Chapter 12: Mission Impossible (2)

Sang-Hyeon would receive 100,000 won if he could instantly kill the boss. This mission seemed impossible.

— How can the boss be one-shotted? Even a headshot isn’t enough.

— Burka got one shotted, no?

— Burka is just an elite mob.

Most viewers, even those who witnessed his skills, agreed that this mission would be too difficult.

— He’s not going to get that money loool.

— Poor Almond, such an innocent look on his face.

— Almond doesn’t know anything. What a poor nut.

— Poor nut LMAO

The viewers poked fun at the mission and pitied Almond. Despite this, Sang-Hyeon felt pumped. He felt happy about receiving a mission regardless of not being able to kill the boss with a headshot.

“Thank you, RubySword. I’ll get that 100,000 won for sure!”

Sang-Hyeon made sure to emphasize their username while thanking them for donating.

‘Thank goodness I got a mission worth 100,000 won.’

Sang-Hyeon appreciated RubySword beyond the 100,000 won mission. The first donation made others more comfortable with donating too. RubySword acted like a wingman for Sang-Hyeon and opened the way for others to donate.

[EggPlant has donated 2,000 won.]

[You can do this!]

This donation didn’t include a mission and hadn’t been a gift from another streamer, but it still felt good.

‘Great.’

Sang-Hyeon took it as a good sign. Missions gave purpose to the stream, but these random donations made the best money.

“Thank you, EggPlant. I’ll do my best!”

Sang-Hyeon happily waved and responded to the message. He emphasized their username again.

— Who tf calls themselves eggplant?

— Ew…

— Hey, what’s wrong with eggplants? They’re delicious if you deep fry them.

— Censor his name, please.

Other viewers made fun of the username, but EggPlant probably enjoyed himself for impacting the stream. His 2,000 won felt worth it.

[PogChamp has donated 1,000 won.]

[Show us a pog play!]

The internet slang, pog or pogchamp, meant excitement or shock. Sang-Hyeon had no idea how it came to be, but he knew the word enough to respond.

“Thank you, PogChamp. A pog play… I’ll do my best!”

He received two donations before the game even started.

‘I think this is really happening!’

Sang-Hyeon’s heart pounded.

It seemed like he grew excited over petty earnings, but small donations during a stream made all the difference. He would rather have ten 1,000 won donations than one 10,000 won donation.

His stream went in the right direction, at least according to Sang-Hyeon’s opinion.

Bling—?

[Mission: 100,000 won if you successfully one-shot the boss.]

[110,000 won]

[10,000 won from me as well!]

Another donation raised the mission reward to 110,000 won. The game officially began with that.

Beep—

A white flash covered his screen and Sang-Hyeon appeared in the middle of a forest. A young blonde lady who matched the beautiful scenery greeted him.

“Thank you so much.”

The bandits from before had targeted this young lady’s noble family. She personally came to express her gratitude.

The heroine’s name was Emilia, but it seemed like the game had more heroines.

[1. It was nothing. I was just doing my job.]

[2. Show us you’re thankful by rewarding us. That’s what we want.]

Two choices popped up on the screen.

The chat wanted him to pick the second option, but Sang-Hyeon knew the game would become more difficult like that.

?

He chose the first option without much hesitation.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

“It was nothing. I was just doing my job.”

Emilia responded with a wide smile.

“Still, thank you so much.”

— Kya~

— She sure is pretty.

— So pretty!

As expected, no one cared about his choice.

“Lady.”

Roman chimed in.

“After interrogating one of the bandits, we discovered that more are likely on standby to attack in the mountains. We’re planning to send a team to eliminate them once and for all. What do you think?”

Another quest would soon begin.

The mercenaries had little chance of success even with their entire army considering their earlier performance. Logically, they should attack together instead of splitting up.

— You guys would’ve been screwed if it weren’t for Almond. Who are you to decide to kill the boss lol

— LOL

— Roman is the best in the kingdom. Don’t hate on him.

— Yeah, best at faking.

— Lmao

The game had progressed differently now, but the viewers let it slide as fans.

“Sure, we’d greatly appreciate it if you can do so. Should we prepare to stay the night here?”

“The remaining defending squad will take care of that.”

“Perfect, I’ll help out as well.”

Emilia didn’t act like the other nobles who usually stayed back and only commanded. Her willingness to participate left a good impression.

— Kya, Emilia is good-hearted too.

— Honestly, I only play the game to see her.

— These losers… Rosenita is the true heroine.

— Lol Rosenita is pretty good as well.

‘I guess it’s not just Emilia.’

The game had another heroine judging from the chat. Open-world games targeting men commonly did that like the

Witcher?

series back in the day.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Clippity clop—?

Roman, Almond, and Emilia left the defending squad behind. The squadron had around 20 soldiers.

[Eliminate the bandit boss!]

The mission popped up in large text on the screen followed by a short cutscene. The scene began with them running through the dark forest. Moonlight shone on the enemies.

Roman led the way and slowly raised his fist to stop them. Then he whispered, “We’ll approach as close as possible and swarm them from behind.”

All the soldiers, except Almond, nodded in agreement. The squad fanned out and Almond took his position as well.

“

Haaa…

”

Almond’s breath left a trail in the cold air. Sang-Hyeon couldn’t tell Almond’s breath apart from his own.

‘This is actually kind of nerve-wracking.’

The game always impressed him in moments like these when full dive truly felt real.

Shing!

Roman suddenly unsheathed his sword and moonlight reflected on it.

“Chaaaaarge!”

The mercenaries raised their flags after his beast-like roar. This tactic helped to disguise their numbers and often confused the enemies.

“Arrrrgh!”

“Raaaaa!”

Almond also let out a battle cry and readied his bow.

‘One shot right away.’

Swoosh!

“Kugh!”

Almond’s arrow instantly turned the guard into a corpse.

— Kya!

— Woah… I can barely even see…

The torches waving around in the dark left an afterimage in Sang-Hyeon’s eyes. The battle cries around him also felt distracting, but that didn’t matter. It wasn’t enough to disrupt his focus.

Swoosh!

His arrow perfectly landed on another enemy.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

His shooting speed only increased.

[Consecutive Shooting Skill. Activated!]

He unlocked a new skill. This game still featured a skill mechanic despite its realism. Each weapon had its own skill tree and consecutive shooting belonged to the bow.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Every arrow pierced an enemy’s head.

— Holy shit…

— I didn’t know someone could land every shot with that skill.

— Did he unlock a skill already?

— Jesus Christ.

Skills like consecutive shooting only made using the bow trickier. You needed to land three headshots in a row to activate the skill. Such requirements made it difficult enough. However, the arrows came out too fast during the skill and made it even more difficult to use.

Sang-Hyeon just became the exception.

— He’s insane!

— Woah!

— Is he going to kill them all on his own? LOL

— ??? This isn’t how you’re supposed to play…

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Sang-Hyeon shot the arrows at a blinding speed beyond human capability. Every shot struck the target’s head.

— He’s not human.

— Insane…

Even Sang-Hyeon felt surprised at what happened.

‘How is this possible?’

Of course, it could never happen in the real world. Archers also had no reason to shoot this fast in the real world.

Before activating the skill, Sang-Hyeon still felt more confident in his real-world archery abilities when his right arm properly worked.

‘Goddamn…’

However, the combination of this skill increasing his speed and the game's physics resulted in a cathartic experience.

His mind had to focus to the limits and he shot as fast as he could process the thought.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Sang-Hyeon achieved a peak synergy as if he became one with the bow.

“Kugh!”

“Ugh!”

The bandits fell one by one like cave dwellers being gunned down.

He landed every shot in the center of their foreheads with his intense concentration.

Thwack! Thud! Thud!

Even he barely registered his own actions.

— Are consecutive shots usually this fast?

— Do you really think that’s the case?

— The skill only goes as fast as the user can output it.

Unlike anyone else, Sang-Hyeon’s peak focus made such quick shots possible.

[Skill Deactivated]

No bandits remained after he used the skill for ten seconds.

Then Sang-Hyeon said something that drove the viewers crazy.

“Hey everyone, isn’t the bow in

Kingdom?

pretty good?”

— It’s only good for you

— Almond the Great…

— LOL

— Do you know how many streamers gave up the bow challenge…

Hate, jealousy, and swearing filled the chat.

[CalmSlime has donated 1,000 won.]

[Cocky bastard…]

[EggPlant has donated 1,000 won.]

[Is this really your first time playing?]

[30yrVirgin has donated 1,000 won.]

[Please tell me you don’t have a girlfriend at least.]

“Thanks everyone for the donations. 30yrVirgin, don’t worry. I don’t have a girlfriend. CalmSlime, thank you for the donation. EggPlant! Thanks for donating again.”

Sang-Hyeon smiled as he thanked them. He couldn’t stop smiling.

‘This is so fun.’

The money didn’t even matter. He genuinely enjoyed this virtual reality game and the full dive experience. Plus, everybody kept praising him. Anyone would enjoy this experience.

“Almond, you truly are incredible!? You’re probably the best in the kingdom!”

The so-called mean commander, Roman, acted like an angel toward Sang-Hyeon.

— Roman must be bugged.

— Roman, why are you talking like that?

— What’s going on LOL

— The new viewers are surprised, haha.

The way Roman treated Sang-Hyeon surprised the new viewers.

[CalmSlime has donated 5,000 won.]

[Huh? Why is it finished already? Where’s the boss?]

“Uh?”

Sang-Hyeon felt confused too. He was supposed to fight the boss, but everything ended already.

“Commander! I think this is the boss’ corpse!”

A soldier lifted the boss’ corpse.

— Huh?

— ????

— Shit…

— Oh, shut up Malfoy…

— No fucking way.

— Nani???

The viewers couldn’t hide their shock. Some even denied what happened.

— No way. There’s no way he landed a headshot and instantly killed him.

— Boss headshots are impossible.

— He probably got hit five times in the head. No way he one-shotted him.

They had good reason to not believe what just happened. An unwritten rule existed among players that bosses couldn’t die from one shot.

— But how did the boss just die without even showing himself?

— Isn’t the mission still a fail since he didn’t die in one hit?

— For real…

— It was impossible from the start…

However, a rumor that floated around broke this unwritten rule. A reputable person chimed in and backed up this rumor.

[Acorn Jelly has donated 100,000 won.]

[It was an instant kill! Perfect shots kill even bosses in one hit!]

Acorn Jelly generously donated again and confirmed the rumors regarding the perfect shot. This made the viewers extremely excited.

— That’s just a rumor loool.

— Is he still on about that?

— Give it up, Jelly boy…

— Perfect shot exists!!!

— Perfect gang, unite!