[The setting is the ‘Geyser Battlefield’ of the dimension Insectia.]
[‘Insectia’ is a dimension ruled by ruthless insect queens. Survive until the time limit to prove your qualification for promotion.]
[Time limit: 29:59]
The system window appeared in the air. Upon seeing it, the players each let out a sigh with mixed feelings.
“This is insane…!”
“A different dimension? In a promotion match?”
“It’s not that surprising. It’s common in Platinum.”
From the Platinum tier onwards, various different species appear. Naturally, unlike BroSilGol, the stage of the arena frequently takes place in other dimensions.
This is common knowledge not only among players but also among others. The issue is.
“Who wouldn’t know that? It’s not just because it’s in another dimension!”
It was the stage of the promotion match.
“Yeah. And it’s not just any place, it’s Insectia!”
“Even the Diamonds find this place repulsive!”
Insectia, a dimension ruled by insect queens, where the native Insectors all have insect-like forms.
The problem lies in the fact that they are quite large in size. There was no reason for the players to be so wary of mere insect appearances. Their wariness stemmed from one thing.
“If you even touch one of them, they’ll swarm at you!”
“Yeah. I saw it on GalTube! Once a scout gets caught, hundreds of them rush in at once!”
It was due to the characteristic of the Insectors.
“Even Diamonds struggle to fend them off with all sorts of AoE attacks… but what can we Golds do!”
“In the first place, Diamonds always hide and sneak around!”
Insects that often form clusters on Earth as well.
Most Insectors possess a sense of unity in such clusters.
“Darn it! Of course, it’s Insectia in a promotion match!”
“Although there are cooperation conditions… will Golds really work together…?”
They were all most likely top players in the Gold rank. Perhaps because of Insectia’s notorious reputation, they were finding it hard to suppress their emotions. Then.
“That guy, it’s all because of that guy!”
A man with a short hair adorned with the pattern of a white tiger pointed to a certain direction and raised his voice. His finger was aimed at the graceful young man approaching them.
“That person…”
“Is that Kim Shimun?”
“Kim Shimun? The winner of the Gold debut match?”
“No, he’s already at a level to challenge Platinum?”
Some players who recognized him couldn’t help but gasp in amazement.
One of them said, “Do you all get it now? Then, the story becomes easier!”
The man with short hair expressed his frustration instead of admiration.
“Anyone who has watched that bastard’s broadcast would know. Every arena that bastard hosted was all regulated to the extreme!”
As his words continued, the players’ gazes on Shimun became sharper.
“Come to think of it… didn’t all the arenas that guy hosted turn into chaos?”
“Yeah. I almost always caught his broadcasts, and just having him around raised the difficulty level!”
“Really? So, it’s his fault that we got hit with Insectia?”
The atmosphere quickly turned tense. This was because there were quite a few who had actually watched Shimun’s broadcasts. The opinion of the short-haired man carried even more weight. And then…
“Hello, I…”
Before Shimun could even greet them, “Shut up and get lost! You’re such a nuisance!”
The insults came flying at him.
* * *
“Huh?”
Shimun received insults even before properly greeting them.
‘What’s going on now?’
Before he could even figure out the situation, “It’s all because of you! Everything is because of you!”
The short-haired man kept berating him, raising his voice.
“Hey, Changmin. Calm down! That guy is strong as hell!”
A female companion urgently tried to calm the man down. However, “If he’s so strong, why didn’t he know the terms for this arena collaboration?!”
“Yeah. Isn’t he the Gold Debut winner from last time?”
“Why did they switch the matchmaking during my promotion match?”
“They should’ve lowered the MMR or something. Ugh… what a nuisance, seriously.”
Most of the matched players were only glaring at Shimun with hostility. An opinion was formed among them.
‘Ah, is that how it is?’
Realizing how the situation was unfolding, Shimun let out a bitter laugh.
‘So they think I’m the reason behind the dimension Insectia mixed with the promotion match map.’
Despite their words, from hidden bosses to increased difficulty levels, considering the arenas Shimun had experienced, the situation was somewhat understandable.
They probably had their own convictions from watching his broadcasts.
However, “Excuse me, but, no, there’s no need for apologies.”
What they felt wronged about was wrong, and it needed to be corrected.
“As for the fact that Insectia was matched due to me, we need to correct that statement.”
“Where’s the correction and apology? Do you think I’ve watched your broadcast a couple of times?”
“Yeah! You played arenas that didn’t match up with the ranked levels every time!”
Immediate rebuttals erupted. Even though the man named Changmin, who spoke first, remained silent. The players’ eyes on Shimun were extremely grim. Shimun gazed at the players with a slightly sunken expression.
“If you’ve been watching my broadcast, you should know, right? There aren’t many arenas with increased difficulty like this one,” he said.
And as Shimun said, there were cases where matchmaking and difficulty increased due to high MMR, but not every arena unfolded that way.
“There have been times when special arenas or hidden bosses were summoned under certain conditions, why are those always omitted?” he questioned.
“Well, that’s…”
The players faltered, hesitatingly countering Shimun’s calm remarks.
“As a matter of fact…”
– Yeah, Shimun’s broadcast was so amazing that the actual increase in difficulty was minimal,” one of the players agreed.
“Definitely. Don’t you know that special arenas are much harder than regular ones?” another chimed in.
“It’s like the promotion matches in gold and debut matches are the same. It’s not a big deal to make an issue out of it,” commented another.
As Shimun’s broadcast continued, viewers who had been watching him for a long time also became engrossed in the discussion. Those who had been following Shimun’s broadcasts were well aware that he had simply tackled difficult arenas from the start and the difficulty level hadn’t actually increased each time.
Furthermore, – Even when there were issues, Shimun carried the team, right?
One viewer highlighted.
– Exactly. Just look at that moment in ‘Poisoned Supply Route,’ where he single-handedly kept all 20 team members alive.
Another viewer added.
– The other players who were matched with him even enjoyed increased rewards by riding on his coattails.
A third viewer pointed out.
– Damn it! I wish I could be matched with Kim Shimun just once.
One viewer expressed his wish.
“Same here, haha,” another agreed.
The increase in difficulty in the arena directly correlated with an increase in rewards. Despite dominating the arena with overwhelming performances, Shimun wished to be matched with other players who hoped to be carried by him in the game, under the premise that they were teammates.
“Even the system clearly stated it,” Shimun pointed out, pointing to the empty air with a cold expression. There, a translucent system message window was displayed, showing the recent messages that had just appeared.
“Read it again. Where does it mention that the difficulty was adjusted because of me?” he challenged the players.
“Come to think of it…”
the players mumbled, realizing there was no mention of difficulty adjustments in any of the messages on the map, descriptions, or timing. As Shimun pointed out, none of the three messages mentioned any adjustments to difficulty or special adjustments.
Shimun drove his point home, piercing the bewildered players with his words.
“I believe that there is no ridiculous idea that the system is lying.”
The map ‘Geyser Battlefield,’ despite the scorching heat emanating from the towering grass and flowers, was engulfed in a strangely subdued atmosphere as the players fell into silence. Of course, the silence only applied to the players.
– They really grow up and step out of the promising line, only to meet all sorts of c**p.
– Seriously, lol. Don’t these guys read the system messages?
– They’re the type to fall for manipulation rather than fact-checking.
– Trying to play dumb doesn’t make sense.
– But it became a fact, didn’t it?
– They’re at the level of national idiots, lol.
– You guys don’t deserve to be in his party.
– True. They don’t have the intelligence to be in his party. Everyone should just drop out.
The chat window was burning fiercely. Moving on from that.
– The most ridiculous thing is that guy Changmin, he’s from a mid-sized guild, and he’s like that, lol.
– Right? That emblem belongs to the White Tiger Guild, doesn’t it?
– OMG, lol. Isn’t the White Tiger Guild in a slump these days? Even their domestic guild ranking is dropping.
– With guys like that as guild members, how wouldn’t the ranking drop, lol?
– If he’s from the White Tiger Guild, he must have turned on the broadcast, you’re doomed.
– I’m going too, guys. Open the gate!
Viewers even went to watch the broadcast of Changmin, the player who had incited others the most with his high voice. Perhaps because they had actually left the broadcast on.
“Oh, no, this can’t be!”
Changmin, a man with short hair, touched the air repeatedly with a bewildered face.
Shimun glanced at Changmin in such a state and said, “If you have something else to say, now’s the time. I will give you a clear answer.”
“……”
“……”
Where did all that fiery spirit go from earlier?
No one opened their mouths. It was expected.
“No! Every time I watched that broadcast! Naturally, I thought it was because of him! Oh, no! Please, don’t let it be true! Our guild…..”
Struggling, Changmin, wearing a veil of explanation, continued to make excuse after excuse. And there was the system window containing only the contents of the promotion match.
Already, those who had some knowledge could tell what was true and what was false.
“Sigh….”
Shimun let out a deep sigh as the players fell silent.
‘This is why there’s no chance of cooperation.’
Friction that arose even before starting the arena. Although he corrected the truth with facts, it was impossible to restore the disturbed atmosphere.
Shimun didn’t have the intention to do so either. Running his fingers roughly through his bangs, Shimun said, “Let’s untangle everything and just… since I’m uncomfortable, I’ll move separately.”
After all, there were only cooperation conditions in the system’s instructions.
‘Just because you keep the cooperation conditions doesn’t mean there are individual rewards.’
Unlike the previous arena, the Poisoned Supply Route, where there were additional rewards for everyone to cooperate or survive. Even though there were cooperation conditions, in the end, it was still a promotional match.
An arena to test whether the participants were qualified to advance to the next rank. Did other participants also realize that?
“Wait a minute!”
“Shimun-nim, please listen to me!”
They urgently grabbed Shimun, who turned his body away.
There might have been embarrassment at being swayed by reckless instigation.
“There is no one as strong as Kim Shimun among the players here.”
“It’s not even a bus, it’s more like a jet, we can’t afford to let someone like X beat us!”
“If I let this go, my promotion match will be over!”
They didn’t want to miss the bus called Kim Shimun.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding! No, we were wrong a hundred times!”
“Why is Shimun-nim leaving? Shouldn’t that guy Changmin or something be the one to leave!”
“Y-yes! That guy blamed Shimun out of the blue!”
If they were participating in the promotion match, they would probably belong to the top tier even in Gold. As if asking when they had ever done that. They changed their attitude, cursing at Changmin and clinging to Shimun. It was natural.
“Platinum promotion is no joke.”
“Once promoted, most guild officers won’t even look at you twice!”
“Given my skills, I can never make it to Platinum. I have to catch this bus no matter what!”
Platinum. A rank that categorizes players as genuine top-tier players. The obsession of Gold players towards reaching Platinum was akin to a kind of madness.
Moreover, haven’t most of them watched Shimun’s broadcast before? They knew Shimun’s skills; they had to catch him even if they had to kneel down. At that moment, “Hmm?”
Shimun, who was leaving, stopped in his tracks, chuckling with his head slightly tilted. The faces of the participants who had been holding onto Shimun brightened for a moment, but it was short-lived.
Rumbling!
The ground collapsed suddenly with an earthquake.
Thud.
Sensing the foreboding, Shimun flicked his fingers and leaped into the air.
“What, what’s happening!”
“Aaaah!”
The participants who had no idea about this were buried in thick dust with screams.
‘This is….’
Shimun, who landed on a giant leaf, furrowed his brow as he swept through the dusty area. Toward the settled ground’s periphery.
Clang clang.
The sound of something being split apart echoed ceaselessly. Confirming the source of the sound, Shimun unintentionally burst into a hollow laugh. He couldn’t help it.
“I shouldn’t have set the cooperation conditions lightly.”
The culprit who caused the area to collapse… was none other than.
-“Insane!”
-“Is this for real?”
-“He’s gone all out from the beginning lol.”
A long, solid-shelled bug easily encircling the area that had sunk.
“Eeek!”
Because it was a metal worm.