Chapter 54

While Dojun’s squad was busy farming hard,

the blue zone had already crept close.

“Time to move.”

At Red’s call, Airi asked,

“Did you finish looting the level 4 bag?”

“Yeah. 10 med kits, 10 drinks, 37 throwables.”

“Whoa. You stacked a lot. Can you even carry all that?”

As VirtueKing looked puzzled, Red asked,

“Phantom, did you not pick up a gun?”

“No. I grabbed a knife.”

At Dojun’s answer, Airi sighed.

“Ugh… You obviously need a gun!!”

“Then you should’ve told me that too, noona.”

“That’s basic! I shouldn’t have to say it!!”

As the two bickered, Red stepped in.

“No time to fight. And no time to loot a gun either. We move now. We’ll lose position.”

“Guys, rotate to my yellow ping. It’s zone three.”

The current map was [Jungle].

Compared to other maps, it was smaller.

That made rotations without vehicles easier—but it also meant if you were late to secure position, your chances of running into enemies increased, putting you at a disadvantage for first place.

Dojun followed the order and moved toward the yellow ping.

While rotating, he immediately gave a briefing after hearing gunshots nearby.

“Gunshots at 2 o’clock. Based on the kill log, they’ll probably finish and rotate up. Looks like we might run into them.”

Red was slightly surprised at Dojun’s clean callout.

‘First game and he’s checking both gunshots and kill logs? And predicting rotations too?’

Though impressed, Red kept it to himself and continued giving orders.

“Copy. We’re avoiding them. Rotate to the new yellow ping ridge.”

They changed direction.

More gunshots rang out.

“Fight at my blue ping, 8 o’clock.”

With Dojun’s quick briefing, Red responded again.

“Let’s secure the yellow ridge first, then clean them up as they rotate in.”

After confirming the ridge was safe, they easily wiped the incoming enemies.

≪ [Red] eliminated [SADFASD] with M416. ≫
≪ [Red] eliminated [QQRRES] with M416. ≫
≪ [VirtueKing] eliminated [ZXCWS] with QBZ. ≫
≪ [Airi] eliminated [DFGHRE] with Vector. ≫

[Remaining Players: 24/100]

The enemies were cleared, and the zone had already shifted to Phase 4.

“Nice and clean. Since in-circle play is hard for us anyway, let’s play out-circle.”

“Okay. Phantom’s doing pretty well. Not overextending either.”

VirtueKing casually hyped Dojun up.

“Team at 9 o’clock, blue ping. Looks like they’re fighting 11 o’clock.”

With continuous briefings from Dojun, Red quickly assessed.

“Then we push the 9 o’clock team. Sandwich them.”

Following Red’s call, they easily wiped the 9 o’clock team.

≪ [Red] eliminated [FGH123] with M416. ≫
≪ [Red] eliminated [QWER] with M416. ≫
≪ [VirtueKing] eliminated [ESD] with QBZ. ≫
≪ [VirtueKing] eliminated [THLRN] with QBZ. ≫

[Remaining Players: 20/100]

At minimum five teams remained, possibly up to nine considering incomplete squads.

“Don’t get caught by rats here. Let’s wait for next zone before moving.”

“Rats” referred to solo or duo survivors hiding.

Aside from the team at 2 o’clock before Phase 4, they had no clear info on other teams.

To increase their chances of first place, information was crucial.

Gunshots rang out again.

“12 and 2 o’clock fighting.”

Their team was at 9 o’clock.

Red nodded.

“Zone’s shifting. We need to get in. Smoke right side for cover, pressure 12, and rotate in-circle.”

In-circle—moving inside the safe zone.

At Red’s order, Dojun quickly threw four smokes to the right, perfectly blocking vision.

‘Those smokes are beautiful,’ Red thought.

They successfully entered the zone.

“Shoot the 12 o’clock team!!”

≪ [Red] eliminated [비비55] with M416. ≫
≪ [Red] eliminated [씨씨53] with M416. ≫
≪ [VirtueKing] eliminated [도리도리] with QBZ. ≫
≪ [Airi] eliminated [큐호] with Vector. ≫

After wiping 12 o’clock, the next target was naturally 2 o’clock.

“Don’t let 2 o’clock rotate in easily! Knock at least one!”

≪ [Red] eliminated [디디피자] with M416. ≫
≪ [VirtueKing] eliminated [이쉑기버거] with QBZ. ≫

[Remaining Players: 10/100]

They got two as planned.

“Nice. Two left in front of us.”

As Red relaxed slightly, Dojun’s voice cut in.

“While we were fighting, 3 o’clock wiped 6 and rotated in.”

Dojun caught what Red had missed.

With enemy positions mostly identified, the most advantageous team now would be the one with the most throwables.

And Dojun had plenty.

“Phantom, drop all throwables.”

“Yes. Take these first.”

He immediately split items with Red and VirtueKing.

10 grenades and 5 Molotovs.

Red’s lips curled upward.

“Wow. That’s a lot.”

They bombarded the confirmed front team with grenades and Molotovs, easily eliminating the remaining two.

≪ [Red] eliminated [네네피자] with grenade. ≫
≪ [Red] eliminated [삼겹살에청하] with grenade. ≫

[Remaining Players: 8/100]

Viewers burst into laughter.

• Grenade rain from the sky lol
• Who complained Phantom didn’t pick up a gun??
• Explosions are art!!!

With that team gone, their space widened.

Everyone spread out behind rocks and trees.

Dojun, positioned far left, spotted something dark on the ground ahead.

Without hesitation, he pulled out a Blue Zone Grenade.

“In front of me, tree! One prone in the Blue Zone Grenade area!!”

Red reacted instantly.

As the blue zone expanded, a prone player stood up in panic.

Red didn’t miss.

≪ [Red] eliminated [코끼리도풀만먹어] with M416. ≫

[Remaining Players: 7/100]

It was a solo rat.

“Good. Three left besides us. Must be 3 o’clock team.”

The enemies were hiding tightly behind cover.

Dojun threw flashbangs toward likely positions.

“I’ve got 10 flashes. I’ll spam them.”

Flash. Flash. Flash. Flash. Flash.
Flash. Flash. Flash. Flash. Flash.

The barrage disoriented the enemy.

Red followed up with grenades.

Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!!

≪ [Red] eliminated [블루몬스터] with grenade. ≫
≪ [Red] eliminated [크림보] with grenade. ≫

[Remaining Players: 5/100]

Now 4 vs 1.

“We push with numbers!!”

“Let’s go!!”

“Red oppa!! I want the kill!!”

They rushed.

The last enemy fired desperately, but 4 vs 1 was hopeless.

≪ [Red] eliminated [알리쿵쾅] with M416. ≫

[Congratulations. Your team has placed 1st in 4-man squad.]
[We won!! Chicken for late-night snack!!]

No one was eliminated.

The happiest person was Red.

“Chicken first game? This dagger-nim mission will be easy.”

“The team comp isn’t bad. Thought Phantom would be dead weight first game, but he did his part. Red carried.”

Chat exploded:

• Clean callouts
• In squads, good comms = full value
• Red 16 kills insane
• But Phantom never shot once lol
• He threw everything though

“I got 2 kills too, you know!”

Airi pouted.

They immediately queued next game.

“Same as before. Let’s clear the 5 million won mission and order real chicken.”

“Let’s go~”
“Let’s go~”
“Fighting.”

Dojun joined lightly.

The second game went smoothly.

Red and VirtueKing dominated early.

Dojun had already grasped the flow from the first game.

His movement and looting speed improved.

‘Throwables are the most important.’

That was his biggest takeaway.

With enough throwables, you could:

Break bad situations.
Overwhelm enemies quickly.
Control vision.
Restrict movement.

From then on, Dojun became obsessed with throwables.

Viewers laughed.

• Phantom hoarding throwables again
• 12 grenades is insane lol
• Still no gun
• For a first-time Survival Ground player, gun wouldn’t matter anyway

They won the second game cleanly.

[Congratulations. Your team has placed 1st in 4-man squad.]
[We won!! Chicken for late-night snack!!]

Chat was stunned.

• Two chickens in a row?
• Their synergy is crazy
• Red and VirtueKing hard carrying
• 15 kills again??

Red knew something.

‘Phantom’s callouts are insanely good.’

Knowing enemy positions in an FPS was practically cheating.

Red’s mood soared.

So perhaps because of that excitement—

Late in the third game…

Overconfident at a crucial moment—

“Ah… sorry.”

≪ [스코프쫀다] eliminated [Red] with Groza. ≫

Red made a mistake.