1.
The elements that made up the tournament arena were as follows:
A smooth sandpit, surrounded by square stone boundaries.
Torches and torches were set up in preparation for the night competition.
Outside, the audience seating extended in layers with 4,000 seats surrounding the arena.
The podium where the host stood and the elevated seats for the judges.
None of these elements posed a threat to the participants...
At least, not until the map of the arena changed.
[The tournament map has been changed to the "Mountain Legend" map of Jumping Rabbit.]
[All surviving participants will be forcibly moved to the outskirts of the arena.]
The ground began to rumble, and a massive terrain feature shot up vertically from the sandpit.
Thick dust covered the Awakeners as they tried to shield themselves.
“Cough, cough!”
“Gack!”
The Awakeners, shielding their faces or coughing as they flailed in the dust, slowly came to their senses and looked up, confused by the dramatic change in the map.
The clouds that were once just a background now hung low, obscuring the top of the mountain, as the arena had risen dramatically into a steep vertical slope.
“Damn, how high is that?”
Rather than trying to climb it, the Awakeners thought it would be better to just fight each other. They exchanged glares, but a sudden vibration underfoot shocked them.
“What’s going on? Where’s everyone going?”
“Guess they don’t know about Jumping Rabbit.”
“Poor guys.”
One of the participants, mocking the others, angrily pointed.
“Come down, you bastards! You think you can even get close to me in a fight?”
His words were cut short as his gaze fell to the ground beneath him. The earth cracked open, and something massive rose from below, swallowing the entire arena. A giant mouth opened, consuming a 10-meter-high section of the arena.
[Doom Beast - Earth Worm]
[Unbeatable]
[Every few seconds, the Earth Worm swallows random sections of the arena.]
The hellish difficulty of Jumping Rabbit was made clear, with the appearance of the Doom Beast.
It wasn’t just the participants who had to avoid the monster; the judges were forced to run too.
2.
So Kyung-seok ran up the stairs, venting his frustration.
“When did a martial arts tournament turn into this crazy climb where the judges are scaling the arena with the participants?”
“Heh, here it is.”
“Hey, stop laughing and give me a lift! Your spider webs are strong enough!”
“Ugh, too heavy. No way I’m carrying you.”
Woo Ji-woo, the spider-man, fired his webs and scaled the cliff in one go, easily jumping 10 to 20 meters.
So Kyung-seok, still running up the stairs with his own two legs, grumbled in frustration. As a judge invited to the tournament, he couldn’t afford to fall behind. He gritted his teeth and ran desperately.
[Ah, two of the judges are climbing the stairs amidst the field chaos. So Kyung-seok’s expression is getting worse as he tires from the steep terrain!]
“...Ahyoung, after this, let’s talk.”
[What? I can’t hear you. Ah, it seems the connection is bad. Let’s move on to the other participants.]
Meanwhile, Joo Ah-young, a seasoned Jumping Rabbit player, was moving effortlessly through the challenging map, hopping up and down, continuing her duties as the host with ease. She seemed to be in her element, and the sight of her jumping around made So Kyung-seok seethe even more.
“Why is she so fast? She didn’t have that ability before.”
“It’s the field effect.”
“Field effect?”
“How would you normally tackle a Jumping Rabbit map?”
“Jump? We’re doing that already.”
“Your jump is just running. Think about it in Jumping Rabbit terms.”
“...Do you mean bunny hopping?”
After hearing Woo Ji-woo’s words, So Kyung-seok noticed Joo Ah-young leaping between objects, jumping impossibly high and with unreal air time that surpassed any Awakener’s abilities. He thought deeply.
“Can I do that too?”
“What’s stopping you?”
“Why aren’t you doing it?”
Woo Ji-woo created a web with his fingers.
Frustrated, So Kyung-seok crouched down and awkwardly leapt toward the branch Woo Ji-woo was holding.
“Huh?”
He put all his strength into it and leaped incredibly high.
“Whoa?”
But he overexerted himself and soared right past the branch, flailing in midair before falling straight into the waiting maw of the Earth Worm below.
[Kill Log]
[Judge So Kyung-seok was eaten by the Earth Worm and died.]
[Earth Worm - 8 kills]
“Those bastards...”
Woo Ji-woo, looking down at So Kyung-seok’s fall, shook his head and continued his climb. He silently vowed not to die in such a disgraceful manner.
3.
Lee So-hye, "Snake Eyes," realized something important.
“Why do I have to climb all the way up?”
With only four remaining, the qualifiers would be over.
“Damn!”
“Ahhh!”
In the panic, she climbed the stairs frantically like a disaster movie survivor. But as she caught her breath, she suddenly realized that an Awakener was catching up from below. She turned to attack.
“Damn you, you devil! Are you even human?”
“You’re supposed to help each other in a crisis!”
“Help? This is a martial arts tournament, you idiot!”
“What kind of martial arts tournament is this?!”
“How is the tournament map Jumping Rabbit?!”
Frustrated by this insane tournament, the other participants yelled. Lee So-hye looked down at them and smirked.
“It’s a martial arts tournament because I’m winning. Anyway, it’s a martial arts tournament.”
“Damn, bitch.”
One of the Awakeners who was about to curse at her was whipped in the face and thrown off the cliff.
[Awakener ability - Haunted Whip]
“Ugh, no! Don’t! Ahh!”
“Stop whining and just fall!”
As Awakeners climbed the cliff, they inevitably gathered in the middle section, where Lee So-hye’s whips lashed at their faces and hands, sending them falling one by one.
“Ha!”
As one Awakener fell right beside him, Kim Jae-chul, the Hanbok-themed Awakener, looked up at Lee So-hye in horror.
“Hey, don’t be scared! We’ve helped each other this far—are you going to betray me now?”
Viewers who had tuned in to watch an Awakener’s personal stream were entranced by Lee So-hye’s looks, but soon, they began fearing her shocking betrayal. Kim Jae-chul, filled with anxiety, kept climbing, knowing there was no way forward but up.
‘This is upsetting,’
She had been rejected five times by the man she liked and was now being called a serial killer. Still, she was upset.
“I can’t believe I’m stuck with this face while all you’re doing is trying to win. You want to win this badly?”
“Of course I do!”
“Why?”
The remaining participants were now down to single digits. Lee So-hye, who hadn’t intended to win, was only there because of Kim Jae-chul. She thought that if he wanted it, she would concede victory to him.
“When spring comes, I’ll dress the Silent Sword Master in a water jacket. In summer, a ragged jacket. In autumn, a padded jacket, and in winter, a quilted one. I’m going to win this tournament and make him wear a different Hanbok every season!!”
A vein popped on Lee So-hye’s forehead.
“You think you’re going to get away with that? The Silent Sword Master just put up a recruitment notice. That’s all.”
“Shut up! You don’t know anything about him. He’s not just some rustic idiot wearing a robe! He’s the one person who understands me!”
Her heartfelt cry echoed across the mountain field.
But just as the viewers were chatting, Kim Jae-chul shouted in anger.
“I also wear Hanbok! Starting with a colorful jacket, then formal clothing, and a wedding robe! I even bought fusion Hanbok! Why can’t I wear it for him?!”
A loud gasp filled the space, and then the viewership turned to shock.
[37th participant Kim Jae-chul was eaten by the Earth Worm and died.]
[Earth Worm - 9 kills]
[Remaining participants - 7]
Kim Jae-chul’s dramatic fall, after his heartfelt outburst, left Lee So-hye standing at the edge, still processing the loss. The chat continued to buzz with excitement, but Lee So-hye was too stunned to even respond.
While all this chaos was unfolding in the arena, viewers at home were finding their own form of amusement in the scene. They couldn't help but comment on the bizarre love-hate dynamics that had developed between the participants.
This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.
[“Don't be so upset,”]
[“C'mon, don't cry! This isn’t good.”]
Woo Ji-woo, taking a break from scaling the cliffs, tried to console Lee So-hye, but it only made her emotions bubble over more. In the midst of this, she continued to sob louder, her frustrations mounting.
- “Isn’t that judge male? Seems like he's just trying to console her.”
- “That spider-man’s gonna swoop in and steal her, huh?”
- “Did you see his face, that was pure NTR behavior!”
- “He’s trying to cheer her up, but who knows if it’ll work?”
The viewers continued to comment on the growing tension between Lee So-hye and Woo Ji-woo, finding amusement in the whole situation.
Suddenly, the atmosphere took a drastic shift. The ground trembled again, and a new shadow loomed overhead.
[Earth Worm is advancing!]
[Earth Worm has moved up by 10 tiles (100 meters).]
Before the two could react, the massive jaws of the Earth Worm slammed shut with a deafening crash, swallowing both of them in an instant.
[Judge Woo Ji-woo has been eaten by the Earth Worm and died.]
[Participant Lee So-hye has been eaten by the Earth Worm and died.]
[Earth Worm - 11 kills]
[Remaining participants - 6]
Once again, the chaos was at an all-time high. As the Earth Worm devoured the last two remaining figures, the arena was reduced to a battlefield of destruction.
[Remaining participants - 6]
The viewers couldn’t get enough of the unfolding madness, and the shocking eliminations of Lee So-hye and Woo Ji-woo became the highlight of the broadcast.
As the arena fell into an eerie silence, only a handful of participants remained standing. The dramatic events had reshaped the competition into a brutal, unforgiving free-for-all.
And so, the tournament continued with new dangers, new rivalries, and a final showdown between the remaining competitors, all under the chaotic and unpredictable rules of Jumping Rabbit.