Gwanjongcheonma’s Game Broadcast - Chapter 153

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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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Episode 153
A former National Representative, now retired.
Bu Seung-man carried a nickname: “God’s Eyes.”
An ability to read an opponent’s gaze in advance and predict attack routes.
In this world, it seemed that alone was enough to earn high praise.
But in Hae-rang’s previous life,
‘it wasn’t worth a copper coin.’
Reading an opponent’s gaze and reacting was merely a rudimentary detection ability.
Reading the pupils was just the baseline.
The subtle differences in how breath was drawn in,
the microscopic angle at which a blade’s tip pointed—
only after analyzing all that data could one make the distinction.
The difference between a Real Move and a False Strike.
From that perspective, grasping Gang Chae-chung’s habits was remarkably straightforward.
All it took was watching for a single round.
“Before you throw a One-Two Lower, your left shoulder drops first.”
Gang Chae-chung’s shoulders flinched.
“When you do a One-Two Grab, your fingers tense up noticeably.”
Gang Chae-chung’s fingertips trembled faintly.
“And when you throw a Flying Kick, your hips rotate ever so slightly.”
The tension drained from Gang Chae-chung’s legs.
Was everything that man said the truth?
It could be mere bluffing, thrown out carelessly.
But to dismiss it as simple bluffing seemed…
‘He blocked every single one of them…!’
Habits could be something one discovered on their own,
but often they were revealed through another person’s words.
Gang Chae-chung’s current situation was exactly that case.
His own bad habits, ones he’d never even known he had, lay exposed and raw.
Thump-thump-thump!
As if to prove his words weren’t wrong,
Full Phoenix charged forward like an enraged bull.
Within arm’s reach to land a One-Two.
It was almost as though Full Phoenix had deliberately stepped into his domain.
“Don’t get cocky!”
Gang Chae-chung roared and launched back into his pattern attacks.
Bang-bang!
Hae-rang blocked the fastest One-Two-Two without difficulty.
All three attacks were aimed at the head, so they were simple to defend—just stand there and block.
The problem lay in the remaining three derivative techniques.
Before Gang Chae-chung could use a Low Attack, he checked his own shoulder.
Yet,
‘I can’t tell…!’
Even when doing a One-Two Grab,
or a One-Two Flying Kick,
there was no way to confirm whether he actually had such habits.
That was the nature of habits, after all.
The tiniest quirks a person never even noticed.
Embedded in movements repeated countless times,
they were impossible to change on the spot.
It was like having rock-paper-scissors ready in his pocket,
yet wearing transparent plastic pants like some pop singer.
‘Damn it…!’
There was an old saying: after long deliberation comes a bad move.
It meant making the worst choice after thinking hard.
That was exactly Gang Chae-chung’s situation.
A habit he wasn’t consciously aware of.
To forcibly correct it, he deliberately warped his body’s movement.
Before throwing a One-Two Flying Kick, he intentionally shifted his hip position.
The cost was,
“Oooh-ah!”
A gap materialized in an instant.
There was no way Hae-rang, who caught even the slightest habit, could miss such an unnatural movement.
Through the small opening exposed in Gang Chae-chung’s side,
a tightly clenched Fire Fist drove home.
Boom!
“Gahhhhh!”
A perfectly executed counter hit.
With the Hyper Motion applied, more than thirty percent of his health evaporated in an instant.
Thud!
Gang Chae-chung tumbled forward like a wheel torn from a car.
Only when his body struck the wall did he finally come to a stop.
Whoosh!
Whip!
Hae-rang’s body arced through the air toward him in a wide semicircle.
That same Infinite Wave he’d used against Bu Seung-man.
To onlookers, it looked utterly humiliating,
but to the one receiving it, the body wouldn’t respond.
The crushing pressure made even breathing difficult.
Gang Chae-chung clenched his teeth.
‘A habit, you say? Fine then, let me try.’
What the Attention-Seeking Heavenly Demon had done—
there’s no reason I couldn’t do it too.
Gang Chae-chung opened his eyes wide with that thought.
Had he ever concentrated this hard in his entire life?
He sharpened every sense in his body to a razor’s edge.
And yet—
‘What is this……?’
Watching Hae-rang’s movements, Gang Chae-chung felt utterly bewildered.
Was it because each motion was identical and flawless?
Not at all.
Hae-rang’s wave had no common thread whatsoever.
The preliminary command for Bung-ta—the arc drawn with the upper body—continued unbroken.
But within it, the movements of his neck, torso, and core were subtly shifting with each repetition.
With every motion different, there was no pattern to be found.
It was then that Gang Chae-chung finally felt the vast gulf between himself and Hae-rang.
‘Every single movement…… has feints mixed in.’
Movements prepared to face an opponent of his own caliber.
Real moves and false strikes were woven throughout all of Hae-rang’s actions.
On the surface, they looked identical, but in truth, each was completely different.
“Insane…….”
A defeated breath escaped Gang Chae-chung’s lips,
and it was as good as a final farewell.
“Oooh-ah!”
Boom!

Hae-rang stood over the fallen Gang Chae-chung.
His voice carried a grave weight.
“Do you know why I bothered showing you all of your habits?”
“Ugh…….”
“Because even knowing them, you can’t change them. No one can alter deeply ingrained bad habits at will, no matter how hard they try.”
Semi-final of the best-of-five format.
With Hae-rang holding two wins and one draw,
Gang Chae-chung had only one possible path to victory.
Win the remaining two matches and force an extension.
But—
‘How can there be a monster like that……!’
Everyone responds differently when facing an opponent on another level.
There are two types of fighters: those who thrash about even in defeat, and those who lose all will and perform at half their usual level.
Unfortunately, Gang Chae-chung fell into the latter category.
Regrettably, Gang Chae-chung was closer to the latter type.
“Ooohhh!”

Whoosh!
The transparent glass wall rose up, and
Hae-rang, dressed in a white gaming suit, stepped out of the capsule.
“……!”
The National Team Selection Tournament proceeded in private.
Since most of the participants were from Singularity, there was no cheering to be heard.
In essence, this place was nothing more than a vast library.
But Hae-rang found this silence pleasant.
That this space filled with villains was quiet as a tomb—
that in itself was a form of silent praise.
Crack.
Like the Bung-ta of Full Phoenix.
He raised his clenched fist to his chest with force.
A surge of satisfaction was etched clearly across Hae-rang’s face.
‘I’ve done it!’
A gamer representing an entire nation.
Now that Hae-rang had obtained his National Representative qualification, he was drowning in a sea of fulfillment.
The kind of fullness that came without even eating a meal.
He was so eager to share this news with the viewers that impatience nearly overwhelmed him.
‘But there’s still work to be done.’
Across the venue, Ye Da-hong and Ma Hyeon-bin’s semi-final was underway.
One of them would soon become a National Representative, and
the other would have to battle Gang Chae-chung for the final remaining spot.
Still, he harbored no great concerns.
Smirk.
Hae-rang’s gaze turned toward Gang Chae-chung, defeated in his match.
The man was slouching in the corner of the venue like a broken doll, his joints creaking with each movement.
* * *
“Kooowahhh!”
With Poobaou’s mournful cry, the victor was decided.

It was a matter of the finest margins.
With the score locked at 2 wins each, the final set had played out,
and even the victor, Da-hong, had only 3% health remaining—an extraordinarily close contest.
Whoosh!
The capsule doors opened simultaneously on both sides.
Though Da-hong was the victor, it was Ma Hyeon-bin’s expression that seemed brighter.
The slight-framed Ma Hyeon-bin nestled snugly into Da-hong’s embrace.
It was almost like watching an older sister and her youngest brother.
This too was a scene that would have been unthinkable in the old Singularity.
“Congratulations, sister.”
“Congratulations for what? You’ll be coming up soon enough anyway.”
“I really did give it my all. But that Kiroi of yours is something else, isn’t it?”
“If I’d lost, I wouldn’t have been able to smile as brightly as you are now. I’m older than you, I’ve played more games, and you’ve only been seriously playing Poobaou for less than a month—if I’d lost here, my mental state would’ve completely fallen apart.”
Da-hong wiped her chest as if to say how close it had truly been.
Though it was regrettable that she’d beaten Ma Hyeon-bin to advance,
now that the bracket was set, it was an inevitable turn of events.
The two of them had agreed to embrace each other no matter how the result turned out.
“You know, it feels good to end it like this. Back then, we wouldn’t even shake hands.”
“That’s true. If you’d reach out your hand after winning, some of them would actually get angry.”
“Now that I think about it, I wonder how we even played back then. It felt purely like work. Business.”
“Hehe. I’m starting to realize recently that losing can feel good too.”
At that moment, Hae-rang picked up the thread on Da-hong’s behalf.
“Still, I can’t have you lose to that guy. You understand, right?”
“Hae-rang!”
“Hae-rang!”
You could tell just by looking at their faces.
How Hae-rang’s semi-final had gone.
“I finished early and watched your match. It seemed more intense than our sparring sessions. Congratulations, Da-hong.”
“Congratulations to you too, Hae-rang.”
There was a slight tremor of emotion in Ye Da-hong’s voice as she returned the greeting.
She, of all people, had hoped most fervently for Singularity’s success.
The gamer who had wanted the Korean National Team to be the best had now turned her back on Singularity herself.
She also recalled the heartache she’d suffered because of Kiroi’s counter method,
and in every way, it was an emotional moment for her.
“Well done, Hyeon-bin. Do well in the final match, then let’s go grab a hamburger.”
“How was Chae-chung? He’s good, right?”
“Definitely skilled. Until I broke him, anyway.”
“What? Broke?”
Hae-rang’s gaze shifted toward the opposite side.
Ma Hyeon-bin and Ye Da-hong followed his gaze.
There stood a joint doll creaking and groaning incessantly.
“Now that you mention it…… something does look a bit odd about it?”
“I told you I broke it.”
* * *
“Kuwaang!”
Poobaou’s Upper erupts with tremendous force.
To judge by the momentum alone, it could lift the earth itself.
In reality, Ma Hyeon-bin’s spirit was soaring like a rocket.
Hae-rang’s pro tip had been devastatingly effective.
‘This is way too easy!’
Singularity, called the greatest genius of them all.
Ma Hyeon-bin.
The word ‘genius’ carries many layers of meaning.
But if there’s one trait most representative of all, it would be ‘learning capacity’.
[Remember. After the One-Two, if one shoulder drops…….]
When facing him head-on, he’d had no idea.
But once the key points were spelled out, it became absurdly simple.
He just watched and reacted—that was all.
There was a difference in needing to concentrate a bit harder than usual,
but for a young genius brimming with enthusiasm, that was no obstacle at all.
“Kwaa!”
Boom! Bang!
Gang Chae-chung, launched high into the sky, takes Poobaou’s Air Combo squarely.
The movements were large and sluggish, yes,
but once they connected, damage was assured—that was the character’s guarantee.
After just one Upper followed by the standard Combo twice, Gang Chae-chung’s health had already dropped to zero.
<K.O!>
<Just-Hyeon-bin WIN!>
<Current record: Ma Hyeon-bin 2 wins>
“Damn it all…… You’re all absolutely insane.”
“No, sir.”
Poobaou, dressed in an oversized kindergarten costume.
Ma Hyeon-bin answered in a clear, childlike voice.
“I understand now. It’s Singularity that’s the strange one.”
“What does a little squirt like you know!”
Gang Chae-chung, broken by Hae-rang, attempts an attack with awkward, jerky movements.
He didn’t need to concentrate anymore to see it.
The openings in his opponent’s offense were glaringly obvious.
“Boom!”
With Poobaou’s Upper, Gang Chae-chung’s body vanished among shimmering stars.
A flawless victory, perfect through to the final Finish.
“We did it……!”
In that moment, Ye Da-hong and Ma Hyeon-bin secured their National Representative qualifications, joining Hae-rang.
3 to 29.
The individual match for National Representative had been utterly lopsided by the numbers,
and the curtain fell with the shocking result of 3 to 0.

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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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