Chapter 118

[A Game’s Newbie and Veteran 3 Hours After Release.avi]

A 4-minute short video was uploaded to Seo-jun’s iTube channel as a premiere.

Since Seo-jun’s channel had gained many subscribers, there were plenty of iTube viewers who didn’t watch live streams, and the premiere was perfect for seeing their reactions firsthand.

The beginning of the video.

A doll falls from the ceiling, approaches menacingly, and the screen goes black.

Then text appeared.

[Newbie]

The video starts inside a passage.

An urgent atmosphere, gradually tightening pressure.

What is approaching? What are they running from?

Thunk, thunk, thunk!

The sound of something pursuing them.

And then.

[Ahhhhhhh!]

When the viewpoint’s owner looked back, the doll was visible.

The scream belonged to Tae-woo.

Each time they looked back, the gradually approaching doll delivered thrills.

It felt like stopping even for a moment would mean getting caught.

However, the reactions of Tae-woo, who had now become a master of horror games, flowing from this tense chase sequence were more than enough to make viewers laugh.

-Is that Tae-woo?

-Today’s stream content!

-Lmao, it is scary though lol

-Why does he keep looking back while screaming LOL

-Just keep running! LOL

Virtual reality might not compare to actually going in, but horror game videos are usually scary to watch too.

But when the streamer makes it funny, that fear gets diluted and transforms into entertainment instead.

[Stop coming! Stop coming here!]

It wasn’t for nothing that MONSTER had looked for someone who was good at horror games ‘as a streamer.’

For horror games, the streamer’s reaction is more important than anything else.

They need to react entertainingly to reduce the fear and turn the game’s emotions into positive feelings.

A game that their favorite streamer suffered through.

If the quality is also decent, it naturally makes you want to try it yourself at least once, or want to watch another favorite streamer play it.

In other words, from the viewer’s perspective, you want to feed it to others, and if this becomes a trend, it can create huge success.

If it were forced horror or cheap jump scares, people might dislike it.

But chase sequences are different.

Their unique atmosphere is perfect for streaming.

[Open it! Open the door quickly!]

[It was a left turn earlier, you idiot.]

And at that moment, a relaxed voice was heard, and the view that had been focused only on the escape route ahead and the pursuing doll from behind shifted to the side.

There, slightly behind and walking backward, someone was giving directions about the path ahead.

Anyone could see it was out of place.

-That face is the streamer’s?

-Doing weird stuff again, I see?

-Seriously, why are you walking backward?

But because Tae-woo’s urgent steps were so fast, Seo-jun quickly disappeared from view and attention.

[Guh, guh, guh, guh-up!]

Tae-woo tensed up completely for a doll that might jump out ahead, making indecipherable sounds before finally screaming and dodging to the side.

After that, he went to the next passage, performed the gimmick, went to another passage, and as soon as the door automatically opened he rushed in and started looking around frantically like a madman.

That’s when Seo-jun, who had come out of the passage late, fired a nail.

Whiz!

The nail embedded in the control panel and the door that had been coming down stopped halfway.

And then.

Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk!

The gradually approaching sound grew louder, and just as the doll stuck its head out of the passage—

The door came down like a guillotine, severing the doll’s neck, and the nearly bald doll’s head rolled toward them.

[Ahhhh, huh?]

Tae-woo’s voice, which had been about to let out another big scream, suddenly lost tension.

It wasn’t relief that the chase was over.

Because…

-Oh, that was scary…??

-Lol

-What is it?

-No way lol

Things that anyone could see weren’t originally part of its appearance were embedded in the face of the rolling doll.

Nails.

And those nails formed thick eyebrows.

When curiosity remained about what had happened, the screen darkened and the scene changed.

[Veteran]

This time too, it started in a narrow passage like before.

But the viewpoint was different.

The screen’s owner was looking in the opposite direction of movement.

The passage ended and a dark room appeared, with the gaze still directed backward.

And there was a doll climbing up the wall onto the conveyor belt.

The doll approached quickly and threateningly.

When it entered the passage again, it even squeezed its body in.

-Wow! Walking backward!

-You can tell that’s the streamer just by looking

-So this is why he’s a veteran lol

-But this is actually scarier?

-Fucking horror

The real-time chat from iTube viewers was exactly the same as the reactions from people watching Seo-jun’s live stream.

If occasionally glancing back was jump-scare horror, facing it from start to finish was pure horror.

So a voice flowed from the video.

[Ah, I was doing this so you wouldn’t be scared, but you’re saying it’s even scarier? Hmm.]

Then just look straight ahead—but veterans think differently from ordinary people.

[Then should I give it some eyebrow tattoos?]

-???

-What is he talking about now

-It’s easier once you give up on understanding lol

His execution was as unique as his thought process.

Even while running backward in a critical situation where one mistake could mean getting caught, Seo-jun immediately drew a nail from his waist and threw it by hand.

The doll chasing them began growing nails on its eyebrows.

Tae-woo couldn’t see it since he was only glancing back, but the nails gradually accumulating on its forehead created thick caterpillar eyebrows.

Since the doll had almost no hair on its face, the densely packed nails showed their presence intensely.

The ridiculous appearance instantly changed the genre from horror to comedy.

-Why the hell is he humiliating the doll lmao

-Those caterpillar eyebrows are hilarious LOL

-His hands are insanely fast in the middle of all this, crazy bastard lol

Moreover, while walking backward and diligently tattooing, Seo-jun didn’t forget to handle the gimmicks.

In the final room, he showed off crazy skills with the nail gun.

Whiz!

-??

-What was that nail just now?

-Is this what a real veteran looks like?

-It’s been 3 hours since release! A completely new game!

-Backward movement, insane skills, crazy behavior. This is definitely a veteran lmao

This video of a streamer who became a veteran in just 3 hours and horror specialist streamer Tae-woo’s reactions was uploaded to No-Honor with exactly that title.

For the Murim users had been beaten by Seo-jun so much and also roughly knew what Seo-jun was doing now, so they quickly understood the title and showed great interest.

This post received a lot of attention and instantly made it to the top ten.

Since chase sequences already guarantee entertainment, the contrasting reactions were particularly unique.

First scary, then absurdly funny the second time!

Now the game had gained a lot of attention and buzz was guaranteed.

Only time would tell what the results would be going forward.

* * *

The story of the final game ended with the reveal that the entity who left messages in the box was actually a fairy, and that fairy was trying to instill genuine teamwork in the two protagonists.

And after finishing the game, they came out and resumed their stream.

“I didn’t know you’d be this scared of horror.”

Seo-jun said after sitting at the table.

“I didn’t know either.”

Currently, on their stream screen, a viewer was continuously playing through donations a compilation video of all the moments Tae-woo screamed.

“It’s ranked first? And it made it to trending videos? No. Stop… Stop!”

In Tae-woo’s mind, countless horror game collaboration requests that would come in the future were probably flashing before his eyes.

Also, the scenes from today’s broadcast would continue appearing in Tae-woo’s stream like soup bones being boiled over and over.

“Sigh. I should end the stream.”

“Order chicken first.”

“Today too?”

“Yeah.”

After Seo-jun told Tae-woo this, he settled the mission that had been set during the initial tutorial.

“Thank you.”

They each took over 1 million won since Tae-woo had set the difficulty to nightmare and created a situation with only one life left.

That was well done.

-Good shit

-Never getting fooled again!

-If there’s no safe investment, where are we supposed to invest! What are we supposed to eat!

Tae-woo, who had briefly gone to his room, came out and said.

“I ordered it.”

“Good.”

The two of them, who usually ate late-night snacks when stream ending times aligned, were doing this today too.

But today they’d even done a collaboration, so it was natural.

Tae-woo said.

“Everyone, I’ll stream until the chicken arrives.”

-Ah, why no mukbang?

-Do you want to die?

-Find your original intention

-Give us your address^^ I’ll block the door

Professional streamers like Tae-woo just brushed off this level of threat without blinking.

Seo-jun just pretended not to see it and left everything to Tae-woo.

He was also a professional streamer now.

The remaining time was free time.

Seo-jun and the viewers spent time having casual conversations.

Talk about the game they just played, For the Murim talk.

Occasionally Assassin’s Dawn talk appeared too.

People who had defeated all the Rulers and progressed to hidden quests, and laments about still not seeing Christina’s scenes.

And so on.

“What game am I playing next?”

And naturally, the most attention was focused on what game Seo-jun would play starting tomorrow.

Seo-jun fell into thought for a moment.

He wasn’t pondering because he hadn’t decided what game to play tomorrow.

He should start The League now, obviously.

However, in a situation where The League of Streaming application announcement hadn’t come up yet, he was wondering whether to reveal his intention to participate in LOS.

Usually most people kept quiet about it until they were selected.

If he said he’d be playing The League tomorrow, those kinds of questions would definitely come up.

“Tomorrow is a break…”

Ugh.

Seo-jun flinched at the suddenly menacing atmosphere.

“I’m joking. Starting tomorrow, it’s The League.”

And as soon as he said that, the chat moved twice as fast.

Even faster than when he’d just mentioned taking a break.

The League was called the national game because it had such an enormous user base.

The biggest professional virtual reality league was also The League.

While it didn’t have the title of first virtual reality game, The League was still the first game that came to mind when thinking of virtual reality games—this was an undeniable fact for many people.

-Yeah!

-Let’s dominate League too!

-LOS? LOS? LOS? LOS? LOS?

-Right, there was LOS! Let’s go!

-Now let’s really compare skills with the pros! Lol

-But what if scout offers come in? Will you abandon streaming?

-Will the streamer use swords in League too? Honestly, seems a bit questionable

He’d already received pro offers.

And swords, well.

Seven years ago, The League was the only game he’d played, and every character he’d played used swords.

Back then, he was confident he’d been very good.

‘Seven years have passed, so a lot must have changed.’

He’d have to check that gradually.

Seo-jun intentionally ignored the chat asking about LOS and said,

“Any other questions?”

And a donation rang out.

[‘Anonymous’ donated 50,000 won!]

[How did you and Tae-woo first become friends?]