The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Indie game was short for independent game.

It was a name coined because a small number of people established a company to develop it, leaving them free from various forms of interference.

“Let’s start a meeting about the situation we are facing from now on.”

“Yes, CEO.”

It had been a long time since Park Hyuk-soo had adapted to the situation of starting a meeting right where they sat, as they did not even have a meeting room.

The place where he and his CEO were was a garage.

Although one might wonder what they were trying to do in a garage when it was not even Silicon Valley, the ten of them were developing a virtual reality game.

Although there were ten developers, the reason there were only two in the garage was because the other eight were working from home.

“The game is almost fully made, and although the development schedule was delayed a bit, we got through it well without any issues. First of all, thank you!”

The biggest characteristic of indie game development was the lack of money.

Saying there was no one to interfere was synonymous with saying there was no one who had invested money.

“Fortunately, thanks to the support from institutions and Stream looking upon us quite favorably, there were no unpaid wages either. What a great company this is.”

For a moment, Park Hyuk-soo, choked with emotion, stared at the CEO with dumbfounded eyes.

“I get paid minimum wage, you know? You said you’d make me rich. What is this?”

“Instead, we agreed to share the profits. I really have nothing left now. Even though I’m the CEO, I take home about the same as you guys.”

The CEO had spent all the money he had saved while working at a large corporation in the past on developing this game.

“So what? The probability of success is so low.”

Every year, more than 2,000 virtual reality games came out into the world.

Among them, the games that even recovered their development costs were a minority.

And the games that reached the ranks of success were a tiny fraction.

Fortunately, their game was looked upon favorably by Stream, a subsidiary of Surface and a game distribution platform, allowing them to receive support.

Even this alone placed them within the top 10%. After all, it meant that they had seen potential.

Although it could be considered strange to receive support funds from a distribution platform while claiming to be an independent game company, everyone tended to receive them if they could.

That was how difficult of a path it was. Cases of unpaid wages and bankruptcy frequently occurred at the drop of a hat, and even if one managed to overcome everything and complete the game, there was no guarantee of success.

“Ahem, anyway. Since it’s almost over, let’s think positively. Hmm? Now, all that’s left is to sell the game.”

“Sure. So, what is the agenda for this meeting?”

“Although we’re almost finished, there is still one hurdle left.”

“What is left, I wonder.”

“That is none other than! Promotion!”

“Promotion? Don’t tell me Stream isn’t going to support us with promotion? Surely we aren’t having a meeting with just the two of us like this because you’re about to make an awkward request?”

An awkward request meant talk related to money.

“I won’t be funding this out of my own pocket. No, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. Because I don’t have any money. You know that, right?”

Park Hyuk-soo said firmly.

Fortunately, the words that came out of the CEO’s mouth did not flow in that direction.

“No. Don’t worry. A reply came yesterday. The amount is 80 million won. It’s the promotional budget.”

“Oh, that’s a relief. But 80 million won is a bit of a tricky amount.”

Of course, the amount itself was incredibly generous. There were countless games that received no support at all.

Yet, it was 80 million won.

It seemed that Stream, the distribution platform, had looked upon their game extremely favorably.

Only, the reason he said it was a tricky amount was…

“Exactly. I’m agonising over how on earth we should put the combination together.”

Because the project they were making was a two-player cooperative game.

Therefore, they planned to recruit streamers in teams of two for the advertisement, but this combination was the problem.

Whether to recruit two people, including a giant streamer, to have just one team.

Or whether to recruit four mid-sized streamers.

Or whether to ask individuals to find partners on their own instead of setting up teams.

Everything was a dilemma.

“Anyway, so, make a list for me.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. After all, you know the most about streamers, don’t you?”

“I’m not even in charge of promotions, though?”

“Since when do we have a promotional manager in our company?”

That was true.

Since all ten of them had gathered to develop games.

Park Hyuk-soo fell into thought.

He was not quite at the level of a Teusu.

Just someone who moderately watched various streamers on ITube and broadly knew their culture to some extent?

While Park Hyuk-soo kept imagining who would suit their game in his head, a certain streamer he had recently seen suddenly came to mind.

“Hmm, CEO. Is someone even lower than the mid-sized level okay? There is a streamer who has been rising recently.”

“Who is it?”

“His name is Jin Seo-jun, and this streamer’s track record is amazing…”

Park Hyuk-soo began to explain about Seo-jun within the scope of what he knew.

At the unusual deeds that came out of Park Hyuk-soo’s mouth, the CEO’s head began to tilt in puzzlement.

The reason was.

“The first chapter we’re going to pre-release in our ad has a horror concept. But that guy is too good, far too good at it, isn’t he?”

The exact genre of the work was action-adventure.

However, the concept of the first chapter was horror, and the charm of a horror game lay in a clumsy, unskilled, and easily frightened person trembling in fear.

Yet, just hearing the story, Jin Seo-jun was too good, and his personality also made it seem like there was nothing that could scare him.

Park Hyuk-soo nodded.

“Even so, wouldn’t it produce a much greater maximized effect if someone like that got scared instead? And above all, you know the streamer named Kim Tae-woo, right?”

“Yeah, I know him.”

The CEO had recently looked up information on all the mid-sized streamers on Travel.

“I heard they are classmates. People know it well, too. So I thought a combination of these two would be quite good.”

Hearing those words, the CEO fell into thought for a moment.

He was picturing the scene.

“Alright. Then, for now, let’s put that combination under consideration as well. And the advertising cost would be an advantage too.”

If they could bring out the best effect while saving costs through the streamer named Jin Seo-jun, that would be the best scenario.

“Yes, and if you are really concerned, why don’t you ask him directly?”

“Ask what?”

“Whether he is good at horror games.”

***

Stab.

The sword pierced his chest.

[Defeated Dongdong]

-How can he not land even a single hit? Is it really that hard?

-Every time I watch, I can’t help but wonder if the host shouldn’t open a swordsmanship dojo. I really want to learn.

-You want to learn? Didn’t you see what he did to World’s No. 1 Swordsman?

-That is a bit true…

-Apparently, he even does it in real life exactly the same way as he does on stream lolol

World’s No. 1 Swordsman was the first disciple Seo-jun had taught swordsmanship to in this life.

Although he had asked Tae-woo before meeting the swordsman,

‘Do you want to learn swordsmanship?’

‘Are you crazy?’

‘???’

‘I know what you do to the athletes at the gym, so unless I’ve completely lost my mind, there’s no way I’d learn from you.’

That was how it was.

-He might be a highly skilled teacher, but for starters, he’s not likable as a teacher lolololol

-He basically just uses them to relieve his own stress

-For real, tormenting them is a sick hobby

-Still, once you graduate, the student dean who used to torment you feels more endearing lolol

-Student dean lolol my trauma is resurfacing

-By any chance, how old are you all?

The reviews of him were quite stingy.

He had never heard such words in his past life, though.

Anyway, leaving behind the chat window where they chattered among themselves, Seo-jun contemplated whether to wait here or go back.

The road he was currently standing on was on the route that the carriage passed through.

In the end, it meant that if he waited, the carriage would arrive.

‘The enemies will also come here.’

Since it was the shortest route.

The side path was only for preparing a surprise attack.

“He said he would go ahead and prepare, but he died.”

Perhaps because of the distance, a faint voice carried over.

It was the enemy.

Since the carriage’s movement speed was slow, there was no way it was an ally.

And at the same time, the team chat popped up.

[Host. How about 200,000 won if you win this game without me?]

Checking the ID, it was his viewer.

Was it a mission?

Seo-jun laughed, dumbfounded.

“Suddenly, a mission has been placed on me.”

It was not a bad thing.

Although the situation of a teammate suddenly setting a mission in the middle of a game was absurd, he did not dislike the mission itself.

For now, Seo-jun increased the distance backward as quietly as possible and spoke.

“I’ll accept it right away.”

He opened the team chat window and sent a reply.

[Sure.]

-So if you stream snipe, you can even set a mission yourself lolololol

-That guy is definitely not normal

-fr

-I’m scared that the way he posed while holding a branch earlier will appear in my dreams lolololol

Seo-jun thought.

Surely, among the chatters speaking like that, there were people similar to that viewer.

A reply came.

[Instead, if you fail, show us Christina’s favorability quest!]

[…]

[Fine.]

Seo-jun accepted reluctantly, and the viewers loved it.

And immediately after, a system notification popped up.

It was a notification that one of his teammates had exited the game and deserted.

He had left.

“Wait…”

Seo-jun let out a laugh once again, dumbfounded.

“Did you really have to go as far as to desert, though?”

There was a penalty for the act of deserting the game.

This was to prevent, even slightly, situations where remaining teammates would feel wronged because people left as soon as the game became even a little unfavorable.

-Decisive indeed

-The type to bring losses upon himself lolol

-200,000 won and even a desertion penalty lolololol

-But he was magnificent.

-Mmh! To think he didn’t forget Christina!

-Ah, right. The desertion…

-Among the laughing people, a certain chat caught his eye.

He did not know if it was true or not, but he memorized the ID for now.

In order to ban them if they ran off without paying the mission reward.

“Then, since it’s a two-on-three.”

Seo-jun said as he sensed the presence of the approaching enemies.

“From now on, it’ll be better to catch the enemies before they can even reach the carriage.”

Seo-jun stood in the middle of the street, infused his sword with internal energy, and waited.

The enemies appeared.

“It seems they haven’t returned to the carriage yet?”

“Then we should catch them quickly!”

There were two enemies.

Originally, in games, it was hard to infer what class someone had just by their clothing, but in For Chivalry, it was easy to tell because the users dressed accordingly on their own.

Just looking at them, the one in ragged, beggar-like clothes was not of the Orthodox Faction, so they had to be Green Forest.

The other one was dressed respectably like someone from a prestigious family, and seeing them holding a dagger, they were Tang Clan.

‘Speaking of Tang Clan, it brings Dang So to mind.’

After entering the Demonic Sect, Dang So behaved like a fish in water.

It was said that he had chosen the Demonic Sect as his faction from the very beginning.

He showed enthusiasm to win since he had already come this far, sharing the hidden story of how he had changed his nickname and gone to the Tang Clan because his fun was spoiled after failing to win in every battleground.

“Green Forest? As expected, you suit playing a bandit.”

“What are you talking about? And how childish, what is ‘Heavenly Demon’?”

“Let’s just catch him quickly.”

The Green Forest user approached first.

The bandit took the vanguard, while the Tang Clan member took charge of long-range support from the rear.

Swoosh!

A giant greatsword moved from left to right, cutting through the air.

Instead of striking back, Seo-jun ducked his head to avoid the greatsword.

In the case of Green Forest, they were characterized by having powerful external strength instead of inner arts.

Therefore, blocking a Green Forest attack required twice as many resources, such as stamina and internal energy.

As it resulted in a loss, no matter how much they swung with heavy attacks, the opponent would not dare to attempt a parry.

It was simple yet powerful!

However, the countermeasure was also simple.

If you could not strike back, you could just dodge.

“You won’t even be able to lay a finger on the carriage.”

Seo-jun said in a calm voice as he dodged the sword.

“Why?”

“Because I have decided it to be so.”

“This guy is completely insane!”

Crash.

The bandit’s sword, struck down from above, slammed into the ground.

Seo-jun pulled his shoulder back to dodge the attack and used lightfoot technique to fly toward the Tang Clan member who was aiming at him from afar.

The daggers that had been flying at him, targeting him since a while ago, were annoying.

-Look at him immediately spouting nonsense the moment he meets the enemy.

-Targeting the Tang Clan member first is a good choice. For once, he used his brain.

-He’s originally smart. It’s just that his body is even better, so he doesn’t use it.

As Seo-jun rushed in, the Tang Clan user widened the distance backward.

It was the correct choice.

Anyone who used a bow or throwing weapons always had to keep the advantage of distance in mind.

However, because they leapt backward, the distance narrowed in real-time.

The choice that could be made at this time was to turn around and run properly to widen the distance,

“If you fly straight at me like that, it’s good for me!”

Or to attack the approaching enemy just like that.

Swish!

A dagger was launched from the enemy’s hand.

The dagger that left the fingertips flew, aiming precisely at the space between Seo-jun’s eyebrows.

Since Seo-jun was moving forward, the perceived speed of the dagger was more than double.

Swoosh!

“Got you! No one has ever dodged this!”

Throwing a dagger at an approaching person and turning the tables on them was the enemy’s absolute favorite situation.

Therefore, he naturally thought it would hit this time as well, but…

Clang!

A clear sound of metal colliding rang out.