### Episode 330
What matters is an unbreakable spirit.
Even through the countless moments of frustration he faced while trying to catch up to Shin Hayeon, Baek Doyul had never broken.
And now he had tasted the result of that perseverance—the reward for enduring.
So he knew. Because he had experienced it himself, he knew more desperately than anyone.
That was why.
He knew that not breaking was important, but…
“Hmm…”
After standing the firewood upright, Seo-jun covered it with hay to transfer the fire to the wood, then covered that with mud.
The method of making charcoal was to create holes above and below the mud kiln, light the fire, then seal all the holes so that the wood would burn without air.
But.
“Hmm…”
He had only just begun smearing on the mud.
And yet, when he looked to the side, he saw a perfectly completed kiln.
When had he done that?
How on earth could someone move that quickly?
Baek Doyul had been moving without rest, in the most efficient manner possible.
He had stacked the wood, placed the hay on top, and covered it with mud without taking a single break or making a single mistake.
But how could a human being be that fast?
Talent.
It was a violent kind of talent.
He did not know what kind of talent it was, but everything about it was simply violent.
He had never felt someone was this unreasonable before, but ever since meeting this man in reality, the thing that should never break was beginning to crack.
“Should I bring the fire? I can go get it right away.”
Baek Doyul was preparing to run off when—
“Oh. Hold on a moment.”
Clang!
Seo-jun struck a stone with his sword.
A spark flew, and the hay scattered nearby—when had he even put it there?—caught fire.
‘That’s cheating.’
It really was cheating.
He had obviously set something up for the broadcast.
Perhaps they had arranged it all behind the scenes without even telling him, despite him being a cast member on the same team.
Otherwise, it made no sense.
No matter how skilled someone was with a sword, this was reality.
Fine, even if Seo-jun happened to be the heir of some prestigious swordsmanship family whose location Baek Doyul did not know, what he had just done was make a spark land exactly where he wanted it to.
Was that even possible?
After displaying such an absurd technique, Seo-jun lit the fire and sealed the air holes.
“Once it all burns, it’ll become charcoal. Then I need to properly prepare the meat and get ready to smoke it.”
“Yes…”
This had to be staged.
No matter how many strange things he had seen at the gym, those must have involved some kind of device as well!
‘Though I can’t say that when I’m so good at distinguishing reality from fiction.’
People would never know how terrifying Seo-jun was to have made even Baek Doyul, who had an excellent grasp of reality, start thinking such strange thoughts.
“Please make the other three kilns as well.”
“Yes.”
They had made the first one small because it needed to burn quickly, but they needed four in total.
And the reason Seo-jun was making one now was probably because Baek Doyul had nearly finished one as well.
He must have decided that Baek Doyul’s speed was sufficient.
Yes, it felt good to be acknowledged.
‘Or not?’
Baek Doyul was confused.
* * *
After finishing the kiln, Baek Doyul headed toward the camp spot.
To bring back the fire.
Because there was no longsword.
He could not start a fire like Seo-jun in the first place, right?
‘I know that.’
In the few minutes he had been gone, the camp spot had been cleaned up completely.
The loose stones had disappeared, the small branches had been trimmed, and an empty space large enough to be called a building site had been created.
‘Huh?’
As if in a daze, Baek Doyul rubbed his eyes before taking the fire and returning to the freshwater source to make the next kiln.
After making the next kiln, he headed back toward the camping spot.
This time, too, he was going to fetch the fire.
Baek Doyul spent more than twenty minutes on it this time.
The hay and other materials had already been prepared, and he had worked as quickly as possible.
Then he saw two very stable, solid-looking beds set up on the spot, along with sun loungers in front of them.
‘Hmm?’
They had been made of bamboo, and Seo-jun was nowhere to be seen.
Baek Doyul rubbed his eyes again.
Had this already been made?
The cameraman’s voice of admiration could be heard, and he seemed just as curious about what had happened.
Baek Doyul once again carried the fire back to the freshwater source.
He finished the last kiln.
It had taken him a little longer.
Because his motivation had nearly broken several times.
But Baek Doyul repeated the phrase “an unbreakable spirit” to himself and did his best to build the kiln as quickly as possible.
Then he set off for the camp to fetch the third fire.
‘Heh heh heh.’
This time, a roof and walls had been constructed.
The bamboo framework for the roof fit precisely over the two trees stretching upward, and large leaves enveloped the framework.
A table had even been built between the two beds.
Could something like this really be done with nothing but bamboo?
Behind it lay perfectly butchered meat.
Meat that would be smoked a few hours later.
Baek Doyul wondered whether he should simply close his eyes and open them again.
He felt anticipation over how much more developed the place would become by then, along with a simultaneous fear of himself for looking forward to it.
An existence beyond the owner of the gym.
“Whatever the case…”
He had a strong feeling that if there were ever a “Which streamer should you take to a deserted island if you could take only one?” tournament, this man would remain in first place forever.
Baek Doyul closed his eyes, then opened them.
And once again, something miraculous had happened.
Seo-jun came into view, approaching with several fish and two lobsters skewered on his longsword.
* * *
The broadcast first showed the camp’s development from Baek Doyul’s perspective, then went into detail about what Seo-jun had been doing.
Of course, there was nothing particularly unusual about it. Seo-jun had simply been building without a moment’s rest.
With his longsword, here and there.
- Damn, Baek Doyul is so lucky.
- The leader is literally a god!
- Wouldn’t it be scary?
- He makes something every time he goes shaaa! LOLLLLL. This is freaking hilarious.
- For real, why would it be scary? LOLLLLL. He’s just getting the easiest vacation ever.
“That’s right, everyone. Why would it be scary? The camp gets built even if you just sit around doing nothing.”
Many comments said it was like something out of a fairy tale, as though fairies were building the place.
Wasn’t this the very definition of a vacation?
It was.
Seo-jun had provided a special service as well.
A very special one.
It definitely wasn’t because he had originally planned to take it easy, but then wanted to see whether Baek Doyul would break or not, so he ended up giving it his all…
Hmm.
No comment.
And so, the camp was completed.
Walls had been erected to block the wind, and a roof had been built to shed the rain.
A suitable device for smoking meat had also been made.
Before the charcoal was ready, the broadcast showed them eating grilled alligator and fish.
[There’s alligator meat too, so why did you hunt?]
[…]
Watching from outside, Seo-jun observed himself on the monitor.
‘What was I thinking back then?’
Ah.
Had he been impressed that Baek Doyul still had not broken?
[You get tired of eating only alligator meat.]
[Ah. Hahaha.]
- LOLLLLL. Doyul is seriously living the dream!
- But am I the only one who’s genuinely scared? LOL
- Why is this guy even more absurd in reality? LOL. I seriously don’t get it.
- He can do anything with just one sword LOL. It’s impossible not to understand why his nickname is Sword God.
[Then what should we do now?]
[Rest and smoke the meat. Then we’ll explore starting tomorrow, Mr. Baek Doyul.]
[Sounds good. But let me handle the exploration.]
This time, Baek Doyul’s narration flowed over the scene.
[Haha. I can’t be the only one who does nothing.]
Yes, he needed to do some work.
The broadcast showed Seo-jun and Baek Doyul going back and forth to collect charcoal—Seo-jun simply laid his sword flat, piled more than ten pieces of charcoal on it, and carried them that way—before smoking the meat and moving on to the next day.
- Leader, using the longsword to transport things is part of the concept, right? LOLLLLL
- Absolutely relentless.
- He’s a freaking sword fanatic LOL.
[Oh! I got a fire going! That was really fast! It seems to have been about thirty minutes. I’m lucky.]
Ryan, almost entirely naked, lowered his stance toward the camera installed on the ground beside him and smiled happily.
- Thirty minutes?? The leader gets a fire going with one click????
- LOL. Now who’s the professional?
- A suspicious man carrying a longsword!
[Let’s use this fire to enjoy our catch. We also need to build a house. Hmm, it doesn’t look as easy as making one like we saw earlier, haha! I’ll be satisfied as long as I have somewhere to lie down.]
And it was from this point that the production team’s devilish side began to emerge.
Seo-jun had no choice but to smack his forehead.
The episode ended with Bear’s narration.
[Today, we arrived on the island, explored it, and checked out our competitors. We even went hunting.]
Bear was shown carefully—and with great difficulty—catching fish with a harpoon.
The scenes of his failures flashed by quickly.
Then came Seo-jun’s hunting scene.
Using his longsword, he poked around underwater and caught fish without a single failure.
- Bear: I have to catch them!!!!!
- Leader: Click. LOLLLLL
The next scene showed Ryan concentrating as he repeatedly struck stones together, struggling to start a fire.
And in contrast, Seo-jun’s spark show.
- Ryan: I have to start a fire!!!!
- Someone with a longsword: Click. LOLLLLL
- This is insane LOL.
Bear and Ryan hunted and cooked.
Then Seo-jun watched them while tearing into the meat he had smoked.
- Bear: I have to cook!!!!
- Leader: Click.
- LOLLLLLL
- Ah LOL. This is freaking hilarious.
It could only be described as a vicious edit.
Hmm.
Did they really need to show it in such stark contrast?
Wasn’t that something everyone did anyway?
‘It’s true that it wasn’t staged, but it’s not that impressive, is it?’
- Is there really a human being who can dive for twenty minutes after seeing a saltwater crocodile, then destroy a punching machine designed to withstand a single blow?
‘Hmm.’
Maybe it was.
- Sword-scary, sword-scary LOLLLLL
- Fuck LOL. Where did all the guys who said the survival team would win go? Come here and take your beating.
- To the leader, even a desert would be a vacation LOLLLLL
- They should’ve sent him somewhere other than an island like that. Antarctica or the Arctic, maybe.
- Then he’d probably build an ice castle with his sword and sing songs there LOL.
Anyway.
That was how the first episode ended.
Seo-jun smiled with satisfaction and looked at the camera.
“What did you all think? My first appearance on terrestrial television.”
He meant “appearance on terrestrial television” as the opposite of being a streamer.
Technically, it was an overseas terrestrial broadcasting network, but that was beside the point.
- LOLLLLL. You’re probably going to get flooded with offers now, right?
- Simply legendary.
- So when are you showing us the twenty-minute dive? If it’s real, I think you need to prove it in the ocean LOL.
- There’s a story that if you close your eyes and open them again, the longsword maniac will have built you a house. I like this story very much.
“How high do you think the viewer count will go?”
He imagined that most of Korea had probably watched through his stream, but how many viewers had there been worldwide?
The reason the viewer count mattered was simple.
‘My incentives depend on it.’
Among the terms negotiated through the MCN was an incentive clause.
And then—
- Oh, the viewer count for Episode 1 is up!
A massive overseas website that compiled the viewer counts from Travel, terrestrial television, and viewers around the world had updated its figures.
* * *
An innocent voice filled the dark room.
“Hahaha. Bear, did you watch today’s broadcast?”
[I did. As expected, it was beyond anything I imagined.]
“That’s a relief.”
[What is?]
“We called all our old comrades for the second round’s game.”
Only people of their caliber would be able to handle that man.