Chapter 338
A computer in a studio somewhere in Korea started up.
It meant that the owner of the studio was beginning his stream.
“Hello, everyone! Who am I? I’m Bangju, the man who rides the host’s coattails to perfection every single time!”
Once again, a streamer who was grinning from ear to ear after getting a sweet deal appeared before the camera.
Bangju was Travel’s best amateur commentator.
His smile was that of a man who knew exactly how much he was profiting.
-LOL He’s basically everyone’s host
-This bastard Bangju got observer access again
-Is he saying he’s letting everyone stream-snipe!!
-Though, to be fair...
“Why did I start an hour late? Because that’s what I’m supposed to do! So everyone, go watch Seojun’s stream! It’s live, in first person, and much more immersive over there!”
Bangju chased the viewers gathered in his room away.
Not only was it true, but—
-At least he has a conscience for someone making this much free money LOL
-Yeah, he does have a conscience LMAO
-He negotiated with the broadcasting station, but apparently this favor belongs to the host anyway LOL
Bangju read the chat and nodded without realizing it.
The fact that Seojun had previously broadcast the game under his own ID in the history book must have helped tremendously in securing this broadcast as well.
‘I must worship him!’
If there had not been a viewer base that only watched commentary, Bangju would never have been entrusted with the broadcast.
He might have ended up taking away part of the Korean viewership from Seojun, after all.
Even if that portion was tiny and Bangju himself was a small-time streamer.
‘Though with Seojun around, there’s no way I could be anything but small-time.’
Fortunately, that had not happened.
Everyone who wanted to watch Seojun’s stream watched it, and only those who did not went to Bangju’s stream instead.
In any case, what mattered was—
“Yes! The commentary stream for Last is beginning now! People are starting to log into Last’s map. To explain this game, first of all, the server is left running twenty-four hours a day!”
-Wow
-In real-world time?
-It doesn’t shut down?
“That’s right. It never shuts down. Which is why sentries are important! What if someone comes to raid your house while everyone is asleep and offline?”
Then all your resources would be stolen.
A raid.
That was usually what people called breaking into another team’s house.
In Last, raiding a boss on the map and raiding someone else’s house were treated the same way.
“You have to stop the raids! How? Stand watch, and if someone comes, call them on the phone!”
There was an evil app that, upon receiving a signal from within Last, played an extremely loud horn or the morning wake-up call from a military barracks through the user’s phone.
Most people used that app.
“The goal of this game is ‘Aim for Achievements.’ We don’t know what achievements they are, but apparently people are already posting guesses on the community boards. If you’re curious, go take a look.”
The important thing here was that there were multiple achievements.
Apparently, to win, they had to survive while achieving the best possible results across the board.
“It’s going to be tough. Also, since the achievements are worth attempting as long as the camp doesn’t completely collapse, this game should become extremely fierce! Now then—ah! Streamer Ha Yunho and streamer Seojun have met!”
The familiar scene unfolded before the viewers. Seojun shook them down for protection money.
Everyone said they had expected this anyway.
“Ah, that look in his eyes says he’s realized something. This is dangerous, isn’t it? For gamers.”
Seojun set out to hunt.
Bangju had watched the live broadcast and knew what would happen an hour later, but he took consideration of those who did not.
“Ah! One of the two they just met has a crossbow! He’s taking it out with an evil grin! Seojun is also grinning evilly as he approaches head-on! The crossbow! He fires! Huh? He catches it! He caught it! And now he’s throwing a jab!”
-????
-That’s insane LOLLLLL
-????
-I saw this an hour ago, but it’s still ridiculous even watching it again LOL
-Catching an arrow flying past him is amazing enough, but catching and blocking one head-on is even crazier
“Ah! Both of them are dead! From Seojun’s jab! Seojun, having looted the items, waits for a moment! Is he praying?”
He was waiting in case their party members came back so he could kill them too. But no one came, and Seojun continued on his way.
That was how he encountered the raiders.
Bangju began explaining the raiders in detail, but the viewers already seemed to know exactly how it would end.
-Cut! LOL
-What do you mean veterans? LOL
-They lost both in positioning and aim
-Even if you say catching arrows is an act of God and can’t be helped, how did they lose this badly at such basic things?
-It’s because they don’t have guns yet
-Did we really expect Last veterans to catch arrows? LOL
-And the guy who scavenged the arrows in the middle of all that—was that Zhuge Cheonma? LOL
“That’s right! Even if they’re veterans, we don’t expect them to catch arrows every time!”
It was a play that only Seojun could pull off.
But that was precisely why it was even more disappointing.
They had been outclassed even in that area by Seojun, who embodied the saying that when you have overwhelming physical ability, you don’t need to use your head.
Of course, Seojun was not merely physically gifted. He understood combat itself.
That was why, whenever an opening appeared, he exploited it and secured an overwhelming victory.
And if no opening was visible, he possessed the physical ability to create one himself.
Bangju explained this point.
He was doing it to maintain the tension.
“The key is how quickly ordinary users can get used to Seojun’s physical abilities! Once they do, they won’t leave him many openings! They’ll think, ‘So that’s how he is,’ and prepare their next countermeasure! So it’s still too early to tell!”
Was it really too early to tell?
Even while delivering this commentary, Bangju discovered that he was inwardly worshiping Seojun, convinced that Seojun would simply kill everyone in his path, and let out a hollow laugh.
“Heh heh heh.”
-Is that how it is!
-The commentary is so good
-Clearly, the difference in skill isn’t normally this huge
-The Last veterans are posting Bangju’s commentary on their community already LOLLLLL
-How shocked do you think they were when their best veteran got steamrolled from the start? Ah, LOL
* * *
“Yes. We’ll head back now.”
After killing the last remaining player, Seojun began looting the corpse.
They had everything that could be obtained in the early game, from cloth to huge quantities of stone and wood, ammunition, food, scrap, and more.
And they had a lot of it.
“You certainly looted efficiently in a short time.”
Seojun admired the skill of the group, who had swept through the area like a swarm of locusts while moving around for less than an hour.
“I should make use of this subcontractor from time to time. We’re going with the big-business meta. I’ve memorized their usernames.”
-LOL They’re not subcontractors
-They’re screwed. He’s marked them as good workers LOL
-Like a college student impressing their professor with their talent and getting dragged into grad school LOL
-The professor memorized their names! They’re screwed!
[You didn’t die, did you?]
“No, we’ll be going now. Build the house, then let’s go farm nearby together. You gather resources.”
Resources were always in short supply, from the most basic materials to rare resources capable of producing high-tier items.
“The ordinary team members seem to be working quite well. Since they’re all moving together, they’re even meeting the delivery quota.”
[Host, you didn’t memorize the names of that hunter team or veteran team, did you? What were the usernames of the people you fought?]
The Assassin of Joseon noticed something and joined the conversation.
“Oh. There were people like that? Ah!”
Seojun tended to erase useless information from his mind.
“Skeleton? I think that was it.”
He did not know what the word skeleton meant, but it had been the username of the last remaining player.
[They were the raiders, weren’t they! You killed them all, right?]
[As expected, you are remarkable.]
[This is what getting carried looks like, haha.]
“Yes. I tend to erase information I deem useless from my mind, so I didn’t pay attention. But now that I think about it, that was very important information.”
Seojun blamed himself for not realizing before the game began that this was a subcontractor game.
[Why?]
“Obviously, a skilled team will have more resources, making them a good place to collect payment from. We’re definitely raiding them.”
Before this game as well, Seojun had informed Joam, who served as both the third-in-command and the manager, of their target in advance.
[Host, I think your true feelings just slipped out. ‘Collect payment’?!]
“……”
[And the raid—]
Seojun, having been struck right in the heart of the matter, cut Joam off and ran.
“Wait a moment. That subcontractor has appeared again. It’s a shame there are fewer people this time.”
[…]
The Assassin of Joseon was speechless for a moment.
But then, as though it were only natural, he calmly repeated what he had been saying.
He neither panicked nor tried to stop Seojun, much less got excited.
[We’re the ones who are about to get raided.]
It was only natural that he anticipated Seojun would keep making enemies.
* * *
Seojun arrived at the house.
It had been built in the familiar bunker style, with Baek Doyul serving as the builder.
Building a house was an extremely complex task that required a high level of proficiency.
Only Baek Doyul and Seojun had perfected that proficiency in such a short time, which was why Baek Doyul had built the house.
Small and sturdily constructed, the house was an excellent hideout that was not easy to destroy in the early game.
As soon as Seojun entered, he placed the items in the chests that had already been built. The people watching from the side as he opened the chests and checked how much they could hold cheered.
“Wow! Is this what being a big-business streamer is like?”
“This is how you become a big-business streamer! That’s our host!”
“We’re rich!”
It felt like he was listening to the chat in real time through voice beside him. Maybe it was because they were true stream-watchers.
“We’ll be quite well supplied with early-game resources and equipment. Let’s go right away.”
Baek Doyul quickly crafted weapons and armor.
Normally, the party that went out farming and the party that gathered resources were supposed to split up.
But they had started with plenty of resources, and they decided it would be fine for both parties to go to farming sites.
‘The snowball has started rolling.’
It was just as Seojun had expected.
They split into two groups of four according to the parties they had arranged beforehand.
Seojun and Baek Doyul each took charge of one party.
They each added one weak link, Rich and Shut Up and Play.
Among the aces, Joam and Taewoo, who were slightly less capable, joined Seojun’s party, while This Isn’t Murim and Tasting Corner, who were top-tier players, joined Baek Doyul’s party.
The house had been built exactly between two farming sites, so they simply had to split left and right.
“I’ll go right.”
Seojun took the area closer to the center. There were many farming sites, and the map was large.
The odds of running into someone else?
Not high.
But then—
On his way to the farming site, Seojun scratched his head.
“Wait a moment. There are signs that this drum barrel has already been opened. Enemies.”
Drum barrels were containers commonly found in the game that held assorted junk items.
The fact that one had been opened meant that someone had already come here.
Considering the timing, there was a very high chance they were still farming.
“Heh heh……”
Seojun let out a hollow laugh, radiating displeasure.
“Doesn’t this seem intentional?”
“What? Why?”
The farming site they had come to was an underground warehouse.
It was the ideal location for quickly advancing the tech tree and crafting a greater variety of items.
Its disadvantage was that it lacked other elements, but Seojun’s objective was to advance the tech tree as quickly as possible. More importantly, they had enough basic resources in their current situation, so it did not matter.
After hearing this, Taewoo asked,
“Hey, but why do you want to advance the tech so quickly? And what do you mean, intentional?”
“Oh. Once we reach the Tier 4 workbench, we can make a frying pan. That’s my goal. But the enemies down there predicted that and came here first to loot it. They’re trying to interfere with me.”
“……”
“……”
Joam and Rich said nothing.
They merely looked at him with eyes that seemed to ask, Is that really it?
Taewoo, however, shouted in disbelief.
“What the hell are you talking about, you lunatic! We just happened to overlap!”
“No. I’m sure of it, Taewoo. This was a snipe.”
Seojun headed down into the basement.
He had to reclaim the supplies before that presumptuous subcontractor left.