Chapter 103

Looking around, looking around.

He scanned his surroundings.

A freshman who still retained their freshness after attending for a whole year passed by.

As did a freshman who had already lost the dreams and romance of university life.

Upperclassmen who had long since thrown those away also passed by him as they crossed through the main gate.

Various types of students.

And right here, right now.

Jeon Jae-hoon, whose For the Murim nickname was Heavenly First Swordsman, was frowning for completely different reasons than any of them.

He looked around his surroundings once more.

With his hood pulled up from his coat and a mask hanging from his lips, his appearance as he surveyed the area was certainly threatening in itself, and though he knew it, he didn’t care.

Korea University, Korea’s most prestigious university.

‘There’s a monster living here.’

This wasn’t a metaphorical statement.

Swordsman thought this as he joined the crowd flooding in when the crosswalk light changed and entered the campus.

‘Just because I didn’t go to the gym for one day, it has to be like this…’

Getting up at 6 AM to go to the gym and work out for about an hour is definitely something that falls under beneficial activities.

Just exercising in general is good.

But morning exercise not only wakes up your body—when you establish a routine, it becomes a powerful force in itself.

So it was undeniably beneficial for him.

However, humans can’t live doing only what’s good for their body!

If human beings could sustain their lives by doing only beneficial things, global fast food franchise companies would have gone bankrupt long ago.

The gaming market would have collapsed, and the food service industry would have been reorganized around health-focused options.

Therefore!

His not going to the gym this morning was as natural a fact as the gaming market’s global success.

‘Just need to endure a little longer.’

He Who Must Not Be Named said he’d be taking a leave of absence soon.

So he just needed to be careful for about a month and avoid getting caught.

[Is something wrong?]

[If you’re injured, rest up]

[Resting well is also exercise, so you don’t need to feel too guilty!]

The guys he’d become friends with at the gym sent worried messages.

They thought he liked working out.

But that wasn’t true.

He’d somehow reached the level of enjoying it and would probably do it again once he got there, but that was separate from actually going to work out.

‘Still, hearing this kind of encouragement makes me want to do legs again.’

This was addiction.

Exercise also releases dopamine and becomes addictive.

Gym bros aren’t created for nothing. Surprisingly, this kind of achievement feeling is as powerfully addictive as it is a driving force for success.

It’s a substance necessary for human survival.

Of course, even that kind of addiction could be completely cured just by looking at one message that came this morning.

[Jin Seo-jun: ?]

Nothing else, just a single question mark.

Just seeing that one question mark was too scary.

Yes.

It was time to sever the master-disciple relationship.

Hadn’t the battlefield ended successfully anyway?

He scanned his surroundings among the crowd.

Always ready to hide behind terrain and identifying the faces of people coming out of buildings.

‘This must be what wild animals go through every moment.’

He realized why it was so difficult to feed squirrels or other wild animals.

They had to stay alert to their surroundings at all times.

You might ask why he’d worry about running into someone when the school was so big, but nature was the same way.

However, even after surviving for years, a moment’s carelessness or a single mistake could lead to death—that’s the fate of prey, so they stayed vigilant.

But then.

Tap tap.

Someone touched his shoulder.

He turned around.

And made eye contact with an annoyingly tall senior who looked irritating.

Yeah, this was the danger he was being careful about today, but he didn’t really think he’d actually run into him.

He should have just come to school early or started running away from tomorrow.

“What are you doing?”

The wild.

It really is hard to survive.

He felt this truth to his bones right then.

* * *

“Ah… it’s because I have body aches from a cold…”

“Ah. So that’s why you’re wearing a mask?”

“Yes…? Yes! Ah. Of course. Can’t spread it to others.”

“Right. Then you’ll be all better by tomorrow. Right?”

Swordsman felt like Seo-jun was talking as if he knew everything but was letting it slide just this once.

Who gets completely over body aches from a cold in just one day!

So that was definitely a threat.

He nodded his head.

Once.

Twice.

Faster and faster.

“Good. Let’s meet again starting tomorrow.”

“Yes!”

And his intuition that Seo-jun had caught on was correct.

Seo-jun smiled inwardly as he told him to attend classes well, then left through the main gate.

‘Where do you think you’re escaping to?’

Seo-jun entered a nearby restaurant.

It was 2 PM, a bit late for lunch, but schedules don’t always work out as planned.

He’d leisurely eat and then head to the meeting place.

‘Speaking of which.’

Lately he’d been constantly feeling like someone was watching him.

On campus, in the university district.

You could say it was just his imagination or paranoia, but Seo-jun tended to trust his instincts.

And this was actually true.

Posts like this occasionally appeared on university community boards.

[Korea University’s biggest output. Heavenly Demon14. Agree???]

-Here come the cult members again…

-What’s that even mean lol

-Never knew Korea University had so many walking the path of demonic heresy. Damn!

-Ugh, checked the link and he’s actually really handsome

-Entrepreneurs from Korea University? Investors? Developers? So lol do they wield swords better than the Heavenly Demon?

└Real lmao

-Crazy bastards

The characteristic of posts like these was that they had extremely few comments relative to their view counts.

Because For the Murim was relatively niche.

Still, Seo-jun’s recognition within the school kept growing as these posts accumulated.

However, as someone who hadn’t even used SNS before starting streaming, Seo-jun had no way of knowing this.

‘Hm? He’s taking a break too.’

While eating and scrolling through iTube, a notification from Tae-woo appeared on Seo-jun’s screen.

He was subscribed, after all.

[Because the weather’s nice, because it’s not nice, because it’s just right. Taking a break today.]

It was Tae-woo’s break announcement.

He said he was going out earlier—is he planning to come home late?

He’d probably need to ask about dinner plans after the meeting, Seo-jun thought as he naturally checked the comments.

Were they similar to his?

-First… murder.

└LOL that’s nostalgic

└Tae-woo, watch out walking at night lol

└Insane lol

-So when exactly will the weather be right for you NOT to take a break, I’m deeply curious.

-When is this bastard finding his original passion? Always taking breaks

└You didn’t watch the early broadcasts? Always had sound problems leading to emergency stream endings and breaks. Never let Tae-woo find his original passion

They were similar.

Very similar.

‘As expected.’

Seo-jun thought he was on the right path.

Though he was a bit lacking, Tae-woo was a successful streamer.

A streamer who had continued growing from 7 years ago, which could be called the early capsule era, until now.

So.

‘Need to learn more.’

Seo-jun felt his own shortcomings in that moment and burned with the passion to learn or something.

Looking at it this way, he realized how infuriating his break announcement today must have been from the viewers’ perspective.

[Today’s stream? Ah ah. I left it in the new era!]

-Looks like you left your conscience there too

[Hello viewers. Are you all having a good day? I don’t think I am because my stomach hurts. So today’s stream, you know?]

-Give me your address and I’ll send you probiotics. Hehe. Please give it quickly?

[The sparrow I keep at home ate the internal circuits of the capsule. Sorry.]

-??? This is ridiculous

-Keeping sparrows is illegal. I’ll report you so you can keep taking breaks forever.

└LOL

└Infinite breaks, I’m jealous.

‘I need to be more careful from now on.’

It was a good negative example.

* * *

“Hello. I’m Park Hyuk-soo from indie game development company MONSTER.”

“Hello.”

“First, I’d like to apologize. The CEO wanted to come personally, but with only 3 days left until the new game launch, he’s extremely busy.”

“That’s fine.”

There was nothing to understand or not understand about it.

No matter how small the development company, whether the CEO shows up or not for something like this—if he had to compare the two, not showing up seemed more appropriate.

“Alright. Then… um. Should we start the explanation when the other person arrives?”

There were still about 2 minutes left.

“Let’s do that.”

Seo-jun slurped down the drink on the table.

And 2 minutes passed.

He didn’t come.

Park Hyuk-soo tapped his phone with a flustered expression.

“Haha, it looks like the other streamer will be a bit late. There are circumstances.”

“Oh really? How long?”

“About 30 minutes…”

“Hmm…”

That can happen.

“Then could you tell me who the partner is now?”

“Wouldn’t a surprise be better?”

3 days left? Really?

“If I don’t like the partner, I really won’t sign the contract. Seriously.”

“Don’t worry! It’s someone Seo-jun-nim knows!”

Hmm. Maybe Alpaca?

Or was there someone among the people he was somewhat friendly with in For the Murim who was a streamer?

Navigator said he didn’t actually play games like this.

This feels ominous.

It reminded him of Tae-woo.

But if it really was that bastard.

It would mean Tae-woo had been preparing to go out for a 4 PM meeting since morning.

It’s weird enough that someone would prepare so early, but to prepare that early and then be 30 minutes late?

‘Come on, surely a human being wouldn’t do that.’

Seo-jun excluded Tae-woo based on basic common sense.

“Alright. Don’t regret this later. First, please explain the game.”

“Yes. First, as you confirmed in the email, our game title is Two Heads are Better.”

Thanks to Han Ji-min categorizing and summarizing numerous games, he knew the general content of most games that had come via email.

But since he’d chosen this game, he needed to hear a more detailed explanation from the developer’s perspective.

Two Heads are Better.

More precisely, it was a title that simply cut off the ending from the English saying “Two heads are better than one.”

In Korean terms, it would be like “Many hands make light work”?

It was text that well explained the characteristics of cooperative games.

“The basic story starts with two friends who were developing a game getting into a huge fight, and when development stops, a magical force transports both of them into the unfinished game.”

Developer.

At this part, Seo-jun said what he’d been wanting to ask.

“By any chance, is this half based on experience?”

“…I can’t say personal feelings weren’t involved. Haha. Anyway, the progression is quite standard.”

Cooperate with each other to solve gimmicks and move forward.

It was the essence of co-op games.

And with games like this, unless your partner was smart or had good physical skills, it usually didn’t work out well.

Just then.

Jingle.

The cafe’s glass door opened with a bell sound.

“Sorry I’m late. I was…”

And when Seo-jun confirmed who his partner was, he nodded with a pleased smile.

What?

It really is Tae-woo?

“I’m not doing it.”

He made an immediate decision.

“Yes. Yes?”

Again, cooperative games require a certain level of intelligence and skill from your partner to avoid frustration.

No further comment will be made.