Global Match — Final Chapter (2)
Tani Kosei and Toyota Yohei, both veterans of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's counterterrorism unit, had each racked up five points.
They had been tied for fifth at four points apiece, but when the Swiss team emerged through the pouring rain, they ambushed them and each claimed one final kill, bringing both men neatly to five.
The Swiss captain appeared to have fled in the chaos, but unlike other teams, the Japanese made no effort to pursue a retreating opponent.
"We could probably catch him if we went after him…"
"No. Hold current position."
"Hai. Wakarimashita!"
The Japanese team was extremely reluctant to leave any route that had not been predetermined. Part of it was a collective disposition that favored moving strictly according to plan — and part of it was the simple fact that their background differed from every other team on the island.
Most nations had fielded special forces veterans or active PMC mercenaries. Japan, having officially maintained no military since its defeat in the Second World War, had instead sent personnel from the Self-Defense Forces — a quasi-military organization in all but name.
The Metropolitan Police counterterrorism unit trained at a level high enough to outsource instruction to America's Delta Force. But self-defense meant exactly that: the fundamental focus of their training was protection and security. Rather than hunting enemies down, their natural play style gravitated toward seizing ground first and ambushing whoever came to them.
"From a programming standpoint, we might be the boring team — but practical results come first."
"Agreed."
Chasing a fleeing opponent meant abandoning their designated route, so declining to follow was, in a sense, only natural. The potential risk outweighed any gain they might scrape from it.
They never took unnecessary risks.
[Player Italy-B] has eliminated [Player Switzerland-A].
Sure enough, by the time the day's match wound down, a message came through on their smartwatches: the Swiss captain they had let go had been eliminated by the Italian team.
Soaking wet, the Japanese team trudged back to the hotel. And like everyone else, they entered the item shop.
Their captain had only earned a single point so far, so after paying the entry fee he was finished — no purchases possible. Kosei and Yohei, each sitting on five points, entered in turn and both bought one item.
An attack method the Japanese team chose without hesitation — one that compensated for their vulnerability to pursuit and aggressive approaches, and one that suited their temperament perfectly.
Penalty cards. Long-range harassment that made an opponent's life miserable from a safe distance.
For different reasons than the Korean team, the Japanese still had every life intact and not a single member eliminated. They had fought nothing but one-sided ambushes, so their ammunition was still plentiful.
"Heh heh. So this is what they had in store. Pandora's Box for four points — it's got to be that, right?"
"Probably. When we used a penalty card on the Korean team before, their win probability plummeted. So yes — that has to be it."
"If one isn't enough, we feed them two."
The next day, the Japanese team returned to Survival Island by helicopter. Both men opened their Pandora's Boxes and, just as expected, received penalty cards.
"Oh! I got two!"
"Hmm? The quantity is random too? I only got one. And it's that item we used before."
Toyota Yohei had drawn the Redeployment Ticket — the same powerful penalty card they had used on the Korean team the previous day, scattering an entire squad to random locations across the map.
"Kosei. What did you get?"
"Heh heh. Mine is even nastier. This one's going to be a real headache. Read the description on the ops pad yourself."
Kosei transferred the items to the captain. Yohei took the pad and read.
Redeployment Ticket: Teleports every member of a designated team to separate random locations.
Heavy of Body and Soul: Applies weight bands to every member of a designated team.
Bell Around the Cat's Neck: Fastens a large bell collar around the neck of a designated team's captain.
"Hahaha. Insane. This is variety television, all right."
Weight bands. Sandbags, essentially. Strap sandbags to an opponent's arms and legs, hang a jangling bell collar on their captain's neck — and then scatter them to the four winds. Surviving that would be all but impossible.
"Ryu-san can fly around all he wants, but even he won't wriggle out of this one."
"Keh keh. Right? I saw a photo shoot of him recently — those big catlike eyes. Doesn't it suit him perfectly?"
Listening to his two teammates, the Japanese captain joined in, thoroughly entertained.
"Yohei-san. So we apply all of these to South Korea, correct?"
"Of course."
"Once the strongest competitor is gone, the only real threat left is Italy."
Hearing his two specialists, the Japanese captain grinned and tapped the pad.
Target registered: Republic of Korea.
And when the next strategy window opened, the registered items took effect.
[Redeployment Ticket] has been applied.
[Heavy of Body and Soul] has been applied.
[Bell Around the Cat's Neck] has been applied.
Watching the text bloom across the ops pad, the captain's mouth began to curl upward —
South Korea Team's [Aegis] has activated.
South Korea Team's [Aegis] has activated.
South Korea Team's [Aegis] has activated.
"Eh? Nanda kore?"
Aegis? What the hell was that?
Yeon-woo's target had been locked on a single team since the previous day.
Studying the ops pad, he began calculating the distance to their objective. The enemy's detection radius and his own overlapped like the intersection of a Venn diagram.
"The displayed radius is about five hundred meters, so the Japanese team is anywhere from seven hundred meters out at the far end to under two hundred at the near."
Kim Su-hyeok and Park Jung-hyeon nodded, hands already working over their weapons. The Japanese team wouldn't know their position either — it hadn't been intentional — but after slipping past each other like eels all day, both men were more than ready to put the Japanese team out of the game.
Under the revised rules, an opponent's position was permanently displayed on the ops pad screen. The catch: it appeared only as a broad five-hundred-meter circle. You knew they were somewhere inside it. You did not know exactly where.
That's true for everyone else. Not for us.
Yeon-woo's eyes dropped to the tiny item icons floating beneath the map on his pad. The small shield on the left was Aegis, active at all times. The eye icon on the right was the Radar Detector — the first special item they had acquired.
They had put it to decent use so far, but it had never felt especially valuable. After the team set a record by eliminating three squads in succession, receiving this as a reward had felt almost insulting.
But not anymore.
The Radar Detector revealed a designated target's exact position for a single instant — precisely one hour and thirty minutes into a round. If the enemy was far away, even a perfect fix meant little; they would move while you closed the gap. But if the designated target was already nearby?
There was no better item in the game.
The rule change turned this into the best item on the board.
Chase the five-hundred-meter circle first, close the distance in advance, then lock their exact coordinates the moment the hour-and-a-half mark hit — and you could find any team before they found you.
And the team they were hunting right now was, of course, Japan.
Vrrrm—
Exactly one hour and thirty minutes into the round — the halfway point — Yeon-woo's ops pad vibrated. He raised a fist, signaling Park Jung-hyeon and Kim Su-hyeok to halt, then melted into the undergrowth and checked the Japanese team's precise location.
Hmm? Very close.
By rough calculation, well under two hundred meters. Raise your voice and, in the silence of the forest, they might even hear each other.
Yeon-woo confirmed the fix and immediately relayed it to Park Jung-hyeon and Kim Su-hyeok by hand signal.
Enemy within approximately two hundred fifty meters.
Ssshk—
Both men gave a short nod and raised clenched fists — message received.
Rustle—
They moved fast and silent, stepping only on tree roots and stone, never on dry leaves. Sweeping the area in systematic sectors, Yeon-woo and his teammates came to a simultaneous stop.
Jingle—
Clink-clink—
They exchanged baffled looks. Even Yeon-woo, who believed he had every variable mapped and under control, wore an expression of pure incomprehension. Then they communicated in rapid hand signals.
What is that sound?
No idea. Why are we hearing bells?
I'm not the only one hearing this, right?
I hear it too.
Park Jung-hyeon tilted his head, scratched it, and whispered.
"Could it be one of those R-point ghosts they talk about on the battlefield?"
"Not a chance."
"A trap, maybe?"
"Hard to say. Still don't know."
Jingle—
Jingle-jingle—
Following the relentless bell, the three closed in with extreme care. Under normal circumstances they would have moved faster, but a sound that had no business existing in the field put them on edge. They advanced far more deliberately than usual, scanning for hidden traps, and their pace suffered for it.
After a long pursuit, they finally caught up to the source of the bells.
Unnaturally stiff movement in the arms and legs. And with every step, a clear, pure chime ringing through the trees.
Jingle—
Jingle-jingle—
Each time the sound rang out, the man would whip his head around with the white-faced paranoia of someone deep in a nervous breakdown, check something on his ops pad, then force himself to take another step.
He was completely alone.
Yeon-woo looked at the two men beside him.
Why is he alone, and why is he moving like that?
Both shrugged, equally lost.
No idea.
Let's check if anyone else is nearby.
They nodded and silently split in three directions. A thorough, stealthy sweep of the surrounding area confirmed it — the man really was by himself.
From the brush, Yeon-woo nodded toward Park Jung-hyeon and Kim Su-hyeok, then raised his hand and pointed at the target with index and middle finger.
Fire.
Bang—!
Tat-tat-tat—!
"Euhiiik!"
A hail of gunfire from every direction. The startled man dropped his ops pad, sat down hard on the ground, and froze where he fell.
[Player Korea-B] has eliminated [Player Japan-A].
So that was the Japanese team captain. Where on earth did his teammates go?
Why the stiff, unnatural walk? Was the bell around his neck a fashion statement? The questions piled up.
Wearing a thoroughly puzzled expression, Yeon-woo walked over to the Japanese captain and pointed at his neck.
What exactly is that thing around your neck?
Reading the intent in Yeon-woo's finger, the Japanese captain tore off the bell collar in a fit of pure humiliation and hurled it away. He had been warned that removing it meant immediate disqualification — but he was already eliminated, so…
Grr! Damn it! And whose fault is this supposed to be?!
Of course, knowing full well that it was all their own karma, he couldn't actually say it out loud.
"Damn it!"
He vented his frustration by flinging his "fashion accessory" aside and flopping flat on his back, limbs splayed. Yeon-woo stared down at him and tilted his head once more.
"…What even was that?"
He was well aware that their neighboring country had more than its share of people with… particular tastes. But this was a play style he simply could not begin to understand.