"Haa…."
Maybe it was because I had reached 14 kills, but a strange sense of regret lingered. When you fall after holding hope, it hurts even more. That's why a sigh escaped me, heavier than usual.
I exhaled and spoke.
"Unfortunately, this mission is a failure. I'll do better next time."
I said this with a tinge of disappointment and checked the chat—but the reactions weren't what I expected.
"Just like that?"
"How did he do it?"
"Luck trash game."
"Damn it, is this real? Is this real?"
"He died, he died, he died, he died."
'Huh?'
Even normal chat was a mess, but our VIP's chat was even more chaotic.
"mou;ram;ㅠㄹ"
"eo;umraeo;mu"
";mumya;ㅠmyaeoㄹ"
Not a single proper word could be seen. Probably a result of frantic shotgun-style typing. I had clearly lost, so I really didn't understand why people were reacting this way. I had failed, after all.
Thinking this, I checked my kill count—and my eyes nearly popped.
"Why do I have 15 kills?"
I had counted 14 kills myself. But somehow, it showed 15. I just couldn't understand it. The viewers, who were counting along with me, were equally baffled. Even in the last moment, I had tried to make a comeback, but I couldn't fire a single shot before dying.
"Everyone, let's watch the replay. I need to check this myself."
―"Hurry before we start cursing."
―"When the hell did you get 15 kills?"
―"Seriously, why doesn't the game let you check kills in real time?"
―"Doesn't this mean the mission is completed anyway?"
―"My head's spinning, hurry up and check."
―"I'll hold my breath until the replay."
The viewers, just like me, couldn't make sense of it, so they urged a replay. I didn't even look at the placement results and jumped straight into the replay.
First, I checked the last scene—the most likely spot to have added a kill if it happened at all. But nothing unusual happened; no stray bullet hit after my death. The opponent who killed me had been fighting someone outside and actually ended up first place.
"This isn't it…"
―"When did he get the kill?"
―"I was counting them all, but I don't remember him killing anyone."
―"It wasn't the last one?"
―"What's going on?"
―"When did he get it?"
Both I and the viewers were puzzled, so we had no choice but to watch the whole battle from the start. I rewound all the way to when I first landed at the factory. But neither I nor the viewers could spot the extra kill anywhere.
―"What the hell?"
―"Bug maybe?"
―"Never heard of a bug like this."
―"If it's a bug, it's completely unheard of. I don't know what's happening."
―"What the hell is going on?"
Everyone was confused—everyone except one person, who was laughing.
―"Yes!"
―"No way I could lose."
―"Nearly lost my mind over a bug."
―"Lolololololol."
―"Foolish mortals, accept defeat before me."
Our VIP, who had spammed the chat earlier, was the one laughing. Judging by the quiet period in the chat, he probably switched keyboards during the shotgun spamming.
I had accepted that I had lost and was ready to calmly acknowledge the failure, but one chat caught my eye.
―"I think I found the kill scene."
Someone claimed to have spotted the kill. I half-expected it and asked.
"Could you show me exactly where it was?"
About 30 seconds later, the viewer replied.
―"Hehe, I clipped it for you. Check it out."
I checked the chat and immediately went into my clip list. There were quite a few clips from yesterday, but I found the one made by the viewer and played it. The scene was from the moment I first jumped from the plane.
'Wait… I got a kill here?'
This was the very first scene, before any chaos began. How could I have gotten a kill here? The clip played through to when I scored the first kill and turned to leave.
'Where exactly is the extra kill?'
―"You got another kill here?"
―"Trolling?"
―"If this is trolling, I'm really gonna curse."
―"Seriously, what is this?"
Just as I and the viewers suspected trolling, the clip creator typed again.
―"Can you watch the back of the person you killed a bit closer?"
I closed the clip and started the replay. Checking the replay gave more flexibility. I skipped to the moment of the clip and switched to third-person view.
'They said to check behind the person I killed.'
I focused on the back of the person I shot and noticed someone looting behind them—but in a neighboring building, not the same one as me.
'Did I really kill this person?'
I kept the view and replayed the scene. I had picked up the gun, loaded it, and fired three precise headshots. But the shots were so accurate that they went straight through the first target's head and hit the second person behind them, who had finished looting and was standing up.
They got skewered.
"Hah."
I couldn't help but chuckle. I had aimed at one person and thought I killed only one, so of course, I hadn't seen this during the first replay. Only one viewer had noticed it too.
"So… can we officially say this 15th kill isn't a bug?"
―"Yup."
―"How did we miss this?"
―"I'm actually impressed I saw it."
―"How did they even see that blurry username?"
―"It's not a bug, so naturally it counts."
Most viewers acknowledged my win. The only thing left was for our VIP to acknowledge it. I moved Beastman's chat from the corner to the center.
"Alright, Beastman. The 15-kill condition has been met. Will you accept defeat?"
He responded.
―"I accept defeat."
―"I lost."
Simultaneously, the mission was complete.
['Beastman' donated 50,000 won!]
[Beastman has accepted defeat.]
With Beastman's mission success, other mission donations came flooding in.
['UtilTop' donated 10,000 won!]
[I knew I could trust you.]
['Yorurehihi' donated 5,000 won!]
[You actually did it.]
['Piririri' donated 20,000 won!]
[Wasn't this supposed to be safe assets?]
.
.
.
The total donations reached 200,000 won. Including the first-place mission bonus, I earned 350,000 won just today.
'An amount I couldn't have imagined recently.'
Back when I was killing it on PC, maybe I could earn this much, but not now. It felt strangely satisfying.
"Thanks to everyone who put up missions. I'll use this to buy something delicious today."
―"You earned it today."
―"Already two hours into the stream."
―"Fast, I'll give you that."
―"So what now?"
―"Kill Ground was just to see placements, right? Time for something else now."
Reading the chat reminded me what I'd been doing. The mission caused some chaos in the final match, but I was watching placements. I hadn't even checked my assigned tier because of the mission and replay.
"Guys, we haven't checked my tier yet, right?"
―"Oh? Come to think of it, yeah."
―"Everyone got caught up in the replay and forgot about the tier."
―"But you were in the top ranks in all but one match, so probably high tier."
―"Probably just Diamond, right?"
―"At least Mithril or Adamantium, I hope."
―"If it's just Diamond, I'll report it to HQ."
The viewers had an idea of my expected tier, and I thought similarly.
'With this performance, maybe not Orihalcon, but at least Adamantium.'
I had some experience with Kill Ground, so I could predict the tier. The only variables were my kill count and that one 24th-place match.
After a brief pause, I returned to the results screen to check.
[You did your best!]
[3#]
[Placement complete.]
[Your tier has been assigned according to placement.]
A click would reveal my tier. I deliberately delayed to heighten anticipation in chat. As a streamer, building suspense was standard practice. Sure, if it turned out to be Diamond, I'd get teased—but I was confident it wouldn't be that low.
―"Show it already!"
―"I feel dizzy."
―"I'll hold my breath until you reveal it."
―"Hurry up, we'll all know soon anyway."
―"Are you teasing us?"
―"Show it already!"
Just as I hoped, a viewer made a donation to push the suspense.
['BbalBbalBbal' donated 10,000 won!]
[Stop testing us, just show it!]
Smiling, I replied kindly.
"Oh! You even donated, so there's no reason to delay. Let's reveal it."
10,000 won was already enough. I didn't need more suspense, so I quickly revealed the tier.
"My tier is…"
I clicked the screen, and dazzling metals swirled to form the tier emblem. Iron first, then a shiny alloy, then Diamond. This was the crucial part—stop or proceed. Thankfully, it didn't stop at Diamond.
'Phew…'
Though I expected it wouldn't, I still felt a slight relief. Next came Mithril, forming a deep blue cluster. Then white minerals, representing Adamantium. Thankfully, not Mithril. White minerals clustered, seemingly final—but then a new mineral appeared.
A subtle purple-tinted silver. Orihalcon.
"Uh?"
I was slightly stunned.
―"Holy crap."
―"How did you get Orihalcon on the first placement?"
―"Unbelievable, but the performance makes it somewhat reasonable."
―"What a luck trash game."
―"I feel so empty inside."
Viewers split between "Unbelievable" and "Makes sense given performance."
And so, my final tier was revealed.
[Your assigned tier is 'Orihalcon'.]