Herding
A few minutes later, as Yeon-woo held the area near the central fountain beside the factory, another announcement crackled over the speakers.
Gwanjong — that has to be Seong-sik.
Almost immediately, another elimination call followed.
Apparently Kim Jun-su and Woo Seong-sik had been moving together and gone down as a pair. Yeon-woo registered his friends' eliminations without a flicker of concern and instead drifted toward the opposite half of the field.
They said the layout is symmetrical on both sides of the fountain.
He crossed straight into enemy territory and began studying every corner of the terrain. The opposing team might have been hobbyists, but a serious mock battle against ordinary civilians was never going to be a fair fight for him. Rather than wander around solo and massacre everyone, the better way to enjoy the outing was to learn the map, build a strategy, and set his friends up to score the eliminations themselves.
Hmm. Only one approach route on this side — anyone moving through has to pass here. An ambush behind this cover would work well. Since it's symmetrical, our side should have the exact same spot.
He was still mapping the field when an unexpected announcement cut through the air.
A rapid string of elimination calls. They must have collided head-on in a free-for-all firefight — and somewhere in the chaos, Jin Yu-han, ActingChamp, had taken one of them with him. Moments later both Jin Yu-han and Kim Ju-hyeong were called out as well, leaving Yeon-woo as the sole survivor on his team.
So three of them left. Might as well clean them up while I'm at it.
He was just turning to loop around behind them when the speakers blared again.
"Time went by pretty fast," Yeon-woo murmured, still scanning the terrain one more time as he headed back.
The door clanged open. Inside, the four who had already been eliminated were waiting.
"Yeon-woo, where the hell were you? We couldn't even spot you on the monitors."
"I crossed into their half. Scouted the layout — there are a few key positions worth holding."
He walked them through the strongpoints they needed to seize and defend, pointing them out on the monitor.
"If we set up like this, we should be able to hold our own. I'll fill you in on the rest once we're back on the field."
"Hell yeah! Round one we got wrecked because we had no idea what was going on, but Yeon-woo and Yu-han still took two of them down. Let's win round two!"
Woo Seong-sik thrust his arm out, and four gloved hands stacked on top of his.
"Fighting!"
The cheer had barely left their mouths when the announcement chimed in right on cue.
"All right, let's go. I'll get you into position fast. They got hit rushing in last round, so they won't push hard this time."
Four friends fell in behind Yeon-woo's lead. Having already memorized the map, he moved through the field as easily as walking through his own bedroom, placing each of them with precision.
"Jun-su, you hide here and cover that entrance. Seong-sik, take this spot and cover Jun-su's blind side. They'll come through this entrance to scout — and if nobody shoots at them, they'll bolt for those tires. That's when you open fire."
"Okay!"
Next he took Jin Yu-han and Kim Ju-hyeong to a piece of cover with a clear view of the factory entrance.
"Oh — this is where Yu-han dropped one last round."
"You fought here? Solid call. Yu-han, you set up the same way as last round. Once they take fire, the factory forces them to peel right — there's no other way around. Ju-hyeong, come with me."
He led Kim Ju-hyeong to the choke point any retreating enemy would have to use after Jin Yu-han opened fire, and set him in place.
"They'll come flying out of that alley trying to get behind Yu-han. That's when you step out and shoot."
"Got it. Leave it to me. I'm taking one of them down right here."
Yeon-woo snorted at Kim Ju-hyeong's grimly determined face.
"Just don't hide so deep you end up blind-firing. Like the staff said earlier — play fair. Shoulder the rifle properly and shoot clean."
"Duh, obviously."
Yeon-woo gave Kim Ju-hyeong's shoulder a couple of light pats.
"Fighting."
"Okay!"
Then Yeon-woo slipped down the side path beside the factory, crossing carefully into enemy territory to read the overall flow of the battle. From a quiet vantage he watched four figures split into pairs, pass the fountain, and push toward the factory on their side of the field.
They'll handle themselves fine. Four headed that way, so one of them is still… hmm.
They had torn through Blue's half last round without ever finding him, so one of them had probably stayed behind at base to keep searching.
Then that one's mine.
Without a sound, Yeon-woo surged forward at blistering speed, vaulting obstacles as he closed on his prey.
Meanwhile, Jin Yu-han waited behind cover near the factory and watched two figures emerge at the entrance.
Yeon-woo said to wait a little longer.
He held his fire with cold patience, waiting for them to enter effective range. The pair advanced cautiously, using cover, scanning every direction.
Not yet.
He tracked them with a hawk's focus, measuring the distance. The moment the two of them, covering each other, reached the turn into the right-hand alley, Jin Yu-han's eyes lit up.
Now.
Two sharp cracks — then a third.
"Ugh — fall back!"
SitAndShoot went down on the spot. His partner, AK, immediately cut right through the passage to get behind Jin Yu-han — and ran straight into Kim Ju-hyeong, PensionAlba, who stepped out and opened fire.
Two sharp cracks.
"Yes!"
Kim Ju-hyeong threw a midair high-five toward Jin Yu-han, who was grinning at him from across the field.
Then more announcements rolled in.
One kill, then both of them down. Jin Yu-han and Kim Ju-hyeong tensed again, swinging their attention toward the entrance where their friends had fallen.
Meanwhile, Yeon-woo was still vaulting obstacles at speed, hunting the last man left in the enemy half.
Found you.
Far ahead, a figure crouched behind a stack of tires, watching the factory on his own side of the field — the exact mirror of the position Jin Yu-han had held, just flipped to the other team.
That's why you need a second person covering the alley. Without it, this spot is a death trap.
It was a long shot, but Yeon-woo settled the front sight over the target and fired with perfect calm.
Three sharp cracks.
Three BBs struck true, dead center on the helmet.
"Ugh! How the hell are you already behind me?!"
Confusion written all over his face, BlackHawk had no choice but to raise both hands and walk off. Yeon-woo had been tracking the announcements while he hunted — the score sat at three to one, with only MarineVictory still alive.
Jun-su and Seong-sik had the safer, better position. How did they get overrun?
Yeon-woo's body became a blur again, clearing obstacles in long, effortless bounds. With only one enemy left, he took the shortest route back toward where his friends had been stationed.
Another one down. Yeon-woo tore past the position Kim Jun-su and Woo Seong-sik had held, rounded the corner toward Jin Yu-han's cover — and found the two of them locked in a standoff across a single piece of hard cover.
"Hup—!"
MarineVictory spun at the sight of Yeon-woo appearing behind him and whipped his muzzle around.
A single crack.
Yeon-woo was faster. In the fraction of a second it took the enemy's barrel to swing toward him, he had already drawn the pistol holstered at his hip, snapped into a perfect isosceles stance, and fired. The BB struck the man's helmet dead-on and bounced away.
"Son of a bitch!"
Beaten by the same opponent two rounds in a row, the man shoved himself upright in a rage, spat on the ground, and stalked back toward his base. Jin Yu-han watched him go, then spread his arms in a shrug.
"Someone's a little too into it."
"No kidding."
They headed back together. Woo Seong-sik was waiting with his lower lip stuck out, ready to tattle like a kid running to his mother.
"Yeon-woo, that MarineVictory guy is a total scumbag. We did exactly what you said — shot one of them when they bolted for the tires — and then he just hid behind the tire stack, stuck only the barrel out, and sprayed like fifty rounds in every direction. The staff specifically said that was banned. A BB ricocheted off the wall and hit me."
"…Yeah?"
That was a greatest-hits compilation of every banned behavior the marshals had warned them about. Yeon-woo shook his head and called the others in close. They huddled up, heads together.
"All right, then. Here's what we do. First, I'll…"
His friends nodded along as he laid out the plan.
"Whoa. If that actually works, it'd be insane. Think we can pull it off?"
"Eh, let's try. It'll be fun."
"Let's go."
The door opened and the five of them stepped through. His friends moved to their assigned positions and held. Yeon-woo broke into a full sprint.
He tore through the factory in a blink, cleared the fountain, and melted into the open ground on the enemy side. It was the exact play MarineVictory had tried in round one — only now, with both sides on high alert and the enemy advancing cautiously, Yeon-woo had stolen the first move.
He slipped into their half like a ghost and began sniping from nowhere.
Elimination calls started stacking less than thirty seconds apart.
"Wow. I am so glad that guy is my friend. I never want him on the other team."
"Same."
The others held their assigned positions exactly as planned.
What— what the hell. How is he dropping them this fast?
Alone now, watching his teammates get erased at a crushing pace, MarineVictory felt the pressure close in.
Wound tight with nerves, MarineVictory flinched at every call. Even AK — the team's supposed ace — had gone down without a chance to fight back.
What the hell is even happening out there?
A sharp ting — a BB smacked into the wall right beside his protective gear.
Ugh—!
He scrambled away in the opposite direction from the shot, still with no idea that he was being herded.