Chapter 17

Chapter 17: [Limitless War] Hmm, Am I Doing This Right？ (2)

Capsule.

Ju Seo-jin entered the Select Room, connected to a game distribution site, purchased [Limitless War]… and then, a download window appeared.

Had he waited about ten minutes? 

Soon, before much time had passed, a hologram window appeared in Ju Seo-jin’s field of vision, and the download window informed him that the game could now be launched.

Press-

And.

「[Limitless War] selected and launched. Connecting to the program after countdown.」

[3]

[2]

[1]

………

……

…

[START]

The pure-white space of the Select Room underwent a sudden transformation, and his consciousness flickered at the same time- a scene unfolded where Eastern-style trees stood in rows, scattering nameless flower petals.

「[Limitless War]」

━1. Open Match [◀]

━2. Ranked Game

━3. Practice Grounds

━4. Shop

━5. Profile

━6. Settings

《 Player ID: {wntjwls} 》

“…….”

Game lobby. 

Standing in [Limitless War]’s waiting room, Ju Seo-jin looked down at the randomly rendered virtual body and made an hmm- sound.

Unlike [Knight Soul], [Limitless War] rendered the body of the player character starting from the game lobby.

Before he knew it, Ju Seo-jin was standing beneath an enormous tree in a gray martial uniform.

‘Hmm. Should I have looked up roughly what kind of game this is before coming? I really don’t know much.’

Originally, Ju Seo-jin was the type to do a certain amount of preliminary research before starting any task.

No matter what it was, there was nothing bad about starting with an informational advantage by looking into it beforehand.

He had only refrained from looking up [Knight Soul] because Ju Seo-yoon had said it would be better for the fun of the streaming if he knew nothing about the game. 

Generally speaking, he was not like that.

However- before starting [Limitless War], he had felt an emotional surge unlike himself… so he had acted impulsively, without any preliminary research.

That said, it was also somewhat awkward to back out now.

“Well… games are also things you learn by playing them yourself…… I can take my time figuring it out.”

It could not be helped. 

Having thought that and made his decision, Ju Seo-jin extended his index finger toward the hologram window and pressed it.

Within [Limitless War]’s game start screen, there existed a Practice Grounds function that provided simulated practice instead of real combat.

For now, he intended to spend about two hours here figuring out how to play [Limitless War]. 

No, to be precise… one should say, ‘That was what he had intended to do.’ ───because in the end, it was impossible.

Beeeep.

A warning sound. 

At the same time, a small red hologram window appeared in his field of vision… and displayed a system message.

《 Locked 》

━Unlock Condition: Play ‘Open Match’ at least ‘1 time’ in ‘Default(Default)’ format

“What?”

…He was dumbfounded. 

The ‘Practice Grounds’ function that should have been provided before gameplay could not be used before an Open Match? 

What kind of thing was that?

Beeeep.

The same was true of the Ranked Game function below the Open Match slot. 

In practical terms, every game element other than Open Match was as good as locked.

He did not know why the game had made it so Open Match had to be played first… but since there was no proper choice to speak of, there was nothing else he could do.

Unfortunately.

‘I guess I’ve got no choice but to enter an Open Match and play one round, whether I win or lose…’

Press-

And. 

The moment he touched ‘Open Match’ on the game start screen- rooms numbering well over several hundred appeared on the list.

《 Looking for Grand Master-class player with 4+ characters who can practice Martial Skills until morning 》

*Game Format: ‘Limitless Battle’

《 Diamond-class or above, come if you can handle 18+ characters, actual martial arts users are fine too 》

*Game Format: ‘Mock Tournament’

《 (*Platinum-class or above) Beginners, let’s do 1:1~ I’m seriously bad, so come quickly ^^7 》

*Game Format: ‘Default(Default)’

………

……

…

However- among the rooms that seemed likely to lightly exceed several hundred, there were almost none that Ju Seo-jin could enter.

That was because most of them restricted entry into Open Match rooms by Ranked Game tier.

There was a strange atmosphere of accepting Open Match players only from Grand Master Grade and above, or at the lowest, from Platinum Grade and above.

There were even only a few Open Match rooms with the game format set to ‘Default(Default).’

Ju Seo-jin frowned at that bizarre sight and tilted his head.

‘…Why are they putting a player tier restriction on a room where they’re saying beginners should play together? Isn’t that contradictory?’

It was hard to understand. 

For a moment, he wondered whether they wanted something like experienced rookies- but whatever the case, it was definitely a culture difficult to comprehend.

Still- even so, there were basically some rooms in Open Match that had the game format set to ‘Default(Default)’ and did not restrict player tier.

Among the unrestricted Open Match rooms, which seemed to number around ten or so… one place stood out.

《 (Warm-up) [Limitless War] 1:1 Coaching Offered. Come Quickly. I Really Teach Well. 》

*Game Format: ‘Default(Default)’

━Room Creator: Crack(skdlemfrltlfgek3717)

━Battle Stage: ‘Peach Blossom Spring’

━Maximum Participants: ‘(1/2)’

━Maximum Spectators: ‘(0/100)’

“Hmm.”

His destination had been decided.

***

Peach Blossom Spring- atop a training ground like an enormous island where peach leaves fluttered. 

Standing before a blond man with piercings, Ju Seo-jin gave a light greeting.

“Hmm… I came because you said you were offering 1:1 [Limitless War] coaching. I look forward to your guidance.”

And… at that mechanical greeting, the blond man with piercings- Crack- also nodded in bewilderment, then moved his lips with a strange expression.

“Uh- um- yeeep… There’s, uh, one thing I want to ask just in case- no, about two things. Would that be all right?”

“Ah. That’s fine. However, if you’re asking me to leave the room because there’s a player tier restriction, please tell me right away.”

“Oh! No, no. That’s not it- I just searched your record, and it showed that this is your very first time playing [Limitless War]. So I wanted to ask if that’s correct.”

“…It is my first time. I see you can find that out too.”

“Mmm. I’ll ask one last thing just in case. Do you know who I am? Ah- no, no. Of course you’d know who I am, well. But what I want to ask is───”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know who you are. …I don’t know anything except that you’re teaching [Limitless War].”

“…….”

For an instant. 

Crack’s body flinched- and he froze as if he had turned to stone. 

Comically so.

-lolololololololololololololololol

-?? He doesn’t know Crack?? Does he not play [Eternal Saga]?? Whoa...................

-Wow.. That civilian? is really handsome.. But it looks like he doesn’t know [Eternal Saga].. Otherwise, there’s no way he wouldn’t know Crack..

-Ah lolololololololololololololololololololololol Looks like he’s a real newbie lolol Fascinating lololololol

-Wow.. He’s lucky.. He must’ve entered the room the moment it was created..

Perhaps that was why. 

The viewers watching Crack’s Personal Broadcast all reacted as if it were fascinating, funny, and the like.

[Eternal Saga]─── ESK, the first division of Korea, which was called the home of E-Sports. 

Crack was a pro-gamer belonging to ‘VEN,’ a team recognized as a strong team even within that league.

He was a skilled player who had already been active as a pro-gamer for nearly ten years, and in the past, he had even won the World Championship two times in a row alongside ‘Black Moon,’ one of the living legends of [Eternal Saga].

Thus, if someone had any interest in the gaming industry, they should have been able to recognize his face at a glance and say, ‘Huh? I’ve seen you somewhere. Are you perhaps a pro-gamer?’

And yet…….

“Hmm. Are you perhaps someone famous? I’m not very knowledgeable about that side of things… I’m sorry.”

“………….”

Not at all. Literally, Ju Seo-jin did not recognize who Crack was at all. 

At that fact, Crack repeatedly opened and closed his mouth several times, then answered in a dazed voice.

“Uh… well, it’s all righ…t……. Ha, hahaha. I’m not really that famous or anything.”

“I see.”

“…….”

“?”

-??..

-No lololol I’m losing it lolololol

-Kya.. Getting under his skin two times in a row lolololololololololololololololololol

-Ah lolol What do you mean, “I see” lololololololololololololololololol

-Wow lol This guy is really handsome, but he has zero tact lolololololololololololololol

Seeing Ju Seo-jin tilt his head, Crack wore a bitter smile at his mouth and tried to change the subject.

“Well- it’s fine. In any case, it’s true that I’m teaching you [Limitless War] 1:1. Hahaha…”

“Hmm. Excuse me, but the truth is, I don’t know a thing about [Limitless War]… Could you teach me that too?”

“Of course. To explain it roughly, [Limitless War] is a game where you pick one of the game characters with abilities called ‘Martial Skill(Martial Skill)’- and fight 1:1 against another player.”

“Martial Skill?”

“It’s this sort of thing.”

Whoooosh───!

At that moment. 

A red light swirled around Crack’s right hand, and his figure blurred for an instant… then appeared directly in front of him.

As if he had teleported. 

Then- as a belated aftereffect, a small wind rose and swept Ju Seo-jin’s bangs back.

Whish-

Keeping his right hand clenched into a fist and thrust forward, Crack opened his mouth and explained.

“This is the player character ‘Dragon Fighter’s’ Martial Skill, ‘Flash Attack.’ If you activate it with a fist or leg- you attack while flashing forward as if teleporting just a little.”

“Ah. So that’s what it is. …Hmm, I understand.”

“Well. Other than ‘Flash Attack,’ there are Martial Skills such as ‘Dragon Star Fist’ and ‘Dragon Subduing Stance’… but basically, player characters have three Martial Skills each.”

“Three…”

“Yes. There are some player characters that don’t, but most are like that. Aside from their core Martial Skills, the Normal Skills they can use in common are ‘Combo Strike’ and ‘Guard,’ and those are closer to a kind of system ruling… Do you understand?”

“To some extent.”

Ju Seo-jin had not never played games before, so he could understand.

Picking one ‘player character’- and using that character’s ‘Martial Skills’ to defeat the opponent… was the way the 1:1 PVP game called [Limitless War] progressed.

The player character’s Martial Skills were provided up to a maximum of three, though there were exceptions, and basically, all of them could use ‘Combo Strike’ and ‘Guard,’ which were Normal Skills.

“Since Combo Strike and Guard are closer to system rulings, you can use them by making continuous attacks or taking a defensive stance and expressing your intent.”

“I see.”

“When a Combo Strike ruling occurs, the opponent temporarily floats into the air, or their movement slows, making it advantageous for landing follow-up hits. A Guard ruling- knocks you back or reduces the damage you take.”

“Hmm.”

“What’s important here is reducing the knockback out of the knockback and damage taken that occur during a Guard ruling- simply put, suppressing the force that ‘pushes’ you. [Limitless War] has Ring-Out rulings.”

“Ring-Out rulings?”

“There. You see it, right? How it’s a cliff. If you go over there, there’s no health bar or anything. It’s just over, over.”

“Ah-”

Swish- Ju Seo-jin turned his head and stared at the outer edge of Peach Blossom Spring’s training ground, or to be precise, at the ‘place where nothing existed’ beyond it.

Certainly. 

If one fell from a place like that, it did not seem possible to survive. 

Perhaps if a player character fell there, it was an automatic K.O.

It was not difficult to understand.

“And… as for you, Mr. Ju Seo-jin- it seems you were randomly assigned one of the player characters…… You’re a ‘Nameless Monk.’”

“Nameless Monk?”

“Yep. Well, Nameless Monk is one of the exceptional cases with only one Martial Skill… That player character’s Martial Skill is called ‘Time Shadow Style,’ and it allows you to preset acceleration-type movements.”

“I don’t know exactly what it means to preset acceleration-type movements, though.”

“It just means that in your surface consciousness, you vaguely think, ‘where, how, and at what timing should I move’ …and if you resolve to use it as a Martial Skill, the player character moves extremely fast.”

“That… sounds good. Since it means I can move the way I think in advance.”

However- Crack did not immediately agree with Ju Seo-jin’s words. 

It was the opposite. 

He chuckled and shook his head.

“Hahaha…… Does it look that way? It isn’t. That’s a trash player character. Junk-tier, really.”

“What is the reason?”

“───Because it has no ability to improvise. You have to trace movements you’ve preset- then you have to calculate the opponent’s movements too and build your movements on the premise of countering them, right? But that isn’t easy.”

“Hmm.”

“Just… Diamond? Even if you only reach about that rank, there are piles of people who can respond to prearranged movements with instant reactions, piles of them. You can’t use something like that. Even if it’s fast.”

“Hmm. I don’t think it’s quite to that extent… That’s strange.”

Ju Seo-jin was always moving after ‘seeing’ fate in advance. 

Therefore, he was merely drawing out movements to match the preset ‘answer he wanted.’ 

It was only natural for him to tilt his head.

“Come on. You’ll understand once you face me once, won’t you? That doesn’t go the way you want. Since the explanation is done now, how about playing one round against me and getting a feel for it?”

Of course, Crack, who did not know that fact at all, advised him not to be overconfident- then, as if he had remembered something he had forgotten, made an ah- sound and spoke.

“Right. Come to think of it, I’m in the middle of doing something like a participation event. How about facing me with that included?”

“That- participation event? What is that? I’m not very interested in things like……”

“If you beat me even once, UG Corporation will provide you with one newly released Ultra Capsule. I’m a Pro-Gamer, you know? You say you don’t know me, but anyway, I am.”

“…….”

“Haha. I may not look it, but you could say I’m really skilled- well, if that’s too much pressure, we can make landing a single hit the victory condition……”

“───Good. You said if I beat you even once, no- if I land even one hit, that’s enough? You must not go back on your word.”

“…Yes? Uh, what did you just say-”

“Now, please start the game.”

The next moment.

“Then. I look forward to it.”

“…….”

A small spark flared- in Ju Seo-jin’s eyes, and his competitive spirit began boiling over to the point that it showed outwardly.

Heh.

However- Crack saw Ju Seo-jin’s competitive spirit, which at a glance looked so confident, as cute… and then, he crooked a finger and lightly took a stance.

“Pfft. Ah, well, I’m fine with that. But in exchange, you can’t say anything different after losing, all right? I’ll yield the first attack. Come at me quic…”

***

And.

***

The next moment.

BAAANG───!

Ju Seo-jin moved with his body close to the ground, sliding along it, and with one hand planted on the floor, he launched a kick from below to above─── and the top of his right foot struck Crack directly in the face.

THWACK─…!

Crack coughed Hrk- and spat saliva, bouncing across the floor of the training ground again and again like a rubber ball.

CRASH-BAAANG───!

-???????????????????

-..Huh? Huh??? Huh????????

-What is going on.............???????

-W-what is th-at? How did that just happenn????

…Cruelly.