Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 85

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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 85

MONSTER.
The Indie Game Development Company, which had marked streamer Seo Jun as an advertising model, was in meetings again today.
Just the two of them.
The agenda of this meeting was, once again, streamer Seo Jun—whose asking price had climbed so high that his viewership had plateaued at a mere 18,000.
“Listen carefully.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know what a bull market is?”
“A bull market?”
“That’s right.”
Why was a bull market suddenly coming up?
Park Hyuk-su, a company employee!
People always said that small-to-mid-sized companies ran on their CEO’s one-man show.
But to him, his boss felt like just a friendly neighborhood guy with no job.
The type who knew a lot but had no real expertise in any particular field.
In reality, that wasn’t quite true. When it came to games, his abilities were sharp.
That’s probably why he’d saved up money at his previous company and started his own.
Still, the feeling Park Hyuk-su had right now was:
‘What nonsense will our glorious CEO spout this time?’
The reason he was stuck in this meeting rather than anywhere else was simple.
The other employees found him difficult.
According to the CEO.
‘Sigh.’
Even if things ran in such a haphazard way, their attitude toward this project was genuine, at least.
“So what’s a bull market?”
“You don’t do stocks?”
“No.”
“Hmm. These days you need to do stocks to make money, you know.”
“That gaslighting doesn’t work on me. Assets naturally cycle between rises and falls, and what you just said is the classic gaslighting that comes out during a bull market.”
“What. You know your stuff.”
“No, I don’t.”
……
……
“Anyway, listen up. A bull market.”
“Yes.”
“When I buy, that place becomes the peak. That’s what a bull market is.”
Oh.
This sounded like the kind of thing you’d say after losing a lot of money.
Had he gotten caught at the peak that many times?
“As you said, asset markets cycle through rises and falls.”
“So?”
“Then right now, is this streamer at the peak or not?”
Ah, so that’s what this was about.
“18,000 viewers. That’s mid-tier. And actually quite high within that range.”
“Right.”
“And his streaming career hasn’t been long.”
“Correct.”
“The viewers are only here right now because of the Battleground, a special event. Before that, he had only 3 to 4 thousand.”
“Exactly. So then this is…?”
Bubble.
Yes. It’s a bubble.
Once the Battleground ends, it’ll definitely collapse.
Everyone knew that.
“Look, I’m joking around. But seriously, wouldn’t it be better to reach out when his viewer count is a bit lower?”
“If we contact him now, his asking price will definitely be high.”
The streamer probably wouldn’t think that 18,000 viewers were truly his own audience.
But still, he’d definitely quote a higher rate than when he had 10,000.
Valuing your own worth highly isn’t wrong.
So they were just trying to catch the right moment.
If his live broadcast viewership drops below 10,000, the savings could be substantial.
“If we save money wisely, we might even be able to hire another team.”
“If only we’d signed a contract from the start…”
That thought came from watching the streamer keep hitting new highs.
It would’ve been better to grab him early on.
“That’s… I have nothing to say. We were trying to find a better way…”
He couldn’t afford to be reckless.
If this game failed, it was a straight path to bankruptcy.
“Oh. There is one problem.”
“What is it?”
“After the Battleground ends and shortly before the game launches—what if the bubble hasn’t burst by then?”
The Battleground.
And Lios a few weeks later.
Timing-wise, it was unavoidable to launch after the Battleground ended to keep attention from being diverted elsewhere.
Otherwise they’d have to wait another month, and the payroll schedule was tight.
And of course, there would be plenty of competitors eyeing that slot too.
So advertising had become all the more critical.
“Nah, surely not.”
“Is there any other event in the Battleground that could grab attention?”
“Honestly, I don’t know how a topic will come about. But one thing’s certain—another 12-game winning streak like yesterday won’t happen.”
“That was truly legendary.”
“But seeing that made me want to hold onto him even more.”
“There really is something amazing about him. He stirs up buzz wherever he goes.”
“Please, let it be our game too…”
“But that’s it, right?”
“Probably. Even just today, I bet we’ll see viewership drop significantly.”
“Right.”
“Oh, his broadcast is starting now. Let’s see how many viewers he gets.”
Park Hyuk-su suddenly had a thought.
The CEO said that when he buys, it becomes the peak.
So if the CEO decided not to buy just now, doesn’t that mean it’s not the peak?
Wasn’t it the way of bull markets—to truly see the peak, you had to regret not buying at the time and then get caught in the collapse?
‘No way. This is clearly the peak.’
Park Hyuk-su shook the unlucky thought away.
By the way, he too…
Had some experience losing money in stocks.

* * *

“Hello, everyone.”
Seo Jun shifted the camera’s perspective to show himself and greeted the viewers from the Lobby.
“What did I do today, you ask? Just went to school and sat through lectures. You’re asking if I’m a streamer just as a hobby?”
To be honest, he did enjoy it like a hobby.
It suited him so well and he found it so enjoyable.
But he was aware that this was work.
Of course, a streamer needs to feel comfortable first.
Otherwise, the viewers catch on and get uncomfortable, and they stop watching.
In that sense, teasing viewers or being teased was professional behavior.
‘So basically. Streaming was my calling?’
Chilling.
He used to watch Tae-u all the time thinking, ‘what’s wrong with that guy,’ and it turns out what he does is his calling.
“Oh, you’re saying if I’m not doing this as a hobby, I should stream for over 10 hours? What kind of professional stance is that? 10 hours a day is overwork.”

-Makes sense, but we don’t care about that
-Do you know why streamers are streamers? Because they don’t work
-O..verwork who cares
-Just work, Bangjang
-Health is always secondary to streaming. Please remember that.

Hmm.
Was it truly impossible to see the heartwarming sight of people telling him to take care of his health?
“Sigh. Oh, lots of people today.”
7,000 viewers.
The numbers were climbing, but he couldn’t predict how high they’d go.
Even Tae-u, a 7-year veteran, said he couldn’t predict it because what Seo Jun did was so anomalous.
It would just have to be lower than yesterday, that much was certain.

-What else would you watch if not this? lol
-Bangjang is a master hidden in the mundane lolololol
-He’s unbelievably good
-The Demonic Cult really will win!
-And some guys with empty dreams in the mix
-Anyway, watching the Battleground should be hilarious from here on out

As the viewer count climbed, it eventually surpassed 10,000.
Not that he cared, but the feeling wasn’t bad at all.
“Alright.”
Time to get started.
“Everyone, thanks to my winning streak yesterday, my Reputation Points went up a bit, right?”
The contribution from yesterday’s games only applied to the first four matches, so there wasn’t much difference there.
But Reputation Points were different.

-A bit? lol
-That was truly legendary
-I watched it from Bangjang’s room and got chills
-The true Heavenly Demon

From today on, the Reputation Points he’d accumulated would apply.
“For everyone else to get first place now, they’d need to win over 10 times for every single win I get, right?”
Though few people wouldn’t know this, Seo Jun explained it kindly anyway.
The reason wasn’t to boast… well, actually—
“So basically, my first place is pretty much locked in. You agree, right?”

-Yeah
-Frustrating, but unavoidable
-I accept defeat
-You’re already the best under heaven
-Sign here! Bangjang is the strongest!

Unless he lost every single remaining match, of course.
The world was full of unimaginable absurdities.
Yet Seo Jun could bet everything on the fact that there was no way he wouldn’t win at least one more game.
“So. Magic Girl is pretty much done for, right? Heh heh.”
Seo Jun laughed with genuine joy.
No matter how much you believe in yourself, the world is full of variables, and bad luck can trip you up.
But now, no matter how much he stumbled, there was virtually no chance of falling into the water.
‘I underestimated the viewers.’
He hadn’t expected these penalties, and he certainly hadn’t expected them to be drawn.

-Ugh
-Ah lol this isn’t working out
-It’s a shame, but if you’re capable of a 12-game streak, we gotta let it slide
-Your sincerity shows, so we’re letting it slide~
-You must’ve worked so hard

Glad they understood.
Of course, even if they didn’t, nothing would change.
And there were quite a few viewers who didn’t understand what was being said either.

-But what are you talking about?
-What’s with the Magic Girl thing?
-New viewers lol cute
-Why aren’t you binge-watching the whole stream?

[‘Magic Girl’ donated 20,000 won!]
[travel–clip]

-Oh so there was that history
-No wonder he was grinding so hard
-lololololol
-It was a fight with all his might lolololololololol

The clip had captured the moment perfectly, and people understood immediately.
And once one donation went through, the timing was good—other donations poured in one after another.

[‘LastBroadcast’ donated 100,000 won!]
[That’s my viewing fee!]

[‘Just’ donated 30,000 won!]
[Bangjang making all that fuss to avoid the Magic Girl penalty lololololololol]

[‘Yesterday’ donated 40,000 won!]
[You sure did turn off the stream fast though oo]
.
.
.

Because he hadn’t done a post-stream recap or an after-party broadcast the day before, he hadn’t received donations relative to the hype.
But as if they’d been waiting, they gratefully sent donations now.
“Thank you for the donations, everyone. Anyway, the penalties are settled. So let’s head in.”
As Seo Jun started For Cooperation, the background folded away in an instant and then spread open.
Countless users appeared.
Seo Jun switched to his personal channel and opened the Battleground interface to check his Reputation Points.

[Reputation Points: 72,637]

-Solid!
-Hope of the Demonic Cult
-That’s worth 14 people by himself lololol
-Watching the Cult cooperate yesterday, I genuinely started thinking the Demonic Cult could win lololololol
-The Demonic Cult this year is different!
-Screw the Jeong Faction lololololol
-Not the Jeong Faction, call it the Top Faction
-Flailing to avoid Magic Girl, and now it looks like the Demonic Cult might win lolololololol
-The Jeong Faction will win anyway, you understand?

Seo Jun, reading the chat, glanced at the time.
6:57 PM.
The Battleground opens in 3 minutes.
Today’s match was an ordinary 4-on-4 Territory Control Match.
But since it showed where the Rankers were setting up their games, it was far from ordinary.
“The Jeong Faction wins, you say? Is that so?”
He checks the time.
2 minutes left.

-If not them, then who?
-No matter how much you carry, your teammates are… ;;;;
-Don’t underestimate the Jeong Faction

1 minute.

-Seems like the places Bangjang defends are gonna be tough to break through
-Just go around
-Why even attack the Demonic Cult? Clearly they’ll come in last, just leave them alone~
-So where are you going today?

“Today? I’m heading to the Jeong Faction.”
Seo Jun pointed to where the Demonic Cult and Jeong Faction territories were adjacent on the map.
30 seconds.

-So are you defending or attacking?
-Did they even make a strategy?
-They probably made one, excited about maybe winning for the first time lololololol
-But Bangjang goes rogue anyway lol destroying their only hope
-lololololol
-The fact that he never listens to viewers seems like a good sign? lol
-Who are you all even rooting for!

“Cooperation? Well, we could do it or we might not. I’ll just do what I want.”
Bluffing.
10 seconds.
“The Demonic Cult leadership acting chaotic, huh.”
No matter how many times Seo Jun matched the Ranker numbers, people were too busy mocking.
The Demonic Cult had never won before.
“Alright then.”
7 PM arrived at last.
“Let’s go hunt the Jeong Faction.”
The Jeong Faction’s adjacent territory.
Seo Jun chose to attack for the first time.

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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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