Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Take First Place (4)

***

-Seriously, this isn’t an ad. Go check out Spirit Channel once. I thought maybe it was some movie made in a new style these days, but it isn’t that either. It’s seriously weird. Go see it yourself and judge, go go go.

-You’ve been advertising way too much for a while now.

-Stop. We get it.

-How much are they paying you an hour?

The reactions toward the place called Spirit Channel spread slowly but surely throughout various communities.

There were still many people who dismissed it as advertising, but the number of subscribers to the broadcast steadily increased.

-Videos with women as the main character are definitely more popular.

-I couldn’t hold back and subscribed in the end…….

-Aren’t the tickets too expensive?

-When’s the next video coming out~~!

-There are a lot of places where other videos are uploaded, but these guys only swarm around the videos with women.

-What about you?

-I heard that and moved channels, then a buck-naked man appeared.

-Urgently looking for the buck-naked man channel.

-Drop the coordinates.

-Oh my…….

The broadcasts people mainly chose were several broadcasts with women as the main characters.

The sight of a woman with beauty that seemed to blend East and West, struggling in the jungle while wearing a precarious outfit, had a certain charm that drew the eye.

-30,000 won to subscribe to the video? Isn’t that too expensive?

-I couldn’t hold back and paid.

-Ah, I watched the first 10 minutes they released and got too curious, lol.

-But I still don’t know what this is supposed to be.

-It’s definitely some kind of survival game, but the videos are way too all over the place.

A broadcast they could watch and still not understand.

But content that strangely stimulated curiosity.

As time passed, the number of people visiting and subscribing to the mysterious Spirit Channel continued to grow.

***

-All participants’ locations will be revealed.

The participants’ locations were all moving toward the central island.

‘Everyone’s starting to adapt to the game now.’

At first, they had moved clumsily and wandered around without any plan, but now it was different.

Everyone was reacting immediately and moving toward the safe zone.

The confusion and hesitation from the unfamiliar environment had disappeared, and they had begun moving with a clear purpose.

‘For me, now is the opportunity.’

When he reached a point where he could see the river, his field of view opened up at once.

On the river under the blazing sunlight, water scales broke apart, and golden waves flashed.

‘I’d have no other wish if I could just take one bath. Damn it.’

His whole body was covered in dirt, dust, and mud.

Even if he was a gaming junkie, Min-jun was still someone who had lived in the civilized society of the twenty-first century. It was so unpleasant that he could hardly endure it.

‘Damn it.’

He felt like jumping straight into the water, but he could not act rashly.

-Time limit: 7 hours 11 minutes 45 seconds

The timer telling him to move to the central area was still running, but Min-jun remained crouched without moving.

‘What matters right now isn’t safety, but profit.’

If he prioritized fleeing to the safe zone, he would lose nothing, but he would gain nothing either.

‘It’d be a little unfair to raise my level to 9 and then do nothing, wouldn’t it?’

Min-jun decided to actively use his current state, where he was stronger than others.

‘I really don’t want to use this.’

Min-jun let out a deep breath, then cautiously poked his head out.

The moment blue light wavered in his eyes, a vision sharper than that of a bird of prey unfolded across his retinas.

“Urgh!”

After quickly scanning the surroundings, Min-jun discovered one point and hurriedly closed his eyes.

‘Found them.’

He had discovered a party moving in a place far away from here.

If he focused, it was a position he could see even without using his “Trait.”

‘They still don’t know anything.’

Min-jun calmly observed the party that had appeared on the riverbank.

Two women, two men.

They seemed to be a party whose goal was to move quickly rather than keep watch on their surroundings.

‘They’re blinded by the safe zone, so their guard has weakened.’

Min-jun slowly moved after them and drew an arrow.

The string of the Duskmane Bow was slowly pulled back, growing taut as if it would shoot out at any moment.

‘If I’m going to become prey anyway, I should become the hunter.’

A venomous glare, reminiscent of an autumn viper in October, began rising sharply in Min-jun’s eyes.

‘First, the one in front.’

Fwing.

The arrow flew in a long arc. Even though there was a fair distance, it lodged cleanly into the side of the person at the front.

“Aaaagh!”

“Wh-What is it?”

“A monster!”

While they still failed to grasp the situation and floundered around, Min-jun fired four more arrows in succession.

“Uaaak!”

“Where is it?”

“Just dodge first!”

Only one shot missed. All the rest found their owners.

The ones who had been on guard with weapons in hand soon panicked and began running away.

‘I can’t just let you go.’

Fwing-!

He released another arrow.

Min-jun did not miss a single person.

“Kyaaaak!”

“Ugh!”

With death cries, the four people turned to ash and disappeared.

-Absorbing “Min Hyo-ri’s” experience and subjugation data.

-Absorbing “Jeong Yu-jeong’s” experience and subjugation data.

-Absorbing “Go Tae-su’s” experience and subjugation data.

-Absorbing “An Yeong-cheol’s” experience and subjugation data.

-Level: 10

-Subjugations: 46

‘Easy!’

He inwardly shouted in delight.

His level and subjugation data, which had shown no sign of rising easily through hunting monsters alone, had surged up several steps in an instant.

It was thrilling.

“In the end, this is the answer.”

Of course, for the people on the receiving end, it would be enough to make fire rise in their stomachs and twist their insides, but he had no time to care about that.

‘In the end, winning is all that matters. That’s how this arena was made.’

It was no exaggeration to say that Min-jun had staked everything on this game.

He did not have the slightest intention of yielding.

-Mom is sorry.

At his mother’s voice suddenly brushing through his memory, Min-jun clenched his molars.

‘If it’s to get my damn ankle back, being this much of an asshole in-game isn’t even something to feel sorry about.’

Was a game not survival of the fittest before it was cooperation in the first place?

If you were weak, you lost.

If you were strong, you won.

Whether in reality or in a game, that was an unchanging truth.

This time, Min-jun had to be the winner.

Rustle—!

“……!”

Min-jun flattened himself on the ground.

‘Someone is here.’

He was certain someone had raised their head and was searching the surroundings, but to avoid revealing himself, he had no choice.

Slide—!

The footsteps drew close in an instant.

There was no room for doubt. They were clearly footsteps heading this way.

They were not even walking. Someone was running toward him with their body lowered.

‘They know my location!’

Min-jun rose like lightning. A black shadow was falling over him from above.

He swung the Mithril Sword by reflex.

CLANG—!

Sparks flew, and a heavy sensation struck his palm.

“Urgh!”

“Oh, you’ve got good instincts!”

The person who had swung a large sword sneered and widened the distance.

‘Behind me!’

In that instant, he sensed movement circling around behind him.

Whoosh—!

A sound like a whip being swung. A leather cord with a weight attached to its end wrapped around one of his arms in an instant.

‘Ugh!’

He felt the force of it yanking hard through the leather cord.

‘Are they trying to break my balance?’

He could sense their purpose. They intended to pull him in all at once, break his balance, and deal with him.

“Hey, this guy isn’t getting pulled?”

“What? What level is he, with that strength……?”

Min-jun braced himself, putting firm strength into his body’s balance, then swung his sword and cut the leather cord with a thud.

“Whoa!”

The guy who had been pulling on the cord fell backward, then quickly rolled and got to his feet.

“What is that guy?”

“Be careful. I almost got dragged over.”

Watching the two of them slowly circle him from front and back, Min-jun instinctively understood.

“I wondered what this was…… but you’re the same style.”

Their cunning series of movements felt so practiced that it was almost like a formula.

‘These guys have done quite a bit of PK.’

These were the second PK users he had met, and they were people who had hunted others quite intelligently.

How they had pinpointed his location and attacked was a mystery, but.

‘They probably have a Trait that can detect locations.’

They were not easy opponents.

But.

“Get him!”

They swung the hook once more, this time wrapping it around his right foot, where his center of gravity rested.

‘What a filthy, cheap way to play the game!’

Looking at the leather cord wrapped around his right leg, Min-jun gritted his teeth.

‘Still, it won’t work on me.’

BOOM—!

He kicked off the ground and rushed straight forward. The balance of the guy holding the cord broke in the opposite direction instead.

“Ugh!”

The guy holding the cord rolled across the ground in an ugly heap. Min-jun leaped up with all his strength and kicked the one in front of him.

“Urgh!”

“G-Get him!”

The man hurriedly tried to raise his sword and block, but Min-jun’s movement was faster.

Swaaash—!

The Mithril Sword pierced through the armor and stabbed deep into his chest.

“Y-You crazy……!”

The remaining guy panicked and chose to run away. He did have a working head on his shoulders, but.

‘The moment you show your back, it’s over.’

There was no need to chase him. Min-jun raised his bow and slowly steadied his breath. He aimed at the man’s back.

Fwing—!

The arrow flew while swaying left and right, then struck the fleeing man’s shoulder.

“Aaaaagh!”

One more shot. Two more shots.

When three shots hit in succession, the man stopped even twitching and scattered into the air.

-Absorbing “Kim Cheol’s” experience and subjugation data.

-Absorbing “Choi Seong-jae’s” experience and subjugation data.

-Level: 12

-Subjugations: 89

Min-jun inwardly wiped away a cold sweat.

“That was a little dangerous.”

If his level had been even a little lower, the result would have been the opposite. As expected, level was important in this game.

“Subjugations 89…….”

The first-place position, which had felt only distant, was slowly beginning to appear before his eyes.

“Keep coming. I’ll catch all of you.”

Crack.

He loosened his body while rolling his neck.

Roughly seventy survivors remained.

The procession of people heading toward the central island still had a long way to go.

‘If I catch them all, wouldn’t that make me first place?’

There was no need to go all the way to the central island. Min-jun intended to settle things here by sending every participant to the grave.

-Time remaining: 6 hours 49 minutes 12 seconds

There was still plenty of time left.

***

-Time remaining: 38 minutes 42 seconds

-Level: 18

-Subjugations: 301

When six hours had passed since then, Min-jun had, in effect, slaughtered every party and participant who passed through the road.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that around thirty people who had passed through this road had died by his hand.

-Total participants: 5,000

-Current participants: 10

With 38 minutes remaining before the time limit, the number of participants had already dropped to 10.

‘It wouldn’t be bad to wrap things up here and head to the central area.’

He had gained enough profit.

Even if he went to the central area, the safe zone, there was no way he would lose first place like this.

His level itself was on a different dimension, so what was the problem? There was only one thing bothering him.

‘Something feels uneasy.’

It was the fact that Min-jun’s senses were sending him something like a warning.

-A notice has arrived.

And unease like this always hit the mark.

-The number of remaining participants has reached ten. Congratulations to all participants who have reached the final 10.

-Therefore, all participants’ rankings will be revealed.

“The rankings?”

Min-jun froze with a crack.

This was an unexpected development.

1. Do Min-jun(Subjugations: 301)
2. Yu A-yeong(Subjugations: 212)
3. Kang Jin-su(Subjugations: 97)
4. Baek Ho-jun(Subjugations: 83)
5. Jeong Dong-jin(Subjugations: 23)

…….

…….

1. Han So-mi(Subjugations: 0)

‘There’s even someone with no subjugation record at all?’

In a way, wasn’t that person the true winner?

After all, the most important thing in this kind of game was surviving for a long time.

‘Second through fourth place are fairly high.’

Wariness entered Min-jun’s eyes.

‘Especially second place. That’s the person who kept appearing in the monster hunt information.’

Unlike him, who had gained benefits by blindly repeating PK, the second-place participant was someone who had hunted monsters through the orthodox method.

It was surprising that she had survived until now that way, but to accumulate 212 subjugation achievements?

‘Whether it’s luck or skill, it means she isn’t ordinary.’

Even so, it was not to the point that he needed to worry. First place was practically in the stage of being cemented.

If the subjugation count was around 212, her level would be around 15. There was a fair difference between her and him, who was already Level 18.

‘Unless something special happens, well…….’

-A Highlight Mission has been assigned to Rank 1, Do Min-jun.

“What?”

Something special.

-Highlight Mission: Catch Rank 1!

-Mission Success Reward: 1.5x Game Reward.

-Mission Defense Reward: 2.0x Game Reward.

Something very special.

-Rank 1’s location will be revealed at 5-minute intervals.

It was about to happen right now.