Chapter 26
Kkureulsaek Gwonru Geulbeobeu landed on Lee Dongsu's face.
Pow! Pow!
A series of rapid punches slammed into his stomach.
He could only groan.
Lee Dongsu staggered for a moment while clutching his waist, then came back to his senses and raised his guard.
People around them were watching him get beaten with great excitement, but to him, only the enemy in front of his eyes mattered.
"By any chance, are you preparing to become a boxer or something? Why are you already wobbling?"
Swish!
Standing in front of him, Seo Jun turned his head sideways toward the spectators.
Normally, attacking at a timing like this would be considered bad manners.
But Lee Dongsu had already become a sandbag for Seo Jun after getting beaten up all day yesterday.
Practice like it's the real thing!
"Hyaaap!"
Straight.
Even though he hadn't learned much yet, Lee Dongsu's posture was proper as he threw the punch.
Perfect timing, precise form, and an opponent caught off guard.
Against an ordinary person, it might have worked at least once.
But unfortunately for him, the opponent was Seo Jun.
Even while looking to the side, Seo Jun lightly dodged and countered immediately.
"Ooooooh!"
Gasps of admiration burst out from the surroundings.
"Ugh! Damn it."
In the end, Lee Dongsu crouched down clutching his stomach.
"Hey! You little punk acting all tough! I told you I was going easy on you! And he's not even preparing to become a fighter! You, come here."
Gwanggam shouted as he walked toward them.
He grabbed the ropes and swung one leg over to catch Seo Jun.
Seo Jun sensed the killing intent and prepared to slip out toward the opposite side of the ring.
"Huh? Really? He seemed pretty serious though."
Seeing Seo Jun about to escape while he himself was halfway over the ropes, Gwanggam gave up on trying to catch him.
"Man. My back's killing me."
"Then is he just one of those high school kids who are good at fighting at school?"
Seo Jun lowered his evaluation of Lee Dongsu from "athlete trainee" to "high schooler who can fight a bit."
Despite the misunderstanding, Gwanggam didn't reveal Lee Dongsu's identity.
Because Lee Dongsu had asked him not to.
Lee Dongsu absolutely hated the idea of revealing who he was to Seo Jun.
At the very least, if he'd beaten him in the game, he would've proudly revealed himself afterward.
After being thoroughly schooled by Seo Jun yesterday, he went home and launched Dawn of the Assassins with even his stream turned off.
And only after more than fifteen attempts did he finally defeat the tutorial's DEttore, leaving him shocked.
Losing in real life was somewhat understandable.
But losing in a game? That was unacceptable.
Who was he?
The second-best Tal player in the world!
"Hey. Instead of fighting, go study at school."
"I already do. I'm actually good at studying."
"Where does all that confidence even come from?"
Grumbling, Lee Dongsu stood up again and pressed his hand against his aching waist.
"Dongsu. He's Korean University material."
Gwanggam's voice came from beside him.
"No way! Stop lying. The world really is unfair."
"Well, I just worked hard."
Seo Jun shrugged.
"Hah. I'm good enough at games that I don't need to study."
After shaking out his hands, Lee Dongsu quickly raised his guard again.
"Really?"
At the same time, Seo Jun's fist shot toward him at incredible speed.
Now used to this kind of torment, Lee Dongsu had already prepared himself in advance.
It was adaptability worthy of a pro.
"Yeah. Yesterday I followed your route and beat DEttore, Dremic, and Richard too."
Of course, after getting annoyed at Seo Jun, he had challenged them while carrying a pipe and ended up dying to Dremic six times.
Richard Neville killed him four times.
As a result, Lee Dongsu acknowledged Seo Jun's skill.
This guy was different.
But the moment he acknowledged that fact, his competitive spirit didn't weaken.
If anything, it became even stronger.
Whoosh.
Seo Jun dodged effortlessly once again.
"Oh? Then why don't you try becoming a pro gamer?"
Seo Jun said it casually, but Lee Dongsu let out a sigh.
'I'm already a pro.'
Today, he planned to challenge the Tower Master.
He had no clue how Seo Jun split the lightning or how he pulled off that sound play, but he intended to crash into the challenge head-on anyway.
Because as he kept trying to follow Jin Seo Jun, he could feel himself improving.
The sparring too.
'Is this why noona Hayeon keeps challenging unknown in the training hall?'
It stimulated his desire to improve.
"Hm?"
"Are you going to catch Kwon on today's stream?"
Kwon was the name given to the last remaining ruler in Dawn of the Assassins.
"Why?"
"There's just⦠something."
"Again with the mysterious act?"
After that, the small talk stopped.
Lee Dongsu focused entirely on landing even a single hit.
And Seo Jun casually accepted everything while chatting with the people around him.
But Lee Dongsu couldn't stop overlapping Seo Jun with a certain existence in his mind.
A being that fought while leisurely talking to others nearby.
The rumored new AI said to exist in Surface.
'No way⦠Don't tell me he's actually the stage 10 unknown? Nah, that's going too far.'
Even Shin Hayeon kept challenging it nonstop.
Seo Jun sat in the cafΓ© waiting for Team Leader Kim Woonchan while listening to Alpaca's stream.
[Ha⦠Please, I just want to see that Drave clear already. Ugh!]
Kekekekeke
β It's only been 22 hours since the broadcast started, Alpaca. Don't collapse already lol
β Stay strong!
[This isn't even fun for you guys anymore, is it? Watching this has to be exhausting too.]
β I slept and came back, and nothing changed lol
β This is basically a New Year waiting room
β Wasn't the World Cup waiting room like this too?
β He can't even survive until the Earth collapses, what are you guys talking about? lol
β Don't calculate survival odds. You chose this stream yourself. Endure it to the end like a true man.
[But that's so unfair. I never chose this.]
['Some Idiot' donated 1,000 won!]
[777: If you clear that, I'll personally bring that guy over and have him teach me for freeβ]
Alpaca quickly skipped the donation message and timed out the viewer who sent it.
[Didn't I say one more donation like that gets you banned?]
β He just insta-banned him lol
β That ban speed was at the nameless-master level γ·γ·
β Then catch Drave at that reaction speed, Paca
[Oh! Since it's been over 9 hours, I got hit with the law-suit login restriction. Hohoho.]
The law suit had a login time limit.
It was a measure implemented by Surface to prevent players from neglecting their real bodies after becoming immersed in the game.
If a user's playtime exceeded 3 hours, they would be unable to reconnect for half the amount of time they had stayed logged in, forcing them to rest.
And if the login time exceeded 9 hours, the suit forcibly shut down.
Starting from noon the previous day, Alpaca had fought Dremic for a total of 18 hours, excluding the 4 hours and 30 minutes of forced downtime in between.
'Now I feel bad for him.'
Seo Jun glanced at the clock.
Current time: 10:30.
The exact time of the appointment.
[Anyway⦠I'm logging off now, so let's watch one ad during that time. Don't tell me I'm playing ads after 9 hours, okay?]
An advertisement appeared on Seo Jun's Travel screen.
'Ads, huh.'
Streamers partnered with Travel received additional sources of income, one of which was advertisements.
These ads were different from game company sponsorships.
They were internal Travel ads that appeared when viewers first entered the stream or during breaks, and the streamer earned money according to the number of viewers who watched them.
Streamers could run these ads whenever they wanted.
But if they played ads too frequently, viewer counts dropped.
That's why streamers usually preferred running them during transition periods, like when changing content or stepping away to the bathroom, just like Alpaca was doing now.
"The requirements for becoming a partnered streamer are lower than I expectedβ¦"
To become a partnered streamer, you needed at least 700 minutes of live broadcast time over the past 30 days, 7 streaming days, an average of 10 concurrent viewers, and over 30 followers.
He had already satisfied the other three conditions long ago.
But one thing was holding him back.
The number of streaming days.
"That's not something I can fix instantly."
Once he started hiring editors in the future, expenses would pile up, so he couldn't help but become more sensitive about every source of income.
[After sleeping⦠I'll continue the assassin challenge. I guess I'm finally getting old. My body's falling apart after coming out. Hahaha. Just once. Please let this one slide.]
Alpaca spoke with half-closed eyes.
Soon after, the stream ended.
The viewers seemed understanding too.
A short while later.
"Hello. I'm Kim Woonchan, the one who contacted you, Streamer."
"I'm streamer Jin Seo Jun."
Seo Jun stood up from his seat and shook Kim Woonchan's hand.
Kim Woonchan was dressed neatly without being overly formal.
Probably because Movie Soft was a foreign-owned company.
"First of all, I apologize for contacting you so suddenly. This is rather urgent."
"No, it's fine. I'm a fan anyway."
"Still, I'd like to apologize once more. If Seo Jun-nim ends up seeing this the wrong way, our side could end up in quite a difficult situation, so we had to reach you somehow. We sent quite a lot of messages, didn't we? Haha."
So he knew.
Well, they really had used every possible method to contact him.
"Well, I was a little annoyed. But what exactly is the problem�"
A bad feeling crossed Seo Jun's mind.
It wasn't one of those situations where he'd accidentally done something wrong and had to pay damages, right?
'Come to think of it, one of Dad's acquaintances is a lawyerβ¦'
"Hahaha. Well, you see, we came looking for you because of the Fragment of Order quest you're currently progressing."
"The Fragment of Order?"
"Yes. Once all the Fragments of Order are gathered, a mystery egg connected to our upcoming project appears, and the teaser video that's supposed to release alongside it⦠isn't actually finished yet."
Aha.
So that's what this was about.
'So you're asking me to delay defeating the ruler for a bit?'
Seo Jun smiled leisurely.
In this situation, he naturally held the upper hand.
"Yes, exactly. Of course, we intend to compensate you generously. It should take about six days to finish."
Kim Woonchan smiled awkwardly.
Man, saying "compensation" makes it sound like you committed a crime or something.
No matter what, a game company couldn't actually control him.
Seo Jun began thinking carefully.
'A teaser video reward, huhβ¦'
A teaser video referred to footage intentionally hiding information to spark curiosity for promotional purposes.
'It's probably not something that absolutely requires my cooperation.'
At the moment, he only had around 3,000 viewers. At most, some information might leak slightly within Korea, but it wouldn't have much impact on Movie Soft, a company operating on the global market.
In fact, even if Seo Jun refused to cooperate, they could probably turn the situation around and use it to create even more hype for the teaser.
After all, they were a corporation, not an individual.
Still, it might actually be important, so he felt like he should at least hear the proposal first.
No more, no less. As long as the offer was reasonable.
Seo Jun was willing to cooperate.
"So what exactly is the compensation?"
"Ahem, well. If you delay clearing Kwon for about six days, we'll specially grant Seo Jun-nim beta test access to our next project. It won't take over a year before beta starts."
What?
"And for the DLC and future projects, we're planning to create event and merchandise bundles related to Seo Jun-nim."
Was this guy a sucker?
Why were they offering so much?
In the past, maybe not, but for Seo Jun, who was now seriously pursuing streaming, these were extremely good conditions.
"And what do you want in return?"
"Only for you to delay defeating the ruler by six days. That's all."
Seo Jun stared at Kim Woonchan with a bewildered expression.
Is this guy a scammer?
The conditions Kim Woonchan presented weren't absolutely necessary for him, but from Seo Jun's perspective, there was practically no downside. Refusing would almost feel stranger.
"You'll accept the proposal, right?"
Seo Jun couldn't answer immediately.
Suspicion had started creeping in.
"Hahaha. I guess I didn't explain it properly. There's another condition."
At that moment, slightly awkward Korean was heard.
The foreigner who had entered the cafΓ© together with Kim Woonchan and sat at a nearby table approached them and cheerfully offered Seo Jun a handshake.
"Nice to meet you, Seo Jun. I'm Eve Fimo from Movie Soft Korea."
Kim Woonchan's superior.
Figures.
So they were planning to adjust the terms.
Maybe they'd ask for something additional in return.
As long as the request wasn't excessive, Seo Jun was willing to accept.
In fact, knowing they wanted something made him feel relieved.
"We'll also give you advertisements."
And with Eve Fimo's next words, Seo Jun's eyes filled with confusion once again.
"β¦What?"
He hadn't expected that at all.
"You mean game advertisements?"
"That's right. Is there any game from our company you're interested in? We'll arrange anything. Seo Jun just needs to play the game on stream."
A document was pushed toward Seo Jun.
Eve Fimo grinned and said:
"Oh, and we're thinking of starting at a minimum of ten million."
So now the suckers were multiplying?
Seriously, what is going on?