Chapter 339
Hunter.
Game hunters.
Raiders of events.
Those called hunters made their living off the honor they gained by hunting down first place in the main events of games.
Their talent was certainly astounding—enough to be called the best among amateurs.
But they did not hunt down games through talent alone.
‘There’s no way that’d be enough.’
Slayer.
They were one of the few hunter teams still in existence.
And their leader had a famous story about overwhelmingly hunting down even the professional entrance test.
That fact carried considerable significance.
It meant that their leader was working as a hunter despite having taken first place in an exam that could put someone at the professional level.
Considering that the person who had placed second in that exam was still active and surviving to this day, it was impossible to deny that, even if one knew nothing else, their leader had likely been capable of surviving at the professional level.
Demonic talent. Once-in-a-generation talent.
These were the sorts of praises usually heaped upon those who entered games they normally had no interest in and stole every trophy available.
But.
‘Talent, my ass. As if talent alone could do it.’
Slayer’s leader knew better than anyone the effort they had put in—and the effort they would have to put in.
It would be strange if they possessed enough talent to simply throw themselves headfirst into a game and take first place.
Wasn’t that obvious?
There shouldn’t be someone who could enter a game because it looked fun, play whatever builds, strategies, and styles they wanted without a second thought, and then reign at the top.
But someone in this history book had done exactly that.
The same was true of his previous records.
The earlier games had shown results limited to one country rather than the world of Korea, but even those results had been sufficiently impressive.
And that streamer had proven himself even on the world stage afterward.
‘He’s the perfect next target.’
Slayer devised tremendous analyses and strategies.
They had a fierce competitive spirit, and they did this work for the thrill of conquering other games. As a result, they obsessively studied their opponents and the games themselves.
Every member of the team was the same.
Hunting was only possible with that level of effort, along with talent.
‘Will you be the same?’
The Seojun they had analyzed was a streamer who merely relied on his talent, did a reasonable amount of research, and then entered the game.
His astonishing skill had been confirmed.
And the fact that the situations unfolding in the history book were completely beyond prediction only strengthened their certainty.
A hunter team that took first place through meticulous strategy, and a streamer with such outstanding physical ability that he had no need to use his head.
It would be a decent matchup.
No.
‘It’ll be a hunt. We’ll make it one.’
The eyes of Slayer’s members, killing NPCs and farming in the dark basement, gleamed like those of beasts of prey.
Bang! Bang!
A farming spot.
It meant, quite literally, a spot where useful resources could be farmed.
Farming spots automatically reset if no one visited them for a certain period of time, but early on, that period was long.
Later, they reset quickly and repeatedly.
The intention was to increase the value of a single farming spot during the early stages, when everyone was short on resources, and make the snowball roll even further.
By the late game, resources would have piled up so high that it would have little meaning, so they reset the spots quickly instead.
In any case.
Bang!
The basement flashed. Each time it did, an NPC fell.
It was the lowest-tier farming spot, but because it was an underground storehouse with the best rewards among spots of that tier, there were quite a lot of NPCs.
“Let’s deal with them quickly and wait.”
They had come to this underground storehouse as a strategic choice to interfere with Seojun.
They dissected their prey down to the last detail, devised a strategy, and used their talent to execute the optimal build and hunt them down.
That was Slayer’s way.
And the Seojun they had observed—
“He’s definitely going to come here…. You’re watching the perimeter properly, right?”
[Of course.]
[There’s a reason all nine of us came down into the basement.]
[Farming complete. Let’s prepare for the hunt.]
He would come here.
To advance through the tech tree more quickly.
More precisely—
‘He’ll aim for a Tier 4 build as quickly as possible. Because of the frying pan.’
Because he would think it was fun.
It wasn’t a certainty.
If he actually entered the game and found himself in the position of hunting Seojun, he would surely ask himself whether Seojun would really do the same thing again.
Even so, they believed it.
That was the result of watching every single one of his videos and analyzing Seojun.
They had not deliberately provoked Seojun or made any special moves before the game began.
But once the game started, they turned on their streams.
Their target was a streamer, so they turned on their streams.
They had to cancel out any potential accusations of foul play, after all.
Now that they were streaming, people outside knew that they were targeting Seojun. Their opponent would know as well if he logged out.
That was fine. The hunt was only beginning now. It would continue from here.
And then—
[He’s here.]
[He’s actually coming.]
[We knew he would.]
Just as they had predicted.
Seojun arrived.
Right into the trap they had laid while lying in wait in the darkness.
[Attack.]
Bang!
* * *
One minute before the sound of gunfire spread through the basement.
“Hey, but shouldn’t we be a little careful if there are enemies?”
“Right?”
“I’m saying, aren’t you going in way too confidently?”
To descend into the basement, they first had to enter the fenced-off area dividing the spot into sections, then find a passageway.
There were several passageways.
The basement was quite large.
The underground storehouse was the lowest-tier farming spot, but since it possessed the highest-quality rewards among spots of that tier, the farming area itself was quite expansive.
“True.”
Seojun nodded and stopped for a moment.
“Listen carefully.”
“Yeah.”
“They’ll expect me to come here. In other words, they’ve laid a trap.”
“Stop being paranoid.”
Seojun ignored Taewoo’s words.
“So we need to be careful. You too, and all of you as well. They’ve probably finished farming and are waiting. Let’s spread out. Use several different passageways.”
It was possible that he was being paranoid, so Seojun wasn’t certain.
But after searching for subcontractors, securing a great deal of travel distance, and observing the opposing team’s movements, Seojun felt that meeting them here could not be a coincidence.
‘Were they a hunter team?’
He hadn’t looked into them specifically, but if that was the kind of work they did, they would certainly have devised a perfect strategy.
They would have prepared thoroughly for their opponent as well.
‘Even if they aren’t. As long as the viewers get a laugh out of it, that’s enough.’
He was a streamer, after all.
Of course, Seojun’s prediction was correct, and outside—
-LOL how the hell did this bastard know? LMAOOOOOO
-Shouldn’t the host check for stream sniping?
-But the opponents really seem to have prepared thoroughly
-There are nine of them, and they knew the host was coming
-They even knew he was coming now, we’re screwed
-Host, if you know, be careful
The viewers were laughing in disbelief.
Seojun stood alone at the entrance to the basement and spoke to his teammates.
“Be careful. There should be nine thoroughly prepared enemies waiting in there. In the dark.”
Then he quietly thought to himself.
‘It might be a little embarrassing if there’s no one there.’
Because this was shadowboxing.
[Then why the hell are you going in?!]
-For real LOL
-It’d be hilarious if the host wipes the hunter team and starts acting smug LOL
-How did they know this and prepare for it, and how did the host know they were preparing? Did both sides plan this together?
-You can’t predict two Bronzes, but you can predict two Challengers
-That’s true though LOL
-But still, it’s dangerous. They’re camping LOL
The most dangerous enemy in Last was one that had already ambushed you.
If both teams were made up of top-level players, then even if it wasn’t an absolute rule, the ambushing team had a higher chance of winning than the team entering.
Other FPS games included various skills to create variables.
Last had explosives.
But they had none right now. And this was especially true because it was a dark room.
It was extremely difficult to see enemies lying in ambush.
“It’s okay, everyone. Don’t worry. No matter how well the enemy is hidden in the darkness….”
That was when it happened.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of gunfire reverberated through the space.
[I’m dead. I really did believe there were enemies, but I couldn’t see them.]
The Assassin of Joseon died.
[What? You’re serious? Wait a second…. Huh?]
Bang! Bang!
Taewoo, who had been caught off guard by the faint sounds, was startled as well.
Whoosh!
So was Buja.
[Hehe. Sorry.]
“Ah, Buja, you’re fine.”
[Even at a moment like this, you crazy Jin Seojun, are you treating us differently?]
Taewoo chuckled.
He muttered something about how astonishing it was that discrimination could instinctively leap out to this degree, and that Seojun’s brain must be rotten.
Seojun quickly blocked the noise from his senses and organized his thoughts.
‘As I thought.’
The fact that they had gone to different places and all encountered enemies lying in wait meant that a trap had been set.
Among those who had reached a certain level, each person’s thoughts became easier to see.
The movements of third-rate martial artists, on the other hand, were chaos itself and difficult to predict. Of course, since they were third-rate, he could respond to them just by taking a rough look.
In any case, Seojun had anticipated this and sent everyone through different passageways.
[So what are you going to do, Seojun? If you’re right, then there really are nine of them waiting in the dark, aren’t there? Looks like they’ve finished farming their gear too.]
“We’ll have to find out.”
[Find out what?]
“Whether that subcontractor is doing their job properly.”
[…Good luck with nine against one.]
The moment he finished speaking, Seojun strode into the basement entrance.
The entrance had been designed to make it difficult to attack people entering.
Various crates and items provided cover.
If there had been an enemy waiting directly in front of him, they could have attacked Seojun, but that wasn’t the case.
It was dark.
There was almost no lighting, making it impossible to distinguish anything.
There was no dark adaptation, either, meaning they had to fight in this state.
In Last, if someone hid in a dark night or inside a building, especially in a deeply shadowed area, they were nearly impossible to make out while remaining still.
Seojun had entered just such a dark space.
-Just turn around and leave
-What can you do about avenging your teammates? It can’t be helped haha
-Just ditch them
-Wait, guys, but the host is LOLLLLLLLLL
As casually as though he had merely stepped out for a stroll—
“You’re all thinking, ‘Can’t he just turn around and leave now?’ right?”
Then, in an instant, Seojun raised his crossbow and fired toward the nearest wall.
He had a gun, but he deliberately used the crossbow because it was quiet.
Fwoosh!
“Don’t you remember Dawn of the Assassins?”
Bang!
He dodged the bullet that flew toward him in defiance.
Since melee and ranged weapons could be used together, he closed the distance and stabbed with his spear.
“You can see a little here, too?”
A headshot and a critical hit. The user, who had no particular protective gear, quietly left the game.
-???
-What did he see?
-Ah LOL, the noobs freaking out because they don’t know about Visualized Hearing were adorable LOL
-There’s no way the host killed his teammates in advance because they were a nuisance, right? He’s so scary, seriously LOL
-This bastard literally has everything mapped out! LOL
“Taewoo, come back here. I’ll clear the way.”
Step. Step.
Another enemy approached cautiously, and Seojun took a step backward, melting into the darkness with a bright smile.