The Players’ Association Korea, inside the office of Public Relations Team 1.
There has been some tension inside the office for a few days now.
Today, the coworkers were agitated as they saw their bosses being forced to work with their backs straight and in such a strict environment, all for Choi Sangseok.
“Team Leader Hong, you still haven’t gone home?”
“Oh my… Just how many days have you been working overtime?”
“Team Leader Im looks like she’s dying too. Are you both that busy with your jobs these days?”
The employees of PR team 1 and the regulation enforcement department all looked pitiful.
Only a small number of employees know this, but Song Daesok, grandchild of the hero Dae and a genius of satellite engineering, had been discharged from the hospital and joined the research institute under the satellite management team.
Additional work was assigned to PR Team 1 as they are tasked to search for traces of algorithms and sources that Song Daesok posted publicly on the web.
The employees of the team are close to dying from exhaustion because there’s so much time and resources needed to completely erase the information and stop it from spreading.
Hong Gyubin was the one carrying the most workload among them all.
Slap!
A sound of a loud hit was heard on one corner of the office.
“Ahk! Why are you hitting me?!”
“Do your job.”
It was the voices of Employee Jung and Deputy Chief Yoon.
Employee Jung protested as Deputy Yoon flicked him.
“What? But it’s my break time right now? People need breaks to improve work efficiency, you know.”
“You’ve been resting for 10 minutes.”
“I worked really hard before that 10 minutes. And watching Kwon Jein’s video is considered working too if you think about it.”
Deputy Joon shut off the video that Employee Jung was watching.
Employee Jung was very dissatisfied with this action.
“Ah, perhaps you’re still upset that you got dumped by your ex-girlfriend? But even so, you can’t just talk to your junior subordinate like this, Deputy Yoon! Ahk!”
Employee Jung belatedly realized that he was pulling himself into more trouble.
He defended his forehead with a shout as he expected another forehead flick, but Deputy Yoon didn’t move.
Instead, he grabbed the back of Employee Jung’s neck.
“Let’s do your work outside?”
“Ahk, no! I-I was researching about world transitions! You’re not supposed to take me outside when I’m so busy working..!”
“There’s also some work to do outside.”
Employee Jung protested as best as he could but got dragged outside in the end.
“Deputy Yoon seems to be very on edge these days. Well, I guess that’s thanks to Employee Jung.”
“I’m not sure, but I think Deputy Yoon’s ex-girlfriend is now dating Team Leader Park of PR Team 2.”
“Woah. She dumped Deputy Yoon to be with Team Leader Park? Deputy Yoon is a little stiff, but I think he’s more handsome than Team Leader Park and has a better…”
“You never know about people. Team Leader Park may have some charming side to him. I’m not sure about that though.”
It was when the topic changed to the PR Team 2.
Screeeech.
The sound of a chair being dragged across the office was heard.
The loud sound seemed deliberate as if trying to get attention on purpose.
“Don’t you all have work to do?”
When Hong Gyubin’s polite voice rang across the office, all the employees shut their mouths.
Hong Gyubin was dressed neatly as usual.
His dress shirt and suit pants were free of any wrinkles, but his eyes had deep dark circles beneath them.
Seeing his disastrous appearance, the PR team employees began to work with their heads tucked in.
When the surroundings turned quiet, Hong Gyubin sat down again.
‘Vacation…. It might not fit your schedule…. Professor…’
Hong Gyubin looked nervous as he glanced at the time displayed on the hologram screen.
The departure date of the Eungwang Newspaper Team is imminent, yet additional tasks keep flooding his desk. It doesn’t help that Team Leader Park of PR Team 2 is setting aside his work.
Even so, Hong Gyubin has no intention of giving up.
‘It’s not yet too late!’
With the determination to go on vacation, Hong Gyubin went back to work.
* * *
What in the world is worrying my student?
[Me] What is it? Tell me.
[Yeom Junyeol] Thank you, teacher!
I just asked him to tell me, but Junyeol already sent a message filled with joy I couldn’t understand.
[Yeom Junyeol] I received an invitation to be an assistant MC on an entertainment program.
Receiving love calls for an MC position isn’t surprising for star players like Yeom Junyeol.
However, Yeom Junyeol makes sure to refuse regular show appearances that will consume a lot of his time.
Although his face is often shown on TV, he only appeared in commercials, interviews, or as a special guest.
[Yeom Junyeol] I would’ve refused right away like usual, but I’m hesitating because the project’s intentions are good.
Yeom Junyeol briefly explained the outline of the program he was offered to be in.
The overall theme was a common audition show, a survival-style program where ordinary people aspiring to be singers gather to compete. The winner is to be decided by viewers’ votes.
But, the candidates for the audition are limited to those who have ‘talent of a player’.
Unlike the normal audition programs, they’re doing the opposite. Usually, players are eliminated or disqualified from participating in programs like these.
[Yeom Junyeol] It’s not easy for the 15% of all Korean citizens, who maintained their skills until adulthood, to achieve their hopes and dreams not related to being a player.
[Yeom Junyeol] If Kwon Jein sunbaenim had not been that talented as a violinist, it would’ve been difficult for her to set foot in the music industry. She’d only be playing violin as a hobby. Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com
What Yeom Junyeol said made sense.
Players fighting against invasions also have other hopes and dreams, yet it’s not easy for them to chase after those.
Those who wish to be teachers are always assigned to teach at a player training center. Those who want to be a soldier or police officer are assigned to a player unit or department.
However, it’s a different story for those interested in arts and sports.
Players were banned from being professional sports players, and those interested in arts were criticized for trying to get a career in singing or acting.
A player showing his face in the entertainment industry is treated as a traitor and shunned by the public, saying that the player abandoned his precious talent and duty to fight against enemies.
If Kwon Jein had not devoted herself to being a world-renowned violinist back from her days as a child prodigy, she wouldn’t be where she is right now.
‘Even in the past, players with national-level talents were cursed at by the public when they announce that they have passion for singing or acting. Well, thinking of it, national defense lies upon their shoulders. Players are also very likely to gain wealth and honor, so even if they think of pursuing anything new besides playership, people would say that they should be content with what they have already…’
Of course, players could always enjoy their passion and future hopes through hobbies, but not many players are satisfied with just treating their talents as a hobby.
However…
Now, in more modern times, the consciousness of players changes little by little.
Sung Gookeon, a player elected as a member of the national assembly, was famous now along with world renowned musician-players like Kwon Jein and Mister Greig.
Players now also slowly get the chance to fulfill their own dreams.
‘It’s probably a deal that fell through inside the game.’
In the game world of PMH, such an offer wouldn’t have been accepted because it’s shortly after countless people died due to accidents caused by the Black Screen.
It would be like taking on an audition program for firefighters right after a super large forest fire just occurred.
‘Wait a second. One of the NPC’s of Class Zero mentioned going to an audition program in the second semester…’
Yeom Junyeol sent more messages as I tried to think about the NPC that mentioned it.
[Yeom Junyeol] I think the purpose of this audition is really good. There might be other people like me who don’t dream of becoming a player in a professional team.
[Yeom Junyeol] It’s a pity that people really talented in singing, dancing, and acting had to give up on their dreams. I want to support them. I think everything will work out as long as I work harder in defending against the next world transition.
My student was having such commendable thoughts.
‘Yeom Junyeol, a star player also active in the entertainment industry, is well liked by the public. That’s why he got invited.’
I could see why they would offer the position of assistant MC to him.
The reason why he is worried is…
[Me] What do you want to do?
[Yeom Junyeol] I…
Knowing Junyeol’s personality, he’d want to take on this project even if it will make him sleepless.
Still, the reason why he messaged me must be because he’s worried about how our conversation went when he sent me pictures of his photoshoot.
— We’re done with our photoshoot now, so I’ll go ahead and practice harder!
It wouldn’t make any sense if he took on a job of being an assistant MC right after that.
That must be why my good student was hesitating.
[Me] You can take it slow with the assignment that I gave you. If you have time, I’ll meet you in person and teach you.
[Yeom Junyeol] Teacher…! Thank you for your consideration!
[Me] I’m cheering you on.
[Yeom Junyeol] I’ll do my best as an assistant MC too!
[Yeom Junyeol] (Stamp)
Junyeol sent an emoticon of him holding a mic with a happy Hongryong in the background.
After the conversation with my student, I shut off my device.
The alarm set for breakfast soon rang, and the other members began to wake up one by one.
* * *
After the event of the world collision, the Korean Peninsula has the most powerful intelligence about it.
Most of the royal lineage moved to the Korean Peninsula, but some left after they found success.
There are four representative people of royal lineage left in China.
The ‘Four Harmonious Animals’ from ancient times, the sacred animal children of the ‘Saseo’.
The first born, Hwangryong, symbolizes the emperor.
Most of the people of the Dragon Clan moved to the Korean Peninsula, but the Hwangryong or the Yellow Dragon stayed behind with a few maidens to protect the entrance of the dragon palace.
‘Hwangryong often comes to the Korean Peninsula to meet with Yom Junyeol and his mother. But anyway, Hwangryong was left behind.”
The second-born, Insu which symbolizes peaceful times.
The Insu, which has the body of a deer, the tail of a cow, and the hooves and mane of a horse, was often called a Qilin.
(T/N: Qilin is a legendary hooved creature that appears in Chinese mythology. Its usual equivalent is ‘unicorn’ in English. Most of the other terms in this section are also translated from Chinese characters.)
The third born is the phoenix, which represents the power of the monarch.
Perhaps literature often describes it differently from time to time, its appearance is also ambiguous. The phoenix is described as a being with a five-colored light mixed with chickens, swallows, deer, cranes, fish, and mandarin ducks.
‘There’s only one male and female qilin and phoenix each.’
Although their population was extremely small, Qilins and phoenixes were involved in the second part of the story.
However, there’s still a lot of time left until their first appearance, so I can’t tell what they’re doing at the moment.
‘And the fourth born of the royal lineage is…’
The last one was the turtle, which symbolizes longevity and predicts the future.
The turtle rarely appeared inside the game.
It doesn’t seem to have much involvement in the story, but it’d be nice to know its whereabouts.
While I read the brochure distributed to us by the chief, the plane arrived at its destination.
“Make sure you don’t leave any luggage behind!”
“Yep!”
“Got it!”
This morning, Jegal kindly joined us at the airport.
In front of the Chengdu International Airport of Sichuan Province.
I could see a group of Koreans that I know very well.
“Professor Jegal!”
“Oh my, what a coincidence!”
“We missed you!”
Geum Chansol and Wang Chansol shouted loud just behind the professor.
A group of Year 2 Class Zero students gathered and waited for us.
