Gwanjongcheonma’s Game Broadcast - Chapter 181

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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 181
After the game ended, Alberto took the stage for his interview.
When the host asked him to evaluate the match,
Alberto answered like this.
“È buono.”
Italian for “delicious.”
From the opposing team’s perspective, it was nothing short of an insult.
The Russian players’ faces flushed crimson,
and Italy’s team director shook his head in disapproval.
Despite receiving several disciplinary warnings, that man’s reckless outbursts showed little sign of improvement.
There were two phrases that typically described the Italian National Team.
A powerhouse with tradition.
And a gang of thugs.
Rabio was so obsessed with money it was hard to tell if he was a streamer or a loan shark,
and Alberto was a gamer who’d be odder if he made it through a tournament without discipline.
The other two members each brought their own flavor of notoriety.
‘Already acting up on the first question.’
The host on stage bit his lip and threw out the next question.
“You’ll face the Korean National Team, who won the opening match, in the quarterfinals. How do you see that matchup?”
“Oh! At last I’ll get to meet my goddess, Da-hong.”
Alberto licked his lips slowly as he mentioned Da-hong’s name.
His hairstyle was a gentlemanly regent cut, but his conduct was utterly crude.
Even fellow Europeans grimaced at the sight.
“Knock it off! You crazy bastard!”
“Want another disciplinary action?”
Yet there were those who found it amusing.
“Ha! This is fun, I gotta say!”
“When did we ever say we were wary of the Korean team? Besides the gossip, what else is there to talk about?”
Whether for good or ill,
he had a gift for heating up the arena.
Three sets of eyes from the Heavenly Demon Cult turned toward Da-hong.
Perhaps she’d anticipated something like this.
Da-hong was already wearing sunglasses.
Beneath the large shades that covered her entire face,
Da-hong’s very honest reaction came out.
“I’ll throw that bastard into a shredder and grind him up.”
Joint, standing right beside her, choked on his cola.
In the increasingly heated atmosphere of the venue,
the host posed his final question.
“A word for all the fans here on-site, please.”
“Come to the venue tomorrow too. I’m gonna show you a perfect kill against you pathetic Korean bastards.”
“Ooooooh!”
The crowd erupted once more.
There was confidence in sweeping them all away,
but it was tantamount to exposing their entire strategy.
Even the host, who’d been trying not to ask further questions, found himself forced to ask one more.
“A perfect kill—does that mean you’re stepping up first?”
Of course, a perfect kill was possible even if Alberto came later.
If the Italian representative who went first didn’t even win a single match.
But judging by Alberto’s expression, that didn’t seem to be what he meant at all.
“See you tomorrow, my tesoro.”
He winked and exited the stage.
As he disappeared, the camera naturally swung toward one figure.
The sole woman of the Korean National Team.
Ye Da-hong.
Everyone was hesitant to speak in this awkward moment.
But there was one exception.
The leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult asked her a question.
“What does tesoro mean?”
“It means treasure originally, and it’s used often between lovers. In American English, it’d be like ‘darling’ or something like that.”
“From start to finish, you’re acutely aware of Da-hong, aren’t you?”
“I appreciate the way you phrased that. She won’t be thinking about losing at all.”
“Seeing this much interest from Italy, I think we should respond in kind.”
“Respond… in kind?”
Ye Da-hong turned her head, her voice uncertain.
The expression reflected in the dark sunglasses was unmistakably his.
It resembled the master who had taught him in his previous life.
“Da-hong will take point tomorrow.”
* * *
The opening match between Korea and Japan, held during American prime time.
With the match starting at one o’clock Korean time in the afternoon,
students who’d forgotten their studies and office workers nationwide took the day off.
The moment the match ended, the “Hot Shot” popular posts were flooded entirely with Capsule Cup threads.
[Finally got our first win!!!]
[Breaking: Korea’s Capsule Cup first victory]
[Cheon Hae-rang perfect kills against Japan ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ]
[Mount Fuji has fallen lolololololol]
[Who is this Attention-Seeking Heavenly Demon?]
[Tavern keeper! What are you doing! Bring omakase today!]
[Singularity warning: Cheon Hae-rang Capsule Cup screenshots compilation]
[Other national teams in shambles lololol]
[Yo, was that really the attention seeker?]
[Trying to start Iron Fist today, what should I learn first?]
Most of the posts celebrated the Korean team’s victory.
Then, shortly after,
Alberto’s criticism began sprouting like weeds among the popular posts.
[Alberto declares perfect kill incoming!]
[Blatantly giving away strategy lol]
[Alberto only enters tournaments to piss people off]
[Video from 1 year ago: Ye Da-hong slapping Alberto]
A historic victory for the Korean team.
And a burning animosity toward the Italian national team.
Though the match had ended, the energy among gaming fans only grew hotter as time passed.
The quarterfinals had become the focal point of attention for gamers worldwide, not just in Korea.
To confirm that match,
only a single day was needed.
* * *
[Good day, gaming fans! Yesterday was a momentous day for Korea’s Capsule Game scene. The long-awaited first international victory for Korea finally came! It was the day when Cheon Hae-rang, the Attention-Seeking Heavenly Demon, achieved a perfect kill in the Iron Fist Nine team competition and suppressed Japan!]
-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
-A day’s passed and it still feels like a dream lolol
-So we don’t have to get made fun of as “winless” anymore? ㅠㅠ
-Never thought the attention seeker would get the first win instead of Singularity lolol
-Shouldn’t we strip all their perks at this point?
As if the caster had been listening to the chat,
he continued his commentary in a somewhat more subdued tone.
[Let me review yesterday’s match record. Iron Fist Nine recorded the first victory, but we suffered defeats in all other events. Particularly troubling was the Survival Ground team competition we had high hopes for—South Korea finished last and was eliminated.]
-Ugh! Dead last again?
-Kim Si-hwan is trash, all he’s good at is bleaching his hair
-Should pluck out all the blondes
-If team battles are like this, solo won’t be any better;;
-Lost again! We’re completely washed!
-So without the attention seeker, we’re back to normal South Korea?
[And with that, the quarterfinal match between South Korea and Italy begins! The winning team advances to the semifinals! I find myself saying things while commentating that I normally wouldn’t! What? South Korea might actually go to the semis!]
-Hahahaha overblown hype strikes again
-That doesn’t fit right lololol semifinal and South Korea
-Those two words could coexist? lolololol
-Look at these guys’ defeatist mentality ㅡㅡ
-Yeah! We can do it!
[In the earlier interview, the Italian national team revealed their vanguard in advance. They’re openly exposing their strategy! Do they think they don’t need to hide anything against Korea? And now, facing them, Korea’s vanguard is…… Ye Da-hong!]
-Gasp
-??
-Ye Da-hong in the lead match?
-Why her specifically?
-Clashing head-on with Alberto, shivering…
-Korean fans remembered… that day of humiliation.
-Do they really need to pit her against Alberto? It’s not even a good memory;;​
[As many gaming fans know, there was an incident between player Ye Da-hong and Alberto. After the last Capsule Cup match ended, Ye Da-hong received a penalty for slapping Alberto across the face. The trouble began when Alberto made unwanted physical contact with Ye Da-hong.]
-Yeah, yeah, we know ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-‘That slap’ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Any gaming fan would know about it
-Even now it’s infuriating ㅡㅡ Why did they penalize her too
-Look at Alberto licking his tongue like that
-That sleazy bastard ㅡㅡ Brought cola from the refrigerator
[Ah! Ye Da-hong is ignoring the handshake and heading back to the waiting room! Does the old grudge still linger?]
* * *
“I’m not really angry. I just didn’t want to be found out.”
Da-hong returned to the waiting room, forcing a bitter smile.
Her voice quavered thin and fragile.
Her white hands stuffed into her pockets trembled just the same.
“Honestly, I could shake his hand without any problem, but… I didn’t want him to notice I was shaking.”
The faces of her teammates darkened.
Yesterday, only Hae-rang had fought in a match, so it hadn’t felt real.
What it meant for a gamer who’d lost every international match to step back into competition.
She’d trained as much as she could, and her skill had definitely improved.
But she couldn’t control the trembling tension that seized her.
Eventually, Da-hong found herself biting her nails, pressing them against her lips.
Joint, who had been watching quietly, spoke up.
“Do you remember the question I asked you before?”
“Which question?”
“Why among Singularity members, only you play games as if you’ve staked your life on it.”
“Ah, that… Yes. I’ve thought about it.”
The shift in her thoughts seemed to ease the tension in Da-hong’s hardened face.
“No matter how much I think about it, it seems to be because of my father. Whenever I won at games, he’d always be happy for me. Proud of me.”
“So you wanted victory… for your father in heaven.”
“Yes. You told me that too, right? How I always picked middle-aged male characters in every game I played. I think my father was always unconsciously there in my mind.”
“Then what was it like when you lost at games? Your father’s expression, his reaction?”
“…What?”
The focus drained from Da-hong’s eyes.
A question she’d never been asked before.
It felt like someone had struck the back of her head with a hammer.
“That is…”
Da-hong couldn’t find her words.
Then an event staff member entered the waiting room.
“Player Ye Da-hong. It’s time for your entry.”
“Oh. Yes.”
Da-hong nodded to her teammates and hurried out of the waiting room.
Joint wiped his dry lips and asked quietly.
“Will she be all right? She already seems so tense. Wasn’t that topic too heavy?”
“No matter how perfect one’s swordsmanship, trembling hands are useless. If a person cannot conquer their own mind, all the training amounts to nothing.”
“Suddenly… what’s all this about swordsmanship?”
Hae-rang’s deep gaze turned toward the Capsule that held Da-hong.
“Let us see. Whether Da-hong can find her own answer.”
* * *
<ROUND ONE! FIGHT!>
“Today’s going to be even hotter than last time. My Tesoro.”
Generally, after a game begins, it’s poor manners to speak.
But Alberto provoked Ye Da-hong once again.
A dangerous line, just barely avoiding a warning.
Yet Da-hong gave no response whatsoever.
Not deliberately ignoring him,
It felt like she couldn’t hear anything at all.
“…….”
“……What? How boring.”
Da-hong stood there in a daze.
Then, after a long while, she answered.
“I’m sorry.”
Not to Alberto,
but to her father.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Alberto approached with contemptuous amusement, moving like lightning.
The character he played was Reina.
Nimble in movement and possessing a devastating Upper technique—one of the Wind God Style characters.
Like the Kiroi that Da-hong played, it was an aggressive, combat-loving type that showed no fear.
‘No matter how many times I do this, it never gets old. Breaking you down.’
Alberto began his lateral movement, his tongue playing at the corner of his mouth.
Da-hong’s weakness, laid bare for the world to see.
From the start, he intended to exploit it ruthlessly.
But then Kiroi, frozen like a paused frame, suddenly stretched out both hands.
Grab!
“?”
Caught by the unexpected grab, Alberto found himself ensnared.
His field of vision spun like the hand of a clock.
Crash!
“Ugh……!”
Alberto had tried, as always, to seize the initiative first.
For the first time, a flicker of unease crossed his gaze as he looked at Da-hong.
Yet she still spoke,
not to Alberto, but to someone else entirely.
“Saying it was for my father’s sake…….”
It was a lie.
A lie she had told herself.
Da-hong had hidden behind her father’s shadow each and every time.
A father who had dreamed of his daughter becoming the greatest gamer.
But,
‘You were right, Hae-rang.’
Even after losing in the game,
her father held her in his arms with the same gentle expression.
Whether she became the greatest gamer or not, to her father Da-hong was simply a beloved presence.
‘When I see you later, I’ll tell you for sure. That I’m sorry.’
She admitted it now.
Before she ever thought of her father,
she was a born competitor, a combat maniac.
Losing was worse than death to her.
Now that Da-hong finally faced the true self within,
there was no more hesitation.
“……It’s over.”
Hae-rang, watching the screen, murmured softly.

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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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