TGMBS 10

Chapter 10

**Blood and Flag (5)**

Nova Arena is a culmination of cutting-edge technology built by modern science and the largest arena of entertainment created by humankind.

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology, which reads the brain’s sensory and motor controls, and even memory signals dormant in the unconscious, in real time, has completely changed the concept of ‘observation’.

People no longer simply watched the game from behind a screen.

Instead, I was able to roam the map from a free angle, as if I were in the camera view of a third-person RPG game, and fully enjoy the tension of the battlefield in real time.

Of course, this was only possible within the illuminated areas, but it made it possible to experience not only the metallic smell of blood on the battlefield but also the urgency of the battle in real time.

In that sense, Chae Geon-wook was also watching this hellscape through spectator mode.

I knew you were strong… but were you really this strong?

Chae Geon-wook shook his head in disbelief at the surreal sight of knocking down an opponent by exploiting a fleeting opening.

Oh, my God! Did you just see that? Raven… Raven has collapsed! And that is, less than five minutes after the match started!

“I can’t believe it. Raven’s surprise attack was perfect. With that angle and timing, even other named warriors would have been flustered. But Demon… it’s as if he knew exactly how Raven would attack!”

What was particularly amazing was his spacing. Raven’s sword sliced just an inch in front of the Demon’s throat. It was distance control as if measured with a ruler!

Raven went in convinced he was a hunter, but in reality, he ended up walking right into the Demon’s Kill Zone. The situation was resolved in a single exchange. That was a truly impressive performance. It was the skill of a surgeon who had completely read his opponent before executing the procedure.

He is proving firsthand that his undefeated promotion title was no hype! Ladies and gentlemen, we may be witnessing the birth of a new legend today. Welcome to the American Pro League, Demon!

Defeating Raven was just the beginning.

Go Tae-min, wearing a demon mask, scattered red light from his eyes and defeated another pro warrior.

It happened in an instant.

I dodged the opponent’s attacks, closed the distance, and thrust my sword into the nape of the neck.

Because that was the end of it.

The movement was so swift and accurate that even other spectators streaming the match were amazed.

└What was that just now? Didn’t the frame cut?

It’s not that I avoided it; I just passed through it.

└That’s a Japanese amateur? That’s impossible! A pro warrior is getting sliced up like a mob!

Above all, the force of the red glow in his eyes is insane. He is a true demon itself.

And Chae Geon-wook, who had known Go Tae-min for over 10 years, felt the same way.

… … You’re crazy.

Looking back, he had never once seen Go Tae-min carry out a mission or engage in combat in person over the past 10 years.

All I know is that Go Tae-min is an incredibly skilled individual known by the codename ‘Ghost’.

He didn’t become a top-tier mercenary in just three years for nothing.

Chae Geon-wook continued to watch Go Tae-min’s battle in a daze.

Chae-aeng!

A white man with full-body tattoos ambushed from behind.

After parrying the attack, Ko Tae-min stabbed the opponent in the side with the dagger held in his left hand.

“Ugh!”

With that single counterattack, the opponent was half-incapacitated.

He pressed the wound on his side with one arm and wildly swung his sword, merely keeping Go Tae-min in check as he approached.

The desperate struggle to somehow escape from that demonic opponent.

However, Go Tae-min did not allow the tattooed man to escape.

Phew!

His sword, having instantly closed the distance, finally lodged deep into the opponent’s neck.

[Defeat Pro Warrior ‘Bulk’.]

Concise yet swift and accurate movement.

Chae Geon-wook let out a hollow laugh.

It was so overwhelming that I couldn’t even feel any tension anymore.

‘… … Who was I worrying about?’

The series of events Go Tae-min just demonstrated was chillingly sophisticated.

All those movements—parrying the opponent’s attack, drawing the dagger, and cutting through the opening—were executed without a single flaw.

You could say he is truly worthy of being from the 9th Operations Group, which is said to be composed entirely of monsters even within the Intelligence Agency.

With that level of skill, he will be able to survive this match as well.

It was just as Chae Geon-wook was letting out a sigh of relief.

Ding!

A notification sound breaking the silence pierced his ears.

[2 hours have passed since the start of the match.]

[Hidden rules are revealed.]

[Hidden Rule: Red Diamond]

[Randomly five Warriors will receive a Red Diamond Mark.]

[Those who defeat the marked target will receive a special bonus of 10% of their base salary. (Cumulative)]

[If the Marker dies, the Red Diamond Mark will appear randomly on someone else.]

A mark given to five people at random.

10% bonus to base salary upon treatment.

Randomly transferred to a new person upon the owner’s death.

Chae Geon-wook frowned after checking the hidden rule.

… … Of all things.

An uncontrollable variable intervened in a match where an easy victory was predicted.

—

A primeval forest where deep darkness has descended.

As soon as the notification window appeared, strange halos of light shot up from various places.

It was a red light intense enough to be clearly visible even to Go Tae-min, who was hiding in one corner of the jungle.

As soon as Go Tae-min saw the light, he started calculating first.

You’re giving a $2,000 bonus per kill?

It is said that even duplicate payments are possible.

His gaze, which had been continuing an efficient hunt just moments ago, grew cold.

There’s no reason not to take it when they’re offering more money.

Go Tae-min turned his head and looked around.

A shimmering streak of red light was visible through the forest not far away.

It was a very short distance. About 250 meters.

He immediately set foot toward the source of the light.

The night in the primeval forest was so dark that one could not see an inch ahead.

The blades of grass, having grown tough and full of oxygen, stung my skin as they passed by.

As I approached the beam of light, the noisy clamor grew louder.

Clang! Chae-chaeng–!

A series of sharp metallic sounds erupted from beyond the bushes.

Then, along with rough breathing, someone’s shout burst out, breaking the silence of the jungle.

“Move it, you bastard! I called dibs on that one!”

“Shut your crap! The one who kills first takes it!”

Soon, as I parted the bushes and reached an open area, a red mark shimmering in the darkness revealed itself.

Around it, several Warriors were already tangled in a melee.

‘Flies are already swarming.’

The mark’s owner was a man wielding a long sword.

Every time he swung his sword, the Red Diamond mark floating above his head rippled strongly.

And there were four people who had ambushed the mark’s owner.

A spearman pressing in with reach to choke him out, a muscular giant swinging a blunt weapon, and two swordsmen constantly crossing in to exploit the mark owner’s openings.

Go Tae-min lowered his stance and quietly closed the distance using the jungle’s terrain.

The dense bushes and the shadows of giant trees perfectly concealed his movements.

At the center of the melee was the Red Diamond’s owner.

Holding a long sword, he was dealing with the Warriors rushing at him while showing off flashy techniques.

Every time the tip of his sword cut through the air, red lines tangled and drew eerie trajectories. He was a skilled fighter, not pushed back at all even while facing four opponents at once.

Then, at that moment, an opening briefly appeared amid those dizzying trajectories.

‘Now!’

In that instant, Go Tae-min’s form explosively shot forward.

“Whoa, what the!”

One of the Warriors pressing the mark’s owner let out a flustered shout, but it was already too late when he spotted the demon mask.

Go Tae-min dove like lightning through the gaps in the pouring red lines.

Seogeok–!

A single crossing.

The pitch-black blade precisely drew across the mark owner’s neck.

[You have slain the Pro Warrior ‘Jackson Miller’.]

[You have slain the owner of the Red Diamond Mark. (Cumulative owner kills: 1)]

[Because you slew the mark’s owner, your chance of winning the next mark increases by 3%.]

“Keoheok…!”

The mark owner, clutching his neck, collapsed to the ground.

Red blood spraying in all directions soaked the floor.

It happened in an instant.

The Warriors who had been pressing the mark owner just moments ago froze with stupid expressions.

“Wha, what? What just happened?”

“Jackson… in one blow?”

“That mask just now… don’t tell me, Demon?”

“Fuck. They said he was the first undefeated promotee from the Japanese league…”

Voices mixed with shock burst out belatedly, but Go Tae-min had already vanished into the darkness.

Those left behind could only breathe a sigh of relief that his target hadn’t been them.

The hunt continued after that.

The method was simple.

When a melee was in full swing, he quickly dove in, dodged the red lines, drove his sword into the opponent’s vital spot, and immediately left the spot.

Roaming the jungle like that, his cumulative kill count was now 3.

Go Tae-min, having briefly hidden himself atop a tree, smiled contentedly as he looked at the message floating in the corner of his vision.

‘This is actually pretty lucrative, huh?’

Converted to Korean money, it was a whopping 8 million won.

He had earned this fortune in just 12 hours.

With this money, that was 1,834 bulgogi burgers.

It was also an amount that could easily buy three or four of the latest laptops with top specs.

‘I could even buy a few of those expensive designer padded jackets hanging in the department store.’

Go Tae-min grinned, feeling proud at the thought of giving his younger siblings extra allowance.

Meanwhile, the match had now entered its middle phase.

Time remaining was 60 hours. The number of surviving participants was around 500.

Go Tae-min turned his direction toward the outskirts of the forest.

‘I should rest a bit while I can.’

He had roamed this vast jungle for a full 12 hours.

Right now his body felt light thanks to adrenaline, but he couldn’t ignore the fatigue that would rush in the moment his tension eased.

Go Tae-min moved stealthily and searched for a suitable hiding place.

After slipping out to the outskirts for a while, he found a gap where the roots of a giant tree tangled together, covering the entrance like a natural cave.

A space just right for a person to enter and lie down.

After carefully checking whether there were any traps someone might have set around, he cautiously pushed his body inside.

The damp smell of soil pricked his nose.

‘I can sleep at home. Here, let’s just recharge the battery roughly.’

Go Tae-min sat down and placed his sword on his knees.

Maintaining a posture from which he could spring out at any time, he gazed outside through the gaps between the roots with half-lidded eyes.

As the thought that there would be no combat for the time being crossed his mind, realistic problems for survival brushed through his head.

In a long-term survival like this, the three most important things are:

Hiding place, drinking water, food.

First, he had found a fairly usable hiding place, so the problem was drinking water and food.

‘I’ve already prepared for that too.’

For essential drinking water, he could drink the clean stream water found throughout the map.

As for food, having heard this match was survival, he had brought plenty of chocolate bars.

He could probably endure well enough for the remaining time.

It was while he was resting briefly while staying alert to his surroundings.

‘Huh?’

Suddenly, his vision became uncomfortably bright.

Feeling the red light piercing through his eyelids, Go Tae-min raised his head and looked above.

Inside the narrow hiding place, right above his head, a single red diamond was spinning like a top.

[The Red Diamond Mark has been given to the Pro Warrior ‘惡鬼’.]

A mark randomly selected among the survivors.

This time’s winner was none other than Go Tae-min.

“…”

The quiet surroundings became noisy. The grass in front rustled.

The surrounding Warriors were gathering, having seen the red light emitted by the mark.

The hunter who had been going around hunting bonuses just moments ago had, in the blink of an eye, become a precious body whose location was being broadcast live.

Go Tae-min scratched his head as if troubled.

‘I wonder if I can still get the bonus by killing another Red Diamond owner…?’

It was a very important question for him.