Chapter 26
Thud!
A blue boxing glove landed squarely on Lee Dongsu’s face.
Thud, thud!
A series of punches then pounded into his abdomen.
“Ugh.”
Lee Dongsu briefly clutched his waist and staggered before regaining his composure and raising his guard.
People around him watched with great interest as he was hit, but to him, only the opponent in front of him mattered.
“Director, is this guy really training to be a fighter? Why is he so weak?”
An opening!
Seo Jun, who was standing in front of him, turned his head to the director.
Normally, attacking at this moment would be bad manners.
However, Lee Dongsu had already taken quite a beating from Seo Jun the previous day and had become accustomed to his rhythm.
Train like it’s the real thing!
“Haa!”
A straight punch.
Even though he hadn’t learned much, Lee Dongsu’s punch was properly executed.
Perfect timing, perfect form, and a distracted opponent.
It was the kind of attack that might catch an unguarded opponent off guard.
Tsk. But the opponent was Seo Jun.
Even while looking to the side, Seo Jun dodged effortlessly and countered with a one-two punch.
Of all people, it had to be Seo Jun.
A murmur of admiration arose from the onlookers.
“Aaah! Damn it.”
In the end, Lee Dongsu collapsed, clutching his stomach.
“Hey! You stinging nettle of a brat! Didn’t I tell you to take it easy? And he’s not a fighter in training! Come here, you!”
The director shouted as he approached the ring.
He grabbed the ropes and stepped over to catch Seo Jun.
Sensing danger, Seo Jun prepared to descend from the opposite side of the ring.
“Oh, really? He’s got some talent, though.”
The director, who had been halfway over the ropes, saw Seo Jun preparing to step down and gave up on catching him.
“Ugh. I should just…! Ugh, my back.”
“So, is this guy just the best fighter at school?”
Seo Jun downgraded his assessment of Lee Dongsu from a fighter-in-training to just a high schooler who’s good at fighting.
Despite this misunderstanding, the director didn’t reveal Lee Dongsu’s true identity.
That’s because Lee Dongsu had asked him not to.
Lee Dongsu was too embarrassed to reveal his true identity to Seo Jun.
‘If I had at least won in the game, I would have proudly revealed who I am.’
After being thoroughly schooled by Seo Jun the previous day, he went back to the company building, turned off his stream, and started playing Assassin’s Dawn.
After more than fifteen attempts, he finally defeated Etorre in the tutorial and was shocked.
He could accept being bested in real life, but losing in a game was unacceptable.
After all, who was he?
He was a player for the second-strongest team in the world!
“Hey, instead of fighting, you should study more at school.”
“Jeez. Are you good at studying, hyung?”
“Yeah.”
“What kind of confidence lets him answer like that?”
Grumbling, Lee Dongsu stood up, put his hands behind his back, and stretched his waist.
“Dongsu, he’s a student at Korea National University.”
The voice of the director came from the side.
“Oh, come on! Don’t lie. Life is so unfair.”
“Well, it just happened with a lot of effort.”
Seo Jun shrugged.
“Tsk. I’m good at games, so I don’t need to study.”
Lee Dongsu finished speaking, brushed off his hands, and quickly raised his guard.
“Really?”
At the same time, Seo Jun’s fist came rushing at him with speed.
Having become accustomed to this torment, Lee Dongsu was already preparing to counter with his footwork.
It was professional-level adaptability.
“Yeah. Yesterday, I followed you and defeated Etorre, Drake, and even Richard.”
Of course, he attempted to imitate Seo Jun by taking a pipe and challenging Drake, only to die six times.
Richard Neville took him four tries.
As a result, Lee Dongsu came to acknowledge Seo Jun’s skills.
There was something different about him.
But even as he admitted this fact, his competitive spirit didn’t wane. Instead, it grew stronger.
Whoosh!
He narrowly dodged again.
“Oh? Then you should try becoming a pro gamer.”
Seo Jun said this casually, while Lee Dongsu sighed.
‘I’m already a pro.’
Today, he planned to challenge the Tower Master.
He had no idea how to cut through lightning or how to execute sound play, but he intended to face it head-on.
Because as he kept following this person, Jin Seo Jun, he could feel his skills improving.
This was true in sparring as well.
‘Is this why Hayeon noona kept challenging unknowns in the training hall?’
His desire for improvement was being stimulated.
“Hyung.”
“Hmm?”
“Are you going to defeat the Queen in today’s stream?”
Queen was the title given to the last remaining ruler in Assassin’s Dawn.
“Why?”
“Just because.”
“Maybe?”
After that, there was no more small talk.
Lee Dongsu focused on landing at least one hit.
And Seo Jun, while chatting with the others around him, responded to the attacks.
Smack!
But Lee Dongsu couldn’t stop imagining Seo Jun overlapping with a certain entity.
Someone who fights while casually conversing with those around them.
A new type of AI rumored to have been created by Surface.
‘No way… Could hyung be the 10th stage unknown? No, that’s too far-fetched.’
Even Shin Hayeon kept challenging it.
Seo Jun sat in a café, waiting for Team Leader Kim Yoonchan, while watching Alpaca’s stream.
[Ha. Please, I never want to see Drake again. Ugh!]
– It’s only been 22 hours since you started streaming, Alpaca. Stop whining.
– Hang in there!
[You guys must find this boring too. It must be tough to watch, right?]
– I’m fine. I slept and came back, so I’m not tired at all, hahaha.
– This is the New Year’s waiting room.
– Wasn’t this the World Cup waiting room?
– You can’t stop streaming until the end of the world, what are you all talking about, lol.
– Don’t think about ending the stream. You chose this marathon stream. Endure it with grit and determination.
[I’m grit and determination personified. I never chose this.]
[‘Some Idiot’ has made a generous donation of 1,000 won!]
[??? If you succeed, I’ll become your disciple, learn from you, and dominate…]
Alpaca quickly closed the donation and kicked out the viewer who sent it.
[I told you that I’d ban you if you did that again, right?]
– He just instantly banned them.
– His speed was on par with a nameless level speed. Wow.
– Take down Drake with that speed, Alpaca.
[Oh! A message just popped up saying the capsule access time has exceeded 9 hours. Hahaha.]
Capsules had time limits.
This was Surface’s measure to prevent users from neglecting their real bodies due to excessive gaming.
If a user’s playtime exceeded 3 hours, they couldn’t reconnect for half of the time they were logged in, forcing them to take a break.
And if the session exceeded 9 hours, the capsule would forcibly shut down.
Alpaca had been fighting Drake for a total of 18 hours since starting the day before at noon, with a 4-hour 30-minute break in between.
‘Now I feel bad for him.’
Seo Jun checked the time.
It was 10:30, almost time for his appointment.
[I’m heading out now, so I’ll play an ad in the meantime. You know this is the first ad in 9 hours, right?]
An ad popped up on Seo Jun’s travel screen.
‘An ad, huh?’ It was an advertisement.
Streamers affiliated with Travel had multiple revenue sources, one of which was these ads.
These ads were different from those received from game companies.
The revenue from these ads was based on the number of viewers who watched the ad when they first entered the stream or during the stream.
Streamers could play these ads at their discretion.
However, if they played too many ads, the number of viewers could decrease.
So, most streamers preferred to play ads during natural breaks, like when something changed in the game or during bathroom breaks, just like Alpaca did.
“The conditions to become an affiliated streamer are lower than I thought.”
To become an affiliated streamer, you needed to meet the following conditions in the past 30 days: a total of 700 minutes of live streaming, streaming on 7 different days, an average of 10 concurrent viewers, and at least 30 followers.
He had already met three of these requirements, but one was still an issue.
That was the number of days.
“There’s nothing I can do about it right now.”
If he were to hire an editor, he’d have to deal with additional expenses, so he had to pay more attention to each source of income.
[After I sleep… I’ll do a marathon stream with Assassin’s Dawn. I think I’m getting old. I’m so sleepy now that I’m out. Yaaawn. Just once. Please just let me off the hook this once.]
Alpaca spoke with half-closed eyes.
Soon after, the stream ended.
The viewers seemed to understand.
A little later.
“Hello. I’m Kim Yoonchan, who contacted the streamer.”
“I’m Jin Seo-jun, the streamer.”
Seo-jun stood up from his seat and shook hands with Kim Yoonchan.
Kim Yoonchan was dressed in a neat yet comfortable outfit, reflecting that he was from an international company like Movie Soft.
“I’m sorry for contacting you suddenly. This is an urgent matter.”
“No, it’s okay.”
“I apologize again. It’s just that if Seo-jun wasn’t reachable, we would be in a lot of trouble, so we had to find a way to contact you. We did send quite a lot of messages, didn’t we? Haha.”
“Well, I was a bit surprised. But what exactly is the issue?”
Seo-jun had an ominous thought. He hoped this wasn’t a situation where he’d have to make compensation for something.
Let’s see… I have a lawyer among my father’s acquaintances…
“Haha, actually, Seo-jun, the reason we’re here is because of the Shard of Order you’re currently working on.”
“Shard of Order?”
“Yes. Once all the Shards of Order are collected, an Easter egg related to our next project will be revealed, and there’s a teaser video that needs to be released at that time.”
“I see. So, you want me to delay defeating the boss for a bit?”
Seo-jun smiled with ease. This situation was entirely to his advantage.
“Yes, exactly. Of course, we plan to show our sincerity as well. It should be ready in about six days.”
Kim Yoonchan smiled slyly.
‘Sincerity,’ huh? Sounds a bit suspicious…
Anyway, the game company couldn’t force him into anything. Seo-jun began to think carefully.
‘Typically, a teaser video is…’
An intentionally vague video meant to generate curiosity for promotional purposes.
‘It doesn’t seem essential for me to cooperate.’
With about 3,000 viewers, even if there was some buzz in Korea, it probably wouldn’t affect Movie Soft’s global market much.
In fact, not cooperating could potentially turn into something positive, as the company might use the situation to create a more impactful teaser.
They are a corporation, not an individual.
However, it might be important, so he thought it was worth hearing the proposal.
If it was reasonable, neither too much nor too little.
Seo-jun was willing to cooperate if it was appropriate.
“So, what exactly is this sincerity you’re offering?”
“Well, if you delay the boss fight for six days, we’ll give you the opportunity to beta test our next project. It shouldn’t be more than a year before the beta is released.”
‘What?’
“And we’ll create a bundle of event items related to you for the DLC and next project.”
‘Why so much?’
This was an extremely good deal for Seo-jun, who was trying to be a serious streamer.
“What’s the catch?”
“Only delaying the boss fight for six days. That’s all.”
Seo-jun looked at Kim Yoonchan with a dumbfounded expression.
Is this person trying to scam me?
The conditions Kim Yoonchan proposed were not immediately necessary, but it was strange to refuse something that wouldn’t cause him any harm.
“Will you accept the offer?”
Seo-jun couldn’t answer immediately. He was suspicious.
“Haha, didn’t I say? The conditions aren’t wrong.”
At that moment, a slightly awkward Korean accent was heard. A middle-aged foreigner who had entered the café at the same time as Kim Yoonchan but had taken a seat a bit farther away came over and greeted Seo-jun with a handshake.
“Nice to meet you, Seo-jun. I’m Eve Fimo from Movie Soft Korea.”
Kim Yoonchan’s superior, I see.
So, they must be thinking of adjusting the terms.
They probably plan to add some additional compensation.
As long as the requests aren’t too unreasonable, Seo-jun was inclined to accept the offer.
In fact, he felt relieved that the other party seemed to have something else they wanted.
“We’ll also provide advertising.”
And with Eve Fimo’s next words, Seo-jun’s eyes turned to disbelief again.
“What?”
He hadn’t considered advertising.
“Are you talking about game ads?”
“Yes. Do you have any games from our company you’d like to advertise? We’ll accommodate anything. All you have to do is play that game.”
A sheet of paper was handed to Seo-jun.
Eve Fimo smiled with a grin.
“Oh, and we’re thinking of a minimum price for the ads.”
So, am I being taken for a fool?
What’s going on?
