Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 113

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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 113

Two Heads are Better, a game created by the Developer, is a two-player cooperative adventure game.
Because of this, even if the first chapter’s theme and concept were horror, it was clear it wouldn’t be a proper horror game.
If a horror game plants fear in the player,
then choosing horror as the concept could just as easily mean setting the story in a plausible castle and not including a single frightening element.
Would you feel scared if children walked around your school’s after-school English class in Halloween costumes with a native speaker teacher?
Well, sure, if the teacher put on a horror film on TV, that would be scary. But that’s only because of the horror film itself.
You’d have been just as terrified watching it in a normal house or room instead of a creepy classroom.
Of course, that’s the fundamental principle, but given that the Developer had directly asked him before whether he was good at horror games, there must be elements designed to induce fear.
Even so.
‘Pfft.’
Seo Jun barely suppressed the laughter threatening to burst out.
First, the viewers didn’t know the concept was horror, so if he laughed and revealed the reason, it would become a spoiler.
Second, it was simply.
“…….”
“Why? What!”
Just staring like this was enough to make Tae-woo have a complete meltdown.
“Stop smirking like that!”
A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
Tae-woo threw a pointless tantrum while Seo Jun simply shook his head with an unruffled expression.
Tae-woo was the one who needed to explain himself here, not him.
Wouldn’t the viewers become even more curious seeing a reaction like that?
Seo Jun’s gaze shifted to the left—to Tae-woo’s chat.

-Why though?
-You’re the one shouting, Tae-woo lol
-What bait does the mouse have?
-Did you forget to turn off the gas valve? D:
-Looks like you found something!

Seo Jun stopped himself from laughing again.
“Ha ha, no, I thought I’d forgotten something, but after thinking about it more carefully, I hadn’t.”
That was clearly a lie. Who would believe that?

-Seems suspicious
-Probably got startled by the mouse lol
-Was it really that scary?
-The mouse was pretty big though
-Really gross
-Okay. Can we just move on?

“Yes! Let’s continue quickly!”
Squeak squeak!
Another mouse appeared.
It really was grotesquely large in size.
About the size of a nutria, just slightly smaller than a small dog.
It probably made more sense to think their own bodies had shrunk a bit.
Tae-woo casually kicked the newly appeared mouse.
Seo Jun spoke seriously from behind.
“I think I’ll need to report this for animal cruelty.”
“That’s just data fragments.”
“Then you’re promoting violence…….”
“You run around slicing people up with your sword all the time—isn’t that violence! Huh? You’re literally the most violent person in this world!”
Tae-woo was being pricklier than usual in his response.
Meanwhile, Seo Jun grew increasingly composed and found himself recalling the past.
‘Was he the timid type?’
Thinking back on it this way, he realized he’d never actually confirmed this.
Well, that made sense.
‘If we’d been childhood friends through elementary school, I might have found out.’
Kids in elementary school go on a lot of school trips, and you’re bound to do courage training at least once.
But starting from middle and high school, those trips get renamed to study tours and those programs pretty much disappear.
He’d met Tae-woo when they were in high school.
And now he was finding out today?
“Hey. Don’t laugh like that.”
“…….”
“I said don’t laugh!”
“Alright, let’s go.”
Tae-woo looked at him nervously, wondering what crazy thing he’d do next, while Seo Jun surveyed the surrounding terrain they’d climbed up from.
“Is this still the Secret Passage?”
Seo Jun spoke as he gazed at the dark tunnel-like path ahead.
It was hard to call it the interior of a building.
Seo Jun demonstrated the virtue of courtesy.
“You go first.”
“Ah. You…….”
Tae-woo’s expression darkened.
The path ahead was dark like before, but it wasn’t cramped. Rather, it was wide.
Five people could have walked in a line holding hands with room to spare.
So why did he deliberately tell him to go first?
‘That bastard.’
He’d definitely caught on.
Tae-woo wasn’t really tolerant of fear.
More precisely, he’d never had the chance to test that tolerance.
His MCN boss, the Streamer, had a reputation as a cunning fellow who kept feeding horror games to his affiliated streamers.
But he’d never recommended horror games to Tae-woo, figuring they’d just be boring.
The reason?
‘He said folks who grin mindlessly like me, and obvious dummies, are surprisingly solid inside.’
The boss had a preconception that it wouldn’t be fun for him.
Tae-woo had thought the same himself.
So he’d lived his life without any real reason to play horror games.
But now, walking through this dark path inside a game, Tae-woo understood something.
He’d walked dark paths before.
How many games had he already played?
The only difference was whether he was aware that something scary might appear or not.
Just that difference alone made him speak less, made him hesitate slightly, and made him startle a little more than usual.
In other words, he was quite afraid.
Seo Jun grasped this immediately.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Tae-woo went first through the cave-like passage, trying to hide his emotions, and Seo Jun followed.

[Hey, this Secret Passage wasn’t supposed to look like this, was it?]
[No. Why is it such a mess? Like it was never finished.]

When a cliff appeared, the characters spoke.
The Secret Passage, which had been slightly deteriorating from the start, was now in such disarray that they’d have to jump across it.
The fissure was at least 5 meters long.
Of course, with game-buffed jumping power, it was manageable.
“Ugh!”
Tae-woo, tense, couldn’t jump properly and fell into the chasm.
“Pfft.”

[Let’s try again together!]
[Help each other out!]
[Help each other out!]
[Retry 1/2]

* * *

They restarted from a specific checkpoint and returned to the chasm.
This time, Tae-woo jumped properly and landed.

-That easy and you still died lol
-Will the boss die once too?

“I do it well.”
The next fissure was too far to reach with a normal jump.
Instead, there was a mark on a crevice above where a grappling hook could catch.
Jump and throw the hook, then land on the other side using the rope.
Simple enough.
“You’ll do it right this time, won’t you?”
“Of course.”
Tae-woo took a deep breath and tried to release the tension from his body.
Thanks to game mechanics, even a sloppy hook throw would catch, so the difficulty wasn’t that high.
But what was with failing at the cliff earlier?
‘I can’t show it anymore.’
For now, Seo Jun hadn’t revealed that he’d figured out Tae-woo was scared, and so Tae-woo decided to hide the fact that he had low horror tolerance as much as possible.
Because if that fact came out, he had no idea how many horror game collaboration requests would flood in.
Ultimately, Seo Jun’s reason for keeping this secret was probably to use it as leverage for something later, though it might actually work out cheaper for Tae-woo to let it be known.
Tae-woo jumped first.
Whoosh!
Click!
The hook caught nicely and Tae-woo tried to land on the other side using the rope.
But in that moment, having glanced down,
“Heeee.”
He let out a strange groan between gritted teeth and then went completely limp.

-LOLOLOLOLOL
-Why is he like that lol
-Is he broken? lol

He fell gently.

[Help each other out!]
[Help each other out!]
[Retry 1/2]

-How are you helping each other when you keep dying? lol

* * *

“I think I saw something while I was falling.”
“You fell on purpose to look at it?”
“No……. I just…….”
It was scary.
Tae-woo challenged the place he’d fallen from again and this time succeeded.
No matter how tense your body is, you don’t fail twice at something this easy.
It was obvious.
And yet.
Despite how obvious it was,
an enormous sense of accomplishment enveloped his body.
‘Now the tension is leaving my body!’
Seo Jun followed after him.

[Then the end of this Secret Passage probably isn’t even where you planned it, is it!]
[Yeah, seems like it.]
[Then shouldn’t we go back?]
[Let’s just see where it goes.]

This time, they had to throw a double grappling hook and cross to the other side.
Thanks to adrenaline, Tae-woo succeeded on the first try.
Confidence was building.
This was an action adventure game, not a horror game.
Being scared was just pointless anxiety!
“Oh, what’s this?”
“Looks like the finale.”
A pirate’s ship wheel lay horizontally on the ground to greet them.
The helm was suspended from a rod connected to a groove in the ceiling above it, and following that groove with his eyes, he could see the other side.
“Looks similar to that zipline rod from before.”
“You want me to hang on this?”
“Yeah. You go first.”
“Why me?”
“Scared?”
Scared?
Ha. Well.
Tae-woo let out an exasperated cough.
“Fine! I’ll do it first! You’re the one who gets scared!”
Seo Jun watched the unfolding scene, thinking his friend was surprisingly simple.
Tae-woo took a running start and jumped, hooking his grappling hook onto one of the helm’s rings.
Whirr whirr whirr.
The sound of gears turning filled the air.
Tae-woo rotated along with the helm like riding a swing, moving forward along the groove.
‘So that’s how it works.’
But the helm soon stopped.
It didn’t have enough momentum to go further.
The helm then began rotating in the opposite direction, returning to its original position, and Tae-woo rotated with it.
“It came back?”
“Looks like we both need to do it.”
“Yeah.”
“So I’ll come back now. Get ready to jump again.”
Tae-woo rocked back and forth while hanging from the helm like a child on a swing.
If he jumped directly from the helm, he wouldn’t reach where Seo Jun was standing, so he was building up momentum for a stronger leap.
Seo Jun simply offered an easier solution.
“Just let go.”
“Ha, why would I?”
“Scared?”
“No.”
Tae-woo released his grip.
And they started over.
The Checkpoint was just one stretch ahead anyway.

[Help each other out!]

-The magic word “scared” lol
-Tae-woo, at this point just admit you’re scared
-Being honest about it would be less embarrassing lol

‘It’s fine. I’m getting used to it. Even the falling.’
Whether Tae-woo made such resolutions or not, Seo Jun didn’t pay attention.
Was overcoming even possible?
“Probably, if we each hook onto opposite sides of the helm at exactly 180 degrees, the wheel won’t stop and will keep going. I’ll do the second one.”
The first person to jump can hook on anywhere, but the second person needs to time it perfectly.
It looked pretty difficult, and it was easier for him to do that part.
“What are you talking about? I’m not scared.”
That’s not it.
“Skill, dumbass.”
“Ah!”
In that moment, Tae-woo completely regained his composure.
‘Horror game, nothing special.’

-Seriously lol
-Such pride lol
-Scared?
-But this is actually interesting

Tae-woo took a running start and jumped.
The hook caught on the helm and it began spinning at high speed.
Then, timing it perfectly, Seo Jun launched into the air.
Click.
The second hook caught on the forward-moving helm, and with both applying force, the helm spun with even greater vigor.
With weight distribution balanced, they reached the end, dismounted from the helm, and it rotated backward to return to its original position.
After landing on the ground, Seo Jun walked toward where the green light appeared.
There was a hole in the floor there.
Looking down into the hole, he could see a Ventilation Duct with holes punched through its middle as well.
“Let’s go in.”
Upon entering the duct passage, a dreamlike bell sound rang out as if to say they’d done well.
Was this the real horror now?
“The back is blocked.”
“Looks like it’s one direction only.”
Seo Jun and Tae-woo walked forward and soon found the green light again.
The marking was at a gap in the Ventilation Duct where light was seeping through.
When Seo Jun and Tae-woo looked down through the gap, they could see the interior of a room.
The room was lined with all sorts of toys in their packaging.
It didn’t look like a display for customers.
The boxes were simply stacked with their contents visible—no display stands.

[Wait? Isn’t this where the protagonist is?]
[You sure?]
[I drew and implemented it myself. How could I not be sure? Look at that wall—it’s the B-2 District.]
[So? Then why isn’t the protagonist down there?]
[What?]
[Look. It’s empty.]

“Which part are you talking about?”
“Look carefully.”
Just as the two of them were intently examining the interior,
Bang!
With a loud crash, something suddenly appeared right in front of them, just beyond the Ventilation Duct.
It was the head of a grotesquely shaped doll.
“Hmm. For them it’d be the ceiling, but it’s managed to cling to this duct.”

-Oh wow
-Got completely startled lol
-I literally screamed lol
-The boss stays calm even here

Of course, Seo Jun was startled a little by the doll’s sudden appearance.
But only a little.
Yet Tae-woo, who should have made the biggest fuss, was silent.
‘Could it be……?’

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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
—————