Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 28

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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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Episode 28

Lee Geon-yeong woke abruptly from sleep.
It was noon.
When he pulled back the curtain, bright sunlight streamed into the dark room.
Out of habit, he grabbed his phone—which held no messages—and opened AiTube.
He scrolled for a while, found nothing worth watching, and closed it.
Then he opened AiTube again.
He scrolled.
Finding no thumbnail that caught his interest, he closed it once more.
“Ugh.”
After fiddling with his phone on the bed for about ten minutes, he got up and went to his desk.
He turned on the computer from sleep mode and launched Travel.
His username was PublicRestroom BrickExtortionKing.
As he usually did around this hour, he opened a streamer’s broadcast that he’d been watching, then went to drink some water.
Gulp, gulp.
“Hmm. Food… no, I’ll skip it.”
Lee Geon-yeong decided not to eat lunch.
Though technically, it was breakfast that he was skipping.
He had no appetite.
Cooking felt like too much trouble.
He washed up, gave his room a halfhearted cleaning, returned to his room, and shut the door.
Then he sat down in front of his computer.
‘I can’t keep living like this.’
It had already been two years.
Two years of living as a shut-in.
Originally, he’d been fairly outgoing, socially adept, and had quite a few friends.
But starting in his second year of high school, while attending a cram school for art college entrance exams, he was bullied, lost his confidence, gave up on the college entrance exam and other tests, and ran away.
After that.
He stopped wanting to see his friends.
He felt too pathetic—whenever he was around people, they’d see what he’d become.
In his room, his mind felt at ease.
Maybe he and his room were just a good match.
Watching broadcasts and browsing the internet, the day slipped away before he knew it, and the sky grew dark.
It was inevitable, given that he’d woken up late, but the night sky—now that the sunlight was gone—only deepened his melancholy.
Lee Geon-yeong prepared dinner.
Just pulled out some frozen dumplings and ran them through the air fryer. Done.
‘Good thing I have no appetite. Heh heh.’
Tomorrow would be another day like today.
He felt guilty toward his parents, who sent him living expenses.
Parents who silently supported their son even after he failed his entrance exams and his retake.
But he hadn’t failed.
He’d never even tried.
Fear of failure had stopped him.
“Sigh…”
Lee Geon-yeong let out a long, deep breath.
“I’m garbage.”
He wasn’t wasting money.
Since he stayed cooped up in his room, after months of this life, there was nothing to spend his money on beyond basic living expenses.
But he was wasting something far more precious: time.
He knew it himself.
“I want to change……”
Really.
He felt like he might die from how pathetic he was.
But he had no strength to change.
Then, from the computer, he heard the streamer’s voice.

[I’m looking for an editor right now, and if any of you viewers out there want to edit my gameplay footage……]

The streamer was recruiting an editor.
The streamer who said this was named Jin Seo-jun.
A streamer who had been broadcasting for less than a week.
Watching someone who’d only just started suddenly thriving and creating their AiTube presence felt somehow bittersweet and envious.
The streamer was his exact opposite.
Outstanding talent and a cocky, overconfident personality.
‘I used to be like that.’
But the talent he’d thought he had as a child had faded like an illusion as he grew, and what remained was failure and a withdrawn, solitary shut-in.

[Alright, that’s it for the stream!]

The broadcast ended.
True to a beginner streamer, the screen went dark without even a stream-end screen set up.
His face reflected in the monitor.
He stared at his reflected eyes endlessly, then murmured.
“Editor. Should I… give it a try?”
Maybe he needed something to challenge himself with.
As if possessed, he began searching the internet and looking into Video Editing.
In the time the old him would have spent browsing Travel for other streams to watch.

* * *

The next day, he was still editing videos.
“I’ll do this part like this, and the shortcut is……”
A sense of improvement as he learned things.
An emotion he hadn’t felt in a long time.
The corners of his mouth lifted.
It felt wonderful. He felt like he had purpose.
“I’ll do this here. ……Is there a way to add a different effect? I should look that up.”
The whole day passed editing.
Time seemed to move faster than before, but the flow of time today didn’t feel hollow.
And he seemed to have some talent for it.
Lee Geon-yeong wanted to escape this cesspool he’d become and do real work.
The editing work seemed to suit his aptitude.
‘Now that I’ve uploaded the video, I should send an email….’
I could do it.
But his hand dropped from the mouse.
Lee Geon-yeong’s eyes wavered for a moment.
Then he closed the email window, grabbed his phone, dove into bed, and opened AiTube.
‘I did a lot today, so I’ll do it tomorrow.’
Humming to himself, he slipped back into his old patterns.
And the next day, he put off sending the email.
And the day after that too.
The following day was no different.
Five days had already passed since he’d pushed thoughts of video editing out of his mind.
As he deleted the editing program, he thought.
‘It wouldn’t have worked anyway, so what….’
Negative thoughts rationalized his escape.
Would a video made on just the second day of learning really pass review?
No.
So it wouldn’t work anyway—what was the point of sending it?
It was meaningless.
Giving up was easier.

* * *

[Going to catch Queen today.]

The stream went live.

“Hello everyone.”

-h2
-Seo-ha
-Seo-ha

Over the past week, viewer count hadn’t grown—in fact, it had dropped.
Tae-u, Movie Soft, and Seo-jun had all expected this result.
Some of the viewers back then had come to watch Seo-jun specifically, but many had been searching him out to see his skill, after all.
Nevertheless, there was a reason Seo-jun had accepted Movie Soft’s proposal.
‘The Concrete Layer.’
The audience that watches a streamer regardless of content—viewers who watch because they like the streamer themselves.
Over the past week, Seo-jun had managed, albeit shallowly, to build such a Concrete Layer.
After all, he couldn’t always just play the Dominator character.
And he hadn’t lost as many viewers as expected.
‘When I played the Tower Master, it was 3,000 viewers.’
Yesterday’s stream had 2,300.
Far better numbers than predicted.

-Queen is easy, just do it haha exactly like that
-The original undefeated is different I’m telling you
-How is the host the original? Assassin’s Dawn didn’t only exist in this series
-If you’re good you’re the original lol. A good dumpling restaurant is the original too
-ㄹㅇㅋㅋ

[‘ScamDice’ donated 10,000 won!]
[Seo-ha! I saw Seo-jun and was thinking of starting Assassin’s Dawn—what do you think?]

“Ah, thanks for the ten thousand won donation. This game is really fun. And super easy. Just follow what I do.”
The money hadn’t come through yet, but Movie Soft was an advertiser.
So he said something flattering.

-hahahaha don’t listen to him
-If you buy it to play Undefeated you’ll 100% regret it haha but buying is recommended
-The host is a devil
-Please buy Assassin’s Dawn
-Remember a few days ago when he pretended to do a strategy stream and just lied and cheated the whole time

That wasn’t it.
Whatever worked was fine.
“Well. That’s how it is.”
Seo-jun was in the lobby now.
“Before we start the game, I have something to say.”
Through viewer search, Seo-jun discovered that BrickExtortionKing was watching.

-What is it?
-Major announcement?
-It’s not like you have a girlfriend or something, right?
-You’re donating all the money you’ve made so far? That must have been a hard decision, and we respect and support it.

Seo-jun ignored the chat flowing in stream-of-consciousness and opened a window.
It was a support video uploaded by BrickExtortionKing on AiTube!
“Are you watching this stream right now, BrickExtortionKing? Is this really you?”

-how is the username public lol restroom lol brick lol extortion king lol
-hahahaha
-Would there really be two people in the world with that username?
-Why are everyone’s nicknames in this place so weird

“I left comments on your video and contacted you through Travel, but you didn’t see them, I think. I have something to discuss, so please check your messages and get back to me.”
The quality of the video Seo-jun had seen the day before was exactly to his liking.
Not because of any special effects or editor-specific techniques.
The reason was sense and polish.
True to a viewer who watched every live broadcast, BrickExtortionKing had caught all the fun moments and edited them cleanly.
“I’m not sure why you didn’t send an email, but I’d really like to have a genuine conversation.”

-Oh! Are you looking for an editor?
-Show the video
-But why did you make it public instead of private lol
-I want to see

“The video? Just go check it out yourselves.”
Seo-jun said it partly to drive up the video’s view count.

-The intro is so funny
-hahahaha
-Going to find it right now

[Support video for streamer Seo-jun.
Hello! Mister! I’ve never formally learned editing, but I’m confident I can work hard!
All I have is time anyway. haha I’m unemployed.
Also, since this is my first video, I can improve more and more!
A growth-type editor. This is seriously a jackpot, right?
If verification is needed, please contact me! I’ll edit other stuff too.]

-tmi level info lol
-You were unemployed, BrickExtortionKing!
-If you weren’t unemployed, why would you extort bricks from public restrooms lol
-Even unemployed people don’t do that. I’d know, I’m unemployed lol

* * *

“Damn. So embarrassing!”
Lee Geon-yeong grabbed his head with both hands, then smacked his thighs with his fists.
“Why is it public!”
The sentences he’d written carelessly in the video description.
And the embarrassing username he couldn’t mention anywhere.
Plus his first attempt at editing.
It was the perfect embarrassment trifecta.
“How did he even find it? The view count was so low.”
He quickly went to AiTube and set the video to private.

-Lol the video went down instantly
-ㅄ
-Was extortion king watching the stream?
-haha forced humiliation
-You can tell he totally messed up uploading it

[Oh. Did I upload it by mistake? That’s awkward……. Anyway, check the comments and get back to me.]

-Seo-jun killed BrickExtortionKing! Seo-jun killed BrickExtortionKing! Seo-jun killed BrickExtortionKing!
-He’s getting shamed
-That’s the uploader’s fault for making it public lol
-ㄹㅇㅋㅋ unemployed punk

Lee Geon-yeong cleared the Travel comments.
But he couldn’t close the streaming window.
He just shut the broadcast off.
“Ugh! So embarrassing!”
Once his racing heart had calmed, Lee Geon-yeong carefully opened the video he’d made private again.
Even though fear and panic made him take it down, he thought there had to be a reason Seo-jun had mentioned it on stream.
“Yeah, since I got caught anyway, let me see what he wrote……”
Lee Geon-yeong’s muttering stopped.

[Jin Seo-jun][20 hours ago]
[You made this video after just one day of learning? You’re really talented. I’m not sure why you didn’t send an email, but I want to work with you, BrickExtortionKing. If you’re interested, please reach out.]

He stared at the comment—screen, rather—with a complex expression.
His eyes reddened.
Silence stretched on.
Finally, his voice trembled as he whispered.
“Roughly……. I was hoping for something like this……”
Sigh.
With a deep breath, he looked up at the ceiling.
The comfortable, prison-like ceiling he’d often looked up at while lying in bed on his phone suddenly appeared different.
There was absolutely no moisture in his eyes.
“……”
He watched the video he’d edited several more times.
“It’s only been my first day learning and it’s a mess even to me, so what talent……”
He was mocking himself.
But at the same time, he was laughing harder than ever.
A sense of liberation.
Like finding an exit after being trapped in a maze.
“Yeah, let’s give it a shot.”
Talent.
A streamer more skilled than anyone had said he had it and wanted to work with him.
“If this is just empty talk to exploit me with unpaid labor, hyung or not, I’m not letting this slide. You’ll get in trouble if scandal breaks.”
With trembling hands, he began drafting an email.

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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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