Chapter 306
Chapter 306: Obsession
"I won……? I won! I woooon!!"
["I'm-a-Plat-Person successfully takes the first round against the Hackphysical."]
["It seems even Woohyun can't overcome an all-stats reduction of ninety percent."]
["They're so happy. They're doing backflips."]
["Wow."]
- Backflips what the lmaooo - Pure unadulterated jubilation lmaooo - How happy do you have to be to throw backflips like that lmaooo - Lol they unlocked the achievement of winning a round against the Hackphysical, penalty and all, they are absolutely ecstatic lmaooo
Having read the system message and realized they had taken the first round, Plat-Person erupted in wild cheers and let their joy pour out.
They screamed at the top of their lungs without a care for going hoarse, and unable to contain themselves, even launched into a spectacular series of backflips.
It was enough to make one think: this is what happens when you push a human to the absolute limit of exhilaration. What more could be said.
The studio panelists and viewers snickered at the sight—but their reaction was one of complete understanding.
How extraordinary Baek Woohyun was had already been made abundantly clear, and more than anything, they had watched the fierce, bloody battle Plat-Person had waged to win.
Fighting a monster who refused to stop struggling even with their heart run through—all while losing an arm and part of their own head—they had stood their ground.
'ㅇㅇ' donated 1,000 won!
[Still fought incredibly well for a Plat-Master, upvote if you agree lmaooo]
- Upvote lmaooo - Agreed - Did fight well right up to the end - Thought they were dead during the berserk pattern;
["What berserk pattern. This is still a Handicap Match, not a Raid Match?"]
["Come to think of it, the Raid Match is next after this."]
["The Hackphysical only concedes a single round once the ninety percent restriction kicks in—and now that same Hackphysical gets a Raid Boss buff on top of that. Hmm."]
["Oh…… That sounds harder than the Otherworld Lord."]
- Might need to track how long people survive instead - If it were a real boss, how many phases would there be I wonder - Honestly I think he should do the boss without the buff - Imagining the Hackphysical with the restriction lifted AND the boss buff is genuinely terrifying lmaooo
A Handicap Match generally wraps up when the one running it loses.
Perhaps for that reason, the panelists and viewers had started chattering about the Raid Match coming up next—as if they'd already written the Handicap Match off as over.
Understandable, really. Baek Woohyun had put up a truly desperate fight and still lost, so it wasn't strange to assume the next round would turn out similarly.
And as everyone was thinking that.
The arena reset, and Baek Woohyun revived from a location some distance away.
"……"
I lost.
In a silence that kept the outside noise at bay.
Baek Woohyun stood with his eyes half-closed, quietly thinking. About the first defeat he had encountered in Reverse Planet—and about himself as well.
Looking back on it now, his resistance had been truly strange. Strange enough to almost make sense if the world would have ended the moment he lost.
Especially right before the first round ended—he had been on the edge of something like madness, raging and thrashing. Screaming inside himself that he couldn't lose, amid heat that felt like it might burn his whole body away.
He understood now that that had been strange. The version of him he knew would have willingly acknowledged defeat the moment his heart was run through.
Restrictions or otherwise, the opponent had faced him with everything they had and overcome hardship to bring him down. The him who had once played instructor was prepared to give that a thumbs-up.
The reason I couldn't.
It was probably because the Baek Woohyun who had experienced the battlefields of that side couldn't see defeat as a simple outcome of combat.
To him, defeat was death. Not just his own—the death of every ally. The end of himself and all those he had protected.
So he couldn't lose. Even standing right at the edge of it, he couldn't give up. He had to fight desperately for any path to victory.
He had internalized that fact without consciously realizing it. He had taken in a kind of obsession as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Having lost comrades time and again, having watched even the precious home he'd built burn to the ground in the end—that was why he couldn't accept defeat in Reverse Planet either.
Outwardly thinking things like if I lose, I lose, so whatever—while inwardly being that way. Absurdly enough.
"……"
But now.
Despite having lost, Baek Woohyun was still alive.
As he prepared for the second round, he was untouched—not a scratch on him—and the companions he had found since coming back here were unharmed, chattering away without a care.
Because of that, the obsession of defeat = death—an equation he had once accepted as absolute truth—finally began to crumble.
Feeling a sense of liberation, as though something that had been clinging to him had finally let go, he drew a slow, deep breath.
It felt, at last, like he had taken one more step from that side toward here. Enough that he could begin to consider here more real than that side.
And so a comfortable smile spread across his lips. This was something he had wanted. The fact that he was improving, little by little, step by step—that made him smile.
"……"
"……? What's the matter?"
"Well, it's just."
Strangely, unlike Baek Woohyun, who wore a faint smile, the previously ecstatic Plat-Person now bore a subtly complicated expression—as though they weren't quite sure whether to be happy or not.
Right when the outcome was decided they'd had completely opposite attitudes, yet now, with the second round about to begin, the two had somehow swapped reactions again.
Why that shift had occurred was soon revealed through Plat-Person's own words.
"Thinking about it again, I barely won against a one-tenth version—and it hit me a bit late that maybe I was being too happy about it."
"Ah."
- Honestly fair lmaooo - Did five backflips and then reality hit lmaooo - "One-tenth version" lmaooo - Come on, that's still something. Compared to the Gold-Master last round, the Plat-Master did great!
["I almost said that's a bit late to realize……!"]
["I almost said I agree……!"]
- "Almost said" lmaooo - You can say whatever you want as long as you tack "almost said" on the end! - You can - "Almost said" gets a pass~
Having heard why Plat-Person now wore that complicated expression, Baek Woohyun gave a nod—then quietly chuckled.
He replied calmly.
"Restricted or not, a win is a win. Feel free to be as happy as you like."
"Is that……okay?"
"Why wouldn't it be. There are plenty who couldn't win under the same conditions."
- A win is a win - This is a direct shot at the Gold-Master from last round—wait! - 90%, 85%, 80% are all the same honestly. What those guys couldn't do, the Plat-Master pulled off - Fr lmaooo, the Plat-Master did well
Hearing Baek Woohyun's words—delivered with a casual shrug—Plat-Person's face lit up.
Having Baek Woohyun himself declare that a win was a win, restrictions aside, cleared away the nagging sense that it had been a hollow victory.
The viewers in the chat who had been subtly stirring things up with comments like this counts as winning? and is there even anything to be happy about? quietly disappeared as well. Not that that had been the intent.
[Time until Round 2 begins—10 seconds]
"Of course."
Baek Woohyun smiled.
He discarded every weapon he had brought to bear in his effort not to lose—and raised only the Soul-Extinguishing Sword 'Soul Eater'.
The blade of the greatsword, over two meters long, pointed precisely at his opponent—I'm-a-Platinum-Person. Loaded with every ounce of his intent to cut them down from here.
Strangely, he looked stronger holding that single greatsword than he had when armed with a whole arsenal of weapons.
Palpably so—to Plat-Person, the panelists, and the viewers alike.
As though having shed one layer, he had become all the more dangerous for it.
"The round score is only 1:0, so it's a bit early to call it a complete win."
"……"
Gulp.
- There's still one more round left…… - Winning a round doesn't mean winning the match - Fun fact: a Duel is best of 3 - It might end up being a round win achievement rather than a full match win achievement!!
Plat-Person swallowing a dry gulp involuntarily.
Baek Woohyun standing before them, smiling quietly.
[3 seconds] [2 seconds] [1 second] [Round 2—Begin!]
And then, the system message announced the start of Round 2.
*
─[Broadcast Miscellaneous Chat]─ ◇ Today's viewer participation was so packed lmaooo ◇ Raid Boss—Hackphysical Strategy Breakdown.txt ◇ I still got the round win achievement!! ◇ Team battle was super fun (lots of photos)
Baek Woohyun's first-ever viewer participation PVP concluded with great success in every sense—and this immediately had an impact on his fan cafe as well. Strictly speaking it was the Nuclear Tourism content's fan cafe, but regardless.
The miscellaneous broadcast discussion board was flooded—literally flooded—with posts. Not just dozens—hundreds poured in all at once.
Remarkably, this was no exaggeration whatsoever. Posts that had been trickling in during the broadcast exploded the moment it ended.
Many were simply sharing their thoughts on the viewer participation PVP that had been the focus of this broadcast's content, but there were also quite a few participation post-mortems.
The Handicap Match was one-on-one so only the truly lucky few had gotten to experience it—but the Raid Match where dozens formed a party, and the team battle, had far more participants.
Jeong Nayeon, unsure when Baek Woohyun would run another viewer participation PVP, had pulled in as many people as possible to properly make the most of this chance—she had given him a heads-up, of course.
◇ I still got the first round win achievement!!
Even though I lost the next two!!
I'm the first one to ever win a round!!
So fellow Nuclear fans, I have a request——
Will you call me 'the-one-who-claimed-the-first-round-victory-against-the-undefeated-Hackphysical'?
▷ Of course, 'loser' ▷ Don't worry about it, '1 win 2 losses' ▷ I'll call you whatever you want △ 'Did-well-for-a-Plat-Master-turn' ▷ Who is this!! It's 'Plat-Master-who-got-demolished-after-letting-their-guard-down-from-one-round'!! ▷ lmaooo nobody's playing along △ At least one person could call me the right thing ugh lmaooo △ Fr fr, was it 'luckily-took-a-round-then-got-obliterated'? △ You're the worst lmaooo
Among the posts was one from the person who had given everything to take the first round—only to lose the next two in a row to a Baek Woohyun who seemed to have been awakened by the experience.
But what did it matter in the end. Viewer participation PVP post-mortems were flooding the fan cafe, and this was simply one of them.
So whether I'm-a-Platinum-Person ended up called first-round-turn or did-backflips-then-ran-out-of-gas-and-lost—none of that really mattered.
What mattered was that the fans of Nuclear Tourism content had genuinely enjoyed this viewer participation PVP. Specifically, some among the fans.
Nuclear Tourism was a massive piece of content that drew tens of thousands of viewers whenever it ran, which meant the number of people watching from the sidelines far outnumbered the participants—unavoidably so.
And that meant it was only natural that those who had been able to do nothing but watch from the sidelines—who had still enjoyed it thoroughly, but—were quietly starting to look for next time.
◇ Today's viewer participation was so packed lmaooo
Handicap Match, Raid Match, team battle—all an absolute blast lmaooo
So when's the next viewer participation??