Chapter 27
Chapter 27: One-Man Army
Clatter, clatter.
Inside the plane before the drop.
Mu-yeong glared at the person sitting directly across from him.
"……."
"……."
Of all people, it had to be No Song-baek.
The seating was supposed to be random—what a coincidence.
But that guy wasn't averting his gaze either.
What to make of him?
It felt like looking at a finely honed blade.
A cold, predatory stare—like a beast zeroing in on its prey.
But that kind of thing had to be reserved for the right opponent.
Baring your teeth without knowing your place was a good way to end up dead.
Creak.
The exit door swung open right on cue.
Even so, no one moved.
Everyone was watching to see where the top-ranked players would drop.
The prize money only went to third place and above—was there even a point?
Mu-yeong was the first to stand.
Where should I go?
Should he just follow No Song-baek and kill him right at the start?
If they brawled before either of them picked up a gun, he could eliminate him in an instant.
Mu-yeong shook his head.
Not a bad plan, but not a great strategy either.
To put it precisely—no fun in it.
The most dramatic thing would be to survive all the way to the very end, when the tension peaked to its absolute limit.
The moment everyone's eyes were fixed on that scene—and then to bring it crashing down.
Wasn't it said that the higher one soars, the greater the damage of the fall?
Curious to see what expression that devoted Daehwasan Sect Leader will make.
Mu-yeong grinned and scanned the map.
One piece of terrain immediately caught his eye.
A hotspot with a high probability of spawning high-tier items.
It happened to sit right at the center of the map, well-positioned to branch out in any direction.
Thud.
Mu-yeong walked toward the exit.
He glanced back for a moment, and countless players flinched and shuddered.
They all knew.
Who the no-skin default character was.
He savored the fear-laced stares for a brief moment, then leapt into the sky.
First, rack up as many kills as possible.
There was the matter of demonstrating overwhelming force, but there was also a Top Kill Award among the prizes.
Ten million won—just for free.
That meant time would be quite tight.
Under normal circumstances he would have deployed his parachute by now, but he didn't.
He held back, held back, to land even a fraction of a second sooner.
And then.
Fwump!
He deployed it at a point not far from the ground at all.
Hitting the earth like that would have dealt a fair amount of damage.
But it didn't matter to Mu-yeong.
Shhhhhk!
He slid along a building set at a diagonal angle.
The moment his speed had bled off enough, he hurled his body forward.
One person came here. Deal with them quickly and move on.
Confirming the position, Mu-yeong ran at full speed.
He swept up every item around him as he went, packing his bag to the brim.
He grabbed weapons too.
A shotgun and grenades.
A proper hotspot—stocked very generously.
Now to go take care of the enemy……
Bang!
A large bullet suddenly lodged itself into the wall right in front of him.
He snapped to attention.
Not because he'd nearly been shot.
That's the sound of a Peacemaker, isn't it?
That rare treasure he'd been trying to find—and it shows up here?
Mu-yeong's head whipped around.
About fifty meters away, someone on the third floor of a tower was taking aim.
What they held was unmistakably a Peacemaker.
What a joy.
Click.
He pulled the pin on a fragmentation grenade.
About ten seconds later, Mu-yeong was rummaging through the eliminated player's bag, head tilted to the side.
"What's this?"
The shape was definitely a Peacemaker.
But something was off.
Instead of the silver he knew, it was coated in a color he had never seen before.
A dazzling gold that shimmered enough to hurt the eyes.
.
.
.
.
"Emeeeergency!!! Emergency! The tournament favorite just got his hands on the Golden Peacemaker!"
"A fully assembled Peacemaker with every single part attached showing up here!? This is like giving wings to a tiger, isn't it!?"
"It is! An enhanced barrel with no damage falloff by distance, a special grip that reduces recoil—and on top of that, armor-piercing rounds that deal bonus damage to enemies without shields!"
"This doesn't make sense! That player was already running a massacre without any attachments at all, and now you hand him this—isn't this a balance disaster!?"
—Looks like the winner's already decided lol
—Could basically end the game right here
—Still can't say for sure though.
—For real, there's always a chance of getting caught off guard and dying early.
But no matter how high-tier the gear, and no matter how capable the person wielding it—no one could predict the future.
It was unlikely, but everyone could join forces and come hunting for him.
Maybe they'd reach an unspoken agreement and gang up.
This wasn't cheating or teaming in any sense.
This was strategy.
Say there was an enemy holding the high ground.
Should the players in a disadvantaged position whittle each other down and burn through their strength?
No.
You take out whoever had the favorable position first.
That would make things easier afterward.
Kim Cheol and Song Jae-woo had seen similar situations a few times in professional matches, so they held their tongues.
But inwardly, they had already marked who first place would be.
"A monster meets a monster. I'm truly looking forward to this."
"Will the Bronze-ranked player manage to put on the same performance he showed in the last match?"
"That would be icing on the cake! Oh, look at this! The tournament favorite has just started moving!"
The direction: the terrain right next to where a fight was breaking out.
The underground tunnel.
"Ah, that area is enclosed and the map runs in a straight line, so once you're caught inside it's hard to get out, isn't it?"
"Unless you punch straight through, yes. On top of that, people keep flooding in whenever they hear gunfire, so combat fatigue piles up too."
"Exactly. I'm curious to see how he'll fight his way through it."
Kim Cheol checked the state of the battlefield.
The total number of players currently fighting in that area: three.
They were trading shots with each other, but nothing impressive was coming out of it.
Just shooting, landing hits, and recharging shields.
A wasteful battle with no end in sight—and then someone came charging in.
Tatatap!
"Ah, the tournament favorite has just burst in! Let's see what kind of performance he'll put on this time…… huh?"
Bang! Boom! Bang! Boom! Bang! Boom!
The Peacemaker blazes; explosions follow right behind.
Headshot, 120. Grenade, 120.
With every repetition of that sequence, one player disappeared.
Up to this point, it was still comprehensible.
He'd shown enough skill to explain it.
But if he did all of that while running—without slowing down even for a moment—that was a different story entirely.
"What on earth is happening here!!!"
Kim Cheol shouted with raw feeling.
At the very least, any person with a normal thought process would naturally assess the situation first.
Who was where, what weapon they were carrying—that kind of information.
But as though none of that mattered, he just ran straight through and wiped everyone out.
Like a person stepping on ants without a second thought.
—lolololololol
—This guy's actually insane? lolol
—Kills everyone without even looking lolol
—This is why watching tournaments is so fun lol
—Just checked the kill log and a Predator was in the mix lol
Ten seconds.
That was how long it took to seize the underground tunnel.
Song Jae-woo's jaw dropped.
"Just where does this player's limits end? Not even a minute into the game and he already has four kills?"
"At this rate, it feels like he'll handle half the lobby by himself. What do you think?"
"Come on, what are you saying? As impressive as this is, surely that can't……"
Song Jae-woo stopped mid-sentence.
He'd intended to laugh it off, but his sharp instincts refused.
Because it wasn't an entirely impossible prospect.
Breaking into a cold sweat, Song Jae-woo smiled awkwardly.
"Surely something like that won't happen."
.
.
.
.
Mu-yeong gave the Golden Peacemaker a casual spin.
"It certainly lives up to its price."
He couldn't express it in precise numbers, but he could feel the reduction in recoil when firing.
And the damage?
Hit someone in the head and a staggering 120 popped out.
Only against targets without a shield, yes—but even that alone was an enormous increase.
Satisfied, Mu-yeong opened the map.
The nearest area ahead was the city.
A sigh escaped him immediately.
There are tall buildings and plenty of places to hide here—this is going to take time.
The snipers' paradise drew most of the players toward the rooftops.
The time spent climbing up and down was one thing, but what if the players, spooked by his arrival, deployed their parachutes and fled far away?
Nothing would be more inefficient than that.
Should I just skip this place and head somewhere else?
In that moment, the categories of the tournament awards floated back into his mind.
The Romance Award.
He didn't know the exact criteria, but if he recalled correctly, viewers voted for it.
So what would it take?
The eyes had to be entertained.
Mu-yeong had learned something from all his time streaming.
What made people happy. What set the chat blazing.
A good idea flashed through his mind just then.
Rummage, rummage.
He pulled a grenade out of his bag.
He hurled it powerfully up into the sky and watched it arc through the air.
5……4……3……2……1.
Boom!
It detonated roughly a hundred meters up in the air.
If he adjusted the angle well enough, he could probably blast the people on the rooftops too.
Having confirmed the practical use, Mu-yeong threw a few more.
The conclusion he reached after a short experiment: workable.
"The number I've got left is a bit tight…… but I'll pick up more as I go, so running dry shouldn't be a problem."
Shortly after.
Fireworks began bursting above the buildings and apartment rooftops.
Bang! BangBangBang! Boom!
[WillWinTournament -> Jang Mu-geuk — Blown to Pieces]
Before the explosions had even finished echoing, the kill log shot up.
"More manageable than I expected."
There had been no need to search for the enemies' positions in the first place.
The snipers were the ones who gave themselves away first—peeking out with scopes glinting.
All he had to do was commit that spot to memory, then toss a grenade skyward.
Tat-tat-tat-tat!
Having grasped the trick, Mu-yeong sprinted down the road.
Hearing the sound, new opponents showed their faces.
Three of them total.
In that instant, Mu-yeong's frame seemed to stretch.
Ghost Stride.
A footwork technique considered a step below the Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step, but evaluated as more than capable in its own right.
As though a ghost were in motion, afterimages began to form around Mu-yeong.
Fsh! Fsh! Fsh!
The effect was tremendous.
Not a single one of them managed to hit Mu-yeong.
While bullets buried themselves into the ground, Mu-yeong reached the base of the nearest building.
Then, without pause, he drew out two fragmentation grenades and threw them.
Boom! Bang-boom!
"What the—are you serious!?"
The last voice of a rattled opponent.
Without even glancing back, he changed direction.
Next one—right diagonal, height approximately seventy meters.
The calculation finished on its own, and his hands moved on their own.
He ran straight ahead, listening to the sound of the bomb tearing through the air.
The explosion reached his ears a beat later.
Only one left now.
As if on cue, he had exactly two grenades remaining.
From here on out, I'll have to use the Peacemaker.
Mu-yeong sprinted toward the last one and cleared everything out to the very end.
Boom! Boooom!
"Wh-whaaat!?"
[WillWinTournament -> Namgung Ryeong — Blown to Pieces]
After confirming the kill log, he opened the map immediately.
The current safe zone drawn in a wide circle.
Moving in a circular arc to find enemies was the most efficient route.
Kill as many as possible before the gas closes in.
Mu-yeong began his sprint toward the next area.
.
.
.
.
"That guy again?"
No Song-baek was deeply unsettled.
He had been managing the game at his own pace, maintaining control his own way.
But that kill log kept popping up, and every time it did, it made his heart race with urgency.
At this rate, the attention gets stolen again.
Even if he came first, falling short on kill count would inevitably make him a point of comparison.
The Sect Leader had stressed it just moments ago.
That they had to show, by any means necessary, that Daehwasan was the best.
Tatatatap!
No Song-baek eliminated an opponent and quickly checked the spoils.
He grabbed only ammunition in passing, then took off running using Five-Formation Plum Blossom Step.
Ordinarily a footwork technique saved for powerful enemies, but now was no time to be selective.
He needed to get one more kill by any means possible.
Teeth clenched, No Song-baek recalled the memory from inside the plane.
That arrogant posture—as though looking down on him from above.
It grated on him. He wanted to tear it apart.
Crack.
No Song-baek checked the next safe zone.
Dead center of the map—not tilted to either side.
A sigh came out on the spot.
Not ideal.
Cases like this were rare.
A fairly uncommon scenario, and it had to land on a tournament day.
The reason it was a problem:
Enemies spread out evenly across the map.
When the zone tilted to one side, the chances of running into opponents went up accordingly. But with it centered like this, stacking up kills became considerably harder.
"Even so, I can't just stand here."
No Song-baek pushed his pace even harder and began to charge forward.
As if he intended to sweep the entire map clean.