Chapter 270 – Unknown Tactic
“Unbelievable, just crazy.”
“Here comes another victim. Let’s open the notepad quickly.”
A user ejected into the lobby gasped for air and suddenly sat up from the bed. The person waiting in the room spoke as if it was no big deal, while the player, injected with a dose of reality, slowly began to regain their senses.
A holographic screen was fully projected on one side of the sterile wall. It was Yoo Jin’s gameplay screen. The reason for this was simple: it was to thoroughly dissect the unimaginable tricks she used.
The lessons to be learned, already endless, doubled as Yoo Jin started using her skills. Early elimination pro-gamers and coaches’ notepads grew heavier by the minute.
Especially when she used such unorthodox skills as today.
“Foam grenades? Foam skills are completely niche, aren’t they?”
“Well, it’s clear that they won’t be niche starting today.”
“It’s not that simple. Without precise knowledge of the explosion range of foam grenades and the expansion rate and angle of polyurethane foam, you can’t even attempt such a thing.”
That’s precisely why Yoo Jin was at the top.
She handled foam freely, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. But the results were far from simple. Every time a canister or grenade exploded with a ‘pop,’ an impenetrable shield would rise, blocking the enemy’s retreat.
Not only that, but burning the foam with incendiary or tracer rounds would release hydrogen cyanide gas, further debilitating the enemy.
Given the map, oxygen masks were available, but in a chase, no one had the luxury of calmly putting on a mask. Even if they could, adjusting their firearm accessories for proper aiming would be a challenge.
There was nothing but helpless laughter.
“She fights as easily as twisting a child’s wrist.”
“Is this really the Final Championship?”
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t… The words hung unspoken.
Even veterans with numerous deployments and those who had experienced countless battles were crushed under her feet. The unpredictable variables she introduced shattered the framework of combat, reducing her opponents to novices holding a gun for the first time.
At that moment, everyone realized: her physical prowess was just a secondary factor. Her real talent was assembling the battlefield as she wished—a fact the Korean representatives had known for months.
Victory through combat wasn’t simple.
To beat Yoo Jin, one had to understand her intentions and dismantle the board she was trying to assemble.
“Can that even be done?”
“She’s come prepared.”
Previously, her engagements felt like a bulldozer, using overwhelming physicality to block and pressure the enemy’s options. Now, with a foam grenade in her left hand and a gun in her right, her gameplay became even more menacing.
In a split second, escape routes were sealed off. Those lucky enough to have incendiary grenades barely escaped, but the flames and explosions only revealed their position.
By then, everyone understood.
“The potential of foam skills is too high.”
“There’s too much to consider to reach that level.”
“They’re sacrificing the Final Championship for future curriculum development.”
It was unbelievable but true.
“This is too much….”
But what could they do?
Those quick to catch on were already preparing for the next step.
“Negotiate with the Korean team as soon as possible. Find out when the players’ contracts expire after the Final Championship. If there’s no significant progress, suggest joint training after the tournament. Hurry!”
It was literally a farce.
Of course, the Korean team ignored these overtures.
“Contacts are coming in from everywhere except Orbital Gaming. What should we do?”
“Tell them we’re too busy to negotiate, as we’re barely managing our own players. Frame it nicely and send a reply.”
“Understood.”
The official reason was busyness, but the real reason was different.
Only about six people could fully understand and follow Yoo Jin’s curriculum. Those who learned from her but couldn’t fully digest it were slightly more numerous, while pro-gamers who couldn’t follow at all were countless.
Yoo Jin was a pinnacle, a peak among the linear progression of Korean pro-gamers’ skill graphs, continuously swallowing everything until fully digested.
While countless others had yet to grasp her essence, foreign players desired her or those taught by her. Their greed was understandable, but that was all it was.
“This is the most chaotic trip to the US I’ve ever had.”
Someone’s comment summed up everyone’s feelings.
This was the current state of the Final Championship.
“Damn it, just my luck. Of all people, it had to be Yoo Jin.”
It was a common reaction.
And it wasn’t entirely wrong. Yoo Jin was creating cover where there shouldn’t be any, driving Storm Seer into a corner of the warehouse. He knew where the emergency exits were, but honestly, he didn’t think he could escape.
But, even so, wasn’t adapting in real-time to find a way out exactly what they were made for?
Taking a small breath, he quickly sprang out and fired back at Yoo Jin, who also returned fire. But where he ended up wasn’t the cover Yoo Jin had set up—it was a bit to the side.
An explosion erupted from the cover he had bypassed.
───Boom!
“Ha, I knew it.”
He had expected at least one booby trap, and his assumption was spot on. Storm Seer suppressed a grin, and the battle returned to square one.
Their logical circuits began to operate once more.
‘So, what exactly did that person do before?’
To be honest, he wasn’t one to stick to standard protocols rigidly, but he also wasn’t someone who only relied on what he’d learned.
That’s why, when he entered the Dark Zone after his discharge, he became a pro in no time and rose to the top. The knowledge he gained in the military was definitely useful, but it wasn’t always the most efficient in every engagement.
The Final Championship, with its Apex Predator game rules, was an extreme battle royale that could never exist in reality. In battle royales, there were engagement methods specifically advantageous for such a setting.
And these methods didn’t converge with the objectives of field manuals or various special forces CQB courses.
So he mastered the ‘hunting methods’ unique to battle royales and kept this fact well-hidden.
Yet here he was.
───Boom!
Another grenade exploded, but it wasn’t near him—it was used as a literal distraction.
Every time he encountered such unexpected uses of explosives and firearms, he was reminded that his foundation was still built on countless CQB manuals based on conventional knowledge and experience.
‘Which unit teaches to use grenades like that?’
It wasn’t even a booby trap.
It was literally using explosives to create confusion.
A bizarre combat style focused solely on killing the opponent by any means necessary. But it worked extremely well. He realized this through yesterday’s debriefing and today’s skirmish.
Naturally, Storm Seer’s curiosity grew.
But there was no time to rest.
“Ha ha, damn it…!”
Clang!
A strange metallic sound accompanied a grenade rolling accurately towards him. He decided to flee in an unexpected direction, even if it meant taking some shield damage. As expected, a figure emerged from the most suitable escape route that came to mind in that split second.
Though a few bullets hit his back, Storm Seer quickly hid behind safe cover and kept pulling the trigger. He took significant damage, but if he had used the pre-determined escape route, he would’ve been ejected to the lobby immediately.
Yet even during this, his mind kept processing the earlier logic.
‘Given that such engagement logic stems from countless experiences…’
One year since his debut, he thoroughly analyzed every day, week, month, and year to establish the most effective combat methods for the Final Championship through numerous scrims, rank matches, and tournament entries.
But at this point, Yoo Jin had an even sharper and more effective combat logic than he had established. It made Storm Seer feel like he was in a real engagement, not a tournament.
And then, one forgotten fact crossed his mind.
Yoo Jin was once part of the U.S. military.
Which meant—
“…Where on earth was that guy?”
Not tactics usable only in deployment areas like Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Iraq, but tactics built against special forces from enemy states or individuals with even more extensive training… No, it was on a completely different level.
Was Yoo Jin’s strategy, by chance, designed specifically to kill an ‘ICARUS Operator’?
Considering there were no such things as ICARUS Operators in reality…
Where on earth was he stationed?
What kind of enemies did Yoo Jin’s unit train to face?
But—
───Boom!
“It’s risky to guess how many grenades they have.”
Who knew where Yoo Jin had gotten so many grenades, but this time, one arced high, coming from a direction he hadn’t even considered.
As the loud noise, shockwave, and countless metal fragments battered his shield, Yoo Jin swiftly closed the distance. When the word ‘distance’ became meaningless, Storm Seer realized he couldn’t dig any deeper into his logic circuits without putting himself in danger.
Ugh.
Reaching this conclusion, his vision went dark.
His avatar, with a horribly mangled face, lay like a deflated balloon. Storm Seer realized he was lying on the ground from the sensation of touching it.
Should he regret dying before showing his full ability, or should he be thankful for gaining some insight even though he lost a match?
But before he could decide, a tactical tomahawk spike flew at him.
───Crash!
Yoo Jin was a hardcore player, but at least in tournaments, melee attacks didn’t provide any feedback to the recipient.
However, when he was ejected to the lobby, Storm Seer was clearly informed of his cause of death.
“Tactical tomahawk spike, irreversible cervical spine damage.”
He was determined to ensure a definite kill.
In the end, he could only laugh in disbelief.
270 – Harmony Inbound
“Agh, lost again! Come on!”
SSM Entertainment’s pro gamer Dice placed fifth in her first match on the third day.
The sight of her yelling and kicking off her thin blanket as she got up from bed was quite a spectacle, but it couldn’t be helped. Matchmaking in top-tier battles was purely a matter of luck.
The Final Championship was an enormous tournament, and everyone naturally played it safe. As a result, up to 30-40 players crowded the second-to-last kill zone, and only about ten remained when reaching the final kill zone.
At the point where death was imminent, there was no time to choose targets, and once a bloody battle began, the winner of one skirmish often became a corpse in seconds.
But Dice had fiercely fought through that situation this time as well.
‘…I was startled when I suddenly heard a noise from the balcony above.’
Of course, she calmly shot nanites above her head, melting the platform and causing the enemy to fall with a scream. She then knocked them out with a rifle butt and used them as a human shield.
Anyway, after successfully completing such an intense skirmish, the topic returned to the beginning—she had bad luck this match.
At the point when only five users remained, Dice faced off against Yoo Jin, who was holding a foam launcher.
“I thought I had a pretty good chance, but… this is ridiculous.”
Lying flat on her bed, Dice began to review the match.
She wasn’t entirely wrong to think she had a chance. The nanite launcher Dice had chosen could dismantle the polyurethane foam cover Yoo Jin had artificially created in mere seconds.
But it wasn’t like the opponent was unaware of that. The disaster lay in the fact that the person who had taught Dice all of this was now aiming a gun at her.
To summarize the acrobatic combat that unfolded:
“I can’t win against Yoo Jin in a bare-knuckle fight without any skills…”
Yoo Jin created cover, which was effective.
Dice shot nanites at it, which was also effective.
But Yoo Jin had foam grenades, whereas Dice didn’t have nanite grenades—those didn’t even exist. Dice ran out of canisters first, and the subsequent outcome was predictable.
Despite fighting desperately, Dice had already melted more than half of her own cover, and the onslaught of attacks that followed was overwhelming.
And if that was the end of it—
“Isn’t it cheating to throw grenades while shooting?”
While holding her gun firmly with both hands and shooting, Yoo Jin would flick a grenade that she had coiled in her tail. The metallic sound of the pin being pulled was drowned out by the gunfire, and the trajectory was obscured by the muzzle flash.
The next event didn’t need explaining. A massive explosion and shockwave rattled her body. Maybe if she had saved a country in her past life, she might not have been knocked down, but unfortunately, she wasn’t that lucky.
The last thing Dice saw as she was flung sideways, as if punched in the ribs, was Yoo Jin closing in, and at that point, she lost all will to continue.
Of course, this wasn’t like real life or scrims where they could chat comfortably.
Dice took a headshot from a lead bullet and was ejected to the lobby, leading to the current situation.
“It’s my fault for not responding properly.”
She had seen the use of foam grenades several times.
She had thought of ways to counter it, but failing to do so in the tournament rendered those thoughts meaningless. The silver lining was that there was no need to spend much time on unnecessary debriefing. The reason for her death was clear to anyone.
Having lain down for quite a while, her mind was hazy. Thinking she should drink some water, Dice got up and saw several notifications on her device.
A notification that caught her eye:
-[Notification: Partner Streamer Showdown! Starting in 10 minutes!]
“…Oh, right, there was this.”
Something Harmony hadn’t really prepared for recently.
In practice, she had been a superb training partner, scrimming with the five-member Korean representative team. Though she had crossed over to the US as a partner streamer unrelated to the Korean team this time, she had never been one to be easily outmatched in scrims as Yoo Jin’s top student.
Given that, there was no need to doubt Harmony’s skill. Dice herself had occasionally fallen victim to Harmony’s traps and blown up. The only curiosity was the skill level of the partner streamers from other countries.
But there was no need to think deeply about that either. It was just a matter of letting things unfold naturally.
All she needed to know was when it started and ended.
“It’s right after the Final Championship.”
So, there was no need to worry about missing it.
Having put all the puzzle pieces back in their places, Dice lay back leisurely and fiddled with the hologram projector, which displayed the Final Championship match on the wall.
Only three players remained. Dice glanced at Yoo Jin, still lying on the bed.
On the screen, Yoo Jin was fighting Logan.
If it wasn’t for the fact that she couldn’t cheer any harder, she might have donated 50,000 won, threatening jokingly to mess with his tail if he lost, but that would have to wait until the next match.
She needed to let Harmony know about the upcoming Partner Streamer Showdown first.
“So hang in there. Win first place quickly.”
Whether that encouragement reached him or not—
—
“Excuse me, are you the Korean streamer Harmony?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I knew it! I watch your videos on Yourspace whenever they’re uploaded. I’ve watched the main mission edit with Yoo Jin until I memorized it.”
“Oh, um. Thank you very much…?”
The Partner Streamer Showdown.
A friendly match where partner streamers from various countries gathered in New York. Following the fierce and terrifying Final Championship, this event smoothly captured the viewers who were planning to leave after the finals.
Of course, considering the grandeur of the finals, the viewership for the showdown was less than 10% of the total Final Championship viewers, but that still amounted to millions. A number comparable to the population of a small country gathered for the event.
Amid the colorful and overwhelming advertisements, the hundred streamers mingled, chatting with those they already knew—turning the Partner Streamer Showdown into a kind of festival.
And among them was Harmony.
She was overwhelmed by countless requests for handshakes.
“What the heck is going on…?”
Only she was unaware of the fact that she was one of the most spotlighted streamers at the moment.
With the Omega Rank badge on her shoulder and the Domination Mode TIER 1 badge. Though the former was overwhelmingly prestigious, the latter was something she couldn’t have even dreamed of without meeting Yoo Jin.
Anyway, due to the bizarre chemical reactions of the many steps she had taken, today’s Harmony was literally at the center of attention.
Of course, not all the issues were heading in a good direction.
“How does she look on the outside? Not particularly special.”
“You never know. It’s foolish to speculate about the contents before opening the box… though I don’t necessarily disagree.”
People are most confident when they have limited information about a specific area, and simultaneously more likely to draw incorrect conclusions based on that.
And Harmony had already scattered enough preliminary keywords around to induce this. To those who didn’t know or weren’t interested in the full context, it looked like Harmony had merely been lucky and ridden a bus to get here.
Of course, as with all things, that wasn’t entirely wrong. When she first broke into Omega Rank and started hanging out with Yoo Jin, her skills weren’t that impressive.
But the truth is always a few steps away from what people firmly believe—and that’s what people overlook the most.
Harmony had no reason to correct that fact.
She was ready to dismantle any obstacles standing in her way.
“So, during the three matches that will continue until Friday, I hope your favorite streamer achieves good results! The match begins now!”
One hundred users boarded the transport aircraft crossing the sky of the port city of Tannhäuser, waiting to drop. As the heavy BGM played and the lower hatch of the transport aircraft opened, people began to jump out one by one, with Harmony among them, stepping towards the approaching ground.
There was no tension. She had practiced in this place more than hundreds of times with the Korean solo representatives. Among the 100 users scattered across Tannhäuser, none could match Harmony’s practice hours.
A few minutes after she landed, gunfire and kill logs sounded from all directions.
Ignoring all of that, she engaged in battle at her own tempo.
‘…I can’t show explosive movements like the representative players.’
Yoo Jin had chosen Harmony as a whetstone to sharpen the Korean representatives, and in the process, she too had become an unparalleled quality whetstone.
Harmony began to move in earnest when the skill activation zone appeared.
-[Notification: The skill activation zone is now operational.]
-[Notification: Remaining distance to the current activation zone – 162m.]
Grenades securely fastened in the molle grenade pouch within her multipurpose pouch.
But the number of grenades was double the standard carry amount, eight instead of the usual four. Grenades were justice, and Harmony was more prepared than anyone to use them properly.
And this fact shone more brightly as hyenas began to gather towards the skill activation zone.
-Clank!
“What the—suddenly—”
Boom!
The lives of users positioned near the skill activation zone in Tannhäuser were slowly but surely extinguished, like candles.
Harmony’s weakness was her lack of swift movements compared to Korean users, but this meant she could instead engage in precise and silent stealth play. Combining this advantage with her thorough knowledge of the map, Harmony became the Grim Reaper, and this was the result.
───Boom!
“Aaaargh!”
Another unfortunate victim crossed the River Styx to the lobby.
The green cat had nested in a spot where users coming and going from the skill activation zone were clearly visible, and the fishing line she held glimmered faintly under the dim ceiling light.
From the door.
From the floor.
From the window sill.
Grenades that could detach from their safety handles with the slightest movement appeared everywhere.
As the grenade kill count with Harmony’s name on it continued to rise, users safe in other places started chuckling one by one as they looked at the kill log.
“Where on earth is she doing all this?”
But the users observing this were too far from Harmony, and those who needed to realize it were too close to her.
When a warehouse overlooking the skill activation zone had turned into a massive monster’s nest, one user stepped inside.
His actions were swift and unhesitant. The shield provided by the ICARUS Gear thoroughly protected against attacks below the physical threshold required to break its function, so he began searching without considering possible traps.
Mint-colored eyes observed this scene from a safe distance.
“People really lack tension.”
Normally, that would be expected, but Harmony had no intention of being normal.
And that was her goal.
One person might curse if she sent them to the lobby, and if she sent five, the voices might multiply.
Then she would just erase those who reacted.
Her sharp eyes continued to scan the user moving around the warehouse, stepping on the metal scaffold. He probably didn’t even know his footsteps echoed throughout the warehouse.
But there was no need to inform him.
The only thing he would learn was the cause of his death and the nickname of the person who killed him.
And at some point, a smile appeared on Harmony’s lips.
At the end of her gaze was the user she had been watching.
He cautiously opened a warehouse door and scanned the room from the outside according to CQB principles. This act, called pie slicing, resembled slicing a pie bit by bit. But it didn’t last more than four seconds before he carefully entered the room.
Many thoughts passed through Harmony’s mind at that moment, but how much time had passed since then?
───Boom!
“Hehe.”
Another kill count appeared on her UI.
As soon as he opened the door, the fishing line connected to the doorknob twisted, loosening the safety handles of three grenades. When he stepped inside, the grenades simultaneously detonated.
The shield that could stably withstand a single grenade was instantly shattered by hundreds of fragments. The force of three grenades was more than enough to tear through the fragile polygon flesh beneath the shield.
All of this happened in an instant and returned to the starting point.
As the explosion subsided, Harmony cautiously descended.
Looking down at the disintegrated corpse and the scattered loot, she chuckled.
“It’s time to replenish my grenades.”
Explosion fanatic.
It was her forgotten instinct for a while.