The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 45

Chapter 45.

Should I say it’s nice to have friends who are always so consistent, or should I say it’s annoying.

Dohyun, who casually ignored them, finished cooking the stew and setting everything up.

Taking a light spoonful, the harmonious blend of appropriate saltiness and soybean paste aroma filled his mouth.

As expected, mother’s homemade soybean paste stew was amazing.

Dohyun, who quickly finished a bowl, plopped down on the sofa.

Then a familiar scene was showing on TV.

Though Dohyun was clueless about dramas and variety shows, this time it was a channel in his area of expertise more than anyone else’s.

“What, why Godseeker? Do you play Godseeker too?”

“Who doesn’t play it these days.”

“Huh, you really play it?”

“Yeah. My level is pretty high too. 71.”

“Whoa.”

This was genuinely shocking.

The kid who wouldn’t even look at games was playing Godseeker? And her level was much higher than his own.

“71 means you’ve played quite a bit? You don’t usually do this kind of thing.”

“I’ve been playing for about 6 months? A friend said they’d carry me, so I started, but it was more fun than I thought so I kept playing.”

“Hmm. Does it usually take about half a year?”

“Don’t you know? I don’t grind for 10 hours straight like someone else.”

“…”

Dohyun, left speechless, closed his mouth.

Well, that was normal.

It was abnormal to worry about how to use time efficiently like himself, thinking even 10 hours wasn’t enough.

With ranking already out of reach, most people normally just played games casually for enjoyment.

‘But this is how I find it fun.’

Dohyun found such people curious, but if he said that, Hyuna would obviously shake her head saying ‘Ew, you smell like a shut-in.’

Dohyun wisely chose to keep his mouth shut and quietly watched TV.

-Today’s Godseeker broadcast~ The news we’ll share today is incredibly hot news!

Godseeker broadcast.

The fastest-established program since Godseeker launched, thanks to quick investment it was now able to stand as the most popular program among those delivering Godseeker news.

The good chemistry between MCs Jin Hyeonmo and Jang Yeona was one of the reasons for the positive reviews.

The two were chattering away enthusiastically again this time.

-It’s not more Top 10 Guild raid news, right? Viewers are complaining about ‘raid news again’.

-Haha, I’d like to meet those expectations, but unfortunately today is different news! It is guild news, but not Top 10 Guilds – it’s Hero Guild news!

-Hero Guild? Oh, I know them. Aren’t they really famous?

-You know them because their guild master is handsome, don’t you?

-Ahem, that’s not it? Well, he is my type though… I’m Jang Yeona! A woman who knows how to separate business from personal matters!

‘Huh?’

At the familiar guild name that reached his ears, Dohyun unconsciously muttered.

“Hero Guild?”

“Huh? What, you know Hero Guild too, oppa?”

“Well… I know of them.”

Then Hyuna stared intently at Dohyun.

Her expression seemed strange somehow, then she suddenly made a stern face and started speaking in the deepest voice possible.

“Guilds are only for weaklings. Those kinds of people aren’t even worth remembering.”

“…?”

“Where did the person who used to say this go? It wasn’t even middle school syndrome, I thought I’d die of cringe, but you came back from the military a changed person.”

“…Ah.”

Dohyun, who had been tilting his head, let out a groan at the memory that suddenly surfaced.

In the past when he was 18, when middle school syndrome came late and he suffered from high school sophomore syndrome.

When Hyuna, who had a slight interest in Demroc, asked him about it, he had answered like that because it was bothersome.

It was partly because it was bothersome, but back then he thought it was pretty cool – looking at it now, there was no greater dark history than this.

“What was it, life is about going solo or whatever… Ugh, games really ruin people, I got goosebumps every time I saw you spouting more cringey stuff day by day.”

“…Did I? I don’t remember.”

“I was too scared my friends would see you like that, so I couldn’t bring them over.”

…Now he understood why she didn’t want to introduce her friends.

Even Dohyun would have been scared.

Even he thought he was crazy back then, but he had his own excuses.

At that time, Dohyun was riding high based on his excellent control, and accordingly many players were approaching him.

Among them were people trying to make an impression, but there were several times more who were trying to backstab him.

Because of that, he became wary the moment he saw other players.

‘I was really sick of guilds.’

Later, they only picked fights as entire guilds, so Dohyun really hated guilds.

Always going on about which guild they were from, what position they held…

He wondered how that was different from neighborhood punks bringing their older brothers after getting beaten up.

Having faced such difficulties as a minor when he first started gaming, it was understandable that he’d develop a critical perspective.

…Though he tried to console himself with that reasoning, he couldn’t deny it was dark history.

“Ahem. Well, Hero Guild must be a famous guild? If they’re appearing on TV.”

When he avoided eye contact and played dumb, Hyuna, who had been glaring at him, sighed and looked away.

She seemed to have decided to let it slide at this point.

“Hero Guild is all the rage among people in their 20s these days. In terms of popularity alone, they’re probably on par with Demroc, right?”

“Hmm? Why? They’re not even a Top 10 Guild.”

“Their main activity is delivering justice… their mission to become heroes is good, the guild’s average age is young, and most importantly, their guild master is handsome.”

“…Ah.”

So it was lookism in the end.

Though they had all the trends young people would like, he was certain that last reason played the biggest role.

“Men seem to prefer Demroc more, but women usually all like Hero Guild.”

“I see… That makes sense. I can see that.”

In short, Demroc excited men, while Hero Guild’s master made women swoon.

He was responding appropriately, but actually he could understand it.

-There are probably very few people who don’t know Hero Guild. They’re in the upper ranks among major guilds, one of the few guilds challenging the Top 10 Guilds.

-In PvP and elimination, they’re almost top tier, right? I heard that in those areas alone, they’re comparable to Top 10 Guilds.

-Yes, Hero Guild itself was originally established to punish evildoers.

-Actually, there are those reasons too, but guild master Berjhe is really handsome. Handsome enough that even men would fall for him.

Berjhe’s appearance in the brief hunting video shown on screen was, how should I put it, like a beautiful young master.

I heard he was Korean, but with his hair and eye color customized to look foreign, he really looked like a noble from a romance fantasy.

“Doesn’t he look too much like a pretty boy?”

“That’s what handsome-pretty is. Women go crazy for faces like that.”

“…”

If he’s handsome, he’s handsome, if he’s pretty, he’s pretty – what the hell is handsome-pretty.

Since it would be tiring to try to understand, he decided to just accept it and move on.

‘I should go work out.’

It’s a 20-minute walk to the gym, so if he left now, his food would be properly digested.

He had deliberately eaten moderately too.

Just as he was thinking that and about to get up.

-But I heard Hero Guild issued another elimination order today?

‘…Huh?’

A familiar term caught Dohyun’s attention.

-Ah, you’re really quick with news. Everyone in Raven probably knows, but there are particularly many bad people in Raven who enjoy bullying newbies.

-That’s right, that’s right. When I was in Raven, I got beaten up so badly too….

-Wasn’t it Jang Yeona who scolded you?

-I did wonder if it was because he’s somewhat handsome… No, is that what’s important right now?

-Haha. Anyway, this time those bullies shamelessly tried to incite people in their posts, right? Eventually the news spread even to the Hero Guild and caused a commotion… Let’s look at the footage.

The footage started with interview videos of people who had been victimized by the Assassination Squad.

“They’re complete trash, you know? When I think about what they stole from me back then, I still can’t get over my anger.”

“I was new to the game and inexperienced, so they offered to help me. I was so grateful… But it turned out that was a trap. That’s how they lure in beginners.”

“Even though they reached level 24, they don’t graduate. Why? Because they just find it fun.”

“Even though it’s just a game, it’s so unpleasant. Even if you report them, it’s not reality so the law doesn’t apply… There’s nowhere to complain and it drives people crazy.”

Countless victims vented their frustrations, and through reenactment videos, they even showed how they were victimized.

After that, the atmosphere shifted as they showed the Hero Guild with majestic background music, and soon the footage showed five heroes.

To be precise, five heroes and the Assassination Squad.

Assassin Boy and his crew, whose equipment had become infinitely more shabby than when last seen, were being massacred by the Hero Guild over and over again.

“Wow, so satisfying. There must be a lot of trash like that.”

“All games are like that.”

With the added production, it was making viewers feel catharsis.

Such a handsome(?) man giving proper punishment to villains?

There was no way he wouldn’t have fans.

If it were public broadcasting, people might be displeased, but most people watching Godseeker broadcasts were young, so they actually found it satisfying.

“Are all games originally like that?”

“All the games I’ve played were like that.”

The only games he’d played were Demroc and Godseeker, which were famous for having lots of trash players, but he figured they were all similar.

This is why people should live virtuously.

Those guys are living badly, so aren’t they getting proper punishment even on broadcasts like this?

Hyuna nodded and muttered, “So that’s why…”

“These days on YouTube, punishment videos are popular too.”

“YouTube?”

“Yeah. Videos like ‘I tried hidden camera on bullies’ and ‘I pretended to be a beginner and induced PK’ are uploaded all the time. Oh, oppa, you just got out so you might not have known. These days YouTube is all Godseeker videos.”

Interest sparked in Dohyun’s eyes.

The content looked interesting because it was fresh, but more than that, his attention was drawn to the fact that Godseeker had devoured even YouTube.

‘Well, they said it devoured most culture, so YouTube would naturally change too.’

It’s not that he didn’t watch YouTube, but he only watched it when necessary, so he hadn’t realized it, but looking now, most videos were indeed about Godseeker.

The content was even diverse.

From raid videos to arena videos, hidden camera videos, singing, building fantasy structures, and so on….

“All the view counts are over ten million?”

Even the view counts on those videos were tremendous.

Before going to the military, they seemed to be usually in the millions….

“That’s ancient history. Popular videos even get 100 million views.”

“What?”

“These days there’s no one who doesn’t play Godseeker, so… But it seems like it’s that much harder to succeed. There are tons of people who can’t even catch the algorithm.”

The principle of all markets is supply and demand.

There was high demand and high supply, but in cases like this, having too much was the problem.

Because there was too much supply, most videos were similar to ones seen somewhere else, and naturally people only looked for videos that were fresh or highly entertaining.

“100 million views… They must make incredible money?”

“Probably? Just the Hero Guild leader alone makes hundreds of millions in monthly revenue from YouTube.”

“Huh, hundreds of millions?”

“People like Demroc make even 1 billion won monthly when you combine various revenue streams – it’s really that much.”

“1, 1 billion….”

His head was spinning.

Even when he maintained 1st place in Demroc, he made at most 10 million won monthly, but 1 billion?

Even then, while following the failing game tree, he was happy to make even 1 million won a month.

Toward the end, making any money at all was a miracle.

‘But 1 billion….’

YouTube?

Back then, he had to be humble and grateful if people just watched.

He never even dreamed of making money from it. That’s why Dohyun had no interest in it.

But now the world had changed.

“1 billion….”

“Huh? What, oppa, you’re not thinking something weird again, are you? Huh?”

“1 billion… What could I do with 1 billion? How many McDonald’s Big Macs….”

Hyuna was looking at him with ominous eyes from the side, but right now Dohyun wasn’t in the right mind to care about such things.

The astronomical number was filling his entire head.

It was the moment YouTube first registered in Dohyun’s gaming life.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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