Finals

A man living in South Korea.

For a man in his early twenties, being told he’s bad at games would be more insulting than anything else.

Especially since he wasn’t just any ordinary man.

A job where you take pride in gaming.

A job where everything is judged by skill.

He was Wild, a professional gamer, so the humiliation he felt must have been greater than others.

I confirmed Wild-seonsu’s approach and slowly backed away.

It was a choice to avoid being disturbed by others.

The eyes of friend and foe alike were on me and Wild-seonsu, but no one followed.

A slightly removed terrain from the battlefield.

There weren’t even the corpses of NPC soldiers around to hinder movement.

I calmly took a breath and raised my nodachi.

Raindrops pattered on the tip of the upright blade.

“You’d better be able to take responsibility for what you just said…”

Wild-seonsu, ready to fight, glared at me and muttered in a low voice.

The low voice that escaped sounded like the growl of a beast.

Shwaaaaaa-

The moment the cold rain pouring from the sky obscured my vision.

The battle began.

Wild-seonsu, who charged in without a signal, swung his longsword widely.

I recognized the direction of the attack and simultaneously examined his lower body.

With one leg stepping lightly, the opposite leg was following up as if to immediately move on to the next action.

It wasn’t going to end with one attack.

It was a movement that assumed I would evade his attack.

I chose to move forward rather than backward.

Lowered upper body and a leg thrust out greatly.

The end of my sliding shoe caught on a solid tree root.

The support was firmly in place.

The moment power properly entered my leg, I swung the nodachi I was holding.

The moment our slashes flew towards each other’s necks.

Wild-seonsu’s slash suddenly changed direction.

The trajectory of the sword, moving as if sliding in the air, struck the blade of the nodachi that was aiming for him.

Taang-!

But I didn’t panic.

The difference in strength was considerable. I had already anticipated that he would try to defend against all my attacks.

Feeling the impact transmitted through the blade of the nodachi, I let go of the nodachi I was holding.

There should be no hesitation in abandoning a weapon.

There should be no hesitation in rolling on the ground.

In my current state, facing Wild-seonsu head-on would be no different from suicide.

I immediately rolled into the mud.

Hweeiiik-!

Then, Wild-seonsu’s longsword flew to where I had been.

The trajectory of the sword, which had cut through empty air, was once again modified to chase after me as I rolled on the ground.

The fact that it was raining and the ground was muddy worked to my advantage.

I slid across the ground and drew the short bow I had hanging on my back.

There was no wasted movement.

Evading the trajectory of the longsword flying towards me, I pulled the bowstring.

Beyond the long, stretched bowstring, Wild-seonsu’s forehead came into view.

If you’ve set your target, shoot.

Pyoote-!

An accurate shot was made even from an unstable position rolling on the ground.

Wild-seonsu, who had been chasing me, stopped and raised both hands as if to protect his head.

A brief standoff ensued.

I looked at the nodachi that had fallen at Wild-seonsu’s feet.

Seeing it half-buried in the mud, it seemed difficult to retrieve it right away.

Wild-seonsu maintained that state and sneered at me.

The slightly raised right corner of his mouth looked quite annoying.

My heated head flared up with white pain.

Unlike my chilling body, my head intensified the heat even more.

Don’t stop thinking.

Always find a way to win.

Wild-seonsu didn’t seem to have any intention of moving.

It seemed like he was trying to prevent me from approaching the nodachi that had fallen at his feet.

I bit my lip and fired another arrow.

Pyoote-!

The quickly shot arrow aimed for Wild-seonsu’s head, but his arms, wearing sturdy gauntlets, simply deflected the arrow.

“Is that all you’ve got?”

If you provoke your opponent, a corresponding provocation will surely come back.

Wild-seonsu opened his mouth, sneering at me.

But there was no need to react.

If he died after running his mouth like that, there would be nothing more embarrassing than that.

Wild-seonsu’s eyebrows twitched greatly when I didn’t react.

“You said you were good at the game, but is this all you can show?”

Don’t react. It’s just scratching at the opponent more.

Induce excitement and create a favorable situation.

I calmly shot another arrow.

Pyoote-!

Ting-!

This time, too, it missed.

Wild-seonsu frowned, stomping on the arrow that had fallen to the ground.

The heavy rain washed away the mud on my body.

Wild-seonsu only twitched his lips, but he didn’t charge at me.

It seemed like I needed to provoke him a little more.

I looked around and sighed.

Thanks to rewatching the previous match, I knew.

The fact that this match in progress was also being watched by many viewers.

My voice would also be heard.

“Everyone, did you know?”

It wasn’t a statement directed at Wild-seonsu.

But it was a statement meant for him to hear as well.

“You, what the hell…”

“That Wild-seonsu here has a slightly special taste.”

I didn’t care what his actual tastes were.

It was just a small lie for victory.

“Wild-seonsu likes calling younger girls ‘Nuna’…”

I trailed off carefully at the end.

As if telling an important secret.

The viewers would have heard it clearly enough.

Just as Wild-seonsu in front of me could hear my voice.

“You…!”

Wild-seonsu’s angry shout erupted.

I narrowed my eyes and opened my mouth towards him.

“Aren’t you going to call me Nuna anymore?”

This was the final blow.

Wild-seonsu’s face turned bright red as he looked around.

Only then did he seem to become aware of the eyes watching his match.

“N-no, that’s not true at all! This isn’t true!”

“Not true? You even crossed over to Deron to find Nuna. Don’t you remember? That finals match.”

“E-eeeek…!”

“Now. Call me Nuna again…”

I hadn’t even finished speaking.

Wild-seonsu, who had been standing trembling, began to sprint.

His enraged gaze turned towards me.

The eyes of a madman who didn’t care what was around him.

That gaze was electrifying.

I licked my lips, flicking my tongue out.

Feeling the cold rain flowing into my mouth, I also kicked off the ground and ran forward.

Wild-seonsu abandoned the advantage of his position.

If he had sealed my weapon and held his ground to the end, he would have easily secured victory.

But his vision was obscured by anger, and he chose to charge towards me.

His rapidly sprinting steps wavered precariously.

The slippery mud on the ground was slowing him down.

“Shut uuuuuup!!!”

There was none of the sharpness and accuracy as before.

His sword, consumed by anger, was easily avoided to the point of being futile.

Bwoong-!

Chwaaaak-!

Wild-seonsu slid through the mud for a long time trying to stop his greatly thrust-out body.

Thanks to that, I was able to reach the place where the nodachi had fallen.

The nodachi was half-buried in the mud, but when I pulled on the end of the handle, the long blade was able to come out.

“Dieeee!”

The enemy Wild-seonsu’s attack was not over.

Because he had immediately recovered his posture and charged at me once again.

With the sword being swung greatly, the mud that had sprung up from the ground scattered in all directions.

The sword wavered unsteadily.

The emotion visible beyond his reddened face was embarrassment.

Like someone whose secret they had wanted to hide was revealed to the outside world.

Could it be…

No way…?

I took a step back with a dubious expression and swung the nodachi.

Until just now, I didn’t have any particular ill feelings towards Wild-seonsu, but now, for some reason, I didn’t want to get close to him.

Shweeiiik-!

A lump of mud fell from the long blade, aiming for Wild-seonsu’s neck.

Kang-!

But the attack was blocked.

Although his vision was narrowed due to anger, his basic skills were still outstanding, so obvious attacks didn’t work.

I retreated and swung the nodachi continuously.

Kang-!

Kaaang-!

Kang-!

I swung the sword and endlessly examined it. I hammered the opponent’s swordsmanship into my head and changed it to suit me.

It was a task I had been doing since before. I was able to do it without much difficulty.

As the sword and blade met, my posture changed and gradually began to stabilize.

I continued to absorb Wild-seonsu’s swordsmanship, which had developed over the past two years.

My gaze moved without rest.

I remembered all the movements of his muscles and the intervals of his breaths.

The incandescent pain began to turn into pleasure.

I took what was necessary and discarded what was unnecessary.

In my current state, I didn’t need rigid movements.

I only took actions that softly released power.

Tadang-!

The moment the sword and blade met.

I flicked my wrist slightly and shook the long blade threateningly.

Wild-seonsu’s cheek was marked with a thin line by the attack that was swung like the end of a whip.

“Hoo…”

But I couldn’t continue the attack any further.

Because my stamina was lacking and my body had become heavy.

I hurriedly retreated and caught my breath.

Perhaps it was because of the shock of being injured on the cheek.

Wild-seonsu no longer chased me.

He just stood there blankly, stopping in place and stroking his cheek.

While I was recovering my stamina, heavy armor began to fall from Wild-seonsu’s body one by one.

Shiny steel gauntlets fell to the ground, and the shoulder guards protecting his shoulders and the armor covering his upper body were removed.

His exposed upper body was muscular, wearing only a thin t-shirt.

Wild-seonsu’s bizarre behavior didn’t stop there.

He also threw the armor protecting his lower body to the ground.

Wild-seonsu, having thrown off all his armor, glared at me with a fiercely burning gaze.