Chapter 11
“An enemy! An enemy has infiltrated!”
An organization member NPC who was patrolling the theater in a set pattern caught Alpaca's tail.
‘Damn. It's too tight.’
Alpaca immediately used Smoke Screen and Clone skills to disperse aggro and clung to the outer wall of the second-floor audience seats.
‘My stamina needs to hold out.’
Stamina that depletes with every parkour move. He could save it by using wire, adhesive, or other tools, but Alpaca was currently attempting a bare-handed assassination challenge.
‘If I fall, they'll swarm me and I'll be caught without a chance. But if I climb up, the NPCs are still on alert. Even if I hang on in one spot for too long, an organization member on the first floor will spot me. Which skill should I use…’
Based on about a week's worth of experience, he racked his brain quickly, but his worries were rendered meaningless.
“Kuhahahaha!”
A burst of wild laughter echoed, and the sound of something tearing through the air could be heard.
Swoosh!
Alpaca, still hanging, looked back. And reflexively shut his eyes tight at the object flying towards him.
The blade lodged right between his brows, and he, who had been hanging from the second-floor audience seats, fell straight down.
Thud.
“Uwaaaah! Failure again!”
It's ruined.
Every time he died, his reputation dropped, and now to buy information from the guild, he'd have to grind reputation through simple repetitive tasks.
Or do another simple grind, sub-quests.
Both were equally troublesome.
He needed to somehow take down Drake with the reputation he had naturally accumulated by assassinating other NPCs.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-You suck so bad lolol, quit the game.
-Go grind.
-Give up on bare-handed now.
Viewers who welcomed his failure more than anyone.
‘How wicked, how wicked.’
He wondered if it was that enjoyable.
He thought his stream wasn't a gathering of toxic viewers, but from years of streaming experience, he knew.
Most viewers harbor at least one bit of malice in their hearts.
[‘ㅇㅇ’ donated 1,000 won!]
[Hey, a new route to get Drake's location info popped up on the community. Go check it out.]
“Oh? Thanks for the 1,000 won donation!”
Yes.
It's viewers like this that give me strength!
‘No, wait.’
When you actually check, it's bound to be a crudely Photoshopped image of a real alpaca caught on a fishing line.
‘But getting tricked even when you know it's coming is a streamer's fate.’
Alpaca paused the game and came out to the lobby.
A wide alpine grassland spread out, and Alpaca sat on a chair shaped like hay.
It was all a background custom-made and sent as a gift by a fan.
‘At first, I thought they were messing with me.’
But the chair was much more comfortable than he thought, and the scenery was nice.
In the end, out of consideration for the fan's sincerity, he set this grassland as his default background.
Bweeeeh! Bweeeh!
As he sat on the hay chair, the resident animal alpaca in the lobby approached him. Its name was Daebak.
With pure white fur and a cute face full of discontent, it was a famous fixture of his stream.
Ptooey!
Alpaca tilted his head to the side when Daebak spat.
“Ack!”
Even though he knew the spit was just a graphical effect after falling for it many times, his reflex still kicked in.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Daebak has arrived!
-When are you gonna get used to it? lol
- ㅡㅅㅡ
- ㅡㅇㅡ (Ptooey!)
‘Did they really have to implement a spitting motion?’
Just like this, even a loyal fan who makes high-quality lobby backgrounds puts in at least one toxic element; that's what viewers are.
Bweeeeh!
Ignoring whether Daebak was munching on the hay he was sitting on, he opened the internet.
“What should I search? I should go to the info board...”
-Go to the 30-recommendation post.
-Discussion board.
-Incident board.
-Free board.
-No, it's the tips and know-how board.
These guys.
Who else to blame.
It was his fault for asking the viewers.
“Let's see. It's right there.”
[Summary of the new route for Drake's location info]
The person in the video was extracting information from an organization member in a slightly unique, no, very unique way.
“Kyah! So there was a method like this. I wonder who this helpful person is that shared it.”
Alpaca, who knew how to parry to some extent, quickly brightened up. Because he no longer had to do tedious reputation grinding.
“Anyway, the person who discovered this, or the developers who hid such a route, they're truly amazing, aren't they?”
-For real.
-Kya.
-The completeness of an open world comes from the details of its freedom.
-God game Dosum!
With the burden of Drake's location info gone, Alpaca began calculating how many more attempts he could make within today's stream.
And then, a long donation message rang out.
[‘ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ’ donated 10,000 won!]
[Now's not the time to be impressed? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
A donation packed to the character limit.
Then a voice donation rang out.
[‘Some Idiot’ donated 10,000 won!]
[???: If that works, I'll take that person as my master, learn from them, and then do a Kyeonwang marathon until I defeat Drake with Musou!]
Hmm?
“Who cleared it? Nah, no way. No matter how much you guys try, I won't get baited.”
Even in virtual reality, Alpaca felt cold sweat running down his back.
He felt uneasy.
Suddenly, yesterday's fact that Etor was caught came to mind. Nah, no way. Why didn't I think of it earlier?
While he was blaming himself, even in the chat, people who were just laughing started to creep in.
People just typing ‘ㅋㅋㅋ’ without a word.
Given his viewers' characteristic inability to coordinate, there was only one situation where they laughed in unison.
‘When I'm in trouble.’
Just then, another post with 30 recommendations appeared above the post he was reading.
[First Clear of Drake with Musou.]
“Wow, seriously. Did you even manipulate recommendations to trick me? I said I won't get fooled. You guys are so mean.”
Gulp.
He denied it verbally, but his hand slowly moved towards the post.
And the truth was revealed.
A man was holding a pipe and lightly beating Drake.
Really lightly.
At first, he thought this.
‘Oh? This seems doable? Maybe the marathon is okay after all?’
But right at that moment, the man on screen parried a sword, and without even looking back, simply tilted his head to dodge a chain stabbing from behind.
The relief vanished, and the sequence of actions forced him to face reality.
‘Ah, shit.’
I can't imitate that.
I already had trouble with assassinations, let alone Musou.
So.
“That looks like an edited video, right? Right? Come on. How can a person catch that. Right? Quickly agree. Yes?”
He started denying the video.
-As if ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Talking nonsense ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Alpaca has started denying reality ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Threat mode on
-He's a streamer. You can find it all on Travvel.
Of course it was hopeless.
“Ah, so this is the streamer who caught Etor with Musou.”
This time he started changing the subject.
-??? Etor was caught?
-??
-Alpaca on the first day of launch ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ he got beaten up by Etor for 10 hours trying for a first clear. And someone caught it?
-How do you catch it????
His viewers knew how difficult it was to catch Etor because of his time-wasting challenge a week ago.
In an instant, viewers' attention focused on how he caught Etor, and Alpaca thought it was a good change of topic.
[‘JustCatchEtorLikeThis’ donated 10,000 won! - travel clip]
Just right, a video donation started playing.
A streamer named Jin Seojun was holding a mace and performing a feat of skill.
Even Alpaca, who had seen it before, marveled again.
If it were him, how long would he have to practice to do that?
It was a smooth, flexible yet restrained movement.
-Kya! As expected of the Unknown Streamer.
-Wow, that's insane.
-So much comparison. Unlike someone.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-So you have to be this good to do Musou.
-What's the streamer's name?
Even first-time viewers seemed surprised.
“And what's even more amazing is that he's only on his second day of playing. I was completely surprised when I found out.”
-?? He's a freaking talent monster.
-Is he some kind of intangible cultural heritage in real life or something?
-Not a poser. Rip.
-I knew that, but you still have to do the marathon, right?
Alpaca's eyes, as he watched the chat, trembled like a sailor facing a fierce storm.
He heard a voice from the sky saying pitifully, ‘Like that would ever happen.’
Then the voice donation was turned on once more.
[‘Some Idiot’ donated 10,000 won!]
[???: If that works, I'll take that person as my master, learn from them, and then do a Kyeonwang marathon until I defeat Drake with Musou!]
“Sigh...”
Alpaca let out a deep sigh as if the ground would cave in. Forget changing the subject.
He deeply resented his impulsive past self.
‘If I do an all-nighter for about three days, maybe they'll let me off...’
The method of ending the stream by catching Drake didn't even enter his consideration.
Alpaca, with a tearful face, unnecessarily yelled out at the next post's title.
[Alpaca trembling after Drake was caught, please lift your hooves ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
“Hey! If I had hooves, would I wear shoes? You shoe! Everyone, don't upvote posts like that. I'm already distressed.”
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Alpaca hooves ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Who wrote that? Good job.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- ㅡㅅㅡ
[Alpaca who looks at the community and is handsome gets an upvote.]
I kinda like this one.
Alpaca sneakily went into the post and upvoted it.
-Traitor!
-Root out the traitor!
-Where's the manager!
Consistent bastards.
Alpaca sighed deeply and declared surrender.
“Well, a promise is a promise.”
If I collapse while doing it, the viewers will understand, right?
-Kya!
-Cool, Alpaca!
-Is the next stream title ‘New Year Waiting Room’?
-Let's aim for the Guinness World Record for longest streaming ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Anyone wanna bet whether a new game from Assassin's Dawn comes out first or he succeeds in the marathon?
-Basically a declaration that he'll die streaming in this lifetime.
Maybe not?
Alpaca glared at his viewers.
Anyway, he thought a collaboration stream might be fun.
-But having that streamer on as a guest would be fun.
-I just checked the community and he's really freaking good ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
As if they read his thoughts, chat messages appeared.
But.
“First, please don't go to that person's stream and mention me. That's a nuisance.”
Regarding such things, caution must be given in advance and firmly.
-Yes
-ㅇㅇ
-ㅔ
The fact that he's a 2-day streamer was a concern.
He's never done a collaboration before, and from the looks of it, he's sailing smoothly, so I might just get in the way. He might feel burdened.
‘Hmm.’
As Alpaca was pondering, a Travvel notification popped up.
Checking the notification, Alpaca's eyes widened in surprise.
“Alright. I'll end today's stream here.”
-I approve for today.
-The next stream won't end for a lifetime, so if you get mad at him ending now, you've got no conscience ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-For real ㅋㅋ
“Good work.”
[The stream has ended.]
That day, a collaboration notice was posted on Alpaca's fan café.
* * *
Meanwhile.
MovieSoft, which has over ten subsidiary development companies worldwide.
Among them, someone barged into the office of the president of MovieSoft Korea, which developed this time's Assassin's Dawn: Shadows in the City.
“President! We have a big problem.”
“What is it?”
Yves Paimo, president of MovieSoft Korea, turned his chair to see which employee had just entered.
Kim Yoonchan.
A very optimistic subordinate.
“A ruler has been caught. Sir.”
“……”
“With Musou.”
At the somewhat troubling content, Yves Paimo requested a detailed explanation.
“Who?”
“Drake.”
“Ah, then it doesn't matter. It's about time he got caught. Isn't he the weakest?”
Yves Paimo's serious eyes relaxed completely.
“But if people start getting curious about the Fragment of Order...”
Yves Paimo cut Kim Yoonchan off.
“Enough. It's a useless worry. It's true that if the Fragment of Order is collected already, it will disrupt our plans, but you're the one who personally designed and put the mechanism to prevent that into the game. Why are you acting like this?”
The Fragment of Order can be obtained each time you defeat a ruler with Musou.
And one of the rulers, no matter how outstanding, cannot be caught by skill alone and requires the help of a certain skill.
They had designed it so that it would take users quite a lot of time to unlock that skill, meaning there's no need to worry right now.
“I know that, but ‘just in case’ can be deadly. Besides, that person was a streamer. He just caught him. Just walked up and did it.”
“You, of all people, being pessimistic.”
“It's a feeling, a feeling.”
“Shut up and get back to work. Wait... just now? So you were watching a stream during work hours?”
“...Oh dear. I'll be going now.”
“Hey!”
* * *
Next day.
“What are you doing?”
“Just looking up some info on game skills.”
Taewoo shook his head pitifully as he watched Seojun browsing the community in the taxi seat next to him.
“Don't get sucked into that stuff.”
“...Shut up. I have to double-check because of the collaboration.”
Since the collaboration was set up suddenly, there wasn't much time to discuss, but they had already agreed on how to run the collab.
“Why are you even tagging along, Taewoo?”
“I want to see that hyung after a long time.”
“What about your stream?”
“I'll just go to a nearby capsule room and do it. It runs fine on that.”
‘Sigh.’
Seojun let out a deep sigh.
The dignity of a veteran streamer shone through.
“We've arrived.”
The taxi driver informed them that they had arrived at the destination, and after paying, they got out.
“Let's see. I've been here a few times, so follow me.”
“Okay. But, what did you meet him for?”
“That hyung used to do content for discovering new streamers. That's when I met him. Of course, I was in my 4th year, and you're on your 3rd day, damn.”
He said that, but didn't show any real jealousy or self-loathing.
Taewoo was also someone who endured a long hard period and eventually succeeded.
He knew that comparing himself to others was meaningless and that one's own self was important.
Only after wandering for about 30 minutes was Taewoo able to reach the destination.
‘He said he'd been here before.’
Seojun shook his head and pressed the doorbell.
Ding-dong.
A moment later, the door opened, and a person came out from inside.