Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 744

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

The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 3 Episode 214
71. A False Journey (1)
The next day.
Juhyeok began preparing to depart for Japan.
His plane ticket was already booked, and he’d secured a hotel near where the players were staying.
All that remained was to pack his bags and leave.
He pulled out a large suitcase and began tossing clothes inside.
His hurried movements suddenly came to a halt.
‘Ah.’
Without thinking, I’d been about to pack Sanghyeon’s belongings too.
‘It’s just me now.’
It had been over two weeks since I’d been living alone in this house. Yet I still hadn’t adjusted well.
Yesterday, I’d accidentally made soft tofu stew for two and ended up eating it all myself.
Well, does that make it a single serving then?
Anyway, I removed the suitcase and retrieved a more appropriately-sized one.
Thud.
I set it down in the living room and opened it.
This was the suitcase I’d brought when I first came to this house on impulse all those months ago.
Seeing it made me realize it had been quite a while since I’d gone back home.
At the same time, it felt strangely inconsequential.
Parents seemed incredibly important, yet their absence didn’t actually cause any real problems. It was almost puzzling.
I packed only my own clothes and toiletries, lost in thought.
Ding.
Gia: You’re leaving today, right? I’m really sorry ㅠㅠ Let’s go together once I finish what I’m doing.
A message came from Jia.
When I’d booked the tickets before, I’d asked if she wanted to go to Japan with me.
She’d said she couldn’t because she had something to do.
Sigh.
I felt disappointed but accepted it as unavoidable.
[Juhyeok: No worries~ Let’s go next time]
I hadn’t seen Jia much lately.
I’d thought it was because she was free during the national tournament while I was busy.
‘Seems like she’s got something else going on.’
That must have been it.
She seemed to be preparing something on her own.
Thud.
I closed the suitcase and stood up abruptly.
“Ugh. My back.”
Crack.
I stretched to loosen up my body, then raised both arms.
“Come on! Let’s go! Mix Nuts! Japan expansion!!”
No one responded to his call.
“Ha ha….”

* * *
Juhyeok wasn’t the only one whose fate hinged on Joseon’s advancement to the quarterfinals.
“Oh, okay!”
It was Jang Tae-su.
Department Manager Jang.
His fledgling company had achieved its greatest success with the fake national team project.
In other words, if this project stopped, his company would pause as well.
“Smooth sailing to the quarterfinals!”
So Joseon’s advancement to the quarterfinals was good news in many ways.
And their quarterfinal opponent was Japan.
“This is… really jackpot. This is like heaven itself saying SCB is my destiny! Like it’s been granted to me!?”
He rambled on, completely excited.
Only Department Manager Jang was this thrilled.
“Ha ha… yes. Yes….”
“Wow….”
The employees who had been so hopeful and passionate when filming the first episode of the fake national team project.
They forced their lips upward with panda-like eyes, awkwardly laughing along.
“Hey. You’re all burned out….”
Sigh.
Jang Tae-su stopped mid-sentence and let out a heavy breath.
He understood it too.
The fake national team was content that kept this company alive, but it was also content that shouldn’t be done.
It consumed far too much time, manpower, and mental energy.
It wasn’t just a problem for the editing staff sitting in this office.
Freelance writers and cameramen who followed the players’ schedules.
Everyone was overworking.
They were only holding on because the fake national team project was doing well.
“I’ll try to hire more staff… you guys. Just wait a bit longer.”
“PD. You’ve been saying that since episode three. Now we’re uploading episode eight… ha. Ha ha….”
“….”
To be honest, there was no money.
Revenue settlement hadn’t been completed yet.
Settlement would be finalized next month.
Then he could distribute bonuses and hire additional editors.
Just hold on a bit longer!
…is what he wanted to say, but that had its own problems.
‘The problem is that it’s after the fake national team.’
If I can endure until then, the fake national team will be finished by that point. Even if Joseon wins the championship, it will be over by then.
Even if I can hire more people by then, there’s nowhere to use them immediately—would I really hire anyone?
As a CEO, it’s a troubling issue.
“Hey. You really think they’ll make it to the semifinals? Huh? Japan beat the Ottoman in the preliminaries and came up as first place. They’ll probably lose.”
In the end, there was only one thing he could do.
Comfort the employees by suggesting this would be the last time.
“…But you said Joseon wouldn’t even make it to the main tournament, sir.”
These bastards with their good memories.
Department Manager Jang swallowed hard.
“Hey! Everyone said that back then, not just me!”
“…So they could make the semifinals this time too. It’s a Korean-Japanese match—they’ll grit their teeth and give it their all.”
“Is this soccer!? Huh? Just gritting your teeth and running makes you run better!? If you grit your teeth, what happens!? Does the VNS rating go up!? This isn’t that kind of sport!”
“They’ll focus a bit more at least. Come on. You weren’t really planning to hire employees anyway, right? Right?”
“….”
Department Manager Jang was at a loss for words.
“I’m not stupid either, so I know everything. This will last at most until this month anyway. Hiring employees seems pointless since they’d have to leave soon. Right?”
“….”
“Well then, at least bring in some freelancers.”
“Hey. What kind of freelancer….”
Would they agree to do something like this?
And did they even know how much freelancer costs would cut into the budget?
Tsk.
Jang Tae-su pressed his forehead and simply swallowed his words.
“I’ll give you a lot of incentives. So….”
In the end, he had no choice but to appease them with compensation.
That was when it happened.
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the office door.
“So… let’s just hold on. Okay?”
“How much are you giving? How much!”
“That’s something I’ll know after the settlement! Are you stupid!? Huh!?”
Of course, they were too busy raising their voices and arguing to hear the knocking.
And then, again.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The knocking came louder this time.
One employee stood up from his chair in confusion.
“Ah, you two! Wait a moment, be quiet! Stop fighting! Didn’t you hear that sound?”
“…What?”
Department Manager Jang stopped squawking for a moment, but the other employee’s anger hadn’t cooled enough, so he shouted even louder.
“Why! I’m doing all the talking for you guys anyway!? Huh!? You were all chattering away at the drinking session, so what are you fighting about now─”
“That’s not it! Someone’s here!!”
Saying that, she rushed over and opened the door.
“Ha ha… You, you seem quite busy.”
As if sensing the atmosphere, the visitor rolled her eyes around and greeted them.
“Hello. I’m Seojia, an editor for the Almond channel.”
“…!”
In that instant, everyone stopped what they were doing in surprise and turned their heads toward her.
“J, Jia. What brings you here? No, please sit first. Yes.”
Jang Tae-su gestured for someone to bring drinks as if they hadn’t just been arguing, placing a cushion on the cheap sofa to welcome her.
‘What’s this about? Could it be….’
Harboring a strange sense of anticipation.

* * *
Among those who had advanced to the quarterfinals, some had resolved all their problems, while others had created even more.
Specifically, the national team.
“Sigh. This is a real mess.”
Pangeo flopped onto the sofa in the hotel lobby with a groan.
Seeing him like that, Sanghyeon asked.
“Why?”
“We can’t practice.”
Joseon had lost the battle for practice venue reservations.
“To practice, we either need to rent the stadium or contact one of the capsule rooms on this list and rent it out entirely.”
The stadium is a practice facility provided by Civil M’s organizing committee from the start.
So it’s distributed fairly.
But that alone isn’t enough practice time.
“The stadium isn’t the problem. The capsule rooms are.”
The remaining practice hours need to be filled at capsule rooms. And that was the issue.
All the capsule rooms on the list were already fully booked.
“We couldn’t get a single slot, but other teams already took them all. Especially the Japanese team—since they’re locals, their schedule is packed every day.”
During the week-long break period, Joseon could only manage a single practice session.
“What do we do?”
The cameraman and writer nearby.
Even the fake national team filming crew were flustered.
“I have no idea. Ha. We should’ve known something if we’d made it this far in the main tournament before.”
The Joseon team had fumbled around not knowing how stadium reservations worked, leaving only a single slot available.
It was something that happened because they’d never advanced to the quarterfinals in the main tournament before.
“It’s our first quarterfinals too, but… Cookie’s hospitalized. Something’s not working right now. Ugh….”
Cookie being hospitalized wasn’t just a problem in the game.
The game could be replaced with someone else. But in reality, there was truly no one to replace him and continue things.
“And, there’s something strange.”
Pangeo whispered to me in a low voice for no particular reason.
“When we mention that we’re the Korean Civil M national team, their attitude changes. The think tank people keep recognizing us, but… at first they spoke as if it would be fine, thinking we were tourists, but once they saw the reservation numbers and realized we were the national team, it seems like they won’t let us use it.”
Well, surely not… Pangeo muttered to himself like that to finish, but.
Upon hearing those words, I felt oddly guilty.
‘Could it be… they won’t lend it because of me?’
Was it because my comment about the Japanese was too strong?
No, even if I hadn’t made that comment about the Japanese in the first place, I think the opposing team could easily act this way.
Isn’t this their home game?
I’d heard from my seniors before. When playing away games in European countries, they come to the accommodations and make noise to prevent sleep, and they deliberately give out free drinks at bars so the team can’t practice the next day.
They even said this example was a relatively gentler way of interfering.
In reality, they use all sorts of despicable tactics that are beyond description.
The shadow that always lurks beneath the surface of sports—that fair and righteous clean competition—I was already well aware of it.
‘This is it.’
Even if I did nothing, I’d face this. And on top of that, I even mocked them about being short.
‘It’s my fault.’
I ultimately reached the conclusion that this was my fault.
As such, I wracked my brain as much as possible to resolve this.
‘Hmm…’
While I was thinking hard.
A brilliant idea came to mind.
“Juhyeok Kim!”
“Oh, you startled me. What, what is it!?”
I’d ask Juhyeok for help.
Juhyeok handles things like this well.
“Juhyeok Kim. Let’s ask Juhyeok, right?”
“…”
Pangeo looked at the cameraman and writers in disbelief.
As if to say, look at this guy.
But they were delighted by my nonsense.
Pangeo realized from the start that their purpose was different from his own and responded to me.
“Ah, no, are you calling that a solution? You were thinking so hard about it.”
“It’s a complete solution.”
You don’t know Juhyeok.
I added, but Pangeo’s fist trembled as if he wanted to give me a flick on the forehead.
Then I felt the camera zooming in on that direction.
“Geez. That guy isn’t even here. We can’t even solve it with the people here now. How are we supposed to do it? The capsule room list is already full anyway!?”
“Hmm…”
“No. So when Juhyeok Kim comes, it seems like he’d know how to solve it? We can just do what he would do.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“????”
The suggestion was to call Juhyeok Kim since we couldn’t handle it ourselves.
…That’s what I thought, but I didn’t voice it out loud.
If I did, I felt like I’d really get a knuckle sandwich.
Somehow, even though Pangeo didn’t say it outright, it seemed like he also thought Sanghyeon’s remarks were having an effect. If I pushed any further, he’d explode.
‘If only Juhyeok were here… it would’ve been resolved.’
Sanghyeon believed that if Juhyeok were present, everything would be settled.
The problem was that he wasn’t here right now.
Then I had no choice but to become Juhyeok myself.
What would he think if he came here?
‘Hmm….’
I pondered again.
‘If Juhyeok weren’t Korean.’
Here I was, thinking such things again.
Once more.
‘If Juhyeok were Japanese.’
Damn it. Again.
Having someone who resolves every trivial matter—had my brain completely atrophied?
‘Huh?’
Then, something flashed through Sanghyeon’s mind.
This time it was real.

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