Chapter 57

What purpose do users have for participating in the battlefield?

Since the battlefield is a game event, it gives massive rewards just for participating.

Game events are designed to gather lots of people.

The more people there are, the more lively it becomes, which increases player influx and makes things fun.

Rewards perfectly match this purpose.

Even if you don’t perform well, just participating can earn you rewards that might be costumes, farming materials you’d otherwise have to grind for.

Or they could be things like titles—useless but desirable collectibles.

So then, is reward the reason people participate in the battlefield?

Can we say that useful items or ones that provide satisfaction are the driving force behind the battlefield?

‘That might be the case.’

At 7 o’clock.

Nameless, a ranker from Assassination Guild and Tangso’s gaming friend, thought to himself.

If there were no rewards in games, it would be disappointing to the point of being negligent.

This is exactly why battle passes became such a huge success among gaming business models.

Battle passes are a business model that provides players with in-game items as rewards for playing the game and completing specific challenges.

One reason battle passes succeeded was the short-term goals and rewards based on gameplay.

That’s how important rewards are.

But is that all?

‘No. They say there are additional rewards based on contribution, but if you don’t make it into the top 16, the difference isn’t that big. So why would rankers work so hard?’

Nameless was one of the people who had been strategizing for the unorthodox faction in every battlefield.

In other words, when it came to battlefields, he was an expert.

In his expert opinion, one of the major reasons people participated in battlefields was pride.

‘The top 16 is a tiny minority. Most rankers don’t really care about it. They know it’s not a realistic goal. But even so…’

They work hard anyway.

The reason is pride.

The battlefield is competition between factions.

You should be getting the picture by now.

If you lose in the battlefield.

You have to endure all kinds of mockery and public humiliation from users of the winning faction on No-Honor and everywhere else until the next battlefield opens!

‘Absolutely not!’

Even when the team you’re rooting for doesn’t win and people mock you, it’s infuriating, but in the battlefield you become an actual team member.

How could you stand all those taunts hitting you directly?

When you don’t win and the battlefield ends, you can’t play any games for a while.

Because every time people meet, they smile smugly and talk about it.

If he won in games.

‘You lost in the battlefield, but at least you have to win in games like this. Pfft, must feel good to win.’

If he lost in games.

‘You lose at this too.’

These kinds of reactions would appear.

‘It’s unbearable. There’s nothing you can do about it.’

Of course, conversely, if you win, you get to do all those same things to them.

That’s why rankers unite with one heart to strategize and cooperate for their faction’s victory.

Just looking at this chat room shows how serious everyone is.

[Anti-Hypocrite Unorthodox Faction] [999+]

Translated literally, it means the unorthodox faction that expels hypocritical orthodox faction members.

True to its meaning, this unorthodox faction chat room was so active that notifications had maxed out even though he hadn’t checked it for just a few dozen minutes.

There were 80 members.

It was a room where the elite of the elite had gathered.

The reason they had gathered required understanding how the battlefield system worked.

Most users could be said to just play the game.

They don’t coordinate or synchronize with other people from the same faction.

No, realistically it’s difficult and nearly impossible, so it’s more accurate to say they can’t.

If that were the case, the battlefield would become content where faction victory depended on the random actions and luck of unspecified masses, but fortunately this wasn’t true.

The reason lay in reputation points.

Without reputation points, even if these 80 people in this room united, they’d be just 80 people at most.

But reputation points exist, so they move as a group past the midpoint and produce meaningful results.

For example, if they all accumulated reputation points and gathered in one enemy territory on a given day to attack it, that territory’s attack points would inevitably be higher than its defense points, and that territory would be captured by the unorthodox faction.

‘Of course, the enemies won’t just sit still either.’

Both the orthodox faction and demonic cult have chat rooms where rankers have gathered, just like the unorthodox faction.

-Let’s work hard on accumulating reputation points.

-I’m planning to go orthodox faction for today’s raid

-Anyone gathering demonic cult intel?

-Looking for someone to plan routes with Green Forest later

-This is my first time, where do I get information?

-Go to No-Honor

Nameless was currently opening various site windows and gathering information about raids.

‘Most rankers are probably doing the same as me.’

He turned his attention to No-Honor, which was currently the most active.

[Streamer who started fighting the demonic cult (link)]

[Unorthodox faction is Tang Household, orthodox faction is Namgung]

[Streamers currently broadcasting the battlefield. (Continuously updated)]

[That cheater Grand Master from yesterday is the target. The demonic cult guys are likely to cover for him]

Grand Master?

As someone who had tried the demonic cult test once in a while this morning, he’d become interested in that streamer.

And through searching iTube, he discovered that person had used the same nickname in their previous game.

‘That aside.’

Nameless clicked on the intriguing post.

[That cheater Grand Master from yesterday is the target. The demonic cult guys are likely to cover for him]

==

That cheatrer made a promise during his broadcast about demonic cult victory or making it into the top 16. Penalty if he fails: wearing magical girl clothes.

This is day 2 of For the Murim. A person who’s never played ranked once said this.

From the demonic cult guys’ perspective, this is precious.

Nobody else had said their faction would win, but suddenly someone appeared who made that promise, hahaha

==

-100% will fail and do the penalty show

-This person was really talk of the town these days

-A newbie who’s never even played ranked making promises like this??? Fucking arrogant

-It might be possible. The reputation points he earned yesterday were pretty high

└That’s because he was beating up noobs

└But it’s only the first day?

-Why are you treating cheater as a given fact? It hasn’t even been confirmed yet. Please, let’s reclaim our honor.

└Even if it’s not because of cheat, the arrogance is real though?

└Honor was thrown away first by the streamer you’re defending lol

└Another delusional comment appeared!!!! (link)

“He makes promises when he wants to make them, what’s the big deal about that.”

Nameless frowned as he scrolled through the comments and clicked the link.

“What’s this ‘delusional comment’ about now.”

[???: I think 4 minutes should be enough?]

==

Streamer who got 17 minutes on his first try.

Says he can finish the raid in under 4 minutes.

LMAO

==

-He’s seriously got severe delusions of grandeur

-This is genuinely pissing me off?

-4 minutes my ass.

-Here come the demonic cult bastards rushing in like flies again with their “Our Heavenly Demon can do it” bullshit

└For real

└It’s amazing how they spout such nonsense but still have diehard fans

-Isn’t he getting too cocky after beating Shin Ha-yeon?

-Do you guys even watch the stream once before talking?

└Yeah, I’m about to go watch so I can leave hate comments

There were also countless profanities. The reason being that he was arrogant.

“Jeez, why did he say something like that.”

He seemed like someone who naturally attracted a lot of backlash.

“Even if it might be possible, just keep a low profile.”

A thought suddenly occurred to him.

They say true superstars drive both fans and haters crazy.

No wait.

He just didn’t know that he was already starting to get hate in the community.

“Isn’t his chat completely trashed because of these people?”

Since he was planning to go to demonic cult territory anyway, Nameless entered Seo-jun’s stream, which he hadn’t been watching.

Fortunately, since only followers could chat, the chat window was clean.

But there was one problem. It was because of a donation that rang out right as he entered.

“What’s this guy doing now.”

Sigh.

This was exactly how he’d ended up looking for Tangso.

* * *

“Pack your bags? What are you talking about. Listen carefully. Heavenly Demon will definitely fail to catch Namgung Cheon.”

Tangso quickly recovered.

He doesn’t know what he’s basing his confidence on.

“So what are you going to do now? Are you really going to the demonic cult?”

“Oh please. I told you I’m not losing the bet.”

Yeah, sure you won’t lose.

“Why did you even make such a stupid bet in the first place.”

Every single ranker is important. What the hell is this behavior.

At least he found some peace of mind in the fact that Tangso’s destination was the demonic cult.

The demonic cult gaining a ranker wasn’t a problem. Even if they doubled in number, it wouldn’t be worrying.

“Have a good trip.”

A vote was already taking place in the chat room.

[Tangso must accept the results of the bet!]

[Agree – 90%]

[Disagree – 10%]

Agreement was at 90%.

They were just having fun teasing their colleague.

“I’m not going!”

“What are you saying.”

“Listen carefully. That cheater’s build helps with internal energy recovery, so he might think it’s not a big problem to use up all his internal energy.”

“So?”

“However, that guy needs to kill enemies quickly. But if he doesn’t have enough internal energy, he won’t be able to make up for the damage.”

That was perceptive.

As expected, while he looked stupid on the surface, his understanding of the game was good.

But.

“Stop talking and just go to the demonic cult.”

“Why.”

Nameless had already seen the plays Seo-jun had made.

They were well organized on iTube.

The battle was about to begin.

“See, look at how slowly that NPC’s HP is dropping. He won’t be able to clear it in time. He can’t do it… Huh?”

From the moment Seo-jun gave up on dodging, the enemy’s health started getting shaved away rapidly.

“I knew this would happen.”

“…”

Seo-jun on screen easily defeated Namgung Cheon.

The record was in the 3-minute range.

It was unprecedented.

The chat room went crazy too.

-3 minutes clear????

-For real?

-Are there any masters who’ve hit 3 minutes in raids?

-Real masters aiming for top 16 don’t usually reveal their records

-Even 4 minutes is unprecedented lol

-Looks like he found the shortest route for orthodox faction in this raid lol any way to use this?

-Even if you go up like that, without internal energy, you’d probably spend ages just whittling down Namgung Cheon’s health. We don’t have Absorption Technique

-As expected, everyone was watching lol

The chat room immediately began analysis.

Nameless’s mouth fell open.

“3 minutes.”

[So then, shouldn’t that guy come to the demonic cult?]

Pfft.

Tangso, who had been trying to calm his mind by picking up his cup, spat out water.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.”

“What am I going to do. I really don’t want to go back to the demonic cult.”

Finally, Tangso’s unbreakable role play had cracked.

It was that big of a deal. Going to the demonic cult.

However, it wasn’t his problem.

Nameless quickly lost interest in the now-dejected Tangso.

After all, there was something more interesting than someone who was leaving anyway.

‘I’m curious what those people who were hating on No-Honor are going to say now.’

* * *

Seo-jun played two more rounds in succession.

His goal was to finish as quickly as possible since he’d gotten a good record.

Reputation points are given after calculating the standard deviation of records by faction.

Because records are relative.

“Three rounds all in the 3-minute range is pretty good.”

The first round had the shortest record.

After that, Seo-jun took it easier.

4 minutes was supposedly unprecedented anyway.

After exiting the game, Seo-jun headed back to his original spot.

“I wonder if he’s still there. He wouldn’t have run away, would he?”

What if Tangso couldn’t accept the bet results and ran away?

“There are a lot of rankers watching right now, aren’t there?”

The current viewer count was 8,000.

‘This must be the battlefield effect.’

Starting the game right at 7 o’clock and setting a record was a good call.

In reality, most of the new viewers had come in to hate on Seo-jun, but Seo-jun didn’t know this.

-Seo-jun-nim, would you like to come to the orthodox faction? We’ll treat you well. Victory is guaranteed too.

-How about Mount Hua?

-Come here, come here

-How would you treat him?

-Don’t steal the faction leader from the demonic cult

-T_T

-What about Assassination Guild!

Chat messages recruiting him kept popping up.

Seo-jun looked confused.

“No, everyone, the demonic cult is going to win, so why would I go somewhere else?”

Of course, he wasn’t serious.

He also knew the demonic cult couldn’t win.

The reason was insufficient numbers of rankers.

The number of regular users was also insufficient, but surprisingly the difference wasn’t that big.

Most users played casually, so they chose based on their preferences rather than results.

“I’m being serious though.”

Most people laughed, but he could see some chat messages that believed him.

Seo-jun smiled wryly while reading the chat.

Don’t actually believe it.

Anyway, after some brief communication, he returned to his original spot.

Then the chat, which had been full of hooks, started filling up with “lol”s characters.

-LOL

-What is he doing lol

-Is he asking me to look just once?

-This is hilarious lol

Because Tangso was kneeling next to the chair where he’d originally been sitting.

Seo-jun approached closer.

“Heavenly Demon-nim, you have arrived!”

Seo-jun heard the attention-seeker’s respectful greeting and thought.

“Heavenly Demon’s return! Ten thousand demons bow in submission!”

His previous role playing was better.