Chapter 20
Chapter 20: There's Someone Who Entered the Tournament Unranked?
"Today's the day."
Mu-yeong woke up early and checked the clock.
7 a.m.
The preliminaries were said to start at noon, so he still had plenty of time.
Mu-yeong stretched and thought back over everything that had happened.
'It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I practically lived inside Battle Attack.'
He had kept wandering around to learn the maps and terrain.
Thanks to that, he had a firm grasp of where ambushes tended to happen and how to win fights.
Of course, he hadn't been able to play ranked.
Level 20 was the requirement, and that hurdle had been far too high.
The experience needed was so absurd it made him sigh involuntarily.
The saving grace, however, was that the tournament had no tier restrictions.
'That aside, the preliminaries are at a Capsule Room ten minutes from here, wasn't it?'
In the name of fairness, the tournament was to be held as a group at a designated Capsule Room rather than in personal capsules.
It was a bit inconvenient, but for Mu-yeong, who never used exploits or hacks, it was actually welcome news.
He decided to spend the remaining time doing Meditative Breathing Cultivation, and sat cross-legged on the bed.
About four hours later.
Divine Dragon and Iron Blood Witch, who had gathered at Mu-yeong's place, began the briefing.
"Since there isn't much time, the preliminaries will be decided in a single match. Of the 60 players boarding the aircraft, only 5 will survive. With no second chances, it's expected to be an extremely fierce battle."
"Only 5……. We came to win the whole thing anyway, so something like that is easy as pie."
"Absolutely. Who could possibly stand in the Young Lord's way? Though there is one small variable."
"What is that?"
Divine Dragon raised his index finger.
"Since participants are assigned randomly, the tier distribution won't be even. If luck is truly against you, a large number of top-tier players could end up in the same match."
"That Yu-na I faced before was a Master, I was told, the top 1% of players, wasn't it? She turned out to be nothing special."
"In a way, that's only natural. No matter how many guns you hand someone, could they really beat the Young Lord, who has reached the Transcendence Realm? And one who has never even studied martial arts, at that—it's only logical. Hahaha!"
"Hohoho, indeed!"
Divine Dragon and Iron Blood Witch burst out laughing in unison.
Blatant flattery as always, yet somehow it still felt pleasant to hear.
Mu-yeong smiled and rose from his seat.
"Let's head out now to have a look around ahead of time."
.
.
.
.
Despite arriving early, the Capsule Room was bustling.
Part of it was the participants and their acquaintances flooding in, but the density was especially high in one particular area.
Mu-yeong glanced over, and Divine Dragon rose up on his tiptoes.
After checking inside, he spoke as if it were nothing remarkable.
"Looks like a streamer doing a live outdoor broadcast. Events like this tend to draw people looking to see someone famous or to build their own profile—probably one of those types."
"Do you happen to know who it is?"
"Never seen them before."
Just as Mu-yeong was about to lose interest, a roar erupted from behind.
"It's No Song-baek! No Song-baek is here!"
"Wait, he's competing in the preliminaries here today?"
"Oh wow! He looks so much better in person!"
"Where? Me too, me too!"
The crowd surged away all at once.
Mu-yeong tilted his head.
'That name sounds almost like it's from the Martial World.'
At times like these, Iron Blood Witch was the encyclopedia to turn to.
He glanced her way, and she began reciting with uncanny precision.
"No Song-baek, first disciple of the Daehwasan Sect. A rising star of the Martial World who reached the Supreme Pinnacle at a young age, garnering everyone's expectations. Popular for his handsome looks and tall build. His current Battle Attack tier is Predator, ranked 12th."
"Ranked 12th? A capable fellow."
"His nickname is One-Mag, apparently. Because he kills his opponents with a single magazine."
I see.
With that explanation, curiosity suddenly welled up.
Just what did the direct disciple of Daehwasan—and a Predator at that—look like?
It wasn't long after he started walking that he spotted him easily.
"Haha, greetings everyone. I'm truly grateful so many of you came out like this."
In the middle of the swarm of people packed in like ants, one head stood out above the crowd.
A headband tied tightly in place, decorated with a plum blossom pattern—anyone could tell at a glance that it was No Song-baek.
Mu-yeong's impression was brief.
"Feels like a young lord raised in a wealthy household."
He had expected something extraordinary, but there was nothing beyond that.
Had his expectations been too high simply because he was a Predator?
Mu-yeong lost interest quickly and turned around.
At that moment, he bumped shoulders with someone.
"Oh, I'm sorr—huh?"
A woman wearing a mask and hat began to apologize, then looked up at Mu-yeong.
Only clear, wide eyes were visible, but for some reason they felt familiar.
As he held her gaze and searched his memory, the other person lowered their mask slightly.
"Could you be Mu-yeong? It's me. Me, Yu Ye-rin!"
"Don't tell me—Yu Ye-rin from Castle Defense?"
"Yes, yes! Wow, I never thought I'd run into you here—this is incredible! What a coincidence."
She smiled brightly and extended her hand.
He shook it naturally, and Yu Ye-rin began staring at Mu-yeong's face intently from every angle.
"Wow, how are you even better looking than on stream? You look so much better in person."
"……Thank you."
"No, not as a pleasantry—genuinely. I thought 'eh, they probably touched it up a bit' watching the stream, but like, wow……."
Yu Ye-rin kept staring in a daze, forgetting to even pull her mask back up.
Having received such a direct compliment in real life for the first time, Mu-yeong felt rather pleased.
'I should say something kind in return.'
In fact, Mu-yeong had been steadily studying internet broadcasting all this time.
What was trending, what kind of content was worth doing, and so on.
Naturally, he had wandered into Yu Ye-rin's Newtube and came across a certain video.
[2nd Anniversary Special: 30-Minute Zero-Two Challenge]
It had the highest view count, so he couldn't help but click.
The reactions were absolutely explosive.
—I'm gonna dieeeeeeeeeeeeee
—Mom, Dad, thank you for giving me life……
—Currently giving a standing ovation while crying from both eyes
—Thank you thank you thank you thank you
—I can die happy now……
Countless comments, all heaping praise.
Among them, the one with the highest upvotes was this:
"Yu Ye-rin, you're damn fine too."
"Pfft—!"
Yu Ye-rin suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth.
Then she started coughing.
‘She must have been moved by my compliment.’
Just as Mu-yeong was about to feel proud, she glanced at him with a flushed face.
"Ho-how, do you find me attractive? Me?"
"Yes."
"Cough cough cough! I'm asking just to check…… where exactly did you learn that word?"
"It was the video of you dancing Zero-Two. Everyone was absolutely full of praise."
"Oh no, surely not……"
Yu Ye-rin's expression went blank as if she'd just realized something.
Then she pressed her index finger to her lips and leaned her head forward slightly.
"Mu-yeong, I can't explain in detail, but that's a word you shouldn't use carelessly."
"Was it?"
"Yes. No matter what, you must never use it with anyone. Letting it slip out could cause a real problem."
"I'll be careful."
He wasn't sure what exactly it was, but it seemed to be a word of particularly intense praise.
Mu-yeong nodded and asked what he'd been curious about.
"By the way, what brings you here?"
"I came to cheer on my senior disciple brother."
"Senior disciple brother?"
"Yes, that person over there."
It was obvious without even looking.
Who else could someone that Yu Ye-rin—the second disciple—would call her senior disciple brother be here?
None other than No Song-baek.
After a brief glance at him, still wearing that good-natured expression, Mu-yeong looked back at Yu Ye-rin.
Unlike No Song-baek in his full Daehwasan Sect Martial Robe, she was dressed in a very modern style.
Jeans and a white t-shirt.
Yu Ye-rin noticed his gaze and smiled bashfully.
"We're not all that strict on the rules, honestly. We always keep the spirit of Daehwasan in our hearts, but that doesn't mean we're required to wear Martial Robes."
"And the hat and mask too?"
"Those I'm wearing to hide my identity. If I don't cover up like this, people recognize me and it gets a bit uncomfortable. Oh, but Mu-yeong, what brings you here?"
"I came to win."
"……What? To, to win?"
"That's right."
Yu Ye-rin let out an awkward laugh at Mu-yeong's utterly calm reply.
'He's talking about winning like he's popping out to take a stroll……?'
No, more than that—had him playing Battle Attack non-stop actually been preparation for entering this tournament?
Last time she'd seen him, his level had been around 10—at that point, wouldn't he still not know what was going on?
Having occasionally tuned into Mu-yeong's broadcasts, Yu Ye-rin felt a slight pounding in her head.
It wasn't as though she didn't understand where that confidence came from.
Considering the strength that had cleared Castle Defense through Stage 10, it could be more than sufficient.
But Battle Royale was a little different.
No matter how skilled you were, if you were on the receiving end of getting shot at from all sides, you'd die regardless.
And that kind of thing happened even to top-tier players regularly.
Predators were no exception.
Even they frequently got knocked out early.
'But I don't have to say that out loud right now.'
Yu Ye-rin quickly changed the subject.
"Oh right, I uploaded a video to Newtube recently and the views were way higher than usual. It's all thanks to you."
"The Castle Defense one? My viewer count has gone up a bit because of that too, it seems."
"But are you not running your own channel? It feels a bit wrong to be siphoning all the views for myself."
It wasn't that Mu-yeong hadn't thought about it.
Beyond receiving donations during live streams, he was naturally interested in earning money separately.
The problem was that it had overlapped with the tournament.
He had come across the information the very same day he cleared Castle Defense.
So he deliberated, but ultimately decided he would do it after winning.
It wasn't simply a matter of creating a channel and being done—there were more things to manage than expected, from editors to the community.
"I'm thinking I'll do it after winning the tournament."
"Ahaha…… Then how about we make a little bet?"
"What are the terms?"
"If you really do win, I'll give you all the money I earned from the Castle Defense video."
Mu-yeong's eyes lit up in an instant.
Win and receive 100 million in prize money plus Yu Ye-rin's earnings on top of that?
'This person is basically a walking good-luck charm. Fortune is literally rolling right in.'
Mu-yeong nodded immediately.
At that, Yu Ye-rin smiled and tilted her head to the right.
"But there's one condition."
"What is it?"
"If you don't win, how about doing a collab stream with me later? A game of my choosing."
"Deal."
An answer that came without a single moment's hesitation.
Yu Ye-rin extended her pinky finger.
"You promised."
"Of course."
Just as the important deal was struck, an announcement came over the speakers.
—All participants in the Battle Attack Seoul Server Tournament, please proceed to your designated capsules and prepare.
Has that much time passed already?
Mu-yeong checked his watch, and Yu Ye-rin put her mask back on.
"Okay then, I'll head over to greet my senior disciple brother now. Good luck in the preliminaries today!"
She gave a small wave and dashed off.
Once she disappeared into the crowd, Divine Dragon and Iron Blood Witch—who had been keeping out of sight—reappeared.
"The Daehwasan Sect must have quite a lot of money."
"Right? How flush must you be to casually give away your Newtube earnings like that?"
"I wish I could afford such luxuries myself."
"Says the man who barely spends anything."
Mu-yeong flinched.
The voices and bodies were clearly theirs, but the faces were entirely different.
The man who appeared to be Divine Dragon tapped his chin.
"These are Skin-Changing Masks, Young Lord."
"……Why are you wearing those?"
"We're rather well-known ourselves, are we not? The Right-Hand Enforcer of the Demonic Heaven Sect and Iron Blood Witch. If we don't hide our identities, it's obvious who the Young Lord is as well."
"That's fair. It must be a burden."
"Not at all. We're just glad to not have to worry about prying eyes ourselves. Oh, and I looked it up beforehand—the Young Lord's capsule number is 32."
Divine Dragon pointed to the right.
Some people were already stepping into their capsules.
"Thank you. I'll see you later then."
"We'll be watching on the large TV in the lobby."
Leaving the two behind as they bowed, Mu-yeong moved forward.
He entered his assigned pod and waited, and the screen brightened as a huge number of people appeared in the in-game lobby.
Then a large message appeared.
[Game starts in 60 seconds.]
[59]
[58]
Watching the numbers tick down, Mu-yeong began a quick stretch.
'A single match……. Well, I'll just do what I've been doing.'
.
.
.
.
Kim Cheol and Song Ji-won, the two assigned as commentators for this Battle Attack tournament.
The pair were well-known for being an exceptionally well-matched duo.
"Ah, the bracket has finally been revealed, we're told. Apparently it's been shuffled randomly—I'm really curious how it's turned out."
"Since there are far too many groups to cover, we'll be focusing primarily on the Predators, so we appreciate your understanding, viewers."
"Then shall we check the first group?"
The moment Kim Cheol pulled up the bracket on the monitor, he let out an exclamation.
"Wow, take a look at Group 7. Not a single Grand Master here, let alone a Predator?"
"The people drawn into this group are truly lucky!"
"Though it's not entirely a good thing. Even if you make it into the top 5, there are even tougher players waiting in the main event!"
"That's true. The joy is short-lived."
Kim Cheol commentated as he scanned the bracket.
Predators were marked in red, Grand Masters in orange, Masters in purple.
It made it easy to tell at a glance which groups were strong and which were weak.
"Ooh, Group 19 has no fewer than 7 players ranked Master or above? This is shaping up to be quite a brutal match."
"Absolutely. To make it into the top 5 here, you'll need to be really good at capitalizing on other people's fights."
"But they didn't reach the top 1% for nothing. Skill matters, but luck will need to be on your side too!"
"Indeed—no doubt abou…… Oh!"
Mid-reply, Song Ji-won suddenly sucked in a sharp breath.
This almost never happened, so Kim Cheol glanced sideways at him.
He soon had the same reaction.
"No, no way."
"Wow, I'm surprised. I really am."
"We always pride ourselves on staying neutral as commentators, but I genuinely cannot conceal my shock at this."
"Let's take a look, shall we."
The bracket for Group 52 now appeared on the screen.
Five rows of red, six rows of orange, and a staggering ten rows of purple.
That meant 21 of the 60 players were Master-ranked or above.
"This has to be called a group that God himself has abandoned? How on earth does a result like this even happen?"
"At this rate, you could practically call it a Grand Master Solo Queue."
"Wow……. This is simply a Group of Death. A Group of Death. An absolute nightmare."
"The truly heartbreaking part is that only 5 of them can advance to the main event."
Normally Kim Cheol would have moved on after just looking at the colors, but this was so far beyond expectations that he had no choice but to see who was actually in it.
"Predator 12th-ranked No Song-baek, 37th-ranked Hundred Herbs, 102nd-ranked Gu Yu-do……."
The more he read, the more it left him speechless.
But then, in the middle of it all, there was one oddly colored entry.
"But what's this? Green? Never seen that before—Song Jae-woo commentator, do you happen to know anything about this?"
"Ah, that's the beginner protection marker—it means they haven't even started playing ranked yet."
"A beginner protection marker? What do you mean……."
"Simple. It means they're Unranked."
"What?"
Kim Cheol was dumbfounded.
Even with no tier restrictions, an Unranked player entering was something he had never seen before.
He adjusted his glasses and leaned close to the screen.
No matter which way he looked at it, it was green.
Still, however baffling it was, he couldn't disparage a participant.
He calmly pressed on with his neutral commentary.
"Looks like they came for the experience—what terrible luck. To run into a Group of Death right from the preliminaries."
"Can't be helped. It would be great to sharpen their skills and aim for the next opportunity!"
"Exactly! Even this counts as experience."
"Oh, but what is that particularly unlucky player's username?"
"Will Win Tournament. Apparently."
"……Pardon? W-what?"
"Will Win Tournament. Level 17."
"Ah."
For a brief moment, both Kim Cheol and Song Jae-woo forgot to commentate entirely.