Chapter 31 : A New Mission
Chapter 31: A New Mission
“……”
Deep in a forest thick with trees and bushes.
Standing alone, Baek Woohyun looked up at the sky while standing still. A single pure white cloud floating across the clear blue sky entered his view.
Watching the aimlessly moving cloud, he felt as if his own circumstances were the same. Because he was drifting somewhere that was neither this side nor that side.
At least when inside this ‘Reverse Planet,’ he seemed reasonably close to one side, but he couldn’t know whether that was ‘this side’ or ‘that side.’
Really, there was no way he could know…
‘By the way.’
As he idly looked up at the sky, a thought suddenly flashed through Baek Woohyun’s mind.
It was doubt about whether this ‘Hack Tour’ content would really appeal to viewers.
Though he had watched personal broadcasts a few times before, perhaps because he’d been ‘over there’ for over ten years, he still didn’t understand this side’s sensibilities well.
A broadcast watching someone play games.
Wasn’t that a truly subtle description?
‘Well, Nayeon said that’s the same for other observational varieties too.’
In fact, thinking about it, Baek Woohyun knew Jeong Nayeon’s words were right.
Observational variety was also a structure of viewers watching panels watching cast members’ videos playing.
The only difference was that the video being watched was a personal broadcast, but essentially the roots were the same, no exaggeration. Therefore, her claim was that there was sufficient chance of success.
It was a claim with considerable persuasiveness.
The only problem was he himself was still uncertain.
‘I guess I have no choice but to do my best.’
Just because it was okay to fail didn’t mean there was reason to hope for failure and act accordingly.
In any case, if this broadcast flourished, the amount Baek Woohyun himself received would increase, so preferably succeeding would be better.
For that, Baek Woohyun also intended to do his best. As he always had.
Moreover, even if ‘Hack Tour’ failed, he couldn’t completely stop broadcasting either.
Because there existed a reason he had no choice but to continue broadcasting whether he wanted to or not.
‘When will that guy approach again.’
Anonymous Viewer 62 who said he’d visit during broadcast.
Baek Woohyun had to continue broadcasting if only to confirm what demands that guy, presumed to be connected to the System, would come with.
It meant it was a broadcast he had to do anyway. Then wouldn’t it be better if it flourished?
If it succeeded beyond expectations, there would be various benefits to the future plans he’d set too.
“……”
How long had he spent time lost in thought?
With a tiring sound, a message window appeared before Baek Woohyun’s eyes.
It was a whisper sent by Jeong Nayeon.
-Jeong Nayeon: ㄱㄱ
Reading the content of only two letters, no, only two consonants, Baek Woohyun sheathed the military dagger.
This was the signal he’d been waiting for. The signal that studio preparations were finished, so it was okay to properly start.
From now on, he just had to proceed with the game as desired. How to package and show that was the studio’s problem to worry about.
‘Let’s see-‘
The item Baek Woohyun took out from inside his clothes intending to proceed with the game was a radio.
An item obtained from a dying agent during the tutorial, who had said to try using this radio if he didn’t know what to do after going outside.
He guessed it was probably a signpost made for players who would wander about directions after coming out into the forest.
“……”
Looking down at the radio with eyes hard to read for a moment.
Baek Woohyun soon activated it.
Crackle, crack-
[…we say. Survivors, please avoid enemies, exit the forest, and join us. This is from the Otherworld Management Bureau. Survivors…]
The radio repeatedly spouting only the same content as if playing a recorder.
Soon with a tiring- sound, a system message appeared in one corner of Baek Woohyun’s vision saying a new mission had been created or whatnot.
By satisfying the condition of listening to radio content, the mission following the tutorial was created.
However, Baek Woohyun himself seemed to have little interest in the system message that appeared before him.
Instead, he looked at the forest on the opposite side from the research facility with narrowed eyes.
It was to gauge enemies that would be inside through senses heightened with [Perfect Being].
Indeed, several presences were felt as the radio content said. Each one was moving around here and there as if searching the surroundings.
Perhaps because of the Otherworld Management Bureau’s raid, it wasn’t a very large number—
‘Same as that time.’
Ten years ago, ‘over there,’ when escaping the research facility too.
Even with their home base, the research facility, half-destroyed like now, enemies had stepped forward saying they’d catch escaping test subjects.
To avoid their fierce pursuit, Baek Woohyun and his comrades had fled desperately between life and death, and only after one more person sacrificed could they succeed in exiting the forest.
Thick murderous intent appeared in Baek Woohyun’s eyes as that miserable experience was recalled.
‘This time.’
Baek Woohyun, who shoved the radio back inside his clothes, drew his military dagger.
The pitch-black blade shone ominously.
His pupils reflected beyond the blade had already changed to inverted eyes at some point. What that fact meant was clear.
‘I’ll kill them all.’
***
-Seems like he’ll kill his way through?
-If it’s Hackphysical he’d probably just walk boldly
-If he hates bothersome things he might avoid them
-If he fights and it gets noisy, other guys will all swarm too, can he handle it?
-Handle in front of Hackphysical lol bullshit lol
Meanwhile, in the studio, discourse was in full swing about how Baek Woohyun would proceed with the 「Join Otherworld Management Bureau」 mission.
Would he hide and exit the forest without fighting enemies? Or would he boldly confront and kill all enemies he encountered to leave the forest?
Since both seemed plausible, viewers’ opinions were divided too. In fact, it was close to half saying content they wanted to see.
“In my view, he’ll pass without particularly fighting. If it’s Hackphysical, couldn’t he quickly exit the forest by running above the trees?”
-ㄹㅇ seems like he’ll clear first objective in 5 minutes
-Can he run above trees??
-If it’s Hackphysical it’s possible
-It is a route pros often use when raising sub-accounts
Cha Seongcheol spoke for the former—that is, he thought Baek Woohyun would choose to break through without fighting.
It was an opinion welling from experience watching various pro players in the past.
Most of them wanted to quickly finish missions and raise levels rather than focusing on fighting, so usually they’d pass without fighting if they could.
Additionally, Jeong Nayeon’s words that Baek Woohyun hated bothersome things also strengthened such speculation.
“Hmm.”
However, Jeong Nayeon herself seemed to think differently.
After tilting her head at Baek Woohyun’s expression shown on screen, she hesitantly opened her mouth.
“…In my view, he’ll kill enemies while breaking through. Though this is just speculation.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. No. Not just killing, but he’ll probably search for them and kill them?”
-? Why bother
-Is there need for that
-Is there something for killing many enemies?
-ㄴㄴ nothing at all
She understood viewers’ puzzled reactions too.
While killing enemies encountered while passing was something that couldn’t be helped anyway, searching for them all to kill was a different story.
Unless there was some special reason, it was at most pointless effort, wasn’t it?
Some viewers suspected whether some special event was hidden in this mission, but naturally that probability was very low. To the extent it could be called almost nonexistent.
As it was early in the main story, it was a mission various types of people had chewed, torn, and tasted in various ways, so how could a new event be discovered now?
Even killing all enemies in the forest was an act others had tried several times, so what more needed to be said?
“Didn’t you say Hackphysical hates bothersome things? Would such a person search out enemies one by one to kill before going?”
“His personality is like that, but-”
If Jeong Nayeon hadn’t seen Baek Woohyun’s expression, she would have agreed with Cha Seongcheol’s opinion too.
But having seen his expression, she couldn’t think at all that he’d just pass by. Because her intuition as a friend who’d known him quite long whispered so.
Of course, she couldn’t answer with intuition here, so she made appropriate excuses.
“In gameplay it’s a bit different. How should I say this. There’s a type that kills all enemies if they exist, right? That kind of feeling.”
“Ah, there certainly is that type. People who must kill all enemies and reveal the whole map before moving on.”
-Revealing maps is ㅇㅈ
-Scraping everything clean is originally fun
-My friend is exactly that type ㅇㅇ when gaming together even one mission takes so long
-At least it’ll be fast since it’s Hackphysical, fortunately;
Since his game play style was originally like that, there was no one to object. Because that wasn’t even in the realm of training. Unless objecting for its own sake.
As an atmosphere of reasonably accepting formed in the chat window, Cha Seongcheol grinned and regathered scattered concentration back toward Baek Woohyun.
“Good. Let’s watch together what appearance Hackphysical will show in the first battle of ‘Hack Tour’!”
Jeong Nayeon and Cha Seongcheol, and the viewers looked at Baek Woohyun in the hologram video filled with anticipation.
Anticipating what kind of combat he would show.
And indeed he didn’t break that expectation.
***
“Sssup-”
Having made a decision, there was no reason to hesitate.
Baek Woohyun inhaled deeply. So deep it seemed endless.
Since lung capacity was included among physical abilities enhanced with [Perfect Being], when he deliberately kept inhaling, in an instant a tremendous amount of air filled his lungs.
He continued inhaling so much that even his build seemed to have grown larger, so one could know how much breath he held in his chest.
Having inhaled like that, now was the turn to exhale.
Naturally he didn’t just exhale the air filling his lungs. He hadn’t inhaled for dozens of seconds just to take deep breaths.
Instead of exhaling normally, the action he chose was mixing in his voice.
Simply put, he let out a roar.
And very loudly. Enough to ring through the whole forest.
“I’m─here─!”
Birds startled by the roar ringing thunderously through the forest flew up from all directions.
She’d bet that even at the forest’s edge, Baek Woohyun’s voice could be heard. Because even thunder would have been smaller than that roar just now.
And that meant guards searching also heard the roar. Unless they’d collectively lost their hearing.
……! ………!
…………!
‘They’re coming.’
Feeling presences rapidly approaching with faint shouts, Baek Woohyun narrowed his eyes.
In fact, he’d had no intention from the start of going to find and kill guards.
It was natural if natural. The forest wasn’t small, and in a situation where enemies were all spread out at wide intervals, when would he find and kill each one?
Like now, if he let out one roar they’d gather on their own, so there was no need to bother.
Of course, whether he could handle enemies gathered like that was a different problem—
‘Let’s handle them as quickly as possible.’
—But for Baek Woohyun, such ‘trivial’ disadvantages were just stories that didn’t matter.
If he hadn’t been confident, he wouldn’t have attempted it in the first place.
He wasn’t stupid enough to be crushed by calamity he called himself.
Thud!
Baek Woohyun, who kicked the ground and advanced, soon encountered an enemy. It was a guard just pushing through bushes.
When surprise appeared on the guard’s face seeing him suddenly appear before his eyes, he immediately swung his military dagger with a faint smile.
It was speed too fast for the improperly prepared guard to block.
Slash!
“…Ka…hak!”
The blade containing superhuman strength precisely slashed the targeted area.
Blood poured like a waterfall between the torn throat, and the guard even dropped his gun while clutching the wound.
It was an instinctive hemostasis action, but with slight exaggeration, there was no way he could hold with just two hands a neck over half cut off.
The staggering guard soon toppled with a splash sound onto the pool of blood he’d made.
‘First, one.’
Baek Woohyun continued moving without looking back at the enemy he killed. Because there was no time to leisurely appreciate last moments.
In a situation where over dozens of enemies were narrowing distance toward him moment by moment. If he stopped even for a moment he’d be surrounded, so he couldn’t stop.
After shaking blood off the military dagger, he kicked the ground again.