Chapter 30: The Unexpected Star

Hmm? Why can’t I hear anything?

I was startled by the situation, one that should never have happened.

I tilted my head, confused.

Clearly, the game sound had disappeared, and the watch was completely malfunctioning.

There was no doubt this was the event time.

So why could I still hear something?

A faint, high-pitched voice continued to reach my ears.

It wasn’t clear, and if I didn’t focus, I might have missed it… It was only when my thoughts reached this point that I finally realized what had happened.

It wasn’t coming from the headset.

It was a sound from beyond the headset, slowly filtering through.

It was such an obvious phenomenon.

After all, my teammates were sitting right next to me.

No matter how good the headset’s performance was, if they spoke loudly, I couldn’t help but hear it.

Why did it take me this long to notice?

This was such an easy variable to predict before it happened.

The reason was simple.

I had almost never played games with others in person.

I had always played solo, so the idea that I could hear my teammates’ voices in an offline setting through the headset never even crossed my mind.

Now that I thought about it, I felt a bit pathetic.

No, that’s not true. I’m quite satisfied with my life right now.

What’s wrong with playing games alone?

…CH.

The more excuses I made, the worse it felt.

Anyway, in this situation, I was fine.

It meant I could communicate during the silence, which was the thing I feared most.

I quickly regained my composure and spoke up.

“Ah. Ah, can you hear me?”

The team members in the game were moving aimlessly, repeating pointless actions.

This wasn’t the time for that; we needed to move quickly.

But it seemed like my voice wasn’t reaching them.

It must be difficult to hear through the headset with their ears blocked.

How loudly did Pingkkok shout?

I started to feel a little nervous.

“Ah! Aah! If you can hear my voice, jump!”

Soon, Hanuelkong turned to look at me and began jumping up and down.

Great. I guess they could hear me because they were sitting right next to me.

Now, the problem was getting Pingkkok to hear me.

If I yelled too loudly, I was worried the judge might penalize us.

I didn’t know if this approach violated the rules, but yelling loudly could disturb the other players.

I soon heard Hanuelkong’s voice faintly.

“Aeho-ga-nim! What should we do now!?”

“For now… Could you try calling Pingkkok?”

I knew my voice wouldn’t reach her, so I had no choice but to rely on Hanuelkong, who was sitting between us, to help communicate.

It seemed they were talking about something, and then Hanuelkong spoke.

“What should I say to Pingkkok?”

“Tell her not to stay here. Let’s start moving. Please follow me for now.”

“Okay!”

It was as if there was a delay, but Pingkkok started following me a moment later.

I couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

Is this really the right way? Why does this feel like we’re filming a family game show?

Still, nothing had changed.

I just needed to stay calm and solve this as usual. This was a small trial, nothing more.

First, how should we approach the event in the Forest of Silence?

I began to recall the map I had memorized.

Once I confirmed in the waiting room that the map was the Forest of Silence, I had kept it in my memory.

The important thing was how the safe zone was currently set.

It would have been great if we were in that area, but unfortunately, we weren’t.

We had to cross the map to the east from our current location. And quickly.

The delay caused by saving teammates earlier meant I had spent more time on farming, so I hadn’t moved as quickly.

As I mentioned earlier, small early actions had led to this snowball effect.

It was okay. We were pressed for time, but it wasn’t because we were lacking.

“Put your weapons away and run.”

“Huh?”

“Put your weapons away and run!”

“Oh, okay!”

When I glanced back, I saw that only the man had put his weapon away and was running.

Naturally, there was a speed difference between the women, and the gap began to widen gradually.

At this rate, running would be pointless.

If we didn’t align our formation, we would struggle to respond if we encountered enemies.

In the worst-case scenario, we might even fall behind, rendering the teammates useless.

“You should tell Pingkkok too.”

“Ah, just a moment.”

“During the event, please pass on any small talk I make to the side.”

“Got it. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Once I brought it to their attention, they didn’t completely disconnect from communication again, even if their speed was slower.

For simpler matters that didn’t need to be explained, we used hand signals.

It wasn’t possible to ping, but moving our bodies had nothing to do with silence, so it worked.

While passing by the stream in the forest, I raised my hand quickly.

It was a signal to stop.

If you looked closely at the ground, you could faintly see footprints. Someone had passed by not long ago.

I immediately lowered my hand and signaled for them to crouch.

They didn’t fully understand the signal, so I eventually had to explain it verbally.

“Crouch. There might be enemies nearby.”

Only then did they slowly begin to crouch.

If it were any other time, their slow reaction would have immediately gotten them shot in the head, but with the event going on,

our movements were unlikely to be detected unless someone was actively watching us.

“I’ll crawl through here.”

The stream made it difficult to hide, so it was quite dangerous.

We didn’t have time, so after passing it, we would have to run immediately, but for now, it seemed best to move cautiously and stay alert.

At that moment, I spotted some bushes slightly rustling ahead.

I quickly raised my body and drew my bow.

There they were.

Without making a sound, the arrow flew silently and disappeared into the bushes.

Since there was no sound, it was hard to tell if the arrow hit.

But I didn’t hesitate and quickly nocked another arrow, shooting it to the same spot.

Again, the arrow flew through the bushes and vanished.

“Let’s go.”

“…Did you miss?”

I didn’t feel the need to respond.

I could just check when we got there.

We moved past the stream and approached the bush where I had shot the arrows.

There, a body lay face down with two arrows lodged in the back of its head.

“Wow… crazy.”

“Whoa!”

I could faintly hear their astonished voices through the headset.

Well, this was nothing.

The tournament was well underway.

The community was also actively covering the event.

Naturally, the spotlight was on her team.

In fact, the official coverage of the tournament was frequently showing her.

There could be complaints about partiality, but the buzz around her was so big that it was worth it for the event’s success.

The easiest way to make the tournament more exciting was to feature her.

Who would turn that down?

If someone felt wronged, they could become a bigger star than her. But it was unlikely anyone would step up confidently.

However, a star who could rival her was starting to emerge.

At least in the community, the once-solid mentions of Samville were beginning to waver due to the sudden rise of a superstar: Pingkkok.

What was the reason?

First, it was the nickname that made everyone go “Wow.”

[Real-time… Samville’s teammate’s nickname]

Pink Corner

Is she really crazy?

[Comments]

How is someone’s name

Why did they enter the tournament with that nickname?

Didn’t expect it to blow up like this

Couldn’t have imagined teaming up with Samville

The second reason was her fantastic in-game performance, which matched her nickname perfectly.

[Pinkkkok is a real legend ]

I never thought it would happen, but she started breaking records from the very beginning…

[Comments]

The chase was the most intense I’ve ever seen…

It was so fun that even the official broadcast switched from showing Samville to showing just the chase

Seriously, people are skipping Samville to watch the chase, crazy

Usually, people who get obsessed with the community are seasoned players themselves.

For these people, Pinkkkok’s performance, despite being in Bronze 5, looked like a new level of gameplay, a whole new world.

Of course, they were aware of how bad players in the lowest tiers could be.

The important thing was that such low-tier play was happening in the tournament, alongside a teammate like Samville.

It was a true contrast.

The stark difference between them created a fresh shock.

However, not everyone was looking at her favorably.

In fact, there were more negative reactions than positive ones.

[Samville’s teammates are frustrating…]

I feel like I’m going to get cancer

Why did they team up with a Bronze player?

[Comments]

Watching it was frustrating, I just turned it off

As a fan of Samville, they didn’t find the teammate funny at all; instead, she was just an annoying hindrance.

That’s why people were even more curious.

Would Samville be able to overcome this challenge and still win?

Everyone watched the tournament from their own perspectives.