Ch.520Chapter 20. American Doblin (10)

Korea is the birthplace of esports.

If every country has something they can be called “number one” in without exaggeration, and if you ask where Korea excels, the answer might vary by generation, but young people would point to “gaming.”

What about this world?

It’s the same in this world too.

Esports has become Korea’s pride, and Korea must always remain the strongest nation in esports.

If Korea conquered world sports with bows before 2000, after 2000 it conquered world esports with mice and keyboards.

Sometimes in forgotten temples.

Sometimes in kingdoms burning beneath flames.

Sometimes on battlefields where four races converge.

At a time when Korea wasn’t achieving much in world championships except in archery, the fact that Koreans “became world number one” instilled great national pride in its citizens.

The social atmosphere that once questioned:

“Isn’t gaming just about shooting guns and killing people?”

Changed to:

“Gaming is education.”

“Pfft, what did you say?”

“Game strategies and tactics are all export items.”

As gaming was no longer considered a disease, its status transformed.

“If it just ended with games, that would be fine, but what if ability users who are children today learn from the abilities discovered in these games? That’s a different story.”

“Huh?”

“The White House offered me a billion dollars for my tech tree and control data for the barbarian warrior and wizard I developed. It becomes a kind of curriculum… an educational process.”

“W-wait a minute. This isn’t in the script…”

“Gaming is no longer a disease. It’s a strategy guide—no, a textbook for nurturing ability users!”

America was most interested in gaming.

As developed countries began discovering educational materials for abilities within the gaming industry, Korea also started focusing on games to survive the era of great transformation.

“Though it’s just keyboards and mice now, won’t ability users who grow up watching these in-game battles learn from those abilities?”

“But should we let our children follow what American or European gamers have created?! Do you want our children to grow up to be heroes with mohawks shooting guns like Yankee heroes?!”

“We must nurture ability users with our own methods and unique culture! Gaming is no longer a disease!”

And so, Korea began discovering “ability users” in domestic games.

At that time, regardless of whether ability users were being born and raised, most people were fascinated by the star wars in the PC world.

“This year’s WGC champion is… Team Korea!!”

Koreans excelled at PC strategy games and RTS more than anyone else, becoming a new source of national pride that elevated the country’s status.

The age of abilities.

The battlefield where these abilities are used most brilliantly.

Although these were abilities in a world of zeros and ones created from the imagination and fantasies of non-ability users and the sacrifices of developers, the battlefield where these ability users fought captured everyone’s attention.

“Someday our children will use abilities as brilliantly as that…!”

People became interested in “hero” units or in developing hero characters.

Like characters developed in RPG games, couldn’t they just teach these abilities to children born someday?

Whether these children grow up wielding dual swords performing whirlwinds or shooting three-pronged ice spears, couldn’t they just remove elements harmful to children’s emotional development and teach them only the abilities?

While comics, animation, and novels became educational materials for ability users as they grew up.

Games became a medium that stimulated and developed human imagination to provide educational materials for ability users in this world.

And while E-sports was based on ability competitions among adults using games, from 2012 onward, E-sports gradually transformed into “A(bility)-sports.”

Before 2012.

When ability users were still children.

As gaming competitions developed and ability users grew up wanting to show off their powers.

“Now!!! We will!!! Begin!!! The ability battle!!!!!!”

People began to get excited.

As elementary school children developed the ability to control their powers enough not to kill their opponents, ability users began showing off their strengths.

As the age range of ability users gradually increased, competitions became more specialized and systematic.

By 2020, when ability users began becoming “adults” one by one, ability competitions reminiscent of UFC began to unfold.

In 2022.

The first Ability User World Cup was held, gathering ability users aged 19 and over from various countries.

The winner was, of course, Korea.

After that, year after year, Korea never lost the championship in ability competition tournaments.

Even with the restriction that “only A-class can participate,” Korea still won by fielding only A-class ability users.

No matter how other countries recruited those who couldn’t get a chance to participate and fielded them as their national representatives.

No matter how they changed the rules of the competition to disadvantage Korea.

Korea always achieved the feat of winning the Ability User World Cup.

And this year.

2025.

For the first time ever, they decided to hold a “tournament where even S-class can participate.”

That is the Ability User World Cup to be held about two months from the current August.

Taking the trophy from Korea.

Breaking the pride of the birthplace of esports.

That is the Chairman’s plan.

In the original history.

That is, in the “original work,” Korea naturally wins.

But it’s questionable whether that victory was purely Korean, as the winning team was “Team Sejong.”

Yes.

Not heroes affiliated with the country, but the promising students from “Sejong Academy.”

Academy students who were sent just to gain experience, with the protagonist brought along as a figurehead, unexpectedly winning against everyone’s expectations.

But.

That future no longer exists.

Because the winning team will be neither Korea nor Sejong Academy.

But “America.”

That shock will be an indescribably huge blow to this country steeped in national pride.

To use an analogy from a game I know well:

“I can’t believe this!! North America!!! A country that has never even made it to the finals before!! They’ve defeated Europe, overcome China, and now they’ve beaten Korea in the finals and lifted the trophy!!!!”

That would be about the level of shock.

* * *

“It will pour cold water on everyone’s expectation of an inevitable victory. We’ll take the championship cup and display it in the middle of New York’s Times Square instead of at the Korean Hero Association.”

The Chairman has already planned everything for after the victory.

“The meteorite is in Korea, and the mana flowing from it has spread throughout the Korean peninsula, but what will people think if Korea ultimately fails to be world number one? Ymir, what’s the answer?”

“Um, well, wouldn’t everyone be shocked…?”

“That’s right. They’d be incredibly shocked. They’d already be furious about losing the championship cup, but to lose it to another country in an international competition held in the middle of the Korean peninsula? That would kill all national pride.”

The Chairman knows this all too well.

“At first, I thought about just conquering by force. I wondered if we could gather all the S-class from around the world and occupy Korea by force, regardless of the Lord of Radiant Wings. But that would bring about the end of the world.”

“……The end?”

“Mutual destruction. So we can’t recklessly attack Korea, and winning fair and square is the only way.”

How to suppress and manage the national pride pervading this world to lead it in a healthy direction.

“Korea currently has two major problems. One is forcing ability users to sacrifice themselves for the country. And the other is that such an organization has taken control of Korea’s politics, economy, society, culture, and media.”

“Haeguneul.”

“That’s right. The only things not under their control are education and justice… Sejong Academy and the Hero Association. And one more thing.”

The Chairman spread out his fingers.

“Public opinion.”

“…….”

“We plan to maximize the scale of the World Cup. Believing it’s an international competition with a predetermined winner, Haeguneul will use the World Cup for all kinds of marketing.”

“But if they don’t win….”

“They’ll be in hot water. Nothing hits a company harder than failed patriotic marketing.”

Everyone assumes Korea will win anyway.

“We’ll let Haeguneul make all kinds of premature announcements. Discounts if they win, events, whatever they want to do. But what if they don’t win? Bang. It explodes. People will even start claiming they lost because of Haeguneul.”

Into this atmosphere, our Syndicate, as America’s representative, will pour cold water.

“Those who were persecuted and oppressed in Korea, went abroad, and returned will defeat Korea. And after winning, they’ll say this in front of everyone.”

The Chairman looked over Seong Ji-eun and Cheon Ju-yeon, then spoke as if on their behalf.

“We dedicate this victory to America and Haeguneul. Because Haeguneul tried to kill us, we’re competing as representatives of America, not Korea.”

“Ah.”

“Think about it. People who should have been on our team went to the opposing team because of our idiots and won the championship?”

Public opinion will…

“Who would people blame?”

Explode.

“Imagine if a Korean naturalized as Japanese and made Japan win. What would happen?”

Toward Haeguneul.