Chapter 50 : Struggle
Chapter 50: Struggle
“Yes, I understand.”
Baek Woohyun slowly nodded his head.
It was an order to put aside his resentment for now and stay quiet, but since he too understood why Kim Cheol was saying this, he had no particularly negative feelings.
Even he himself, when he first obtained the smartphone and checked its contents, had decided to let it sit for a while rather than commit the folly of acting too hastily.
[Mission ‘First Practical’ complete!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have obtained 1 supernatural ability point!]
[You can acquire a new Core Element!]
[Please select your second supernatural ability Core Element]
As he finished his conversation with Kim Cheol and left the conference room, system messages appeared.
They were messages he had seen several times already and would see often in the future—that he had completed the ‘First Practical’ mission and leveled up again.
However, the selection of a new Core Element that appeared at the end was the first time since the initial tutorial.
‘Already… no, it’s not really already. I level up at every little thing, and I did clear an entire Reverse World by myself.’
Baek Woohyun smiled bitterly as he recalled his memories from ‘that place’.
Here, he had entered the Otherworld Management Bureau without much difficulty, received training as an agent—though he hadn’t really received much proper training—and successfully completed his first practical mission, but in ‘that place’ it wasn’t like that.
He and his comrades who had escaped from the research facility first had to somehow solve food, clothing, and shelter, and on top of that had the penalty of not being caught by the research facility’s eyes.
Moreover, there was no leveling up at every mission like now. Clearing a Reverse World? Naturally, they couldn’t even dream of it. What Reverse World when they were already desperately trying to survive in the first place?
That meant growth was very slow. As he recalled, it was almost several months after escaping the research facility that he had unlocked his second Core Element.
‘That’s why I thought even more that choosing Perfect Being was the right choice.’
That made sense, because there was nothing like Perfect Being for enduring with just one Core Element. Thanks to the superhuman physical strength, even harsh life wasn’t particularly difficult.
Was that all? Because he became robust, he could even step up to help when other comrades were exhausted and struggling, so it was worthy of self-praise as the best choice.
In any case, selecting the second Core Element didn’t take very long.
Since he had already revealed his entire build once on the broadcast, there was no reason to agonize. He just had to select what he had selected before.
‘Now that I’ve finished one mission, isn’t it about time to do PVP?’
PVP progression after story missions.
Jeong Nayeon had said that was what they planned to establish as the basic broadcast progression routine.
The ‘First Practical’ mission they had just progressed through was a single mission, but it had taken quite a bit of time one way or another, so it was reasonable to move on to the next.
And Baek Woohyun’s prediction wasn’t wrong. A message-shaped icon began blinking in the corner of his vision.
-Jeong Nayeon: Good good
-Jeong Nayeon: We can probably move to PVP now
-Jeong Nayeon: You remember what we talked about yesterday, right?
What Jeong Nayeon was referring to as ‘what we talked about yesterday’ didn’t have much content.
It was simply that since they had done PVP ‘Duel’ on the previous broadcast, they wanted to do a different mode on this broadcast.
To Baek Woohyun’s question of why they were doing a different mode when they’d made such a huge fuss about the win streak record, Jeong Nayeon had answered that was exactly why.
There was no reason to show the record challenge that people were dying to see right now.
‘Well, that’s certainly true.’
[Moving to battle preparation room]
When Baek Woohyun selected ‘Struggle’, the only one of the three PVP modes he hadn’t tried yet, the surrounding scenery melted and changed as always.
Though he’d been here a couple times, so it felt fairly familiar—to the place resembling a command and control room, that is, the battle preparation room.
Also, just as there were differences between ‘Duel’ mode and ‘Survival’ mode, the battle preparation room for ‘Struggle’ mode also had its differences.
Instead of the hologram island map and hologram stage, a hologram continuously replaying the combat methods of ‘Struggle’ mode was playing.
Conquest battles fighting over a single stronghold, escort battles transporting or blocking cargo, capture battles stealing and being stolen from, and annihilation battles killing all enemies.
Just from this alone, one could understand what kind of rules existed in ‘Struggle’ mode.
‘That aside, should I modify my build a bit?’
“Hmm-”
Baek Woohyun, who had been thinking about changing the ‘Duel’ mode build made on the broadcast to something closer to ‘Survival’ mode, soon shook his head.
It was because while ‘Survival’ mode had more enemies than allies so paying more attention to survival made sense, he didn’t feel the need to do so even for ‘Struggle’ mode where allies and enemies were equal in number.
Although there was the saying that sometimes allies are more dangerous than enemies, friendly fire was impossible within Reverse Planet in the first place.
‘…It won’t be, right?’
[Would you like to start PVP ‘Struggle’ mode game matching?]
[Yes/No]
And so the first game matching began with no build modifications at all.
[PVP ‘Struggle’ mode game matching successful]
Just like the previous ‘Survival’ mode or ‘Duel’ mode, ‘Struggle’ mode matching was caught incredibly quickly.
Of course, it wasn’t quite to the level of ‘Duel’ mode where matching was caught almost simultaneously with pressing the button since it was 1v1, but it was still close enough.
This was because ‘Struggle’ mode was the most popular among PVP.
The fact that matching speed could rival ‘Duel’ mode despite requiring a total of ten people for 5v5 meant there were that many people playing it.
[‘Struggle’ mode – Escort Battle starting]
[Round victory condition: Transport cargo to target location]
[Time until first round start — 30 seconds]
The first game’s rules were an escort battle.
Each team alternately escorts cargo once to transport it to the target location, and the pushing side wins by reaching the target location, while the blocking side wins by holding them off for the allotted time.
As with all Reverse Planet PVP, it was best of three, and in the third match that followed a 1-1 tie, the side that pushed less during their attack (pushing) round would take the attack role again.
‘An escort battle-‘
***
“Now, the much-anticipated first game of ‘Struggle’ mode is an escort battle. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of performance Hackphysical will show in an escort battle.”
-Ah what the hell, muscles
-Why no Duel? Why no Duel? Why no Duel?
-Really hiding? Really?
-Is he not doing it because he’s afraid the win streak record will break?ㅜㅜ
Despite Cha Seongcheol’s announcement of the first game start, public opinion in the chat window was still burning hot.
The fact that Baek Woohyun had started ‘Struggle’ matching instead of ‘Duel’ matching was that unwelcome to the viewers.
There were even occasionally crazy statements like they’d shit their pants or make big decisions if he didn’t start ‘Duel’ matching right away.
Actually, their reaction wasn’t incomprehensible.
After the last Nuclear Tourism broadcast, Baek Woohyun’s 30-win streak had received considerable attention.
They would have been watching with curiosity about whether he could continue the win streak record this time too, but suddenly ‘Struggle’? What kind of deflating news was this?
However, neither Jeong Nayeon nor Cha Seongcheol had any intention of telling Baek Woohyun that he should do ‘Duel’.
That could be seen just from the conversation they had secretly from the viewers.
-Jeong Nayeon: The reaction is more intense than I thought
-Cha Seongcheol: Eventually it’ll be fine once the game starts
-Jeong Nayeon: Right?
-Cha Seongcheol: Yes. Actually quite a few people were waiting for Struggle
-Cha Seongcheol: Right now they’re not visible because they’re overwhelmed by the firepower
-Cha Seongcheol: But Struggle’s popularity among PVP is overwhelming
Cha Seongcheol’s prediction was correct.
The chat window, which had seemed to be overheating at first glance, ultimately couldn’t cross a certain line, and those who thought ‘Struggle’ was fine too gradually began to step forward.
‘StarDrawer’ donated ‘10,000 won’!
[Why are you trying to make such a fuss when you can just watch]
-Open notepad…
-For real lol just watch
-If you want to see Duel win streak come back later and watch it ㅇㅇ;
-Honestly I prefer Struggle so I’m actually happy
“Ah, StarDrawer thank you for the 10,000 won donation. The viewers are just disappointed. But everyone knows you shouldn’t say bad things, right?”
“That’s right. And to those who said they want to see how far the win streak record goes, think about it. Do you really think Hackphysical can’t win streak just because it’s ‘Struggle’?”
“That’s true. I played about twenty rounds of ‘Survival’ together with Woohyun- no, Hackphysical, and he won streak there too, you know? Looking at that, it means he’ll definitely set a win streak record in ‘Struggle’ too.”
-For real, he’ll probably do at least 20-win streak in Struggle too
-Will it work in a team game though
-Team game?ㅋㅋ I’ll say just one word “Hackphysical”
-He can grab them by the collar and carry them so win streak is totally possible
Certainly Cha Seongcheol’s argument had merit, so the chat window soon completely calmed down.
It was absurd to say that Baek Woohyun, who had a 30-win streak in ‘Duel’ and over 20-win streak in ‘Survival’, couldn’t set a win streak record just because it was ‘Struggle’.
Rather, the viewers began chattering about how many consecutive wins he would record this time, as if asking when they had ever been fired up about ‘Struggle’.
-“Oh, got it.”
-“Hello! Please take care of me this round!”
-“Let’s work hard and win!”
And meanwhile, the matched users greeted each other in a friendly atmosphere. Judging by the mood, there didn’t seem to be any snipers.
Well, it wasn’t a ranked game but a normal game, and sniping a user playing for the first time was absolutely not easy, so that made sense.
There might somehow be a user who succeeded in sniping on the opposing team, but that was something Baek Woohyun would just have to smash on his own.
-Are they still newbies?
-First game matching so they’re probably newbies lol cute
-Even people who played ranked games were like that once, but now why…
-Normal game + newbie combo so it’s really harmonious from the start
It was in a way natural that the viewers who had been talking about Baek Woohyun’s new win streak record showed interest in the newbies.
To the viewers, who were mostly veterans enough to seek out broadcasts about Reverse Planet, newbies were beings to be protected and cherished.
Some viewers even expressed regret that those who live for ranked games, the so-called ranked game specters, must have been like this in the past too.
[First round, start!]
-“Let’s go!”
-“Everyone fighting!”
The 30 seconds given until game start passed quickly, and soon with the system message announcing the round start, the cargo began moving.
Releasing heavy sounds as it moved, Baek Woohyun and the other four team members either climbed slightly onto the cargo or walked alongside it.
A brief silence descended until the opposing team that had to stop the cargo reached the vicinity.
-“······.”
Seuwik.
Just when it seemed they would wait for the enemy team like this, Baek Woohyun naturally separated from the group and moved.
Since he had been moving at the tail end of the group following the cargo, the other team members didn’t immediately notice his departure.
Of course, the team members were also looking around in their own way to check the surroundings, but that was only looking ahead.
“Oh, Hackphysical is starting to move alone. It looks like he’s going ahead to fight the enemies first, right?”
“If you have the ability to do so, there’s no need to wait. The question is whether he can win a 1v5 by going alone-”
-1v5? Totally possible
-If it’s the newbie zone then the opponents are newbies too so obviously it works
-ㄴㄴ Don’t know yet; the opponent might be a rotten newbie who did other stuff really hard
-Even so, this side has Hackphysical ㅅㄱ