Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 486: An Early Call from Back Home

Bzzt... Bzzt... Bzzt...

"Urgh... Who in the hell wants to call me this early?" Sheva groaned weakly, grumbling as he was awoken by the sound of his phone buzzing. "I thought I had already turned off all the notifications there..." He extended his hand to the desk next to the bed, groping around in the dark to find the phone.

It was already 7:30 in the morning, and honestly, if he were in Indonesia, Sheva would’ve been scolded by his mother for waking up this late. However, it was a completely different case here, in the Netherlands, as the sun only rose at 08:31. That was whyit was still quite dark outside, and most people were still under their quilt, enjoying the rare rest that they could get today.

Once he got his phone, Sheva narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to get his eyes adapted to the brightness while also figuring out who had just called him. It was a day after the closing ceremony of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, and since his phone had been buzzing all night with notifications, the boy decided to silence everything except for the emergency call from some important people.

So, to find that someone called him this early, this must be something important, and even though Sheva was reluctant, he still had to answer the call here.

"Yes? Hello, who is this?" Sheva asked straight to the point, his voice hoarse as he hadn’t even had a chance to take a glass of water yet.

"Oh, hello, Mister Champion! Sorry if I’m bothering you!" The rich laugh on the other side of the phone jolted the boy instantly. "It seems I see the time zone wrong! It should still be dark at your place, right?"

"Mister Wahyu! How are you doing?!" All of Sheva’s sleepiness was gone instantly as he recognized the owner of his voice. "I’m sorry, I didn’t read the name clearly!" He apologized. Well, he didn’t really need to do that, as it wasn’t him who was at fault. However, the man on the other side of the call was his angel investor, so it didn’t cost much to be polite.

"Just like I said, don’t worry about it." Even though Sheva couldn’t see the man directly, the boy could imagine Mister Wahy just brushing off his concern nonchalantly. "I asked Bagas yesterday that I would call you this morning, yet it seems he forgot to deliver the message here."

Sheva’s head snapped instantly to his best friend, who was still snoring so loudly on the other bed in this room, and he glared slightly with resentment in his eyes. ’How could he forget such an important thing like this... Bastard...’ He gnashed his teeth secretly. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quiet enough, as his words were flying clearly to the other side of the call.

"Don’t blame him too much, Shev! I just called him quite late last night, and you have just finished the closing ceremony. He has a lot on his mind, so it is understandable to let one or two things slip like this."

Sheva’s face flushed immediately as he got caught offhandedly like this. The boy walked into the balcony quickly so that he could talk louder, and with a single cough, he tried his best to get rid of the awkwardness in the air. "Anyway, what is going on, Mister Wahyu? Everything should be alright, right?" He asked, shivering a little as the chill wind pierced his bones.

"Can I just call to congratulate you? I mean, this is a huge achievement, right?" Mister Wahyu asked, his tone was full of teasing.

"Ah... That..." Sheva was too speechless, not knowing how to answer.

"Oh, well, I’m just kidding. Indeed, the first purpose of this call is to congratulate you. After all, not only have you become the winner of that elite tournament, but you are officially becoming the highest-rated player that Indonesia has ever produced. The former record is from Susanto Megaranto with only 2558, so congratulations, young man! Be proud of yourself!"

Sheva just nodded silently, not giving any reaction here. This was something that he had already known, yet the boy didn’t really pay too much attention since the record itself was so low. Instead of paying attention to that, he just waited for Mister Wahyu to continue, as the man clearly said that he had more than one purpose in this call. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"As for the second one... I have a favor to ask."

"Um?" Sheva crooked one of his eyebrows slightly. "Favor?" He parroted the word, as if trying to confirm whether he hadn’t misheard something.

After all, the one who talked right now was Wahyu Satyawan, the CEO of one of the biggest banks in the country. He shouldn’t ask for a favor, but order someone to do that. Also, what kind of request would a billionaire like him want to ask that the man’s team couldn’t do that?

"It is like this..." Mister Wahyu’s voice trailed behind. "Do you know about Asia’s Schools Chess Championship?"

"... No?"

"Basically, it is just the junior chess championship for Asian countries, but the players there represent their school. There are several categories, from below 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17 years old. It should be held two weeks later in Uzbekistan, and Indonesia will send three players to participate there."

Sheva nodded slowly, yet was still unable to find where the problem was. After all, Mister Wahyu wasn’t a person from the federation, and this shouldn’t be his business.

"You see..." The man continued. "My friend knows that I have a connection to you, and he is the headmaster of one of the players who will represent the country for this event. He wants to ask if you could help give a pointer or two to that boy before the tournament. Can you do that?"

Hearing that, Sheva couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. He was quite familiar with this operation, what with having Bagas as his friend. This was how wealthy people operated, by lending and cashing favors instead of money. Now, he got dragged into this world, as he himself also owed Mister Wahyu a lot for supporting him so much, so he didn’t really have a reason to refuse the request.

However, before he could say anything else, a familiar sound popped into his head, startling Sheva a little bit.

[DING!]

[A New Mission Detected!]