The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 66
Chapter 66
The eighth day of the Battleground.
Although one of the Unorthodox Faction’s territories was occupied by the attack of the Orthodox Faction, as if they had known this, the Unorthodox Faction likewise occupied one of the Orthodox Faction’s territories.
The ninth day.
Both the Unorthodox Faction and the Orthodox Faction recovered their respective lost territories.
They had lightly thrown jabs at each other.
A prelude to the full-scale Battleground starting was beginning to show.
And in the meantime, in the Demonic Sect.
Absolutely nothing happened.
Just like before, those who wanted to defend defended, and those who wanted to attack attacked.
Of course, there was no change.
The Demonic Sect rankers in ‘At Least Second Place’ told Seo-jun that they were conserving their strength. There was no credibility to it.
The Orthodox Faction and the Unorthodox Faction also did not seem to pay much attention to the Demonic Sect.
“No, hey. Your capsule was borrowed?”
Tae-woo’s eyes, who was running on a treadmill, widened.
“And you’re aiming for it because they’ll give you that capsule if you win LiOS?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s right. The one you’re using, now that I think about it, is the new, highest-grade capsule that came out recently, right?”
“Correct.”
“Wow. Crazy. Is it okay to just lend such an expensive thing to a mere streamer? There is no rental service! Is it okay for a corporation to do this? Huh? Isn’t it preferential treatment?”
“It’s up to the corporation. If you’re dissatisfied, don’t enter virtual reality and protest.”
Try boycotting it or something.
“……It’s not to that extent. Well, they could lend it to you.”
I knew he would say that.
If he was going to tuck his tail between his legs immediately, he shouldn’t have said anything in the first place.
“But why on earth?”
Hmm. Had I not told him?
“Because I have a unique constitution.”
Seo-jun stopped the treadmill.
“Yeah? What kind of unique constitution?”
I see.
It had been quite some time since he became a streamer, but he must not have mentioned it.
Seo-jun explained the circumstances to Tae-woo.
“Ah, so that happened. Wait a minute, then is it also true that you played in a capsule in the past? Until now, I just thought it was the usual exaggeration you do.”
Tae-woo also stopped running and gulped down some water.
“When did I ever exaggerate?”
“You do it all the time. So, what was your old ID?”
“What are you going to do with that information anyway?”
“I’m curious. Weren’t you incredibly good back then too?”
“No. I was bad back then.”
“There’s no way. I feel like you were always consistent, even in middle school and elementary school.”
He did not know what that consistency was, but for some reason, he felt offended.
“Anyway, you’re saying you have to buy a capsule if you don’t win LiOS, right? Then are you going to quit streaming?”
“No.”
“Oh. That’s unexpected. Didn’t you say it has to be a new model? Are you really going to spend that money to buy it?”
It was something he had decided long ago.
“I have to buy it. Well, what else can I do?”
Seo-jun said nonchalantly.
“Keh. Is this the dignity of an 8,000-viewer streamer? You’ve already almost caught up with me.”
The standard for a mid-tier streamer was a minimum of 10,000 fixed viewers.
However, Tae-woo was on the successful side among mid-tier streamers.
Therefore, saying he had caught up was a bit of a stretch.
Furthermore, in terms of fixed viewers, Seo-jun was still only halfway there.
“Cut the crap. By the way, there will be a limit in the future. I’m worried about what to do.”
Two weeks after the Battleground ends, LiOS will begin.
He wanted to increase his viewers as much as possible until then.
“Well, someone of your level should be able to participate in LiOS, right?”
“Still, I don’t have ten thousand.”
Usually, most mid-tier streamers with ten thousand viewers were accepted if they applied.
Although they were called mid-tier, their numbers were not actually that large.
“True. Even for me, if I couldn’t even participate in the tournament and was forced to buy a capsule costing over a hundred million won, I’d probably be a bit sad.”
Challenging it and failing was fine.
But he absolutely detested being deprived of the chance to challenge it in the first place.
“I have to reduce the possibility of falling as much as possible.”
“That’s true.”
Seo-jun leaned his back against the front of the treadmill and looked around the gym.
He saw a person exercising with noticeably large movements and loud shouts.
“By the way, why did he end up like that?”
Tae-woo also leaned beside him and watched.
“I know. Didn’t he hate this place incredibly when he first came?”
“He did.”
“That was because of you. Since you kept calling him up to the ring so much.”
“That’s also true.”
His identity was the World’s No. 1 Swordsman whom he had met in real life.
At some point, he had become fanatically obsessed with working out and was diligently lifting weights alongside other muscular middle-aged men around him.
“One! Two! Three! Four! Five!”
“Right! That’s how you do it! The young man has great form.”
Seo-jun clicked his tongue as he watched the scene.
Martial arts was not something obtained by training like that.
“As a rule, martial arts is…….”
“Shut up, you boomer. I’ve been hearing that since high school.”
“……Okay.”
Had this also been the case?
Seo-jun did not remember, but he conceded.
“So. What are you going to do about the viewers? The Battleground buff has its limits too, right?”
“Well, that’s true, but.”
It was ambiguous to call it a limit.
Since the viewers gained through the Battleground were far more than expected.
And they would likely increase a bit more in the future.
However, now that ten thousand was within sight, he had simply grown greedy to safely participate in LiOS.
Well, one never knew how things would turn out.
If someone had told him a year ago that he would be streaming like this today, and that he was having fun doing it, would he have believed them?
“Ah! I think I know a sure way.”
“What?”
“Create a controversy on purpose. Call out and curse at famous streamers.”
“?”
“Then even thirty thousand viewers is possible. Seriously.”
As expected. The bastard of a friend was not in his right mind.
Seo-jun lamented.
“Or just quit the Battleground and do the penalty right away. If you do that, the live broadcast will probably hit fifty thousand. Now that I think about it, what on earth are you worried about? Isn’t that right, brother? Or sister?”
Did he not know that that was even more serious?
***
Seo-jun moved away, avoiding Tae-woo who was spouting nonsense.
On the ring, Lee Dong-soo was facing off against some athlete.
“Why did you come over here? Shoo, shoo.”
The gym director gestured at Seo-jun, who was approaching, and began to be on guard.
“That friend you brought here and bullied for a while is working out over there right now, so hurry up and go over there.”
To try to chase him away to this extent.
Seo-jun wore an incredulous expression.
“I just came to watch.”
“Really? You’re really just going to watch, right? Huh?”
“No, then what else can I even do besides watch?”
Hearing those words, the director’s face also changed to look similar to Seo-jun’s.
And he spat out words laced with a bit of grievance and resentment.
“Beating up the athletes.”
“?”
“Beating up the spot you already beat up.”
“…….”
“Calling back the guy you already beat up to beat up the spot you already beat up again.”
“No, I mean…….”
“Lingering beside them to give backseat advice, and then beating them up if they get offended.”
Had he done that?
“I don’t think it was to that extent.”
He did not think there was a need to get so genuinely serious.
“Are you even human?”
“Where else could you find a person as ordinary as me? When was I ever so violent?”
“Wow…… Wow. Seriously. You!”
The director grabbed the back of his neck.
And just then, Lee Dong-soo finished sparring and came down.
“Is something the matter?”
“It’s nothing. And Seo-jun. I don’t know what you’re going to do, but please, do it in moderation. You know, right?”
The sound of sniffing could be heard.
Mmh. He must be having a hard time lately.
Since the director was getting up there in age, he should be understanding.
Seo-jun dismissed it, assuming there was some reason, and Lee Dong-soo took off his headgear and approached Seo-jun.
“Hyung, did you know that?”
Seo-jun stepped back slightly, worried that sweat would splatter on him.
“What.”
“I’m also doing the Battleground.”
“Really? Which faction?”
“I was originally in the Green Forest, but I followed Hyung and went to the Demonic Sect.”
“Why on earth?”
“…….”
Was it not the reaction he had expected?
“What is your nickname?”
“Bandit King.”
“Then you should have just stayed in the Unorthodox Faction.”
“No, I mean…….”
What was the reason he chose the Demonic Sect?
Wasn’t it precisely because of his nickname?
As a rule, the nickname and the concept had to match.
“Well, since the Demonic Sect bastards have a bandit-like side to them. It might actually suit you?”
It was true.
Thinking about it, in his past life, the Demonic Sect was no different from bandits.
They were merely stronger due to having martial arts, and their organizational cohesion was tighter because of a cult leader, but at their foundation, they were no different from bandits.
“Haha, I see…… Ah. Please keep my identity a secret. It’s an alt account.”
“An alt?”
He had heard of this.
That professionals were exceptionally given one more capsule account.
It was said that they would make up to three accounts if requested.
“That’s interesting. Alright.”
“A second account is great because I can play the game or practice without any burden. Anyway, Hyung, how much reputation score have you collected?”
“I don’t know since I haven’t checked.”
“Is that so? A ranker hyung I know predicted that you would have collected the most.”
“Well, you never know.”
Because all of Seo-jun’s actions were exposed, many people inferred that he had accumulated an exceptionally high reputation score.
He had finished most of his games so far at a level even higher than noob crushing, and had set unprecedented records in raids.
It was more than enough for him to become a target of wariness among rankers.
“But he told me not to let your guard down.”
“Hmm?”
“After today’s Battleground ends, the contribution scores will be fully disclosed, right?”
“That’s right.”
It was a system that fostered rivalry among the top-tier rankers.
It was indeed fun to have something like this.
“And they said the game mode on the following day is a martial duel, and things could be overturned then.”
“Ah. I know too.”
“Ah, is that so? I wanted to tell you just in case you didn’t know, so that’s a relief.”
He had played the game a bit, just a tiny bit recklessly up until now.
But he wasn’t someone who jumped in without doing any research.
He felt slightly aggrieved.
“For tomorrow’s game, even if the contribution only accumulates for a maximum of four rounds, you can keep playing games, so you can continuously build up your reputation score. Right?”
“Yes.”
It was vicious.
Showing how far one had fallen behind or how far someone else had pulled ahead, and then offering a chance to overturn it the very next day.
However, it was difficult to fully exploit the fact that one could keep playing games.
Since they would meet opponents of a similar skill level.
“I’m looking into everything too.”
“True.”
Lee Dong-soo nodded in understanding.
“I feel slightly offended?”
“Not at all.”
“By the way, where did you meet that hyung-nim?”
“Ah. There are some people I got close to while playing the game. Why?”
“No, it’s just that you didn’t seem to be in our faction chat room.”
Seo-jun recalled the Demonic Sect’s chat room, which was pitiful just to hear its name.
‘At Least Second Place’.
In any case, there didn’t seem to be a user named Bandit King in that place.
“There was something like that?”
Had he simply not known?
“Hold on, I’ll invite you to the Demonic Sect faction chat.”
“Yes.”
Seo-jun invited Lee Dong-soo to the faction chat room.
“Uh, but why is the chat room name like this? Is this really where the rankers gather?”
Regrettably, it was.
[At Least Second Place]
-It’s a newbie.
-They’re a ranker, right? Welcome.
-You were from the Unorthodox Faction? Welcome.
-You’ve never done the Battleground before? Welcome.
-Anyway, welcome. Even if you’re a spy, welcome.
He had barely even participated in the conversation, but he didn’t know why he felt so embarrassed.
“Mmh…… Should I just leave.”
Lee Dong-soo muttered seriously.
He must have lost interest in an instant.
“Why. They welcomed you, so it’s nice.”
“Seriously?”
“No.”
Seo-jun said flatly. Frankly, it did look pretty pathetic.
Nevertheless, despite this and that, Lee Dong-soo quickly adapted to the atmosphere.
He was just like an outgoing high school boy.
-This Bandit King bows low to the Demonic Sect seniors!
-Welcome, Lord San!
-What do you mean, ‘Lord San’. Anyway, nice to meet you.
-Why did you come so late?
-It’s my first time doing the Battleground, so I didn’t know a chat room like this existed. But I’ve been continuously gathering reputation score since the beginning of this Battleground, so don’t worry.
-Nobody was worried. As long as you enjoy the game as a member of the Demonic Sect, we are satisfied.
-Yes.
Their mental preparation seemed to be lacking.
-By the way, Heavenly Demon-nim, what are your contribution and reputation scores?
-I am curious.
-Could there be anyone higher?
-It’s coming out today. Just wait.
It seemed there was a lot of interest in his contribution from all over.
Seo-jun typed a chat to change the subject.
-By the way, are you not going to attack today either?
-No.
-We have to defend.
-What if the enemies attack?
-But that doesn’t mean we can go on the offensive……
-Uh-huh, we are conserving our strength.
-Everything for second place!
-…