Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: National Selection Battle Royale
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During the National Competition period, a new game mode called Mock Battle appears in the Dimension Arena.
In simple terms, it's a temporary game that lets countries run a preview of the National Competition.
They use it to pre-select the national representatives who will participate in the actual event.
'The National Competition has four game types: Battle Royale, Cargo Transport, Occupation War, and Tournament. For the selection, they use Battle Royale. It's only natural, in a way. But the problem is that it's become a hotbed of corruption.'
The National Competition features four games in total.
Among them, Battle Royale was the only one that properly evaluated players' skills against each other.
Cargo Transport and Occupation War made fair assessments difficult, while Tournament took too long and only showed one-on-one fights.
In contrast, Battle Royale saved time since all national rep candidates participated together. It allowed evaluation of players in one-on-one, many-on-many, one-against-many situations, and more.
But that very advantage turned it into a breeding ground for corruption.
Battle Royale's format dropped a ton of players into the battlefield at once. They used various gear and consumables scattered around to whittle down opponents until a sole survivor emerged.
With so many participants, points were awarded based on final ranking.
The National Competition ran on a points system, tallying scores after the final match to crown the winner.
That made Battle Royale a honey pot for racking up maximum points.
Teaming was expected among players from the same nation during the actual event, but doing it in the selection phase was the issue.
And only among those who already knew each other.
It was so low-class that even viewers watching the broadcast could spot it—but it didn't faze Shin-hyeok.
"Hello, senior."
"Uh, uh-huh!"
"Take care, then, senior."
"......!"
Krunch!
Shin-hyeok dashed around like a madman, hunting down 'senior' players.
He'd dispatch any he found in one second flat before bouncing.
In this bizarre setup where killing was faster than searching, his merciless kill log terrified the seniors into fleeing from him.
But even that they couldn't pull off properly.
"Mana Detection. Super Sense. Assassin's Codex."
His massive mana spread out, weaving a vast net and spiderweb.
Anyone in Mana Detection's range was as good as in his palm.
Where they moved, who they met, how they fought—it all fed straight to him.
And it didn't stop there.
Super Sense.
A heightened sense born from amplified perception.
It neatly sorted the info from Mana Detection, scouting prey.
Finally, Assassin's Codex used that data to hunt players.
Slash—slash—crunch—smash!
Slice, slice, pierce, crush.
Shin-hyeok repeated it relentlessly.
These were entrants in the opening prelims, Platinum-tier elites at that.
Sure, some Golds slipped in as per prelim rules, but anyone worthy of 'senior' was full Platinum.
'Still not up to snuff.'
Even they were infants before a giant to Shin-hyeok.
Opponents he'd crushed as a Gold—now as Platinum, with the Late Bloomer trait unsealed.
No chance they'd match him.
Eventually, the chased seniors came up with a ploy.
"Use the newbies as bait."
"Good idea. Gotta sacrifice for the seniors somehow."
"They'll probably love it. Sacrificing for player seniors and all."
"We'll buy 'em a drink later and slot 'em into our line."
Using newbie players as bait.
They tried all sorts: team up, or steer escapes toward newbies.
Since Shin-hyeok seemed to kill every visible player, it looked decent on paper—
"Huh, what's this? Someone here?"
"......?"
"Tch, if I just pass now, no one'll know. Sigh, my vision's suddenly blurry. Low on iron?"
"......Ah!"
But Shin-hyeok neither fell for nor humored their scheme.
A newbie trembling before him.
Shooing them away with obvious trash acting right in his face.
At first confused, the newbie caught on, lit up, and sidestepped Shin-hyeok with a grin.
As it repeated, the seniors blew gaskets.
"Damn it! That even legal?"
"That's blatant cheating! Could get punished under some rule!"
"......Haa, we're screwed. He's clearly targeting only us. At this rate, all the vet reps are out."
"......Nah, no way."
But that was all they could do.
Above all, whether Shin-hyeok broke rules or not—reality loomed.
In other words—
"Hello, senior."
"Kyyaaack! Air raid! Air raid! Uwaaaah!"
"Take care, senior."
Slash!
Shin-hyeok.
Another senior's head rolled as he materialized where they chatted. Players scattered like kids seeing ghosts.
It kept going.
Until only the players Shin-hyeok wanted remained.
By the time all the senior players were slaughtered.
Shin-hyeok faced Su-ah.
"......Shin-hyeok, is this okay?"
"What?"
"You told me to join the opening prelim national selection, so I did...... but isn't this illegal?"
"What are you talking about? Illegal how?"
"No, come on! You wiped out all the seniors on purpose to give chances to me and the other newbies."
Su-ah had entered at Shin-hyeok's urging.
She never expected to get picked.
Just figured he had a reason and applied on impulse.
Never dreamed his plan was purging seniors for newbies' sake—hence her reaction.
But Shin-hyeok stood tall.
"When have I ever done anything illegal? I just took out whoever was in front of me."
"You ignored newbies right in front of you. I heard from one. You're not attacking me now, either."
"What?! Su-ah, you were in front of me? No way. Must be a vision glitch. Gotta grab a potion from Hye-rin later."
"......That your concept?"
"Hey, concept? It's a sudden curse blinding me to everyone but seniors. Watch your words, Su-ah."
"......Haa, you're impossible."
Because Shin-hyeok firmly believed he was cursed(?) to see only seniors.
What could she do?
He said so himself.
Plus, he had the power to turn lies into truth.
Knowing that, Su-ah shook her head with a sigh.
"This is live broadcast, you know?"
"Yeah."
"It's gonna cause issues. Not just the dropped seniors—others will complain too."
"Nah."
"Huh?"
"The dropped seniors might. But others? No."
"What do you...... Ah!"
"You caught on too, huh. Truth is, no one likes what our seniors have been doing. But as vested interests, we can't touch them. So when I scratched that itch for everyone, how could they complain?"
"You've thought it all through......"
Realizing Shin-hyeok had orchestrated the whole board, Su-ah let out a hollow laugh.
She thought he was just a lone wolf smashing dislikes.
But no—he was meticulously calculated.
Perfectly channeling the public's disillusionment, contempt, resignation, and detachment toward national reps through himself.
Problems remained, though.
"What about the national reps? You called them vested interests. They react fiercest when their turf's invaded. And their connected folks won't sit idle."
"Right. Hit a kid, adults show up. Hit adults, old fogeys from the back room emerge. Probably a whole vine of pumpkins. So?"
"So what?! Current and former national reps will come at you. Their sponsors—corps, congressmen, org heads. All the power players!"
"Ooh, impressive? You know that much?"
"Don't treat me like a kid!"
The national reps Shin-hyeok ousted.
And the ex-reps, execs, politicians who put them there.
They'd savage him.
Knowing it, Su-ah glared poutily, demanding answers from her dismissive friend.
But Shin-hyeok had no pat reply.
"Su-ah."
"What!"
"I'm vested interest too."
"......Yeah."
"Impressive, are they? More than me, with Myth Group Chairman Choi Cheol-ho—the inaugural chair—backing me?"
"......No."
"National reps too. Stronger than me? More talented? Greater achievements? Players hitting even one are rare in all Korea."
"......Probably."
"Politicians last. The Player Affairs Minister—who already grips player authority—is mine after a few tossed treats. Others are similar. Myth Group's political slush fund alone dwarfs mid-size corp revenues. Think they'll attack me, basically the heir?"
"......No."
Because in today's Korea, Shin-hyeok was the answer incarnate.
Vested interests.
Powerful, yes.
Masters at keeping non-vested out and crushing them.
But their weakness was clear.
"If some still bark anyway...... gotta teach 'em their place."
"......Whoa, you sounded like a real villain just now."
Vested bow to bigger vested.
And Shin-hyeok sat at the pinnacle.
That wrapped Shin-hyeok and Su-ah's talk.
"Enough headache stuff. Now come at me. Let's see how much you've grown."
"......You already know the answer. Gotta do this? Can't I forfeit?"
"Nope."
"Ugh, hate this."
Time for bodies to talk, not words.
Shin-hyeok chuckled lightly, slammed his spear and holy sword into the ground, unstrung Chungmugong's Bow and set it aside, then clenched his fists.
Su-ah sighed at his leisure despite ditching his strongest weapons. She gripped her holy sword, opened her holy tome, and charged.