Chapter 5: Game Start (2)

Chapter 5: Game Start (2)

The viewers rushed to make fun of Sang-Hyeon after he chose the bow.

— First timer doing a bow challenge LOL!

— This is why it’s fun to watch newbs.

— I can smell the failure already.

The chat didn’t discourage Sang-Hyeon, but rather motivated him.

‘I was going to choose the bow anyways. Their reaction is a bonus.’

Sang-Hyeon would use a bow no matter what and their reactions encouraged him even more.

[BOW SELECTED]

The game resumed after this message popped up.

‘The bow is over there. What should I do?’

Another senior mercenary carried the bow. The game told him to grab it, but it already belonged to someone else. Then Sang-Hyeon’s dilemma was immediately resolved.

“Grab a weapon!”

As that senior mercenary finished his sentence...

Splash!

A spear pierced through his head.

“Ugh!”

Sang-Hyeon’s screen turned red as crimson blood covered his face.

‘Woah...’

Sang-Hyeon froze from the shock.

— LOL the beginner is so cute.

— Haha I don’t think he knew that mercenary would die right away.?

— You killed him! You!

— The game progresses like that if you choose the bow.

The viewers made fun of his reaction. The five of them felt like fifty people.

‘I guess this is how the game progresses if I choose the bow.’

The bandit that killed the senior mercenary also collapsed as Sang-Hyeon assessed the situation.

Thump!?

“Hey, new kid! Pay attention!”

[MERCENARY COMMANDER ROMAN]

The commander in charge firmly spoke and his gaze seemed sharp as an eagle.

— Roman...

— Ah, I’m getting PTSD

— Lol, that mean bastard...

— Hey! Don’t touch our newbie!

It seemed Roman wasn’t a nice commander judging from the chat.

‘Well, I have to survive somehow.’

Sang-Hyeon quickly grabbed the bow from the senior mercenary's corpse.

Whip.

[BOW ACQUIRED]

Roman tilted his head.

“Bow? I don’t know about that. Show me what you’ve got.”

Roman walked away with his sword as a bandit discovered them.

“What the, there’s another one?”

Sang-Hyeon finished nocking an arrow.

Shoot!

The arrow pierced the bandit, who couldn’t react at all.

Slash!

Roman finished off the bandit with his sword.

— Oh wow, he hit him lol.

— Beginner’s luck.

The viewers praised him for hitting his first target. Meanwhile, Sang-Hyeon familiarized himself with the bow mechanics in this game compared to the previous game he played.

‘It feels similar to that Olympics game, but still a bit different from real archery.’

He only took one shot, but could already tell where it stood between modern archery and traditional archery. He felt relieved that this game’s shooting seemed easier than the Olympics game.

“Okay, I think I kind of get it.” Sang-Hyeon whispered to himself as he looked around.

‘How many foes are there?’

A bandit stood right in front of him, but Sang-Hyeon checked his surroundings first. He spotted around twenty bandits and three mercenaries in total.

‘3 vs. 20?’

Not many allies remained. This seemed like a main character moment.

‘What about arrows?’

Sang-Hyeon checked his remaining arrows and counted exactly twenty.

‘Do I only get one chance?’

He had to land every shot unless he could find more arrows.

“I have to kill one with every shot.”

Swoosh!

He released another arrow and barely even looked as if he accidentally let go. Regardless, the arrow perfectly struck its target.

“Ugh!”

Thud!

The bandit collapsed as the arrow struck his forehead. He died on the spot as his body went still.

— Wow, a headshot!

— What the, did he just shoot without looking?

— Kingdom Age is all luck, no skill. Stupid game.

The viewers didn’t expect Sang-Hyeon to land a headshot. They grew excited at this simple fact.

“Are arrows usually one shot, one kill?”

Sang-Hyeon already knew the answer despite being a newbie.

— This game is pretty realistic. It’s an instant kill if you hit a vital spot.

— Even the organs are placed realistically.?

— There’s also a headshot mechanic, so it’s an instant kill if you get it.

They told him valuable information about headshots and other vital points in the game.

“Ah, I see. Thank you for the explanation RubySword. So there are headshots and other vital spots too.”

Sang-Hyeon naturally communicated with his viewers, which helped out his stream a bit.

“Then let’s do it again. One shot per foe,” Sang-Hyeon nonchalantly said as he pulled his bowstring.

— What?!

— Ah, the confidence of a newbie... So cute!

— Dun dun...

The chat kept mocking him, but he didn’t care. He would retaliate with results like his usual sports mindset.

Swoosh!

The shooting resumed.

Thud!

One of the bandit’s head became a skewer.

— Woah?!

— Headshot!? Again?

— ???

He landed a much more powerful and perfect shot than before. Sang-Hyeon fully understood the mechanics now and grew more confident.

‘I thought this game would be hard. Maybe the beginning is just easy.’

At first, Sang-Hyeon worried because he only ever shot at still targets in archery. However, the targets constantly moved in this game. This worry quickly vanished after he quickly grasped how to hit moving targets.

“Two more shots, coming right up!”

Swoosh! Swoosh!

After that, he fired the arrows non-stop.

— ???

— Shiet!

— Headshot again?

— The heck.

— Does he have an aimbot?

Thump.

The huge bandits collapsed one by one as Sang-Hyeon fired.

“Damn it!”

“Urgh!”

“Ugh!”

The rest became enraged as they looked for Sang-Hyeon. However, he hid behind the carriage and changed positions.

“Where... Where is he?”

“Damn it! Sir!”

“This can’t be!”

The bandits panicked. Each of their members fell with one shot, so they couldn’t locate the archer.

Swoosh!

Another one fell as something whistled through the air.

“Urgh!”

“Again!?”

Despite being the invaders, something now hunted them like in a horror movie.

“Find him! He’s on the right side!” n0velUsB.c0m

A bandit with a shield somewhat figured out where the arrows came from.

‘A shield... I think I’ll get blocked.’

That bandit had been the most troublesome from Sang-Hyeon’s perspective. He held the shield just high enough to cover his head and didn’t show many openings. However, Sang-Hyeon’s ally pulled through.

“Raaaaa!”

Clash!

A mercenary playing dead got up and swung his axe at the shield bandit. The bandit blocked, but that provided enough room for Sang-Hyeon.

Sang-Hyeon even had time to make a comment.

“There’s an opening on his side.”

Swoosh!

The arrow pierced the bandit's head like every shot before.

“Ugh!”

Thump.

The other bandits panicked after their leader fell.

“B-Boss!”

“Goddamit!”

“Shit!”

“Fuck, where are you!”

They weren’t the only ones in shock.

— What the fuck?!

— The hell?

— He killed the leader???

— Huh?

‘Huh, are you not supposed to kill the leader?’

Sang-Hyeon scratched his head in confusion.

“Am I not supposed to kill the leader?”

Chatterbox RubySword answered his question.

— It’s not that... it’s just... the boss usually doesn’t die that easily...

“But you said headshots are instant kill.”

— Yeah, but he doesn’t usually get head shotted!

“But he just did?”

— No.... no, he’s usually not supposed to!

Sang-Hyeon didn’t understand because the shield was the only difference between the boss and the other bandits.

— The boss not only has a shield, but an insane reaction speed too. He usually dodges everything unless it’s a maximum power shot. He was supposed to come out in the next cutscene too.

— Holy shit, there’s no cutscene. What’s going on LOL

— Is it a bug?

The other viewers explained and chimed in.

“Maximum power? Full draw... No, I mean, it’s not that difficult if you’re talking about pulling the string all the way.”

— But then it becomes much more difficult to land the arrow.

“...”

Sang-Hyeon’s expression froze.

‘It’s supposed to be like that?’

He always pulled to the max, or in archery terms, shot in a full draw.

— Judging from your face, you shot with maximum power the entire time?

— Is that possible? All his shots were headshots.

Sang-Hyeon wanted to know more, but couldn’t just keep asking. The game needed to progress since the viewers came for entertainment, not to teach him.

“Let me continue with the game for now.”

Sang-Hyeon resumed playing.

Drawing the string...

Swoosh!

Again, a rampage of arrows began.

Thud!

He stuck to one shot per kill as he proclaimed earlier.

‘It’s one shot as long you hit their head? I guess it’s easy since it’s a tutorial.’

Swoosh! Swoosh!

He landed all five arrows into the enemies’ foreheads. The last arrow pierced a bandit’s head that Roman had been fighting. Roman turned around with a shocked expression.

“Were you the one who shot that arrow?”

The game proceeded to the next cutscene.

***

“Argh!!! Die, you bandits!”

The remaining mercenaries finished off the bandits thanks to Sang-Hyeon. They also had better equipment and skills compared to the bandits.

“Die! Bastards!”

“Argh!”

Slash!

Their axes and spears plowed through the bandits and the mercenaries finally won.

“Huff... Puff... Hey new guy.”

One of the senior mercenaries covered in blood approached Sang-Hyeon, but his eyes looked more alive than ever. Commander Roman, his role was to crush the souls of new players and warn them that this wouldn’t be a friendly game.

— Hey, don’t be mean to the new guy! It’s been a while since we’ve had a newbie!

— I wonder what this guy is going to say loool

Thump.

Roman placed his hand on Sang-Hyeon’s shoulder.

“You... who are you? I’ve never seen someone shoot like you.”

Sang-Hyeon didn’t think much of it because he often heard that as a pro. Rather, the chat grew excited for him.

— ???

— What’s that dialogue?

— Wow....

— He told me it’d be hard to survive with such skills and that he could finish me off if I wanted to die.?

— Roman, that bastard is complimenting someone? Isn’t this a bug?

— Roman, this guy... you knew how to talk nicely all this time?

Roman had a notorious attitude, but he looked at Sang-Hyeon with a warm gaze like Sang-Hyeon’s teacher ten years ago.

“What’s your name? I’ll make sure to remember it and tell the captain about you.”

Blip.

[CHOOSE YOUR NAME]

Sang-Hyeon thought about it and realized he hadn’t even decided on a streamer name yet.

‘Hmm...’

He went with his favorite snack without much thought.

[ALMOND]

Roman made an awkward expression and called Sang-Hyeon by that name.

“Oh, Almond. I’ll make sure to remember it.”

Roman wasn’t the only one who remembered his name. People began talking about a player named Almond that evening at a certain community forum.

[I saw a weird stream today. This guy named Almond...]