Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 292

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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 292

The Judgment Sword fell.
Sara’s mouth dropped open.
“That… that’s…”
He shouldn’t be dying that easily.
The combat looked far simpler than the battle she’d witnessed in Atura.
‘Then what was that attacker showing when he fought Baek Do-yul and Tae-san!’
Did Baek Do-yul and Tae-san lose their composure and calm because of the ambush, making them seem evenly matched with the attacker?
That made no sense.
Professionals fundamentally came equipped with composure.
They were the kind of cold individuals who, unless they were facing a history-book ending scenario like the one the attacker presented moments ago, didn’t so much as flinch.
But even if Seo Jun was truly exceptional, the fight with the attacker looked far easier than his fight with another Rookie Pro in Atura—there was no way to interpret that.
Unless… he really was just a henchman!
Expendable!
Yes, more like a Vanguard!
Merely a sample, a taste to show Participants what the outside world was like and how terrifying a presence lurked among the other Participants!
So he wasn’t top-tier after all, and when he faced Baek Do-yul before, some other factor must have been at play.
They didn’t have solid information about that attacker anyway.
They’d been mistaken. Clearly.
The way he died so easily proved it.
Sara’s mind raced through all these thoughts in an instant.
But.
Even if you convinced yourself he was just a foot soldier, when you heard confirmation from the caster’s own mouth…
“Ahhhhh! So it was the Final Hidden Antagonist after all! Who is it! Who exactly is this Participant!”
When the caster spelled it out again and landed a finishing blow of certainty…
No matter how rational a scenario you constructed in your head, you had no choice but to accept it.
‘That insane Kael! What did he do!’
And he fights so well.

* * *

-Room Master! Room Master! Room Master!
-Absolutely insane lol just playing with his opponent
-Ah, did you see that devout prayer? This is the Light Cathedral, everyone believe in Astheros.
-I can’t believe we thought he was a henchman lmaooooooooooooo
-He just finished it so perfectly like the Room Master would lololololo

Bang Ju’s viewers roared with enthusiasm.
Bang Ju himself cheered.
“That’s the Room Master! That’s what the Room Master is!”
Seo Jun still had that ambiguous, incomprehensible expression.
Wait, he caught and stopped the ambush himself, and even killed the attacker when everyone said he’d die—so why did his face look so grim?
Bang Ju, catching on, became serious just like Seo Jun.
‘Oh no.’
The history book had ended.
Far too anticlimactically and absurdly.
This wasn’t something to be purely happy about.
Seo Jun wouldn’t have known the attacker would ambush him, nor that others said he’d die—so he must have immediately grasped the gravity of the situation.
‘What now?’
How things would unfold became completely unpredictable.
Truth be told, it had always been unpredictable, but once they confirmed the attacker was the Final Hidden Antagonist, the existing narrative arc was at least drawn.
If that attacker had been the Final Hidden Antagonist, he would’ve hunted one person daily, grown stronger, and attempted something.
As other Participants gradually discovered and uncovered what that something was, Train’s quests would also be finishing, and the full picture would’ve come into view.
But.
The Final Hidden Antagonist was dead.
Exposed while disguised as an NPC.
It was over.
The history book was over.

-lololol history book done! thanks for your work
-but this is too anticlimactic lolololol
-what do we do
-international viewers are gonna riot lol
-wait isn’t this a serious situation? why is everyone laughing
-because it’s Room Master’s thing. if the international guys complain, Room Master will solve it all anyway lololol
-for real lol
-history book cut! history book cut! history book cut! history book cut! history book cut!

Haha.
Bang Ju kept reading chat without losing focus.
He even found hope.
“Exactly!”
There was no need to worry.
“After all, Seo Jun will do something about it again! And if anyone deserves criticism, it’s that antagonist who got exposed so easily and died!”

-for real lol
-Room Master do it lolololol
-do it
-let’s go catch whoever’s behind the attacker!
-yeah that should work if we switch it to world conquest arc
-Geomsin: World Conquest Arc lol lololololol

* * *

It was ruined.
Well, he wasn’t sure if it was actually ruined.
Seo Jun had simply done his best—what else was he guilty of?
A clean finish.
A perfect narrative.
‘It can’t be.’
They wouldn’t accept it.
To prevent exactly this kind of situation, they would’ve hired a Final Hidden Antagonist with exceptional skill.
Someone brilliant enough that under the specific condition of an ambush, they’d never lose—that’s who they’d have recruited.
‘There’ll be plenty of talk.’
But Seo Jun had won anyway.
Just as Seo Jun suspected, the command center where the team leaders were gathered in real time was in chaos.
‘Who suggested hiring the climax actor!’
‘Everyone said it was fine!’
‘It’s the China team leader!’
‘What do we do now.’
‘Just trust the AI!’
Of course, they were merely administrators with no real ability to directly intervene inside the virtual reality.
Seo Jun understood this well.
Real-time intervention was only possible for one entity.
‘The AI.’
What would happen now?
If things ended like this, how could they possibly wrap it up smoothly?
If it didn’t wrap up properly, the dead opponent would take the blame.
‘But someone might still criticize me.’
Even a little.
But that little was a little from the entire world.
This was why they said you had to swim in the big leagues—but right now, the big league was poison.
Especially since he’d shown off just a bit, the annoyed crowd would rise up now.
‘Hmm.’
I trust you, AI!
Seo Jun left his seat.
Now that he’d exited the alley and fought, the law-enforcement NPCs would come soon.
Of course, if they came, he’d just catch them all and disappear.
The mask was invincible.
But since it was tedious, while heading to the Plaza, Seo Jun briefly ducked into an Alley, removed his mask, and came back out.
Then he sat leisurely at an outdoor table and waited.
He felt somewhat conflicted, and he was curious how things would unfold out there.
He wanted to communicate—or as viewers called it, “Room Master’s unilateral airing of grievances to stir up an unspecified mass of people”—with them.
‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’
That’s what he wanted to say.
But this time, Seo Jun genuinely exercised some caution and held himself back.
Because he did know that while his mistake was none, he had caused an incident.
Of course, that didn’t make him anxious.
That wasn’t his nature. He simply stayed calm and careful.
He was relaxing at the Cafe when, about ten minutes later, Yon approached.
“We should go turn in the materials, sir. Rachel went ahead.”
“Why isn’t it logging you out?”
“Sir? What do you mean, Logout?”
“So we’re continuing as is.”
“What are you talking about, sir.”
“It’s something.”
Seo Jun didn’t reveal to Yon that he’d captured the antagonist.
There was no reason to share that information. Discussion wouldn’t help anyway, and it wouldn’t change anything for Yon to know.
There was no need to warn him either.
“Hmm, I suppose we could go back and check.”
“No, sir.”
“You’re annoying. Come on.”
Seo Jun stood and moved to the location where the battle had taken place.
The lingering aura, and the destroyed street.
He wanted to check what had become of them.
And the results of checking were quite interesting.
“Oh.”
“What’s ‘oh’? What are you looking at? It’s just an extremely ordinary street.”
Exactly. An extremely ordinary street. The city sprawled below from this slightly elevated area.
Everything was the same as before the fight.
‘The patrolling NPCs didn’t even come. What’s this.’
The AI wouldn’t be trying to erase it like it never happened.
That was when it happened. Something glinted beneath a stone on the road, and with a loud explosion, the city was suddenly engulfed in mist stained green light.
Like the other world.
“Hey Yon?”
He couldn’t hear any voice.
Seo Jun wandered through the mist-covered street.
No one was there.
Was he caught in an illusion?

[Well met.]

A voice came.
The surroundings—no, above, no, the entire space resonated.
‘So it’s trying to cover things up. Were you prepared already?’
Or was it preparing in real time?
“Who are you?”

[I am what you call Chaos—a Fragment of the World.]

“Fragment of the World?”

[Yes. Since the world itself is my body, that name would be fitting.]

“What do you want.”

[I perceive in you weakness and insufficiency. I shall grant you strength. Without price.]

“What?”
Strength out of nowhere?
Why on earth?
Bewildered, all the mist in the city suddenly sucked into Seo Jun’s body, and in the next moment he came to his senses.
He was standing at that same spot from which he’d first surveyed the street.
“What happened, sir?”
“What just occurred?”
Seo Jun studied Yon. The situation didn’t feel right. Granting him strength meant…
“The street ahead just exploded and that bright flash gave me a blinding CC. I was worried the attacker might’ve planted explosives, but did you handle it, sir?”
“Yeah. I handled it.”
“Really?”
“No.”
“So what happened then?”
“Not sure. But it means outside isn’t dangerous.”
“I thought I saw a greenish light… was it really related to that attacker?”
“Couldn’t say.”
Seo Jun glanced at the Interface window beside him and saw a new alert pop up on the quest icon, then smiled as he spoke to Yon.
“Let’s hurry and turn in those materials.”

* * *

After receiving the materials from Yon and handing them to Cresit, Yon left with Rachel to gather a few more materials during the remaining time, and Seo Jun returned to that same spot in the Plaza.
It was a place he’d come to favor.
He sat and carefully worked through the situation.
‘So. Achievement Points weren’t confiscated or anything. Train’s quests are still proceeding.’
There was one thing that concerned him.
A change had occurred.
First was that his Ability Stats had risen.
They’d increased by roughly the amount of a single level-up. That was significant.
And a new quest had been added on top of that.

[Hunger for Power 1]
==
A seed of power has been planted. The method to bloom it is simple.
Objective: Eliminate one Champion without revealing your identity
Reward: Ability Stats increase
==

Become stronger?
Corruption plot?
‘The more you hunger for power, the more tangled things become, the more brainwashed you get, until you become an irredeemable enemy of the world scenario?’
Predictable.
Seo Jun let out a bitter laugh.
“There’s no such thing as power without cost. You’re definitely demanding a price for every bit of strength gained. Are you adding a death penalty for failure in the next quest?”
This was an attempt to make him the antagonist.
The intent was far too transparent.
There was no button to cancel the quest.
Wasn’t that coercion?
He wondered if the AI could do this.
“So who should I kill first, AI?”
It didn’t matter.
He couldn’t accept this.
The AI seemed quite skilled at handling things.
The most terrifying antagonist in history was being born.

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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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