Chapter 178
Pro players.
For gamers, they are an insurmountable wall.
You can’t reach that level just by playing a lot or having a decent amount of talent.
Someone once said:
“The talent to become a pro can be recognized at a glance, even in your very first game.”
It’s a position that requires that much effort even with talent, but in the end, if you don’t have the kind of talent that stands out at a glance even in your first game, it’s a place you can never reach no matter how hard you try.
In the virtual reality world, no amount of explanation can truly convey just how extraordinary these people are to gamers.
In short, they are the idols of gamers.
But that kind of person.
Lost.
[lolololololololololo I just can’t even?]
[Is this actually possible?]
[Has the world gone insane? Am I seeing things??]
[Asking again lolololololol Jin Seojun <-- What the hell is this guy?]
Not even the streamer himself, but against an AI.
[Asking again lolololololol Jin Seojun <-- What the hell is he?]
==
Seriously, what is he?
==
-How many times do I have to say it, he’s the Heavenly Demon.
└In Korea, the Heavenly Demon really is invincible lolololololololololol
└Did the streamer’s subscribers know this would happen?
-Wow, his swordsmanship is insane. Doesn’t this mean he’s clearly above pro level?
└The reason Taker died was because he made a mistake at the end. He was rushed. That scene would never happen under normal circumstances.
└But it did happen, didn’t it?
└Who doesn’t know that?
[Whether it was a mistake or not, isn’t it a fact that his swordsmanship was completely overwhelming?]
-For real lol
-We have to ban sword champions no matter what.
-Wow, crap, now RIOS mid laners have to face pros lolololololololololololololol
└He probably won’t be a pro in the league, you idiot.
└Does a sword become not a sword in the league? How can you say that after seeing that skill?
-Jin Seojun just casually taking him down in 30 seconds is seriously ridiculous. Meanwhile, someone else makes a mistake and dies doing that lolololololol
[Is it even fair to have real-time updating in the training arena?]
==
So that’s why Shin Hayeon’s swordsmanship and Baek Doyul’s swordsmanship are accurate?
At least the weak point was updated perfectly, it seems.
==
-For real lolololol He died because of that at the end.
-I didn’t know something like that was possible.
-Taker could never seem to do it.
└Does that mean Taker is a mor@n?
└Hey, he’s a pro player among the top five!
└There are ten teams in the Korean league, so top five is half of them.
└Still, he’s tier 1, right?
Seojun’s skill was overwhelmingly unique.
[What are you guys doing? Not betting your points on the rich-poor gap? lololol]
==
This is just a given. Would you bet your precious memories on a team that has a player who isn’t just pro-level but utterly crushes pros?
Or would you bet your precious memories on a team made up of five clowns?
==
-Calling them clowns lolololololololololololololololololololol Didn’t you collect those precious memories with those clowns?
└I like our clowns. They’re surfers. But I still can’t bet points lol (OP)
-Post proof or it didn’t happen.
└I just saw that and immediately bet my entire fortune on the rich-poor gap lolololol (photo) (OP)
└Proof acknowledged.
-Stop gambling and talking about precious memories lolololololololololol
└Hey, it’s not gambling, it’s betting.
└What’s the difference? I genuinely don’t know.
-Wait a bit longer before betting lolololololololololololol They haven’t even started practicing properly yet lolololol
└You still won’t bet after seeing that? How cautious can you possibly be? (OP)
└This just proves that the current #1 on the point rankings didn’t get there for nothing. Assassin? That bastard must be a genius.
└Oh lol just bet on something else. Let me eat up some points.
[Anyway, it’s pissing me off how the viewers over there are saying they knew this would happen.]
[Who the hell knew this would happen lololol]
[The streamer is a god!]
[Why aren’t you guys subscribing? Why aren’t you subscribing? Why aren’t you subscribing?]
[Wow... but what’s with the viewer count, holy crap 150k? He’s #1 right now?]
* * *
-lolololololol
-Jin Seojun! Jin Seojun! Jin Seojun! Jin Seojun!
-Has the streamer seriously gone insane?! lolololololol
-A true master of Zen lolololololol
-But I knew it. It was just too early; even pros can’t beat the streamer!
-Yeah, I knew even pros would get destroyed lolololololololololololol
-For real lol
The viewers were overjoyed, but Seojun’s brain momentarily froze.
To be more precise, he was quite flustered.
Because, well.
‘No, why would you lose there?’
He hadn’t expected it at all.
Of course, it wasn’t that the loss was impossible.
The countermeasure Seojun had previously planted was designed to counter the move the opponent was most confident in.
If things played out like they just did, a loss could indeed happen.
But still.
“Wow, to just forget that.”
Ah.
Seojun snapped back to his senses and covered it up.
“No, I meant I forgot the gas stove. Hey. Confirm kill? Stop making stuff up!”
He had already thoroughly provoked him, and adding one more thing on top of that... well, Seojun no longer had any desire to mess with Taker further.
Because, you know.
Isn’t he pitiful?
-Look at him leading him on to the very end lolololololol
-Wow. After delivering such a brutal lesson, he does it even here? That’s really cruel lolololololol Streamer lololol
-A pro? lolololol Isn’t he just a weakling who gets beaten by a clone? lololol
-For real lol
-I feel like you should never become enemies with the streamer lolololol
-Koitz www Now he’s even dunking on the coach he invited.
However, due to all the karma he had built up before, Seojun’s sincerity ended up being distorted.
Well, if they don’t believe it, so be it.
“How did you do that just now?”
Ha Yoonho asked.
“I didn’t do it, you know?”
The clone did it.
“Wow. Seriously... our ace is amazing.”
Rumi had, at some point, thrown away the carrot she was holding.
The alpaca, too.
Seeing his teammates like that, Seojun shook his head.
‘Still, thanks to this, they’ll follow along much better now.’
The likelihood of anyone leaving had decreased.
“So, is the bet over now?”
“I just wanted to see your skill, but what on earth is this...”
“It really leaves you dumbfounded.”
-For real lol
-I got a damn good show.
-No, but the streamer is #1 in viewer count right now!
-Oh lol I was going to watch Baek Doyul, but I think I’ll just stay here.
-Me too lololololololol
Ah.
He had reached #1 in viewer count.
They’d probably drop off again, but even so, if you combined Seojun’s and Ha Yoonho’s viewer counts, their team would maintain the highest numbers.
At least for today.
“Ah. Right.”
There was one more thing he had to say.
“So, Baek Doyul sunsoo-nim?”
Seojun knew.
“Aren’t you coming in?”
That Baek Doyul had subtly, under the guise of humility, launched a light attack on him.
And.
That even though he wanted to fight, he was holding himself back.
* * *
[So, Baek Doyul sunsoo-nim? Aren’t you coming in?]
‘Whoa. What a fiery hyung-nim. But he does have the right to be that way.’
Wooju, whose world had briefly gone dark—Taker.
He snapped back to his senses at Seojun’s words.
He had lost to an AI.
It was an embarrassing thing, and even for him, he was almost afraid to see what people would say.
His teammates would probably tease him.
He was also worried about what the team coach and the manager would say.
-Taker, your meal privileges are confiscated until you finish all your training starting today lolololololololololololol
-Meal privileges confiscated, lolololololol
-You’ve really dragged a pro’s name through every possible kind of humiliation, haven’t you?
Even though it was a mistake, the fact remained that he had been utterly overwhelmed by a streamer in the training arena.
But.
Even though he had been so worried at first, as he gradually realized something, he reached a state where he no longer cared what anyone else said.
Perhaps he had been enlightened even as he was being beaten.
‘I’ve found the path I must walk.’
Because he had found the answer.
Until now, he had been stagnant.
His skill, which had once rapidly leaped over walls, hadn’t budged in the slightest for a long time.
It felt as if a huge wall was blocking his path.
So he had tried learning other things.
But the results were the same: only minuscule growth, barely even noticeable.
And so he kept sticking his feet in various places and dawdling.
‘I suppose “wandering” would be the right word.’
There was no one to give him a clear answer.
It wasn’t that he was in a slump; it was just that after reaching a sufficiently high position, his growth had slowed down. People only told him that there were no more leaps to be had.
That it was natural.
That if he just accepted it and kept working hard as he always had, things would work out.
That wasn’t wrong.
The problem, however, was that a thought kept lingering in his head, telling him that something was misaligned.
The bigger issue here, as with most problems in life, was that he didn’t know exactly what was off.
But.
‘That person had been showing me from the very beginning.’
[Swing it ten thousand times a day. Then, you can become like me.]
‘He saw through my problem at a single glance!’
Before he knew it, he had even started using the highest form of honorifics in his mind.
‘And the reason he changed the swordsmanship... Yes. He must have done it to show me that if the fundamentals are different, even when using other people’s swordsmanship, it becomes more powerful.’
In his perception, Seojun was no longer an insolent person.
A master who seemed rough and thoughtless on the surface, but had deeper intentions than anyone else.
Or perhaps a teacher.
That was the image he had become.
‘Alright, let’s do it.’
The thing Seojun had said.
Swinging the sword ten thousand times a day.
Let’s do that.
If possible, it would be great if he could do it at that gym.
‘First, I should apologize to hyung-nim for my insolence.’
Of course, Seojun had said to himself that he’d have to do it for about 200 years, but Taker had no way of knowing that.
* * *
Meanwhile.
[So, Baek Doyul sunsoo-nim? Aren’t you coming in?]
Baek Doyul could feel, throughout his entire body, that his already boiling competitive spirit was truly overflowing.
‘He’s riling me up.’
He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
Even so, the corners of his mouth curled up.
Fun.
Exciting.
I want to fight him.
In this training arena.
And in the league.
In Hyeobeul Wihayeo.
‘Is this the second time?’
How long had it been since he had seen something he wasn’t sure he could reproduce, no matter how many times he tried?
Before today, it had only happened once.
The person then was Shin Hayeon.
But today.
‘He steals someone else’s sword and then perfectly layers his own swordsmanship on top of it?’
One more had been added.
Taking him down in 30 seconds—he felt he could probably do that too.
But using someone else’s sword was a different matter.
You have to move in a way that goes against the movements ingrained in your body. That requires an immense amount of practice to get used to.
And to combine it with your existing movements, you need a corresponding level of understanding.
And what’s more, this was Shin Hayeon’s or Baek Doyul’s sword.
Where on earth was that understanding coming from?
‘It seems like he must have prepared for quite a long time...’
Rationally, that made sense.
But for some reason, Baek Doyul felt that his opponent had just seen it today and executed it on the spot.
-Baek Doyul sunsoo-nim? Scared?
-The upvote is paying close attention to how this will play out.
-The upvote paying attention, what kind of nonsense lololololololol you mean “attention is focusing.”
-You seriously need to get off those internet communities, you bastard lololololololololol
-If you’re curious, upvote lololol
At any rate, today was not the day.
You can’t settle a match through an AI. He might even lose.
Baek Doyul admitted it cleanly.
His opponent probably knew that too, which was why he was riling him up like this.
It was obvious.
Still, in the end, he had managed to take down Shin Hayeon somehow, even if it was as a team.
So he would find a way this time too.
“Haha. We’ll have a chance to face each other next time, I’m sure. So now...”
It won’t be long.
First.
“Shall we go train?”
He had to win the proxy match first.
Saying that, Baek Doyul turned off Seojun’s stream.