Chapter 182

CHAPTER 182

**[+100,000 won added to the reward]**

**[+150,000 won added to the reward]**

**[+1,000 won added to the reward]**

The prize pool kept increasing.

There were already a lot of viewers.

In fact, it was the highest viewership his stream had ever had.

And before all those people, he'd clearly demonstrated one thing:

That he had no particular talent for visualization.

Not that he'd intended to, but Seojun couldn't help but laugh.

* It's a constitution issue. Can't be helped!

* It's already been proven in Evic that the streamer's visualization ability can't improve. His skill level is maxed out. Two is the limit.

* So what are you saying?

* KING. OF. SAFE. INVESTMENTS.

* You maniacs lol. I'm not even a regular viewer, but after hearing you guys, I'm putting money on it too.

A Synchronization Rate of 10 really did make sense.

And honestly, Seojun agreed.

No, if anything, this might actually be generous.

*'If it had been a different capsule, even one orb might've been difficult.'*

Back then, simply activating skills had been hard.

Of course, the budget capsules from seven years ago couldn't possibly be the same as the ones now.

Technology had advanced tremendously.

Still.

"Seriously, guys. I really don't think I can summon more than three. Are you sure you're okay with this? Why do you keep doing this after losing every time?"

He was trying to stop them.

Trying to stop the viewers from spending money.

In content like this, viewers usually spent only what they could afford.

It wasn't that they genuinely believed they would never lose.

It was money they could afford to lose.

Which meant this kind of gentle provocation—

"Hey. Put your wallets away."

—was simply for entertainment.

If they got provoked and donated more, great.

But it wasn't particularly important.

"By the way, what's the actual test?"

* LOL, was this newbie acting confident without even knowing?

* Guys... doesn't this feel familiar?

* The streamer has literally never done anything before.

* Damn it, why am I getting nervous just because he says it's his first time?

* Still, place your bets! We know what the test is. Two orbs aren't enough lol.

The debate was fierce.

An ordinary person probably wouldn't understand this scene.

Why were viewers placing missions and then cheering for the streamer to fail?

*'Even if he fails, he still gets 10% of the mission money. Doesn't that mean he never actually loses anything?'*

From a purely mathematical standpoint, that was true.

But there was that classic question.

**Option A:** Don't receive 100 million won.

**Option B:** Receive 100 million won, but someone you absolutely hate receives 1 billion won.

Plenty of people would still choose Option B.

But what if the amount you received wasn't 100 million?

What if it was only 100,000 won?

The person you hated still got 1 billion.

Then what would people choose?

Mathematically, receiving 100,000 won was still better.

But how many would actually pick it?

Unless they desperately needed the money right now.

It was that kind of problem.

Nothing complicated.

And even if the streamer—Seojun—didn't technically lose money, would he really feel good receiving 100,000 won instead of 1 million?

He'd suffer exactly as the viewers wanted.

People always said there was nothing more infuriating than being shown something and then having it taken away.

Anyway.

*'Looks like the Safe Investment faction won the debate.'*

Though even Seojun had to admit the amount was getting ridiculous.

**[Place within the Top 10 of Id's Trial Rankings – Mission Reward: 9,300,000 won]**

"Wow. Holy crap. I don't think this many people showed up even when I was testing my Synchronization Rate."

Ha Yoonho was impressed.

"Is this what being a major streamer is like?"

Since there were over a hundred thousand viewers, Lumi's comment wasn't exactly wrong.

"This is insane."

Even Alpaca sounded impressed.

"Should I seriously become a streamer?"

After seeing what amounted to several months' salary, Wind Sword briefly considered becoming a full-time streamer rather than keeping it as a side job.

"Hyung, pardon the disrespect, but could you buy me a Melona?"

Lee Dongsu, who earned far more than Seojun, was saying nonsense like that.

* Damn!

* This prize pool is insane.

* There are so many people watching.

* Safe Investment Gang? Demon Cult? I'm trusting you guys. I seriously bet on this.

* I came because I heard ten million won was on the line.

More viewers continued arriving.

News about the mission had apparently spread.

*'Profitable, I guess? Well, anyway.'*

Seojun shrugged and smiled contentedly.

"Good work. Any longtime viewers who caught Wind Sword before, send me your bank account numbers and I'll transfer the money."

* Wait, there really were Wind Sword hunters?

* Was this all a scheme to drain the newcomers' wallets?!

* New viewers, don't mind him. He's always talking nonsense.

* If you suddenly summon four now, public opinion is genuinely going to turn on you.

Seriously.

"Don't worry. Whatever happens, I'll be doing it with two. Not that I have a choice."

Once again, Seojun summoned an orb above his hand.

This time it was a medium-sized orb.

This truly was his limit.

The sensation accompanying the orb's creation made that perfectly clear.

"Hmm. Though if I fail this mission, it might actually hurt a little."

* He only promised not to summon more than two!

* LOL his stomach is going to hurt so much.

* You're saying he'll be happy with 930,000 won? No way. He lost eight million, hahaha.

"Seojun hyung, can you do it?"

"No."

"Then?"

"I'll just try. When have I ever done anything differently?"

Seojun stretched casually.

There wasn't the slightest hint of nervousness on his face.

For reference, Lee Dongsu had been one of Seojun's viewers for a long time.

Having witnessed scenes like this countless times, the chat messages he'd always typed naturally slipped out of his mouth.

"Damn..."

* Damn!

* Okay, that's pretty cool.

* If this newbie somehow clears even this, I'll admit it!

---

"Id's Trial is an escape challenge. From here to there."

They were standing in an open clearing.

Lee Dongsu raised his arm and pointed somewhere.

Following his finger, Seojun spotted a road.

It was fairly wide.

Wide enough for a carriage to travel through.

At the far end stood a gray wall.

It didn't seem particularly distant.

"Exactly fifty steps. And for reference, you can't run during the trial, so fifty steps is enough to reach it."

The emphasis on *fifty steps* probably meant that everyone could reach it in exactly fifty steps.

"And you have to arrive within fifty seconds. It's designed around one step per second. In other words, you can't stop moving."

Everyone except Seojun already seemed familiar with the rules.

So Seojun asked,

"Then how are the rankings determined?"

"There are targets chasing us. The ranking is based on how many of them you eliminate before reaching the goal."

I see.

Now he understood.

Everyone received the same number of steps and the same amount of time.

Within those constraints, the challenge was to summon as many orbs as possible and hit as many enemies as possible with them.

* This is why we said it wouldn't work.

* Being able to launch four orbs at once is way more advantageous.

• Even if the medium-sized orb can hit twice, four orbs are obviously faster.
• Goodbye, 8 million won!
• Though maybe he'll do well because of his Synchronization Rate.

I see.

"Then who wants to go first?"

Lee Dongsu looked at the other three, excluding Seojun.

Naturally, he'd assumed Seojun would go last.

But at that moment, Seojun raised his hand.

"I'll go first."

"Huh?"

"Before that, I need to negotiate something with the viewers. Just a moment."

"Uh... okay."

• Hey now.
• Top 10 ranking is non-negotiable.
• We already bet money, what is this nonsense?

"Haha, everyone. I'm not asking for anything unreasonable. I'll go first, but..."

Not only the viewers, but everyone present focused on what Seojun was about to say.

• But?
• LOL he wants to go first before even seeing what the targets are?

"Let's watch some donation videos first. I want to see other people's Id Trial runs."

• Isn't that the same thing?
• It might be even better. He'll get to watch top players.
• Even if not, he could just make Lee Dongsu go first and watch anyway.
• Why is he making this offer?

"No, think about it. If you guys don't send donation videos, then it's over. Besides, the minimum donation amount is already 100,000 won. I won't touch that. What do you say? Deal?"

If he provoked them like this, the viewers would definitely take the bait.

And with over a hundred thousand people watching—

• Deal.
• Deal!
• Guys, let's show some unity!
• Deal.
• Let's go!
• Make him attempt it without knowing anything!

'Unity is impossible.'

The bite came immediately.

['Cheering For You' donated 100,000 won with a video!]

[LOL earlier I saw a bunch of people betting way more than 100,000 won. Cheering for you!!!]

• Why would you send that?!
• LOL so he was trying to collect money here too?
• Incredible.
• Well, now he'll only lose 7.9 million instead of 8 million!
• Watching a top player's video isn't enough to change anything.

He really had made the proposal because he wanted to watch an expert's gameplay.

Not because he wanted the donation money.

Seriously.

Regardless, the video began playing.

Judging by the chat's reaction, the uploader seemed to be skilled enough to rank on the leaderboard.

Seojun focused.

The player took the first step.

At that moment—

Wooooong.

A buzzing noise like a swarm of bees came from ahead.

Eight spherical targets with wings burst out from the grass on both sides.

The player immediately summoned four orbs and fired them forward, eliminating the targets.

The moment those orbs completed their task and vanished, another four appeared directly ahead.

To deal with the remaining targets.

All of that happened within a single second.

A single step.

The player stepped forward again.

Eight targets appeared.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Targets appeared at regular intervals.

Four orbs materialized and destroyed them.

Then another step.

It was almost machine-like in its precision.

"Hmm. So does this just end with a perfect score of four hundred kills?"

The targets didn't stay still.

Hitting all eight within the brief span of one second without delay was undoubtedly difficult.

But that was all.

With enough practice—

And unlimited attempts—

Anyone above a certain skill level would eventually achieve a perfect score.

• Nope.
• If that were true, all the top players would have identical records.
• Just keep watching.

So there was more to it.

About ten seconds passed before something changed.

Only six targets appeared in front.

'Were the other two somewhere else? The sound coming from the screen changed slightly.'

The player in the video didn't panic.

After eliminating the four directly ahead, he checked behind him.

Then he summoned two orbs forward and two backward.

They shot off simultaneously.

Fast.

'But there was a slight delay.'

By the time he'd turned back around, eight new targets had already taken their positions.

Meaning a full second had passed just to clear those eight targets.

His steps never stopped.

But as more and more targets began spawning behind him, he gradually failed to eliminate them within a single second.

The targets started piling up.

"It's just like homework you've been putting off one page at a time. If you don't finish it every day, it starts stacking up."

• LOL I used to write all my vacation diary entries the night before school started.
• That's not a diary!
• I was the same in old RPGs. Always thought skipping one day wouldn't matter.
• Why is this guy attacking us all of a sudden? Is he nervous?
• With only two orbs, he'll start falling behind from the very beginning, LOL.

The video ended.

The player reached the wall with a large collection of targets trailing behind him.

"How good was that run?"

• Barely Top 10.
• Fighting, streamer!
• Two orbs really won't cut it.

"I see."

Seojun watched several more videos.

Orbs continuously shooting in perfectly straight lines in every direction.

Someone had donated a precious 100,000 won.

The least he could do was watch them.

Of course, there was also something he needed to verify.

"So orb speed is the same regardless of size, right?"

• Yep.
• That's why you're doomed.
• Ultimate stability. Insane returns.
• Why returns?
• Because we're finally beating the streamer for once, LOL.

Clearing targets with two orbs would inevitably take longer than clearing them with four simultaneously.

In other words, his homework would start piling up from the very beginning.

Which meant he'd need to find another way to catch up.

Still, after confirming everything—

"Didn't you guys hear that sound?"

There was a solution.

• What sound?
• Nonsense.
• LOL.

"The sound of your bank accounts going bankrupt."