A Swordsman's Stream

Chapter 115

The ventilation duct was dimly lit by the faint light seeping through the iron bars at intervals.

Their vision was limited, and all they faced was darkness.

Amidst that darkness, something appeared.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

It was the sound of light footsteps.

Or was it threatening?

Kim Taewoo shuddered but didn’t freeze or scream.

Sojun waited patiently.

Something approaching them revealed itself slightly.

“Is that the hero we saw in 2D, everyone?”

“Oh, I got scared for nothing.”

The glimpse of what emerged from the darkness was enough to guess its identity.

『What?!』
『The protagonist?』

As soon as the protagonist made eye contact with them, he turned back.

Then, he ran off again.

Sojun thought it was indeed a light-footed movement, and he followed the protagonist.

『Wait! Stop there!』
『Why is it so fast!』

While the characters’ voices were urgent, Sojun strolled leisurely.

And Kim Taewoo, uncertain of what might leap out of the darkness ahead, couldn’t advance ahead of Sojun.

He pretended not to be scared and to prefer walking, but Sojun could sense everything.

-Cognitive dissonance lolololololol
-The characters are saying, “Stay there!” but the Streamer-nim is just casually strolling like a walk LOLOLOL LOLOLOL
-The game is telling you to run. Just run a bit.

『Whatever this is, we have to catch it now!』

As Sojun strolled leisurely, the passage suddenly brightened, revealing the protagonist’s back in the distance.

『Catch it!』

And then, the protagonist suddenly disappeared down below.

As they approached, there was a hole where the iron grate was missing.

This was why the area had suddenly brightened.

“They’ve designed it so you can’t get to the other side.”

It meant there was no choice but to fall. There was no other way.

Boom.

Sojun landed on the floor and glanced around. They had finally entered the interior.

However, even the inside was a bit strange.

“The floor isn’t visible.”

Sojun agreed with Kim Taewoo, who had followed him.

The interior was quite large with a very high ceiling. Likewise, the floor was deep enough not to be visible.

How did they know the depth below?

Because the place where they stood was no different from a bridge floating in mid-air.

A bridge made up of mesh, like those temporarily installed in caves or construction sites.

The lattice-patterned floor had holes here and there, making it impossible to see below.

“Sojun, if I fall, I’ll die and respawn next to you, right?”

“Try it.”

Thus, the space where they could move was limited.

Most of the space was empty, and in the dimly lit interior, when they looked up, they could see multiple conveyor belts attached to walls high enough they couldn’t reach.

『Look there! The door is closing!』

As they turned their gaze, they saw the protagonist entering a door ahead on their path, leading to the next room.

Sojun thought he caught the protagonist smirking slightly.

The door closed, and the light above the door switched from green to red.

Simultaneously, the stretch of the path right in front of the door descended.

The bridge was cut off.

-It’s locked ㄷㄷ

-The path went down ㄷㄷ

-Where is this place
-Feels like something might pop out below, it’s scary…

How could they open the door?

At that moment.

Click.

There was a sound, and suddenly a slight weight was felt around their waists.

『What’s this?』
『It suddenly appeared in your hand!』

A new object was delivered to Sojun’s hand and Taewoo’s waist.

“Hmm, a nail and a gun… ?”

Sojun inspected the gun on his right and a small storage bag on his left.

Kim Taewoo had a gun with a thin pipe and a connected oxygen tank on his back.

-Each of them got a gun?
-Now, kill each other!
-Kim Taewoo seems to have an air gun, and the Streamer-nim has a nail gun. If they fight, the Streamer-nim would win!

That seemed about right.

“It seems they want us to do something with these.”

Sojun approached the end of the broken path and checked the electronic access control device next to the door where it looked like a card needed to be swiped.

A control panel?

For some reason, it seemed like he should shoot it immediately.

He pulled out a nail and loaded it into the nail gun.

Then, aiming forward, he pulled the trigger.

Fwoosh!

Thunk!

As the nail hit the control panel, it burst with a crackling sound and the previously descended path rose, and the door opened.

“Ah, so that’s how it works.”

He understood.

Meanwhile, Kim Taewoo grumbled from behind.

“What? That makes me useless. I said I didn’t want to be a support role for a reason.”

As he swung the air gun with its thin barrel in the air.

Sojun looked at Kim Taewoo with a satisfied expression, as if thinking, ‘Even while shivering with fear, you ramble without a second thought, which I find quite admirable.’

“Think a bit. Would you really be useless?”

They moved on to the next room.

Indeed.

“It pops up right away.”

The path suddenly sank before him.

“I think the door’s on the left. Let’s find a way again.”

They couldn’t accurately figure out the shape of the room they were currently in.

Whether it was an L-shape, or a lowercase n-shape, the left wall protruded and blocked the view so they couldn’t see.

Where might the door be?

It seemed like a ㄷ-shape, which couldn’t be confirmed from the angle.

“Try going that way.”

Sojun pointed ahead.

There was a small strip of floor left diagonally to the left that hadn’t descended.

“No.”

“Coward?”

“Yes, coward.”

That didn’t work anymore. It was frustrating.

-LOLOLOL LOLOLOL
-How nice it is to be honest. Can’t be used by a friend either, lol.
-So how are they going to go?

An immediate double-jump didn’t appear possible.

That was the reason Kim Taewoo refused.

“Ah!”

Kim Taewoo clapped his hands.

“Did you think of something?”

“No, this thing has a crazy output.”

He activated the air gun with a hiss of release.

An air current formed in front of the air gun and Kim Taewoo was slightly pushed back.

“How about this? By the way, this thing can also absorb, but what I want to show is.”

He took a running start from a short distance.

An area where double-jumping wasn’t possible.

Whoooosh!

But at that point, Kim Taewoo aimed the air gun downward and fired, lifting his body once more.

-Triple jump! ㅎㄷㄷ

-Yeah, if double-jumping is possible, there’s no reason that shouldn’t work LOLOLOL

-Oh

Did he, by any chance, not play the game in vain until now?

Although Kim Taewoo, who showed excellent deductive skills, wasn’t quite skillful (?!) and fell downward.

-LOLOLOL LOL
-Hilarious LOLOLOL
-Was about to be cool, but he’s still Kim Taewoo!LOLOLOL

After trying again, he seemed to get the hang of it and landed properly in one go.

“Whew. It’s a bit tricky.”

“See anything?”

“Yeah. It’s roughly n-shaped, but… how do I explain this? The door isn’t at the end of the n but just to your left based on your position.”

Ah.

There was a door immediately to the left when entering, but the protruding wall in the middle obstructed it.

The problem was the wall preventing them from shooting nails across.

“Isn’t there any way to do it with a triple jump?”

“Nope.”

“Then, hmm. Hey. Try shooting the air directly ahead.”

“Got it.”

An air current formed in front of Kim Taewoo.

The gushing air from the tip of the tube he held created a whirlwind.

-Ah
-Try to change the trajectory?
-It could work. They must’ve designed it this way.

Fwoosh!

When Sojun shot a nail obliquely toward Kim Taewoo, it flew straight, but hit the gushing wind and changed its trajectory.

Thunk.

The sound of the nail sticking resounded through the room.

“Oh? It was a bit off.”

There would be corrections, so with slight adjustments, it should hit soon enough.

“Hey, I’ll keep shooting nails from the same spot; move over. I can’t accurately locate the control panel.”

“Okay.”

Fwoosh!

Thunk!

Fwoosh!

Thunk!

Fwoosh!

Thunk!

After adjusting the trajectory multiple times.

Finally, when the nail hit the control panel rather than the wall, the rumbling sound was accompanied by the path rising to connect where Sojun stood, where Taewoo had landed, and the other exits.

“So that’s how it works.”

“Let’s head to the next room.”

After entering the next door, likewise, the path descended.

And.

“Oh, this time there’s a fork?”

A fork appeared on either side.

After checking each of them, they concluded that the locked doors at the end of these forks were for different people.

“The left one is for you, and the right one is for me.”

The puzzle in the left room was meant for Sojun with the nail gun, and the one on the right was Kim Taewoo’s job.

“Where’s the door?”

“The right is the same except the door, everything else is identical. The control panel, whatever.”

After sacrificing himself with a triple jump, Kim Taewoo informed him.

This time, the door was on the right, and unlike before, there wasn’t a strip of unmoved path in the middle.

The protruding wall from the middle obscured the door, and the control panel was similar.

“Let’s quickly solve the puzzle and return.”

With those words, Taewoo disappeared into the room on the right.

The space behind the protruding wall in the middle that blocked the entrance was where Taewoo entered.

Hmm.

But momentarily, a curiosity stirred within Sojun, who was left alone.

“Everyone, should this really require two people?”

-?
-In a co-op game, what’ll you do by yourself?
-Highest spec friend in this game…
-Streamer-nim speaking nonsense again lololol
-Soon it’s gonna trigger. Here comes Heavenly Demon’s rant!
-That blabbering guy is part of the Orthodox Faction. I know it.

“By that, I mean, shouldn’t it just be about hitting the panels? It’s not like I don’t know the control panel’s position.”

From the previous room, the structure was identified.

Sojun inserted a nail between his fingers, speaking.

“Aaargh!”

A scream echoed from the next room.

There seemed to be something surprising over there.

Not that it concerned Sojun at the moment.

“Let’s give it a shot.”

-What are you intending to do, exactly?
-In a co-op adventure, what are you planning LOLOLOL
-The Heavenly Demon has returned!

Sojun swung his arm, launching a nail from between his fingers.

The nail embedded itself into the wall, hardly different from using the nail gun.

After hooking it again, he launched.

Checking the speed.

Getting the feel for it.

Then he loaded the nail gun and inserted a nail between his right fingers, clutching them into a fist.

The door to the right and the wall blocking it.

-???
-What in the world are you planning to do?
-It’s hard for normal folks to understand.
-If you jump, metal planks pop out to block it.

Exactly.

If Sojun tries to jump and hit the control panel later, iron plates would rise right beside the control panel to block it.

The game company had set it like this for understandable reasons.

‘It’s not like this is the only game to prevent shortcut tactics.’

Kim Taewoo had said, and Sojun agreed.

However.

Would the metal plank rise to block if a nail is launched without jumping?

Sojun took a deep breath and swung his arm.

The nail left his fingertips, flying slightly weakly to the right.

Simultaneously, Sojun quickly fired the preloaded nail gun with his left hand.

Fwoosh!

The speed of the nail from the nail gun was considerably faster than what he could throw.

Shwoosh!

Thus, the nail from the gun quickly caught up and struck the rear end of the flying nail.

The preceding nail, losing force from the collision, spun in the air.

But its trajectory had been tilted to the right.

-??
-What is he doing?
-Why do I foresee something?

Thunk!

The sound of the nail damaging the control panel reverberated through the room.

Even Sojun himself praised it as he glanced down at his hand.

“Wow……. It works.”

The path below them rose.

Apparently.

It seemed he had discovered a new assassination technique.

-LOLOLOL LOL Just laughing at the sheer absurdity LOLOLOL LOL
-Even in co-op games, he continues this? LOLOLOL LOL
-Look at him playing the game his way LOLOLOL LOL
-Incredible skills
-The true goat of the Assassin Sect!
-Damn, he’s pulling a trick again damn
-Caught a member of the Orthodox Faction above LOLOLOL LOL
-This one’s giving PTSD wwww
-LOLOLOL LOLOLOL

TL’s Corner:
Of course, he broke the game again.