Chapter 264: Recruitnt Proposal
"······."
"······."
Baek Woohyun and Kim Hyeonjun.
The strongest of the present and the strongest of the past.
An amateur individual broadcaster and an active first-string pro player.
Contrasting in every way, the two stood frozen mid-handshake, staring at each other. A ruthlessly icy tension flowed between them.
It felt like standing next to a bomb with a lit fuse, on the verge of going off at any mont.
"Ohhh—!"
It was then that a sudden exclamation of admiration rang out.
And loud enough at that for even Baek Woohyun to look over in wonder.
'Who's that?'
The owner of the voice was a middle-aged man in a sharply fitted, high-end suit—soone who appeared to hold a fairly high position.
He had clamped his own hand over his mouth, wearing an expression full of deep emotion, and gave off the feeling of an art connoisseur standing before a magnificent masterpiece.
Of course, Baek Woohyun simply had no idea why he was like that and only focused on figuring out who he was.
"Hello, General Manager!"
"Haha. Hello there, Yeonwoo. How have you been lately? I hope you're doing well?"
"Sa as always, I suppose."
"I'm glad to hear it! Please do tell if anything cos up. Feel free to reach out anyti."
The middle-aged man called General Manager exchanged a brief conversation with Lee Yeonwoo, then imdiately moved toward Baek Woohyun and Kim Hyeonjun. Just close enough not to feel imposing.
At his sudden appearance, the two who had been shaking hands with tense electricity let go and stepped back—sothing he seed to find quite a sha.
Clicking his tongue, he first briefly exchanged greetings with Kim Hyeonjun, then gave Baek Woohyun a crisp, formal bow.
"Hello. Baek Woohyun! I am DH Empire's General Manager, Cha Seunghoon."
"Yes, hello. I'm Baek Woohyun."
In the world of pro teams, a General Manager referred to the head of the roster—responsible for overseeing player acquisitions, releases, trades, drafts, and support. In other words, soone holding one of the highest positions you could count on one hand.
Baek Woohyun had assud Cha Seunghoon held a fairly high position within DH Empire, but even that had been sothing of an underestimate.
After all, the General Manager was regarded as the third most powerful figure in an organization, right after the owner and the president.
"I'm truly delighted to et you like this! I've been wanting to have a conversation with Baek Woohyun at least once!"
It was hard to feel that way looking at Cha Seunghoon, who was carrying on as though he were a fan eting a famous player.
Kim Hyeonjun and Lee Yeonwoo seed quite accustod to it, rely shrugging their shoulders. After all, even when exchanging greetings, they hadn't co across as player and General Manager in the slightest.
"A conversation aning—"
"A conversation for making a recruitnt offer, of course!"
Cha Seunghoon continued, his eyes lighting up as though he had been waiting for Baek Woohyun's question.
"I'm well aware of your abilities, Baek Woohyun. I've been impressed ti and again by the skills you've shown on broadcast. That's why I'm saying this. Would you perhaps have any interest in wearing the DH Empire uniform?"
"Hmm."
"We will spare no effort in supporting you so that you can make full use of your abilities on our team. I believe Baek Woohyun can more than fulfill a major role at DH Empire!"
"I apologize. I have no intention of pursuing a career as a pro player at this ti."
It was a proposal delivered by the General Manager himself, in a very earnest and passionate tone—yet Baek Woohyun's answer was essentially already decided.
He still had far too many things he needed to do. All the more so now that the struggle between Isaac and Deus was growing ever more intense.
Unless it was sothing he could do on the side like personal broadcasting, actively becoming a pro player and competing in the league was difficult.
To go pro, he would have to pour almost all of his ti into PVP rather than PVE. And that wasn't all—there was plenty more a player needed to do.
During the season you only had to play the league, but in the off-season it was nonstop with ad shoots, content shoots, and the like.
Add team practice on top of that and his already scarce ti would beco even scarcer. There was no way he could accept that!
"'At this ti' suggests that your mind could change later, doesn't it?"
"It might. Soday."
"In that case, I'll wait until your mind changes. We'll do our best to et whatever conditions you put forward, so don't hesitate to reach out."
Cha Seunghoon virtually thrust his contact information into Baek Woohyun's hands.
Lee Yeonwoo, who had been watching from the side, let out a quiet laugh and chid in.
"You're saying that in front of us?"
"Haha. Haven't I already perfectly t the conditions for both of you?"
"Well, that's true. A major corporation really is sothing else."
"The owner is quite generous when it cos to money!"
It was a conversation that seed designed for soone to overhear and have a change of heart. The intent was so blatant it almost ca across as charming.
Lee Yeonwoo, who had made no secret of his desire to play on the sa team as Baek Woohyun, sent Kim Hyeonjun a look that said 'Say sothing too, hyung!'
In response, Kim Hyeonjun, who had been standing there blankly, let out a "Ahem." and stepped forward.
"It's not that playing against each other as opponents in the league would be bad, but—"
"Ah, Hyeonjun-hyung!"
"—wouldn't it be just as good to beco teammates and conquer the league together?"
"······."
Baek Woohyun smiled without any particular reply.
Watching him like that, Kim Hyeonjun shrugged his shoulders.
It was the best persuasion he was capable of, given that words didn't co easily to him.
And in truth, either way was fine with him. What he had said was his genuine feeling.
eting as opponents was fine. Being allies was fine too.
Whatever it was, as long as he could set Baek Woohyun—that powerful fighter—as his goal and keep striving forward, that was enough.
"One thing I'll ntion: my current goal is to have people say we're the Colosseum Connection."
At Cha Seunghoon's sowhat difficult-to-follow remark, all three—Baek Woohyun, Lee Yeonwoo, and Kim Hyeonjun—tilted their heads.
DH Empire was a pro team with 'Reverse Planet' as its main ga, so why had the Colosseum suddenly co up.
"The Colosseum Connection···?"
"Yes. The Colosseum Connection. Wouldn't that be a perfect nickna for the three of you?"
"Hmm."
"Certainly."
Baek Woohyun and Kim Hyeonjun, who had both been rankers in 'Colosseum,' needed no further elaboration—and Lee Yeonwoo, too, had been fairly well known in Colosseum as a skilled player in his own right.
He hadn't played seriously enough to rank the way those two had, but he was far from soone who went around getting beaten up. If anything, he was the one doing the beating.
Ever since Kim Hyeonjun and Lee Yeonwoo beca teammates at DH Empire, they had even done Colosseum duo plays as irregular off-season content.
If Baek Woohyun were included on top of that, fans would certainly call the three of them the Colosseum Connection, just as Cha Seunghoon wanted.
DH Empire fans would use it as a complint, while fans of other teams would use it as a jeer—with completely different feels. But that was unavoidable in a sport where you competed against other teams for rankings.
"Or how about a Creator Partnership?"
"What is a Creator Partnership?"
"To give you a simple explanation—"
Cha Seunghoon explained the Creator Partnership to Baek Woohyun with a beaming smile.
It went on at length in various ways, but to roughly summarize: it was a contract in which Baek Woohyun would beco affiliated with DH Empire not as a player, but as an individual broadcaster.
DH Empire would beco Baek Woohyun's sponsor, providing a salary, and Baek Woohyun would stamp his DH Empire affiliation prominently on his broadcasts—sothing like that.
"Normally it would be a form where the individual broadcaster rides on our team's reputation, but in your case, things are a bit different, aren't they, Woohyun."
"Haha."
Baek Woohyun's na recognition within the 'Reverse Planet' community right now was truly overwhelming. Given the achievents he had built up through his personal broadcasts, that was only natural.
On top of that, these days he was also running 'Reverse City'—the one and only, unprecedented, developer-officially-supported private server.
A single personal broadcast boasting far more viewers than the official pro league broadcast—what more needed to be said.
Therefore, it had no choice but to proceed under a different arrangent than a typical Creator Partnership. That was sothing both sides needed.
Rather than a form where one side provided support to the other, it would likely be a contract structured with various agreents attached—beneficial to both parties.
"Since it's not just my broadcast alone, I can't give an imdiate answer. I'll discuss it and get back to you."
"Yes, of course!"
Cha Seunghoon answered cheerfully and stepped back.
He had no reason to push too hard, and he didn't want to co across as pestering and leave a bad impression.
He was intending to announce through the Creator Partnership contract that DH Empire had staked its claim—so the last thing he needed was to make soone feel a negative sentint toward the team instead.
"Content shoot is ready!"
"···Then I'll take my leave here. I hope you have a wonderful shoot!"
Right on cue, a staff mber's announcent that everything was ready prompted Cha Seunghoon to leave with a clean farewell.
It was a crisp exit with no lingering, but Baek Woohyun had a feeling he would be running into him frequently from now on.
That was likely because in the gaze Cha Seunghoon cast briefly back at him just before leaving, he had sensed a fiercely burning desire to recruit him.
"Shall we get ready ourselves?"
"Let's."
"Let's get pumped up and go! Oh, right!"
Lee Yeonwoo, who had been flinging both arms up to get fired up, turned his head toward Baek Woohyun.
His eyes sparkled as he spoke.
"And, um, Hackphysical! If it's alright, can I call you hyung?!"
"Yes, that's fine."
"Yes! Looking forward to it, Hackphysical-hyung!"
"···You can just call by my na."
"Woohyun-hyung! You talk casually to too!"
"Sure. Got it."
'Is it because he's still young. He's bursting with energy.'
Baek Woohyun, Kim Hyeonjun, and Lee Yeonwoo—the three of them seated in the set chairs prepared ahead of the original content.
Before getting into the full swing of things, a brief talk segnt had been scheduled in this formation. You can't jump straight to the main topic without an introduction, after all.
The script said that after introductions and greetings here, they should talk about how they ca to know each other and what connection they shared.
'Connection, huh.'
Recalling the script content, Baek Woohyun scratched his cheek.
In truth, his connection with Kim Hyeonjun and Lee Yeonwoo amounted to nothing more than having fought one round of PVP.
Plus, it had ended with him unilaterally beating them both to a pulp.
'How do I package this when I talk about it.'
"Hello, DH Empire fans! I'm Nikki Lee Yeonwoo! It's been a while!"
"I'm Battler Kim Hyeonjun. Nice to et you."
-Nikki hi~ Battler hi~
-hihihi
-Hello!!
-Sprinted here like crazy after seeing the teaser
While Baek Woohyun was mulling it over briefly, Kim Hyeonjun and Lee Yeonwoo, who had started the broadcast through the DH Empire channel, exchanged greetings with the viewers.
Whether because they each ran personal broadcasts on the side, or because they often fild original content for the official DH Empire channel, they were extrely smooth.
Overall, Lee Yeonwoo did most of the talking while Kim Hyeonjun chid in here and there—a style of delivery that reflected both of their personalities in every way.
'LifeAchieventChallenger' has donated 10,000 won!
[So where's Hackphysical??]
User Comments
0 comments from readers