The thrill of Survival Lies in Lü Bu.
Cloyd Survival was the only chance to change his and his family's fate.
Sure, he could graduate and get a decent job and live a diligent life.
But no matter how hard he worked, it didn't seem like he'd end up living all that differently from his parents, who constantly worried they couldn't afford surgery due to lack of money.
This was the mont Seowoon's life veered sharply off the track it had been on, as he decisively erased thoughts of school or TOEIC academies from his mind.
On the subway ride ho, so male students sitting next to him were watching a video on their phones and chatting, naturally drawing his eyes toward the screen.
"This is totally fake."
"They staged this just to get views."
"I'm telling you, it's not. This guy uploaded a similar video recently, and the account got deleted along with all the content. There's sothing going on."
In the video, a man was wielding a wooden sword in the mountains, moving in ways no ordinary human should be capable of.
At the climax, he leapt more than five ters between two trees and split a rock cleanly in two with the wooden sword — it was an overwhelming sight.
Naturally, Seowoon's eyes widened at the footage.
He quickly launched the YouTube app on his own phone to find the video, but for so reason, it wasn't there.
"Hey! Look! It's deleted again."
"Seriously?"
"See? 'This channel has been deleted for violating content guidelines.' Got it? Why would they keep deleting it like this?"
"Co to think of it, there's been a surge of videos lately, globally, from people claiming they've beco superhuman."
"Yeah, but those videos are all getting taken down."
Seowoon's face hardened as he listened.
'So I wasn't the only one.'
He had considered the possibility that soone else on Earth might have encountered the Cloyd Survival.
But deep down, he had assud he was the only one — either by luck or sheer rarity.
He clenched his sweaty fist tightly.
* * *
In a small office, a middle-aged man nervously clung to a phone while other n stood around him, all anxiously watching.
The office was already cramped, and it felt even smaller with all the large n filling the room.
"Yes, understood. We'll take corrective action imdiately."
[email protected][email protected][email protected]#!
"O-of course! If necessary, we'll cut off this country's entire internet to get this under control!"
The voice yelling from the other end of the line was so loud it echoed through the office.
"We apologize!"
The middle-aged man bowed repeatedly, apologizing over and over.
When he finally hung up, he slumped into his cushioned chair, drenched in sweat, completely drained.
"Sigh... The higher-ups are certain the guy who posted that video is Korean... What happened?"
"R-recently, the number of survivors has been increasing rapidly... It's practically impossible to track all the new ones..."
Before he could finish, a crystal ashtray flew at his face.
-Thwack!
The man's nose broke with a twist, and blood began to stream down.
"If so many new ones are showing up, why isn't our organization growing at all?! Are you kidding , you bastard?!"
"I'm sorry!"
Despite the bleeding, the man stood still and bowed deeply.
The middle-aged man glared at him a mont longer, then sank back into his chair and spoke.
"Don't make a ss. Stop the bleeding."
No sooner had he spoken than another man stepped forward from the corner and placed a hand on the bleeding man's face.
-Whoooom—
With a sound and a green glow, the broken nose and torn skin healed completely — a miracle that none in the room paid much attention to.
"HQ says they'll increase monitoring and add more personnel to keep watch 24/7. But that won't cut it. Round up every one of those glory-hungry bastards posting this crap. I don't care if they're dead or alive. We need to put out this fire first."
"Yes, sir!"
Even with the resounding reply, the middle-aged man's face remained displeased.
"As if dealing with those damned Freebears wasn't enough of a headache already..."
* * *
Despite the sumr heat beginning to wane and the night air growing chilly, a man stood sweating in the dim glow of an old streetlamp, wearing only a thin short-sleeved shirt.
It was well past midnight, yet the man moved lightly on his feet, scattering sweat around him as he perford precise footwork.
His arms were held in a cross shape before him, moving tirelessly as he bounced and shifted — like boxing footwork, yet within the fluid motion lay a subtle, structured pattern that was hard to define.
"Haa... Haa..."
Even with his breath reaching the tip of his chin, the man did not stop moving.
Gradually, his movents began to speed up, and then at so point, they changed.
The footwork that looked like re steps suddenly struck the ground with his heels, pressing down the earth, and the man's figure began to blur.
In an instant, the blurred figure of the man split into two in the arena.
It was as if a mirror had been placed—two identical versions of the man, mirroring each other's movents. Just as they lightly threw punches toward each other, one of them vanished.
At the sa ti, Seowoon collapsed to the ground.
"Huff... Huff... Whew... As expected, one is my limit."
With his current internal energy, even if he pushed silent movent technique to its extre, creating a single illusion was all he could manage.
And even that illusion could only be maintained for a very brief mont.
At first, he could barely create a stationary illusion. But thanks to a month of consistent training, he had managed to reproduce movent, if only briefly.
"Haa."
In the otherworld, he had created eight illusions and managed to ga-over that terrifying Gwanggun, but now, the fact that one was his limit left Seowoon deeply frustrated.
What he regretted most was that all the Vital Energy he had earned in the last ga had disappeared when he lost the Naehaseong Simbeop.
"Still... This is better than nothing."
It was a self-reassuring murmur.
Although it was martial arts aided by the system, the more he trained, the more naturally it fit his body and the stronger it beca—this fact gave Seowoon so comfort.
During such sweat-filled training, he could feel a bit of relief as his fear and anxiety about the next survival round subsided.
"The real problem is fist technique."
fist technique, which required him to recklessly charge with nothing but his fists, troubled Seowoon greatly.
He had chosen it due to the lack of any other acquired martial arts, but compared to weapon techniques, the fact that it was a bare-handed technique made him uneasy.
To make matters worse, the creator of fist technique was none other than the Manpaeja (The Undefeated Defeated One).
"So people get called sages, and others... Manpaeja."
Jang Docheon, the Yugok Ipsun who had passed on his inner cultivation technique, had a nickna that clearly signified his standing in his world.
They wouldn't attach the title "Sage" to just anyone.
The inner cultivation of such a great man, combined with the martial art of the Manpaeja—no matter how he looked at it, it wasn't a good pairing.
"Still, I should probably move on to the next stage soon..."
Fortunately, since he learned it through the system, completing the first stage of fist technique training wasn't too difficult.
He had thoroughly learned all 30 of its movent techniques.
The problem was the second stage.
The second stage involved training to strike down incoming arrows or spears with one's fists.
It wasn't just difficult to do alone— even with soone's help, it was dangerously risky.
The technique involved using the flexibility of the fist to deflect the side of a flying weapon with the elbow or back of the hand, but it was extrely difficult to master.
For now, all he could do was visualize it and practice alone. Otherwise...
"It's the kind of training perfect for getting killed... Haa."
Letting out a deep sigh, Seowoon stood up, brushed off his clothes, and descended the mountain.
It was ti to start gathering energy again, even if it was just a tiny bit.
Thankfully, thanks to the effect of Caron's necklace, he could accumulate internal energy just as he had in the otherworld.
Back ho, as he put on Caron's necklace and began the energy cultivation process, a bright light pierced through his closed eyes.
At that very mont, his entire body felt as if it was heating up—then suddenly, his vision was filled with a dense forest.
Unlike before, Seowoon wasn't unconscious—he had been summoned directly into the Cloyd Survival waiting room. He looked around.
There were still those bizarre, giant statues with incomprehensible anings, and people appearing one by one, speaking in unfamiliar languages.
"@[email protected]#!#[email protected]#"
"[email protected][email protected]@#[email protected]!#[email protected]#[email protected]!!!"
The people who continued to appear all seed bewildered and confused, shouting without a clue of what was going on.
Watching them, a smile began to tug at Seowoon's lips.
'This... maybe...'
-Thank you for participating in Cloyd Survival.
-The tutorial for Cloyd Survival will now begin.
'Tutorial?!'
At the ntion of a tutorial and seeing the reactions of the confused newcors, Seowoon's smile spread uncontrollably across his face.
Judging by their reactions, everyone was clearly a rookie.
And the fact that there was a tutorial this ti—when it had been skipped during his first ga—ant the difficulty level was likely much lower now.
Lowering his head, Seowoon quietly moved into a shadowy corner of the clearing and began observing the players' appearances and actions closely.
Most were dressed in armor or robes, and many looked like martial artists.
In the midst of all that, one figure caught his eye.
A boy was sitting atop a statue that looked to be well over 20 ters tall, peering down below with a mischievous grin, as if he found everything amusing.
What made him stand out wasn't just his behavior but also his appearance.
He wasn't wearing a robe or armor, nor did he look like a warrior. Instead, he was dressed in a familiar school uniform.
The boy, clad in navy blue pants and a matching navy jacket, looked exactly like a student from Earth — the attire unmistakably recognizable.
'And on top of that, that expression... he's not panicking at all. He's experienced.'
If he weren't, there's no way a kid from Earth could have climbed a statue that high in the first place.
'So I'm not the only experienced one here. And I'm not the only Earthling player either.'
He had already suspected it, especially after watching various videos uploaded to YouTube, but seeing such a young player in person made it real — he was sure of it now.
When the boy, still grinning as he looked down at the chaotic interior, moved his head, Seowoon quickly stepped back.
He retreated behind a tree so their lines of sight wouldn't et, letting out a quiet sigh.
He could have tried to pretend to be a native of this world, but his clothes — a well-known brand of athletic wear — were far too recognizable.
Even pretending to be a newbie wouldn't help.
If you were from Earth and not a native of this world, it was a dead giveaway — especially to other experienced players — that you were likely one of the weakest, a total rookie.
"Tch."
He didn't like the fact that he was actively avoiding the gaze of soone who looked no older than a middle schooler.
But he had no choice.
As he scanned the various people now appearing in the arena, he could clearly see the difference between veterans and newcors.
Those who were flustered, and those who calmly observed their surroundings.
'So not everyone's a newbie. But why are experienced players in the tutorial?'
Even if he thought about it, he couldn't begin to guess who had created this ga, let alone what their intentions were. There was no way to figure out the finer details.
But that wasn't what mattered.
'What matters is that this is an opportunity.'
The gap between a novice and an experienced player was massive.
No matter how brutal the opponent — even if they were otherworldly beings — this difference in experience would dramatically affect the pace of the ga.
'At the very least, one day. The first day is critical.'
The first day after the ga begins. That one day, when most players would be disoriented and frozen in fear, was when he had to make his move.
"Current number of players: 200. Cloyd Survival is starting."
"Language synchronization... 50%... 90%... 100%. Complete."
As the system announcent rang out, the crowd stirred once again.
As expected, so began attacking others, while so backed away, afraid of getting caught in the chaos.
So people looked like they'd led rough lives, based on their worn-out appearances.
"The ga is starting. Difficulty: Lowest. Make it into the Top 200.
In the current waiting room, attacks between players are disabled."
"The designated map is the Canyon of Kantras.
Rewards will be distributed from the Top 20 and up. Tutorial begins."
'Lowest difficulty, Top 200. So even early elimination won't be dangerous.'
While running through different plans for how to play, he finalized his strategy for this ga.
'If there's no risk... then I'll go full Lu Bu.'
READ MORE ChapterS HERE : sko-fi/pokemon1920
Reviews
All reviews (0)