Max Talent Player

hat was still a good five years in the making.
Several Rankers said that this process was absolutely necessary.
If you didn’t make the hierarchy between you and your Intermediate Administrator black and white, many cases of getting dragged along at the Intermediate Administrator’s behest would occur later down the line.

‘There were a lot of cases of that, yeah.’

An Intermediate Administrator had one goal.
Coins.
That was their first and last goal.
They weren’t all that interested in something as insignificant as a Player’s wellbeing.
Their eyes were fixed only on whether a Player could make money or not.
The more time went on, the more intense the streaming war between the Intermediate Administrators became, the more apparent that fact would become.

“You and I have an exclusive contract, and we’re in a business relationship.
You recognize that, yes?”

“…Yes.”

Senia was still kind and pure for a Streamer.
After all, there were a lot of Streamers who stubbornly shouted, “Sue me!” and refused to listen.
At the very least, it was possible to talk to Senia.

“But in such a situation, you spoke like you were threatening me.”

Up until now, most beginner Players were scared of Intermediate Administrators.
That was because most Intermediate Administrators were far more powerful than Players.
Because Players didn’t fully understand this System, they couldn’t make real complaints to their Intermediate Administrators.

‘But not me.’

I continued with a serious expression.

“If you use coercive force on me or vent your unjustified rage on me one more time…”

I gave it right back to her.

“Keep in mind that I’m the one who might make an extreme choice.”

“…”

I put the final nail in the coffin.

“There are no Players to replace me, but there are many Intermediate Administrators who can replace you.
Intermediate Administrators who would pay the huge contract violation fee for me.”

* * *

[Channel #19207 has been opened.]

Channel #19207 was the channel run by the angel Intermediate Administrator Senia, a Streamer who was focusing her attention on a single Player.

Senia spoke.

“A Pause is currently in effect.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to the certain Guardian who gave me the Pause authority.”

She didn’t reveal who that ‘certain Guardian’ was.

“Player Kim Hyukjin will now begin his Guardian selection.”

Guardian selection, and the 1st advancement that would come alongside it.
This was the turning point for a Player that occurred when they reached level 30.

I heard a stream of notices.

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[Level increased.]

[Current level: 30]

 

They were all notices I knew about.

 

[The number of direct messages you can receive from Guardians is limited to five.]

[Choosing the Guardians that can send you a direct message.]

 

‘It’s… taking a while.’

It was just a guess, but the Guardians were probably fighting tooth and nail right now in order to secure the right to send me a direct message.
Basically, in order to ‘contact’ me.

[Guardian messages will be sent to you in the form of a ‘note’.]

 

[A note has arrived.]

[A note has arrived.]

[A note has arrived.]

[A note has arrived.]

[A note has arrived.]

 

Hyukjin trembled unconsciously. 

‘I immediately got five notes.’

Could this really be called luck?

‘No.
This is absolutely not luck.’

Luck alone could not produce such a result.
It was hard work in addition to luck, with a heaping spoonful of talent on top.
By now, I was sure of it.
I had enough talent to make the average genius look like an ordinary Joe.
I just didn’t know how long this talent would last, or what my limit of growth was.

‘Five.’

The past me wouldn’t have even imagined this would happen.

‘There are plenty of Players who can’t even get contacted by one Guardian.’

But I received a whopping five messages.

‘From what I know…’

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I combed through my memories.
It wasn’t a topic my civil service studying had covered thoroughly.
You couldn’t know how many contacts a Player received unless they revealed it themselves, so it was hard to tell exactly.

‘But from what is known, four was the highest.’

There hadn’t been any Players—at least from what I knew—who had received notes from five Guardians. 

‘Check the notes.’

I checked the names of the Guardians who won the battle and were able to send notes to me.

 

[A note from the ‘True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain’ has arrived.]

[A note from the ‘Herdsman of Las Vegas’ has arrived.]

[A note from the ‘Lady of the Scales’ has arrived.]

[A note from the ‘Whispering Devil’ has arrived.]

[A note from the ‘Merchant of Venice’ has arrived.]

 

Two Guardians who were very famous in the Korean server, one who was extremely famous in the Italian server, and one who was immensely famous in the US server.
And then, there was one Guardian even I didn’t know that much about.

‘Five?’

But it was a little unexpected.

‘It’s a little weird.’

The Guardian I had been expecting didn’t send a message.

‘This choice… wasn’t in the picture I was drawing.’

I didn’t think that Guardian would be eliminated from the competition.
The Guardian I was thinking about was none other than the ‘Nameless Observer’.

‘Did the Nameless Observer… not choose me?’

That could be the case.
Because if the Nameless Observer didn’t choose me, I wouldn’t be able to hear the notice about it.

‘For now… let’s check the messages one by one.’

They were all famous Guardians.
I was confident that no matter who I chose, I had a promising future ahead of me.

‘As long as I’m not an early bloomer.’

It all hinged on me being a ‘true genius’ with no early growth limit.
After reading the notes, I thought long and hard.
I thought over and over about which of the five Guardians who had sent messages to me I would choose.

After a long period of time, Senia asked, “Which Guardian will you set as your contracted Guardian?”

 

____