Chapter 124: Shootout (4)
Chapter 124: Shootout (4)
‘What the hell is that?’
Min Do-ha immediately turned and bolted.
‘She heard the sound and dodged a paintball?’
Chills ran down her spine.
If this scene were broadcast, it would surely cause a massive stir.
‘I should have just stuck to close-quarters combat.’
Originally, Min Do-ha had planned to shoot from a distance and then lure her into a melee if that failed. She figured she could easily overpower a frail-looking high school girl.
But now...
‘There’s no way. Absolutely not.’
What was with that reaction speed? And why were her eyes glowing like that? It was terrifying.
“Pant, pant.”
Hearing the sound of pursuit behind her, Min Do-ha leaped over an obstacle.
The set was filled with various types of cover. She believed that if she kept jumping over obstacles and weaving through the terrain, she could eventually lose her pursuer.
And just as she hoped, the footsteps following her seemed to grow distant.
“Phew.”
Min Do-ha finally let out a breath. Her lungs burned from sprinting across the set. She ducked behind a piece of cover and tried to catch her breath.
Various sounds of chaos echoed around her—the popping of guns and the shouts of actors reciting lines they had prepared for their action scenes.
‘Acting... right, acting.’
Min Do-ha suddenly realized she hadn't shown any acting at all. Maybe she should have stayed and fought even if it was dangerous... No, that definitely wasn't it.
‘Huh?’
As she agonized over her performance, she noticed the surroundings had gone deathly quiet.
She instinctively looked up.
“....”
The first thing she saw was black hair.
Then, pale skin.
She saw crimson eyes and a faint smirk playing on the girl's lips.
Then, those lips slowly moved.
「Found you.」
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Min Do-ha screamed involuntarily. She tried to scramble up, but her legs gave out. She began to crawl away in a desperate attempt to escape.
Seo-yeon aimed her pistol at the retreating Min Do-ha... then slowly lowered it.
‘She’s a good actress.’
Seo-yeon was impressed. For a moment, she thought that scream was real. The way her legs gave out and she crawled away was a top-tier performance.
That was the only reason Seo-yeon let her go.
‘If this is acting, I need someone to play off of.’
Even if she had established her own character, she needed someone to react to it. In that sense, Min Do-ha was a pretty good partner.
Min Do-ha had chosen the physical enhancement ability, right? That was why Seo-yeon had deliberately matched her pace while chasing her. It would look strange if someone with a regeneration ability ran faster than someone with physical enhancement.
‘Go on, get stronger and come back.’
Seo-yeon let Min Do-ha go for now. She could have finished her off immediately, but since she’d decided on her as a partner to coordinate with, it felt like a waste to eliminate her so soon.
And then...
‘I feel like a lot of people are watching me.’
Seo-yeon slowly scanned her surroundings. Initially, about five people had been focused on her. But as time passed, she felt that number steadily increasing.
Was it because she was running around too much?
Just as the thought crossed her mind—
Whish!
Something flew through the air and landed at her feet.
“Hm?”
She picked it up while casually dodging a paintball aimed at her shoulder.
‘An earbud?’
It looked a bit different, but it was clearly meant for the ear. Thinking it might be a special item prepared by the production crew, she put it in.
「Can you hear me?」
Unexpectedly, Jo Seo-hee’s voice came through. Seo-yeon was about to ask how she’d brought such a thing in, but then she remembered.
‘They said we could bring props needed for the movie.’
As long as they weren't weapons, items could be brought in after being inspected by the crew. Jo Seo-hee’s character was supposed to be a genius from a wealthy family.
‘So she’s utilizing her props.’
But where was she?
As Seo-yeon looked around, two or three more bullets flew her way. She reflexively swatted one away with her hand, gaining another point.
「Let’s form an alliance.」
“Pardon?”
「It’ll be hard on your own. I’m a little ways off. I’m on high ground, so I have a good view of everyone else.」
Like a support character in a movie, Jo Seo-hee made her pitch. Only then did Seo-yeon realize where she was.
‘She didn't go for the bags; she went the opposite way.’
There was a high, styrofoam ruin near the hill of the set. She was likely crouching and hiding up there.
「...I got hit five times while running away, so I’m at 5 points.」
Jo Seo-hee let out a small, haughty laugh. Well, at least she wasn't out. It seemed she had moved away from the bags to avoid the initial chaos. If this was a performance, there was no "flavor" in chasing someone who was just helplessly running away.
‘Did she give up?’
Seo-yeon found Jo Seo-hee’s behavior puzzling. Did she really have no intention of passing? Her actions almost suggested as much.
「The view is great from up here. No matter how good you are, you can't see everything at once.」
Actually, Seo-yeon could sense almost everything even without looking, but she nodded anyway.
‘Wait?’
She felt like Jo Seo-hee’s tone had suddenly shifted, but she brushed it off. It was probably just the intensity of the situation.
「I’ll watch from here and tell you where everyone is. How about it? An alliance?」
“...Yes. All right.”
An alliance!
Seo-yeon had secretly been envious of the three actors who had attacked her together earlier. She was impressed they had formed a team in such a short time. Honestly, she had wanted to try it too.
And now, Jo Seo-hee had made the first move. Plus, the idea of a partner relaying enemy positions through a receiver made for a very cool cinematic picture.
「Good. First, there are four people watching you from your current position. The rest are starting to head toward the bags. Ah, behind you!」
At that moment, the sound of a gunshot rang out. Seo-yeon spun around and leaned back, dodging the shot.
She saw her opponent flinch when their eyes met. The person aimed their gun again but soon lowered it.
‘Long-range shooting really lacks impact.’
Seo-yeon frowned as she glanced at her pistol. Handguns didn't really suit her. There was no sense of "weight" to the hits. If she had to choose, she preferred the close-quarters style she’d used as Cha Seo-ah. Something like a hand axe, for instance.
It would go quite well with her red eyes.
...Though the genre might shift a bit.
「Now, I’ll tell you where to go. You trust me, right?」
“...A little.”
「That’s just the right amount.」
With the sound of Jo Seo-hee’s laughter in her ear, Seo-yeon turned. She sprinted toward those aiming their guns at her.
She stayed low, swatting away incoming paintballs with her hands.
And just like that...
[Ju Seo-yeon: 38 points]
Seo-yeon’s score began to climb. And it was climbing fast.
*
“Whoa, what is that?”
Bong-sik, whose subscriber count was rapidly climbing back toward 1.4 million, muttered to himself. He couldn't believe what he was seeing on the screen.
The screen showed Jo Seo-hee. She was hiding in the styrofoam ruins, scouting the battlefield from the high ground. Every time she spoke, Seo-yeon moved. It was a total massacre. That was the only way to describe it.
There were groups here and there engaged in their own gunfights, putting on their own performances. But then—
Chaos erupted the moment Ju Seo-yeon showed up. To make matters worse, she had the regeneration ability, so she was nearly impossible to "kill." Whenever she was about to take a "fatal" hit, she just blocked it with her hands.
“Still, she’s sticking to her character perfectly. That’s what makes it scarier.”
Seo-yeon was still acting. The other viewers probably felt it too. The people chatting in Bong-sik's stream certainly did.
“You can stop her if you hit her arms or legs. But the funny thing is...”
“...I get that feeling. I told you before, right? Action acting requires coordination.”
Bong-sik played the video at 0.25x speed. Guns were aimed at Seo-yeon. Bullets flew. At first, he thought it was a coincidence, but he could see Seo-yeon’s eyes tracking the projectiles.
In other words, Seo-yeon was "seeing" the paintballs and dodging them. Setting aside whether that was even humanly possible...
“She could have dodged, but she took the hit.”
When Seo-yeon was momentarily "stunned" by a hit, she could have retreated. But if someone took that as an opportunity to charge in...
“They’re dead meat.”
Just as the chat suggested, not many actors were successfully incorporating their superpowers into their acting. Most seemed at a loss for how to perform them in such a chaotic situation.
But then.
A woman with a fairly cute face appeared on the screen. A caption popped up: ‘Han So-yu’s ability: Telekinesis.’ It was an explanatory note prepared for the contestants' appearances. Of course, no one had properly used their listed superpower yet.
Until now.
“Look at this.”
Bong-sik saw Seo-yeon’s eyes move. She made eye contact with Han So-yu, and Han So-yu’s left hand—the one not holding a gun—pointed toward Seo-yeon.
The camera zoomed in close on Han So-yu. The cameraman had clearly realized what she was trying to do.
“This is what I was trying to say earlier. Superpower acting isn't as easy as it sounds.”
One could accept Seo-yeon’s regeneration or physical enhancement at face value. But powers that required CG usually looked ridiculous in real-time.
“However, telekinesis can be pulled off even without CG.”
Bong-sik thought back to Seo-yeon’s performance so far. Curiously, even though she seemed to be rampaging wildly, there was a set of rules she followed. First, she acknowledged the opponent's superpower. For example, if someone had fire powers, she would avoid getting too close or act wary. It was usually meaningless because the other person would just keep spamming their pistol.
‘The gunfight isn't just to see action.’
It was to see if they could properly act out their superpowers in an extreme situation. Han So-yu must have realized this. She must have seen the logic behind Ju Seo-yeon’s actions, just as Bong-sik had.
If so, she knew how Seo-yeon would react to her telekinesis.
“In other words, it’s like this.”
Han So-yu’s hand pointed at Seo-yeon. Seo-yeon’s eyes widened, and she was sent flying backward.
She soared through the air and crashed into a nearby styrofoam building.
“Do you know what the WWE is? American pro-wrestling. In that world, when you perform an action, the act of receiving the move is called 'selling' it.”
The role of the person receiving the technique. That was the element that could make a 'superpower' feel real. Telekinesis is invisible. But Seo-yeon 'sold' it by throwing her body through the air.
“But if you look at this in a wide shot, it looks childish. Like a low-budget tokusatsu show with bad CG.”
That was why the camera had zoomed in. Instead of showing the whole body, it focused on specific angles. Looking only at the shot of Seo-yeon flying through the air, it really looked like she had been struck by an invisible force.
Bong-sik watched Seo-yeon and Han So-yu. As expected, Seo-yeon responded perfectly to Han So-yu’s telekinesis. Extending the left hand was the activation condition. The power manifested wherever she looked. That was Han So-yu’s ability as written in the script.
Han So-yu had experience playing a mage in a children’s drama. Back then, it was just a cute, somewhat silly performance. But depending on who the opponent was, it could become a truly threatening display of telekinesis.
Seo-yeon was seen moving out of Han So-yu’s line of sight to avoid her hand. Because she "knew" how dangerous that telekinetic strike was from the previous hit. Everyone watching began to anticipate how Seo-yeon would overcome that power.
「You...!!」
Han So-yu’s eyes contorted with malice. With that one line and expression, her character was instantly established.
‘She’s cast herself as the villain.’
Bong-sik thought Han So-yu was clever. Telekinesis alone couldn't eliminate Seo-yeon. According to the rules, the only way to "kill" an opponent was to hit them with a paintball. Superpowers didn't have clear death conditions outside of acting points—unless the opponent "sold" the death.
It was impossible for Han So-yu to beat Seo-yeon, who was physically overwhelming. Realizing this, Han So-yu set herself up as a 'powerful villain.' The fact that Seo-yeon, who had been crushing everyone else, was easily tossed aside by telekinesis created a great sense of crisis.
Once the atmosphere shifted, the rest was simple. Seo-yeon approached while dodging Han So-yu’s gestures. Her right arm twisted as if her bones were being snapped by telekinesis, and she dropped her pistol.
Seo-yeon then kicked the pistol forward along the ground.
“Eek!!”
As Han So-yu let out a short scream, Seo-yeon lunged forward and snatched the gun with her functional left hand. Just as Han So-yu desperately thrust her left hand forward, Seo-yeon’s muzzle pressed against Han So-yu’s chest.
Rat-tat-tat!!
The rhythmic sound of gunfire.
[Ju Seo-yeon: 68 points]
And with that score, signifying she had eliminated more than half the field on her own—
“!!”
Min Do-ha, who had been hiding with the bag in her arms, gasped. The chaotic surroundings had suddenly gone silent.
‘What happened?’
Min Do-ha’s spirit had been completely broken the moment she fled from Seo-yeon. She had managed to get a bag, so she’d changed her strategy to simply protecting it until the end.
‘Fighting something like that was a mistake from the start.’
How are you supposed to fight someone who dodges paintballs? Min Do-ha felt a genuine sense of injustice. Had that girl undergone some kind of special forces training? It was the only explanation that made sense.
‘Still, if I just hold onto this bag, I’ll get 30 points...’
「So this is where you were.」
“....”
Min Do-ha promptly fainted.
*
With the bag in her possession, Seo-yeon’s score effectively surpassed 80 points. It was a score the production crew likely hadn't even dared to imagine. Even if it were cut in half, she would still be in first place. If acting points were added, she would exceed 100.
Because she was so dominant, the other participants could only offer hollow laughs. Even if they were taken out by Seo-yeon, their advancement to the next round was determined by their total points. "Death" was, after all, just acting. Many who had taken "fatal" wounds continued to move around to earn whatever points they could.
‘Well, at least I made the top 10.’
‘I guess this kind of acting just wasn't for me.’
Amidst the mixed emotions, only five minutes remained in the shoot. There were only two survivors left.
Seo-yeon and Jo Seo-hee.
Carrying the bag, Seo-yeon headed toward Jo Seo-hee’s location. Jo Seo-hee was there, looking relatively clean compared to the others, though she had a few paintball marks.
‘Wait.’
Seo-yeon glanced at the scoreboard. Jo Seo-hee’s score wasn't displayed. She effectively had 0 points. To anyone watching, she was headed for elimination, even if Seo-yeon gave her the bag.
Just as Seo-yeon approached to ask if she was okay—
「My, you’ve worked hard, Agent.」
Seo-hee gave her a bright, eye-crinkling smile. Seo-yeon momentarily froze at her tone.
‘Acting.’
Why now?
Just as the thought occurred to her—
Bang.
A sharp report.
Seo-yeon looked down. A paintball mark bloomed on her chest. Right over the heart—the only weakness of her regenerative character.
They were at point-blank range. And in her moment of distraction, she hadn't had time to dodge.
[Jo Seo-hee: +34 points]
In an instant, Jo Seo-hee’s score shot up to around 5th place, even though she’d been at 29 points after being hit earlier.
Seo-yeon stared at the score on the board, then looked at Jo Seo-hee in disbelief.
“Sorry. I’ll still give you the bag, though.”
At Jo Seo-hee’s somewhat conciliatory words, Seo-yeon pouted.