...…

The second stage of the Shadow Ranking Cup finally reached its end. And just like what everyone had expected, most of the participants that advanced to this round were the crowd favorites. There were also some dark horses that appeared here and there; though, there were not that good in the eyes of these 'bias' spectators.

Since the third stage of the tournament was a double elimination bracket, this stage was going to be quite a long one. Given this, the System Draws for the next matchups were immediately taken place right after all of the advancing participants were determined.

And since all of the positions of the advancing players had already been released, these participants were given some time to prepare for their next opponents.

At the same time, hot topics regarding the most anticipated matchups were starting to pop up in different online platforms. There were even some intense debates regarding these topics. And naturally, the game entertainment industries would not let this opportunity to slip away from their hands; they also started opening their own debates between their hosts to heat up the hype.

But there was a single entertainment company that didn't join the debate regarding the top contenders. Instead, they were focusing all of their current discussions around a single player, who was said to be underrated in terms of attention that all of the other players were getting.

Though, there were actually some problems behind the scene of the said entertainment company.

...

Few minutes after the announcement of the placements of the participants for the upcoming third stage of the Shadow Ranking Cup.

The main staff of the True Sight Industries were currently having an intense discussion regarding the next topic that they were going to cover for the next segment. Though, there was quite a tension inside the room.

"What the hell are you talking about, Miss Bunny? Do you know how much rating is at stake this time? If we do as you say, then we are going to lose a lot of ratings that we are supposed to get!" said an angry voice which was directed to a woman.

"Calm down, Cool Guy. Let's hear the reason why Miss Bunny said that suggestion," said the guy sitting on the head seat in the room.

"But Sir! The other companies are going to steal the rights for the coverage of the other matchups if we waste more time in this meaningless meeting!" said Cool Guy out of impulse.

When the man in the head seat heard that, he suddenly squinted his eyes and stared at Cool Guy with a cold look on his face. "Should I need to remind you that I am still the captain of this team?"

"Hic!" Cool Guy finally came back to his senses the moment he heard that. Then he gulped a mouthful of saliva and sat down once again with a lowered head.

Seeing that, the man called himself the captain of the team, nodded his head before turning his attention at the woman sitting at the seat right across to him. "So, let us hear your thoughts, Miss Bunny. Why do you want to cover this certain player?"

But before Miss Bunny could even give her answer, everyone sitting around the meeting table suddenly heard a muttering voice. "Isn't that obvious? Isn't it because she is a fan of that player?"

After those words left the speaker's mouth, the room suddenly turned quiet as everyone turned their heads at Mr. Cool Guy, who was currently lowering his head even further.

The Captain looked at him even coldly for quite some time before turning his head at Miss Bunny. "Go on, Miss Bunny. Don't mind this guy."

Miss Bunny cleared her throat a little before opening her mouth. "As you can see, Sir. The battles that the 'Nameless Swordsman' had was quite a hit on itself. So, if we cover his upcoming battles, we don't need to spend some time to promote it to the public. And-…"

Miss Bunny was still in the middle of talking when the Captain suddenly raised his hand and interrupted her. "But the other participants also have the 'self-marketing' on their names; especially the former Rankers."

Then he paused for a moment and looked at Miss Bunny straight to her eyes before continuing. "So, what is the difference? And isn't it better to place our bets on them instead of gambling our chances on him?"

Miss Bunny was stunned for a moment the moment she heard that. Then she opened a virtual screen from her advance watch and showed the current placements and bracket schedules for the third stage of the Shadow Ranking Cup.

The others suddenly knitted their brows the moment they saw that. They were confused at first, but they immediately came to realization when Miss Bunny suddenly highlighted some names written in it.

And that was when Miss Bunny continued. "As you can see, we could have a lot of good matchups if we follow the path of his win. And unlike the other top contenders, all of his upcoming opponents are famous players; some of them were even a fellow top contender. So, we can still have the 'self-marketing' for the coverage."

The others started nodding their heads the moment they heard that. And when Miss Bunny saw that, she also started smiling inside. Though, there were still some people who seemed to be not impressed; and one of them was the Captain himself.

Seeing that, Miss Bunny suddenly turned silent and waited for their team captain to say something. And a moment later, he gave her his thoughts. "Psychic: Janine in the first round, Beastmaster: Akailu in the second round, and Emperor of the Night: Liszt at the third round. Those are quite a good matchup indeed."

The moment Miss Bunny heard that, she started having a good feeling where this was headed. Though, it was until the team captain dropped the big bomb at the end. "But it is only the case he keeps on winning. What if he loses a battle and drops into the loser's bracket? Are you telling us to keep on covering his battles even if that happens?"

Miss Bunny suddenly struck dumb after hearing that. 'I still did not think about that.'

Then the Captain continued. "Given how tough the climb that he needs to do in advancing further, it is not impossible for him to lose even a single battle. And with how things should be, we can't afford to waste our resources just to gamble on such uncertainty."

Hearing that, Miss Bunny tried to defend her side. "But Sir, it is the same for the other famous contenders."

When the Captain heard that, he couldn't help but have a bitter smile with his lips before saying. "Yes, it is true. But given that they have a much larger fanbase than the others, we are safe to say that we can still have a huge viewership even if they lose a battle and fall on the loser's bracket."

Miss Bunny still wanted to say something but her words were immediately cut off by the Captain. "That is the end of it, Miss Bunny. You stayed in this industry quite long enough, so you should know how the things should work now."

After saying that, the Captain turned his head on the others and said. "Moving on, any other suggestions?"

But before the others could even voice out their suggestion, Miss Bunny still opened her mouth and said. "I am going to quit my job."

The room suddenly turned silent the moment they heard that. Then they simultaneously turned their heads at Miss Bunny with faces that were full of confusion.

"What did you say?" said by the team captain, asking for confirmation.

Hearing that, Miss Bunny gritted her teeth before saying. "I said, I am going to resign if he ever loses even a single match."

The others were stunned at her words, they couldn't believe that she was going to bet her successful career just to cover the matches of an 'unknown' player. And amidst their confusion, they turned their head at their team captain, who was also quite shocked at her words.

A moment later, the captain couldn't help but have a huge grin after seeing her resolve. And at this point of time, his instincts about this industry was telling him that there was something more behind this. 'Looks like she knows more than we do, huh?'

'High risk, high rewards, huh?' thought by the team captain for a moment before finally agreeing with Miss Bunny's idea. "Alright, I agree with your idea."

...…

Meanwhile, our man in question was currently studying the battle videos of his upcoming opponents. Even if he made a lot of improvements since the sparring match that he had with Faker, that still didn't mean that he could let his guard down. And given that his opponents for the next few rounds were quite troublesome players, he still needed to do some careful preparations to ensure his victory.

"Someone with strange powers and odd technique, while the other guy was someone with a bunch of problematic pet summons. And on top of that, there was also this guy that had a troublesome battle style."

"Looks like the first 3 consecutive rounds that I am going to have are quite a tough wall to overcome, huh?" muttered Shin to himself after watching the battle clips of Janine, Akailu and Liszt.

But despite seeing how strong his opponents were, Shin did not get nervous, Instead, he became even more excited at the upcoming battles. "Looks like things are finally beginning to become interesting, huh?"

...…