Chapter 4
**Action Adventure Open World Stealth Franchise Game, Assassin’s Dawn.**
This game surpassed 2 million viewers on the first day of its release and continues to be a hot topic on Travel even a week later.
Especially, the latest series, Shadow in the City, has garnered praise from the first day for its high degree of freedom and city-centered assassination gameplay.
People have started calling it Assassin’s Dawn: Breath of the City, abbreviated as Breath of the City, comparing it to the most perfect open-world game before.
“I heard you can assassinate in any way you want.”
When assassinating, no matter how high the target is, they die in one strike.
However, the player has to identify and choose everything, from the assassination target, the target’s daily routine, the assassination location, entry method, assassination tools, and escape route.
This high degree of freedom allowed for all sorts of bizarre assassination plays, keeping the excitement alive.
Thus, even now, a week later, the viewership has impressively exceeded 800,000.
[“
As soon as the notification sounded, Seojun pressed the broadcast start button.
[A newbie streaming for the first time in virtual reality gaming with Breath of the City. Who wants to backseat?]
This was the title that Taewoo had set.
“It’s not my first time with a virtual reality game.”
Although it’s not my first time in virtual reality gaming, Taewoo said that this title would attract veterans and game enthusiasts, so I went with it.
I don’t find it particularly reassuring.
As the message saying the broadcast will start in 5 seconds appeared, Seojun took his eyes off the broadcast window and pressed the game start button.
In an instant, the lobby submerged into shadows, and modern European-style buildings started sprouting up one after another in the dark, empty space.
The starting point was a back alley.
“Is it on auto-run?”
Seojun’s body was automatically doing parkour.
He passed through the foul-smelling street, climbed over a wall, and went up by grabbing a window ledge.
Clang.
“Who’s there!”
Crossing a clothesline, he stepped on a pot on the balcony and knocked it over.
But Seojun’s body ignored it and continued, grabbing a flagpole attached to a house and climbing up.
After reaching the rooftop, he started running somewhere, jumping across buildings.
As the surroundings gradually brightened, he entered a place resembling a pleasure district, and the area lit up with noise filling the air.
Hahaha.
Huhuhu
Reminiscent of the Belle Époque era, ladies in luxurious yet practical dresses and dapper gentlemen occasionally came into view between the buildings.
And at some point in front of him, there stood a lone clock tower in the middle of the city.
Without hesitation, Seojun began to climb the outer wall of the clock tower.
‘When I relax, it feels like I’m moving myself.’
However, when he tries to exert force and move as he pleases, he realizes he has no control.
He repeatedly climbed up, like a climber propelling himself through difficult courses.
As he approached the top, there were no more handholds on the outer wall.
Whoosh.
Sequentially, he felt a jolt in his chest due to gravity, and as his body was pulled to the ground, the world began to spin.
Even while falling, Seojun waited calmly, without tension.
Then, in perfect timing, his body extended his right arm and launched a wire.
Clack.
The hook caught at the top.
Ziiiiing!
With the sound of the wire retracting, Seojun, relying on the line, ran up the outer wall of the clock tower and reached the top.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Just in time, the clock tower rang, and crows startled by the sound, flew away with a flurry of wings.
Riding the cool night air that greeted him head-on, he heard the laughter and string music from the pleasure district he had passed earlier.
All the discordant sounds in the night view melded together, signaling the start of the game.
It was as if the game was showing him what kind of city he would be playing in.
‘Nice direction.’
He took a moment to gaze at the scenery.
“Hey, Dane. This mission might be fatal.”
A beautiful voice rang out.
His body turned its head toward the sound, and a woman with a hood pulled up walked out from the darkness behind him.
Her blonde hair peeked out from under the hood, shimmering.
“Heh heh. Christina. When was it ever not dangerous?”
Seojun’s mouth opened.
But the voice was not Seojun’s.
It must be the voice of the character named Dane.
“That’s…”
“To kill someone, you must be prepared to die.”
“Yeah, alright. But be careful. They might have noticed.”
“Don’t worry, just stay at the tavern.”
Christina nodded in acknowledgment, handed over a note, and whispered softly.
“There is no truth. Question everything endlessly.”
Seojun responded to it.
“Even chaos.”
Then he launched a wire, hooked it to a nearby rooftop, and started sliding down the wire like a zipline.
Just before reaching the end, he let go and landed on a streetlamp, then jumped down to the ground.
As Seojun’s feet touched the ground, he felt a surge of strength throughout his body.
“Ah, ah.”
Is the tutorial over?
He could speak properly and move his hands and feet.
Ding-
[Tutorial Quest – Assassination Mission]
[Etor is a middle manager and high-ranking noble in a secret society that supplies street orphans to the cult and the magic tower. Therefore, the Assassins’ Guild assigned the task of assassinating Etor to their member, Dane.
Quest Clear Condition: Etor’s Death]
The notification sound was heard, and the game system window popped up.
The map showed the route to Etor’s mansion and his location.
“I guess I have to assassinate him. First, I need to go there.”
Although Seojun had never played games other than the AOS genre, he roughly understood what he needed to do.
He started heading straight in the direction of the blue marker.
When the path was blocked, an alert popped up.
[Climb the pipe.]
As he grabbed the pipe and applied a bit of force, it felt similar to when Dane moved his body.
“So this is how the correction works.”
But when he completely let go, he slid down.
[Try jumping.]
He was supposed to jump across buildings, but he wondered what would happen if he missed.
He fell between the buildings.
He felt a slight pain throughout his body.
[Try crossing using the wire.]
Hanging from the wire didn’t take much effort, so he stayed hanging for a while.
As he held on for a while, he started to feel his strength ebbing away.
He fell to the ground again.
While enjoying the unfamiliar experience, Seojun remembered something he had forgotten.
‘Oh, I’m streaming, aren’t I?’
Not much time had passed, so how many viewers were there?
[4 viewers]
He was surprised by the unexpected number.
He had heard that even streaming all day might not attract a single viewer, so was it thanks to choosing the right game, or the title?
Confused, he opened the chat window.
-This is really a newbie, lol.
-Haha, this is why we watch newbie streams.
-If this is an act, it deserves a Nobel Prize, lol.
Oh.
The viewers were chatting with each other.
Thinking they had seen everything that had just happened made him feel a bit embarrassed.
“Sorry, I just saw the chat.”
-Hehe
-It’s okay. Watching a newbie marveling while running around was pretty fun, lol.
Three out of the four viewers were chatting.
[White Horse Rider]
[Best Defense is Winter Yellowtail]
[Public Restroom Brick Thief King]
‘Their nicknames are something.’
It was both funny and dizzying.
Is this kind of nickname trendy here?
Seojun put that thought aside and recalled Taewoo’s advice.
‘If there aren’t many viewers, don’t worry about the numbers and practice filling the sound. If there are viewers, try to communicate comfortably without breaking the flow of the broadcast.’
People usually come to streams with few viewers because it’s easier to communicate.
The chat in the streams of large streamers, known as “big companies,” goes by so fast that it’s easy to get lost.
As Seojun headed towards the target point, he tried to start a light conversation.
– Is the host really a newbie?
“Yes, that’s right.”
– Haha, I checked the host’s record and it was clean. The creation date was two days ago.
“You can check that too?”
– Yeah.
– You need to switch it to private.
“That’s a hassle.”
Seojun didn’t feel the need to turn it off.
– So how did you start the stream if it’s a hassle?
– Lol.
‘It’s good that everyone is actively chatting, but is this okay?’
He felt the need to check out the chat of other streams.
“Hmm, I’ve arrived quickly. What should I do now?”
– Open the note.
– If you open the note, you can see detailed information about the mansion.
– Since it’s a tutorial, it gives you most of the information and the assassination route. Just follow it.
Surprisingly, they gave proper answers to these kinds of questions.
Seojun opened the note as they suggested, and a system for blueprints activated, displaying a 3D screen like in movies.
The screen allowed him to zoom in and out of a specific point, rotate the angle, and modify the map.
Moreover, it showed the mansion’s structure, secret passages, enemy positions, and even a detailed route to Etor’s location.
Etor was located in a second-floor bedroom, the deepest part of the mansion.
“There are twenty enemies. The weapons in my inventory are… the assassin’s gauntlet and a sword stick?”
A sword stick is a cane with a thin blade hidden inside, which can be drawn for use in emergencies. It’s suitable for assassination and self-defense.
The cane itself also had a shallow blade embedded in it, making it capable of cutting. The tip was sharp like the end of a sword.
The gauntlet had an assassination blade that protruded from the back of the hand and a wire that could be launched from the wrist.
“Are these the default tutorial weapons? Anyway, I just need to kill Etor, right?”
– Yeah.
-ㅇㅇ
Alright, shall we give it a try?
Seojun took the sword stick and walked straight to the front gate.
Immediately, there was a flood of opposing comments in the chat.
– No, I told you to follow the note
– Let him be. Others who went through the front gate realized they had to climb the walls after dying.
– Lord, one is going to the front gate
“Why? Shouldn’t I go through the front gate?”
– Don’t backseat. The host is new. Just observe
– It’s fine. Yes, go ahead and open the front gate quickly
– They’re easy prey. You can kill them with one hit
Their change in attitude was impressive.
“Huh, I guess I shouldn’t go through the front gate.”
– Ah, the host noticed, you guys
– Lord, one almost went to the front gate but stopped
Seojun was puzzled by the viewers’ reactions.
“But I heard you can do anything in this game. Why shouldn’t I go through the front gate?”
– I told you, you can?
– Hahaha, you guys, stop bullying the newbie
One of the previously silent viewers finally commented.
– Usually, instead of sneaking in and killing, just barging in and killing everyone is called Musou play…
The explanation is as follows:
In this game, when carrying out a mission, even if the target is in a high position, instead of killing them in one strike, if you get detected, you’ll have to engage in a hardcore melee battle against NPCs with several times more HP than the player. Therefore, people generally try not to get detected.
However, some veteran players disregard assassination plans and directly attack through the front gate.
This is known as Musou play.
Musou play is much more difficult than typical assassination play, even without the information-gathering process.
The game “Shadow in the City” received praise for naturally guiding players towards assassination play through this difficulty adjustment while still maintaining freedom.
“So, is it impossible to complete the tutorial with Musou play?”
– Don’t know. No one has done it yet.
– Streamers prefer playing something else rather than wasting time on that
– Someone tried for 10 hours, then gave up and completed the first playthrough before deciding to attempt it
– Even veteran players in the community haven’t posted updates
“So, it’s not impossible?”
Seojun focused solely on this point.
– Yeah, if you have skills like Shin Ha-yeon, it’s possible
– Theoretically, if you avoid all of Etor’s attacks within the time limit and hit all critical points, you can do it
– Easy peasy, if you’re a god, anyone can win
“Shin Ha-yeon? Then, let’s give it a shot.”
Seojun said confidently.
After all, a win is a win, even if it’s against AI.
– Do you even know who Shin Ha-yeon is?
– Catch the guy who said anyone can win if they’re a god
Seojun walked straight to the front gate.
– The Lord is going through with it
– Ah, newbie… Do you have to try it to know if it’s a bad idea?
– In 5 minutes, the host (crawling on the ground): This is how you avoid them, right? Hahaha
– Hahahaha
