Chapter 81

Royal Roader on My Own – Chapter 81: The Opportunity that Came Earlier than Expected (1)

They all seemed to sincerely desire a win in the revenge game. I could see that desire in the way they were looking at me.

It made me think of a question.

All of the members were people with a ton of money. That should mean that they could easily handle this issue.

“Why didn’t you just hire a pro with good skills?”

“That’s cheating. It is a battle between official members. We all know each other.”

“We wouldn’t be able to say we won if we won that way.”

Which means, they need to win fairly, and they need to win with official members.

If that is their rule, I guess i have to follow it.

Either way, if I do well in the revenge game in a week, I should be able to solidify my place in the golf club. I should also be able to quickly get close to Han Sung Tak and Ji Sung Joon as well.

“I guess I should start living at the screen starting today. Haha.”

“Alright. Time for the third round. We can’t just leave like this. Since we got a young friend who is full of energy, shouldn’t we spend some time with some ladies?”

I had no reason to reject.

The justification was good as well.

“Since I got a hole-in-one, it will be my treat.”

“That’s good too. But how much did you win today Kang pro?”

Now that I think about it, we haven’t calculated the money yet.

The money tin was full of 10,000 won and 5,000 won bills. It took a while to just count the money. The other members stepped forward to help me as well.

The total was finally determined. It was exactly 2,870,000 won.

It was more than I expected. There were a lot of multipliers, and it became a 4x multiplier every time I got a birdie, so it went up significantly.

I guess I can’t just take it like this right?

“How much did you lose?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“It’s not like I came here to earn money. I will return it all to you.”

“What’s the point of making a bet if you’re going to do that?”

“I’m okay as well. It’s fine as long as we had fun. Just spend it on the third round.”

They really were rich people.

I did my part by asking once. It wouldn’t be respectful to offer two or three times to these type of people.

“I understand. Then everybody has to go to third round. I will not let anybody go home until I spend all of this money.”

I was trying to be friendly.

But the majority of them said it was too late, and started to head home.

Han Sung Tak and Ji Sung Joon started to pick up their jackets as well.

“I promised my wife that I would be home before midnight. She will nag a bit even if I go back now.”

“I have an important meeting tomorrow, so I have to return early.”

It probably isn’t respectful to drag people who say they are going home as well.

“I understand. Then I will properly treat you all next time.”

***

One week later.

‘I failed again. Why isn’t this working?’

[The driver is the show and the putting is money.]

Which means, it is more important to be good at putting to lower your stroke rate than being good with the driver. But I was weak in that important putting. Especially in the greens that have a slope to the left or right. It is really hard to accurately find the direction on those greens. That was why I kept using Jewels of Creation to try to make it into a skill. Including the ones I used today, I’ve probably used over 20 of them.

But I failed again! I really can’t figure out why.

‘Shit, whatever.’

Honestly, my current putting skills weren’t bad. If it wasn’t too difficult of a course, I can almost always do a 2-putt hole in.

I checked my skill information. Since all golf related skills were gathered in the golf category, I can see all of them at a glance.

[Driver* Intermediate level 4 87%]

Driver 200: Intermediate level 5, 27%

……

Driver 300: Intermediate level 6, 18%

Driver 330: Intermediate level 4, 20%

[Wood* Intermediate level 2, 66%]

#3 Wood 190: Intermediate level 4, 16%

……

[Putting* Intermediate level 1, 98%]

Putting 20: Intermediate level 2, 21%

Putting 25: Intermediate level 2, 19%

……

#5 Iron 160: Intermediate level 4, 17%

#6 Iron 150: Intermediate level 4, 38%

……

Even though I only gathered golf skills, there were a ton of them.

Of course I also had categories. The ones that have a * next to it like, ‘Driver*,’ and, ‘Putting*,’ are category skills with many skills grouped together.

I can use a category as a skill itself. For example, I can open the Driver* skill and control my strength on my own.

In the beginning, that’s how I made skills. Putting was the same way.

However, since there were irons from 4-iron to 12-iron, I made each iron into a different skill.

Then I realized that there was a huge difference in the speed of growth. Even though I practiced more with the driver, the iron was increasing level much faster.

That was why I broke it down and created other skills.

Once I did that, the driver level shot right up. Now, the driver skill level was even higher than the iron skill level.

Of them, the 300 meter skill, the one with the furthest distance, was at the highest level. It was more refreshing to swing as hard as I could and send the ball all as far as possible, so I ended up practicing that the most.

As I continued to do that, the distance slowly went up as well.

Today was the same. I was getting advice from the teaching pro and trying to change the weight on each feet, grip, etc. As I made slight changes and continued to hit the ball, the distance suddenly shot up.

So I quickly made it into a 330 meter skill.

Even though it hasn’t been long since I made the Driver 330 skill, it instantly shot up to intermediate level 4.

It was because there wasn’t much difference compared to the other driver swings.

Thanks to that, the skill increase grows as set as well. Which means, if I practice the 330 meter skill, the 200 meter skill goes up as well.

Although, there is a slight difference in the rate of increase.

The iron was the same way. If you practice the 5-iron, the 4-iron, 6-iron, and 7-iron skills go up as well.

Thanks to that, the majority of the driver skills were Intermediate level 5 or higher, and similarly, the iron skills were mostly over Intermediate level  4.

With this much skill, I shouldn’t lose to a typical amateur.

Riiiiing- Riiiiing-

It’s starting again.

It is Director Han Sung Tak from MBS station.

“Yes, hyung-nim.”

He was about 30 years older than me. But when I asked, ‘Will it be okay for me to treat you as a hyung-nim?’ he said, ‘Great!’ and we became brothers.

– Are you on your way?

Why is he being so nervous?

I guess that’s how sincere he is about bringing the Winner’s club down a notch.

“I am about to leave.”

– Hurry up. Everybody is going crazy waiting for you.

“I understand. I am heading there now.”

I quickly headed to the promised location.

[Khan Screen]

‘Is it here?’

I opened the door and went in. There were already a lot of people gathered inside.

‘There is a screen room like this too?’

The room was extremely large. In addition, there was a separate viewing area to the side.

I think I saw something like this on TV when they were doing a screen golf competition. I guess it wasn’t a temporary fixture for the competition.

But then I heard something I never expected to hear.

“Oh, isn’t that bastard Kang Hwi Ram?”

Seeing their selection of words, it must be someone who knows me really well. And the voice is really young as well.

‘Who is it?’

It definitely isn’t one of the Lions Club members. I am close enough to some people to call them brother, but none of them would speak like that.

That means it is one of the Winner’s Club people.

I turned my gaze toward the origin of the voice.

And then I saw a familiar face.

No, it was not enough to say it was a, ‘Familiar face.’

Someone I could never forget. Someone who appears in my nightmares.

He was sitting there. My heart sank the moment our eyes met.

“…Hwang Joon Yul!”

Why is he here? Is he perhaps the, ‘Hwang pro,’ they were talking about……!

That must be the case.

He did say he learned golf all the way from elementary school. I recall hearing that he was so talented that the teaching pro recommended him to become a golf player.

But since he was set to succeed his father’s business, he wouldn’t have had time to try to become something like a golf player. I’m sure he is busy getting business lessons right now.

I guess he must be a part of a lot of different clubs, since building a network will be part of business lessons as well.

“Hahaha. Lions, what are you doing? You allowed a stingy guy like that to join your club to win this battle? He’s not at my level, so I cannot play with him.”

Hwang Joon Yul was mocking me and the rest of the Lions Club.

The Winner’s Club members all made surprised expressions.

“What’s going on? Is it someone Hwang pro knows?”

“Of course I know him. I took care of him in middle school. His family was so poor he lived in a greenhouse. I felt so bad for him that I gave him 1,000 won every so often.”

Everybody turned their gazes to me.

President Han Sang Joon as well as the rest of Lion’s club members were the same. Their gazes were full of questions.

‘Is that the truth?’ That type of question.

But it was only for an instant.

It’s all in the past anyways. Rather, isn’t it more amazing that I was able to defeat such a terrible life and succeed like this?

Maybe not enough to be called, ‘Amazing,’ but definitely not something to be embarrassed about.

Actually, shouldn’t Hwang Joon Yul be the embarrassed one? Just how many students did he bully by relying on his father’s wealth and influence?

‘Right. That is something he should be embarrassed about, not me.’

At least, any normal person would think that way.

Once I thought that far, I started to become confident. My slightly stiff face started to turn into a smile again.

“That was the case back then.”

I cooly confirmed it with a bright smile on my face.

On the other hand, the faces of the Lions Club members became even stiffer. It was a past they would have never expected.

But it is too soon to be surprised. That is less than 1% of my past.

Just listen carefully. This is the real thing.

“Do you remember that one time? You beat me up for over an hour for not bringing enough mithril. I still feel sore all over whenever I think about that, you punk. Haha.”

I brightly said it as if I was recalling nostalgic memories of the past. Like I had brushed away all terrible things of the past.

But the people should be able to accurately make a judgement. They should be tell that the content inside it is not something light.

Their gazes proved that to be true. They all turned to look at Hwang Joon Yul with the same, ‘Is that the truth,’ type of gaze.

At the same time, Hwang Joon Yul’s smirk started to disappear. He tried to move his lips as if to respond.

But I was not done yet.

“But you really were terrible. I expected it to end after about a week. But how could you continue that for a whole year? I couldn’t get any sleep at night trying to complete the things you made me do. I always fell asleep in class. Hahaha. We really were immature back then. Whether it was you who ordered me to do it or me, who frantically tapped away on my keyboard without getting any sleep to take care of it.”

“Just what do you mean take care of it?”

Director Han Sung Tak asked.

A very sensible question.

“Joon Yul was obsessed with Royal Roader in middle school. At that time, he ordered all of the people in our class to find him different items. He made me go mine a mineral called mithril.”

“When you say Royal Roader…… a game?”

“Hey! What kind of nonsense are you spewing right now?”

Hwang Joon Yul raised his voice. He must want to stop me from talking.

But I just laughed it off. I wanted to emphasize the fact that I was not lying to make him look bad, but that it was a conversation between old friends discussing past memories.

“Hahaha,it’s okay punk. It is all in the past. We were both immature back then.”

“I never did such a thing……”

“Let’s not be shameful like that. It is really shameful for a grown man to lie and not know about reflecting on his past actions.”

Hwang Joon Yul jumped up from his seat.

But he could not say anything else. He was just busy trying to make me stop talking.

“You little punk, why you……”

I just smirked at him.

“Punk, I guess you still have an image to maintain. If I were you, I would just say I’m sorry and end it. Mature up a bit now that we are older. I am saying things like this because I am your friend, punk.”

“You want to get beat up?”

His attitude hasn’t changed a bit since back then. The majority of the people here are over 40, but he’s talking like he doesn’t care about anything.

Almost as if he feels like he’s untouchable.

Is his standing in the golf club that strong? No, it must be his father’s standing. He is the CEO of a large company.

Golf gatherings probably place you based on money as well.

Anyways, the atmosphere is pretty interesting now. No matter how brightly I talk, Hwang Joon Yul is getting so angry like that.

All of them are looking at him and then at me with stiff expressions.

Almost as if they were all waiting for this cold awkward atmosphere to end quickly.

Honestly, this atmosphere is not what I want either. It doesn’t help me at all.

The reason I joined this golf club was to develop a network. Especially with people related to broadcasting stations.

In order to do that,I need to create a happy atmosphere. It will be killing two birds with one stone if I can stomp all over Hwang Joon Yul at the same time.

There is one method.

Of course there is no certainty that it will work, since I don’t know Hwang Joon Yul’s golf skills.

It is probably amazing, since they said it was enough for him to try to be pro. Based on what people had to say, it has to be amazing.

Will I be able to beat him?

But it wasn’t like I had any other methods. All I could do is face him, and break him down. That was the reason I came here today in the first place.

I accepted Hwang Joon Yul’s angry rant with a smile.

“I’m sorry but today, you are actually the one who will die. Honestly, the reason I came here today was to stomp all over you. With this.”

I pointed to the golf club that was leaning against the wall.

PR: MiracleRifle is currently having a few family issues, so he will be back at it and getting chapters out at some point, but it will be fairly slow for a bit of time.  Sorry for the delays.

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Translator : Miraclerifle

Proofreader : Borderline Masochist