“Get up, you bastard.”

Lee Shin groggily opened his eyes.

A middle-aged man with a tough-looking beard came into view.

Manager Bang Jin-ho clicked his tongue.

“Did you throw common sense out the window? I’m driving, and you’re sleeping?”

“I’m not feeling well.”

A lie that came out instinctively.

If he lost in the ranking match, he might be forced into a long sleep, so he was laying the groundwork in advance.

“Bullshit. We’re here, get out.”

“Yes.”

Looking out the car window at the scenery, Lee Shin finally felt the reality of returning to the real world.

The Amateur League was an official tournament hosted by the Korean eSports Association, serving as a gateway for aspiring professional gamers.

Held twelve times a year—once every month—winning in a group granted a semi-pro license and eligibility to enter the professional team draft.

Because of this, countless amateur players from all over gathered, and even trainees from professional teams participated to earn their semi-pro qualifications.

Yongsan eSports Center.

As Manager Bang Jin-ho parked the car and stepped out, murmurs spread through the crowd.

“Isn’t that the MBS team manager?”

“Yeah, that’s Manager Bang Jin-ho.”

“Whoa, even a pro team manager came.”

“Is he here to scout rookies?”

“MBS team’s trainees are competing here, right? He’s probably checking on them.”

“If we perform well, maybe they’ll pick us too.”

Teenagers and young adults in their early twenties stared at Manager Bang Jin-ho with admiration.

And then—

“Huh?!”

The moment Lee Shin stepped out of the passenger seat, the reaction exploded.

“I-It’s Lee Shin!”

“Lee Shin!”

“Waaaah!”

“Lee Shin hyung!”

The crowd of amateurs swarmed toward him like a tidal wave.

“Please sign this!”

“Hyung, I really respect you!”

“Is your wrist okay?”

Manager Bang Jin-ho frowned.

The attention on Lee Shin was so overwhelming that no matter where he went, this chaos followed.

The two barely managed to push through the crowd.

The Amateur League’s venue resembled a massive PC café.

Hundreds of partitioned seats were packed with amateurs engaged in matches.

Association staff bustled around, guiding players and recording match results. Some winners cheered in excitement, while others packed up their belongings with devastated expressions.

Since everyone was wearing headsets, game sounds weren’t audible, but the sheer number of people made the place noisy.

With Manager Bang Jin-ho and Lee Shin’s arrival, the commotion grew even louder.

“It’s really Lee Shin.”

“Wow, holy shit, he looks even better in person.”

“He must be crazy good at the game.”

“If I could play even half as well as Lee Shin, I’d win every match here.”

“His expression looks like absolute shit. He must be annoyed.”

With Manager Bang Jin-ho’s stern face and Lee Shin’s irritated expression, their combined atmosphere discouraged people from approaching too closely. Instead, they kept a slight distance, watching from afar.

“Are they still in the Round of 64?”

“We came too early.”

“Watch your tone.”

“That was just talking to myself.”

“Let’s check on our team’s trainees first.”

“Yes.”

As they walked, they scanned the monitors of competing amateur players one by one.

Some for a full minute, others for as little as ten seconds.

Observing hand movements, unit control, and reaction strategies when attacked, they assessed each player.

Manager Bang Jin-ho, who had led a team for years, could instantly gauge a player’s skill.

So could Lee Shin.

But the difference was in their standards.

To Manager Bang Jin-ho, some players seemed to have potential, but Lee Shin assessed them with cold precision.

This stark difference in perspective became evident while observing the MBS trainees’ matches.

“How does he look?”

“Not good.”

Manager Bang Jin-ho’s brows furrowed deeply.

“You always jump straight to criticism. Look at his potential, not just his skills.”

“I am looking at his potential. He won’t make it.”

“He’s fast, and his build orders are solid. That should make him worth training, right?”

“His hands are fast, but he makes too many unnecessary movements. That means he’s struggling to focus.”

“So you’re saying he needs to reduce those wasted actions?”

Manager Bang Jin-ho began jotting notes in his notebook. He, at least, trusted Lee Shin’s keen eye for the game.

“If a player knows exactly what they need to do at every moment, those unnecessary movements disappear. In professional matches, you mostly see those mistakes when players are trapped in desperate situations with no good options.”

After recording Lee Shin’s words, Manager Bang Jin-ho asked again,

“How far do you think he’ll make it this time?”

“He won’t reach the semi-pro level.”

“Tsk. Let’s go check on someone else.”

The two continued watching MBS trainees' matches, analyzing their gameplay.

They exchanged opinions, with Manager Bang Jin-ho picking up coaching insights from Lee Shin’s observations.

It was rare for a manager to personally oversee the Amateur League. Usually, they sent coaches to manage the trainees instead.

But Manager Bang Jin-ho’s situation was different.

‘The team’s budget keeps shrinking, and recruiting top-tier players to strengthen our lineup is out of the question.’

The current executives at MBS Broadcasting viewed the future of Korean eSports with extreme pessimism.

After the Lee Shin incident, they seemed to believe the golden age of Korean eSports had ended.

As a result, the team’s funding had steadily decreased, to the point where even their ace player, Shin Ji-ho, was snatched away by Twin Star Electronics.

‘Damn it. This is why I wanted to recruit Park Young-ho!’

Last fall, Manager Bang Jin-ho had pushed to sign Park Young-ho.

But due to upper management’s policy of eliminating unnecessary expenses, the plan fell through.

Now, the player they let slip away had become one of the strongest in the scene, known as part of the “Twin Dragons” alongside Choi Young-jun.

The more he thought about it, the more infuriating it became.

But despite everything, Manager Bang Jin-ho still saw hope for MBS’s future.

Because they had recruited Lee Shin as a coach!

‘Even if we have to sacrifice this year, we’ll train our players for next year.’

His new goal was to develop the second team and trainees so that they could become immediate assets by next year.

To achieve this, he had brought in Lee Shin, the so-called God of the Game, as a coach.

If Lee Shin’s presence led to visible improvements in the players, then their strategy had a real chance of success.

Most of the second team and trainees were in their late teens. Since they were young, they could develop rapidly if given the right motivation.

After all, the eSports scene was a place where unpredictable, monstrous talents like Lee Shin could suddenly emerge without warning.

“Let’s take a full look around.”

“Yes.”

After evaluating the MBS trainees, the two started observing other amateur players to see if there were any promising talents.

Then, they suddenly noticed a peculiar player.

A girl.

And not just any girl—she was a foreigner.

Her hair was black.

But her pale porcelain skin, sharp nose, and blue eyes made it clear that she was Western.

She looked to be in her late teens, but since she was foreign, it was difficult to estimate her exact age.