Chapter 26 : Waltz

Almost instantly, a message arrived from outside.

[‘Manager Cha’: This is, well, a problem. I’ll come up with a solution immediately. Is it possible for you to stall for a bit?]

As CEO Cha said, this is definitely a problem.

‘No Surrender, this guy. He’s insane.’

Is it because he’s a pro gamer, or is it just his natural disposition? Whatever it is, his competitiveness is no joke.

‘Is he even thinking about the aftermath?’

Does he not realize what kind of disaster will happen if he loses to me? If an APK pro player loses to a streamer while using his main hero, the team’s image will be ruined.

No, it will be ruined just by his current actions.

‘What to do.’

I licked my lips.

[To ‘Manager Cha’: Okay. Report the results quickly.]

For now, I should leave the solution to this problem to CEO Cha. That’s what the support team is for.

My job is to buy time.

‘Sigh.’

Honestly, I can win if we fight.

No, I can’t lose. There is a compatibility difference between heroes, but I’m always on the extreme damage route.

The problem is stalling.

‘Even though he’s a bruiser, I’m not that far behind in movement speed, so as long as I don’t get caught, I should be fine. Cognitive Acceleration itself is a scam passive skill. If I’m lucky…….’

-Fwoosh!

‘Yikes.’

While I was thinking, the opponent took the initiative.

APK No Surrender’s main hero is ‘SAFMR’.

It stands for Special Air Force Military Robot, but users who don’t have a reason to read such a name just call it Safmar.

That’s right.

Safmar is a humanoid robot with a height of 3.5m.

You might wonder why there is a military robot in a hero-based game, but it has its own background setting. It’s a military robot, but the AI ​​is advanced, and so on…….

Of course, I don’t care about that setting, the important thing is that if he’s 3.5m tall, his arms are obviously very long.

“Let’s start our conversation with our bodies!”

No Surrender, who quickly jumped up with a booster, swings his long arm. At the same time, the skill motion is visible on the robot arm.

‘Non-lethal shock net.’

It is a skill that fires a net that delivers an electric shock.

The ejection speed is fast, and if you get hit properly, you will be suppressed for a certain period of time due to the electric shock. It goes without saying, but if you get suppressed, you will be caught by that robot and roll on the ground.

Of course, it’s easy to say, but it’s very difficult in practice.

First of all, the skill range is short, so you have to get close, and at the same time as hitting the skill accurately, you have to grab the opponent and slam them to the ground. Because this game is full of kids who will use escape skills and run away if the suppression is released.

So that’s what’s called No Surrender’s signature move.

It’s an obvious pattern, and it always appears whenever No Surrender plays in a tournament, but there are few users in the Soul Frame world who know how to avoid it properly.

And.

I know how to avoid it.

Because I already know this guy is going to do this.

Even before the net was ejected, I turned on Cognitive Acceleration just by looking at the motion. And then, Psychokinesis Explosion and Barrier at the exact angle.

Then.

-Boom!

I was blown backwards by the impact of the explosion that exploded right in front of my nose. Fortunately, this time, thanks to the Barrier, I didn’t take self-destruct damage.

‘I need to manage my health if I’m going to be in a long fight.’

Sigh, but it feels bad. If it was a skill that could be canceled, I would just stick the skill on the robot arm. Unfortunately, it’s the kind that can’t be canceled once casting starts.

Even though an explosion suddenly occurred in front of him and the enemy he was aiming for self-destructed and flew far away, No Surrender reacted immediately.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Immediately turning on the booster and sticking to me.

As expected, pros are different. They don’t panic and play is perfectly matched. Then I have to do it properly too.

‘Psychokinesis Explosion’

‘Psychokinesis Explosion’

First, I blasted him twice to prevent him from approaching, and then accelerated by stacking Psychokinesis on my body. Safmar is a hero who is fast in instant acceleration thanks to the booster, but has poor endurance.

So, if I just start to widen the distance, he will never be able to chase…….

-Crackle!

Then, No Surrender immediately turned on the acceleration skill ‘Afterburner’, which is like his ultimate skill. And then he slowly started to accelerate and looked at me intently.

‘Does he know that he will lose if he enters an endurance battle?’

Well, it’s not like that guy has seen my play once or twice. Even if Minder is a 망캐, he would have confirmed the acceleration ability.

‘Yeah, let’s do it.’

This is exciting, it’s been a while.

I’m probably smiling brightly inside the bear costume.

*

[APK Min Ho-chan: Hyung, are you crazy? The director is looking for you. Tell me where you are. It’s chaos here.]

Baek Ji-hyeok pushed the message from his teammate out of his sight. If he could, he would like to turn it off completely, but he didn’t have time to do that now.

‘I know. You bastard.’

Baek Ji-hyeok knows. He knows very well that what he has done now is really crazy dog shit.

A player sniping a streamer?

And the justification is that the team was criticized?

It’s crazy.

No one will understand unless they are an APK fan.

Even if he loses, he will never be forgiven by anyone. No matter how much he is a franchise player of APK, he can’t cover up this crazy act.

‘I can do it.’

But.

If he wins, then it’s okay.

If he wins, if he defeats the opponent, he can be absolved.

The opponent is not a streamer with a very good image anyway, and honestly, APK was used, wasn’t it?

Baek Ji-hyeok thought that it would be better to trample the opponent like this and avoid the director’s glare.

Until he succeeded in sniping and actually facing the streamer, that is.

‘Why…….’

And now, he was regretting it.

‘Why, can’t I reach?’

His hand can’t reach. No matter what he does, he can’t catch the opponent, the Minder who wears a bear head.

When it seems like his hand will reach, the unbelievable distance control that immediately escapes. And Minder isn’t even a hero with a particularly fraudulent escape skill.

‘……Is this, is this possible?’

Beyond the black mask, Baek Ji-hyeok’s pupils shook.

Baek Ji-hyeok was one of the top bruisers in the first division league.

Except for a few monstrous players, he could catch all the pro players of the first division league in a 1:1 situation. No one could escape his grasp.

But, this. This…….

Isn’t it like groping a wall?

Baek Ji-hyeok felt the illusion of groping a monster as huge as a mountain. It feels like he’s become a foolish person looking for a place to hold on to a creature that is too huge to grab and slam to the ground, trying to do something about it.

When the other party is just playing around.

‘He could have killed me several times…… already, couldn’t he?’

Looking at the damage coming from Minder, if he got close and properly landed all his skills, including the ultimate, he could have blown up Baek Ji-hyeok’s Safmar. And the opponent’s control ability was enough to pretend to be caught and blow up Baek Ji-hyeok.

This is nothing more or less than playing around.

At the moment that thought came to mind, Baek Ji-hyeok despaired.

Regret that he has to take responsibility for this stupid act he committed, the feeling of defeat facing a wall that he can no longer climb. And all the other mixed emotions pour out.

Then, the arm that was trying to grab the opponent gradually lowered.

‘Is it, all over now.’

At that very moment.

-Ding!

The notification rang.

*

[‘Manager Cha’: I’m sorry, Chairman. No matter what action we take, each has its own demerits. It seems that the Chairman will have to make a decision.]

It seems that they couldn’t get a proper result outside.

Well, it’s a difficult problem.

What if I beat No Surrender here? Of course, my reputation will rise because I beat a pro, but instead, I will make APK my enemy. In addition, their fandom as well.

In addition, I end up getting entangled with APK again. I just suppressed this issue with streamer sniping. It’s all for nothing, if this happens.

Do I lose? First of all, I don’t like it, and my reputation will be tarnished, and it will cause problems in creating the image of a streamer who is better than a pro player.

And I just don’t like it.

Why should I deliberately lose to someone who is worse than me?

‘Agh, that golden child number 4.’

Everything is because of No Surrender, who has been named Golden Child No. 4 as of today. What the hell was he thinking when he did this? I got caught up in this guy’s trolling.

Eventually, when I was about to choose to trample No Surrender, I suddenly looked at the chat window.

『Wow;;;』

『No Surrender is really insanely good;;;; As expected, pros are different;;; He never lets the distance get any wider than a certain point;;;;』

『And the streamer is controlling the distance with such a proㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ』

『Wow, this is so visually pleasing, this is Hollywood and Yas』

『Oh, something just exploded』

『It seems that the streamer blew something up with his ultimate because it was getting in the way of escapingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ』

『NoㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋDon’t make him die mysteriouslyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ』

『It’s amazing』

『Is the level of Mider Safmar fight real? It’s really the fight of the strongest people in the world, is that the same Mider that used to be shit, it really is. Mider is a legend.』

『Where did you bring that old concept from?』

『Hey;;; are you using the chat window alone?』

The chat window is going up faster than I thought.

Looking at the contents of the chat, unlike the previous viewers, I strongly felt that people from other places were flowing in.

I glanced at it and saw that the number of viewers exceeded 2,000.

I immediately turned on Cognitive Acceleration, and typed on the keyboard.

[To ‘Manager Cha’: Viewer count. 2000.]

[‘Manager Cha’: Wait a minute. I’ll check.]

[To ‘Manager Cha’: Let’s just do this.]

[‘Manager Cha’: Yes?]

[To ‘Manager Cha’: I’m playing around with No Surrender right now, and the reaction seems to be pretty good. Let’s cover it up with this.]

Then, after a short time difference, the answer came.

[‘Manager Cha’: Please explain a little more.]

[To ‘Manager Cha’: Let’s shoot a play.]

I looked at No Surrender, who was following me. He looks like he’s getting tired. Well, he probably knows it too.

That I’m just playing around.

So, this is the last exit. Golden Child No. 4.

[To ‘Manager Cha’: After putting their honor on the line and making their best efforts, the battle between the two ended with my narrow victory. Isn’t this enough source material to make a drama?]

If we push it with this kind of issue, you’ll live too.

Then, Manager Cha’s answer soon came.

[‘Manager Cha’: I think it will probably be possible. But this needs to be discussed with No Surrender.]

I grinned.

[To ‘Manager Cha’: Let’s cast the actors right away.]

*

The identity of the notification was a message notification.

[‘SeongWon’: Hey.]

Baek Ji-hyeok, who was about to turn it off immediately, flinched the moment he saw the name. Because it’s a message sent by the opponent he’s trying to catch now.

Come to think of it, I added him as a friend before. I didn’t block him just in case, so it seems that the message was sent.

‘What, is he?’

Is he going to taunt me again?

Even while thinking such thoughts, the messages kept coming.

[‘SeongWon’: Don’t reply with a message in chat or speak with your voice, just keep chasing and reading.]

[‘SeongWon’: It seems that No Surrender made a mistake due to his overflowing energy, but I’ll cover for him to some extent.]

Cover? What kind of cover is he talking about?

Even with such doubts, Baek Ji-hyeok started chasing Minder again. For some reason, he felt that he should follow the opponent’s words.

[‘SeongWon’: It’s nothing special. It’s just, let’s do some acting. Something like, after putting in our best efforts and fighting a long, fierce battle, he loses to me.]

[‘SeongWon’: If we write the scenario like this, the public will focus on the fight itself, not the reason for the fight. If we do this, it seems that you can also get out of it with some honor. What do you think?]

What the hell is this crazy talk?

‘Let’s…… deceive people?’

Then, as if he had noticed Baek Ji-hyeok’s thoughts, a message that seemed to be mixed with laughter came.

[‘SeongWon’: Don’t think too hard about it, it’s just this. From now on, we will work together to dance the waltz. You know the waltz, right? A dance that two people dance together.]

[‘SeongWon’: We have to dance a wonderful dance that can deceive everyone in the world, so please take good care of me.]

[‘SeongWon’: 😆]