Chapter 67
Swoosh!
The sword moved as if dancing lightly.
From left to right. Tracing a diagonal line.
[Strawberry Tummy defeated!]
Behind him, an enemy thrusts a sword, trying to stab his back.
Aware of this, he turned his body, pulling his arm inward before swinging his blade just as his rotation ended.
Slash.
The enemy fails to block and allows the attack.
He readies a follow-up.
"Try to take this one."
He grips the sword with both hands and raises it high.
The blade gleams, catching the light source floating in the sky.
He will strike straight down.
Instead of speed, he'll imbue it with strength. All resources are abundant for him, after all.
His opponent, already nearly out of stamina, notices and backpedals to dodge.
But it's already too late.
[Byeolgu defeated!]
The enemy turns into a corpse.
Then the corpse disappears.
He has left the game.
[Victory]
The text floating on the screen announces the end of the game.
"What, it's over already."
He'd only been killing enemies coming through the entrance.
Seo-jun snapped back to his senses.
-Lololololololol what a jerk
-One guy rage quit and left
-Truly brutal, can't bear to watch...
With that, he had finished all four games of the tenth day.
"Well, today's games all ended in victories, everyone."
Occasionally there are people wanting him to lose, but losing isn't exactly easy either.
The reason is simple. While he does run into rankers sometimes, he's never met the top-tier rankers.
They say they avoid pointless confrontations.
Thanks to that, Seo-jun had been facing only comfortable opponents.
Even if the matchmaking system tries to pair him with the highest possible players, if there are no top-tier users in the queue, it can't be helped.
One could say that proper interference hasn't really started coming his way yet.
"Oh. The viewer count has gotten even higher."
Even though his game ended, people are increasing.
[Viewer Count - 9,317]
-People finished their games, that's why
-Congratulations. You've been chosen as the waiting room
-I just finished the battlefield and came straight here lol
Well, the reason is.
Simply put, Seo-jun's room has become a waiting room now.
The ranking waiting room that gets revealed exactly at 10 PM today.
Since the day before, numerous estimated contribution ranking charts were posted in the community.
Though all predictions will inevitably be meaningless since it'll be revealed today anyway.
But predicting the future is deeply rooted in human nature.
Because it likely increased one's chances of surviving by preparing for events better.
And on all those countless estimate charts, he was always placed at the top.
That's why they're waiting in his stream. At least in the upper ranks of those charts, there was no other streamer but Seo-jun.
-Now we just have to see the result chart.
-It'll be out soon
-Streamer, hurry and reveal your current contribution and fame!
-Wonder how much he's gathered lol
-I bet he's at least in the top 16
-Just reveal it now!
-Streamer is #1. I came back from the future
-No way lol
Seo-jun's chat window currently had no restrictions on chatting.
Many people had entered, and since they clearly tended to enjoy chatting, Seo-jun had left it open.
"It's going to be revealed in about an hour anyway, so please hold on a little."
That was correct.
Correct, right in the face.
And a streamer gets hit with donations.
['RevealItNow' donated 10,000 won!]
[Double the donation amount.]
['MeToo' donated 10,000 won!]
[Betting!]
['Can'tWaitAnHour' donated 20,000 won!]
[Double? I'll triple it.]
Seo-jun flinched for a moment, feeling tempted.
It'll be revealed in roughly an hour; maybe just taking 60,000 won would be more profitable.
"Thank you for the donations."
But he didn't make that choice.
Revealing it early seemed like it'd be less fun, and comparing everything at once later would make a better picture, wouldn't it?
"Well, I haven't checked it myself either, so let's just wait and see together."
Since comparisons with others were impossible anyway, checking early wouldn't let him do or change anything.
Unless the Demon Cult goes on the offensive or something like that, then he'd have to decide whether to join their ranks, and thus would need to compare at least estimates.
But since that's not the case.
"It'll be pretty high, won't it?"
Seo-jun, like others, expected he'd at least be in the top 16.
-Is the streamer really #1 like that post said?
-Is this how you become world-class?!
-Our streamer is absolutely not world-class.
-Are you the streamer's dad? lololol
"Hmm, what shall we do now?"
With about an hour left until 10 o'clock.
Of course, he didn't need to spend that entire hour.
The reason is that from 9:30 onwards, they could spend time spectating the streamer Bangju's broadcast in a viewparty.
"Shall we go play some more?"
Seo-jun headed up to the Demon Cult's mountain.
He could enjoy content in other places too, but the Demon Cult was practically free.
The black robe he was wearing now was also something he bought without spending any currency, thanks to the Grandmaster, picking one that suited his taste.
Honestly, Grandmaster is way too good.
Sadly, he couldn't get event items or mileage items, but the normal shop was enough.
"Actually, isn't Grandmaster just Baek Wigang's scheme to keep the most skilled person tied to the Demon Cult?"
A reasonable suspicion arises.
-For real, that's it
-Look at the Demon Cult being petty
-Just say they're good at marketing
-So are you saying you're the most skilled right now?
A sharp chat appears.
"Well, no one else has gotten Grandmaster yet, have they? By the way, what's the condition for it?"
Chats asking about the Grandmaster's conditions also popped up.
So far, no one but Seo-jun had obtained it, so it was worth being curious about.
But.
"Why are you asking me that."
He doesn't know either.
Probably just because he's skilled.
Going beyond executing martial arts moves and transforming them to perfection isn't something anyone can do.
Even a genius who trained the sword for decades might lack reaching that realm and fully understanding the moves, so how skilled could mere game users be after trying a little?
-Show us again
-Curious if you'd still get it if you tried again
-Prove it! Prove it!
-Is it possible with other moves?
If his skills weren't enough to get it again, then he probably wouldn't have become Grandmaster in the first place.
"Hmm. Then, shall we go see Baek Wigang?"
Chats of approval come in. Perfect for passing the time.
"Alright. I'll show you. Which move do you want me to use?"
He turned on the Skill Board and pinned it to the broadcast screen.
And then he searched for moves on the Skill Board strategy forum.
Countless detailed guides thoroughly documenting numerous moves and their results.
Also seeing users continuously researching in the comments.
"...…."
Seo-jun's hands started itching.
"Ha. I feel the urge. To give pointers."
That feeling you get when you can see but they can't.
People strongly feel this urge even when watching simple games like Gomoku, so how could he just pass by seeing people passionately debate his specialty, martial arts moves?
It'd be easier for a sparrow to just pass by a mill.
-Go for it
-Pointers from the Grandmaster? lol can't resist
-Is this a fortuitous encounter?!
-The encounter comes looking for you!
-Perfect title
-First time seeing this stream, is this for real? Or a concept?
-There's no concept here.
First, Seo-jun tried to enter the most eye-catching post to leave a comment.
But the moment he clicked, the window transitioned and Seo-jun realized he didn't have an Adventure community account.
"Ah. Wait a moment."
He turned off the screen.
-Lolololololol
-No community account! What a proper youth
-Yeah, that's right.
"Okay. Created."
The first community nickname he made ended up as "HiddenMaster14".
Because "HiddenMaster" was already taken.
-What Hidden Master
-9,000 viewers are watching, but you're hiding lolololololol
-Leave some pointers on my post too
-14 lolololol
Now that he had a nickname, he slowly browsed the posts.
And starting with moves that seemed to have some potential, he began leaving comments.
For example, like this:
-The angle of your right foot needs to come a bit more inward for smooth power transfer.
-Can't you see you need to put more strength into your lower body?
-The problem is your left shoulder is hunching, tsk tsk.
-Don't you feel that your gaze position is wrong? Why are you looking to the side when the enemy is right in front of you.
-If your foot lands on the correct spot, your upper body will naturally follow.
Finding the most optimal correction and telling them was fun.
The viewers:
-Just what can you see
-Actually improves if you change the left foot angle?
-He's just saying whatever
-The Grandmaster must be different
They showed these reactions, though.
Seo-jun chatted with them and even went digging into videos from years ago to leave comments.
"Shall we stop here?"
Seo-jun, having enjoyed himself while moderately interacting with viewers, turned off the Skill Board when it was time.
It was nearly 9:30.
-Dude, it was getting fun, why turn it off
-I felt like I became a master too
-Fortuitous encounter pretend play is super fun
-Well, it was fun teaching the world's greatest swordsman too
-That was just beating him up
"Let's do pointers again next time when there's a chance. How about it?"
Unexpectedly, the response was good.
-Chance will never come next time lolol
-It's the same as a Korean saying "let's grab a meal sometime"
-"Let's grab a meal sometime" = probability of meeting again within a few years is critically low
Is that so?
"Well, anyway, moving on."
Let's just skip for now.
He'll forget eventually.
Though seeing how the Christina affection quest story keeps coming up, maybe not.
"Now the Bangju-nim streaming is about to start, so let's watch that together."
Current viewer count: 9,500.
If he does well, he might surpass 10,000 again.
But.
'Today, odds are it won't happen.'
No matter how much attention is focused overall and viewer count rises, there's a separate place that sucks in most of that attention.
-Oh right, that was happening
-Mid-point inspection is starting
-When Bangju broadcast starts, I'm off to watch that bye
-Don't leave our room!
-Bro, we'll stay here!
It's Bangju's live broadcast.
He usually doesn't go live often.
But each time he does, he wields incredible influence.
And today is the day he goes live.
[Bangju-nim has started streaming.]
Since I had Travel on, the notification rang.
The same for the viewers.
-Going!
-Me too
-Take care
-Fighting!
-I'll cheer for you!
People who had come in like a flood tide now ebbed away like a receding tide.
A bit of a shame, but since they weren't his viewers to begin with, it's fine.
"Seven hundred people left at once. Jeez. And I was going to watch along too."
Do-bang, short for "stealing broadcast," or also called "tam-bang," means showing another streamer's live broadcast on your own screen.
This requires the streamer's permission.
And Bangju had do-bang enabled at all times.
It was a choice he made, understanding his position as something like an official commentator and wanting everyone to enjoy more.
-Honestly, watching together is more fun
-You're missing the streamer's reactions? lolololol
-Wow, insane viewer count.
-Kyaa!
-Curious what the content will be
Seo-jun was also surprised.
It's been only a few minutes since it started.
Even for a scheduled broadcast, the number of people was beyond imagination.
[Starting mid-point inspection!]
[Bangju] [Viewer Count - 78,000]