Gwanjongcheonma’s Game Broadcast - Chapter 150

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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 150.
The World Virtual Game Championship (WVC).
The National Team Selection Tournament, commonly called the Capsule Cup, was in full swing.
The venue for the selection tournament was Pangyo COEX 2.
Since the participating players were much the same from year to year, the atmosphere at the event venue was always relaxed and genial.
Yet this year’s National Team Selection had an unprecedented current running through it.
“They’re here.”
“They’ve arrived……!”
“Those guys!”
Team Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Four men and women of distinctly different bearing stepped into the National Team Selection Tournament.
“What a spectacle.”
Hae-rang, surveying the venue, breathed out in awe.
There were easily dozens of machines that looked like at least Private Capsules installed throughout.
In that moment, he felt the weight of what stage he was challenging.
A tingle.
A raw, refreshing sensation coursed up his spine.
‘It’s familiar.’
An international tournament.
A stage where representative players from various nations were selected and faced off against one another.
Hae-rang had experienced something similar before.
“It’s like when masters from the martial sects compete in martial duels,” he murmured.
At his words, Da-hong let out a soft chuckle.
“You don’t seem very nervous, judging by how you’re still keeping up the act.”
“I am nervous, but there are other feelings that overshadow it.”
Excitement and exhilaration.
And anticipation.
That’s what Hae-rang felt.
Even with ten thousand viewers praising him, dizziness would wash over him.
What would it feel like to have the support of an entire nation?
A burning surge.
Just imagining it set his fighting spirit ablaze.
It was as if a transparent aura bloomed around Hae-rang.
“Whoa, that’s hot. Did you catch a cold?” Da-hong stepped back with a startled expression.
Then she winked at Joint, who stood beside her.
“Thanks for coming today. You’ve been skipping broadcasts so often because of practice.”
“Ha! Don’t mention it. I couldn’t ignore my teammate’s match just because I’m not competing myself.”
Joint lifted his mini sunglasses with a flourish.
Joint.
He had not registered for the individual competition.
“But why didn’t you sign up? If you were going to come anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to enter for the experience, would it?”
“Well, you see—” Joint held up three fingers. “Our team has four members, but the National Team only selects three for individuals, yes? I didn’t want us tearing each other apart. Ha!”

“So what, you’re saying we’d win if you entered too?” Da-hong said, a knowing smile playing at her lips.
“You’ve all seen my growth lately, haven’t you? You’re raising a tiger cub!”
Joint raised both arms and raised his voice.
Da-hong and Ma Hyeon-bin held back chuckles.
“Well, you did rise from Purple Tier to Gold Rank in just a few days. Your skill improvement is real enough.”
From registration to arrival at the tournament venue.
Joint had accomplished an outstanding feat, climbing from Purple Tier to Gold Rank in mere days.
He had the baseline rhythm from having represented the National Team with Iron Fist Seven.
And thanks to the three of them taking turns putting him through special training, his instincts had sharpened considerably.
He was in a position where he could reasonably consider competing in the individual tournament for the experience.
But Joint had not entered.
Despite the bluster and posturing in his voice, his true reason lay elsewhere.
‘I can’t be dismissed before the team event even starts.’
Gold Rank or not, he was nowhere near competing with a Singularity yet.
If a few days of special training had made that possible, Joint would never have announced his retirement in the first place.

If they lost shamefully to a Singularity in the solo tournament,
they would look down not just on him, but on his teammates as well.
‘If it were only me, I could accept that. But I can’t let it happen.’
He couldn’t risk betting on a low-probability match and have his teammates disrespected as a result.
Unlike the bravado he displayed on the surface, Joint’s true nature was remarkably altruistic.
[We will now begin the Iron Fist Nine solo preliminaries. Participants, please come forward and draw your brackets in order.]
“Go out there and do your best! We’ll be cheering for you!”
Leaving Joint waving behind them, the three participants entered the tournament hall.
Hae-rang checked the bracket displayed on the large screen.
“The bracket format is quite complex.”
“It is. The solo preliminaries are being run using a double-elimination format.”
“I see.”
Hae-rang stared intently at the bracket before nodding.
“Even if you lose once, you can still make the National Team if you win the remaining matches. They’re selecting three people, after all.”
“…That’s impressive. You understand it quite quickly.”
“The name is different, but it’s similar to the Martial Duel tournament format from before.”
How does he maintain his composure so effortlessly?
Da-hong watched Hae-rang with slight exasperation, her tongue barely peeking out.
“I rather like this bracket format. In a standard single-elimination tournament, we might have had to eliminate each other.”
“Exactly. This format takes longer, but it’s a good system for selecting people based on actual skill level.”
If bad luck had them facing each other early in the tournament, they would inevitably have to battle within the team.
That’s why she appreciated this format.
Team Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s goal wasn’t just one person advancing—it was all three.
“Doesn’t the mere thought of it thrill you? More than forty Singularities competing, yet not taking a single slot while the three of us claim all three National Team spots.”
“I didn’t originate from the Singularities, but…”
The incident at the airport.
The incident in America.
Hae-rang recalled all the exchanges he’d had with the Singularities,
and a challenging smile played across his lips.
“I have no intention of conceding even one spot.”
* * *
[The bracket has been revealed!]
Whoosh!
All eyes in the venue turned toward one place.
After quickly checking the bracket, Ma Hyeon-bin broke into a bright smile.
“We’re all spread out. We won’t meet each other early on.”
“Thank goodness.”
Da-hong nodded in agreement with Hyeon-bin’s words.
Even though it was called the winners’ bracket, she didn’t want to experience knocking out a teammate.
The three of them each confirmed their first opponent.
In the National Team Selection tournament, Team Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was the only non-Singularity participant.
This naturally created a dynamic of Team Heavenly Demon Divine Cult versus Singularities.
“Until now…”
Hae-rang smiled faintly as he confirmed his opponent.
“This must have been tedious for the people watching, wouldn’t you say, Da-hong?”
“Absolutely. No matter who advanced, it would be decided among the Singularities anyway. There was honestly no excitement to it.”
“We’ll have to make the National Team Selection tournament entertaining.”
“No need to say it twice. Let’s crush our opponents and meet back here.”
Da-hong spoke with fierce determination before rushing to her assigned capsule.
Ma Hyeon-bin also exhaled sharply and steeled his resolve.
“Hae-rang! Let’s finish quick and go grab hamburgers!”
“Let’s do it.”
Off Ma Hyeon-bin dashed at full speed.
Hae-rang also moved toward his assigned capsule.
‘They’re all so energized. They must not have slept properly in days.’
It wasn’t just Joint’s training regimen.
Ma Hyeon-bin and Ye Da-hong had told Hae-rang everything about the Singularities competing in Iron Fist.
Having conducted countless internal evaluation matches during his time with the Singularities,
he had a clear understanding of each opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.
‘I won’t be caught off guard.’
The enemy doesn’t know me,
but I know him inside and out.
I’ve seized the advantageous position before the game even begins.
Hae-rang’s first opponent.
Jeon Mi-reul, who went by the nickname ‘S미르S’, was also contained within Hae-rang’s accumulated data.
A smile spread across his lips.
Warmth bloomed at the corners of Hae-rang’s mouth.
Not just confidence, but because an interesting setup had formed.
“Are you ready to fight?”
“Are you ready to fight?”
Hae-rang’s only main champion: Full Phoenix.
And ‘S미르S’s main champion was also,
Full Phoenix.
A mirror match had begun—the same character facing off against itself.
* * *
“Heh heh heh.”
Singularities generally had neat appearances.
But this man’s atmosphere was entirely different.
A rough-set jawline and hair that fell forward completely obscuring his eyes.
A man whose image bordered on suspicious, almost sinister.
Jeon Mi-reul recalled the phone conversation from moments before.
—It’s the perfect opportunity for you. You know which character gives him the most trouble, right?
“I know it well enough.”
He didn’t much care for the arrogance his peer Kim Si-hwan displayed,
but he agreed wholeheartedly with what that guy had said.
The Attention-Seeking Heavenly Demon.
He’d used Full Phoenix to train against all manner of opponents.
And ironically, the most troublesome matchup of all
“was against himself.”
Knowing a character’s techniques and actually facing that character were entirely different matters.
For someone like the Attention-Seeking Heavenly Demon, who had to analyze multiple characters anyway,
how much mirror match experience could he possibly have accumulated?
But this one was different.
He’d built up countless match records since the early days of Iron Fist,
and through that, he’d faced mirror matches plenty of times.
That’s what Kim Si-hwan had meant by a “perfect opportunity.”
[The game will begin shortly. Both players, please prepare.]
A special announcement befitting a National Team Selection match echoed out.
Even this would be a first experience for that guy.
“Hello. Thank you for the match.”
Before the game started, Hae-rang offered his opponent a basic courtesy.
But Jeon Mi-reul had no intention of observing formalities.
“Cut it with the pleasantries, will you? You, of all people, sneaking others out the back door.”
“Sneaking people out?”
“Don’t bother playing dumb. Everyone knows you coaxed Ma Hyeon-bin and Ye Da-hong away secretly. Who doesn’t?”
“I’ve never engaged in backroom dealings. Those who left Singularity made their own choice.”
“Ha! That’s nonsense. Since when does anyone voluntarily leave Singularity? Do you actually believe your own words?”
Hae-rang gazed at Jeon Mi-reul for a moment, then answered in a low voice.
“Perhaps it was people like you that made them leave Singularity in the first place. Because they didn’t want to be treated the same way.”
“What did you just—”
As exchanges with Singularities tended to go,
it was Jeon Mi-reul whose composure cracked first.
[Warning! Jeon Mi-reul! Please watch your language and conduct.]
At the referee’s warning, Jeon Mi-reul bit his lip.
“Fine. It’s the same Full Phoenix anyway—let me show you what real talent looks like.”
“I don’t think so.”
“What?”
“What you said—that it’s the same Full Phoenix. I don’t agree with that.”
<ROUND ONE! FIGHT!>
They were not the same Full Phoenix.
Hae-rang took his stance, leaving behind words that hung cryptic in the air.
Jeon Mi-reul slipped into battle mode immediately.
A crimson martial arts uniform and a biker’s outfit.
Was it because they wore such different costumes?
Hae-rang’s words rang true—they felt like completely different characters.
“Hah!”
Surprisingly, it was Hae-rang who struck first.
Hae-rang swung a massive fist downward in a wide arc.
“Oh no you don’t!”
Crash!
No fool would take a skill coming at them so brazenly.
Jeon Mi-reul calculated the lag from the attack just now as he thought it through.
“+3 frames.”
With Full Phoenix as his main character, the frame data came fast and clean.
Having gained 3 frames, he could execute his movements that much faster.
With the time advantage secured, Jeon Mi-reul confidently shifted into a Command stance.
‘The first greeting has to hit hard to feel right.’
Any Full Phoenix player would be confident in this skill.
A sharp cry erupted from Jeon Mi-reul’s lips.
“Oo-ah!”
“Oo-ah!”
And at the same instant, Hae-rang’s straight punch blazed with fire.
Boom!
Boom!
Their skills crossed—a simultaneous hit judgment registered.
Hae-rang’s body was pushed back half a step.
Jeon Mi-reul, on the other hand—
Thud!
—slammed straight into the wall in an instant.
[!]
A huge exclamation mark floated above his head.
“Urgh!”
Jeon Mi-reul couldn’t help but groan.
But the mental shock struck harder than the physical impact.
He’d clearly had the frame advantage.
How could a simultaneous hit have happened?
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
As if to answer the question directly with his own body,
Hae-rang bore down on him like a rampage engine.

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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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