Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 26

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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 26

Thud!
A blue Boxing Glove drove into Lee Dongsu’s face.
Thud, thud!
A rapid barrage of punches hammered into his stomach.
“Ugh.”
Lee Dongsu clutched his waist and staggered for a moment before regaining his composure and raising his guard.
Those around him watched with keen interest as he took the hits, but for him, only the opponent in front of him mattered.
“Gym Master, is this kid actually training to be a fighter? Look how weak he is.”
An opening!
Seo Joon, who stood before him, turned his head sideways toward the Gym Master.
Normally, attacking at a moment like this would be poor form.
But Lee Dongsu had already learned from yesterday’s beating that Seo Joon played differently.
Practice like it’s real combat!
“Hyah!”
A Straight.
Though he hadn’t learned much, Lee Dongsu had mastered the form, and his fist extended with precision.
Perfect timing, perfect stance, a careless opponent.
It was the kind of attack that might have landed on someone less alert.
But his opponent happened to be Seo Joon.
Even while looking away, he slipped it effortlessly and countered with a One-Two Punch.
Ooooh!
A collective gasp erupted from the onlookers.
“Argh! Damn it.”
Lee Dongsu finally crumpled to the floor, clutching his stomach.
“Hey! You punk! I told you to take it easy! And he’s not a fighter in training! Come here, you.”
The Gym Master shouted and approached the ring.
He grabbed the ropes and swung his leg over to catch Seo Joon.
Seo Joon sensed the killing intent and pivoted toward the opposite side of the ring, preparing to step down.
“Ah, so you’ve got talent after all?”
Seeing that Seo Joon was ready to leave with the Gym Master only halfway over the ropes, he gave up the idea of catching him.
“Oof. There goes my back again.”
“So… is he just the kid who fights the best at school, then?”
Seo Joon had downgraded Lee Dongsu’s status from fighter-in-training to just a pretty good high school brawler.
Despite this misunderstanding, the Gym Master didn’t reveal Lee Dongsu’s true identity.
Because Lee Dongsu had asked him not to.
Lee Dongsu was too embarrassed to come clean to Seo Joon.
‘If only I’d beaten him at the game, I could’ve told him confidently.’
After getting thoroughly educated by Seo Joon yesterday, he’d gone to the Company Building and launched Assassination’s Dawn with streaming turned off.
And it took him more than fifteen attempts before he finally defeated Ethor from the tutorial, and he was devastated.
Losing in real life was at least understandable to some degree, but losing in a game was not.
Who was he, after all?
A player for the world’s second-strongest team!
“Hey. Instead of sparring, go study at school.”
“Come on. Do you study well?”
“Yeah.”
“What confidence lets you answer like that without hesitation?”
Lee Dongsu grumbled, got to his feet, and placed his hands behind his back to stretch his spine straight.
“Dongsu. He’s at Korea University.”
The Gym Master’s voice came from beside him.
“Are you kidding me! The world’s so unfair.”
“Just put in the effort and things work out.”
Seo Joon shrugged.
“Ha. I don’t need to study because I’m good at games.”
Lee Dongsu brushed his hands off, finished speaking, and quickly raised his guard.
“That so?”
At the same moment, Seo Joon’s fist came rushing at him at high speed.
Lee Dongsu, now accustomed to this torment, was ready long in advance.
True professional-level adaptability.
“Yeah. Following your lead yesterday, I beat Ethor, Drake, and Richard too.”
Of course, he’d grabbed a Pipe and tried to copy Seo Joon’s approach, dying to Drake six times in the process.
Richard Nevil four times.
As a result, Lee Dongsu had come to respect Seo Joon’s skill.
This person was different from the rest.
But the moment he acknowledged that fact, his competitive fire didn’t die down. It only burned hotter.
Whoosh!
He slipped another attack by the narrowest margin.
“How about you try going professional then?”
Seo Joon said it without much thought, and Lee Dongsu let out a sigh.
‘I’m already a professional.’
Today he was planning to challenge the Tower Master.
He had no idea how to manipulate lightning or execute the sound-based strategy, but he figured he’d just throw himself at it anyway.
He could feel his skill growing every time he imitated this person named Seo Joon, and that feeling was real.
Same with sparring.
‘Is this why Ha Yeon keeps challenging Unknown in the Training Grounds?’
His drive to improve had been ignited.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you going to catch the Queen on today’s stream?”
Queen was the term for the last remaining Ruler in Assassination’s Dawn.
“Why?”
“Just… wondering.”
“Maybe?”
After that, there was no more casual talk.
Lee Dongsu concentrated, trying to land at least one punch.
Seo Joon chatted with the people around him while easily blocking everything.
Thud!
But Lee Dongsu kept imagining someone overlapping with Seo Joon.
A being who fought while conversing easily with nearby people.
An entity shrouded in rumors of being a new type of AI created by Surface.
‘No way… This guy isn’t the Unknown at level 10, right? No, that’s too far-fetched.’
Even Ha Yeon keeps challenging it.

* * *

Seo Joon sat in the Café, waiting for Kim Yunchan while watching Alpaca’s stream.

[Please, I don’t want to see that Drake anymore. Blegh!]

-lolololol
-Alpaca, you’ve only been streaming for 22 hours, stop being dramatic
-ㅡㅅㅡ
-Hang in there!

[Come on, even you guys don’t find this fun, right? It’s hard to even watch?]

-I slept and came back, it’s easy lol
-This is the New Year waiting room btw
-Wasn’t this the World Cup waiting room?
-We can’t end this stream till the end of Earth, what are you all talking about lol
-Don’t count the hours. You chose the Power On King. Endure with grit and guts.

[What grit and guts. I never chose this.]

[‘Some Idiot’ just donated 1,000 won with a big heart!]
[???: If you succeed at this, I’ll worship you as my master and learn from you and go on an unbeatable—]

Alpaca quickly closed the donation and banned the viewer who sent it.

[I told you one more of those donations and you’re permanently banned, right?]

-lololol
-That was a blade-sharp ban
-His reaction speed just now was god-tier. Scary.
-Use that speed to catch Drake, Alpaca

[Oh! We hit the Capsule access limit at 9 hours. Hehehehe.]

The Capsule had an access time limit.
It was Surface’s measure to prevent users from destroying their real bodies by getting lost in games.
If playtime exceeded 3 hours, users couldn’t reconnect for half the duration they’d been logged in, forcing them into mandatory rest.
And if playtime exceeded 9 hours, the Capsule automatically shut down.
Alpaca had been fighting Drake for a total of 18 hours since starting at noon the previous day, minus a 4-hour-30-minute break in between.
‘I feel kind of bad for him.’
Seo Joon glanced at the clock.
It was currently 10:30.
Appointment time was coming up soon.

[I’m heading out now, so let me run an ad in the meantime. You know this is only the 9-hour mark, right?]

An advertisement appeared on Seo Joon’s Travel screen.
‘Advertising.’
Streamers partnered with Travel received multiple income streams, one of which was advertising.
This advertising was different from ads received from game publishers.
When they first entered a stream or during a stream, Travel displayed ads, and the streamer’s revenue increased proportionally to the number of viewers watching it.
Streamers could turn on these ads freely.
But if they put in too many ads, viewership would drop.
So most streamers, like Alpaca, preferred to run them briefly during timing shifts or restroom breaks.
“The requirements for being a partnered streamer are actually lower than you’d think…”
To become a partnered streamer, over the last 30 days you needed a total live broadcast time of 700 minutes, live broadcast days of 7, average concurrent viewers of 10, and 30 or more followers.
He’d already met the other three, but only one requirement was holding him back.
Days.
“There’s not much I can do about that right now.”
Once he hired an editor down the line, expenses would increase, so he had to be careful with each revenue stream.

[After I… sleep and come back, I’ll go for the Queen with the Power On King streak. I guess I’m getting old. Now that I’m about to leave, I’m so drowsy. *Yawn*. Just one more time. Please, just this once.]

Alpaca spoke with half-closed eyes.
The stream shut off shortly after.
The viewers seemed to understand.

* * *

A moment later.
“Hello. I’m Kim Yunchan, who contacted you earlier.”
“I’m Seo Joon, the streamer.”
Seo Joon stood and shook hands with Kim Yunchan.
Kim Yunchan wore neat, comfortable clothing without being careless.
It seemed that way because Moviesoft was a foreign company.
“First, I apologize for reaching out so suddenly. This is a pressing matter.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Still, let me apologize again. If you weren’t available to see us, we’d be in quite a bind, which is why we had to reach you by any means necessary. I sent quite a few messages, didn’t I? Haha.”
Yeah, I know.
They really did use every possible contact method.
“Well, I was just a bit taken aback. But what’s this problem that’s so urgent…?”
An ominous thought occurred to Seo Joon.
Surely this won’t turn into a situation where I have to compensate for something I broke?
Let’s see, among Dad’s acquaintances, there’s a lawyer…
“Hahaha, well, the thing is, it’s all because of the Fragments of Order that you’re currently progressing through.”
“Fragments of Order?”
“Yes. When you collect all the Fragments of Order, an Easter egg related to our next project appears, and we need to release a Teaser Video synchronized with that moment, but it’s not ready yet.”

Ah.
So.
“You’re asking me to delay catching the Ruler a little?”
Seo Joon smiled with ease.
This was absolutely a situation where he had the advantage.
“Yes, exactly. Of course, we’ll show our appreciation. It should be ready in about 6 days.”
Kim Yunchan smiled wickedly.
The word “appreciation” made it sound like he was asking for something criminal.
“Hmm…”
In any case, the game company couldn’t force him.
Seo Joon began thinking carefully.
‘A teaser video usually means…’
A video intentionally hiding information to spark curiosity for promotional purposes.
‘My cooperation isn’t absolutely necessary.’
With around 3,000 viewers, even if some rumors circulated in Korea, it probably wouldn’t have much impact on Moviesoft’s global operations.
In fact, even if Seo Joon didn’t cooperate, they could turn it into a blessing in disguise and create an effect even greater than the teaser video.
Because they were a corporation, not an individual.
But it could be unexpectedly important, so he should at least hear the proposal to gauge it.
Just right, not too much, not too little.
If that was the case, Seo Joon was ready to cooperate readily.
“So what exactly is this appreciation?”
“Ahem, well, if you delay catching the Queen by about 6 days, we’ll give you special access to our next project’s Beta Test. The beta won’t take more than a year.”
What?
“And we plan to create a bundle of event items related to you for the DLC and our next project.”
Are you serious?
Why are you giving so much?
If this were before, he wouldn’t have known any better, but to Seo Joon, who was serious about streaming, these were very favorable terms.
“What’s the price?”
“Only delaying catching the Ruler by 6 days. That’s all.”
Seo Joon stared at Kim Yunchan with a bewildered expression.
Is this guy a con artist?
“Um…”
The conditions Kim Yunchan proposed weren’t immediately necessary, but it would be strange for Seo Joon to refuse a deal where he had nothing to lose.
“You’ll accept the proposal, right?”
Seo Joon couldn’t answer right away.
Paranoia had set in.
“Hahaha. Didn’t I tell you? The terms were incomplete.”
At that moment, a slightly awkward Korean accent was heard.
A middle-aged foreigner who had entered the Café at the same time as Kim Yunchan but sat at a slightly removed table approached them and offered Seo Joon a friendly handshake.
“Nice to meet you. Seo Joon. I’m Eve Paimon from Moviesoft Korea.”
Kim Yunchan’s superior.
So that’s how it is.
They’re going to adjust the terms.
Probably adding additional compensation.
As long as it wasn’t an unreasonable request, Seo Joon was ready to accept the proposal.
Actually, now that he thought the other side was making demands, he felt some relief.
“We’ll also provide advertising.”
And at Eve Paimon’s next words, Seo Joon’s eyes filled with bewilderment again.
“Sorry?”
Yeah.
He’d never even thought of this kind of advertising.
“You mean game advertising, right?”
“Exactly. Do you have a preferred game from our company? We can accommodate anything. You just play the game, Seo Joon.”
A piece of paper was slid across to Seo Joon.
Eve Paimon spoke with a grin.
“Ah. We’re thinking a minimum of 1,000 won per view.”
So had an idiot been cloned?
What the hell is going on?

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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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