Week 16 PvP (5)
Jung Jin-myung's spell hurtled through the air and slammed into the ice wall.
A heavy tremor rattled the corridor, followed by a resonant crash. As expected of someone in the thousand-point tier, the sheer destructive power of his magic was formidable, and the speed at which he tore through the barrier was impressive. But...
I can always just erect another wall.
Even Cha Hyun-joo had thrown in the towel after seeing a double layer. What could he possibly hope to achieve if I stacked three or four? Besides, I had no intention of politely waiting around while he blasted away at it.
I shot another subtle glance to my side. Taking the hint, Seo Ye-in slowly raised the frying pan clutched in her grip, poised as if ready to bring it crashing down the instant I gave the signal.
Sensing the acute peril to his skull, Shin Byungchul frantically hammered on the frozen surface.
"Hey, hey, hey! Stop, hold on! Time-out! Stop casting!"
Jung Jin-myung, perhaps realizing there was still room for negotiation, halted his incantation and called out from the other side of the ice.
"What do you want?"
"You're the ones who should be telling me what you want," I answered.
"...?"
"Which sounds better to you: second place, or third?"
Catching my drift immediately, Jung Jin-myung replied, "Are you saying you'll let us take second if we cooperate?"
"Bingo."
I nodded in satisfaction.
If they had no desire to play ball, my first order of business was feeding Shin Byungchul to the frying pan. Once he was out of the picture, taking down an isolated Jung Jin-myung in a two-on-one would be easier than flipping my hand. Above all else, Seo Ye-in was a gunner, inherently holding the upper hand against mages in medium-range skirmishes.
Of course, there's always the option of not fighting him at all.
Taking out Shin Byungchul and simply walking away wasn't a bad tactical choice either. Jung Jin-myung would be left to navigate the labyrinth's traps entirely on his own, causing his survival rate to plummet. One way or another, his chances of finishing dead last in third place were overwhelmingly high.
Jung Jin-myung seemed to arrive at the exact same conclusion, letting out a long, defeated sigh.
"Whew... I came into this expecting a free ride, and look at this mess. I walked straight into the worst possible matchup."
His original blueprint had been simple: pair up with Shin Byungchul to breeze through the dungeon's mechanisms, dragging down their party's average score in the process to guarantee an easier combat bracket. Yet a single partition I had thrown up had blown that entire grand scheme to smithereens.
I remarked in a casual tone, "Since things have turned out like this, wouldn't it be better to at least break even?"
"...I suppose so."
In the end, Shin Byungchul and Jung Jin-myung yielded to an offer they couldn't refuse. Rather than clinging to pointless pride, it was far wiser to secure second place, preserve their points, and aim for first in the subsequent match. Still, a faint, dispirited voice seeped through the icy barrier, thick with lingering bitterness.
"What's the plan?"
"Byungchul stays with us. As we advance, he'll diligently disarm every trap we come across."
"Then what about me?"
To Jung Jin-myung's question, I replied as if stating the most obvious truth in the world.
"You'll be moving on your own, of course."
"Wouldn't it be more efficient for the four of us to stick together?"
"Speed trumps efficiency."
Our next objective was hunting down Team 3, wherever they were lurking. Dividing into two search parties would get the sweep done far more quickly. If Jung Jin-myung suffered a few cuts and bruises wandering through traps alone, well, that wasn't my concern.
Another heavy sigh echoed from beyond the frozen slab.
"I really stepped right into a nightmare. Fine. What do I do once I track down Team 3?"
"You know how to cast communication magic, right?"
"I do."
"Contact us the second you spot them, then engage."
"...In a two-on-one?"
"Yep. Whittle down their strength as much as you can, and we'll swoop in to mop up."
Once Team 3 was eliminated, Shin Byungchul, who was tagging along with us, would promptly declare his surrender. That would seal second place for their squad without a hitch.
Listening intently from the side, Shin Byungchul chimed in with a cautious inquiry.
"Uh, but what happens if we never manage to find them?"
What if our paths kept crossing in the maze and we failed to intercept them before the clock ran out?
Seo Ye-in provided the answer in my stead, hoisting her frying pan once more.
"Clang."
"Ahem... I shall search with every fiber of my being."
Naturally, that threat was only half-serious. Missing them entirely was well within our calculated margins anyway.
"If this drags into a war of attrition, the odds favor us regardless."
"Come to think of it, you're right."
Shin Byungchul would handle the lion's share of the hazards, and with three bodies on our side, our group's survival rate was vastly superior.
"No more questions, right? Let's move out."
"Wait."
Just as I turned to take a step forward, Jung Jin-myung called out, stopping me in my tracks.
"I've been wondering ever since we ran into each other... how exactly do you know my brother?"
My passing mention of Jeong Chong-myeong back at the start had clearly been gnawing at him. If I had ties to his older brother, it made it awkward for him to treat me too recklessly. Perhaps that was the very reason my proposal—or rather, my polite extortion—had proven so effective.
Naturally, I had no intention of offering an easy answer, so I simply flashed him a knowing grin.
"Go ask him yourself."
After sending Jung Jin-myung off down a separate corridor, the three of us began forging ahead through the labyrinth. The passage stretching before our eyes was riddled with contraptions both large and small, but there wasn't the slightest reason for concern. We had a bona fide trap specialist walking in our vanguard.
I glanced at Shin Byungchul and asked, "Show us what you've got?"
"Hmph. Traps of this caliber are mere child's play."
Putting on his usual theatrical swagger, Shin Byungchul strode forward. For once, however, he possessed the genuine expertise required to back up his bluster.
Metal whistled sharply through the air. Chopsticks flew from his sleeves in rapid succession, driving deep into the gaps between stone masonry and wedging into the hairline fissures along the floor. A flurry of metallic clicks echoed down the hall before tapering off into sudden stillness. The mechanisms had jammed and seized up entirely.
Shin Byungchul extended an arm with an exaggerated, courteous bow.
"Allow me to escort you through."
"Ah, what a delightful stroll," I remarked with utterly flat, lifeless praise as I followed along.
Advancing a little farther, another barrage of chopsticks darted from his fingertips, thudding firmly into the ceiling and walls. Most of the mechanisms ground to a halt just like the previous ones, but a stubborn few resisted. The ceiling shuddered with a deep, rattling rumble, and—
Crash!
An iron sphere the size of a grown man's torso plummeted straight toward the floor. As if that outcome had been part of his master plan all along, Shin Byungchul merely gave a nonchalant shrug.
"If you can't disable it, you trigger it beforehand. That is the essence of the craft. Do you see?"
"I see indeed. Truly magnificent."
While delivering another completely hollow reaction, I slid a sideways glance toward Seo Ye-in. Taking the cue, she responded with a soundless, tiny round of applause using only her fingertips.
"Wow—"
Even a master of mechanical devices had his blind spots, however. The moment intricate magic circles began glowing along the flagstones ahead, his face twisted into an immediate grimace.
"We might have to take the long way around this one..."
"No need to fret. I'll throw you across."
"Huh?"
Bang!
"Aaaaargh—!"
A blast of compressed air detonated behind him, launching Shin Byungchul through the air in a graceful parabolic arc. In the blink of an eye, he sailed clean over the field of arcane tripwires and went skidding across the stone floor on the other side. Touching down softly beside him alongside Seo Ye-in, I offered my critique.
"Your landing leaves much to be desired."
"Urgh... It's just a lack of practice! With enough repetitions, it'll buff right out!"
Even while sprawled flat on the cold stone, Shin Byungchul refused to yield an ounce of his masculine pride.
We pressed on with our sweep of the maze for quite some time, yet our sector yielded little in the way of results. Instead, it was Jung Jin-myung who transmitted a message first.
—Found them. Engaging right now.
He had located Team 3 and immediately initiated combat just as instructed. Turning to Seo Ye-in and Shin Byungchul, I waved them forward.
"Let's move."
We pivoted on our heels and began rushing in Jung Jin-myung's general direction. While his exact coordinates were impossible to pinpoint, getting into the vicinity would maximize our chances of intercepting the enemy.
We had covered roughly half the distance when Jung Jin-myung sent a second, fleeting transmission. In a raspy voice laced with profound fatigue, he delivered his final report:
—Took down one of them. Win this... no matter what.
That was the end of the line. Befitting a contender in the thousand-point bracket, he had managed to neutralize one foe even while fighting at a two-on-one disadvantage, but his stamina had run dry, rendering him incapacitated.
I traded a meaningful look with Shin Byungchul.
"Looks like there's only one target left to catch."
"Then it's three on one! That's practically in the bag!"
"It's only decided once we actually run into them."
"Don't you worry! I'll tear open a path straight to him!"
Brimming with renewed zeal, Shin Byungchul flung his chopsticks with reckless abandon, disarming traps left and right.
After pushing forward a bit farther, a muffled explosion drifted down the corridor.
The sound of an explosion meant a trap had been triggered, and a triggered trap meant somebody was standing there. And that somebody could only be the lone survivor of Team 3.
"Heheh... Caught ya, you little rascal."
With a sly smirk spread across his face, Shin Byungchul led our formation forward. Just as anticipated, we soon intercepted the remaining combatant—and as luck would have it, he was another acquaintance of mine. I raised a hand in cheerful greeting.
"Hey there, Hyeong-taek. Long time no see."
"..."
The moment our gazes crossed, Son Hyeong-taek's face twisted into an expression of pure, unadulterated misery. Painful memories from the lava zone and the Cloud Staircase PvP evaluations were clearly flashing behind his eyes. Swimming through molten rock hadn't been a particularly pleasant afternoon, after all.
His scowl deepened considerably when he caught sight of Shin Byungchul flanked beside us, realizing there were three opponents before him rather than two.
"Teaming up? You dirty cowards..."
"Now, Hyeong-taek, do you really have any right to preach about that?"
Wasn't he the one who had struck a temporary truce with Kang Hee-chan during the Three-Way Battle in the volcanic crater, trying to gang up on me first? Only to stab Kang Hee-chan in the back the instant an opportunity presented itself?
"..."
Perhaps Son Hyeong-taek was underhanded, but he wasn't completely devoid of shame. Confronted with the memory of his past antics, he found himself utterly struck dumb.
Deciding that he had zero chance of winning, he spun on his heel to make a break for it, but—
"Where do you think you're off to, Hyeong-taek?"
A thick sheet of ice surged violently from the stone floor, slamming shut his avenue of retreat. Son Hyeong-taek clicked his tongue sharply and threw a fist with all the strength in his body.
"Get the hell out of my way—!"
Crash!
Yet all he managed to produce was a shallow dent on the frozen surface. Even Cha Hyun-joo and Jung Jin-myung hadn't been able to demolish it effortlessly; did he honestly believe a single punch would do the trick? If a lone strike could shatter my barrier, he would have been the academy's top prospect, not me.
I tilted my head and asked, "This little obstacle is surprisingly sturdy, isn't it?"
"Damn it all!"
Realizing it was do-or-die, Son Hyeong-taek abandoned all caution and charged recklessly straight toward us. I regarded his desperate rush with an expression of mild pity.
"Hyeong-taek, that really strikes me as a terrible decision."
"Then what the hell else am I supposed to do?!"
"That's for you to figure out on your own."
Shrugging lightly, I extended an open palm toward him.
A howling gale packed with raw kinetic force swirled to life, ensnaring Son Hyeong-taek and nailing him firmly to the flagstones. By sheer stroke of misfortune, he had landed squarely atop an unexploded arcane trap. The inscribed runes flared a brilliant crimson just as Shin Byungchul scattered chopsticks across the surrounding masonry, triggering an entire network of dormant mechanisms right into his perimeter.
Pillars of searing flame erupted beneath his feet while a storm of razor-sharp blades rained down from the ceiling rafters.
The corridor erupted in a deafening crescendo of shrieking steel and roaring fire.
"Aaaargh!!"
A few moments later, Son Hyeong-taek's figure had vanished without a trace, forcibly teleported away the instant his health pool evaporated into combat disqualification.
Now, only the three of us remained in the labyrinth.
Seo Ye-in stared blankly at Shin Byungchul.
"Finish."
Slowly lifting her frying pan, she began stalking toward him with steady, measured footsteps. Shin Byungchul backpedaled in sheer panic, waving both hands frantically in the air.
"Whoa, whoa, wait! Hold your horses for just a second!"
"...?"
"Why are you so eager to crack my skull open right out of the gate?! I can just surrender!"
Seo Ye-in turned her gaze toward me, her eyes practically asking, Can't I just hit him anyway?
I gave a slow, gentle shake of my head. The match was already decided; there was no need to resort to gratuitous violence when a clean forfeit would suffice.
Seo Ye-in lowered the frying pan with an unmistakable hint of disappointment. Shin Byungchul wasted no time declaring his surrender before scurrying out of the labyrinth as if a pack of wild hounds were nipping at his heels.
Shortly thereafter, the final results flashed across the arena display.
1st Place — Kim Ho & Seo Ye-in
"Great work. Let's head back and get some rest."
"Kim Ho Pillow."
Seo Ye-in looked up at me, her clear gray eyes shimmering with bright anticipation.
Well, she's certainly earned it today.
Reflecting on the past week, she had turned down my offer to borrow my hoodie and had even sacrificed her sacred sleep hours to train diligently. On top of that, she had tackled this entire PvP match with uncharacteristic vigor, so it was only fair to present her with a fitting reward.
I gave an accommodating nod.
"Sure. Go ahead and use the Kim Ho Pillow."
Her eyes sparkled all the more as she murmured a quiet, cryptic remark.
"Today's my day."