Chapter 52

The next day.

“Hello, everyone.”

Seojun started streaming at the exact same time as yesterday.

-Seo-hi

-g2

-Seo-hi

-Seo-hi

-Hello

Now smiling warmly at the rapidly flooding chat window as if it were only natural, Seojun started with some light conversation.

“You’re asking what I ate? I just mixed soy sauce and eggs with rice.”

It was delicious and easy to make.

“What about you guys? Or what are you planning to eat?”

It was almost time for dinner.

-Jjajangmyeon

-Chicken

-Pizza

-Caviar

The same predictable answers rolled in.

“Wow. You guys really need to stop ordering delivery food so much. Hmm, and there’s even caviar in there. If that’s real, let me have a bite too.”

-The ‘just one bite’ gremlin appears.

-Hey! Why would you buy caviar? For that money you could get twenty bowls of hot, hearty gukbap.

-The gukbap fanatic returns after a long time.

“Gukbap’s great. Alright then, let’s start the game.”

After giving enough time for people who’d received the stream notification to enter, Seojun pressed Start Game.

Naturally, the game was For the Sake of Chivalry.

Since Seojun had ended yesterday’s session in the center of the city, there were no pandas or bamboo appearing this time.

Instead, Eastern-style buildings rose around him.

“There’s one hour left until the battlefield opens. Alright then, let’s head to the Demonic Cult.”

There were several reasons Seojun was heading there.

First, because to enjoy content like outfits and equipment within the game, you had to go to your affiliated faction.

Second, because he’d arranged to meet the World’s Greatest Swordsman there.

Seojun walked out of the city.

Because movement techniques couldn’t be used inside.

“Sigh. You can move this fast.”

But outside the city, they were allowed.

And the Demonic Cult mountain was clearly located beyond the city limits.

Yesterday it had taken five whole minutes to reach the Demonic Cult gates on foot, but with movement techniques, it took less than one.

“Hello.”

Seojun greeted the swordsman standing before the gates.

The swordsman spotted Seojun and waved enthusiastically.

“Hello, Seojun-nim.”

“So, Swordsman-nim, did you finish your homework?”

The homework he’d assigned was exercising in real life.

“Of course!”

The swordsman answered confidently.

-He actually did the homework? That’s impressive.

-He really did it?

-Why is he so obedient?

-Only words? We need proof.

The swordsman, who also had his own stream running beside him, read the chat and replied.

“Don’t worry, everyone. Seojun-nim will be checking from now on. Starting tomorrow, we’re going to train together in real life.”

Question marks instantly flooded the chat, and Seojun began explaining.

“Ah. Coincidentally, Swordsman-nim attends the same university as me.”

Earlier today, while walking across campus on his way home, someone had followed behind him.

Normally, since the streets were crowded, thinking someone was following you would sound like either paranoia or celebrity syndrome.

But Seojun had definitely felt it.

And the identity of the follower was revealed the moment Seojun abruptly turned around.

Because, like Seojun, he hadn’t modified his avatar, Seojun recognized him instantly.

The World’s Greatest Swordsman.

His real name was Jeon Jaehun, and he was three years older than Seojun.

“So I just told Swordsman-nim we should train together.”

-Wow, what an insane coincidence lol.

-What university do you guys attend?

-Now I’m curious too.

“Hmm…”

Just as Seojun was debating whether or not to reveal it—

“We attend Korea University. Hehe.”

The swordsman answered first.

-??????

-Seriously?

-Being good at studying too… wow, suddenly he feels distant.

-I expected it from the streamer, but Swordsman being smart too is unexpected lololol.

-The streamer always acts reckless, but it turns out it was all highly calculated.

-CCCC

-So it’s actually true?

“Yeah, well. Why would we lie?”

Seojun had no particular intention of denying or hiding it.

Even if he didn’t reveal his university, people recognizing him sooner or later was inevitable anyway.

And he didn’t need to worry about acquaintances at school recognizing him.

Because he didn’t have any.

That was a little sad.

“Ah! Was I not supposed to say that?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Maybe I should just take a leave of absence entirely.

Anyway.

“Since we’re schoolmates—and we also live nearby—I decided to personally oversee his training.”

He’d told the swordsman to come to the gym every morning.

For free, thanks to negotiating with the gym owner.

There truly was no master as considerate as one who even took his disciple’s financial situation into account.

Definitely not because he wanted to properly train and torment someone again after such a long time.

It was simply to awaken his bodily senses a little and improve his health while he was at it.

“Oh right, Seojun-nim. And everyone else—I recorded myself training for three hours yesterday. Want to see it?”

Why did you even record that?

Without a moment of hesitation, Seojun answered.

“No.”

-So firm lol.

-Why not?

-Why would anyone want to watch a dude exercising?

-“We have the right to watch it too!”

Sigh.

What “right” were they even talking about?

“I trust Swordsman-nim.”

And even if he hadn’t worked out yesterday, Seojun could just grind him down from now on.

“Alright, enough about homework. Follow me.”

Seojun entered the Demonic Cult.

Perhaps because he was wearing the Grandmaster title, the NPCs bowed their heads and greeted him first whenever they saw him.

Leaving them behind, Seojun headed toward the Demonic Cult training grounds.

“Huh? There are a lot of people here.”

“Seriously.”

In front of the sparring platform stood Baek Wi-gang, who administered the Demonic Cult test. Yesterday, when Seojun had taken the test, there’d only been one person there at most.

But now there seemed to be over ten.

-What’s going on?

-It’s because of you, streamer.

-Why are Orthodox Faction bastards inside the Demonic Cult?

Unlike the sparring stage, the actual training grounds were empty.

Standing in a corner, Seojun took out two swords and asked the viewers,

“Because of me?”

Could this really be related to Grandmaster?

As expected, it was.

-You seriously don’t read the community forums?

-Because you got the Grandmaster title, tons of people started trying the Demonic Cult test.

-People are saying your Grandmaster title is fake.

“Fake? What kind of fake?”

Was there even any way to cheat?

Well, if remembering his past life counted as cheating, then maybe.

“Seriously.”

The Swordsman beside him, who had also been reading the chat, wore the same confused expression.

-People are saying your Grandmaster title is a scam.

-Whoa.

-I think it’s definitely a scam. That level of skill is cheating no matter how you look at it lol.

-They mean his skill is a scam lolol.

-(Link)

“Hmm.”

Seojun didn’t click the link.

The contents were obvious anyway.

The time between him first seeing the form sequence, modifying it, and then taking the test had been incredibly short.

Since they were so-called standard forms, people could assume he had prepared beforehand. But even then, Seojun himself hadn’t been playing For the Sake of Chivalry for very long.

And on top of that, a newbie obtaining a rank that had never appeared before?

Even if he’d taken first place in the training grounds, it still wasn’t easy to believe.

Simply put, it defied common sense.

“But you guys trust me, right?”

['oo' donated 10,000 won!]

[Tricks? That kind of thing requires intelligence lol. The streamer can’t even bother preparing ahead of time and just constantly does weird shit, what kind of scheme could he possibly pull off lololol.]

-To be fair, that’s true lol.

-When your body’s strong, life becomes easier for the brain!

-How many games has the streamer been first-clear in already lololol. Dude’s martial arts ego is insane.

-Wait a second! The streamer goes to Korea University. He is smart.

-Holy crap… so everything until now was just image management. Terrifying.

-Maybe he did cheat…?

Or maybe not?

Seojun shoved the increasingly derailed chat aside.

“Thanks for the donation. Anyway, let’s get to what we’re here for.”

Leaving the viewers behind, Seojun stood in front of the Swordsman.

The Swordsman faced him and asked,

“But why did we come to the training grounds? Are you going to teach me those forms you showed yesterday?”

“No.”

“…?”

“We’re obviously here to train. Just a light session before the battlefield starts.”

One real combat experience was worth more than swinging a sword a hundred times in empty air.

“Wait… don’t tell me this training means fighting you or something… right?”

“That’s exactly what it means.”

What exactly did he think training was?

“W-Wait a second. Senior? Heavenly Demon? Hold on! There’s no way I can do anything against you, Seojun-nim! Aaaah! At least teach me something before beating me up!”

“You set the pain sensitivity to maximum, right? That’s how proper training works.”

He was serious.

-I honestly knew this would happen yesterday.

-You too? Same here!

-And then he’s gonna gaslight him into thinking this is actually good for him.

-It’s not ‘lessons that become blood and flesh,’ it’s ‘lessons that spill blood’ lololol.

And the viewers peacefully watched the spectacle.

For around thirty minutes, Seojun personally crossed swords with the Swordsman while teaching him combat.

“Let’s stop here for today.”

“What kind of lesson is this? Is assault considered teaching now? Thank god virtual reality doesn’t hurt that much. Wait… did you just say today? As in there’s a tomorrow too? My ears must be broken.”

“You heard correctly. You’ll come to the gym tomorrow, right?”

“…Ha. We never should’ve exchanged phone numbers.”

“Anyway, Swordsman-nim, did you participate in yesterday’s battlefield?”

“Ah, yeah. I worked out a little first, then joined.”

“Did you attack or defend?”

“A real man attacks.”

-Wow, how did someone with that intelligence get into Korea University lol.

-Why can’t he attack on the first day?

-Fr. Casual players don’t care that much.

-I attacked yesterday too.

-Romance approved!

Well, true.

Seojun agreed with the chat.

If he himself hadn’t been aiming for the Top 16, he probably would’ve just attacked too, even if it meant giving up some positional success bonuses.

-Anyway, streamer, you’re screwed lolol.

-Feels like all the rankers are seriously preparing.

-This is why you shouldn’t have spun the roulette lol.

-Even for the streamer, this is probably hard.

-Didn’t the streamer get the most fame points yesterday though? Isn’t it possible?

-Nope. That’s just because the streamer’s build is specialized for pubstomping.

-He owns a Stage 10 AI though. Isn’t he basically the strongest already?

-The training grounds and the actual game are different.

-PVP too.

-Are you doubting the Heavenly Demon?!

Thirty minutes before the battlefield opened.

All kinds of chatter flowed through Seojun’s stream chat.

Even after his performances in the training grounds and in Dawn of the Assassins, people were still uncertain.

Because he’d never fought proper high-level players in PVP before.

“Well, after the battlefield ends…”

That was when it happened.

Someone entered the training grounds where only Seojun and the Swordsman had been.

And suddenly threw a dagger.

The training grounds, true to their name, allowed players to attack each other.

It wouldn’t actually kill him, but Seojun instinctively tilted his head back.

The dagger spun through the air, passed through the spot where his head had been moments earlier, and embedded itself into the stone floor behind him.

Seojun shifted his gaze from the dagger lodged in the ground toward the person who had thrown it.