Episode 5
From the way he called it an unusual night, he seemed to already have a grasp of the situation, and when viewers told him what was going on in the stream chat, I heard him answer that he knew. Contrary to my worries, it was a voice devoid of any concern, worry, or interest.
— "Why did I come two minutes early today? It's nothing, just…."
Just?
I stopped marking and focused on his voice.
— "I got mad after looking at the rankings, so I came right in."
Of course. It was exactly the answer befitting the top-ranked Military Medic.
— "Even though I'm a light user who only plays the game for about four hours. How…… can there be a gap of three ranks?"
As expected of a ranked streamer, the way he made excuses insisting he wasn't stagnant water but clean water was top-tier too. Even when he really was clean water, he had reached the Commander rank with unmaxed PvP gear just six weeks after hitting the level cap—No Full enhancement (*No Full enhancement; enhancement incomplete), no less.
Of course, back then the maximum enhancement limit was only +5 and it was an era without accessory enhancement, so if your skill was up to par, you could beat full-enhancement users without much trouble even without full enhancements.
Even so, the Commander rank wasn't something just anyone could achieve. Let alone a user who had just hit max level—a player would need to desperately slave away at the game for at least three or four months to reach Commander.
Commander was a high-tier rank that required your combined score—Reputation earned through PvP and subjugation points obtained from clearing various high-difficulty dungeons—to place within the top 100 of the rankings. Moreover, if you made it into the top 100, the advantage boosted the full enhancement cap to +6 for Commanders and +7 for Supreme Commanders, making it a rank that every PvP user wanted to have, and the competition was fierce because of it.
And he called himself a light user after reaching that in just six weeks? Was he a light user because he devoured points faster than light?
Perhaps viewers who knew his past achievements as well as I did were arguing with him in chat, because I heard Jaesugang laugh playfully.
— "Come on, that was then and I'm a light user now. Right?"
As if the guy ranked 11th overall was a light user. Right.
— "Anyway. I'm so furious right now that I want to meet that person quickly. I wish someone would tell them to come out to the field right now. Of course, please don't spam the race chat with bad manners, and if any of Kkulppang-nim's guild members are in my stream, please pass my duel request directly through guild chat. Got it?"
Jaesugang dragged out his words, saying he wished someone would call me in his stead, acting cute. It was a tone that made me imagine him with the corners of his eyes gently folded in a coquettish smile, as if he were right before my eyes.
[Guild] Sillonti: Hey, Jaesugang sent you a duel request, get your ass to the field right now
[Guild] Summoner: It's the guild master (*Guild Master)
[Guild] Sillonti: I know you're already watching but I'm telling you out of courtesy
[Guild] Summoner: wait you're already watching Jaesugang?
[Guild] soloist: hahahahaha
Thanks to Jaesugang's remarks, I could see people looking for me in the guild chat. Ever since they learned that the guild master often appeared on a famous streamer's broadcast, they had been faithfully tuning in, and today too, it seemed they had come without fail to relay Jaesugang's words after watching the stream.
For my part, I had also been hoping to meet Jaesugang as quickly as possible to kill and be killed, so I moved my character willingly. Going to an atelier or a base and teleporting via the statue would be cheap, but considering how many people would rush to find me after watching Jaesugang's stream, tearing a Base Teleport Scroll would be better.
As I searched my inventory for a Base Teleport Scroll, I saw the race chat and zone chat updating noisily. They were guys searching for me through chat even though Jaesugang had asked them not to. He was someone who normally never made such requests precisely because his viewers and anti-fans always did exactly what they were told not to, but today, who knew what had him in such a rush and so furious that he even resorted to using his viewers to call me out.
I didn't mind, but I was already a hot topic because of the first-half rankings; what kind of curses was I going to get now…….
Worrying internally while right-clicking the scroll with my hand, I debated which base to move to. Just then, I heard Jaesugang let out a small hum through my headset.
— "I believe it'll reach Kkulppang-nim somehow, so where should I go?"
You should probably say it first. I'm listening.
— "Are you suggesting we set a location? If I tell you a specific place, it'll definitely turn into a mob brawl like last time with snipers and viewers swarming in. I won't fall for it twice."
He seemed to be sternly scolding the viewers, but perhaps he saw a funny comment and let out a small laugh. After replying a few times in a voice full of laughter, he continued speaking in his usual calm and languid tone.
— "For now, I'll focus on the areas where that person usually wanders. Today's first kill has to be them."
So cocky. If he's that mad, he should try killing me.
At any rate, whether my telepathy had worked to some degree, at the exact same moment Jaesugang said where he would go first, I heard the sound effect of him pressing the base teleport statue.
Soon, the background music, the sounds of skills being used while walking around inside the base, and the various shouts from his character jumping all disappeared at once. Then, perhaps a loading screen had appeared, because there was no sound at all for a moment before the field background music began to play, accompanied by a brutal sound effect signaling that he had entered the dispute zone.
My telepathy…… having worked was fortunate, but there was a problem. There were so many places I frequented that saying they were divided down to the pixel wouldn't be an exaggeration, and even the specific routes I tended to take were areas Jaesugang often visited, so the problem was I still didn't know where to go.
I rolled my eyes and racked my brains over what to do. Should I monitor just this once? No, that's really not okay. But then, Jaesugang is searching for me so desperately; wouldn't it be fine just this once?
Debating the pros and cons alone as if my ego had split, I made a big decision. Jaesugang was looking for me too, so I'd just check where he was using sound, just this once. It's not like I was openly monitoring, so doesn't that make it okay? Besides, it was Jaesugang's own mistake for throwing down a duel challenge first and then failing to tell me the place (or rather, being unable to), so this much should be fine, shouldn't it? He wasn't someone who was narrow-minded with me, at least.
Having finished rationalizing, I opened the map I had marked before the stream started and turned up my headset volume. The background music coming from the stream, the sound of stepping on grass, which section he jumped from and deployed his wings to glide, which mob the occasional mob sound belonged to, whether it was a normal mob or an elite mob……. Closing my eyes, I focused every nerve on my hearing and deduced Jaesugang's location.
The background music—a calm yet sorrowful bell tone ringing in plucks, painting a forest of little fairies—was the exclusive BGM for the southern Jeopa region. Since only the sound of stepping on grass, not dirt, repeated and he barely glided, it was a flatland overgrown with grass.
And from the damp yet clear sound of water droplets falling, it was the location of the elite mob 'Irreversible Raindrop'…….
My eyes sparkled. In the southern Jeopa region, where stiff grass grew thick, the place where the raindrop mob existed was Outpost 27, only one such spot. I grinned triumphantly, tore an Outpost Teleport Scroll, and moved to Outpost 45, the closest one to the Jeopa region.
— "Since there's a 3-rank gap between that person and me, I'm planning to kill them three times in a row today, at least."
Just as I was about to exit the stream now that I knew the location, I heard Jaesugang speak in a resolute voice. I laughed at him inwardly—spilling his plans so innocently without even knowing I was listening. He would absolutely never be able to do that.
Right before my 10 o'clock party competition appointment, I'd tell him: 'Since you're in 11th place, I'd like to kill you 11 times, but the number is too big so I don't have enough time—what a shame.' I had to make sure to tell him. Definitely.