Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: One-on-One Deathmatch
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"From now on, one by one, stick your hand into the box with the hole and draw a number ticket. Let's begin!"
Dokgo Hyun stepped up first.
He shoved his hand in and rummaged around.
"No rummaging too much."
'Doesn't work.'
The number tickets were just ordinary paper.
He couldn't read the surface texture by feel alone.
"Please don't keep the others waiting, Dokgo Hyun. If you take too long, I'll have to execute you under supervisor authority."
"Tch."
Dokgo Hyun drew normally.
'Number 4.'
"Next!"
And just like that, all 20 number tickets were drawn.
"Now, revealing the matchups!"
The bracket was straightforward.
1 vs. 2.
3 vs. 4.
......
......
17 vs. 18.
19 vs. 20.
"That's it!"
Adjacent numbers were set to face off.
At that moment, a mission window appeared.
One-on-One Duel
⚔️ Goal: Enter the duel stage and kill your opponent. Whoever survives wins, no matter the method.
❌ Harming other players before entering the duel stage results in automatic failure.
✅ Success Reward: Full recovery of stamina and mana.
💀 Failure Penalty: Death.
⏰ Time Limit: 20 minutes. (Timer starts after entering the duel stage.)
"Ahhh..."
"So this kind of mission finally shows its face."
"For real...!"
After treating them to a nice meal, here came the true colors of the death game.
Until now, they could survive without directly staining their hands with blood.
In rock-paper-scissors, players decided winners and losers, but strictly speaking, it was the supervisors doing the killing.
But not this mission.
From here on, they had to actively kill one opponent themselves to survive.
"Portal summon."
Fwaah!
A bluish portal appeared in the middle of the cafeteria.
Unlike previous ones, a small kiosk device was attached to its side.
"Alright, numbers 1 and 2, come on up!"
At the Bunny Girl's call, two archery club members stepped forward.
Number 1 was Na Youngho, the archery club's ace captain, and number 2 was his first-year underclassman.
"Let's fight fair and square."
Na Youngho spoke confidently, as if he'd already made up his mind.
But...
"Eek...!"
The first-year trembled and wet his pants.
"Oh dear, that's too bad."
The Bunny Girl smiled sweetly.
"Your pants are soaked, so a swampy stage should be perfect, right? Yap!"
She fiddled with the kiosk on her own.
"Let's go."
Na Youngho entered first.
"Sob... I don't wanna..."
The first-year refused.
"If you don't enter within 10 seconds, you die."
The Bunny Girl gave her final advice.
"Sob..."
The first-year went in.
The cafeteria fell silent.
"Na Youngho's gonna win, right?"
"Well, he's the captain."
Everyone knew Na Youngho.
Not just as Hanshin High's archery ace—he'd already won medals in the President's Cup youth archery recurve division and an international youth archery tournament.
Hot-tempered but stoic and fair, he earned his juniors' respect.
All predicted his victory.
"But what's a swamp stage like?"
"Damn, it's scary."
"At least I got lucky with my number. My opponent's some loser nerd."
Conversations like that buzzed among the players.
Fwaah!
Someone emerged from the portal.
Of course, it was Na Youngho.
"Hoo... That was tough."
Even Na Youngho, famed for his mental fortitude, complained of exhaustion right away.
Fighting goblins or terrorists as a group to survive was one thing, but one-on-one player kills must have been far grimmer.
"Hehe. Tough? You'll be fully recovered in stamina and mana from the mission reward though?"
"......"
Na Youngho said nothing, just trudged to a corner and sat alone, his pants squelching with swamp mud.
"Next up! Numbers 3 and 4!"
The Bunny Girl called.
Dokgo Hyun, number 4, stepped up, followed by number 3.
"It's you?"
"Yeah."
Number 3 was Lee Jong-eun from the Go club.
"Let's play fair."
Dokgo Hyun grinned.
"I'll fight dirty and win."
Lee Jong-eun didn't hide his resolve.
The Bunny Girl stepped between them, exuding fragrance.
"Hehe. I like the vibe from you two."
Wham!!
Dokgo Hyun suddenly punched the Bunny Girl supervisor in the cheek.
Everyone—victim and spectators alike—was too stunned to speak.
"Oh, no rule against hitting the supervisor, right? You yapping got annoying, so I just swung. Hurt much?"
Dokgo Hyun stared blankly; the Bunny Girl matched his expression.
"...You're right. You're definitely different."
But supervisors couldn't just attack duelists willy-nilly.
Mission rules forbade it.
"One warning this time."
The Bunny Girl updated the rules, adding a ban on players attacking supervisors.
"Alright then."
She maliciously picked a stage.
One slightly favoring Lee Jong-eun, number 3.
The two entered the portal.
It was a vast, flat grassland.
No hills in sight, but occasional ranch-like fences, rancher houses, and barns dotted the landscape.
It stretched endlessly; hard to gauge the true size.
'No sign of him.'
They'd spawned apart upon entry.
Dokgo Hyun scanned around.
'Nothing.'
At least not in the open flats.
'Must be inside a building then.'
There was one large house that looked like the rancher's.
'Ah, there!'
A shadow flitted past a window.
Lee Jong-eun, observing from inside, had locked eyes with Dokgo Hyun outside by chance.
Thud!
Confident in bare-handed combat, Dokgo Hyun charged straight ahead.
But...
'Whoa?! Something's coming!'
Whoooosh!
Four large white stones hurtled toward him.
Each the size of a regular pizza.
'Flying saucers?!'
Slightly convex in the center, they resembled kids' UFO drawings.
Up close, massive Go stones.
'His unique skill.'
Summons flying Go stones for physical attacks.
Whoooosh!
Whirrr...
Flight speed like a boomerang.
They hummed with each dodge.
Definitely hefty stones.
'Relentlessly aiming for the head.'
Smart for a one-shot kill.
But Dokgo Hyun's dynamic vision was elite even without [Time Distortion], now superhuman.
'Dodging alone won't cut it—I need his main body. Can I reach him?'
Lee Jong-eun was definitely inside somewhere.
Right now, at the window, controlling the stones.
But the massive flying stones blocked approach.
'Read the pattern, then blitz the body!'
The moment he resolved that...
Whirrr...!
Suddenly, the four white stones scattered far.
Positioned north, south, east, west around Dokgo Hyun, hovering idly.
'What? Encirclement?'
He didn't get it at first.
Even encirclement needed pressure; hovering midway at head height made no sense.
'Doesn't make sense! That's why it's dangerous!'
His instincts screamed.
"Kuh!"
He ducked just in time.
With the message, a flash and explosion erupted at the stones' center.
Flash!!
BOOM!!
An obliterating light.
Dokgo Hyun, at the epicenter, barely escaped the radius.
"Urk?!"
Even outside, the shock hit hard.
He rolled sideways, far from the encirclement.
"Rolling like that won't escape my Go stones' net!!"
Lee Jong-eun shouted from inside.
'As I thought! Encircled means death!'
Go rules.
Black dies if surrounded by white.
True to that, four stones at set distance triggered a central blast.
'But just avoid encirclement, right?'
Problem: the stones flew freely.
Dodging cost stamina.
Plus, they'd loosely feint encirclement, then snipe his head.
Thud!
"Kuh!"
Blocking a headbound stone with his forearm, the other three formed encirclement.
Flash!
BOOM!
"Kuh!"
This blast was weaker.
'Wider net, farther from center = weaker. Tight and close = stronger.'
Being encircled was lethal regardless.
Whoooosh...!
White stones repositioned to encircle again.
Dokgo Hyun timed it and activated a skill.
'[Afterimage Creation]!'
Using the [Time Distortion]-derived special move, he left multiple afterimages.
Whoooosh!
The four stones faltered, trajectories disrupted.
Unable to distinguish real from fake.
"Huh?!"
Lee Jong-eun panicked inside.
Thud!
Dokgo Hyun seized the gap.
"[Instant Acceleration]!"
Vwooom!!
Grass and dirt sprayed behind as he blitzed forward.
Crash!
He smashed through the door into the house.
Dim inside despite daylight—no lights.
"Kgh...!"
He faced the flailing Lee Jong-eun in the living room.
No escape since Dokgo Hyun burst in.
"Pretty good ability. Remote control, solid damage."
"......"
"Failing to one-shot me was your downfall."
Dokgo Hyun lunged to kill.
But Lee Jong-eun stayed cool.
Dokgo Hyun sensed something mid-charge.
Swish!
Something zipped across the dark floor at high speed.
'Something's there!'
Thud!
He leaped aside.
Shooosh!
Four white stones grazed ankle height.
"Whew, spotted the ankle shot and dodged. As expected, you're tough."
Lee Jong-eun sounded regretful.
"There were eight Go stones from the start. I only sent four outside."
Exactly.
Sending four lured him; the rest were hidden.
Safety net, trump card.
Head-only attacks from the four? Setup to blindside from below.
Hide the rest on the dim living room floor and corners, lure him in, ankle strike.
The Go club's ace's scheme: herding the fool.
"Anyway, I win."
Snap!
All eight Go stones whirred threateningly, irregularly.
Swish...
"With four, it was cardinal directions. Now eight: cardinals, diagonals, up, down—multi-layer encirclement."
Dire straits.
"Go!"
At Lee Jong-eun's shout, eight stones swarmed from all angles.
'Too late if encircled!! Run!!'
Unlike four, guarding up/down made evasion brutal.
'Outside first!'
Thud!
Dokgo Hyun bolted outdoors.
"Fleeing to open space? Too late!"
Lee Jong-eun yelled, pursuing to keep line of sight for the kill.
The moment he chased out...
Whoooosh!
Venom Knife flew menacingly.
"Kuh?!"
Lee Jong-eun barely dodged.
Thunk!!
The forceful Venom Knife embedded in the doorframe beside him.
Chilling.
'Hit would be instant death, not just injury.'
One second earlier dash, and it'd be his throat.
"Tch."
Dokgo Hyun clicked his tongue.
He'd anticipated the immediate pursuit and thrown accordingly.
'One-second miss.'
As Dokgo Hyun regretted...
Swish.
The eight Go stones had already encircled him.