Chapter 21: The Real Fun of Survival is Going Full Lu Bu
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 21: The Real Fun of Survival is Going Full Lu Bu
Cloyd Survival was the only chance to change his fate and that of his family.
He could have graduated normally, found a decent job, and lived a diligent life. But even if he worked himself to the bone, he didn't think his life would be any different from his parents’, who lived in constant anxiety, terrified they wouldn't have enough money for surgery.
The moment Seo-un completely erased thoughts of school or TOEIC academies from his mind, his life veered sharply off its previous tracks.
While taking the subway home, his eyes naturally drifted toward the phones of the students sitting next to him. They were chattering away while watching a video.
"This is totally staged."
"They faked it just to rack up views, obviously."
"I'm telling you, it's not! This guy posted a similar video a while ago, but his account got deleted and all the videos were taken down. There’s something going on."
In the video, a man holding a wooden sword was performing movements in the mountains that were hard to believe were humanly possible. The highlight was the end of the video, where he kicked off between two trees, leaped over five meters into the air, and split a rock in half with the wooden sword.
Naturally, Seo-un’s eyes widened.
He quickly opened the YouTube app on his own phone to find the video, but for some reason, it didn't show up in the search results.
"Oh! Look at this! It’s deleted again."
"Seriously?"
"Look! 'This channel has been deleted for violating content regulations.' See? Why would they be so desperate to delete it?"
"Come to think of it, I heard there’s an increasing number of videos being uploaded worldwide of people claiming to be superhumans."
"Yeah. But all those videos are being scrubbed."
As he listened to the students, Seo-un’s face hardened.
I wasn't the only one.
He had considered the possibility that someone else on Earth might have encountered Cloyd Survival. However, a part of him had been certain that they were either an absolute minority or that he might even be the only one if he was lucky.
He tightly clenched his sweaty fists.
*
Inside a cramped office, a middle-aged man was restlessly clutching a telephone, surrounded by men who stood watching him warily. The office, already small, felt even more claustrophobic with the large, bulky men filling the space.
"I understand. We will rectify it."
"@[email protected][email protected][email protected]#! "
"O-Of course! If necessary, I'll even cut off this country's internet communication to set things right."
The shouting from the other end of the line was loud enough to echo through the office.
"I am sorry!"
The middle-aged man repeatedly bowed his head, apologizing over and over again. After hanging up, he wiped his sweat, looking completely drained, and collapsed into his plush chair.
"Sigh. The higher-ups are certain the guy who uploaded the video this time is Korean... What happened?"
"R-Recently, the number of Survivors has been increasing rapidly... It's practically impossible to keep track of all the new ones..."
A crystal ashtray flew toward the face of the man who had barely managed to finish his sentence.
Thwack!
His nose bone twisted instantly, and blood began to pour.
"If the number of new guys is increasing, why isn't our organization's membership growing at all?! You bastard! Are you playing games with me?"
"I am sorry!"
The middle-aged man glared at the bleeding man, who stood stiffly with his head bowed, before sinking back into his chair.
"Don't get the floor dirty. Stop the bleeding."
As soon as he finished speaking, a man who had been standing in the corner stepped forward and placed his hand on the bleeding man's face.
Whoosh!
The moment a green light shimmered on his hand, the broken nose and torn face were miraculously restored. No one in the room seemed the least bit surprised by this mystery.
"The higher-ups say they'll increase the number of monitoring staff for 24-hour surveillance, but this isn't enough. Capture all those damn attention-seekers who are itching for the spotlight. I don't care if they're dead or alive. We have to put out the immediate fire first."
"Yes, sir!"
Despite the thunderous response, the middle-aged man still looked displeased.
"As if those damn Free Bear bastards weren't enough of a headache."
*
Even though the midsummer heat had subsided and the night breeze was quite chilly, a man stood under the light of a flickering streetlamp, sweating in a thin short-sleeved shirt.
Despite it being well past midnight, the man moved with light, agile footwork, scattering sweat around him. With his arms held in an '11' shape in front of his body, his constant, light bouncing looked somewhat like a boxer's steps, yet there was an indiscernible, rhythmic pattern within his free movements.
"Huff... Huff..."
Even though he was gasping for breath, the man did not stop. Gradually, his movements began to accelerate, and then, in an instant, they changed.
The footwork that had looked like steps suddenly pressed down, his heels striking the earth, and the man's figure became a blur.
In a flash, the blurred man split into two within the space.
As if a mirror had been set up, the two men—identical in appearance and movement—lightly threw punches at each other. Then, one of them vanished.
At that same moment, Seo-un collapsed onto the ground.
"Huff... Huff... Phew... As expected, one is the limit."
With his current internal power, even if he pushed Muryeong Phantom Step to its peak, creating a single phantom was his limit. Even then, he could only maintain it for a very brief moment.
At first, he could barely manage to create a motionless phantom, but after a month of steady practice, he was able to replicate movement, albeit briefly.
"Sigh."
In the other world, he had created eight phantoms to give that terrifying Madman of the Battlefield a 'Game Over.' Thinking that a single phantom was his limit now left Seo-un feeling deeply disappointed.
The most regrettable part was that all the vitality he had gained in the last game had vanished along with the loss of the Naehaseong Mental Method.
"Still... this is better than nothing."
He muttered to himself, trying to offer some comfort. Although it was a martial art supported by the system, the fact that he could become more accustomed to it and increase its power through training was a small consolation.
While he was sweating and training like this, he could feel the anxiety and fear regarding the next survival game fade slightly.
"The problem is still the Boundless Fist."
The Boundless Fist, which required him to charge in recklessly with his two fists, put Seo-un in a difficult position. He had chosen it because he hadn't looted any other martial arts, but compared to weapon techniques, the fact that it was a striking art made him very uneasy.
Furthermore, the creator of the Boundless Fist was none other than Manpaeja.
"One guy is called 'Ipseon,' while the other is 'Manpaeja.'"
Just hearing the title of Yugok Ipseon Jang Do-cheon, who had passed down the mental art to him, made his status in that world clear. They wouldn't just give the title of 'Immortal' to anyone.
The mental art of such an incredible person combined with the striking art of the 'Ten-Thousand Loser.' No matter how he thought about it, it wasn't a good combination.
"I should be moving on to the next stage soon..."
Since he had learned it through the system, he had been able to complete the first stage of Boundless Fist training without much difficulty. He had practiced all thirty movement patterns of the Boundless Fist until they were familiar.
The problem was the second stage of training.
The second stage involved training to deflect spears, swords, and arrows with his fists. It was difficult to do alone, and even with help, it was an incredibly dangerous method.
It was a technique where one extended a fist and used its flexibility to strike the side of an incoming weapon with the elbow or the back of the hand, but it was fraught with training difficulties.
For now, he could only practice alone by visualizing it. Otherwise...
"It's the kind of training that's perfect for getting killed. Sigh."
Exhaling a long sigh, Seo-un stood up, dusted off his clothes, and headed down the mountain. It was time to go and perform Qi Condensation, even if the amount he gained was meager.
Fortunately, thanks to the effect of Cameron's Necklace, he could accumulate as much internal power as he had in the other world.
He returned home, put on Cameron's Necklace, and was performing Qi Condensation when a bright light burst through his closed eyelids.
At the same time, just as he felt his entire body heating up, a dense forest filled his vision.
Unlike before, Seo-un was summoned to the Cloyd Survival waiting room without losing consciousness. He looked around.
There was still the giant, bizarre-looking statue whose meaning was hard to discern, and people were appearing one by one, chattering in incomprehensible languages.
"@[email protected]#!#[email protected]#"
"[email protected][email protected]@#[email protected]!#[email protected]#[email protected]!!!"
The people appearing one after another were all shouting in panic or confusion, unable to properly grasp the situation.
As Seo-un observed them, the corners of his mouth slowly curled into a smile.
This... maybe...
[Thank you for participating in Cloyd Survival.]
[Beginning the Cloyd Survival tutorial explanation.]
Tutorial?!
At the people's reactions and the word 'tutorial,' an irrepressible smile spread across Seo-un’s face. Judging by the reactions of the panicked and confused players, they were clearly all rookies.
Moreover, a tutorial—something that had been skipped in his first game. It was certain that the difficulty would be lower than back then.
Keeping his head down, Seo-un quietly moved to a shaded spot in the corner of the clearing and spent some time carefully observing the people's attire and behavior.
Most were wearing armor or robes, and there were quite a few who looked like martial artists.
Among them, one person caught his eye.
A boy was sitting atop the statue, which was easily over twenty meters high, looking down with a playful, amused expression. What made him stand out wasn't just his behavior, but his attire.
He wasn't wearing robes or armor, nor did he look like a martial artist; he was wearing a familiar school uniform. The boy, dressed in navy pants and a navy jacket, was the very image of the students Seo-un knew from Earth.
And that expression... he's not panicked at all. He's an experienced player.
If he weren't experienced, a boy from Earth wouldn't have had the ability to climb that high statue in the first place.
So I'm not the only experienced player after all. And I'm not the only player from Earth, either.
He had suspected as much from the videos on YouTube, but seeing such a young player made him certain.
As the boy, looking down at the noisy clearing with a smirk, turned his head, Seo-un quickly stepped back. He retreated until his view of the boy was blocked by a tree and let out a sigh.
He could have pretended to be an Otherworlder, but he was wearing a tracksuit from a very familiar brand. Pretending to be a rookie wouldn't help.
If he was an Earthling and not an Otherworlder, it was a fact that any experienced player—especially one from Earth—would know: Earthlings were the weakest among the rookies.
"Tsk."
He didn't particularly like the fact that he was hiding from a kid who looked like he was only in middle school. But there was no helping it.
As he watched the people appearing in the clearing, he could clearly distinguish between the experienced players and the rookies. There were those who were panicking, and those who were calmly observing their surroundings.
Not everyone is a rookie. But why did experienced players get put into a tutorial?
Even if he thought about it, he didn't even know who had created this game, so there was no way he could figure out the specific circumstances or reasons.
But that wasn't what was important.
What matters is that this is an opportunity.
The difference between a rookie and an experienced player was massive. Even if the opponents were fierce Otherworlders, this difference in experience would inevitably have a huge impact on the pace of the game.
At least one day. The first day is what's important.
The first day after the game started. He had to make his move during this first day, when most players would be failing to adapt and acting like idiots.
[200 participants connected. Starting Cloyd Survival.]
[Language synchronization... 50%... 90%... 100%. Complete.]
As the announcement began, the crowd stirred once more. As expected, some began attacking each other, while others moved far away to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Some people's attire suggested they had lived difficult lives.
[Starting the game. Difficulty: Lowest. Place within the TOP 200. Attacks between players are nullified in the current waiting room.]
[Designated Map: Kantras Valley. Rewards will be distributed differentially starting from TOP 20. Tutorial beginning.]
Difficulty: Lowest, Top 200. That means there's no risk even if I'm eliminated early.
After considering various plans on how to play, he decided on his playstyle for this game.
If there's no risk... then I'm going full Lu Bu.