Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 364

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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 364

“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“No, I mean—why?”
“What do you mean?!”
Ha Yun-ho stood before him, tilting his head as if genuinely confused.
His eyes blinked twice.
“Did the peripheral spot not open up? Is that why you had no choice?”
“No, not at all! The spot is available. See here—there’s an empty area a bit away from center? It was originally one of the game company’s zones, but due to circumstances they scaled back their participation, so we decided to hold the survey and performance over there instead.”
“Why not just give me the space the game company vacated?”
Seo Jun found it ridiculous.
Why insist on giving him the center spot—larger, more visible, with better positioning?
“Seo Jun, you’re the most honored invited performer. How could we bring in others without making room for you?”
“But…”
First of all, why was he even an invited performer?
He wouldn’t deny being somewhat valuable.
He was certainly a streamer with the highest name recognition.
But whether his presence was significant enough to justify shrinking the organizers’ own space—he had to shake his head at that.
Seo Jun sighed at a position that felt burdensome yet impossible to refuse at this point.
Ha Yun-ho continued his explanation regardless.
“The company has prepared very carefully. From here on, we’ll go over the booth design, where you should stand, staff introductions, and so forth.”
Ha Yun-ho, who had been involved since the founding of T-Star and now led a company exporting countless streamers, demonstrated to Seo Jun exactly what thorough preparation looked like.
There was a reason they hired experienced professionals.
After hearing him out on the entire schedule, Seo Jun chuckled softly and spoke with satisfaction.
“That’s simple enough. Isn’t it said that if a job looks easy, the person doing it must be skilled?”
“Ah! That’s something you say all the time on your broadcast! Because you make everything look so effortless! That’s high praise!”
“You certainly know how to read the room.”
“Ha ha, we can’t afford to disappoint you. You’re our team’s ace and the world’s greatest gamer, after all.”
Seo Jun scratched his cheek with his index finger at this sudden flattery, then moved to the next topic.
“Speaking of which, why is the organizer covering the prize money? You said I’d be handling it.”
The prize pool was thirty million won.
And it wasn’t just for first place.
Anyone who beat Seo Jun could claim the thirty million, regardless of how many challengers succeeded.
Even with the organizers’ massive donations, a single miscalculation could mean losses in the billions—a serious financial risk.
Of course, Trabol stood behind the organizers, and Surface stood behind them, so bankruptcy wasn’t truly a concern, but was the world really that simple?
Seo Jun simply preferred to cover the prize money himself.
Not that he’d lose, but borrowing money always came with complications.
“Ah, about that, Seo Jun.”
“Yes?”
“When the organizers heard your idea, they naturally expressed the view that you couldn’t possibly fail. So that’s how it became their responsibility. Should I tell them to reconsider—that you’d rather handle it?”
What?
‘They’re giving up their own space and taking on the prize burden?’
Seo Jun was bewildered. At the same time, he grew curious.
‘Who exactly is behind this?’
Were they exceptionally shrewd in their judgment, or just another ordinary viewer?
“Hmm…”
“What would you like to do?”
“Well, I’m not going to lose anyway, so let’s just proceed as is. It’s fine.”

* * *

[Lee Geon-yeong: Wow! Should I start preparing the night broadcast?]
[Han Ji-min: This is our first proper night broadcast!]
[Seo Jun: Right. It’s the first time we’re doing a full-fledged night broadcast. We’ll need to prepare thoroughly. Though Pointe is handling all the camera equipment for us.]

An MCN was pure convenience for a streamer.
They had virtually everything a streamer needed and rented it out at dirt-cheap rates.
In Seo Jun’s case, it was free under his contract.
Beyond being able to use top-tier equipment without having to buy it, there were countless other advantages.
Seo Jun received special treatment that made things even more convenient, but that didn’t mean MCN wasn’t useful for other streamers too.

[Lee Geon-yeong: We should probably do a quick rehearsal first.]
[Han Ji-min: Who’s going to be the cameraman, then?]
[Lee Geon-yeong: Well, since I’m male, wouldn’t that be better physically?]
[Han Ji-min: Why?]
[Lee Geon-yeong: Oh, I’m sorry. I meant in terms of stamina. Following the boss around all day with a camera would be pretty exhausting.]
[Han Ji-min: That’s true. But Geon-yeong.]
[Lee Geon-yeong: Yes?]
[Han Ji-min: So does that mean you have better stamina than me? Really? Can you promise that?]
[Lee Geon-yeong: …]
[Seo Jun: LMAO]
[Lee Geon-yeong: Ha, I’ve started exercising. Can you handle it, noona?]
[Han Ji-min: Alright, bring it on.]
[Seo Jun: LMAO]

Seo Jun quietly watched the two editors squabble.
They talked about settling it with a physical test, but Seo Jun knew better.
Both of them were weaklings.
They knew it themselves, and soon the competition shifted to rock-paper-scissors.
But Han Ji-min refused to accept the defeat.

[Han Ji-min: Argh! I’M the one who’s going to capture the boss’s beautiful face!]
[Han Ji-min: Come on! If you beat me, I’ll accept it!]
[Lee Geon-yeong: Please accept the loss.]

Seo Jun realized it was time to step in and typed in the chat.

[Seo Jun: I’ve come to end this dispute.]
[Han Ji-min: !!!!!]
[Lee Geon-yeong: OMG!]
[Han Ji-min: Fine. If the boss chooses that ungrateful bastard, I’ll accept it!]
[Lee Geon-yeong: LOL]
[Seo Jun: You know what?]
[Seo Jun: LOL]
[Seo Jun: Pointe already assigned us a professional cameraman.]
[Seo Jun: LOL]
[Han Ji-min: ?????]

A flood of question marks began rolling in.
The chats amounted to very brief protests asking why he hadn’t mentioned this from the start.
Or complaints about why he’d been talking it up like a major production if they had professional staff.
Seo Jun hit Escape once more and closed the chat window.
“MCN is really convenient, after all.”
Notifications kept pinging, and Seo Jun waited for the noise to die down.
Then he opened the chat again to check the messages.
After venting for a while, they’d regained their composure and were having a decent conversation.
“So what will those two do? If I tell them to just edit here, there’ll be a coup d’état, won’t there?”
His channel could have disappeared entirely.
It was a rare chance to get out and be active outside.
Seo Jun smiled and typed in the chat.

[Seo Jun: You two—how are your hands when it comes to craftsmanship?]

From the start, their roles had already been determined.
“By the way, is there no one else to handle the first-round screening? I don’t want to just use people from Pointe.”
But then again.
There was no one to call.

* * *

Yamada Lise was the older sister of Yamada Yasuo, Japan’s finest sword craftsman.
She was also an actress.
The younger brother was one of Japan’s top league players, even appearing in history books, while the older sister was an entertainer.
But their relationship was unknown to the public.
There was no reason to reveal it, and besides, the two of them thoroughly ignored each other—proper siblings, in that sense.
So when his older sister reached out first, Yamada Yasuo was startled.

[strongerthanyou: Hey, you still doing that stupid training?]

The “stupid training” referred to a method Yasuo had learned from Seo Jun during an after-party, when he’d asked how to become stronger—a secret technique he’d never revealed to anyone.
Only he knew about it.
It was too valuable to share.
If it spread, it would be a disaster.
Everyone would grow stronger.
His older sister was no exception to this rule.
“Ha! It’s a method that your precious Seo Jun taught me, so you’re the stupid one.”
If Seo Jun had actually prescribed a hundred push-ups, a hundred sit-ups, a hundred squats, and a 10-kilometer run as a training regimen, Yasuo—true to his anime-loving Japanese roots—would have caught on right away.
That this was a joke at his expense.
But Seo Jun had answered him in earnest.
The technique was called the Waterfall Cutting.
Standing under a waterfall, enduring the cold water while maintaining composure—that was the practice.
As you concentrate on your surroundings, eventually you’d feel like you could cut the world itself, and when that moment came, Seo Jun said, you should ask about the next technique. Yamada Yasuo was diligently training away.
Conveniently, there was even a waterfall on the Back Mountain.
“Anyway, why’d you call?”
Yamada’s fingers moved.

[strongerthanyou: Oh. You seen this? That person’s doing a fan meeting.]

“Huh?”
Yasuo skimmed through a summary post about Seo Jun’s T-Star event that a Japanese user had compiled, his eyes brightening.
Unlike Shin-geom, he hadn’t built any mutual animosity with Seo Jun through history books—he’d only ever been on the receiving end, one-sidedly.
The reason he held no grudge despite being one-sidedly defeated would be clear to anyone who read Shin-geom’s history book entry.
In any case, his admiration was profound.

[I don’t know about others, but noona should be happy about this? Similar content, right?]

It was the same for his older sister.
Yamada Lise—she was the Japanese actress who challenged master craftsmen, testing their skills.
Though she was on a break from acting now.

[strongerthanyou: That’s why I’m going to Korea!]
[????]
[Are you insane? No matter how monstrous you are, you can’t beat that person.]
[strongerthanyou: ??????]
[Is noona about to do her usual thing where her eyes light up as she talks about wanting to fight, wanting to try mimicking them?]
[strongerthanyou: That doesn’t make any sense.]
[strongerthanyou: Anyway, I’m arriving home soon. Start packing.]
[????]

Yamada Yasuo was bewildered.
He hadn’t even started today’s waterfall training yet.

[What about noona’s schedule?]

The reply came that she’d had nothing important scheduled and cancelled everything.
Then she added that if she could do work once in Korea, did he have Seo Jun’s contact info?

* * *

“Ah, the first-round examiners will test what the contestants bring and filter them, and that’ll be handled by our two editors and Pointe’s staff.”
Seo Jun clicked his tongue.
“Well, even if it is, it won’t be easy getting through. There’s no one to call, so we’re making the editors work. The first round will be a breeze, won’t it? I heard last time the viewers were the ones picking.”
The chat was hitting him exactly where it hurt.
“Our company isn’t exploitative. They’re willing to work.”

-LMAO
-The boss might not be a loner, but he’s turning out to be a real one
-Come to think of it, all the streamers pretty much come through T-Star, so there wouldn’t be anyone to call
-The editors looked pretty frail and uncoordinated anyway, boss is gonna have a headache
-Facing hundreds of challengers LMAO
-I mean, who could the boss even ask? At most the editors and manager Jo Am LMAO
-? Can I edit out the guy who said that, boss?
-Ah LOL I got one skill too, mind if I challenge the boss? Gotta see him up close

The viewers laughed.
Unaware that the person who would one day be known as the Wall of Lamentation was boarding a plane to Korea at that very moment.

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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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