Chapter 184
Sensation does not come to everyone in the same way.
Even in virtual reality, where a machine transmits the same information directly to the brain, bypassing sensory organs with their individual differences.
When looking at a single landscape, the point where each person’s gaze first lands will differ.
Clouds reddened in the sunset. A quiet cottage. A light reflected on the water’s surface.
Even when hearing the same note, those with musical sense will automatically replay what note it is in their heads.
If not, they just hum along.
Even pain perception is the same.
Some people can’t properly tell where they were hit, while others can gauge how they were hit from the pain of the impact.
It’s a difference in the way of interpreting information.
And this method of interpretation can change.
In other words.
‘You can cultivate it.’
Acquiring the ability to distinguish notes, as mentioned earlier.
Or gaining the vision to capture minute details is possible after the fact.
This isn’t a distant story.
Right now, lifeguards at swimming pools develop and train methods to better spot people drowning.
Seo-jun judged that all these kinds of abilities are quite useful in virtual reality.
Woowoong!
Just like now.
- Did the streamer just give up on the game? lmao
- Is he giving up on the back? lol guess it’s over
- No guys, this is kind of weird?
- Watch Ha Yun-ho’s broadcast
- No, what is it?
The seventh wave.
Only one target appeared behind.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
While the orb was handling half of the front in an optimal path, and then the next half.
Others would have to check behind and then shoot, but Seo-jun didn’t need that process.
Because he located them by sound.
Two orbs are shot forward.
Bang! Bang!
One draws a parabola and goes on to aim for the next target.
The other was shot in a straight line. Because after hitting the target.
Swish!
The orb flew quickly towards Seo-jun. Then it passes by the side of his face and disappears.
Soon, a faint sound from behind.
Bang!
“Can’t you hear me?”
Only then did the viewers start to realize gradually.
- No, what???
- Turn on Ha Yun-ho’s broadcast quickly
- Emergency! Chovy emergency!
- That bastard is hitting them without looking back now?
- ??? Is that possible? Could it be predicted??
- The streamer is asking if they can’t hear him lmao fuck
Of course, when he first tried it, it wasn’t accurate.
It was in a slightly different position than expected from hearing the sound.
But since he confirmed it was slightly off, he just had to correct the sensation of interpreting information.
Of course, even after confirming, he couldn’t be sure.
‘That’s why I called it an adventure, and it worked out well.’
What Seo-jun did is something anyone can do with enough training.
‘For about a hundred years?’
If you train that hard, you can. Or remember your past life.
Seo-jun laughed inwardly as he walked.
Even though he succeeded in the seventh wave, he couldn’t afford to be complacent.
It was only the beginning, and there was only one chance.
If he stumbled even slightly in the remaining 40 waves, he wouldn’t touch the rankers’ records and would fail outright.
Nevertheless, Seo-jun strides forward leisurely.
“What am I doing? How can I predict? I’m doing it by hearing everything.”
While communicating with the viewers, a streamer’s duty.
Swish!
Targets fly and orbs are shot.
The flying spheres mix chaotically.
“So, you know that thing everyone does. You have to be able to do at least this.”
- Is it really sound play??
- Is he insane?
- After the targets appeared behind, the clearing speed got much faster than the rankers’ ㄷㄷㄷ
- Does sound play even make sense? No ranker has done it so far?
‘They just didn’t know, so they couldn’t.’
Now that people will know it’s possible, they’ll probably challenge and research and manage to do it.
This kind of thing is common in games.
Problems that everyone thought were impossible, but once you change your thinking a little or find an incredibly simple method, they get solved.
Rankers would be able to train enough and cultivate the ability to distinguish. Some might already have it.
If that happens, perhaps the current ranking standards will become much higher.
But that’s none of Seo-jun’s concern. He just needs to get into the rankings this once.
- Then… my money?
- Huh????
- Where’s the safe asset???
- He’s identifying positions by hearing lmao fucking hell
- No lmao, the streamer is using a bug again!
- In the middle of all that, he’s so cool
- For real, other rankers look clumsy putting their hands in their pockets and looking back, but the streamer just walks lmao
- Look, he doesn’t even turn his head
- So what do we do?
“What do you mean what do we do? Go bankrupt.”
Woowoong.
Swish!
Bang! Bang!
Busy.
Walk, spot targets, summon, shoot.
Even while continuously doing this series of actions, targets start piling up.
He has to send orbs to positions he remembered earlier, and simultaneously engrave in his mind the positions of newly appearing targets.
Additionally, the weak noise that enters his ears when targets are destroyed interferes.
It can only be confusing, but.
“Ah. I’m concentrating. But I can’t stop communication. Because I’m a streamer!”
Nevertheless, he teases the viewers on the verge of bankruptcy.
How many times did he say it’s a safe asset.
- Please make a mistake
- Please
- Ah, streamer, a bug sound play like that isn’t right here lmao
- My assets! Where did they go!
- No, there’s still hope!
20th step.
In the end, the number of targets that couldn’t be dealt with and got pushed back.
- How many?
- I don’t know
- I went to Ha Yun-ho’s broadcast and counted to the back. Right now, the streamer has 12 pushed back.
1.5 cycles?
The delay seems slightly less than 1.5 seconds. If it’s this much.
“It seems doable. Into the top 10.”
In 50 steps, a total of 392 targets are summoned. They don’t appear on the last step.
Then how many have the rankers fallen behind at this point?
There were chat messages asking about that.
Seo-jun recalled the video of the 10th ranker he saw earlier from his memory.
“That 10th place? I think they were behind by about the same 12. Probably they’re a bit ahead.”
- Oh, memory power!
- So there’s a chance?
- I don’t think so? Even if the ranker is slightly ahead now, this will eventually get overturned.
- So he has to make a mistake!
That’s right.
With 30 steps remaining, if it’s similar now, it will eventually be reversed.
Because Seo-jun had been stacking targets faster than the rankers ever since the wave where targets started appearing behind.
No matter how he handles them with two, not perfectly within 1 second, this is ultimately a relative evaluation.
It would be more convenient if the count were tallied in real time, but well.
It does add tension.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Walk. Create. Destroy. Spot.
The targets pile up and pile up, but if you were to simultaneously play the ranker’s video and Seo-jun’s streaming and compare, perhaps seeing the number of targets the ranker in real-time couldn’t deal with, the viewers would despair.
30 steps.
‘By now, has it been overturned?’
- But what was that bullshit about language earlier?
- There’s something newbies don’t know, called visualization of hearing.
- Ah lol, that? Fuck, I have to study language arts again.
- It seems we’re fucked?
- Even US Treasury bonds can collapse.
- Language teacher, please look the other way just once, language teacher, please look the other way just once, language teacher, please look the other way just once
- Literature is hard! Literature is hard! Literature is hard! Literature is hard!
35 steps.
- Seeing him clench his teeth and not make a single mistake is kind of infuriating.
- It doesn’t look like he’s clenching his teeth, though?
- For real lol, he’s smiling and reading out the chat.
- He must be amused. Since he’s about to earn 10 million won lol.
- People with about 1% stake in that are giving thumbs up lol.
- Here’s a sucker who bet 100,000 won.
40 steps.
- I really thought it was safe this time and bet 300,000 won ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
- 300,000 won, fucking hell lol, how many chickens is that?
- Give up.
- Top 10 is easy.
45 steps.
- I’m done.
- I know he’ll make a mistake here.
- Who said this was a safe asset? Come out now.
- Was there really a shill?
- No lol, who would have known that the Id trial could be sound played?
Last 50 steps.
Seo-jun stood before a barrier that seemed over 10 meters.
Hoo.
He let out a deep sigh of relief.
While coming here, he had chatted to lightly tease the viewers, but there were moments he almost made a mistake.
Of course, he didn’t in the end.
The targets that had surrounded him disappeared. They looked like over 30.
“It’s over. Let’s see the ranking now. Ah, what was the number 1’s score? I started without checking the ranking properly.”
Although watching the video was enough to gauge.
- Crazy bastard lol.
- But at this level, it’s not 10th place…
- Huh?
* * *
Meanwhile, at the same time.
A place over 6,900 miles away from Korea.
Changing the yard-pound system so hated by STEM majors, it’s about 11,000 kilometers away, one of the three major cities in the world.
Among them, if we were to rank, it’s the unrivaled number one, a city often appearing in videos asking where the capital of the US is as a common sense question.
New York, USA.
In a loft house remodeled from an abandoned factory in Brooklyn, New York, where a famous American female pro gamer was spending her vacation, the slightly distorted news about Seo-jun reached her a beat late.
“Noona, your Id rank #1 was you, right? They say it’ll be broken soon.”
Through her younger brother’s friend who was browsing the community.
“What are you talking about.”
She was lying sprawled on the bed. With her head resting in the opposite direction of the pillow.
She sluggishly moved towards the edge of the bed.
Then, when her neck touched the edge, she let her head hang down, looking upside down at her brother sitting at the computer desk in front of the bed.
It was because she didn’t have the energy to get up and turn around.
Because she’s on vacation!
Her blonde hair touched the floor.
It’s fine. They take off shoes indoors.
“My friend David said that a famous streamer from Korea who beat a pro with skill can break your record using only two orbs right now!”
“That’s bullshit.”
After spouting that nonsense weakly, she told her brother to just go to school.
“Your brother is interrupting your sister’s sweet vacation.”
“I was living here, so why did I become the one interrupting your vacation?”
“But who got this house for us?”
“You did.”
“So no argument?”
“Yes. But what if your record gets broken?”
“Oh, come on. You worry about everything. If he even gets into the top 10 with two orbs, I’ll follow that person around and be their servant if they appear in the next history book. I’ll abandon any goal and just do it unconditionally.”
“In front of all the league users worldwide? That’d be fun. But what if he gets first place and takes your spot?”
“I’ll just take it back.”
“Is that possible? Isn’t your current record the limit?”
“That’s why. Why do you even talk about something that can’t happen.”
She had been waiting for Id to appear in the league’s event for years.
Id is unaffiliated, so it’s definitely possible to do legal solo plays in events. More precisely, she could do as she pleased.
Of course, other heroes could also do as they pleased, but if they did, they might get cursed by the fans of each faction. Asking why they’re trolling.
In the event, she also had the option of targeting other unaffiliated heroes.
However, unless it was her most played hero that she’s good at usually, she couldn’t guarantee first place in the trial.
“What if Id doesn’t come out?”
Incidentally, Id was also her most played.
“I really think Id will come out this time, but I’m prepared for other heroes too.”
She said confidently, but well.
There are so many formidable people. The artisan users who only play one hero.
“So if that person gets into the top 10 but doesn’t appear in that event?”
“Then there’s nothing I can do. No, in the first place, how can you do it with two!”
“Reeeally? Well, whatever.”
“Just get out! No, I don’t want to know a single thing about virtual reality during vacation! That’s why I came here! So if you keep spouting bullshit, will you leave?”
She loves virtual reality, but when resting, she has to be completely away for a few weeks.
It’s good for mental health and performance.
And even though she loves her work, she refuses to have work become a hobby.
Thus, the American Shin Ha-yeon (she claims Shin Ha-yeon is the Korean version of her), Rachel, buried herself back in the bed.
Her brother didn’t leave.
10 seconds later.
Her brother spoke again.
“Noona, they say it’s broken.”
“What?”
“The first-place record.”
“Keep spouting crap like that…”
“See for yourself.”
Screech.
Her brother moved the chair aside so the monitor was visible, and Rachel sluggishly crawled like before, letting her head hang off the edge of the bed and looking upside down at the monitor, but.
[Id’s Trial Ranking]
#1 – Geomsin (Korea) - 360
#2 – Rachel (USA) - 356
#3 – Bernard (USA) - 344
The moment she saw the ranking, she flipped her body upright and sat up.
“What. Why is this like this… Is it a bug?”