Chapter 267: Maximum Level
—Battler, deploy!
—All rise for His Imperial Majesty~
—You're exactly the kind of person I've been waiting for
—Show us what you've got ㄱㄱ
The next to step forward was Kim Hyeonjun. He rose from his seat, calmly loosened up as he moved, crossed paths with Lee Yeonwoo, and took his position in the open space.
The viewers' cheers directed at the empire they rooted for—and the emperor who led it—were imnse. More intense even than when Lee Yeonwoo had stepped up to take his turn.
Lee Yeonwoo, who had gone before, had certainly won the hearts of DH Empire fans. That was a fact no one could deny. They themselves would readily admit it.
But he could not be compared to Kim Hyeonjun. Kim Hyeonjun was not soone who had won their hearts—he was soone who had their love. For nearly a decade, without pause.
"······."
Kim Hyeonjun, silently reaching out to fiddle with the level settings on the asurent program.
The mont he set it to exactly double Lee Yeonwoo's—LV.100—and pressed the start button, the numbers, now blazing a deeper red than before, began the countdown.
3—he drew a calm breath; 2—he raised his head, channeling full concentration; 1—he maintained a steady posture. Ready to extend his hand at any mont.
And then, at last, the three characters 'START' rose in place of the numbers.
—Beep!
—Insanely fast ㄷㄷ
—What ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—Did he reach out before it even appeared??
—Looked pretty much simultaneous to
Kim Hyeonjun's hand had already touched the gray disc that appeared before him and returned. A motion so swift it was entirely natural.
So much so that to the viewers' eyes, it looked as if he had reached out and pulled back before the gray disc had even finished materializing.
Unless he could see the future, he had clearly reacted and moved after the disc appeared—yet that was what it looked like. Truly a remarkable speed.
And the even more remarkable fact was that this was only the beginning.
Just as it had during Lee Yeonwoo's demonstration, gray discs appeared ceaselessly in all directions, and he missed not a single one.
The mont sothing seed to erge, he had already moved—and a blue flash and a beep! would ring out. As if it were a sequence and conclusion that had been decided all along.
'Long Live the King' donated '1,000 won'!
[Basically ans Battler can attack at that speed; now that I think about it, that's kinda terrifying ㄷㄷ]
—It really is ㄷㄷ
—If he attacks at the speed he's hitting those discs, wow
—I'm confident I'd go down without blocking even the first hit
—There's a reason even pros avoid going one-on-one with Battler ㅇㅇ
'A little more. Focus.'
The viewers' chats were already invisible to Kim Hyeonjun as he took on the asurent. Not just that—Lee Yeonwoo and Baek Woohyun behind him were cleanly erased as well.
The act of hitting dozens of discs appearing for barely a second at a ti from every direction demanded extre concentration.
Letting his guard down for even a mont could an missing four or five discs—so his nerves burned hot, stretching his perceived sense of ti endlessly thin.
Baek Woohyun called it the 'Slowed World'; pros called it the 'Zone'—he had entered that state, pushing through the heavy, clinging air as he extended hand and foot.
The delay between seeing a gray disc materialize, processing it, and moving his body was virtually nonexistent.
The powerful body prepared for those challenging LV.100 responded perfectly to his will.
Sfsfsfst!
Beepbeepbeepbeep!
'This—it's not just asuring three abilities.'
Baek Woohyun, watching from behind, suddenly thought.
Lee Yeonwoo had announced that this content would use the three-category combined asurent of dynamic visual acuity, reaction speed, and situational response—but in reality, it didn't stop there.
Dynamic visual acuity for confirming the gray discs, reaction speed for reaching toward them, situational response for how they were touched—and one more thing on top of all that.
Body control—asuring how fully the physical abilities granted at a given level could be utilized.
Of course, Lee Yeonwoo likely hadn't hidden that fact out of any malice. He had simply internalized it so naturally that it hadn't even occurred to him that it needed to be explained.
In the end, clearing the asurent required pushing the three stated abilities to their absolute limit—and to do that, body control also had to be perfect.
You could call it a common mistake among geniuses—setting the starting line according to their own fra of reference, because the innate talent underlying everything was simply too exceptional.
'Ah, geniuses,' thought the man who had once been called the pinnacle of talent himself, shaking his head.
'It seems DH Empire places more importance on physical mastery than other pro teams.'
He had an intuition bordering on certainty that this was a philosophy rooted in Battler Kim Hyeonjun.
Spend enough ti grinding in the 'Colosseum' and you co to understand that simply making good use of one's body, without any great technique, often trumps everything else.
If Kim Hyeonjun—the emperor and ace of DH Empire—trained that aspect rigorously, it was only natural that the other players would follow his lead.
'That said—this is getting quite interesting.'
Baek Woohyun watched Kim Hyeonjun continue the asurent with the sa eyes he had fixed on Lee Yeonwoo—no, with eyes that glead even more sharply.
If those who had trained under him 'on that side' could see him now, they would have moved away from the target as quickly and as far as possible.
Without even thinking to tell the target to run. Because they knew well enough that it would be pointless.
The Demon Instructor would, one way or another, seize whatever raw gem of talent had caught his eye and carve his teachings into it.
[LV.100 = PERFECT CLEAR]
"Phew···."
—Damn
—Level 100 perfect ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—He's seriously not human
—This is supposedly the sa species as ? Then why am I the way I am?
'DH Imperial Family Forever' donated '10,000 won'!
[Mom, when I grow up I want to be Battler! Mom, when I grow up I want to be Battler!]
At Kim Hyeonjun's Level 100 Perfect Clear—finally achieved—the viewers hamred out cheers and chats for what felt like the hundredth ti.
Anyone with eyes could see just how extraordinary a asurent was that even required the 'Slowed World' to clear.
They were overjoyed at the fact that their ace—the empire's emperor—was still going strong. Next year, they'd get to watch him play without any retirent in sight.
—Level 100 perfect clear ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—anwhile a certain soone did level 50 and acted like it was sothing, hmm···
—Wait, are you seriously talking about our Crown Prince who did level 50 as a warm-up and called it slow?
—You're the worst ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
"No wait, that was a warm-up for ! I can do Level 100 Perfect Clear too!"
—Sure, sure ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—You need to use Level 100 as a warm-up before you inherit the throne ㅉㅉ
—Ahh co on, just joking~
—But you all love the Crown Prince, right??
The one who suddenly found himself in hot water was Lee Yeonwoo.
He loudly insisted that he was also capable of Level 100 Perfect Clear and had deliberately gone lower to demonstrate how the asurent worked.
Admittedly, there was so truth to what he said—Kim Hyeonjun's asurent had been so swift that ordinary viewers could only tell that sothing was flashing about.
If Lee Yeonwoo hadn't demonstrated the format first at Level 50, the admiration would have been halved.
"You understand, right, everyone? My limit is absolutely not Level 50!"
—Of course, of course
—Not saying the bad words 'boring' and 'pedantic' ㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴ
—Level 100 Perfect Clear = good answer
—Of course, Nikki-bbitbbi
"Gyaaah! Hyeonjun-hyung! Take it easy! Now it looks like I sandbagged with a lower level!"
"Well then, you should've gone all out."
Lee Yeonwoo's shriek was t with Kim Hyeonjun offering a faint smile and a shrug, and the viewers who had watched their routine burst into laughter.
So were even nonsensically arguing that from a utilitarian standpoint, it was the right outco—everyone becoming happy at the cost of one person's unjust suffering.
Lee Yeonwoo, who had genuinely chosen a level that was reasonably challenging yet entertaining instead of a grueling one, purely so the format would be clear to viewers, was crestfallen.
"Well, regardless."
"Uggghh─"
"There's one person left."
—Finally
—Guest incoming
—What will Hackphysical's score be
—Sothing big coming?
"······."
The gazes of Kim Hyeonjun and Lee Yeonwoo landed on Baek Woohyun, who was smiling at leisure as though none of it concerned him—and technically, it didn't.
The firm anticipation and subtle Competitive Spirit mixed into both of their expressions only deepened the smile already resting at the corners of his mouth.
He rose lightly from his seat, stretched once long and slow, then spoke.
"Since the two of you did Level 50 and Level 100 respectively."
"······."
"I should do Level 150. That's right, isn't it?"
—That's logical
—If it goes up in incrents of 50, that's correct ㅇㅇ
—In 50/100/O, the number that goes in O is obviously 150 ㄹㅇㅋㅋ
—But first, whether Level 150 even exists is the key question
"Level 150 does exist. Yes. It does."
"It's the maximum level of the asurent program. One that nobody has cleared to date."
Kim Hyeonjun, finishing Lee Yeonwoo's sentence and completing the explanation, fixed his gaze on Baek Woohyun. It was an intense stare that wouldn't have been strange to mistake for a glare.
Partly because his eyes naturally had a sharp edge to them—but beyond that, an enormous force was loaded into his gaze.
Indeed, the claim that nobody had cleared it to date ant, in other words, that Kim Hyeonjun himself had also failed to clear Level 150.
His record was Level 121 Perfect Clear and Level 130 general clear. There were still twenty steps left to the maximum level.
In that context, Baek Woohyun—who had not practiced even once—suddenly declaring he would challenge the maximum level was enough to make anyone's eyes light up.
In a situation like this, the usual thing would be for viewers to argue back and forth over whether Baek Woohyun could really clear the maximum level when even Kim Hyeonjun's record was Level 130—but─
—Even 'for all his ability, Hackphysical···' is a aningless thing to say
—Nuclear Tourism First Rule: if it's Hackphysical, it's possible
—Fact: Hackphysical beat Battler one-on-one
—Does starting a asurent at max level make no sense? Then does winning every match with a first-ti build make sense?
"···I look forward to it."
─The chat was filled with nothing but a single phrase repeated in succession—the one said to best encapsulate Baek Woohyun ever since the monster known as Baek Woohyun had been revealed through the 'Nuclear Tourism' content.
Before the magical sentence 'if it's Hackphysical, it's possible'—one that turned the impossible into possible—there was no room for doubt to take root.
Even Kim Hyeonjun, it seed, hadn't truly doubted either—he stepped back having left nothing but the simple words of expectation.
"······Phew."
Third to step forward after Lee Yeonwoo and Kim Hyeonjun, Baek Woohyun calmly regulated his breathing. Long, rhythmic cycles of inhale and exhale awakened his body.
A simple deep breath. With nothing more than that, he heightened his concentration—and reached the 'Slowed World' that pros dreaming of the World Class desperately yearned for.
No—it was clearly beyond that. The perceived sense of ti within the 'Slowed World' could stretch without limit, depending on the concentration of whoever wielded it.
Reviews
All reviews (0)