Season 3: Chapter 33: Unexpected Team Play (1)
It was hard to say that Ju-Hyeok completely noticed. How could he have immediately understood this complicated and bizarre situation? He was merely trying to find out somehow. He had been intensely observing where the manager's eyes were directed, trying to catch anything.
Bang!
"Huh?"
The manager reacted excessively to the sniper rifle sound from the screen. Even when Ju-Hyeok pressured him, his eyes barely trembled. Now, they darted around momentarily.
Could it be some kind of war trauma? That would be an overly naive misunderstanding. Such a person would not be at the production company of a game about shooting and killing others like a hitman.
Then, why did he react to the sound of the gun? The direction of his gaze right after the gunshot gave it away. There was a chart with numbers on his pad.
'Challenge points...?'
Ju-Hyeok seemed to see the words, [Challenge points].
'Wait...'
A part of his mind tingled. Something seemed to connect, yet it didn’t. This peculiar behavior focused on Almond, the challenge points, and the reaction to the gunshot.
'What is it?'
Ju-Hyeok's brows furrowed. At the many booths he had visited, the words he heard in between flashed through his mind. There were hints in those words.
"… These G-Star bastards... business…"
"… The price of challenge points has gone up..."
"… It’s fortunate enough that no one else will come…"
Challenge points, business, no one else coming?
'I get it!'
Ju-Hyeok's eyes widened unknowingly.
'They have no challenge points left!'
This booth paid out challenge points in a unique way. The better a player performed, the more points they received.
Most large game company booths didn’t use this method. The advantage of this method was that it could attract many people with a minimum amount of points. That was why smaller game companies adopted it.
However, it had one fatal flaw like a claw machine. What if a pro suddenly showed up and took all the toys? It would ruin not just a day's business, but potentially a year’s. That was exactly what was happening here.
'So no other streamers at G-Star will play this game except for Almond… That’s why they're making this offer?'
One thing still didn’t fit. No more streamers would clearly come and Almond would be the last, but why did they have to offer him an advertisement?
'Are they desperate?'
The conclusion Ju-Hyeok drew was that they had to be pretty desperate.
'Well… salarymen always have their situations.'
He didn’t know the CEO’s order, so his deductions could only go this far. Nevertheless, now he knew that they were deeply concerned about their challenge points due to Almond.
The leverage in this deal was beginning to shift to him.
'It's not certain.'
Of course, all this was just a hypothesis formed in his mind.
'But I can definitely find out more about this hypothesis.'
Ju-Hyeok observed the manager’s reaction.
"A sniper mission, I see."
"Ah… haha. Yes, it’s the pride of our game…"
The manager met Ju-Hyeok’s eyes and tried to compose his expression, sensing something. Ju-Hyeok was not one to just let it go.
"Shall I continue watching?"
"Yes…?"
"I’m curious too."
"Ah, yes. Of course."
He forced the manager to also look at the screen. If Ju-Hyeok’s assumption was correct, the manager would react significantly depending on whether Almond's mission failed or succeeded.
They waited until the bullet flew over and the result came in.
'It’s a miss.'
The shot failed.
"Phew…" the manager sighed in relief. He tried to hide it, but how could his body not react first?
'As expected.'
Look at how overly relieved he is now. Almond’s missed shot was a relief to him.
Ju-Hyeok looked at the pad. The numbers hadn’t changed.
'It’s displaying Almond’s challenge points.'
They surely bought a generous amount of challenge points. How much were they trying to save?
'Really.'
Ju-Hyeok swallowed a bitter smile and prepared to negotiate again.
"!?"
The manager's expression was unusual. Wasn't it much more relaxed than before?
"Ah… Manager? It seems we can't deal any further than this."
"…"
The manager had been submissive before, but now it was different. Did Almond's failed snipe bring them new hope?
"Ha. Figures."
Just when it seemed things would go smoothly. Ju-Hyeok smiled as he ruffled his hair.
'If Sang-Hyeon can’t do it, I have to.'
If Almond had immediately succeeded in the snipe, things would have been easier. That didn't matter though.
Ju-Hyeok had already finished gathering all the facts.
"Manager," he asked directly, "How many more people do you think you can attract?"
"Uh…?"
The manager looked flustered.
"After we take so many challenge points, how much longer can you operate the booth? How many more prominent streamers do you think will come during that short period?"
A moment of silence followed.
"Ah… Ma-Manager? I don’t understand what you're saying…" the manager just blurted out something that contradicted his thoughts.
'How did he know?'
It was beyond bewilderment and more like absurdity. Unless they had a spy, how could he know so much about their internal affairs?
"Even if the sniper mission fails, the amount you've already lost is enough to put you in this situation."
How could he know so precisely? It was hard to believe he figured it out during their brief conversation at the table.
"I'm being upfront because it doesn't seem like the conversation is progressing. I wouldn't do it this way."
Tap. Tap.
Ju-Hyeok touched the proposal as he spoke, specifically the numbers written on it.
"Ah… Cough…"
That was when it dawned on him. He had been played. He didn’t know exactly what tactic was used, but this guy knew too much.
***
Meanwhile, Almond pulled the trigger without any hesitation.
Bang!
The gunshot was deafening, but there was no time to marvel at that.
'I have to be quick.'
Almond immediately pulled the bolt back to eject the spent cartridge.
Click!
This was the disadvantage of a bolt action system. He reloaded and pulled the trigger again.
Bang!
Again, he pulled the bolt, pushed it, and—
Bang!
Bang! Bang!
"Stop!"
Hannah had said he had to fire all the shots within eight seconds. It seemed eight seconds had passed.
The total number of shots he fired was five.
'Too slow.'
The firing speed was slower than he expected.
'Huh?'
With a swooshing sound, the screen momentarily switched.
Whoosh.
The scene of the bullet flying appeared. The bullet arced gently toward its target. Enemies could be seen through the curtain wall glass. The target’s face was visible, sitting sternly at the head of the conference room.
Crash!
The glass shattered. Immediately, the bodyguards reacted. Of course, the bullet was much faster.
Thud!
The bullet hit the target. However, it only struck his shoulder. Blood slowly spurted out as everyone's expressions turned to shock.
Afterward, all the bullets Almond fired hit either the bodyguards’ ballistic shields or their bodies.
Spatter!
'Damn.'
The sniping had failed. The target was injured, but it wasn’t a life-threatening injury.
The scene switched back to Almond.
"Ah."
Almond clicked his tongue in frustration. It seemed like one more try could do it.
— Wow, gg
— Did it fail?
— Now I see why if you don't succeed at first, it's gg
— They must be on full alert now
"Agent. Based on the gunshots, helicopters will be dispatched here soon. We need to move."
"…"
Indeed, a promise was a promise.
Almond nodded. However, he hadn’t planned on running away immediately after the first shot without any thought.
"Let's change locations instead."
"… Yes?"
"Let's move and try again."
"But…"
"He's injured. He'll be in an ambulance. Let's aim for that."
"… You want to shoot while he's being transported?"
"Yes."
This time, he was confident. He felt like he had grasped something.
"It's impossible to get any closer now."
"It doesn't matter if we're farther away."
"Agent!?"
"If not, I'm not going."
— Almond is such a baby, he won't go anywhere
— And he’ll shoot from even further away?
— Did you agree to this? lol
After a moment of silence, Hannah nodded.
"Then, I'll relay the operation proposal to the operator. Let's move first."
***
Hannah and Almond moved to escape from the hotel.
"There they are!"
"Hey! Over there!"
Somehow, several suspicious individuals noticed them and followed.
Hannah frowned.
"Ah. We've been spotted—"
Tatadatang!
Almond had already pulled out a machine gun and started firing. All his shots hit and the suspicious individuals collapsed instantly.
"That’s 430,000 won~ 440,000 won~"
The money count increased.
— Oh, there's also a per-kill mission lol
— Got 'em lol
— Didn’t forget about that
Earning money was good, but this was in the middle of New York City.
"Aaaahhhhhh!"
"Guns!"
Chaos erupted.
"Run, Agent!"
Hannah pulled Almond and ran while contacting the operator.
"Operator? I have something to tell you."
"Over there!"
Tudududung!
Tudung!
"That’s 450,000 won! 460,000 won! 470,000 won!"
Meanwhile, the gunfire continued.
"Ugh!"
"Ugh!"
"500,000 won!"
Almond delayed running because he was still shooting.
"Agent! Escaping is more important!"
"51… okay."
— Every trigger pull is ten thousand won~ lol
— ??? Look at him, he thinks it's all about the money!
— Is there an exchange rate only for dollars? Lives have an exchange rate too!
Chichichik.
The operator connected.
“This is Operator 03. What’s up with calling me now?” Operator 03 grumbled about being contacted only when needed.
"This is Agent Almond and sidekick Hannah! The sniping failed, but I have an alternative proposal."
“Tell me.”
Almond briefly continued firing and killed a few more enemies.
“Hmm… Okay,” the operator agreed, seeing the rationale in Almond’s operational proposal. “Not bad.”
They were determined to kill the enemy boss anyway.
“I will send a vehicle to protect Agent Almond and Hannah. Escape to the designated point.”
***
Moments later, Hannah and Almond safely boarded a vehicle.
The operator began explaining the operation, “The target's injury is not life-threatening, but he’s lost consciousness due to the shock. Given his age, he will be rushed to the emergency room.”
The essence of this operation was to eliminate the target en route to the emergency room.
“They will not be in an ambulance, but a private escort vehicle. You’ll have to shoot when the vehicle stops. I have identified a section where they will be stuck at a signal for over twenty seconds.”
Zing.
Specific points appeared marked on the map.
“These are the recommended sniping points.”
This time, Almond only had a few points available. He chose this one.
[Point – 03]
[4.1 km]
— Wow
— 4.1 km lol
— 4.1 million won lol
— Even better~
"Hah…"
Hannah's complexion turned pale.
“We will prepare the operation from that point.”
Regardless, the operator began planning the route.
Vroom.
Hannah and Almond started moving.
***
"We have arrived at Point 03."
They reached the operation point. Since they had done it once before, the preparation took half the usual time.
Click. Click.
The two silently finished preparing the sniper setup. After looking through binoculars, Hannah adjusted the position.
"The vehicle will be here soon. I will readjust once the vehicle arrives."
Shortly after, the target's escort vehicle appeared.
Hannah began to readjust, but she paused in surprise.
"… Wait. That's an armored vehicle."
"?"
"I've seen it during a previous operation. The glass is all bulletproof. This operation is…"
Would they have to cancel it? No way.
"We have to try shooting," Almond said and looked through the scope.
"Agent, I recommend targeting the tires. We'll immobilize the car to force the target out. Then, you can snipe. Since the target is in an emergency situation, they won’t move very fast and the route is predictable."
"Oh."
‘That sounds good.’
Almond inhaled deeply.
Bang!
Agent Almond, arguably the fastest without any hesitation, already began shooting.
Click!
He quickly pulled the bolt to eject the cartridge and pushed it to reload another bullet.
'We can't be slow this time.'
He pulled the trigger again.
Bang!
Immediately, he pulled the bolt again.
Click!
He ejected the cartridge, reloaded the bullet, and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
After that, he repeated the same actions insanely fast.
Bang! Bang!
Tatatang!
"Time’s up!"
Even though Hannah said time was up, Almond didn't stop. He was as good as dead if he didn't hit the target accurately here.
Bang!
Bang!
After firing nearly fifteen shots, Almond finally stopped.
"Agent! Time… huh?"
Hannah, who had been looking through binoculars, widened her eyes in shock and stood up.
"… Weren’t you supposed to shoot the tires?"