Chapter 334
“Hm?”
A loud noise came from the room next door.
At the same time, something strange happened in the chat window.
The vote had originally been intended to run for quite a while.
After all, there was no way the viewers’ opinions would properly converge from the beginning.
So Seojun had planned to keep listening to their opinions and close the vote once enough people had participated.
“But I guess this is already decided, huh?”
Seojun smiled faintly while looking at the monitor, then slowly counted to ten in his head.
The sharp-eyed viewers quickly joined that flow as well.
It had already become the prevailing opinion.
A vote was momentum. It was a current.
‘So it’s decided.’
What mattered, then, was leaving room for interpretation.
Seojun opened Travel through a screen that had subtly appeared on the broadcast and watched the leading candidate’s stream.
Unfortunately, that person was watching Seojun’s broadcast.
Exactly three seconds later, the candidate—who had sensed the murderous intent with uncanny precision—turned off Seojun’s broadcast. But by then, the justification had already been created.
If mischievous chat messages turned into a face, they would probably look like this.
“Looks like he really is a viewer. Haha.”
Seojun laughed happily and tapped away at the keyboard.
He was manipulating the broadcast system.
“How did I not think of this? Anyway, I’ll end the vote.”
The results were as follows.
Countless nobodies who had received one vote each.
Viewers with at least some name recognition who had received two or more votes.
And finally, one viewer who occupied the top ranks.
1. Kim Taeu
2. Taeu
3. That Bastard Taeu
4. That Asshole Taeu
They all referred to the same person.
The first Kim Taeu had received an overwhelmingly high percentage of the votes, and the remaining spots all the way down to tenth were filled with related nicknames.
“Wow! We’ve found the person who will receive the glorious honor! Then shall I go persuade him and recruit him? Recruitment should be pretty easy.”
Seojun stood up and disappeared beyond the camera’s view.
His target was someone who could be recruited on the spot.
Click.
Click-click.
Hearing the faint sounds from far away, the viewers laughed.
-LOLㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-He locked the doorㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This is fucking hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋ
“Go away! I said go away! I’m not even a viewer! Why me?!”
This time, the viewers could faintly hear a calm voice.
They said that a voice carried power, didn’t they?
But this time was different.
It wasn’t the voice that carried power.
It was the speaker.
A purely terrifying power.
“Want me to break it down?”
Clunk.
Before long, the door quietly opened.
-LOLㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-You crazy bastardㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-No, can you really just break down a door?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Looks like Taeu really can break it down, considering he just opened itㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Seriously, the fact that he can just break it down is creepy
“Brother?”
“Fuck off!”
“Want to do it together?”
“Begone, evil spirit! Ooooooh!”
“You have become my companion.”
“Ah, I don’t have time! And ‘have become’? Not even ‘become’!”
“You?”
“…….”
“Time?”
“…….”
-Did I just hear a little ‘kh’ in the boss’s ‘you’ just now? Is it just me?
“You?”ㅋ
-Taeu really is unemployed, huh
-The fifth hopeless case is confirmed unemployed too!
* * *
“I sometimes think the world is truly strange.”
“Who do you think made it that way?”
“Gaaaaah!”
Taeu let out a horrible scream, adjusted his broadcast settings, and went to Seojun’s room.
He had used hosting to move the viewers from his own room to Seojun’s.
After bringing over a spare chair, Taeu sat beside Seojun’s vacant seat and shouted.
“My life!”
His voice was as booming as livestock that knew it was destined to be slaughtered.
“It was a sad yet wonderful life……. Goodbye, everyone. I’ll be leaving now.”
Seojun appeared shortly afterward, pushed Taeu aside, and sat down.
“Now then, shall we take a look at the briefing on the fifth hopeless member?”
They must have prepared it in that short amount of time.
Sure enough, when Seojun opened the community, a fifth post had already been uploaded to the popular-post board, where posts with over thirty recommendations were listed.
[Briefing on the Hopeless Members 5: Kim Taeu.]
==
LOLㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ His life is justㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
All because of one friendㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
He’s had it rough ever since high schoolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
But you’re participating in a huge event, so have a drink~
For reference, this bastard is unemployed too.
==
“What is this?! This is so half-assed! And I’m not unemployed!”
“Seems pretty sincere to me.”
“It isn’t!”
“Aren’t you essentially unemployed?”
“I earn money! I admit I’m living the easy life, honestly. But I’m not unemployed!”
As Taeu had admitted himself, he was currently living the easy life.
Seojun hadn’t questioned Taeu for no reason when the latter said he didn’t have time.
Taeu played all day long.
The same was true when he streamed.
Of course, that was thanks to all the effort Taeu had put in until now.
Was being a streamer an easy job?
No.
Absolutely not.
Countless people tried it without even earning minimum wage, yet most of them sank beneath the surface without ever getting a breath of the fresh air above.
And enjoying one’s work was not something limited to the profession of streaming, either.
It might be fine at first because it was a game, but once it became work, it was bound to be difficult.
Even so.
“Honestly……”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
“What! You bastard.”
“So you’re saying you won’t do it?”
“Fine! I’ll do it!”
Taeu accepted reluctantly.
He had come this far, so there was no way he could back out as a streamer.
It was absurd, but he had no justification to refuse.
The fact that he was obviously going to be worked like a slave by Seojun was, ironically, a reason for Taeu to participate.
That was simply how the world of streamers worked.
“Who’s the last remaining member, then?”
Taeu asked about the final person who would be falling into this hell with them, having given up all hope.
“Let’s hold a proper vote for the last member. This time, let’s choose from ordinary people rather than streamers. Don’t vote right away—let’s first make a list.”
Numerous candidates emerged from among the ordinary viewers.
Some suggested bringing in the vicious White Tiger who used to bully newbies in For the Sake of Chivalry and trying to reform him. Seojun rejected that idea, of course, since recruitment itself would be impossible.
Others suggested bringing in Wallet Is Empty, once the second-richest person in Travel, who had lost his entire fortune and nevertheless clawed his way back to second place—a true god of betting.
“Mr. Wallet Is Empty would be delighted if we put him up against Joam.”
-You know what? Wallet Is Empty wouldn’t come because it would take away from his betting timeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Wallet Is Empty: I have to beat 120 million points!!!!!!!!
-Joam: Boss, all-in! Click!
-You can never beat someone favored by heaven
-So the boss is heaven?
After receiving recommendations for several more viewers, Seojun held the vote.
And the final hopeless case to emerge was.
* * *
[Briefing on the Hopeless Members 6: Living Off Supermarket Samples.]
==
The Timid One.
The Jekyll-and-Hyde One.
Just a completely insane hopeless case.
This viewer appeared in Last Chronicle. In person, he’s timid as hell, but on the internet, he’s a tyrant.
The viewers overwhelmingly voted that they wanted to see this person, and at some point, Living Off Supermarket Samples appeared and typed in the chat.
This is your bro~
That’s right.
This one’s hopeless too.
His nickname alone screams unemployedㅋㅋ
==
-Travengersㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-The Viewer Corpsㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-The hopeless cases are on another level!
-No, seriouslyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ How are they supposed to win with these guys?
-We need a detailed analysis of their combat strength
Indeed.
They needed to learn more about their team members in detail.
“Honestly, I’m not bad, am I?”
The first member of their combat force was a streamer lost in his own delusions.
“Hey.”
“What! What! I’m not as good as you, but I’m pretty skilled too, you know? Diamond! Huh!”
Taeu really was highly skilled, ranking within the top five percent.
However.
“Even without comparing yourself to me, you’re simply at the bottom. Do you think the special forces look like food to you?”
Seojun imitated the viewers’ tone gruffly.
-This is trueㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-At least the boss understands reality
-It’s tough because Last doesn’t have skills, so real-life combat ability is reflected pretty directly
-Soldiers who received proper training would probably be at the very top. Ryan is actually a Challenger in the league
-Teamwork is a problem too
That was true.
Apparently, Joam was quite good.
Seojun had seen Joam play in Dawn of the Assassin Clan, so he acknowledged that.
This Isn’t Murim was certainly top-tier with a sword, and although Last was an FPS, he would probably be pretty good at it.
“I think only two of them can go toe-to-toe with the soldiers.”
“Taeu and Mr. Living Off Supermarket Samples should be able to pull their own weight, even if they’re inferior to the opposition.”
Seojun nodded.
“I’ll give you that much.”
What about the other two?
“What’s your league tier, Mr. Rich?”
Taeu asked.
[‘Rich’ has donated 100,000 won!]
[Unranked! I’m scared of ranked, so I don’t play it!]
-LOLㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Unrankedㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-But you’re rich
“That’s right. Since you’re rich. So, Mr. Rich? Would you perhaps like to come on my stream……”
“Taeu.”
“I’m sorry!”
Reading the murderous intent in Seojun’s voice, Taeu hurriedly apologized.
Taeu knew all too well that the Heavenly Demon of Capitalism was serious.
He grumbled inwardly.
‘Even though he earns money like crazy.’
Regardless, Seojun asked the last person remaining.
“Then what about Shut Up and Game? You haven’t typed anything in chat for a while. You don’t need to restrain yourself.”
It didn’t seem like they could expect much from Shut Up and Game’s skills, either.
The bottom one percent.
Looking at the characteristics of those two, their viewing times were absurdly high.
They ranked near the very top even on a chart made up of people who already had incredibly high viewing times.
That meant they didn’t play games.
“First, we should check whether he’ll be good once he starts, or if he’s simply bad……”
[‘Rich’ has donated 100,000 won!]
[Huh? Isn’t that the line used to drag people to ‘that gym’?]
-Isn’t it?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-As expectedㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ The veteran viewer knows the boss so wellㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-You guys are fucked
“Kahaha! You figured it out, didn’t you, bastard? It’s obvious now, isn’t it? He always torments people in exactly the same way. First he lines up Brother Three-Seconds Number One through Brother Three-Seconds Number Ten……. What? What’s Brother Three-Seconds Number One? Didn’t I mention it? There are athletic brothers who work out at his gym. If they can last three seconds in a spar, they become Three-Seconds; if they last four seconds, they become Four-Seconds. If there’s overlap, everyone after that starts from Number Two. That bastard saves people in his system and calls them by those names.”
-It’s beyond imaginationㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Brother Three-Seconds Number Threeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Are most of them only three seconds, boss? Is that why there are ten of them?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Good grief.
Seojun sighed.
“I’m not taking them to the gym. We don’t have much time anyway.”
Sadly, it would begin in just three days.
‘There isn’t enough time to properly reshape them at the gym.’
Even so, the reason Seojun had only chosen the hopeless cases today was simple.
Because it was fun.
The problem was that they were clearly at a disadvantage in terms of strength.
He had intended to choose hopeless cases, but the people selected really were hopeless cases through and through.
In Last, if the opponent moved efficiently as an organized group, the gap would widen without limit.
And unlike them, the opposition had teamwork forged through countless training sessions and even real combat together.
To overcome that.
“Why don’t we go camping right now, team? You all have plenty of time anyway, don’t you?”
They had to meet first.
[‘Rich’ has donated 100,000 won!]
[Do we have to leave the blanket’s protection!!!!!! Even if it’s the boss, that might be a little difficult right now……?]
As expected of someone who was practically a shut-in.
-LOL Is it even possible to build a base and gather resources with guys like that?
-The outside world is scaryㅋㅋㅋ
-Even if it’s a fan meeting with the boss, an extreme introvert like him can’t leave without preparing in advanceㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
“I mean meeting in Last……. Don’t worry. I’ll turn off the stream. Let’s meet, get familiar with one another, and do some practice first.”
Since they didn’t have to leave the house, the new team members quickly gathered.
And two days later.
A strange rumor began circulating on one of Last’s servers.
That once you entered, there was no way to turn back—a bizarre, enormous tower had suddenly risen from the ground.