Chapter 140
“Whoa! Whoa! Yunho! You’re pulling this off? Hey, hey! I believed in you!!!”
Rumi shouted from beside him.
And Alpaca tensed up, fists clenched, ready to cheer.
Baramgeom seemed awkward about the atmosphere and couldn’t make a sound, but still seemed to be watching with great concentration.
‘There’s tension here.’
Seojun was watching the limp, floppy characters’ fight with keen interest.
The player character in Beast Cartel was a doll made of a clay-like texture.
True to its appearance, its movements were also very limp and so weak that you’d wonder if the physics engine was okay, but surprisingly, there was a sense of impact.
Thwack!
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
[Ha Yunho’s floppy punch!]
[Ah! Is he getting grabbed by the scruff? He’s caught! Player Japcho! He’s carrying Ha Yunho’s character towards the shredder by the map!]
[Only two left! And if Ha Yunho isn’t killed here, it’s over!]
“No! If we win this round, we’re first place! If we lose, we have to play another round!”
Rumi said worriedly, and the moment Alpaca’s and Baramgeom’s eyes widened!
The opponent’s yellow clay lump character let go of Yunho’s blue character.
As if on the moon with low gravity, the character that fell to the floor bounced a couple of times, boing boing.
Yunho stood up, and this time, grabbed the opponent and lifted them.
[Is it a reversal!]
Thump, thump, thump, thump!
The character, showing a true moonwalk, put the opponent into the nearby shredder, and a message appeared.
[Game Over!]
[Winner: Ha Yunho!]
[Waaah! Congratulations. The points for the first game go to Team Leader Ha Yunho’s team, the first to secure 3 wins!]
“Whoa! Yunho pulled it off!”
“Right!”
“Well……”
Baramgeom started to say something but stopped.
Seojun felt like he could guess the rest. And not just Seojun, anyone who knew the team’s atmosphere from earlier could guess.
‘If Yunho hadn’t pulled it off, he might have died.’
Given the team atmosphere, that was the case.
While the other E-rank players came just hoping to win, for Ha Yunho it was a matter of life and death.
Seojun thought that the difference in mindset was why he could win.
[Haha! Then please reveal the points!]
[Yes! The points going to Team Leader Ha Yunho’s team is 500 points!]
The points gained from winning the game here were indeed the same points used in the auction.
Ultimately, the team with the most points left today gets the right to choose the group.
The points left after the auction were utilized like this.
“500 points?!”
Alpaca’s eyes widened.
“We have the most!”
Even if they hadn’t spent many points in the auction, no team had as many as 500 points left to eat up.
-Wow!
-They're giving out a ton lol
-They're just handing them out since we won't need them tomorrow anyway
[Ah, and now we’ll prepare for the second game. For your information, the winning team of the second game gets 2,000 points! Then, everyone, fighting until the end!]
Arin winked, and an advertisement went on.
-Holy shit lololololol
-If you just win Ground Zero, you get to pick the group lol
-What's with this training camp meta lolololol
-Management: In case you won't fight until the end, they bet everything on the final game hehe
In the final battle, making everything you've built up previously meaningless is called the training camp meta.
Seojun thought it was truly fitting and smiled.
It wasn’t an unpleasant smile.
Because it was a competition meant for everyone to enjoy.
The team members didn’t vent their frustration either.
“Ah, right. Wasn't this competition always like this?”
At Rumi’s words, everyone nodded in agreement.
* * *
“The winner has arrived!”
The boss returned to the lobby. He wore a triumphant expression.
But now that the training camp meta had been revealed, it was hard to get a good reaction.
“Uh, you're here?”
“Good job.”
“That was great!”
“Well done.”
At the lukewarm response, Ha Yunho tilted his head in confusion. Then, just as he was about to open his mouth and boast.
“Now, let's discuss how we'll do the next game.”
Alpaca said.
Ha Yunho shot glances saying, 'What about my victory? My congratulations? Still, didn't I do well this time?' but Alpaca casually ignored them.
“You heard the explanation about battle royale earlier, right?”
He was speaking to Seojun. After all, Seojun was the only one who hadn't played the game.
“Yes.”
Ground Zero.
An FPS battle royale game.
Battle royale is a rule where participants are pushed into one location and fight until the last person or the last team is honored.
When many compete at once, in situations like now, it could be considered a genre perfectly suited for a quick round.
“Aha! I got 500 points, but if we win this, it's 2,000 points!”
Ha Yunho realized the reason through the chat window and muttered to himself. Now that he knew the cause, his feelings of injustice vanished, and he immediately joined the discussion.
“You know too, Seojun? Then! Let's go with Gandhi.”
Since battle royale is a system where you win as long as you're the last one standing, no matter the route, the ways to get to that end are diverse.
Among them, the most representative are the turtling meta, the Gandhi meta, and the Lu Bu meta.
The turtling meta is about holding out in one spot as much as possible and only dealing with enemies that come.
It can be seen as similar to the Gandhi meta, which avoids combat as much as possible and aims for non-violence.
And the exact opposite, the Lu Bu meta, refers to aggressive play that actively seeks out combat.
Besides these, there's the real estate agent meta of preemptively securing a well-positioned building, the prayer meta of just praying to the sky, and many others, but Seojun heard that most can be considered just for entertainment.
Ha Yunho spoke.
“First, the number of players is quite small, isn't it? 24 people. Even if the map is small, there'll probably be plenty of room to farm items. Then, how about we farm up comfortably and safely, and fight when the numbers have dwindled? By then, Seojun, who'll have gotten used to it, might be flying around.”
It meant avoiding early combat as much as possible.
“If we're lucky and get a supply drop, we'll give it to Seojun.”
As if agreeing, everyone nodded again.
“Do you trust me?”
Seojun said with a meaningful smile.
“Yes.”
“Since there's no streamer specializing in Ground Zero, there's really no one else to trust but Seojun.”
I see.
“Ah, but we don’t necessarily have to win. It’s good to be able to fight the people we want in the group league, but it doesn't make things overwhelmingly advantageous.”
It was meant to take off some pressure.
But Seojun hadn't felt pressure from the start.
‘Since I'm doing it, I might as well win.’
First time playing the game?
It's fine. As long as it doesn't have really weird controls, they're all pretty much the same, and the way to win is the same, isn't it?
“Then, how about doing both the Gandhi meta and the Lu Bu meta?”
“What?”
-lololol what's he trying to do again
-Can those two coexist?
-He's spouting nonsense again.
* * *
Seojun launched Ground Zero. And he received an invitation from the competition side.
A list of twenty-four names appeared on the interface in front of him.
The number of participants in the game was 24, with 4 per team.
Even the map with the fewest people is played with 64 players.
Of course, there are maps that play with 32 people as an event, but anyway, it's certain that the number of players is less than a regular game.
[Now! Let's begin!]
As the game started, the official broadcast Seojun was watching cut off.
Next, the place he opened his eyes to was a slightly dark, massive warehouse. And big vibrations and loud noises were being transmitted to him along the walls.
‘Ah. It's not a warehouse, it's a plane, right? They said you go down to the map from here and the fight starts.’
Twenty-four users were sitting against the wall in a line by team.
Some were wearing weird helmets, some were decked out in pink, and even more shockingly, there was a streamer wearing only underpants.
No matter how much it's an avatar, it's scanned from their own body—what amazing confidence.
‘I'll have to be a bit careful of that one.’
There's a saying in the martial world.
Beware of women, children, and the elderly.
Similarly, in games, there's a saying.
Beware of users wearing only underpants.
They're either a real weakling newbie, or a tremendous expert with nothing else to do in the game. One of the two.
Since Seojun, a beginner, was just wearing ordinary pants and a jacket, that person was likely an expert.
“Seojun! The plane door will open soon. Prepare for the drop! First, we need to check the map, and you can see the mini-map after the door opens. First, look at the map and the situation...”
While Rumi, next to Seojun, was speaking, a loud crashing sound rang out.
Clank!
Whirr!
And the plane door started to open.
Among the users, those with sharp eyes noticed from just the sky color where it was even before seeing the terrain below.
“It's the Great Desert!”
“Crazy, with 24 people they're giving us the biggest map?”
“Quick, check the mini-map!”
It was chaos.
In contrast, his team was peaceful. Because they had decided to just watch everyone go down and head to the quietest spot.
The Gandhi meta.
“Let's check too.”
The plane's route is always the same for each map. So the moment you check the map, if you know the game somewhat, you usually have no reason to rush.
But this isn't a regular game. You don't know what the competition organizers might have done.
As expected.
“What! Why is there already a storm?”
“Wow. It's going to be a fierce fight.”
“If we had gone straight out, we'd have died from storm damage heading to the safe zone. Whew.”
The storm.
An essential mechanic of battle royale.
Seojun examined the circle drawn on the mini-map closely.
“If you're outside this circle, your health continuously decreases, right?”
“Yes. And that circle keeps shrinking over time, limiting the safe play area.”
To avoid the storm, you have no choice but to come into the circle, so the users scattered across the map naturally gather and fight.
“But the fact that the circle is currently a size that can't even contain half the map...”
Means they're saying to stay close from the start.
“Yes. It's a trick by the organizers.”
-omg
-I mean, would they want to watch streamers comfortably farm up and fight? lolol
-lol for real
“What will you do?”
Alpaca asked Seojun if they should reconsider the strategy.
And Seojun answered without a moment's hesitation.
“Let's go as planned.”
Narrow? That's even better.
* * *
As the transport plane entered the safe zone, users started jumping out one by one.
And among them was Challenger Jungle Dokkaebi.
‘We'll take the camp.’
Whoosh!
With a heart-dropping sensation, Dokkaebi began freefall, adjusting his speed and scanning around.
The former because if he was too fast, the parachute wouldn't open, and the latter to check how many competitors would fight over the camp.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
‘Huh?’
He counted once more.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
‘Huh? What?’
Same.
This can't be.
He had no choice but to be flustered because the count didn't include himself.
If you include him, nine people were heading to one spot—can a game with teams of four even have a count of nine?
-Huh? Isn't that Jin Seojun?
-The noisy one from the start?
-He was the loudest at the auction today too lololol
-He's got an expensive price tag of 995 points
After looking at the chat and properly identifying people one by one, Dokkaebi was able to see the situation correctly.
Jin Seojun.
He was the biggest mystery player of this auction, on whom three team leaders had gone all-in with points.
‘Seems like he jumped wrong on his own.’
Dokkaebi didn't think much of it until then.
‘I'll quickly take the camp and go underground...’
Swoosh!
But as an object falling vertically whizzed past him, he was extremely flustered.
‘Not adjusting speed? If that happens...’
The object that passed him was Seojun. And the acceleration was no joke.
As expected, the parachute didn't open system-wise.
Boom!!!
Seojun landed on the rooftop of a building. First among the nine.
‘Wow. And amidst all that, he turned his body at the end and landed properly.’
Dokkaebi marveled and deployed his parachute.
-What a total badass lololololol
-He came alone and is solo diving bare-handed lolol
-His health is super low. Let's go kill him
“It's dangerous to go for him.”
The advantage of falling without opening the parachute is that you can land on the ground before anyone else and farm items.
Still, there's a reason they don't do it.
-He'll die from one hit with that HP, can we really hold back?
-Let's just go and give him a tap
-He's clearly a clueless newbie, let's show him the bitter taste of battle royale
Fall damage.
A term for fall damage, referring to the game system where you take HP damage if you fall from a certain height or higher.
“With that HP, he'll go down quickly even if it's not me.”
Dokkaebi slowly descended with his parachute and aimed for a building a little apart from Seojun.
Glancing over, luckily there was a pistol on the rooftop of the building Seojun landed on.
‘Ah, I was going to go there first.’
Dokkaebi put aside his regret and watched Seojun.
At first, Seojun scratched his head as if flustered.
Then, after saying something to the viewers, he shrugged and trudged toward the pistol.
The pistol was in Seojun's hand.
‘Should I create some distance?’
And at that moment.
Seojun and Dokkaebi's eyes met.
Seojun smiled.
Then he threw the pistol in his hand far away.
‘What’s this?’
It was an incomprehensible turn of events.
But Seojun's next action was even more ridiculous.
‘He's raising both hands? Is that a boxing stance? He's doing it to me, right?’
-Dokkaebi, he's telling you to come for a bare-handed fight lol
-No lolol he'll die in one hit but he threw away the pistol why
-Ah lol Dokkaebi is practically a semi-pro boxer in real life, and he's challenging that
-One thing's for sure, he's a damn badass
‘Wow... I can't let this slide.’
Dokkaebi changed the direction of his parachute.