Chapter 7
The moment Seojun killed Etor, he lost control of his body, and a cutscene played out.
"You hypocritical hound of the assassin's guild! I won't go alone!"
"!"
But Dain, now moving his body, didn't react as quickly as Seojun would have. Etor, barely alive, dashed into the bedroom and tore a piece of parchment.
BOOM!
A violent explosion erupted nearby, and the air burned red.
"Damn it!"
Dain looked out the window and saw nearby buildings exploding one after another, flames and splinters scattering everywhere.
And if this kept up, next would be—
Crash!
Realizing it instantly, Dain threw himself out the window to escape.
The screen showed Etor laughing behind him.
BOOM!
The moment Dain shattered the window and leaped out, a massive explosion erupted behind him, the flames scorching his back.
Eeeee!
A ringing filled his ears. As his blurry vision focused, his face pressed against the grass—
"Here! The terrorist is here!"
In the distance, faintly, he could see soldiers swarming toward him.
Even in his dazed state, Dain desperately got to his feet and started running.
He vaulted over the manor wall, stumbled forward, then rose again and climbed onto a rooftop.
A chase ensued.
As the distance gradually widened and Dain's vision sharpened, an arrow flew from behind and lodged in his shoulder.
Then, a successive barrage of fireball magic struck him directly.
In the end, his body battered and broken, Dain fell into the river beside him.
Some unknown figure watched the scene.
The soldiers, seeing him fall from the rooftop, assumed he was dead and turned back. And then, the scene shifted.
A man was staring blankly at the sea.
He rose to head somewhere when a dark shape, washed ashore by the waves, caught his eye.
The man approached the shape slowly, soon realizing it was a corpse.
Leisurely, he rummaged through the body and pulled out a brooch from its chest—an eagle soaring through the sky, the symbol of freedom—and slipped it into his own pocket.
* * *
After regaining control of his body, Seojun checked the chat first.
-The cutscene hasn't changed at all ㅠㅠ
-Dain dies every time
-Looting a corpse is so protagonist-like lol
Then he said what he'd been wanting to say for a while.
"If it were me, I would've deflected that arrow and magic."
-lolololololololololololol
-Emotional wrecking ball, you madman lol
-That really does seem likely
"No, seriously, doing that with someone else's face is too much."
-for real lol
-He had it coming lol
After checking the chat's reactions, Seojun clapped his hands.
"Alright, so what do I do now?"
He was currently in a tavern. Christina, whom he'd seen during the tutorial, was wiping a glass.
"Anyone would think I'm supposed to talk to her..."
He approached her. As he got closer, the auto-progression started again.
"Customer? Do you need something?"
"Need something? I do. Quite a lot."
Christina's expression grew guarded, and Seojun took the brooch from his pocket and slammed it onto the table.
Startled, Christina hurriedly snatched the brooch and hid it.
She glanced around to check if other customers had seen. Confirming with relief that no one had reacted, she hastily led Seojun into the kitchen, where they were alone.
"Who are you?"
"Calm down. I'm just here because I think I can help."
"What... do you mean?"
"I take requests. Assassinations are my specialty."
"...How much do you know?"
"Everything. Your assassin's guild, the tedious history of the alliances that make up the social elite, their goals, their conflicts—I know it all. Because I've fought those alliance bastards in Saion."
"Could it be... you're from the west?"
"That's right."
"A mercenary who'll do anything for money. That means you'd never side with the alliances. Fine. Let's exchange names. I'm Christina."
"I am..."
Seojun's mouth regained its freedom.
-Oh, is he finally picking a nickname?
-Could it be that Jin Seojun is his actual streamer name?
-Using your real name isn't bad either lol
Seojun's current streamer name was his real one. He hadn't set it up separately.
Streamer names could be anything: just use Kim Taewoo like a friend's name, pick a percussion instrument, or tweak a trendy phrase. The options were endless and free.
'The safest bet is my real name.'
Why agonize over it when I don't even know how long I'll be doing this?
And as for the game nickname.
"Nameless."
[Confirm 'Nameless'?]
It had been a catchphrase from his previous life.
Nameless. A title that sounded like it held something more, despite meaning "without name," and it had been popular back then.
[Yes]
"Alright, good. Nameless."
"How can I contact you if needed?"
"Wait, before that, I need to know where the owner of this brooch is."
"Buried at the western dock."
"Is that so. Understood."
Christina's reaction to her comrade's death was stoic.
It seemed like a deliberate touch, indirectly showing how easily people could die in their line of work.
[From now on, you can receive assassination requests at the 'Sun Tavern'!]
"Use this to contact me."
[You have obtained a 'Signal Stone'!]
After receiving the Signal Stone item, Seojun stepped out of the tavern.
-Suddenly Nameless?
-So the streamer's nickname is Nameless from now on?
-How can a person's name be Nameless lololololol
"Ah, Nameless is just my game nickname. I haven't decided on a stream name yet, so I'll stick with this for now. Call me whatever you want."
[6 viewers watching Jin Seojun]
-lol
-Seoha!
-Ah! Nameless! A perfect nickname for an assassin! Goat!
"Alright! Then I'll be ending the stream here. I'll turn on the broadcast at the same time tomorrow. T... ahem. TTV."
Seojun stammered, finding it cringey to shout out "TTV."
-lololololol That's cute
-TTV
-I'll definitely be there tomorrow.
"Uh, by the way, if I just quit, will it save?"
Games were really tricky in this regard.
Absolutely not because he was getting old.
-lololololol You said you were leaving
-You can just turn it off. For real.
-Oh geez, a newbie lolololol. Anyone would think it's his first time playing a game.
Paaat!
* * *
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"Was this you?"
[Video of a newbie, playing and broadcasting for the first time ever, parrying 13-to-1 in the tutorial, mowing down mobs, and killing Etor as a world first (seriously, not a fake)]
[Views: 750] [Recommendations: 25]
Taewoo clicked the screen of his phone to check the video.
"Anyone can tell it's you."
They had entered the Assassin's Dawn community.
The reason was a strange chat that had appeared in Seojun's chat window a little while ago.
-You should've come earlier, you missed it lol
While reviewing his broadcast, Seojun thought he hadn't seen that message during the stream. Checking the timestamp, he found it had been posted a few minutes after the stream ended.
So he scrolled up through the chat.
-Is this the Musou stream?
-Why is it off?
There were several similar messages.
Seojun was bewildered. There was no reason for people to come looking after the broadcast ended.
Of course, for big-name streamers, people sometimes show up even when they're offline.
But Seojun's broadcast had only just been watched by six people.
So he asked Taewoo, who had ended his own broadcast around the same time, and that's how they found the post.
[Video of a newbie, playing and broadcasting for the first time ever, parrying 13-to-1 in the tutorial, mowing down mobs, and killing Etor as a world first (seriously, not a fake)]
=====
(1-vs-13 video)
(World's first clear video against Etor, Musou style)
=====
A user named Joseon's Assassin had meticulously clipped and uploaded it.
'That was the viewer from back then.'
Quite an impressive viewer—noticing his skill early on, even spamming the chat.
Seojun scrolled down to read the comments.
-Oh come on, f***, the title itself is fake
-Joam is great at parrying as usual lol. Is this god-tier?
-Is this your first time playing a game? Have some conscience
└ But was this guy's skill always this good?
└ Not me. It was Nameless. There's zero fake in the title.
"How do you get a subscriber making first clears and promoting you on day one? That's impressive."
Taewoo, watching this, remarked incredulously from beside him.
"Promoting?"
"Yeah, what else would this be?"
Taewoo scrolled down to highlight a comment.
-Joam, that b******, seems like he even got a better avatar for streaming. His old face was seriously...
└ s*** lolololol, sneaking in a roast subtly
"Wait. No, not that."
-So who is that guy?
└ Here (channel link) Go watch now. Seriously insane.
-Is this really the first clear of Etor?
└ Yeah. A newbie who couldn't even climb walls properly.
└ How is that possible, insane
-Assassin's Dawn veteran with 10,000 hours, Joam-nim. Please refrain from newbie cosplay.
└ I said it's not me!
The comment was clearly directed at Joseon's Assassin, but Seojun flinched at the phrase "newbie cosplay." Still, since he was genuinely a newbie in Assassin's Dawn, it didn't matter.
-Wow, his skill is really insane, for real
└ The stream just ended. (channel link) At least watch the VOD. Nameless is the hope of Musou!
Seojun now understood what Taewoo meant.
"So that's what you call promoting?"
"Well, yeah. Your followers have probably gone up by now."
Taewoo was right.
The follower count had jumped from 6 to over 60 in no time.
[Followers: 68]
"Oh."
"And it'll probably hit 30 recommendations soon. Then it'll increase a lot more. I'm off to bed."
In the community, there was a feature that filtered posts that had received 30 or more recommendations from users.
And since most people who only lurk in the community primarily browse the 30-rec posts, the view difference between a 10-rec post and a 30-rec post was massive.
"Alright, sleep well."
For some reason, Seojun felt a sense of anticipation.
* * *
As Kim Taewoo predicted, the recommendation count on Joseon's Assassin's post surpassed 30.
And the community caught fire, as it so often did.
-What newbie, it's totally fake
└ How do you fake that?
└ Does our friend here not know about video editing? heh
└ So you're saying a streamer with 6 viewers hacked the Travel server? Oh come on, s*** lolololol. That's even more impressive than killing Etor.
-People are so naive. You believe that just like that? Nameless, my ass lol
[Reasons why the 30-rec Nameless video is a fake]
====
Because I can't do it!
====
-for real lolololol. Those calling it fake are just jealous.
-But honestly, wouldn't most pros be able to do that?
└ These guys changed their tune. First: it's fake --> now: anyone can do it.
[Why Nameless's video is legendary]
====
There are several reasons why veterans couldn't kill Etor for an entire week.
First, lore-wise, Dain is nearly an ordinary person and can't use skills. So even in the tutorial, you have to play without skills.
(Probably intended by the developers.)
Second, Etor's weapon is a mace, which has no parry judgment. Meaning no instant kills. (Though that's true for most bosses. Instant kills are only possible through assassination.)
Third is the time attack, and honestly, that's the biggest issue.
Truthfully, any decent veteran can just fight and hold out.
But to dodge everything while continuously hitting the same spot for 5 minutes?
Unless you perform some kind of acrobatics like in that video, it's impossible.
Before seeing that video, most thought it was impossible. Because no one had properly succeeded in seeing just how much the damage could stack.
The pros are busy.
And that streamer Seojun, who pulled it off in one try, has insane skill. Who else can neutralize every attack while wielding a mace from that distance and slice the throat?
And a newbie? What the hell.
I just watched in awe. Truly a control god. Who would even think to grab and strike that? lolololololol
I subscribed right away.
Anyway, now that I know it's possible to kill Etor, I'm going to go challenge him (I can't resist), but honestly, I probably won't be able to.
====
-This post's conclusion) The pros were too busy, that's why he got the first clear. That Seojun guy isn't all that big of a deal.
└ This guy seriously takes my breath away.
└ Just go watch the video once, seriously. He'd trash most pros.
└ Overhyped as hell. He got one first clear and now he's a pro?
-Analysis rec'd
[Why all the fuss over first clear this and that? lololol Not many people even tried in the first place.]
-This was definitely written by someone who's never played the game. Blatant hate is ridiculous.
Thanks to Joseon's Assassin, Seojun was now called Nameless and became a topic on many people's lips. In the end, the consensus reached was one.
[Honestly, if you think Nameless needs to turn on his stream right now and get verified, upvote lololol]
-It hasn't even been 3 hours since his stream ended.
└ Yeah, still, I'm going to hold my breath and wait until he turns it on. Please, definitely don't turn it on. If someone dies because you don't stream, it'll only be a loss for Nameless himself. (post author) └ (This comment has already died.)
└ Someone teach that guy what loss means? lololololol