Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 207

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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 207

With Wealth Gap’s victory over Rainbowbull, their passage through the Group Stage was confirmed, and the fourth match commenced.
Group B teams.
Heavy Mental, Bangmangi, Jipaljjikkon.
Of these, Bangmangi had one loss, while Heavy Mental had one win.
The second match of Group B that followed was Jipaljjikkon versus Bangmangi.
If Bangmangi lost here, they’d end with two losses.
That would be instant elimination, regardless of future match results.
So it was a fight they had to win, no matter what.
And everyone expected Bangmangi to win.
They were a strong team, after all.
And.

[Jipaljjikkon is alone in first place (in reverse).]
==
Overwhelmingly first (from behind)
==

-From behind lol
-You dirty bastard lol
-Wait, would anyone really put money on this team as an upset? There are six teams anyway, and people are betting on all of them at various odds
└That “would anyone” does exist though?

Jipaljjikkon was a reverse first-place team.
Their Support was A-rank.
Honestly, Support’s influence isn’t negligible—in fact, if played well, it’s a lane where you can simultaneously exploit Mid, Jungle, and Bottom, allowing for a full carry. That’s the theory, anyway.
But in ordinary solo queue play—that is, the reality most players experience—you never see that happen.
So Support naturally gets the reputation of being weak and limited.
And just as everyone predicted, the match played out accordingly.
Though the game itself was a bit unexpected.

[Oh? The Carry’s actually insane?]
[Dokkaebi almost completely threw Jungle. Was a mess from the start lol]
[Is that Support? Is that Support? Is that Support?]
[But they still lost though, right?]

Since the result was Jipaljjikkon’s defeat, everyone was confident in predicting Jipaljjikkon’s loss and elimination in the final match.
Next came the fifth match.
Rainbowbull versus Han Ipman.
ADC versus Top.

[The ADC is basically Spoon itself.]
==
In-game, whenever it’s “just do Han Ipman,” they have to steal all the minions and Jungle.
And they put their spoon down on whatever the other lanes have set up.
Right?
==

-Confirmed as hell

[What are you saying lol we’ll come top for you?]
==
Guess you don’t remember the last game.
==

-Unfortunately, you’re not Geomsin
└Lol true. Oh haha come to Top and get ganked instead haha
-What do they think they are?
-We need to send them off with Eric late game for them to come to their senses
└You’re not Seo Jun either, so please pick Eric (post author)

Anyway, match five was winner stays, loser goes home.

[How well each team’s Ace recovers mentally seems crucial]
==
Everyone’s gonna be mentally tough because of ‘[silence]’
==

-[silence] lmaooo such a joke
└Is he the one whose name cannot be spoken lol
└It’s to protect the players’ mental health (post author)
-Hwang So would probably be even worse though? It’s been an hour and he got absolutely stomped
-Spoon went through ‘fasting’ pretty rough too

And the result was.
Spoon’s victory.
With this, the first team to be eliminated was decided.
Rainbowbull.
Even among pro players, reactions came.

[Taker, hang in there. Haha. But honestly, when you retire, coaching probably isn’t for you.]
[Yeah. Honestly, I think casting or streaming might suit you better. Last time I saw you, you were good at drawing aggro and putting down your own image well.]
[What?]

They were referring to losing to AI.
Lee Dong-su joked around, and the other pro players added their own comments.
After all, it was a match where their own coaching and team management pride was on the line too.

[Here comes the final match.]
[Is it Baek Do-yul and Ha Rang?]
[Yeah. Baek Do-yul, we’re going to win this time.]

“Nah, that’s not right. You guys already lost to Bangmangi, who we beat.”
Baek Do-yul, who had become over-invested alongside the pro players and Seo Jun, laughed mockingly as the final match began, ignoring everyone else’s attention.
Bans and picks. And Kael’s Roaming.
Mid, Pado’s death.
And as the game’s momentum gradually tilted, Baek Do-yul’s confused voice echoed in the chat.
“Huh?”

[Hmm, our Mid wouldn’t fall for that Roaming. Hahahaha.]
[Dong-su, stop laughing.]
[Dong-su. Don’t you remember your Mid going Top and Bottom today?]
[Hahahaha! It was frustrating losing to Bangmangi earlier, but they’re no pushover. Kael! Kael!]

That’s when Baek Do-yul realized it.
This wasn’t an easy fight. The enemy wasn’t just Wealth Gap.
He had helped with overall strategy, but spent his time focused on strategies against Seo Jun.
Because he’d assumed they’d pass the Group Stage anyway.
But.
Now, Baek Do-yul snapped to attention and desperately began searching for alternative scenarios.
Like it was the World Cup.
“Hey, does anyone know what happens if we lose this?”

[It depends on how long Heavy Mental holds out and how many kills both teams trade.]

“So how many scenarios are there?”
How many games, who wins, how many kills traded.

[Ugly. So ugly.]
[But Ha Rang, if everyone goes 1-1, aren’t all three teams in danger? We need to calculate the scenarios carefully.]
[Now that I think about it, yeah? We’re screwed.]
[Only Lee Dong-su’s excited.]
[Ah. Han Ipman passed too, so I’m excited as well?]
[Only Lee Dong-su and Pebble are excited.]
[Taker’s already been shot down.]

The pros chuckled and laughed.
Lee Dong-su especially.
Though it was his team and a matter of pride, there was no need for the atmosphere to turn vicious.

[That guy should really be on the same side as the Demonic Cult.]
[What Demonic Cult?]
[Such things exist.]

But Baek Do-yul alone was genuinely troubled.
If they couldn’t even get past the Group Stage here.
Then that would mean……
‘No way….’
But it wasn’t “no way.”
As soon as the game tilted in the early stages, it collapsed progressively faster.
Kael, spotting the weakness, didn’t let go.

[Wow! Wait. The game’s over in 20 minutes?]

So Baek Do-yul, defeated in the Proxy Match, in the very first fight, was.
Devastated.

* * *

“Wow. Seo Jun. Your roommate actually pulled it off? They got through the Group Stage? A rebellion by the weakest team!”
Ha Yun-ho marveled.
“You should buy us meat today!”
“You should.”
Seo Jun nodded at Rumi’s remark.
“Or how about tomorrow? We all go together and get treated. If he refuses, I’ll treat, no big deal.”
Either way, he didn’t die to Hwang So and saved ten million won.
“Huh? Why tomorrow?”
“We need to gather tomorrow too.”
“Huh?”
The team members pretended not to understand and avoided the issue, while Seo Jun waited patiently for them to respond.
“Ugh.”
“I understand.”
“But didn’t we actually do pretty well today?”
“No. That’s not it, Yun-ho. We played safely, but it wasn’t really well done, you know?”
“Come on. Still, Jungle did pull their weight. You agree?”

-Rumi has some conscience at least
-Hmm… Alpaca did do their part
-Wind Sword definitely played at least average? Pushed Mid well against Spoon too
-Former A-rank and Grade B can’t not do that much, right?
-Bangmangi! Did something at least! No massive inting from everyone!

“As expected, everyone still feels short on something.”
At Seo Jun’s remark, the team members shook their heads vigorously.
“Is it over now?”
“Yes. We just need to draw the bracket.”
“Looks like we’ll roll out the bracket right after the ad break and call it.”
The first Group Stage was over, so now the second round—the Semifinals Tournament—would proceed.

[Alright! You’ve waited long enough! Now let’s draw the bracket! Wealth Gap! Han Ipman! Jipaljjikkon! Bangmangi!]

Four blank slots appeared on the bracket displayed on the screen.
“Is it random?”
“Not completely random, Seo Jun. But who does everyone want to face? Bangmangi? Jipaljjikkon?”
Ha Yun-ho answered while posing the question back.
Seo Jun didn’t particularly care.
“If we face Han Ipman again hahahaha.”
Alpaca flashed a faint smile.

-lol
-No way
-The tournament isn’t that boring, they won’t have you meet again in the Semis lol
-Exactly
-If you want to meet, make it to the finals, both of you

Arin put her hand into the box.
It was a box with the letter A written on the front.

[The first slot will be Group A!]

Arin pulled out the paper from the box, unfolded it, and called out.

[Han Ipman! Now Group B?]

Once this was determined, the other two teams would automatically be set.

[Bangmangi!]

Right.
That meant the other two teams would automatically go into match two.
“Looks like I won’t get free meat now. I’ll just treat, guys.”

-lololol
-Of all the luck lol
-Is Semis actually better though?
-If you’d missed each other here and met in the finals, you might’ve actually wept lol
-Who knows. You might not have even made finals if that happened.

The next opponent was Tae-woo.

* * *

A small bar in Pangyo.
“It’s been a while, Director Lim Gang-san.”
CEO Lee of Monster, the gaming company that had achieved great success thanks to a certain streamer, had traveled all the way to Pangyo, far from his own office, to meet someone.
“CEO Lee, it’s been a while too. Congratulations on your new game doing so well.”
That person was Lim Gang-san, director of the MMORPG game Last Chronicle.
CEO Lee had met Director Lim at a game development seminar and built a relationship.
“Haha. Thank you. Have a seat here.”
“Yes. We’ve been so busy with the major patch that I haven’t even been able to congratulate you.”
“Ah. That massive patch where you completely overhauled the system? I heard player reactions to this patch are good—is that right?”
“There’s still a long way to go.”
“Did the season change?”
“Yes, it did. The previous season got so much backlash that we decided to do a drastic full reset.”
“Still, the previous season maintained its player count fairly well, didn’t it?”
“Because we’re the only company making RPGs. We barely managed to keep those players.”
MMORPG was no longer a popular genre.
Backlash against grinding had increased significantly, and there were plenty of entertaining alternatives.
With the shift to virtual reality, the brutal monetization models of MMORPGs could no longer hold sway.
So game companies cut investment and players left.
Revenue dropped further, companies cut more investment, and players kept leaving—a vicious cycle.
But a core fanbase that exclusively enjoyed the genre still remained.
And likewise, a single game developer who loved the genre still existed.
That was Lim Gang-san.
But it wasn’t easy.
The game received mostly negative reviews, and the initial buzz had almost completely vanished.
Director Lim discussed with CEO Lee the numerous problems he’d identified in the game.
Both loved games equally.
“So that’s why you did the hard reset.”
“Yes. It still seems to be going well. Players who came to start fresh aren’t dropping off as much as they did in Seasons 1 and 2.”
“So now’s the time you’re updating the final endgame content—the first of the Four Heavenly Kings Raid?”
“That’s right. We’ve staked everything on this content.”
From the conversation, it seemed like they’d prepared plenty of other content improvements too, but ultimately, the heart of an RPG is the raid.
“It should be fun, but won’t something feel a bit short?”
“That’s why we’ll distribute Coupons as an event—skip passes that let you jump right to the level where you can experience the raid.”
True enough.
With the update coming soon, if you force players through story and gear farming without being able to skip, new players will miss the update entirely.
“And the guild that clears the raid first will get absolutely massive rewards. On top of that, we’re recruiting streamers too.”
Ah.
CEO Lee thought this could actually work.
Competition over the Perkle? Between users?
Getting new players to participate in that competition through the event?
It could breathe life back into MMORPG.
What makes hardcore MMORPG-only players lose their minds? Perkles.
If you recruit streamers to attract more attention, the prestige of the Perkle grows higher, and core players work even harder.
As his thoughts reached that point, CEO Lee slammed the table.
“So what I want to ask is—streamers….”
Bang!
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner!”
“Well…. Yes?”
“You’re already at a disadvantage, sir!”
“Yes?”

* * *

Meanwhile.
As Seo Jun emerged from the capsule and opened his door, a mysterious attacker was delivering a flying kick at him.
‘Eliminate the competitor.’
With that look in his eyes.
“You think you can land that?”
Seo Jun clicked his tongue.

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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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