“Do you even know what you’ve just done?!”
“I taught an irritating bastard a little lesson.”
At my unapologetic answer, the coach’s face contorted.
“You still don’t grasp the gravity of the situation? If Gyubo hadn’t let you off, you’d be facing serious disciplinary action!”
“He didn’t let me off. He swept it under the rug. A first-team starter got beaten down by a third-team trainee, after all. Naturally, that would be humiliating for him.”
Park Gyubo had not held me responsible for what I had done in the slightest.
Not because he cared about me, of course. It had been purely for his own reputation.
It would not do if people learned that he had been beaten by me, the person he always kept around only to bully.
In fact, he had been running his mouth to everyone, claiming that he had merely pretended to be hurt.
“Hah. Says the bastard who foamed at the mouth and passed out.”
“Shin Jaeha!”
The coach slammed his palm onto the desk with a THUD.
“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden? You’re not acting like yourself. Have you been drinking since midday?”
“People can change overnight.”
If I told him that I had already witnessed Earth’s destruction before regressing… he would definitely throw me into a psychiatric hospital.
For now, I would keep that fact to myself.
I swivelled in my chair and looked at the massive emblem beyond the window.
Its crisp lines depicted an eagle and clouds.
[Sky Epic (Sky Epic)]
It was a major team in Division 1 of the ‘Korean Player League (K.P.L.).’
They had yet to win a championship, but they had enough promise to occasionally finish a season near the top of the standings.
‘When they first scouted me, I was so happy I could’ve jumped for joy.’
In this professional market, even a trainee offer from a top Division 2 or Division 3 team was an enormous opportunity, let alone one from Division 1.
Then a heavyweight team like Sky Epic had scouted me.
It would have been stranger to refuse.
‘But.’
In the end, joining this team had been the worst mistake of my life.
The blatant discrimination and mistreatment, both inside and outside the team? The insults, humiliations, and beatings that came flying whenever they had the chance? The forced development path that wasted my Attributes?
Honestly, I could have endured all of it.
To become a professional, to become a Division 1 starter, I could have borne that much suffering and effort.
But they had done something they never should have done.
“…So.”
I crossed my legs and looked at the coach with dead eyes.
“Isn’t there something else you have to say besides this?”
“What?”
“You wouldn’t call me all the way here just to give me a scolding.”
Even when I wanted advice about training or my development path, that coach openly ignored me.
He said that it was a waste for someone as important as the Head Coach to spend time on a third-team trainee.
“Go on. Say it.”
“…At least you seem to have a minimum of tact.”
The coach cleared his throat and held out a sheet of paper.
<A Paper on the Possibility of Artificial Mana Circuit Expansion>
The title was exactly what I remembered.
There was no need to look at the complicated terminology and reference materials beneath it.
“This is a paper produced by a facility we privately support. Just as it says, it concludes that Mana Circuits can be artificially expanded to increase Mana Attributes.”
“……”
“I’ll be blunt, Shin Jaeha. Undergo this procedure.”
The words were exactly the same as in my memory.
It was enough to make me laugh hollowly now.
“Honestly, your ‘Constitution’ and Skills work at cross-purposes, don’t they? If your Mana Attribute were higher, you might at least be useful. But only your Physical Attributes keep rising, so it has become quite a headache for our team.”
The coach scratched his head as though he were worried.
Now that I knew it was all an act meant to stir my emotions, it only looked disgusting.
“If you undergo this procedure, your Mana Attribute will rise at least twice… no, three times as fast as it does now. Then escaping your status as a perpetual trainee will no longer be a dream.”
“Oh, really?”
“Of course. Becoming a starter may be difficult, but you could perform quite well as a reserve.”
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
A smile like a snake’s.
“Well? Will you take it? Of course you will, right?”
“Of course—”
I answered that smile with an identical one.
RIIIP!
As I tore the paper in half.
“I’m not taking it, you f*cker.”
He was dressing it up in pleasant words, but in the end, he was saying that they would perform an unverified illegal procedure on me.
At first, they lied, saying it had been fully verified and was a completely safe procedure with no risk at all.
But after it failed, I learned that all of it had been illegal.
‘The old me really was naïve.’
To throw myself into it after falling for sweet talk like that.
“W-What…?”
“I said I’m not taking it. I’m not getting some unverified surgery like that.”
“Do you have any idea what an incredible opportunity this is?! We’re trying to save a useless bastard like you!”
“Then cut me loose and terminate my contract. Why have you kept me around until now? Ah, let me guess.”
I met the coach’s eyes directly and loaded every word with emotion.
“You kept me because I have a Constitution, right? I’m too valuable to give away, but too much of a chicken rib for you to keep for yourselves. So you’re testing the waters with a surgery like that. Great if it works. If it fails and I become a cripple, you have nothing to regret.”
“…!”
Among Players who awakened, there was a very small chance that they would awaken with something called a ‘Constitution.’
It was neither a Skill nor an Attribute. It was an innate ability granted only to that individual Player.
Nearly every high-level Player had been born with one of these Constitutions.
That did not mean every Player with a Constitution was strong.
Just like me right now.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not devoted enough to this team to offer my body to that experiment. So I’ll respectfully decline.”
“You think you can do that? This has already been decided. If you don’t undergo this surgery, there will be no contract extension—”
“Fine.”
“…Huh?”
“Let’s end the contract. I don’t want to stay in this sickening team for even one more second.”
I took off the Sky Epic jacket I was wearing and placed it on top of the torn paper.
“Let’s end it.”
The second thing I did after regressing—
was make sure that I did not repeat the worst mistake of my life.
“Hah, I spent quite a while as a trainee, yet all my belongings fit in this one box.”
After somehow terminating my contract, I came to the dormitory to pack my things.
It was the small dormitory where third-team trainees, including me, lived.
“This should be enough.”
Even after I packed everything neatly, the box was not even half full.
It was slightly bitter, but I shook the feeling off quickly.
Once I gathered my things and headed out, a familiar face was waiting for me outside.
“Heh~ So you’re finally getting the fuck out of here?”
Park Gyubo.
For someone supposedly superhuman, it seemed that area had not ruptured despite how much I had stomped on it.
“Of all the versions of Jaeha I’ve ever seen, you look the sharpest right now. You’ve finally learned your place and decided to walk out of here on your own.”
No matter how half-heartedly I listened, his mouth would not stop moving.
He was a diligent bastard in every possible way.
“Going back to the orphanage? Bwahaha!”
“Yeah. Your parents opened a new one and invited me.”
“W-What?!”
I looked at the man whose face turned red and blue with anger.
“Now that it’s over, let me ask you one thing. Why did you hate me so much?”
He was rude to many people, but he had singled me out for bullying.
He had done it consistently from the moment I joined the team until now.
Back then, I had been too discouraged to even ask why.
But now, things were different.
“Why do I hate you?”
Park Gyubo twisted his mouth as though incredulous.
“It’s f*cking disgusting that someone with no skill whatsoever came here relying on nothing but a Constitution. And I can’t stand watching a guy like you squirm around, trying to make something of himself.”
“…Is that so?”
The reason was even more hollow than I expected, which almost surprised me.
“Then the reason you hate me will change soon.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Because I’ll crush you and become stronger than you soon.”
“You? Puhaha!”
Park Gyubo clutched his stomach and laughed.
“You’ve got one fucking huge dream, bastard. I’ll root for you! Work hard.”
“Yeah, I intend to work hard. When I lift the league championship trophy, I’ll make sure to say your name in the interview.”
“How pathetic.”
Apparently, he did not know that there was not even a trace of a lie in my words.
“I’m leaving.”
I passed Park Gyubo and headed for the door.
Just as I was about to pass through the main entrance—
“……”
I saw a silver-haired woman silently watching me.
She was a Player in Sky Epic’s starting lineup, in the ‘Archer’ position.
“Baek Heeyeon?”
“……”
Baek Heeyeon stared at me.
She was as unreadable now as she had been in the past.
When the others openly ignored and discriminated against me, she was the only one who treated me normally.
That did not mean she was especially kind. Baek Heeyeon treated everyone with the same detached manner.
‘Though she did tend to speak to me first.’
Other than that, we did not have much contact.
“What is it? Do you have something to say?”
“Is what you said… true?”
“What? Ah, that I’m leaving the team?”
The news must have already spread everywhere.
I had expected as much when I saw that Park Gyubo knew.
“Well, that’s how it turned out. It’s probably for the best. I wasn’t really doing anything on this team anyway.”
“……”
“Still, thank you. You helped me more than the coach ever did.”
Whenever I trained by myself, she would sometimes quietly come over and say—
-You’re not supposed to do it like that….
Honestly, it had not been tremendously helpful… but it was still better than a coach who did not even do that much.
“Anyway, today is the last day.”
“Was what you said earlier true?”
“What are you talking about now?”
“What you told Park Gyubo. That you would soon become stronger and win the league.”
That was an unexpected question.
I had naturally assumed it was a sarcastic remark.
But Baek Heeyeon’s eyes were serious.
So I answered sincerely as well.
“Yeah.”
“…I see.”
With that answer, Baek Heeyeon turned away.
“I’ll be cheering for you.”
She tossed out the words as if they were nothing.
As I watched the back of her small head, I grinned and answered.
“Thanks.”
With that—
my long, long life as a trainee came to an end.
“Whew….”
Once I came outside, I could truly feel it.
I had really travelled several years back into the past.
‘The streets are intact, and there aren’t any crazy people!’
Compared with the world on the brink of destruction, the present scene was breathtakingly beautiful.
Players were broadcast on enormous screens as they played the Channel, while advertisements featuring popular players from successful teams covered the street-side billboards.
‘Even now, Players are still at the center of society.’
That phenomenon would only become more pronounced with time.
Even more so after Earth officially began competing in the Dimension Cup.
“First, I need to organize the situation and my thoughts.”
I searched my memories and came to the house where Suhyeok had lived in the past.
Even during my life as a trainee, I had often visited to complain or drink with him.
This time, I had come purely because I had nowhere to stay in Seoul.
“I can’t use the team dormitory anymore.”
I would have to impose on him for a while.
“Suhyeok, I’m here… though of course you aren’t home.”
At this time, he would be at work.
I put off my reunion with the younger Suhyeok for later.
“…First, I should check.”
I swallowed hard and activated it.
FLASH!
My Status Window.
Then I could not help but let out a groan of sheer elation.
“It worked…! It worked!”
[▶Mana: 6]
A clear number was displayed beside my Mana Attribute.
I was no longer someone incapable of using Mana.
‘At last, I got it back.’
My potential.