A Swordsman’s Stream

Chapter 20

MubiSoft’s decision to develop its make-or-break project in Korea, rather than at its headquarters where previous series were created, was driven by Eve Faimo.

She was a renowned game developer scouted from outside, at a time when the company was struggling to adapt to the new capsule era and was declining.

As the CCO of the company and president of the Korean branch, Eve Faimo decided to develop the game in Korea, citing the country’s high capsule penetration rate and trend-sensitive consumers.

There was a lot of talk from the beginning, but as the project progressed, Eve Faimo became confident in the success of the series and was even preparing for the next installment.

And when “Shadows in the City” was confirmed as a success on its release day, the next project started swiftly.

It seemed like everything was on track.

But there was one problem.

The vision Eve Faimo had from the beginning was about to go off course.

Because of one streamer.

Early in the morning, Kim Yunchan, who had been summoned to the president’s office, spoke cautiously.

“Well, I did mention I had a bad feeling about this…”

“Shut up. Explain quickly. Why was the Weakpoint Perception unveiled so soon?”

Eve Faimo asked impatiently.

“Hahaha. Indeed. I didn’t expect myself to be read like that.”

Kim Yunchan smiled brightly, piquing Eve Faimo’s curiosity.

“What do you mean, ‘read’?”

“President, we estimated it would take at least a month for users to unlock Weakpoint Perception.”

“Honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising if it took half a year. Accidentally hitting the right spot and breaking a weapon, along with having it recorded and shared, isn’t something easy.”

“Right. Even if someone tried to find the exact spot deliberately, it would take at least a month.”

“And there’s also so much to do in our game that dedicating time to finding Weakpoint Perception isn’t appealing.”

Eve Faimo took pride in the assassination system he had created for “Shadows in the City”.

“Exactly. With so much else to do, who would waste their time breaking weapons at specific spots? It’s also something that relies on luck.”

It was content aimed at players who had completed all challenges and were looking for something they hadn’t tried before in the game.

In truth, musou and the specific spots were designed for them.

“Yes. So why was Weakpoint Perception unlocked just a week after release?”

The unlocking of Weakpoint Perception itself wasn’t the issue.

The problem was that obtaining it allowed players to break through one of the Rulers, Richard Neville’s heavy armor, and defeat him with Musou.

The reason stemmed from the Fragment of Order awarded for defeating a Ruler with Musou.

They had hidden numerous Easter eggs related to the next project, and the Fragment of Order were one of them.

The fragments could be gathered to proceed with a short quest tied to the next project.

And when the interest peaked, they planned to release a teaser video.

It was Eve Faimo’s natural and effective way to promote the next project.

The issue was that the Fragment of Order could be fully gathered before the teaser video was ready.

“It was read, as I mentioned.”

Eve Faimo suppressed the urge to hit the calm and bright Kim Yunchan.

“Stop beating around the bush and explain properly.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kim Yunchan sent a clip to Eve Faimo.

It was a video of a collaboration with Alpaca.

“Hmm? It’s quite clear.”

“Indeed. Another person discovered it, and then the streamer named Sojun replicated it.”

“Sojun? He seems skilled.”

“And the next video shows this streamer finding and breaking the specific spot.”

“What?”

Eve Faimo asked again, wondering if he had heard wrong.

“Did the streamer find the spot?”

“Yes.”

After watching the second video of breaking the sword and shield, Eve Faimo stared wide-eyed at Kim Yunchan.

“How is this possible? It’s not a bug in the game that just gave him the Weakpoint Perception skill, is it?”

Eve Faimo, who had always been confident there were no bugs in her game, found the video astonishing enough to mention bugs.

“No, we checked for that early on.”

“Then…”

“As someone who watched the entire collaboration video and became a fan of streamer Sojun-nim, I’d say he read the pattern. It seems impossible to grasp the strategy after seeing just two examples, but he claims he did.”

I didn’t ask if you became his fan.

“So what do we do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“How much time do we have to create the teaser video for the next project?”

“One month.”

“If we start working overtime from today, how soon can we finish?”

“One… week?”

“Then what’s the probability that the streamer will gather all the Fragment of Order within that time?”

“Fortunately, I can say that with confidence; it’s 100%.”

That’s not fortunate, you fool.

“We don’t necessarily need to release the teaser video immediately, do we?”

“The timing won’t match the overall plan!”

Eve Faimo rubbed her temples, pondering a solution.

Not everything goes according to plan, but this was an unexpected turn.

Though trivial, she didn’t want the next project to falter from the start.

“Oh? Seems like he’s starting the stream. Want to watch?”

Eve Faimo barely resisted throwing the documents on her desk and politely responded.

“Get out! And don’t watch streams during work hours!”

“Yes, president!”

“Ha…”

Creating the Fragment of Order was a mistake.

Someone suggested that including a Musou-related Easter egg would be good for Musou players.

Come to think of it, wasn’t that suggestion made by Kim Yunchan?

In frustration, Eve Faimo re-watched Sojun’s video.

How did he do it?

Then she messaged Kim Yunchan via the company messenger, asking for another video.

This time, it showed Richard Neville’s heavy armor being neutralized in an instant.

‘Did he defeat the Ruler without the Weakpoint Perception skill?’

This is a bit…

Cool.

Should I say it’s a feast for the eyes?

After that, numerous videos related to Sojun were uploaded.

In particular, when they were locating Drake, Eve Faimo couldn’t help but have a satisfied smile on his face.

It was because one of the routes Sojun found turned out to be one of Eve Faimo’s ideas.

‘So, this is how it gets revealed.’

She felt a sense of fulfillment.

Watching them enjoy the game they poured their souls into, in their own style.

And that moment when the user is surprised, saying, “This works too?”

All these were what they dreamed of while creating the open world.

Eve Faimo admired it several times and then discreetly pressed the follow button.

* * *

“Hello everyone.”

Sojun greeted, lightly waving his hand.
– Soha
– Soha
– What’s with the stream title?
– Soha!

『Viewers: 1,700』

The chat window rapidly filled up.

With nearly 2,000 viewers, the energy level was on a different level.

People said that even with fewer viewers, his room had a lot of chat activity.

As the number of viewers increased, the speed at which chats appeared grew exponentially faster than before.

So…

“Alright, has Joas, the The Best Defense is a Winter Defense, and Knight in White Armor all joined?”

In response to Sojun’s words, chats with a knife icon next to the nickname started pouring in.
– Yes!
– Yep. I’ll do my best.
– Just leave it to me. Joas, the owner of 25 million points, will thoroughly manage it.
– Wow, look at these toxic nicknames.
– How can the managers have names like Amberjack, Patient, assassin? lol

They were viewers from the very first day of Sojun’s stream.

Looking at the past chat records, despite their fierce-sounding nicknames, they hadn’t caused any problems and had consistently enjoyed his broadcasts. So Sojun asked them to be chat managers, and they willingly accepted.

By the way, the Public Toilet Brick Theft King had not replied yet.

“These folks will now be responsible for managing chats that don’t adhere to the rules. Thank you.”

Meanwhile, Joas used his points to add a special effect to his chat.

Is this the dignity of the rich?

“And I’ve also set up some chat rules. Please make sure to read them.”

– Wow, I envy the managers.
– I want a badge too.
– I want to carry a knife.
– !rules
– !rules
– !rules

Chats requesting to see the rules flooded in.

1. Please talk only about the stream-related topics.
2. If you see an annoying chat, don’t fight in the chat window. Instead, send a whisper to the manager.
3. You know what not to do, right?

On Travel, chat rules varied from streamer to streamer since there were no standardized rules.

Some wrote them strictly, while others merely mentioned, ‘Don’t use inappropriate language.’

Some even left a casual message wishing everyone to have fun.

Sojun’s chat rules were concise.

This was because Sojun preferred a free-spirited communication atmosphere.
– Summary: Just get the job done right.

“What’s not allowed? Well, you roughly know. As long as it’s not excessively severe, you won’t even get a warning.”

He had already talked it over with the managers.
– True lol
– If you detail the rules, some will exploit loopholes to cause trouble, then get mad saying they followed the rules when they get banned.

『’ㅇㅇ’ donated 10,000 won!』
『Do you not recruit any stream setup assistants?』

If it was just a chat, Sojun would have let it pass, but since it was a donation, he had to respond.

“… Thank you. No, I don’t recruit those.”

Having someone to help with setup would be nice, but he was suspicious of this person’s intent in using the term “setup”.
– lolololololol
– I clenched my teeth lolol
– Good morning.
– The world’s first mechanically inept streamer. But his skills are phenomenal.
– So what’s the stream title today?
– You’re doing Assassin’s Dawn again, right?
– Please do regular assassinations too.
– Musou, let’s go!
– Show more weak point detections. I want to learn the skill too.

The chat was still chaotic as they hadn’t properly started yet.

Sojun began to build up for the progress.

“Ah, the stream title? Well, about that… I’ve noticed that quite a few of you have doubts about the pattern I found. So, firstly, I apologize for not explaining it properly.”

– Doesn’t sound sorry at all.
– Come on. At least lower your head lolololol

“But I’m not using any hacks. I’m also not a game developer.”

– Why bring up hacks then?
– He actually uses super awesome hacks (hahaha)
– But does anyone seriously believe a college student is a MubiSoft developer?
– So how did you really find the pattern? I’m curious.

Sojun nodded as if he understood the chat’s sentiments.

“To get straight to the point, the pattern rule I figured out was to follow the trajectory of the most worn-out parts when using the equipment.”

While it wasn’t connected to real-world weak points, he believed this was the rule the creator intended, and it hit the mark.
– ??? Still don’t get it?
– What are you, a blacksmith? How do you know that stuff?
– How smart are you for real?

“I was planning to properly demonstrate this today, but since I’ve already obtained the Weakpoint Perception skill, no matter what I do, people could just say I hacked the capsule system, right?”

『”Travel Historian”-nim has donated 10,000 won!』
『Hack controversy is a long-standing tradition of our stream.』

– Absolutely lol
– Your skills are just too good, so people get suspicious.
– Long-standing tradition (stream’s 4th day)

Thanking the donor.

“So, I reported myself.”

Sojun suddenly turned serious.
– ?????
– Reported what?
– What’s with the sudden report?

“Myself.”

Sojun opened the inquiry window he had prepared for Assassin’s Dawn.

『Hack Report』
『I feel like I might have unknowingly used a hack. Can you confirm?』

– Lol, is he crazy?
– So that’s why he said he turned himself in lolololololol
– Ah lol, the game company is going to prove it for us!

“So now that the clarification is done, let’s get right into the game.”

Sojun stretched leisurely, his innocent expression returning as if he was never serious before.
– Lololololol, is that the attitude of someone giving an apology stream?
– Really, he’s a mild nutcase.
– The streaming genius lol

“And today’s stream… Let’s see, there’s a mission! Thank you, Assassin’s Dawn creator-nim.”

Sojun adeptly adjusted the stream settings and accepted the mission. Then a window appeared on the upper left side of the stream screen.

『Clear against the Mage Tower Lord without using Weakpoint Perception — Mission Reward: 1,000,000 won』

It was the reward he could receive if he succeeded.
– Wow, one million won.
– Impressive
– But can you even use Weakpoint Perception against the Mage Tower Lord? There’s no equipment.
– Are you talking about magic?
– So magic also has weak points? Is this really the creator? Maybe?

It was quite a hefty sum for the first mission.

He was planning to go to the Mage Tower anyway.

“Really, is it the actual creator?”

– No way, really?
– Streamer-nim is so gullible lololol