National Team Selection (3)
"Hey."
Oh Jimyeong, ranked ninth, gave a pebble on the ground a lazy kick as he spoke.
"What do you think you're doing? Come here for a camping trip or something?"
He couldn't stand Baek Jinwoo's attitude. Did the boy think the national team selection was some kind of joke? Even watching a high ranker above him act like that would have been insufferable — and this one wasn't even a ranker. Just some player who'd shot into the spotlight lately. It made his blood boil.
Oh ho. "Hey," is it?
Baek Jinwoo's smile deepened. Look at these audacious bastards. Coming on pretty strong, aren't we?
Well, first things first. Both of them were older than him, so he'd let the casual speech slide.
"Yeees, and is there some sort of problem?"
Baek Jinwoo grinned and sprang to his feet. Shall I play with them a little?
Months of brutal training under Hungyo had already pushed his physique well past ordinary human limits. The rankers' bodies, by comparison, were so shabby they drew an actual sigh.
Not that he blamed them. A player only needed strong summons; no law said they had to keep themselves in shape. But the presence that flowed from a conditioned body was simply on another level from one that wasn't.
"...You little punk."
Oh Jimyeong, feeling himself pushed back by that presence alone, clenched his jaw.
"So the media's been hyping you up and now you think you're hot stuff, huh? Keep standing there all stiff and righteous, and there are cases where you never get selected. Not once, your whole life."
"...Huh? Really?"
Baek Jinwoo tilted his head. "Hmm, that's odd. Isn't the national team selection supposed to be about skill and nothing else? Oh — or maybe not? Going by how you two made the cut last year... I suppose you can get selected without any skill at all."
"You absolute lunatic."
The lid finally blew off, and profanity burst from Oh Jimyeong's mouth.
"No need for a long speech, sunbae. Let's carve up that bastard's summons first — the lecture can come after."
Park Hoseop, ranked tenth, arranged his summons in formation.
Baek Jinwoo watched the whole display like it was good entertainment.
"Honestly, that's not even funny."
"..."
"Rankers, of all people, shamelessly teaming up and still running their mouths on top of it? Why even bother talking? Just show each other what you've got and go your separate ways. Right, Hungyo?"
"..."
Hungyo nodded without a word — but his eyes had gone blade-cold. He looked ready to cut down the two players who had dared to sour his lord's mood, this instant if permitted.
"You're a lost cause."
Whoosh! The moment Oh Jimyeong flung out his arm, his summons stomped the ground as one. True to his rank, he fielded quite the diverse roster of B-rank summons.
"We'll settle this separately once the multi-battle's over. I'm going to have to educate you properly."
"Oh, now those are the words I wanted to hear."
Baek Jinwoo nodded as if genuinely pleased. "Do be sure to keep that promise?"
At that very instant—
Shwak!
Hungyo moved, driving the flat of his blade up into the jaw of one of Oh Jimyeong's humanoid summons.
KWAAANG!
With that thunderous crash, the summon rocketed skyward — and its lights went out. The speed was one thing; the power was monstrous. A B-rank summon, finished in a single blow.
"Okay, that's one."
Still holding the follow-through of his rising cut, Hungyo lunged forward.
Shrrk! His speed belonged to a different dimension entirely. While the enemy summons were still mid-animation, he had already swung, recovered his blade, and charged on.
Whirr! Three strikes, and he carved out the summons' vital points with pinpoint precision.
Truth be told, this kind of multi-battle was absurdly advantageous for the current Baek Jinwoo. Buy enough time for Ramba's stacks to build, and he was all but invincible.
"Two, three... oh, four? Ooh, too fast to even see."
Baek Jinwoo was having the time of his life; Oh Jimyeong was dumbfounded, plain and simple. Five seconds? No — in under four, something had happened. A KWAANG!, then a shrrk!, and four summons' HP dropped to zero.
And the last one—
GRWOOOAAAR!
The Rampaging Stone Golem (B-rank) was mid-jump, spinning fist poised to come crashing down, when—
SHRRRRK!
Hungyo was already atop it, sprinting across its body, putting on a golem disassembly show with his sword — carving through the mana-sheathed joints with meticulous care.
Th-this is insane! Oh Jimyeong reeled in horror.
Crack-crack-crack!
The core — its heart — hadn't even been touched, and yet the stone golem was falling to pieces, arms, legs, and torso separating in midair.
Whirl! In that same motion, Hungyo flipped once through the air and plunged his sword straight into the heart of the golem's torso — shunk!
FWOOSH! The golem was recalled on the spot.
"...!"
Silence fell. Park Hoseop's eyes, in particular, were all but popping out of his head. Was there really a player in this country who could toy with Oh Jimyeong sunbae like that?
All summons of Player Oh Jimyeong have been recalled.
Eliminated from the multi-battle.
Vwooom! Light erupted from the floor and began to swallow Oh Jimyeong's body. And in this instant, the barrier that had been shielding him was gone.
Baek Jinwoo's sharp eyes caught it at once, and he pounded the ground.
That one's earned himself a proper beating.
He could have left it to Hungyo, but then the man might accidentally die. Some punishments a human had to deliver with his own two hands.
"Make sure you come find me after the multi-battle. I'll be paying you back for the mess."
Dashing in and twisting his hips, Baek Jinwoo buried his fist in Oh Jimyeong's left abdomen — square in the liver.
"Kgh—khak?!"
Oh Jimyeong's breath hitched to a dead stop. Th-that son of a bitch — no manners at all! Punching a man in a player match? He wanted to howl at the injustice, but no sound came. He was already being flung out of the multi-battle arena.
"You're next, then?"
Park Hoseop, ranked tenth, could only stare, hollow-eyed, at Baek Jinwoo's grin.
The broadcast feed for the multi-battle cycled through its shots at a rapid clip. That was simply the nature of the format — too many separate engagements unfolding at once. The Rank 1 player blazing a solo trail through the field, packs of players swarming Rank 2 like a raid boss, and so on.
"Yes, Rank 3 is currently moving to the outskirts and holding position!"
"A clear statement of intent — no unnecessary fights! And what's Rank 4 up to right now? Shall we hop over and see?"
Fwip!
Just as the camera switched over—
"Huh? It's Oppa!"
Baek Ajin shouted. She had spotted a familiar face on screen at that exact moment.
"Yes, Ranks 9 and 10 are running an alliance, correct? They announced at the press conference that they'd be teaming up again this year."
"That's right. Huh? Wait, what's going on here? One of them is missing?"
"Oh! We're just getting word that one of them was eliminated moments ago. What on earth happened out there?"
"Shall we pull up the replay?"
That was how broadcasts worked — comparatively minor moments like this one sometimes slipped through the cracks. But no matter. You could always rewind.
"Ugh, come on!"
Baek Ajin groaned as she listened to the commentators.
"What is it, sweetie?"
Hwang Myeonghui asked, puzzled.
"Our Oppa has the worst luck on the planet. Of all people, he runs into Ranks 9 and 10."
"Oh dear. Then what will he do?"
"Right? Ugh, those two are HQ-affiliated, and they're famous for sticking together and playing dirty around the clock. The unwritten rule of multi-battles is to hole up quietly and squeak through on luck... What are the odds of drawing rankers right out of the gate! Argh!"
"So our Jinwoo's getting eliminated?"
"Hold on, hold on. One of the rankers is already gone, so... Huh?"
At that moment, the screen cut to a separately captured highlight — the exact scene of Hungyo slicing all five of Oh Jimyeong's summons to pieces in under ten seconds.
The three players had muttered something back and forth, and Oh Jimyeong's side had lunged in first. Then—
Hungyo moved in a blink and cut them all down. His movements were so fast, so dazzling, that even in slow motion he looked like he was running at normal speed.
"Wh-what was that just now!"
"Incredible! What am I witnessing right now?! One of Player Baek Jinwoo's summons! A single summon is butchering the summons of Korea's ninth-ranked player! Does this even make sense?!"
"We've replayed it twice and I still don't believe it!"
WAAAAAH!
OOOOOOH!
Cries of awe drifted in from outside. The crowd out there was apparently watching the very same scene.
"Whoa, that thing!"
Baek Ajin shot to her feet, jabbing a finger at the screen.
Hungyo! How could she not know that broken summon? The absurd creature that had one-shot the Shadow Elf she'd raised with all her love — and then snatched it up by the ankle!
"Whoa! It was that strong? It beat a... a ranker..."
"Your brother won, didn't he?"
"Mom, this isn't just 'winning'! This is insane! He flat-out demolished them... and that's Korea's Rank 9! Whoa, damn it! Goosebumps."
Baek Ajin rubbed her arms and glanced over toward her dad.
"D-Dad?"
"...!"
Baek Jincheol was frozen solid, mouth hanging wide open. Well, to be fair—
Dad does follow the world leagues and player matches now and then.
He probably grasped better than Mom just how impossible the scene on screen really was.
"What on earth is that summon? Caster, have you ever seen anything like it?"
"No. The closest thing would be the E-rank Training Director, but it's nothing like that one. The Director carries a camera — it's not a summon that carries a sword."
"Then what is it?"
"It may be one of the B-ranks that have yet to be revealed... or possibly an A-rank summon."
"Oho! So Player Baek Jinwoo was sitting on a hidden weapon all along!"
"Huh? Apparently not!"
"Pardon?"
"According to information that just came in, it's an E-rank summon called a Training Instructor."
"A Training Instructor?"
"Yes — one that veteran gamers would know. But here's the strange part: they say it was never that strong? Just a thoroughly mediocre E-rank, apparently! And it was even removed from the game in a patch about three years later!"
Plenty of players knew the Training Instructor existed. But not a single soul knew that Jinugod had once used one. Even the Five Emperors didn't know — the Training Instructor was a summon Jinugod had used before he began communicating with the Five Emperors in earnest, and it had been quarantined.
The same went for Ramba and Pokryongi. The Five Emperors' knowledge of Jinugod's summons began and ended with the Rune Dwarf, Aso, Mamyov, Myeolmang-yong... that was the full list.
"Any information coming in from Player Baek Jinwoo's side?"
"No, nothing! In fact, they've filed a privacy request on that summon!"
"Is that a good thing, in that case?"
"It certainly could be!"
In truth, headquarters preferred not to have rankers' detailed summon abilities laid bare for the public. Privacy was encouraged. It was a competitive system, after all. The moment something became known domestically, analysts overseas would start picking it apart — and just like that, your full strength was on display. That was why the commentators only dug so deep and steered clear of detailed breakdowns.
"In any case, this is a monumental result! And right now! Player Baek Jinwoo and Player Park Hoseop are facing off!"
"A-AAAH! And the outcome is not much different!"
"Was Park Hoseop always this helpless?! He's being carved up by Baek Jinwoo as we speak!"
"WAAAAAAH! BAEK JINWOO! What on earth is your secret?!"
"Nobody saw this coming! Player Baek Jinwoo has slaughtered two rankers!"
No player alive could stop Hungyo once the stacks had piled up.
SHRRK!
Whatever summons Park Hoseop happened to own was beside the point. The plain truth was that Ramba and her maxed-out runes were simply broken. Park Hoseop's summons were recalled after just a few strokes of Hungyo's blade, one after another.
"N-now, wait just a—"
Before vanishing, Park Hoseop flung out both arms, terror written across his face — but Baek Jinwoo was a more relentless and petty man than anyone gave him credit for.
"That lecture you promised for later. Be sure to keep your word."
THWACK!
Baek Jinwoo grinned and drove his fist into the man's abdomen.