Chapter 21
Chapter 21: The Preliminaries Begin
Inside a rattling airplane.
The atmosphere among the participants was quite different from anything Mu-yeong had felt up until now.
Was it because this was a tournament?
In the tautly strung tension, everyone was busy sneaking glances at one another.
That much was a natural reaction.
But the biggest problem was how they looked.
'Truly, they all have such rough appearances.'
The guy next to him was sporting a bright red rooster comb on his head.
The one up front was wearing pants with one leg completely exposed, shivering away.
The one diagonally across had on some kind of tiger mask.
And yet, if you asked whether they had at least put themselves together to match a concept—no, they hadn't.
The tops and bottoms clashed completely, doing their own separate things, to a degree that made it hard to keep both eyes open.
It would be difficult to dress like that even if you were told to on purpose.
There were even those who had chosen the same character as Mu-yeong yet looked like entirely different people.
'I'd heard that the more of a Veteran someone is, the more strangely they style their character—turns out it was true.'
Even the Green Forest lot, who considered themselves quite the lookers, would tuck their tails and whimper at the sight.
For Mu-yeong, who had spent his time playing only ordinary games, it was an enormous culture shock.
Of course, it wasn't as though the general game scene had only people in default skins.
You could find those showing off their fashion without much difficulty—but seeing every single person doing it at once was a first.
Mu-yeong shook his head from side to side and lifted himself from his seat.
He stood at the exit and surveyed the map to figure out where to land.
'For now, let's head somewhere with a lot of people. I need to get a rough gauge of what the skill levels are like.'
Mu-yeong shifted his gaze toward the residential area.
A zone ringed by two-story detached houses in a circle, where skirmishes broke out with considerable frequency.
He launched himself from the airplane at once.
Whooooosh!
A Battle Royale where only skill speaks the truth.
Of course, there were gacha elements like the position of the next circle and whether certain parts would appear—but there existed one absolute law of luck that not even the Rank 1 player could escape.
That was the type of item that appeared right after your first landing.
The opponent who dropped nearby was cheering at the sight of a good gun.
But what lands in your hands? Nothing but a barrel stabilizer and a magazine that are of no use right now.
The world turning yellow happens in an instant.
In fact, there isn't even time for that.
Because if you don't want to end up riddled with holes, you have no choice but to run without looking back.
That was exactly Mu-yeong's situation right now.
"Someone's gone and taken a dump on the ground here."
Twenty rounds of ammunition paired with a stock—what a combination.
He felt genuinely like cracking open whoever had scattered this stuff and looking inside their head.
At the very least, couldn't they have put out one grenade?
What was anyone supposed to do with this in the very early stages?
Mu-yeong kicked the ammunition aside and looked to his right.
The guy who had dropped at nearly the same time was already taking aim in his direction.
He threw himself into the nearest house immediately.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
He took one hit.
It wasn't that significant of a hit.
But not wanting to miss the opportunity, the opponent started charging at full speed.
He pressed himself behind the door and held his breath.
'The moment they step in, I take them down.'
But reality always goes differently from what you expect.
Ting…… Ting…… Ting……
What rolled through the gap was a flashbang.
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.
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Observer.
The term refers to someone who provides live commentary on the state of the game.
An indispensable role at any tournament, they are typically stationed one per Capsule Room.
The reason for doing so even during the preliminaries was as a service for the friends, acquaintances, and fans who had come along.
After all, the screen the Observer watches is broadcast identically on the large TV in the lobby for everyone to enjoy.
So then, among the sixty participants, whose perspective would get the best reaction?
Naturally, it would be the notable figures drawing the crowd's attention.
There was one in the Capsule Room where Mu-yeong was as well.
A person enjoying unrivaled popularity.
"Oh! He just got another kill!"
"How many minutes has it been and he's already at 3 kills? A Predator really is on a different level."
"I got chills watching the bullets all hit just now."
No Song-baek.
He had dropped into the Port—a hotspot—and was in the middle of massacring the participants.
His clean, uncluttered movements and outstanding aim were more than enough to draw gasps of admiration from everyone.
Yu Ye-rin was among them.
'As expected of Senior Brother.'
Yu Ye-rin rounded her lips and nodded.
In a way, it was an expected outcome, so it wasn't all that surprising.
Not simply because of the number twelve—but because he was someone stronger than herself.
People sometimes regarded Yu Ye-rin as the most promising talent at Daehwasan.
But that wasn't the truth.
She might edge him out in SNS followers, but in an actual sparring match with No Song-baek, her win rate was around thirty percent.
And that was being generous—thirty percent. If it came to sparring that resembled real combat, it was obvious it would drop even lower than that.
That was how high the wall of the First Disciple stood.
'Well, if it's Senior Brother, the preliminaries are as good as a walk-through.'
Yu Ye-rin turned her eyes toward where the Capsules were.
Eliminated players were starting to come out one by one.
"Ugh, I'm telling you I lost because the gun was trash—if I'd had the same one as him, I would've won for sure!"
"Says the guy who's barely hit Pinnacle rank. Whatever, let's go eat."
"You're paying, right?"
"The nerve."
Another group.
"This literally makes no sense—the moment our eyes met, my health just melted? I couldn't even react before I died."
"I was watching—that was No Song-baek. Might as well think of it as getting hit by a truck."
"Ah, figures. Just bad luck then."
By the nature of Battle Royale, deaths come in highest numbers in the very early stages.
Because fights break out simultaneously all across the map.
About ten people had streamed out like that when—
Yu Ye-rin glanced around and let out a small sigh of relief.
'Still alive, it seems.'
In truth, her attention was entirely on Mu-yeong.
It really had been a coincidence.
There had been no opportunity since Castle Defense, and then suddenly running into him in real life—
She hadn't dreamed it in her wildest imaginings.
The only thing that nagged at her was having run into him on a day she wasn't wearing any makeup at all—but what of it?
Thanks to that, they had made a promise to do a Collab Stream.
'But will he be alright? Of all the games, he ends up in the same one as Senior Brother.'
And on top of that, he had been placed in the death bracket.
Could an Unranked player with barely any experience really break through the top-tier players and make it into the top five?
She was in the middle of worrying when someone shouted from afar.
"Unbelievable! I threw the flashbang first and went in—so why did I lose? I threw three of them to clear every ambush angle—why?!"
"Hey, hey, lower your voice. And besides, the target might not have been hit."
"They were! The hit indicator clearly showed, so I pushed in—and then what? They beat me bare-handed while stunned?!"
"Ehhh…… well, it happens. Let's go outside first. Everyone's staring."
His friends led the raging man out.
It had barely quieted down before, thirty seconds later, another person let out an enraged shriek.
"That lucky son of a—How do you hit two Javelins at the same time?! Is that even possible?!"
"Weren't you fighting in a tight spot?"
"No, listen! I dropped into the residential area, and a fight broke out right next to me—I went to pick up the scraps, and the moment I opened the front door—bam! Straight into my forehead! While I was fumbling, I got hit by a Shotgun and died!"
"Must've been luck. There's no way someone of Master Tier like you would just get taken out like that."
"That's exactly what I'm saying!"
A group of companions led the fuming man out.
Yu Ye-rin stroked her chin as she absorbed the conversation.
'The game seems brutal. Well, of course—how many Predators are there?'
She glanced over toward the Capsules just in case, but there was no sign of Mu-yeong anywhere.
Just as she exhaled a quiet breath of relief, people began to murmur.
"Whoa, no way. One of the Predators is eliminated."
"Who, who?"
"Gu Yu-do, apparently."
"That 102nd-ranked person? How'd they die?"
"The Kill Log shows they died from an explosion? Sounds like they got screwed from all sides."
"Ugh, I can't see it. Is the Observer not doing their job?"
Yu Ye-rin quickly looked up at the top right of the screen.
Where the Kill Log was displayed, it read:
[Will Win Tournament → Gu Yu-do — Blown to Pieces]
'Wait, that username is—could it be——?!'
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.
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Having cleaned up the residential area, Mu-yeong began checking his loot.
"One Javelin, three Fragmentation Grenades, five Shield Balls, three Bandages."
Plus one Shotgun.
The lack of ammunition was a drawback, but it wasn't all bad.
He just had to head to the next area and farm—simple enough.
Mu-yeong gathered everything back into his bag and checked the next circle.
'It's quite far. I'll have to head to the swamp, since that's the closest.'
He slung the Shotgun over his back and sprinted out across the open field.
As he ran, his energy sense picked up movement.
'Three hundred meters northeast. Judging by the trajectory, we're on a collision course.'
With no one else around, better deal with this quickly and move on.
Mu-yeong turned his body in that direction.
About ten seconds passed.
The opponent came into view.
He had tried to conceal himself and finish them off with a grenade, but they had spotted Mu-yeong as well and immediately drew their weapon.
'If they caught me at this distance, they're a martial artist.'
Duh-duh-duh-duh!
Mu-yeong continued at speed, running diagonally.
Even so, his Shield began to chip away little by little.
In a way, it made perfect sense.
If you pre-aim along the path someone will travel, you'll land at least a few shots even if not all of them.
It was simply that this was his first time encountering this, which was why he had been caught momentarily off guard.
The opponents he had faced up until now hadn't been able to track him at all, even running in a straight line.
Fortunately, the barrage of bullets came to a quick stop.
"You little rat——how quick you are! But now that you've fallen into the hands of Gu Yu-do, don't even think about walking away alive!"
Gu Yu-do shouted in a rough voice as he swapped out his magazine.
Seizing that gap, Mu-yeong charged at him head-on.
First, he threw the Javelin to slow him down, and then——
Clak!
But his reloading speed was beyond imagination.
Before he had taken more than a few steps, the muzzle was spitting fire again.
A storm of bullets came flying straight at Mu-yeong's head.
Left as is, a critical hit—or death—was inevitable.
'Can't be helped.'
Footwork he had been reluctant to use, lest anyone recognize it.
He unleashed the Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step.
"W——what——!"
For an instant, it was as if time had stopped and the world flowed in slow motion.
As Mu-yeong's silhouette stretched out, Gu Yu-do was thrown into great shock.
'How can anyone be this fast?!'
Even after the Great Unification, he had kept his name among the Supreme Pinnacle masters.
He had put that talent to use and built a reputation as a top-tier player in Battle Attack.
Gu Yu-do had faced countless players—but this time, all he could see was an afterimage.
This was the first time he had encountered something like this.
Yet he regained his composure quickly.
"You're playing tricks! Go on then—try and dodge this one!"
Gu Yu-do calmly squeezed the trigger.
But could you take proper aim when you couldn't even follow the movement?
No.
Out of thirty rounds, four landed.
Realizing that this approach was going nowhere, Gu Yu-do drew the five-foot saber from his back.
"Fine! The way you're closing the distance tells me you've got something up your sleeve! But you've got the wrong man! My true specialty is close combat!"
Close-range weapons also existed in Battle Attack.
Considering that a large number of martial artists were playing, they had implemented things like swords and sabers as well.
But they weren't particularly popular.
—Who in their right mind would pick up a blade and fight up close when there are guns?—For real, and the damage is fixed at 40 on top of that lol—It's already heavy enough carrying a gun and a bag—how would you manage that thing on top of it?
You could use the techniques and martial arts you'd learned, but it was still close-range combat.
Everyone is equal in front of a gun.
Even so, the reason Gu Yu-do carried one every single round was simple.
A sense of security.
A born martial artist, he only felt at ease when he could feel the cool weight of metal against his back.
Call it a habit, call it a superstition.
"Die——!"
Gu Yu-do channeled killing intent into his step.
Wind-Cloud Step——the Footwork that had trampled countless enemies.
He charged forward at a speed utterly unlike anything before and swung the saber.
But his body would not move the way it usually did.
Bzzzt-bzzzt-bzzzt.
The cause was right at the center of his chest.
A Javelin he hadn't even realized had landed—now glowing brighter and brighter.
"What——?!"
While Gu Yu-do was reeling in shock, Mu-yeong widened the gap.
He pulled the pin on a Fragmentation Grenade and began counting.
'The Javelin does slow movement speed—but this alone isn't enough.'
From the looks of him, he seemed to be at the Supreme Pinnacle level, and someone of that caliber had more than enough ability to flee.
So what if you gave them an additional shock—enough to stop them from moving entirely?
Mu-yeong hurled the grenade high into the air and simultaneously swung the Shotgun backward.
He assumed a posture like someone winding up to swing a baseball bat, then brought it around with every ounce of force he had.
Clang!
"Urk——!"
The grenade landed squarely on Gu Yu-do's face.
Whether this counted as a melee hit or not, damage reading 40 appeared.
'So that makes 40 from just now, 70 from the Javelin, 120 from the Fragmentation Grenade.'
That's the end of it.
BOOM!
A clean explosion rang out, and the kill score rose by one.
After confirming the kill beyond any doubt, Mu-yeong immediately began rifling through Gu Yu-do's bag.
The only thing of any use was Shotgun ammunition.
"All bark and no bite. Still, at least this much came out."
Just as Mu-yeong was about to leave, a saber glinting with unusual brilliance stopped his feet.
It seemed to be pleading with him not to leave it behind.
Thud.
The moment he gripped it, it settled into his hand with a strangely perfect fit.
Like wielding a beloved companion weapon he had always carried.
"Even so—to think there was actually someone out there using this thing in a real match."
His head screamed at him to toss it and get inside the circle.
But perhaps it was because he had spent over a week using nothing but guns——
He simply could not let go.
"Let's bring it along for now. If I end up not needing it, I can always drop it later."
Having made his decision, Mu-yeong fastened the saber at his hip.
Then he began running toward the next safe zone.