TGMBS 02

Chapter 02

New Battlefield (2)

My life could be summarized in one word.

Weed.

I was a weed struggling desperately to bloom between dry asphalt.

When I was young, my father passed away, and my mother raised the four of us siblings alone.

A single underground room where we couldn’t even comfortably run the boiler because there was no oil. A house that flooded when it rained a lot.

Poverty robbed us siblings of even our dreams.

The money my mother, a building cleaner, earned through a month of hard work was only 1.5 million won.

For a family of five to get by on that money, we had to eat rice wrapped in seaweed all month long.

So as soon as I became an adult, I volunteered for the military.

Believing only the rumor that if you became a special forces operative, especially one who carried out particularly dangerous missions, you could earn a lot of money.

Was that why?

I was only able to discover my talent after enlisting in the military.

‘Right flank.’

Chaeng!

A rough metallic sound echoed like an echo.

The samurai closed the distance in an instant and thrust repeatedly at my chest.

‘Solar plexus.’

This red line I see isn’t a simple precognitive ability.

The direction in which the opponent’s muscles contract, the position of their gaze, the shift in their center of gravity, and the subtle changes in airflow generated when the blade cuts through the air.

It was the result of data my brain instinctively calculated from all these instantaneous pieces of information.

The domain where others rely merely on intuition, I was receiving as visualized information.

Thanks to that, I was able to be assigned to the ‘9th Covert Operations Unit,’ which only a talented few within the Defense Intelligence Command could enter.

If there’s the 707 in the Special Warfare Command, then within the Defense Intelligence Command exists the 9th Covert Operations Unit.

Unlike the existing units handling North Korea, it was an intelligence group that carried out unofficial missions on a global stage.

There, I crossed countless death lines and experienced every form of combat.

Thanks to that, I could maintain my composure even now with a sharp blade flying at my throat.

[LIVE) Japan Amateur League Match 《2,479 vs 1,701》]

└Ah, I see 1701 here lol

└Is 2749 completely new? Their record is zero?

└I’m jealous.. Why do I always get matched with floor lords? Is this fate?

└1701 is pretty famous, you know. That guy’s skill is amazing.

└Right, their win rate is almost 60%. They’re one of the particularly tricky floor lords.

└The fact that they’ve gone over 3,000 matches in that outfit is even scarier.

└Wait, what’s with 2749’s mask lol Is that a demon concept? lololol

└A rookie already doing concept stuff. Not even embarrassed?

└Well, two concept players met, so maybe it’s for the best.

└This is exactly why I watch the amateur league.

The samurai’s sword was quite fierce.

The attacks were fast and precise, and above all, their fundamentals were good.

They knew how to maintain distance appropriately, and their breathing was stable.

Moreover, their gaze was constantly tracking the flow of my upper body and toes.

These kinds of movements were reactions you’d only see from an opponent with considerable experience.

‘This is more fun than I thought.’

I’d only picked up a sword instead of a gun, but the structure in here wasn’t much different from the world I’d lived in.

Time spent training the body, accumulated skill, and experience engraved into the flesh—a space where those determine the outcome.

This structure where you test each other purely through instant judgment and capability……

‘I like it.’

It was incredibly familiar and comfortable to me.

Chaeng!

Just before the blade grazed my neck, I deflected the opponent’s attack diagonally with the flat of my blade.

At the same time, I lowered my center of gravity and boldly dove into the samurai’s guard.

It was the first transition from defense to offense since the fight began.

“……Krk!”

Actually, just because the opponent’s attacks appear as red lines doesn’t mean I can dodge everything.

The trajectories of the lines constantly change, and above all, if my physique can’t react to them, they’re useless.

If it were an attack swung by a master of the sword, I wouldn’t be able to dodge either.

However.

‘Your reaction is slow.’

At least the samurai in front of me wasn’t fast enough that I couldn’t react.

I twisted my wrist, knocked the guy’s sword diagonally downward, and drove my blade deep into the opening.

Cha-cha-chaeng-!

Three metallic sounds burst in an instant.

The samurai was pushed back repeatedly, desperately defending.

‘This is the limit of those who’ve only experienced combat as a game.’

I pressed the samurai hard just like that.

I knew from experience where to strike to make an opponent collapse.

“……!”

The opponent, sensing the danger too late, tried to adjust their stance, but the flow had already shifted to my side.

I lowered my waist and slid to the side.

Beyond the roughly rising sand dust, the guy swung his sword as if in a fit.

But that blade couldn’t even graze my collar, cutting only through empty air.

‘Checkmate.’

The price for that was fatal.

Seogeok—

My sword drove into the guy’s neck.

A chilling sensation traveled up my palm.

“……K-krk.”

The guy looked back and forth between my face and my sword for a while, then collapsed in a heap.

And shortly after, something amazing happened.

The samurai’s body cracked and spread like fractures.

Pajik— With a crumbling sound, the guy’s entire body scattered into particles of light.

[You have defeated participant ‘1,701.’]

[Victory!]

I stared at the ground where the samurai had disappeared for a while, then slowly drew a breath.

‘I survived again this time.’

The hot heat rising up my neck.

The heartbeat pounding violently against my chest.

Even the faintly remaining metallic taste of blood.

Those complex sensations mixed into one and created tremendous euphoria.

[Participant No. 2,749]

[Record: 1 match, 1 win, 0 losses (Win rate: 100%)]

[Would you like to find the next matching opponent?]

[Yes(selected) / No]

I looked down at the sword in my hand and smirked.

This heavy resonance that traveled up my palm and struck my heart was on a different level from the dry recoil of pulling a trigger.

‘This Nova Arena thing, it’s more fun than I thought?’

* * *

└Huh what was that just now? 1701 lost in an instant?

└I just got goosebumps. A counterattack coming at that timing is pretty scary.

└A rookie who just started today is better than I thought. I’ve never seen 1701 lose so anticlimactically.

└Alright. Since you have the skill to match the concept, I’ll acknowledge you just this once.

└I thought something was off when I saw them measuring distance at the start.. A new star is born.

└I had a bad feeling from the number and sure enough(´；ω；｀)

└More importantly, I could see 1701 panicking and I burst out laughing lololol

└With this level of skill, they’ll go pro soon. I’m jealous.. Damn it, I want to be alone so everyone please leave.

└That mask looks like it’ll become a popular item, should I buy it in advance? I’m sure copycats will show up.

Tokyo, Japan.

Pshuuuuk—

As compressed air escaped, the capsule’s hatch slowly opened.

Inside, a man in hakama, Hayashi Goro, raised his upper body with a frown.

He was the samurai who had just fought Go Taemin.

Scouts from Kagenoha Legion approached him.

“What’s up, Goro. Trying to wrap up already? You haven’t been on shift long.”

Actually, Hayashi Goro wasn’t a participant aiming for a pro license.

He stayed in the amateur league and was in charge of discovering and recruiting promising participants.

At his colleague’s question, Goro shook his head.

“No. I was forced to clock out.”

The amateur league allows matches at any time, but if you lose, you can’t connect for 24 hours.

Hearing that, the other scouts’ eyes went wide.

“Don’t tell me you lost?”

“Yeah. To an unbelievable strong player.”

Goro calmly explained what had just happened.

Black leather armor, using a tactical custom blade about 50 cm in blade length—

The man in the demon mask.

“He toyed with the distance. He was a skilled player I couldn’t do anything about.”

Once the opponent started going all out, Goro couldn’t even last a minute.

He added in a confident voice.

“We must recruit him. If we develop him well, we might be able to make him a star on the level of the Ogre Blade Toshiki.”

“What? He was that good?”

“If he’s that skilled, doesn’t he already belong to a legion?”

At his colleagues’ questions, Goro shook his head.

“That’s not it. There was no legion mark, and above all, his record was 0 matches.”

A legion handles everything from a coaching system for improving the skills of affiliated warriors, to providing dedicated equipment, strategy planning, and overall management including schedule management.

In exchange, they took 30% of the revenue the participant earned as a fee.

In other words, it meant that if you could discover and develop just one talented prospect well, you could earn enormous profits.

Hearing Goro’s explanation, the Kagenoha Legion scouts became busy.

“2749…… Here it is. What the, there’s not a single piece of public information?”

“They even left the email field blank. Are they going for a mystique approach?”

But there was one problem.

There was no way to contact No. 2,749 at all.

They searched the community thoroughly and checked every related thread in case there was a clue, but there was only admiration for No. 2,749’s skill, and no information about him could be found anywhere.

“Damn. An A-grade prospect found after so long…….”

“This isn’t the time to be sitting around.”

The scouts, who had let out a sigh, soon turned their steps toward the capsules.

If there was no way to contact him, there was only one method.

The scouts, having closed the capsule lids, waited anxiously for the next matching alarm.

“Please, let me get matched with No. 2,749…….”

* * *

[LIVE) Japan Amateur League Match 《2,749 vs 10,572》]

└Wow 2749 won again. This is insane

└What kind of person were they? At this level, they must have swung a sword outside too..

└Maybe a kendo practitioner? Their movements are really clean

└Looking at their sense of distance, there’s a chance they have fencing experience too

└Seriously, where do these monsters keep coming from? They’re just toying with their opponents?

└Hmm.. Am I the only one smelling Chinese? I wonder if they’re another troll lol

└It’s similar to when that crazy guy who talked about the Hwasan faction came lol

└Whatever it is, 2749’s skill is real. I wish they’d hurry to the pro league and pick a nickname

└I’ll be 2749’s first fan (serious)

In the end, Go Taemin recorded 3 wins and 0 losses in that day’s matches and returned after a successful debut.

He raised himself from the capsule and let out a long sigh.

As the closed hatch opened, a damp heat and deep fatigue rushed in all at once.

His whole body was heavy like cotton soaked in water.

Whether it was because the movements in virtual reality were transmitted directly to the nervous system through brainwaves, it felt like he’d just run a high-intensity infiltration training session in real life.

‘The stamina drain is enormous.’

But what awaited him wasn’t a sense of triumph.

Go Taemin frowned at the numbers on the screen.

“This is…… everything I earned today?”

40,000 won per match, 120,000 won total for three matches.

After deducting 3% income tax and 0.3% local tax, it stated he would receive a final payment of 116,040 won.

Go Taemin checked the screen once more in case he had misread it.

It was money earned in only about an hour, but by his standards, it was far too little.

“Come on, hyung. You’re joking with me right now, right? No, I just went and swung a blade crossing death lines, and this is all? The daily wage is on the level of high-fiving a convenience store part-timer!”

At Go Taemin’s complaint, Chae Geonuk spoke indifferently while wiping a bottle of 25-year-old Ardbeg whisky with a cloth.

“I told you. You have to climb up to a certain point to earn a lot.”

“Still, this is too much. What’s 110,000 won, 110,000 won. I’m a person who used to get paid in units of hundreds of millions in the field.”

“Didn’t that also start at around a million won at first?”

At Chae Geonuk’s annoyingly fact-only response, Go Taemin let out a long sigh.

“Ugh, forget it. So how far do I have to climb?”

“Just getting to pro level at minimum should eliminate your worries about making a living.”

Chae Geonuk explained that from the pro league onward, you receive at least 10 million won per match.

That was literally just the minimum, and participants with good results, performance, or popularity could earn in units of hundreds of millions.

Hearing that, Go Taemin finally asked back in a much softened voice.

“Is there something above the pro league?”

“There are three more. World, Master, and Super League. So that makes five total.”

“Do they pay more than the pro league?”

“It’s not just ‘more.’ I heard the top earners get over 10 billion won per match.”

“What? 10 billion?”

Go Taemin’s mouth dropped open.

10 billion.

Even for someone who fought risking his life, it was an amount he wouldn’t dare imagine.

In that moment, the disappointment remaining from earlier vanished without a trace.

“To go up to the pro league, I need to get a pro license, right?”

“Correct. You can get one issued if you have at least 100 matches and a win rate of 70% or higher.”

At least 100 matches. At the same time, a win rate over 70%.

It wasn’t as difficult a condition as he thought.

Go Taemin nodded.

The level of the participants he’d crossed swords with today was, on average, only slightly better than ordinary people.

Of course, there was one guy like the samurai from the first match who had solid fundamentals.

A deep smile formed on Go Taemin’s lips.

“10 billion…… There’s plenty of reason to climb.”