Chapter 58

“Heavenly Demon…”

“Cut it out, you bastard.”

Just as people’s attention began gathering due to Tangso’s outcry, a user sitting in the nearby chair smacked Tangso on the head.

“Cough.”

“I told you to pray once, not to suddenly start praising him out of nowhere!”

“How is this praising!”

“Isn’t ‘The Heavenly Demon’s Return’ praise? Huh?”

Hmm.

From Seo-jun’s perspective, the user who appeared to be Tangso’s companion was quite sensible.

He seemed like the first normal user Seo-jun had encountered since coming to For the Murim.

‘Now that I think about it, I’m getting the feeling I really shouldn’t be playing this game anymore…’

He didn’t know it would be this kind of game.

He checked the nickname above the head of the user who had made the sensible comment. The nickname was Nameless.

That was the nickname he’d used in Assassin’s Dawn.

-Did he just randomly start praising? LOL

-Nameless? The streamer was also Nameless

-Isn’t Nameless the standard for assassins?

It is the standard, indeed.

“Sigh. Can’t even pray properly. Just screw off to the Demonic Cult.”

“Nameless! Don’t give up on me!”

“Shut up.”

“I don’t want to go to the Demonic Cult! Hurry up and persuade him for me!”

Tangso pointed at Seo-jun with his finger, and Seo-jun made eye contact with Nameless, whose gaze had followed that pointing finger.

“Hello, Heavenly Demon-nim. I’m Nameless. My faction is Unorthodox.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“So, are you going to take this bast—I mean, this person—to the Demonic Cult?”

“Yeah.”

He hadn’t written a contract or taken collateral, so if Tangso refused to honor the bet, there was no way to force him.

But seeing how he was trying to get persuaded right now instead of just running away, it seemed like he surprisingly wouldn’t flee.

“Really? Then please take him away quickly.”

He’s not even trying to persuade.

Tangso looked up at Nameless with an expression full of betrayal.

“You! Didn’t you say you’d persuade him!”

“When did I say that? That’s what you get for making such a bet. Huh? You brought this on yourself.”

He’s right.

“Ha! Do you have no sense of loyalty?”

“Nope, I don’t.”

Tangso stood up and started shaking Nameless by the collar.

-He should be the one persuading lol

-I’d abandon him too

-Even though Tangso is a loss of fighting power, nobody’s holding onto him

Honestly, Seo-jun had thought Tangso would just run away.

Even if he ran away and they met again later, he could just ignore him.

Many people had watched, so acquaintances would tease him about it, but that would be all.

“Stop shaking me.”

“I don’t want to.”

“If only you hadn’t stupidly insisted he was cheating, huh? Does that skill level look like cheating to you? Huh?”

“Fine! I get it, so hurry up and persuade him!”

“Ugh. You’re impossible to talk to. Do you really want to die? Just straight up.”

“Good. Let’s go one-on-one.”

“I’m applying right now.”

The collar-grabbing somehow escalated into a fight.

A border formed around them.

A transparent barrier was erected to prevent people from entering, and those who had been nearby started coming over to watch.

“By the way, you’re all surprisingly accepting the results of the bet.”

Seo-jun also began spectating the fight.

-Of course!

-There’s honor at stake

-The game’s name is For the Murim, so you have to keep bets

-Honor my ass. What have I been playing all this time lol

-This place is close-knit enough that most people at least know each other’s names, so you can’t not keep a bet lmao

The victory in the one-on-one duel went to Nameless.

According to people’s explanations, Nameless had a lower ranking and an unfavorable matchup, but the opposite result occurred.

As the cause of this, people offered various opinions like the shock of going to the Demonic Cult was that severe, his mental state was broken, and so on.

Is the Demonic Cult really that bad?

Tangso looked up at the ceiling with a hollow expression, and Nameless approached Seo-jun to speak.

“I’d appreciate it if you could get rid of him quickly.”

He wasn’t sure how he should get rid of him though.

Tangso approached and spoke.

“Heavenly Demon-nim, I’ll remain in the Unorthodox faction and extract information for you. So if you’ll withdraw the bet, the Demonic Cult will definitely be able to win!”

Seo-jun was impressed once again internally.

As expected, this guy speaks normally when he’s being sensible.

“Yeah, I just kicked you from the chat room.”

Though he’s still stupid as ever.

Seo-jun hadn’t particularly planned to grant the request, but to say that right to his face.

“By the way, Heavenly Demon-nim.”

Nameless, having dismissed Tangso, looked at him seriously.

“What?”

“The Demonic Cult’s victory will be difficult.”

Why is he suddenly showing signs of rivalry?

He knew that it would be difficult.

* * *

“Well, now that it’s come to this, I think it worked out well!”

Eventually, having to go to the Demonic Cult and no longer needing to plead with Seo-jun, Tangso’s speech pattern returned to normal.

They had come outside the village and were heading to the Demonic Cult.

Seo-jun didn’t need to go with him, but since he had plenty of time, he went along.

“Let’s aim for the Demonic Cult’s victory once!”

That’s not happening. It’s impossible.

“It’s unfortunate that I can’t place in the top 16, but if I can create the Demonic Cult’s first victory, that wouldn’t be bad either.”

It’s not “not bad”—it’s impossible.

They arrived at the sparring platform.

“Baek Wigang isn’t here.”

“Well, since the NPC who appeared in the raid was Baek Wigang, of course he wouldn’t be here.”

There was a different NPC instead.

Tangso went over there, demonstrated, and changed his faction to the Demonic Cult.

“But isn’t Grand Master really cheating?”

“…”

“Could you show me your quest window just once…”

* * *

News began spreading that someone had cleared the Orthodox faction in 3 minutes.

It started from the chat room where Orthodox faction rankers gathered, [Of Course Orthodox] (Of course victory goes to Orthodox).

-Guys, someone cleared our faction in 3 minutes?

-Did the route leak?

-Ah. The Unorthodox faction bastards will get ahead from the start.

-Don’t worry, if the route isn’t common, it’s not realistic

-Really? Then we can ignore it. Share some info on whoever’s working on Demonic Cult routes

-Pretty impressive though

They had pressing matters at hand, so they weren’t very interested.

The Unorthodox faction chat room [Anti-Hypocrite Unorthodox Faction] made efforts like trying to figure out builds that could use that route, but concluded that fighting while having consumed all internal energy would take longer to clear, and lost interest.

Overall, it was an ordinary reaction.

However, things were different in No-Honor, which had been in the middle of fighting.

[Orthodox 3-minute route appeared.]

==

(Clip)

==

-Wow, there was a method like that

-A skilled Demonic Cult player could probably do it

-I think I’d get stuck at sticking the sword in the wall and landing on it haha

-Oh. He really did it? Where did the guys who were cursing him earlier go?

One of the reasons Seo-jun had been cursed at included the fact that he had made ridiculous claims.

But now that those claims were proven to actually make sense.

[Where are the guys who called him a cheater just minutes ago]

==

(Screenshot)

(Screenshot)

(Screenshot)

Where did they go?

==

-Wow these people cursed viciously

-Look at this unfair treatment

-These idiots complained about 4 minutes to someone who cleared it in 3 minutes lol

└For real, 4 minutes wasn’t bragging but an expression of modesty?

└Can’t we ban these guys

└Blocking is the answer!

-These are the guys who would call the raid cheating too

Since even sensible people who said they should wait and see because there was no evidence had been cursed at, the aftermath was severe.

[There’s nothing special in the quest window, item window, nothing, you fabricating bastards]

-I guess getting the Grand Master title is real skill too. He’s revealing everything people ask him to on stream right now?

-This should be enough

-He has Transcendent and Peak Master in the title category along with Grand Master

-Look at how hastily people curse

-Is Demonic Cult victory also possible?

└Fanboying should have limits too. What victory.

└You only pop up for comments like this lmao. Hey. Does it still look like cheating? Huh? You 3-minute curry idiot who got proven wrong in 3 minutes

└3-minute curry LOL

└These 3-minute curry guys are just hopeless and stupid.

└Found screenshots of him cursing. Confirmed 3-minute curry member lol

The comment saying fanboying should have limits was soon deleted. However, the term “3-minute curry gang” began to be widely used. ^[1]

[Justice prevails!]

[Come out right now, 3-minute curry gang who were dissing Heavenly Demon-nim.]

[Your lives were the real scam.] ^[2]

[Shortest-lived failure controversy: 3-minute curry!]

Thus, without Seo-jun’s knowledge, the brief controversy ended.

* * *

Seo-jun added Tangso as a friend.

He’s stupid and likes attention so he shows off, but the kid is good-natured.

That was the viewers’ assessment, and Seo-jun didn’t think much about it.

After that, he looked around at people playing various battlefields.

Going to No-Honor, he realized that quite a lot of people had been dissing him.

Actually, until then, Seo-jun had thought only Tangso had doubts. But seeing how they had evolved on their own, he laughed along with the viewers.

And after ending the stream, he went to iTube to gather information about how the previous battlefield had unfolded.

[This is where Orthodox’s choice leads to victory!]

Thanks to a streamer who entertainingly summarized and analyzed battlefield situations, pulling hundreds of thousands to millions of views each time, he could watch enjoyably.

The next day’s battlefield game type was siege warfare.

Since siege warfare is originally the most popular and basic mode, siege warfare takes up the most time.

And while people were curious about the fame points he had gained from yesterday’s 3-minute record, Seo-jun didn’t reveal them.

“I’ll keep fame points private from now on.”

After seeing yesterday’s controversy, he decided to hide information as much as possible.

There was also the possibility of comparisons with other people happening.

Fame points affect contribution but also serve as Matchmaking Rating, or MMR.

MMR refers to the score that becomes the standard for game matching.

If fame points are high, you get matched with high-level people, and if they’re low, you get matched with low-level people.

Seo-jun was later invited to the Demonic Cult’s group chat room as well.

Tangso, who had entered the Demonic Cult, had joined and been playing around that day before inviting Seo-jun.

[At Least 2nd Place] [999+]

It was pitiful.

How is the room title aiming for 2nd place?

There were about 60 users inside.

-Heavenly Demon-nim, your 3-minute record was amazing, you’re our hope

-We believe in you

-If we get 2nd place in this battlefield, we can totally serve you as the real Heavenly Demon

-For real lol

-Guys… stop it. We’re too pitiful…

The atmosphere was warm and friendly.

Since they’d all been ignored a lot, at least within the chat room, their camaraderie seemed more solid than other factions.

Though he wasn’t sure about in-game.

He heard that purple dye and underwear sell really well in the Demonic Cult.

Seo-jun continued his winning streak the next day and the day after.

Even though his build had definitely been assessed as for beating up newbies, he won easily.

There were opinions that once the fame point difference widened and he started getting matched with people of a certain skill level, he wouldn’t be able to dominate with Seo-jun’s build anymore.

Day 6.

The clock hand pointed to 7 o’clock and the map went up.

-Today was escort. Just found out.

-First time seeing this, is it a battlefield-only mode?

-Yep

-If you just play the game, they’ll get you a job at an escort agency!

-This is basically a game mode for bandit bastards

-For today at least, we have to team up with Unorthodox, for real

Seo-jun said,

“For escort, teaming up with Unorthodox would really be appropriate.”

Game mode, Escort.

The defending faction must help the escort agency transport goods or escort important people to their destination, while the attacking faction must steal those goods or damage them.

Here, an escort agency is basically like a post office, and the goods are like packages.

And there’s one faction that always appears whenever this escort mission happens.

Green Forest.

Where do escort missions take place?

Mostly mountain travel.

And mountains inevitably have bandits.

So in escort mode, fighting Unorthodox faction is considered the standard.

-Attack go go

-We need to steal from those Green Forest bastards

-The situation is fucking hilarious lol

The situation viewers find hilarious is when a faction other than Unorthodox attacks Unorthodox territory.

In escort mode, the side that attacks a territory gets assigned the theft objective.

So if you go to attack Unorthodox territory, you get a picture where bandits are protecting the escort agency and goods while Orthodox faction tries to steal those goods.

“Yeah, but still, I won’t attack.”

Can’t give up the success bonus.

Seo-jun didn’t underestimate the veterans.

[Escort mission will begin in 1 minute.]

Still, to meet bandits, he chose to defend in Unorthodox reception area territory.

“Hello there.”

“Hello.”

“Yes. Let’s play well.”

Seo-jun was summoned to the starting point.

His teammates were visible.

Escort proceeds with 3 people per team.

“Huh? Crazy. It’s that streamer. Hello.”

But someone who recognized him appeared.

-A viewer?

-What are you, did you snipe him?

-I’m jealous of the viewer participation

Viewer participation.

Usually when a streamer decides to do viewer participation, they pick from among the viewers and play games together, but there were also cases of meeting randomly by chance.

Seo-jun hesitated for a moment.

Whether to speak informally or formally.

He spoke formally to viewers, but in games he’d tried to talk in the Heavenly Demon’s tone with people he met.

But to meet a viewer in the game.

While Seo-jun was lost in thought, the female teammate who didn’t know him asked,

“Is he a famous person?”

“Yes. He’s the greatest output of Assassin’s Dawn and none other than the Shin Ha-yeon slayer, the true Heavenly Demon!”

Hearing that, Seo-jun decided to speak down to him.

“Shut up.”

Please.

-LOL

-Shin Ha-yeon slayer you crazy bastard LMAOOO

-This might be a bit controversial?

-The fans are coming to protest lol

-No relation to viewer statements

-Quick damage control

The female teammate’s eyes widened.

“Oh. You’re that amazing? But that person told you to shut up, though?”

Then his viewer answered.

“It’s an honor.”

-Ah, it’s an honor, right lol

-LMAOOOOO

-I’d be happy even if he told me to shut up

-Either way he’ll carry the game, so if he says shut up, I should shut up

-For real lol

-As expected, the streamer has those viewers lol

Why exactly is it “the streamer has those viewers”?

He really don’t understand.

Seo-jun pushed aside his doubts, let out a sigh, and said,

“Let’s just play the game.”