Gwanjongcheonma’s Game Broadcast - Chapter 144
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 144
Humiliation, humiliation, utter humiliation!
That was Bu Seung-man’s emotional state.
He’d been offering unsolicited advice before the match started, only to suffer a crushing defeat in the first set.
Worse, he’d dealt zero damage while his health bar emptied completely.
What they called a “perfect” loss.
The sharp sting that erupted with each hit had faded, but the psychological shock lingered.
“That bastard…… what the hell is he doing?”
The good-natured smile Bu Seung-man had always flashed to opponents he’d beaten—
it had vanished as if washed away.
Only two emotions remained etched across his face.
Wariness.
And hostility.
Before the second set began, Bu Seung-man spoke up.
“How did that happen? Didn’t you know?”
“Know what, sir?”
“That my nickname was ‘God’s Eyes’! You knew that! So you deliberately aimed at low attacks and then threw that fake, didn’t you?”
Hae-rang’s eyes gleamed at those words.
“Your nickname was ‘God’s Eyes’? That’s rather impressive. There was a friend back in the Murim with a similar nickname.”
“What.”
Bu Seung-man’s jaw fell open so wide you could’ve flown a fly through it.
What nonsense was this guy spouting?
Fortunately, one of the viewers explained.
-Can’t you tell? He’s just role-playing. Look at his nickname!
“Nickname……?”
Four characters displayed on the battle status window.
Gwanjong Cheonma.
Bu Seung-man’s lips twisted as he read Hae-rang’s nickname.
“So you’re the Heavenly Demon, huh? Quite the impressive expert you are! Right? Truly an honor! An honor!”
“Tch.”
Hae-rang suddenly covered his forehead with his palm.
“What, what is it? Why are you like that?”
In the previous match, an exclamation mark had appeared above his head.
Now a question mark was floating there instead.
“I didn’t expect you to offer praise during the battle.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“There’s no need to take it as an honor. We’re both Gold Rank.”
“Don’t you dare call that praise!”
Bu Seung-man’s voice sharpened to a bark.
But soon after, he let out a belated cough and composed himself.
Even he could tell the difference from his usual demeanor.
Affecting a scholar’s posture and pontificating like an old-timer—that was Bu Seung-man’s identity.
“So you’re saying you didn’t know about my nickname, ‘God’s Eyes’?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then what was that fake in the last match? You glanced downward as if you were going to attack low.”
“That was……”
Hae-rang fell silent for a moment.
He appeared to be reviewing the previous round.
Bu Seung-man swallowed hard, watching him.
If he hadn’t known my specialty in advance and prepared a counter,
then how on earth had he managed to stop mid-motion?
Contrary to Bu Seung-man’s tense expression,
Hae-rang’s answer was surprisingly simple.
“I just…… saw it and stopped.”
“What, what?”
“I did intend to attack low. And you’re right—I did glance downward to execute the Sliding. But when you adopted that wide, spread stance right in front of me, why would I bother with Sliding? I’m not an idiot.”
“Huh?”
Deep creases furrowed Bu Seung-man’s brow.
At first, he didn’t understand what the man was saying.
But when he ran his mind at full capacity, understanding began to dawn.
“So what you’re saying is… you confirmed every movement with your eyes before reacting?”
“Precisely.”
It was hard to believe.
If he understood correctly, they were operating in different “time frames.”
To put it more simply: a difference in reaction speed.
Normally, if Bu Seung-man used the Mine Formation skill, reacting to it would come too late.
There was the momentum of the charging attack, and you’d have to visually scan which skill your opponent was deploying.
But Hae-rang detected that split-second change without the slightest difficulty.
The stance Bu Seung-man adopted with the speed of lightning was, to Hae-rang, merely a sluggish movement that induced yawning.
‘I’ve already faced swordsmanship that blooms thousands of plum blossoms from a single sword strike. This is nothing.’
Of course, his movements weren’t as nimble as in his previous life.
But reacting to Bu Seung-man’s movements posed no problem.
‘A skill hastily drawn from right in front of me… and he used it openly?’
What was natural for Hae-rang was impossible for his opponent.
This wasn’t something others could sympathize with without actually becoming Hae-rang themselves.
In such cases, the opponent usually arrived at the same destination.
The name of that destination was “denial.”
“You need to talk sense! So you’re saying I saw my Parrying technique and stopped myself before using it?”
“Since you keep asking the same question, I have no choice but to give the same answer.”
Hae-rang smiled faintly as he continued.
“When a skill is perfectly visible, how could I possibly let myself get hit by it?”
“You… damn bastard…….”
“You said you were with Singularity before, didn’t you?”
Bu Seung-man’s words caught in his throat at the sudden question.
“Yeah. Why?”
“I heard you have to pass certain standards to join Singularity. From what I’ve seen, those standards might not be about courtesy, but rather the lack of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those friends I met in America were just like you. The moment things went slightly wrong, they’d spew casual speech without thinking.”
“……!”
Bu Seung-man’s face flushed crimson.
This wasn’t criticism of Bu Seung-man himself,
but an indictment of Singularity as a whole.
“You… do you really think you can slander Singularity and survive in this business?”
“It’s not slander—it’s fact. Perhaps the current Singularity learned that discourtesy from watching their senior, you.”
“You son of a—!”
Bu Seung-man, composure shattered, charged forward like a man possessed.
After such a long conversation, the second set was already underway.
Bu Seung-man’s Yoshimitsu unleashed a dazzling barrage of combo attacks.
Clang!
Clang!
Yet Hae-rang parried Yoshimitsu’s blade with ease.
The most astonished party in this exchange was neither Bu Seung-man nor Manager Choi Gang-sik,
but Hae-rang’s viewers.
-What… why is he defending so well?
-Seriously skilled ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ
-Looks like he knows every Yoshimitsu technique?
-When did he memorize all of these?
-Wait, was the test in America not the Assassin Series but Iron Fist? ㅋㅋㅋ
-Is that the attention seeker from ‘Break the Joints’ asking about opponent skills? ㄷㄷㄷㄷ
-My heart swells with pride…
-If that’s Joint getting revenge on the attention seeker and got shocked instead, upvote ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
This was the first phase of the test: the Compatibility Test.
There was good reason for Hae-rang to push his compatibility rate so high.
During the free time he’d gained in America, Hae-rang had faced various characters.
Multiple opponents.
But only a single Full Phoenix.
By drastically narrowing down the possible scenarios, Hae-rang began to study the characters that appeared frequently in tournaments.
Full Phoenix versus Rio.
Full Phoenix versus Cheon.
Full Phoenix versus Geyachi.
Day after day, he accumulated data,
and as a result, he had climbed to a level where he could challenge the National Team.
“Tch!”
It wasn’t just the game.
In real combat sports like boxing or UFC, the principle was much the same.
When things didn’t go as planned and the mind grew impatient, movements would involuntarily grow larger.
Like Bu Seung-man—exposing his low attacks wide open and doing nothing but strike.
Whoosh!
Bu Seung-man’s horizontally drawn sword barely grazed the side of Hae-rang’s head.
From his seated position, Hae-rang swept his right leg in a full arc.
Crack!
And he struck the descending opponent with his elbow.
Thud!
A clean hit.
Bu Seung-man’s Yoshimitsu crumpled to the ground with a wet thud.
-Nice shot!
-Punched right through that opening!
-Sharp! Real sharp!
-No exclamation mark this time lol
-‘Hyper Motion’ is tough to pull off
Had he unlocked the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, it might be different,
but with skills other than Bung-ta, he still couldn’t use ‘Hyper Motion’.
Of course, the speed was more than enough to land a blow on Bu Seung-man.
“Damn it!”
Bu Seung-man cursed as he pushed himself up, then immediately thrust low.
But once again, he was blocked by Hae-rang’s nimble movement.
The sword gripped in Bu Seung-man’s hand trembled faintly.
‘Is this real? Can he really see every single one of my attacks?’
An overwhelming sense of powerlessness pressed down on Bu Seung-man’s shoulders.
It was a sensation he hadn’t felt in a long time.
When he had competed as an Iron Fist National Representative.
When he’d been eliminated without taking a single set.
Bu Seung-man had felt this way then too.
Which meant,
‘Is this bastard really on par with the overseas Singularity?’
He couldn’t accept it.
This guy hadn’t even earned the qualifications of a domestic Singularity, let alone an international tournament contender.
“Don’t make me laugh!”
A crimson lightning bolt descended upon Yoshimitsu’s body,
and immediately a red aura wrapped around him entirely.
With such an ominous presence, one might have expected Hae-rang to tense.
Instead, he smiled.
“Perfect. I didn’t have a chance to explain before.”
-Explain? What explanation?
-Stop looking at chat; I’m losing my mind over here;;;
-Focus on the match!!
-Look at that insane composure lmaooo
“I told you—I was going to introduce you to the new system of Iron Fist Nine.”
The first characteristic was ‘Hyper Motion’.
Hae-rang had already demonstrated that several times.
The second characteristic of this Iron Fist series was, precisely,
“Blood Burst—that one.”
A mode you can use exactly once per match.
When Blood Burst is activated, all techniques gain additional damage for ten seconds.
“What are you babbling about on your own!”
Yoshimitsu, now in Blood Burst, swung his sword with sweeping confidence.
Hae-rang twisted his body diagonally and slipped past his opponent’s sword.
Remarkably, he continued his “explanation” for the viewers.
“When the opponent guards, the time limit is maintained, and even with a guard up, damage still gets through to a certain degree.”
“This, this bastard!”
Bu Seung-man’s composure finally shattered.
What kind of mockery was this?
Here he was, pulling out Blood Burst and fighting with everything he had,
while his opponent casually chatted with the viewers.
“My counter method is this.”
Screech!
Hae-rang drew upon the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
When both sides attack, whoever has Blood Burst active gains the damage advantage.
But merely defending isn’t enough to end Blood Burst.
Hae-rang’s answer was evasion.
With extreme distance control, he rendered all of his opponent’s attacks useless.
Whoosh!
Yoshimitsu’s blade grazed past Full Phoenix’s sideburn like a razor.
Swish!
A vertical slash split the fine hairs above his nose.
The wind pressure from the blade was refreshing, but no effective hit registered.
“Gasp… huff!”
Just ten seconds—mercifully brief.
Bu Seung-man had burned through his precious Blood Burst reserves entirely,
and now his breathing came hard and ragged.
Virtual game or not, the movements of hands and feet drew on real-world sensation.
Especially when using Blood Burst, it consumed several times the normal amount of stamina.
“Well then, now it’s my turn.”
Flash!
This time Hae-rang activated his own Blood Burst mode.
The already ominous crimson aura meeting the scarlet martial arts uniform
created a perfectly matched pair.
“No… this can’t…!”
As Hae-rang closed the distance in an instant,
Bu Seung-man reflexively dropped his stance low.
It was a habit that decades of gaming had never quite broken.
Glance.
Hae-rang’s eyes flicked downward.
Bu Seung-man felt his blood run cold.
He’d already lowered himself before the attack even came,
and to Hae-rang, he looked like prey served on a platter.
Thud!
Hae-rang’s left upper strike landed clean.
This mid-level technique couldn’t be blocked from a sitting position.
And then came Hae-rang’s dazzling combination.
Crack! Boom! Bang!
A textbook National Combo followed against the airborne opponent.
Hae-rang was no longer merely a Bung-ta one-trick gamer.
He couldn’t afford to be.
Hae-rang was destined to become a National Representative.
Crash!
A brilliant National Combo unfolded within Blood Burst mode.
Yoshimitsu, already low on health, collapsed spread-eagle on the ground.
Another perfect victory.
Over the course of two matches, the damage Yoshimitsu had dealt to Hae-rang was,
true to his nickname, zero.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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