[The Newbie from the Bureau of Corporate Relations shakes their head in disbelief that you ran into a clone user of all people.]

[The Brain from the Bureau of Investigation admires, saying this incredible talent is practically made for tug-of-war.]

[Multiple observers are eagerly awaiting your decision.]

Among the observers, curiosity buzzed. Everyone wanted to know what countermeasure Eun-Ho would come up with this time.

The two teams stood at a stark imbalance in numbers. Eun-Ho briefly considered using Acceleration to grab hold of his real self. However, at this point, he couldn’t even be sure which one was real anymore.

“Hyungnim! That bastard is smirking!” Jae-Hyuk shouted.

All of his opponents wore the same sly grin, which only deepened the unease. Without a doubt, they’d noticed that their enemies were starting to waver.

“You fucking bastard, what are you laughing at?!”

“After pulling such a cheap trick, you’ve got the nerve to smirk?”

The murmurs of anger grew louder and louder. The air was already thick with tension with corpses from previous rounds still lying nearby. Moreover, this was a sudden-death match to decide who would advance.

Now, with the fight taking the shape of a Korea versus Japan showdown, the crowd’s excitement was practically combustible.

Someone said it’s better to beat Japan and come in second-to-last than to lose to them and be the runner-up.

It was just a saying, but in a match like this, no one wanted to lose to Japan.

We have to absolutely win, no matter what the cost is, Eun-Ho thought.

“Yul, hold onto Unnie’s hand and stay hidden, okay? You can do that, right?” Eun-Ho said.

“Yes! I like pretty Unnie!” chirped the little ninja, Yul.

“So, if I hold her hand, we’ll both turn invisible, right?” Bo-Ra asked.

“Right. But if you let go, the effect breaks immediately. So don’t lose your grip,” said Eun-Ho.

The artist’s help was crucial to pull off the so-called Ninja-style Diversion Tactic. It was a strategy that used the superior method of tug-of-war, while also countering their tricks. However, Bo-Ra’s ability only worked on what was within her line of sight. Which meant, if she wanted to affect the enemy’s position, she had to see them directly.

“It’s dangerous, so don’t go too far,” Eun-Ho warned.

“Got it. I can’t see well from here, though... I’ll stay within my range,” Bo-Ra replied.

“Are you sure you two can handle this alone?” he asked.

“Of course! I’ve done this tons of times,” Bo-Ra said confidently.

“If I go with you, it’d be safer—”

“Come on, mister, you’re supposed to be in the tug-of-war. We need every hand we’ve got.”

She was right. Already short on manpower, leaving his post could make things even worse. Besides, the clones that had been chasing him would go on high alert the moment they realized he’d vanished.

“Hyungnim! We have five seconds!” Jae-Hyuk called.

“You should get moving!” Bo-Ra shouted.

Whoosh!

The two girls vanished from sight. Meanwhile, Eun-Ho took his place beside Gong-Chan, his fingers tightening around the rough, stiff rope.

Then, the sharp crack of a gunshot split the air.

Bang!

[You have one minute!]

[The tug-of-war begins!]

A desperate struggle for survival began. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

***

“Pull!” Eun-Ho shouted.

“Yes, sir!” came the answer.

[01:00]

With a fierce battle cry, the one-minute match began.

Tap! Tap!

Footsteps pattered across the dirt—quick, light, and unseen. Eun-Ho strained his ears to track them, but there was no time to spare.

Hundreds of clones shouted in unison, their voices merging into a single thunderous roar. “Haah!”

Whoosh!

“Urgh!”

The enemy team yanked the rope with overwhelming force the moment the signal started. There was no strategy nor refined tactics, only raw power and sheer numbers. However, that alone was enough to make a difference.

“Argh... I can’t hold it much longer!”

“They’re dragging us!”

Even Eun-Ho’s own boots skidded several times across the dirt, hence no wonder the others were struggling to stay upright.

He gritted his teeth and shouted, voice cutting through the chaos, “Lie down! Use your body weight!”

“Grrrgh!”

“Just a little longer, hold on! We can do it!” he roared the command, his heels digging deep into the ground. His muscles tensed so sharply that a shiver of pain raced up from his feet.

[00:50]

Only ten seconds had passed. When Eun-Ho checked the timer and clenched his jaw, the bald-headed ninjas across from him sneered.

“You’re more naïve than you look,” one said.

“What?” Eun-Ho snapped.

“Sometimes, you need to know when to give up a losing fight. Seems Korea’s stuck with a leader who doesn’t know that.”

Hah?

Eun-Ho let out a short laugh. “You know, when five hundred people talk nonsense at once, it really does leave an impression. Is that why you use your clone trick?”

“... What an insolent fool.” The enemy’s expression twisted in irritation. After a quick glance at the line of fighters behind Eun-Ho, the ninja’s sneer returned. “This time, victory will be ours.”

He wasn’t bluffing.

“Urgh... I-I can’t do this anymore...”

The people behind Eun-Ho began to falter. Unable even to fall back properly, they stumbled forward instead, collapsing under the strain.

“Aaaah!”

“N-nooo!”

They tottered, bent over and dragged forward, barely holding the rope as they staggered toward the enemy’s line.

“We’re being pushed back!” someone cried.

A crushing weight pressed in from behind, the force threatening to topple them all. Eun-Ho lurched forward under the immense pressure. Even with his feet planted firmly in the dirt, he was still being pulled forward, as if the rope itself had come alive. It was a desperate, losing battle.

However, Eun-Ho shouted, “Hold steady! We’re fine!

This was exactly what he’d expected. Tug-of-war was, at its core, a contest of mass and strength. He’d known from the start that brute force alone would never secure victory. Then why did they keep pulling so fiercely? There was only one reason.

“As long as the center knot doesn’t cross the line, we’re still in it! Just hold your ground!”

Everyone clutching the rope was an anchor, digging into the ground like a ship’s mooring. Their job wasn’t to win by force, but to endure.

[First, drag the knot at the center of the rope past your team’s victory line.]

[Second, if the time limit ends, the team holding the knot within their area wins.]

As long as the knot at the center of the rope didn’t cross the victory line, they were safe. Just holding out was all they had to do. Because by then, the scouts who had slipped deep into enemy territory would finish the job.

“Mold!”

Yeon Bo-Ra’s voice, soft and focused, echoed faintly in his earpiece.

It’s time to flip the board, Eun-Ho thought, suppressing a grin.

He quickly raised his voice to drown hers out before anyone could trace the sound. “You’re right about one thing!”

One of the clones frowned. “What do you mean?”

“If it’s a fight you can’t win, you should give up,” Eun-Ho said evenly.

“What?” another snapped.

“And if it’s a fight you can win, then you should win.”

The clones’ faces twisted in anger, muscles tensing as if they were about to charge.

“This is a fight we can win,” Eun-Ho muttered.

[00:30]

Thirty seconds remained on the clock.

“What are you talking abou—”

Before the clone could finish talking, a tremendous rumble cut through his words.

Boooom—!

The ground trembled beneath their feet.

“W-what the hell is going on?!”

“The ground is shaking!”

“Aaaah! I can’t stand properly!”

Far in the distance, the Japanese side dissolved into chaos. Through the swaying crowd of hundreds of clones, Eun-Ho caught glimpses of panic as people stumbled, collapsed, and waved their arms as if caught in a storm.

It was as if an invisible excavator had plunged deep into the earth, digging deeper and deeper.

“W-what’s happening?! The ground’s rising!”

“It’s an earthquake! We need to evacuate!”

Fwoooosh!

Then finally, the ground erupted upward, forming a steep incline that tilted the entire battlefield. People screamed as they lost their footing, tumbling and sliding down the rising slope, unable even to hold onto the rope.

“Aaaaah! I’m slipping!”

“Stop! Stop pushing me!”

The artificial slope grew steeper, and the tightly packed line of fighters slid like dominos, crashing into one another as they went down.

Yeon Bo-Ra... You really are an art student, Eun-Ho thought in awe.

It looked hastily made, yet the slope was solid. No one sank into loose soil, and she’d even shaped barriers along the sides to keep anyone from falling off the edges.

That’s the touch of a true professional...

There was no escape for the enemy. One after another, they slid helplessly down the earthen slope like children on a massive dirt slide.

“Aaargh!”

“Hey! Hey! Don’t push me, damn it!”

[00:30]

The situation had turned completely on its head.

“Pull! Now!” Eun-Ho shouted.

“Yes, Hyungnim!”

“Got it!”

People were tumbling everywhere, chaos swallowing the enemy ranks. Eun-Ho seized the moment and yanked the rope with all his strength. Unlike before, the rope slid easily toward them, no longer meeting the same crushing resistance.

“Move back!” Eun-Ho barked.

They stumbled backward, one step then another, dragging the rope toward their own victory line.

“W-what the—gah!”

Several of the enemy clones were buried beneath the collapsing heap of people.

Whoosh—!

A few of them vanished outright, dissolving into air.

Tap! Tap!

Others broke formation, darting off to assess the sudden chaos.

“That bastard’s pulling some trick again!” one of them snarled.

The rest glared at Eun-Ho with murderous rage, grinding their teeth.

A trick? Eun-Ho almost laughed.

“Well, you deal with an ability-user by using your own ability,” Eun-Ho said calmly.

“Ugh! You bastard!”

Fwoosh—!

Dust exploded into the air, thick enough to sting the lungs and cloud the field in a choking haze.

“Damn it! Just a little more!”

“We’re almost there!”

His teammates’ shouts pierced through the noise. The knot was less than ten paces from their line now. Realizing this, the Japanese representative’s expression suddenly went blank.

Tap!

Then, he let go of the rope and hundreds of clones followed suit, all at once.

“Urgh!”

“What the hell! Why would they let go so suddenly?!”

“Hyungnim! I-I think they gave up!”

Gave up?

Eun-Ho’s mind flashed back.

“Sometimes, you need to know when to give up a losing fight. Seems Korea’s stuck with a leader who doesn’t know that.”

Yeah. The clone had said know when to give up, Eun-Ho thought.

“Do those look like the eyes of someone who’s given up?” Eun-Ho muttered.

Fwoosh—!

The man was gone. Vanished. Only the predatory gleam in his eyes lingered in Eun-Ho’s memory, and a chill ran down his spine.

“... Pull the rope! Quickly!”

“On it!”

They gritted their teeth and gave one final, desperate heave. The last bit of resistance disappeared, and the rope came whipping toward them, winding up fast like a taut thread unraveling.

Eun-Ho dug his heels into the ground, ready to use his Acceleration skill and bolt with the rope if things went wrong. “Just a little more!”

Clang!

He kept moving backward when the sharp sound of metal striking metal rang out. Then, ninja stars came flying through the air.

Wooosh—!

Blades black as pitch, so dark they seemed to swallow the sunlight, hurtled toward them from every direction. Even from below, weaving between teammates, hundreds of clones had unleashed hundreds of ninja stars.

“Are they insane?!” Eun-Ho shouted.

Before the match began, the rules had been crystal clear.

[However, to ensure fair play, if any participant dies due to direct physical assault, the team responsible will incur a severe penalty! Please be cautious!]

Apparently, they didn’t care. It seemed like if they could win this round, the next one wouldn’t matter.

The security guard raised his shield in panic. “S-summon!”

Han-Wool threw himself forward. “Yuuuul!”

“Acceleration!”

They were all trying to protect the hidden girls amidst the storm of flying blades.

However, Eun-Ho knew better that finding invisible kids in this chaos won’t help. It would be faster to just clear the field.

Thus, he exhaled and said a single word, “Petrify.”

A light, shimmering barrier spread around him—the lightest shield in the world.

Then, he drew his sword and swung. “Summon.”

Swoosh—!

The sound of shuriken striking his blade was like raindrops hitting stone. He could’ve used Wind Blade to blow them away faster, but that risked hitting Yul or Bo-Ra.

We have fifteen seconds left.

Most of the blades had buried themselves harmlessly in the ground. Eun-Ho allowed himself a brief sigh of relief and began to turn away.

Fwoooop!

Then, a dull, heavy sound broke the rhythm. Instead of slicing through the air, it had already hit something.

Who’s that?

A cold jolt shot down his spine. The ninja stars were pitch-black, perhaps to avoid reflecting light, or because they were coated in poison.

Please don’t tell me they’re poisonous...

He swept his gaze around, heart hammering.

Was anyone hit? Did any blades get stuck in someone’s flesh?

Fwoooop!

Just then, he heard another one.

Again?! Is it the same person?

Eun-Ho scanned the area, but no one was hit. He froze mid-turn when he spotted two ninja stars floating in the air.

Tick!

Time resumed its normal rhythm.

“Yuuuul!”

“What in the world?!”

People began to move again. The Japanese representative stared at the blades, realizing they were lodged in the dirt. Even though time was flowing normally, why were those two ninja stars suspended midair?

“H-Hyungnim! Why aren’t those falling?!” Jae-Hyuk asked.

The two black blades hung there, unmoving, like star-shaped candies stuck in a giant slab of jelly.

“Could it be a barrier?” someone muttered.

That question rippled through the silence.

So it was what I thought... Eun-Ho realized.

It was an impossible phenomenon, unless someone’s ability was behind it. He straightened, scanning the field.

“Well then...” he said, voice low and sharp, eyes narrowing. “Who was it this time?”