Chapter 43
Shin Hayeon.
He had a connection with her in the past.
Not exactly a good one, though.
'So she noticed after all.'
Honestly, he had expected there was a fifty-fifty chance she'd figure it out.
Still, he thought there was no possibility they'd meet in real life, so he had just thrown out a little provocation for fun.
But thenβ
"When's your next checkup schedule?"
"Probably the same date next month? Regular examinations are once a month."
"I see. Thanks for telling me."
If they were likely to meet, then he'd better avoid her.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"There's a reason."
"Okay... but why are you here anyway, hyung? Sure, you're better than me at games, but we come here because we spend absurd amounts of time in capsules for work. You don't even stream that long."
Streamers were ordinary people.
This wasn't a hospitalβit was a research lab.
What reason would a streamer have to come here?
That was why Lee Dongsu had tried asking earlier, only for Oh Jihye to shut him down.
"Hm, I'll explain later. Let's eat first."
He was hungry.
"Sounds good. There's a really good place nearby. Mind if I recommend it?"
"Sure."
"I come around Korea University a lot because of the lab, you know. I know all the good restaurants around here... Ah. You went to Korea University, right?"
The research lab had been built near Korea University.
Lee Dongsu looked awkward, and Seojun nodded.
"Haha. Still, I bet even you haven't been to this place before, hyung."
"I see. But are we, by any chance, going to a lamb skewer place?"
"Ah."
Seojun explained the situation to Lee Dongsu.
Starting from how low his synchronization rate was, all the way to the fact that he was aiming for the streamer tournament, Rios.
"Wow. So you had that kind of story? No, goal? Anyway, I had no idea. That's insane. To guarantee a spot in the tournament, you need more viewers, right?"
"Then don't tell me you picked For the Sake of Chivalry as your second game because you were aiming for this timing? Damn, that's giving me chills."
Lee Dongsu stared at the lamb skewers rotating along the moving grill as he spoke.
"What are you talking about? More importantly, did you watch yesterday's stream?"
Seojun asked with genuine surprise.
"Of course. I always catch the VODs at least. I've donated a few times too."
So he really did have too much free time.
And donations?
"What's your Travel ID?"
Seojun suddenly became curious about Lee Dongsu's activities.
After all, Seojun beat him up every morning. You'd think some resentment would build up eventually.
"Uh... that's a secret."
"I'll give you VIP in my channel."
On Travel, streamers could give VIP status to a select few viewers in special cases.
Usually, giving VIPs to ordinary viewers could look like favoritism, so most people gave it to fellow streamers instead.
VIPs could still chat regardless of chat restrictions like slow mode, subscriber-only mode, or follower-only mode.
And because VIPs appeared at the top of viewer lists during broadcasts, it was easy to tell whether they were watching.
"No thanks. You're just trying to autopsy my account, aren't you?"
Lee Dongsu narrowed his eyes, and Seojun felt disappointed.
Sharp instincts.
"How'd you figure that out?"
"I'm not that easy to bait, hehe. Anyway, hyung. You chose For the Sake of Chivalry as your second game because of Battlefield, right? Seriously insane."
Lee Dongsu pulled a fully cooked skewer off the grill and slid the meat off with his chopsticks.
Seojun copied him.
"Battlefield?"
"Yeah."
"What's that?"
"...Huh?"
"I asked what Battlefield is."
"You don't know what Battlefield is?"
"Even though you're playing For the Sake of Chivalry?"
Seojun calmly ate his meat while Lee Dongsu briefly made a dumbfounded expression before recalling Seojun's past broadcasts.
Considering everything he'd done so farβ
That actually made perfect sense!
Instantly accepting it, Lee Dongsu started organizing his thoughts.
"Ah, right. Of course you wouldn't know. Basically, starting today, For the Sake of Chivalry is holding an event called Battlefield, and it's insanely popular."
"Really?"
"Honestly, during Battlefield season, basically every For the Sake of Chivalry player focuses on it. Even players from other games pay attention."
"It's that big?"
"Yeah. It runs for the next three weeks. Anyway, during Battlefield season, nothing you do is really going to attract attention unless you participate in Battlefield."
He hadn't known that.
Seojun dipped the lamb into seasoning and thought it over.
"Then conversely, if I perform well in Battlefield, all the attention would focus on me?"
"Exactly."
"So what exactly is Battlefield?"
"Well, simply put, it's a game mode where factions fight over territory like a giant land-grab game. When the event period ends, the faction controlling the highest-value territories wins."
"Highest-value?"
"Yeah. Not all territories are worth the same amount. Anyway, it gets complicated if you go into detail. I haven't properly done it myself either."
Hearing that, Seojun fell into thought.
Battlefield started today.
'Was this why Eve Paimo recommended For the Sake of Chivalry?'
The timing lined up perfectly.
That is, if Seojun participated in Battlefield.
"Ah, and in Battlefield, you can build contribution points. The Top 16 get invited to an official tournament hosted by MovieSoft, so naturally all the public attention focuses on them."
"Hmm. Top 16..."
Seojun thought deeply.
If he didn't participate in Battlefield, it would go against his goal of increasing viewer numbers as much as possible before Rios began.
Based only on Lee Dongsu's explanation, it almost sounded better to find another game instead.
But on the other hand, what if he entered Battlefield and failed to achieve meaningful results?
Then it might've been better not to participate at all.
From the sound of it, this was short-term large-scale competitive content, and not only faction competition, but ranking and hierarchy among individual players seemed intense as well.
Considering that the core concept of his streamβand his greatest assetβwas his skill, content that directly ranked individuals like this was troublesome.
Because if he did itβ
He had to become the best.
'Just hearing about it casually already sounds brutal...'
While Seojun was thinking things over, Lee Dongsu opened his phone and entered the group chat.
[BanditKing]: Is it really that hard to get into the Top 16 in Battlefield?
JustOneCoin: Yep. Basically impossible. You need good strategy, luck, and above all, rankers manipulate matchmaking too kkkkk
[NamgungFamilyErrandBoy]: Yeah, it's hard.
JustOneCoin: Why? You joining Battlefield too?
[NamgungFamilyErrandBoy]: Bandit, come join the Orthodox Faction too kkkkk
[BanditKing]: Then what exactly do you need to make Top 16?
JustOneCoin: Just be damn good. Honestly, strategy and all that doesn't matter if you've got that.
[BanditKing]: I see. Thanks thanks.
Lee Dongsu closed the chatroom.
Then he thought about it.
Was Seojun's skill level merely what JustOneCoin described as "damn good"?
The answer wasβ
Yes.
"With your skill level, I think you could actually do it though?"
This was someone who had beaten Shin Hayeon and displayed absurd levels of skill!
Back when he didn't know Seojun's synchronization rate was low, Lee Dongsu had seriously considered appealing to his coach somehow to recruit him.
Not that he was the team owner or anything.
"You never know."
But Seojun's answer was unexpected.
"If it were purely a swordsmanship duel, maybe. But this is still a game."
"Ah, really?"
If every game were like the sparring arena, Seojun was confident he would never lose even once.
But most games contained countless elements beyond swordsmanship that determined victory. If Seojun, who only knew the systems superficially, faced people who utilized all those elements to their limits, then the gap in sword skill could be overcome.
Shin Hayeon from seven years ago immediately came to mind as an example.
'That's why it was fun, though.'
Of course, he had never lost.
At least, that was how he saw it.
Anyway! Battlefield sounded like it would be a huge hassle.
Maybe it would be better to just pick another gameβ
"Then are you not doing it? That's a shame. It sounded fun. In the last event tournament, didn't they give the winner something like 30 million won in prize money?"
...He made his decision.
He should participate after all.
No need to avoid it.
"Let's hurry up and finish eating."
It absolutely was not because of the prize money.
SeohaSeohaTravel hiIs this the famous unknown stream?Hiya
The moment Seojun started the stream, the viewer count instantly surpassed 2,000.
The number kept climbing rapidly, and despite the screen still being black, countless chat messages flew by.
'They said the sparring arena effect would last through today too.'
Seojun waited briefly before turning on the screen and greeting everyone.
"Hello, everyone."
Hi2SeohaTravel hi??? Something feels different though?Isn't this real life?Looks like itThe streamer's sitting in a chair right now to begin withNo way... PC game???
People figured it out immediately.
"That's right. This is my room."
Seojun slightly moved his chair aside so the camera attached to the computer could capture the background behind him.
Though all the camera really showed was a bed.
He moved the chair back into frame and continued speaking.
"I'm starting here today. I'll launch For the Sake of Chivalry a little later."
A chatting stream? Love itCan't resist Just ChattingLet's play PC games!
["SoThen" donated 5,000 won!]
[What do you even do in real life?]
Leaving behind the 2D lobby lolObviously a PC gameBan the PC game addicts! Mods!
"Thank you for the donation, SoThen. That was a great question."
Seojun paused briefly and adjusted the streaming screen.
The webcam footage that had filled the screen shrank down into the bottom-right corner, and his computer monitor appeared on stream instead.
"Today, we've got... a roulette wheel."
On the screen was one of those common roulette sites that appeared when you searched "roulette" in a browser.
???What's he trying to do?The streamer usually isn't like this...Oh no! Gambling addict spottedIs he choosing a faction?
Seojun read the chat and snorted softly.
"No, I'm not addicted to gambling. And I'm not choosing my faction either. I already picked one."
???Oppa is always like this. We're breaking up!I still haven't forgotten the Christina quest skipping disaster. We can't trust whatever the streamer decides anymoreHow was that a disaster lolReflect the viewers' opinions! Reflect them!Why do you get to choose your faction by yourself?
Seojun slowly read through the chat with a satisfied smile.
Fortunately, the viewers were rolling with it well.
There was value in always doing whatever he wanted.
"Anyway, everyone, I'm planning to participate in Battlefield too."
So?Is there even a For the Sake of Chivalry streamer who doesn't do Battlefield? lolWait, you didn't already know about it?
Unfortunately, no.
Still, after getting home, he had gathered information about Battlefield.
And the more he learned about it, the more attractive it sounded.
It genuinely seemed fun. Honestly, he probably would've joined even without prize money.
'If it works out, great. If not, whatever.'
At some point, the prize money had already become secondary.
"It's not just that. While doing Battlefield, I'm thinking about making public pledges. Wouldn't that make things more fun?"
So Seojun planned to add another layer of entertainment to the stream.
What kind of pledges?Suddenly?γ γ sounds fun thoughWhat's the content?
"I'm planning to decide that together with you guys starting now."
There were many things that could become pledges.
They could be related to faction rankings, or maybe individual contribution rankings.
They could involve conquering at least one specific region, or making another faction defect.
There were all sorts of possibilities.
Hmm, what would be good?Now he's making us do the work lolSo the roulette wheel is for deciding the pledges?
"The roulette wheel is for deciding the punishment if I fail the pledge."
Because naturally, punishments were an essential part of pledges.
But thenβ
Before the pledge itself had even been decided, suggestions immediately began pouring in.
Punishment? Kkkkk you're deadHearing the word punishment already makes me drool kkkkkkkkkUse cat-speak for a month. How about that?Bald streamer experience incoming kkkDress as a girl and go record reactions at a clubHow about dancing in a magical girl outfit in front of your university's main gate?
For the first time, the eyes of Seojunβwho hadn't even blinked through countless brutal battlefields in his previous lifeβslightly trembled.
Maybe he just shouldn't do this after all.
He felt like he had seriously underestimated his viewers.