Episode 228
Seojun walked near the ferry, and the game progressed automatically.
Dressed as an adventurer, he boarded the boat and began rowing earnestly with both hands.
His destination was the land across the water, clearly visible.
The continent.
– Lololololol sudden labor trip
– The streamer’s just watching with us, what’s the big deal
– Streamer looks like he rows well lol
– Yeah, I’m rowing right now too~
– Streamer, hurry up so we can arrive at the same time
Even if they did arrive together, what would they do?
Countless people were probably arriving there at the same time.
The chance of Seojun meeting that viewer amidst such fierce competition was slim.
Or was it?
‘Since I finished the tutorial a bit early, will it be a little less crowded?’
It wasn’t impossible, but it was highly likely that the viewers who came specifically to see him would have already rushed through the tutorial without a care and were just waiting.
He decided not to worry about it.
“But how long do I have to keep rowing this?”
Seojun grumbled as he watched his avatar rowing in the cutscene. Seeing his own face from a third-person perspective wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience for him.
It felt like listening to his own recorded voice.
– Lolololol you’re halfway there! Hang in there!
– If you can’t even wait this long, how can you be good at the game?
– Well, he’s actually really fucking good lol
– That’s true
– Huh? Guys, I just searched the username Sisikconer and it’s not coming up
– ???
Seojun read the chat and pieced together the situation.
“Did they change their nickname?”
That was unexpected. Not that running away was unexpected, but he had thought someone among those watching the broadcast would have snatched that nickname in that brief moment—yet no one did?
Then again, who would want a nickname like that?
– Nope, doesn’t seem like it
– I searched with another character of Sisikconer and looked at that user’s character list; only the max-level character is missing
– Did they really delete it?
– Info) Deletion takes a full day normally. Right now it’s just being processed, so it doesn’t show up in searches.
“Then...”
Just as he was about to say that since creating a random chat room was no longer possible, he would send a Travel personal message, Seojun arrived at his first continent in this life.
[Peron]
His vision returned to his body and he regained control. Above his head, the continent’s name appeared.
Along with a small notification to the side saying he had cleared simple challenges like ‘Visit Peron’.
But none of that registered with Seojun.
“First... geez...”
No, it couldn’t register.
He had arrived at a beach.
And on that beach stood dozens of people dressed exactly like him.
They caught Seojun’s attention.
Their defining features were that all their names above their heads were ‘Sword God’ plus a number, and they were all looking directly at him.
It was a bit chilling.
‘I don’t think I ever felt this way even in my past life.’
It wasn’t a massive sea of people, but there were plenty.
“The streamer! He came to our channel!”
“Waaaaah!”
“The timing is insane! This map has 198 channels right now? Haha!”
“Can you see us, viewers?!”
“Mom! I’m on Sword God’s stream! If this were TV, I’d be on it!”
The noise was deafening. Extremely so.
– Oh geez lololol
– I expected this but lololol
– Pied Piper meta on lololol
– Good thing players can’t touch each other, damn lolol
As the chat said, people could approach him but couldn’t come within a 0.5-meter radius.
And the same went for the viewers among themselves, so it was impossible to completely surround Seojun.
“I want to see him up close too!”
“Wow, shit. He’s really fucking handsome.”
“We’re village beggars, so why is the streamer an S-rank adventurer? Same clothes though?”
“Ugh... who’s the bastard who just said that? I’m challenging you to a PK. How do I send a PK request?”
“Me too.”
This was the textbook definition of chaos.
Everyone tried to get as close as possible, but because of the 0.5-meter restriction, no one could take a single step forward.
‘I can’t move, can I?’
The people on the outside needed to back away first, but that wasn’t going to happen.
Seojun was stuck.
Everyone was stuck together.
– lololol facing reality in the middle of all that is hilarious
– Even when I saw him on another stream, he was good-looking
– When he did the 5-man ultimate, it was like a movie all by himself
– This is why appearance is so fucking important
– It’s okay! Trubungkun has his own charms! (dangling) *Trubungkun is a playful term for a viewer
Seojun felt it was time to take control.
“Alright, everyone. First, calm down and be quiet. Otherwise, I’ll mute the game sound entirely. Then you’ll never be able to communicate with me in-game again.”
“Yes...”
“Guys, he says mind your manners!”
“Quiet!”
Even back in the days of Hyeopwi, there were people who followed him around.
But back then, private channels existed, and since it wasn’t an RPG format, their desires to meet Seojun were expressed differently.
That was through sniping.
But now, there was no sniping, and his viewer count was much higher.
‘60,000 people—so about ten times the difference?’
Still, seeing them so obedient now...
“But back in school, there was always one kid who would blab at a time like this. Surprisingly, you all listen well. I was ready to change channels if you didn’t.”
Of course, viewers would be stationed in those channels too.
“That’s why... hup!”
“...!”
Pfft.
Laughter erupted from here and there.
– That’s exactly that type of bastard lolol
– I was about to type ‘lolol’ in real life lolol
– The enemies who never skip the final chant are those guys lololol
– I’m agreeing in chat lol
“Nice to meet you all.”
Situations like this would keep happening.
The game’s map was large and new channels kept generating based on population, so it wasn’t a huge issue... but still.
“Since I know there are specific field contents for sniping, let’s take it easy when we can’t really do anything like right now. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“Got it.”
Calmed by Seojun’s words, the users on the outermost edges started to put distance, and soon everyone could move freely.
“Phew. Then I’ll leave a message for Sisikconer-nim. They’ll tell us what to do next as my secretary.”
Seojun spoke, and in unison, the chat and the Sword Gods around him replied, ‘Yes’.
– ye
– Wants to leech lol
– Hoping to suck some honey as a game veteran lol
[Jeon Seojun: Create a character on Lunaon and send me a message. I’ll add you as a friend.]
Seojun’s channel was 177.
And this channel was completely full.
From what Seojun had studied about channels, there were two ways to get into a full one.
One was to keep trying.
If people in that channel left for other maps or logged out, spots would open up.
The second was to form a party.
The criteria for moving to a party member’s channel were more lenient.
With that in mind, Seojun asked those around him,
“Everyone, if you get a party request, please don’t accept it. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to switch channels.”
And he waited.
“The reply is a bit late.”
They might be deleting their character, but why so late?
One by one, the people around him lingered a bit and then left to progress in the game.
As he had said, there was nothing they could do right now anyway.
All he could do was stare at the friend request window and see how many people were sending him requests right now.
– Goodbye Sword God 201 ㅜㅜ
– Sword God 33 is leaving too
– Sword God 7! Even you, a single-digit, are going to class change!!!!!
– Single-digit Sword Gods are pretty rare lololol
– lololol they’re all genuinely Sword Gods, it’s creepy lolol their unity is crazy
And so the crowd changed.
Then...
“I am here!”
A user named SwordGod331 approached Seojun.
“Oh, you’ve arrived?”
“Now, hurry! You dirty turncoat! Still, I’ll let it slide out of generosity. With your martial prowess and my intellect, we could build the top guild and even found a dynasty. So, let’s start by creating a guild! No, first accept the friend request. Quickly!”
“Yes.”
A guild all of a sudden?
Well, if his secretary said so, there must be a reason, so Seojun was about to comply when he sensed something odd and stepped back.
The tone was strange—slightly different from Sisikconer.
And it was familiar.
An email he had received a while back automatically surfaced in his mind.
No way.
“I’ll specially concede the guild master position to you.”
“You.”
“What’s the matter?”
“You’re Dangso, aren’t you?”
“Oh! You recognize me! I knew our friendship would pull through! Since you recognized me, I’ll change my nickname back to my original now...”
“Shut up.”
“How crude.”
“You, just be quiet for a bit.”
– lololol the streamer saying ‘shut up’? Who the hell is it?
– Is it Taewoo? He does that to Taewoo sometimes
– A real-life friend??
– lolol truly the best troll from Hyeopwi
He never expected that diehard roleplayer would actually show up.
A headache was forming.
“Ha... everyone. This person is someone I met in a previous game under the nickname Dangso. Well... he’s the original Sisikconer. He lost a bet and switched his allegiance to me.”
“But I led us to victory with my supreme strategy.”
“You can’t say I won thanks to him, but it’s certain it wasn’t thanks to him. He’s just... a lucky Sisikconer.”
– lololol lucky Sisikconer
– I don’t know what’s going on, but I can tell he’s a weirdo lolol
– Two weirdos!
And then.
A message finally arrived.
[MartSisikconeoroYeonmyeongham: Oh, bro, I’m here~ It’s channel 177 lol]
“Oh. You’re here? What Sword God number are you?”
Seojun said, displaying their one-on-one chat for the viewers to see.
[MartSisikconeoroYeonmyeongham: SwordGod500]
[MartSisikconeoroYeonmyeongham: Rather than 1 out of 10, 500 looks better, agree?] *Note: The user misspells ‘better’ as ‘낳아’ instead of ‘나아’, meaning ‘give birth’ – a typo.
What was he talking about.
And you mean ‘better’, not ‘give birth’.
“1 is way better. And why are you chatting from over there? Aren’t you coming?”
Seojun started walking toward Sword God 500, who was hunched over and facing away a little distance off.
Dangso, SwordGod331, followed him.
Seojun reached SwordGod500 and spoke.
“Sisikconer-nim?”
“Ah... hello.”
“?”
What the.
“Is it really you?”
Why so timid?
“Yes... hello.”
The man bowed his head and then lifted it, constantly avoiding Seojun’s eyes.
No way.
“Are you an Internet Lu Bu?”
“......”
“......”
“...Yes.”
Another headache hit him.
Good lord.
“Ha! Look at that. I was right to come. Just a fool who doesn’t understand the fun of a broadcast.”
“Dangso, you... No, fine. You came at a good time.”
– lololol
– This is hilarious lololol
– Wow! The hero party has assembled! lolol
* * *
Internet Lu Bu.
A term for someone who is meek in real life but bold online.
“What needs to be done next isn’t a guild...”
Exactly like this person right now—in person, he mumbled with trailing words, but in chat, he brimmed with confidence.
[MartSisikconeoroYeonmyeongham: Class change, you bastard lol]
Why was he still chatting when he was right next to him?
And his tone changed way too drastically.
‘It must be a concept, right?’
Most likely. Since it was a broadcast, he was probably doing it on purpose.
To establish a firm character.
If not?
No, seriously, who would act like that?
“Sisikconer-nim?”
“Yes? Yes?”
“Don’t flinch like that. Just talk to me next to you. Don’t use chat.”
“......”
The expression Seojun caught that moment said he really didn’t want to do that.
“Anyway, so we need to get a class change?”
“Yes... um... Of course, if you plan on doing guild wars, it’d be good to create the guild starting today. But you don’t have to; you could join a viewer’s guild...”
“Guild wars?”
“Guild wars. Shortened to Giljaeng.”
“I see.”
A guild.
“Of course we have to create one! What nonsense is that! And our guild will conquer this game!”
Seeing this, Dangso’s consistency actually seemed admirable.
Hmm.
If Sisikconer was an Internet Lu Bu...
Was Dangso Lu Bu’s intelligence? Since he knew no shame.
“Conquer what. So, class change first?”
“Yes. Let’s go for the class change first. After that... we go get our Racle IDs.”
“What’s a Racle ID?”
[MartSisikconeoroYeonmyeongham: Ah lol, you really don’t know much. Study up a bit beforehand, seriously!]
“Hsssk.”
“...Sorry.”
– lololol
– Jekyll and Hyde behavior, damn lolololol
– That’s real madness lolololol