Chapter 85: 8-Squad. New Map
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 85: 8-Squad. New Map
The moment the blinding light vanished, a familiar heat surged through my body.
“Hyung!”
Turning toward the youthful voice, I felt Lyle—draped in a robe far too large for his small frame—collide with my side. If I hadn't recognized him as Lyle, I might have counterattacked instinctively, despite being in the waiting room.
I pulled the boy off me, noticing the leather robe he was dragging along the floor.
“It’s been a while. You’ve been well?”
“Yes! I missed you!”
I ruffled the hair of the kid who could say such cheesy things without blinking. Soon, the rest of the team gathered around.
“Hey, hey. This is all well and good, but get rid of those things over your heads. We’re already a full squad; no need to draw unnecessary attention.”
I checked after hearing Dump’s voice—he seemed even bulkier than before—and saw that only Gi-chan and I had our Rank Emblems floating above our heads. The White Sword and the Crown were ranks that stood out to anyone.
“How do you set this?” Gi-chan asked.
Juriel answered, “Just wave your hand over your head, and it’ll disappear.”
Seo-un and Gi-chan swiped at the air simultaneously, and their ranks vanished like smoke.
“We only have 100 minutes, so everyone, gather round.”
Attention had briefly shifted to Seo-un’s Crown rank, but there was no time to worry about other people’s gazes. At the mention of "only 100 minutes," the excitement of the reunion faded from the team members' eyes, replaced by a sharp focus as they crowded around Seo-un.
The way their demeanors shifted instantly, like a switch being flipped, showed they were veterans who had survived enough of Cloyd.
“Does anyone have information on this map?”
As soon as they sat on the floor, Gi-chan cast Silence. Seo-un looked around at his teammates, but no one spoke up immediately. After a long silence, Jin Long finally opened his mouth.
“Surely… it doesn’t mean that Upper Realm, does it?”
At his apprehensive question, the players from the fantasy worlds looked confused.
“I’m suspecting the same thing,” Seo-un said.
“Where exactly is this ‘Upper Realm’?” Dump asked bluntly.
The martial artists hesitated, unsure of how to explain. Seo-un answered for them.
“It’s… where the immortals live? To put it simply, think of it as a place for angels or gods. A place where beings beyond humanity exist.”
The moment he spoke, everyone’s expressions mirrored each other in shock. Li Lingwei spoke up.
“The Nascent Soul from last time was more than enough. If this is the real Upper Realm and some weird Epic Monster pops out again, I’m out. We barely got through that time by pure luck…”
Rimin’s eyes widened as he shouted, “A Nascent Soul?! Why would something like that appear as a monster?!”
It was a natural reaction. Seo-un briefly explained what had happened to the team members who hadn't been there.
“Unbelievable! You absorbed a Nascent Soul?!”
“Well, I got lucky.”
As the story came up again, Jin Long shook his head. “Even so, to use the Great Blood-Born Demon Method… I have no idea what my Master was thinking.”
“Is the Elder still in seclusion?”
“He is. I don’t know what’s on his mind. He entered seclusion so suddenly and shows no sign of coming out. There are already grim rumors circulating…”
Jin Long trailed off, glancing at the teammates who had come from the Murim. Rimin and Li Lingwei met his gaze with awkward expressions. Seeing the three of them like that, Seo-un looked puzzled, prompting Li Lingwei to speak.
“Rumors have started spreading through the Gangho that Old Man Yugok has achieved Ascension.”
In a way, it could be a very good rumor, but seeing Jin Long’s face, Seo-un could tell it wasn't meant in a positive way. Noticing Jin Long’s discomfort, Rimin added his piece.
“Elder Ipseon is respected as a great senior of the Gangho, regardless of faction. But his influence is just as vast. Those who wish to escape that influence are eyeing his absence, and the dark rumors are endless.”
“Don’t worry. Rumors are powerless before the truth anyway. They’ll vanish once the Elder breaks his seclusion,” Seo-un said. “More importantly, the problem is this map. Everyone, open your maps.”
The expressions of those who opened their maps were grim.
“As you can see, it’s like this.”
While everyone was aghast at the map, which looked like islands scattered across a sea, Seo-un continued his explanation.
“It’s a terrain where twelve islands surround one large central island. Furthermore, the magnetic field isn't circular; it’s shaped like…”
As he trailed off, Gi-chan finished the thought. “It looks like a starfish.”
“This magnetic field shape matches the twelve islands perfectly.”
Even the simple-minded Dump could deduce that this force field was different from the usual.
“This is just a guess, but this game might not be a simple competition for survival,” Seo-un noted. “You’ve all probably felt the rules shifting away from pure survival. There might be other rules forced upon us this time.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Considering the previous game, which forced them into Kutrapa’s Sanctuary as a second map and introduced special missions with special coins, it was only natural to expect something new.
“Looking at the map’s characteristics, we’ll likely decide our drop point while circling these islands. I’m not sure which one is more advantageous, though.”
“Won’t everyone eventually gather at the center island anyway?” Jin Long suggested. “It might be better to just take a position there from the start.”
Rimin carefully voiced a counter-argument while watching Jin Long's reaction. “That might be a bit problematic…”
“We’re on the same team; speak freely. I shall listen to your wise counsel,” Jin Long said.
At the words of Jin Long—who was considered one of the top young geniuses and known as the Yugok Prodigy—Rimin smiled and continued.
“Many people will likely have the same thought upon seeing this map. If we drop on the center island for no reason, we might get caught in a massive brawl, don't you think?”
Juriel agreed with Rimin and nodded. “We don’t know the map’s characteristics yet, so it’s not good to lose out on early farming due to unnecessary fighting. It would be better to land on one of the twelve islands, get a feel for the game, and buy ourselves time to react.”
Seo-un nodded. “I agree. There’s no need to gamble from the start. This is a game where more than half the players will be eliminated before the TOP 300. Let’s play as defensively as possible.”
“Now that you put it that way, it makes sense.”
Seeing Jin Long concede so easily, a lively discussion began again. The players who had been wandering in search of teams seemed to have all found their groups after about an hour. Like Seo-un’s squad, they were all sitting in circles, plotting their strategies.
With less than 30 minutes left before the game started, Seo-un’s squad finished their discussion.
“If things go as expected, we drop on the second island we pass, no matter what.”
As everyone nodded, Seo-un carefully brought up a new topic. “And as a regular squad, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you all.”
With everyone’s attention focused on him, Seo-un paused to pull canned drinks from his subspace and pass them around. While the teammates, holding cans they had never seen before, popped them open and quenched their thirst, he began his proposal.
“I’m thinking of bringing in a new team member.”
The first to react was, of course, Jin Long. “It seems you have a player in mind. Who is it? Someone I know?”
When Seo-un nodded, Juriel and Li Lingwei’s expressions stiffened. The two of them, who had witnessed the meeting between Jin Long and Seo-un, figured that if it was a player Jin Long knew, they likely knew them too. Naturally, one specific player crossed their minds.
“Nam Sa-gwang. What do you all think about accepting him as a member of our regular squad?”
Reactions to the name Nam Sa-gwang were mixed. Jin Long looked like he was considering it positively, while Rimin, Dump, and Lyle looked puzzled, having never heard the name. Meanwhile, Juriel and Li Lingwei didn't relax their stiff expressions, seemingly feeling an instinctive repulsion.
“Who’s that? A strong player?” Dump asked bluntly.
Seo-un nodded. “Very.”
Seeing Seo-un answer without hesitation, the three who didn't know Nam Sa-gwang grew curious. The Jin Seo-un they knew was a capable and sharp player, but he wasn't someone who acknowledged others easily.
“Is he on the level of Ye Haoran?” Rimin asked.
Seo-un shook his head. “He’s incomparable to him. He’s overwhelmingly strong.”
The three of them widened their eyes. Strength that overwhelmed Ye Haoran?
“A martial artist?”
When Seo-un nodded, Rimin’s face filled with curiosity. He wondered why he didn't know the name of a master who couldn't even be compared to Ye Haoran.
“He’s a hidden master who has undergone Rejuvenation,” Jin Long explained, resolving the mystery.
Rimin, looking horrified at the mention of Rejuvenation, gasped. “Re-Rejuvenation?! Is that true?”
“It is.”
Seeing Jin Long’s bitter smile, Rimin tilted his head. He couldn't understand why the others looked so troubled. “Is he perhaps a Great Demonic Fiend from a previous generation?”
Sensing the intent behind the question, Jin Long shook his head. “He is of the Righteous Faction.”
“Then there’s nothing to worry about, is there? If he’s that strong, we must accept him.”
Jin Long glanced at Li Lingwei and Juriel before speaking. As he explained the incident with Nam Sa-gwang from the previous game, Rimin’s face twitched.
“So, you’re saying…”
“I’m saying he has a taste for being sadistic toward women,” Li Lingwei said flatly.
Rimin nodded awkwardly. “That’s… a unique taste.”
It wasn't something that could be summarized as merely "unique."
“There would certainly be advantages to having him with us,” Juriel said after long deliberation. Li Lingwei also nodded. It was obvious the other players were walking on eggshells because of them, so they had to make a decision.
“There’s no denying he’d be an asset to the team. If everyone else is in favor, I’ll agree as well.”
With the two women’s consent, everyone else followed suit.
“But is he a scary person?” Lyle asked, his eyes wide with worry.
Seo-un nodded. “He’s a scary bastard, yeah. But if he’s on our team, there’s no one more reliable. And if the deal goes well, we might even get help from him outside of the game.”
The martial artists' eyes gleamed. They instinctively knew what it meant to receive help from a master who had achieved Rejuvenation.
At the announcement of the prizes, several players began to buzz with excitement.
Everyone was bewildered by the unfamiliar term "Seondongun," but the game began regardless.
The moment his vision shifted along with the familiar sensation, Seo-un noticed something unusual.
Instead of crossing the map, the vision from the sky was soaring even higher. As the vision continued to climb, Seo-un wondered if they were going to break through the atmosphere. At that moment, Argas’s Eye came to a sudden halt.
Looking down at the map that came into view, Seo-un was shocked. Instead of islands floating on the sea, cloud islands were floating in the sky. Watching Argas move clockwise starting from the topmost island, Gi-chan shouted.
It was Jin Long’s additional briefing. In an unfamiliar game environment, the experienced players had made a bold move by dropping at the starting point to catch others off guard.
But Seo-un had expected that. That was why they had strategized to drop on the second island. It was the method Seo-un thought would truly catch other players off guard.
At Seo-un’s order, everyone began their descent. Seo-un flipped his body, scanning the other players falling with them.
Acting as the scout and commander for this game, Seo-un’s eyes gleamed as he watched the other players’ descents.
At Jin Long’s briefing, Seo-un gave the order.
Flipping his body in mid-air, Seo-un turned toward the direction Jin Long was running. Jin Long, Li Lingwei, and Rimin led the charge, followed closely by Lyle, Gi-chan, and Juriel, who had already mounted their Air Boards. Dump and Seo-un were aiming their descent directly toward that location.
In Seo-un’s vision, he saw Jin Long, who had been leading the charge, collide with two knights who had drawn their weapons the moment they landed.
It was an order from Seo-un, who had grasped the battlefield at a glance from above. Seeing the players landing near Jin Long and engaging him as if they had expected it, it seemed their landing near his squad was no coincidence.