Chapter 19
After finishing his 30-minute run, Lee Dongsu headed toward the head instructor.
"Dongsu."
"Yes."
"Let me tell you what to watch out for during sparring. Sparring is strictly for checking your skills and improving your abilities, not for beating your opponent."
Dongsu looked up at the instructor and thought.
*He'd definitely be a bandit chief if he'd been born in the old days.*
"...So make sure you're polite, don't get excited. Don't go all-out either. Huh? Are you listening?"
"Huh? Yes. Of course."
He hadn't actually heard a single thing.
*'Well, I can just think of it as a practice match.'*
Though young, Lee Dongsu was a professional gamer and did possess sportsmanship.
Even if some childish thoughts crossed his mind now and then.
"Alright, we'll start once those guys over there finish. In the meantime, it'd be good to think about what techniques you want to practice during sparring. Not that you've learned many."
"Yes, got it!"
"Good, great!"
The instructor ruffled Dongsu's hair as he spoke.
"So, have you decided who you want to spar with?"
The martial artists who trained here liked games too.
When virtual reality games first came out, combat sports were predicted to be the first to die out. But as VR gaming surged in popularity, combat sports rode the wave and became even more popular.
The flashy skill-based fights in games and the primal, blood-spattering fights in reality weren't substitutes but complements.
And above all, virtual reality games were just fun, even for martial artists.
That was why Lee Dongsu was inevitably popular in the gym.
Among guys, someone who's good at games is a god.
And when that person is an 18-year-old pro gamer ranked 2nd in the world in the hottest game, with a great personality to boot?
It was harder not to become friends with him.
So the instructor wasn't particularly worried.
"Feel free to pick anyone. Everyone will go easy on you."
The opponent is the most important thing in sparring.
If your partner doesn't properly match your rhythm, you might gain nothing from sparring, and the risk of injury is high.
And if your opponent is far more skilled and has a nasty personality?
*Thwack! Thwack!*
A sparring match was in full swing where they were all looking.
The instructor watched with a pleased expression that twisted into a resigned smile.
Jin Seojun.
*That crazy bastard came back after a while and is grinding up a newbie.*
*'Came to blow off steam again, I see. I told him to just avoid that guy.'*
The instructor recalled the past as he watched the cocky newbie, full of confidence about his upcoming pro debut, being toyed with by Seojun.
He should have realized it when that good-looking high school student, the spitting image of his father, came shuffling over and, with a face that didn't match the act at all, spouted nonsense like, 'Please teach me modern martial arts.'
That he was a madman.
If Lee Dongsu was the cute little brother the athletes liked to play around with, that guy was...
A stinging nettle.
The instructor nodded to himself, thinking he'd found a perfect analogy.
Touch it and you get stung. With a natural-born talent nobody knew where he'd cultivated.
No, even if you stay still, he comes over and stings you on his own.
Just today, hadn't he come back after a long absence, ignored the training he was supposed to do, lingered around the athletes giving unsolicited advice, and eventually ended up picking a fight with the clueless newbie?
*'The guys who know him should stop him. That Seojun doesn't know the meaning of moderation.'*
The instructor glared at the other athletes who hadn't stopped the newbie.
They were watching the ring with fascinated eyes, like spectators enjoying a fire across the river.
*'I'll have to console him today.'*
The instructor sighed and turned his head.
And when he saw Dongsu's gaze fixed on Seojun, he began to feel uneasy.
*Not him.*
*'You'd gain nothing even if he beats you up.'*
There was only one reason the instructor hadn't kicked Seojun out of the gym, despite all his meddling and showing up his athletes with superior skills.
Strangely enough, the athletes who took his advice saw their performance improve.
*'It's not because his dad is a sucker who registered his whole family here, nor to someday bring that guy into this world.'*
Right. Definitely not.
Come to think of it, stinging nettles have poisonous barbs on their stems and leaves, but once you remove those barbs, they become a nutritious and versatile plant, don't they?
To the athletes, Seojun was a useful presence.
But to the current Lee Dongsu, Seojun was just a stinging nettle in its raw form. Barbs fully intact.
Still, Seojun knew his limits and never picked on ordinary people who weren't athletes—first. But that was only when *they* hadn't picked on *him* first. "What about that hyung?"
A question that should absolutely never have been asked finally came out of Lee Dongsu's mouth.
The instructor averted his eyes with effort and pointed at someone else.
"Ah, that hyung?"
The instructor spoke in a voice like an ant crawling.
"No. Which one are you pointing at? They're completely different."
Dongsu scratched his head sheepishly.
"I mean that hyung sparring over there. Is it rude to ask since it's my first time seeing him?"
"Yeah! Right. That's a really rude and tactless request. Let's ask a hyung you know. Or I can just do it with you."
It had been a while since he'd held mitts, and now he'd likely end up sparring too.
Still, the instructor breathed a silent sigh of relief, thinking it was for the best.
Meanwhile, Lee Dongsu felt a deep sense of regret.
Because even Shin Hayeon had been impressed watching the videos of that streamer, Jin Seojun.
*'That Minhyun hyung made such a fuss, and even Hayeon noona was impressed?'*
Lee Dongsu couldn't accept it.
He'd already planned to boot up *Dawn of the Assassins* that afternoon and try to perfectly recreate Seojun's play anyway.
Because Park Minhyun was a teammate he acknowledged, and Shin Hayeon was someone he admired.
The very fact that those two acknowledged someone else was displeasing to him.
And now, without even needing to play the game, he had the chance to beat that opponent directly in reality, and he was missing it.
"Well, nothing I can do."
If they said it was rude.
"Then please spar with me, Instructor."
Dongsu quickly let it go and began throwing the moves he'd learned over the past two weeks, preparing for sparring.
The instructor smiled happily, fetched the protective gear, and corrected his posture.
A warm atmosphere continued.
Until that guy showed up.
Someone approached them.
The instructor confirmed their identity and let out a lament as he looked at the ring.
The newbie staring blankly into space with dazed eyes, as if in shock.
And the terrifying guy taking off his headgear with a calm, indifferent face that didn't even look like he'd broken a sweat.
"Hey. I heard you talking earlier. Wanna spar with me?"
The instructor heard the sound of his plan to secure pro gamer clientele through Dongsu crumbling.
"Oh? I'm good with that. You're Seojun hyung, right?"
"How do you know my name?"
"I watched your stream. Ah, is it okay if I call you hyung?"
Seojun hadn't expected the impact of the collaboration stream to be this big. Someone recognized him right away.
"Sure, whatever."
"What about resting?"
"Let's do it now."
The two stepped onto the ring.
"Hyung, you're pretty good at games. Not as good as me, though."
"Yeah. But... who are you?"
Dongsu tried to provoke Seojun.
But it had little effect on Seojun. He didn't even know who Dongsu was in the first place.
Even if he had known, he probably wouldn't have cared.
Dongsu felt a momentary shock, wondering if Seojun was reverse-provokking him, but he remembered Seojun had only started gaming three days ago and reignited his fighting spirit.
"I'll tell you once I win. You'll be honored to learn it later."
"Right. Then, here I come?"
The moment Seojun finished speaking, he threw a jab. As the fist planted on his face, Dongsu thought,
*'They said you're supposed to be polite in sparring...'*
*Thwack!*
That day.
Realizing he couldn't beat Seojun in reality, Lee Dongsu's game library gained a new title: *Dawn of the Assassins*.
* * *
Seojun and his father, Jin Hajun, were heading home from the gym together.
The two lived next door to each other. More accurately, in a building owned by Hajun.
The reason was his wife, who wanted to keep her son from moving out the moment he became an adult.
They found a compromise, which concluded with Hajun offering the neighboring unit for half the rent.
Of course, the opinion of the landlord, Hajun, hadn't been factored into this decision.
"Seojun, couldn't you have gone a little easier earlier? Looking at his body, he seemed like an ordinary person."
How many athletes had his son already driven to quit?
Seriously, so ruthless.
"It's fine. The way he moved his feet, he's got as much talent as any decent martial artist. I guess he's in the middle of building his physique."
Lee Dongsu had ultimately failed to tell Seojun he was a pro gamer.
"Is that so? Are you doing well with your streaming?"
"Yes."
"Well, your mom doesn't oppose it as much as she used to, now that they say it's safe... but isn't it hard to succeed in that streaming thing?"
Hajun had heard from Taewoo.
That it was hard for a new streamer to secure even a single viewer.
"If I can give you one pro tip, try *Stellar Craft*. PC games are trending again lately, and you could snap up that blue ocean. How about it?"
For reference, Hajun was a hardcore PC gamer.
It wasn't because he feared his son would be in danger using a capsule.
And it certainly wasn't true that PC games were trending.
"Is that really trending?"
"Never mind that. So, how many viewers do you get?"
"Um, last time I checked it was 440. But once I start streaming today, I'd guess..."
Hajun was shocked at the number 440.
"My followers are at 3,000, so I'd think at least 1,500 will tune in."
"Cough."
At the much higher than expected number, Hajun spat out the coffee he was drinking.
"Why's it so high?"
"Well, I got lucky."
Seojun's follower count had risen to 1,000 right after the collaboration stream ended.
Considering it had been in the 400s originally, it had doubled.
Then Lee Suhan edited out just the key parts and posted them as a short video on iTube.
That short video climbed to #15 on the trending gaming video chart, causing Seojun's follower count to jump by another 2,000.
It was a clear demonstration of iTube's influence.
"Just how lucky did you get... You didn't pull some weird stunt to draw attention, did you? If you did, your mom will take the capsule away immediately."
Hajun shuddered.
"Do you really think I'd do that?"
"Well, no, but..."
Still, wasn't 3,000 just a few days after starting too much?
* * *
1,000 was actually the minimum Seojun and Taewoo had expected.
Before starting the broadcast, Seojun briefly checked the community.
The community had been occupied all day by posts related to him and the streamer Alpaca, the aftermath of yesterday's collaboration.
Seojun matched the timeline to the very start of the collab and began looking through.
[About Seojun who just appeared]
[About the 'Texture' Alpaca's stream just showed.]
[A true legend who bet 250,000 points on a 1% chance in real time lololol]
- Throwing away years of memories like an idiot lololol
- For real, heart of a beast
- It's a massive gambler lololololol
- (best) If this hits, I'll grill meat in the middle of Myeongdong on Christmas Eve.
└Isn't this an old top comment promise? The guys who said they'd sing next to him and play the tambourine, show yourselves.
└I'll sing.
└I'll handle the tambourine.
Seojun scrolled down to check the replies posted later on.
└??????????????? Why did it actually hit? Why????
└Don't delete your comment.
└Guys, I think we're screwed.
└Someone made 25 million points while this other guy's about to do a humiliation play in Myeongdong lololololol
[Richard Neville Musou Strategy Guide]
- (best) Oh? lololol If you analyze the video and just keep at it, it looks like you can break his armor pretty quick and take down Richard?
└ + Just tried it and barely succeeded breaking the gauntlet on the 10th try, but then Richard split my skull right after. Give up on that.
└So Seojun challenged this on his first try and destroyed everything in one go?
└Exactly, it's insane. Wait, but why am I the best comment?
└You've been preserved for display.
[What the hell is 'Texture' that it even has its own exclusive skill?]
[Anyone wanna test it by killing a ruler in my stead?]
[How did Seojun even find that Texture? It seriously makes no sense]
[Warning: Humblebrag) The true owner of the 25 million real-time points (it's me lololol)]
[Weak Point Detection Condition Predictions]
[Ah dammit Seojun is so f*cking handsome. Unfollowing immediately.]
Every single post had over 30 recommendations.
There were no more posts trying to slander Seojun's recognition in those terms.
At least within this community, people who knew Seojun had become the majority.
But then.
- lololololololol Seojun, check this out.
When he clicked the link Taewoo sent, a post that had been downvoted into oblivion and hidden (blind) appeared.
Seojun pressed 'view content'.
[Reasons Streamer Seojun is a Hack User]
It was written seriously and at length, but to summarize: the reasons Seojun 'sees textures' during his stream were vague, and no one else who could supposedly see them ever showed up.
Therefore, the post claimed, Seojun was at least a game developer insider or a hacker.
Naturally, it had been hit with a bomb of downvotes for being ridiculous, and its content was hidden. But checking the link Taewoo sent confirmed several more posts with a similar tone had appeared.
Seojun burst out laughing.
He remembered what Taewoo had said.
*'Yeah, once you get famous, they'll try to drag you down with something else.'*
And after thinking about it, the game insider theory seemed somewhat plausible?
Grinning, Seojun went to the *Dawn of the Assassins* homepage, sent a report, and then entered the capsule.
Then, after setting the stream title, he started the broadcast.
[I. Have turned myself in.]
*'Am I really going to end up doing an apology/explanatory stream three days into my career?'*
It was a silly thought.
It wasn't even a real apology stream, anyway.
*'How many will tune in?'*
The corners of Seojun's mouth subtly curled up in anticipation.
[Viewers: 400]
Barely a few seconds after starting, 400 people had joined.
[Viewers: 700]
[Viewers: 1,300]
[Viewers: 1,500]
Had about a minute passed?
Watching the number lightly surpass the minimum Taewoo had expected in an instant, and seeing the chat window scroll up rapidly, Seojun greeted them.
"T-Ha. Hello."