Chapter 151

CHAPTER 151

Penguin was in his late twenties.

Right after graduating, he had spent three years as a professional player before leaving the scene after feeling the limits of reality.

More precisely, he had concluded that he could never become the best.

His skill level had been awkwardly average among the top players, while younger talents below him kept climbing upward. He simply didn't think he could hold his position forever.

Still, when he retired, he had at least been considered above average.

Because of that, countless people speculated about the reason behind his sudden retirement.

Naturally, nobody guessed correctly.

• This might be insensitive, but... does he have an incurable disease?
• Maybe Penguin is quitting because you idiots flame him every time he loses and compare him to everyone else!
• Yeah, you've earned plenty already! Just go! Thanks for everything, Penguin!

The most absurd theory came from a post that appeared when he had gained some weight due to stress.

[Could it be that this bastard Penguin is pregnant??? Congratulations! Have a good life!]

Even years later, that post remained deeply engraved in Penguin's mind.

A 190-centimeter-tall man.

Pregnant.

Truly a person free from prejudice—or not.

As a result, Penguin immediately reappeared as a streamer the very next day after retiring, putting an end to all the rumors.

That post had annoyed him so much that he abandoned his original plans and began streaming on impulse.

Still, it was a good decision.

I left while people were still applauding and found a different path.

He hadn't become a streamer because he thought he could be the best in that field.

The competitive drive he had possessed as a professional gamer simply didn't exist when it came to streaming.

Who exactly would he be competing against?

And even if he won, who would acknowledge it?

It wasn't about making a living either.

As long as he didn't live extravagantly, he had already earned enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

Unless he got addicted to gambling or drugs, he'd be fine.

Esports wasn't on the level of America's major sports leagues, but the market had grown enormous.

Even just three years as a first-string professional could earn an incredible amount of money.

The real reason was simple.

The job suited him.

After all, a person couldn't spend their whole life as an unemployed gamer.

Though, if he were being honest, that option had been tempting too.

Anyway.

Today, Penguin was seriously considering whether he should retire from the streamer life as well.

Has the final day of a streamer's career finally arrived?

The chat exploded.

• Supply with no demand lololol.
• Right? Right? Right?
• Meow already!
• Right, meow!
• Da-nyang da-da-da! This is clearly viral marketing for Da Nang tourism!

Penguin wondered whether he would receive applause or boos if he left the industry right now.

Eventually, he gave up thinking about it.

Fine.

From now on, I'm only going to praise Jin Seo-jun.

And then—

"...Meow."

A 190-centimeter giant.

Perhaps because the teasing from years ago had left a subconscious scar, Penguin had spent years working out until he became an absolute mountain of muscle.

And now, that massive man finally surrendered.

The other three commentators and hundreds of thousands of viewers heard his meow.

And it was an incredibly deep, rough meow.

"Pffft..."

"Ahem..."

"HAHAHA!"

Penguin thought once more.

From now on, I'm going to shamelessly favor Seo-jun.

Objectively speaking, Penguin's face was completely ordinary.

He was simply huge.

His face was square-jawed and masculine.

The problem was—

That kind of man had just greeted Seo-jun while ending his sentence with "meow."

[Seo-jun... hello... ... ... ... meow.]

His voice was deep and dignified.

A low, cavernous voice.

An authoritative cat.

Perhaps because he hesitated before speaking each time, those characteristics stood out even more than usual.

"Hello."

Seo-jun appeared on the video-call screen above the broadcast.

His face remained expressionless.

[Seo-jun-nim! Are you perhaps feeling a bit uncomfortable right now?]

Bangju asked with a grin.

Uncomfortable wasn't the right word.

It was just funny.

If he were close enough to Penguin, like the others were, he would've laughed openly.

Even if they had at least met as enemies in-game—

"No, I'm fi—"

He failed.

Even Seo-jun, who normally maintained the mental tranquility of a still lake, couldn't endure it.

The chat immediately exploded.

• LOLLLLL failed the laugh suppression check.
• If it weren't for that cat-ear headband he would've held it together lol.
• Pffffff.
• The production team is incredible. They somehow bought that thing already.

[Very good. Penguin commentator. We'll let this one slide.]

[Thank you! Thank you very much!]

[Right?]

[...]

[Hahaha. Anyway! We're only letting this go because otherwise the broadcast would become impossible. At this point you've already been immortalized forever. Anyway! Seo-jun! Long time no see!]

[I want to say hello too! Hello!]

"Yes, it's been a while. Hello, Caster-nim."

[T-Then me too? Hello, I'm Taeyang, one of today's commentators.]

"Hello."

The chat was losing its mind.

• LOL is this a fan meeting?
• Why is the streamer so popular?
• They're all trying to build connections with the future champion lol.
• A future mega-corporation confirmed!
• Maybe not a mega-corporation, but making tons of money is guaranteed.
• He's already making tons of money though?

[Alright! I think everything has finally settled down. I'll proceed with the interview as originally planned. Seo-jun! This was your first streamer tournament, and you were selected as the MVP of the very first game. How do you feel?]

Arin finally regained control of the situation and began the interview.

The question was standard and harmless.

Nothing controversial.

All Seo-jun had to do was answer.

Unfortunately, the official broadcast chat had other ideas.

• Arin-noona? Why are YOU suddenly doing the interview?
• Wasn't Penguin supposed to do it? LOL
• Natural interview interception achieved.
• It's not because he's handsome, right? You're just being professional, right?
• We said we're glad Penguin doesn't have to do it! But why are you stealing his job?!

After glancing at the chat, Arin quickly responded.

[People are asking whether I enjoyed seeing Seo-jun appear in so many highlight clips. Yes or no? Hahaha. My answer is yes because the plays were amazing. Anyway, Seo-jun-nim, how do you feel?]

A smooth escape.

Of course, nobody believed her.

After thinking for a moment, Seo-jun finally gave his answer.

"It was fun."

[Could you tell us in a little more detail why it was fun?]

"A new game was fun. This is my first time playing a battle royale."

Mm!

Seo-jun nodded.

Games really were fun.

[Ah! So you enjoyed getting to play a new game. I see. I see! Hmm, I see!]

The chat exploded.

• LOL she's broken.
• Streamer, if you answer like that, there's no way to get a reaction out of you lol.
• He actually gets excited every time he plays a new game lol.
• Of course games are fun when everything is so easy for him.
• lol Back in the day I used cheat cartridges on Nintendo games and those were fun too.

Seo-jun glanced at his chat and suddenly came to his senses.

"Ah, right. The question was how I felt about being chosen as MVP."

[Haha, yes, that's right. This is your first tournament, after all. Hundreds of thousands of viewers were watching from the start, and not only did you perform to your full ability without showing any nerves, you made a series of incredible plays! How does that feel?]

Arin clarified the question properly this time.

The pressure of hundreds of thousands of viewers.

Teammates and enemy streamers.

Normally, anyone would be nervous.

That's why it was natural to ask someone who had performed so well from the very beginning how they felt.

The problem was—

Seo-jun wasn't a normal person.

"It was easy."

He answered exactly as he felt.

The chat immediately lost control.

• This is just how he is. Please don't hate him. This is just how he is. Please don't hate him. Someone go spam that right now lol.
• Psycho. Psycho. Psycho. Psycho.
• Please just answer like a normal human being lol.
• Upvote if you think the streamer never learned how to socialize lol.

Socialize?

The strong don't need that.

Whether that principle applied to modern society was irrelevant.

At the very least, it seemed to work just fine in streamer society.

Seo-jun's lips curled upward.

Then he pushed even further.

"There weren't really any dangerous situations. So I won pretty easily."

He smiled brightly.

His eyes were so innocent that it looked as though there wasn't a single trace of provocation or malicious intent behind his words.

Among the teammates silently watching the interview, Lumi was the first to let out a groan.

The others naturally followed, shooting laser beams from their eyes at Seo-jun.

They had a feeling they knew exactly where this was going.

Please don't.

And if you really are going there—

please stop now.

[Ah. So you're saying there weren't any dangerous situations?]

"That's right."

Seo-jun nodded and continued.

[Even when your parachute didn't open at the start?]

"Ah, that was planned."

It wasn't.

He hadn't even known the conditions for opening the parachute.

He had simply jumped and hoped for the best.

[But because of that plan, you ended up in that close-quarters fistfight, right?]

"An attack either hits or misses. If it misses, it doesn't matter whether I dodged it from ten steps away or by a hair's breadth. Though... was it really that close? I thought I won pretty easily."

He shrugged.

The camera caught the gesture perfectly.

The chat groaned.

• Ugh, he's so annoying lol.
• But he didn't get hit, right? He didn't get hit, right? LOL.
• Streamer, are you trying to accumulate karma?

[Then what about your standoff against Hwangso? If you hadn't had a frying pan there, or if you'd made even one mistake, wouldn't that have been a very dangerous situation? That was also the first time you deflected bullets with a frying pan!]

"I don't think that was difficult enough to call it a dangerous situation."

• LOL.
• It did look easy.
• Easy for YOU maybe lol.
• Wait. Thinking about it now, he improvised that bullet parry on the spot too lol.

Karma.

The consequences of sins committed in a previous life.

In other words, a word completely unrelated to Seo-jun.

He remembered his previous life.

And because of that, he knew perfectly well that he hadn't accumulated any such karmic debt.

Of course, people didn't use the word that way.

Outside of its dictionary meaning, it was simply brought up whenever someone got into trouble and others wanted to mock their past behavior.

And in tournaments—

The chat was already catching on.

• I know exactly what the streamer is trying to do right now.
• Jin Seo-jun! Are you trying to become the villain of this tournament?!
• This is why he's the Heavenly Demon lol.
• Truly the GOAT of assassination squads.

Before the tournament had even ended, Seo-jun was already talking like the champion.

People called that "building karma."

Because players who acted like that usually failed to win.

And when they did, all their previous boasts came back to haunt them.

[Hahaha!]

Arin seemed to have figured it out too.

She understood what kind of character Seo-jun was trying to play.

Sure, some people genuinely disliked this sort of thing.

But most loved it.

Not because they were obsessed with Seo-jun himself—

but because it made the tournament more entertaining.

Trash talk had become part of the culture.

[I see! Then what are your goals going forward?]

"Winning the tournament."

[And which team do you think will be the biggest obstacle to that goal?]

"Hmm."

A grin spread across Seo-jun's face.

The karma farming had officially begun.

"Judging from what we saw today..."

He smiled wider.

"I don't think there is one."