Chapter 14
Travel has a channel point system.
Channel points refer to points that automatically accumulate under certain conditions as you watch Travel, and viewers who first start Travel usually receive 100 points.
And although rare, viewers who have watched Travel for a long time can accumulate points in the millions.
However, what rewards can be obtained with those points varies from streamer to streamer.
Because it is the streamer who sets those rewards.
In broadcasts where no meaning is placed on points and they aren’t paid attention to, there is not much use for them no matter how many points are accumulated.
But in streams of broadcasters who actively utilize them, if the amount is sufficient, starting from changing the chat text, getting or transforming emoticons, and even requesting songs or horror game demands from the streamer can be done.
But there was a separate true reason why viewers liked these points.
“Alright! I gave you plenty of time to submit, so take it easy, everyone.”
It was because of the channel point prediction, that is, a system for betting points on the broadcast content.
[Prediction]
[Within today’s broadcast~]
[He’ll find one or two grains by luck.]
vs
[No, he’ll find up to three or four.]
vs
[What nonsense. No-name here will come up empty like everyone else. (0 grains)]
vs
[No. No-name is an alien with a third eye that sees grains! (Finds 4 or more)]
The various predicted cases that Alpaca had prepared in advance were posted.
Now viewers can check in real-time the displayed odds, number of participants, total bet points, etc., and bet points on one of these predictions.
-Ah lol Of course you can’t find any lolol
-Surely no idiot betting on the alien, right?
-I think he’ll find one or two, let’s go!
-Hey fools, your bro here is giving you top info. A few days ago on a community, it was a hot topic for a bit and hundreds challenged it but no one found anything so it got buried. You get it at this point?
Of course, points are purely digital content with no monetary value, generated solely by watching Travel, and cannot be exchanged or traded, so this prediction system is not gambling.
It doesn’t matter if you lose.
Even if you collect a lot, in most cases the only thing you can do is make your chat that disappears in one second a bit fancier.
But.
Human psychology is like that.
It’s human nature to feel a sense of loss if someone says they’ll give away a comic book you haven’t read in 10 years to your cousin, for no good reason.
Then what if you bet points directly and lose?
Even if it’s meaningless, the desire to win the prediction and collect points is practically instinct.
-Of course betting on the favorite.
-There are people who actually believe he sees that and bet lololol
-Crazy underdog bettors lololol betting on this at 1%? lolol
“What’s ‘favorite’ and what’s ‘underdog’?”
Seojun watched the chat quietly and asked about something he was curious about.
Alpaca kindly answered.
“Ah. ‘Favorite’ is a bet on the team expected to win, so the chance of winning is higher, but if you win, you earn less money.”
“Ah. Then ‘underdog’ is the opposite, I guess.”
“That’s right. It’s usually for people aiming for a big score.”
“Hmm. That’s strange then. Why did ‘I can find them’ become the underdog bet?”
Seojun knew how absurd it sounded to say he could see grains, if one didn’t know his past life.
He understood that the real-time betting ratios showed 55% for ‘won’t find any’, 39% for ‘will find one or two’, 5% for ‘will find three or four’, and 1% for ‘he is an alien’.
But for fun, Seojun put on a truly shameless expression and continued.
“Guys. If you bet on ‘I find four or more’, it’s 100x payout. Trust me.”
-Is that even a thing to say? lololol
-What am I supposed to trust you with, my precious memories?
“Memories? What memories?”
“Ah! Since these points are accumulated while watching the broadcast, they are sometimes called memories.”
“You’re betting those precious memories on something like this gambling? Wow.”
-For real lolololol
-That was a sick burn lololol
-Yeah, still not betting lol
“Alright, now onto the game….”
[‘Assassin of Joseon’ has donated a generous 10,000 won!]
[Trusting Seojun-nim, I bet all my points accumulated over 3 years on 4 or more. Am I normal?]
-No
-Wow! Foreign currency has just come in.
-What a sucker lololol
-For real lol
Usually, when viewers from another channel bet, it’s expressed as ‘foreign currency has come in’.
“Ah. Congratulations. You’ll win 100x. Probably.”
Seojun grinned.
That is, as long as that grain system follows the rules as Seojun thinks.
But if not?
Well, nothing can be done then.
To be honest, it seems like it does exist.
A gut feeling accumulated through past lives.
He just knows.
“Alright! Now let’s go check. We don’t know the result either. It’s just that Seojun-nim said it seems to exist. We can’t take responsibility.”
-Probably lolololol
-Soon, 3 years of memories will disappear
-A true heart of a beast ㄷㄷ
The prediction time closed and Seojun launched Dawn of the Assassins.
“Ah, wait!”
Alpaca’s scream for an unknown reason was buried as the screen switched.
* * *
Darkness fell instantly over the alpine background and Seojun appeared in the middle of Alteon.
He had a pipe in his right hand, and a half-destroyed theater came into view in front of him.
Seojun moved out of the way, turned on the co-op assassination feature, wandered a bit, and then invited Alpaca from his friends list.
After waiting for a moment, a figure crept up from the shadows.
It was Alpaca.
“Phew. Thankfully you invited me well. Right after I sent off the viewers and Seojun-nim, I realized my mistake.”
-lolololol
-There has never been a master like this before.
So that’s why she screamed?
They first went to a tavern and opened the skill window.
“Alright. The place we’re going now is one of the four districts, the residential area of the upper class. In the game, it’s called the Northeastern Edge.”
Alpaca pretended to explain to Seojun while naturally conveying information to the viewers.
The place they were heading to, the Northeastern Edge.
A place with well-developed commercial and cultural facilities like high-end shops and entertainment facilities for the upper class, lined with townhouses.
If you go to the outskirts, it was the undisputed center of Alteon, where the grand mansions of nobles are located.
“Simply put, it’s the rich neighborhood of Alteon.”
The place where Ettore resided was also right here, the Northeastern Edge.
There were many plazas and parks here, and a straight road called the Noble Path that led from the residences of grand nobles to the royal castle.
The difficulty of assassinating VIPs was right below the royal castle.
Unlike the crowded District 4, the Northeastern Edge had wide, open spaces making it easy to be spotted, and there were patrol guards making regular rounds.
The reason they came here was.
“We’ve arrived.”
As they walked along the road, screams were heard from beyond a mansion.
Alpaca climbed over the wall and Seojun followed over.
Because action correction was applied, they could easily climb over walls over 3 meters high.
As they climbed over the wall like assassins, they saw a young man who looked like a noble’s son tormenting a child in rags, stabbing him with a rapier.
“That’s Louis Neville, the son of Richard Neville, the ruler of the Northeastern Edge.”
He was also the protagonist of the video where the weapon was broken.
“First, we should check his skills, right?”
“Okay.”
Seojun nodded and stepped forward.
And from his inventory, he took out the sword he received from Alpaca.
Because it was difficult to target precise areas with a pipe. Though to be honest, it didn’t matter much to Seojun anyway.
Behind him, Alpaca began commentary.
“Now, even if you know where to hit to break it, it’s difficult to replicate it exactly. I think just reproducing the video is one step more difficult than parrying. Of course, with Seojun-nim’s skill he’ll succeed quickly, but still a few failures… eh?”
It was over in an instant.
As Seojun approached, Louis Neville smirked and suddenly thrust his sword, but Seojun, as if expecting it, lightly dodged to the side and then, just as seen in the video, drew a diagonal line across the blade of the thrusting rapier.
With precise position and at the same speed as in the video.
Despite having just picked up the sword, he controlled the distance as if it were a part of his body.
Seojun’s indifferent expression, as if it were nothing, was reflected, and Louis’s estoc split apart with a crack, as if chopped along the wood grain with an axe, and was destroyed.
-What? You said it’s difficult?
-What few failures? lololol
-Wow, a master is a master.
-Are the favorite bettors starting to get scared?
[Spot Weakness]
[Unlock Condition: Destroy weapons through grains 10 times. (1/10)]
Seojun’s skill window was updated.
“Wow. You finished it in one go. You really are different from us.”
Alpaca let out exclamations repeatedly.
Even after watching the video several times and attempting it dozens of times, he had barely succeeded.
Even if the enemy’s sword were still, drawing a line in the exact position is more difficult than one might think.
Yet to hit it during battle, and succeed in one go, was certainly remarkable.
But.
Alpaca approached Seojun.
“But you know it’s still not proven, right?”
-Underdog bettors getting all high and mighty just because of one success is annoying lololol
-Please get a grip
-For real
-If he could find it so quickly, wouldn’t other people have found it long ago already, underdog bettors?
“Well, that’s true.”
Seojun nodded and dealt with Louis Neville.
And he savored the sensation from just now.
“However. It just became certain.”
“Huh? What?”
“That the rule I thought of is correct.”
For someone who had just barely destroyed one weapon through a grain, that was an extremely arrogant statement.
-lolol sure, whatever
-Kids who fall for this, beware of pyramid schemes, for real
-The game has been out for a few days and at most only one case has been found
“Well, seeing is believing, so I’ll show you right away.”
Just then, a soldier was seen running this way, having heard the scream of Louis that he had dealt with.
The shield and sword they were holding.
He had to find the weak point that could break those.
An acquired vulnerability like the grain of wood, a crack in objects, or a minute distortion in the structural form.
‘The developer implemented that.’
Vital point.
‘I think a past abbot of Shaolin who gained the Mind’s Eye was said to see something like this.’
Whether it be objects or martial arts, regardless.
Is it a similar concept?
He had not gained a Mind’s Eye like the Shaolin abbot. While his enlightenment in martial arts from his past life was certainly high, the insight and comprehension of objects were higher in the Shaolin monks.
So in truth, he cannot see this grain. No, he didn’t even know about it.
In the past, and even now.
But.
‘Ultimately, the grain in this game was planted by the developer.’
It means there is no need to recite scriptures and attain the Dao just to understand the enlightenment of objects.
If you grasp the enemy’s intent, that is, the developer’s intent, that’s enough.
And such battles were Seojun’s specialty, built upon countless combat experiences.
Seojun, holding his sword aloft, closed his eyes.
The guard’s movements were predictable anyway.
-lololol
-Did he give up?
-Why are you closing your eyes, mister lolol
In Seojun’s mind, countless diagonal lines were drawn across the shield and sword the guard was holding.
From various angles.
The cases of grains he knew were two. Even so, only one was directly experienced.
But this alone is enough.
Among the many diagonal lines drawn in his imagination, the ones that did not match the developer’s thinking were erased.
And then.
Seojun’s arm slowly began to descend.