Chapter 187
[Ah, fuck. Just got off overtime. Which stream was the most fun today?]
9 PM.
It was around the time when streams were either reaching their latter half or wrapping up.
Hadn’t it only been three hours since they turned on their streams?
Of course, if they were playing a story-driven game or there was a second part, it would be far from over.
However, because the streamers had all gone berserk and brought in a certain entity, three hours had become plenty.
The idols of gamers.
Gods to gamers.
They had brought in the pros.
Even though they were fellow human beings and it was their break, hearing that it was three hours with pros somehow felt like an economic loss.
No matter how exceptional pro players are, they aren’t like the academy instructor or conglomerate CEO in a drama who can nonchalantly say, "Do you know how much I can earn in three hours?" with a face thick as steel, and whose skills are so outstanding that they generate 1 trillion won in economic effect per year. Though they would be the type of psychopathic stickler to say such things without hesitation.
==
Is there still a lot to watch after three hours? Should I just start from the beginning with the replay?
Which one should I watch?
Recommendations please!
I’m on the subway right now, and when I get home, I’m cracking open a beer and watching lol
==
In any case, even if it wasn’t exactly an economic loss, three hours was enough for teaching, and since they couldn't keep the pros late into the night, the atmosphere was gradually winding down.
So it was only natural that posts evaluating today’s streams, along with the comments left by the Grand Justices of Lieben, would receive upvotes, no, “dog-votes,” and rise to the top.
In the blink of an eye, a post had hit 10 recommendations and climbed onto the 10-Up board, where comments began flooding in.
It started with mockery.
As online communities always do.
- Dude, are you a finger-princess? Just reading the 30-Up posts thoroughly would give you everything. You seem like you'd suck at getting work done. Maybe that overtime wasn't for nothing?
Finger-princess, short for finger prince or princess, is a term for online questioners who don’t even search and expect others to spoon-feed them.
└ For real lol. Seems like that overtime wasn’t for nothing
└ Crazy bastard lol
- Why are you even working at a company that makes you do overtime this late? Just quit lol
└ What company do you work at?
└ I don’t work at a company. Just quit, I said lol. Let’s watch the rebroadcast together
└ Ah lol. Tsusus really are something else lol (OP)
└ Then you be a Tsusu too, okay?
- This fucker’s life has taken a huge loss
└ At this point, he’s lost at least half of it lol
└ Why? (OP)
└ Fuck, five pros showed up today.
└ Crazy, then who do I really have to watch? Originally I was going to watch Lee Dong-su (OP)
Aside from many other jokes and casual comments, the reason this post instantly got 10 recommendations and was now getting another 20 recommendations in mere seconds, was because it was far too perfect as an arena to debate which stream had been the most fun.
Such is the nature of communities.
- Of course they couldn’t compete, fuck lol. It’s Baek Do-yul, isn’t it? Just the fact that he’s the champion makes it settled. He’s the world’s best mid.
└ Baek Do-yul showed up? Crazy (OP)
Se-che-mi stands for world’s best (strongest) mid.
└ He wins once and he’s the world’s best mid? Ha... You’re pissing me off.
└ Right now he is the world’s best mid lol. All-time best is hmm... Baek Do-yul?
Yeok-che is all-time best.
└ That’s a bit...
└ For real, you’re crossing the line.
└ Current best I’ll admit, but all-time best? No way, you shithead ^^
Whatever the case, that wasn’t the debate to be had right now. Nor was it the arena that needed to open here.
So before the fan war could spread, the OP halted it.
└ The pro league hasn’t even started, why are you doing this here? So, should I watch Mental’s stream then? (OP)
What mattered to him was which stream to watch while drinking a cold beer at home, which he’d arrive at soon.
Not watching the dumbest and most aggressive fans gather to fight.
└ Yeah, I watched only Mental hyung’s stream too.
└ How can you resist when a champion comes out to stream? lol
└ That’s true, but what’s with your downvote count lol (OP)
The numbers of upvotes and downvotes on the comments were updating in real-time.
It meant people didn’t agree with the comments recommending Mental’s stream.
And the upvote count on a comment only a few seconds old:
7.
Downvote count:
60.
Overwhelming.
Far more people absolutely disagreed. Which meant?
The arena had opened.
But it was an arena where the winner was already decided.
- I seriously doubt whether those guys are in their right minds. Even in overseas communities, they’re making noise about that stream. What? Mental? Baek Do-yul? lol
└ For real lol. So, did they show the taste of kimchi to the pasta eaters, I ask? lol
└ For real lol. Hawaiian users are saying thanks.
└ Koreans have sprinkled kimchi topping on pasta!!!!
└ Overseas? What the hell happened? (OP)
└ Look at this (screenshot of Kael’s trials)
└ Whoa... 5 times the difference from 2nd place? At a glance, that looks like something that Jin Seo-jun guy did. Was today’s stream a battle of annihilation? (OP)
A battle of annihilation, a content where one side fights to the death, meaning with the resolve that one or the other will be destroyed.
So everyone laughed.
They just laughed.
└ lol
└ lol
└ Annihila-lol-tion-lol
└ First place on Kael is only worth 240,000 won though lol
└ I’d bet one vote that the OP has never properly watched the streamer’s broadcast.
└ Why are you laughing! (OP)
└ This finger-princess bastard won’t search to the end. Listen up.
In any case, someone had to summarize.
- What happened on today’s stream) 1. Streamer provoked Baek Do-yul with the Level 10 AI, leading to a fight where each side captured once…
└ This bastard sucks at summarizing. I’ll just summarize it myself. May contain some paraphrasing. 1. Sword God and Baek Do-yul duked it out.
└ Fucking lol, hitting straight in.
└ This is correct lol
└ ??? (OP)
└ 2. They tied, but Baek Do-yul admitted defeat, crushed by aura, and backed off. So then he fought Taker.
└ lol, how much do you omit and mistranslate lol
└ ??? (OP)
└ 3. Taker got wrecked. So then he fought a viewer for 10 million won.
└ 4. He won. And then he fought the Kael rank 1. Just shut up and watch this guy’s stream, it’s legendary.
└ ??? (OP)
└ lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol This is incredibly absurd.
└ But it’s true. Just shut up and watch the streamer’s broadcast lol
└ If you miss that stuff, your life takes a huge loss.
- Just watch it? For real? Can I trust you? (OP)
└ You missed this live because of a petty job, and now you talk a lot.
└ You clearly have never watched the streamer’s broadcast. Just watch it lol
The OP followed their words with a sense of skepticism.
Then, a few hours later, in the early morning, another post went up.
[Ah, fuck. This company is making me want to quit so bad. Just how much of a loss has my life taken!]
There hadn’t been an actual fight, but the first day’s joint stream, which had drawn the most attention, was an overwhelming victory for the Wealth Gap.
* * *
Lee Dong-su decided to appear on stream every other day.
The results of training didn’t show every day (though they didn’t exactly appear every two days either), and if he appeared daily, his image would wear out too fast. A certain mystique was also necessary, or so they said.
‘Seems like it’s already over.’
Unable to hold back, Lee Dong-su finally yelled at Seo-jun, who was asking what would happen if he took first place with all heroes, telling him to just knock it off a bit.
At this, the viewers must have built an inner sense of camaraderie with Lee Dong-su. They caught a glimpse of his humanity. Realizing he was someone who equally couldn’t stop Seo-jun.
They also showed a high-schoolish side, calling him "hyung" and "noona." That was just his natural personality.
Anyway, the second day was a day Lee Dong-su wouldn’t be on.
[Ha Yun-ho]
[Sick, so I’m resting. It hurts. Just my whole body hurts.]
[Rumi]
[.... . .-.. .--. -- .]
[Alpaca]
[I am 30... I have decided to accept aging. So I am taking a break. I guess I’ve gotten old.]
It was also the day the Wealth Gap streamers took a collective break.
“Baramgeom-nim, why did you come on?”
At 5:55, Seo-jun asked after inviting Baramgeom in the lobby.
“What about you, Seo-jun-nim?”
“Me? Because I’m full of energy?”
Baramgeom looked at Seo-jun with an expression of disgust.
‘In the morning, he gathered us at the gym and exhausted us completely, then suddenly coaxed us with sweet words, made us keep training, eat, train, shit, train, and forced us to eat until 4 PM, and then came to do the broadcast.’
Everyone had truly taken a break because they were exhausted. Because of Seo-jun.
But.
Logically, shouldn’t Seo-jun, who had taken care of all four of them, be the most tired? Mentally and physically.
Yet he was full of energy?
“So, Baramgeom-nim, why did you come on?”
Baramgeom, too, was pushed to the limit of physical and mental fatigue and pain.
He had taken an hour-long nap, but that couldn’t possibly have been enough.
The reason he still came on was.
“Seo-jun-nim…….”
Baramgeom wore an utterly wronged expression.
“Yes?”
Seo-jun simply grinned cheerfully.
“You……. said that if I came on today, you’d help me with Kael’s weak points more, like last time…….”
I’m dying of exhaustion.
But I can’t give this up.
I definitely felt the effect last time.
Ha.
Baramgeom ended up crying. Inwardly.
“If you’re tired, you can rest.”
“You said if I rest today, you won’t teach me anymore!”
It’s so unfair. Why does it have to be me?
Seo-jun laughed.
“Did I say that? Anyway, we can’t have everyone skip streaming, so that’s why. It’s a bit awkward for me to go alone, too.”
“Yes…….”
“Let’s wrap up today’s joint stream quickly by teaching you, Baramgeom-nim.”
“Good.”
The second day’s broadcast lasted over four hours.
It was a secret that Baramgeom, who slept for twelve hours the next day, showed up at the gym at noon.
* * *
The third day.
They had a joint stream while smoothly receiving Lee Dong-su’s training.
Things like feeling aches all over, bringing carrots, or tapping Morse code with their hands were cleanly ignored.
Naturally, while there were plenty, if not all, viewers who caught onto their distress signals, it had gotten to the point where no one didn’t know about it.
- lol
- Something seems to be going on, but the original Wealth Gap viewers who just want the streamer to keep tormenting them are giving dog-votes lol
- Save who? Who? Ah, I can’t hear you!
It made one wonder when viewers had ever taken the streamers’ side enough to send help.
Finally, on the morning of the fourth day.
Before Seo-jun arrived, at the dawn squad’s gym, a revolt was plotted.
“Yesterday alone, together with Taker-nim who showed up out of the blue, I swung a wooden sword 10,000 times! 10,000 downward strikes. My arm feels like it’s going to fall off!”
Baramgeom said.
“10,000 downward strikes? At least you got to hold a sword. I……. only did horse stance the entire time. What is this, Shaolin Temple?”
He was talking about squats.
Seo-jun also didn’t forget to call them to the ring in between and beat them up.
He was truly diligent.
“At this rate, I’m seriously going to die.”
Rumi, who had collapsed and fallen fast asleep as soon as the stream ended, sleeping deeply, said.
“Ha, it can’t be helped.”
Ha Yun-ho spoke, deeply sensing his responsibility as the team leader.
“Let’s catch Seo-jun-nim.”