Chapter 170

CHAPTER 170

Seojun was startled.

I Am the Assassin of Joseon.

The former manager of his stream.

The reason he was a former manager was because Seojun had removed him from the position for a week after he took responsibility and banned someone during the incident with Pado.

Instead, however—

[Assassin of Joseon has had his manager privileges confiscated for one week. Instead, I'll promote him to VIP. What responsibility is that supposed to be? Well, I punished him, didn't I?]

• LOL so he gets a week off work and a front-row seat to the stream? Sounds great.
• JOAM! JOAM! JOAM! JOAM!
• Is this one of those symbolic punishments? LOL
• Shameless LOL

[Oh, and I'll unban everyone Assassin of Joseon banned.]

• Instead?
• What reward are they getting?
• Right, if he did wrong, compensation is only fair.

[I'll personally ban them for one week.]

• LET'S GO!
• Trolls eliminated! Trolls eliminated!
• This is the proper Travel experience!
• What kind of law is this?
• The streamer makes the rules LOL
• Isn't that actually a reward?
• Totally a reward LOL

That was the story behind it.

As a result, Joam was now a former manager and current VIP.

He and Seojun were actually quite close.

They chatted through private messages from time to time, and he was one of the viewers who showed up to every stream.

If someone asked Seojun who his closest viewer was after Brick Extortion King, he would naturally answer Joam.

The reason Seojun was so surprised was—

[Thirty million points?! Are you insane?!]

[Wait, an individual can actually have that many?]

[How many does the number-one player have right now?]

Travel ranked users according to their channel points.

Naturally, users could choose to hide that information.

But most people didn't.

Channel points were useless unless other people knew how many you had.

If it were power in a fantasy world, hiding it might improve your chances of survival.

If it were money, hiding it could help you avoid envy and live peacefully.

If it were fame, hiding it could help you avoid trouble.

But channel points?

They're completely useless, and envy... hmm...

Well.

Considering how Travel viewers behave, there probably are people who genuinely get jealous...

Maybe.

Anyway.

A normal person had little reason to hide them.

Yet after reaching 25 million points, Assassin of Joseon had hidden his total.

And when Seojun asked why, Joam had replied:

—Streamer! Everyone already knows I'm number one anyway. Heh.

In other words—

Some kind of mysterious persona.

And I heard he's been participating in every prediction event he can find...

Travel had a system that let users view all ongoing point-betting events in real time.

It even allowed them to jump directly to the corresponding channel.

Point-addicted viewers hunted those events down obsessively.

Apparently, Joam was exactly that kind of person whenever Seojun wasn't streaming.

[Could there be even more?]

[Wasn't this user famous for hunting prediction events and betting on underdogs?]

[After reaching 25 million points, he disappeared, but people said it would be harder for him to lose all those points than to keep them. Everyone agreed he was still ranked number one. But thirty million?!]

Five million.

That wasn't a small amount.

Most people struggled to even gather one hundred thousand points.

At five hundred thousand, people would already ask how many years you'd been watching streams.

Yet somehow he had earned another five million.

That was what surprised Seojun.

• Crazy Joam LOL
• That's our manager!
• Average viewer in Seojun's stream =
• Calling the rank-one player average proves your IQ is below average LOL

“Wow. Thirty million points went in and the bar isn't even moving anymore.”

[Wealth Gap] – 99%

For it to fall to 98%, the combined total on all the other teams would need to exceed three hundred thousand points.

[Hahaha. Did he really just bet everything on Seojun without even looking?]

[The place where this user first won twenty-five million points was the joint stream between Alpaca and Seojun. He's one of Seojun's viewers.]

[So he earned twenty-five million because of Seojun, grew that into thirty million, and then threw all thirty million onto Seojun? That's not something anyone except a true fan could do.]

[Wow! Team Wealth Gap's aura is incredible!]

[Even if the total points eventually even out, one person dropping thirty million points? Nobody can top that.]

Top it for what purpose?

That was what Seojun thought.

The viewers clearly disagreed.

• THIS IS IT
• Average Sword God fan!
• That guy is Assassin's fan, not Sword God's fan!
• God of Assassination!
• LOL I don't think anyone is going to drop five million points on a team before betting closes.
• But WE have thirty million! Let's go!

[Hahaha. Anyway, let's stop talking about betting.]

Taeyang, who had been silent until now, finally stepped in with a laugh.

Arin nodded.

[Understood. Then! For the next ten days, the teams will have time to improve their teamwork and train. What do you think will be the most notable thing during that period?]

Bangju answered.

[The biggest thing is that we get to relax.]

Apparently Bangju had volunteered to handle all the brainless comments.

[I see!]

[Just kidding. Honestly, not much. No team is going to reveal their real strategies.]

[True, true.]

[Even so, there is something I'm curious about.]

[What's that?]

[Which team's viewers will perform the best during the practice period? Hehehe.]

[I'm curious too. Hehehe.]

Bangju and Arin exchanged suspicious smiles.

[Isn't this basically a battle of pride? Streamers should compete through viewer counts!]

[Exactly! Which five-man group stream will be the most successful? The most entertaining? We'll be watching closely!]

[Yes! Then that concludes today's scrims!]

• They're trying to start a fight LOL
• Can't resist competing with viewer numbers LOL
• So what reward do you get for having more viewers?
• The warm attention of the casters and analysts.

[That's all for now....]

The broadcast ended.

Seojun lowered the screen in front of him and looked forward.

All of his teammates simultaneously turned their heads toward him.

“Wow, Seojun-nim, what's up with that viewer of yours?”

“Hahaha! To think you have connections with Travel's richest user!”

A very Ha Yoonho-like statement from someone obsessed with connections.

He was still waving that carrot while talking.

Just pick one thing and stick with it.

“Whew, it's been a while since we've seen Assassin of Joseon. By the way, Seojun-nim is truly on another level. Even his viewers are unbelievable.”

“Not unbelievable. More like attention-seek— ahem.”

Lumi coughed awkwardly.

Seojun nodded.

It was definitely excessive attention-seeking.

“Should we ask him? What he's thinking? He's in my stream right now.”

Joam was unusually quiet.

Normally, he would have been chatting nonstop and enjoying all the attention in the spotlight.

“Joam-nim?”

Seojun opened a private chat window.

Then displayed it on stream.

[Greetings, Streamer!]

“Seriously, what were you thinking? And how did you earn another five million points?”

Thanks to Assassin of Joseon betting thirty million points, Team Wealth Gap suddenly looked incredibly impressive.

Of course, that was all it accomplished.

Seojun simply found the whole situation amusing.

[What do you mean, what was I thinking?! This is practically free money! Minimum several times return!]

• That's called trust LOL
• He already made 25 million once. He just believes.
• This guy is actually a genius investor LOL
• Whether he's an investor or not depends on the result.
• This isn't investing, idiots. It's gambling!
• In our stock market, investing equals gambling anyway LOL

“I see.”

Seojun nodded.

“Then what about the extra five million points?”

[Didn't I start with a huge amount of capital? I just threw 250,000 points at high-probability underdog bets. Then somehow it multiplied. Even I don't understand it!]

• Points generating more points.
• Is Joam actually good at investing???
• Lucky bastard.
• I'm so jealous.

There were people like that.

Extremely rare, but they existed.

Seojun nodded once more.

“I'm genuinely jealous.”

“Why, Lumi-nim?”

“With that many points, I could practically control Ha Yoonho. I could force Taewoo into horror streams too... The possible uses are endless.”

“Ah.”

Right.

Points weren't useless.

Everyone had become so obsessed with betting that they forgot.

At least for streamers, channel points were actually a currency that could be spent.

“Joam-nim?”

[Yes?]

“If I win the tournament, I'll multiply those points several times over. In return, how about a small commission? You can spend them wherever I tell you to.”

The response came immediately.

[Deal! Honestly, my hands are shaking right now. I basically bet almost everything LOL]

• If you're not shaking, you're not human.
• Thirty million LOL imagine the chaos you could cause on Travel with that.
• That's the heart of a beast.

[But hearing that from you calms me down. I believe! Championship, let's go!]

“Alright. Got it. The rest of you should bet on me too. You won't regret it.”

Seojun said confidently.

Then he looked toward his teammates.

A chill ran down their spines.

Meanwhile, Ha Yoonho had gone stiff-faced and was desperately shaking the carrot with both hands.

“By the way, Yoonho-nim, what exactly have you been doing since yesterday?”

“Leave him alone. It's not like this is the first weird thing he's done. He's probably trying to buy advertising on Carrot Market or something.”

Seojun's eyes met Ha Yoonho's.

Ha Yoonho carefully watched Seojun's reaction and forced an awkward smile while pretending nothing was wrong.

So Seojun naturally pretended not to notice.

“Carrot Market? The secondhand marketplace?”

If Ha Yoonho ever realized that Seojun knew exactly what he was doing, he might sacrifice himself and openly scream for everyone else to run.

Naturally, Seojun increased Ha Yoonho's future training intensity another notch in his mind and stood up.

“Well then, everyone. See you in real life tomorrow.”

It was time to assess each member's capabilities in detail.

“This is going to be fun.”

“Finally!”

“Huh? Hello!”

Lumi waved her hand.

Standing where she was looking were Wind Sword and Alpaca.

“Why are you two waiting in the underground parking lot?”

“We thought it'd be better if we arrived together.”

Alpaca answered.

“Ah, got it! Hey! Hurry up! Why aren't you getting out of the car?”

Lumi shouted toward Ha Yoonho, who was still sitting inside.

Looking like he would rather be anywhere else in the world, Ha Yoonho finally stepped out and walked toward them.

“Whew. Maybe having more people around is actually a good thing. Yeah, let's think positively. Honestly, this is karma. Karma for ignoring my warning.”

“What are you even talking about?”

“Forget it. Hello, Alpaca-nim. Wind Sword-nim.”

“Hello.”

“I'll lead the way. Let's go.”

“Yes.”

“To hell.”

“...What?”

Without answering, Ha Yoonho pressed the elevator button.

[4th Floor]

The floor numbers changed.

“I wonder if they have cutting-edge equipment.”

“Maybe it's a traditional martial arts gym. Considering it's Lee Dongsu...”

Listening to their conversation, Ha Yoonho smiled to himself.

Then he stepped out of the elevator and led the team toward the familiar location.

“We're here.”

Following behind him, Alpaca looked around.

It seemed like a normal gym.

What's that over there?

There was a separate area partitioned off with glass.

Ha Yoonho was heading directly toward it.

At a glance, there seemed to be a lot of people inside.

And the moment they entered—

Men lined up on both sides in perfect rows and greeted them simultaneously.

“Hello!”

What is this?

This is terrifying.

Where's Lee Dongsu?

Why are there all these intimidating hyungs here?

And then—

Watching this scene from afar, Taewoo thought:

This bastard's a repeat offender.

Back in school.

Even the cafeteria incident might have been planned.

That suspicion grew stronger and stronger in his mind.