Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 135

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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 135

The Rios operations team at Surface Korea, with the tournament fast approaching.
Lee Young-joo, coordinator.
Her fate for the day was already sealed. The sworn enemy of office workers.
Overtime.
Yet as quitting time approached, she spoke with an excitement hardly befitting someone headed for late hours.
“Video settings complete! We’ll premiere in thirty minutes.”
“Good work. Everyone else, you’re free to go.”
“Understood. Wait—everyone except whom?”
“Right. Kim stays to handle today’s schedule. The rest of you, dismissed.”
Four days had passed since the Point Civil War ended.
In that time, the operations team had secured the remaining streamers and produced the roster announcement video.
Today was the day the roster dropped. After this, all that remained was for each team leader to record brief evaluations of their players on the official account.
Tomorrow the auction begins.
‘We’ve done plenty of promotion over the past few weeks.’
Any minor balance issues would be the streamers’ problem to handle during the auction itself.
The major problems—they’d already taken care of those, just like with Seo Jun.
“Work hard, Kim. Ha. Yes, I’m clocking out on time!”
“Could you please stop?”
“Stop what?”
“Ever since that day, you keep coming over with that smug, knowing look and grinning at me. I’m sorry. I was wrong. I made a mistake. I apologize.”
Kim begged as if exhausted.
“Ha.”
“And on top of that, I’m doing the work the director should be doing today. Workplace harassment, stop!”
“Sure~ Work hard!”
Lee Young-joo headed straight out of the office and into the elevator.
“Ugh.”
Kim grumbled internally at length.
Why did he beat Spoon of all people.
And with a harmony rate of 10 no less!
Is the game even playable? Isn’t that dangerous?
“Hang in there, heh. Who would’ve made a bet on it anyway?”
“I mean, who would’ve guessed he’d beat Eric one-on-one?”
“The director guessed it.”
“Well…that’s true.”
The team leader, ready to leave, placed a hand on Kim’s shoulder as he passed.
“Still, the opinion that ‘we don’t really know’ has come up again, so you might’ve been right after all.”
“Because of that harmony rate?”
“Basically. A harmony rate of 10—nobody knows exactly what it means, but one thing’s certain: it’s really, really low.”
“That’s true.”
“There could be heroes he simply can’t handle, or all sorts of other penalties we don’t know about.”
“So?”
“I was thinking—why not place another round of bets with the director, whether he can pull off an A-rank performance or not?”
At the team leader’s suggestion to do a second round against the director, Kim decided he’d heard enough.
“Have a good night, team leader.”
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Look at him—instigating fights between streamers.
He’s awful.
Though, thinking about it.
The team leader was the one ultimately responsible for running Rios, where streamers fought each other.

* * *

A subsidiary of Surface and a game distribution platform.
From Stream Korea’s director’s office, Han emerged.
“…Yes, I understand.”
Han returned to his desk, recalling his previous conversation.

-By the way, director, how did we decide on the exclusive streamer contract?
-We decided to just wait until Crown makes the first move.
-Just wait? Even though clear results came out this time?
-Yes, that’s what’s been decided.
-Well, Crown might be making contact behind the scenes, and there’s nothing wrong with us moving first either, is there?
-This idea originally came from Crown’s side anyway, and we’re just following along. So let’s just watch and respond. Or would you like me to leak their draft contract terms for you?
-Haha…
-That’s how it is.
-Yes, I understand.

“Can’t be helped.”
As Han sat down, the team junior asked.
“What did the director say?”
“Just that it came out well.”
“Well, of course it did. This game had the highest sales figures of anything we released! Section chief, can we expect a bonus?”
“Perhaps?”
“Then how about we get drinks after work?”
“Why do you like having drinks so much?”
And the one saying this was the team junior.
“Free booze and free meat?”
“Ah.”
That made sense.
If you didn’t mind your coworkers, there was rarely a time when drinks weren’t happening.
Nobody dislikes free stuff.
“I see. But I have plans tonight, so count me out. You all go ahead.”
“With the Monster director?”
“Yes. They’ve probably already checked the results, but I should meet and discuss it once more.”
Han handed over his card.
Woo!
The junior made a strange sound as he received the card, thrilled.
“Then everyone, let’s head out.”
It was quitting time.
After leaving the company, Han made a call.
The recipient: Lee, the director of Monster.
[Hello?]
“Hello.”
[Hi, Director Han. You know today’s the Rios roster announcement, right?]
Why is he jumping straight into that the moment I pick up?
Sure, they can check it on their end, but shouldn’t the performance of your own game from an insider’s mouth come before the Rios announcement?
The fact that the streamer had created the buzz that most contributed to the game’s success was something everyone at the company acknowledged.
That’s why it stung even more.
Because he’d heard it directly from Lee.
That there exists a streamer whose every moment is a low point.
So it seems like now would be the time to buy at a high price, but they’re telling me to wait from above.
[How about we go to a quiet place to eat like last time and watch together?]
Lee sounded carefree.
Of course.
He’d already weathered the biggest hurdle and succeeded.
“Ha ha ha.”
[Oh, by the way, this Rios thing—]
“Yes?”
[It’s good news. Definitely good news.]
Stop with the stock talk, will you.
It’s making me anxious.

* * *

[Beginning stream.]

Seo Jun started streaming from his desk.
He had no intention of entering a Capsule today.

-Seo-ha
-SH
-Travel
-SH

“Hello, everyone. So what am I doing today? Nothing to do, so I figured I’d check out the Rios roster announcement. Just bored, you know?”
Seo Jun leaned back in his chair as he spoke. Quite comfortable.
Broadcasting like this every day might not be so bad.

-Really just bored? ㅋㅋㅋ
-Why can’t he say “I’m appearing” or “I’m A-rank”!
-I suppose that’s how it is
-Most streamers are getting ready to watch right now so it’s not that weird
-But he is appearing, right?

The viewer was right.
Currently, in The League category, nearly every streaming screen showing a brief preview was displaying the premiere-in-progress video.
The exact same video on Seo Jun’s monitor.
It was Travel’s exclusive Rios account.
“I’m not commenting on my appearance, like I said. Oh, lots of people in my stream tonight.”

[Viewers – 25,000]

Seo Jun’s viewer bracket had grown once again.
Beating Spoon and revealing his harmony rate had been huge.
Of course, the side effects of such rapid growth were considerable.
That’s just how the world works.

-Lower harmony rate than me you moron
-Can’t play other heroes? ㅋㅋㅋ
-Definitely faked it low for attention!!!!
-Prove it properly. Go to a professional medical center or testing center
or something

That’s the sort of chat that kept appearing.
And in an instant, his manager’s Judgment Sword came down on them.
These were the same ones who’d been coming in for the past three days, saying the same thing at the start of each broadcast, and getting a one-day ban each time.
“By this point I’m gonna memorize all the usernames.”
Rather than being upset, Seo Jun found them kind of cute, so he was just handing out one-day bans.
Come back tomorrow.
Come back stronger.

-Consistent bastards ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Why think he’s trash when he’s doing this well with that harmony rate?
-Because they have no brains
-But still, anything low makes him a training dummy so…

Over the past four days, countless opinions had circulated.
Apart from Seo Jun, the lowest harmony rate generally known was in the 40s.
So a figure of 10 was shocking in every way.
Whether the game was even playable.
Whether his health was okay, how much discomfort he felt, whether he got motion sick.
And.
How the hell he could perform so well with that harmony rate.
Whether he was obsessed with the game.
Or obsessed with streaming.
Whether he could fly in reality.
Truly countless opinions circulated.
And while no conclusion had been reached yet, fortunately his longtime viewers had managed to arrive at one.

[Seems like when BangJang stays in virtual reality too long, other gamers suffer, so the Capsule must shut down quickly!]

It was a bit disappointing.
In that Capsule world, he only had memories of helping people.
“Oh, it’s starting.”
As he spoke naturally, time flew by.

[Rios Player Roster Announcement!]
[1 second remaining]

Since it was the premiere, he could see the chat on the other side too.

-ㅋㅋㅋ It’s all revealed now

Even among the rapidly scrolling chat, Seo Jun caught the message from a user with the nickname Travel—Kim Tae-woo.
By the way, Tae-woo was currently in the next room, preparing to broadcast.
For the team leader conversation that would come right after.
‘Crazy bastard.’
Right.
You’ve gotta choose your friends well.

-Let’s go!
-I think I saw Travel just now but it’s probably just me?
-Here we go
-Who got picked

Exciting background music played.
Then, through about three seconds of editing mixing various letters, they went straight into the reveal.

[E!]

A streamer’s face flashed briefly, then their gameplay was shown.
They introduced six players that way.
Ha Yun-ho was among them.
Small text above Ha Yun-ho’s name read “Team Leader.”
D, C, and B came in order.
Finally.

[A!]

-A rank
-Bangzang coming up now
-lol for real
-What footage did they get?

“Oh, I’m first this time.”
Among the A-ranked players, Seo Jun appeared first.
Since he was a newcomer, the text “NEW!” in a cute, vibrant font was attached above his name.

-Damn, he’s handsome
-Wait, only Bangzang’s face is huge ㅅㅂ they’re showing him full-sized because he’s good-looking
-Is this inequality acceptable?
-This is the life of a handsome guy…

Then Seo Jun’s gameplay appeared.

-Damn
-Judgment Sword at 4 seconds insane

At the end, they briefly showed Eric’s Ultimate ability activating all around before moving on.
“Came out well.”
In a flash, the video finished revealing all thirty players from A to E, ending with one caster and three commentators.
Then the screen naturally transitioned to live broadcast.

[Good evening! I’m Bang Ju, your commentator for tonight’s eve event!]

Bang Ju had secured a commentator spot, beating out former pros.

-Wow!!
-Bang Ju long time no see
-After the League ended, coming here is sweet like honey ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Bangzang <– that someone
-You little bees ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Alright! On tonight's eve event, we'll be taking some time to hear one-line reviews of the players and some strategies. As you may know, each team leader received the roster yesterday and had time to prepare their thoughts. Let me introduce them! Please come on!]

Six faces appeared on screen in a video call layout.
He recognized Tae-woo and Ha Yun-ho, but the other four were unfamiliar.

[Ah. It's wonderful to meet the team leaders who will lead our tournament. How does it feel to be participating as a team leader?]
[Hello. I'm feeling very nice!]
[It's an infinite honor that I, Ha Yun-ho, have been invited to this occasion…]
[Mom, I'm on TV!]

That last one was Tae-woo, by the way.

-Crazy bastards ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Getting dizzy already
-This is the good stuff ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-They're all veterans so ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ they don't know what nervous is ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Bang Ju wasn't flustered.
Bang Ju was a veteran too.
And no matter how big the scale, since it was a streamer tournament, this kind of roughness was always present.

[Alright, shall we get started? So, first player: Drumroll please. Ah! The man whose Capsule adjusts the balance. Streamer Seo Jun!]

As Bang Ju flipped through the slides in the center screen, a large photo of Seo Jun from the player announcement appeared.
The text beneath it read "The man whose Capsule adjusts the balance," and Bang Ju simply read it aloud.

[So, player Jin Seo Jun is a newcomer and unranked yet was placed in A-rank. Team leaders, what are your thoughts on Seo Jun? I'd like to hear from you.]

And at the same time.

[Not buying.]
[I don't think we should buy.]

Kim Tae-woo and Ha Yun-ho spoke in order.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————