NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9
The streamer ‘Kimchi Ninja’ was famous for his unique playstyle as an assassin streamer.
In Korea, he was somewhat minor, but he had shown impressive results in card games.
Accordingly, he was enjoying a decent amount of popularity with his peculiar tactics and psychological warfare.
Especially among a somewhat malicious audience.
His usual motto was that everyone should respect their opponents.
On the surface, it sounded reasonable, but the underlying meaning was different.
For him, respect meant that his matched opponent had to show a certain level of competence.
In other words, an opponent who suffered a crushing defeat against Kimchi Ninja wasn’t respecting him.
His catchphrase was that those who entered a game without sufficient preparation or thought should face the consequences.
Thus, Kimchi Ninja’s main broadcast material revolved around ‘various forms of humiliation.’
He had experience in fighting games and would use all sorts of bizarre methods to win.
You could even see absurd sights like toy guns or rubber mallets being swung during sacred duels.
But now, this streamer… had never been overpowered like this before.
– I’m confident in assassin mirror matches (actually said)
– LOL
– Lacking respect here
Two daggers were helplessly entangled.
He couldn’t seize the initiative in the attack at all, and the only gap he managed to find was, of course, a trap.
Every kick that landed felt like a reprimand as he lost the struggle.
No, saying he lost the struggle was absurd in itself.
Engagement is ultimately a simple game of rock-paper-scissors.
Yet here he was, throwing down his paper and the opponent would respond with scissors sometime later.
When he won, it was like, “Oh, I won? Then I gotta take a hit according to the rules, right?”
Who even agreed to these rules?
“Ding! – TalkingPigeon has donated 3,000 won.”
“Respect kick! Respect shin kick!”
– Ninja, how can’t you land a hit?
– To be honest, I think it’s not that Kimchi Ninja can’t do it, but that the opponent is really good.
– Cabbage, what the heck does that mean?
Anyway, to Kimchi Ninja, he felt exactly a half-beat slower than his opponent.
Frustrating as it was, it was certainly possible.
After all, he was someone who viewed his own skills quite objectively.
In popular games, there are bound to be many monsters.
Among them, there would definitely be players with superior physical abilities compared to him.
The so-called geniuses.
Wrong. Let’s be more honest.
Most top-tier players had better physical skills than Kimchi Ninja.
He wasn’t the type to crush his enemies with overwhelming physical power or reflexes.
So, the real issue wasn’t being half a beat slower than his opponent.
It was that he was ‘always’ half a beat slower.
“This is… does this even make sense?”
“What’s up? You’re doing fine! Impressive!”
Grit – He barely managed to suppress his grinding teeth.
This was blatant humiliation.
While the viewers may have seen it as simply being ‘overwhelmed,’ only Kimchi Ninja felt the devastating truth.
The opposing assassin was completely toying with him.
Whether speeding up or slowing down, the opponent’s response was consistent.
Even when throwing in gambits or trick moves, the opponent responded with nearly the same tempo.
Swinging his daggers felt like he was being eagerly awaited instead of countered.
There was only one possible reason for this.
There had to be a vast difference in skill level between the two of them.
It could be said that the opponent was playing with him as one would with a child.
The most infuriating part was that he had no way to counter it.
No five-year-old could win against a UFC fighter no matter how much they flailed their fists.
‘Should I just give up? If what they want is to toy with me… then the best counteraction would be to quit on my end.’
Such thoughts naturally floated through his mind. But he couldn’t put them into action.
It was due to the chat atmosphere.
– Still, it seems the opponent knows what they’re doing and is managing to hold on.
– Nah, our ninja isn’t done yet, right?
– The best part is when something like this gets reversed!
For viewers, gaming broadcasts were a hobby.
So it may seem easily mistaken, but for streamers, it was a serious business.
Each streamer has a role or a response expected of them.
‘Kimchi Ninja’ didn’t aim for a clean broadcast.
However, ignoring the feverish chat and giving up would be contradictory.
Especially since he specialized in tea-bagging, sometimes he needed to accept the karma that comes with it.
The rising anger would have to be borne internally.
“What are you thinking? It’s disrespectful to zone out in front of me.”
“Huff…”
Swish!
The blade narrowly grazed his neck.
A shallow wound. It wasn’t fatal, but it sent chills down his spine.
Had the opponent really put him in a position where that last attack could have possibly ended him?
Who the hell was this? He never felt such a wall even when facing pro gamers.
In preliminary matches, the opponent’s nicknames were not shown.
They only revealed them once the game was over, yet somehow, the opponent seemed to know he was live streaming.
Was it something he muttered before the match started? He hadn’t thought it was in earshot.
‘Could it be Gawol?’
Both in the methods of taunting and the way they handled an assassin, few users could match this level.
Even though he covered his nickname and face, it wasn’t hard to guess.
However, he couldn’t be sure.
Many male pro gamers played female characters.
Especially now with automatic translation technology, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that they might be a foreigner.
Yeah. No matter who the opponent was, it didn’t matter.
Right now, he felt like he was essentially held hostage by his viewers.
If he suddenly quit the game or died too easily, public opinion would shatter.
So all he could do was dance to their tune.
– It feels like he just took a hard hit.
– Bleeding 30% in one hit!
– Hey, why is he suddenly getting wrecked?
The opponent’s attitude changed despite his preparations seeming pointless.
…This couldn’t last much longer.
*
“This is pretty boring.”
He sprawled over the corpse lying on the ground.
He planned to stay like this until he found his next opponent.
There was a lot of dust around.
Other users probably couldn’t feel it due to their low immersion, but in this sandy map, he found his throat itchy.
He could even feel the gritty texture of the dust clinging to his clothes.
Yet, the corpse of the dead streamer was surprisingly soft.
Maybe it was because he didn’t wear metallic armor like the warriors?
Resting his arm on the chest, he found a rather comfortable position.
With his eyes closed for a moment, he thought he could take a nap like this.
‘This guy was quite a catch. I hoped to see him flounder a bit.’
Skillful streamers tend to have strong pride.
Breaking that pride could easily ruin a broadcast, and nothing was funnier than a streamer who had lost public trust.
It felt like the stars in the sky were falling down to the cliff I stood on.
However, he lost interest because the opponent surprisingly kept fighting back until the end.
He didn’t want to do the streamer’s bidding until the very end.
So he ended it quickly.
[Ga wol – Infinity Arena 1st Preliminary]
[vs Sumo King Smoking: Victory]
[vs Kimchi Ninja: Victory]
[System: Overall 2 wins 0 losses. If you secure one more win, you can enter the 2nd preliminary round.]
My Infinity Arena schedule was sailing smoothly.
Unless anything major happened, I’d win the next match and move on to the 2nd preliminary round.
Since it had been a while due to work, the 2nd preliminary would start in two days.
I wanted to meet Luce soon.
They said the official channel would broadcast from the main tournament.
She’s the only star I acknowledge. If I could face Luce and have the video recorded, it would surely feel like flying in the sky.
As I rolled over the dead male character, the familiar low tone of matched completed echoed.
[Infinity Arena 1st Preliminary – Round 3 Match has been completed.]
[Would you like to accept the match? Y/N]
[…… You will be transported to the battlefield in 20 seconds.]
Without realizing it while casually grabbing a match, I had no idea about what was happening on the internet.
*
Infinity Arena is a competitive event.
So even if you die inside, there are no death penalties.
Moreover, if you don’t click the confirmation window after dying, you can even watch from a third-person perspective what the enemy does in the empty battlefield.
After losing, Kimchi Ninja was too focused on managing the chat to pay attention to the game.
Thus, his screen remained in the battlefield, broadcasting the solitary Gawol’s appearance.
A small assassin girl worming around on top of a male character’s body was displayed without any filters.
[Author: Sister, why is your back seat 4?]
[Title: What’s Gawol doing? LOL]
Just now, Kimchi Ninja was matched with Gawol and got wrecked,
Now she’s worming on top of him.
What is she even doing? Is she trying to appeal as a female?
Is she wagging her tail right now?
[Comments]
– What does Gawol look like? I’m in a hurry.
– Why are you in such a hurry?
– If you’re going to write a post like this, bring a video.