Chapter 17
Chapter 17: The Collab Stream With Yu-na
Second match: 24th place.
Third match: 17th place.
Fourth match: 34th place.
Fifth match: 13th place.
Mu-yeong's confidence—having believed he could win easily—had taken a bit of a hit.
"Castle Defense was easy, though……."
Not even top five, but double digits.
This was a first in his entire life.
He heaved a sigh deep enough to sink the ground, but the chat was ice-cold.
—This guy's standards seem a little off…….
—Isn't that the harder game?
—Hmm……. Is it…….
—I have no idea.
['BluetoothNotWorking' has donated 1,000 Won.]
—Can't even shoot a gun and he's talking about winning lol. Honestly, 13th place at the end there feels like a miracle to me.
—Fr lol
—Him standing in the middle with no cover just eating bullets was hilarious lol
—With shots coming from every direction, what's he supposed to do lolll
Still, those five matches hadn't been a complete waste for Mu-yeong.
He could now deploy a Parachute, and he could reload the Peacemaker with ease.
And that wasn't all.
His Farming speed had improved, and he'd learned how to use the Shield Ball.
He'd also gotten a rough feel for the terrain, to the point where he could anticipate where enemies might appear.
But the most important thing was missing.
Guns.
That was the biggest problem.
['BluetoothNotWorking' has donated 1,000 Won.]
—When Farming, if you find the Peacemaker you do okay, but if you don't, you just walk around empty-handed. Can't you do something about that? Didn't you say you're entering a tournament?
['Aria' has donated 1,000 Won.]
—Fr, if you just learned that once, the game would get way easier.
There was no way to argue against it.
His rankings really had depended entirely on how quickly the Peacemaker showed up.
Pure Farming luck, plain and simple.
A level of gameplay that amounted to setting out a bowl of water and praying.
But things had to change, and change for real.
As long as he was aiming to win the tournament, he couldn't just sit back and pretend not knowing how to shoot was fine.
'First things first—I have to learn.'
Mu-yeong quietly studied the chat.
Current viewers: 400.
Out of those, how many were true masters of Battle Attack?
People who could give accurate, useful information were, without a doubt, not all that numerous.
'The problem is I can't tell what's right and what's wrong.'
On top of that, what couldn't you do if you were giving advice through a keyboard?
It was no different from saying, "Just hit every shot and dodge everything, and you'll win~."
Mu-yeong thought for a moment, then clapped his hands together.
Obviously, if you wanted to learn, you went to someone whose skill had been proven.
Just as training under a great master produces a fine disciple.
Mu-yeong immediately opened the streaming platform.
Selecting Battle Attack from the categories brought up a long list of streamers currently live.
Now, if he studied the gameplay of someone with a high Tier who was genuinely skilled, he'd definitely improve.
He started going through them one by one.
[Silver 2 Solo Queue—Non-Stop Till Clear Reaching Gold 1]
[My First Solo Queue Stream at Level 10~♫]
[Looking for someone to play with. I'm a Newbie ㅠㅠ]
Eliminated.
As he kept searching, he found one with plenty of viewers and a stream title that caught his eye right away.
[Masterclass Rage Solo Queue From a 10-Ton Truck With No Brakes] — Yu-na.
—Oh, it's Yu-na.
—She's good.
—Fun streams, too.
—I watch her sometimes. Lots to learn from her.
The reviews were solid, so he jumped straight into the stream.
—But this is a rival stream visit, is that okay?
—Probably better to turn off your stream and watch in secret.
—Yu-na likes fresh little Newbies, so she probably won't mind?
—Newbie……is about right lol
—It'll be fine if it's just for a bit.
Mu-yeong, still unfamiliar with the concept of a rival stream visit, focused only on the screen.
It was the final Circle, with about four minutes left.
"We have to stop the ones on the right from flanking around! If they push in, we're getting surrounded!"
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Yu-na pulled the trigger while tucked behind a boulder.
Even on full auto, there was almost no recoil at all—remarkably stable.
And a fast reload to boot.
At the sound of clack!, Mu-yeong's mouth formed a small circle.
'So after you slot the magazine in, you have to pull that back?'
He suddenly felt a flush of shame at his past self.
He hadn't even known that and had been slamming it against the ground and calling it broken.
He scratched his chin, feeling an inexplicable itch, and refocused his attention.
About a minute later, Yu-na threw her arms up.
"We won!"
—Oh gggg
—First win of the day.
—Nice.
—Good good lol
"As long as you get decent teammates, even Master Queue is a breeze, you know? Look, I've got the highest damage output too."
She was definitely skilled.
Her movements were a little rough around the edges, but that was by Mu-yeong's standards.
As he watched Yu-na queue up another Ranked Game, Mu-yeong slipped into observer mode.
Just then.
['Mu-yeong's Sasaeng Fan' has donated 100,000 Won.]
—Hello. Our Stream Host is watching you in secret right now, so I'll pay his admission fee for him.
"Oh my! Thank you so much for the 100,000 Won donation! But what do you mean, watching in secret? Who?"
—Mu-yeong.
—There's this one fresh-green Newbie we call a Stiff.
—He's got great physical instincts but that's about it.
"Mu-yeong?"
Yu-na tilted her head at the unfamiliar name.
But the other party was a fellow streamer—someone in the same industry.
She made a point to be polite first.
"Oh, nice to meet you! I'm Yu-na, I mainly stream Battle Attack!"
—Look at that tone shift.
—People are genuinely scary.
—Where did Yu-na go? Did someone else take over the stream?
—Fr lol
“Quiet.”
Having silently warned them with a look, Yu-na beamed again.
"Did you stop by because you got interested in Battle Attack? You're always welcome if so."
['Mu-yeong's Sasaeng Fan' has donated 10,000 Won.]
—Actually, our Mu-yeong is a 5-match Newbie in Battle Attack who came to learn. The thing is, he's a Martial Artist, so he doesn't really get the concept of rival stream visits……
"A Newbie? And not just any Newbie—a brand-new five-match baby!?"
Martial Artist, rival stream visits—none of that registered at all.
Yu-na's sole focus was on one word: Newbie.
Without realizing it, she licked her lips and paused the Ranked Game queue she'd been about to start.
With the brightest expression she'd worn all day, she spread her arms wide.
"Let's do a collab stream! I'll teach you everything you need to know."
.
.
.
.
What is this?
Did he come here to mess with me?
Yu-na, who had just sent the collab invitation, was sunk deep in serious deliberation.
Up until moments ago, she'd been delighted at the idea of playing with a Newbie.
But……
—I'd like to invite you. What's your nickname?
—It's WillWinTournament.
—????
How could she forget?
This was the mystery figure who had toyed with her just yesterday before vanishing without a word.
‘Then why had he shown up today?’
‘A "pretend to be a Newbie and mess with a Veteran" content bit?’
‘Or a leeching scheme to bump up his viewer count?’
'But I checked earlier, and his viewers were just over 400……. That's not exactly the right weight class to be leeching off me, is it?'
A fan who had just casually dropped 100,000 Won suggested he was probably making decent money too.
While Yu-na turned all of this over in her head, Mu-yeong entered the Lobby.
[WillWinTournament has entered.]
Same default character as yesterday.
No Skin equipped, naturally.
Seeing him come in that openly made her feel some kind of way, but she kept it off her face.
On the surface, she was the one who'd invited him to play together first.
"Ahem, Mu-yeong. I heard you've played five matches now—how was it? Was it manageable?"
"More fun than I expected. There wasn't a single moment to let your guard down—it felt like being on an actual battlefield."
"Ah, I see."
She'd been about to ask why he spoke that way, but then she remembered the earlier donation.
'They said he was a Martial Artist, right?'
—lol Yu-na's flustered.
—It's written all over her face.
—Well, can't help it lol. She should understand—the guy grew up deep in the mountains.
—Fr, he's basically a living fossil.
It had only been three years since the Great Unification—what mountains?
And judging by his voice, he seemed young.
There was no doubt he was doing it on purpose, talking like that just to mess with her.
Yu-na half-dismissed it as a joke and let it slide.
Then, true to her nature as a professional streamer, she got on with the broadcast.
"Okay! For Beginners, the most important thing is Aim. Step one is finding a gun that suits you. So why don't you pick one you like?"
No sooner had the words left her mouth than Mu-yeong picked up the Peacemaker.
She'd expected it, but seeing him actually do it gave her PTSD.
"……That one's incredibly hard to use. Even pros rarely touch it."
"I find it the most comfortable."
"Sure, it's great if you can use it well—but it's hard to deal with long-range enemies, and the Drop Rate is low, so it's better to carry something else. What most people use is this……."
Yu-na picked up the G201.
Good Recoil control and accuracy, but slightly lower damage.
Still, it was an assault rifle beloved by many.
Rat-a-tat!
Every shot Yu-na fired punched a hole through a target 100 meters away.
25 out of 30 rounds on target.
—Oh, Master-tier as expected.
—Great Recoil control.
—Not cutting the burst once and keeping that accuracy is seriously impressive.
"And the Shotgun. In Battle Attack, there are quite a lot of close-range fights, so it's good to have one on you."
Clack! Bang!
The moment she fired the gun into the air, Mu-yeong showed intense interest.
"How did you just fire that?"
"What do you mean, how?"
"All of it, start to finish. When I tried, it was completely dead."
"Ah."
Could it be.
Does this guy genuinely not know how to shoot?
In an instant, the tangled puzzle pieces in Yu-na's head began slotting into place one by one.
Swinging the Shotgun like a pickaxe, slamming it into the ground.
Grabbing the Sniper Rifle by the barrel and using it as a club.
Landing three consecutive Headshots.
'Because he's a Martial Artist who's only ever trained deep in the mountains?'
In that case, was wandering into the Training Grounds yesterday an accident too?
Yu-na blinked for a moment.
Looking at Mu-yeong's serious expression, there was absolutely no trace of a joke in sight.
'It could happen. It could.'
She found it somewhat absurd, but she set aside her memories of that day and began explaining, kindly.
Over the course of a full ten minutes, she taught him how to use every single firearm—and this was the result.
"The Peacemaker suits me best."
"Then the others……."
"The Shotgun wasn't bad either."
"What about long-range?"
"Can't I just attach the Enhanced Barrel?"
The truth was, Mu-yeong wasn't saying this to be difficult.
Holding a gun with both hands, looking down the Scope, pulling the trigger.
The entire motion felt deeply uncomfortable and unnatural.
When he focused on aiming, his Footwork fell apart.
When he focused on moving, his aim went shaky.
Looking at the genuinely serious expression on Mu-yeong's face, Yu-na gave a slow nod.
'I don't need to force it. Eventually, he'll start using something else on his own when it gets inconvenient enough.'
Of course, if anyone else had said the same thing, she'd have caved their head in on the spot.
But from Mu-yeong—the one who had won a one-on-one against her—it was within the acceptable range.
Once it seemed like the situation had settled, Yu-na picked up a round Grenade.
"Alright, then—shall we now learn about secondary weapons? Have you ever used what I'm holding?"
"I've thrown one before. But nothing happened."
"Well, of course—you have to pull out the Safety Pin here for it to explode. More precisely, five seconds after you pull it."
Yu-na pulled the pin and threw it far.
Before she'd even counted to five in her head, a massive explosion went off.
"It's called a Fragmentation Grenade. Direct hit damage is 120. It's great for both offense and defense, so it's good to carry a few on you."
"No matter what, it always explodes exactly five seconds after?"
"It can go off early if it gets hit by a bullet or caught in another explosion, but that doesn't happen often—so you can generally treat it that way."
"Is that so……."
Mu-yeong picked up a Grenade.
He tossed it up a few times as if weighing it.
Then—
Click.
He pulled the Safety Pin.
And then he swung his arm with tremendous force.
Shweeeeee!
The Grenade shot forward with enough force to tear through everything in its path.
Not an arc—a straight line.
Watching its trajectory, Yu-na thought:
'Was there always a sound like that when they flew?'
Something about this feels a bit far outside my frame of reference.
And for good reason. The weight of a Grenade in Battle Attack is identical to a baseball.
That made it easy to benchmark against real-world records.
Taking Major League Baseball—home to professionals at the top of the sport—as the standard:
150 km/h is considered pretty fast.
160 km/h earns you the label of monster.
Anything above 170 km/h is called the realm of the gods.
Of course, Martial Artists went beyond even that.
180 was something you'd see without much surprise, and people throwing at up to 250 had made appearances.
But this……
This is way faster than any of that.
300—maybe even beyond that……!
While Yu-na stood there with her mouth hanging open, the Grenade reached the far end of the Training Grounds.
As if stopped by something, it dropped with a thud—landing precisely beneath the target 200 meters away.
BOOM!
With a thunderous blast, it reduced the target to nothing.
—Lolololololol
—What the lol
—He threw it all the way there?
—I couldn't even see it flying lolllll
—Why is this guy streaming instead of playing baseball?
—Fr, he'd probably be top-tier even in a Martial Artists-only tournament lol
"Wh—what is this……!"
"Was that right?"
"Sorry, what?"
Mu-yeong's out-of-nowhere remark left Yu-na reflexively asking back.
At that, Mu-yeong proudly picked up a second Grenade.
He pulled the Pin, held it in his hand for about four seconds, then threw it the exact same way as before.
BOOM!
The explosion sounded the instant it reached the target.
Mu-yeong answered with a satisfied smile.
"Handling enemies at long range, I mean."