Predator
“What? Did he get hit?”
“No way... can a pistol even reach that far?”
“He’s too far away to see anything.”
“In real life, you can fire a bullet from a pistol over a kilometer. The problem is that actually hitting anything is almost impossible.”
“At that range, what is it, over 300 meters? Almost 400? He’s way past effective range.”
It wasn’t as though anyone had zoomed in through a scope to check. Even the viewers watching the stream found it hard to tell whether the headshot had landed from that distance.
Of course, for Yeongho, whose senses were pushed to their absolute limit, it didn’t matter whether he could see it with his eyes or not—he knew the bullet had gone exactly where he’d aimed.
“It did hit, but the damage isn’t really sticking. Nothing I can do about that. All I’ve got on me right now is a mini sniper rifle.”
As he said that and kept firing his pistol, the opponent, having finished reloading his next round, took aim at Yeongho and tried to snipe him again.
Tat-tat! Kaang! Tat-tat!
But Yeongho only stood there, firing the pistols in both hands with relentless efficiency.
Few viewers noticed the impact sounds buried beneath the gunfire, but the tiny burst of sparks in the air was enough for most of them to guess what had happened.
“Looks like the bullets collided again. Seriously, how does that even happen? ;;”
“Excuse me, sir? Normal people don’t call pistols mini sniper rifles.”
“If I were holding a sniper rifle in front of GodFather, I’d probably have a total existential crisis...”
“Holy crap lol he said he was going to have a sniper duel, and I thought, what did he mean? He meant sniping with pistols lol”
“GodFather doing GodFather things again...”
“Hmm? Is there a problem? Sniping usually means shooting from far away and hitting the target, doesn’t it?”
“That’s a little different, but... he’s not exactly wrong, either, I guess;;”
“Lmao, if you can hit from 400 meters, then pistol shooting counts as sniping too.”
“The nation’s one and only pistol sniper has emerged!”
“Isn’t that kind of like saying it’s an assassination as long as there are no witnesses, no matter how you kill them...”
“Not just in Korea—if you look at the world, there probably isn’t anyone besides GodFather saying they’re going to snipe with a pistol...”
Setting aside accuracy for the moment, 400 meters was still a perfectly reachable distance for pistol fire.
But the bullet’s kinetic energy would inevitably drop off sharply.
Even by Battle Island’s own damage formula, once you passed a weapon’s standard range, its power could fall off dramatically.
By then, more than ten bullets had already lodged in the enemy’s head, yet he still hadn’t gone down and kept trying to snipe.
Still, as the saying went, even a fine drizzle will soak your clothes if it keeps falling long enough, and the damage from Yeongho’s pistol shots—diminished by the distance—was building up little by little.
The sniper on the other side couldn’t keep ignoring it, either, and eventually he took cover behind the railing for a moment.
“Looks like he ran off?”
“If it were me, I’d have panicked too lol”
“Imagine getting pushed around by a pistol while holding a sniper rifle at that range... I’m tearing up just watching.”
“Looking at the position, maybe the radiation had almost closed in and he had to move down?”
Different opinions flew through chat, but no one knew the answer.
Only Yeongho, whose senses were stretched out and caressing his target like invisible tendrils, knew exactly what the opponent was doing.
“Looks like he’s hiding for a bit to heal.”
“Huh? He’s back out.”
“If it’s come to this, he should just grab another gun already. Stubborn fool.”
“He’s probably thinking he can still win if he lands just one shot, so he’s clinging to hope.”
“He’s trying so hard lol”
The player had used a medkit to restore his health, moved a few meters away, then sprang up again and aimed in Yeongho’s direction.
Of course, there was no way Yeongho, who had been tracking every one of the man’s movements, would fall for something so crude.
The other man had taken aim first, but Yeongho’s bullet left the barrel a beat sooner.
Tat! Tuu-hwoong!
Once again, sparks burst in midair.
The distance was too great for viewers to make out the enemy’s expression, but Yeongho could tell the man was wearing a dumbfounded, exasperated look.
He didn’t care either way. His pistols kept spitting fire.
Tat-tat! Tat-tat!
The opponent, whose health had been slowly ticking down from the bullets bouncing off his head, finally seemed to accept that this was a game he couldn’t win, and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Go to hell—! Fine, have it your way, you bastard!”
“...!?”
“Lmao he’s pissed lol”
“If I got hit like that, even the Buddha would get annoyed.”
“He came all this way and the last guy he met was basically superhuman...”
“If you ask me, the only way to take down GodFather is to meet him indoors with a shotgun. Even then, he’d probably still need three people.”
“I feel bad just watching.”
In games, the loser’s curses are basically a kind of praise.
While the viewers chuckled at the reaction of the sniper, who had been helplessly toyed with by pistols despite carrying a sniper rifle, Yeongho—who had judged that he was almost at the point of finishing the enemy off, even if no health bar was visible—suddenly widened his eyes in shock at the man’s outburst.
Then he stopped shooting for a moment, brought his hands up around his mouth, and shouted back loudly.
“I’m not a bastard with no kids—I have two children!”
“...!?”
At Yeongho’s completely unexpected reply, the viewers burst out laughing.
The enemy on the other side stayed silent for a moment, as if stunned, then screamed again.
“You absolute lunatic!”
And then he leapt straight off the railing.
Surprise always made for good comedy.
With one unexpected turn after another, the chat was now almost entirely flooded with nothing but “lol.”
“Huh!?”
Meanwhile, Yeongho, startled by the sight of the player suddenly throwing himself off after spewing such vile words, reflexively extended his pistols and pulled the triggers.
At roughly the same speed as the enemy’s body hit the ground, the bullet Yeongho fired struck him squarely.
-[damage] HP
[HawaiianPizza -> HawaiianPizza (DEAD)]
“Damn...”
It looked as though the fall damage had landed a fraction of a beat before the bullet, causing the game to register the enemy as having killed himself.
Feeling like he’d lost a kill for nothing, Yeongho let out a regretful sigh.
It wasn’t exactly an important kill whether he got it himself or not, but it still felt a little like dropping a piece of candy on the floor just after putting it in your mouth.
“No way lol even while he’s falling, he still shoots and hits him lol”
“So that was PizzaGuy? I know him—he doesn’t stream live, but he always uploads YouTube videos.”
“That’s insane aim...”
“Hawaiian Pizza? Isn’t he famous as a gaming YouTuber too?”
“If he dies by self-harm, his score drops even more. That guy isn’t normal either lol”
Judging by the things viewers were saying, they must have been in the same line of work, even if they used different platforms.
Glancing at chat, Yeongho shrugged and threw out a light joke.
“Guess there’s no system that gives you credit if you hit the ground within three seconds of dropping.”
“Lmao what are you talking about, old man?”
“Why would the three-second rule apply here lol”
“What does that even mean?”
“I understand what he means. America has a five-second rule too.”
“Isn’t the three-second rule basically an urban legend lol”
“We’ve got the five-second rule too over here in Canada.”
“New Zealanders know it too, the three-second rule.”
“Why are we suddenly uniting the world over picking up food that fell on the floor lol”
Thanks to the lively viewers, chat was even more animated than usual.
Then the victory message rolled in, and the match record appeared on screen.
Yeongho and Choi Pinam skipped over the details and moved into the waiting room.
“You worked hard, Hyung-nim!”
“You worked hard too, Pinam.”
“What happened to the rank points?”
At Choi Pinam’s question, Yeongho opened his profile to check his score.
[RP: 4801]
“Kiiyaaaa!! So the real Predator promotion is finally happening!”
“GodFather really is a legend... becoming Predator with an undefeated streak is an incredible record.”
“Does the Predator update happen right at 9:00?”
“Korean Cowboys. I trust you’ll share this glorious moment with us, of course.”
“Congrats in advance”
“Yeah, once it updates I’m sending a donation right away.”
Seeing the chat, Yeongho checked the time.
8:37.
As someone had said, the time when Predator tier updated was exactly 9:00.
It was later than the time he normally ended his stream, but instead of closing it right away, he decided to wait a little longer.
“I’m going to go wash my face for a second.”
He excused himself to the viewers and stepped out of the capsule.
Maybe because he had used more concentration than usual, he felt a brief wave of dizziness.
Choi Pinam, who came out after him looking worried, hurriedly reached out and supported him.
“Whoa! Hyung-nim, are you okay? Man, you’re sweating like crazy.”
“I’m fine. I’m just a little tired.”
“Once your leg’s fully healed, Hyung-nim, you should work out with me whenever you’ve got free time. Mental strength always needs physical support, and I’m sure it’ll help.”
“Haha, yeah. I should start exercising.”
It wasn’t the first time this had come up, and once again Choi Pinam brought it up.
Because a person’s real-life physical condition also affected their performance in VR games, he was saying Yeongho should start taking care of his body once his injury healed.
In fact, these days pro gamers didn’t just practice games; like sports athletes, they also trained their bodies, refusing to neglect conditioning.
He had never really exercised properly before, but Yeongho figured there was no harm in listening to Choi Pinam. He went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face.
The cool water washed away the heat building in his head from fatigue, and his mind cleared up somewhat.
After resting for a while and coming back to his seat, he found the viewers checking the time every minute, acting even more excited than he was.
“Thirteen minutes left!”
“Why is time moving so slowly, lol”
“Feels like waiting for instant ramen to cook lol”
“I want to see him hit Predator already~”
“I was going to leave after the promotion, but maybe I’ll just keep the stream on.”
They said that, but with barely ten minutes left, hardly anyone left; everyone simply waited for the time to come.
While chatting with the viewers through the short wait, 9:00 arrived before long.
Then, with a dazzling burst of effects in-game, a congratulatory message appeared before Yeongho’s eyes.
“With a strong survival instinct and strategic judgment, you have finally risen to the position of a perfect predator. At the top of the food chain, taste the fear and awe of those below you. However, never forget that you must always keep fighting with all your might.”
[SJ DAD]
[Predator]
When he checked his profile, a new effect had been added around his ID and tier display, a deep, sticky red that looked as if blood were running down the screen.
“It kind of gives off the vibe of a blood-drunk beast. Anyway, we did it, everyone.”
Before Yeongho had even finished sharing his thoughts, the stream exploded.
The viewers’ congratulatory chat and donation alerts came flooding in at a pace too fast for the eye to follow.