Hyeonu stepped into a space that felt familiar yet unfamiliar—the practice room of Crescent Moon.

Mason and Dwayne were no longer there. Instead, there were others—Yoo Hyeonsu, Cho Yeonghun, and Go Eunho.

New faces filled the place.

“Hyung-nim, what’s going on here?” Go Eunho discovered Hyeonu opening the door of the practice room and came to meet him.

“What’s going on? I am the coach. Do I need a reason to visit the practice room?” Hyeonu spoke while holding out the bread he bought for Go Eunho.

“That’s true. By the way, everyone is still sleeping…” Go Eunho nodded. It was natural for a coach to come to the practice room, so it wasn’t a problem that Hyeonu was here.

“It doesn’t matter if they are sleeping. I didn’t come to see them anyway. Where is Hyeonsu?” Hyeonu asked while sitting down on the sofa in the living room.

There was only one reason why Hyeonu came to Crescent Moon today. It was to talk to Yoo Hyeonsu.

“I think he was in his room earlier... I’ll call him. Wait a moment.” Go Eunho disappeared to bring Yoo Hyeonsu.

‘Nothing much has changed.’ Hyeonu, who buried himself in the sofa, turned his head and looked around the living room. The living room was clean. He didn’t see any garbage.

‘The auntie comes every day. It is natural that there isn’t anything.’

In addition, there were no special furniture or electronics products.

‘They are really only playing games...’

As Hyeonu was recalling such memories, Go Eunho appeared with the shabby-looking Yoo Hyeonsu. Yoo Hyeonsu looked at Hyeonu, bowed, and said, “You’re already here? I thought you would come later.”

“Didn’t you wake up an hour ago? Why do you still look like this? Have you eaten yet?” Hyeonu frowned while looking at Yoo Hyeonsu, who seemed to have just woken up. He had obviously talked to Yoo Hyeonsu on the phone an hour ago. At that time, it clearly wasn’t the voice of a person who had just woken up. This meant that Yoo Hyeonsu had been lying around in bed since waking up.

“Eaten? I didn’t eat because I wasn’t hungry...” Yoo Hyeonsu shook his head.

“What about you?” Hyeonu turned his head. His gaze was directed toward Go Eunho now.

“I just woke up and washed up,” Go Eunho answered.

“Then you haven’t eaten yet. Let’s go and talk while eating. Go and get ready.”

The reason he came to the practice room today was to talk to Yoo Hyeonsu. Hyeonu hadn’t eaten, so he was thinking of eating and talking at the same time.

“I’ll be right back. Please wait a moment.” Yoo Hyeonsu quickly ran to his room.

“By the way, why did you come here today? You wouldn’t just come here for no reason.” Go Eunho was well aware that Hyeonu wasn’t as active as he seemed. He thought there would definitely be a reason why Hyeonu moved like this.

“I have to talk to him about something. It is about our players. If possible, we have to pull in three more,” Hyeonu replied.

Now the time was approaching to complete the recruitment of the players. The Spring League started in April, but it was already approaching February. It was time to be impatient.

Hyeonu added, “New Moon should start soon.”

The candidates had been picked for New Moon. He had come to Yoo Hyeonsu today for a review.

“Well... In that case, I don’t have much to say. My network of interpersonal relationships is narrow,” Go Eunho said.

Go Eunho’s relationships in Arena were simpler than anyone else's. The number of names in his friends window was even smaller than that of Hyeonu. The people he knew were all part of New World. His network was really shallow like Hyeonu's.

“It isn’t bad for it to be narrow.”

Hyeonu didn’t think that Go Eunho’s interpersonal relationships were bad. In fact, Hyeonu thought it was more important for the relationships to be deep and true than to have many superficial ones.

“Then come today, and you can just eat. The two of us will talk about it.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

After a while, Yoo Hyeonsu appeared. He had obviously washed up in a hurry.

“Let’s go and eat.”

Hyeonu didn’t say anything after seeing Yoo Hyeonsu like this. It was because Hyeonu looked like this on days when he didn’t go out.

***

Hyeonu, Go Eunho, and Yoo Hyeonsu chose sushi for lunch. The three people, who were eating sushi silently, started to talk once they filled their stomachs to some extent.

“Hyeonsu, is there anyone you are trying to recruit?”

“Honestly speaking, you can choose any one of them who meets your criteria. Their skills are similar and their personalities have no external flaws.”

Yoo Hyeonsu recalled the names on his list. There was no one special in particular. They were all the same except for those who had a bad background.

“Really? Then Supervisor Kang and Coach Jeong will have a hard time.”

If most of them were similar, it was Jeong Byeongjin and Kang Ujong who would be suffering now. It was because they had to meet all the remaining people.

“Yes, probably. We have to pick someone as bright as possible and will fit in with the existing players.”

They needed to find members who could best blend with the six players already in Crescent Moon.

“Did you confirm the applications I sent you?” 

This was why Hyeonu visited Yoo Hyeonsu today.

“I saw everything. By the way, don’t they overlap quite a lot?”

There were many people on the list of applications Hyeonu sent to Yoo Hyeonsu that overlapped with the names on the list created by Kang Ujong and Jeong Byeongjin. It was bound to be so. In comparison to other countries, South Korea had few excellent players and fewer people yearning to be professional players. So it was inevitable many of them would be the same people.

“Who should be filtered out?”

“Around half. The remaining half and half overlap.”

In the end, only a quarter of the New Moon candidates selected by Nike Management would be the final candidates.

‘A quarter is 10 people...’

Hyeonu felt glad. At first glance, the number 10 could seem small. However, it was very difficult to judge the past, present, and future of even 10 people.

“It’s fine. Around 10 people isn’t bad.” Hyeonu revealed his true feelings.

“Hyung also hates annoying things.” Go Eunho shook his head. He had seen this tendency on Hyeonu’s stream, but he hadn’t expected it to be this much.

“It isn’t annoying, but it is hard to care about these people. I don’t want to hear useless things.” Hyeonu shook his head and raised the beef sushi to his mouth.

“By the way, when are you going to start New Moon? There isn’t much time left,” Yoo Hyeonsu said while also putting sushi in his mouth.

“From today.”

Hyeonu’s resolute answer made Yoo Hyeonsu ingore the rice grains flowing down from his mouth. “Huh?”

“I will start contacting them today. That way, I can start New Moon in the next live stream.”

Hyeonu was thinking about acting the moment the applicants for New Moon were accurately determined. It couldn’t be postponed. He had to move as fast as possible.

“Isn’t it too fast?”

“Didn’t you just say it yourself? There is no time. There isn’t much time left to improve the skills and tacit understanding.”

“Then the supervisor and coach must be busy too.”

“I guess so. So you should work together first. Eunho, you should talk a lot with Yuri. Hyeonsu, you are with Hoon. Do you understand?” Hyeonu gave homework to both Yoo Hyeonsu and Go Eunho. Hyeonu’s words were probably natural, but there was a big difference between saying it and doing so.

“I understand, Hyung.”

“I will have the discussion today.”

The two of them noticed Hyeonu’s intention and nodded.

Hyeonu smiled lightly at the actions of the two men. “Yes, please do.”

***

Back at home, Hyeonu checked the email Yoo Hyeonu sent.

‘Overall, the specs are low.’

The specs of the remaining 10 applicants were low compared to the average of all the applicants.

‘The level can be increased. Skills can be improved.’

Still, it was okay. These were things that could be overcome.

“Write down the contact information first. I will call them all at once.’

Hyeonu opened his notepad and briefly wrote down the personal information of the 10 people. It was their names and phone numbers. Only these two things were noted down. He just needed to decide where to meet them in Arena, so there was no need to write down any other information.

-Jeong Cheolmin 010-xxxx-xxxx.

-Kim Junhyeong 010-yyyy-yyyy

-Park Inkyu 010-zzzz-zzzz

-Son Minhyeon 010-aaaa-aaaa

People’s names and numbers were written on the notepad. Once the information of all 10 people was written down, Hyeonu opened his smartphone and started calling a number. It rang several times before Hyeonu heard a loud voice.

-Hello? Who is this? I don’t know the number.

The other person responded like this because he didn’t know the person who called was Hyeonu.

“Hello, Jeong Cheolmin-ssi. I am Gang Hyeonu. I saw the application, so I contacted you,” Hyeonu calmly explained the reason for the phone call.

-Application? Just a moment...

Jeong Cheolmin, the person on the other end of the phone, was speechless. He was lost in thought for a while. What application had he submitted recently? Then he finally heard Hyeonu’s name and remembered something.

-Gang Hyeonu...? Is it Alley Leader himself?

“Yes, I am Gang Hyeonu, Alley Leader. Jeong Cheolmin-ssi. I called you about matters relating to New Moon.”

Jeong Cheolmin heard Hyeonu’s words and stopped talking again due to excitement. There was a brief pause before Jeong Cheolmin started speaking cautiously.

-If it is related to New Moon... DId I pass?

Jeong Cheolmin’s voice trembled enough for Hyeonu to feel it.

“Your primary documents have passed. There is now the second interview left. I called you to ask about your available time and date.”

-Did I really pass? My level ranking isn’t that high, and my arena ranking isn’t high either...

Jeong Cheolmin knew he wouldn’t be able to join Crescent Moon. Even so, he sent in a letter of application with the intention of trying one more time. However, he received the answer that his application had passed unexpectedly.

“To put it coldly, you aren’t the best player, but that doesn’t mean you don’t meet the standards. I mentioned it in my stream, but I place as much emphasis on performance and personality as I do skills. Jeong Cheolmin, you have clearly passed the first round of the documents review.” Hyeonu once again conveyed the fact that Jeong Cheolmin was qualified.

-I really can’t believe it. I... It is possible at any time. It can be any time that is convenient for Alley Leader.

“Then how about this evening? Um... Around 7 o’clock.” 

Hyeonu moved like a bulldozer. The other person said it was okay to meet at any time, so he suggested meeting in just a few hours.

-Yes, that is fine for me. 

Jeong Cheolmin readily accepted Hyeonu’s suggestion.

“Then I’ll text you the exact time and place.”

After that, Hyeonu hung up. He added the words ‘7 o’clock’ next to Jeong Cheolmin’s phone number on the notepad. Then he started to dial the phone number of Kim Junhyeong, the name that was listed under Jeong Cheolmin’s name.

“Hello? I am Gang Hyeonu. Is this Kim Junhyeong?”

After that, Hyeonu repeated the same words he said to Jeong Cheolmin nine more times.

(2/4) Weekly chapters. No set days. Temporarily decreased release rate for January

Editor: LD

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