“Kayak is live!”
-(Advertisement) Island, Large-Scale Server for Streamers
“Hello.”
[Kaha]
[It’s been 3 days… so sweet….]
[Stand up straight, Kayak, why were you on break for 3 days?]
[I cried because I missed Kayak]
[Older sister ㅠㅠ you look so beautiful today]
[I heard you spent 3 days with Yuri and Elia chilling~]
[OMG]
[Until the polar bear declares surrender and cries….]
[Why is our childhood friend Jihye excluded?]
[What’s the broadcast title? Are you advertising something?]
[Oh, Island]
[I saw Taker and Han Kang playing that too]
[Nicang is in it too]
[I heard a lot of people are playing on Twishi and on the continent]
[Is there a list of overseas streamers? Is that a big deal?]
[Envision’s ambitious masterpiece they created while grinding ㄷㄷㄷㄷ]
[Joining forces with Higher Games to conquer the Abyss ㄷㄷ;]
[Borrowing foreign power, huh?]
After giving a brief greeting to the viewers, she immediately launched the game.
SDVIMVFoanVzY1YwSVhjamMzUkt1UjNLd1BKc3dLRmJvaVVBUjFweS9JUFN6Z3Z2bVc2U0dBSyswRTNLWWY5WA
A file provided by the advertisers beforehand. The open beta version of “Island,” which hasn’t officially launched yet, appeared on my stream.
-Caw caw.
The game’s opening. Beams of light fall onto a lush, unpolluted deserted island.
The beams of light represent the players. Players will battle each other, hunt beasts on the island for food, build houses, and tackle various tasks.
“The graphics are definitely great. Envision can be proud of this.”
[Look at that character; it looks fierce lol]
[Check out the way the grass moves ㄷㄷ]
[The motion is no joke lol How much did the tech team grind?]
[As expected from Envision lol indeed Higher Games]
[Abyss, step aside! Island is coming!]
“Shall we start with character customization?”
Advertising starts at 8 PM. There’s still 30 minutes left. I can quickly customize and play a practice game to get the hang of the controls.
So, I entered the character customization options and began to craft away diligently.
[As expected, character customization is Envision lol]
[You can’t have Envision games without character customization]
[They excel at making character models… but suck at making games….]
[Graphics and illustrations are GOAT]
[Our Envision is still in business ㅠㅠ]
[So did Envision completely abandon it? Did they switch to Island?]
[I don’t know, f* this stupid game they don’t even patch it anymore]
Since the outcome was predetermined, it didn’t take long to customize my character. Back when I first did customization, it took over 2 hours and such.
Straight blue eyes, white hair tightly tied back like a ponytail, and a cute nose.
Tight white hair pulled back like a bow, and a sharp nose.
It was a customization that maximized Camilla’s characteristics. The art style and graphics were so different that a completely different atmosphere was created for the character.
[LOL, it’s Camilla again?]
[Good thing it doesn’t eat up time for customization.]
[The host is getting used to it now.]
“Is there a training ground? A tutorial? If I’m going to play with people, I definitely need to do the tutorial first, right? Shall we give it a shot?”
Before the game starts, I move my character to loosen up.
The perspective is first-person. Just like an FPS game, the character I control moves around according to my actions.
Basic controls are via the keyboard. Left-click and right-click on the mouse for attacks and interactions.
Every time I press a key, the character resembling Camilla with white hair hops around busily.
“This is sitting, this is sliding… Oh, there’s rolling too? There are more functions than I expected. You don’t take damage while rolling, but stamina drains quickly. Thanks for the info. But how do you know about this on an open beta day?”
[Ah, LOL, can you give some hints without making it obvious?]
[If you roll well, it seems OP, haha.]
[Stamina runs out fast, like, if you roll twice, your stamina might run out, right?]
[What happens when stamina is all gone?]
[You can’t run and have to walk around.]
[Look at that bust morph, heehee…]
[Let’s not just run around; let’s try hunting and building a house too.]
So, during the remaining time, I spent it wisely using various features in the game like hunting, gathering, and building in addition to battling.
Thus came the ad time at last.
As I entered the server upon the host’s invitation, one viewer asked.
[EnjoyGamingMan donated 10,000 won!]
-What will Kayak focus on playing? Hunting? Building?
The ultimate goal is survival. This is a common goal for everyone, and what the viewer is asking is probably about how I plan to survive.
You gain points through hunting, gathering, or building, which increases the likelihood of survival until the end.
However, having completed the tutorial, I had already made my decision. I didn’t plan on spending too much time on hunting, gathering, or building.
With the corners of my mouth subtly lifted, I threw the question back to the viewer.
“What do you think it’ll be?”
*
“Wow, what’s this? It’s super realistic. Did you see that, guys? The animals flocking as soon as the sun sets?”
[Calm down, man.]
[Stop messing around and grill that wild dog you caught; eat up!]
[Hunger is at level 2; if it hits level 3, health will start to drop.]
[You were surprised, but you already saw the sunset during the tutorial, haha.]
[Haksung is hilarious, pretending to raise the tension just for the ad, LOL.]
[Haksung trying to boost his energy for the ad is so funny, lol]
[But hey, somehow he’s still alive while everyone’s starving to death.]
[If this keeps up, he’ll be eliminated. Hurry up and eat, then gather some branches to build a shelter.]
[Listen to that crackling of the campfire, it’s so realistic.]
The ad had been running for a while.
Many streamers on Twitch received ads, but on the other platform, the mainland, they got just as many. The man was one of them.
BJ Haksung. His real name is Lee Haksung. As a comprehensive game broadcaster, Haksung had decent game skills, but he didn’t seem to have a grasp on a game called “Island” yet.
“I thought it was just a survival game, but there are so many features that it’s way more complicated than I expected. How do I survive until the final 10?”
The final victor isn’t just one person. Since it’s a survival game, it has a bit of a solo competition feel, but it’s possible to win alongside others, so there’s no real need to clash with other players.
Of course, if he takes the risk to eliminate other players, he will be rewarded, but considering he’s new to the game and has an ad to promote, getting eliminated while attacking someone else would be pretty embarrassing.
So, Haksung decided to first scout the area.
His goal was to explore around in the beginning, avoid battles as much as possible, and somehow hang in there to be among the final 10 survivors. However, that didn’t seem easy.
-1 Illonnell // 💀 (Death by starvation)
“Another one just starved to death. This is way different from the survival game I imagined. I totally thought it would be a brawl, right guys?”
[Illonnell is dead, lol]
[Yangbung got cut!]
[So many people starving, damn, lol]
[They’re dying without even fighting each other?]
[If I just hang in there, I might make it to top 10.]
[Hanging in there is tough, though.]
[The game is designed to make it hard to turtle; fundamentally, you have to go out and hunt or gather to survive.]
“Island” seemed to emphasize survival as it initially appealed to people.
Fighting with other players is one thing, but taking care of himself beforehand is a tight squeeze, to say the least.
If he gets distracted for even a moment, the night comes, and if he hasn’t secured food during the day, his hunger level shoots up quickly, draining his health, leading to death by starvation.
Haksung nearly starved after wasting the daytime without a clue. Fortunately, he managed to start a campfire at night, which attracted a wild dog that he could take down and eat.
“Killing that wild dog drained a ton of my health; I think I lost almost half. Why don’t I have a weapon? Isn’t there a rock? How could anyone already make an axe or a knife? Someone actually made it already? That’s them; don’t expect too much from a newbie like me!”
“Hey, there’s a rock, right? How could someone already make an axe or a knife? Is there really someone who made it already? That’s their problem. Aren’t you guys expecting too much from newbies?”
While roasting wild dog meat to satisfy his hunger, Haksung shook his head.
“Anyway, this is definitely no easy game. First, let’s not wander around anymore. Let’s grab the remaining meat and set up some straw to sleep here. If we keep wandering, my body temperature will drop and I’ll be in trouble.”
Haksung thought it wasn’t a bad judgment.
What was the most important thing to be aware of when playing this type of survival game? To not panic and act rashly.
Slow and steady. Keep calm. That was Haksung’s know-how from playing survival games for a while.
“Are we really going to wander around and hunt people tomorrow? Hmm… that doesn’t sound great. I’m busy trying to survive, do I really need to go around killing people? I’m busy looking for food. Someone’s just running around killing people? Who is that?”
-Kayak // jhpark01 💀
Then, suddenly, a new kill log popped up in the top right corner, and Haksung could spot that name.
“What does this say… Ka…yak? Is that how you read it? Is this person really going around killing everyone? It’s nighttime, are they crazy?”
[Looks like they’re nearby]
[Aren’t you in danger too, Haksung?]
[I came from their broadcast, and they’re definitely crazy, lol]
[As expected, the one-man army is Camilla, haha]
[What’s Kayak? You nerds]
“Looks like they’re nearby? What does that mean—”
As Haksung muttered while looking at the chat window…
Whoosh—
A sound of something flying through the air, then shortly after, a loud bang, like something bursting.
Simultaneously, the screen turned red. A red screen meant he was attacked.
“No, no. What?!”
Just as Haksung jolted up when his health bar suddenly plummeted.
Whoosh—
Again, he heard something flying. This time, Haksung couldn’t react.
The consequences were brutal.
Out of nowhere, the screen turned black. This meant his character had died.
“What, what is this…”
Looking at the screen that turned from red to black, Haksung murmured in disbelief.
Two small hand axes were embedded in his corpse, thrown from somewhere.
-Kayak // leehaksing 💀
The kill log that followed revealed who the owner of the axes was.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
