Chapter 186

CHAPTER 186

Just moments ago, an American pro who had returned to the world where he originally belonged after a long vacation lasting several weeks was admiring Korea's dazzling pool of prospects and its youth system (which he knew absolutely nothing about).

Meanwhile, Seo Jun, having checked the Tower of Trials rankings, was slightly surprised to find himself in first place.

"Hmm..."

He was momentarily at a loss for words.

#1 - Sword God (Korea) - 360
#2 - Rachel (USA) - 356
#3 - Bernard (USA) - 344

Even if the gap between first and second was only four points—just half a cycle—he had never actually aimed for first place.

Still, he quickly decided it wasn't a big deal.

Now that people had realized sound play was possible, the person in second would surely be able to break his record.

Not just second place—even third, fourth, and fifth place would probably surpass him.

Probably.

At this moment, Seo Jun was greatly overestimating both the concentration of professional players and the rankers.

But it was understandable.

While someone capable of using four orbs at once had a higher ceiling, successfully doing it all 44 times was a feat that had only happened once in several years. That record was 356, and Seo Jun himself had now surpassed it.

He simply didn't know that.

He had only watched some rankers' videos and made rough comparisons.

There had been no need to time things down to the second or think deeply about it.

So he quickly regained his composure and said:

"It was easy, though?"

They'll take the record back soon enough.

• The streamer stretches toward the world. It's over.
• Chief! Pull down the shutters!
• Isn't that pro Rachel? This might become controversial.
• Why does everything become controversial? You people make it controversial yourselves, internet opinion squads.
• Bruh, don't turn everything into drama. We should show Westerners the spicy taste of kimchi.

Kimchi was indeed hard to argue against.

Seo Jun nodded and promptly presented the bill.

"Well, you all know what that means, right?"

Smiles bloomed everywhere.

Not on Seo Jun's face, but on the faces of his teammates who had rushed over the moment the trial ended.

"We believed in you all along!"

Ha Yoon-ho grinned from ear to ear. Since the stream was thriving, he was simply in a good mood.

• You always believe.
• You guys should have believed too.
• We believed in the safest investment: the streamer.
• You were all crying a minute ago and now you're depressed again, you bastards lol.
• My money...

Wind Sword gave a thumbs-up and added:

"Have you actually lost your mind? Do you know how shocked we were watching from behind?"

Wasn't it more surprising because he hadn't lost his mind?

Seo Jun chuckled and asked another question.

"What about when I hit Kael's weak point?"

"That was way more shocking."

Wind Sword answered without hesitation.

• Consistent as always lol.
• Truly a Kael one-trick lol.
• He may have gone to the tower because the streamer beat him, but his heart still belongs to Kael...

These were the only teammates who had come this far. The rest were waiting at the starting point.

Of course, they could still hear everything.

It was only fifty steps away.

"Hyung, do you know who Rachel is?"

As Seo Jun walked toward them, Lee Dong-su scratched his head and spoke.

This time it didn't seem like he had stirred up much trouble.

"Who is she?"

"There's this thing called the American Shin Ha-yeon... anyway, good luck, hyung. Things might get a little annoying now."

"Why?"

• Good question.
• Well, you broke the ranking. Isn't getting challenge requests common sense now?
• Bruh lol, totally common sense.
• Rachel's famous too!
• First of all, she's really pretty.
• If Shin Ha-yeon and Rachel competed in looks, who wins?
• The streamer wins in magical girl form.
• You've never even seen it though =

These idiots...

Had they lost their minds?

"Anyone who mentioned magical girls gets a ten-minute ban. Please reflect on your actions."

• Ah.
• Scroll up!
• Run!
• Mu
• Mu
• Bing
• Mu
• Bing
• Mu

Seo Jun scrolled through the chat and stubbornly hunted down several viewers, handing out ten-minute bans.

While he was busy tracking down the culprits, Ha Yoon-ho figured out what had happened.

"Huh? Wait, someone asked whether Rachel or Shin Ha-yeon was prettier, and then people said Seo Jun in magical girl cosplay was prettier? Pfft. Wait, Seo Jun, have you actually done magical girl cosplay before?"

"Oh. I want to see that too."

"Why are you like this too, Alpaca hyung?"

"Hehe. Coach, don't you want to see it too?"

"Hmm... not particularly, but I kind of want a copy of the photo."

"Why?"

"So you can skip training tomorrow?"

"Ah! That's a true pro right there."

"Wow. But I've never even done magical girl cosplay. Seo Jun actually did it?"

At that moment, after dealing with all the troublemakers, Seo Jun finally answered.

"Lumi, I've never done it either, so please don't misunderstand."

• In the end, they died in the line of duty...
• A ten-minute ban?! This is tyranny!
• The streamer must stop this oppression and press mission failure immediately!
• Ah...
• The mission... my money, my bonds, my stocks, my real estate...

"Haha, so we're pressing success now, right? Everyone, next time please study your Korean beforehand. This is what happens when you don't study—you lose money. What is sound play?"

"What do you mean?"

Ha Yoon-ho, Lumi, and Wind Sword had no idea what he was talking about.

But Lee Dong-su and Alpaca were, technically speaking, early viewers.

"It's literature, you ignorant fools."

• Wait lol, why does Lee Dong-su know this?
• Was he part of the original stream gang?
• So that's where it came from lololol.
• Okay, okay, we get it, Literature Teacher! Please let us off just this once!

The chat was filled with mixed emotions.

All sorts of people gathered, laughing and arguing.

A place where money and memories are lost.

That was Travel.

"Hmm, but everyone."

Now that he was actually about to press Success, Seo Jun felt a little regret.

• What now?
• Don't tell me you're trying to squeeze more out of us?

They were correct.

[Place in the Top 10 of the Id Trial Rankings – Mission Reward: 9,760,000 won]

"Could you add just another 240,000 won?"

• He's really trying to make it ten million lolololol.
• LOL
• This lunatic is asking for more reward money on a mission we already lost lol.

"Wow."

"That's a bit much."

"Trying to suck us dry down to the marrow... You actually knew about sound play all along, didn't you?"

His teammates misunderstood.

They looked at him accusingly.

But compared to the total reward money, it was only 240,000 won.

More importantly—

"Do you think I'd ask for it for free?"

• Oh?
• Double or nothing?
• One more challenge??
• A chance for only 240k? That's insanely generous for us.
• Even if we lose, it's worth it.
• Ready to donate lol.

"If you all add another 240,000 won..."

"If we do?"

"Ooooh!"

"What are you planning now...?"

"I'll change the terms of the wager about taking first place in Kael's Trial."

Seo Jun declared confidently.

It was a fairly reasonable proposal.

Just 240,000 won.

Not merely placing in the Top 10 of a trial ranking.

First place.

Yet the reaction exploded.

In a very negative direction.

• Hell no.
• Get lost.
• At this point isn't it the viewers' fault for expecting morals from him?
• Bruh lol, the streamer won the bet and is teabagging us now.
• The viewers are getting bullied lol. Glad I didn't bet.

Why were they reacting like this?

"Seo Jun, do you even know what Kael's Trial is?"

"Yep."

Of course he did.

He had read the chat.

"Wow..."

"You're absolutely ruthless."

It was criticism from Lumi, with whom they'd developed a certain level of familiarity, but Seo Jun merely smiled.

"Hurry up and donate."

For reference, Kael's Trial consisted of seeing how quickly you could strike an enemy's weak points one hundred times.

They were called heretics, but in reality they were basically scarecrows that never fought back.

In any case, no matter what tricks anyone used or how hard they tried, first place was—

"Twenty-four thousand out of ten million, right?"

Seo Jun's.

• For crying out loud lol.
• Fine, let's see it. One attempt only.
• Money-grubbing bastard.
• At this point maybe capitalism is the real problem.
• Oh capitalism, what kind of monster have you created...
• Praise capitalism lol.

[+240,000 won added to reward money]

[Fine!]

The message that arrived alongside the donation made every streamer burst into laughter.

Seo Jun laughed as well.

"Thank you. Then I'll go clear Kael's Trial and be right back. Watch this while I'm gone."

"Okay."

Watching Wind Sword struggle to create orbs properly because he was so focused on not tripping over his own feet, Lee Dong-su applauded.

Yeah, this is normal. Normal.

Three orbs? He failed one this time.

When it came to Id's Trial, this was how things should look nine times out of ten.

Who could walk forward at a perfectly mechanical pace of one step per second, summon an orb the instant the previous one vanished, and immediately launch it at a target?

Who could do that?

On their very first attempt, before even becoming familiar with the challenge?

Well, that hyung is an exception, but still!

Right now, Wind Sword was struggling just to summon the orbs correctly.

Even though under normal circumstances he could casually summon four at once.

Lee Dong-su considered this a matter of fundamentals.

After all, observing this was the whole reason he wanted to see the trial.

His synchronization rate was 78%, right?

For that level, it was rather lacking.

His fundamentals seemed somewhat weak as well.

First, it'd be better to train bodily automation here.

When playing the piano, even moderately difficult pieces sometimes require large jumps across the keyboard.

But those aren't pieces experts struggle with.

Beginners do.

And beginners often find it difficult to hit keys that are far apart.

The solution is building muscle memory.

The method is simple.

You divide the movement of reaching and pressing the key into several steps, then repeatedly practice each step until the body remembers.

What Lee Dong-su wanted to teach through training wasn't a specific action obtained through muscle memory.

It was the knack of building muscle memory itself.

The reason was—

That hyung is definitely going to drill a ridiculous amount of fundamental movements into Wind Sword after collecting that ten million won...

Getting accustomed to learning through physical memory itself would help with Seo Jun's future training.

In other words, Lee Dong-su was already working in sync with Seo Jun.

If Seo Jun could read Lee Dong-su's thoughts right now, he would have applauded and praised him as an excellent coach.

There was a reason he was a professional.

Even as a high-school student, Lee Dong-su displayed extraordinary insight when it came to games and movement.

By the way, why is he taking so long...?

Kael's Trial was simple:

Strike weak points one hundred times.

The target wasn't literally a scarecrow.

That was just a comparison.

More accurately, it was like a roly-poly toy.

Something that wobbled, moved, fell over, and got back up when struck.

Of course—

It should be over by now.

That wasn't the important part.

The important part was that no matter how slowly Seo Jun went, it should take him about one minute to complete one hundred strikes.

And more than two minutes had already passed.

Don't tell me he got distracted and wandered off somewhere?

For example, Epic.

Or Epic.

Or Epic.

Or maybe Zen.

Or Zen.

Or Zen.

Fortunately, that wasn't the case.

He had simply spent too much time chatting before starting.

And now the result had arrived.

"Thank you. I'll gladly take the ten million won."

• This guy is actually insane lolololol.
• Holy crap, he's slashing twice per second lol.
• I think even swinging at empty air would be slower.
• Why do Id's Trial and Kael's Trial take the same amount of time?! lolololol.
• Just take the ten million already lol.
• The streamer really is built differently.
• Lol, the God of Kael. There's a reason they nerfed him specifically.
• Isn't this a little too ridiculous?

[Kael's Trial Rankings]

#1 - Sword God (Korea) - 50 seconds
#2 - PineapplePizzaMustDie (Italy) - 266 seconds

And just like that, time passed and it became 9 PM.

[Ah, damn. Just got off work. Which part of today's stream was the best?]