<<‘Enter’ has invited you to the team. (Accept/Decline)>>
After accepting the invitation and entering the team waiting room, I could see the hyungs. Maybe because they’d all completed the season pass, their flashy costumes caught my eye.
Compared to that, my character wore clothes that anyone could tell screamed ‘newbie,’ and Daesu hyung started picking on me from the beginning as if he didn’t even like my nickname.
“What’s Kkyudaeyoung, Kkyudaeyoung.”
“What about you being Control? You’re the worst among the hyungs.”
Rumble─.
I got scared for a moment hearing the sound of a wheeled chair suddenly being pushed back. It was the sound of Daesu hyung getting up from his seat in anger.
Then Gangjin hyung grabbed Daesu hyung’s arm as he stood up.
“Let’s just play the game.”
“Ugh, that kid…”
Since the seats were far apart, I tried talking back a bit, but decided to restrain myself. Right now the other hyungs were stopping him, but I was afraid of the consequences when I got home.
I was the one who asked to join, but now that I was actually on a team with the hyungs, I got nervous. With an excited heart, I pressed the [READY] button and took a deep breath.
Break Zone is a steampunk FPS game that starts with you falling from a flying ship in the sky. I opened the map and looked at the ping locations the hyungs marked. [Number 1] ping was Seongheon hyung, and hyung’s current marked location was almost at the edge of the map. Seeing that, the other hyungs each said something.
“Are we going into exile?”
“Seriously, just mark it across the ocean.”
Seeing the hyungs grumbling about this and that, Seongheon hyung soothed them saying, “Let’s farm step by step first.” It seemed like he was being considerate, worried I’d fall behind first if we dropped in a crowded place.
‘As much as Seongheon hyung is taking care of me, let me do well.’
I just needed to check the map and get off at that point, but wanting to show I’m pretty good too, the moment I pressed the hotkey to mark the ping on the map… Huh? I was the only one who dropped from the ship.
“Huh? Why did I fall?”
As expected, I heard Daesu hyung going “Ah! So annoying!” and grumbling about something.
Most games had similar hotkeys, so I did the tutorial roughly, but that was the problem. The ping button was the drop button… This game developer definitely set it up like this to mess with people who did the tutorial carelessly.
“I marked the ping again.”
I could see the place Seongheon hyung marked on the mini-map in the upper right, and fortunately it was close to the point where I was falling.
I opened the parachute and slowly descended toward that point when something swooshed─! past me. It was the character ‘Enter,’ Seongheon hyung wearing a wing suit.
“I’m jealous. I want a wing suit too.”
That wing suit was a time-limited item usable only for one season, a reward costume given only to people who won 10 times whenever a new season started. It was also a cheat item that could quickly reach the landing point, so I’d seen in beginner tips that the best strategy was to avoid it first when you saw that wing suit.
Following behind, the other hyungs also wore wing suits and followed Seongheon hyung. I carefully dangled from the parachute and safely landed at the spot marked on the map.
While I was slowly landing, the hyungs were already in combat with users nearby, so I couldn’t even farm items and crouched hiding against a nearby building wall.
“Gangjin-ah, there’s one more over there.”
“Yeah.”
I couldn’t see what the hyungs were doing well because I was hiding, but fortunately I could see the hyungs’ status in the system window.
[‘Enter’ (Shotgun) ⇨ Killed ‘Manbanjalbu’]
[‘Enter’ (Shotgun) ⇨ Killed ‘SIMtrash’]
[‘Control’ (Rifle) ⇨ Killed ‘Gamjya’]
[‘Alt’ (Knife) ⇨ Killed ‘SONGHAN’]
Only after the kill log continued did the gunfire subside. So I also slowly got up and approached the hyungs. Maybe because the team we just fought was also early game, there weren’t many dropped items, but among them I could at least pick up one gun.
“Kkakdugi, if you have a conscience, put down the sniper rifle.”
I secretly picked it up, but Gangjin hyung must have seen it because he immediately said something.
“I just put it on the ground.”
When I obediently dropped the gun in front of the Alt character, Gangjin hyung picked it up and put down a shotgun instead.
“Take it.”
“Thanks, hyung.”
“You know you shoot a shotgun up close, right?”
“Hyung, I’m good at hitting with shotguns.”
“If you can’t even hit with a shotgun, you should quit.”
“Colored paper?”
I innocently played along, but only Seongheon hyung sitting between us and listening to our conversation chuckled.
When Gangjin hyung said “Let’s stop talking” and looked back at the monitor, Seongheon hyung told me.
“Daeyoung-ah, follow me.”
“Okay.”
Seongheon hyung went inside a building with me, saying let’s farm together.
During that time, the safe zone area was displayed on the map, and unfortunately it was the opposite side from where we were. So we had to quickly farm items and then move.
<<In 3 minutes, this area will be contaminated. Please evacuate to the safe zone.>>
It gradually narrowed so we had some time, but since we still had a long way to go, Gangjin hyung looked for a vehicle to ride. I saw Daesu hyung also running toward the jeep parked at the end of the fence. The two filled up fuel and waited for me and Seongheon hyung who were farming items.
“Let’s move to another place first and farm there.”
Everyone seemed to be getting in the car, so I also went nearby and pressed the boarding control key, but that was the key to sit in the driver’s seat. Since I sat down anyway, just as I was getting excited thinking shall I try driving, Daesu hyung’s character who didn’t trust me approached next to the driver’s seat.
Even though I saw the approaching character, I pretended not to notice and played dumb, then I heard Daesu hyung picking on me.
“Get out. Let me do it.”
“I know how to do it too. I’m rainbow glove in Kart…”
“This is different from Kart.”
“What’s different, even the start key is the same.”
Daesu hyung’s character stood next to the driver’s seat waiting for me to get out, when mischief suddenly kicked in and I left only hyung behind and vrooom─! started the car.
“Yaaah!!”
Seeing Daesu hyung surprised and running to catch up to the rear of the vehicle was fun, so I was about to deliberately not stop and keep going when I hurriedly stopped at Gangjin hyung’s words.
“Daesu is trying to shoot you with the sniper rifle.”
It wasn’t just words—he was really lowering his stance and aiming the gun, so I had no choice but to stop.
“Sorry.”
“Haa… Really.”
I could hear Daesu hyung’s sigh all the way here.
After that, I obediently got out and tried to get in the back seat, but Daesu hyung started the car as revenge even though I hadn’t gotten on yet.
<<In 1 minute, this area will be contaminated. Please evacuate to the safe zone.>>
“I’m sorry! I’ll do well!”
“Daesu-ya, stop it.”
Thanks to Seongheon hyung’s restraint, I could barely get in the back seat. Like that, we moved to a city called ‘Top Town’ in the safe zone and got out of the car to farm.
“We’re really low on ammo.”
“I know. Let’s scatter and then meet up.”
“Be careful on your own.”
Since the hyungs were scattering in different directions, I naturally followed Seongheon hyung’s character. Seongheon hyung also checked that I was following once and went right into a nearby building.
But whether someone came first and farmed, all the supply boxes were open.
“Looks like they already looted it.”
That also meant someone might be hiding here. We should have scattered to farm individually, but I got scared at Seongheon hyung’s words and was busy following him around.
Just when I was about to relax because no enemies were visible for a while, I heard a bang! sound from the direction Daesu hyung went.
[(Mine) ⇨ ‘Control’ Stunned]
A mine stuns you even if you step on it just once. Daesu hyung’s health bar had turned red.
“Ah! Who set up a mine?”
“Originally a lot of people come to Top Town to farm. I’ll save you.”
I was watching hoping Daesu hyung would fall behind first, but whether Gangjin hyung went and saved him, I saw Control’s health bar turn blue again. It was really disappointing. I was going to tease him if he died first.
“Daeyoung-ah, eat this.”
At that moment, Seongheon hyung came to me and put down a shield potion he obtained. If you drink this, you get an additional health bar, so it’s good to drink it as essential.
Around when I finished drinking it, Seongheon hyung found stairs going down. Normally hyung would go down first, but he just stood in front of it without doing anything.
While thinking why is he just standing there? I glanced at Seongheon hyung sitting next to me, when hyung tapped my shoulder and made me look at his screen.
“Daeyoung-ah, can you hear it?”
“Huh? Hear what?”
When I approached closely to where the Enter character was standing, I could hear some flashy sound from below.
“Oh, hyung! I can hear it!”
“There must be a treasure-grade box in the basement here.”
“Wow, hyung go down and take it.”
“It’s okay. Daeyoung, you didn’t farm much.”
“Hyung should eat too.”
“You take the box below.”
He must have been worried because I didn’t get many items.
At hyung’s words, I took the lead and went down the stairs, and there really was a supply box below. It was even rare grade, with light sparkling from the box. The moment I saw it, I couldn’t contain my excitement.
“Oh!! There really is one!”
I was excitedly running toward the supply box when suddenly there was a click sound on the floor and my body wouldn’t move. And 1 second later, with a kaboom─! roar, the character flew away.
[(Mine) ⇨ ‘Kkyudaeyoung’ Stunned]
I had stepped on a mine someone installed on the floor.
“Ah! That scared me!”
I was so surprised my shoulders flinched, but Seongheon hyung watching from the side calmly looked at the screen and nodded his head. Then he turned his head to the hyungs and warned like a notification.
“As expected… This won’t work. This area has mines laid so we can’t pick things up. Let’s go to West Hill.”
As if me stepping on the mine wasn’t surprising to Seongheon hyung at all, he immediately shared the next destination.
At those words, I opened the map and looked at the pings the hyungs marked… but I got an uneasy feeling. Could it be that Seongheon hyung deliberately told me to go down?
Around when reasonable doubt arose, I heard a sweet voice from the side.
“Daeyoung-ah. I’ll save you.”
“U-uh…”
Seongheon hyung saved me from being stunned and put down a first aid kit and shield potion in front of me. Seeing this devoted appearance made me think maybe not, and I was uncertain.
