The Rice-Eating Hero’s Capitalist Streaming - Chapter 105
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
The Capitalist Streaming of a Freeloading Hero
Episode 105
Constellation’s Game [Lyka]
While the outside world of the Gate was buzzing with excitement over the first broadcast of 【Hunters School 3】.
The actual protagonists of all this attention, the participants inside the Gate, had no idea about the outside situation and were busy conquering the labyrinth.
Crash-!
A massive boulder crumbled down, sending up clouds of dust.
Choi Minseok lowered his shield, breathing heavily as he wiped away sweat.
“Phew… This really isn’t easy.”
His armor was already dented and scorched in various places.
Fortunately, all the monsters had been defeated.
“Still, if we clear just one more stage, we’ll reach the pawnshop. Let’s hang in there a little longer.”
Kwon Yuna, the party leader and S-rank mage, put away her staff while encouraging her teammates.
The party she led had just broken through the 15th stage and reached the entrance to the 16th stage.
It was a respectable pace befitting a top-tier party.
“There’s no rush, so let’s take a moment to regroup. I need to restore my mana too.”
At Yuna’s suggestion, Park So-mi, the B-rank archer, plopped down on the spot.
“Ugh, I’m dying… Why is it so hot and humid here?”
“Tell me about it. My stamina is draining faster than usual.”
Minseok also set down his shield and pulled out his water bottle.
As a brief, sweet respite arrived, the conversation naturally drifted to the ‘outside world.’
“Speaking of which, shouldn’t it be time for… the first Hunters School broadcast right about now?”
Park So-mi muttered while checking her wristwatch.
At her words, Minseok’s eyes lit up.
“Oh, that was today, wasn’t it? Tuesday evening.”
“Yes. It should be in full swing right about now. Ah, I’m curious. I wonder what the viewers’ reactions are like.”
“I know, right? Considering all the hardships we went through during the entrance mission… I hope the editing at least made us look cool.”
Minseok smiled bitterly while scratching the back of his head.
The memories from 【Frozen Seoul】 were quite intense for them as well.
“Still, I think you probably got some decent screen time, Minseok. You practically handled the tank role for our entire party back then.”
“Come on, Yuna was the one who took care of everything. I just held the line.”
“Oh, speaking of which, I wonder if Jinwoo came out well?”
Yuna suddenly changed the topic.
She was talking about the healer Park Jinwoo, who had been in the same party as them during the entrance mission.
“Jinwoo? Well, that guy…”
Park So-mi seemed interested in the topic too, as she perked up and joined in.
Since Park Jinwoo was an A-rank healer who had placed first in the position determination battle, it was natural to be curious.
“You seem to know Jinwoo well?”
“We were in the same party during the entrance mission.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Honestly, Jinwoo sacrificed himself at the end and got pushed down to A-rank… It’s really unfortunate.”
During the conversation, Minseok suddenly recalled memories from the draft.
The unexpected team leader Park Jinwoo had chosen: Geon-ryul Lee.
Actually, Minseok had expected Jinwoo to naturally choose Seong-hwan Lee’s team.
Jinwoo had the first draft pick among the A-rank participants.
And there was no dealer-tank who could utilize Jinwoo’s supporting abilities to the extreme like Seonghwan could.
But Jinwoo chose Geon-ryul Lee, and he was curious about the reason.
‘Did Jinwoo see something in that participant Geon-ryul Lee from the beginning?’
Now that he had proven his skills in the position determination battle, no participant doubted his capabilities…
But clearly during the draft, Geon-ryul Lee’s abilities hadn’t been fully verified yet.
That’s why Minseok was curious about Jinwoo’s true intentions.
Just out of pure curiosity.
‘Well, it doesn’t seem like the right time to be thinking about that.’
Of course, that wasn’t what mattered right now.
The immediate priority was escaping the labyrinth in front of them.
Perhaps thinking along similar lines, Yuna stood up and straightened her clothes.
“Well, they’re probably all doing fine on their own, right? So let’s get motivated and keep going.”
Minseok also dusted himself off and stood up, adding a comment.
“I’m so curious about how the broadcast went that we need to hurry up and clear this thing.”
“Are we about halfway there now?”
“We can’t know for sure yet, but… we’re probably past the halfway point? Usually in labyrinths like this, boss room clues appear around the 25th to 30th stage.”
“Ugh, we still have a long way to go.”
Park So-mi groaned while gathering up her bow, when Yuna seemed to remember something and looked back at Minseok.
“But even when we get out, we can’t watch the broadcast anyway, right? That’s why they confiscated all our communication devices.”
“Oh, right.”
Minseok made an ‘oops’ expression.
He had forgotten the rule that contact with the outside world was strictly prohibited during the training period.
“They said it was to prevent our mentality from being shaken by broadcast reactions…”
“Still, won’t the staff give us some hints about how it went? Like whether the ratings were a hit or not?”
“Well, they’d probably tell us that much, right?”
Yuna chuckled and pointed at the portal.
“So let’s hurry up and go ask them. Whether it was a hit or a flop.”
“Sounds good! Let’s go!”
The party members rekindled their fighting spirit and headed toward the 16th stage.
* * *
After burning a fortune of 880 LP at the 9th Stage Pawnshop.
Our party’s atmosphere had completely changed.
[‘Golden Blessing’ buff is currently active.]
[Attack Power/Defense Power increased by 100%.]
Combined with the buff we had bought initially, it was a tremendous 100% stat buff in total.
Looking at this buff window floating before my eyes, I smiled with inner satisfaction.
I could feel the worth of spending that money right in my skin.
Even combining the time it took to break through the 10th and 11th stages, it was shorter than the time it had taken to clear just the 9th stage.
“Here I go!!”
Crash―!
When Eun-a Go charged forward with her massive tower shield, the 12th stage monsters called ‘Iron Hogs’ flew through the air like bowling pins.
What would normally require her to hold firm and maintain the line, she now deflected with overwhelming force superiority.
“Wow, my body feels light as a feather! The shield doesn’t feel heavy at all!”
Seeing the excited Eun-a Go swinging her shield around and sweeping through the front lines, it seemed I wouldn’t need to worry about the front line for a while.
And behind her, Kangmin-woo was providing quite excellent fire support.
Whoosh-! Crash!
The always impressive firepower of that money-burning magic gun.
White flashes continuously burst forth from that white barrel.
“Just hold on a little longer! We’ve almost got them all!”
But his way of speaking had strangely changed from before.
“Hey! Jinseong! Could you give me some support over here!”
“Ah, understood!”
“Just buy me some time to reset the magazine.”
The guy who had been speaking informally to everyone until now… was starting to use honorifics, at least halfway.
This guy… why is he suddenly acting like this?
└ Maybe there was some kind of change of heart.
And that wasn’t the end of it.
The guy who had been wildly firing magic bullets into thin air just moments ago… was now quite carefully selecting targets and taking proper(?) DPS positioning.
Uh… did he suddenly start feeling sorry for his mana amplifiers?
└ Definitely starting to get influenced by the room leader ㅇㅇ.
I didn’t want to agree with that, but something had definitely changed.
But well, at least it wasn’t in a bad direction…
Kwaang-!
Anyway, riding this smooth combat flow, we were able to break through the stages like a crushing force.
We had chosen the pawnshop at the 13th Stage to sell miscellaneous items…
But the 14th and 15th Stages were also cleared in an instant.
The deficit penalty was resolved, and our buffs were solid.
Like a runaway locomotive, we had torn through the labyrinth and reached the threshold of the 16th Stage in no time.
‘The perceived difficulty has definitely dropped.’
The 2x difficulty amplification penalty that had been maintained until the 9th Stage… seemed to have been quite significant after all.
‘Let’s see… LP has accumulated to nearly 2000 again.’
Once we pass the 16th Stage ahead, we can acquire additional LP at the 17th Stage Pawnshop again.
Then with interest, we’ll have accumulated around 3000 LP…
This would be more than enough to execute my plan.
‘Well then, shall I take a look at the 16th Stage options?’
But at this point when everything was proceeding according to plan…
Suddenly, one variable appeared in my plan.
Woooong―.
One of the three portals leading to the 16th Stage…
Was displaying a strange color completely different from the usual bluish portals.
“…!”
A swirling vortex of chaotically rippling golden light.
And above it, mysterious symbols and three question marks floating.
[ ??? ]
“Huh? Team Leader. What is that?”
Eun-a Go, who had been leading, stopped and turned around, and tension appeared on the other party members’ faces as well.
It was clearly an ‘irregular’ that we had never seen once in our progression route so far.
However…
‘This… appears here?’
Of course, I knew very well what that was.
A hidden stage that appears with extremely low probability.
Also known as the ‘Collector’s Room’.
‘Jackpot.’
So I was forcibly suppressing the corners of my mouth from rising…
When suddenly the Constellations’ chat started popping up.
└ What is that?
└ What’s that golden portal;;; Never seen it before;;;
But wait.
Constellation hyungs… you don’t know what this is?
└ Is it a hidden something?
└ Is this a hidden clear route?
└ Nah that’s not it;; What is this, I’ve never seen this before;;
This looks like a good opportunity for some explanation after a while…
Suddenly getting hungry for profit?
└ The Room Owner would naturally go in there, right?
If you’re curious, it’s 500 won.
You know the drill, hyungs?
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————