A Swordsman’s Stream

Chapter 16

“Alright, alright, let’s get back to talking about the game. Sojun-nim. How on earth did you do it?”

Alpaca turned his head towards Sojun with a serious expression.

“I really need to know. What and how you saw things. Frankly, wouldn’t you agree, viewers?”

– For real
– Is this a hack?
– If there’s some other trick system that lets you see, it’s going to be disappointing
– Told you, he’s an alien, hahaha

Sojun shook his head, denying the contents of the chat window.

“Everyone, I’m not an alien. It’s not a hack either. To be honest, I’m not seeing the grain or anything.”

“Then what is it?”

Alpaca asked with a genuinely curious look.

Sojun put on a slightly exaggerated serious face.

“I just know. Because I’m a genius.”

In contrast, Alpaca looked at him with an incredulous expression, unable to conceal his disbelief.
– Hahahahaha
– So cocky, haha
– Honestly, he is a genius at this level
– Look at Alpaca’s face, haha

Alpaca chuckled nervously and gave a playful smile.

“If you’re not a genius, I don’t know how you’d manage. But seriously, you need to give us a proper explanation. Otherwise, I’ll think it’s a hack too.”

One of the first things to disappear with the advent of virtual reality was hacks.

The reason for this was the technological gap.

The colossal company Surface had a near-monopoly in the virtual reality market.

Surface’s unparalleled technological prowess introduced and popularized virtual reality, making it difficult for even other major companies to hack the capsule devices.

Moreover, any issue in virtual reality could pose a life-threatening risk.

Hence, outside programs were strictly regulated by Surface.

So the mention of a hack was completely absurd.

Sojun also knew Surface very well.

“In fact, making a hack would seem more impressive than seeing the grains, right? Surface would probably offer me a job.”

Sojun stretched his shoulders confidently.
– Now that you mention it
– For real, if you can make hacks, why stream? Surface’s talent acquisition and rewards are insane
– Other companies eyeing virtual reality would also try to recruit

“Yeah? That’s true? How come I didn’t realize that?”

Alpaca, immediately convinced, nodded and burst into laughter.

“Well, that was a joke.”

“Which part? Surface? Or the genius part?”

“Just knowing. It’s half a joke and half true, though.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s really the best way to explain it, as simple as just knowing.”

The chat window filled with comments accusing him of deceit and trickery.

Sojun waved his hand to dismiss them.

“Haha, calm down, everyone. It’s not some special ability that makes me just know things. I just thought about where I’d put it if I were the creator.”

In fact, it was special.

It was an intuition that only Sojun, with accumulated experience from his past life, could gain.

But he didn’t feel the need to explain all that.

‘Not that anyone would believe my past life story anyway.’

So he felt it was okay to reveal his past life.

Though…

‘It would need some embellishment…’

Just then, Alpaca shouted as if he realized something, snapping Sojun out of his thoughts.

“Wow! Amazing. So, it’s like, hmm… You read the creator’s mind? Just from seeing two examples?”

Sojun nodded.

Alpaca had hit the nail on the head.

“Wow, you’re really a genius! Although, the more I hear, the more suspicious it sounds. Hmm.”

Alpaca scratched his chin, casting a doubtful glance.
– For real, hahaha
– Are there others who could see that too?
– If you can just know it, does that make you a real genius? Is that it?
– How does someone know such stuff? Isn’t it a scam?

“Seriously, it feels like you’re living in a totally different world. So, can you find other things easily too?”

“Yes. But…”

“But what?”

“Originally, parrying was a system designed to help defeat minor enemies easily, right?”

“Right. It’s a system the creators put in to let players achieve Musou.”

“But this ‘grain’ system is harder than parrying and when you succeed, it just breaks the weapon, no damage increase or anything.”

– Oh, share
– But what’s the use if only he can do it and we can’t, haha
– Yeah, we can’t even handle parrying~

Alpaca clapped his hands.

“Oh? Yes, that’s right. Indeed! The man who pioneered the new route with Drake. You have a talent for the game too.”

“Thanks for the compliment. Anyway, this grain system seems like it’s meant for boss battles.”

“That could be true. The boss battles were really tough. Especially Drake… Oh, right.”

Alpaca’s face darkened. He pinched his nose bridge and sighed.

– Haha
– Worried about the upcoming challengl
– PTSD before even starting the challenge, hahaha

Sojun patted Alpaca’s shoulder and then spoke.

“I’m thinking that this grain system is designed for the boss battle. So I’ll challenge the Ruler’s equipment with the remaining two.”

-???
-The underdogs suddenly wailed
-You shouldn’t do that.
-Let’s safely search for something else and then go after the Ruler.

“Ah, look, this is clearly set up for the Ruler. Trust me!”

Sojun thumped his chest.

『’ITrustedYouAndBetItAll’ donated 10,000 won!』
『Okay, got it. For now, let’s break those small fries’ weapons and only then predict the grains before we challenge, haha.』

-Honestly, if the odds are 100:1, it’s tempting.
-The fact) Most people betting on the 1% aren’t doing it because they trust the teacher.
-Well then, let’s bet on finding two more—do I still have hope?

Sojun looked at the chat window with sparkling eyes.

“Hmm. Everyone seems to say they don’t trust me, so let’s verify the facts. Alpaca-nim?”

Sojun called Alpaca.

“Yes?”

“Let’s open another point prediction.”

Bets never lie.

Alpaca quickly grasped what Sojun wanted and started tweaking the prediction system.

『Prediction』
『Will Sojun destroy the Ruler’s equipment during today’s stream?』
『Yes』

vs

『No』

-Wow! Trying to help us out again.
-Glad I didn’t bet everything earlier.
-I just bet the 150 points I collected while watching since I lost everything else, haha.

Alpaca and Sojun waited for people to place their bets.

Then, time passed, and the results came out.

“Oh! The regular betters and underdogs have swapped. You guys were acting like Sojun wouldn’t make it in chat, what’s with these results?!”

Alpaca teased the viewers.

『Yes 80%』
『No 20%』

-Yeah, people are honest when points are at stake.
-Even if I win, I’ll only get a quarter. Some people are getting 100 times their bet.
-Wow, super jealous of those who bet on the initial 1%.
-I bet Sojun wouldn’t find a single grain. This time, I bet on “Yes,” and if he fails, I’m coming for you.

Of course.

“I knew this would happen.”

Alpaca nodded beside him.

『Are you betting “No” just to recover what you lost?』

Then, a small donation came up.
-You really shouldn’t touch stocks.

A sincere chat message appeared.

Sojun and Alpaca deeply agreed, praying that the donating viewer would avoid stocks.

Anyway.

‘This joint streaming was successful.’

It seemed they had firmly demonstrated their skills to the viewers.

“Alright, Sojun-nim. Shall we go after the Ruler now?”

* * *

Richard Neville.

He meditated in full armor at the center of an extensive, ash-colored martial arts hall resembling a battlefield. He was the leader of the Royal faction and the ruler at the northeastern edge.

His title was the Knight King.

Wielding a massive greatsword, he stood tall at over 2 meters.

To capture Drake, one would have to avoid the eyes of numerous operatives to find and kill him, but Richard Neville was quite the opposite.

He merely sat still in meditation.

To capture him, one either needed a special weapon to snipe him or exploit the momentary shock when his son, Luis Neville, was dealt with and the news reached him.

Of course, both were challenging.

The former was difficult due to the rarity of the item.

The latter required perfect timing; otherwise, the Knight King would counter-attack immediately.

If one opted for Musou?

Richard’s impregnable defense with his heavy armor made it impossible to inflict any harm, often resulting in being cleaved by his greatsword.

But this story didn’t apply to the person fighting in front of Alpaca.

“Do you know anything about Richard Neville?”

“No?”

Alpaca recalled the conversations they’d had on the way here.

“That figures. Well, when fighting Richard, you should be wary of his greatsword. Its speed is slower than other weapons, but it has combos, so try to watch and…”

“Oh, it’s fine.”

“What?”

“I said it’s fine. I’ll dodge after seeing it. Whatever.”

Tsk.

Who was worrying about whom?

Whuum!

Whuum!

Richard’s greatsword cleaved through the air from left to right, then right to left, stirring up a breeze.

However, Sojun met the trajectory of the swinging sword with his own, leisurely brushing against the greatsword as if he was painting a stroke, finding its grain with ease.

Seeing his relaxed demeanor, it seemed the greatsword would never hit him.

“Does it look like you can’t find it?”

Alpaca loudly remarked on Sojun’s successive failures, speaking from a bit of a distance.

“Yes.”

“A viewer informed us that Richard’s weapon was forged from a rather special material according to its setting. Perhaps what’s missing isn’t there to begin with.”

“Oh, really?”

See that, see that.

Without twisting his body even slightly, he lightly dodged the greatsword.

Sojun was clearly watching him while conversing.

Yet, without eyes on the back of his head, he simply twisted his body and lowered his head to avoid the attack coming from behind.

And then, he even had the leisure to check the floating chat window in the air.
– LMAO LOLOLOL LOLOLOL Did he just narrowly miss failure?
– This is why you shouldn’t be arrogant.
– Damn, we’re going to lose everything. Nameless, watch your back tonight.

“Oh, what should I do? The Ruler seems to have no grain!”

Sojun said, smiling.

His expression was completely unworried.

Only the audience was burning with anxiety, especially those who had bet on extreme odds from the beginning.
– My 100 times bet ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
– Time to teach those who bet on underdogs a lesson!
– As long as you lose my second bet, please fail!

The rest of the audience was in a festive mood.

Since the second point prediction game had significantly fewer points at stake than the first.

Most were just hoping others wouldn’t win the 100 times multiplier, even if they didn’t get a little themselves.

Because the envy was too strong.

But then.

Sojun’s sword started to move like it was dancing.

He lodged his sword into Richard’s wrist and followed the grain he had discovered, running it along to the torso, and as the sword came down, to the lower body.

Slash!

Slash!

The proud heavy armor of Richard Neville started to split apart completely.

Only the weapon had been special.

Sojun had already known the slight difference in texture after clashing several times.

“Oh dear. Looks like I was mistaken. Only the sword had no grain; other parts did.”

Richard’s heavy armor was destroyed like thread coming undone.

『Unlock condition: Destroy the weapon through the grain 10 times (4/10)』
『Unlock condition: Destroy the weapon through the grain 10 times (5/10)』
『Unlock condition: Destroy the weapon through the grain 10 times (6/10)』

.

.

.

『Skill ‘Weakpoint Perception’ has been unlocked.』

What remained was a 2-meter-tall middle-aged man wearing stockings and a garter belt, holding a greatsword.
– Nope, I can’t believe it.
– Ah, my eyes!
– Wow! 100 times multiplier, it blew up!!!
– It actually exploded, what the hell LOLOLOL

– Cheers, cheers, cheers,

* * *

Shoooo.

Sojun emerged from the capsule.

“Hyung, you are truly amazing.”

Lee Suhan, Alpaca’s editor, greeted him.

So bothersome, really.

“Thank you for lending me your capsule.”

“No, it’s us who should be thanking you for using my capsule. It’s learned a lot from this experience.”

What kind of nonsense is this?

And why are you here?

Sojun turned his head to the side.

It was because Kim Taewoo was standing next to Suhan.

“You didn’t stream?”

“Yep, I just took a break. I couldn’t resist a collab.”

Oh, I see.

“I did announce that I’d be here, so people might come looking.”

Kim Taewoo scratched his head, and Sojun, nonchalant, went into the living room, turning on Alpaca’s stream on his phone.
– Call him quickly. Call him quickly. Call him quickly. Call him quickly.
– Better be good-looking. Better be good-looking. Better be good-looking.
– Get Alpaca out! Get Alpaca out! Get Alpaca out!
– Set the table quickly! Set the table quickly! Set the table quickly!

『Ah, everyone, calm down for a moment. Ah, you’re telling me to shut up? Okay, noted.』

The rest of the stream agenda was for the group dinner.

While setting the table, Alpaca asked Sojun to give a brief introduction and buy some time.

『Okay! Please come out now…….』

When Sojun heard the invitation on his phone, he opened Alpaca’s room door.

Click.

“Hello. This is the first time we’ve met in real life. I am Jin Sojun, a Travel streamer.”