Chapter 272 Arcade V
'So you are the culprit' Hiro thought while looking at the figure of Seung-gyu.
Fair skinned, pointy nose and almond shaped black eyes, he was about 3-4 inches taller than Hiro. His short black hair which was parted in the middle was cascading smoothly to his ears.
Wearing an amicable smile on his face, Seung-gyu continued, "You can join the competition. However upon losing you'll also have to share the punishment"
"You..." Shun greeted his teeth as he shot gaze full of rage towards Seung-gyu.
Not only Shun but all his teammates who were involved in this mess present there at the moment shot gaze full of disdain towards Park Seung-gyu.
Sure enough, they all were disgusted by Park Seung-gyu's words.
Park Seung-gyu however as if he was unfazed by their gaze full of disdain, totally ignored Shun and others.
Maintaining the smile on his face, he was only looking at Hiro.
Although his voice sounded gentle and seemed rather amicable to the onlookers, Hiro however felt like Seung-gyu was trying to provoke him.
Those words were more like a threat and provocation than a reminder.
Still Hiro maintained his poker face as he indifferently answered, "Of course I'll share the punishment if we lose"
Hearing Hiro's response, Seung-gyu revealed a complacent expression as he let out a satiated grin, "Then help yourself"
Saying so, Seung-gyu retracted his steps and joined his teammates whilst still wearing that smile on his face. He then started to converse in Korean with his teammates.
"Show this bastards the result of their arrogance Hiro" Shun scoffed while furiously staring at those bunch of Korean players who were stationed at the other side.
"Yeah seek justice for us Hiro"
"Despite apologising they shouldn't have pursued this matter to this extent. Hmph... They're too arrogant"
It was quite evident from the way his teammates were speaking that they were extremely agitated by the opposing players.
Hiro however wasn't listening to any of their scoffings at this moment. He was instead thinking of something else.
'That guy feels so familiar, I've definitely seen him somewhere before. But I can't remember it clearly' While standing infront of the ball Hiro contemplated.
Then again he shrugged his thoughts as he diverted his attention to the task on hand, 'Let's stop thinking about him for now and focus on scoring this penalty'
As he thought so, he jolted his eyes towards the ball placed infront of him.
"Why is he taking so long?"
"If you can't then just give up"
"Isn't he that boy whom we saw on TV?"
The more Hiro took his time, the more impatient the crowd grew. Still those foreign words, he couldn't understand anything.
However even though he was trying his best to ignore those noise produced around him, still because of the distance between him and the crowd, his focus was being hampered to some extent.
To counter this noise, Hiro then willed the system to use one of his skill, "Focus" which he hadn't used often in recent days.
Since he was already capable of ignoring most of the noises coming from the crowd, he simply didn't require to use this skill much. Thus it was quite pushed aside.
However at this moment as he activated the skill, he immediately felt it's effect. In an instant, the surrounding around him got ghastly silent.
Although everything around him was still moving like usual and the people around him were still moving their mouth, he couldn't hear any sound coming out of those mouth.
Even those clanging noises of the machines, he couldn't hear them as well. It was like he was inside a world without any sound.
Most people might panic or find such silence terrifying, Hiro however didn't find this silence terrifying. Rather he felt quite tranquil.
Hiro then looked at the post infront of him. A moment ago, he had already witnessed the might of that inanimate robot keeper.
Although he was a good penalty taker, he wasn't overtly confident that he could score against that keeper with hundred percent certainty.
Thus instead of taking a gamble when his side was already losing, he decided to make use of his another skill, "Penalty Expert" which could guarantee him a goal from penalty regardless of any situation.
Since the time he had acquired this skill, he had only used it few times. Not because he didn't take penalty much but because of the limitation placed on the skill.
He could only use this skill once a day.
And right now, he was using this opportunity to try to decrease the gap between the opponent side and his side.
Hiro then willed the system to activate the skill. After that he sprinted towards the ball.
Just as he made contact with the ball, his eyes flashed with a cold light as he heard sounds of moving cogs.
And at the same time, the robot keeper moved as well. It moved precisely towards the direction where Hiro had shot the ball.
Sure enough it tracked both the projectile and speed of the ball.
However even though it moved towards the right direction, it still couldn't block the shot. The ball easily avoided it's reach as it found itself in the back of the net.
At once the crowd around him went crazy as they yelled loudly out of excitement and awe.
With just only one shot, he captivated the hearts of so many onlookers present there at the moment.
Korean players however displayed a complicated look on their face filled with shock, fear, awe and indignation.
"Sure enough he's the real deal" revealing a smile on his face, Park Seung-gyu whispered under his breath as if he was already expecting such situation.
Hiro on the other hand who was still under the effect of his skill focus looked rather puzzled instead of happy despite scoring from the spot.
'Did I hear wrong? Under the effect of skill I shouldn't have been able to hear anything. But I swear I heard the sounds of cogs turning.' Rigidly staring at the post infront of him, he contemplated.
Under the effect of his skill, he shouldn't have been able to hear anything.
While Hiro was still contemplating, his friends approached him and broke his contemplation.
However right at this moment, he once again heard the sounds of cogs turning like before.
Upon hearing the sound, he immediately turned towards the post.
Just in time, he managed to take a glimpse of the robot keeper moving back to it's original.
'So I really wasn't hallucinating. It was coming from that keeper. Probably what I heard was the sound of it's mechanism being activated' based on the evidence he collected, he conjured that the sounds of cogs turning which he heard was probably the mechanism of robot keeper being activated.
However such events hadn't happened to him before while using his skill focus. Although it was a long time, he could still remember it.
While using the skill, every noise around him would negate unless he'd willing allow particular sound to enter his ears.
Since the competition was still ongoing, he couldn't keep standing over there blocking the spot for long. Thus while returning to his side, he decided to check on his skill to see if something had changed.
Afterall he hadn't checked on this skill since a long time. Because of its limited use, he hadn't been paying attention to this skill.
[Focus]
[When using this skill, the user can immerse himself completely in any kind of task he's undertaking, negating any kind of distractions]
[Skill duration: 15 minutes]
[Skill CD: 18 hours]
[Hidden effect: During the effect of this skill, host may gain some foresight leading to the success of the task]
As he read the description of the skill, a spark of realization perked up within him as he realised the reason behind being able to hear those sounds of cogs turning.
'I see. So this is why I heard those sound. If I follow this sound closely, I'll be able to deduce the timing of the keeper. That way I'd be able to shoot even more accurately' Hiro thought after reading the description of the skill.
Now that he figured out the reason behind him being able to hear those sounds, another problem presented.
Why did he gain this hidden effect all of a sudden?
Hidden effect wasn't the only thing which he had gained. Even the cool down has been reduced subsequently the skill duration had increased as well.
Was he missing something?
While the opposing player prepared to take his turn, Hiro kept on pondering about this matter.
He couldn't care less about the opposing team at this moment. This hidden effect could be a great help to him.
Like during the time of dribbling, he'd be able to deduce the direction of opposing players trying to sneak on him.
However because of the word "may" written, his expression turned sour.
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