Chapter 80

The matching window continues to rotate.

After confirming this, Seo-jun glanced at the time.

The current time was 8:40.

About 1 hour and 20 minutes remained until the end.

Even if it ended like this, he’d beaten 6 high-level veterans, including users ranked within the top 10, so it could be said that his skills were sufficiently proven.

Still, it felt disappointing.

“Everyone, doesn’t it feel a bit ambiguous to end it like this?”

-He really wants that 8-win streak lol

-Did the rankers chicken out!

-Did everyone forget that the streamer has the magical girl penalty? It’s the right decision to build as much of a gap as possible while he can

-Even though he’s in first place, he can’t help but be desperate just in case lol

He was being falsely accused again for something that wasn’t because of the magical girl penalty.

Ever since the rankings were revealed and he confirmed he was in first place, worries about the penalty had disappeared.

“What’s Navigator-nim doing right now?”

He was curious about what Navigator, who had been commentating on him, would be doing now that games weren’t getting matched.

-He’s just rewatching all the previous matches then watching your stream again

-Navigator basically finished gaming for today too

-Who would dare challenge him now

-Even 2nd place got beaten lol

It didn’t seem like the rankers were avoiding fights because they were afraid of losing.

With 2nd place already having lost, how much pride would they lose by losing once more, and what kind of pride could they gain by not fighting and avoiding defeat?

Of course, even knowing this, Seo-jun said something different from his thoughts.

“Right. I guess they really chickened out.”

He wanted to fight more.

-Lmao they won’t just because you say that

-Your motives are too obvious lol

-Just end the stream normally like usual lol. Why are you trying to beat up the poor rankers more lol

“Why do you ask why I want to play more games?”

Speed restrictions were definitely shackles.

And for someone in Seo-jun’s position, he actually enjoyed these kinds of shackles.

“Heavenly Demon Divine Art is more fun than I expected. Why didn’t I try other traits sooner?”

-He’s talking about Heavenly Demon Divine Art being fun while barely using internal energy lol

-Are you really a pervert?

-Is this how genuine veterans play????

Even while chatting, matching continued to rotate.

Tsk.

Seo-jun clicked his tongue.

“Well, there’s always tomorrow.”

Ding!

A message arrived.

[Seo-jun-nim, I’m coming in now.]

It seemed Navigator had also thought it would end.

Navigator returned to the spot he’d left.

“I watched Seo-jun-nim well.”

He came in not long after the message arrived.

Pretty fast.

“Especially when I rewatched the previous matches from the opponent’s perspective just now, that was completely insane. Oh, wait a moment. Let me set up my stream.”

Navigator moved his streaming from computer to capsule.

“Hehe. Seo-jun-nim’s physical skills are really in a league of their own. Don’t you think so, everyone? You acknowledge it, right? At least within For the Murim, he’s the best, don’t you think? Seo-jun-nim, you think so too, right?”

“Well, I think there might be people who are better than me.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Yeah. So if there are any, please come in quickly.”

Navigator took a moment to interpret before letting out an exclamation.

“Wow. Rankers, did you hear that? If you don’t fight now, there will be no disputing it going forward. You’ll be the ones who avoided it.”

-Lol

-What can you do if you don’t donate wins to him!

-But it really seems over now

-Stream ending T_T

“But it’s still not getting matched. You’re still trying now, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It can’t be helped. If you get 8 consecutive wins, your fame points will be double that of 2nd place.”

“Hmm. Are they still not giving up on 1st place in contribution?”

“Yes. Plus, even if they’re not aiming for 1st place, fighting now would look bad to fellow faction members who are aiming for 1st place, wouldn’t it?”

“Ah.”

“8 consecutive wins isn’t something that’s never happened before, but most of them got matched through sniping. Who openly tells people to come at them? Moreover, Seo-jun-nim, you’ve already shown sufficient top-tier skills.”

Navigator spoke with conviction.

That this alone was enough.

-Physical skills are indeed insane lol

-The ‘true’ number one under heaven

-If you fight here and lose, you become a traitor to your people

-It would be faction, not people

Seo-jun agreed too.

But there couldn’t be no dissenting opinions.

That’s why he kept the matching going.

If you think you’re better than me, don’t make excuses and come fight.

Though it wasn’t getting matched for various other reasons.

“But Navigator-nim, you seem excited.”

“Hehehe. It’s probably because I got some good moments today. ‘Dull sword’—wow. I’d like to experience that once too.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Then, right now?”

“No.”

The answer was quick.

“For me, just watching is sufficient. But other people probably want to experience Seo-jun-nim’s dull sword.”

“Then shall I give them a justification?”

“A justification?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

He didn’t want to fight in other game modes besides battlefield.

Getting nothing while proving himself like that wasn’t what Seo-jun wanted.

Rather than that, he’d just let them believe they were better.

Then?

Seo-jun answered Navigator’s question.

“If it ends like this, I’d have a high probability of taking 1st place, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. You’ve already built up a big gap in contribution and the 6-win streak fame points can’t be ignored either. Honestly, it would be nearly impossible to catch up by ordinary means. Unless Seo-jun stops playing games.”

Seo-jun nodded satisfactorily.

The bait was ready.

“Then, it would be good to give them a chance to eliminate the competition, right?”

“What kind of chance…?”

“If I lose even once in any additional games today, I’ll change factions.”

Seo-jun cast the prepared bait.

“What? No way…”

“Changing factions resets everything, right? Just once. Not one match, but once. If I lose even one round, I’ll change factions. So…”

Seo-jun looked directly at Navigator and smiled.

Most viewers would be watching through Navigator.

“Come in. I’ll lock my trait to Heavenly Demon Divine Art going forward. Anyone who wants to snipe me, go ahead and snipe. If I’m going this far, surely you won’t avoid fighting? Even people who’ve fought me once don’t matter.”

Heh.

Seo-jun smiled coldly.

If they were watching, their hands would be itching.

He’d given them sufficient justification and poked at their pride.

So come in.

-No way they’d let this slide lol

-If they avoid fighting even after this, they’re not orthodox faction

-They’re not unorthodox faction either lol

-The guy watching the streamer couldn’t hold back and queued for games in the streamer’s region. Of course, his fame points being under 1,000 is a secret

-Did all the rankers’ pride get crushed!

-Let’s go!

“Uh…”

And. The moment Navigator was at a loss for words.

A game was found.

3.

2.

1.

Seo-jun disappeared with the satisfied smile of successful fishing.

“Uh. I’ll go out and commentate again right away.”

Navigator looked at the empty space in bewilderment and scratched his head before leaving the capsule.

* * *

11 consecutive wins.

A full 11 consecutive wins.

Considering that no record of 8 or more consecutive wins had ever appeared before, the streamer’s provocation was remarkably effective.

It made fighting no longer controllable.

It made it so other rankers who wanted to fight that streamer but had been holding back could no longer be openly criticized for getting matched.

The image of being a real man was created even while donating victories and fame points.

Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity, who had been controlling public opinion through various means, quickly wrote posts with multiple accounts.

[No suckers would fall for that bait, right?]

[Wait, they’re actually going in? Lol Is this real?]

[The intelligence level of idiots who help him get 1st place anyway since they’ll just get destroyed]

[Win first, then do it!]

They got downvoted into oblivion.

And this was something that had been repeated an hour ago too.

He had tried to counter Seo-jun’s 8-win streak with multiple accounts.

[You’ve proven you’re amazing, so stop fighting now]

[Fighting more here would be admitting you’re an idiot]

[Points you get for 8 consecutive wins]

[Why only the Demonic Cult is happy]

And he got downvoted into oblivion just the same.

When Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity checked who had downvoted him, he shouted.

“It’s those same bastards from before!”

The same people who had downvoted him during the 8-win streak were downvoting him now too.

Whenever he created upvote posts with multiple accounts, those guys would appear like ghosts and downvote them into obscurity.

“It’s over. Damn.”

To be precise, it was half over from the moment he achieved 8 consecutive wins.

But on top of that, getting 10 consecutive wins earned him an additional 12,800 fame points, which meant that considering his fame points of 4,900, it was an impossible gap to close.

And that problematic streamer wasn’t satisfied and queued for the next game.

12 consecutive wins really couldn’t be allowed.

This was something that couldn’t be allowed even for the sake of faction victory.

The moment he succeeded in 12 consecutive wins, that streamer alone could equal 14 rankers.

14 people’s worth of top-tier rankers.

Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity knew this danger better than anyone, but.

“Should I fight?”

He was conflicted.

The last remaining way for him to take 1st place was precisely to beat that streamer and make him change factions.

“But.”

There was no guarantee he could win just by fighting.

Meanwhile, the people who had been downvoting were upvoting posts like these to change public opinion.

[The real men who didn’t chicken out despite losing lol upvote if you think they’re cool]

[Even though they lost, they showed spirit lol]

[Wow, so cool!]

[We have to preserve the game’s dignity like this!]

[This is the proper bearing of orthodox faction heroes]

Damn.

“Are these bastards manipulating public opinion too?”

Anyway, challenging would be the right choice, but.

He ultimately gave up.

“Can’t be helped. I’ll have to give up 1st place in this battlefield.”

Thinking that all of this happened because he wrote that inflammatory post made it even more bitter.

Moreover, hadn’t he been treated like an idiot in the game he went to starting from the second match, trying to break the win streak?

“The more I think about it, the more pissed off I get.”

Still, he endured it for the unorthodox faction’s victory.

However.

“Huh? Why is his queue getting matched? Don’t they know how many fame points you get for 12 consecutive wins? What kind of stupid bastard!”

With not much time left until the end.

Why now of all times!

“Argh. That stupid orthodox faction bastard!”

* * *

“Wow…”

About 20 minutes before the end.

Seo-jun thought.

They actually took the bait.

-?? 12 consecutive wins incoming???? Insane

-How many fame points is this if he wins

-Who’s the opponent?

-This guy’s gonna get flamed lol

Seo-jun went outside and faced his opponent.

[Heavenly Killing Star]

“Hello. I thought I lost earlier due to bad luck.”

I see.

“But do you know how many fame points I’ll get if I win here?”

“Of course. But if I win, that’s all that matters. Hehe.”

His voice seemed a bit shaky, but it was probably just his imagination.

-A true real man lol

-You’re so cool, Killing Star!

-I’m really excited right now, Killing Star

-Orthodox and unorthodox faction leadership crying in real time lol

-Emergency situation!

-A real disaster happened lol

-Does he know he’ll be confirmed as this battlefield’s biggest villain if he loses? Lol

Naturally.

“Alright, try beating me once.”

Heavenly Killing Star’s reason for losing wasn’t bad luck.

[Fame Points Gained: +49,600]

Finally, the fame points gained from Seo-jun’s 12 consecutive wins appeared before his eyes.