Chapter 320
The hotel where the participants were staying had the finest amenities.
It was a luxury hotel.
Naturally. The way participants were treated was directly tied to the company’s standing.
No matter how financially comfortable they were, no one could resist free lodging.
On top of that, they were holding an after-party at the hotel pool.
After History Book ended, they took two days off.
The teams should have simply returned as soon as possible, adjusted to the time difference, and trained. They wondered why anyone would hold such a pointless party, and called their players back, but—
[Hey, Bernard! Come back quickly!]
[Don’t want to.]
[Why not!]
[There’s someone I need to meet in person one more time.]
[Oh no… Don’t tell me it’s the person I’m thinking of?]
[Probably.]
[What about Rachel? Is Rachel staying to have fun too?]
[That’s what I heard.]
[Why?]
[Same reason as me.]
[Oh, for crying out loud! Listen carefully, Bernard!]
[Why?]
[You still seem to be on good terms with ‘that person,’ so make absolutely sure you don’t ruin that relationship…]
There was no way they were going back.
As stated before, no one could resist free lodging.
But more than that—
[It would be such a shame to leave things like this.]
[Yon. What are you planning to do? Don’t tell me you’re going to challenge him one more time? Did you forget how you sobbed to me that night because you were scared? No! Stop!]
[…That’s not it, you bastard of a coach. I never sobbed, either.]
[Oh, really? Sorry. You just looked really terrified. Anyway, I enjoyed watching History Book. The last one standing!]
[…Fine. I heard we can stay for up to another week. I’ll leave then.]
[What? What about training! Training!]
[Ah, I’m kidding! Either way, I have to meet Big Brother again!]
[Just meet him now, say hello, and come back.]
[He’s not coming out. He’s in his room. Or maybe at home? I’m not sure.]
The pros wanted to meet Seojun.
They had met him plenty of times in History Book, but he had utterly crushed them toward the end.
Wouldn’t they have to meet him again after that?
Revenge?
It wasn’t that.
But for some reason, now that everything had come to an end, they wanted to see him.
It really wasn’t revenge.
It wasn’t.
[Oh. Yon. And I’m saying this because you two seemed pretty close.]
[You want me to bring him onto the team if I can?]
[Absolutely. Really, absolutely. You’ve faced him yourself, so you should know better than anyone. The analysis team here is working on it right now, and it makes no sense.]
[Got it. But all the other teams will approach him too, won’t they? And if he’s willing, who knows how high his price might climb.]
[I know that. Even so, we have to go for it, even if we can’t get him. Absolutely. The more we analyze him…]
And so, nearly all the participants had similar thoughts and deliberately stayed several extra days despite their busy schedules.
The participants and viewers were keeping their eyes peeled, but strangely, there were no sightings of Seojun. He apparently wasn’t even leaving his hotel room.
[Where’s the streamer……]
[He’s definitely coming out to the pool party! He’ll do an outdoor stream, right?]
[Please turn on your stream already!!!!!!!]
[When are you going live? I’m going insane, streamer? When are you going live? I’m going insane, streamer? When are you going live? I’m going insane, streamer? When are you going live? I’m going insane, streamer? When are you going live? I’m going insane, streamer? When are you going live? I’m going insane, streamer?]
[Oh? He didn’t open the door today either? Weird? Oh? He didn’t open the door today either? Weird? Oh? He didn’t open the door today either? Weird?]
[Reiben’s been consumed by madness lmfaoㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[PLEEEASE. It’s so cold!!! Open the door!!!!]
The night History Book ended.
And the next day.
And even today, the day after that, Seojun still hadn’t posted a notice saying he would go live.
He had definitely received his phone.
And since he was Korean, he could have gone home.
Which meant he could have streamed just as he normally did.
[This is 100% intentional lmaoㅋㅋㅋㅋ Everyone knows the streamer’s a bastard who toys with his viewers too, right?]
People assumed this was one of Seojun’s tricks.
Under normal circumstances, a streamer had to row when the tide came in.
No, they should.
Whether it was to live well and prosper, to become the best, or for any other reason.
Not rowing when the tide came in was simply idiotic.
However—
If you possessed a value that only you could provide—
[What a gutsy business model, damn!!!!!!! Still, please open the door!!!]
—you didn’t have to row when the tide came in.
Seojun, in particular—
[This bastard just summons the waves himself. Then he doesn’t row. It’s pissing me off.]
—possessed the ability to create that current himself.
He had proven it by doing exactly that until now.
And just as the viewers expected, Seojun—
“Ah, the weather’s nice again today.”
—was deliberately refusing to go live.
“Damn, this Jin Seojun bastard. I want to expose all of this on stream right now.”
“You’re noisy first thing in the morning, Taewoo.”
“I’m saying this because that incarnation of evil is snickering while reading the community boards.”
“……”
* * *
Seojun was resting.
He was tired, of course, but whenever it was time to rest, he rested no matter what happened.
Even if some controversy had erupted.
That was simply Seojun’s personality.
‘Probably?’
Of course, with his viewers growing so desperate, there was also a part of him that decided to take an extra day off precisely because he didn’t want to stream any more.
So what?
Setting records for viewer counts was fun, but this was just as entertaining.
Seojun logged into Travel.
He simply had nothing else to do.
* * *
Analysis streams.
They were currently the biggest trend on Travel.
[A Bronze Player Analyzes Kael’s Movements!]
[I Really Was Taught by Kael – Wind Sword]
[Kael Seems Pretty Good Against Seojun?]
[We’ve Invited a Psychiatrist! Just How Does Someone Develop This Kind of Personality? (Permission Granted by Seojun—Who Am I? The Man in Contact with the World’s Greatest Swordsman) – Ha Yunho]
[Yes. I’m That Bastard’s Best Friend. That’s Me lol. Don’t pity me. I said don’t pity me. – Kim Tae-woo]
They couldn’t exactly avoid it.
The viewers wanted it.
Most game streamers had no choice but to talk about History Book.
And it was fun, too.
In History Book, the streamers had all returned to being ordinary viewers—Twitch viewers—and humans naturally loved sharing the incredible things they had witnessed with others.
The same was true of overseas Travel streams with no connection to Seojun.
Three of the finest analysts had gathered.
[Analyzing Kael from History Book]
It was a simple stream title. Yet the two figures shown in the thumbnail inevitably drew overseas viewers in, and made it clear why the title was so plain.
Two of the world’s three greatest analysts had gathered.
One was John Peto, a streamer who wasn’t popular because he kept his insights to himself during streams instead of making them public. The other was Sarah, who had participated in the official broadcast.
Neither of them belonged to any team.
That allowed them to analyze freely and go wherever they pleased.
Perhaps that freedom was precisely why they received so much exposure and had become two of the three great analysts.
There might well be people even more talented among active professionals.
But—
The fact that teams were still sending them a steady stream of offers proved that they hadn’t been named two of the three great analysts through mere good fortune.
“Do you know where we are? We’re in Korea! Hahaha!”
John Peto had come to Korea. With the help of the team managers, he had secured a room at the hotel.
He would also be attending tomorrow’s party.
“Why did I come? Obviously, to see that person! And I’m streaming today to see that person too! Right?”
Sarah, who was sitting beside him, spoke.
“Same here. I was invited, actually, but there was no way I could pass this up. You have no idea how surprised I was while preparing today’s stream.”
“You can feel something new every time you watch it again.”
“Exactly.”
They began analyzing various scenes.
There were a million viewers.
It was a result of the festival atmosphere still lingering.
Normally, they had around two thousand.
“Right here! Here! This makes no sense, but simply by slightly turning the edge of his blade, he connects it into his next attack!”
John Peto continued his explanation excitedly.
“When the two blades meet at an exact right angle, their forces are equal, so you can’t push through! Even if you’re a muscular man! That’s why combat in the game is a battle of precise technique! Because a contest of strength is impossible! And every single moment of this person’s movements is incredibly precise and beautiful. He must have learned from someone. And tomorrow, my goal is to find where he learned it!”
A great analyst wasn’t necessarily a great player.
But most people with the insight to analyze gameplay itself, rather than merely the game, were skilled players.
“This can’t be achieved through talent alone. Of course, this person really is the greatest talent in the world. But he was like this from the very first time he played the game! If that’s the case, then in reality…”
Could he have had a master?
That was when—
[Jin Seojun donated $100!]
[No, he doesn’t. lol]
“Hey! Didn’t I say I’d ban anyone who impersonated him one more time?”
“Wait a second, Peto.”
“You’re dead.”
There was no one on Travel who didn’t know the story of Seojun and the Divine Sword.
And since everyone knew that Seojun’s first move had been to make a donation and offer unsolicited advice, countless impersonators continued to appear in different channels.
The same was true for John Peto’s stream.
This kind of interruption to the flow of the broadcast could not be tolerated.
“Cut.”
Peto kicked out the viewer who had just made the donation and gave him a one-day ban.
The viewers loved it, especially the Korean viewers.
The laughter was famous.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-The streamer hasn’t even appeared, so where did you get off impersonating him?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-At least post an announcement
Then Sarah spoke.
“Hey. That really was him just now.”
“What?”
“No, I clicked on it, and it immediately took me to the Travel channel.”
“Uh. Huh? Huh! Noooo! I drove him away with my own hands! Is he coming back? He’ll come back, right?”
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-That bastard showed up in another channel!!!!!!!
-He won’t turn on his own stream but goes around to other people’s? Is he insane?
-Get him! Catch him!
-You just want to follow the streamer around, don’t you? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-International bros, let’s go together!
-Let’s go! Koreans!
“Noooo!”
“You idiot.”
Afterward, Peto’s channel lost 800,000 of its one million viewers in an instant.
But what hurt Peto most was the fact that he had driven Seojun away with his own hands.
* * *
[He spent the whole day going from stream to stream and causing chaosㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He really is built differentㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[I followed him around all day! It was great!]
[Then he went to Taewoo’s channelㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ The legendary part was when he dumped a huge wave of viewers there and didn’t say a single wordㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ The overseas viewers started a riot, demanding that the streamer make him talkㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[A genius of one-sided communicationㅋㅋㅋㅋ The moment the streamer starts asking him questions, he rudely leavesㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ That’s our streamer!!!!]
[And he still didn’t go live until the very endㅋㅋㅋ What a complete menace]
And the next afternoon—
When the after-party, which not only the viewers but everyone else had been eagerly awaiting, was about to begin—
Seojun finally went live.
[‘Jin Seojun’ has started streaming.]
[Why don’t you all gather around? lol]