"Greetings." A boy was standing outside Stratus’ waiting room as if waiting for them to come. He wore a sophisticated smile as if he knew all the secrets of this world. It was none other than Howard.

"Yo, what's up dude!" Lars waved.

"Loud as ever, I see," Howard replied with a wry smile.

".............." Yuel didn't say a word. What is he doing here? That’s the only response he could muster. Seriously, it’s one unexpected encounter after another today...

As if to kill the silence, Vincent exclaimed loudly. "Oh! This is none other than the great Aegis, in the flesh!"

"You mean, the captain of StormBlitz?" Kai asked.

"Indeed, the one and only! The unbreakable wall, the ultimate last line of defense - Aegis!"

"Huh." Kai tensed up a little, and so did Luke and Ben. "So, to what do we owe the honor?"

"Honor? Please, I’m just a middle schooler like the rest of you, right?" Howard chuckled. "I came to watch today’s scrim, so I figured I’ll drop by to wish you good luck. I'm sure you'll need it.

"Why thank you." Kai made a face at the obvious underlying message. “Rest assured, we’re going to win today, with or without luck.”

“Oh, confident, aren’t we?” Howard nodded. “The Stratus of this year is really made different, it seems.”

“Of course. Don’t even think of comparing us to that sorry excuse of a team this club had before. This is a brand new Stratus.”

“Totally, yo!” Lars reinforced.

“Indeed!” Vincent added. “We shall conquer the regionals together! With our powers combined, even the nationals are no threat to us!”

“Y-Yes, we can do it,” Ben added meekly.

“Damn straight,” Luke agreed. “We’re real serious about taking it home. This is no longer a clown club.”

So says the memer. Yuel retorted mentally, but he stayed quiet throughout the entire exchange.

“Can we pass now?” Kai demanded.

"Oh, I’m blocking the entrance, right? You can go ahead." Howard moved away from the door. "Before you go, I’d like to borrow my ex vice-captain for a moment, if you don’t mind. I have a private matter to discuss."

"... sure." Yuel finally responded to the scene for the first time.

“Well, we’re going ahead then,” Kai said as she passed through the door. And, despite their curiosity, the others followed suit.

And so, only Yuel and Howard remained in the hallway.

"How is the club doing?" Yuel asked.

"Heh. You got some nerve asking that after you abandoned your post."

"I don't remember signing a contract to be StormBlitz's vice-captain forever."

"I totally should've made you, though." Howard sighed.

"Is Gregory that bad at his job? I heard he’s the new vice-captain."

"Let's just say he requires a lot more maintenance than I'd like to spare. The whole point of having a vice-captain is to make the captain’s life easier, but with Greg that’s not really the case, haha…"

"My condolences."

"Heh, why are you talking about it as if it's somebody's else business? It's all your fault, you know? You were supposed to become the perfect vice-captain, the type who'd handle everything by himself without ever bothering me." Howard sighed again.

"It's true that I wouldn't have minded doing most of the work for the sake of improving the club," Yuel said. "But, even for me, it’s not easy to muster the necessary motivation when I’m not even part of the first-string.”

"Honestly, if I knew things will turn out this way, then I would've made you and Lars play Top and Mid on the first string. You weren't half bad in these roles against Taurus."

So, he watched the replays. Yuel concluded. "Sorry, but playing Top and Mid isn't for us."

"And yet, you had no problem playing them in an official scrimmage for four games straight."

"We were just testing the waters," Yuel said. "I wanted to see how far we can get without showing our cards. But, the enemy forced our hand."

"You mean the trio that subbed in, right? Not gonna lie, these guys look like a real pain in the neck, haha."

"I'd watch out for them if I were you," Yuel warned. "If they become starters for the regionals, then Taurus won't be an easy team to take down, even for StormBlitz."

"Duly noted." Howard nodded. "But, no need to worry about my team. I don't see us losing to someone of that caliber. I admit they might pose a challenge or two, but that's about it."

"Confident as ever, I see."

"I have every reason to be. This year, StormBlitz is going to be the strongest it ever was."

"Huh. Do you have statistics to back that up?"

"No, but I'll make it obvious beyond a shadow of a doubt by winning the nationals."

"Is that so." Yuel had nothing to add.

Howard's confidence was as high as ever. The guy had no doubt in his mind that he'll achieve the grand goals he set out for himself. And, just from listening to him talk so boldly, even Yuel started believing that Howard might be able to pull it off.

But, we'll take him down. Yuel promised silently. That’s one of the reasons I defected to another team in the first place. We’ll have our rematch, and this time, we’ll win!

"Anyway,” Howard continued. “From the teams I've seen thus far, the only ones who gonna pose a challenge to us are the Leopards."

"Is that supposed to be an indirect insult?"

"Sorry to tell you this, but your team hasn’t convinced me yet. Sure, you’re not the Stratus of the past, but that’s about it for now.”

“Is that so.”

“I mean, you struggled pretty bad against Taurus, right? Your team made plenty of misplays. A stronger opponent would have ripped you apart for that."

"That's… true, I suppose," Yuel admitted. “But, Lars and I didn’t play in our main roles throughout the whole scrim. So, most of the statistics there are irrelevant.”

"If you say so. Either way, today is your chance to convince me that your team is worthy of my attention.”

“Will do.”

"Honestly, I rather you don’t.” Howard smiled wryly. “We got enough problems to deal with as it is. Please, don’t increase my workload any further.”

“Sorry, but I’m planning to do exactly that.”

“You’re the devil incarnate.” Howard chuckled. “Anyway, I think it’s about time I get to the real reason why I came here.”

“Oh, are you saying you didn’t come here just to insult the team and hit our motivation?”

“C’mon, you make me sound like a villain.”

“But, isn’t that your favorite trick?”

“Is it?” Howard smiled, yet his eyes turned sharp like that of a hawk. He was silently telling Yuel to not pursue this topic any further.

It’s totally something he would do, though. Yuel was convinced. I won’t be surprised if he told something to Roi and Dan before we had that selection match. That might be why their performance suffered the way it did.

Not to pass the blame or anything, but part of the reason Yuel and Lars lost the selection match was due to Roi and Dan’s lackluster performance. The two of them were good players, and they were cooperative during the practice leading up to the match. Alas, they fell short on the critical day itself.

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Of course, part of it was definitely Yuel’s fault. He prioritized his own agenda over the interests of his teammates, believing that his strategy was the only thing that mattered. That already caused some dissatisfaction during practice, and it exploded in his face during the real match.

But surely, that’s not all there was to it. As dissatisfied as they were, Roi and Dan were mature enough to adjust. Though Roi complained about Yuel’s firm decision to include a Dark Knight in the lineup, the two of them still reached a compromise in the end.

They were reasonable players, all things considered. So, I don’t see them falling apart the way they did just because they didn’t like some of my decisions.

There was more to it, surely. Something happened on the day of the match, something that Yuel wasn’t informed of.

I never properly talked to them after the match, so I don’t have proof. But, I suspect Howard might’ve told them something.

It was very much possible that foul play was afoot, but there was no evidence. If Howard really pulled anything, then he did a good job covering his tracks.

Nonetheless, that sounded like a very Howard-like scheme. Therefore, Yuel was sure that the guy only came here today in order to mess with Yuel and his teammates.

But, apparently, that wasn’t the case?

“Believe it or not,” Howard said. “I came to share some intel with you.”

“What kind of intel?”

“About the Leopards, of course.”

“You know something about them that we don’t?” Yuel had a hard time believing that. “I assure you, we researched them quite thoroughly.”

“By watching replays of their scrims, right?”

“Yes, naturally.”

“But, what if I told you I have a piece of information that you won’t find in the replays?”

“I’ll press doubt,” Yuel answered. “What’s your agenda?”

“Nothing special, really,” Howard promised. “It’s not some amazing information that’ll skyrocket your chances of winning. But, it’s still something I think you should know, just in case.”

“Well, I’m listening,” Yuel said. No harm in hearing him out, at least.

“Before I get to the chase,” Howard said. “I take it you saw the two scrims the Leopards had so far, right?”

“Of course.”

“Now tell me, what’s your impression of their skill level?”

Is he fishing for some sort of information? Yuel wondered. “They seem fairly strong. I’d say they’re on par with what’s expected from the regional champions.”

“They’re not as strong as last year’s team, though,” Howard argued. “For example, they don’t have anybody of Fenrir’s caliber. You remember Fenrir, right?”

“Of course.” Yuel nodded. “He gave you a lot of trouble last year.”

“Yeah, I don’t even want to remember that...” Howard sighed. His reaction was only natural, for Fenrir was the main driving force behind StormBlitz’s defeat last year.

That beast instilled terror in his opponents, making them underperform. Even the skilled players of StormBlitz weren’t entirely immune to that effect, and that created holes in their defenses despite Howard’s best efforts to cover everything up.

It was a rare example of somebody actually ripping Howard’s defense apart. At present, Yuel could only dream of achieving a result like this.

The rest of the Leopards were strong as well, but Fenrir definitely stood head and shoulders above them. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like the Leopards had anybody of that caliber this year.

“I agree on that point,” Yuel said. “Overall, this year’s Leopards are probably weaker than last year.”

“Right. Except, that’s not true at all,” Howard said. “What if I told you they got a secret sixth player?”

“A secret player…?” That sounds like a conspiracy theory if I ever heard one.

“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking.” Howard chuckled. “Something like ‘Look at the nerve of this guy, wasting my time on some conspiracy nonsense’, right? Haha.”

“Yes, it does sound rather dubious.”

“I can’t blame you. I’d probably not believe it either if you came to me with that kind of fairytale. And, it only gets more surreal from here, so I hope you brought your suspension of disbelief along today.”

“Well, I’m listening.”

“This secret sixth player is... Korean!”

“Okay, now you’re pulling my leg.”

“No, I’m dead serious.” Howard’s hawk eyes left no room for argument. “I don’t know the whole story, but he used to live in Korea and moved over here because of his parents’ work or something.”

“Huh…”

“His English is pretty decent though, so I bet he has been around for a while now. Maybe a year?”

The fact he’s questioning his own lack of data makes it sound more real. Yuel thought. Either that, or he’s coming up with all of this on the spot. Hard to tell for sure.

Regardless, Yuel decided to play along for now. “Okay, so they got a sixth player who happens to be Korean in origin. Since you’ve come all the way here to talk about him, I take it he’s good?”

“Oh yes, he’s good. Too good, I’d say.” Howard grimaced. “Have you ever heard these absurd stories about how seriously Koreans take pro-gaming?”

“I’ve read a little here and there.”

Nowadays, it was practically impossible to be a part of any esports scene without hearing some tales about Korean players. There were various articles, news, and interviews that covered their lifestyles and training regimes, highlighting their immense dedication to the craft.

Honestly, a lot of it sounded dubious and exaggerated. Nonetheless, it was a fact that Korean players stood at the top of the competition in many esports, including Classmancers.

Famous names like Maker and DimensionShift all belonged to the Korean pro scene. For years now, they’ve been dominating the competition on a global scale.

Apparently, much of it was the result of how dedicated Koreans were to their esports scene from a very young age. There were some articles that covered the harsh competitive environments of their esports clubs, which showed no mercy even for grade-schoolers.

“I’ve also only heard bits and pieces until now,” Howard admitted. “A lot of these articles sound like exaggerated clickbait stuff, right? I mean, they make it sound like the coaches force kids to work full time, almost as hard as pros. It’s pretty nuts.”

“Yeah, it does sound extreme, even to my taste,” Yuel agreed. Even he, a fanatic of training hard every day, found the Korean methods in the articles quite extreme.

For example, one article mentioned a very spartan training environment. Not only did the coaches ask the kids to dedicate every nanosecond of their lives to the craft, but they also pitted students against each other.

Essentially, the training environment turned into a battle royale. It was survival of the fittest. Anybody who fell behind was doomed to be exiled.

It sounded too extreme, too different from how training was done in the west. As such, it was easy to write it off as exaggerated media coverage.

“But, you know what?” Howard said. “After seeing this Korean guy in action, I started to think maybe these stories are true. They might really be holding some insane training regimes over there.”

“How and when did you see him play?” Yuel interrogated, still uncertain about this whole little story.

“You remember how StormBlitz gets opportunities to play with the Sweepers, right?”

“Largely thanks to your connections, yes.” Yuel frowned.

This reminded him of a salty moment from the past, of the time he discovered that StormBlitz’s first-string occasionally scrimmaged with pro players. It was like a slap to the face at the time, as he realized that he and Lars will never be a part of that high-level experience unless they can get into the first-string.

In fact, that was one of the things that pushed Yuel to hold a selection match against Howard and Ellen. So yes, of course he remembered that little tidbit. He remembered it VERY well.

“In a recent scrim with the pros,” Howard said. “This Korean player joined in, as part of my team.”

“He played on your side?” Yuel raised an eyebrow.

“I know, right? Pretty damn outrageous, haha.”

“Sounds like an odd arrangement. Wouldn’t it make more sense for him to play alongside his team?”

“It totally would, but there were some time constraints at play. As you probably know, the Leopards have lots of scrims at this time of the year.”

“Right.”

“So, the coach didn’t want to distract them with pro scrims in the middle of it all.”

“Then, why not wait for a better time?”

“That’s what I asked, too.” Howard sighed. “Say, do you know Ronshfelt?”

“I believe that’s the man who owns the Cleaners and the Sweepers?”

“Yep, you’re well informed as always.” Howard nodded. “Ever met him?”

“No.”

“Well, let’s just he’s the… easily excited type, to say the least. He got all hyped when he heard about this Korean player. His every other sentence was ‘wonderboy this’ or ‘wonderboy that’, like a broken record.”

“The owner of pro teams was excited about some middle schooler? Why?”

“Rodriguez probably fed him something.” Howard sighed. “The guy used to play on the Sweepers, so the two know each other. I bet Rodriguez overhyped that Korean kid to make this pro match happen ASAP.”

“That part makes sense” Yuel agreed. “But, what I don’t understand is why would Ronshfelt be so interested in a middle schooler in the first place? He’s in charge of pro teams, not middle school ones.”

“Oh, right. I forgot to mention one small but important detail. That pro scrim? It doubled as an entry exam.”

“... what entry exam? For whom?” Yuel frowned. “Wait, don’t tell me it’s…”

“Yeah, it’s probably what you’re thinking about but don’t want to believe. Yes, Ronshfelt seriously considered recruiting this Korean kid to the pro scene, probably into the Cleaners.”

“Wha…” Yuel’s mouth opened and closed. “Is he really that good?”

“Oh, I got your interest now, right? Haha.” Howard smiled triumphantly. “Hmm. Is this Korean kid good enough for the pro scene? That’s a hard question to answer.”

“I take it he didn’t pass? Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”

“A sharp observation.” Howard nodded. “Yeah, he didn’t pass. But, he didn’t exactly fail either.”

“What do you mean?”

“They put him on hold. They first want to see how he fares in the regular competitive scene. But, the offer of going pro as a middle schooler isn’t entirely off the table.”

“That’s… impressive. Very impressive.”

“I know, right? I wish I got an offer like that.”

“Is he really that good?’ Yuel asked. “Did he achieve anything impressive in that scrim?”

“I’ll put it this way: he gave sis a fight in Top. Like, a fair fight. She couldn’t go easy on him at all, and she was mad salty after every fight with him.”

“So, he can contest Ignis in a duel?” Yuel frowned. “That’s definitely huge.”

He had first-hand experience fighting Ignis, so he could attest to how strong she was. Even when she was drunk and taking things easy, she mopped the floor with Yuel in a 1v1.

Yuel managed to outsmart her a few times by taking advantage of her drunkenness, but it never took her too long to adapt and turn the tables on him. And, if Ignis fought him at 100% of her power the entire time, then Yuel probably wouldn’t have been able to even touch her. Indeed, Ignis was a pro player, through and through.

I know I’m not an expert duelist, but I’m still decent for the middle school level. So, losing that badly to Ignis shows how much ahead she is in terms of skill. So, if there’s a middle schooler who can actually contest her...

The more Yuel heard, the more concerning this intel was sounding.

Of course, it was still too early to fully trust everything Howard said. Maybe this “secret Korean player” was just a boogeyman, and Howard actually came here to put pressure on Yuel for whatever reason.

But for now, it was best to listen to the story, as absurd as that story sounded...