Chapter 21: Going Out⑥

Virtual reality fighting game.

[Clash]

I had never played it before.

At least I heard the explanation before the game started, that is, before entering the 1st set.

It was right then, when I was preparing, such as changing my appearance.

The explanation that I was most interested in was that [Clash] forcibly adjusts the balance between players.

So that the physical ability is not superior.

So that one side doesn’t win unilaterally, it was said that victory could be achieved entirely based on individual skill, which piqued my interest.

Because of that, I wanted to test it.

It was an act of insulting the opponent with whom I even shared my name, but adaptation was always important.

That’s why, as soon as the 1st set started and the 1 minute wait ended, I rushed towards Holkop recklessly.

And the result was.

‘Hmm.’

I rushed straight ahead and tried to punch, but I was counterattacked by Holkop’s front kick.

Thud, my body falls backward.

I tried to give strength and hold on, but it was not enough.

My movements were forcibly blocked, and I couldn’t put any strength.

‘Is this what it means to be forcibly stunned instead of feeling pain?’

According to Holkop’s words.

[Clash] is a game based on virtual reality. Because it was a game where people hit and fight each other, there was a possibility that a big problem could occur if the pain was implemented as it is.

The game company that made [Clash] also took that into consideration.

Therefore, the adjustment through the system was, if it was judged that damage was taken, stun.

In other words, it is a dazed state.

I wanted to experience that directly, so I was willing to take damage, and thanks to that, I remembered the sensation.

But this was not enough.

‘Handicap, should I give it?’

Such a thought came to mind.

It was also because it was ridiculous to give 2 wins first to my opponent, let alone impose restrictions on myself.

Because of that, I wanted to adapt.

And after building up expectations, to thoroughly crush them.

To prepare to go all out.

After being counterattacked and getting up, I rushed towards Holkop recklessly once again.

I repeated that.

Finally, the result of the 1st set came out.

I was lying on the floor of the ring.

Looking at the ceiling lights that dazzled my eyes.

On one side of my vision, the message [Defeat] appeared annoyingly, and disappeared when I recognized it.

“Excuse me······.”

A voice approached.

It was a familiar voice. Whoosh, I put strength in my stomach and raised my upper body, and the man who approached me.

Holkop flinched.

His expression was contorted with embarrassment and confusion.

‘Why is he like that?’

I couldn’t figure out the reason, so I tilted my head slightly and furrowed my brow, but Holkop bowed his head as if he had committed some sin.

I was a little embarrassed.

After that, suddenly.

―How about accepting a handicap.

―It’s not too late now, so why don’t we just pretend it didn’t happen.

He said things like this, but I chuckled at them and retorted.

“As I said before, I think you might need a handicap, not me.”

It was a natural statement.

Because the me shown in the 1st set and the me faced in the 2nd set would be on a different level.

He’s a C-rank awakened being.

He said he learned to exercise in reality, and certainly Holkop’s movements I saw in the 1st set were quite delicate, but that’s all.

There was no longer any reason for me to lose.

But Holkop still couldn’t relax his expression, and it continued until before the 2nd set started.

‘Is he looking down on me?’

Even when the count started just before the 2nd set, it was the same, so a not-so-good feeling suddenly bloomed.

That was.

‘I’ll see if you can still make that face after I hit you.’

It was the feeling that I wanted to beat up Holkop a lot. As soon as the 2nd set started, I rushed towards Holkop.

Holkop took a deep breath as if holding back a sigh, and then tried to counterattack me as in the 1st set, but.

‘No way.’

That pattern, I’ve already grasped it.

I smiled, showing a different movement from the 1st set, and Holkop widened his eyes as if he had finally come to his senses, but.

Thwack―!

My outstretched fist hit Holkop’s face cheerfully. Seeing Holkop’s expression crumple, I finally felt relieved.

‘I’ll pay back the humiliation of the 1st set.’

With that determination in my fist, I rushed towards Holkop, who was grimacing in embarrassment.

Holkop sighed.

Thinking about the manager who was filming outside, while simultaneously handling the commentary and the progress of the broadcast.

‘Did I make a mistake······.’

It was a small self-reproach.

There were 10 seconds left until the start of the 2nd set.

Holkop narrowed his eyes, and the black-haired woman in front of him.

Ashilis.

He stared at Yujin. Then, a vivid memory came to his mind.

The 1st set was Holkop’s overwhelming victory.

No, it was something that was embarrassing to call a victory.

When she rushed straight ahead and threw a punch, it was easy to counterattack. In fact, there were a lot of openings.

‘The broadcast, I think it’s ruined.’

I thought I had caught a jackpot, but it was just a small expectation and a delusion.

Holkop looked to the side.

On one side of his vision, there were words that were rapidly rising.

-Down.
-Fall.
-Down.
-Fall.
-Fall.
-You’re so fcking brazen with the fake ㅋㅋㅋ.
-You like beating up women, you btch ㅋㅋ?
-And where did the handicap go ㅋㅋㅋㅋ.

My head hurt.

I had to say something to change the atmosphere, and I had to progress and save the broadcast, but it was hard to say anything easily.

‘I’m screwed.’

Holkop scratched the back of his head and was about to remove the chats of the viewers who entered the spectator room from his vision.

-It’s a fake ㅋㅋ.

Such a chat caught his eye.

‘Fake?’

When he was wondering about that, before he knew it, the sound of the 2nd set starting was heard. So he temporarily turned off his attention and tried to focus on the 2nd set.

However, he must have been careless.

Because he had won the 1st set so overwhelmingly, Holkop thought that the match itself was wrong.

Because of that.

As in the 1st set, Holkop swallowed a sigh as he saw Yujin rushing straight ahead.

‘It’s too obvious······.’

If you rush in a straight line like that, it’s hard to change direction.

‘If I just stretch out my leg like this······.’

Because of the difference in distance between the arm and the leg, Yujin will automatically roll on the floor.

Holkop thought so.

And because of that complacency.

Thwack―.

‘······Huh?’

-?
-What?
-What is this guy doing ㅋㅋㅋ?
-Yeah~ It’s all fake~

The tilting world.

The floor of the ring gets closer, and the vision is reversed and the ceiling lights are seen.

On one side of his vision, the rapidly rising chats were dizzying, and because of that, Holkop couldn’t immediately grasp the situation.

To his ear.

“Get up.”

Until Yujin’s voice was heard. Holkop came to his senses, raised his upper body, and looked at Yujin, who had punched him in the face.

“Wha, what just······?”

“I’m sorry about the 1st set.”

“Yes?”

A sudden apology.

Holkop expressed his question. But Yujin started to apologize, even bowing her head Stubbornly.

“Because it was so unfamiliar, I couldn’t help but show a shameful appearance.”

“Yes, yes? I······.”

I can’t keep up with the situation.

I couldn’t understand the meaning of the words. Holkop’s feelings were the same as the chats of the viewers that were currently rising.

-What is she saying?
-It’s suddenly getting interesting ㅋㅋㅋ?
-This line… It’s somehow familiar…
-It feels like ‘that’…
-How many women would use the nickname Ashilis in the first place ㅋㅋㅋ I believed it!
-What is Ashilis? Isn’t it the opponent’s nickname?
-Ah! You don’t know! The tutorial boss of the incredibly difficult game called Eftarel Verden…

Holkop saw the chat that was briefly reflected in his vision, and muttered a word that was uploaded as a nickname.

“Ashili, s······?”

It was Yujin’s nickname.

At Holkop’s muttering, Yujin tilted her head.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, no. Nothing······.”

“Really? Then, get up.”

Yujin, who took a breath of relief at Holkop’s words, soon changed her eyes and said so.

At those words, Holkop flinched.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ.
-Her spirit is crazy ㅋㅋㅋ.
-So f*cking cool;
-Cool, my ss, she’s so fcking otaku-like ㅋㅋㅋ.

Holkop was looking at the chat for a moment, and he thought that the atmosphere seemed to have eased a little for some reason, so he tried to say something, but.

“Focus.”

“Yes? What······ Ugh?!”

He turned his head in the direction where Yujin’s voice was heard, and then he exchanged greetings with the fist that came again.

This time, he didn’t fall, and he ended up taking a step back and inadvertently grabbing his face. Holkop was embarrassed and looked at Yujin.

But Yujin.

“I’ll ask one last time.”

With a faint smile on her lips.

“How about accepting a handicap, even now?”

As if, mocking.

She uttered words that were like ridicule. Or provocation.

If it had ended with just words, it would have just hurt his feelings, but Holkop felt a strange feeling.

Not only was he not offended.

Rather, he couldn’t even feel embarrassed.

The reason was right in front of him.

Yujin’s behavior, attitude.

It was because there was great confidence in the relaxed attitude that a person who had miserably lost the 1st set was hard to have.

Holkop felt it.

So, unconsciously, he stared at Yujin’s eyes as if to gauge their depth.

“······.”

“Hmm.”

He quietly took a stance.

At Holkop’s action, Yujin snorted. But she raised the corners of her mouth as if satisfied.

“The play is over now. Be prepared.”

With those words, Holkop stared straight at Yujin’s movements as she approached.

Although the level of exercise he learned was not professional, Holkop had the senses of a C-rank awakened being, so it was not difficult to capture movement.

Holkop thought that she would definitely swing her right fist.

Because her upper body was greatly turned, he prepares for the fist to come.

Because there were already two precedents. He had been hit in the face twice, so he unconsciously covered his head.

However······ that was a mistake.

“Ugh?!”

“You’re too easy to fool.”

It wasn’t that if you could only capture it, you could react. Especially if it was a feint.

Holkop’s body folded in half.

Yujin, who turned her upper body greatly as if to swing her right arm, turned her whole body completely once and kicked Holkop’s abdomen with her right foot.

Holkop was embarrassed by the unexpected blow. But instead of feeling pain, he was dazed and unable to move.

All he could do was roll his eyes.

Holkop trembled his eyes as he saw Yujin approaching, and Yujin drew a beautiful smile on her face.

After that.

-Wow.
-Crazy…
-Is this real ㅋㅋㅋ?
-I believed it! This is the Hero, f*ck!
-My insides are refreshed~
-This is the dignity of the one who bears despair ㅋㅋㅋㅋ.

Yujin’s one-sided beating continued. Holkop was quite famous for his fighting game broadcasts, but at this moment, he couldn’t resist at all.

-What is that?
-How did she do that just now ㅋㅋㅋ?
-Legs can move like that too…

‘······What is it.’

Filming Holkop’s broadcast.

And Holkop, after entering the capsule with Yujin, filming and commentary. The manager in charge of all the progress was in a state of confusion.

The atmosphere of the broadcast, which was good until Holkop directly challenged the woman to enter the capsule and start the 1st set, had fallen to the bottom once.

Until then.

Until just before the 2nd set started, the manager thought that today’s broadcast was completely ruined.

But what about now?

-Wow, the hitting feeling is amazing ㅋㅋㅋ.
-Holkop can’t do anything ㅋㅋㅋ.
-The flow doesn’t break; Was that game originally like that?

The atmosphere of the broadcast was suddenly getting very good.

After the 2nd set started.

Yujin, who set her nickname as Ashilis, was conversely beating up Holkop, who had won overwhelmingly until the 1st set.

This was what most of the viewers expected. The manager realized that an opportunity to save the broadcast had come.

“Ah! Now Holkop is counterattacking, wow! She’s chewing that up like that? Oh, it hurts just watching.”

-They can’t feel pain, right?
-Yes, that’s right.
-Yeah~ It’s all fake anyway~
-Do you guys think our ‘Hero’ is a joke? She was just going easy on him ㅋㅋㅋ.
-Praise the gallery owner…

The manager regained his composure.

And, in order to continue this atmosphere, he decided to use the secret weapon he had been saving.

‘I have to completely grab it here.’

The manager took a deep breath, tapped the phone with the broadcast turned on, and set something.

[1. Holkop wins 15 consecutive matches]
[2. Yeah~ No way~ Do you think Hero is a joke? ㅋㅋ]

-?
-What?
-Let’s go with number 2~
-You’re doing betting here ㅋㅋㅋ? Yeah, number 2 right away~
-Just looking at it now, I can see the angle ㅋㅋㅋ.
-The manager knows something ㅋㅋㅋ.
-It seems like Hero is real ㄷㄷㄷ.

The chat began to burn hot once again.