Chapter 279 – How to Kill The Driver
“Ah, these manifests.”
The screen was blue.
It wasn’t because of a blue screen caused by a device malfunction or any other reason, but because water had filled the facility. An unexpected underwater battle was taking place at the Poplar Ridge Correctional Facility, where only two manifests remained.
Their movements in the water were so agile that it was hard to believe it was an underwater battle. Of course, compared to their speed on land, it was like the difference between an airplane and a car, but among the participants in this Final Championship, who else would have experience fighting underwater without even wearing a diving suit?
Compared to the overwhelming majority who would wait for a slow death over three minutes as soon as they were submerged, the underwater battle between Logan and Yoo Jin was incredibly intense.
As soon as the upper facility sank completely into seawater, the two threw everything except for their grenades and pistols and started swimming. After that, a 3D battle reminiscent of a dogfight between fighter jets began.
Both of them approached each other at close range, holding a pistol in their right hand. Yoo Jin grabbed the shield in Logan’s hand, tore off two grenades from her molle, and desperately shoved them at Logan. In turn, Logan folded his shield and didn’t let go of Yoo Jin.
A heavy, dull sound erupted. At the same time, Logan and Yoo Jin, with painful expressions, exhaled all the air in their mouths. The explosion of the grenades underwater had caused internal damage due to the shockwave.
Despite their shields and HP being simultaneously reduced, both squeezed out all their remaining strength and fired their pistols. However, Logan, who had lost his left arm but protected his organs, was at an advantage.
The sound of a bullet piercing through fabric was followed by Yoo Jin losing strength. As Yoo Jin slowly sank to the ground, Logan leisurely swam to a nearby escape pod just a few meters away.
With a swoosh, the water inside the escape pod was drained, and Logan’s body was launched upward as if he were on a gyroscope.
“Ah, Logan! He defeats Yoo Jin and boards the escape pod! He is the only escapee from the Poplar Ridge Correctional Facility! The final winner of the second match on Friday is Logan!”
And at that moment,
───Click!
“Ugh, I’m going to die.”
“Oh, you’re here?”
“Byum has arrived, Byum!”
“We enjoyed the underwater battle between the polar bear and the anaconda, teacher!”
Yoo Jin arrived at the debriefing room.
She no longer paid much attention to what her teammates said. Until Wednesday, she would have maintained a perfect superhuman appearance even after the game, but starting Thursday, she began to loosen up.
Of course, nobody disliked this change. Yoo Jin knew this very well, so as soon as she entered the room, she flopped onto the bed. The debriefing room, which was also the playroom for Michael, Ink, and Gambit, the ones assigned the largest room, made this possible.
Yoo Jin, wrapped up like a silkworm in her blanket, spoke.
“Do we really need to debrief since the next round is the last one?”
“Wow, dereliction of duty legend.”
“Whether I debrief or not, you guys won’t mess up the last match, right?”
Of course, this didn’t work at all.
Dice, who had somehow ended up sitting on the bed next to her, peeled back the blanket and smacked Yoo Jin on the back to end the situation. Returning to professionalism, Byum took the remote control and began checking the others’ plays—starting with Dice, who was eliminated faster than expected.
That didn’t mean the cause was a mystery.
“Of course.”
Dice, who usually made it into the top 10, suddenly finished 17th. This meant that someone had beaten her and nailed that rank. Yoo Jin hadn’t seen Dice in the second round, so there was only one culprit.
When Yoo Jin replayed the last three minutes of Dice’s match, she chuckled.
“Before I came to the room, Laurentina said. She told me to scold the blonde who relies too much on gimmicks. I wondered what she meant.”
“Ugh….”
The shark girl….
Only Dice understood the reference. Naturally, she collapsed onto the bed upon hearing it.
Saying she relied too much on gimmicks wasn’t entirely wrong, but it was also inevitable. Dice was fully aware of the issue. She didn’t expect the EMP pulse to disable the gate.
In other words, it was a checkmate. She didn’t have the confidence to win without relying on gimmicks, and Logan surely knew the tricks. Accepting that the only winning method was known to the opponent was tough.
So, perhaps the best answer was to dig the traps more thoroughly.
…of course,
“I’m so glad the next round is the last.”
“And next year, neither Logan nor I will be here.”
“Uh….”
The four of them didn’t know whether to be happy or not.
Logan aside, Yoo Jin was still the mental pillar and solid rock of the Korean team. As others performed well, they followed suit; as others wavered, they wavered too. She held the team’s center firmly, ensuring everyone maintained their composure in any situation.
With this, Yoo Jin officially announced her retirement to the representative players. This made Dice and the others feel a heavy weight on their shoulders.
Though Yoo Jin planned to guide scrims and curriculums as much as possible even after the Final Championship, it was out of her goodwill.
“Moreover, given the plays shown this year, there’s a high chance everyone will research their skills in-depth for next year. If you rest on your laurels, you won’t even find your baseline.”
“Still, there’s no guarantee that the skills curriculum for next year’s participants will go in the right direction, right?”
“I can’t deny that.”
Yoo Jin meticulously analyzed battle data within ICARUS Gear to teach the Korean team the most effective and efficient methods. The representative players learned the best curriculum extracted through numerous trials and errors.
It would probably take at least two years to close the gap. It was a combat manual perfected by sacrificing people’s lives.
The debriefing seemed more like laying out aspirations for the future, but it was also true. After the next game, Yoo Jin wouldn’t be responsible for them anymore and would lose her coaching position.
So, Yoo Jin added with a kinder expression than usual.
“But never settle. The real value comes when you further develop what I’ve taught you. Settling is another word for regression.”
She bestowed them with an unbearable weight and a gift simultaneously.
She spoke again.
“I hope all of you make it to the TOP 10 next year, and Dice…shouldn’t you earn the title of Apex Predator at least once?”
Apex Predator.
The pinnacle of predators.
A title that only one person in the world could hold. Achieving first place in the Final Championship awarded not only real-world honor but also a resplendent in-game recognition plate, shoulder patch, rank insignia, and gun camo permanently.
A collection element irresistible to any gamer before being a pro.
Dice giggled at this and continued.
“One thing’s for sure, the 1st place recognition plate and patch I’ll get next year will be prettier than what Yoo Jin gets this year.”
“I wonder. Let’s compare on January 1st, the year after next.”
At the same time, Yoo Jin looked around.
“Not just Dice, but I hope you all come to show off to me.”
Clap.
She added after a single clap.
“Though it’s a bit early, everyone, you’ve done a great job following my curriculum without any issues so far. I hope everyone has achieved their desired results, and even if you quit Dark Zone later, I hope today’s results will be remembered as a glorious memory in your life even 40 years from now.”
With genuine sincerity, Yoo Jin bowed deeply.
At the same time, thunderous applause erupted, and only then did Yoo Jin straighten up and gesture to Dice. There were less than three minutes left until the final match of the day and the last match of the Final Championship.
And then she continued.
“There’s also a Harmony match later, so if you want to watch, please stay. If you want to leave, you can go back to the hotel. On Saturday, there’s the last party of the year hosted by Henry, so everyone, enjoy shopping nearby and then come.”
Swoosh.
At that moment, Yoo Jin tactically whisked Dice away, leaving only three people standing there, dumbfounded.
“…Henry?”
Of course, it would take a bit more time for the memory of who Henry was to pop up.
The end of the Final Championship was approaching.
“The last day of the Final Championship, which has lasted for a full two weeks, and its final match is finally upon us! Who will be the one to close the main event with the final match? The results will be revealed over the next 30 minutes!”
The final match of the Final Championship was beginning.
Normally, no conversation was allowed inside the transport aircraft, but the final match of the Final Championship, held annually, was the literal exception. Everyone was smiling, sending New Year’s greetings, and adding words to wrap up the year well.
“Yoo Jin! Yoo Jin! Please give me an autograph after the match!”
“Shut up! I asked first!”
Of course, there were also many who didn’t follow this tradition.
As Dice, sitting right next to her, chuckled and muttered, “You’ll be busy after the match,” she popped up the mini-map. She needed to figure out the flight route of the transport aircraft and the location of the volcano. And at the same time, others were doing similar checks.
Countless routes began to form in Yoo Jin’s mind as she stared intently at the map – this was essentially the most important thing. The variable known as the map gimmick also began to operate under the name of tactics as part of this huge logical deduction process.
Atakaya Volcanic Island. There was quite a large space and passageways underground. Due to the excessive number of visitors to the island, not only the surface but also the underground had been developed, making it sufficient to accommodate the flowing lava serving as kill zones.
In other words, controlling the flow of lava from the control room of the underground facility allowed humans to guide the kill zones.
How to utilize this effectively was one of her countless concerns.
“You’re deep in thought again, aren’t you?”
“….”
Of course, those deep in thought made others think deeply too, and it was no surprise that Dice was having similar thoughts.
The hatch opened, and everyone started jumping out. To prevent teaming, individuals couldn’t jump whenever they wanted, meaning it was based on a strict random timing. In other words, the users jumping in real-time weren’t doing so by choice.
Meanwhile, Yoo Jin’s body naturally moved. As she stepped on the lower hatch and jumped out, only the sound of the wind enveloped her ears. The altimeter whirred until it reached an altitude suitable for deploying the parachute, which opened with a pop, and after a while…
“This place is….”
Yoo Jin landed in a small, sparsely populated village.
Originally, small markets selling various goods, including groceries, now spilled out guns, and unlike a while ago, she was able to obtain enough items to survive the early stages.
However, just as she looted a spiked hammer and stuffed it into her multipurpose pouch, an immense shockwave and thunderous noise erupted from outside.
───!!!
The volcano erupted, lava flowing down. Ash billowed from the crater while volcanic bombs struck various parts of the map. The kill zone of the volcanic island map had officially begun. Similarly, the coastline began to sink slowly from the severe seismic activity, another kill zone.
Unfortunately, the place where Yoo Jin had landed was a remote area of the map, meaning it was closer to the kill zone than expected. Therefore, she had no choice but to find a vehicle and get on it before setting the next waypoint.
The ominous sound of the air tearing apart could be heard from all directions in the distance. By the time anyone could recognize the sound, it was already too late to avoid the massive volcanic bombs closing in.
Abandoned pensions, officetels, and countless other buildings, roads, mountains, and fields were hit several times by long-range natural disasters. Without even the time to decide which vehicle would be better, Yoo Jin started the engine, and a buggy roared down the road.
But the volcano wasn’t the only danger on this map.
───Tatata!
“…Damn.”
People were the second danger.
A fully armed vehicle with a machine gun on top started chasing Yoo Jin.
Though the buggy’s size and speed were slightly better, the other vehicle had a gun that made distance meaningless. If just one of the endless bullets hit wrong, the buggy could become inoperable, and it only took a few hits for its durability to drop significantly.
However, it didn’t take long. Yoo Jin had already given up trying to keep the vehicle alive – at that moment, the buggy’s door came off, and the tires burst. As the speed rapidly decreased and steering became impossible, Yoo Jin realized that the distance with the pursuing vehicle was gradually closing.
Not quickly, but gradually.
What she had to do now was close to acrobatics, so it would be difficult if the relative speed dropped too much.
-Karak!
Like a drunken person staggering, the buggy’s speed steadily declined.
At a certain point, the speed plummeted so sharply that it seemed fitting to say it was nose-diving. The sound of the bumper of the pursuing vehicle crashing into the buggy’s front end was heard.
But Yoo Jin had already jumped out of the buggy long ago.
Reflected in the front windshield of the pursuing vehicle was the image of a snake.
“Whoaah!”
Crash!
With a spine-chilling sound, the entire windshield cracked.
As the sharp spikes pierced the glass in one blow, Yoo Jin, using the protruding machine gun’s muzzle as a grip, repeatedly hammered the glass.
When the user driving hurriedly drew a pistol based on muscle memory, the windshield already had a gaping hole big enough for a fist, and Yoo Jin threw all her throwable weapons into it.
The moment the flashbang exploded, the user was incapacitated, and when the two grenades detonated, the vehicle’s steering function was completely wrecked. Yoo Jin then estimated the speed of the burning armed vehicle and jumped off the bonnet.
But unlike Yoo Jin, who rolled several times and came to a stop with a battered body, the vehicle had a different fate. The vehicle with its handle completely broken eventually crashed into a wall, and that was the end.
From about a dozen meters away, Yoo Jin shook her head, muttering.
“Can’t even loot like this.”
She turned away, ignoring the scene, and moved towards the building complex.
The burning vehicle crashing into the wall and exploding with flames and debris was the last memory of Yoo Jin’s first engagement.