Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Jump Game (1)
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Hong Youngja let out an "Oh my goodness" and hurried up to the stage.
Dokgo Hyun followed hesitantly, while the young man named Kang O-su moved so slowly it was like he really didn't want to go up there.
"Come on now, looks like no applause means you won't come up quick! Applause! Applause!!"
Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap...
With the sound of applause, all three of them stood on stage.
Hong Youngja was a heavily made-up woman in her late forties.
Dokgo Hyun was a high school senior.
Kang O-su looked like an unemployed young man with a hoodie pulled over his head.
"Player Dokgo Hyun has been selected as the Master of Violent Handshakes for delivering the most intense handshake."
'Huh. Not bad.'
While Dokgo Hyun checked his potions and coins, the TV-headed man blabbered on about the other two's titles.
"And Player Hong Youngja has been selected as the Master of Happy Handshakes! Not only did she exchange many handshakes and greetings, but she did so repeatedly with genuine warmth and joy."
Clap clap clap clap...
"Player Kang O-su, the Master of Solitary Multi-Handshakes, wore his name tag yet never directly greeted or shook hands with a single person—yet he shook hands with the most people. That's why he's selected."
Clap clap clap...
It was applause tinged with a bit of confusion.
The players murmured among themselves.
"Didn't shake hands with even one person, but shook hands with the most people?"
"What does that even mean?"
"Who knows. Probably used some skill or pulled a trick."
Those below the stage muttered like that.
As the three stood awkwardly waiting for what came next, the TV-headed man tilted his oversized head.
"What are you doing? Get off the stage already."
"......"
They'd been called up expecting some kind of speech or statement, but he shooed them down immediately.
'Well, better than drawing more attention. But if that's the case, just give it through the system.'
Dokgo Hyun grumbled inwardly.
"Alright, now for the really important announcement."
The TV-headed man said.
As if the handshake masters bit was just cheap entertainment.
"The orientation greetings are over, so we'll collect all the name tags."
Flash!
All the name tags vanished.
"The Total Administrator's vital announcement to the entire world is coming up soon, so keep your eyes on the stage!"
Murmur murmur...
"Worldwide broadcast?"
"Important announcement, huh."
"Ugh, this is tense."
As the players grew tense, a massive screen descended from behind the stage.
Static crackle.
The broadcast soon began.
"Ah, can you all see me? It's me."
The Total Administrator appeared on screen.
His location was a South Korean national broadcast news channel.
"Should be live worldwide... but ugh, some of my masked clones are lagging on taking over the stations. Setting up stations in countries without them takes time. Ah, seriously."
The Total Administrator grumbled.
"Players of the world, you've just finished Phase 1 of the preliminaries—Mission 1, right? Go ahead and knock out a few more missions. We'll thin out the survivors anyway. See you soon!"
Flash!
The broadcast cut off.
"Hmm."
The supervisor TV-headed man looked a bit flustered.
"Ahem! Uh, since the broadcast prep is taking a bit, we'll proceed with the preliminary schedule for now..."
Swish.
Someone in the front row raised their hand.
"I have a question!"
A bespectacled young man held up his hand.
"What's your name, questioner?"
"Jang Eon-seok."
The bespectacled young man had a slightly irritable yet cautious vibe.
"Well, questions are tricky. I figured you'd ask something tough, and with my authority... hmm."
The TV-headed man pondered briefly before saying,
"How about this: every time you clear a mission, we'll randomly select one survivor to ask a question."
The young man nodded at the TV-headed man's words.
"Survivors, huh. So another death game starts, as expected."
The young man muttered in a worried but composed tone, seeming convinced.
The other players showed varying degrees of concern too.
"Ah, figures..."
"Sniff sniff. I relaxed because the first game was just greetings."
"Damn, why make us greet if it's gonna be like this?"
"Come on, everyone, stay calm. We've all survived tough tutorials already, right?"
"......"
Sighs, tears, frustration, encouragement, silence.
All sorts of reactions.
'Just get it started already.'
Dokgo Hyun lightly stretched.
"Then I'll send the mission window!"
Jump Game
Goal: Play a jump game where you jump in place on the supervisor's whistle cue.
Must jump between 10cm and 50cm off the ground. No jump or out-of-range means failure.
Complete 100 jumps total. Shout the number energetically with each jump. No strict volume rule, but if the supervisor deems voices too quiet, he can fail everyone at his discretion.
However, if even one player shouts the final number '100', it's a total failure.
Player-on-player killing during the jump game is prohibited in principle.
Success Bonus: Full stamina recovery.
Failure Penalty: Death for players who break rules. Total failure penalizes everyone.
Hint: Shout numbers loudly. Jump hard but forget to shout and you die. Do it right in one go to survive.
"Everyone see the mission window? Whistle in 1 minute. Stretch and prep!"
The TV-headed man's face crackled with static, then a 1-minute timer and whistle icon appeared.
Dokgo Hyun, having memorized the mission window, thought,
'This is gonna kill a bunch.'
Murmur murmur...
Players reread the window, sharing info.
"Jumps, huh."
"Reminds me of middle school retreats."
"There were always idiots who yelled the last 100."
"Nah, with lives on the line, who'd mess that up?"
"Hmm..."
No one failed to grasp the rules.
They shared details, stretched.
"Should we shout 'One!' or 'Il!'?"
"Does it matter?"
"Better to unify. 'Il' it is. Il, i, sam style."
"Yeah. Later numbers like sixty-five! sixty-six! get tiring. 65! 66! is easier."
Consensus formed.
'Pretty sharp bunch. No panic.'
Dokgo Hyun had to admit that much inwardly.
Everyone was motivated.
"Let's all nail this!"
"You got this!"
"Not a competition—aim for full survival!"
"Hell yeah!!"
'Rah-rah' vibes popped up here and there.
The supervisor waited silently on stage.
"Il!"
Two enthusiastic men jumped.
That instant.
Flash! Flash!
Laser cannons hidden among the ceiling lights fired.
Thud! Thud!
The smell of burning hair, scalp, and skull filled the air as the two players died.
'Idiots.'
'No whistle yet, why jump, damn fools?'
'Shit. Bad omen from the start.'
'Hey, blood pouring from those corpses?'
Right after the survivor count popped up as a system message.
Screeech!!
The supervisor blew the whistle suddenly.
"Il!!"
Everyone shouted "Il" and jumped properly.
All landed safely.
"......"
No deaths.
Screeech!!
"I!!"
Screeech!!
"Sam!!"
Success after success.
The supervisor blew at regular intervals, and they reached 19.
Hoooonk!!
A sudden horn blared from the stage speakers.
Flinch!
Many stumbled awkwardly.
They barely managed jumps, though.
Screeech!!
Exploiting the momentary imbalance, the whistle blew.
"Isip!!"
Most succeeded.
"Ahh..."
"Scaring us with speakers outta nowhere!!"
Flash! Flash!
Zzzap! Zzzap!
Two died.
Nothing major, but among the dead was Isam-sik, subordinate of Kim Min-kyung.
The supervisor blew the whistle nonchalantly, as if nothing happened.
Screeech!!
......
......
They soon hit 50.
Two more died in the meantime.
"Damn! Slipped on blood!"
"Slipped on a corpse!"
Complaints fell on deaf ears; lasers flashed.
Flash! Flash!
Zzzap! Zzzap!
They became bleeding corpses too.
The two new corpses appeared far from Dokgo Hyun, near Kim Min-kyung with the [Mother of Parasites] skill.
"Oh? Corpses making jumps tough."
"I'll handle it."
Her bodyguard Namgung Hyeop grabbed one corpse per hand.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
He hurled them at the wall.
Screeech!!
The TV-headed man blew the whistle at a tricky timing, targeting Namgung Hyeop.
"Osipil!!"
Namgung Hyeop, as if expecting it, jumped leisurely with Kim Min-kyung.
"Heh. Only this many casualties past 51. High level."
The TV-headed man chatted idly on purpose.
"Huff. Huff."
"What's he scheming now?"
"Damn, want a healing potion."
The players were fairly worn out.
True to surviving the tutorial, many had pumped stamina stats with coins.
Objectively, it wasn't intense enough to tire them based on stats.
But jumping under death's tension? Not easy.
"Stay sharp, everyone. Difficulty's about to..."
Screeech!!
Sudden whistle.
"Osibi!!"
Many succeeded.
"Ack!"
"W-Wait!"
"Doing it mid-sentence?!"
Flash!
Zzzzzap!
Those who missed jumps died.
"Speeding up now."
Screeech!!
That's when things started crumbling.
Fatigue piling up, corpses littering the floor—no player could handle it forever.
"Aaaagh!"
"If you're dying, die alone!"
"Don't shove corpses this way!!"
"Damn it! Guess we jump on corpses then!"
One player, annoyed by a corpse in the way, tried jumping on top of it.
Not against rules.
Slip!
"Ah, fuck, slipped on this pig's gut..."
Screeech!
Sudden whistle.
Flash!
Zzzzzzzzzap...!
By '75', five more died.
"Huff, huff, huff."
"L-Legs going numb."
"Anyone got healing potion? Please. Huhu-hng."
"Less talking... shove... corpses aside... you bastards...!"
Voices grew quieter all around.
The supervisor slyly stretched whistle intervals.
Occasionally saying, "2 minutes to clear corpses aside," or "1 minute 30 seconds rest for potions or water."
Surprisingly, promises of time grants were kept to the second.