The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 70
Chapter 70
29,179.
It was the difference in contribution score between first and second place.
This was an unprecedented figure, and Bangju was temporarily at a loss for words.
“Hahaha. I was momentarily taken aback. It slightly exceeded my expectations. Was it only slightly, you ask? Hmm.”
It was certainly not just slightly.
Bangju laughed and changed the subject.
“Come to think of it, we could say that JustOnePenny’s prediction was also practically wrong.”
“Still, my situation is better than this guy who was talking about some concept or whatever. *Snicker*.”
“Shut up.”
-hahahaha
-What do you mean, Number One Under Heaven? hahahaha
-Are you embarrassed?
-He was definitely worth keeping in check, haha
-So how did such a gap open up?
Bangju read the chat and stopped JustOnePenny.
“Now, now. JustOnePenny, stop teasing him. Since the viewers are curious about how such a score difference occurred, let’s address that first. Surely you have some idea, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
Instead of explaining it directly, they went onto Nohyeop.
They figured there would be a post summarizing it.
Bangju displayed a post on the screen.
“This person summarized it well.”
It was a post that quickly summarized the situation despite having been uploaded not long ago.
[Summary of the Current Situation]
==
Writing a rough summary since it seems like many people are curious.
The reputation score and contribution score obtained through winning streaks are meaningless, but I calculated them for now.
If you get a 4-game winning streak on the first day, you receive 250 reputation score at the start of the second day, and the contribution score obtained if you win everything on the second day is 1,000.
After that, at the start of the third day, the total reputation score obtained through the winning streak is 500, and you accumulate 2,000 contribution score on that day.
Since they can be calculated separately, doing it this way means the total contribution score that can be obtained from a winning streak is 36,000.
Since this is what all the rankers who went on a winning streak obtained, it is meaningless.
Also, the gap didn’t widen significantly in every single match, since second place revealed on stream that they obtained 500 to 600.
So, that simply means there was a moment when the gap widened astronomically.
And early in the Battleground at that.
The only possibility for that is the raid.
If we assume that second place obtained 100 in the raid and first place obtained 500 in the raid.
Since starting from the third day, even if the reputation score obtained in all other games is the same, the gap will continue to widen by that difference.
400 at a time, 4 matches a day.
That’s 1,600 times 7 days.
Then it would be 11,200, so it falls short of 29,000, meaning the difference must be more than 400.
Just calculate it yourself on the assumption that they are similar in other matches.
==
The post looked like it had been uploaded in such a hurry that they couldn’t even manage a simple conclusion.
Bangju returned to the previous screen and spoke.
“Since we can just divide the contribution score difference by 28, which is the number of matches, we can probably assume there is a difference of about 1,000 or 1,100.”
Just then, a donation alert rang.
[‘ㅇㅇ’ donated 200,000 won!]
[Hyung. They say the reputation score the first place got in the raid is 1,500. Their current reputation score is 6,600.]
His minimum donation amount was 200,000 won.
Since so many people had gathered, the donation alerts kept ringing, which interfered with the progress of the broadcast.
It was an amount he had raised to prevent such a situation.
Even so, there were people who gratefully donated.
“Ah! Seo-jun must have revealed it. Since Heavenly Killing Star said he got 500, it’s a difference of 1,000.”
If the difference was 1,000, even if Heavenly Killing Star and Seo-jun had obtained the same reputation score in the raid, Seo-jun would still have been in first place.
Out of consideration for Heavenly Killing Star, whose mental state was shattered, Bangju did not add that last part, but he was inwardly shocked.
“Hmm, by the way.”
Are they already starting to keep him in check?
After refreshing, Bangju grasped the general context of the rising posts and sensed something strange.
Posts finding fault began to appear one by one.
[Isn’t there a balance issue?]
[How did they calculate it to give three times as much?]
[If it’s like this, everyone will go all-in on the raid and play like it’s a gamble, haha]
[This isn’t skill.]
It was a question that was natural to arise.
The problem was that people who wrote posts with a similar tone were uploading them while giving upvotes to each other.
Was it a mere coincidence?
-It is strange, just like those posts say.
-Real, it seems a bit too much for such a difference to be made by just one raid.
-It is indeed excessive.
The seventy thousand viewers also showed signs of agreeing.
In times like this, Bangju tended to simply share his thoughts.
“They say in these posts that a three-fold difference is strange, but in my opinion, reducing four minutes and thirty seconds to one minute and thirty seconds is indeed about three times more difficult.”
Bangju continued his explanation.
“It seems this kind of talk is arising because he cleared it in such an unusual way that is only possible with those specific traits, but finding that method is also a difficult task and a testament to one’s skill. Even the Demonic Sect users knew about it but didn’t attempt it that way. I believe the difficulty was sufficiently high as well.”
Beside him, JustOnePenny nodded.
“And since a runaway scenario has occurred for the first time, don’t you think it will be even more interesting to see how they will try to snatch the position of Number One Under Heaven in the future?”
Many people agreed.
At any rate, even if those reputation scores were a problem, it was ultimately the game company’s blunder.
At that moment, another donation alert rang.
[‘ㅇㅇ’ donated 200,000 won!]
[What do you think of this? (Link)]
He clicked on the link.
It was a fresh post that had been uploaded less than a minute ago.
Although he wondered how the person who sent the donation had seen this post and sent the donation in such a short window of time, he let it go for now.
The number of upvotes had already exceeded ten.
[The streamer’s track record. Am I the only one who finds this suspicious??]
==
1. The game he played before For Chivalry is Dawn of the Assassins, which is by the same game company.
2. There is a system called Cleft in Dawn of the Assassins, and he found what ‘no one else could find’ all at once during a co-op stream. Refer to the video for details. (I still don’t really know how he did it)
3. Not only Cleft, but he also unlocked the lore for the first time with an unrivaled performance against the Rulers, and Movie Soft linked him in their official teaser video.
4. He started For Chivalry as his next game and received a sponsorship.
5. He obtained Great Grandmaster, which ‘no one else could obtain.’ (Similar to the outcome of Cleft in Dawn of the Assassins)
6. Lastly, this contribution score is also historically high. Although the contribution score itself is somewhat understandable, what happens when coincidences pile up?
==
Looking at the upvoters, they seemed familiar.
They were the same IDs that were upvoting each other a moment ago.
Bangju read the contents of the post and thought.
The people who had watched the broadcast directly wouldn’t think much of it, but what if they hadn’t?
“Hmm. It does look suspicious.”
Heavenly Killing Star said with a subtle expression.
-The son of Movie Soft, shiver shiver
-Wow, holy crap, I got goosebumps.
-It’s possible.
-He definitely has the skill, haha, but it is suspicious if what that post says is true.
-It seems even more nonsensical for that to actually be true, doesn’t it?
-So what do you think?
-Seems like an explanation is needed.
***
Twelve thousand viewers were gathered in Seo-jun’s room.
Was it said that the level of buzz is proven by the number of viewers?
They were not the type of people to let such a big event slide.
Of course, nothing changed just because there were more people.
“How did I get first place? Hmm. I guess I was lucky.”
The existing viewers loved Seo-jun’s shameless reaction even in front of 12,000 people.
-hahaha, do you newbies think our streamer would know!
-He was lucky!
-Came to see the first place.
-A time magician who earned several days’ worth of contribution scores by himself, shiver shiver shiver
-Be my cult leader, Seo-jun! Be my cult leader, Seo-jun! Be my cult leader, Seo-jun!
What on earth is “be my cult leader”?
After the rankings were revealed and too many people flooded in, Seo-jun stopped restreaming.
Since then, he had been browsing the community forums.
“Tell me to turn it off already? Hmm. It is indeed about time to end the stream.”
He had revealed everything he was asked to, and there was nothing more to do.
-We mean stop looking at the community, not end the stream, streamer! hahahaha
-He’s sneakily looking for an angle to end the stream.
-Whose permission do you have?
-No way in hell.
While he was receiving rebukes from the viewers, a donation alert rang.
[‘ㅇㅇ’ donated 10,000 won!]
[Have you seen this? (Link)]
Seo-jun clicked on the link and read the contents together with the viewers.
It was a post claiming that there was some sort of connection between him and Movie Soft.
Although the name was not explicitly stated, in a situation like this, knowing who the protagonist of that post was was as easy as parrying for him.
-They’re weaving it together like this?
-I’ve watched the streamer since the very beginning of his broadcasts, but I didn’t notice at all, haha.
-If everything up until now was acting, he should become an actor.
-So that guy is saying a recycled newbie joined hands with the game company behind the scenes and is streaming while getting all kinds of first clears? hahahaha
-Real, haha
-If that’s real, there’s not a single person in this world to trust, haha.
Although the viewers seemed to laugh it off.
Other people might not.
Furthermore, once this kind of image spread, it would become troublesome.
No matter how much he explained, not everyone would hear it or be convinced.
The post had already received more than thirty upvotes.
‘What should I do?’
He could just ignore it, but he couldn’t be sure what kind of impact it would have.
Even if the game company said no, people believed what they wanted to believe.
‘A good way…’
Just as Seo-jun was looking for another way.
[‘BreakingNews’ donated 10,000 won!]
[Heavenly Killing Star sent a public duel challenge in front of 70,000 people!]
A donation relaying the news came up.
A duel challenge in front of 70,000 people?
[‘ChallengeLetter’ donated 10,000 won!]
[Travel clip video]
The video was played in front of him as he wondered.
[It is suspicious indeed.]
Heavenly Killing Star in Bangju’s studio faced the camera.
While JustOnePenny and Bangju sat quietly beside him, only Heavenly Killing Star opened his mouth.
[So, I want to tell him to prove it. Directly with me. In a one-on-one duel.]
One-on-one.
It was quite literally a duel challenge.
Was it because he had no such experience in his past life?
A pleasant smile played on the corners of Seo-jun’s mouth.
“This looks like it’ll be fun.”
And the clip ended with a brief remark added by Heavenly Killing Star.
[If he achieved it purely through his own skills, he won’t avoid the match, right?]
People’s attention shifted from the conspiracy theory to the duel.
Now, the post itself could only take a back seat in the face of the showdown between the first and second rankers.
Did he say this with that intention?
-It really was a duel challenge letter, hahahaha
-How does such an angle emerge right after the rankings are revealed? hahahaha
-Let’s go for a character deletion match for the loser!
-Surely he won’t avoid it, right?
-The second place challenged the first place to a duel, how can anyone resist this!
[‘RiggedDice’ donated 600,000 won!]
[Go to Bangju’s room and send the reply to the duel challenge, go go]
600,000 won.
Considering the minimum donation amount in Bangju’s room, it was a generous sum.
Naturally, since they donated believing that he would reply, he had to meet those expectations.
“Thank you. Let’s go right away.”
But.
While the duel itself was certainly a gain for Seo-jun, it felt somewhat lacking.
There seemed to be a better picture.
“Ah.”
***
-Streamer, why are you covering the screen?
-Let us see the donation message too.
-Something feels off, haha. I feel like he’s going to cause trouble again.
-So who will win?
-Heavenly Killing Star is insanely good at one-on-ones.
-Still, the streamer is pro-level.
-Gosh, why is it taking so long to write the reply?
Despite the viewers’ grumbling, Seo-jun took his time drafting the donation message.
And finally, a fanfare echoed in Bangju’s room, and the donation message popped up.
[‘Heavenly Demon 14’ donated 200,000 won!]
[From 7 to 10 tomorrow, I will continuously queue up for games without resting for even a single moment. If there are those who doubt my rank, or if there are those who think they are more skilled than me, just come at me, all of you. I am confident that I won’t lose even once. haha]