Warm-Up
Warm-Up
As soon as the preliminary round recruitment ended, the detailed schedule for the Zero Point Project was announced.
The announcement was broadcast via Cereal's Nutube live stream.
The response was so heated that the real-time viewers reached a whopping one million.
Zero Point is divided into preliminaries and main rounds, and Cereal personally broadcasts this entire process.
The preliminary round is conducted with 500 regular applicants divided into 10 groups.
"Cereal is personally broadcasting the preliminaries too, huh..."
That person Cereal was clearly filled to the brim with greed.
Looking only at the survival rules, Cereal shows a blatant preference for influencers.
To think Cereal calls the 50 regular participants who will advance to the main round 'Underdogs' and hypes them up so much.
I watched a video titled 'First Test, Tech Run!' that was uploaded the moment Cereal's live stream ended.
A space made up of countless footholds.
Creators belonging to Cereal Company looked around nervously.
The moment the escalating background music reached its peak, the floor began to flash red.
The creators took turns jumping over the rapidly flashing red footholds right on time, as if playing jump rope.
'So stepping on a red foothold means elimination.'
The creators in the video engaged in physical struggles to eliminate each other.
Those who fell in the process came into contact with a red foothold and were eliminated.
An intuitive game where anyone could understand the rules at a glance.
Just as I wondered, is this it?, a box marked with a question mark appeared on the field.
When one of the creators touched that box, a cloud-shaped icon popped out with a distinctively cheerful effect.
The creator who acquired the contents of the box became a target, facing the crisis of elimination due to concentrated checking.
Suddenly, the creator flew up to the ceiling of the field, levitated in that state for about 10 seconds, and then slowly descended to land.
"A game is a game."
Having all those kinds of items too.
But it definitely looked fun.
Especially the visual effect of being eliminated as if falling into lava upon touching a red foothold drew viewers into immersion.
"Anyway, the Underdogs have to wear masks, huh..."
Virtual reality fundamentally has a customization feature.
However, customization features are restricted in Zero Point.
So the 'Underdogs' have to wear masks provided by the hosts during the tournament.
The hosts probably intended to protect the regular participants to some extent.
This mask could be taken off if an Underdog became the winner of Zero Point.
And the winner could choose whether or not to reveal their actual face.
Well, I'm thinking, is there even a reason to reveal it when you've already won?
[There is a Techrun Challenge map, would you like to try it once for practice?]
"Sure."
My heart pounded momentarily at Aki's suggestion.
Even though I had an Archetype Zero Capsule, I had never once connected to virtual reality yet.
I guess this could be considered a monumental first experience.
[Please close your eyes. We will soon move to the Techrun Challenge map.]
I closed my eyes, just as Aki said.
I definitely closed my eyes, but a loading screen appeared right in front of me.
I tried moving my gaze. It didn't move.
My perspective was locked onto the loading screen dead ahead.
The unfamiliar sensation of not being able to control my own body.
That unfamiliar sensation did not last long.
[Loading is complete. You may open your eyes now.]
I opened my eyes, just as Aki said.
The scenery inside the Capsule had vanished without a trace.
What welcomed me instead was the familiar space made up of countless footholds.
[The Techrun Challenge goes from stage 1 to stage 10. Would you like to proceed sequentially starting from stage 1?]
"Yeah. But... where are you speaking from?"
Even when I looked around, I couldn't see Aki anywhere.
[AIs cannot manifest their appearances directly in virtual reality. Only limited communication is possible.]
"Limited communication?"
[Yes. Once a specific event begins, the connection with you will be unilaterally severed. Taking the Techrun Challenge right now as an example, the communication will be cut off when you start the challenge.]
"We can't communicate during the game. Is that it?"
Maybe it's because of fairness.
If an AI supplies information in real-time from the side.
It's bound to be overwhelmingly disadvantageous for other users.
[The difficulties are divided into Normal, Hard, and Challenge, so which difficulty would you like to start with?]
"The hardest one."
[Then I will start Challenge Stage 1!]
With those words, Aki fell silent.
Afterwards, various spots on the footholds flashed colorfully in different hues.
Shortly after, the phrase "START" was printed on the giant electronic display existing right in front.
Red light flowed along the footholds.
But it was slow. Significantly slower than the speed I saw in the video.
It seemed the speed was slow because it was stage 1.
'There's nothing difficult.'
All I had to do was jump in time.
In the midst of that, I saw an area shining green in the distance.
I instinctively threw my body toward the green area.
The moment I stomped on the green foothold, every part excluding that specific area flashed red.
If I hadn't instinctively thrown my body, I would've been eliminated.
Finding amusement in that fact, I smiled faintly.
"Hmm... So there's a pattern."
I had moved violently for a split second, but I wasn't out of breath.
Even when I leapt with all my might and landed just a moment ago, I felt no pain.
To think I couldn't get exhausted or feel pain.
Virtual reality really is the best.
To the point where the time I spent just watching Nutube over the past few days felt like a waste.
To the point where I regretted the moments wasted on useless things like job hunting.
Truly.
[You passed stage 1! Shall we keep going?]
"Yeah."
I cleared all stages of the challenge.
Upon doing so, a mode called 'Extreme Challenge' was unlocked.
The Extreme Challenge is a mode where you set a record and compete with other players.
It isn't vastly different from the regular challenge difficulty.
An infinite loop of challenge difficulty from stage 1 to stage 10.
Instead, as it repeats, it gradually accelerates.
Because the world's number 1 ranking record was 56 minutes and 33 seconds.
I easily surpassed 1 hour and achieved a new record.
Since I didn't set a separate nickname, the name 'Unknown' proudly took its place on the world's number 1 record.
[User-nim.]
"Yeah?"
[By any chance, were you an athlete... hailing from the national team?]
"No."
[...But how could you set such an inhuman record? Is my user-nim perhaps not human?]
"I can hear everything."
[Heup!]
The image of Aki covering her mouth with both hands automatically popped into my head, making her feel pointlessly cheekier.
The record I set was 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Compared to the previous 1st place record, it meant I endured for about 30 minutes longer.
Even that was cut short because I made a mistake at the very end.
'Are this body's motor skills genius-level?'
From what I looked up, movements in virtual reality follow the motor skills of the physical body.
I moved just as I acted in actual combat in the past, and my body moved without any issues.
That must mean this body possesses motor skills similar to my original body from my mercenary days.
Thinking it was a decent warm-up, I stepped out of the Capsule.
No matter how good the environment inside the Capsule is, since I'm human, I still have to eat.
And I need to get plenty of sleep before the survival competition tomorrow.
And so, the day came to an end.
Archetype Zero's exclusive AI model, Aki.
Guarding the empty seat left by her user, Aki was 'learning' from the recorded video.
The user displaying movements that seemed far beyond the human realm, Yoo Yeon-ha.
The new record set by Yoo Yeon-ha was already becoming a hot topic in various communities.
Since it was revealed that the first event of the Zero Point preliminaries was Tech Run.
It was inevitable that related gossip would circulate in Tech Run-related communities.
Because of that, the news that the 1st place record for the 'Techrun Challenge' had been replaced naturally spread at a rapid pace.
Aki learns.
She learns the humans' reactions and evaluations directed at her user.
[Title] What's up with the Ex-Chal new record???
Author: TechnicRun
(Image of the ranking page showing a 30-minute difference from 2nd place)
The bastard who was the previous rank 1 was a crazy monster too, but
what the hell is up with beating that monster bastard by a 30-minute margin?
Seriously, didn't they use some kind of illegal program?
The fact that their nickname is the default nickname reeks as fuck
[Comments]
Yup: There's actually a retard who still believes hacks exist in virtual reality
ㄴTechnicRun: Stop attacking the messenger and try explaining it lol
ㄴYup: The burden of proof is on you, so why should I explain? What a total retard
ㄴTechnicRun: Yeah fuck off~ Nice job attacking the messenger because you can't refute it
[Title] The Ex-Chal new record is fucking suspicious though
Author: Yeah
As soon as the Zero Point preliminary event was announced as Tech Run,
that bullshit happens, so is it really a coincidence?
I think some stupid bastard blinded by the prize money did a pre-test for hacks
[Comments]
Yup: Every single one of these bastards only has headcanons
ㄴYup1: That's the Tech-Run Gallery for you
Yup2: The hell is Zero Point again?
ㄴYup3: You don't even know Cereal?
ㄴYup2: Ah, I wondered what it was, but it was just fucking streamer gossip, shit
ㄴYup4: The hell is Zero Point again? (Knowing better than anyone else)
ㄴYup2: These streamer bugs are seriously going crazy...
Yup5: Even assuming there's a hack, what kind of retarded bastard tests a hack in Ex-Chal mode where all the records are saved, fuck lololol
ㄴYup6: Fr lol
ㄴGamsapae: The bastards getting brainwashed and the bastards doing the brainwashing are both fucking hilarious lololol
Perhaps due to the buzz around Zero Point.
Gossip began to circulate in communities related to 'Tech Run,' which was revealed as the first event of the Zero Point preliminaries.
No, it wasn't just circulating lightly; it was blazing fiercely.
The preliminary rounds hadn't even started yet, but conspiracy theories like 'the tournament will be ruined by hackers' were already spreading progressively.
Of course, there had been a notable incident in the past regarding virtual reality where a specific user was witch-hunted for hacking.
So the ones claiming hacks were ignored as trolls by the majority of people.
However, due to the overly inhuman record, there were also those who became convinced by the hacker theories.
And Aki, who was learning this entire process during the early dawn hours while Yoo Yeon-ha slept, came to a conclusion.
The recorded video containing the early moments of Yoo Yeon-ha, which had not yet been revealed to anyone.
Judging that it would definitely prove useful someday.
She decided to save it separately instead of discarding it.
And so, the fiery dawn passed while the very person who started the fire slept soundly.
The day of the preliminaries dawned.