Chapter 102
After exiting the capsule, Seojun entered the My VR app.
Here, he could check messages from all games linked to his account.
And Seojun's game message inbox was filled with many notifications.
People he had met in *For the Sake of Martial Arts* as allies and enemies.
Regardless of the outcome, they had sent him friend requests, and Seojun had accepted them all.
As expected.
Networking, just like an old-timer's game.
If they played one more battlefield, it felt like they'd figure out his entire family history.
At that rate, they'd even catch on to his biggest secret: that he remembered his past life!
Without particularly reminding himself that no one believed him even when he practically begged them to notice, Seojun checked the messages.
[Cheonsalseong: Next time I'll definitely win!]
[Cheonsalseong: So please join the next battlefield! You never know. I might just give you another 12-win streak.]
It was Cheonsalseong, who kept challenging despite losing repeatedly.
The former world's greatest and the god of sniping.
Even while Seojun was attacking the orthodox faction, they had met twice with perfect timing, so Seojun was quite surprised to see he had such skill.
[Cheonma 14: Sure.]
Seojun replied like that and looked at the next message.
[Hanpunman: Please don't come.]
If they're in the same faction, he thought they needed to unify their opinions.
[Hanpunman: Just kidding. If you come, please come to the orthodox faction.]
[Hanpunman: Or don't come.]
Seojun chuckled.
[Cheonma 14: I'm thinking of going to the unorthodox faction next time. The Demonic Cult will have a hard time winning from now on.]
As soon as he sent the reply, the '1' mark disappeared, meaning Hanpunman must have read it.
And the 'typing' indicator appeared... but no reply came.
Seemed like he was thinking a lot.
It wasn't that hard a message to reply to, though?
Seojun moved on to the next.
[Samjangro: If there are 7 billion fans of Cheonma 14 in the world, I am one of them.
If there are 100 million fans of Cheonma 14 in the world, I am also one of them.
If there are 10 million fans of Cheonma 14 in the world, I am still one of them.
If there are 100 fans of Cheonma 14 in the world, I am yet one of them.
If there is one fan of Cheonma 14 in the world, that person is probably me.
If there is not a single fan of Cheonma 14 in the world, then I no longer exist in this world.
Cheonma 14, my love.
Cheonma 14, my light.
Cheonma 14, my darkness.
Cheonma 14, my life.
Cheonma 14, my joy.
Cheonma 14, my sorrow.
Cheonma 14, my pain.]
After reading it with mixed feelings, Seojun wrote a reply without a moment's hesitation.
[Cheonma 14: If this had come up during a stream, it would definitely be a ban.]
Besides that, messages came from many people.
Those who fought him and lost.
The Demonic Cult users who were happy to have won.
And.
[Dangso: My contribution probably accounts for about 80%, but either way, I can't deny that you had about 10% of the share in the Demonic Cult's victory!]
[Dangso: Well done!]
[Dangso: Next battlefield, I will...]
Seojun didn't read further.
He was self-PR-ing about how he would nobly lead the Demonic Cult to victory in the next battlefield.
That clearly meant he wanted to play together in the next battlefield as well.
That was all he needed to know.
The rest was all bullshit.
[Cheonma 14: I'll think about it.]
[Dangso: Think? What's there to think about?]
[Dangso: Don't go!]
[Dangso: I said reply! You're reading this right now!]
He moved on.
[Bangju: Good work, Seojun-nim! Could we get a brief comment?]
It seemed like he was trying to get a good YouTube clip.
After a moment of thought, Seojun wrote a reply.
[Cheonma 14: It was fun. I'm satisfied with the victory.]
[Cheonma 14: If I get invited by Movie Soft, I'll return as Cheonma then.]
[Bangju: Thank you.]
He read it right away, too.
"Will Movie Soft invite me?"
I heard they invite the top 16 users from the battlefield to some event or competition; I don't know what it will be, but it seems like it would be fun, just like the battlefield.
So if I'm invited, I'll go.
"Anyway, since the orthodox faction got eliminated first, there was no one from them in the top 16. Now what?"
There are previous battlefields, so there won't be none at all, but the number will be small.
Of course, that's not something Seojun needs to worry about.
After replying to the last message, Seojun turned off his phone.
"Truly the end."
*For the Sake of Martial Arts*.
A fun game that was distinct in many ways and had a unique color.
The fights themselves weren't that special, but the way martial arts were implemented into a game system was interesting, and the faction competition was enjoyable.
If there's one regret, it's that he never got the chance to fight a professional gamer?
No matter how well the users of *For the Sake of Martial Arts* handled swords and utilized the martial arts system to its limit, pros are on a different level.
In the pro world, you can't survive if you're lacking in any one of skill, sense, or brains.
"Well, it's a bit much for pros to get into."
The battlefield content itself required communication to even participate in the competition.
"The techniques are the problem."
When it comes to games, there's inevitably an entry barrier.
Each character's skills and their properties, the game systems, and countless details.
From a newcomer's perspective, it's truly daunting.
But surprisingly, as long as you find the game fun, you'll find yourself learning these things naturally just by playing and watching related videos.
Gamers who, just by enjoying the game and watching videos, eventually realize they know all the skills of over a hundred characters are not few.
It's the same for *For the Sake of Martial Arts*.
If only the rankers had done moderate research on techniques.
Just moderately.
"There has to be a limit."
They got consumed by the concept.
They kept delving deeper into techniques as if they were real martial artists, and to catch up, you'd have to invest an enormous amount of time.
They created a gap that you can never bridge just by casually enjoying the game.
That's why Lee Dong-su, who played casually, chose the Greenwood faction for no reason.
Of course, that didn't apply to him.
"Ah, that was fun."
Seojun smiled.
"And he achieved his goal."
In today's stream, he finally hit 30,000 viewers.
It's not like I-Tube where reaching a certain number gives you a button, but at this level, he had built enough recognition to be almost certainly selected for Reos.
"Though it's a bubble."
Now that he won't be playing *For the Sake of Martial Arts*, how many people will remain is unknown.
But the common opinion was that he would at least maintain the level of a mid-tier streamer for a while.
His impact isn't going anywhere, and most importantly, since the battlefield in *For the Sake of Martial Arts* has ended, people likely won't drop off much.
"Tomorrow is a break. The day after, too."
It's absolutely not because he wants to rest.
Too many people can also be toxic. If he were continuing *For the Sake of Martial Arts* right away, maybe not, but isn't that not the case?
He needs a period where only those who will stay remain.
If he only thought about short-term numbers, not taking a single day off would be best, but doing this would be better in the long run.
And above all, a break is necessary.
"Anyway, those who are going to leave will leave."
He also has something to do tomorrow.
* * *
The next day, early morning.
After going to exercise, Seojun checked the notice posted on I-Tube.
[I'll take a 2-day break. It seems I have earned the right to be lazy.]
-Bro, do you want to die?
-The right to be lazy, lolololol
-Now that the battlefield is over, are you starting those random breaks again?
└I remember you ended the stream and went on break right before finishing the hidden quest during the Dawn of the Assassins.
└It's giving me PTSD lolololol
└I think I need to beg quickly lololol
-Boss... I'm already cold... Just open the door now.
-This is the Cheonma who led the Demonic Cult to victory???
-You got so many donations yesterday, you're becoming lazy. You guys reflect on this.
└I donated 100k won yesterday; if I request a refund, will the boss come?
-What kind of streamer takes a break at a time like this!! And for two days at that.
-Thanks for the victory, but I don't think this is right, hyung. Give me your address ^^
After scrolling through over 1,000 comments, Seojun thought.
"The reactions are ordinary."
They weren't that different from the chats that came up during the stream.
It seemed he had written the break notice quite well.
As expected, posting it at 6 a.m., right at the time viewers usually talk about sleeping, was worth it.
Seojun nodded in satisfaction, closed the notice, and opened his email.
His inbox was full of offers for new game advertisements.
All of them were new releases scheduled within this week.
It was a pleasant offer since doing an ad before moving to the next game was quite appropriate, but Seojun had to choose only one among them.
Since they were all competitors, it was only right.
And the game Seojun had primarily selected was a 2-player cooperative game made by a developer called Monster.
The terms were the best.
20 million won.
Movie Soft gave 10 million won, but that was an exception.
Usually, that was a deal given to mid-tier streamers with 400-500k subscribers and a steady 10-20k viewers.
Even though his streaming had high concentration right now, his I-Tube was still lacking, wasn't it?
But the reason he chose this game wasn't because of the terms.
"It looked fun."
It's not that he's hooked on the horror genre that the game company asked about in a previous email.
The theme is just horror; the exact genre is a 2-player cooperative action-adventure game.
That's right.
Usually, games where two or more players cooperate against a common enemy are called co-op games, and Seojun wanted to try one of these co-op games.
However, even though the ad schedule is tight, just 3 days away, he hasn't made a final decision yet.
[Han Jimin: Boss! Please tell me who you're doing the ad with! I'm curious!]
[Jin Seojun: Yes.]
Since it's a co-op game, the partner is important, and Monster had contacted him saying it would be fun if it remained a secret.
They said they'd tell him in advance if he was curious.
Well, Seojun made it clear that if he didn't like it, he would refuse even if it was only 3 days away, and they said they understood, so he just let it go.
He figured there must be a reason why they thought it would be okay to keep it a secret.
"I need to go out."
The current time is 8 a.m.
The meeting is at 4 p.m., so there are 8 hours left, but since he's still a college student, he has to attend a lecture.
So he got up.
"Oh? What are you doing?"
When he came out of his room, he found Tae-u lying on the sofa in outdoor clothes, looking at his phone.
Normally, after being semi-forced to go to the gym because of Seojun, Tae-u would definitely be asleep again by now, so Seojun was surprised to see him awake.
"Ah. I have something to go out for soon. Getting ready."
"Yeah?"
Seojun brushed it off as nothing.
Because no matter how much Tae-u loved games, he didn't live a life where he never left his bed.
*Click.*
Seojun opened the front door, went outside, and walked toward the bus stop, thinking.
"No way the streamer he'd be collaborating with is him, right?"
An ominous feeling came over him.
But since Tae-u was already ready to go out, that possibility seemed low.