The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 72

Chapter 72

The next day at 6:30.

Seo-jun turned on his stream in front of the computer in his room.

Since he had to concentrate for three consecutive hours today, entering the capsule already was out of the question.

“Hello, everyone.”

Seo-jun, who had confirmed that posts related to him were being uploaded to the community until just a moment ago, watched the viewer count rise while warming up his hands.

– Hiya

– I’ve been waiting!

– I’m going to listen to Bangju’s commentary later, but for now, I’m staying here.

A lot of people were coming in.

As if reaching 15,000 viewers yesterday was not an illusion, the number of viewers surpassed 10,000 in an instant.

‘At this rate, it feels like I’ve reached the status of a mid-sized streamer.’

Even if it was temporary, it was fine.

Once Bangju turned on his stream, even more people would come to watch.

Above all, Seo-jun had no intention of losing today.

– Lmao, are you out of your mind with that wide-area taunt?

– A mere Demonic Sect member dares!

– You are dead meat today.

– I don’t know if the streamer is overdoing it a bit.

– I’m scared now that things have gotten this big…

– Lmao, he really spat it out without any plan.

It had barely been a few minutes since he turned on the stream, but voices of concern were already rising.

Since he had ended the stream immediately after the donation yesterday, it seemed they had a lot they wanted to say.

That was also why he had scheduled a communication session before starting to address these concerns.

So, he had to answer them sincerely.

“Everyone, I say I can’t do things when I really can’t.”

He only said up to there.

– Pfft lmao

– That’s true.

– Does that mean you are indirectly saying that what you said yesterday is something you can do?

– Shh.

As expected, there was always someone who understood perfectly even when he spoke vaguely.

Seo-jun smiled and began to chat lightly.

[‘RiggedDice’ donated 100,000 won!]

[Are you really confident that you won’t lose even once today?]

“Of course. Ah, thank you for yesterday’s donation. Thanks to you, I sent the reply to the duel challenge well.”

Seo-jun thanked them and replied to the donations, then clapped his hands as if he had just thought of something.

“Shall we do a point betting after a long time?”

This one seemed worth doing.

The reason Seo-jun had rarely done point bettings until now was because the matches didn’t make for good contests.

If everyone bet on him winning, what fun would there be?

And it made no sense for Seo-jun to lose just for the sake of entertainment.

But if it was today’s event?

– Let’s go! Finally!

– How long has it been since the last bet, gasp!

– I’m definitely betting all my 250k points.

– Woof woof! Woof woof!

– Look at the nickname, ‘A Dog That Barks Excitedly When Betting’ holy shit lmfao

– Finally, we can wager our memories.

Seo-jun smiled and opened the channel point betting.

On whether he would not lose even once, versus whether he would lose at least once.

“It seems like it will be a close match this time. Think about it. The opponents are all prominent veterans, so will I really not lose even once?”

– You shouldn’t be the one saying that, lol.

– I became certain after hearing what the streamer just said. The streamer is truly confident that he won’t lose even once.

– You know Seo-jun so well, lol.

– He really hates seeing us succeed, lol.

The regular viewers said this and bet that Seo-jun would not lose even once, while the new influx of viewers saw the newly opened point betting as an opportunity and bet on the opposite side.

– What are the natives here talking about? lol Of course you should bet on ‘will lose at least once’.

– Thanks to the foolish natives, I’ll take my points!

– Wow, it’s neck-and-neck at 50-50.

– Let’s start by getting a 2x return.

– Time to leak the national wealth.

***

6:40.

“Hello, everyone!”

Bangju’s stream turned on.

Normally, people continued to watch the streams they usually watched.

Therefore, his stream, which had been watched by over 70,000 people the previous day, filled up with people just as quickly.

10,000.

20,000.

40,000.

60,000.

Although hardcore users who played their daily matches would enter after hurriedly finishing their four games, the majority of the viewers were not.

They could step away from the battleground for a day and watch the stream as if spectating a sports game.

Of course, Bangju did not always have such a high viewer count.

‘Wow. A speed like this is usually not easy to achieve.’

People only gathered this quickly on the very last day of the Battleground, at the moment when it was decided whether the winning faction would be the Orthodox or the Unorthodox Faction.

The publicity from yesterday seemed to have worked all too well.

Had everyone been waiting only for this?

– When will Heavenly Killing Star stream snipe him?

– I hate seeing a Demonic Sect bastard get attention, is that normal?

– Let’s go!

– I’m rooting for the streamer.

– Ooh, can we watch the battle of rankers as a full course today?

– Please raise the prestige of the Unorthodox Faction.

– Is it a fight of whether the Orthodox Faction ranker wins first or the Unorthodox Faction ranker wins first? lol

As about ten minutes passed while communicating lightly,

[Viewer count: 90,000]

it surpassed 90,000.

It looked like it would exceed 100,000 with just a little more time.

It seemed he would achieve a number right from the start that even major corporate streamers could only surpass by hosting large-scale content.

The reason for such high expectations was probably because the path Seo-jun had shown so far proved that he was at least no ordinary amateur.

‘Since his contribution score is number one.’

Bangju swallowed hard.

This collaboration.

If he really lost from the very beginning, it would be a total disaster.

A riot might break out, and public sentiment might completely turn away.

Of course, this was not something he could do anything about.

Entirely.

“Hello.”

It depended on that streamer who was currently being summoned into the game.

“Seo-jun! It’s already 90,000. How many are in your room?”

“It’s around 15,000. I’ll link the streaming screen now.”

They conducted their streams individually.

“Alright, is it done?”

“Yes.”

Normally, most collaborations were arranged because they were win-win, but this joint broadcast in particular had a lot to gain.

Seo-jun could gather many people through Bangju, and Bangju could immerse himself in the center of the issue to show once again that he was the representative streamer of For Chivalry.

If only the results would turn out well!

Bangju prayed desperately in his heart that even if Seo-jun lost, at least a good picture would come out of it.

“Alright, the screen synchronization went well.”

Seo-jun’s screen was connected smoothly without any setting conflicts.

The rehearsal had paid off.

Seo-jun’s screen appeared on Bangju’s stream screen viewed by the audience.

“It is about time to start. I will go outside now. Good luck!”

After saying goodbye, Bangju exited the capsule and sat in front of the pre-configured computer.

Then, at the bottom of the screen showing Seo-jun’s perspective, Bangju sitting on the chair appeared.

“Hello.”

– There he is.

– Were you in the game just to say hello!

– This is how a commentary should be!

– Bangju is getting a free ride on his stream today as well.

“Haha. I plan to cast the game from here. I also have to spectate from time to time, and a computer is much more convenient after all. Hehehe.”

After Seo-jun on the screen went to the center, he started the game.

The screen transitioned.

“Now! The first game has just begun! The region Seo-jun chose is the central area where the three factions—the Demonic Sect, the Orthodox Faction, and the Unorthodox Faction—clash. This is to prevent any specific faction from stream sniping him.”

Just because the region bordered three factions did not mean that three factions would meet in a single game.

It was the same as other regions, except that who they would meet was random.

The position was defense.

“And today’s game mode is a duel. A duel is a game mode where players face each other one-on-one within a small map, played in a best-of-three format.”

A duel was nothing particularly special as a game mode.

With no teammates, the outcome was entirely decided by individual skill.

“The opponent is… Ah! A normal user.”

Bangju let out a sigh of disappointment.

– lmfaooooo

– Stream sniping failed in the first round.

– Poor guy, what did he do to deserve this?

– It’s not a failure, they just aren’t doing it yet.

The opponent on the screen recognized Seo-jun’s face and nickname.

[Ah, crazy! Why am I meeting that person!]

Bangju shook his head.

“Did the rankers chicken out? Hmm. Since the first four games are matches where you can earn contribution score, it wouldn’t be strange even if they didn’t stream snipe. In fact, it is rather rational.”

The first game ended anticlimactically like that.

***

As the first match proceeded anticlimactically, people expected that Seo-jun would start by winning smoothly until at least the fourth match.

And this expectation was shattered in just the second match.

– Oh lol

– Crazy, they meet right away?

– Did they make a mistake?

– No way a ranker would do that.

– A crisis already on the path to a 4-win streak!

– This is so good right from the start.

[Dignity of the Unorthodox Faction]

Thanks to the nickname that appeared on the interface, which seemed familiar from somewhere, and the viewers’ reactions, he could tell that a big fish had been hooked right from the second game.

‘I met them surprisingly early.’

When he talked with Bangju, they had said that because Seo-jun had widened the gap by too much, he probably wouldn’t meet them until the fourth match, or even if he did, he would meet much lower-ranked users, so this was unexpected.

“He is 5th in contribution score? Wow. Even better.”

Although he didn’t know the reason for stream sniping right now.

“Let’s go.”

Seo-jun liked the fact that what he had to do next was clear.

Winning the game.

[The game begins.]

In duels, there were 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, and 3 vs 3 modes.

And naturally, the map grew larger as the number of participants increased.

In other words, today’s one-on-one map was narrow.

Therefore, walking out just a little bit from the starting point would bring them face-to-face with the enemy.

The first round was to test the waters lightly.

It was the first time Seo-jun was encountering a true expert(?).

“Hello. I am the current rank 5 of the Unorthodox Faction, Dignity of the Unorthodox Faction.”

The opponent greeted him.

It was indeed not a matchmaking error.

Feeling a slightly sly vibe, Seo-jun replied with a smile.

“Right. I am the Heavenly Demon.”

– lmfaooooo I didn’t know he’d do this today too

– Is the Heavenly Demon villain starting up? lol

– Talk about a split personality

– He needs to lose once after saying that

“Hehe. They say the early bird catches the worm, so I came a bit early. You’re not angry, are you?”

Oh.

He was provoked.

In that case, he couldn’t just sit still.

The early bird.

“But do you know that? A worm is destined to be eaten by a bird no matter when it wakes up. So rising too early only shortens that brief lifespan.”

“Haha.”

The opponent spoke while pretending to remain calm, but he couldn’t hide the twitching of his lips.

Although Seo-jun did not know it, Dignity of the Unorthodox Faction was a person who had tried to stir up controversy in the community using multiple accounts.

“Try coming at me first.”

Seo-jun slowly approached while maintaining a suitable level of tension in his body.

The trash talk ended here.

From now on, it was time to prove himself with the sword.

Just because it was a one-on-one did not mean there was no strategy.

Step, step.

The distance slowly closed, and

“Ha. Interesting. Then, without holding back, I shall attack first.”

The enemy closed the distance in an instant at the same time he finished speaking.

The sect chosen by Dignity of the Unorthodox Faction was the Assassination Guild.

The characteristics of the Assassination Guild were stealth and high speed.

High speed included not only movement speed but also attack speed, and it had the advantage of having faster lightfoot techniques than other sects.

In control matches, it was a sect that could create variables through anomalous play by utilizing this point.

In that case, what about in a one-on-one?

The enemy’s body shot forward as if launching a surprise attack.

The moment he aimed for Seo-jun’s neck at an even faster speed utilizing the lightfoot technique,

seeing that the preparatory posture was a bit longer,

‘Is it a heavy attack? I heard rankers rarely use heavy attacks, but he’s using it right from the start.’

Although a heavy attack dealt high damage, there was a risk of the body being stiffened if it was parried, and swinging with large movements against an expert was no different from asking to be parried.

Having deliberately yielded the initiative, Seo-jun raised his sword to deflect it.

Even though it was a heavy attack, it was relatively fast.

Was that what he was aiming for?

But failing to respond to an enemy approaching head-on was nonsense to him.

Clang!

It was a light clash of testing each other.

And Seo-jun was slightly impressed by this single exchange.

‘The parry didn’t succeed.’

The enemy withdrew his sword and immediately transitioned to the next movement.

Seo-jun analyzed the situation from a moment ago while taking in the change in movement with his eyes.

‘Did he slightly twist the trajectory at the last moment right before contact?’

Fully utilizing the advantage of high speed was indeed worthy of a veteran.

It meant he hadn’t executed the heavy attack for nothing.

He couldn’t help but think that today’s stream would be much more interesting than expected.