203 – Surviving in the Wild #4
I successfully located Kim Yumi through Lee Jin-A, and my plan to draw Do Jun-Hwan out using Kim Yumi worked perfectly.
The execution of the plan was simple.
I erased my scent with “Civet Cat Perfume” and approached Kim Yumi in hiding, making her wear my heavily scented outerwear.
Do Jun-Hwan would mistake Kim Yumi for me, Haildo, and would take the perfect shot.
Bang-.
In reality, Do Jun-Hwan succeeded in sniping Kim Yumi, mistaking her for me, Haildo.
Even in the darkness, his marksmanship was so precise that it sent shivers down my spine.
“I thought you would reveal yourself to deal with the watch. There’s no time someone shows a weakness like when they acquire something. Just like how you tried to take us down as a supply box.”
In other words-.
It was a plan that reversed the traps set by Do Jun-Hwan and Kim Yumi and attacked them instead.
Seemingly grasping the situation, Do Jun-Hwan was furious.
“You brat! You tried to lure me out with such a simple trick? Who do you think I am? Who would fall for that!?”
I know too.
It’s a simple strategy that anyone could come up with if they thought a bit.
But such simple and naive responses tend to work better than expected in the field.
In fact, Do Jun-Hwan easily fell for my strategy.
“Do you think drawing a sniper out at close range will give you a chance? I’m A-ranker Do Jun-Hwan…! Don’t think I won’t have close combat capabilities…!”
Pop-!
Do Jun-Hwan, who was being shaken around as Kkungkkungi, Bang Bang, and Ahn Ahn held onto his limbs, suddenly jumped up as if he was regaining his stance.
Although it’s common knowledge that snipers are weak at close combat, A-rankers usually show strong skills even in close combat.
However, Do Jun-Hwan also overlooked one thing.
“Don’t forget that the opponent is also an A-ranker. You might be unilaterally advantageous in ranged combat, but in close combat, I’m overwhelmingly superior.”
I wasn’t soft enough to let the opponent caught in a trap slip away.
“Kkungkkungi, tackle them!”
Grrr…!
Kkungkkungi lunged at Do Jun-Hwan.
Thud-!
Do Jun-Hwan was knocked back to the ground, as if he didn’t even register being hit by Kkungkkungi’s small frame.
Once he was down, Ahn Ahn and Bang Bang lunged at him again, biting his arms and legs and shaking him wildly.
“Ahhh~!”
Seeing him suffer like a grain bag being shaken during the autumn harvest made me feel a little sorry for him.
“Ugh, damn, ugh-. Squirrel Beast is incredibly strong…!”
“Bang Bang, bind him with webs first…!”
Hiiroooong…!
I used Bang Bang’s webs to firmly bind Do Jun-Hwan and Kim Yumi.
While it would have been good to retire them immediately, I thought it was more urgent to bring over Lee Jin-A, who was collapsed over there.
When I approached, the injured Lee Jin-A was crawling and hiding behind a rock, gasping for breath. Upon seeing me, she frowned.
“Haildo, are you serious? You dare use me as bait!?”
She didn’t seem to be joking.
Instead of apologizing, I picked up Lee Jin-A and brought her to where Do Jun-Hwan and Kim Yumi were tied up.
Seeing the two securely bound, Lee Jin-A seemed to have calmed down a bit.
“If I became bait, the operation should have succeeded without a hitch. Ugh, but you caught them well. So what now? Are you going to just rob the watch like this?”
Robbing the watch, huh.
It was something Lee Jin-A, who had a history of being a thief in school, would say.
I had caught them just in case, you know.
Swoosh-.
Looking at my wristwatch, the number of participants in the A-ranker game still stood at 28.
If I retired those two, that would mean Do Jun-Hwan and Kim Yumi would definitely be at the bottom of the A-rank.
Their average placement was about 15th, which meant they would be plummeting from the top 50 percent.
However, it felt a bit wasteful to use the opportunity of capturing an opponent like this.
“Lee Jin-A, is there any way you can brainwash these two with your ability? At least until the mid-game, it seems like there should be some team play, but just the two of us feels a bit off.”
In other words, it could be called enemy indoctrination.
Normally, I would have to persuade them by saying, “Hey, if you get eliminated right now, you will definitely be last. Why not join hands with me and take down others…,” but now I had Lee Jin-A with me, allowing me to skip all that tedious dialogue and schemes.
Rub rub rub rub-.
Lee Jin-A rubbed her hands together.
Snap-.
As a red spark started to flare from her palms, Lee Jin-A placed her hands on either side of Kim Yumi’s temples.
“Eeek!”
Kim Yumi, who had collapsed after being hit by Do Jun-Hwan’s shot and stuck in webs, trembled.
She looked like a test subject subjected to a mad scientist’s horrific experiment.
“What did you just do?”
“MIND CONTROL. I directly implanted a preference for me in Kim Yumi’s mind. It’s a magic-consuming technique, but its effect is guaranteed. She won’t be able to resist now.”
Mesmerization.
Lee Jin-A’s ability was a terrifying power that took effect regardless of the opponent’s defenses.
In fact, Kim Yumi trembled at the sight of Lee Jin-A.
“I, I don’t like girls! You might be trying to brainwash me, but you cannot control my heart! I don’t like girls!”
It seemed she was resisting.
But when Lee Jin-A gently patted Kim Yumi’s head, Kim Yumi’s earlier resistance became meaningless as she let out a “Hii!” and shivered.
Soon, Kim Yumi tightly closed her eyes.
“Okay! Just cooperate! Take your hands off! I’ll call you ‘Unni’! Unni! Pet me more!”
The effect was extraordinarily powerful.
Even while understanding logically that she was being manipulated, she could not refuse it emotionally.
Having experienced that “Arrow of Passion” or whatever it was, I knew that fear better than anyone.
“Hmph, I already have a girlfriend whom I promised to marry. And I trained myself to be immune to brainwashing and torture during my mercenary days. No matter what you do to me, it’s futile─.”
Do Jun-Hwan was under the same influence of Lee Jin-A’s brainwashing.
“Oh, Lee Jin-A, Jin-A. The flame in my heart, my star─. Even if I end up eliminated, I’ll definitely protect you, Jin-A.”
In Do Jun-Hwan’s case, his condition was a bit severe.
I never expected the cold-blooded assassin, known as the goblin, to have such a lyrical side.
He would probably kick the blanket off after coming out of the brainwashing later.
# # #
Click-.
Inside the supply box were immediately usable first aid kits, water, and emergency rations.
The large “OSA” logo stamped on the supplies was quite conspicuous.
Is this a sponsored advertisement for the OSA Group?
…Well, corporations need to survive too.
“This is my share, this is Lee Jin-A’s share, this is Kkungkkungi’s share, this is Bang Bang’s share, this is Ahn Ahn’s share, and this is the rainbow cloud Iningyi’s share in the canteen…!”
—Iningyi.
I took out the rainbow cloud Iningyi from the canteen.
And I brought the Iningyi to Lee Jin-A’s thigh.
“Ouch, that’s cold!”
Swoosh-.
Then, the scar from the arrow wound on Lee Jin-A’s thigh completely disappeared. It was a spectacle akin to magic, and not only Lee Jin-A but also Kim Yumi was greatly astonished.
“You can heal my paralysis arrow that easily? What on earth is this rainbow cloud?”
That was a reaction that would have made Inoi very happy.
This rainbow cloud Iningyi was something Inoi loved to brag about.
I showed the rainbow cloud Iningyi to the hidden voice recorder and camera set up somewhere as I spoke.
“This is rainbow cloud Rainbowring Iningyi. If it receives my mana, it gains the power to heal various wounds. It’s a legendary-grade creature.”
—Kyuuiiing.
Swoosh-.
Iningyi slipped back into the canteen.
Though it usually liked to roam around, it seemed drowsy since it was late in the evening.
Now, I carefully distributed the food that came from the supply box to animals like Bang Bang, Kkungkkungi, and Ahn Ahn, and tucked them into the makeshift beds I made for them.
“You all should sleep too. Managing stamina is important.”
Though it was a makeshift bed made by laying a blanket inside a plastic box I had acquired, it was a luxurious hotel bed compared to sleeping on the bare floor.
Peacefully-.
The animals quickly fell asleep, seemingly exhausted from the exploration and strange experiences of the day.
Now, after a good night’s sleep, they would surely help with what awaited us tomorrow.
I left the night watch to Kim Yumi and Do Jun-Hwan.
Snipers were probably used to not sleeping.
Of course, I had been unable to trust them fully, so I was assigned alongside Do Jun-Hwan on night watch.
“If you betray me suddenly, I’ll eliminate you on the spot.”
I told Do Jun-Hwan as such.
I was fully confident I could win in close combat.
Do Jun-Hwan chuckled.
“I’m not that foolish. If we get eliminated, we are definitely last. We have to survive this and take down at least a few more teams to make our participation in this survival worthwhile.”
“That makes sense.”
Do Jun-Hwan wasn’t stupid either.
That’s why he had risen to an A-ranker from being a mercenary.
“And Haildo, you are fine, but Jin-A is my light. I will do anything to raise Jin-A’s rank. Haildo, don’t hamper Jin-A. Got it?”
“……”
The effects of Lee Jin-A’s brainwashing were evidently strong.
Honestly, it was an endlessly versatile ability.
If an evil, bad organization’s officers had this power, the damage would have been tremendous.
“In that sense, Haildo, it’s better to get out of this ‘Park Forest’ when the sun rises tomorrow. That’s what both Yumi and I were thinking. There is a monster lurking in this ‘Park Forest.'”
While I was lightly dozing, Do Jun-Hwan spoke.
The team of Do Jun-Hwan and Kim Yumi had apparently encountered a demon which could be called a ‘master’ in the “Park Forest” but had managed to escape by avoiding combat.
“In fact, I have an informant in the ghost army. According to him, in this abandoned city, each area is said to have monsters that can be referred to as ‘masters.'”
That was the first time I had heard of such a story.
Was it information that the organizers intentionally withheld to intensify the tension of the survival?
Swoosh-.
I gazed at the dark forest seen outside the management office.
Thinking that terrifying monsters were lurking in there sent a chill down my spine.
Time passed quickly, and morning came.
In the morning, surprisingly many changes occurred.
“12 have been eliminated?”
When I looked at my watch, there were only 16 survivors left in the survival game.
To have nearly a third eliminated on the first night of a survival game that was supposed to take a week was quite shocking.
What on earth had happened?
“Thank goodness…! Thank goodness…! I, Kim Yumi, have survived…! At least it means I secured 17th place in the A-rank…! I’m aliveaaah…!”
