Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1131. Getting Some Rest (1)

“Hyung...”

Park Yu-Min sighed, then turned his head to look at the person calling out to him. “Yeah?”

Choi Jeong-Wu worriedly asked, “Did something happen to you?”

“I’m telling you, nothing happened.”

“Come on, don’t say that. Please, just tell us...”

“No, really. It’s nothing.”

Choi Jeong-Wu grew even more worried instead.

‘What’s gotten into Yu-Min hyung?’

The team had just finished their play-off and was on their way home. As for the result...

It was a good result for the team, of course. They had managed to eke out the victory, after all. Which meant they would be competing in the finals for the first time since the team's founding.

However, the mood inside the van taking the team members back to the team residence definitely did not belong to that of the glorious victors.

Calling Park Yu-Min’s performance today as absolute garbage wouldn’t have been an exaggeration. He was so bad throughout the match that it became hard to believe he was the same man who single-handedly dragged this team through the season and brought them to this point.

Thankfully, he still managed to pull off some incredible moves every now and then to avoid defeat.

No one here was relieved by that, however. The grimness of this situation wouldn’t let them.

Objectively speaking, the team only managed to win this match and reach the finals because they got lucky with the individual match-ups. But it'd be impossible to overcome the finalists waiting for them with such a crappy performance.

With things like this, it’d be a waste of everyone’s time to even go through with the finals!

What puzzled Choi Jeong-Wu was that the person responsible for such garbage performance was none other than Park Yu-Min.

A fresh-faced rookie committing these mistakes would've made sense. The pressure of post-season matches was on another scale compared to the regular in-season matches, after all.

People who suffered from stage fright would be too dazed and frightened to know what to do in such pressure-cooker situations. In fact, such people often couldn't even recall what they were doing during the matches!

That was how scary nervousness could be.

However, Park Yu-Min was no rookie. He was someone who often performed on stages far larger than this one by himself to win. And that was why Choi Jeong-Wu couldn't understand.

Why did Park Yu-Min fail to perform properly today?

‘It might have been easier to understand if he was falling behind physically.’

Like pro athletes, pro gamers were also affected by their physical abilities. Their reflexes would get duller with age, making it harder to control their movements as exactly as before.

When that happened, the pros would usually resort to covering it up with their experience. If they couldn’t do that, it was a sign that they should consider retirement.

Since that was the case, everyone would have been more understanding had Park Yu-Min been falling behind on physical aspects. However, in Choi Jeong-Wu's opinion, the issue or issues plaguing Park Yu-Min were not physical in nature.

Park Yu-Min’s judgment had gotten poorer, while it was plainly obvious that he couldn’t focus on the game anymore.

Choi Jeong-Wu was about to ask another question, only to stop himself. He sighed deeply as his head faltered.

‘Let’s not bring it up.’

This dude was the one and only Park Yu-Min. He should know about his condition better than anyone. Since that was the case, Choi Jeong-Wu offering advice would be no better than nagging at this stage.

Choi Jeong-Wu sneakily looked up at the van's interior mirror. He could see the stiff face of the team director in the front passenger seat.

The team director would always hold a celebratory feast after every victory, but not today. He ordered everyone to head back to the residence right away.

The director glanced behind him once the van reached the team’s residence. “We’ve arrived. Everyone, get off.”

“Yes, director!”

The team members began picking up their luggage and filing out of the exit. After everyone stepped inside the residence, the director glanced at Park Yu-Min.

“Yu-Min?”

Park Yu-Min turned to stare at the director. “Yes, sir?”

“Come with me to my office. I gotta talk to you for a sec.”

“Understood.”

Park Yu-Min dropped his luggage on the floor, then headed to the director’s office right away.

The director, Oh Jin-Hyeong, switched on the office’s light, then took out a bottle of drink from the mini fridge before pointing at an empty chair in front of his desk. “Take a seat.”

“Sir.”

Park Yu-Min didn’t say anything else and obediently took the seat.

Oh Jin-Hyeong put the bottle down in front of Park Yu-Min, then sat on the other side while smiling affably. “That was pretty close, right?”

“...”

“One mistake, and we could’ve lost the match. Yup, that sure was too close for comfort, I tell ya.”

Park Yu-Min deeply bowed his head. “I’m sorry, director. It was all my fault.”

“Hang on a sec,” Oh Jin-Hyeong responded with a firm head shake. “Yes, it's true that you weren’t yourself today and didn’t play to your usual high standards. We’re both professionals, so let’s not mince our words, okay? Even so, I’m not planning to reprimand you for it. Do you know why?”

“No, sir. I don’t.”

“Because we couldn’t have reached the play-off without your help in the first place,” said Oh Jin-Hyeong while smiling again. “If you had been skipping out on practice sessions, being a lazy-ass, or acting all conceited and the like and didn’t even bother to analyze your opponents, I would have been itching to chew you out like there’s no tomorrow. But that’s not what happened here, right?”

The way Oh Jin-Hyeong saw it, Park Yu-Min had never been lazy. Not even once.

A lazy brat needed to be told to work harder and put more effort in. However, advising a hard worker to work even harder was nothing more than well-intended abuse.

How was someone, who was already pushing himself to the limit, supposed to work even harder in that case?

“I mean, this isn't your first slump, right?” Oh Jin-Hyeong asked rhetorically while leaning against his chair.

Park Yu-Min replied. “Yes, it isn’t.”

“This is what all slumps are like. Nobody knows why they happen. And no one can figure out why they can’t perform at the same level as before. Worse still, no one knows the surefire way to get over the slump, either.”

Park Yu-Min sighed deeply. He had already experienced several slumps in his pro gaming career. Even then, this had to be his first time experiencing such a severe dip in his form.

“Yu-Min, listen. Take some time off to refresh yourself.”

“...Sir?”

“I’m telling you to go on a vacation, dude. We still have about a week till the finals, right? So, I’m giving you two days off. Go somewhere fun and destress, okay?”

“But, uh...”

“You already know that practicing even harder won’t immediately solve your problem, now don’t you?”

Park Yu-Min hurriedly clamped his mouth shut.

The best way to overcome one's slump was to train. But that was a long-term solution. One week of intense training wouldn't do much to fix the issues plaguing Park Yu-Min.

Oh Jin-Hyeong continued to offer suggestions. “Watch some movies, go on a date... Do something fun to unwind, okay? Then, things will improve for you. You know, don’t you? That in times like this, it’s better to not touch any games for a bit?”

Park Yu-Min silently nodded away.

Oh Jin-Hyeong was right. Destressing was certainly one of the methods to recover from one's dip in form.

However, Park Yu-Min knew. And so did the director. They both knew that the week between now and the finals was indescribably crucial for their success.

Training tirelessly during this week so that the entire team functioned as one could decide whether they emerged as champions or runners-up.

So, wasting two days of that crucial week could prove fatal to Park Yu-Min and the team. Worse still, what if Park Yu-Min's form didn't improve despite shouldering such immense risk?

‘That means I won’t participate in the finals.’

The reserve, Gwok Hyeon-Tae, would no doubt practice with the team during those two days. And if Park Yu-Min’s form was still poor after his time off, or worse than Gwok Hyeon-Tae’s...

The one going to the finals would be Gwok Hyeon-Tae instead.

Park Yu-Min sighed deeply again.

Results were everything to a professional gamer.

Playing video games for a living was, in all honesty, an unproductive profession. No matter how hard you worked in playing games, it didn't produce any products worth monetary value. The only reason esports and pro gamers could exist was due to the fans willing to spend their time watching the matches.

And the fans' support and love would always follow successful gamers. No wonder pros became obsessed with getting good results no matter what.

“Okay. I understand, sir.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Yu-Min. This is also to protect you. I hope you understand that.”

Park Yu-Min had no doubt about that. If the team’s cause of defeat in their first-ever finals appearance was due to his garbage performance, he’d be subjected to enormous criticisms from all quarters, after all!

Park Yu-Min was well aware of how precarious his standing was in the public’s eye.

Fans who knew him from the past and enjoyed what he did would still support him regardless of how rubbish his performance was. However, that story didn’t apply to the people who didn't know about him or the haters who had never been his fans.

Some people even expressed their dissatisfaction at Park Yu-Min joining this esports team, saying he was taking attention away from those who actually deserved it.

With the situation like that, Park Yu-Min becoming the cause of the team's defeat could cause the fandom to fracture and start a major war online.

Park Yu-Min nodded. “I get it, director. I do.”

“Good. No need to beat around the bush here, so you can take your leave right away. Come home before midnight two days from now, okay?”

“Got it, sir.”

It'd be a lie if Park Yu-Min didn't feel disappointed by this development. However, he knew the director wasn't trying to throw him away. No, this was more like the final desperate attempt to turn things around.

But knowing that only made things bitter for Park Yu-Min.

Oh Jin-Hyeong grimaced a little. “Oh, by the way... Mm...”

Park Yu-Min tilted his head. “Yes, sir?”

“It’s kinda weird to say this to a dude about to get some time off, but...”

“If you can think of a way to improve my situation, please tell me, sir. I’m desperate enough to clutch at straws at this point.”

“Hmm...” Oh Jin-Hyeong grunted while frowning. He obviously was deep in thought. After a while, though, he began speaking again. “It’s about your slump, dude.”

“Yes?”

“When it started, I thought the cause might be psychological. But now?”

“Yes?”

“I think that might not be it.”

“Really?”

If it’s not psychological, what could it be? A physical injury?

‘But I don’t have any physical problems, though?’

Park Yu-Min frowned and looked at himself. Did his reaction times get subtly slower, but he failed to notice it? But he didn’t sense that while reviewing the match?

Oh Jin-Hyeong briefly waved his hand. “No, it’s not like that, so don’t make that face, okay? I wasn’t talking about injuries or slower reaction times, you see? It’s more like... The issue is with your play style.”

“I don’t follow, sir.”

“Okay. Check this out,” Oh Jin-Hyeong said while taking his phone out. He tapped on an icon on the screen, then presented it to Park Yu-Min. “This is the footage of the match you first played as the ace in the starting line-up. Well, not exactly the first match, though. Probably your third match, I think.”

Park Yu-Min tilted his head some more, wondering why Oh Jin-Hyeong wanted him to watch it. Still, he focused on the footage being played on the phone’s screen. And after watching it for a while...

Park Yu-Min frowned, his head tilting intensifying.

“...Huh?”

For some reason, something didn’t feel quite right.

Without a doubt, the in-game character belonged to Park Yu-Min. However, it didn’t move like his character. So much so that it even felt like someone else was sitting in Park Yu-Min’s chair and using his mouse to control this character.

He didn’t have to watch for long to figure out what Oh Jin-Hyeong was trying to say.

Park Yu-Min looked away from the screen and at the team director. “Sir, this...!”

“You noticed it? Yeah, it’s not the same, right?”

“...Yes, it’s not.” Park Yu-Min urgently nodded.

Indeed, his play style was different. Even though this match was played only three months ago, the ‘Park Yu-Min’ back then was playing noticeably differently.

“I'm happy you noticed it,” said Oh Jin-Hyeong while putting his phone away.

Park Yu-Min faltered. “Can I watch it for a bit more...?”

“Nah, dude. Instead of watching it like this, how about you take your time and analyze it properly?"

“Ah! I’ll do that, sir!”

Oh Jin-Hyeong sighed under his breath before staring straight at Park Yu-Min. “Listen, Yu-Min.”

“Yes, director.”

“You can be really careful and meticulous.”

“...?”

“That’s when nicely put, though. In other words, you can be rather indecisive, too. Your old play style was like that. You never attack unless you feel everything is in your favor. In Galaxy Craft, that was the right way to go about it since you had plenty of things to do before engaging your opponent in a match. But that’s not how you do things in this game.

“Do you know what you’re missing right now, Yu-Min?”

“...It’s aggressiveness, sir.”

Watching the footage from earlier in the season really opened Park Yu-Min's eyes. The 'him' from back then really was rampaging around like a mad dog, at least that was what it looked like to his current self.

Such was the boldness and aggressiveness of his past self that Park Yu-Min had to wonder just what gave him so much confidence back then.

However, that kind of approach suited this game more. Those who couldn’t create variables would get buried six feet under while trying to play it safe.

Oh Jin-Hyeong sighed. “I don’t know what happened to your aggressiveness from the beginning of the season, dude. Somehow you gotta...”

Park Yu-Min urgently cried out, “Director, I think I’ve figured it out!”

“...Eh?”

“I, uh, I gotta go now, sir! I know what I gotta do! Then, I’ll see you in two days!”

“Oh, uh... Sure thing. Take care, okay?”

Park Yu-Min was already outside the office as Oh Jin-Hyeong muttered his reply. The team director dazedly stared at the open doorway before chuckling softly.

‘I’m sure you can do this.’

If he was being honest, this team had no chance in hell of winning the finals without Park Yu-Min. Objectively speaking, this team fell well behind the competition in terms of overall skill level, after all!

However, Oh Jin-Hyeong had no doubt that Park Yu-Min would regain his form before the finals. That was how he did things in the past, after all.

Despite thinking that way, though...

‘Is it even possible to change one's play style in such a short time?’

Something like that should normally be impossible. In that case, what was Park Yu-Min thinking of doing?

While Oh Jin-Hyeong was busy wondering about his star player, Park Yu-Min had already dashed outside the team's residence and was about to call his friend on the phone.