Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 258

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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 258

History Books are a content type where players are placed in the early timeframe of a historical turning point from the past, and the official worldview is determined based on what those players do within it.
Through them, the developers decide future story direction.
They also decide which faction’s heroes will be updated next.
And what concept of skins will be released.
If The League’s biggest event is the World Championship where the strongest teams from each regional league face off,
then the History Book ranks second.
The reason was simple yet clear.
Any user in the world could potentially appear.
Of course, it’s not literally any user who could be chosen.
They couldn’t manage the player count if they granted every ordinary NPC in the scenario the qualification for players to enter.
What could ordinary NPCs accomplish anyway?
Users wouldn’t want that either.
So then, what kind of beings do players enter?
Obviously, NPCs who could exert enormous influence simply by existing at a historical turning point.
Heroes, precisely.
And the content that determines which heroes these players will control is called a Trial.
Right now, every game company managing The League’s Trials—more specifically, the team overseeing the History Book—was running into difficulties.
Korea’s team was no exception.
“But why did they say not to change it? If we proceed with Kael’s Trial as it is, it’s overwhelmingly obvious who it would be.”
This was all because of one person.
The streamer Seo Jun.
Username: Geomsin.
“Honestly, we don’t care whether that person gets picked for the Trial overwhelmingly or not.”
“Right. The problem is the users. The users.”
“Especially overseas.”
To summarize the current situation:
They had posted a single image teasing the content of the next History Book.
Through it, they wanted users to infer which factions were in conflict and stir up hype while generating interest.
The problem was this.
Looking at the silhouette, one could naturally infer the Light Sect, and within the Light Sect, there was Kael.
Yes.
Kael.

#1 – Geomsin (Korea) – 50 seconds
#2 – PineapplePizzaDie (Italy) – 266 seconds

This was the record from when one streamer took first place.
And below is the current ranking situation where second place has been steadily narrowing the gap with first.

#1 – Geomsin (Korea) – 50 seconds
#2 – PineapplePizzaDie (Italy) – 262 seconds

‘They shaved off 4 whole seconds!’
They’d narrowed the gap from 216 seconds to 212 seconds.
Impressive!
Wow!
Really.
It was the common sentiment of the Trial team.
Of course, they conveniently forgot that the person in first place had simply done one run and then stopped.
They also didn’t mention that he hadn’t touched the Trial since, won the Liosh tournament, and isn’t even competing in the league.
The world is inherently unfair.
The problem arises here.
People want the world to be fair. That’s natural.
So the game company should satisfy that expectation, at least within their game world.
But the standard of fairness differs.
“Korean users are generally accepting of the situation. They’re actually happy about the possibility of seeing that person play Kael in the History Book.”
“Because they know it’s his skill. I do too. If you’re a League of Legends gamer in Korea now, it’s almost impossible not to know him.”
Korean people thought it would be fair to leave Kael’s Trial untouched as it was.
It was Seo Jun’s skill, after all.
They’d been continually witnessing his performing absurd feats.
With other heroes too.
Consistently across different games.
But other countries felt differently.
“Apparently not just the Western communities, but China and Japan are saying something too.”
From the perspective of other nations, suddenly a user appeared doing 50 seconds.
A 5-fold difference from second place.
The Korean explanation—that it was about recognizing patterns or something—sounded completely absurd to them.
So the reaction was like this:

-Koreans tend to treat other nations like idiots
└I agree
└No matter how much of a gaming powerhouse you are, what’s impossible is impossible. Stop making excuses.
└If it was world-class pro players like Shin Ha-yeon or Baek Do-yul, fine. But a mere streamer?
-Why don’t Koreans just say they can see the future while they’re at it?
-Anyway, some measure for Kael is necessary. With that kind of gap, there’s no competition.
-It’s possible that coincidentally his spiritual something or other aligns with Kael’s pattern so he can see it, but that’s not fair.
└Yeah, it could be something like that rather than hacking. Either way, hope the Korean developers stop just saying it’s not hacking and take proper measures.
└The headquarters should step up. Since it’s a branch in each region, they just get by.
-So foreigners, what if we change the Pattern Generation Formula and everyone starts from scratch? Still fine with that?
└Stupid Korean. Listen up. You only need to change it for this History Book Trial specifically. That’s actually more fair.
└Koitsu wwww really drives the nail in with facts wwww
└ㄹㅇ even with explanations they don’t believe. Island nation bastards. So frustrating.
└Are you perhaps targeting us British?
└Us British, who’ve created numerous independence days, should probably be excluded.
└Even after watching videos and reading explanations, it’s hard to be convinced. That’s why we’re saying this, Korean.

That’s right.
Foreign users were still demanding some active measure against Kael before the Trial even started.
“That’s what you’d call the dignity of a gaming nation, I suppose.”
One of the team members managing Trials and History Books threw out a joke.
“What’s a gaming nation… Anyway, what should we do?”
This was a controversy that had just erupted.
“Should we really just temporarily change the pattern formula for this Trial only?”
So before consulting with the development teams at each branch, they were first discussing among themselves in Korea.
To organize their position.
“Well, I didn’t think this kind of talk wouldn’t come up the moment Kael entered the History Book…”
“I thought people would just let it slide like Koreans do. We showed clear video evidence, and in our official response, we stated that the user is not a hacker using unauthorized programs.”
Their goal was to get through this situation without trouble.
And to do that, they needed the best decision.
“So why did the Balance Team Leader say not to change it in the first place?! When is he supposed to get here!”
“I’m not sure either.”
“He’s close with them, right? Haven’t you heard anything from before? During that Kael nerf?”
“Hmm… Something about how changing the pattern would be pointless… that there could be confusion about whether the Pattern Generation Formula was stolen… that his old superior experienced something similar… stuff like that.”
That’s what it was like?
The junior member thought back to what he’d muttered.
“I don’t know what that means. Anyway, we should go now, but since no decision’s been made, we’ll just handle it as we see fit.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for your work.”
The team leader in charge of Trials and History Books moved toward the conference room.
And that was when.
“Team Leader! Please check your email! The Development Team Leader is requesting it!”

* * *

The League’s game company established branches in numerous countries and operated them.
But not many of those branches had development teams.
Only a few countries with significant server influence had development teams.
Honestly, they could have just gathered everyone at headquarters, but this isn’t the contactless era or anything.
The advantage of having development teams spread out is that they can analyze local trends and meta far more deeply and thoroughly, leading to more diverse opinions.
What’s trending on one server might be treated as garbage on another, right?
So what’s the downside?
Simple. Diverse opinions mean disagreement.

[Team Leader Goto. Still, we’re not actually targeting a single user with a patch, are we?]
[I also disagree, as up until now we’ve never changed Trial content because one top performer had too much of an advantage.]
[But you have changed Trial content before.]

While Korea stayed quiet, Japan’s Team Leader Goto rebutted, and America countered.

[That was just changing abilities to better fit the content within the History Book setting. We didn’t target one person for performing too well and change it like that.]

America and France chose to maintain the status quo. It was unprecedented.
Japan and China actively opposed.
Why?
Wasn’t their relationship not great?
The Korean team leader also knew this wasn’t about temperament or anything like that.
They were all professionals. They didn’t make moves against each other if it wasn’t justified.
The game company’s interests always came first.
Maybe just a pinch of amusing personal feelings on the side?

[Hmm, I recall the Kael patch was also considered targeted. What do you think about that? I believe that came from the Korean Balance Team Leader’s opinion too. But this team leader here seems quiet. I’d like to hear your thoughts.]

Either way, they believed the Korean position would be the most accurate.
They knew Korea wouldn’t distort things to disadvantage their own streamer—there was no reason to.
And this Korean team leader was currently in deep deliberation.
The email from the Balance Team Leader was simple: a video file and a single sentence.
The titles of those video files read:

[After 1st Revision of Kael’s Weak Point Pattern Generation Formula.mp4]
[After 2nd Revision of Kael’s Weak Point Pattern Generation Formula.mp4]
[After 3rd Revision of Kael’s Weak Point Pattern Generation Formula.mp4]
[After 4th Revision of Kael’s Weak Point Pattern Generation Formula.mp4]

The situation became roughly clear.
The problem was.
‘What is he, filming a sitcom.’
The sentence he’d sent via email was even more absurd.

==
Never, ever touch his mood.
==

‘Ah…’
He just wanted to remove Kael entirely, but he couldn’t do that either.
This team leader was even more confused by the playful tone of the message.
‘No, and he touched it recently too, so why can’t I?’
Not knowing the other person was absolutely serious.
“Team Leader?”
“Oh, yes… Well, I think if the foreign opinion becomes particularly severe, we’ll need our involvement.”
Never mind, no.
He really didn’t know.
That was his mood.

* * *

Seo Jun rested on Monday too. The excuse was looking for a game to play.
Tuesday morning.
“Hey, Seo Jun.”
Tae-woo, emerging from his room, called out to Seo Jun, who was meditating on the veranda.
“Yeah?”
“You’re famous now. Man, this guy.”
“What are you talking about.”
“You’re famous overseas right now.”
“Overseas?”
“Yeah. Overseas communities are all stirred up because of you, you insane troll.”
“A troll? Me?”
Seo Jun asked seriously.
“Yeah, you.”
Tae-woo answered seriously.
“What’s the content.”
“Just look. Yourself.”
Seo Jun took the phone from Tae-woo.
And in the open overseas communities, he could see posts about him.
“Hah. Of all things, Kael was bound to appear in the History Book, and now it’s come to this.”
After confirming the content, Seo Jun fell into thought.
“Hmm…”
And at that moment, Tae-woo suddenly felt an ominous premonition.
He’d brought the phone just because it was funny, but if this bastard saw posts like these?
Tae-woo felt a chill run down his spine.
What was he about to do now?
“Hey, Seo Jun. Don’t.”
“…”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but just don’t do it.”
“…”
“Hey.”
“Ah.”
“Stop it.”
“So the world is trying to ignore me. Then…”
“I said stop!”
It seemed Seo Jun’s broadcast title for today was already decided.

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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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