Chapter 116

Click.

The sound echoed as the raised bridge locked into place.

Anyone could see the stage had been cleared.

Seeing this, Seo-jun made a comment.

“See? You don’t need two people after all. What a godlike game.”

-Why is this a godlike game LOL

-There’s freedom in the game lol it really is godlike!

-Looks like I’m watching Assassin’s Dawn lol

-Crazy bastard. Really fucking crazy lol

-Is this even co-op?

“Let’s go to the next room.”

Seo-jun ignored Tae-woo and walked toward the door.

He could hear screaming coming from inside again, making him curious about what exactly was happening in there.

It felt ominous like something might jump out at any moment, but it probably wouldn’t be that bad.

He’d have to check after finishing.

Seo-jun read the chat and said,

“Yes, let’s leave it behind.”

He didn’t specify what he was leaving behind.

-No lmao he’s really going to do the next one alone too?

-Abandoned lol

-Tae-woo, just scream and solve puzzles by yourself lol

-Everyone, don’t go over there and tell him

-Let’s unite

Next to the door, right where he expected, was the control panel.

And because it had spun around in the air, the nail was embedded at an angle.

Actually, even when shooting nails normally, they don’t go perfectly straight, so they do embed at angles.

This one was just severely angled, almost touching the wall.

“I can’t help it with this one. The difficulty is really harder than expected.”

When they entered the next room, the bridge lowered again.

Seo-jun pulled out two nails from his waist, loading one into the nail gun and fitting the other between his fingers.

After taking a brief deep breath to concentrate, he threw the nail and raised the nail gun.

Whiz!

This time, like the first room, the door was on the left.

Originally, thanks to Tae-woo’s wind, it should curve gently and embed properly.

The nail Seo-jun threw flew weakly to the right, staying close to the blocking wall as it traveled straight, and just as it was about to pass that wall, it was hit by the nail that came flying from behind.

Clang!

After suffering a collision and ricocheting while its angle adjusted, the nail embedded properly in the control panel once again.

It wasn’t visible because it was blocked, but he could tell.

Click.

With a rumbling sound, the bridge rose up.

-The difficulty is hard? Lol

-It does look fucking difficult but why does he succeed on the first try every time lol

-Nice!

-I admit this isn’t luck

-Mm! It’s cooperation between nails!!

-Lmao. Seems like a proper co-op game lol

“This is pretty fun.”

This series of actions—making a nail flying ahead change trajectory by hitting it midway—had genuinely high difficulty.

Seo-jun was confident he could parry that difficult technique from Assassin’s Dawn with his eyes closed once he caught the initial movement.

But this was different.

He had to concentrate fully every moment.

The sensation of throwing the nail from his fingertips, the moment of aiming the nail gun and pulling the trigger—he had to focus on every single instant.

With this level of difficulty. And with this utility.

“Everyone, this is Tang Household’s secret projectile technique, so please keep it confidential.”

Tang Household would definitely come drooling to learn this!

Or maybe not.

-Did Tang Household have nail guns?

-How much must Tang Household have fallen to be using nails as weapons T_T

-Tangso… the protagonist struggling to revive the fallen Tang Household!

-Even going to the Demonic Cult to serve the Heavenly Demon to save the collapsed family lmao

If Tangso saw this stream right now, he’d definitely send a message saying “Who the hell served anyone!”

Anyway, Seo-jun wanted to try more.

For him, high difficulty meant the same thing as fun.

It wasn’t for nothing that he’d done those weird builds in For the Murim. Of course, if you asked Seo-jun, he’d vehemently deny it while saying his Heavenly Demon Divine Art and Absorption Technique tree were excellent.

Seo-jun went to the next room and threw a nail, then shot the nail gun.

The next room too.

After passing through a total of four rooms like this, a place that could finally be called a proper interior appeared.

And when his concentration broke, Seo-jun looked at the chat and momentarily swallowed hard.

-The sponsor is fucking crying right now LMAO

-They made all these puzzles and this bastard LOL just breaks through them all like this LOL

-Turned the horror atmosphere into comedy lol

-Tae-woo can’t get out now. He’s trapped LMAO

Ah, right. This was an advertisement.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tae-woo was.

“Ugh, damn. It’s not like I was scared of something jumping out, I’m just naturally cautious! Alright, let’s get out now. I wonder if that bastard Seo-jun solved the puzzle faster than me. Judging by how he didn’t come here, I probably solved it first, so let me go to his room and give him a piece of my mind… Huh?”

Rattle.

Rattle, rattle.

“Huh? Why won’t this open? Wait, was the door closed to begin with? Ah, damn. What the hell.”

Tae-woo turned the door handle while voicing his confusion.

The moment Seo-jun destroyed the stage’s control panel, the bridge rose and the exits of the adjoining rooms closed.

Most viewers watched both streams, so they easily deduced this fact, but Tae-woo didn’t.

How could he know when the viewers were keeping it secret?

“Why are you laughing? Why are you laughing, hey!”

-LOL

-Lmao

-Lmao

-You’re trapped

“Hey Seo-jun? Yo! Are you outside right now? Did you close the door?”

It was half right.

“Stop messing around, Seo-jun.”

Scary.

* * *

-That’s what you get for copying the map structure

-They should have made it impossible to figure out if they were going to give the streamer the advertisement lol

-This is the development company’s fault

-You have to be able to handle at least this much, right?

-They knew what they were getting into when they gave it to him, right? Lol

“Hmm…”

“…”

Han Seung-cheol, section manager at Stream Korea.

His job was to select indie games to support with development funding and help when they faced development difficulties, which made him, in crude terms, the money source, and his position naturally made him the upper hand when dealing with game companies.

Yet here he was, reading the room in front of CEO Lee of MONSTER.

Of course, even being in the upper position, he never threw his weight around, and it was his personality to be considerate and read the room frequently. But the kind of room-reading he was doing now had a different quality to it.

Section Manager Han was currently in a restaurant with a private room with CEO Lee, watching the advertising stream in a quiet environment while having a conversation.

But from the moment Seo-jun made his unexpected move, he’d felt a chill in the air.

“…”

Section Manager Han thought about it.

The puzzles and game worlds that they’d wanted to show gamers and have them experience, implemented after countless deliberations.

How would it feel to have all of that skipped with a single exploit?

‘Though it’s not really an exploit…’

The dictionary definition of exploit is a simple and easy method.

But whether throwing a nail first and hitting it to adjust its trajectory could really be called simple and easy was questionable.

No, there was no question about it.

‘Who the hell would do something like that?’

Even from MONSTER’s perspective, this was something only Seo-jun could do, to the point where they probably wouldn’t need to bother fixing it.

Truly befitting the skill of someone who led the cunning but weak Demonic Cult to ultimate victory. He had to acknowledge it.

So it wasn’t an exploit.

Also, since Seo-jun had gone back to progress normally, he thought it wasn’t really a problem.

Just a bit of a happening?

[Users can restart from any stage point! Isn’t.This.Really.A.God.Game? Amazing!]

-Stop the awkward acting, hyungnim LOL

-Even your tone changed lmao

-Cynical –> Clown

-Watching the streamer act right now made me realize something. That trash talk during the Heavenly Demon days that flowed like water was the streamer’s true feelings

-For real lol

The situation itself was funny enough that it might actually be good.

However.

Section Manager Han was reading the room because CEO Lee kept staying quiet.

Maybe he felt like he’d been betrayed by the Heavenly Demon he’d trusted? Come to think of it, switching to a major orthodox sect might be a good choice at this point.

CEO Lee was currently looking down at the floor.

He didn’t wonder if this was really so heartbreaking or devastating.

Creators have their own unique pain that he couldn’t understand.

“Are you okay?”

“Of course I’m okay.”

CEO Lee lifted his head and spoke.

What?

He was smiling.

“Hahaha! I’m really glad we cast him!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, I originally fell for him after seeing that kind of behavior and cast him. Of course, I never expected our game to have that kind of loophole. So I was hoping against hope, but to solve the control panel in that way.”

Is that how it is?

Good thing it turned out well.

“I have to admit it’s absurd though. Hahaha.”

“His skill is definitely amazing.”

Why did he have to go to the Demonic Cult?

Geez.

He hadn’t participated in battlefields for years due to lack of time, yet his thoughts kept wandering elsewhere.

This was all because he had to keep track of battlefield developments by checking game communities all the time.

“Do you think it’s just amazing skill? I think there’s another reason why streamer Heavenly Demon-nim showed this unexpected behavior.”

“Yes?”

“Look at this.”

CEO Lee handed him his phone.

Ah.

So that’s what he’d been doing down there—he was looking at his phone.

The site displayed on that phone was No-Honor.

Among the numerous posts, several that caught Section Manager Han’s eye made him understand why CEO Lee had been glued to his phone.

[Tang Household, is doing this even possible?]

[Even in action-adventure horror games, Heavenly Demon-nim stays consistent lol]

[Heavenly Demon being Heavenly Demon clip]

[Guys, I told you to call him Sword God, right?]

CEO Lee said,

“That kind of play is exactly streamer Heavenly Demon’s characteristic. And that kind of play is worth mentioning in communities. Right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then naturally, For the Murim viewers watching the stream will write posts, and community users who see those posts will become interested and come to the broadcast, right?”

“I suppose so?”

Indeed, he could see the viewer count increasing in real time.

Seo-jun’s viewers, which started at 19,000, had reached 21,000 by the time they were watching, and now had just increased by another thousand to 24,000.

“Then the final chase sequence that’s coming up will be broadcast when the maximum number of people are gathered.”

If what they’d put the most effort into was broadcast at the timing when the most people were watching?

However Seo-jun knew about this, it was undeniably an excellent situation from their perspective!

“That’s…!”

“Streamer Heavenly Demon-nim is very, very smart and calculating. Think about it.”

CEO Lee had said this about the battlefield.

But Section Manager Han recalled a previous incident.

‘Come to think of it.’

There was that incident where he deliberately timed the Training Hall ranking reveal to match the advertising timing!

Both then and now, was every single action designed?

Really?

Section Manager Han got goosebumps all over his body.

[Oh, this puzzle works like this. It’s.So.Well.Made! Just throw nails, you say? Please be quiet. I don’t know about that stuff and can’t do it.]

-“Can’t” do it

-So you’re saying you can do it!

-But he’s really fucking smart, finishing faster than Tae-woo in the other room even though he’s redoing it

Right.

People say someone has “the sense” when they make such shameless yet broadcast-optimized comments.

And there are only two ways to have that sense.

Either you’re naturally shameless enough that streaming is in your nature, or you’re smart enough to analyze streaming and develop that kind of concept.

If it’s the latter, then even that amazing and vicious personality shown on broadcasts was designed.

And this was more likely.

How could someone be that naturally shameless?

Seo-jun continued solving puzzles easily.

His ability to scan the structure once and solve everything systematically was very impressive, and Section Manager Han’s suspicion gradually turned into conviction.

“It’s almost over.”

“Right. CEO, you estimated about an hour on average from entering Chapter 1 to the boss fight—no, the chase sequence, right?”

“Yes, but he arrived in 30 minutes.”

They both watched Seo-jun entering the final chapter.

Then CEO Lee, remembering their earlier conversation, gave Section Manager Han some valuable advice.

“Section Manager. About that partner streamer thing you mentioned earlier. If that comes to fruition and you need to secure this streamer, do it as quickly as possible.”

“…Why? Because competitors absolutely can’t be allowed to steal him?”

“No.”

CEO Lee shook his head.

“It’s just cheaper now.”

“What? Isn’t he a bit overvalued right now? It would be better to wait and make an offer later. These contract terms will probably be renewed annually…”

With over 20,000 viewers now, wouldn’t it be a loss to go in?

But CEO Lee seemed to think differently.

“Then all the more reason to buy him right now.”

Buy him?

Section Manager Han, who didn’t know that MONSTER had been continuously regretting “we should have bought him then” while watching Seo-jun’s viewer count multiply several times, could only make a puzzled expression.

“Buy him now. Right now.”

Right now is the cheapest.

With eyes and advice filled with sincerity born from experience, Section Manager Han found himself nodding reluctantly.