Chapter 120
Oh Ji-hye, the director of the Surface R&D Center, was carefully watching beyond the screen.
On the monitor in front, she could see the gameplay of Seojun, who had entered the top-tier capsule a few meters away.
And on the monitor attached next to it, Seojun's physical responses were being collected in real time.
Such data was also saved and sent to her when Seojun played games in the capsule at home.
"It’s only natural."
Originally, if a user showed abnormal physical responses, Surface could be notified immediately.
Also, for those who consented to help create safer capsules, data was collected.
But for one person, without any choice, they were told to just hand over the data – and that person was Seojun.
Of course, Oh Ji-hye didn't need to personally check Seojun's data.
"Anyway, if any problem occurred, it would notify me automatically."
Nevertheless, she checked Seojun's data every day.
Safety was just a bonus reason; the main reason was pure curiosity.
"Really fascinating."
The test Seojun was currently undergoing was a program called the Combat Simulator.
Its creator was her.
Seojun was now surrounded by virtual enemies and fighting them.
The purpose of the program was to observe physical reactions in the countless situations that could arise in combat.
Most virtual reality games involve combat where you directly move your body.
So, she thought, wouldn’t it be good to just simulate combat situations and see how one reacts right away, without needing to perform other exercises? That’s why she made it.
And now she was in admiration.
"Top tier again."
Other reactions weren't bad.
Dozens of physical values were at appropriate levels, and several brainwave-related reactions were good compared to the synchronization rate.
But the in-game reaction speed—from seeing an attack to deflecting it—was different.
[Reaction Speed: Top Tier]
A figure that could only appear when someone with real-world reflexes in the top 0.01% had a high synchronization rate capable of transmitting it without loss was now being displayed.
Yet it shouldn’t appear for Seojun, whose synchronization rate was low.
The standard itself was set so that "Top Tier" would appear only if the person with a low synchronization rate reacted faster than the fastest possible deflection by moving immediately upon sight, so it was physically impossible.
Yet it came out as Top Tier.
"Just check if it’s working properly, one last time."
Oh Ji-hye typed on the keyboard and turned off the program's combat pattern.
This simulator operated according to specific patterns.
The purpose of the patterns was one.
To generate combat that, while creating complex and numerous situations, was appropriate for the user playing to react.
Oh Ji-hye turned off the patterns, and right after it switched to random, the combat situation began to get messy.
Naturally. All possible attacks just popped out randomly without context.
Neither difficult nor easy, just disorder.
It would become hard to see proper reactions, but against Seojun, only by doing this could she see them properly.
Oh Ji-hye turned off the program and waited for Seojun to come out while checking the final figures.
[Reaction Speed: High]
This was Seojun's true reaction speed.
Even this figure was close to impossible considering Seojun's synchronization rate, so it could be evidence that Seojun utilized his body with extreme efficiency.
It also meant that his real-life physical specs were incredibly outstanding.
Then what was that earlier Top Tier?
Seojun came out of the capsule, and Oh Ji-hye spoke.
"Good work as always. No abnormalities in your body. And I lost again. You know, right? That you won."
"I can’t not know."
It was because the patterns were read.
In short, Seojun didn’t react after seeing; he moved in advance, making Top Tier possible.
‘There must be some intention since the patterns have a purpose, but still.’
With so many possibilities, how could he read the next attack?!
Even Oh Ji-hye only created the formulas, but could never predict the result; she just left the calculations to the machine. Yet he predicted it?
Admiration was inevitable.
"At this rate, I have to update the patterns again! I need to add even more variables."
This was a little contest between Seojun and Oh Ji-hye.
Until now, since no one except Seojun had ever predicted the next attack, updating wasn't really necessary.
Nevertheless, Oh Ji-hye, who kept updating every time, was quite a competitive person.
And Seojun also had a personality that wouldn’t give in.
"Director, no other issues, right?"
"Yes."
Oh Ji-hye, who checked Seojun's data daily, answered.
As mentioned earlier, it wasn’t for safety.
Simply, by looking at the data and seeing when brainwaves appeared during gameplay, she could determine whether this was predicted or reacted to on sight, and she was curious about that.
A prediction close to precognition that only Seojun could show!
In the past, Oh Ji-hye, who knew of this talent, had wished for Seojun to return to this world.
But the problem was the price.
‘He had compensation money before, and his house seemed comfortable, but...’
Being able to buy and actually buying are completely different.
So she threw a bait.
And Oh Ji-hye was certain.
Certain that once he came back in, he wouldn’t want to leave.
That expectation hit the mark, and thinking it was good she had pushed him, Oh Ji-hye wore a satisfied expression.
"Ah, Seojun-nim. Today, the announcement for Rio's participation applications will go up."
That was why she had asked if he could come today.
"Today, huh."
"Yes, and with your current viewer count, you’ll definitely be accepted. Congratulations."
Oh Ji-hye was acquainted with the people behind Rio's, and if Seojun didn't cause any accidents during streaming, she planned to recommend him directly later.
If she told them about Seojun's past, they would surely show interest.
But he had succeeded as a streamer on his own, so there was no need to move.
"Thank you."
"Still, you know it’s hard to win, right? It’s a team game."
"Well, I know. I’ve tried it before."
"Right. So, a tip: hide your power at least a little until the teams are formed."
"Huh? Why?"
Seojun made a curious expression.
"Rio's forms teams by having team captains auction for team members. But the possibility of you becoming a team captain is low."
"Yes."
Team captains are mainly selected from veteran streamers with long careers, high recognition among streamers, and built chemistry.
Strictly speaking, Seojun is a newcomer.
It wouldn’t be a big problem, but from the organizers’ perspective, entrusting the captaincy to Seojun was clearly a reluctant choice unless there was no alternative.
"Then you’ll be an auction item. In the past, these items would appeal tremendously to sell themselves at a high price."
"It’s nice to be recognized."
"Yes, but they all realized in just the first tournament that if you get sold for a high price, there’s a serious problem."
Because if you’re sold that expensively, the points the captain can use to purchase other team members decrease.
"So the more expensive I am, the lower the chance that other expensive items will join my team?"
"Yes, exactly. So they try to downplay themselves as much as possible. If you hide your power just a little, you’ll probably gain a great advantage."
But would Seojun really care about that? Thinking about it, probably not.
At Seojun's following answer, Oh Ji-hye let out a dumbfounded chuckle.
"I see. It just so happens that I’m in the habit of only showing 30% of my power, so that should be fine."
"It doesn’t seem that way at all. Oh, and when are you going to reveal that you played in the past? I’m curious."
"Well, how famous was I? Even back then, it was the early days, strictly speaking."
"Still, many people might know, don’t you think? Maybe a lot more than you think?"
"No way."
* * *
After finishing preparations to start streaming, Seojun pressed the back button briefly right before hitting the broadcast start button.
The place he entered afterward was Travle.
Specifically, the category "The League."
- 1.185 million watching
Over a million, this number reached a 4% viewership rating.
It meant that a single category of a streaming platform rivaled the ratings of the most popular variety show.
It was a clear example of just how great its influence was.
Naturally, as much, countless streamers flocked to this category.
‘They said a mere ten thousand streamers was nothing, right?’
Not only that.
Here, major companies among majors would turn on several at the same time.
Also, mid-tier ones were always densely packed as a baseline.
It was that kind of ecosystem.
A fierce ecosystem where the more viewers there are, the more streamers there are.
And now, at last, Seojun was about to step into that place.
Seojun set the broadcast category and pressed the start button.
[Streaming begins]
-Seoha
-S.H.
-The streamer's here?
-S.H.
Viewers with excellent reaction speeds, who pressed as soon as they got the notification, poured in with chat greetings.
"Hello, nice to meet you. Yes, today is The League."
-A new game, damn
-Curious what kind of troll you'll show this time lol
-Newbie's here, cause another ruckus
-If he gets support, he'll probably eat all the minions himself lol
-No no, he'll probably abandon his lane without knowing where to go and head elsewhere
Spoilery chats were visible.
But this time, he wasn't a real newbie.
So Seojun said this.
"Everyone, I've studied. I've already decided on my nickname, you know?"
Seojun launched The League.
-This isn't right!
-Why do you keep deciding such important things on your own?
-For real lol, a streamer should spin the roulette
-It's Cheonma, right? Cheonma, right? Cheonma, right?
-So damn curious what you chose lol
Even he had tried to decide on the nickname by discussing with viewers this time.
Because deciding a nickname is the hardest thing normally!
When else to borrow the power of collective intelligence if not now?
But yesterday, a message came from Han Ji-min while checking mail.
That someone had bought a nickname in The League to give to Seojun.
‘Did they say they bought it for a million won?’
Out of gratitude, he checked it, and since he liked the nickname, Seojun immediately contacted them and entered the game.
The method of buying a nickname is simple.
You just have to create an account under that nickname at the exact moment the owner changes to a different one.
The ID obtained that way was.
[Geomsin]
-Rare nickname... huh?
-Kya! Geomsin!
-Did you buy it?
-How much does something like that cost lol
-Did you betray to the righteous faction after all! You bastard!
Seojun immediately corrected it. Not that he corrected the fact that he betrayed the Demon Cult.
"I didn't buy it; gratefully, one of the viewers gifted it to me, so I decided to use this. Thank you again to the person who gifted it."
-Ah...
-Hey Demon Cult bastards, you won, so why aren't you offering Cheonma nickname?
-They should reflect a bit
-So you're only holding a sword in this game too lol
-You named yourself that, so you can't play mage. You know that, right?
-Are you going as a walker?
He wasn't necessarily only going to play sword-wielding characters.
But since it had been a while, he had decided to pick a character he used to play today.
"Then I'll start the game right away. I've studied the tutorial, so I don't need it. Really."
The character was ready.
-Of course, naturally.
-Skip without mercy lol
-Because of guys like this, tutorials should be forced lol
-Come on, you probably did the tutorial when making the nickname yesterday!
-You trust the streamer? Lol
-Ah lol, if he read the manual, he wouldn't be a tech idiot lol
-Troll on
This time, really, he didn't need it, but they were acting like that.
* * *
Meanwhile.
On the largest The League community of Adventure's game communities, a post was uploaded.
[Who is this bastard with 20,000 viewers? First time seeing him]