Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 222

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

Episode 222

[No, I’m telling you, I literally timed it myself on my phone! I was just curious! How long could he hold it!]

[Were you excited seeing him go underwater? Yes or no? Get out. You know how it is in a quiet pool, someone just diving calmly? He literally lay underwater in the middle of chaos! And nobody even said he was holding his breath!]

[Creepy? Well, not quite that bad. But twenty-five minutes underwater—that’s definitely creepy! What did I do in the meantime without waking him?]

-Murderer dude
-Lain’s a psychopath
-Were you hoping he’d suffocate?
-At least tell someone else instead of watching alone—that’s class

[No, everyone! His eyes were open! He was making eye contact with me and smiling! So how could I go wake him up then! With him looking that relaxed, there’s no way he’d drown!]

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Genuinely chilling
-Why’d he go underwater in the first placeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-I can imagine it

[Even I thought I must’ve misread the timer because I was drunk, right? What? Twenty-five minutes gets into the Guinness records? The record holder is 24 minutes 33 seconds? Yikes, that’s creepy. So I must’ve miscounted? Maybe so.]

-25 minutes does seem like way too much ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-ㄹㅇ if he can set humanity’s first record in apnea why wouldn’t he, 25 min seems like way more than that
-But isn’t Kael humanity’s #1 right now? Apnea might be doable too

[I never said who it was. Please refrain from speculating too.]

The behind-the-scenes story from Lain’s afterparty, released first, became the hot topic.
This was practically an urban legend.
The fact that she deliberately avoided naming who it was made it even more so.
People grew more curious.
Why did he go into the pool in the first place? If he’d brought a swimsuit and they’d basically done a full pool party, that’d be different.
But they’d just gathered to eat good food and drink—the pool was only borrowed because it was big and available.
Naturally, as other streamers one by one started their broadcasts, viewers began asking about it.
Since a likely suspect went live right after Lain, the crowd flocked to him.
This streamer was from a major company.
A Travel rep—a heavy drinker.
An older guy. Well, more like an older friend.
Mental.
Of course, Mental wasn’t the type to cause trouble at afterparties despite the age gap; he was just a good guy who liked to drink. Still, to settle the curiosity, he was asked.

[Hehehe. No? We three had a drinking game—the two of us and one other person, three on one, with pretty fair ratios. We used soju glasses, he used a regular paper cup. But we three surrendered first!]

-What person… no way
-You again?
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-You can’t say the name

[I won’t say who either. Anyway, that person was just good at drinking. It made me want to get closer! That’s all! How much fun could an old guy like me have had? I just came back having eaten good food.]

-ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Streamers skew young
-Not many in their thirties
-Mental’s in his thirties, though… ahem

Later, the story revealed who the other two were.
And the reason they all ended up playing in the pool together.
One of them had lost their hat.
It was the person viewers—expressing themselves in their own words while drunk to at least three times over—called “that bastard” who had fetched the hat.

-My brain is literally melting just knowing!
-Wow! I still have no idea who it is!
-Three notorious drinkers got cleaned out? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ What even is this guy?
-How the hell did they all end up sitting together anyway, tell us

Now all the explanations fell to Tae-woo. For reasons unknown.
Tae-woo still had to unravel the mystery.
That’s just how it was.

[Guys, the one thing I can say for sure is, I too want to really know about my friend… I mean, that person? If you live with them… I mean, anyway, I’m not talking about my roommate right now. But if you live together, honestly, things happen at an absurd rate. More than you could imagine. Who do you think wants to know the most? You guys? Or me?]

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This is hilarious ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Genuinely unusual ㅋㅋㅋ
-Rumor is his past life was Geomsin
-He’s also a champion
-Whoa, don’t spread that!

[What about that thing Rumi said—when he walks around, neighborhood seniors bow? That just happened because we ran into some schoolmates from back in the day. Of course they didn’t greet me specifically.]

-Oh I see ㅋㅋㅋ ???? Wait, schoolmates?
-Why would they bow to schoolmates?
-???????????????
-Yikes
-No school violence scandals, buddy ㅠㅠㅠ that’s seriously off limits!!

[Don’t worry about school violence. Even if I don’t know who that person is, I’m confident on this one. I’ll vouch for it.]

-Anyway ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ incredibly bizarre guy
-Could go pro right now without issue
-Could be an athlete and seem like he’d be good at it ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Stop trying to understand and you’ll be fine!

“When are you going to stop streaming that?”
Seo Jun asked Oh Ji-hye, who kept replaying the clips—not test data—with quiet chuckles.
“Hahaha. No, this is too funny. What exactly did you do? Were you always this kind of character?”
“I’m always the same?”
Seo Jun shrugged.
“That so? Well, looking at your usual streams…”
“What?”
Should I ask what her username is?
He’d found the streamer’s greatest weakness.
It was this nagging suspicion about what kind of chat the people around him were sending.
“No, well, that’s your charm, Seo Jun. So why did you drink with those people?”
“The three of them were having this subtle drinking match, so I just joined in.”
“Hahaha. So you heard them going on and on, grabbed a paper cup, and entered the fray?”
“That’s exactly right.”
“Ah… I see.”
“Anyway, how were today’s test results?”
“Identical. Very stable. There was some instability in the numbers right before the Four Heavenly Kings race compared to before, but it’s still within acceptable range.”
“That’s good news.”
“By the way, any pro offers yet? After showing this much, there’s no way there wouldn’t be.”
“Actually, there were some before.”
“As expected.”
“And after winning, I checked my email yesterday and was shocked by how many came in. Even from China.”
“The Chinese market is huge. Must be incredible?”
“I rejected them all anyway.”
“Why? Because of what you said last time?”
Oh Ji-hye had told him not to pursue a pro player career.
That he shouldn’t spend too long in virtual reality.
Though when he looked at Lee Dong-su, the guy seemed pretty relaxed.
‘But I know full well he’s handling an incredibly grueling training schedule behind the scenes.’
Anyway.
“I had no intention of doing it from the start.”
No matter how much they offered.
“I see. That’s a relief. Still, if you just maintain half your current viewer count, you won’t have to worry about money. Keep it up and you might earn more than me.”
What was his viewer count now?
Yesterday alone had surpassed 100,000 even after it ended.
‘I think the average was hitting 50,000.’
Of course, this was tournament-driven.
So what mattered going forward was how many viewers he could retain.
“In that sense, what’s your next game? A lot of people just watch The League, so if you don’t stream The League often, you might lose a lot of viewers.”
Oh Ji-hye, understanding this, offered the advice.
Looking at it, she knew suspiciously well about Travel.
“But you’re not going to keep streaming The League anyway.”
“Right. Probably not. Though I think I’ll participate in major events.”
“Hmm… So can I ask what your next game will be? A new package title?”
Why does he keep—
Why does she suddenly look less like someone giving advice and more like just one viewer curious about what his next stream will be?
Seo Jun considered rubbing his eyes.
Anyway.
“My short-term goal is already set.”
“Oh?”
“Last Chronicle. The director himself asked me to stream the Four Heavenly Kings race and even sent sponsorship.”
“Nice. It’s been trending lately anyway.”
“Has it?”
It had been two days since Rios ended—how could anything else be trending?
Noticing Seo Jun’s confusion, Oh Ji-hye added,
“Among RPG fans, that is.”
“Ah.”
“Until now, Korean MMORPGs have barely managed with two major franchises. One is Last Chronicle, which you mentioned, but honestly it wasn’t in great shape, so it was basically a one-sided dominance.”
“Oh. What’s the other one?”
“Blood Covenant. It’s quite popular with certain affluent men. Have you heard of it?”
“No.”
“Ever heard the story about someone spending 2 billion won on in-game items?”
“…I think I saw it on the news once?”
“That’s the kind of game.”
“Ah.”
I’m getting the picture.
“Of course, it wasn’t just popular with those affluent types. It was basically the only decent RPG left, so that’s why.
“Past tense?”
“A big issue erupted recently. The RPG market’s on a decline, revenue’s dropping, cash-shop demands are getting worse. They tried to sell to Surface but that didn’t work either. So people started leaving one by one.”
“And Last Chronicle is the reason for this exodus?”
“Yes. Now they have an alternative.”
“But that game existed before, right?”
“It only got fun with this season’s update. Worth playing through. So RPG fans are buzzing about it now. But if you go and draw even more attention? That might actually be good? The more people who get interested…”
“The fewer viewers you lose?”
“Exactly. The easiest way would be to just keep streaming The League, but you won’t do that anyway.”
“I just don’t want to.”
“Then you’ll have to draw viewers’ interest directly through the games you play!”
It’s worth considering.
The problem is.
“Hmm… I don’t think I’m quite at that level.”
How much interest could he really draw.
“I don’t know?”
“Anyway, understood. Thanks. I’ll head out.”
Seo Jun stood up.
“Have you figured out what to do?”
“Yeah.”
“Already?”

* * *

Seo Jun posted an announcement through AiTube.
Since he believed direct and simple was best, there was no need to overthink it.

[If you want to meet me in-game or appear on stream, pre-level your character through the Last Chronicle event. Next stream is Last Chronicle.]

He thought this would land adequately.
Attention-hungry folks not unlike streamers. Pranksters keen on aggro. Viewers wanting airtime.
Gathering them all and just roaming maps together would be fun.
That’s the charm of RPGs, after all.
But Seo Jun’s prediction had a blind spot.
Adequately?
Right after he’d just won Rios—there’s no way “adequate” would apply.

[Free avatars all the time? You’re saying don’t buy?]
[The inventory slots… also free?]
[Blood Covenant guys! Please don’t charge! If you run out while playing, then charge!]
[For the race maybe not, but for the latest raid attempt, would one Big Purchase cover it?]
==
Seeking wisdom from experienced seniors.
==

-Mister… how much exactly is one Big Purchase?
└100 million won, hehe. A bit embarrassing. Is that not enough for the latest raid? (OP)
└Is it a concept? Please tell me it’s a concept ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Mister… honestly, just 30,000 won for a pretty avatar you like is plenty ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-A hundred million, not tens of millions ㅋㅋ
-The event just skips those early sections quick! It says don’t charge!

The Last Chronicle community was flooded with stories about Blood Covenant migrants.
Those coming from Blood Covenant had suspiciously deep pockets and fundamentally different common sense.
But from the moment Seo Jun posted his announcement.

[‘Geomsin’ is coming here!!!!! Insane!!!!]
==
Wait, is our game seriously about to skyrocket?
And if it’s Geomsin, he can probably crush the Four Heavenly Kings race too ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ for real
==

-Checked ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Insane! Really?
└Check the announcement
-Kyaaaaaa!!!! Rolling up my sleeves right now
└Stock up on gold!
-I’m gonna be a total menace ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Creep move ㅋㅋㅋㅋ me too ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This is my chance to be on stream!
-But who’s this Geomsin guy that the reaction’s so good? Another Blood Covenant guy?
└The username’s pretty old-school. So how much did this new person spend on Blood Covenant rankings? Over 100 billion?
└This Geomsin guy probably just has money but no mechanics. Even maxed level, can’t do the race ㅋㅋㅋ
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Geomsin and a Blood Covenant guy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

A new wind was beginning to blow.

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