Chapter 66
CHAPTER 66
Battlefield, Day 8.
One of the Unorthodox Faction’s territories was occupied by an attack from the Orthodox Faction, but as if they had expected it, the Unorthodox Faction also captured one of the Orthodox Faction’s territories in return.
Day 9.
Both the Unorthodox and Orthodox Factions recovered the territories they had lost.
Chapter 66
Battlefield, Day 8.
One of the Unorthodox Faction’s territories was occupied by an attack from the Orthodox Faction, but as if they had expected it, the Unorthodox Faction also captured one of the Orthodox Faction’s territories in return.
Day 9.
Both the Unorthodox and Orthodox Factions recovered the territories they had lost.
They were merely throwing light jabs at each other.
The signs of the battlefield truly beginning were starting to appear.
And meanwhile, within the Demonic Cult—
Nothing happened at all.
Just like before, those assigned to defense defended, and those assigned to attack attacked.
Of course, there was no change.
The ranked players of the Demonic Cult had told Seojun in “At Least Second Place” that they were conserving their strength, though it wasn’t exactly convincing.
The Orthodox and Unorthodox Factions also didn’t seem to pay much attention to the Demonic Cult.
“Wait, what? Your capsule was borrowed?”
Taewoo’s eyes widened as he ran on the treadmill.
“And if you win Rios, they’ll give you that capsule, so that’s what you’re aiming for?”
“Yeah.”
“Holy crap. They’re lending something that expensive to just some streamer? There isn’t even a rental service for it! Can a company seriously do that? Isn’t that preferential treatment?”
“It’s the company’s choice. If you don’t like it, stop using virtual reality and go protest.”
Go boycott them or something.
“...Not to that extent. I mean, I guess they can lend it out.”
“Oh right. Come to think of it, that thing you’re using is the brand-new premium capsule that just came out, right?”
“Yep.”
“Damn. Seriously. They’re lending something that expensive to just some streamer? There isn’t even a rental service for it! Can a company seriously do that? Isn’t that preferential treatment?”
“It’s the company’s choice. If you don’t like it, stop using virtual reality and go protest.”
Go boycott them or something.
“...Not to that extent. I mean, I guess they can lend it out.”
“Oh right. Come to think of it, that thing you’re using is the brand-new premium capsule that just came out, right?”
“Yep.”
“Damn. Seriously. They’re lending something that expensive to just some streamer—”
Knew it.
If he was going to back down immediately, he shouldn’t have said anything in the first place.
“But why though?”
Hm. Hadn’t he mentioned it before?
“Because I’ve got a special constitution.”
Seojun stopped the treadmill.
“Huh? What kind of special constitution?”
I see.
Guess he never mentioned it even after becoming a streamer.
Seojun explained the situation to Taewoo.
“Ah, so that happened. Wait, then the story about you using capsules back in the day was real? I thought it was just one of your usual exaggerations.”
Taewoo also stopped running and gulped down water.
“When have I ever exaggerated?”
“You do it all the time. So what was your old ID?”
“And what would you do even if you knew?”
“I’m curious. Weren’t you insanely good back then too?”
“No. I sucked back then.”
“No way. You seem like the kind of guy who’s been exactly the same since elementary school.”
He didn’t know what Taewoo meant by “the same,” but somehow it still annoyed him.
“Anyway, if you can’t win Rios, you’ll have to buy the capsule yourself, right? Then are you quitting streaming?”
“No.”
“Oh? Unexpected. You said the new model was mandatory for you. You’re really gonna pay for it yourself?”
It was something he had already decided long ago.
“I have to buy it. Not much else I can do.”
Seojun answered casually.
“Damn. Is this the dignity of an 8,000-viewer streamer? You’ve almost caught up to me already.”
The standard for a mid-tier streamer was at least 10,000 regular viewers.
And Taewoo was considered pretty successful even among mid-tier streamers.
So saying Seojun had “caught up” was a stretch.
Also, in terms of consistent viewers, Seojun had only made it halfway there.
“Quit talking nonsense. Anyway, there’s obviously gonna be a limit eventually. I’m wondering what I should do.”
Rios would begin two weeks after the battlefield event ended.
Until then, he wanted to increase his viewers as much as possible.
“Well, someone at your level should still be able to participate in Rios.”
“But I still don’t have 10,000 viewers.”
Usually, most mid-tier streamers with 10,000 regular viewers got accepted if they applied.
They were called mid-tier, but there actually weren’t that many of them.
“True. Even for me, if I couldn’t even participate in the tournament and ended up forced to buy a capsule worth over 100 million won, I’d be pretty depressed.”
Failing after trying was fine.
But being denied even the opportunity to try—that was unbearable.
“Well, someone at your level should still be able to participate in Rios.”
“But I still don’t have 10,000 viewers.”
Usually, most mid-tier streamers with 10,000 regular viewers got accepted if they applied.
They were called mid-tier, but there actually weren’t that many of them.
“True. Even for me, if I couldn’t even participate in the tournament and ended up forced to buy a capsule worth over 100 million won, I’d be pretty depressed.”
Failing after trying was fine.
But being denied even the opportunity to try—that was unbearable.
“I should reduce the chances of failing as much as possible.”
“That’s true.”
Seojun leaned against the front of the treadmill and looked around the gym.
One man stood out, exercising with exaggerated movements and loud shouts.
“Still, how did he end up like that?”
Taewoo leaned beside him and looked over too.
“Seriously. Didn’t he hate this place when he first came here?”
“He did.”
“That was because of you, wasn’t it? You kept dragging him into the ring.”
“That’s true too.”
The identity of that man—
The greatest swordsman under heaven he had met in real life.
At some point, he had become crazily obsessed with fitness and was now enthusiastically lifting weights alongside a group of heavily muscled middle-aged men nearby.
“One! Two! Three! Four! Five!”
“That’s it! That’s how you do it! Young man, your posture is excellent!”
Watching the scene, Seojun clicked his tongue.
Martial arts were not something obtained through training like that.
“Martial arts, by their very nature, are…”
“Shut up, old man. I’ve been hearing that since high school.”
“Right.”
Had this happened back then too?
Seojun couldn’t remember, but he accepted it anyway.
“So. What are you gonna do about viewers? The battlefield buff has its limits, right?”
“Well, yeah.”
Calling it a limit felt a little vague.
The number of viewers gained through the battlefield was far greater than expected.
And it would probably continue growing for a while.
Still, now that 10,000 viewers was within sight, he had become greedy for a safer shot at entering Rios.
Well, who knew what would happen.
If someone had told him a year ago that he’d be streaming like this now—and actually enjoying it—would he have believed them?
“Ah! I think I know a guaranteed method.”
“What?”
“Intentionally create controversy. Attack and insult famous streamers.”
“?”
“Then you could hit 30,000 viewers too. Seriously.”
As expected, his friend was out of his mind.
Seojun sighed.
“Or quit the battlefield and do the punishment challenge right away. If you do that, you’d probably hit 50,000 live viewers. Seriously, what are you even worried about? Right, brother? Or sister?”
Did this idiot not realize that option was even worse?
老老米
Seojun moved away from Taewoo, who kept spewing nonsense.
In the ring, Lee Dongsu was sparring with another fighter.
“Why’d you come over here? Shoo, shoo.”
The gym owner waved his hand defensively the moment Seojun approached.
“That guy you brought over and bullied for a while is over there working out now, so hurry up and go back there.”
To think he was trying this hard to chase him away.
Seojun looked dumbfounded.
“I just came to watch.”
“Really? You’re really just gonna watch? Hm?”
“Well then, what else could I even do besides watch?”
Hearing that, the gym owner’s face changed to resemble Seojun’s.
Then he spoke with a mixture of grievance and resentment.
“Beat up fighters.”
“?”
“Beat up the same ones again.”
“Calling over the guys you already beat up just to beat them up again.”
“No…”
“Hovering around them from the side, backseating nonstop, and then beating them up if they got annoyed.”
Did he really do that?
“I don’t think it was that bad.”
Honestly, he didn’t think the man needed to react so seriously.
“Are you even human?”
“Where are you gonna find someone as ordinary as me? Since when was I ever that violent?”
“Wow… wow. Seriously. You!”
The gym owner grabbed the back of his neck.
Just then, Lee Dongsu finished his sparring match and stepped down from the ring.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing. And Seojun, whatever you’re planning to do, please keep it reasonable. Got it?”
A sniffling sound could be heard.
Hm. He must’ve been having a rough time lately.
“He’s older too, so I should be understanding.”
Seojun simply brushed it off as the man having his own circumstances, while Lee Dongsu removed his headgear and approached him.
“Hyung, did you know?”
Seojun stepped back slightly because of the sweat.
“What?”
“I’m playing the battlefield too.”
“Really? Which faction?”
“I was originally in Nokrim, but I switched to the Demonic Cult because of you.”
“Why bother?”
“…”
Was that not the reaction he expected?
“What’s your nickname?”
“Bandit King.”
“Then you should’ve just stayed in the Unorthodox Faction.”
“No…”
The reason he chose the Demonic Cult—
Wasn’t it obviously because of his nickname?
After all, nicknames and concepts were supposed to match.
“Well, Demonic Cult guys do kinda feel like bandits, so maybe it fits?”
That was true.
Now that he thought about it, the Demonic Cult in his previous life really wasn’t much different from bandits.
They were just stronger because they knew martial arts, and their organization was tighter because of their cult leader. Fundamentally, they were no different from thieves.
“Haha, I guess so… Ah, but please keep my identity secret. It’s a smurf account.”
“A smurf?”
He’d heard about that before.
Professional players apparently got an extra capsule account as an exception.
And if requested, they could apparently get up to three.
“That’s pretty interesting. Alright.”
“Having a second account is nice because you can practice or play casually without pressure. Anyway, how much fame have you gathered, hyung?”
“I haven’t checked, so I don’t know.”
“Really? One of the ranked players I know predicted you’d probably have the most.”
“Who knows.”
Since Seojun’s actions had all been publicly exposed, many people assumed he had accumulated an enormous amount of fame.
Up to now, he had ended most games at a level far beyond simple pub-stomping, and he had achieved unprecedented records in raids.
It was more than enough to make the ranked players wary of him.
“Still, they said not to let your guard down.”
“Hm?”
“Right after today’s battlefield ends, the contribution rankings become fully public, right?”
“Right.”
A system designed to encourage rivalry among the top-ranked players.
Stuff like this definitely made the game more fun.
“And the next day’s mode is martial arts matches, right? They said things could completely flip around there.”
“Ah. I know already.”
“Oh, really? I thought you might not know, so I wanted to tell you just in case. Good thing you did.”
It was true that Seojun had been playing rather recklessly until now.
But he wasn’t the type to jump into things without any research at all.
He felt slightly wronged.
“In tomorrow’s game, contribution points still only count for up to four matches, but you can keep playing endlessly to farm fame points, right?”
“Yeah.”
It was vicious.
First, they showed everyone how far behind they were and how far ahead others had gotten, and then the next day they gave them a chance to overturn it.
Still, it wouldn’t be easy to properly exploit the unlimited matches.
Since players would be matched against opponents of similar skill.
“I’ve already researched all this too.”
“True.”
Lee Dongsu nodded in agreement.
“That somehow annoys me.”
“No, not at all.”
“Anyway, where’d you meet that hyung of yours?”
“Ah, I made some friends while gaming. Why?”
“No reason. It just didn’t seem like you were in the faction chatroom.”
Seojun recalled the Demonic Cult chatroom that felt pitiful just from hearing its name.
“At Least Second Place.”
Anyway, he didn’t think there had been a user named Bandit King in there.
“There was something like that?”
So he really just hadn’t known.
“Wait, I’ll invite you to the Demonic Cult faction chat.”
“Okay.”
Seojun invited Lee Dongsu into the faction chatroom.
“Oh, but why’s the chatroom name like this? Is this really where the ranked players gather?”
Regrettably, yes.
-Anyway, welcome. Even if you’re a spy, welcome.
[At Least Second Place]
-A newbie.
-You’re a ranked player? Welcome.
-You were Unorthodox? Welcome.
-You’ve never done battlefield before? Welcome.
-Anyway, welcome. Even if you’re a spy, welcome.
[At Least Second Place]
-A newbie.
-You’re a ranked player? Welcome.
-You were Unorthodox? Welcome.
-You’ve never done battlefield before? Welcome.
He hadn’t even participated in the conversation much, so why did he feel so embarrassed?
“Hmm… maybe I should just leave.”
Lee Dongsu muttered seriously.
Looks like he lost all attachment instantly.
“Why? They’re welcoming you. That’s nice.”
“Seriously?”
“No.”
Seojun answered firmly.
Honestly, it did look kind of pathetic.
Still, despite everything, Lee Dongsu adapted to the atmosphere surprisingly quickly.
Just like a sociable male high schooler would.
-Why did you join so late?
-It’s my first battlefield, so I didn’t know a chatroom like this existed. But don’t worry, I’ve been collecting fame continuously since the start of this battlefield.
-Nobody was worried. As fellow members of the Demonic Cult, we’re satisfied as long as you enjoy the game.
-Yes.
-This Bandit King bows his head before the senior Demonic Cult members!
-Welcome, Mountain Lord!
-Mountain Lord, my ass. Anyway, welcome.
-Why did you join so late?
-It’s my first battlefield, so I didn’t know a chatroom like this existed. But don’t worry, I’ve been collecting fame continuously since the start of this battlefield.
-Nobody was worried. As fellow members of the Demonic Cult, we’re satisfied as long as you enjoy the game.
-Yes.
-This Bandit King bows his head before the senior Demonic Cult members!
-Welcome, Mountain Lord!
-Mountain Lord, my ass. Anyway, welcome.
His mental defenses seemed weak.
-By the way, Heavenly Demon-nim, how much contribution and fame have you accumulated?
-I’m curious too.
-Is there anyone higher than him?
-It’ll be revealed today. Just wait.
People all over the place seemed extremely interested in his contribution score.
To change the subject, Seojun typed into the chat.
-Anyway, are we not attacking again today?
-Nope.
-We must defend.
-And if the enemies attack?
-That doesn’t mean we can launch an attack ourselves.
-Ahem. We are conserving our strength.
-Everything for second place!