My first visit to a card store Part II

“Thank you so much, pal. I’m now a lot more hyped up to go find work.”

Joke answered monotonously while finishing up his (value) meal in front of him without a single bite left. Shortly after, he grabbed that pricy chocolate—which was the source of today’s problem—to unwrap it, ready to relieve his stress upon devouring it. That made his friend who was in Japan burst out laughing.

“Seems like you’re indeed under a lot of stress to the point you have to eat this childish chocolate again. Don’t forget to brush your teeth before bed, kid, or else they’ll all be rotten.”

“Bugger off,” Joke scowled.

“Remind me, why did you call me asking about AOS today? Never in a million years you did once care about those things. Why are you asking me about it all of a sudden; I’m curious.”

After hearing this question, Joke threw a small square piece of chocolate into his mouth, munching away. Seeing his friend’s curious looks, he was uncertain whether he should tell him the whole story or not, which he decided not to in the end, settling with the following response:

“No reason. I just heard something interesting.”

“Something interesting?” Artit raised his eyebrows. “What sort of thing?”

“I heard that esports is currently on the rise, isn’t it?”

“It’s off the charts,” his best friend added. “The kids that got skills are starting to turn their heads towards gaming. And with the cash prize in each competition increasing, more people are becoming interested in the tournaments. Then there’s also live streams, brand presenters, and all that jazz; the more skilled you are, the more money you’ll make.”

“And is the job stable?” Joke asked.

“To a certain extent. There are currently a lot of organizations created just for esports mushrooming all over. In other words, it’s similar to football clubs or something like that. Each organization recruits skilled players to join their team and then sends them off into tournaments to hunt for awards. Similar to football clubs, there are amateur and professional teams, substitute and main teams, coaches, salaries, and living quarters; and the higher up the ranking you are, the more chances you’ll also get a manager providing you with various assistance… So, it certainly can be said that the career’s stable.”

What he just mentioned could be easily understood. When compared with working, it was similar to climbing up the corporate ladder from entry-level positions to higher-ups; and the different sizes of organizations, ranging from small organizations to larger ones that sent their players to compete in international competitions, could be compared to small and leading corporates in the market.

“I heard that the kids are now starting to become interested in being pro players. You can become an esports pro player at only 13 years old?” Joke asked.

“If you got enough skills. Those organizations prefer training kids that have potential themselves, rather than signing popular players. Because they aim for long-term profit results, it’s better to not invest a lot of money by taking risks signing players. Especially these days, there are youth tournaments for anyone aged 16 and under which causes more children to become interested. And there’s also the salary factor, of course.”

“So, this means the sooner you enter into the industry, the faster you’ll gain the upper hand, right?”

“That’s true with every career: the sooner you start and get serious ahead of others, the more advantage you’ll have,” Artit shrugged.

“And what about if you start playing in your twenties?”

“There’s not a single age restriction rule. There are a lot of senior players in their fifties like Robere, a French player. Even at 62, he is so cool he’s still in the top twenty for over ten years.”

Joke did not know that “Robere” person, but it seemed clear that age was not much of an issue for esports athletes as that sixty-ish-year-old man could compete in international competitions.

“Wait,” Artit suddenly paused. “If you’re asking about age, does this mean you’re interested?”

The person who was being asked froze. Joke simply grabbed a water bottle, and took a small sip, leaving his friend narrowing his eyes as if he was nitpicking him.

“Not really…”

Joke supposedly stated, but he was still being constantly stared at critically. Defeated, he could only sigh and admit to the fact.

“Alright. I’m interested in learning how to play the game.”

“Really?!”

His best friend then shouted aloud, grinning ear to ear.

“Why are you screaming?” Joke retorted.

“You have been brushing me off every time I convince you to play it with me. Don’t you know that all of my friends have been playing AOS? But my closest friend—the person who I want to talk with most—turns out to have absolutely no idea about it; it’s frustrating, you know? And are you seriously interested in playing it, Joke?”

“Huh? Ah...I…”

Joke seemed to be hesitating. In fact, he never felt the need to waste his time with this card game before, but a lot of today’s incidents had been impelling him to become more interested in it.

“I’m kinda interested in learning it.”

“Awesome!” Artit cried out loudly. “For real? Why didn’t you mention it when I was in Thailand, or else I would have been teaching you all about it. Speaking of which, it’ll be up to two more months until I’m back in Thailand. How about this: I’ll introduce you to my go-to store. I guarantee you that there will be people willing to teach you there. I’m close with the owner. You should swing by to try out playing the game. That’s great timing; you are currently stressed out about finding a job, aren’t you? It’s better to try out new things to relieve stress; you might get something out of it.”

Joke quieted down for a moment as if he was hesitating. The truth was, he personally wanted to find something to do to let go of all the things he experienced today. But it would be a dare to return back to the store after he had just caused such a major problem there.

“Did you mean something like that Card Factory?” Joke asked.

“Gosh, no! Those CFs are not suitable for beginners. It’s a store for professional players to trade their cards; all the big players gather there. It would be better for you to start learning it in other stores. Those stores are more friendly… I’ll send you the location. Wait a second.”

Without delay, his best friend sent him the store location as mentioned. His friend’s cheeky face then returned to the screen before smiling broadly shortly after.

“The store owner’s name is “Madame Fon”. Although she looks tough and strict, she is in fact very kind. Tell her you know me, she’ll surely take great care of you. You go try it out, my friend. If you like it, you can call me anytime you need something. There’s a lot of unique cards and fine gaming accessories for sale all over—those are not expensive, too—so we can then play together once I’m back.”

Artit held his tongue at this point before poking his head to the other side as if he heard something.

“There’s someone knocking on my door, perhaps someone in my tour group. Uh, I gotta go. I’ll call you back. Don’t stress too much about landing a job. It won’t take long for a smart guy like you to find a way out.”