Chapter 41
National Representative Selection (3)
“Hey.”
Ranking 9th, Oh Ji-myung, kicked a stone on the ground as he spoke.
“What are you doing right now? Are you on some camping trip or something?”
He didn’t like Baek Jin-woo’s attitude.
Was the National Representative Selection a joke?
Seeing a higher-ranked player acting like that was already annoying, but someone who wasn’t even a ranker… just a recently popular player—he was getting on his nerves.
‘Hoo, hey?’
Baek Jin-woo smiled faintly.
Look at these arrogant fools.
They’re coming at me with some nerve.
Well, whatever.
Both of them were older than him, so talking down to them wasn’t an issue.
“Y-yes, is there a problem?”
Baek Jin-woo laughed and stood up abruptly.
‘Shall I have some fun with them?’
After months of intense training through Hoon-gyo, Baek Jin-woo’s physique had long surpassed ordinary human levels.
In contrast, the bodies of the rankers were pitiful, almost laughable.
Understandable, though. A player only needed strong summons; there was no rule that you had to maintain your body.
Still, the aura that comes from a well-trained body was far stronger than from an untrained one.
“…This bastard.”
Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the aura, Oh Ji-myung gritted his teeth.
“I see the media’s hyping you up lately, huh? But if you keep your back that straight, you might never get selected.”
“…Huh? Really?”
Baek Jin-woo tilted his head.
“Hmm, that’s strange. Isn’t the National Representative Selection supposed to be based on skill alone? Oh… maybe not? Seeing you two got selected last year… I guess it’s possible even without skill.”
“This crazy bastard.”
Finally, the words came out of Oh Ji-myung’s mouth in a burst of swearing.
“No need for long words. Senior, why don’t we just tear his summon apart first and then lecture him?”
Ranking 10th, Park Ho-seop, lined up his summons.
Baek Jin-woo looked at the scene, clearly amused.
“Pathetic, really.”
“…….”
“Rankers, embarrassing enough to gang up, yet you have the nerve to open your mouths? Just handle your own summons and move on. Right, Hoon-gyo?”
- …….
Hoon-gyo silently nodded.
His eyes were sharp and cold.
He clearly wanted to cut down the two players who dared upset his master.
“You’re not going to make it.”
Whoosh!
Oh Ji-myung swung his arm, and his summons stamped the ground in unison.
As expected of rankers, they had a variety of B-rank summons.
“Let’s meet after the free-for-all. I need to give you a lesson.”
“Oh, I like the sound of that.”
Baek Jin-woo nodded as if welcoming it.
“Will you keep your promise?”
At that moment—
Flash!
Hoon-gyo moved, raising the flat side of his sword to the jaw of one of Oh Ji-myung’s humanoid summons.
KRAAAASH!
With a tremendous impact, the summon’s consciousness vanished into thin air.
Not just speed, but sheer force.
“One down.”
Hoon-gyo leaped forward, continuing the motion.
CRASH!
The speed was on another level.
While the enemy summon was mid-action, Hoon-gyo slashed, retracted, and leapt forward—all in a single motion.
Whirr!
Three precise sword strikes severed the critical points of the summons.
For Baek Jin-woo, this type of free-for-all was extremely advantageous.
As long as Lamba had time to stack, he was practically invincible.
“Two, three… uh, four? Oh, too fast to see.”
Baek Jin-woo enjoyed the spectacle, but Oh Ji-myung was utterly dumbfounded.
Five seconds?
No, less than four, and it was over.
Boom! Shing! The four summons’ HP dropped to zero.
And the last one—
“Gwaaaah!”
A rampaging stone golem (B-rank) jumped, spinning its fist down.
Shing!
Hoon-gyo was already atop it, dismantling the golem with his sword.
He precisely sliced the joints, covered in magical energy.
‘I-is he insane!’
Oh Ji-myung was stunned.
The golem’s limbs and torso fell apart without hitting its core heart.
Whirl!
Hoon-gyo flipped once in midair, plunging his sword into the golem’s heart.
Smash!
Instantly, the golem was re-summoned.
“……!”
Silence fell.
Especially for Park Ho-seop, eyes nearly popped out.
Could any player in Korea manipulate Oh Ji-myung like that?
[Player ‘Oh Ji-myung’ – All summons have been retracted.]
[Eliminated from the free-for-all.]
A light rose from the ground, enveloping Oh Ji-myung.
His protective shield vanished in that moment.
With sharp vision, Baek Jin-woo immediately noticed and stomped the ground.
‘He deserves a hit.’
He could have Hoon-gyo attack, but that might kill him.
Humans have to hit humans.
“Come find me after the free-for-all. I’ll make sure to pay you back.”
Baek Jin-woo ran forward, twisting his body, and drove a fist into Oh Ji-myung’s left abdomen and liver.
“Ugh, gghk?!”
Oh Ji-myung’s breath was cut off instantly.
‘That bastard! No manners!’
Hit a human in a player battle?
He was furious but couldn’t shout.
Soon, he was bounced out of the free-for-all.
“Next, is it your turn?”
Baek Jin-woo smirked as Ranking 10th Park Ho-seop could only watch in disbelief.
The broadcast of the free-for-all moved quickly.
Due to the sheer number of combat scenarios, scenes changed rapidly.
- “Yes, Rank 3 is currently moving to the outskirts to wait!”
- “Avoiding unnecessary fights. What about Rank 4? Let’s check.”
Scenes shifted rapidly.
“Ah? That’s him!”
Baek Ah-jin shouted, recognizing a familiar face on the screen.
- “Yes, Ranks 9 and 10 are allied, as they declared during the press conference that they’d team up again this year.”
- “Right, but why is one missing?”
- “Ah! That’s the one that was just eliminated. What happened?”
- “Shall we replay it?”
Less important scenes were often missed, but it didn’t matter—they could always rewind.
“Ah, damn it!”
Baek Ah-jin groaned.
“Why, dear?”
Hwang Myung-hee asked in confusion.
“Our brother… such terrible luck. He ran into Ranks 9 and 10.”
“Oh, what do we do then?”
“So, you see… they’re from the headquarters and are known to stick together. Usually, you quietly sneak through the free-for-all and get lucky. But… he ran straight into rankers at the start! Ugh!”
“Then is Jin-woo eliminated?”
“Wait. One of the rankers is gone… huh?”
At that moment, a replay of the highlight scene appeared.
It showed Hoon-gyo slicing through Oh Ji-myung’s five summons in just 10 seconds.
The three commentators murmured, and Oh Ji-myung’s team lunged first.
Immediately, Hoon-gyo struck down the enemies.
The speed and elegance were so extreme that even in slow motion, it looked like normal movement.
- “W-what is happening?”
- “Unbelievable! A single summon of Baek Jin-woo is slaughtering the summons of Korea’s 9th ranker! How is this possible?”
- “Even replayed twice, I can’t believe it!”
Crowd cheers could be heard outside.
Baek Ah-jin jumped up, pointing at the screen.
Hoon-gyo!
The impossible summon that had defeated her beloved Shadow Elf and tripped up the ankles of other summons!
“Wow! It’s really that strong? Against rankers…”
“Did our brother win?”
“Mom, this isn’t just winning! It’s insane! He completely crushed them… Rank 9 in the country! Wow! Chills!”
Baek Ah-jin looked at her father while gesturing wildly.
“Ah, Dad?”
“…!”
Baek Jin-cheol was frozen, mouth agape.
Of course, he often watched the world leagues and player battles.
He probably understood just how absurd this was, better than his wife.
- “What summon is that? Have you ever seen a caster use it?”
- “No. The closest is an E-rank Training Director, but it’s entirely different. That director holds a camera, not a sword.”
- “Then what is it?”
- “Possibly an undiscovered B-rank, or maybe even A-rank summon.”
- “Ah, so Baek Jin-woo had a hidden weapon!”
- “No! According to new info, it’s an E-rank Training Instructor summon.”
Veteran players knew of it, but nobody knew Jin-woo had used it.
Even the Five Emperors (Oje) didn’t know.
The Training Instructor summon was used before Jin-woo fully interacted with the Oje and was then quarantined.
The same applied to Lamba and the Flame Dragon.
- “Any info from Baek Jin-woo’s side?”
- “No, they requested privacy for the summon.”
The headquarters prefers not to publicly reveal detailed abilities of ranker summons.
It’s a competitive system.
- “Regardless, this is incredible! Right now, Baek Jin-woo is facing Park Ho-seop!”
- “Ah… the result isn’t much different!”
- “Was Park Ho-seop always so weak? He’s just being cut down by Baek Jin-woo!”
- “Wow! Baek Jin-woo! Who is he really?!”
No one could stop Hoon-gyo once the stacks were ready.
Shing!
It didn’t matter what summon Park Ho-seop had.
Lamba equipped with graduation runes was absurdly powerful.
Hoon-gyo’s sword strikes instantly retracted Park Ho-seop’s summons.
“Wait a minute.”
Before disappearing, Park Ho-seop reached out in fear.
Baek Jin-woo was persistent and petty.
“Make sure you keep the promise we made about the lesson later.”
Pow!
Baek Jin-woo smiled and drove a punch into his abdomen.
