Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 59

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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 59

I looked around my surroundings.
A forest thick with vegetation—or rather, a clearing in the mountains. In the corner of the clearing were NPCs.
Bounty hunters.
In the game mode called “Escort,” the setting is usually like this.
“Ah, so you’re from Makyeo.”
Pyo-du, the NPC who appeared to be the leader, approached and bowed in greeting.
“This way.”
He led them to where the carriage and the other NPCs were gathered.
Seo Jun and his teammates followed him.
“The item you must protect is this one.”
Several items sat boxed in the carriage.
Pyo-du pointed to one of them.
And as he did, text materialized above the item’s frame just as nicknames appeared above players’ heads.

[Celadon Porcelain]

What they had to protect was a piece of blue ceramic ware.
‘Looks fragile.’
Pyo-du closed the box.
Then he left them to their own devices and hurried to prepare for departure.
“The enemies won’t know what we’re protecting. That item name floating up there—only we can see it.”
Viewer said this, and Seo Jun replied.
“I know.”
“Really? Truly?”
“Yes.”
“That’s strange. There’s no way that’s possible.”
His tone held genuine bewilderment as he tilted his head.

-LMAOOOOO
-Nah he’s just been studying ahead, what’s so weird about that
-That’s called preview, not advance study, you idiot
-Is he even a real fan?

“Ah right, you’re trying to avoid that by doing some preview work, huh? Hehehehe.”
That.
Referring to Seo Jun’s penalty.
The Female Teammate beside him, who’d been listening, spoke while cleaning the carriage.
“Hey, what’s that thing?”
“That thing?”
“Yeah. That thing.”
“Oh. If you’re curious, just search ‘YouTube Seo Jun’ and watch.”
“Why won’t you just tell me now?”
“Because I’d be too embarrassed.”
Viewer grinned wickedly, suddenly picked up a stick from the ground, and began spinning with his arms raised together like a ballet dancer.
Then he stopped and struck various poses using the branch as a staff.
Without saying anything.
It looked like some kind of silent performance art, but the intent was clear.
He was mimicking a magical girl.

-BAHAHAHAHAHAHA
-Seems crazier than the streamer himself ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-That’s pure unhinged energy lol
-Look at his mouth hanging open and eyes trembling
-That’s actually terrifying LMAO
-If that’s not a villain I don’t know what is

The chat burst out laughing, and the Female Teammate shuddered as if she’d just witnessed something grotesque.
“What the hell.”
I could understand her sentiment completely.
Seo Jun laughed and shook his head slowly.
It was funny, but yeah, that was definitely not it.
“Let’s move out!”
Pyo-du at the front shouted.
At the same moment, the game began.

[Safely escort the Marked Item to its destination.]

The bounty hunters began to move, and the players matched their pace and started moving too.
“You really do know how to handle this, right?”
Seo Jun nodded.
“Yes, I really do.”
Escort mode was simple.
You protected the Marked Item from enemy attacks while it was being transported.
Three versus three. The stealing side got higher points for actually stealing it, but they could also win just by destroying it.
That’s why the escorting side had bounty hunters as teammates.
Users respawned at the starting point, while the NPCs couldn’t respawn—a disadvantage, but reassuring nonetheless.
Knowing that enemies hadn’t appeared yet, Viewer tried to start a different conversation with Seo Jun.
“Say, how’d you get so good at fighting?”
“Haven’t I told you?”
His viewers might know.
He’d been consistent with his answer all along.
“Oh right—you remember your past life?”
“That’s correct.”
Seo Jun nodded with an expression of satisfaction at being guessed correctly.
“You’re serious about that?”
“Of course. Would I have lied?”
Finally, someone who believed him. After all this time, when no one else would.

-Neither of them are normal lol
-The girl next to them is making a worse and worse face
-Just looking at the conversation, they’re pretty out there lmao

Sure enough, the woman walking beside him to escort the carriage had the expression of someone listening to guys exchange endless nonsense and jokes.
She opened her mouth.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“So you’re really that good at games? Someone mentioned you’re the Sin Ha-yeon Slayer or something?”
Anyone with even a passing interest in virtual reality gaming would have a hard time not knowing Sin Ha-yeon.
And the people matched here were all fairly famous.
Which meant they were skilled players.
For such a skilled player not to know Sin Ha-yeon would’ve been nearly impossible.
Seo Jun turned his gaze toward Viewer instead.
“Let me correct one thing.”
“What?”
“I’m not a Slayer.”
Slayer meant murderer.
Using such a word carelessly could get you pinned to the internet forever and recycled endlessly.

-Is the streamer getting scared???
-Slayer, so what if you use that word!
-Why can’t I say I beat Sin Ha-yeon!
-That’s not even the problem here you guys lol

What’s the one thing a streamer must be most careful about?
Controversy.
You always had to watch your words.
“Right?”
“I didn’t beat Sin Ha-yeon herself—I beat her Avatar.”
She looked at him with an ‘oh sure, of course’ expression.
Apparently she didn’t know that very few people had ever beaten that Avatar.
“Sin Ha-yeon, really.”
“What, you don’t believe me?”
Seo Jun hadn’t really thought about it, but his Viewer clearly had.
“Believe what?”
“That I’ll carry this match!”
“Sure, sure. That’ll definitely happen.”
Ever since Viewer had done the magical girl mimicry, she’d been keeping her distance from his antics.
“Anyway, they should be coming soon.”
The woman answered.
“Yeah, we should be careful from here on.”
“Got it. I’ll stick right by the carriage. Since the enemy is Salmak, I need to be extra careful about surprise attacks.”
Users from Salmak with their Stealth Skill and fast movement speed were especially threatening in this mode.
And members of the Assassination Guild could destroy the Marked Item from a distance with Throwing Blades, making them equally dangerous.
Ironically, the least threatening faction was Nokrim.
Bandits.
“Though I’m not too worried. You handle one Assassin pretty flawlessly.”
“Why are you so confident about that?”
The woman clicked her tongue.
“Because…….”
That was when it happened.
Seo Jun caught the faint tremor in the bushes beside the carriage’s path and quickly brought his arm down hard.
Whoosh!
His sword sliced through the undergrowth with a sharp cutting sound.
Though they’d said they were ready, knowing that enemies shouldn’t have come yet, both of them were startled by Seo Jun’s sudden move.
“Aaah! What the—!”
And a masked enemy burst out of the bushes, screaming.
Judging from the red nameplate, it was an Assassin from Salmak.
‘They came early to set up an ambush, then. Makes sense with their speed.’
The enemy, hit by Seo Jun’s blade with a good chunk of health already gone, groaned.
“Damn it, your eyes are freaky sharp. I shouldn’t have been spotted like this.”
Salmak’s Passive was Stealth.
Standing still or moving very slowly would grant camouflage, but that didn’t mean the terrain itself wouldn’t be affected by the movement.
Things like footprints or rustling grass, for example.
So if you knew where the Assassin was, spotting those changes was fairly easy.
But detecting them without knowing where they were was very difficult.
Unless you were putting all your focus on your surroundings or had exceptionally sharp observational instincts, it was nearly impossible.

-Yeah he really does handle Assassins well
-So Salmak’s like a mom-and-pop shop compared to the Assassination Guild huh lol gets spotted right away
-Are your eyes actually made for birds???

The Assassin retreated backward.
“I’m out of here.”
His teammates didn’t try to chase him down.
If one of them chased him alone and the enemies joined in, they’d be outnumbered; if they pursued together, the carriage and the Marked Item would be left defenseless and vulnerable.
Viewer waved a hand.
“Yeah, see you in a bit.”
“In a few seconds?”
“Haha, yeah.”
The woman laughed.
Then she turned to Seo Jun beside her and spoke.
“But seriously, your eyes are really— wait, where’s that guy going?”
Seo Jun had followed the Assassin.
“Right.”
“What are you doing?”
“Life Absorption Technique.”
“What? But that’s—”
Listening to her voice trail off, Seo Jun smiled.
“You don’t get to just run away. Right, everyone?”
I deploy the Lightness Skill.
While the enemy naturally had more speed as a faction trait, they couldn’t sustain it for long and soon reverted to a walk, so the distance closed.

-Ah lol you gotta kill them once you fight
-That’s pretty psychopathic for a faction trait.
-Honestly seems perfect for him

“What are you? Why are you following me? Wait—!”
Seo Jun charged forward, draping his sword across the Assassin’s neck.
The panicked Assassin barely managed to raise his blade and block the attack—or so he thought.
But that was an illusion.
The blade he’d raised to parry didn’t even connect.
Seo Jun had retracted his sword just before impact and landed off to the side instead.
In doing so, he used a feint to prevent a clean block.
In the game’s terminology, that was a Feint.
“Wide open.”
Slash!
Seo Jun slashed the Assassin’s exposed flank.
The blow, infused with Inner Power, took a considerable chunk of health.
“Hey, are you serious? You actually chased me?”
“Why not?”
“Obviously because…shit. If I just hold on a bit, my team will be here soon. How am I supposed to—”
How is what?
A chat message appeared that perfectly aligned with his thoughts.

Clatter.
Groan.
The carriage rattled along some unpaved road that might’ve been straight out of seven hundred years ago.
The bounty hunters remained vigilant.
“Can you believe I’m witnessing this? Wait, am I actually seeing it?”
Viewer tapped his nose.
“What’s up?”
“That right there’s what we call a carry.”
“A carry?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, a carry’s only good if they don’t come back as a corpse.”
“Just sit tight.”
What are you talking about?
“And another thing—why didn’t that guy take the passive that removes the Life Absorption Technique after combat ends? From the start it seemed we’d have a hard time holding the line with just two people. Though we’re still close to the spawn point, so if we just hold on a little longer—”
As she naturally began thinking about how the game would unfold from here, a Kill Log appeared.

“Looks like he has skill after all. With two on two, we might have a shot.”
Even if Cheonma14 died, their spawn point was closer, so they could rejoin before the enemy Assassin.
And even if not, she was confident in winning a two-on-two.
“Uh, wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not two-on-two. It’s one-on-three.”
“Why? Is he abandoning the carriage too?”
Seo Jun’s Viewer shook his head firmly.
“No. You’ll see once you look. But hey, totally worth the shot. I was honestly regretting switching to Makyeo just for the stream.”
“Wait, you switched to Makyeo because of the streamer?”
“Yeah.”
“Ugh. You’re trouble.”
“If I was really trouble, I’d probably just ditch, right? But if my win streak breaks, then the magical girl thing—wait, why didn’t I think of that?”
“Huh? Magical girl? What’s that about?”
“Hehehehe.”
An uneasy laugh came out.
“With the streamer’s skill, I can win without me anyway, right? I’m counting on you!”
What the hell is this guy talking about?
“Still, if you just leave you could get banned.”
His account was tied to the same Travel ID.
He could face a suspension.
Even if he left and switched Travel IDs, the previous record could get him banned.
It was a shame—otherwise he’d just leave.
“Hey, come on? Explain what you mean.”
Viewer ignored her and entered the team chat instead.

[Sounds good.]
[And if I fail, you show me the Christina affinity quest!]
[…]
[Deal.]

“Side quest. See you.”
“Huh?”
His avatar suddenly vanished while laughing.
She could only understand what happened after checking the chat that appeared afterward.

“What a mess. Seriously.”
Suddenly, she felt the urge to switch factions.
“I’m reporting both of them when this is done.”
Both of them.

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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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