Chapter 150
After the collaboration between Falcon Eye and Big Mouth, articles were released immediately.
『Streamer Lee Suhyuk, Unveiling His Spine-Chilling Play.』
『Asgard, within the Unknown Trial.』
『Streamer Lee Suhyuk’s Weakness? And Overcoming It.』
Three consecutive articles emerged.
These articles added fuel to an already blazing hot topic. Big Mouth’s articles were always popular, as he not only reported on issues but also created them.
And now, the two had joined forces.
“…The settlement amount came in.”
Early in the morning.
Before taking the test, Un Hyang, who was sharing a meal with Suhyuk, spoke with a slightly trembling voice.
Unable to hide her joy, she had a bright smile on her face.
“It’s 670,000 points. This settlement amount.”
“670,000?”
Suhyuk, taken aback, almost dropped the fork he was holding.
A sausage he was about to eat fell to the plate. Noticing Suhyuk’s stunned reaction, Un Hyang explained further.
“Half of the advertisement fee we accepted last time was paid in advance. The rest is profit based on video views.”
“Were the videos watched that much?”
“We edited and uploaded all the recent stream clips. Plus, Big Mouth’s promotional effect helped a lot.”
“Big Mouth?”
When Suhyuk ended his sentence with a question mark, Cheon Ryang, who was sitting nearby, chimed in.
“Don’t you know? Big Mouth?”
“No. This is my first time hearing about him.”
“How can a streamer not know Big Mouth…”
Thunk-!
A heavy sound was heard from under the dining table. Cheon Ryang, who was bending his waist, suddenly stopped talking.
It was obvious that it was Un Hyang’s doing, but she pretended to know nothing.
“He’s a unique news-focused streamer. Not only does he stream, but he also writes articles separately.”
“He must be an impressive person.”
“You remember the ‘Jinx of Bald Suhyuk’, right? Big Mouth’s jinx is twice that, whether it’s for good or bad.”
“What do you mean?”
Suhyuk knew about the ‘Jinx of Bald Suhyuk.’ It was a well-known story among streamers that anyone who collaborated with him would inevitably fail.
It seemed like Big Mouth had a similar jinx. However, unlike Bald Suhyuk, Big Mouth’s fate went in two directions.
“He’s a streamer who creates news. That means he can either boost someone up or bury them based on the news.”
“Like a double-edged sword.”
“Exactly. And a very sharp one at that.”
Un Hyang, saying so, calculated the points for Suhyuk.
670,000 points.
Staring at the massive amount, Suhyuk realized how this situation was affecting him.
“Fortunately, it seems to be in a positive direction.”
“If you look at the content, it’s full of praise. Ugh…”
Holding his side with one hand, Cheon Ryang showed the prepared data.
“From the first video to the most recent, the view count has more than doubled. The latest video has reached a record high.”
The cumulative view count was nearly vertical.
The collaboration with Falcon Eye, the intriguing backdrop of Asgard, and the newfound opportunity from Big Mouth all combined resulted in this skyrocketing graph.
“The view count is still rising. At this rate, you can expect good results when it’s time for the settlement.”
“……That’s great. Very.”
Thanks to this settlement money, he could raise his level of Selfish Sacrifice before heading into the next trial.
Though levels and stats were more critical at the moment, the joy of raising a skill level was always welcome.
“Are you going to stream today as well?”
Suhyuk nodded as he finished his meal in response to Un Hyang’s question.
“Yes, I should.”
“Are you heading to the next floor again this time? Or…….”
As Un Hyang said this, she glanced at Cheon Ryang.
Unlike her, Cheon Ryang was a player who had stalled on the 7th floor, blocked by the ranker’s threshold. If Suhyuk ascended to the 8th floor, his journey with Cheon Ryang would end here.
“I will put it on hold for now.”
Luckily, Suhyuk had no immediate plans to ascend to the 8th floor.
Or rather, to be precise, he didn’t think it would be possible yet.
“I shouldn’t take it lightly. Not anymore.”
There was a reason why players who reached the 8th floor were called rankers. Many talented players failed to surpass that one floor and gave up becoming rankers.
Even Cheon Ryang, standing in front of him, was a testament to that. He had also trained under the Divine Dragon Group with Un Hyang but couldn’t cross the threshold of the 8th floor.
Moreover,
‘This is where the real Asgard begins.’
He felt that this trial was different from all the others.
The difficulty was absurd. No matter how he thought about it, the previous trial’s difficulty was too high for the 6th floor.
A giant with the power to change seasons, Bergelmir. And the god, Tyr, who cut off Bergelmir’s right hand in one swift stroke.
They all seemed like monsters straight out of mythology.
‘And…’
Valhalla would be teeming with gods like these.
* * *
After raising the level of Selfish Sacrifice, Suhyuk immediately started his stream.
『‘Lee Suhyuk’ has started streaming.』
It no longer surprised him to see the viewer count rise quickly. Within a few minutes, possibly due to notifications, the viewer count had surpassed ten thousand.
Suhyuk reached the massive portal located at the center of the world, the door to the next floor, and greeted the influx of viewers.
“Welcome, everyone.”
– Suhyuk!
– Welcome!
– Start the stream quickly!
– Oh, I thought you were taking a break till the tournament.
About ten days remained until the battle match. Since he had declared that the next content would be the tournament, viewers had expected the next stream to be much later.
But contrary to their expectations, Suhyuk had returned to streaming just two days later.
– When is this guy going to level up?
– Levels up even when sleeping lol
– Even Falcon Eye got screwed over
– Screwed isn’t even the word
Most players took a moment to regroup after climbing each floor of the tower.
It was a natural order of things. The difficulty of the trials increased drastically with each floor, and challenging them head-on without preparation would only waste time and points.
They leveled up through hunting, secured more stats, and then challenged the trials again. This was the general way.
– Did you watch Falcon Eye’s stream?
“Yes. I watched it for a bit on the way here”, said Lee Suhyuk as he stood in front of the portal.
“It made a lot of sense.”
From this incident, Suhyuk realized once again how keen Falcon Eye was at observing players.
‘It must have been hard to distinguish.’
It was never easy to differentiate between what was strengthened by skills and what came from stats. To know this required significant analysis and understanding of the player.
Falcon Eye must have analyzed him quite extensively.
That was his job as a review streamer, after all.
But even so, it was something that deserved applause.
‘If I fail this time, I should change my content too. To go hunting.’
Though slow, it was the only option if he fell at this trial. In that case, he would have to focus on hunting for a while.
And that was not something Suhyuk was particularly pleased about.
‘For now, my only thought is to maximize my specs before the Counter-Fight Tournament.’
Step.
With that thought, Suhyuk took a step forward.
『50,000 points will be deducted.』
『The trial of the 7th floor begins.』
A considerable amount of points was paid as the trial fee.
His heart ached. Fortunately, he still had over 100,000 points left even after leveling up his ‘Selfish Sacrifice’ skill.
With the now-familiar flash of teleportation, Suhyuk’s body was transported to another world after he stepped into the portal.
Ssshhh.
The once-white scenery began to reveal itself gradually.
The first thing that came into view was the slightly hunched back of an old man.
Suhyuk recognized him just by his back.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you following?”
It was Tyr.
At his stern prompt, Suhyuk started to move again.
“Yes, I’m coming.”
Suhyuk lifted his gaze to look beyond Tyr’s back.
Even if he didn’t intend to look, he would have noticed it anyway.
A massive, white marble wall that touched the sky.
Rasderikh.
– It’s gigantic.
– How can anyone destroy this, lol.
– Baldur is as pure as gold…
Even seeing it again, it was hard to believe.
How on Earth did they break such a massive wall?
‘Could Bergelmir have done it?’
He imagined it for a moment.
The enormous hands that once covered the sky, smashing this wall if they were released in full force.
But pure imagination wouldn’t provide any answers.
Baldur’s plan had failed, and it seemed unlikely that Bergelmir would be released in the future.
Having decided, he moved toward the entrance of Rasderikh.
“Halt. State your identity and name…”
It was the entrance to Valhalla.
The same soldier who had previously stopped Suhyuk and Viola opened his eyes wide in surprise and stood rigidly.
“It’s Lord Tyr! Open the gates at once!”
Tyr, who served as the regent of Midgard, was one of the gods who had passed through Valhalla’s entrance multiple times. Naturally, there wasn’t a single soldier unfamiliar with Tyr’s face.
Thus, Suhyuk followed behind Tyr and passed through the checkpoint without further procedures.
“Then why give me the pass at all?”
Suhyuk asked, waving the feather that he held in his hand for the checkpoint.
The stiff, golden, shimmering feather was handed to him by Tyr as a pass for Valhalla.
“Did you think that pass was just for crossing the gate?”
“Then what is it for?”
“It would be no fun to tell you too early. You’ll find out when you need to use it later.”
Why all the secrets?
Creeeak—.
The heavy doors of Rasderikh began to open slowly, making a weighty sound.
From inside the slowly opening door, a beautiful light mixed with all the colors of a rainbow seeped through.
“You’re curious, aren’t you?”
While they waited for the door to fully open, Suhyuk recalled the last words Tyr had said during the previous trial.
“Whether gods with wounds like yours will recognize me.”
“That’s right.”
“What exactly is this wound? Not all the gods inside are one-armed like you, right?”
Surprisingly, Tyr responded without much emotion.
“You’ll find out soon.”
Step—.
Again, without giving a clear answer.
He walked through the door of Rasderikh, from which the beautiful light was emanating.
“That useless piece of a sword was given to you for that purpose.”
‘Piece of a sword?’
Come to think of it, there was one more thing.
Among the two rewards he received after passing the difficult trial, one was the pass to Valhalla, and the other was a nameless piece of a sword.
Suhyuk followed Tyr to inquire about the use of this piece of a sword. But as he stepped into the great door of Rasderikh and entered the shining light, he was engulfed in a familiar sensation.
As if the world around him changed each time he crossed a level.
The air and temperature he felt on his skin shifted instantaneously.
『Entering Valhalla.』
『Confirming ‘???’s piece of the sword.』
『Entry to Valhalla is pending.』
“…?”
A puzzled expression appeared on Suhyuk’s face at the unexpected message.
To have his entry pending—
This was an unforeseen circumstance.
Moreover,
『’???’s piece of the sword’ had been consumed.』
『Entering the Sixth Asgard.』
『An unknown power is at work.』
『The stream has ended.』
Something unprecedented had occurred.
TL’s Corner:
Opp, cliffhanger. lol