Chapter 120 : Towards Breaking Records
Chapter 120: Toward Breaking the Record
─Chijik··· chijijik··· geueu···
However, there were clearly differences from the research facility he saw during the tutorial.
First, eerie sounds came from the speakers, the atmosphere was somehow gloomy, and the lights had dimmed while occasionally flickering.
Simply put, it was like a location in a horror movie where ghosts jump out. The kind of place no sane person would want to stay even for a moment.
‘What kind of relationship does he have with the research facility to create such an elaborate phantom···.’
Such a question flashed through the enemy player’s mind as he looked around.
After all, it was accepted theory that the phantoms of ‘Reverse Planet’ became more elaborate the more familiar their creator was with what they created.
And if that theory was correct, Baek Woohyun was clearly incredibly familiar with the research facility. Everywhere he looked felt like reality rather than a simple phantom.
–Geueo··· chijik··· geueoeo···
“···Damn.”
‘It’s all a phantom. A phantom!’
The enemy player spat out curses while rolling his eyes.
Even though he knew what he was seeing was all a phantom, his body had frozen.
He couldn’t move a single finger under the pressure that if he moved even slightly, a ghost would suddenly jump out and try to kill him.
The fact that his weakest genre happened to be horror played a part in this.
-Am I the only one fucking scared?
-What’s with this horror movie direction ㄷㄷ
-This is a phantom?
-I would’ve reacted similarly if I was there;
Deolkeok!
“─!”
The enemy player’s head whipped around at the sudden sound. At the spot he saw at a speed fast enough to make his neck stiff, an old Etinel had appeared.
It was an Etinel whose white shell that served as skin was partially shattered, with internal circuits and framework clearly visible.
Perhaps because it was in such a wretched state, watching it somehow gave the illusion of a corpse moving.
Kiiing-
“Fuck.”
The Etinel, which rose with bizarre movements like a puppet tied to strings, looked at the enemy player.
Anyone could see it was targeting him, and indeed, the Etinel used his curse as a signal and lunged toward him.
The Etinel’s charge, appearing even more grotesque with its facial area half-distorted!
–Geueoeo!
“Uwaaak!”
Hwaryuk!
The enemy player screamed and shot out blue flames. It was a supernatural ability he could use thanks to the compensation being somewhat lowered as he was Challenger tier.
However, compared to proper supernatural ability techniques, its power wasn’t very strong, but fortunately, it seemed sufficient to eliminate the old Etinel.
“Huk, huk!”
The enemy player watched the Etinel burn and collapse with rough breaths.
He felt strangely uneasy despite having eliminated it without much difficulty.
‘Is it not a phantom? Looking at how it got hit by the flames I shot, it seems real.’
However, his contemplation didn’t last long.
The sight of dozens of old Etinels clattering as they rose entered the enemy player’s vision as he lifted his head.
Seeing the Etinels openly looking at him with gleaming eyes, his complexion turned pale.
He felt the despair that he couldn’t possibly hold out against them when the cooldown for his supernatural ability technique hadn’t even ended yet.
–Geueoeo!
“Get lost!”
Hwareureuk!
The Etinels swarmed from all directions, and the enemy player, who tried to resist somehow, couldn’t overcome their numbers and was caught by them and collapsed.
Numerous Etinels covered him as he screamed in terror. Like an inescapable prison.
Finally.
Puyuk!
“······!”
After the sound of flesh being pierced, the research facility’s scenery disappeared like being erased with an eraser, including the clustered and piled Etinels.
All that remained was the enemy player collapsed on the floor with his heart pierced by a sword, and Baek Woohyun holding the sword that pierced him.
Just as the enemy player initially thought, it meant everything up until now had been nothing but an elaborate illusion.
“Crazy···.”
“······.”
[First Round Complete]
[Winner: Baek Woohyun]
[Loser: (Anonymous)]
[Current Record – Baek Woohyun 1:0 (Anonymous)]
[Next round will proceed shortly]
The first round ended with the enemy player’s high praise─translation: You’re really amazing!─.
Naturally, the winner was Baek Woohyun.
“I got it!”
It was around this time that Cha Seongcheol, who had been watching from the studio, suddenly shouted.
His cry was so sudden that Jeong Nayeon, who had been watching Baek Woohyun’s battle with clasped hands and pounding heart beside him, jumped in surprise.
Viewers giggled and teased her seeing this, but Jeong Nayeon pretended not to notice and threw a question to Cha Seongcheol.
“What did you figure out?”
“Huhu. I just uncovered the trick Hackphysical used with the Phantom Swordsman build.”
“Really?!”
-ㄹㅇ? How did you figure it out?
-Don’t keep it to yourself, say it quickly!!
-One who uncovers the secrets of trick shows ㄷㄷ
-Showing the commentator’s sharp insight
“It’s simple, everyone. It was all a phantom. The entire battle we just watched! From start to finish!”
Cha Seongcheol smiled and spoke absurd words at the viewers’ clamor.
“What? What do you─ Ah, don’t tell me?!”
“Did you realize? That’s right. There was no such thing as complete supernatural ability technique blocking.”
Cha Seongcheol’s claim was that all the supernatural ability techniques the enemy player used had activated properly, but Baek Woohyun showed phantoms as if he had completely blocked them.
In short, it meant [Dokkaebi Gamtu] was properly wrapped, and [Juibullori] could be thrown and spun, but because he didn’t do so, it ended up being self-canceled.
“Then when he collapsed being pushed by the Etinels···.”
“I’m speculating he used the Phantom Swordsman build’s supernatural ability technique. [Phantom Materialization] that is.”
Although [Phantom Materialization] was an attack technique with such low attack power that it was worse than nothing, it was more than sufficient to knock down an enemy player who had lost composure.
It was a very convincing argument, so Jeong Nayeon’s eyes sparkled saying ‘That seems right!’, and the viewers did too.
-Oh ㄷㄷ
-That sounds pretty plausible?
-So showing the Etinel phantom was waiting for [Dokkaebi Gamtu]‘s duration to end
-Totally screwed ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
‘Road Roller’ donated ‘10000 won’!
[Kya, this is why you need a commentator as a panelist, agree?]
“Haha! It’s not that much!”
-Agree agree totally agree
-Best personnel choice
-He’s not an official league commentator for nothing~
-Him glancing at the chat and acting smug is so funny ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Time remaining until second round start – 10 seconds]
“······.”
“······.”
Unlike the cheerful studio, the battlefield where the second round would soon continue was filled with sharp tension.
Actually, Baek Woohyun was no different from before, and it was closer to tension the enemy player was unilaterally displaying, but in any case.
Still, from both people facing each other, one could equally feel the will to not waste even the brief time given.
[3 seconds]
[2 seconds]
[1 second]
[Second Round, Start!]
“[Juibullori]! [Juibullori]! [Dokkaebi Fire: Wave]! [Dokkaebi Fire: Scatter]!”
Hwareureureuk!
The enemy player, who realized that giving time meant being swayed by phantoms, poured out attack supernatural ability techniques simultaneously with the start.
It was full of impatience and an act with no backup if he missed, but he thought this was the only way to win.
Because he knew all too well from watching the broadcast. How overwhelming Baek Woohyun had been in the second round.
“[Dokkaebi Walk]! [Dokkaebi Fire: Bind]!”
“─?!”
Hwareureureuk!
The enemy player who approached with a movement technique and even mobilized a crowd control technique to stake everything!
As if his aim worked, Baek Woohyun, whose eyes widened as if flustered, was swept up in the Dokkaebi Fire he unleashed.
However, the enemy player didn’t relax his tension. Because he had already experienced a similar situation once in the first round.
Gritting his teeth, he used [Dokkaebi Gamtu] to thicken his defense, then raised both hands high and shouted like thunder.
“[Strange Power and Chaos]!”
Kwaaaaaa-!
The Dokkaebi Fire created by the ultimate skill [Strange Power and Chaos] completely swept around the enemy player.
The enemy player, who swept away the space where Baek Woohyun was in a state of extreme tension, finally breathed roughly.
Looking at the scene where only blue embers remained burning, he soon muttered unconsciously.
“Did I… get him···?”
-Reciting the resurrection spell here?
-Idiot ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Planting his own flag ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Did I get him special) Didn’t get him
The viewers mocked the enemy player’s action.
After all, the line “Did I get him?” was a famous resurrection spell.
To the point where even the enemy player himself who said it turned pale and covered his own mouth.
[Second Round Complete]
[Winner: (Anonymous)]
[Loser: Baek Woohyun]
[Current Record – (Anonymous) 1:1 Baek Woohyun]
[Next round will proceed shortly]
“Ah···!”
-?
-Huh
-No really?
-What
However, surprisingly, a system message appeared before the enemy player announcing the round’s end and the winner.
The enemy player’s face brightened seeing it, and viewers fell into confusion.
The system message was unmistakable proof that the enemy player had defeated Baek Woohyun.
‘─Wait. Anonymous?’
Puyuk!
“···Ha.”
Was it because his tension momentarily loosened?
By the time the enemy player realized something was off about the system message, it was already too late.
He exhaled emptily looking at the blade that pierced through his chest and emerged. It was the frustration of one who realized he’d been fooled once again.
“Even the system message was a trap.”
“I was fooled too! I thought he’d lost for sure!”
-ㄹㅇ I was fooled too;;
-Everyone was momentarily fooled ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-How do you not fall for this ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Hackphysical’s sense is seriously amazing
At least what could comfort the enemy player was that those watching from the studio had also been fooled just like him.
Whether he would indeed find peace of mind saying ‘I’m glad I wasn’t the only one fooled!’ when watching the broadcast later was unknown.
“One piece of advice: if you don’t want to get sniped, you should filter your matches.”
“······.”
“It wasn’t just me waiting to snipe. There’s a truckload of people targeting you right now.”
-What’s a stream sniper worried about ㅋㅋ
-Absurd ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-So you’re saying you already sniped so it’s fine ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-ㄹㅇ average stream sniper ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
“······.”
Baek Woohyun quietly looked down at the chattering enemy player. No emotion showed in his eyes rippling with purple light.
If he hadn’t remembered the conversation with Jeong Nayeon, he would have ignored whatever the enemy player said. He would have been thoroughly consistent in his disregard.
However, after the previous stream sniper incident, Jeong Nayeon had told him to thoroughly crush stream snipers too.
Whether through skill or psychologically. That way they wouldn’t snipe again.
That’s why he slowly opened his mouth.
“If all the stream snipers you say are waiting are at your level.”
“···?”
The corner of Baek Woohyun’s mouth visible below the mask smoothly curved to one side.
It was a sneer like drawn in a picture.
“I don’t particularly need to filter matches.”
“What, no. That’s-!”
Kwadeuk!
[Second Round Complete]
[Winner: Baek Woohyun]
[Loser: (Anonymous)]
[Final Record – Baek Woohyun 2:0 (Anonymous)]
[Final Winner: Baek Woohyun]
[Final Loser: (Anonymous)]
-Lol ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Crazy ㅋㅋ refreshing ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-That’s right, what’s a stream sniper bastard worried about ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Hackphysical is a crazy alpha male ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
‘Saida One Glass’ donated ‘10000 won’!
[Your level is so low that sniping doesn’t matter declaration ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
“Nayeon-nim?”
“Yes? Why are you calling me? And at this timing of all times?”
“Uh, um. I’m just asking just in case, but did you tell Hackphysical to thoroughly destroy stream snipers too? In any way?”
“······.”
Jeong Nayeon avoided Cha Seongcheol’s gaze in silence.
However, everyone watching her knew.
That there was no more certain answer than that.
“Right! We can conclude that thanks to Nayeon-nim, we saw a new side of Hackphysical!”
“─No, honestly I just said it would be good to be thorough so they can’t snipe again, that’s all I said! Really!”
-Scary woman
-Both last advice and this advice are terrifying
-Actually it’s right but··· the result···
-You told him to destroy their mentals too?
Regardless of how Jeong Nayeon’s false accusation(?)─though it was difficult to call it false!─of giving terrifying advice behind Baek Woohyun turned out.
As the enemy player, whose mental had probably been shattered by now, said, in the continuing win streak record-breaking challenge, many who seemed to be snipers were plentifully seen.
Perhaps because they witnessed Baek Woohyun’s rare display of conversing and mocking, they didn’t reveal it directly, but they couldn’t hide their distinctive atmosphere.
[Final Record – Baek Woohyun 2:0 (Anonymous)]
[Final Loser: (Anonymous)]
However, even before all those obstacles, Baek Woohyun’s victories didn’t break.
He simply walked step by step, step by step steadily toward breaking the record as if there were no obstacles.