Chapter 10
Seojun stood before Drake, and the man’s face came into view.
A black beard, deeply set eyes, firmly shut lips—he had the air of a handsome middle-aged gentleman.
“Hm. What is your name?”
Drake kept stroking his beard.
- Looks like Drake is a bit surprised lolololololol
- He doesn’t usually ask for names, so he must be pretty flustered lololololol
“Nameless.”
“A fine name. Nameless. The strong deserve respect.”
- Whoa
- You must be pretty thrown off that he cut through all that, huh? So are we lol
- No, but some people can’t even dodge the first blade and die lololol, does this even make sense?
“Then I shall give this my all.”
As far as Seojun knew, Drake always went all out, even against those who managed to evade his blades through gear or skills.
Shrrrrring!
Behind Drake, two chains with sharp blades at their tips floated into the air and began aiming at Seojun.
He then drew the twin swords from his waist.
Unlike Ettore in the tutorial, fighting Drake came with absolutely no restrictions.
You could use equipment, skills, and even boost your base stats before challenging him.
So why had no one managed to beat him until now?
The reason was those uniquely flying weapons.
The two chains moved freely through the air, leaving no angle safe from attack.
That allowed them to link up seamlessly with Drake’s twin swords to corner the player.
The chains gliding effortlessly through the void caught Seojun’s eye.
“This is supposed to be an assassination game, but they really went all out on the combat.”
- Honestly, maybe the devs were actually encouraging a musou-style rampage? lololol
- But if they just bloated the HP to stop mindless bashing, people would complain. Personally, I like this kind of combat variety.
- Battle has always been a key element in Dawn of the Assassins anyway.
Seojun glanced at the chat with a smile, then took his stance, treating the pipe as if it were a sword.
“Heh heh. I’m coming at you first!”
A gruff voice rang out.
Clang!!
Drake’s twin swords clashed against Seojun’s pipe.
Right after, the chains shot toward Seojun from behind Drake’s back.
Clang! Clang!
Seojun stepped back, swinging his pipe repeatedly to deflect them, but Drake immediately followed up, rushing in to swing his swords.
Drake seized the initiative, and Seojun was helplessly pushed backward.
- Looks like even Nameless can’t handle Drake
- Seriously, how do you beat that chain combo? I think it’s impossible.
- The pipe was just arrogance after all.
At least, that’s how it seemed to the viewers.
‘This is tougher than fighting thirteen of them at once.’
But.
Seojun’s eyes deepened, and his thoughts began accelerating.
Surfacing were memories of his past life.
Specifically, when he’d been isolated behind enemy lines.
‘Back then, it wasn’t four, but dozens of blades flying at me.’
Yet even in such a brutal situation, he had survived.
He’d even gone on the offensive, pushing forward.
In a flash, Seojun lowered his stance and slipped inside Drake’s guard.
Crunch!
The chain blade that had been flying from behind Drake embedded itself where Seojun had just been standing.
Seojun deflected the sword coming down toward him.
Parry.
Against small fry, that would trigger a groggy state and enable an instant kill. But against a boss like Drake, it only bought a moment—just enough to land a single hit as the boss staggered back briefly.
Even that gap was usually covered by the chains.
But.
Not this time.
The memories of swinging a sword tens of thousands of times let him execute familiar movements with his eyes closed.
He planted his foot and channeled power from a solid lower body.
‘Overhead strike.’
BWAAAAANG!
Head.
“Gaaaah!”
In that instant, the chat flipped like a palm turning over.
- ?? Why is Drake so easy?
- fr looks super easy.
- Fact: if someone makes something look stupidly easy, there’s a high chance they’re a god-tier expert.
It was exhilarating.
Clashing blades, striking down, swinging, slashing—these moments were the only proof of his past life.
The chains came at him again. Seojun parried.
Immediately, the chains flew in.
Smoothly deflecting both, he gripped the sword with both hands and took the overhead stance.
The whole sequence flowed like a martial artist performing a basic form repeated for decades—the most familiar movements—yet Seojun had improvised it all on the spot, adapting to the situation.
After that, he returned to the warrior’s fundamental: the vertical slash.
Meaning.
Head.
BWAAAAANG!
One might think there’d be a big margin for error due to the changed body and virtual reality, but the opposite was true.
He didn’t cling to form or style.
With every single swing.
The placement of his feet, the posture of his legs, the twist of his torso, the motion of his arms—he could coordinate them all into the most optimal stance moment by moment.
Even in a different body.
BWAAAAANG!
He dismantled the chains and brought his blade down on Drake’s head without pause, over and over.
BWAAAAANG!
BWAAAAANG!
Before long, Drake’s HP was completely drained.
[Disassembler Boss Drake has been slain.]
[You have obtained Fragment of Order (1/4).]
The notification popped up as Drake collapsed, and the heated emotions from battle slowly settled.
Glancing at the chat next.
- Nameless is a god! Nameless is a god! Nameless is a god! Nameless is a god!
- Mom, I saw another first clear! Mom, I saw another first clear! Mom, I saw another first clear!
- No but seriously, that looked so damn easy. Didn't even get hit once. Drake, just take the L today lolol
[‘Joseon’s Assassin’ has donated 100,000 won!]
[This is the hope of musou!]
“Joseon’s Assassin, thank you for the 100,000 won donation. Ah, but was this also a first clear?”
- yep
- yes
- Proving your skill like this? Insane.
- It’s like he’s playing a whole different game lolololol
[‘Spoon Murderer’ has donated 10,000 won!]
[More than that, the fact he stubbornly took him down with a pipe gives me chills lolololol What would you have done without the damage buff.]
- Pipe Murderer, holy lolololololol
- What do you mean, what would he do? He would’ve won anyway lol That’s even creepier lololol
- “Spoon Murderer, thank you for the 10,000 won donation.”
Seojun smiled and checked the viewer count.
[Viewers: 447]
His eyes widened when he confirmed the viewer count had gone up.
A number slightly higher than his follower count.
People say it’s best not to obsess over viewers while streaming, but the increased number compared to earlier put him in a good mood.
It meant more people were coming in than leaving.
“So, the guards aren’t coming, right?”
- yep
- The city guards in this world are on the level of cops in K-webtoons lolololol They never show up during missions
- But they show up for pickpocketing.
- K-webtoons lololololololol
“I see. Then I should leave the theater now.”
Seojun walked past the half-wrecked stage, the corpse-laden stairs, and the entrance littered with shattered glass.
When he stepped out of the theater, a hooded figure was waiting for him.
At first, he thought it might be an enemy, but the flowing blonde hair beneath the hood let him guess her identity instantly.
The person looked at Seojun and lowered her hood.
As expected, it was Christina.
“Nameless. You dealt with Drake? Good work.”
Christina spoke.
“Thanks to you, we’ve slipped further out from under their oppression. Thank you.”
[You have obtained money.]
[Your reputation has increased.]
Notifications appeared as he accepted the pouch Christina handed him.
“I didn’t take a mission to kill him, yet she gives a reward. Not that I have any use for money anyway.”
- yep, you get the reward even without taking the quest.
- Well, pipes are littering the streets, why would you need money lol
- Drake must be dumbfounded for real
Seojun figured it was all good.
Standing on the street, he turned to face the half-ruined theater.
“So, then. Assassination successful?”
The theater looked like the aftermath of a gang brawl to anyone, but Seojun said it without a change in expression.
- ???
- ?????
- We never agreed to call this an assassination.
- lolololololol his expression doesn’t even flicker
- That shamelessness is the charm.
[‘Joseon’s Assassin’ has donated 1,000 won!]
[No witnesses, so it is an assassination. yep]
“I agree. I just did what you’re supposed to in an assassination game.”
The chat was flooded with half hooks(?) and half ‘lololol’.
- Mmm! Because that’s what an assassination is!
- Punk-cool-sec-sama lolololollol
And Seojun felt this was the perfect timing.
“Alright, I’ll end the stream here. I’m done for the day.”
- Ah, wait....
- Let's hang out a little more
- Why did it end so quickly ㅠㅠ
- I thought you’d go at least 10 hours today....
- Stop the instant stream end!
“Bye!”
* * *
“Phew.”
Feeling slightly dizzy, Seojun took off the headgear.
Still seated, he clenched and unclenched his hands, then stretched his legs out with a full-body stretch to loosen up before standing.
‘What’s that guy doing.’
As he got out of the capsule, his eyes met those of his friend lying on the bed looking at his phone.
“Hey, what are you doing in my room?”
“Oh, I had the day off streaming so I was watching yours. It was fun.”
Taewoo turned his phone around and waved it at Seojun.
“Right now I’m checking out the community.”
“Any reactions?”
Having experienced the power of online communities firsthand, Seojun couldn’t help but be a little concerned.
“Well, for a viewership of 440, things are blowing up pretty hot.”
Here.
Seojun caught the phone Taewoo tossed and checked what was written.
[New Route Summary for Drake’s Location Info]
The scene of Seojun interrogating cultists while leaving only one alive had been uploaded as a clip (a feature that cuts a section from a streamer’s broadcast to create a highlight).
- Oh. That method looks way easier.
└ Parrying is pretty tough.
- What a demon lololololol
- Who’s that guy?
└ That’s Nameless-sama from yesterday.
[Guys, but what’s the Fragment of Order? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in the game?]
- I played the beta and cleared the ending after launch, but I’ve never seen that.
└ ??? What the heck.
- Don’t you get it for killing Drake?
└ nope, killing Drake doesn’t give that. Maybe it only drops if you beat him musou style? I’m so damn curious what that is...
Informative posts like that went up first.
[Came back after watching Nameless-sama’s stream.]
===
One-line summary: The age of musou has begun!
===
- The age of musou has begun! (Got beaten up by Ettore yesterday.)
└ + Plan is to get beaten by Drake today.
└ Did you two hack my capsule? Crazy lololololo (OP) -From now on, anyone doubting Nameless-sama is my enemy.
- They said prove your Ettore first clear skill, so he first cleared Drake too, got a problem?
└ Sounds like a light novel title lolololol
Users were also buzzing about the stream’s content.
And there was even a post that accurately(?) summarized Seojun’s broadcast.
[Plot summary of these days’ noir scripts: a humble hidden master just living as a pickpocket gets crossed by a gang member, so he wipes out the entire gang with a pipe.]
- Fact) accurate
- Author, take my money lololol
- Movie Soft, take notes
One by one, posts related to Seojun started getting recommended and climbing.
“Wow, so this is how the community works.”
[Stop talking about streamers, you damn fandom bugs!]
[If you got so excited chattering about your niche thing that you started looking genuine, upvote.]
As Seojun’s posts surpassed 30 upvotes and more people began seeing them, threads bashing those fans started appearing on the free board just like yesterday.
“Yeah, when fans show up, haters show up too. It was nice when you were only getting attention, right?”
“What do you do in this situation?”
“What do you mean, what to do. Your viewer count was 400. Over ten thousand people browse the community.”
Meaning, it was time to get famous.
To the point most people would have heard the name.
The question was ‘how’.
Just then, a post caught his eye.
[Alpaca, trembling because Drake got taken down, please lift a hoof lolololol]
Seojun’s eyes lit up as he entered the post.
There, a clip featured a mid-tier streamer boasting and vowing to clutch a win.
Seojun followed the clip link into that streamer’s channel. It was live.
As he quietly watched the broadcast, the corner of Seojun’s lips curved upward.
Perhaps.
He could make use of this situation.
“Hey, do you know a streamer named Alpaca?”
“Alpaca hyung? Oh, we’ve done a few collabs and we’re friends, why?”
They say even dog poop can be used as medicine.
Seojun looked at Taewoo, who was munching on cookies and leaving crumbs all over his bed, with newfound appreciation.
“Then. I’d like to ask you for a favor.”