Chapter 90

Royal Roader on My Own – Chapter 90: Today’s Main Character (1)

Hwang Joon Yul looked through the documents. It was the list of Golden Dragon Kids they would be supporting through the Royal Road project.

There were many whom he had high expectations for, however, there was one person for whom he had the most expectations for.

“Park Min Kyu needs to do well.”

He was 22 years old this year. He even pushed back his military service to focus on the Royal Road project. If he can perform to the best of his abilities, he should always be able to hit at least 7-under par regardless of the competition.

Oh Jae Sung and Kim Sang Joon were also cards he did not want to discard. The three of them would be the Troika[1] for Korean Golf. He was sure of it. They would bring on the golden age of Korean Men’s Golf.

Knock knock.

There was a knock on the door.

He could pretty much tell who it was. He had called them over.

“Enter.”

As soon as the door opened, a refreshingly beautiful woman entered. It was Han Sul Yi.

She became more charming every time he saw her. Her face and body, she was exactly Hwang Joon Yul’s type.

“Sit.”

Han Sul Yi sat down on the couch across from Hwang Joon Yul at his request.

“I chatted with the doctor. You do not need to worry about your father.”

“Thank you very much.”

Maybe it was this cold expression of hers that made her seem even more charming.

She had a will that did not bend easily. That was why he felt like it would be even more satisfying when he managed to break it down.

‘How to break her down?’

“Haha, we do not need thanks between us. I heard you are doing commentary again for this hole-in-one competition?”

“Yes.”

“You know our kids are participating as well, right? The Chairman may be watching, so please make sure to push them properly.”

“You do not need to worry about that. They are all talented. They are already known as stars.”

Choi Sung Ook and Shim Sang Chun.

They were also Golden Dragon kids grown through the Golden Dragon Golf Academy.

The only difference they had with Park Min Kyu and crew was that they were specialized in screen golf instead of the field.

They had no choice. Since they had over 100 kids, some of them had to spend more of their time practicing with screen golf.

But for screen golf to develop this much.

Thanks to that, Choi Sung Ook and Shim Sang Chun were more popular with the public than Park Min Kyu and crew.

Especially Choi Sung Ook. He already had quite the popularity.

It was because of his enormous range. If he put his mind to hit, he could even hit 400 meters with his driver. Every so often, he shocked people with that distance.

You tack his manly appearance on top of that, and it was no wonder why he had so many female fans.

Of course, Chairman Jung Man Yong knew about these two as well. In fact, his affection for Choi Sung Ook was extremely high. It was to the point that the chairman was pushing them to get him used to the field so that they could send him into the PGA as soon as possible.

That was why this hole-in-one competition was going to be his last competition before putting him on the Royal Road project.

“I trust that Miss Sul Yi will do well. Putting that aside, have you had dinner yet? Let’s go. I made a reservation at a great place.”

“I’m sorry. I have another appointment……”

He knew it would be like this.

She should know to say yes at least once when he’s putting in so much effort. (TL: She owes you nothing you bastard.)

He had no other choice. He had to use a method only Hwang Joon Yul could use.

Hwang Joon Yul raised his voice as if to cut Han Sul Yi off.

“You’re too much. I said let’s get dinner, not go to a hotel. Why are you acting so snobbish about a single meal?”

Han Sul Yi sighed internally. Then, she nodded her head as if she had no other choice.

“I understand. My appointment ……I will cancel it. But only dinner……”

***

The competition four days later.

I arrived at Golf Heaven a bit earlier than the promised time. This was where the hole-in-one screen golf competition was to take place.

The size of the building was huge. It was surprising that this large land and building was created just for screen golf.

I let out a sense of awe as I entered the building.

The Lions Golf Club members should have already arrived. They told me they were going to head down earlier this morning.

Unfortunately, neither Han Sung Taek or Ji Sung Joon could come due to work.

“Kang pro!”

It was the Lion’s Golf Club President Kim Dong Suk.

Alongside him were Han Min Kyu and six other members who came to cheer me on.

“Oh, the athletic gear you have on is unique and pretty.”

“Is it Dandelion? Where did you buy such an outfit?”

They all started to talk about my outfit as soon as they saw me.

“It is something a student who dreams of becoming a designer personally made for me.”

Kim Soo Jung. Just like my sister Minji said, her design skills were amazing. I asked her to make a golf outfit that will make you think about dandelions and she made a top and bottom set like this one.

The design was so stylish that I would stand out even in a middle of a crowd.

“Is that so? Her skills are amazing. It feels like it was made by a professional. Is Kang pro supporting that student as well?”

“No. My sister is the one who is supporting that student.”

“Wow. What a cool set of siblings. Could I order a set as well? I will, of course, pay plenty for her work.”

“One for me as well. It’ll be so refreshing to go out on the field wearing something like that.”

“Me too.”

I was feeling good internally.

One of the most important things when someone does anything is the mind.

If you think, ‘I’m an amateur,’ as you work, the final product would look very different than if you are thinking, ‘I’m a pro.’ The sense of responsibility changes based on your thoughts.

Kim Soo Jung still has the mind of an amateur. Even if Minji or I give her money for the clothes, she just treats it as donation.

However, her thinking will start to change once she gets more customers. In other words, if the clothes she designs start selling for a lot of money, she will start to develop a business mind and focus even more.

The additional income coming from that increased focus would just be extra.

Of course, she may also be burdened by it, but that is something she needs to overcome on her own. It’s something she will have to deal with at some point.

“I paid 1 million won for this one outfit.”

“Really? Then I will also pay 1 million won.” (PR: Thats a $934.70 set of athletic gear…)

“Of course. If we are thinking about sponsoring student, we should at least give that much.”

They really have a lot of money. They can easily spend 1 million won for a set of athletic gear.

But if you think about the future, 1 million won is not that expensive.

If Kim Soo Jung becomes a world-renowned designer, then the clothes she makes now will all go down in history. They could even become clothes you can’t buy with 10 million won.

Her design skills are that amazing too.

But there was just one issue with these clothes…

“But Kang pro, were you always this fit? You must have worked out quite a bit!”

“Look at those muscles. Amazing. He’s like a bodybuilder!”

It shows off your body too much. I even feel like the design emphasizes the muscles even more.

Of course, it is because I have a fit body. It was already fit from manual labor, but it became even better once I started going into Royal Roader.

That was why I lightly grumbled to Kim Soo Jung too. I asked her why she focused on the body so much.

But she told me she did it on purpose. It was the way to show off my positive points to the max.

I had nothing to say to that. It wasn’t like I got embarrassed easily or anything.

“Did you practice a lot?”

Of course I did. Especially putting practice. After working my ass off, I increased my line reading skill to intermediate level 2. It’s not where I wanted it to be, but I was still confident that I could do the basics.

“I just need to do like I usually do.”

“Yes. Kang pro has good skills, so if you do like you’ve always done, you can rank near the top.”

“Just don’t be nervous. Relax.”

“Yes. Relax. Take deep breaths. I brought an energy drink, do you want it?”

They even brought energy drinks?

I really wasn’t that nervous. My preliminary score wasn’t that good, so I was in squad 15.

The people playing with me should not be that good.

That might be why the booth didn’t have any cameras.

If it is like this, it will be difficult to achieve my goal. I need to show up on TV as much as possible to show this Dandelion uniform to as many people as possible. (PR: Shouldn’t have purposefully done bad in the tryouts then.)

I guess it’s not possible with the first round.

But things will change in the second round. They said the second round pairings will be based on your scores.

“I’ll be okay.”

The competition finally started after a long time.

The competition started from hole 1.

As expected, nobody cared about the 15th squad.

The broadcast didn’t mention us either. I listened to the broadcast through headphones fairly often, but the announcer and commentary were all focused on squad 1.

Especially so on two individuals, Choi Sung Ook and Shim Sang Chun.

They were both in their 20s, but their ranking, prize money, and average stroke count was overwhelmingly higher than the rest.

It was no wonder people predicted one of them to be the winner of this competition. They’ve also been rivals since freshman year of high school, so much so that they have always fought a fierce battle against one another.

This additional aspect made the two of them pretty well known amongst amateur golfers.

They were very marketable.

The other thing going for them was the fact that there were no other players who were as marketable.

That was the same for me.

In order for me to draw any attention, I need to overwhelmingly take first place. However, I was not able to achieve that yet.

The biggest reason for that was the fact that I blew my back to back eagle chances on the first and second hole. I missed an 8 meter putt on each hole. (PR: Looks like those putting practices paid off.)

I even missed a birdie on the third hole and was tied fourth place. Who would pay attention to such a person?

It was natural for everyone to focus on Choi Sung Ook and Shim Sang Chun.

But that atmosphere started to slowly change from the ninth hole.

I was finally starting to show my existence. Even if nobody could see me, the rankings were shown on the screen.

It was Han Sul Yi’s voice. Her voice was so refreshing that I knew it was her as soon as I heard her voice.

But her voice suddenly changed tones. Thanks to my sensitivity increasing due to Royal Roader, I could hear that slight change in my ear.

It felt like I could see Han Sul Yi . She must have been surprised suddenly seeing my name pop out.

But she did not talk about our meeting the other day over the broadcast. She continued on as if we didn’t know each other.

Pfft-

I suddenly started to laugh. It felt like this broadcast was created to push Choi Sung Ook and Shim Sang Chun.

I understand the other person, but for Han Sul Yi to be doing the same.

‘Did she gets some money from the two of them?’

No matter the reason, it will change from the back 9. I researched the course yesterday, and, compared to what the panel is thinking, the back 9 is actually more advantageous for me.

I pulled the headphones out of my ear.

Kim Dong Suk, as well as the rest of the members, were all listening to the broadcast. They all seemed to be satisfied once they heard my name.

While all of that happened, booth 15 finally got a camera.

Was that why? The expressions on the people I was rounding with started to change. Their natural smiles disappeared and they all started to look awkward.

They must be nervous after seeing the camera.

I was the same way. Once the camera faced toward me, I started to feel awkward.

‘This is going to make things complicated.’

I am going to be bombarded with cameras from here on. I need to get accustomed to that pressure quickly to reach my goal as fast as possible.

I closed my eyes and started to control my mind.

‘Pretend there is no camera. There is no camera.’

Time flew by after that, and we started at hole 10.

As the announcer mentioned, the fairway was really narrow. It seemed to be even more narrow than Master’s Island or Highwin.

Almost to the point of suffocating you.

But for me, it was pretty much a bonus hole. The distance to the cup was 406 meters, however, the course swerves to the left, so a direct route was only about 350 meters.

There was a 7 meter slope upward, but the wind was flowing in my favor. It was pushing forward strongly from behind me, so if I send it exactly 350 meters it should be perfect.

Which means a tee shot on-green is possible.

Since I hit an eagle on the 9th hole, I was the owner.

I turned the screen far left. I aimed it so the tee shot would aim directly for the cup.

I could hear the gallery start to whisper to each other. Everyone was speaking quietly, but thanks to my intuition going up by 10 percent of my Royal Roader intuition, I was able to hear everything.

“Is he perhaps aiming for an on-green?”

“Is he crazy?”

“He’s overdoing it because he’s on tv.”

“He’ll end up embarrassing himself like that.”

Who cares if someone else is picking their teeth with an electric pole? Just care about yourself.

I didn’t really pay attention to them. With the accuracy of my driver skill, I really didn’t need to worry about OB or hazard dangers.

In fact, I had a greater chance of an albatross.

‘How great would it be if this would just go right in?’

A shot like that would turn everyone’s attention to me for sure.

I paid attention to the diagonal win and figured out the right direction. Then I prepared the shot.

[Driver 350 skill: Intermediate level 6, 17%]

I swung my driver hard. So hard that you could hear the wind as the driver head went across.

Booooooooong-

Clang! Pangya-

This killer feel!

I really shouldn’t be surprised by this feeling. When I use the skill to hit the driver, I always get this feeling.

The gun-like sound representing a strong impact was also the same.

After finishing my shot, I turned my head to look at the movement of the ball.

The ball flew toward the forest.

Everyone was still iffy until that point.

The forest is that deep. The cup is that far. There is no way he could make it that far.

But they had to change their minds less than 3 seconds later. The screen changed to heli-cam mode.

There was only one thing that symbolized.

“Wow, he must have gone over it!”

“Great direction! Is he going to succeed in landing an on-green?”

I answered internally.

‘One hundred percent chance!’

While I did that, the ball passed the forest and landed in the rough in front of the gree. It then took a large bounce and rolled onto the green.

“Wow! It made it!”

“What did I just see? That’s possible?”

“Amazing!”

But it was too soon to be surprised. It was because the screen changed again. This time, the screen focused on the hole cup.

The gallery’s reaction instantly changed as well.

“There’s no way?”

[1] fancy name for a trio

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Translator : Miraclerifle

Proofreader : Borderline Masochist