What the Hell Are You Doing?
The flare Lee Hyunseung fired streaked into the sky, bursting into a massive fireworks-like shape that lit up the air with a deafening roar. The sound drew in the people who had been waiting nearby. Every last one of them was part of the search team hunting for him.
In other words, they were all Yoo Heeyeon’s lackeys.
“No need to drag this out. Let’s end it in one go.”
Even as he watched more than ten people sprinting toward him at incredible speed, Lee Hyunseung’s expression remained utterly calm. He leisurely loaded his pistol. Beside him, Koo Dayoon looked far more panicked and tried to stop him.
“W-what are you doing?! After using that insane technique earlier, you shouldn’t be able to do anything else, right? What exactly are you relying on to—!”
Koo Dayoon had no idea. The truth was that Lee Hyunseung hadn’t used any magic or additional abilities just now. He hadn’t activated a single skill.
Of course, her misunderstanding was only natural. Unleashing that kind of overwhelming power without relying on any skills was completely outside the norm. Even though she had strengthened him with her special ability, that alone couldn’t explain what had just happened.
The true value of Legendary-grade came alive when combined with other items, weapons, or buffs. In Broad Academy Online, there were countless ways to enhance a player—magic, items, abilities, and more. Most of those enhancements scaled in power according to one’s class rank.
In short, a buff that might add 1 point of strength for others could add 5 or even more for Lee Hyunseung.
Staring at the flames from the explosion earlier, he thought to himself, Koo Dayoon’s ability looks pretty useful. Guess she wasn’t just a MacGuffin after all.
In the original game, she had been nothing more than a throwaway character who disappeared without accomplishing anything. But after seeing what her ability could do, he realized it was genuinely valuable. The power to strengthen someone else’s abilities had limitless applications. Lee Hyunseung raised his evaluation of her worth even higher.
If I’m going to keep her as an ally from now on, I need to show her exactly what I can do—just like I did with Jeong Eunseo.
Back when he had confronted Jeong Eunseo in the cave, Lee Hyunseung had proven his strength by slaughtering two of Hilleon’s underlings in the blink of an eye. As a result, she had easily believed his claim of possessing a Legendary-grade class. After that, she had fulfilled every request he made without asking for much in return, and even now she stood loyally by his side.
Jeong Eunseo’s goodwill stemmed from one simple fact: Lee Hyunseung possesses a Legendary-grade class and will only grow stronger from here.
Beyond his ability to find the Labyrinth without even looking at a map, he was currently an unpolished diamond. No matter how much was invested in him, it would never be a waste. Capable people knew how to recognize true value when they saw it. That was why Jeong Eunseo had poured her support into him without hesitation.
Koo Dayoon. I need to make her believe that sticking with me is more worthwhile than staying with Yoo Heeyeon.
Since her ability was enhancement-based, other guilds would definitely covet her. Once this representative selection tournament ended, she would almost certainly receive countless offers from the officials who had been watching the virtual environment inside Virtual Glass. On top of that, the Artemis Guild—with its many high-ranking awakened members—would surely try to recruit her as well.
If she ended up joining the Artemis Guild, it would be a disaster. He had to make his move first.
“Lee Hyunseung? What are you doing?! They’re almost here!”
When he looked around, the people who had been hiding were now charging at him all at once. First, he quickly assessed the situation. Knowing how many enemies there were and roughly how strong they were was the basics of combat—and essential for moving efficiently.
Eight men, three women. Most are non-awakened. Two presumed awakened. One swordsman, one mage.
By combining visual information with their weapons and running speed, he filtered out the dangerous ones. The biggest threats were the mage holding a staff and the swordsman carrying a blade. The rest didn’t look particularly threatening.
First, I’ll take out the small fry quickly.
Instead of retreating, Lee Hyunseung began charging straight at the enemy. Even though his stats were low as a gunner, he wasn’t slow enough to fall behind non-awakened opponents.
The stats he had gained from completing various achievements had mostly been invested into agility earlier, so his movement wasn’t bad at all. His stamina was also close to 10.
-Tap tap tap tap-
Lee Hyunseung dashed forward with explosive speed.
“W-what the hell is this crazy bastard—!”
The enemies had naturally assumed he would run away. It was the obvious reaction. After all, a gunner was supposed to fight from a distance while maintaining range. With superior numbers on their side, the idea that he would charge straight into them was something no one would normally consider.
That was why they were thrown into confusion.
“E-everyone, get over here! Hurry!”
They had been charging in a circular formation around him, but the moment Lee Hyunseung broke toward one side, their encirclement collapsed. Their composure shattered along with it.
“D-don’t come! H-help—!”
Mob mentality. People gained confidence and acted more boldly when they were part of a group. The non-awakened man holding a small dagger had been the same. He had believed he would be safe because everyone else was rushing in too. With the mindset of a predator hunting prey, he had charged at Lee Hyunseung.
But now the roles were reversed.
-Click-!
Lee Hyunseung swiftly loaded his pistol and pulled the trigger at the dagger-wielding man.
-BANG-!
With a thunderous roar, the man’s arm was pierced straight through. Blood began pouring from the wound. The man screamed in agony.
“GAAAAAAAHHH—!”
His arm had been completely run through. Of course, while it looked gruesome, the actual damage wasn’t that severe. Since this was still an exam, the supervisors had protective magic active. Even with Legendary-grade bonuses, a regular pistol couldn’t break through that barrier.
But the visual impact and the rush of pain were more than enough to create terror.
“Ugh… uuuugh…”
The dagger-wielding man clutched his arm as if it had actually been severed and began rolling on the ground, howling. Lee Hyunseung paid him no mind. He aimed at the fallen man’s head and fired three shots in quick succession.
-Bang! Bang! BANG-!
Smoke curled upward as the bullets tore through the man’s skull. A horrible sizzling sound followed. Before long, blood was flowing from his entire body, and the gruesome screams finally stopped. He was then transported out of the virtual stage.
“One down.”
Muttering to himself, Lee Hyunseung picked up the dagger left behind where the corpse had vanished. He hurled it at the nearest enemy.
-Thud-!
“Urk—!”
Dexterity stat of 11. It was a decent number. With that much, hitting a nearby target with a thrown weapon at close range was entirely possible. Even if he had missed, it wouldn’t have mattered—he still had his gun.
Since the dagger had luckily struck home, the next step was obvious.
-Whoosh-
Lee Hyunseung sprinted forward, closed in on the enemy clutching his stabbed leg, and slammed the pistol down on his head from above.
-CRACK-!
A sickening sound rang out as blood began pouring from the man’s skull. A deep scream escaped him. Lee Hyunseung forced his head up, pried his mouth open, and shoved the barrel inside.
-BANG-!
-Sizzle-!
Another one eliminated. In less than thirty seconds since he had charged, two out of the ten people were already gone.
Lee Hyunseung shook the blood off his body, cracked his neck left and right, and spoke quietly to those who remained.
“How about it? I think I’ve shown you the difference clearly enough. So? Want to keep going? Or will you just surrender?”
-Tremble tremble-
The nine students who had witnessed his horrifying combat trembled violently. None of them dared to step forward first.
But one of them—the swordsman—stepped out and shouted.
“F-fucking gunner bastard! Don’t get cocky just because you took down one non-awakened!”
He quickly drew his sword and yelled, “Come at me! Let’s settle this fairly!”
Looking at the man, Lee Hyunseung let out a small, mocking laugh. He crouched low to the ground as if preparing to sprint.
The swordsman sneered, “Come on. I’ll teach you your place, you lunatic bastard.”
Then Lee Hyunseung suddenly sprang up and flung a handful of sand straight into the man’s face.
“Pffft—!”
By the time the swordsman had wiped the sand from his eyes, Lee Hyunseung was already right in front of him. He pressed the barrel of his gun against the man’s forehead and said,
“What the hell are you doing? Playing at being a fair fighter? Fair fight? You people lost the right to say that the moment you smuggled external artifacts in.”
With the muzzle pressed firmly against his head, Lee Hyunseung’s finger began to squeeze the trigger. The swordsman’s eyes shook wildly with terror.