Ta-da-da-dat!
The newbie dodged bullets.
And not just instinctively — he watched them and dodged.
It was only a small chatroom with a handful of people, but his presence alone was enough to set it ablaze.
[No, seriously, how is that movement even possible? LOL]
[Is that a hack? I swear I've never seen anyone move like that.]
[Parkour in an FPS? Whoa, look at him cling to the wall. He just climbs right over.]
[But his running speed is insane too. Is he an actual track athlete?]
[I watch track all the time, but I've never seen an athlete that handsome.]
[Why is handsome the issue right now? That newbie seems nuts. Or… maybe he's not even a newbie?]
There were even whispers that Lee Ji-han might actually be some veteran's smurf account.
[Doesn't feel like a smurf though? He's fumbling, can't even find a weapon.]
[All he's doing is running away empty-handed. Does he not know how to play this game?]
[Farm weapons! Newbie! Go farm weapons!]
But all the debates were soon extinguished by his incomprehensible, frustrating behavior.
['RoomHostMealFan' has donated 1,000 won.]
— Newbie, this isn't a game about running. It's a game about killing everyone. Find a weapon.
Even with that voice echoing in his ears, Lee Ji-han didn't stop.
He was a beast sprinting toward his goal.
In his hyper-focused state, no one could stop him.
[Yo, they're saying a thousand won isn't enough.]
[He's ignoring donations too, LOL.]
[Is he talentless at chasing money or what, hahahaha.]
Chats scrolled endlessly in the bottom left of his vision.
But Ji-han's eyes were locked only on buildings, structures, cover points.
"If I hide there, I should be fine. Should I go up to the second floor?"
[Look here, newbie! It's not a game about running away!]
[Hurry and grab a gun, then start mowing people down!]
[Running isn't everything. You gotta kill when it's time to kill. That's what Zero Ground is about.]
Unlike the frustrated viewers, a smile formed on Ji-han's lips.
His body moved freely, just as he willed it.
The knee and back pain when running, the shoulder that always felt like it would pop —
None of it hindered him now.
['RoomHostMealFan' has donated 10,000 won.]
— First, find a gun and bullets. Then get body armor and a helmet.
A donation ten times larger popped up.
Anyone else would at least spare a glance.
But to Ji-han, money meant nothing — he leapt forward.
Fwaaap!
[Oh?]
[Wait, that's actual human jump power?]
[Is he a basketball player or something?]
Pak!
From a standing jump, Ji-han grabbed the edge of a railing on the first floor.
Whoosh!
[That's not basketball, that's parkour, right?]
He swiftly pulled himself up and entered the building.
— Survive until the very end. (88/100)
Inside, Ji-han began to search.
Something familiar to his hand.
A weapon he could actually wield.
Guns weren't familiar.
He never earned medals, but he'd been exempted from the military.
Overwork had left his body wrecked, pain so severe it made daily life a struggle.
'What weapon can I actually use?'
Then his eyes landed on something familiar.
[Huh? Did you see that?]
[Yo, newbie, put that down. That ain't it.]
[LOL turns out he was a veteran after all, hahahaha.]
[If it's Ji-han, of course it'd be that weapon, LOL.]
Ji-han picked up a frying pan.
The iconic weapon of Zero Ground.
Its very identity.
But nowadays, even veterans didn't bother looking at that tragic melee weapon.
['RoomHostMealFan' has donated 10,000 won.]
— Newbie! Put that down! I can't watch you quit over this. There were tons of decent guns earlier! Please, just pick one!
But Ji-han thought differently.
Made of solid iron, heavy and sturdy — surely enough to crack someone's skull.
"Strong, heavy… this should work."
He swung it lightly, smiling as though satisfied.
Everyone else?
[LOL 21,000 won in backseat coaching, gone!]
[Forget helmets, frying pans are forever, hahaha.]
[Is he gonna cook something? This guy's insane.]
[Newbie! Newbie! I'm dying here! I'm literally gonna bite my tongue and die LOL!!!]
The chat exploded in mocking jeers.
"Alright then, with this…"
He would cut down the numbers.
For Ji-han, survival was no longer the only goal.
[Somebody stop that newbie, LOL!]
[Snff, haa… snff, haa… this newbie's scent is too intoxicating, I'm losing my mind, LOL.]
Ignoring the ridicule, Ji-han stepped out of the building.
His eyes sank low, scanning for a battlefield where he could fight.
[LOL he looks so dramatic with that frying pan.]
[LMAO the Fry-calibur!]
— Survive until the very end. (63/100)
On his face, a look that said he truly could kill all 63 remaining players.
A murderous aura radiated from him.
"Ladies and gents, the 48-hour stream has just one hour left… yawn. Let's wrap this up and actually get some sleep."
Kim Ppongdda — who had started as a variety game streamer and now, with 300k YouTube subs, mainly played Zero Ground — was struggling to kill time on his usual "Unlimited Tier Channel."
"Winning with just a pistol, winning with just throwing axes, winning with a mortar, winning by running people over with cars… I've done so many of these, and yet somehow there's still a whole hour left."
His 400 diehard fans, who had stuck with him for the entire 48 hours, seemed to gain energy from his exhaustion, flooding the chat with encouragement.
"You guys are too fast. My eyes are too dry to read everything. But I get it, you're cheering me on. Alright then, let's go. Let's snag a clean first place and spend the rest of the time chatting."
Unlike normal channels, the Unlimited Tier was full of bizarre antics and glitches.
The MMRs were all over the place — even unbanned hackers sometimes slipped in.
It often made for great YouTube content.
Kim Ppongdda queued, hoping for something exciting enough to wake him up.
"Okay, here we go. First place… I'll decide how after I drop."
And so, he dove into Zero Ground as usual.
Ta-da-da-dang!
Bang! Pow!
"Yeah, I can feel the patch. They said they reduced recoil, and yeah, it feels tighter. Ah, come on, guys. You think I'd make it to the Olympics? Real shooting and gaming are totally different, you know?"
Smooth banter flowed between him and the chat.
His sharp kills and flashy plays drew cheers, even after 48 sleepless hours.
Ta-da-da-dat!
"Oh, default outfit? There's a newbie here? Why'd he push into the forest though?"
Zero Ground had been out for 7 years.
Despite countless patches and updates, its full-dive VR nature made the barrier to entry high. Actual fresh newbies were rare.
[So are you gonna kill him?]
[Ppongdda, are you gonna kill the newbie?]
[Show him how spicy Zero Ground really is.]
[Refund reason: Kim Ppongdda…]
[HAHAHAHA you killed him! No wait, not yet, hahahaha.]
So a newbie in default clothes, clutching an iron frying pan, was basically a once-in-a-lifetime sight — like spotting a rare natural monument.
"Well, I usually go easy on newbies… but you guys told me to kill him, right?"
Bang!
Kim Ppongdda was one of those streamers with a natural gift for VR FPS.
He hadn't shot many guns in real life, but in-game, he boasted he could outshoot any special forces soldier.
[???]
[Huh? Did the zeroing mess up?]
[Eh, first shot's a blank, okay?]
But for some reason, he couldn't hit the newbie darting between the trees.
"Uh, well, there are trees. Forest maps are hard, you know that."
The chat filled with mocking spam, but regaining focus, Ppongdda aimed again.
Bang!
[?]
[???]
[?????]
[Did you see that just now?]
"…Guys, did you see that?"
He had pulled the trigger again.
And what unfolded before their eyes was pure absurdity.
Before the bullet even landed,
the newbie kicked off the ground and soared sky-high.
The first shot had been aimed at the head.
But suddenly, the newbie ducked and slipped under it.
So the second shot aimed at his torso.
[Wait, I've seen that in a movie before.]
[I've seen it in a wuxia novel.]
[What the hell, did he just spin in the air? From a jump?]
As if aware of the body shot, the newbie lifted himself higher into the air, springing off two trees with monstrous agility.
The result?
Not a single bullet connected.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Ppongdda's pride was wounded.
Spraying wildly was shameful, but missing here was worse.
He filled the air with bullets.
But then—
Fwaaap! Whirl! Pop!
[? Why?]
[Seriously, how?]
[…How the hell is that possible?]
A front flip, then a side roll.
A handspring, using the rebound to twist midair.
Like something out of a wuxia story, the newbie dodged every bullet.
[That's a hack, right?]
[…Crazy, there's a hack like that?]
[If it's not a hack, how else is he moving like that?]
[Think about it. If you're hacking, you'd use invincibility. Who'd use something so flashy?]
In seconds, his chat erupted into a fiery debate about hacks.
"No, guys, forget hacks for a second. Right now, uh—wait."
But that wasn't the issue.
"…That newbie… he's looking right at me."
With insane speed, the wide-eyed newbie began charging at him.
"W-wait. He's actually running at me? Why's he so fast? Is this really a hack?"
Ppongdda's voice brimmed with panic.
[HAHAHAHAHA Ppongdda, run!]
[Run before the newbie kills you LOL!]
[HAHAHAHA death by frying pan incoming!!!]
The hack debate vanished, replaced by laughter flooding the chat.
"I'm telling you, this is no time to laugh!"
If it were just a newbie running, he could pull the trigger.
But this one was different.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!
No matter how much he fired,
the newbie dodged everything with absurd acrobatics.
"What the hell!?"
Fwaaap! Fwaaap! Fwaaap!
In moments, the distance was gone.
"M-monster! He's a monster! H-help me! Somebody help me!"
For the first time ever in Zero Ground…
[LOL is this a horror game now?]
[Ppongdda, seriously run. This is over, hahaha.]
[Yo, the frying pan! The frying pan's coming!]
Ppongdda felt pure fear.
"Aaaaahhhhhh!!!"
[What kind of ghost somersaults toward you, LOL.]
[Holy crap, I peed my pants. Mom, I peed.]
[Ppongdda, did you pee too? Thank god I'm wearing diapers.]
[HAHAHAHA Ppongdda in tears.]
Clang!
A crisp frying pan strike rang out.
The chat filled entirely with rows of "ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ."
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Ppongdda's gear included a sturdy level-3 helmet.
No way a frying pan alone could kill him.
But the real horror was—
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
[LOL guns don't work! They don't!]
[LMAO how is he dodging point-blank shots!?]
[Drop the gun, fight with fists! You said you did 2 months of boxing, right?]
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Dodging every bullet, the newbie's face was mechanical, relentless.
Pure violence, delivered again and again.
Ppongdda tossed his gun and fought with fists.
Clang!
But in the end, he knelt before that iron frying pan.
['[PpongddaFlavor]ScrewBar' has donated 1,000 won.]
— It's okay, Ppongdda. Sometimes you just die to a frying pan.
['[PpongddaFlavor]BigCupNoodle' has donated 1,000 won.]
— That was revenge for all the innocent players you've killed with frying pans.
A streamer's failure — a viewer's delight.
1,000-won jokes poured in, mocking him.
"Ah, guys… seriously though, I was scared as hell. Damn. I'm wide awake now."
['ㅇㅇ' has donated 1,000 won.]
— Wait, not a single close-range bullet hit? He even dodged ricochets? That's not a hack?
The cheerful mood ended with that donation.
"…Do you think it's a hack? Should we check the killcam?"
[Yeah, let's follow the killcam.]
[If it's a hack, report him.]
[Zero Ground's guardian, Kim Ppongdda. Time to bury another hacker.]
"Alright then, let's watch the killcam."
At first, it was just to confirm a hack.
But what the killcam revealed was utter carnage.
A massacre wrought by nothing more than a frying pan.
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