"I'm Choi Seongjin," the man continued. "Chief Talent Recruiter of Solaris, and now…General Manager of Lunaris."
Murmurs filled the crowd once more as everyone sort of realized how serious the competition actually was.
"Now that the introductions are out of the way," he said, glancing up, "let's talk about how this tryout actually works."
"There will be no tournament or elimination brackets like the usual tryout formats that you all are used to."
After the sentence, a group of staff members started distributing a small form to everyone.
"You'll be divided into groups shortly. Each group will be assigned a role composition based on what you registered as—Striker, Vanguard, Scout…or Other."
Minjae stared at the form he was given.
What the hell do I even register as? I mean…I was a Close-Ranged Striker in Blue Comet…
But the more he stared at the form, the more his eyes lingered on 'Other.'
Should I…change things up? With 'Analyze', I could really fill any of these roles so…
Ah, screw it.
His hand immediately moved toward 'Other', circling it in black ink before submitting it to one of the staff members on the side.
After the Players handed their forms in, one by one, they were processed and were quickly returned with a small slip along with a number.
Group 7, huh? That's pretty good. 7's a good number so my teammates should be good, right?
Minjae's jaw dropped to the floor just as he pushed the door into Group 7's waiting room.
There were already five people present. Well, calling them people was an exaggeration. They were kids…high school kids that probably skipped their class to join this tryout.
What have I done in my past life to receive such horrible luck?! I swear, I've repented by staying to work overtime, bought my juniors chicken, and even respected the elderly!
Minjae sighed as he closed the door.
"What's done is done, I guess…"
Four heads turned to face him instantly before he could fully say anything. Immediately, one of them rushed up and shook his hand.
It was a girl with dyed pink hair and an almost obscene amount of perfume on her. So much so that Minjae resisted the urge to cough because he thought it'd be rude.
"Hi! Are you our last member? You look like you know what's going on… Would you mind teaching us? Please?"
"Teaching you…? What do you mean?" Minjae started, but someone else cut in entirely.
Another kid, who had a buzzcut dyed green at its roots, called out. "Just leave him Ara, he looks like a washed-up unc. Probably played in Tier-4."
UNC!? I'M 23! Do I really look that old…? No no, that's not the point.
Minjae ignored the comment from the kid before he shook the hand in front of him in return.
"Kang Minjae, I play—played for the Blue Comets."
"Oh! I'm Park Ara, I—well, we all attend Ulsan Deongcheon High School. I'm a Close-Range Striker and—!"
She stopped mid-sentence, glancing at the others before she took a small step back so Minjae could see the others.
"...Ah—right. We should all introduce ourselves."
The first to introduce herself was a girl with a short bob cut and glasses. She was reading something on her phone before looking up and nodding softly.
"Kim Jiwon," she said flatly before turning her head back to her phone. "I'm a Support."
Hmm, alright. Seems like the shy but reliable type. I could work with that.
Minjae nudged a chin at the boy leaning back with his legs up now. "What about you hotshot? Care to introduce yourself?"
"It's Park Minseok, you old man," the kid sneered, "And what does it matter what position I am? I'll just carry you anyway?"
Keep it down, Kang Minjae…keep the anger down. What kind of adult gets ragebaited by high schoolers?
Next to her, a boy with the classic middle-part had been watching Minjae the entire time, finally spoke.
"Lee Hyunwoo…" he said. "Long-range striker."
"Say…" he added after a moment. "I think I know the Blue Comets."
"You do?" Minjae glanced at him, already trying to predict what he was going to say.
"Weren't you the team that played against Nova Strikers recently?" he asked. "There was an interview…after the match."
Ara blinked. "Oh—wait, I think I saw that!"
The kid with the green hair let out a short laugh. "Yeah, I remember that. They got rolled so hard that even—"
"Minseok! That's disrespectful!" Ara cut him off, already turning towards Minjae.
Huh, unexpectedly good kids. Just one bad apple amongst them though…Well, whatever.
Minjae shrugged. "Yeah, that was us. It happens."
"…Still," Ara said quickly, like she was trying to recover the mood, "you made it onto a team in the first place, right? That's already—"
Minjae raised a hand slightly, cutting her off before she could spiral into reassurance.
"Why are you guys here?" he asked instead.
The shift was abrupt enough that it caught them off guard.
"…Huh?"
"What kind of question is that?" Minseok clicked his tongue. "We're obviously here to pass the tryouts."
"You know that's not what I asked," Minjae replied quickly, exerting a bit more pressure into the conversation.
Even if they were kids, he had to put his foot down. Ara hesitated for a second before answering this time, a bit more cautiously.
"…We heard about the trials," she said. "Solaris is holding open tryouts, right? So we—well…"
"We kinda just came right away."
"We skipped class," Minseok added bluntly. "Well, I mean we do that often anyway so..."
Ara flinched. "You don't have to say it like that—"
"What? It's true."
"…We're all fans of Solaris," Jiwon added quietly. "So when we heard about Lunaris… we wanted to try."
Hmm okay, die-hard fans who think they can make it. Let alone high school kids with likely no experience…I'm so fucked.
No no don't be so pessimistic, Kang Minjae, maybe they do have experience!
"Any of you have experience with Battle Arena?"
….chirp…chirp…chirp…
Man…I'm so fucked.