Kyle glanced at the medicine in his hands, his heart thumping with uncertainty. Lu You, however, was entirely unconcerned, "Just give it a try. My condition is already as bad as it gets; it can’t worsen from here."
Hearing Lu You say this, Kyle nodded, "I think Chi Gui wouldn’t joke around with Lu You. If she said it’s helpful, then it must be."
"But..." one of the team members wanted to argue but was pulled back by another, and he stopped speaking.
After Kyle got the medicine and went to find a cup to brew it, the other team members followed him outside.
It was only after they had moved away from the ward that the earlier team member resumed speaking, "Manager, although I feel Coach Chi is very capable, she’s not a deity. It’s impossible for someone nearly paralyzed to recover enough to play within twenty days. We had better prepare for that now!"
Kyle had already grabbed a disposable cup and was bending down to fill it with water. He paused, registering the intent behind the team member’s words, before slowly straightening up.
He looked back at the dozen or so teammates following him and asked slowly, "So?"
The teammate bit his lip and then mustered up the courage to say, "Mr. Tair from the club’s executive team told us, considering our team’s extremely high popularity, we could bring in an ace driver from Maxi’s team to help us maintain our ranking..."
Under Kyle’s increasingly cold gaze, his voice trailed off, "Although... although we won’t be able to reach the pinnacle of performances that we had with Lu You on the field, we won’t be too embarrassed either..."
"Not too embarrassed?" Kyle let out a light laugh as if he had heard something utterly ludicrous, "A driver from Maxi replacing Lu You’s position, no, outright taking over the core position of our team... You think this is just about not being too embarrassed?"
The team member became evasive under his questioning, looking away, "It’s just an unfortunate necessity... Being replaced is still better than losing everything."
What he said was heartfelt and an objective reality.
For these regular team members, it didn’t matter who the manager was or who was in the core position.
As long as the team’s popularity remained and the ranking stayed, they could still get a share of the spoils.
Kyle understood this all too well. His grip on the cup tightened, "Lu You hasn’t given up yet. He’s likely to return to the race in twenty days! I absolutely won’t allow anyone... especially someone from Maxi to take his place at this time! Any of you who has a better opportunity can come to me anytime to request a transfer out of the team; I will not stop you."
"Do you really believe in that medicine?" The team member suddenly became anxious, "Manager Kyle, we’re saying this for your sake! By just sacrificing one person, Lu You, our whole team can maintain our past peak performance. Why not?"
Kyle lifted his head, his sharp gaze slowly passing over each team member’s face, word by word, his voice resonating firmly, "Because... without him, this team doesn’t have a peak at all!"
After he spoke, the water filling area was enveloped in dead silence.
Kyle waved his hand dismissively, "Alright, go back and think it over. I need to brew the medicine for Lu You."
The others walked out of the water filling area in silence.
As they left the hospital, the team member who spoke before exhaled, "Since Manager Kyle said that, there’s nothing we can do... I’ve decided to accept Manager Kael’s invitation."
As soon as he spoke, the others began to voice their agreement, "Me too..."
"Manager Kyle has lost it; we can’t be blamed for this..." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N0veI.Fiɾe.net
Only Ristass, who had stood at the rear of the group and remained silent from start to finish, spoke up, "I... also believe Coach Chi really has a way... I’ll stay with Manager Kyle’s team..."