Episode 310
“The second half! It really feels like we’ve entered the second half now!”
Seojun wrapped up the 9th day by leisurely driving out those who had targeted him on the train.
-lolololol this bastard was just stalling for time lololol
-Would've been found out anyway, so he gained an advantage
-But aren’t the other passages closed now?
-They were going to close anyway
-The streamer can’t block them all alone
-Singeom should have focused on closing the passages as fast as possible instead of obsessing over catching Seojun
“That’s right. Singeom was blinded by revenge!”
He shouldn’t have tried to catch Seojun there.
At least not after Seojun had entered the shop.
From that point on, he should have focused on other tasks.
“Would Seojun have been caught even if he had fought instead of threatening there? We all know the answer.”
The commentator smiled meaningfully.
He was recalling the items Seojun had bought.
The consumables he purchased, leaving only one item slot open.
-lololololol the streamer never gets caught
-For real lol
-Can't be killed
-But I just think he can't be killed now?
-Streamer wins!
Remembering those items.
It was only natural that, at least in the minds of the Korean viewers who knew Seojun so well, they couldn’t picture him dying.
What would it be like for foreigners?
The commentator was curious about that.
* * *
Seojun took it easy until the end of the 9th day.
That means he just kept sitting there even after all the participants had left.
Actually, he took it even easier because not everyone left.
[Singeom, what are you gonna do? You can’t kill me.]
[Shut up.]
[Hhzmrlg.]
[What the hell is that now, you bastard!]
[Just something like that.]
[I know you wasted time on this side. But isn’t it the same for you?]
[The same? I’m much more advantageous.]
[.... Because only one passage needs to remain?]
[That’s right. And I told you for my own amusement.]
[You gained a ton and now you’re pretending to be generous. What a filthy personality. I’m going to live kindly from now on.]
[I’ve disciplined you well.]
[Shut up! And this isn’t over. Let’s go, Yasuo. We have to do our part.]
After this, Seojun chatted alone with the fragment and laughed as he ended the 9th day.
The train participants began searching for clues in their respective areas and then stopped.
As the situation worsened, the NPC groups also started investigating thanks to Daran’s work, making it easier and easier to find clues.
That’s why Seojun had predicted that some of the participants who had been on the train before it ended would actually enter the quest.
Singeom and Yamada Yasuo began moving to carry out a special quest to lift the veil.
Among those not on the train, the group that destroyed a passage had gathered enough clues and moved to help other participants.
During that time, information about Seojun inevitably passed among the participants they met.
[At the end of Day 9, who is in the advantageous position? Korea? Or the whole world?]
==
I think it’s the whole world now.
==
-Why is it Korea vs. the whole world, you western guys lololol
└You will pay the price for unleashing that author upon the world.
└└Those words are correct. Koreans must pay the price.
└└└ Crazy lololololol Honestly, we are sorry about it
Those watching were curious. Who is advantageous?
How will this situation unfold?
[Commentator’s words]
==
The framework is now set as heroes destroying passages versus the mastermind stopping them.
If even one passage remains, the mastermind wins.
So you might think it’s advantageous for the mastermind because they just need to keep blocking one, but that’s not the case.
If the mastermind doesn’t actively interfere, the participants who clear a passage will eventually gather and raid the remaining one all at once.
They’d have to capture the mastermind there and destroy the last passage, but with over 30 participants, it’s a fight with a real chance.
Both sides must work hard to determine how many against how many and how advantageous it will be at the final moment.
In terms of specs, you can’t shake the feeling that the mastermind is certainly well-prepared.
But he can’t kill people. So his interference won’t work well, and the whole world will win.
This is how it can be summarized.
==
-Indeed, the mastermind prepared well
-It’s points earned by ripping off the whole world
-That Korean just discovered duplication bugs like crazy
└Bug?
└└His skill is the bug
-I’m worried about items
└Me too. Isn’t the mastermind slightly more advantageous in this??
└└Don’t worry, quantity beats everything. And the opponent is who he is.
-Professional...
└I’d bet everything that this streamer will go pro after this history book is over
└└Unprecedented contract offers must be flying around
└└└Will that really be the case?
* * *
“Vikings, Lions, Magnus, Dynasty, Cursed, and so on. It’s confirmed that all the top teams are considering a pro offer to that player.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t some of them send offers before?”
“They did. But the contract this time will have different conditions.”
They are all North American pro teams.
And those now speaking were also a strategic coach and a director of a North American pro team.
“Should we not send one?”
The director of the team Rachel and Bernard belong to was deep in thought.
“They said it won’t work even if we send one. That’s what two people who met him in person in Korea and in real life said.”
“Still, we have to at least try.”
“Director.”
“What.”
“You know how much they offered on the other side.”
An annual salary of billions of won.
Seojun’s value was that high.
He’s shown the world physical skills surpassing even the top pros.
He also has sensational appeal.
Will he perform well in the game? It’s not just similar physical ability.
He’s guaranteed to do well.
The question is how well.
“Since we have Rachel, it feels a bit awkward to try.”
The highest-level mid laner in North America is on their team.
It’s not that they didn’t covet Seojun, but since he won’t come anyway, they wondered if there was any need to try.
“With tens of billions, wouldn’t even that player be swayed?”
And the director was worried about this.
What if Seojun is tempted and decides to come to the pro scene?
‘That might be pretty terrifying.’
“Don’t worry. You know that in the history book, there are many information restrictions and variables, so you can be helpless against that person, but in a regular game, it’s not like that.”
In a regular game, the side that makes no mistakes wins.
And it’s 5 versus 5.
So he wouldn’t be invincible.
“Actually, looking at his tournament record from his streaming days, he did suffer losses.”
“That’s true, but still….”
Why was it worrying?
“And, what if.”
“Yeah.”
“If, in the end, that streamer fails to win the final stage as the mastermind.”
“Yes.”
“Those contracts will be torn up. Everyone will reconsider.”
“Probably.”
The reason is simple.
The world is harsh to losers.
If Seojun loses this match in the end, everything he’s done so far will come back to him. For a while.
If he streams, he’ll have to turn off chat completely or block foreigners.
If he joins a team, can public opinion be handled?
Then, would any team risk that and offer tens of billions to bring him in?
“And as I see it, the odds of him losing are high.”
“Why?”
“Non-lethal. Because of that. Too many participants are still left right now.”
“His specs are outstanding too, aren’t they? Ridiculously so? His items….”
“Even so. What can’t be done, can’t be done.”
“Is that really true? His items.”
“I said no! They are the ones who will exploit the inability to kill better than anyone!”
This was the biggest problem.
* * *
Day 10 began.
All participants except the mastermind started acting with insane speed.
They are the hardworking geniuses who can maximize the efficiency of selection and concentration to the extreme.
Since the in-game story progressed, there was nothing to block them as they set out in earnest to unravel it.
The only one who could stop them was Seojun.
And about 2 hours and 30 minutes into the Great Forest.
“Again!”
Bang!
The muzzle flipped upward and a bullet shot into the sky like a rocket.
And the hero missed the hound beneath his feet.
“Because you can’t kill people, you block like this. Huh. But are you really an amateur?”
The reason the muzzle flipped upward.
It was because of the man who clung to him and raised his sword.
The hero, who had been marked by the mastermind for 40 minutes and unable to catch the hound, finally threw up his hands.
Though one hand was already raised due to the flipped-up muzzle.
“A quest that should take two hours, and my hunting has been blocked for 40 minutes now, tsk. This place will soon enter Phase 2.”
“Yes, soon.”
“It probably won’t mean much. In the end, you will be caught later.”
“Why is that?”
“Because you can’t kill. No matter how much you interfere and even if the passage enters Phase 2, eventually, when the moment comes that you can kill people, you’ll still have to face all of us. The number you face at once may change, but still, can you handle it?”
“I can kill, you know.”
“There must be a big penalty.”
He snorted at Seojun.
“Although Kael-nim seems to have better marking and interference skills than me, well.”
“Could it be that I’m just more skilled?”
Seojun smiled back.
Just then, a green wave spread through them like the wind and passed by.
That meant the time was up and the passage had changed.
Such a sound echoed in Seojun’s mind.
[Kwahahahaha! Excellent!]
“Skill… Then shall we see your skill at running away from a hunt?”
The muzzle of the shotgun for hunting people came down. Aimed at Seojun.
“Ah.”
“Try and run away well.”
“Yes.”
Bang!
At that moment, instead of running away backwards, Seojun approached the hunter.
“Oh ho, you’re approaching instead? But what can you do?”
“I’ll kill you.”
Seojun said calmly and began to swing his sword.
“……!”
Clang!
Everyone fighting Kael had to be wary of that sound.
Chang!
Chalang!
In an instant, two more vital spots were cut.
“What kind of damage…!”
Bang! Bang!
The moment the ranged damage dealer allowed distance with no consequence, the fight was as good as over.
How could he hit Seojun standing right next to the gun barrel?
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
The moment his health was shaved to below half with no resistance, green energy burst from Seojun’s body and took the shape of a skull, shouting.
[Are you deaf, you collaborator brat!]
Seojun stopped moving and the hunter stood still with a blade right in front of his body.
One wrong move and he’d really die.
And Seojun, after shouting in his mind, asked the fragment that directly materialized and shouted since he didn’t listen.
“Why?”
[This is disadvantageous for you!]
“Since another Phase 2 passage opened, the penalty will be reduced, you said.”
[Yes. Because there is power coming from the newly grown passage!]
Every time Seojun kills a person, the fragment uses the power it gave Seojun to conceal it.
So when he kills a person, Seojun’s health, the most important stat for a boss monster, decreases.
Eventually, a few specific stats including attack power also decrease.
It’s said that each time a passage grows, power is replenished, so it drops a little less, but.
[So the power that went into you doesn’t mean your health doesn’t decrease! This is a loss!]
One person out of thirty.
If you roughly calculate it as a 3% loss, the health Seojun loses is more than that.
But that didn’t mean he could recklessly kill them all now.
If the power the fragment gave Seojun is completely exhausted, meaning if the penalty stacks, Seojun will also die, apparently.
It’s the price of the seed deeply planted in his body being uprooted.
The reality might be different, but anyway.
“You said if I keep killing, I won’t just lose power, I’ll die, right?”
[Yes!]
“Then I’ll just kill until right before that.”
[You, you madman! I’m telling you it’s a loss? Killing even one person is a loss of power…!]
Seojun approached the hunter.
But the opponent was not flustered.
“The AI is calculating and telling you outright, Kael-nim. It says if you kill me, it’s a loss. Can you kill me? You’ll lose power, it says. Even more.”
Has he regained confidence from learning the reality?
“You know what? I never needed health from the start.”
“What?”
The sky above the hunter split.
Judgment Sword activated.
“Wait! Why! Why?”
“Because I can win without health.”
“Not that, why didn’t you kill me last time!”
“Because that’s more fun.”
“Then why me!”
Rumble rumble rumble!
The sword fell.
“Because it was insolent of you to hunt me.”
And the next day.
Three more participants who had offended Seojun died.
Debate erupted among people over this.
This was entirely because of Seojun’s statement that he could win even if his stats decreased.
In the end, the haters and fans went crazy again.
On a global scale, that is.
The Game Broadcast of a Swordsmanship Master
Episode 311