Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 19

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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 19

Lee Dong-soo finished his thirty-minute run and headed toward the Gym Master.
“Dong-soo.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll tell you what to keep in mind during Sparring. Sparring is about checking your technique and improving your skills—not about knocking your opponent down.”
Dong-soo looked up at the Gym Master and reflected.
If he’d been born in a different era, he’d definitely be bandit chief material.
“……So show respect, don’t get overexcited, and don’t go all-out. Understand? Are you listening?”
“Oh? Yes. Of course.”
He hadn’t actually heard a word of it.
‘Well, I’ll just think of it as a practice match.’
Though young, Lee Dong-soo carried himself with the sportsmanship of a professional athlete.
Childish thoughts aside.
“All right then—we’ll go once those two are done over there. In the meantime, it’d be good for you to think in advance about what techniques you want to practice during Sparring. You haven’t learned much yet, though.”
“Understood!”
“Good, good!”
The Gym Master ruffled Dong-soo’s hair as he spoke.
“Have you decided who you’ll Spar with?”
The combat athletes who trained here loved games too.
After Virtual Reality Games arrived, the combat sports industry had been predicted to die first—yet as VR gaming’s popularity exploded, combat sports followed in its wake.
The flashy skill-driven fights in games and the primal, blood-spilling battles of reality weren’t substitutes for each other; they were complements.
And above all, Virtual Reality Games were just plain fun for combat athletes.
Which meant Lee Dong-soo couldn’t help but be popular at the Gym.
Among men, the best gamer is a god, period.
But an eighteen-year-old Pro Gamer with likable charm who’d claimed second place globally in the most popular game?
It was harder not to befriend him.
So the Gym Master didn’t particularly worry.
“Don’t stress it. Everyone will treat you well.”
The partner in Sparring matters above all else.
If your partner doesn’t match your pace properly, you gain nothing from Sparring and risk serious injury.
And if your partner is more skilled and has a rotten personality?
Bang! Bang!
In the ring they were watching, Sparring was in full swing.
The Gym Master gazed at it with a look of resigned amusement.
Jin Seo-jun.
The lunatic showed up after all this time and is absolutely trampling the newcomers.
‘Stress relief visit again. I told him to just avoid people.’
The Gym Master watched a fresh recruit—brimming with confidence about his imminent professional debut—get toyed with by Seo-jun, and memories surfaced.
He should have noticed it when the handsome high schooler, his father’s spitting image, came shuffling up and spouted the absurdity of “Could you teach me about modern martial arts?” in a voice that didn’t match his face at all.
That the kid was a lunatic.
If Dong-soo was a cute little brother among the athletes—someone you wanted to tease—then Seo-jun was this:
A stinging nettle.
The Gym Master found the metaphor so apt that he nodded to himself.
Touch him and you get pricked—by talents born from who-knows-where.
Or actually, he doesn’t even stay still; he comes over and pricks you of his own accord.
Today alone, he’d shown up after months away, skipped his workout, hovered around the other athletes backseat-coaching, and before long, a fight had erupted with the clueless newcomer.
‘Some of the more experienced guys should’ve stopped him. Seo-jun doesn’t understand restraint.’
The Gym Master glared at the other athletes who hadn’t broken up the fight.
They watched the ring with the fascinated eyes of people watching someone else’s house burn across the river.
‘I’ll have to cheer him up afterward.’
The Gym Master sighed and glanced aside.
Then he began to feel uneasy when he noticed Dong-soo’s gaze fixed on Seo-jun.
That’s not right.
‘You won’t gain anything by getting hit by him.’
The reason the Gym Master hadn’t kicked Seo-jun out of the Gym, despite his backseat-coaching and condescending displays of skill, was one and only one:
Strangely, the athletes who accepted his coaching showed improved results.
‘It’s not because his dad’s a sucker who registered the whole family at the Gym, and it’s not to drag the kid into this world someday either.’
Right. That’s it.
Come to think of it: the stinging nettle does have poisoned spines on its stem and leaves, but remove the poison and you get a nutritious, versatile plant, don’t you?
For the athletes, Seo-jun was a useful existence.
But for Dong-soo right now, Seo-jun was just a stinging nettle—the raw, unpruned kind with all its spines intact.
Seo-jun did understand boundaries and had never laid hands on ordinary civilians first, but that was only when he hadn’t been provoked first.
“Would that guy not work?”
Then Dong-soo said something he absolutely should not have said.
The Gym Master deliberately looked away and pointed to someone else.
“Oh, that guy?”
The Gym Master spoke in a thin, reluctant voice.
“No, that’s not right. You’re pointing at the wrong person. They’re totally different.”
Dong-soo scratched his head awkwardly.
“I mean that guy Sparring over there. I haven’t seen him before—would it be rude to ask?”
“Ah! Actually, that’s genuinely rude and inconsiderate. Ask one of the guys you know. Or I can Spar with you instead.”
It had been a while since he’d held pads, but it looked like he’d be Sparring now.
The Gym Master quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Dong-soo felt a deep sense of regret.
Because he’d seen videos of this Jin Seo-jun Streamer, and Shin Ha-yeon had been equally impressed.
‘Min-hyun impressed over it, and Ha-yeon actually impressed? Really?’
Dong-soo couldn’t accept it.
He’d been planning to recreate Seo-jun’s gameplay this afternoon and defeat Assassin’s Dawn with his own play.
Park Min-hyun was a teammate he respected, and Shin Ha-yeon was someone he looked up to.
The fact that they acknowledged someone else bothered him.
But now, without needing to play the game, a chance to directly pin the guy down had appeared—and he was going to let it slip?
“Well, I guess it can’t be helped.”
They said it wasn’t polite, after all.
“Then please Spar with me, Gym Master.”
Dong-soo quickly set aside his disappointment, stretched out the movements he’d learned over the past two weeks, and prepared for Sparring.
The Gym Master smiled warmly, brought over the Protective Gear, and corrected his stance.
A heartwarming atmosphere prevailed.
Until he showed up.
Someone approached them.
The Gym Master identified who it was, let out a sigh, and looked toward the ring.
The newcomer, staring blankly into space with eyes glazed over in shock.
And that terrifying guy, removing his Headgear with a composed, indifferent face as though he hadn’t even broken a sweat.
“Hey. I heard you two talking—want to Spar with me?”
The Gym Master heard the sound of his plan to secure a Pro Gamer customer base through Dong-soo crumbling to dust.
“Oh? Yeah, absolutely. You’re Jin Seo-jun, right?”
“How did you know my name?”
“I watched your broadcast. Uh, is it okay if I call you that?”
Seo-jun hadn’t realized the Collaboration Broadcast’s reach extended this far. Someone recognized him instantly.
“Sure, whatever.”
“You’re not going to rest?”
“Let’s just do it now.”
The two of them climbed into the ring.
“But you’re pretty good at games, right? Though not better than me.”
“Yeah. But……who are you?”
Dong-soo provoked Seo-jun.
But it had little effect on Seo-jun. Partly because he had no idea who Dong-soo was in the first place.
Even if he’d known, it wouldn’t have mattered much.
Dong-soo felt shock for a moment and wondered if Seo-jun had countered with provocation, but then he reminded himself that Seo-jun had been playing the game for only three days, rekindling his fighting spirit.
“I’ll prove it to you and explain later. You’ll be glad to know me, I promise.”
“All right. Ready to go?”
Seo-jun ended his sentence and immediately threw a jab, and as the punch connected with Dong-soo’s face, he thought:
‘But they said Sparring requires courtesy…….’
Smack!

That day.
Having realized that reality was impossible, Lee Dong-soo added Assassin’s Dawn to his game library.

* * *

Seo-jun and his father, Jin Ha-jun, were heading home from the Gym together.
They lived in adjacent houses—more precisely, in buildings that Ha-jun owned.
The reason was his wife, who wanted to keep her son from moving out the moment he turned twenty.
They’d found a compromise: Ha-jun would provide the next-door house at half price, and that settled it.
Naturally, Ha-jun’s opinion as the actual owner had been completely disregarded.
“Seo-jun, why didn’t you go easy on him? By his build, he looked like an ordinary person.”
How many athletes had quit because of his son by now?
Heartless, that’s what he was.
“It’s fine. The way he moved—he’s got talent on par with a decent combat athlete. Looks like he’s still building his body.”
Lee Dong-soo ultimately never revealed to Seo-jun that he was a Pro Gamer.
“That so? How’s the broadcasting going?”
“Good.”
“Your old man doesn’t oppose it like your mom does now that it’s supposedly safe, but you know how it is—broadcasting doesn’t usually work out, does it?”
Ha-jun had heard from Tae-woo.
That new Streamers struggle to secure even a single Viewer.
“Tell you what, Dad’s got a tip: try Starcraft once. PC gaming’s making a comeback these days, and you’d be hitting that Blue Ocean right on the nose. What do you think?”
For the record, Ha-jun was a hardcore PC gamer.
He wasn’t recommending it out of worry that his son might be in danger using the Capsule.
And the claim that PC gaming was making a comeback was equally dubious.
“Is that actually making a comeback?”
“Never mind that. So how many people are watching you?”
“Hmm, last I checked it was 440.”
Ha-jun was shocked at the number 440.
“With 3,000 Followers, I’d expect at least 1,500 to come in when I go live today.”
“Hack!”
At a number far higher than expected, Ha-jun spit out the coffee he’d been drinking.
“Why is it that high?”
“Just got lucky, I guess.”
Seo-jun’s Follower count had risen to 1,000 immediately after the Collaboration Broadcast ended.
Considering it used to be in the 400s, that was a doubling.
But then Lee Su-han extracted the key parts and uploaded them as shorts on YouTube.
Those shorts climbed to #15 in the game category’s trending videos, and Seo-jun’s Follower count jumped another 2,000.
A perfect illustration of YouTube’s influence.
“How lucky were you……? You didn’t do something weird to grab people’s attention, did you? If you did, Mom will rip out your Capsule immediately.”
Ha-jun shuddered.
“Do I seem like the type?”
“Not really, but…….”
Still, 3,000 Followers in such a short time after starting—wasn’t that too high?

* * *

1,000 was actually the floor that Seo-jun and Tae-woo had predicted.
Before starting his broadcast, Seo-jun briefly opened the community.
The community had been dominated all day by posts about him and Alpaca in the wake of yesterday’s Collaboration Broadcast.
Seo-jun adjusted the timestamp to match the start of the original Collaboration Broadcast and began scrolling through.

[About Seo-jun right now]
[About Jeok right now on Alpaca’s broadcast.]
[Real-time 1% with 250,000 Points bet—all-time biggest sucker ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

-Years of memories up in smoke ㅂㅅㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-ㄹㅇ That’s the heart of a beast
-That’s funny as hell ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
– (best) When that hits, we’re eating barbecue in downtown Myeongdong on Christmas Eve
└Isn’t this an old top comment pledge? The person who said they’d sing and the person who said they’d play tambourine, get out here.
└I’ll handle the singing
└I’ll take the tambourine

Seo-jun scrolled down and checked the replies that had been posted after some time had passed.

└??????????????? Did it actually happen? How????
└Don’t delete the comment
└Guys, I think we’re screwed.
└One guy made 25 million Points while another’s about to humiliate himself in downtown Myeongdong ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Richard Neville Rampage Strategy]

–
(best) Oh? ㅋㅋㅋ If you analyze the video and try a few times, you should break the armor and catch Richard pretty quick?
└ + Just tried and it took 10 attempts just to break the gauntlets, and right after that Richard caved my head in. Give up on it
└So Seo-jun challenged it on the first try and destroyed everything in one shot?
└Like I said, it’s impossible, literally—wait, why am I the top comment.
└You got archived

[What exactly is Jeok that he even has a unique skill?]
[Anyone willing to catch the Ruler instead and confirm?]
[How did Seo-jun find Jeok? Seriously doesn’t make sense]
[Spoiler warning) The owner of the real-time 25 million Points (is me ㅋㅋㅋ)]
[Weakness Detection condition predictions]
[Ugh man, Seo-jun is so damn handsome. Just unfollowed him immediately.]

Each post had received at least thirty recommendations.
No more posts appeared downplaying Seo-jun for lack of recognition.
At least within this community, Seo-jun had become known to the majority.
And yet.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Seo-jun check this out

Following the link Tae-woo had sent, Seo-jun found a post buried under downvotes, marked as blinded.
When Seo-jun clicked to view the content:

[Why Streamer Seo-jun is a hacker]

In essence, despite the long and earnest writing, it argued that the way he sees Jeok during broadcasts is inaccurate, and since no one else can see it, Seo-jun must be at minimum a game developer or a hacker.
Naturally, it had been buried under a pile of downvotes for not making sense, its content hidden away, but checking Tae-woo’s link revealed a few more posts in a similar tone had been posted.
Seo-jun burst out laughing.
‘When you get famous, they’ll criticize you for something else~’
He remembered Tae-woo’s words.
And thinking about it, the “game developer” angle actually seemed to have some believability to it.
Seo-jun smiled and went to the Assassin’s Dawn homepage, sent a report, and entered the Capsule.
Then he wrote out his broadcast title and started streaming.

A pointless thought.
It wasn’t a real confession broadcast anyway.
‘How many will come in?’
The corners of Seo-jun’s mouth lifted slightly with anticipation.

[Viewers: 1,300]
[Viewers: 1,500]

Watching the numbers easily exceed the minimum he and Tae-woo had predicted and the chat window rising rapidly, Seo-jun greeted them.
“Ahem. Hello.”

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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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