a real conversation.”
Baek Jin-seong spoke, his gaze fixed on Yu Jin-hyuk.
“First, I’d prefer it if Yu Jin-hyuk stopped sniffing around the baseball world. After committing something like this, that should be the bare minimum, don’t you think?”
“What’s next?” Jeong Ki-ho accepted it with relative composure.
It was an entirely reasonable demand from a victim agreeing to bury the matter.
But Yu Jin-hyuk seemed to think otherwise.
“Uncle!”
Jeong Ki-ho ignored Yu Jin-hyuk’s protest and spoke.
“Please tell us the next one.”
“Beat him the same way.”
“What?”
“Look at this video. He hit him eleven times with a baseball bat, right? Let Jin-hyuk take exactly that many blows.”
“Baek Jin-seong, you’re a player—are you really saying you’ll beat someone? You want to cripple him?”
“As if I’d be the one doing it.”
Baek Jin-seong turned to Kang Si-woo.
“You brought it, right?”
Kang Si-woo still didn’t fully grasp what was happening.
This morning his brother had dragged him to some location, where a famous player named Baek Jin-seong was waiting for him.
Now they’d arrived here in his car, and this was unfolding.
And his brother had been so insistent about bringing the baseball bat this morning…
“Y-yes.”
Kang Si-woo pulled out the baseball bat.
Then Baek Jin-seong spoke to Jeong Ki-ho.
“So, what’ll it be?”
“… Let’s do it.”
Jeong Ki-ho accepted the proposal.
The Director didn’t say anything, but there was a subtle air of relief about him.
Only Yu Jin-hyuk grew frantic, turning to Jeong Ki-ho.
“Uncle… you’re joking, right? I’ll really die—that bastard swings hard…”
Jeong Ki-ho cut off Yu Jin-hyuk’s pleading voice decisively.
“So you want all of us to die because of you? If you’d just kept your mouth shut from the start, none of this would’ve happened. Take your beating and reflect on it. You won’t be crippled. There are plenty of skilled healers.”
Yu Jin-hyuk’s face went ashen.

* * *

I was leisurely enjoying coffee at a café near Chungpung University.
Sweet chocolate cake paired with bitter Americano.
It was a combination the masses had endorsed, and it tasted like all worries melted away.
As I savored the dessert and waited, a familiar face soon walked into the café.
My proud blood relative approached slowly and sat down across from me.
His face was one full of questions.
So I made a bold demand of him.
“Hand it over.”
He knew what I meant and immediately handed me his phone.
I checked the photo album video that Baek Jin-seong had taken on his phone.
Kang Si-woo thoroughly beating Yu Jin-hyuk’s backside with the bat.
“Damn, that looks brutal. Must’ve been building up for a while, huh?”
“How do you know Baek Jin-seong?”
Si-woo changed the subject.
I offered the answer I’d already prepared.
“I helped him out a while back.”
Si-woo knows I’m already in my third year as a player.
That made sense—it had been about that long since I’d Awakened and left home.
Though realistically, I was still a novice in most ways.
So much so that I didn’t even know about Neia yet.
“I finally got that debt repaid this time.”
“Yu Jin-hyuk… when did you find out about the work?”
“Yesterday. Just stumbled across it by chance.”
I cut into the chocolate cake with my fork and took a bite.
“Was I always this cool?”
Hearing that while eating chocolate cake struck me as funny.
The kid’s eyes sparkled, bright with wonder.
“Now that’s the look a younger brother should give his older brother. Very obedient.”
I saw my chance and gave him the Glove as a gift.
“Take it.”
As I handed over the shopping bag, his eyes went wide when he saw what was inside.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like it? The clerk said it was the best seller.”
“No, I like it. But isn’t this really expensive?”
“That’s pocket change for a cool older brother like me, kid.”
“Really!”
I watched him admire the Glove with satisfaction, then opened my mouth to speak.
“Baseball.”
“Huh?”
“Work hard at it. The way you swing that bat—you’ve got real talent.”
“Yeah… thanks…”
I have hope.
For next year’s Rookie of the Year.

* * *

After that, Si-woo and I went to a meat restaurant, just the two of us.
“It’s on me today. Eat as much as you want.”
“Really?”
I’d made that bold claim.
But man, these athletes really could put away the food.
It wasn’t that I minded spending money—I just couldn’t help but marvel.
At this rate, shouldn’t he be doing mukbang instead of holding a bat?
In any case, after Si-woo had eaten until his stomach nearly burst and declared he couldn’t eat another bite, we finally headed home together.
Watching him smile for the first time in ages seemed to lift the whole house’s mood into something warm and bright.
“Heading to bed already?”
I was eating some fruit and about to head to my room when Si-woo spoke up.
“Yeah, I’m pretty tired.”
I let our parents know and stepped into my room.
“That kid eats all that and then goes for fruit on top of it.”
I kept shaking my head in amazement while my thoughts drifted to the day’s events.
The look in Si-woo’s eyes—that expression of respect directed at me—flickered across my mind.
“I should really thank Jin-seong for this.”
Because I can’t always step forward myself, that guy carries the weight and does all the heavy lifting.
Even though he said he didn’t need anything last time, I can’t repay him with stinginess.
“I hope he likes what I pick for him.”
After thinking it through and deciding what to give him, night had deepened, so I prepared for bed.
But just as I was about to close my eyes, a thought struck me.
“I wonder how those guys are doing?”
They did tell me to get some proper rest.
But ever since I started climbing the Tower, there hadn’t been more than two days without a visit to the Subspace—so not seeing their faces left me with an odd sense of emptiness.
“Maybe I should just check in for a moment.”
I locked my door properly.
Then I opened a Gate and stepped into the Commander Room.
“Neia.”

『Welcome back, Seon-woo.』

“Yes, I was anxious something might’ve come up, so I stopped by for a moment. Nothing’s wrong, is there?”

“There’s nothing to worry about. Everything has gone smoothly.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, I’d say your timing visiting us is quite fortunate.”

“Why is that?”

“The Seizrunner you’ve been waiting for has just been completed.”

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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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