Chapter 5
[7 viewers]
Seojun checked the bottom of the broadcast screen. The number of viewers had increased by three.
It might really be because of the title of the broadcast.
– “I think he’s going to die here.”
– “Anyone want to bet on how many times the streamer dies before giving up?”
While thinking that, messages belittling him started to come in.
However, it didn’t matter.
Being underestimated and mocked, or having the streamer teased, are all part of the fun for the viewers.
As long as it’s not to the point where it becomes a problem.
And skills can be proven.
“Who goes there!”
As Seojun approached the mansion, two guards at the front gate drew their swords and started walking towards him.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got a feel for it now.”
– “Got a feel for it. (First time playing today)”
– “Don’t worry! (No one is worried)”
– Did you catch on that you kept falling earlier? Haha
Seojun decided to first gauge the speed of the guards and himself.
In an instant, as soon as he made up his mind, he closed the distance and lightly swung his staff.
“Take off your hood immediately…”
Clang!
A light swing just to test.
The guard blocked it without much difficulty.
‘They’re quite skilled.’
Then came the cooperation from the second guard positioned behind Seojun.
“Intruder!”
Seojun put strength into his toes.
Quickly lowering his stance and twisting his waist, he took in the movements of the enemy with his eyes. And in a fleeting moment, he predicted.
The image of Seojun, with his hood pulled down, was reflected in the eyes of the second guard.
Seojun intended to parry the second guard’s sword and counterattack.
But then…
Kaang!
At the moment the swords met, with a ripple effect in the background, the second guard stumbled backward, fell, and entered a groggy state.
– “Lucky hit, haha”
– “He parried that?”
– “Haha, lucky”
“Hmm?”
Seojun wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but he didn’t miss the opportunity and rushed to stab his staff into the second guard’s neck.
Then the HP decreased all at once, as if it was an instant kill.
‘What the…?’
And when he parried the approaching first guard’s sword again, the same phenomenon occurred.
Kaang!
-?????
– “Wow, you should’ve bought a lottery ticket, haha.”
– “Two consecutive parries, that’s insane.”
– “What’s insane? It’s just luck.”
Seojun lightly hit the groggy guard to test things out.
But then, the health bar took a huge chunk of damage.
Before he even hit the guard twice, the guard died following his companion.
Seojun asked the viewers to understand the cause.
“Guys, what’s a parry?”
– “You did that without knowing what parrying is? You’re a natural talent.”
– “No, it was just a coincidence, what talent, haha.”
– “Can parrying happen by chance?”
– “So, can a newbie even parry?”
– “For real, haha.”
“Don’t argue. Can someone explain what parrying is?”
After a brief silence, the viewer who had previously informed him about the Assassin’s Dawn began explaining.
– “Parrying usually means deflecting the opponent’s attack, but in this game, just deflecting has no effect. You have to deflect at a perfect angle and timing against the opponent’s attack, and then the opponent enters a groggy state. In the groggy state, they take a lot of damage. This is called parrying.”
– “Parrying is practically the only hope for a ‘Musou’ playthrough. But even former pros, confident in their physical abilities, fail at parrying and end up gathering assassination information instead, haha.”
– “But those guys retired because they couldn’t do it?”
Seojun thought of the 9th level AI, known as the gatekeeper of professionals.
If the level of the retired pros was similar to that AI due to their lack of skill,
‘That makes sense.’
He quickly understood.
Perfectly deflecting means perfectly predicting the enemy’s attack and freely moving your body to the desired angle.
It was difficult.
For others, at least.
“Got it. But it’s easy for me.”
Seojun smiled as he confidently entered the mansion through the main gate.
– “His confidence is infuriating, haha.”
– “It’s just luck, newbie!!”
– “No, I’m telling you, that wasn’t just luck. There’s something about his movements.”
– “Who the hell are you, haha.”
– “For real, does he think parrying is easy?”
– “There’s definitely something about him, haha. Who are you really, haha.”
Messages from people noticing Seojun’s skill came in, mocking the ones who were still skeptical.
Seeing this reminded Seojun of his past life.
In his past life, he was always belittled by the great sects, even when he easily defeated their disciples, due to his humble origins and lack of affiliation.
They would make excuses, saying the opponent was drunk the day before, went easy on him, or was careless.
They offered reasons more shameful than a lack of skill as martial artists, but Seojun didn’t have any background to criticize them.
The goal of the great sects was to muddle through and bury the matter.
Nevertheless, Seojun didn’t cling to it in his past life.
Instead, he proved himself until the end, and the sects, in turn, excessively glorified his achievements to justify their defeat.
Of course, the chat room and his past life memories are not the same.
But the essence is.
There was only one thing to do.
As Seojun entered through the main gate, five soldiers blocked his way.
They had heard the guard’s cry earlier.
Having had enough time to prepare, they were equipped with shields and armor.
Seojun extended his staff towards the neck of the soldier on the far left like a lightning strike.
That soldier was the closest and in a slightly relaxed state, making it hard for him to react.
Bang!
The soldier next to him reacted, striking away the end of Seojun’s staff.
Seojun’s right arm, which had thrust out the staff, was pushed outward.
Then, the soldier Seojun originally targeted swung his sword down towards him from above.
‘This is what I was waiting for.’
Seojun immediately gripped his staff in a reverse hold and raised it to be perpendicular to the descending sword.
Kaang!
The background rippled again, and the chat messages poured in.
– “What’s happening?”
Seojun confirmed the HP drain by driving his staff into the neck of the groggy soldier who had fallen backward, then he charged at the remaining soldiers.
Kaang!
Whether the game’s developers had designed it perfectly or not, their coordination was smooth, but Seojun could see their openings very clearly.
Kaang!
His movements were impressive to anyone watching.
Each soldier attacked from a different angle, but Seojun didn’t miss a beat, moving his staff skillfully.
“If you want to catch me, you’ll need to bring the 108 Arhats of Shaolin.”
Kaang!
– “?? The streamer is an old hand?”
– “That’s not the point, he just succeeded in parrying four times, damn, haha.”
– “This is amazing. Wow, really…”
– “Still curious about who I am? Still curious about who I am? Still curious about who I am?”
“Damn it.”
“Run!”
When Seojun had taken down four of them, the last soldier standing shouted to the fallen one.
“Quickly, call for reinforcements… urgh.”
A staff pierced his neck.
Seojun had experimented with various ways to damage the groggy soldiers and found this method the most efficient.
“Now, six are down.”
– “Who is this streamer really?”
– “Is he really a newbie???”
– “See, I was right. See, I was right. See, I was right. See, I was right. See, I was right.”
“I am a newbie, though? You saw earlier.”
– “No, haha, the guy who couldn’t even get over the roof is this good?”
– “For real, when he fell off the rope, I thought I found a newbie stream to enjoy, but it turns out he’s amazing.”
– “What are you guys talking about?”
– “Watch the replay.”
– “Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?”
“Uh, if the spam continues, I’ll ban you, Assassin of Joseon.”
– “Got it.”
– “Discipline, wow.”
– “Haha, serves him right.”
The viewer with the nickname “Assassin of Joseon,” who had recognized Seojun’s skills earlier and was laughed at, saw other viewers still mocking him when he scrolled up.
This continued until Seojun succeeded in his third parry.
“Alright, I understand, but if viewers keep fighting, I’ll have to ban you.”
– “Okay.”
– “Alright.”
– “What’s scary about being banned from a small-time stream?”
Suddenly, a provocative message appeared in the chat.
**하꼬방 (hakko-bang)** – A derogatory term used to describe small streams with few viewers, likening them to a shabby makeshift shop, as opposed to a “big company” stream with many viewers.
– “Go ahead, ban me, haha.”
[Ikiop1644 has been banned]
“Alright, done.”
[Viewers: 6]
Seojun quickly dealt with the viewer.
If he let such viewers stay just because he wanted more viewers, it could create a bad atmosphere where other viewers think it’s okay to behave like that.
He couldn’t sell the future of his stream for the immediate gain of one viewer.
Even if there might not be a future,
– “Hahaha, insane reaction speed. His physical ability is top-notch.”
– “Wow, the first ban of the season! I’m jealous!”
Fortunately, the response was not bad. The “Assassin of Joseon” typed:
– “Honestly, with this level of talent, he’ll probably get big soon. Getting banned now would be something to regret later, haha.”
– “For real, haha.”
Hmm.
Am I doing well if I’m getting this kind of feedback?
In this life, I’ve never really had a proper social life, and in my previous life, due to my origins, I rarely took the lead, living a passive life, so I’m not sure.
Background is extremely important in martial arts. It’s more important than anything else.
Where he belongs determines the level of martial arts he can attain, his status, and the fame he can achieve.
The food they eat, the martial arts they learn, their masters, and their experiences, all differ greatly.
In such a world, he was an orphan captured from another country.
Fortunately, an elder from the Murim Alliance, who was from the Mount Hua Sect, took him in.
And when he realized his talent, he took him to a place where the elite of the Orthodox sects gathered.
At first, he was ignored.
But later, his talent, which competed for the title of the best under heaven, stood out like a sharp awl in a pouch, and his master tried to bring him into the Mount Hua Sect. However, due to the checks from other great sects who didn’t want to see the Mount Hua Sect’s power increase, he couldn’t belong anywhere.
A martial artist who couldn’t represent anything and had no one to represent him.
But his talent reached the sky.
A lofty sword god.
‘In reality, I could only be lofty. Hmm. No one lived as cautiously as I did…’
It was then.
‘Senior brother, please stop talking nonsense. Have you already forgotten how much trouble we went through because of the incident you caused?’
He heard a hallucination. This happened sometimes.
Anyway.
Seojun was satisfied with the current situation.
The stream was more fun than expected.
The game was fun, too.
‘It’s like going on a journey to Jianghu I’ve never been on before…’
‘Senior brother, wasn’t sneaking into the Namgung family and causing a ruckus your idea of going to Jianghu? Huh?’
Jeez, stop interrupting my thoughts.
Anyway, this is good.
– “How are you so good at parrying?”
– “Do you have some special newbie technique?”
“Ah, but how hard is parrying, really?”
– “Even the veterans from the previous series tried to dominate here but eventually disappeared, calling ‘Hidden Assassin’ a god-tier game.”
– “Even former pros complained about how precise the timing had to be. They said you have to parry perfectly, and they fail one out of three times.”
– “Stop bringing up those retired players who weren’t good enough.”
“I see.”
– “Just tell us already.”
Seojun spoke honestly.
“Well, you just have to remember your past life.”
– “??”
– “Streamer, are you crazy? Haha.”
“Or, just watch and strike vertically with your sword.”
– “I didn’t expect much, haha.”
– “Didn’t expect much (heart racing earlier).”
Seojun couldn’t help but laugh.
– “He’s laughing while deceiving us, haha.”
– “Hey, is it fun to tease us? Hey, let go of this.”
– “If you let go, the streamer will parry you.”
Seojun thought with a smile.
‘Maybe I really am suited for streaming?’
Interacting was more fun than he thought.
– “So when are you going to move?”
– “If you stay here, more enemies will come.”
“Ah, that…”
“This way!”
“There’s an intruder here!”
Enemies rushed in.
There were 13 of them.
Everyone except Etor in this mansion had come.
The first two guards, the one who ran away, the four he killed, the new twelve coming now, and Etor himself.
These were the twenty enemies he initially identified.
– “13? They’re all coming now, gg.”
– “He’s a newbie, can’t help it. If you don’t keep moving, they’ll all come.”
Seojun calmly spread his arms and waited until eight enemies surrounded him.
– “He gave up.”
– “Just die here, skip the tutorial quickly, and start the real game. There’s no way he can beat Etor.”
Once he was completely surrounded, he announced his plan.
“I’ll show you a 13-parry streak.”
After that, only one comment appeared in the chat.
– “Yeah, right.”
