Chapter 186
A little while before an American pro, returning from a long vacation of several weeks to the world he was supposed to be in, would marvel at Korea's dazzling pool of prospects and its youth system (about which he knew absolutely nothing).
Upon checking Id's Trial ranking, Seojun was momentarily taken aback by the fact that he was in first place.
"Hmm..."
To the point where he lost his words for a second?
#1 – Sword God (Korea) - 360
#2 – Rachel (USA) - 356
#3 – Bernard (USA) - 344
Even though the gap with second place was only 4, a difference of 0.5 cycles, he had never aimed for first place.
Still, he judged it wouldn’t be a big problem.
After all, from the moment he realized that Sound Play was possible, that second place would surely be able to break his record.
And not just second place—third, fourth, fifth too.
‘Probably, I guess.’
For just that moment, Seojun had significantly overestimated people’s focus and the rankers.
But that was inevitable. He didn’t know that even though someone using four orbs at once could reach a higher peak, pulling it off for all 44 attempts was a record that had only been achieved once in years—that was 356, and Seojun himself had surpassed it.
He’d only roughly gauged by watching rankers’ videos and comparing them to himself.
Since there was no need to measure by precise seconds or calculate deeply, Seojun quickly collected himself and said:
“Was pretty easy.”
‘They’ll take back the record soon enough, I suppose.’
-lololololol
-The host is stretching out toward the world, we’re screwed
-Innkeeper! Pour a shot!
-Isn’t Rachel a pro? This might get a bit controversial
-Why do you always call everything a controversy lol just stop making it into one, internet mob
-Exactly lol stop stirring up controversy. Don’t we have to show Westerners a bit of kimchi’s spicy flavor?
Kimchi, at least, he acknowledged.
Seojun nodded and then crisply presented the bill.
“Now then, you know the drill, right?”
Smiles blossomed.
Of course, not on Seojun, but on the faces of his teammates who rushed over the moment the trial ended.
“I believed in you all along!”
Ha Yun-ho chuckled. With the stream doing well, he was simply in a good mood.
-Always believing
-You guys should believe too
-We trusted the safe asset that is our viewers......
-They were laughing just a moment ago and now they’re suddenly all gloomy, you bastards lol
-My money...
Baramgeom raised a thumb and added a word.
“Did you really go crazy? Do you know how shocked I was watching from behind?”
Isn’t it shocking precisely because I didn’t go crazy?
Seojun smirked and asked one more thing.
“What about when I struck Kael’s vitals?”
“That was far more shocking.”
Baramgeom answered without a moment’s hesitation.
-The most consistent bastard lol
-Simply a Kael one-tool lol
-Even if he ended up in the tower because he got pushed by the host, at heart he’s a Kael-obsessed...
These two were the only teammates who had come this far. The rest were waiting at the starting point.
Of course, since it wasn’t far, they could hear everything.
Fifty steps away, after all.
“Hyung. Do you know who Rachel is?”
As Seojun walked over, Lee Dong-su scratched his head and said.
Seems like I didn’t draw much aggro this time.
“Who is she?”
“They say she’s the Shin Ha-yeon of America... Anyway, hyung, good luck from now on. You might get a little annoyed?”
“Why?”
-Yeah, why?
-Because you broke the ranking, so a duel notice is bound to come, that’s common? sense
-Exactly lol it's common sense
-Rachel is famous too!
-First of all, she's incredibly pretty
-Who would win in a looks showdown, Shin Ha-yeon vs Rachel?
-The host in a magical girl outfit wins
-Heol lololol tru
-You haven’t even seen the magical girl outfit lol
‘These bastards...’
Are they crazy?
“Anyone who mentioned the magical girl gets a 10-minute ban. Please reflect a little.”
-Ah
-Chat up!
-Run away!
-Mu
-Mu
-Bing
-Mu
-Bing
-Mu
Seojun scrolled the chat up and hunted down a few viewers, handing them 10-minute bans.
And while Seojun was ferreting out the culprits, Ha Yun-ho figured out what had happened.
“Huh? What’s this. Ah, you mean they were asking who’s prettier between Rachel and Shin Ha-yeon, and someone said Seojun-ssi dressed as a magical girl is prettier? Pfft. But wait, have you ever dressed as a magical girl, Seojun-ssi?”
“Oh. I want to see that too.”
“Alpaca-hyung, why on earth?”
“Heh heh. Coach-nim. Don’t you just want to see it?”
“Hmm... I don’t really want to see it, but I’d like to have that picture.”
“Why?”
“So I can use it to stop him from skipping training tomorrow?”
“Ah! So this is what it means to be a pro?”
“Wow. But come to think of it, I’ve never done a magical girl cosplay either, and they say Seojun-ssi did?”
Just then, after finishing dealing with the troublemakers, Seojun answered.
“Rumi-nim. I’ve never done it either. Please don’t misunderstand.”
-In the end, they died a noble death...
-A 10-minute ban! This is tyranny, tyranny!
-Host, stop the tyranny immediately and press the mission failure button!
-Ah...
-The mission... my money, my bonds, my stocks, my real estate...
“Haha. Then shall I press success now? Everyone, please do your Korean language review beforehand next time. If you don’t study, this is how you lose money. What is Sound Play?”
“What is it?”
Ha Yun-ho, Rumi, and Baramgeom had no idea what he was talking about.
But Lee Dong-su and Alpaca, strictly speaking, were viewers from the early days!
“It’s literature, hyungs and noona.”
-No way lol how does Lee Dong-su know that? lol
-Was he part of the host team?
-So that's how he got out here lol
-Ah, okay, since you knew, literature teacher! Please let it slide just once!
-Synaesthesia is bullshit, host, does that make any sense? Figuring it out through hearing, does that make any sense! Thinking about it, this is fraud! Fraud! Isn’t this a bug!
-I get that you’re sad about losing money, but lol stop going berserk
-So I’m a Korean lang average 5...
-That’s not what that means though?
-I said my Korean average was grade 5 back in school lol What even is visualization of hearing?
-It’s easy to mistake for a safe asset lol I didn’t bet
Jubilation and despair crossed paths.
All kinds of people gathered, laughing and chattering.
‘A place where you lose money and memories.’
That is Travel.
“Hmm, but everyone.”
Now that he was about to press success, Seojun felt a slight pang of regret.
-Why, what now
-You’re not trying to shake us down for more, are you?
That was correct.
[Place within the top 10 of Id’s Trial — Mission reward: 9,760,000 won]
“Couldn’t you add just 240,000 more?”
-You’re dead set on making it ten million won lol
-ㄷㄷㄷ
-He’s asking to add reward money to a mission where the betting failed, you crazy bastard lol
“Wow.”
“This is a bit much.”
“Trying to suck the marrow too... Didn’t he already know about Sound Play all along?”
His teammates misunderstood. They sent accusatory looks.
But compared to the reward at stake, it was a mere 240,000 won.
More than anything.
“Would I speak with just empty words?”
-Oh?
-Ask and double down?
-One more time??
-For 240,000 won, one more chance is actually a huge steal for us?
-Even if we lose, it’s worth a shot
-My fundraising is ready lol
“If you all fill up the remaining 240,000 won...”
“If we fill it up?”
“Ohhh!”
“What are you going to do now...”
“I will change the terms of the bet to ranking first in Kael’s Trial.”
Seojun declared boldly.
It was somewhat reasonable. A mere 240,000 won. Not just top 10 of the trial’s rankings, but first place.
But the reaction was explosive.
In a bad way.
-Ugh
-You rotten bastard
-At this point, isn’t it the viewers' fault for having expectations of that character?
-Exactly lol this was the host who won the bet teabagging us all along
-Viewers getting publicly humiliated lol Ah, I didn’t bet any money~
Why is this happening?
“Seojun-ssi. But do you know what the content of Kael’s Trial is?”
“Yes.”
Of course I do.
Because I saw it in the chat.
“Wow...”
“That’s brutal, just brutal.”
It was a criticism from Rumi, with whom he’d now built a certain level of inner closeness, and Seojun only smiled.
“Just cough it up quickly.”
For reference, the content of Kael’s Trial is how fast you can slash the vitals 100 times against a heretic.
They call it a heretic, but in reality, it’s something like a scarecrow that doesn’t fight back.
So anyway, no matter how much anyone kicks up a fuss or whatever methods they use, first place...
“Out of ten million, it’s just two hundred forty thousand won.”
...belonged to Seojun.
-Ugh lol
-Fine, let’s see you try. But just one try, okay
-Money-crazed bastard
-At this point, isn’t capitalism really at fault?
-What kind of monster have you birthed, O capitalism......
-O capitalism, for real
[+Reward 240,000 won added]
[Ptooey!]
At the message that came along with the reward increase, all the stream team burst into laughter.
Seojun laughed along with them.
“Thank you. Then I’ll go do Kael’s Trial and be right back, so please watch first.”
“Okay.”
* * *
While carefully trying not to trip over his own feet, Lee Dong-su watched Baramgeom, who was struggling to properly summon his orbs, and applauded.
‘Yes, this is normal. Normal. Three? He failed on one this time.’
When watching Id’s Trial, nine times out of ten, that’s how it should turn out.
Who could stride mechanically at one step per second, summoning orbs the instant they disappeared and launching them at targets?
Who on earth, at that.
On the first run, or in a state where you’re not used to it!
‘Of course, I know that hyung is an exception, but still!’
At present, Baramgeom was even struggling just to summon the orbs properly.
Even though ordinarily he could easily summon four.
Lee Dong-su assessed this as a basic skill of image training. That was the whole point of doing the trial in the first place.
‘His harmonization rate was 78, you said?’
Considering that, it was far too lacking.
His fundamentals also seemed a bit weak.
‘For now, it’d be best to start training the automation of his body here.’
When playing the piano, pieces that are a bit difficult rather than beginner ones sometimes require jumping to keys far away.
But pieces with a bit of difficulty aren’t played by experts. They’re played by beginners.
At such times, beginners struggle with pressing the distant keys.
What you teach them then is to create muscle memory.
The method is simple.
You break down the act of moving your hand and pressing the key into several stages, and have them repeat each stage over and over. So the body remembers.
What Lee Dong-su intends to teach through training here isn’t the action gained through body memory, but the knack itself that the body remembers.
The reason being
‘Probably that hyung who somehow scored the ten million won is going to cram an insane amount of fundamental motions into Baramgeom-hyung...’
Becoming a little more familiar with the very knack the body remembers would be helpful for Seojun’s training.
In other words, Lee Dong-su was aligning his steps with Seojun.
If Seojun could read Lee Dong-su’s thoughts right now, he would have clapped and praised him as an excellent coach.
As if to prove he wasn’t a pro for nothing, even at his high school age, Lee Dong-su displayed exceptional insight when it came to games and actions.
‘Anyway, why isn’t he coming back...’
Kael’s Trial is slashing the vitals 100 times against a scarecrow.
Not just any simple scarecrow. Well, no, a scarecrow is just a metaphor.
To be precise, a roly-poly.
The kind that moves when hit, wobbles, falls over, and gets back up.
Of course.
‘He should be done by now?’
That’s not what’s important.
The only thing that mattered was that Seojun would take at most about a minute to slash 100 times.
And that over two minutes had already passed.
‘He didn’t take a detour, did he?’
Like, say, Eric. Or Eric. Or Eric.
Or Jen. Or Jen. Or Jen.
* * *
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
He’d just started late due to chatting.
And now the result was out.
“Thank you. I’ll enjoy the ten million won.”
-Really an insane bastard lol
-Wow shit, he slashes twice a second lol I think even if I swung at empty air, I’d be slower than that
-Why is the time taken for Id’s Trial and Kael’s Trial the same! lol
-Fine, just take the ten million lol
-The host really does seem to be on a whole different level
-Ah lol the god of Kael lol no wonder they specifically nerfed him
-Still, isn’t this way too much? lol
[Kael’s Trial Rankings]
#1 – Sword God (Korea) - 50 seconds
#2 – PineapplePizzaDie (Italy) - 266 seconds
* * *
Time passed like that, and it became 9 o’clock.
[Ah, shit. I’m back from overtime work. Where on today’s stream was the peak entertainment?]