Chapter 98

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Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé.

His real name was Kim Taejeong.

Strictly speaking, before being transported into this world, he had been unemployed.

Until he was forced to retire because of an unfortunate incident, he had been a member of the national soccer team.

[‘Shocking’ Olympic National Team Player Kim Taejeong Tests Positive for Doping]

Doping.

The act of taking or injecting prohibited substances to enhance athletic performance.

Kim Taejeong had failed a doping test during the Olympic preliminaries.

When his first doping test came back positive, he naturally assumed that some kind of error had occurred.

After all, ever since becoming a professional player, Kim Taejeong had been so careful that he would not even take cold medicine without checking first. Even after transferring to the Bundesliga, he ate nothing except the meals prepared according to the diet plan made by the older brother who had helped manage his nutrition and correct his posture since childhood.

[Kim Taejeong Flatly Denies Doping Allegations: “I Have Never Taken Any Drugs”]

That was why Kim Taejeong denied the doping allegations entirely.

He was already famous as a disciplined and upright soccer player, and his handsome face had frequently appeared in the media.

Because of that, public opinion was still largely on Kim Taejeong’s side at the time.

The coach and the other national team players comforted him as well, saying that it had to be either favoritism toward the Olympic host nation or racial discrimination.

Then they waited for the results of the second doping test.

‘The second test… was positive too?’

[Soccer Player Kim Taejeong Tests Positive in Second Doping Test… Disciplinary Action Unavoidable]

Once the second test also came back positive, he could no longer deny that a banned substance had been found in his body.

Kim Taejeong was utterly confused.

Had there been any record of him visiting a hospital, or had he taken so much as cold medicine, he might at least have had something to suspect.

But until the Olympic preliminaries, he had maintained exactly the same routine as always. He had no memory of consuming anything other than the diet that had been planned for him back in Korea.

At that point, most of the public turned against Kim Taejeong.

Even the coach and the other national team players began looking at him with suspicion.

Only the players from his Bundesliga club, who knew how strictly Kim Taejeong managed his daily life, understood how unfair the situation was.

“This makes no sense. What if they tampered with the test results?”

Mickey Parker was a player from the same Bundesliga club and a member of the United States Olympic team.

Seeing the luggage Kim Taejeong had packed for his return to Korea, Mickey angrily spoke to him in Korean.

A second-generation Korean American, Mickey Parker was Kim Taejeong’s only real friend in the Bundesliga.

“Are you seriously going back to Korea like this?”

“The second test came back positive too. What else can I do?”

“Taejeong, why would someone like you dope during the Olympic preliminaries?”

That was also why most of the Korean public had initially supported Kim Taejeong even after the first test.

What kind of idiot would use performance-enhancing drugs during the preliminaries instead of the Olympic finals and get caught?

Moreover, before joining the national team for the Olympics, Kim Taejeong had been playing through the Bundesliga season and had only left after receiving permission from his club.

The Bundesliga conducted random doping tests before and after matches, and Kim Taejeong had been randomly selected and tested before.

The fact that he had not tested positive then meant he had not been using drugs while playing in the Bundesliga.

How many players would deliberately show up doped to the Olympics, where testing was even stricter than in the Bundesliga?

Nevertheless, once the second test also came back positive, there was no room left for excuses.

The tests were considered highly accurate, and when it came to doping, a positive result was generally treated as the athlete’s responsibility.

Mickey Parker might have been furious, but he probably understood better than anyone that there was a high chance an illegal substance really had been found in Kim Taejeong’s blood.

“Did you piss someone off? What if somebody put drugs in your food just to screw you over?”

“That’s impossible. You know how careful I am.”

“I do know! That’s why this is so frustrating! If nobody else gave it to you, the only explanation is that you took it yourself, but there’s no way you would ever touch that stuff!”

Kim Taejeong could not understand that part either.

He swore to heaven that he had never attempted to dope.

But no one had ever offered him a suspicious drink or anything of the sort.

Even after arriving at the Olympics, the only food he had eaten was the personally prepared diet supplied by his older brother…

“I’m suspicious of that big brother of yours.”

Mickey Parker’s suspicion was not entirely unreasonable.

If the only thing Taejeong had eaten since arriving was food prepared by his older brother, anyone would have found it suspicious.

‘But there’s no way he would do that.’

No one had been happier than his older brother when Kim Taejeong became a successful soccer player.

Taejeong had entrusted the management of all his income to him.

Even so, his brother was so transparent that he reported the budget to Taejeong in advance whenever he bought so much as a single ingredient.

Even if his brother had secretly been embezzling some of the money, Taejeong’s absurd downfall would not benefit him either.

“Even if he didn’t do it himself, an outsider could have tampered with the ingredients or something.”

“Who would hate me enough to go that far? All I’ve ever done is play soccer…”

“Don’t overthink it. If you really are being framed, then it means someone bore you malice.”

Mickey Parker leaned closer, speaking firmly as though he wanted Taejeong to remember his words forever.

“Taejeong, human malice goes beyond anything you can imagine. Never forget that.”

Kim Taejeong still believed there was no way his older brother would ever do such a thing.

Even so, before returning to Korea, he went to see him and asked whether anyone could have tampered with the ingredients.

He had thought Mickey’s suggestion—that someone might have drugged the ingredients under his brother’s management—sounded plausible.

However, his older brother said that such a thing could not possibly have happened.

“I managed the ingredients more carefully than anyone after arriving here. And yet your second test was positive too…”

Taejeong had been worried that his brother might grow angry and ask whether Taejeong suspected him.

Instead, his brother collapsed to the floor in tears.

“I can’t believe it either, Taejeong. I know better than anyone that you would never take pills or injections like that. It feels as if all of this is my fault. If there really was something wrong with the food you ate, I don’t know how I could ever make it up to you…”

Unable to continue questioning someone who seemed even more mentally unstable than himself, Kim Taejeong stopped asking.

He boarded a plane with his brother and returned to Korea.

A few days later, he learned the severity of his punishment.

[Kim Taejeong Suspended for Four Years, Likely to Miss World Cup as Well]

A four-year suspension.

For Kim Taejeong, who was already approaching thirty, it was devastating news.

[Kim Taejeong, Already Nearing Retirement, at Risk of Ending Career as a Drug Cheat?]

In Korea, people had already stopped calling him “Kim Taejeong.”

Instead, they simply called him a “druggie.”

The interview in which he had confidently declared that the first doping test had to be wrong had become a meme and was being endlessly mocked.

To be honest, by then, he could barely think at all.

A four-year suspension?

For something he had not even done?

It did not feel real.

He could not even cry.

—Taejeong, human malice goes beyond anything you can imagine. Never forget that.

He only wondered who could possibly hate him this much.

The online ridicule eventually reached its peak, and YouTubers began showing up at his home.

Around that time, the older brother who lived with him left behind a suicide note saying it was his fault for failing to properly manage the ingredients and begging people to forgive Taejeong.

His brother attempted suicide.

Kim Taejeong managed to save him just in time.

After that, Taejeong made a decision.

If someone hated him that much, then he would disappear from that person’s memory.

And from the world.

[Kim Taejeong Abruptly Announces Retirement: “It Is Regrettable That My Career Will End with Me Branded a Drug Cheat”]

After he announced his retirement, countless people tried to contact him.

But having decided to let the world forget him, Kim Taejeong ignored every single one of them.

[Mickey: Are you seriously retiring?]

Naturally, he did not respond to Mickey Parker either.

The Bundesliga club seemed relieved that Taejeong had announced his retirement first and terminated his contract without imposing any additional restrictions.

As a result, there was no longer any reason for him to meet Mickey Parker.

Even though Taejeong never replied, Mickey continued sending him messages.

[Mickey: What are you going to do after retiring?]

Who knew?

Neither Taejeong nor his brother had extravagant tastes, so they had enough money to live without working.

Even if the money eventually ran out, Taejeong still had a strong, healthy body.

He figured he could survive by doing manual labor if necessary.

[Mickey: I’ve been really into Beyoncé lately. You know Beyoncé, right?]

Even without receiving replies, Mickey continued sending messages.

Kim Taejeong never bothered to block him.

It seemed Mickey kept messaging because seeing that the messages had been read allowed him to confirm that Taejeong was still alive.

“I’m getting married, Taejeong.”

Meanwhile, after recovering mentally, his older brother got married and moved out to start a family.

In truth, he could have married much earlier.

However, he had postponed the wedding until Taejeong’s retirement because he had been responsible for preparing Taejeong’s meals.

Kim Taejeong tried to give his brother half of his remaining fortune, but his brother adamantly refused.

He left with only the money he had earned for himself over the years.

Once his brother was gone, Kim Taejeong truly felt as though the world had forgotten him.

Not completely.

But almost.

[Mickey: If I visit Korea someday, will you buy me a meal?]

Kim Taejeong gave a faint chuckle as he read Mickey’s message.

He thought Mickey was probably the only person who still had not forgotten him.

That day, however, Mickey sent an unusually long string of messages.

[Mickey: There’s a game I’ve been playing lately. Want to try it?]

[Mickey: You’re an unemployed bum with nothing to do, so come play with me.]

A link was attached beneath the messages.

When Taejeong followed it, he found a game called Safe Zone: Apocalypse.

[Mickey: If you start playing, add me as a friend.]

[Mickey: My in-game name is ‘mikisoccer.’]

Kim Taejeong chuckled again at the incredibly predictable name, mikisoccer.

‘I really don’t have anything else to do…’

Lately, Kim Taejeong had been feeling intensely bored with life.

He had no particular resistance to starting a game.

However, when he saw the opening screen of Apocalypse: Safe Zone, he was greatly flustered.

‘It’s all in English…’

Apparently, the game did not have a Korean language patch.

Come to think of it, it was only natural that Mickey, an American, would not be playing a Korean game.

Taejeong could speak German reasonably well, but he had never properly learned English.

As a result, he fumbled around several times before even getting past the title screen.

‘I should’ve gone to the Premier League instead of the Bundesliga…’

The thought came to him without warning.

It made Taejeong realize that he might finally be recovering from the shock of what had happened.

However, when the time came to choose his in-game nickname, he hesitated for quite a while.

Fortunately, player nicknames could be entered in Korean.

But he was afraid that if he used his real name, the other players might ask why he had chosen the name of a notorious drug cheat.

‘Maybe I should make something like Mickey’s…’

That was how he settled on the name “Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé.”

After creating his character, Kim Taejeong sent a friend request to mikisoccer.

Mickey accepted immediately.

He must have realized at once that “Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé” was Kim Taejeong.

[mikisoccer: Holy shit!!]

[mikisoccer: Is that really you, Taejeong? It’s really you, right? You’re alive, aren’t you?]

Mickey had apparently never expected Kim Taejeong to actually start playing.

He bombarded him with excited chat messages.

[mikisoccer: You bastard, why aren’t you saying anything?]

[mikisoccer: Are you going to ignore my chats just like my texts??]

‘So he really kept texting because he was worried I might kill myself.’

Kim Taejeong felt deeply grateful toward Mickey.

He also felt sorry for making him worry for so long.

[Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé: I’ll answer your messages properly in the game, so stop texting me.]

[mikisoccer: So you’re still not going to answer my texts?]

[Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé: International texts are expensive.]

[mikisoccer: Spoken like a true unemployed bum.]

For a moment, the cursor blinked in the chat window.

Then Mickey sent another series of messages.

[mikisoccer: You’d better keep your promise to answer my chats.]

[mikisoccer: If I can’t contact you again, I’m really coming to Korea next time.]

He had made his texts sound casual, but Taejeong’s lack of replies must have genuinely frightened him.

Perhaps suggesting that they play the game together had been Mickey’s final warning before flying to Korea just to check whether he was still alive.

After what had happened with his brother’s suicide attempt, Kim Taejeong could understand Mickey’s feelings to some extent.

So he obediently agreed.

[Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé: All right.]

[Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé: But how do you play this game?]

[mikisoccer: Start with the Candy Zone.]

[mikisoccer: I’ll send you a guide.]

Kim Taejeong followed the link Mickey sent him to an American Safe Zone community and was slightly taken aback.

‘Mickey… Has he been doing nothing but playing games instead of soccer?’

The community had a system that ranked strategy posts.

Most of the highest-ranked guides had been uploaded under Mickey’s username.

Well, that meant Mickey was an experienced veteran of the game.

Taejeong assumed the game would not be too difficult with Mickey helping him.

There was only one problem.

All of Mickey’s guides were written in English.

‘I really should’ve gone to the Premier League…’

Feeling too embarrassed to ask Mickey to translate everything for him, Kim Taejeong began running the guides through Google Translate.

“…Huh?”

Then he found a perfectly translated version on a Korean community.

‘The person who uploaded it… Dopamine Addict?’

At first, he assumed Dopamine Addict had translated Mickey’s guides and reposted them.

However, after checking the upload dates, Kim Taejeong realized that Mickey had actually been stealing Dopamine Addict’s guides and reposting them on the American community.

‘Mickey… No wonder your Korean is so good.’

Kim Taejeong wondered whether he should inform Dopamine Addict that Mickey was plagiarizing his posts.

While debating what to do, he ended up reading every single one of Dopamine Addict’s guides from beginning to end.

For someone who had been living in complete isolation from the world, Dopamine Addict’s guides were an overwhelmingly powerful source of stimulation.

Kim Taejeong became quite literally addicted to the dopamine provided by Dopamine Addict’s strategy posts.

Naturally, he also visited the convenience store Dopamine Addict had mentioned.

By chance, he selected a glass bottle of cola and was blessed with the honor of starting in the same zone as Dopamine Addict.

“But since Dopamine Addict hyung is Korean, I thought his attitude toward me would change if he learned that I was ‘Kim Taejeong the drug cheat.’ That’s why I’ve kept quiet about it until now…”

That was his story.

Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé had suddenly been summoned by Dopamine Addict and asked, “Are you really Kim Taejeong from the national team?”

Feeling guilty despite having done nothing wrong, he had confessed everything before anxiously watching Dopamine Addict’s reaction.

No matter how innocent he claimed to be, he was already known to the public as a drug cheat.

He could not expect Dopamine Addict to believe that he had been falsely accused.

Unable to predict his response, Taejeong looked at him nervously.

However, the expression on Dopamine Addict’s face was equally unexpected.

‘Why is he making that expression…?’

Dopamine Addict had listened to Kim Taejeong’s entire story with a blank face.

But at some point, his face had begun to light up with a rush of dopamine.

Then he asked Kim Taejeong,

“What did you say your friend’s in-game name was?”