Season 4: Chapter 81. The Unknown Participants (3)

A figure suddenly leaped out from the bushes and punched Black Pepper.

Thwack!

“

Gyaaaah!?

” She let out a bizarre, high-pitched scream and bolted forward. “W-What?! It’s a monster! A monster!!”

— LOLOLOLOL

— Did she say MONSTER LMAO

— It’s way scarier than a monster tho fr

— That reaction killed me hahahaha!

Thud! Whack!

Almond chased after her, swinging punch after punch.

‘Man, these limbs are short.’

While repeatedly throwing his hands, Almond quickly grasped the limits of the tiny avatar. His stubby arms and legs translated into drastically less reach. Realizing this in a critical fight would’ve cost him.

‘Jump, punch. Jump, punch.’

He mixed in jumps to close the gap and continued pummeling Black Pepper with relentless flurries.

Whapwhapwhapwhapwhap!

— He’s so damn fast LOL

— This is insane hahaha

— Beating someone up with just punches??

— This man has no chill lmao

— His movement is on another level

Almond’s flawless execution came not just from his skills, but from the 30% movement speed buff he had received earlier.

[All Movement Speed +30%]

“Black Pepper! That’s a person! Who the hell are you?!” Salt, startled by the chaos, drew his sword and stared at the sudden attacker.

The assailant’s name was hidden.

“Whoever you are, you’re dead meat for charging in unarmed!” Salt sprinted toward them.

‘He’s not paying attention to me at all.’

Almond was entirely focused on Black Pepper. Salt figured he could land a clean hit from behind.

Whoosh!

He swung his sword toward Almond’s exposed back.

Swoosh!

Almond suddenly crouched and slipped under the swing.

‘Wait... he saw that coming?’

Salt thought the guy hadn’t even noticed him. Somehow, even while squatting, the lunatic kept punching Black Pepper.

Whapwhap! Whapwhapwhap!

“

KYAAAAAH!

”

“Black Pepper! Pull it together!”

From Salt’s perspective, it made no sense. Black Pepper was supposed to be a fighting game prodigy. Why was she panicking?

‘Where... where is he?!’

From Black Pepper’s perspective, Almond kept circling and striking with pinpoint accuracy from her blind spots. Not once had she gotten a proper look at him. He kept weaving around every time she tried to turn her head and mixed in jumps while punching without pause. This ambush combo grew even more terrifying with the speed buff.

‘I knew it. She can’t see me.’

Almond had already scoped out the blind spots while running earlier. This habit came from playing as an archer. Attacking from the edge of sight was practically second nature.

‘This field of vision is narrower than in real life.’

In reality, humans had a surprisingly wide peripheral vision. Here, it was barely 140 degrees at best. He knew Black Pepper had the same limit.

Flick. Flick.

As long as he watched the angle of her head and stayed in that blind zone, he could keep punching her.

‘She’s panicking now.’

Almond tightened his positioning, targeting only her unarmored head. From Black Pepper’s perspective, all she saw were tiny fists flying at her face.

Smack! Whack!

She couldn’t recover after getting caught in the loop. Too many blows kept landing.

Whapwhapwhapwhap...

[HP: 18%]

She was nearly done for.

— LOL damn

— Is she a noob or what?

— Almond only bullies newbies hahaha

To Almond’s viewers, it looked like he was beating up an inexperienced player. In truth, Black Pepper was an elite amateur, ranked in the top 50 in fighting games. Of course, she hadn’t gone live or revealed her username, so no one knew.

— Wait, that voice... is that Black Pepper?

— Sounds like her lol

— LMAO that scream tho

— Is it TTS or something? Sounds like a Black Pepper clone

Despite her iconic voice sparking recognition, no one dared to say it was really her.

Whapwhapwhap!

“

GyaaAAAHH!!

” Black Pepper had completely lost it.

The only one left standing was Salt.

“Get off her, you bastard!” He charged and swung his sword again.

This time, dodging wouldn’t be easy.

‘He can’t duck again like last time.’

Whoosh!

Salt wasn’t trying to deal damage. He just wanted to break Almond’s grip on Black Pepper, and he succeeded.

Thud!

Almond rolled back and got off Black Pepper.

“There! Got you, punk!”

Salt rushed in for the follow-up strike. The enemy had no armor or gear. He was done for.

Wham!

Or... not. Almond blocked it with a sword. He was holding a sword.

“Wait...” Salt’s eyes went wide. “T-That’s...”

It was Black Pepper’s sword. He looked to the side. Black Pepper had already collapsed on the ground. While blocking Salt’s strike, Almond began equipping her armor, pants, boots, and gloves.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

“Are you kidding me...?”

Now, Almond was fully geared.

— LMAOOO GET REKT

— Why even craft armor when you can just punch people for it

— He actually beat her with his fists... what the hell did I just witness?

— That was brutal

— The speed he looted her gear, my god

***

[pep731 has been slain by another player.]

The death message popped up in the server-wide chat. All the streamers reacted.

[Bubblegum: Whoa, what just happened?]

[BlackTea: Huh? Already? What’s with that username?]

[GreenTea: I’m scared...]

[Tomato: Yo, can we slow down a little?]

[Takoyaki: Damn... it's already starting?]

[Miho: You said it was a healing game!!]

‘He really killed someone...?’

PD Jang froze in place for a second. Then, he slowly opened his mouth, “W-Who was that...?”

“Huh?” Park Oh-Hoon blinked, confused.

“It’s Almond, obviously.”

“No, I mean... who’s the genius that suggested disguising the Paprika players’ nicknames?”

Someone raised their hand from the back. “Me!”

“You... You’re a goddamn genius!?”

“

Hehehe.

”

PD Jang heavily sighed and brushed his chest as if he’d just been spared a heart attack.

He looked over and praised his staffer like a hero. “Seriously, we’d be screwed if those nicknames were their real usernames.”

The Paprika streamers had all been assigned codenames that gave nothing away about their identities. Technically, they weren’t real residents of Cheese Village.

This hadn’t been the plan originally, but it had changed thanks to a suggestion from Park Oh-Hoon. That last-minute decision just prevented a full-blown disaster.

“Everything would’ve exploded if people found out that was Black Pepper.”

Had her real nickname shown up on the server-wide kill feed, everyone would have instantly realized that the Treevy streamers who had moved to Paprika were here. It would've pulled back the curtain far too soon.

PD Jang swept back his long hair and returned to watching the cameras. They had avoided a close call, to say the least.

“But seriously... how did she die?”

Not being well-versed in

Survival Craft

, PD Jang couldn’t wrap his head around it. Did Almond just beat Black Pepper to death with his fists? It looked like she just... gave up. Sure,

Survival Craft

had a heavy roleplay component. Sometimes people threw fights for fun, but it didn’t seem intentional from Black Pepper’s reaction after respawning.

“

WAAAH!

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! WHO ARE YOU?! YOU MANIAC!!”

Black Pepper was absolutely fuming. She hadn’t even gotten a good look at her attacker before they brutally pummeled her and looted all her gear.

“Wait, all your stuff is gone?” Orange approached, scanning her disheveled state in disbelief. “You’ve barely even started and already... Wait, that pep guy on the server feed... That was you?”

“Dude... there’s a full-blown psycho out there.”

“Don’t tell me... There are others in here we don’t know about?”

Black Pepper nodded grimly.

“Yeah, there are other unknown participants.”

“Wha... you’re making it sound like a secret faction or something.”

“Meet one yourself and tell me it doesn’t feel that way.”

Orange sighed deeply. “Damn Cheese bastards, how many hidden layers did they bake into this game?”

“You think the platform people would do anything that didn’t serve them? This is their way of making sure we don’t outshine Cheese.”

PD Jang couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore. “What the hell is she talking about?”

“Well... I can see why they’d think that.”

Black Pepper continued to spin her own conspiracy thriller in real time. “That wasn’t some rando. I couldn’t even see his face. No way he wasn’t a specially scouted ringer. Doesn’t Cheese have a few

Survival Craft

masters?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really play

Survival Craft,

but like... how is this a healing game?!”

“I’m done. I don’t even care anymore. All I know is that we’re totally outclassed by these unknown participants.”

“Damn.” Even Orange began to look spooked by the specter of this mysterious new threat.

“Nice expression.” PD Jang grinned and zoomed in on Orange’s expression for a tight close-up.

Content-wise, they were set for a while.

“Where’s Salt?”

“I... I don’t know. Maybe he’ll recover my gear?”

“Is this guy really that strong?”

“Dude, he beat me to death bare-handed. BARE-HANDED!”

“Bare-handed?!” Orange took a nervous step back. “You’re the one good at fighting games! What the hell?”

“Exactly! And he was fast. Like insanely fast.”

Sure,

Survival Craft

’s chibi hand-to-hand combat system had its quirks, but the core mind games were the same. It was no joke if someone could outpace Black Pepper.

“Wait, he’s not from Cheese, right?”

“No way. The Cheese folks just got started. He must’ve been slotted in separately.”

“But what do I do without gear? That was our only edge.

AAAAAARGHHHH!

” Black Pepper suddenly collapsed to the floor in exaggerated wailing. “What now?! Our only advantage was starting with gear! Am I just obsolete now?! Is this it?! Are you gonna leave me behind like some comic book villain?!”

Vrrrrr.

PD Jang cheerfully panned the camera to her bawling face and zoomed in with perfect timing.

“N-No, come on. Calm down, Salt will get your stuff back.”

***

Meanwhile, back at the scene of the fight...

‘What... is this guy?’

Salt’s eyes trembled as he stared at the little figure standing in front of him. He was still reeling from the fact that Black Pepper really died. No matter how good someone was with their fists, he couldn’t process how it happened that fast. Of course, Salt had no idea about the true wildcard in this game: temporary buffs gained from viewer donations.

[All Movement Speed +30%]

This allowed Almond to unleash absurd efficiency. To Salt, he just seemed inhuman.

‘What the hell is he?’

Almond’s erratic movements, his dodges, his speed... None of it made sense. Uncertainty appeared all over Salt’s face.

— Look at the panic on his face LOL

— Just run, bro. It's over.

— He’s shook

— Bro’s holding a sword, but his soul already logged out

Salt held his sword, but hesitated. If he died, he would lose his gear too without recovering Black Pepper’s. Their only early-game advantage as the Paprika faction would vanish just like that.

The standoff stretched on.

Then, Almond scratched his head. “Why is he just standing there? Is he lagging or something?”

Salt bristled at the casual insult. “W-What? No! I’m just... analyzing the situation!”

“Ah.”

— LMAOOO

— Mental damage added

— He’s mocking him mid-fight hahaha

Almond nodded sagely, as if he understood perfectly, and offered a suggestion. “If you don’t wanna fight, just drop half of your gear and walk away.”

“Only half...?” Salt felt ashamed for considering the offer.