The Fate-Seeing Genius Streamer - Chapter 19

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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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18. [Infinite War] Um, Is This How You Do It? (3)
‘Initiation’.
Every movement inevitably revealed telltale signs—preliminary motions, or what some called preparatory actions.
Martial arts were no exception.
In fact, martial arts were fundamentally about predicting an opponent’s movements from these initiations alone, and even deceiving them through feints.
Inferring the intensity and direction of force, reading its flow, and executing movements layered with deception—these were the absolute basics.
For professional gamers, this was doubly true.
‘An ordinary person… probably does some gym work, and sure, he’s tall with long limbs, but not enough to leverage a reach advantage effectively. He’s never trained in formal martial arts.’
Crack smiled lightly, his hands fluttering in casual gestures, yet his instincts were already analyzing, drawing conclusions. The dark-haired handsome man before him posed no real threat.
There was no sign he’d learned Gaming Martial Arts, one of the modern combat disciplines, nor did he appear to have mastered the ancient martial techniques that fighters from bygone eras once employed.
Simply standing there motionless was enough to deduce that his life had nothing to do with martial arts.
Naturally.
While Crack maintained a seemingly casual stance, his form was fundamentally sound—his posture locked in place. By contrast, Joo Seo-jin stood in a completely collapsed stance that could crumble from an attack from any direction.
‘I have no idea why he’s confident he can beat a pro gamer. Just because he hit the gym doesn’t mean he can go toe-to-toe with a professional.’
Crack was hailed as a prodigy among prodigies, having trained professionally in Gaming Martial Arts at VEN’s Team Academy since his first year of middle school.
He’d focused on Gaming Martial Arts centered around Eternal Saga, learning primarily boxing and wrestling, so it didn’t quite align with Infinite War… but that posed no problem.
Modern professional gamers were lethal weapons developed along entirely different lines from mixed martial artists. Crack was among the most exceptionally talented of them.
There was simply no way an ordinary person with decent physique from some casual gym sessions could defeat such a professional.
‘Though, sure, it happens sometimes, doesn’t it? People thinking a tall, fit guy can beat a pro athlete. He didn’t seem like that type, but maybe he’s one of those delusional ones.’
Moreover… considering Joo Seo-jin’s player character—the ‘Nameless Monk’, a class that higher-ranked players in Infinite War increasingly abandoned—the odds of losing became even more remote.
‘Nameless Monk. That martial skill, Siyoung-ryu, has between seven and fourteen preset movements at minimum, which accelerate and trace. There’s nothing I can’t counter.’
The Nameless Monk—that player character possessed a martial skill that preset movements and then ‘accelerated through them’.
A single martial skill—’Siyoung-ryu’—whose inherent value lay in the fact that with each successive ‘continuous movement’, acceleration stacks accumulated, growing progressively faster.
In theory, the Nameless Monk’s player character could activate the Siyoung-ryu martial skill and set movements at ‘millisecond intervals’.
And according to professional gamers’ analysis, Siyoung-ryu’s movements maintained acceleration stacks when ‘the martial skill was interrupted and reactivated at millisecond intervals’.
It was both the greatest advantage and the worst weakness.
Conversely, it meant that if ‘millisecond-interval movements couldn’t be continuously interrupted and reactivated’, then ‘changing the preset movements mid-execution would cause the acceleration stacks to vanish’.
Crack had no intention of taking even a single blow from these predictable preset patterns.
Even if his opponent tried to leverage Siyoung-ryu’s acceleration as an advantage, he wouldn’t give an opening.
‘At best, he’ll just charge forward recklessly with acceleration and throw some punches or kicks. That’s all. I can react and dodge that instantly. No problem.’
I’ll win.
“Heh. Well, that’s fine by me. Just don’t make excuses after you lose, alright? I’ll let you have the first move. Come on then—”
But then…
The next instant.
Whoooosh—!
Joo Seo-jin. The gloomy dark-haired handsome man standing before him… dissolved from his vision as if melting away. Without initiation—without any preparatory motion whatsoever.
‘What?’
Shock. Then, belatedly, a surge of danger. Crack’s eyes moved a beat too slow to track the movement… and then, he saw it.
Joo Seo-jin, nearly glued to the ground, sliding upward in a sweeping kick from below.
Both knees, hip joints, and shoulders—he’d released tension from each body part, minimizing preparatory motion and lowering his center of gravity.
With my palms pressed against the ground, I controlled the flow of kinetic energy with precision, deliberately releasing tension from specific muscle groups to enable faster rotation around my central axis.
It was a system—a technique, and more than that, a martial art.
‘…What! This can’t be right! Targeting my ribs from here? Damn it, but there’s still time! I’ll suppress with a follow-up response!’
However, Crack was also a professional athlete trained in Gaming Martial Arts—his movements shifted in an instant, his body coiling as he twisted into a defensive stance to guard his left ribs.
Conversely, before the sliding kick could strike his ribs, he deliberately closed the distance to diminish the impact’s force, his body moving with calculated precision.
If a kick with rotational power built from a low center axis didn’t land cleanly on his ribs, the counter-initiative would inevitably shift to Crack’s favor.
───After the guard. Strike the exposed upper body hard with a straight punch, cut off the follow-up chain, and finish with a takedown.
‘After the counter, collapse his weight balance with a takedown, then from top position… strike his vital points with a flash attack…! There’s still time!’
In that split second, Crack gritted his teeth and prepared to unleash a straight punch alongside his guard.
Whoosh.
And then───
‘Huh—?’
At that very moment, Joo Seo-jin lifted both arms slightly off the ground, adjusting the ‘impact point’ of the upward kick higher. ─It was aimed at the head.
Moreover, because the distance had been closed, the upper kick couldn’t generate sufficient power—but through that adjustment of the impact point, it successfully reclaimed the optimal striking distance.
The outcome was inevitable.
‘You calculated this far ahead───!?’
The next instant.
Crack!
“───~~~!!”
Joo Seo-jin’s swift kick, charged with centrifugal force, connected perfectly with Crack’s face—and his body flew backward in a spectacular arc.
Boom-crash───!
…Just as I had foreseen.
* * *
Silence.
In the streaming chat, not a single viewer could find the words to speak. The moment of stunned silence had arrived. It was unbelievable.
A professional gamer. A core member of VEN, belonging to ESK in Eternal Saga, who had won the World Championship two consecutive years alongside Heuk-wol. He had just suffered a one-sided defeat.
-What.. is this..?
-How..?
-Did I really just see that..?
-What happened?? How did this happen?? What is this????????
-Crack lost?????? Is this even possible?? What?????????
And to someone who had never once played Infinite War, someone who was just an ordinary person.
Cough, cough—
Crack lay collapsed on the training grounds of Mulung Doyeon, coughing several times before finally managing to get up.
Despite being a virtual reality game, it was directly connected to the brain and nervous system.
While pain perception was supposedly limited to prevent accidents from shock, pain was far from absent.
And the pain etched in the mind was no different.
‘Did I… lose? To an ordinary person? Really?’
Crack rose like a man in a daze, wiping away blood trickling from his nose, his eyes half-open.
‘No. …That wasn’t the movement of an ordinary person. Not only the combat sense of someone using Infinite War’s martial skills—it was systematic technique.’
In that instant, Crack’s mind became a chaotic whirlwind. Hundreds of theories flickered in and out of existence, each one tormenting him in turn.
‘Is it Capoeira…? No, when I caught a glimpse earlier, it looked more like some old Japanese martial art… Did he refine it into gaming martial arts? What on earth is going on?’
His head was beginning to throb.
‘A pro gamer…? No, that can’t be right. Then I should know about him—he’d be someone notable. Could he be a trainee at some team academy? A prospect? Is there even a place that teaches gaming martial arts like that? Damn it!’
Crack exhaled sharply through his nose, his eyes narrowing with irritation.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it! I can’t make sense of any of this…! What exactly is going on? When I searched his record, he was clearly just an ordinary person! What the hell!’
But that frustration lasted only a moment. Soon enough, Joo Seo-jin approached him and spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.
“You said earlier that I’d win if I landed just one hit—so does that mean I’ve won?”
“That…”
“Ah… I see, so that doesn’t count. Understood. Then let’s go again, and this time I’ll win decisively.”
“What… did you just…?”
“You said we could go again.”
Joo Seo-jin spoke with a mechanical expression devoid of any malice, and in that moment, Crack’s face flushed with self-loathing and a thin veil of anger.
“If we go again this time, I don’t think I’ll just land one hit… I think I might actually be able to win outright.”
* * *
-Dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
-Wow.. Crack’s face is completely red.. Crack usually just smiles all the time..
-Whoa.. Crack’s actually angry.. Is that guy really an ordinary person? Are you sure he’s just an ordinary person? Who is he?
-I have no idea.. Who is he really?? With that skill level, isn’t he a pro gamer from Eternal Saga… or at least Gun Ground..?
-Crack, let’s do a rematch!! You lost because you weren’t paying attention!! That guy’s cosplaying as an ordinary person!! If you really try, you’ll win!!
-This is getting intense..
Mulung Doyeon.
Despite the bloodthirsty atmosphere, peach blossoms drifted gently down onto what appeared to be a peaceful training ground. Crack began warming up his body, his voice as cold as ice as he made his declaration.
“In one minute… we’ll start the game. The format will be ‘default’—we’ll fight including losses from being knocked out of bounds. Do you have any objections?”
“None.”
“I’ll select the same player character as before. Besides, you probably only have one player character anyway. Do you agree to this as well?”
“Well… it’s not really something I’m concerned about.”
Crack let out a sharp breath.
Crack’s face twisted with frustration as he exhaled roughly and continued speaking.
“…I won’t hold back anymore. I’ll approach this match as a formal challenge to the Lord of Martial Arts.”
“Lord of Martial Arts?”
“…It refers to the highest tier of players who rank within the top 400 across all regions in the Infinite War. In my assessment, you seem to be at that level of skill.”
“Ah. So something like that exists. …Though I’m not quite at that level.”
“….”
Crack wanted to dismiss it as nonsense, but he barely restrained himself. Instead, he asked what was truly bothering him.
“One thing I want to ask. Are you affiliated with a pro team academy? Was that gaming martial arts earlier? Are you perhaps already active as a pro gamer—”
“—No. Well, I only started virtual reality gaming yesterday. I haven’t received any special training… and I’m not a pro gamer.”
“…Please don’t joke with me. I’m being serious.”
“You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to.”
Joo Seo-jin hadn’t told a single lie, yet Crack regarded everything as deception, responding with a cold gaze.
“…Then I, too, cannot believe it. Someone skilled enough to defeat me has never learned a single technique from Gaming Martial Arts. That makes no sense whatsoever.”
“Hmm. I’m sorry, but may I ask you something?”
“…What is it?”
“What exactly is a pro gamer? Is that considered skilled?”
“Ha. What kind of que-”
“Ah… I was just curious.”
The next moment.
“Whether being called a pro gamer means that level of skill is sufficient. That’s all I wanted to know.”
“….”
The moment the game start sound rang out—”READY—’START!'”—Crack lunged at Joo Seo-jin with a bestial expression.
* * *
At the same time.
[Dustnet (Category: {Game / Streamer})]
*Post Title: Yo… isn’t that Joo Seo-jin?? Why is Joo Seo-jin in Crack’s personal broadcast??
└Author: Anonymous (OP)
━{ Photo: Crack and Joo Seo-jin standing in a standoff }
━Wow.. it’s definitely Joo Seo-jin, but what is this?? I don’t get it, but I went into Crack’s stream and Joo Seo-jin was there lmaooo
━And it looks like Crack and Joo Seo-jin are about to play a match in Infinite War?
━What the hell is this really??? lmaooooooooooooo
…Like a butterfly effect, a single post written on the community was about to unleash a massive storm.

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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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