episode_0013

014

The final match of the round of 16.

“Teams 15 and 16, please move to your respective sides.”

With Hong Daye’s commanding voice, Lee Jinhyuk turned his head involuntarily.

Outside the training ground, many children were watching.

Some were sipping sports drinks to cool off slowly, while others were observing Yoo Seolhyun attentively.

Yoo Seolhyun, the bloodline of the Changgui family and ranked 7th among the freshmen, was a figure to be reckoned with.

Lee Siwoon and Kang Daehan, who had shown little interest in other children’s matches, were quietly watching.

Lee Jinhyuk looked towards the spectator seats and met eyes with Jin Soyeon, who was sipping water.

In the midst of thinking that even drinking water looked beautiful, she blinked her large eyes and smiled encouragingly, as if urging him to do his best.

“Don’t think about losing from the first match! Show them what you’re made of! Lee Jinhyuk, fighting!”

“Uh, yeah.”

Had he ever received support from such a beautiful girl during his school days in his past life?

As a man, he didn’t feel bad, but Lee Jinhyuk could only respond with a slightly awkward smile.

After all, if she continued to show such a friendly demeanor, it would be easy to misunderstand in various ways.

…Of course, Lee Jinhyuk had also cheered her on.

“Did Lee Jinhyuk just act like that earlier? Did they break up?”

“They were childhood friends. It’s not like they had a bad breakup.”

“Even so, isn’t it obvious? Aren’t they just dating at this point?”

“Wow! Is Jin Soyeon trying to play both Lee Siwoon and Lee Jinhyuk?”

“Is it because of his looks?”

Ah, as expected.

The girls chattered excitedly.

Curiosity, jealousy, rivalry, dissatisfaction, and other emotions were evident.

It was hard not to be bothered by the sight of Jin Soyeon, who had recently broken up with her boyfriend and was now flirting with the rich and handsome Lee Siwoon.

Well, Jin Soyeon probably didn’t care.

“Hey, hey, Lee Jinhyuk.”

As the members of Teams 15 and 16 began to move towards the training ground.

“I heard you almost passed as the last place?”

Han Dongwon, the leader of Team 15, casually teased Lee Jinhyuk.

“Why did Yoo Seolhyun and Seonari pick you as their teammate?”

“I don’t know.”

“Ah, I envy you. Lee Jinhyuk, you’re in for a treat.”

“I wish it was as sweet as you say.”

Chuckling, Han Dongwon playfully teased Lee Jinhyuk, showing a subtle smirk mixed with mockery.

“Anyway, thanks. I think we can win because of you.”

He casually placed his hand on Lee Jinhyuk’s shoulder.

“If it weren’t for you, it would have been difficult to compete even with Yoo Seolhyun and Seonari.”

Unlike the confident Yoo Seolhyun and Seonari, Lee Jinhyuk expressed his gratitude rather than arrogance, smiling earnestly.

It was a cheap provocation, but Lee Jinhyuk couldn’t just stand there and take it, so he retorted with a smirk.

“I’m thankful too.”

“Huh?”

“Because you guys are ‘again’ on the same team.”

Han Dongwon, Oh Seongwoon, and Ko Mirae, the three of you are on the same team.

Just like in the game.

“Hey, Han Dongwon, shut up.”

Suddenly, Seonari flicked her split hair and glared at Han Dongwon.

“You’re making a fuss about being ranked around 90th place, really.”

“What?”

At Seonari’s sharp words, Han Dongwon’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Are you and this guy not even in the top 50 or 100? Acting tough is really disgusting.”

“Seonari, just because you did well on the entrance exam doesn’t mean you own the world, right?”

“If you’re so annoyed, why don’t you watch better than me? You’re just 90th place.”

“This is real.”

As the tension between them escalated, Hong Daye, who seemed bored, waved her hand impatiently.

“Stop your useless bickering and move on quickly.”

Thanks to Hong Daye extinguishing the spark, Han Dongwon and Seonari, who had reached a stalemate, glared at each other before turning their heads and moving on.

And so, Teams 15 and 16 moved towards opposite ends of the training ground.

“Hey, Lee Jinhyuk, don’t pay attention to those provocations.”

“Huh?”

At Seonari’s unexpected words, Lee Jinhyuk scratched his chin.

“It seems like you’re more concerned about me than I am about you?”

“What?”

Seonari shot him a displeased look with sharp eyes, but it only appeared as a child’s tantrum, so Lee Jinhyuk shrugged his shoulders and replied casually.

“Anyway, thanks for worrying. You’re always nagging at me.”

“Huh. Worry about what. The exam is right around the corner, so that’s why, right? You might do something stupid if your mental state is shaken!”

Fundamentally, Seonari isn’t a bad person.

It’s just that she complains unnecessarily.

“Anyway, Han Dongwon deliberately provoked me by saying that 16th team has a hole, so there’s no need to worry too much.”

“Huh?”

“Thanks to that, we can have more confidence in what strategy they will come up with. Anyway, it’ll be easier.”

Both teams arrived at the edge of the training ground.

“Is everyone ready?”

Hong Daye looked at both teams alternately and suddenly used a remote control to deploy a circular protective barrier over the entire training ground.

“Hey guys. Let’s stick to the plan, just the plan.”

“Haha. I’ll give it a shot once. Your strategy.”

“If it doesn’t work, Lee Jinhyuk, you’ll really die in my hands.”

Yoo Seolhyun smiled mischievously and tightly gripped her spear, while Seonari took on a combat stance as usual.

Team 15 also finished their preparations and stared menacingly at us.

“Both teams. Get ready.”

With Hong Daye’s signal.

“3, 2, 1…… Start!”

Our first match had begun.

***

Han Dongwon is ranked 91st in the rookie rankings.

He was a genius who had been famous since his middle school days, being able to enter the two-digit numbers in the Union rookie rankings, which are considered the best in South Korea.

Han Dongwon’s special ability is acceleration and deceleration.

He can control the speed of objects.

It is possible to adjust from 1 to 100 or from 100 to 1 in an instant.

Thanks to this uniqueness, it was very easy to mix and use with other special abilities, and it could show more synergy than expected.

For example…

“Are you ready? I’m shooting.”

“Okay, shoot!”

Gomira pulled the bowstring with all her might after putting an arrow on the bow.

As she released the tightly drawn bowstring, the arrow flew like a beam of light.

Whoosh!

An arrow charging in the blink of an eye.

As the arrow shot out, Yoo Seolhyun ran towards the center.

After the arrow, wrapped in a bluish magic power, grazed past Yoo Seolhyun and flew towards Lee Jinhyuk, she bared her sharp fangs.

‘A basic mercenary skill is to target the weakest opponent.’

Lee Jinhyuk had also anticipated this and had already prepared his shield, but it was futile.

Because the target of the arrow was not Lee Jinhyuk in the first place.

‘…Just to make Lee Jinhyuk think that. The real target is Yoo Seolhyun.’

The arrow that had reached right in front of Lee Jinhyuk suddenly turned sharply and rushed towards Yoo Seolhyun’s back.

It was all thanks to Gomira’s special ability.

She could control the trajectory of the projectile, so…

“Yoo Seolhyun!”

“……!”

At Jinhyuk’s shout, Yuseolhyun glanced back briefly.

But even if she noticed, it was pointless.

“Oseongwon, now.”

“Okay.”

Oseongwon activated his special ability.

As a result, the single arrow split into six.

Oseongwon’s special ability, Illusionary Projection.

It allowed him to create multiple projections of himself on objects, making it difficult for opponents to distinguish between the real and the illusions, even though the projections couldn’t deal damage.

The six arrows charged towards Yuseolhyun.

Yuseolhyun quickly gripped her spear and assumed a defensive stance.

However, she wouldn’t be able to distinguish the real arrow among the six.

Yuseolhyun had to make a choice.

Which of the six arrows to block.

‘Which part will Yuseolhyun prioritize in her defense.’

The arrows aimed at her head, neck, chest, abdomen, and legs.

Humans who had received long training would instinctively prioritize defending vital areas in sudden situations.

Therefore, the head, neck, chest, and abdomen were fakes.

The part that the 15th team was targeting from the beginning was Yuseolhyun’s legs.

In other words, her mobility.

Since the main theme of the test was flag capture, if the close combat specialist Yuseolhyun were to injure her legs, it wouldn’t pose a significant threat.

‘Even if Yuseolhyun tries to defend her legs by chance, it’s useless.’

Handongwon had imbued his arrows with his abilities.

The abilities of deceleration and acceleration.

‘If I suddenly decelerate the arrows charging at high speed with my special ability… Even if the opponent has good physical abilities, they will be caught off guard and miss their timing. The power might decrease, but…’

This was a common practice in baseball.

Throwing consecutive fastballs at 140km/h and suddenly switching to 110km/h would cause the batter to miss their timing.

The sudden change in speed allowed for an unexpected attack.

Speed alteration, Illusionary Projection, Trajectory Adjustment.

By combining these three special abilities, the first strike they unleashed would likely be beyond the capabilities of even active heroes.

In fact, they had tested it with a hero they knew, and the hero couldn’t do anything and was hit by the arrows.

Even if Yuseolhyun was a genius, she was just a trainee.

Unless she knew in advance, she could only get hit…?

“Oh. That was a surprise.”

Yuseolhyun, looking a bit surprised, deflected the arrow charging towards her right leg with her spear.

The arrow spun in the air and fell to the ground with a thud.

The illusionary arrows disappeared with a soft sound.

“Oh, what the hell? How did she block that?!”

She blocked this combination move on her first try?

A move that even active heroes couldn’t handle?

Damn, is she even human?

“…It really turned out as Jinhyuk said.”

Yuseolhyun, who had successfully blocked the attack, looked bewildered.

She had been half in doubt.

But it really worked out.

“Damn it, hey! Hey, I’ll keep Yuseolhyun busy, so Oseongwon, you take Handongwon. Gomirae, you quickly take down Jinhyuk!”

“Got it!”

“Oh, this is getting interesting.”

Yuseolhyun glanced at me and Gomirae, then stepped forward towards Handongwon, while Gomirae slowly raised her fist and ran towards Oseongwon.

Oseongwon may have lower combat abilities compared to Handongwon, but through her illusions, she could hold her own against him for a while.

And it was time for me to face Gomirae.

Gomirae was an archer.

Her specialty was shooting arrows using trajectory adjustments.

Although I also used a bow as my main weapon, it was almost impossible to win against Gomirae. It was difficult to dodge arrows coming from multiple trajectories.

Therefore.

“Wow, you crazy bastard, what are you? Are you mocking me with those shields?”

“Hey, have you never seen a shield before?”

“No, you crazy bastard! Why are you wielding two shields? Are you a turtle?”

“Are you underestimating my dual shields?”

In a hardcore action game like ElO Ring, I tried to block the arrows with two shields.

Wow. With two shields, does that mean double the defense?

Well, it’s just for fun.

“Damn, this guy is really something!”

Gomirae shot arrows one after another with a papapat sound.

Despite the beautiful curve of the arrows, it was all in vain.

Using the large dual shields, Gomirae blocked the arrows one by one. As he slowly approached using the shields, Gomirae furrowed his brow.

“How long do you think you can keep this up?!”

“Yeah. It’s already getting tough.”

No matter how he used the dual shields, he couldn’t block all the arrows.

Moreover, since Gomirae was freely shooting arrows, the impact coming behind the shields was tremendous.

The arrows imbued with magic were like hammers hitting the shields.

“Clearly, I can’t win one-on-one. It’s even tough just to block like this.”

“Yeah. How much longer do we have?”

The shields, which were starting to show signs of wear, Gomirae infused them with plenty of magic.

If he could just break through that guy’s shield, he could quickly take him down. Then, while the others were busy with Yuseolhyun and Sunari, they could snatch the flag.

“But this is a team battle, a team battle.”

“So what?”

“Look behind you.”

“Do you really think I’ll fall for that…?”

Suddenly, Gomirae felt a presence behind him.

“Hey, Lee Jinhyuk. Why did you say that?”

“Huh, what?”

Instinctively turning around, he saw Sunari raising his fist high in the air.

No.

He already took down Oh Seongwoon?

Taking down Oh Seongwoon, who used projection clones, this quickly would be almost impossible!

Rolling his eyes in disbelief, he saw Oh Seongwoon lying on the ground, foam at his mouth.

He really took him down, didn’t he?

That idiot bastard is already down and out!

“Wait a minute!”

“Okay, bye.”

Ignoring Sunari’s urgent shout, he swung his small fist.

A punch thrown as if a middle school kid was playfully hitting his older sister.

But Gomirae, feeling threatened like a high school girl, quickly drew his bow to take a defensive stance, but with a loud thud! The bow snapped.

“C-Crazy! This Godzilla woman!”

“Do you really want to die?”

Finally, when Sunari’s poorly controlled follow-up attack hit him in the side, Gomirae rolled several meters and suddenly grabbed his ribs, groaning.

“Ugh, ugh, ugh!”

“Oh, my bad. Who told you to talk so recklessly?”

It seemed like his ribs were bruised.

Thanks to the armor, it ended at this level, but if he didn’t have the armor, a few ribs might have snapped like twigs.

“That ability is really brutal every time I see it.”

Sunari’s body reinforcement ability.

It’s a very simple ability, but the effect is as seen.

Powerful and threatening strength. As a tank and a dealer, it’s excellent.

“Ugh, ugh!”

Thud!

One sword floated and then fell.

Turning his gaze towards the clanging sound, he saw Yuseolhyun standing far away and Han Dongwon panting, having missed the sword and collapsed.

Han Dongwon gasped as if he couldn’t believe the difference.

“Is the difference really this big? Me and you?”

“Well~.”

Yuseolhyun grinned with a trembling voice and then slowly licked her lips.

“Do you know that you have a habit of rolling your right foot or clenching your left hand every time you counterattack or use a big move?”

“What?”

“Thanks to you, reading the opponent’s attacks was much easier.”

“How did you do that?”

With a fleeting glance, Yoo Seol-hyun calmly replied to Han Dong-won.

“We have a decent supporter on our team.”

“Jin-hyuk? Thanks to him? No way, how did he know my habits….”

“Did he diligently watch and analyze training videos?”

“Well, even so….”

Yoo Seol-hyun, with a mocking smile, subtly brought the blade closer to Han Dong-won’s face and asked with a playful tone.

“So, are you going to continue or surrender?”

“….”

Han Dong-won bit his lower lip slightly.

The team was already in a state of defeat.

Even he was rendered powerless without his sword.

In reality, the chance of a comeback was practically lost.

“….I surrender.”

“Huh? I can’t hear you. What did you say?”

“I said, I surrender!”

“Got it. Fine.”

Muttering quietly in frustration, Han Dong-won suddenly let out a loud cry, and upon hearing his words, Hong Da-ye blew the whistle.

Tweet!

“Team 15 has expressed their intention to surrender…. Team 16 wins!”

Victory without even removing the flag.

The first match ended just as Jin-hyuk had predicted.

“….Wow. This really worked?”

Jin-hyuk was simply amazed.

Memories from a past life… so sweet.