Chapter 92 : Makgora
Chapter 92: Makgora
The reason he intervened while quietly applauding others’ success was simple.
Because he could clearly see the strange changes emanating from all of Blue Whale’s movements. It was a change as if being interfered with from the outside.
It was a momentary change that ordinary people wouldn’t even notice, but where was he an ordinary person?
Even back when dealing with hackers, just by looking at their standing posture and simple gestures, he had realized his opponent had changed.
Naturally, there was no way he wouldn’t notice the discrepancy arising from Blue Whale.
“……”
Having faced other users through PVP, Baek Woohyun knew what that meant.
It was the effect of the Compensation system, something like a symbol of Reverse Planet. In other words, it meant Blue Whale was not currently in a No Compensation state.
The mission was supposed to be conducted with No Compensation, and Blue Whale should have known that.
Yet, being under the influence of Compensation meant…
“…Do you have nothing separate to say?”
-?
-What is it?
-Why is the atmosphere like this? ㄷㄷ
Baek Woohyun asked while looking at Blue Whale with a somewhat subdued gaze.
At his sudden question, a chilly silence fell over the training ground. Likely because they sensed a problem had erupted, even if they didn’t know what.
Not only Jeong Nayeon and Cha Seongcheol, but the participants also held their breath, looking back and forth between Baek Woohyun and Blue Whale.
“Me? Are you talking to me?”
Blue Whale asked back with a bewildered expression.
As if he didn’t know why Baek Woohyun was suddenly acting this way.
‘Did he possibly notice?’
Of course, it wasn’t that he really didn’t know why Baek Woohyun was doing this and thus reacted this way.
The reason he specifically singled out only Blue Whale was, in his own thinking, only one.
However, he didn’t hastily confess. There was also the possibility that he was just testing the waters because something felt off.
“Phew…”
Seeing Blue Whale’s reaction, Baek Woohyun let out a short sigh and then sharply shot back.
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice you’re in a Compensated state right now?”
-“What? Really?”
-“Huh, what kind of-”
-“What”
-“Gasp”
-“He has Compensation on??”
-“Uh…”
As Baek Woohyun confronted him head-on, Jeong Nayeon was startled, and Cha Seongcheol let out a stunned breath.
Having experienced the monster named Baek Woohyun up close, the two’s trust in him had solidified, so they believed him immediately.
But that was only the story of those two. The viewers’ reactions were split into two.
-Going on a challenge with Compensation on is insane lololol
-Ah, no way he’d do that openly… would he?
-What nonsense are you talking about lololol
-Seems like Hackphysical misjudged this time yep
-Still don’t believe Hackphysical??
-How on earth do you notice someone using Compensation?
The viewers, divided into those who believed Baek Woohyun and those who didn’t, heated up the chat.
The ratio seemed about half and half, but even this was sufficiently remarkable.
Even though he criticized without presenting any evidence, just bluntly saying it wasn’t No Compensation, about half of the tens of thousands of viewers believed him.
It meant that the track record Baek Woohyun had built so far was incredible. To the extent that they couldn’t help but believe whatever he said.
“Uh, Woohyun? Why do you think Blue Whale-nim is in a Compensated state?”
“From the walking gait to trivial gestures, even the posture holding the barbell, I felt the unique change of the Compensation system.”
“That… can you feel it?”
“I can feel it. The body deviates from its original motion in real-time.”
“Uh… Hmm… Is that so…?”
-What lolololol
-Saying it so matter-of-factly like that;;
-Mr. Jeong’s expression = My expression
-So Compensation had that kind of downside (or not) lol
Baek Woohyun said the fact of Compensation was so obvious he could notice it in an instant, but to others, it just sounded like grasping at clouds.
That’s why public opinion was still split in half and fighting even after hearing the reason. ‘You’ll know if you see it’ isn’t a reason easily accepted.
It also didn’t make sense for a broadcaster with a considerable audience size to participate in such an audition, be told to turn off Compensation, and proceed with the mission without doing so.
“Could you show us the Compensation system? If not, I will bow my head and apologize.”
“……”
‘This is bad.’
Hearing Baek Woohyun’s words, which were practically a declaration of makgora—slang meaning a 1v1 fight to the death—Jeong Nayeon blamed herself for her mistake.
Originally, the training ground had various settings related to Compensation percentage, and she thought this mess happened because she hadn’t touched those.
If she had activated the function allowing the training ground owner to adjust the Compensation percentage, this wouldn’t have happened.
However, it was hard to say this was entirely her fault.
It was difficult to imagine a broadcaster with enough will to participate in the audition would pull such a cheap trick.
Who could have predicted there would be someone who uses it with the mindset of ‘it’s fine as long as I’m not caught,’ even though they’d be exposed immediately upon checking?
“……”
“……”
-Huh?
-Seems it’s true
-Lol he really had Compensation on??
-Legendary lololol
Public opinion in the chat stirred upon seeing Blue Whale hesitating and unable to answer easily.
If he were truly being falsely accused, he would have shown the Compensation system immediately. The fact he couldn’t do that was almost proof that Baek Woohyun’s words were right.
Even the participants who were observing the situation with half-doubt, ‘No way…’ quickly changed from ‘No… right?’ to ‘This is it!’
“Alright. You don’t have to show it.”
“……”
“By the judge’s authority, Blue Whale-nim is disqualified. I believe you know the reason.”
-Kya, that’s how you do it!
-Cutting him out immediately!
-Yep~ if you pull a cheap trick, you get cut~
-One disqualification decided lolololol Thinking it’s a jackpot lololol would be trash??
In a tone as if discarding worthless trash, Baek Woohyun announced Blue Whale’s disqualification.
Imbued with the charisma carried over from ‘that side,’ Blue Whale couldn’t utter any rebuttal against his momentum.
Anyway, no matter what he said, it would crumble under one question, “So why won’t you show the Compensation?” so it was probably the wiser choice.
Soon, Blue Whale’s face flushed bright red, blurred, and disappeared from his seat.
Rather than pathetically trying to do something more, he chose to simply log out and leave the spot.
Even so, it was only about leaving this spot for now; the aftermath of this incident would remain and continue to affect his future broadcasts.
“Due to a minor issue occurring, there will be a change in regulations.”
Baek Woohyun didn’t mind at all that one participant had completely vanished.
Whether Blue Whale was highly likely to quit broadcasting after this or had a future of being archived in the community was none of his business.
If he were worried about such things, he wouldn’t have exposed and confronted him head-on like this but would have quietly talked behind the scenes to urge his disqualification.
He continued speaking calmly.
“After the second mission ends, the number of people to be eliminated is three, not four.”
-“Because, one person is already disqualified”
-Nailing him right into the coffin lolololol
-Blue Whale, disqualified
-That guy’s broadcast is on fire lolololol
“Don’t cuckoo other broadcasts! Anyway, are there no more challengers?!”
The atmosphere, which had been in an uproar, calmed down somewhat at the sight of Baek Woohyun and Jeong Nayeon—at least outwardly—casually continuing the audition.
Of course, it didn’t completely return to before, but at least it changed from ‘Can we continue like this?’ to ‘Well, we still have to do what needs to be done.’
Amidst the commotion, the participants somehow finished the first mission, and the second mission proceeded quickly without further incident.
In the second mission, which judged scores by hitting a target ten times with long-range supernatural ability techniques, long-range ability users ranked high as expected.
It proved once again that the familiarity gained from using similar abilities is a huge help in a No Compensation situation.
Actually, in the pro scene, a training method of gradually reducing Compensation while using only the same ability already exists, so it wasn’t a particularly special discovery.
“Thank you for participating.”
“Please take care of us when we meet again!”
To the three eliminated participants, Baek Woohyun, Jeong Nayeon, and Cha Seongcheol all stepped forward together to thank them for participating and delivered their greetings.
Perhaps because the first eliminated person—though it’s unclear if he should be called that—Blue Whale, had left on such bad terms, they were being especially meticulous.
Knowing this, the eliminated participants reacted even more warmly, encouraging the remaining participants as they left.
“The two individually conducted missions are finished, and now only the two team-based missions remain.”
-Team mission, let’s go
-Bronze-Silver-Golds’ team play? lololol
-This might be… a pretty dangerous combination being born!
-Dangerous (to themselves)
“We need to form teams first, right? Team formation will be decided based on final ranking!”
Jeong Nayeon divided the remaining eight members into two, forming Team A and Team B.
As mentioned, she adjusted the balance according to the final ranking. The interesting fact was that doing so resulted in Shuria, Geomsaeng Geomsa, and the Beau-tiful Twins all being assigned to the same team.
It wasn’t intentional, but it happened even after placing team members in the order of 1st (Team A) – 2nd (Team B) – 3rd (Team B) – 4th (Team A) – 5th (Team A)… It couldn’t be anything but a curious coincidence.
Of course, only Jeong Nayeon knew the fact that the people clustered in Team B were those Baek Woohyun had been keeping an eye on, so no particular comments arose from the viewers.
Regardless of talent, looking just at their current skill level, they were all about the same anyway.
Actually, looking just at tiers, Team B was slightly lower. Shuria and Geomsaeng Geomsa were Bronze and Silver respectively, and the Beau-tiful Twins also fluctuated between Silver~Gold.
-Long-range VS Close-range showdown ㄷㄷ
-Shuria doesn’t use a close-range build, does she?
-Don’t worry, they’ll know what to do yep
-Shuria, being the only long-range and ruining the team color, gets an upvote lol
“Up, upvote…”
“Don’t be intimidated, Shuria-nim!”
“That’s right. Even though you’re the only long-range.”
“Hang in there. We close-range builds will hang in there too!”
-They’re spinning this lololol
-The twins are so savage lolololol
-That guy just said upvote
-Why is Geomsaeng Geomsa subtly raising his sword?
The story of a team confrontation between long-range and close-range builds being realized was receiving more attention.
Since Geomsaeng Geomsa and the Beau-tiful Twins, who passed the first mission as joint 1st and immediately next, became the same team, Team B could be called the representative of close-range builds.
Shuria, left behind in Team B which ended up looking like it was gathered with only close-range builds, had an expression like she might cry at any moment—but what problem could there be?
“The first team mission is a competition to see how many Etinels you can defeat within a set time!”
The Superhuman’s Game Broadcast