"So? Do you think this is the time when you're receiving the best treatment in your career?"

Manager Bang Jin-ho asked.

"Yes."

"I think you can do even better."

"……."

"Let's do it this way. If you achieve a win rate of over 70% in the pro league, you get an incentive. It doesn’t make sense for your salary to skyrocket when your performance is the same as before. How about it? Isn't this fair? director, do you agree?"

"Yes, that sounds reasonable."

"Shin Ji-ho, what about you?"

Shin Ji-ho remained silent for a moment.

He seemed to be contemplating, then finally spoke.

"Since we’re talking about Lee Shin…"

"Hmm?"

"There’s a strange rumor going around. People are saying that our team is trying to bring Lee Shin in as a coach. Apparently, the manager even visited him recently? Is this true?"

"……."

Manager Bang Jin-ho frowned. This was something he had wanted to keep from Shin Ji-ho.

Shin Ji-ho’s smile twisted into something bitter.

"Do you know how much trouble I've gone through because of Lee Shin?"

"We’re professionals. We can’t dwell on such things."

"Maybe it's because I’m still young, but I guess I lack that professional mindset. I can’t work with that bastard."

Shin Ji-ho stood up.

"I like the condition you just mentioned. But I have a condition of my own."

As he left the office, he added,

"Lee Shin is not an option."

After he left, the two remaining men exchanged troubled looks.

"What should we do? Can you convince him?"

"It won’t work. His grudge against Lee Shin is too strong."

The moment that turned Shin Ji-ho from someone who merely grumbled to someone completely twisted—was Lee Shin.

If they forced him to work with Lee Shin, there was a high chance he would quit.

"Do we have to give up on Lee Shin?"

"……We need Lee Shin."

Manager Bang Jin-ho had no doubts after Lee Shin’s surprise commentary during the 3rd Round Playoff finals.

- Why aren’t they using the screen selection shortcut? I don’t understand why their reactions are so sluggish.

It was a passing remark, but it had shocked Manager Bang Jin-ho.

Because it was an absolutely accurate observation.

Lee Shin hadn't even looked at the player's personal screen, yet he had noticed the issue. It was incredible.

'A genius!'

He had a natural talent for intuitively perceiving things that ordinary people couldn’t see.

The god of gaming would make an excellent coach!

Manager Bang Jin-ho was convinced.

But if asked who was more important between the team’s ace, Shin Ji-ho, and Lee Shin, that was a different issue altogether.

"This is really tricky."

Team Leader Park Sang-hyuk’s sigh expressed exactly how Coach Bang Jin-ho felt.

Returning to the practice room in a foul mood, Shin Ji-ho noticed the strange atmosphere among the players and trainees.

First-team, second-team, and trainees were all gathered in one place, watching a replay video.

And second-team player Jung Da-ul looked utterly dejected.

"What’s going on? Why do you look like that?"

At Shin Ji-ho’s question, Jung Da-ul looked like he was about to cry.

"Hyung, I lost."

"So what? It’s not like it’s your first time losing. Why the fuss?"

"It’s not that…"

"What? Don’t tell me you lost to a trainee?"

"That would’ve been better."

Jung Da-ul spoke in a dying voice.

"I lost online."

"What? Who was the opponent? What rank are they?"

"I don’t know. They’re an A-rank user, an amateur who’s been gaining fame online lately."

"Who is that?"

"Hyung, you probably know. It's a user called Player_SIN."

"Ah…."

He thought he had heard of them.

Player_SIN.

An undefeated user who had been making waves among gamers.

He recalled dismissing them, assuming they were just a professional player fooling around with a secondary account.

"Let me take a look."

Since they were a fellow human race player, he became interested.

Jung Da-ul and Player_SIN played a total of three matches.

Jung Da-ul's main race was the Divine Race.

The map was Throne of Omnipotence.

On a map advantageous to the Divine Race, Jung Da-ul suffered three consecutive defeats.

Even a second-team player was still a professional who had climbed up by surpassing the competition among trainees.

If someone had completely toyed with such a player, it meant they weren’t an amateur either.

In the first set, Player_SIN built two Mechanized Stations and immediately produced two Rapid Tanks.

Rapid Tanks were extremely fast units with the added advantage of being able to plant up to two mines.

Once mine development was completed at the Mechanized Parts Research Lab, the two Rapid Tanks dashed forward.

They attempted to break into the enemy base, but Jung Da-ul wasn’t that careless.

He had blocked the entrance with four Colossi.

The two Rapid Tanks changed course and headed for Jung Da-ul’s expansion base.

The expansion base had just begun constructing a Grand Temple.

Once the Grand Temple was completed, he could attach production units to it to start resource gathering.

Since Rapid Tanks were weak against buildings, there was no real way for them to deal damage.

For some reason, Player_SIN simply withdrew the Rapid Tanks without any gains.

"Da-ul defended well."

Shin Ji-ho muttered.

Sending Rapid Tanks early was a harassment play.

Harassment was about attacking the opponent's production units to disrupt their resource intake.

But if the opponent anticipated and prepared for it, executing it successfully wasn’t easy.

"Da-ul seems to have the advantage, doesn't he? They couldn’t expand because they rushed two Rapid Tanks early."

"Keep watching."

The players watching together told Shin Ji-ho.

For some reason, Jung Da-ul's face looked even more dejected.

About thirty seconds later, just as the Grand Temple was completed.

Timing it precisely, Jung Da-ul sent his production units to the expansion base.

Ten Divine Acolytes, escorted by four Colossi, were moving.

At that very moment, Player_SIN, who hadn't expanded, simultaneously deployed eight Rapid Tanks that had been gathered.

As if they knew everything, they ambushed the moving Acolytes.

The Colossi attempted to counter, but the Rapid Tanks single-mindedly focused on exterminating the Acolytes.

All ten Acolytes were wiped out.

The Rapid Tanks then retreated as if they had finished their business.

"Wow, what the f***, that control."

"They cleared everything in an instant."

"Their hands are insanely fast."

The players clicked their tongues in amazement.

Acolytes died in two hits from a Rapid Tank’s attack.

Controlling all eight Rapid Tanks, Player_SIN assigned two tanks per target, eliminating four Acolytes at a time.

With lightning-fast control, ten Acolytes were annihilated in seconds. Only one Rapid Tank was lost to the Colossi's counterattack.

But Shin Ji-ho was impressed by something else.

'They saw the Grand Temple being built earlier and calculated when it would be completed.'

A meticulously timed ambush, down to the second, anticipating when the Acolytes would be deployed.

This was top-tier play.

'Who the hell is this?!'