READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 53 - Karma
Chapter 53 Karma
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“…Guys, I’m seriously considering changing my streaming hours until the tournament ranks are over. Or maybe we should take a break when that person is ranking?”
—Neurosis lolololololol
—The opponent was too for a coward title
—Yoo Jin, how high are you planning to climb!!!!! Stop hitting Kato!!!!!
—Never had a class bully in school but I meet one here lolololololol
—Strategy Broadcast (I will be an aggressive person)
Game over.
The colors on the screen gradually faded. As if his soul had been sucked out of his body, he was now looking down at what used to be him. The black-and-white screen symbolizing death filled his vision.
A horribly dead corpse. Beside it, the text “2/100” clearly indicated that he was second, and a message showed that his RP had slightly increased. This was due to the nature of the battle royale, where a hundred players participated at once.
However, despite not dropping in rank, he buried himself deep into the chair in the private booth and covered his face with his hands.
“Ugh….”
Yoo Jin.
He wasn’t unaware of that name. As a streamer himself, he had to be sensitive to news from around him, especially when it came to the main content, battle royale.
Moreover, as always, the population distribution in the ranking games was shaped like a diamond, which meant that the user pool narrowed as one climbed higher.
To be blunt, it meant it became easier to encounter the same people again.
If one of them had been significantly less skilled or exceptionally outstanding, this misfortune might have been avoided or never happened, but it was happening, and that was the problem.
Moreover, it couldn’t be considered a deliberate snipe.
If he had intentionally sought him out during battles to kill him or donate items, he would have deserved criticism beyond mere reproach, but recently, when Kato encountered Yoo Jin…
On average, it was within the top 5, and in many cases, it ended in a 1:1 match between Yoo Jin and Kato.
Due to the nature of the battle royale, it was impossible not to meet, and if this was a snipe…thinking of the effort required to consistently make it to the final five each game to chase one person, that would be insane.
So the possibility of sniping was out of the question.
At this level, changing his streaming time to avoid just one user was excessive, but ignoring it and continuing would result in harsher consequences when they met.
Just now, he died by a dagger thrown to his face as soon as the distance closed slightly, leading him to the underworld expressway.
They had coincidentally ended up in the same game about seven times, but…would anyone be indifferent if they choked on a fishbone seven times while eating?
Hence, he shouted with unresolved doubts.
“Ha, seriously. Who the hell is that person? I’ve never felt a wall while playing Apex rank before. This top tier is a bit unique. There’s no eternal number one.”
A person directly controls the avatar’s movements.
Much more than what a keyboard and mouse can perform.
Therefore, the ranking at the top tier constantly rotated.
Because the physical ability of a person could create far more variables than reflexes, reaction speed, aiming skill, and sense.
In other words, it meant that a former pro-gamer from the previous era could be unexpectedly beaten badly by a tier 2 resident due to a momentary mistake.
But….
“…Is that person really a soldier? Was he a soldier? Unbelievable.”
—Eventually, this guy also concludes that Yoo Jin is a former soldier lolololol
—Honestly, looking at the physical and performance, it’s insane
—Someone said he served in a US special forces unit and came to Korea after discharge
—To be blunt, nobody knows lol
—To pull off that level of physical in a hardcore manner, he has to be a soldier
That person didn’t have any ups and downs, easily defeating the enemies blocking his way with insane physical abilities.
Maybe that person…was one of those North American server users I’ve only heard about?
Where the weak are weeded out, and the top tier is populated with former soldiers, PMCs, and tactical consultants?
Of course, I heard Yoo Jin only started the game not long ago. Dark Zone keeps all play records, and if he came from North America, there would have been stories about it already.
My fingers were itching.
If I met and died to him a couple more times in ways I couldn’t even imagine…I might not be able to bear the pain and curiosity any longer and send him a friend request.
And if I died to him a few more times after that, I might end up scribbling a 5700-character message begging for mercy.
For some reason, that future didn’t seem too distant.
Meanwhile, at that moment,
───Clank!
“…Sss.”
An unnecessarily cheerful sound.
Failing to adjust the jump height, the character hit the wall, fell with a pathetic effect, and dropped down after more than five screen transitions.
Watching the character get up as if nothing happened, Yoo Jin took a small breath and frowned in displeasure.
The game hadn’t even started yet. As the tier rose, there were fewer people, so the matching time was longer.
“This game is really annoying.”
Yoo Jin was enduring the creeping irritation while playing the game Harmony had recommended.
It was summer.
“Teacher! Long time no see! How did you grow so much in less than two weeks of streaming!?”
“Well. I wonder whose fault that is.”
“Oh…mine?”
A few days later.
Before starting the stream, sitting in the chair in the private booth and wondering what to do today, Harmony, who was set as a friend, suddenly barged in.
It was so sudden that I couldn’t find anything to say, but then I realized this wasn’t during a stream and changed my tone to be a bit more casual.
Harmony naturally created a chair and sat next to me.
She seemed quite curious.
“By the way, um…is it okay if I keep calling you Teacher?”
“We haven’t played together for a while, so just call me Yoo Jin.”
“That sounds good, right?”
After a moment of hesitation, she added with a bashful smile.
“Then, when it’s just the two of us, call me Harmony. No need to formally address me.”
“Alright, I’ll do that.”
After a short pause, trivial chatter followed.
She started.
“How’s the streaming going?”
“It’s not as hard as I thought. But it still feels strange to have so many people watching.”
“Maybe because you haven’t been streaming for long. If you plan to keep streaming, try different content. Viewers get bored if you keep showing the same thing.”
Thinking it made sense, I grabbed her soft cheeks with both hands and stretched them sideways.
“So, the games you recommended are for that?”
“Ah, aah! Ahyyayaah!”
The games she recommended had one common feature: a single mistake could send my character plummeting into the abyss.
Each time that happened, the chat would flood with strange messages like “Back to the beginning, electric mouse!” and I would despair, realizing I had returned to a familiar place.
What should I call this, roguelike?
It seemed a bit different from that genre, but anyway, the similarity was that a mistake could ruin everything I had built up.
Finding out I was bad at this type of game was just a bonus.
“I saw the donation video too. It was so fun I watched the replay several times, but it was a shame you only did it between matches. Why not use it as a warm-up game?”
“…You really enjoyed it?”
“Yes!”
Should I kick her out?
The urge surged to my scalp, but I was a modern person and a social one at that. I couldn’t just kick someone out over their preferences.
Anyway, I learned about this mint-flavored cat’s bizarre tastes.
Meanwhile, she continued talking.
“These games are like that. Very hard at first, but manageable once you get used to them. I’ve played so many that I can easily clear ones I’ve played before.”
“Good for you.”
“…Ugh, whenever I say I play these games, people give me that look….”
From my perspective, what other reaction could they have? But it was a perfect game to play while waiting for a match.
Though I had to climb back up after falling, I didn’t mind much once the rank game started. Of course, seeing the game screen again made me sigh.
“By the way, you’re much better at Dark Zone than I expected! I struggled with the main missions, but you climbed so high so quickly?”
“It took a little over ten days, I think…I just played mindlessly, aiming to participate in an eSports event. I didn’t mention it on the stream.”
“Hehe, right. If you had said that, everyone would have gone crazy.”
She waved her hand slightly and showed me something.
“You might not be curious, but this is the legal progress regarding the person who sniped. I came to tell you about it.”
“Oh, that…is it going well? Are you okay mentally?”
“Yes, thankfully. I had some sleepless nights at first, but I gradually adjusted.”
The summary was simple despite the technical terms.
The report was processed normally, summonses were sent by registered mail, and according to the lawyer, the penalties would be severe due to the offenses related to the Dark Zone stream.
In a way, it was justice. It was fortunate she didn’t have to face the suspect directly because of her legal representative.
“Everyone’s telling me not to settle. Also, background checks revealed the person is a
habitual sniper…so the outcome won’t be good for him.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“I’m trying not to think about it. If you commit a crime, you should be punished. That’s it. Deciding the punishment is for the legal professionals, not me, right?”
She had a point.
Though I was involved, as the direct victim, her stance left me nothing more to say.
So we continued our trivial conversation.
There was still time before the stream, and the chat, which started with random topics, eventually led to discussing a joint Dark Zone stream to celebrate my streamer debut.
Having no reason to refuse, I agreed readily, and suddenly a message popped up.
It was a Dark Zone message.
“Wait a moment. Something’s come.”
Clicking on it, I saw a short message.
—[Message from Cartographer: To Yoo Jin］
—[Message from Cartographer: I was the one who donated earlier, whatever it was, I apologize］
—[Message from Cartographer: If you’re going to kill me, please do it normally ㅠㅠ］
—[Message from Cartographer: As a fellow broadcaster, I want to die honorably by a bullet］
“Should I not be seeing this?”
“Oh, it’s not that….”
It might be my karma.
I couldn’t say that aloud.
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