Chapter 71

Streaming Season 1 of the Genius Archer 71

25. A Dream Only to Be Dreamed (3)

At the sound of Yoo Hyeon shouting at the top of his lungs, all the staff turned to look.

‘This can’t be...’

‘Really?’

‘So you’ve finally made it this far?’

At first, no one thought Almond would break Electromagnetic Wave’s record.

It was only natural. How could a novice, who had just started playing capsule games, catch up to Electromagnetic Wave with pure skill?

Even if geniuses do exist, Electromagnetic Wave is a genius among geniuses.

It’s hard to imagine that there could be a genius who could easily defeat him.

The belief in Electromagnetic Wave is strong. No matter how many scratches and dents it may have, it remains solid ground. It’s impossible to dig deep enough with human strength to see what lies beneath.

However, at this point, 30 minutes later.

They gradually realized that what they thought was the bottom was actually a smooth ice sheet.

One that could break at any moment.

* * *

Whoosh!

Boom!

Almond was dodging weapons flying at him like mad, laser beams passing by in an instant, and flames bursting from the ground as if possessed.

Now, only 15 seconds remained.

Almond caught a flying shield and used it to deflect projectiles.

“E, Engineer! Synchronization! The sync rate is at an abnormal level!!”

The engineer’s assistant shouted in a hurry.

“What?”

“The sync rate is at 97%!!”

“That’s... that’s impossible...”

The engineer’s words trailed off.

It’s a given that a high concentration level raises the virtual sync rate.

But there’s a limit to that.

Just like how your soul can’t move another body as if it were your own.

At most, it’s 85%.

In fact, even that is a dangerous level.

Yes, a ‘dangerous’ level. If this value abnormally increases, the skill level might rise, but the avatar in the virtual space and the real human will synchronize.

They become closer to one.

Just hearing about it sounds extremely dangerous, and actual research results don’t suggest anything positive.

That’s why it’s legally prohibited.

It’s programmed to automatically eject the user.

“But why isn’t it ejecting!?”

“Well, it’s a test version, so that limit wasn’t set...”

“Damn... I see!”

This is a broadcasting accident.

They introduced a new capsule prototype and conducted a ‘Survive!’ test with a product that hasn’t been commercialized yet.

* * *

Yoo Hyeon’s excited voice, ringing out, reached Almond.

But his ears were already filled with too much noise.

Boom!

Crackle!

Whoosh!

Roar!

A cacophony of sounds, without a moment’s pause.

All of them targeting Almond’s avatar.

Clang!

He deflected a mace with the shield he had caught earlier.

Whirl.

The mace, even with its heavy head deflected, had its chain snake around, trying to entangle him.

Almond threw the shield.

Swish.

The shield, entangled by the chain, flew away, sacrificing itself instead of Almond.

He had already discarded several shields this way. It was uncertain when he would get another one.

Whoosh!

A broadsword flew at him next.

He dodged it.

BOOM!!

Next, a cannonball.

He dodged that too.

Whoosh!

This time, five giant spears flew simultaneously.

It was an impossible angle to dodge.

Moreover, the tile he was standing on was gradually turning red.

Soon, lava would erupt from it, melting even metal.

He needed to move.

He immediately did so.

The heat rose, scorching his cheeks due to the lava erupting from the tile he had been standing on.

Sss!

Now he had to pay attention to the flying spears.

He squeezed his body into the square area where three spears were flying.

Squeak...

His collar was torn by the spears.

He ignored it. He already had several scratches.

He gritted his teeth and reached out.

Thud.

He barely caught one of the flying spears.

Two more spears flew at him.

He had to block one and dodge the other.

He jumped to the adjacent tile, pulling the spear towards him and swinging it.

Bang!

A heavy impact hit his shoulder, and one of the spears was deflected.

The other spear plunged into the tile he had been standing on.

Thud.

The tile then fell into the abyss.

He had dealt with the two spears. But he couldn’t relax for a moment.

BOOM!

A cannonball followed.

He could easily dodge it by returning to the previous tile. But that tile was now an abyss.

He had to block one or two...

“!”

At that moment, Almond’s expression contorted.

‘What...’

His right hand.

His right hand was tingling.

BOOM!

With a noise like a speaker blowing out, his entire world turned white.

* * *

“It’s dangerous! Turn it off! Turn it off... Huh?”

The engineer, who had been shouting, stared blankly at the monitor.

The game was over.

The director, who had been holding the engineer by the collar, wiped his sweat and stared blankly at the monitor.

After a moment, he regained his senses, pushed the engineer away, and shouted.

“Record! What’s the record? Why isn’t Yoo Hyeon saying anything...”

A voice, almost inaudible, spoke.

It was a tie.

“...A, a tie?!”

Squeak...

The capsule opened, and Yoo Hyeon burst out.

“It’s a tie in seconds! At least up to the numbers displayed!”

Meanwhile, the engineer ran to Almond’s capsule.

Joo-hyuk followed.

“Check the record! Check it!”

The director grabbed the engineer’s assistant and yelled.

“Ah, I understand!”

The assistant, suddenly grabbed by the ponytail, was startled and ran to the keyboard. He increased the display unit to four decimal places below zero.

“...This can’t be.”

“Why? Another tie?”

“...Yes.”

“Damn it, can’t it be even 0.000001 seconds faster!”

“I, I’ll try to increase it further.”

The numbers were the same, as if a bug had occurred.

“Is this even possible? It’s not like it’s the value of pi.”

Unless there was a machine malfunction.

Could this happen? The assistant scratched his head.

“...Well, what’s done is done.”

He repeated his teacher’s words.

At that moment, a commotion arose from the capsule side.

“Hey! Yoo Sang-hyun!!!”

“Are you okay!”

It was Joo-hyuk and the engineer’s voices. The urgency made O Director stumble and run over.

“Damn it, Director! Is there a problem with this?!”

“What are you talking about! We did all the safety checks beforehand!”

While saying this, the director ran to Almond’s capsule.

* * *

A damp, wet feeling.

Amidst the thick fog.

“Ha...”

Shallow breaths indicated that he was still alive.

Yes, I’m still alive.

Of course, right? People haven’t died from capsule games in five years.

“Hey! Hey! Wake up!”

It was Joo-hyuk’s voice.

“Call the medical team! Just call them now!”

“Manager! You shouldn’t shake him like that!”

“No, Yoo Sang-hyun! What’s going on! Director!!!”

“No, no! We did all the pre-checks! This is just...”

Other voices mixed in.

An angry O Director.

His vision slowly cleared. The fog lifted, and people started to appear.

People shouting at each other with red faces.

“Medical team! Please step aside!”

A cool female voice.

People in white coats pushed through, like making way for an ambulance.

A white light stick shone directly into his pupils.

The silhouette of a woman, visible beyond the white light.

Her long black hair...

Flickered like a mirage.

“Don’t you know everyone is just looking at your back?”

A clear voice.

‘Han So-yeon...?’

Sang-hyun’s lips twitched, and he called out a name.

“Mr. Sang-hyun? Are you conscious?”

Finally, the original voice was clearly heard.

‘Ah...’

It was a mistake.

Of course, she wouldn’t be here.

The bright light made him want to close his eyes, but the doctor’s fingers held his eyelids tightly.

After seeing Sang-hyun’s pupils constrict, she turned off the light.

“...I’m conscious.”

Finally, a proper voice came out from his hoarse throat.

“!”

“Ha...!”

“Oh. I thought something really bad happened...”

Sighs of relief were heard from all around.

Sang-hyun, feeling drained, tried to sit up. He expected muscle pain, but it was a delusion. Of course, there was none.

He hadn’t moved his body.

After sitting up, he first raised his right hand and stretched it out.

A tingling sensation accompanied by trembling.

“I’ll check your medical status first. It seems necessary.”

The doctor, along with the nurses, pushed people away and placed Sang-hyun on a stretcher.

* * *

After the doctor took Sang-hyun away.

The engineer returned to his analysis. After all, there was nothing he could do on the medical side.

He just finished what he had to do.

‘Even if the time records are the same...’

The time spent was exactly the same as Electromagnetic Wave’s.

But there was no guarantee that the skill analysis would be the same.

‘These values can differ.’

He organized the data that had been properly calculated into a table.

By deriving all these values using the given formula, a specific value is obtained.

The virtual reality skill value.

It’s generally called VNS.

A concept similar to measuring APM in old mouse games.

“...!”

The engineer’s eyes widened at the derived value.

‘As expected...!’

Of course, just because the time is the same, it doesn’t mean all values are the same.

Thinking this, he couldn’t help but smile.

Zing.

He took the instantly printed paper and headed towards the director.

“Ha. It’s such a pity. This would have been an issue if a record had been set... With a tie, it just sounds like a fix...”

The director, muttering with a sigh, would find this a welcome surprise.

“Director.”

The engineer handed him the paper.

“Hmm?”

“Look. It’s just the time that’s the same. By coincidence. But the analysis values are different. This increases credibility.”

“...Hmm. Really? What is this?”

“It’s the VNS value.”

The director, weak in numbers, wasn’t particularly interested.

But after looking at the value, he couldn’t help it.

“Is it really this high!?”

The average VNS is 83.

The average for pro gamers is 97.

A VNS over 100 is considered to have sufficient pro gamer potential.

Electromagnetic Wave has a monstrous value of 291.

“...Is this real?!”

“Yes!”

Almond surpassed this.

“Almond didn’t tie. At least not by this value.”