Chapter 72
CHAPTER 72
Chapter 72
The next day, 6:30 PM.
Seo-jun turned on his stream in front of his room computer.
Today he needed to stay fully focused for three straight hours, so going into the capsule already would have been too much.
“Hello, everyone.”
Even just moments ago, Seo-jun had been checking the community posts related to him.
As he loosened up his hands, he watched the viewer count steadily climb.
-Hello
-I’ve been waiting for this!
-I’m gonna listen to Bangju’s commentary later, but for now I’m staying here.
People kept pouring in.
As if yesterday’s 15,000 viewers hadn’t been a fluke, the count shot past 10,000 in an instant.
‘At this rate, I’ve at least reached the level of a mid-sized streamer.’
Even if it was only temporary, that was fine.
Once Bangju started his stream, even more people would flood in.
More than anything—
Seo-jun had no intention of losing today.
-Lmao is provoking the entire community really necessary?
-How dare a demonic cult bastard act like this!
-You’re dead today.
-Honestly wasn’t yesterday a bit too much?
-I’m actually scared seeing this blow up so much.
-LMAOOO he really did just recklessly throw gasoline everywhere.
The stream had barely started, yet complaints were already flooding the chat.
Since he had ended the broadcast right after yesterday’s donation, it seemed people still had a lot they wanted to say.
That was partly why he had started early—to talk things out beforehand.
Then he should answer properly.
“Everyone, if there’s something I can’t do, I’ll say I can’t do it.”
That was all he said.
-LMAOOOOO
-He’s not wrong though
-So basically you’re saying everything you said yesterday is something you can do?
Even when he spoke vaguely, there were still people who understood perfectly.
Smiling, Seo-jun casually continued chatting.
[‘ScamDice’ donated 100,000 won!]
[Are you really confident you won’t lose even once today?]
“Of course. Ah, and thank you for the donation yesterday too. Thanks to you, I got a good night’s sleep.”
Seo-jun thanked the donor while replying to donations, then suddenly clapped his hands as if he had remembered something.
“Should we do a point bet for the first time in a while?”
This time actually seemed worth doing.
The reason Seo-jun rarely opened prediction betting until now was because the outcomes had been too obvious.
If everyone just bet on him winning, what fun would that be?
And deliberately losing just to make things entertaining was ridiculous too.
But today?
-Let’s go! Finally!
-Do you know how long it’s been since a betting stream?!
-I’m putting all 250k points in.
-Woof woof! Woof woof!
-The moment betting opens everyone turns into barking dogs lmao
-Finally our glorious tradition returns.
Seo-jun laughed and opened the channel point prediction.
“Seo-jun won’t lose even once” versus “He’ll lose at least once.”
“I think this one’s actually gonna be close. Think about it. My opponents are all veteran rankers. Do you really think I can avoid losing even a single time?”
-You’re the last person who should be saying that lololol
-I became convinced the moment he said that. He seriously believes he won’t lose once.
-The Seo-jun experts are here lmao
-We really don’t want to see him succeed lolol
The longtime viewers said things like that while betting on Seo-jun never losing.
Meanwhile, new viewers saw the newly opened betting pool as an opportunity and piled onto the opposite side.
-What are these resident viewers talking about? LOL obviously you bet he loses at least once.
-Thanks to these idiot regulars, I’ll gladly take their points!
-This is actually becoming a 50/50 split?
-Let’s grab that easy 2x payout first.
-Free national treasury distribution today.
6:40 PM.
“Hello, everyone!”
Bangju’s stream finally started.
Normally, people continued watching the stream they were already in.
That was why the massive audience from yesterday’s stream—over 70,000 viewers—began rapidly filling Bangju’s broadcast as well.
10,000.
20,000.
40,000.
60,000.
The hardcore players who grinded matches every single day would probably finish their four daily games before joining.
But most viewers weren’t like that.
Today, they could simply sit back and watch the stream like a sports match.
Of course, Bangju himself was used to large audiences.
Still—
‘Wow. Growth speed at this level isn’t something you see easily.’
Usually, only massive events—like the final day of faction wars determining whether the Orthodox or Unorthodox faction would dominate—brought viewers in this quickly.
Yesterday’s provocation had worked almost too well.
Had everyone really been waiting for this?
-When’s Cheonsalseong getting challenged?
-Isn’t provoking everyone just normal behavior for a Demonic Cult guy?
-Let’s go!
-The hype is insane.
-Are we really getting a full-course meal of ranker fights today?
-Restore the honor of the Unorthodox faction!
-Is today a battle between whether the Orthodox rankers win first or the Unorthodox rankers win first? lol
After around ten minutes of casual chatting—
[Viewers: 90,000]
They surpassed 90,000 viewers.
At this rate, even 100,000 seemed possible.
It felt like a number even major corporate streamers could only achieve through huge-scale events, yet they were hitting it from the very start.
The reason people were this excited was simple:
Up until now, Seo-jun’s actions had proven he wasn’t all talk.
‘He’s Rank 1 in contribution points, after all.’
Bangju swallowed nervously.
This match—
If Seo-jun lost immediately from the very beginning, it would become a total disaster.
The viewers could riot, and public opinion might instantly turn against him.
Of course, there was nothing Bangju himself could do about that.
Everything depended entirely on—
“Hello.”
—this streamer currently logging into the game.
“Seo-jun-nim! We already hit 90,000 viewers. How many do you have on your side?”
“Looks like around 15,000 right now. I’ll sync the stream screens.”
They were streaming separately.
“Alright, is it working now?”
Normally, collaboration streams were beneficial either way, but this joint broadcast especially had a lot to gain for both sides.
Seo-jun could use Bangju’s audience exposure to gather even more viewers.
And Bangju, by standing at the center of this massive issue, could once again prove that he was the face streamer of For the Sake of Chivalry.
“All that matters is that the results turn out well!”
Even if Seo-jun ended up losing, Bangju silently prayed that at least the matches would be entertaining.
“Alright, the screen sync is working properly now.”
Without any technical issues, Seo-jun’s screen connected smoothly.
The rehearsal had definitely paid off.
Seo-jun’s gameplay appeared on Bangju’s stream for all the viewers to see.
“Then it’s about time to start. I’ll step out now. Fighting!”
After saying goodbye, Bangju exited the capsule and sat down at the computer prepared beforehand.
At the bottom of Seo-jun’s game screen, viewers could now see Bangju sitting in his chair.
“Hello.”
-He’s here lol
-So you were greeting us from inside the game?!
-This setup is perfect!
-Bangju getting carried for free again today
“Haha. I’ll be commentating from here. I’ll need to spectate in between, and honestly using the computer is more comfortable. Hohoho.”
On-screen, Seo-jun moved toward the duel arena and started matchmaking.
The screen transitioned.
“Alright! The first match has officially begun! Seo-jun chose the central region where the Demonic Cult, Orthodox Faction, and Unorthodox Faction all collide. That’s to prevent any single faction from monopolizing the stream-sniping attempts.”
Just because the area bordered all three factions didn’t mean all three would appear in one match.
It simply meant the matchmaking pool was broader.
His position: Defense.
“And today’s game mode is Duel Mode. Duel Mode is a one-on-one match fought inside a small map. Best two out of three rounds.”
There wasn’t anything especially unique about Duel Mode.
No teams.
Pure individual skill decided victory and defeat.
“And the opponent is… ah! Just an ordinary player.”
Bangju sighed dramatically.
-First match failed to snipe him
-What did that poor guy do wrong?
-It’s not failure. They’re intentionally not sniping yet.
On-screen, the opponent recognized Seo-jun’s face and nickname.
[Ah, crap! Why did I have to meet him?!]
Bangju shook his head.
“You’re asking if the rankers are avoiding him? Well… since the first four matches are important for contribution points, it wouldn’t be strange if they avoided sniping him. Honestly, it’s the logical choice.”
The first match ended anticlimactically.
Because the opener was so uneventful, most viewers expected Seo-jun to comfortably win at least the first four games before things got serious.
That expectation shattered in Match Two.
-Ohhhhh lololol
-No way he met one already?!
-Did he mess up?
-As if a ranker would make that mistake
-A crisis already in game four!
-This is delicious from the start
[GraceOfTheUnorthodox]
The familiar-looking nickname appearing on the interface, combined with chat’s reaction, made it obvious.
From his second game onward, a major opponent had appeared.
‘Met him earlier than expected.’
When talking with Bangju earlier, they thought the point gap Seo-jun had built would likely prevent him from meeting top players until after four matches—or at least match him against much lower-ranked opponents first.
So this was unexpected.
“Contribution Rank 5? Wow. Even better.”
No idea why he chose to snipe this early, though.
“Let’s go.”
Seo-jun liked how clear the objective ahead of him was.
The law of the game.
[The match will now begin.]
Duel Mode had 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 formats.
And naturally, the more participants there were, the larger the map became.
Which meant—
Today’s 1v1 map was tiny.
So tiny that taking only a few steps from the spawn point would bring you face-to-face with the enemy.
The first exchange would be simple probing.
This was Seo-jun’s first time facing true top-tier players.
“Hello. I’m currently Rank 5, GraceOfTheUnorthodox.”
The opponent greeted him.
So it really wasn’t accidental matchmaking.
Feeling a slight sense of underhandedness, Seo-jun smiled as he replied.
“Right. And I’m the Heavenly Demon.”
-LMAOOOOOOOO
-I didn’t expect this kind of roleplay again today
-Heavenly Demon villain mode activated lol
-Ma-jun personality level maxed out
-I really need him to lose once
“Hoho. They say the early bird catches the worm, so I came first. You’re not upset, are you?”
Oh.
So he was provoking him too.
In that case, Seo-jun couldn’t stay quiet.
“The thing is, you know? Worms get eaten by birds no matter when they wake up. But if they wake up too early, all they do is shorten their already short lives.”
“Haha.”
The opponent maintained a composed expression, but he couldn’t completely hide the twitch at the corners of his mouth.
Seo-jun didn’t know it, but GraceOfTheUnorthodox was one of the people who had used multiple forum accounts to stir up controversy about him.
“Go ahead and attack first.”
Seo-jun slowly approached while maintaining proper tension in his body.
Trash talk ended here.
Now it was time to prove things with the sword.
Even in a 1v1 duel, strategy existed.
Step.
Step.
The distance slowly closed.
“Hah. This is fun. Then I’ll graciously make the first move.”
The moment the opponent finished speaking, he instantly narrowed the gap.
The sect GraceOfTheUnorthodox had chosen was the Assassin Sect.
The Assassin Sect specialized in stealth and speed.
Not just movement speed, but attack speed as well.
Their light-footwork techniques were also faster than those of other sects.
In faction wars, that allowed them to create variables through unpredictable movement and hit-and-run tactics.
So what about in a 1v1?
The enemy’s body shot forward like an ambush.
Using light-footwork to become even faster, he lunged directly for Seo-jun’s throat.
The preparation stance had lasted slightly longer than expected.
‘A heavy strike? Rankers usually avoid using heavy attacks recklessly, but he’s opening with it?’
Heavy attacks dealt massive damage, but if parried, the attacker could be left staggered.
Against skilled opponents, swinging such a large attack was basically the same as saying, “Please parry me.”
Having intentionally given up the initiative, Seo-jun raised his sword to deflect it.
Even for a heavy strike, it was fast.
Was that the point?
Still, the idea that he wouldn’t be able to react to someone charging him head-on was absurd.
Clang!
It was a light clash meant to test each other.
And from that single exchange, Seo-jun felt a trace of admiration.
‘The parry failed.’
The opponent immediately retrieved his blade and flowed into the next motion.
Seo-jun observed the subtle change in movement and analyzed what had just happened.
‘Did he slightly twist the trajectory right before contact?’
Making full use of speed advantages—
That truly was the mark of a veteran player.
So the heavy attack hadn’t been random after all.
At this rate, today’s stream was going to be even more entertaining than expected.