Chapter 24: A Strategic Gamble

“See you later.”

“Be careful and win!”

“Got it.”

I finished my bowl of jjamppong and left the restaurant.

Somehow, Hong Seol ended up tagging along as I headed out.

“Are you sure you can take your time like this?”

“You know you get a stomachache if you run around right after eating.”

“I meant, isn’t lunchtime about to end?”

At that, Hong Seol shrugged nonchalantly.

“Who knows? I can’t really remember when it ends.”

“…”

She didn’t know when lunch break ended? This girl was seriously giving off delinquent vibes.

I shot her a doubtful glance but decided to let it slide.

“So, where are you headed? Doesn’t seem like you’re delivering anything.”

“The PC bang.”

The competition I was participating in was online, so I didn’t need to go to a specific location.

Still, playing at home was out of the question—my computer was so outdated that it would likely crash mid-game.

Just last week, I’d been booted from a match at the worst possible moment because of a lag spike.

Even my parry timing had failed miserably thanks to it.

“Oooh, I want to go too!”

I didn’t even bother responding and just stared at her. She quickly averted her eyes, pouting.

“Geez. Can’t take a joke?”

“If you get caught ditching school to follow me, how much do you think Suah will scold me?”

And she would. I wouldn’t even have the right to argue back, considering I’d let it happen.

I’d probably be subjected to a never-ending barrage of nagging. Just imagining it was enough to make my ears ring.

Hong Seol’s dejected act didn’t last long; she quickly returned to her uSuahl upbeat self.

“So, what game are you playing?”

“Ibaei.”

“Ohhh.”

“Do you play too?”

“Hah, I’m a total pro!”

Judging by her confident tone, it didn’t sound like she was bluffing.

Her claim piqued my interest, so I decided to ask.

“What’s your rank?”

“Platinum 2!”

“Hmm…”

Platinum?

While I was momentarily unimpressed, I realized her rank wasn’t bad.

Platinum players were in the top 10% of all users. In the upper tiers of Platinum 1 and 2, they were in the top 3%.

In academic terms, that was like being in the first tier. Among caSuahl players, this was practically elite.

Hong Seol seemed annoyed by my lukewarm reaction, glaring and leaning in closer.

“What’s with that reaction? What’s your rank, huh?”

“Me? Unranked.”

“Ha! You’re just a newbie, huh?”

Well, she wasn’t entirely wrong. I’d only started playing about a month ago.

“You don’t get it, but truly skilled players are on a whole different level,” she said, puffing up with pride.

“Sure. That’s impressive.”

“I’m serious! You wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it.”

“Got it.”

I answered half-heartedly, but apparently, that didn’t sit well with her.

Was she really this invested in Ibaei?

She whipped out her phone and shoved the screen in my face.

“Look at this! You’ll be shocked.”

“What is it?”

The screen showed a GIF posted on a gaming community.

I glanced at it and felt a strange sense of déjà vu, tilting my head in confusion.

Had I seen this before?

That didn’t seem likely. I barely browsed gaming forums.

“This is the ‘Parry Masked Knight’ that’s been trending lately! Real pros like me go up against players like this.”

“…”

I stared blankly at the screen before it hit me.

Wait… isn’t that me?

The perspective was reversed, so it took me a moment to recognize it. But as the scene played out, I recalled it clearly.

It was the match where my game crashed right after pulling off that parry combo.

I hadn’t expected it to become a hot topic online.

Was it really that impressive?

It was just a simple technique anyone could do with practice.

Still, Hong Seol had some nerve.

She was only Platinum and acting like she was on the same level as me?

I looked at the clip and gave a flat response.

“Pretty cool.”

“Right? It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Now, go back to school.”

We’d arrived at the PC bang by then.

As I stopped, Hong Seol glanced at the sign and made a disappointed face.

“Let’s play Ibaei together next time.”

“Sure. Let’s do that.”

“You promise? You can’t back out!”

Ignoring the clingy delinquent, I managed to send her off.

I only let out a sigh once she was finally gone.

Hanging out with a current high school girl was more exhausting than I’d imagined.

Seriously, there’s no one like Suah.

This was a good reminder to appreciate the familiar blessings I’d grown desensitized to.

Was this already the third day in a row?

I never expected to visit the same PC café every day like this.

But there was a perfectly rational reason for it.

I still had some prepaid time left on my account.

In my current state, where every penny mattered, there was no reason to waste that time and go to another café.

As I stepped inside, the familiar face of the part-timer greeted me from behind the counter.

Seeing him, I couldn’t help but wonder just how long his shifts were.

Was he seriously working here 24 hours a day? If so, wasn’t that basically forced labor? Should I report this to the labor office?

Just as I started to feel concerned, the part-timer greeted me enthusiastically.

“Oh, hello, Gaeul!”

“Yes, hello.”

Ah, right. I’d forgotten I gave him my name.

Scratching my cheek awkwardly, I addressed him cautiously.

“About the name…”

“Oh, I’m sorry!”

“I don’t mind if you call me that. Just… maybe a little quieter next time?”

After all, names were made to be used, so it wasn’t like I cared too much.

But saying it too loudly was a bit… uncomfortable.

Even now, I could feel other customers stealing glances in my direction.

“Y-yes! So, uh… I can still call you that, right?”

“Hmm… now that I think about it, it’s starting to feel a bit annoying.”

“Huh? Oh, I didn’t mean to uh, I wasn’t trying to ”

“Kidding.”

Leaving the stammering part-timer behind, I walked past the counter and headed for my uSuahl spot in the corner.

He really was the type of person who was fun to tease.

Settling into the plush chair, I booted up the computer and checked the time.

There were about 20 minutes left until the tournament started.

Perfect timing.

I logged into the game, Ibaei, and also opened the tournament’s livestream for some light monitoring.

The viewer count was dismal barely reaching triple digits.

Well, it couldn’t be helped.

Today’s tournament was considerably smaller than yesterday’s.

That’s just how amateur competitions uSuahlly were.

The lack of any strict oversight and the purely online format were clear indicators of how loosely this event was being run.

Honestly, if someone decided to cheat, there wasn’t much anyone could do to stop them.

With a smaller event comes a smaller prize pool.

Today’s grand prize? 50,000 won and a chicken gift card.

Compared to yesterday, it was laughable.

Still, skipping it wasn’t an option.

Even small wins added up.

With about 10 minutes left until the start, the organizers invited participants to a Discord server.

There, they gave a brief recap of the tournament rules.

And then, the tournament began.

Naturally, I turned off the livestream.

Sure, I was desperate for a win, but I wasn’t about to break the rules.

It wasn’t about some noble sportsmanship or lofty ideals like fair play.

Having survived real battlefields and near-death experiences,

I believed that any strategy even a dirty one was fair game if it led to victory.

But using cheats or breaking the rules carried risks that far outweighed any potential reward.

Unless there was a guarantee I wouldn’t get caught, and winning was absolutely impossible otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.

Of course, I’d never been in a situation like that and probably never would be, so it was a meaningless hypothetical.

The match started.

Time to focus.

Since today’s tournament was single elimination, everything hinged on this one match.

After entering the lobby, I checked the map.

A small, deserted island.

Ah, the classic map.

This was Ibaei’s oldest battlefield, dating back to its beta testing days.

In the five years since the game’s release, countless new maps had been added, but nothing could erase the legacy of the original.

It was the quintessential map, unmatched in its nostalgic appeal.

Fortunately, it was also one of the maps I was most familiar with.

I quickly chose my spawn location.

As uSuahl, I wasn’t planning to play it safe.

I wanted to pull off something unique, something that would grab people’s attention.

With this map, the strategy I had in mind should work perfectly.

I was certain of it.

If it went as planned, this match would be just as memorable as yesterday’s tournament or the “Parrying Malga Mask” clip Hong Seol had shown me earlier.

If not, oh well.