Chapter 84

The screen transitions.

A slow sword unfolds.

Yet it feels fast.

Simple.

Simply so.

It looked like it could be blocked.

Yet it couldn’t be blocked.

If you try to dodge, you lose balance.

The video forcibly immerses viewers in the opponent’s perspective.

And sentences predicting what will happen next appear just before the attack.

And it unfolds exactly as predicted.

The rankers continue analyzing and sharing how that slow sword managed to do it, but only the person involved probably knows exactly how.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

After clashing several times, when he came to his senses, Seo-jun’s sword had already quietly slashed his throat.

Swoosh.

[Next.]

The person who had shown overwhelming skill spoke leisurely while looking down.

-Dull sword really is scary

-Gaslighting swordsmanship lol

-Looks even more impressive since it’s a well-edited compilation lol

-Next!

-No emotions shown when going in for the kill lol that expressionless face is chilling lmao

-If I was standing there I’d definitely piss myself. how do I know? I pissed myself a little just watching this lol

-Crazy!

After showing him facing several opponents, the video ended.

On one hand, there wasn’t enough time to capture all the fights.

-Next! at this hour

-End

-Sss

Seo-jun left one final chat message.

-Everyone, the Demonic Cult will win this battlefield.

The premiere ended and the video was properly uploaded.

A performance record of 30,000 views hit in less than a second after upload.

Han Ji-min was apparently staying up watching too, as she contacted him.

[Han Ji-min: The first premiere was successful!]

[Han Ji-min: I hope the algorithm picks it up properly!]

[Jin Seo-jun: I hope so too. Good work.]

[Han Ji-min: Don’t mention it. Geon-yeong must be sleeping lol]

Since Lee Geon-yeong usually sent immediate replies, they easily deduced he was asleep.

[Jin Seo-jun: He stayed up all last night and didn’t get much rest, then did editing today too, so he must be really tired]

[Han Ji-min: Truly an evil boss lol]

[Jin Seo-jun: Where else would you find someone who interferes as little as I do. Haha]

Seo-jun doesn’t even review the videos.

He decided to entrust the channel to them, and it’s not like he knows better anyway.

The editors could easily sabotage him if they held a grudge, but what would they gain from doing that?

Right.

If you want to instill ownership, just make them owners!

[Han Ji-min: That’s true. But how about doing some reviews?]

[Han Ji-min: If we leave and you have to find other editors later, you’ll have a lot to check directly then.]

That was a fair point.

No matter how much he didn’t want to worry about it and entrusted the channel to them, Seo-jun knew it wasn’t good to remain completely ignorant about management.

[Jin Seo-jun: I’ll think about it when I take a leave of absence.]

[Han Ji-min: Okay. You’re busy.]

Afterward, Han Ji-min sent another message to the personal chat room.

[Han Ji-min: In my case, even if you, boss, tried to kick me out, I’d cling to your leg and refuse to leave.]

[Han Ji-min: But accidents can happen.]

[Han Ji-min: Most of all, I’m not sure what will happen to Geon-yeong. He’s been looking troubled lately, maybe because the college entrance exam is coming up soon.]

Seo-jun and Han Ji-min knew about Lee Geon-yeong’s situation.

The story of how he said he was retaking the exam and living alone, but couldn’t do anything and spent a long time holed up in his room until Seo-jun gave him something to do.

It was an embarrassing story to tell others, and Lee Geon-yeong didn’t want to reveal it either.

But it was the result of Lee Geon-yeong getting drunk for the first time on their first day, not knowing his alcohol tolerance.

‘Did he say it felt liberating?’

Lee Geon-yeong was definitely pulling his weight, but to them he felt like a younger brother they needed to look after.

‘He’ll figure it out himself.’

And Seo-jun wasn’t the type to look after younger brothers.

Though that might be different if they asked for help.

* * *

The next morning.

Seo-jun said to Tae-woo.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go eat at my parents’ house this morning.”

Seo-jun’s parents’ house was next door, and they often dropped by to eat together.

“Suddenly? And it’s almost time to eat, but if we go suddenly they won’t be prepared.”

“No, Mother said to come over for a meal after a while.”

“Really? Then we should go. But why suddenly?”

“What reason would there be? Maybe she bought some meat.”

Seo-jun shrugged, then opened the front door and headed next door.

Tae-woo watched Seo-jun leave and felt something was off, tilting his head in confusion, but soon followed Seo-jun out the front door.

* * *

Tae-woo realized his intuition had definitely been functioning, even beyond functioning—it had been excellent.

Though what good did realizing that now do.

It started with a damn conversation between his friend and his father during the meal.

“Hey, why did you suddenly come for breakfast? It’s suspicious.”

Cough.

Food got stuck in Tae-woo’s throat.

He clearly said his mother had called them over, so why was Ha-jun saying that?

Right.

Maybe his mother called them without telling his father.

Of course, when his mother joined the conversation, it was immediately revealed that wasn’t the case.

“I’m curious about that too. Why suddenly?”

You said your mother called me over!

“Ah, well, the thing is…”

Tae-woo turned his head sharply with demanding eyes, staring intensely at Seo-jun, but Seo-jun didn’t even blink as he continued.

“Mother, Father. I’m thinking of taking a leave of absence.”

After finishing his words, Seo-jun picked up his chopsticks again as if nothing had happened.

Cough.

Food got stuck in Tae-woo’s throat again as he glared even more fiercely at Seo-jun.

Is this bastard actually eating right now?

Tae-woo shouted internally.

‘Why are you telling them that now, and why did you bring me along to say it!’

No matter how carefree he seemed, the Seo-jun that Tae-woo knew always thought about the future.

If that was the case, bringing him along now was definitely intentional.

Moral support? Or his mother’s restraining force?

Whatever it was, he really was a precious friend.

Thud.

Se-yeon, Seo-jun’s mother, put her chopsticks down on the table with a sound.

The atmosphere became strange.

Ha-jun and Tae-woo next to her both flinched at the same time.

The person in question remained calm.

Se-yeon spoke.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I want to take a break from university after finishing this semester.”

“For what reason?”

“Mm. To play games.”

Ugh.

How can you say it like that?

“Games? …So.”

“Yes.”

“Not travel, not a part-time job, not employment, not studying, not building hobbies, but just games?”

“Games are a hobby too.”

“……”

Please, Seo-jun. My friend.

Why are you doing this?

“Ah, I make money too.”

“What money.”

“Streaming is going pretty well.”

“The thing Tae-woo does?”

“Yes. Didn’t I mention I was doing it before?”

“I thought you were just helping Tae-woo out while gaming.”

Auntie. No.

This bastard suddenly said he thought he could do better than Shin Ha-yeon and just started on his own.

“Well, anyway, it’s going better than expected, so I want to try working hard at it.”

“What, was that what it was? I thought you just wanted to play around without thinking.”

“Would I do that? Mother?”

Tae-woo recalled Seo-jun’s streams.

Looking at his attitude toward streaming and how he treated viewers.

His friend definitely just wanted to play around without thinking.

But Tae-woo couldn’t say anything.

He was just grateful that Se-yeon wasn’t angry.

If things got bigger, the blame would inevitably fall on him.

As the person who led his son down the wrong path.

Even though it definitely happened because of Seo-jun’s own circumstances and he bore not even a gram of responsibility, the fact that his aunt didn’t know that was what mattered.

“Until when?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’ll graduate, right?”

“Probably.”

“Alright. And lastly…”

“Yes.”

“It’s safe to do that much, right?”

“It’s safe.”

“That’s a relief. It would be ridiculous for me to tell a grown son what to do. Handle it yourself.”

Phew.

Tae-woo and Ha-jun’s eyes met.

Thank goodness it ended well.

Surprisingly, Seo-jun was stubborn and didn’t bend easily once he decided on something.

And while Se-yeon wasn’t the type to oppose things, this time Seo-jun had really spoken poorly, hadn’t he?

What parent would laugh and say “go ahead and play games to your heart’s content” when their child says they want to take a leave of absence to play games?

It would be different if he said he wanted to rest and then played games.

Afterward, his father quickly finished eating and went into his room.

His mother went to clean up the kitchen.

When only the two of them were left, Seo-jun said quietly.

“Too bad.”

“What’s too bad?”

“I was going to throw you under the bus and run if Mother got angry.”

This bastard?

* * *

“Thank you for the meal.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Why is Father answering?”

“Because my wife made the food.”

“But still, why…”

“Shut up. Don’t come over anymore.”

Seo-jun put on his slippers, ignoring their pointless conversation.

“Oppa. Move aside. I need to go out.”

His younger sister.

Jin So-hee approached.

“Going to school?”

“Yeah.”

Her special status. Senior in high school.

With the college entrance exam approaching soon.

“Is it okay to go to school in gym clothes?”

“Yeah, they don’t care.”

Invincible.

At least within Korean society, she was invincible as a test-taker.

“By the way, oppa, is your streaming going well?”

“Yeah.”

“Ugh. I resent not being able to get a capsule during my school years because of oppa’s danger. I really have to try it once the exam is over.”

“I definitely said you’d be fine.”

“You didn’t. You said I’d collapse too.”

“That was a joke.”

Seo-jun chuckled.

“That’s true. In the end, it was Mother who stopped me. If Father had been a little more interested in virtual reality, he could have convinced Mother. Ugh. Father likes computers too much. But hey, oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re good at games, right? I’d be good too if I played, right? It’s genetic, right? Right?”

That would be impossible unless she remembered her past life.

“I’m orthodox faction though.”

“Oh dear. Why are you talking about orthodox faction?”

So-hee giggled.

“Ah, I saw that on the stream. Anyway, I’m orthodox faction.”

“For the Murim sects? I like Demonic Cult. Good performance and popular too.”

Suddenly, the sound of Tae-woo clicking his tongue could be heard from behind.

“Ah, so that game’s name is For the Murim. But I belong orthodox faction even without playing that.”

“Why?”

“I screwed up my internal grades.”

Mm.

So orthodox faction didn’t mean that orthodox faction but rather regular exam track student. ^[1]

Things suddenly became solemn.

His little sister, who usually didn’t use profanity, using the word “screwed” showed how emotional she was getting, so it seemed like he shouldn’t say more.

“Oh dear. So-hee. The exam isn’t far away, so is it okay for a regular track fighter to be watching streams?”

And Tae-woo didn’t have that much tact.

Was it because the only concern he had during exams was whether to mark choice 3 or 4?

Seo-jun shook his head and So-hee flared up.

“What are you saying? And I didn’t watch the stream, okay? It just popped up on my algorithm this morning. The latest video. I only watched it because it popped up. So stop invading my account, will you?”

“Then why did it pop up for you?”

“How would I know that? Ah, right. Oppa, it was on the trending videos.”

“Really?”

Seo-jun responded with surprise.

“Oh, awesome.”

Tae-woo, who understood what that meant, immediately opened his phone to check.

“Dude, dude. Look at this.”

And he showed it to Seo-jun.

The view count of that video, uploaded less than a day ago, was:

[I Became the Best Under Heaven in a Game.]

[Trending Gaming Videos #3]

It had surpassed 300,000 views.