Chapter 10

Seojun, standing before Drake, saw the man's face reflected in his eyes.

Black beard, deeply sunken eyes, tightly shut lips—he looked like a handsome middle-aged man.

"Hm. What's your name?"

Drake continuously stroked his beard.

-Drake looks surprised lolololol
-He usually never asks names, looks pretty shaken up lololol

"Nameless."

"A good name. Nameless. The strong deserve respect."

-Kyaaa
-You're pretty shocked he cut through all those guys, huh? So are we lol
-No seriously, some people died because they couldn't dodge the very first blade lololol how is this even possible?

"Then I shall fight with my full strength."

As far as Seojun knew, Drake said that even to people who somehow dodged the blades using gear or skills.

Shrrrkkkk!

Behind Drake, two chains tipped with sharp blades floated into the air and began aiming at Seojun.

Then he drew the twin swords hanging at his waist.

Unlike Ettore from the tutorial, there were no restrictions when fighting Drake.

Equipment and skills could all be used, and it was even possible to challenge him after raising basic stats.

Then why had nobody managed to defeat him until now?

The reason was those uniquely floating weapons.

The two freely moving chains left no angle impossible to attack from.

That allowed Drake to pressure players endlessly with seamless combinations alongside his twin swords.

The chains drifting freely through the air entered Seojun's sight.

"For an assassination game, you're pretty serious about combat."

-Maybe the devs actually wanted players to go full musou lololol
-But if they just increased boss HP to stop musou gameplay, people would complain. I actually like this kind of combat variety.
-Combat was always an important part of Dawn of the Assassins anyway.

Seojun glanced at the chat with a grin, then took a stance while imagining the pipe in his hand was a sword.

"Khahaha! I'll make the first move!"

A rough voice rang out.

Clang!!

Drake's twin swords collided with Seojun's pipe.

Then immediately after, the chains behind Drake shot toward him.

Clang! Clang!

Seojun stepped backward, swinging the pipe repeatedly to knock them away, but Drake instantly rushed him again and slashed with both swords.

Drake seized control of the fight, and Seojun began getting pushed back helplessly.

-Guess even Nameless can't beat Drake
-How are you even supposed to beat that combo? Feels impossible.
-The pipe was way too arrogant lol

At least, that's how it looked to the viewers.

'This is harder than fighting the World-Annihilation Dragon.'

But—

Seojun's eyes deepened further, and his thoughts accelerated.

What surfaced was a memory from his previous life.

Back when he had been isolated alone within enemy territory.

'Back then, it wasn't four blades. It was dozens.'

Even in such a hellish situation, he had survived.

Rather than retreating, he survived by attacking and advancing forward.

In an instant, Seojun lowered his stance and slipped into Drake's range.

Crunch!

The chain blades flying from behind Drake stabbed into the spot where Seojun had been standing moments ago.

Seojun deflected the sword descending toward him.

Parry.

Against normal mobs, it could instantly induce a groggy state that guaranteed death. But against a boss like Drake, it only bought enough time for a single attack as the boss staggered backward briefly.

Even then, Drake's chains normally covered for him.

But not now.

The memories of swinging a sword tens of thousands of times allowed Seojun to perform familiar motions even with his eyes closed.

He planted his feet and transferred power from his solid lower body upward.

'High stance.'

BOOOOM!!

Head.

"Kraaaagh!"

At that moment, the chat changed completely in the blink of an eye.

-?? Why does Drake look so easy?
-Seriously looks easy lol
-Fact) If someone makes it look ridiculously easy, they're probably insanely skilled.

This was enjoyable.

Clashing blades, striking down, swinging, cutting—

These moments were the only proof left of his previous life.

The combo started again, and Seojun parried.

Immediately, the chains flew toward him.

Seojun smoothly knocked both aside, gripped the weapon with both hands, and took a high stance.

The entire sequence flowed as smoothly as a martial artist performing techniques repeated over decades.

But those movements had actually been improvised on the spot according to the situation.

After that came the fundamental strike of any martial artist.

A vertical slash.

In other words—

Head.

BOOOOM!!

One might think there would be major discrepancies because his body had changed and because this was virtual reality.

But in truth, it was the opposite.

He was not bound by form or structure.

Even in a single swing—

Foot placement, leg posture, upper-body rotation, arm movement—

He could adjust every part into the optimal form at every moment.

Even with a different body.

BOOOOM!!

As he continuously broke through the chains and smashed down on Drake's head—

BOOOOM!!

BOOOOM!!

Before anyone realized it, Drake's HP had been completely depleted.

[Dissembler Boss Drake has died.]

[You have obtained Fragment of Order (1/4).]

The notification window appeared, and as Drake collapsed, the emotions heightened by battle gradually settled down.

Then Seojun looked at the chat.

-Nameless is a god! Nameless is a god! Nameless is a god! Nameless is a god!
-Mom, I saw another first clear! Mom, I saw another first clear! Mom, I saw another first clear!
-No but seriously, it looked stupidly easy. Didn't even get hit once. Drake, you're finished today lololol

['Joseon Assassin' donated 100,000 won!]

[This is the hope of musou gameplay!]

"Thank you, Joseon Assassin, for the 100,000 won donation. Ah, but was this also a first clear?"

-Yeah
-Yep
-You verify skill like THIS? Insane.
-He's seriously playing a different game by himself lololol

['Spoon Murderer' donated 10,000 won!]

[Forget that, the crazy part is that he forced a kill using a pipe lolololol. What would you have done without the damage buff?]

-Pipe murderer lmaooooooo
-What do you mean what would he do? He still would've killed him lol. That's the terrifying part lololol

"Thank you for the 10,000 won donation, Spoon Murderer."

Smiling, Seojun checked the viewer count.

[Viewers: 447]

Seojun's eyes widened after seeing the number had increased considerably.

Slightly more people than his follower count.

People said it was better not to obsess over viewer numbers while streaming, but compared to the beginning, the increased viewer count still made him happy.

It meant more people were entering than leaving.

"So anyway, the guards aren't coming, right?"

-Yeah
-The guards in this world are like cops in K-webtoons lolololol. They never show up during missions.
-But they do appear when you pickpocket.
-K-webtoons lolololololol

"I see. Then I guess it's time to leave the theater troupe."

Seojun passed through the half-destroyed stage, the staircase piled with corpses, and the entrance littered with shattered glass fragments.

As soon as he exited the theater troupe, someone wearing a hood was waiting for Seojun.

At first, he thought it might be an enemy, but the flowing blonde hair visible beneath the hood quickly revealed the person's identity.

The figure looked at Seojun and removed the hood.

As expected, it was Christina.

"Nameless. So you dealt with Drake? Good work."

Christina spoke.

"Thanks to you, we've escaped oppression a little more. Thank you."

[You have obtained money.]

[Reputation has increased.]

A notification appeared as Seojun accepted the pouch Christina handed him.

"They give rewards even if you didn't take the quest first? Not like there's much use for money anyway."

-Yeah, you still get rewards even without accepting the request first.
-I mean, pipes are lying all over the streets. Why would you need money lol
-Drake must be losing his mind for real lol

Seojun figured it didn't matter either way.

Standing on the street, he looked back at the half-destroyed theater troupe.

"Then I guess… the assassination was a success?"

To anyone else, the place looked more like the aftermath of a gang war, but Seojun said it with a completely straight face.

-???
-We never agreed to call THIS an assassination.
-lolololol his expression doesn't even change
-That shamelessness is part of the charm.

['Joseon Assassin' donated 1,000 won!]

[No witnesses, so it counts as assassination lol]

"I agree. I just did exactly what the game told me to do in an assassination game."

The chat instantly filled half with hook symbols(?) and half with "lololol."

-Mm! That is what assassination means!
-Punk cool sexy guy lolololol

And Seojun felt this was the perfect timing.

"Well then, I'm ending the stream. I did everything I wanted today."

-Ah wait…
-Let's hang out a little longer
-Why did it end so easily TTTT
-I thought this would go for at least ten hours today…
-Stop speed-ending streams!

"Bye-bye!"

"Whew."

Feeling slightly dizzy, Seojun removed the headgear.

Still seated, he clenched and unclenched his hands, stretched out his legs, loosened his body, then stood up.

'What's with him?'

As soon as he stepped out of the capsule, his eyes met his friend, who was lying on the bed watching something on his phone.

"Hey, what are you doing in my room?"

"Oh, I'm off-stream today, so I was watching your broadcast. It was fun."

Taewoo turned his phone toward Seojun.

"Right now I'm checking the community."

"Any reactions?"

After personally experiencing the power of online communities, Seojun couldn't help but care.

"Well, for only 440 viewers, the firepower's pretty intense."

Tap.

Seojun caught the phone Taewoo tossed him and checked the contents.

[New Route Guide for Drake's Location]

A clip was trending showing Seojun interrogating organization members one by one while intentionally leaving only a single survivor alive.

(A clip: a feature that cuts out portions of a streamer's broadcast into highlight videos.)

-Oh. That method looks way more convenient.
-Parrying is actually pretty hard though.
-He's seriously a demon lolololol
-Who is this guy?
-It's Nameless from yesterday.

[Guys, but what's the Fragment of Order? I've literally never seen it before while playing.]

-I played beta and beat the game after launch too, never seen that thing.
-Huh??? What is it?
-Doesn't Drake always drop that?
-No lol. Drake doesn't drop that normally. Maybe you only get it if you beat him musou-style? I'm insanely curious what it is…

Most of the posts were information threads like that.

[Just came from Nameless's stream.]

===

One-line summary: The age of musou has begun!

===

-The age of musou has begun! (Got beaten up by Ettore yesterday.)
-+ Today he was supposed to get beaten by Drake.
-Did you two hack my capsule or something? lololol (post author)
-Anyone doubting Nameless from now on is my enemy.
-"Verify your Ettore first-clear skills," they said. So he went and got Drake first clear too. Problem?
-This sounds like a light novel title lololol

There were also users just chatting about the stream itself.

And there was even a post that summarized Seojun's broadcast perfectly(?).

[Modern noir plot summary: A hidden master living as a common pickpocket gets messed with by gang members, then wipes out the entire organization with a pipe.]

-Facts.
-The writer's quality lololol
-Filmsoft should reflect on themselves.

One after another, posts related to Seojun started climbing the recommendation rankings.

"Wow, so this is how communities work."

[Stop talking about streamers, you damn stream bugs!]

[People getting excited talking about things only they know is peak loser behavior. Upvote.]

As posts about Seojun exceeded thirty recommended posts and more people started seeing them, hate posts targeting his fans began appearing on the general board, just like yesterday.

"Yeah, whenever fans appear, haters show up too. It was only nice when you were just getting attention."

"So what are you supposed to do in situations like this?"

"What do you mean? Your stream had 400 viewers. Community sites have over ten thousand users."

In other words—

He needed to become famous.

Famous enough that most people would recognize him at least once.

The problem was how.

At that moment, one post caught his eye.

[Please gather around and stomp your hooves for Alpaca trembling after Drake got cleared lololol]

Seojun's eyes lit up as he entered the post.

Inside was a clip of a mid-sized streamer boasting confidently while attempting a "stream-until-clear" challenge.

Seojun followed the clip link and entered the streamer's broadcast.

He was live.

Watching silently for a moment, Seojun's lips slowly curved upward.

Maybe—

Maybe he could use this situation.

"Hey, do you know a streamer named Alpaca?"

"Hyung Alpaca? Yeah, I've done collabs with him a few times. We're friends, actually. Why?"

Even dog poop becomes useful as medicine sometimes.

Seojun looked at Taewoo differently as the guy lay on the bed scattering crumbs everywhere while eating snacks.

"Good. Then I need you to do me a favor."