Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 193

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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 193

[Seo Jun has started streaming.]
[Practice finished. No rigged bets on other teams, right?]

5:30 p.m.
Thirty minutes before the Group Stage begins.

“Traval stream.”
Seo Jun turned on his broadcast.

-Seo Ha
-Seo Ha
-SH
-Traval stream
-The team leader showed up last!
-Come join us, human

“Yeah, yeah. Guess I should join in. Why was I late, you ask?”
While the official start time was six o’clock, most people had begun gathering and chattering from five. But Seo Jun was thirty minutes behind that trend.
In short, he was fashionably late.

-Is it because there are more viewers now?
-Remember your roots!
-But seriously guys, if this guy remembers his roots he’s done for
-He might not even stream the finals ㄷㄷ

-Your broadcast attitude is seriously rotten
-It’s because you lot kept going “come on, come on”
-When did you guys ever ask him to come? ㅋㅋㅋ
-When didn’t you?

“Wasn’t it all you guys the other day—prepping your chat about how to counter the other team, or how losing just means we didn’t practice enough?”
Seo Jun smiled faintly as he called out his chat.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ there’s definitely someone with a copy-paste ready
-How do you even resist backseat gaming at this point ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Some people have gone all-in and lost their minds
-Or they went all-in on the other team just to voice their wishes ㅋㅋㅋㅋ like hoping you’d lose
-Or maybe Voodoo Magic ㅋㅋㅋ

“So, uh, what’s Voodoo Magic exactly?”
He had a vague idea, but didn’t think it applied in this context. Chat was a collective intelligence prone to errors, but when it came to internet memes and slang, the answers were usually spot-on. Seo Jun studied the rising responses carefully.
“Oh. So it’s deliberately wishing for the opposite of what you want? Reverse Hype, you said? What’s Lower Expectations?”
Reverse Hype. The logic seemed to be the opposite of false confidence—deliberately putting yourself down to secure victory.
False confidence was guaranteed loss; Reverse Hype was guaranteed victory, supposedly.
Lower Expectations worked along similar lines—if you expect too much, results disappoint, so just lower your hopes intentionally.

-Ah ㅋㅋ even with Seo Jun, Binbu Gyeokcha won’t reach the championship, probably runner-up (while going all-in on Binbu Gyeokcha with all my memories)
-Ah… let’s just win the Group Stage! (while dumping my entire fortune on Binbu Gyeokcha)

Such comments were rising not just for Seo Jun’s team but from users supporting all teams.
Seo Jun thought waiting thirty minutes before turning on his stream had been the right call.

He said nothing more.

-So you’re avoiding being jinxed?
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Come on, let’s invoke some Voodoo Magic

Seo Jun simply headed to where his teammates were—Alpaca’s Lobby.
His teammates had said they were tired of Ha Yun-ho’s Lobby.
He was actually late for a different reason entirely.

Naturally, it wasn’t encouragement or strategy talk.
‘Sounds like today’s broadcast might bring that up. Guess I’ll wait and see.’
Squeal!
The sound of Alpaca’s cry came from inside.
No joke.
It was Alpaca’s alpaca.
“The team leader’s here.”
The teammates sitting in the Hay Pile stood up.
“Hold on. Wind Sword? I’m the team leader?”
“Since when?”
“From the beginning!”
“Right, got it! Well, now that the leader’s here, everyone’s assembled!”

-Wind Sword isn’t even listening!! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Honestly, a Bronze player as team leader was always weird
-Real talk ㅋㅋ

Like true streamers, they each read the chat from their own broadcasts, answered questions, and occasionally chimed in on the idle talk next to them.
As six o’clock arrived, simultaneous notifications appeared across all their streams, and the viewer counts dropped noticeably as audiences migrated.
Alerts appearing together.

“Man, I’m nervous.”
“These past ten days. Really……. Really…….”

-What do you mean really really Rumi ㅋㅋㅋ
-Is it just me who’s insanely curious about what actually happened?
-Real talk ㅋㅋ
-You guys won’t say anything!

“What do you mean what did we do. We trained hard, obviously.”
Seo Jun spoke as he clicked on the notification.
‘Why won’t you believe me?’
His teammates raised their hands.

[Traval Official has started streaming.]
[Group Stage!]

After about three minutes of ads, the broadcast began.

* * *

Arin greeted the audience. The commentators beside her followed suit.

[A nice break, thank you. Haha.]

Muscle visibly rippled beneath his clothes, evident even in his seated posture.

[The bet… hmm… I’ll have to pass, thank you.]

He’d finally forgotten about it, and now she was dredging up the memory. His eyes shot a look of resentment sideways.
Arin breezed past it lightly.

[Haha. Our viewers are really sympathizing with you right now. Understood. Tae-yang, what about you?]

[Understood! It really was entertaining, wasn’t it! Yes!]

The nature of Lios was ultimately a tournament for streamers.

It wasn’t just about watching who was strongest or who won.
It was about which streamer had provoked rivals, which one trained by streaming in innovative ways, which ones had longstanding rivalries.
How they faced off against each other—that was the true essence of Lios.

That was always how it worked.
Joint broadcasts and large-scale events among streamers—that was the appeal.

[Yes. Especially on day one, all teams—well, all but one—brought pro players, and I was so shocked I immediately wanted to start commenting.]
[Mm. Bang Ju, even if you’d turned on your stream right away, you would’ve felt the pull, wouldn’t you?]
[But that’s impossible, isn’t it? I usually watch multiple streams simultaneously, and turning one on makes that a bit difficult.]
[Ah, so you’ve fully become a Traval Viewer at heart. Which stream did you mainly watch on day one, then?]
[Well, isn’t that obvious?]

[Sounds good.]

The screen shifted in time with Bang Ju’s words.

[Haha. So the first post is someone asking what was fun after working overtime. Seems related to what we just mentioned—obviously there’s only one team to point to, right?]

“Which one is that?”

-Wait, you didn’t forget what you did, did you?

[Agreed. These distinguished active players showed up, and our Seo Jun displayed his infernal……, no, his overwhelming……. No, his skill, didn’t he? He’s Traval’s pride, right? Please, just say yes!]

“I have to disagree. There are so many remarkable people in Traval.”
Seo Jun modestly deflected.

-ㅈㄴ your skill and character both come straight from hell ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-But if this guy becomes Traval’s representative, will that really be good?
-Lol dunno. But it’d definitely be fun ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Well, we don’t need detailed explanations. Day two. Ah, this day got the most attention for the story Taker shared—about battling the AI from the previous day.]
[Yes. What he felt when he died, and how he described what Seo Jun did in detail—that became the biggest buzz.]
[Day three!]
[Oh? A post appeared about how each team’s pros had prepared methods to counter Seo Jun to some degree. Arin, what criteria did you use to pick these! Why is it all about Seo Jun?]

As she spoke, Arin flipped through the slide on screen.
Watching more posts appear as she advanced, Bang Ju realized the conversation had been scripted ahead of time.
The posts generally agreed that Lios was a team game.
There were also comments saying not to worry, that even if Baek Do-rate or Shin Ha-yeon joined that team, Seo Jun was still counterable.

[It seems like the pro coaches had finished scouting not just their own teams, but all the opposing teams by day three, don’t you think?]
[Yes. Given what we’re seeing, it appears Seo Jun is the player they prioritize most closely. Though the following days had more interesting posts!]

Tidbits from pro players, various practical tips fans could instantly relate to.

Predictions about which pro would cause the most controversy if they started streaming.
They shared stories from those ten days with their audience as they cycled through the posts.

[Oh? And here’s a post wrapping it up—”Binbu Gyeokcha’s Carrot.” Bang Ju, what do you think?]
[Ah……. Rather unfortunate.]

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Real ㅋㅋ

[As everyone knows by now, Binbu Gyeokcha is different from other teams—they meet in the real world and train together. But!]
[Yes.]
[If they were truly only exercising, there’s no way a carrot would show up so often. 876 times. That’s how many times a carrot appeared during their broadcasts over these ten days. This post is asking—what on earth is happening? Tell us the truth about all those carrots!]

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Real talk hurry up and tell us! How many times do we have to ask!
-What could possibly make a whole team just shake carrots without explaining ㄷㄷㄷㄷ
-Breaking news: Rumi currently shaking a carrot in the back

[By Seo Jun’s own account, they only did Fitness Training and Posture Correction. Is that really true?]
[The truth is unknowable. But if their teammates’ skills really improved from just that……? Wouldn’t that be something of a miracle?]
[It would indeed be quite miraculous.]
[Caster, so we think Seo Jun should be called this instead:]

[Dumbledore the Posture-Correction Wizard.]

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Dumbledore lmao ㅋㅋㅋ
-Posture wizard omg ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Clap!
Arin clapped her hands to freshen the mood.

[……there’s one more piece of good news!]

-Oh what?
-Good news?

No.
Seo Jun knew.

[And after discussing it, we finally reached a decision. And that’s the good news I’m sharing now! It’s this……!]

It wasn’t multiple teams with various opinions.
It was one team. One player’s opinion alone.

[The championship team from this Lios will mix with the coach’s team to face off in the Korean Pro League Opening Ceremony exhibition match! That’s the opportunity they’ll be given!]

—————
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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