Chapter 164
Cha Minwoo attracted attention because of something he did during his personal stream.
At the time, Cha Minwoo participated in a test on the fifth floor, teaming up with various players.
Of course, increasing the number of members made the test more difficult.
However, rather than being helpful, his teammates, blinded by the rewards, ended up doing what they shouldn’t have done.
– What are those guys doing? LOL.
– Do not touch this under any circumstances.
– Ah, when someone says don’t do it, I want to do it even more~
– LOL. Total trolls. LOL.
His teammates had touched the sealed stone, which should never be tampered with.
Due to their actions, the number of monsters attacking the village increased several times. Cha Minwoo, whose mission was to protect the village, found himself in a dire situation.
To make matters worse, due to the release of the demons trapped in the sealing stone, all his teammates perished.
– It’s over.
– GG
– If he clears this, I’ll donate 10,000 points. LOL.
Everyone thought he would definitely fail.
“Who was it that said they’d donate 10,000 points earlier?”
Cha Minwoo grabbed them by the collar and passed the test.
A one-man show.
In the end, the only survivor was Cha Minwoo.
“He did great as expected.”
Following Lee Wonjae, Hwang Gyuseong mumbled.
On the way to meet Kim Ilsoo, Cha Minwoo’s image was displayed on a large screen in the distance.
Although he had just become a ranker, his skills far surpassed most rankers.
Even though the opponents were all rankers, he defeated them with ease.
The difference was in their capabilities and the process of climbing the tower.
“He is the future of our guild.”
“Grow him for about ten years and give him lightning, he could be a decent knock-off.”
Though it sounded sarcastic, coming from Hwang Gyuseong, it was an enormous compliment.
Regardless of the requirement or time it would take, even if he was a knock-off, the comparison target was none other than Lee Suhyuk.
A few minutes passed since the match started.
During that time, following Lee Wonjae, Hwang Gyuseong arrived at a door.
“Is it here?”
“Yes.”
Beyond this door.
Kim Ilsoo was beyond this door. The moment he had waited for twenty years was just around the corner.
“Five minutes. You remember, right?”
“Yeah, I know.”
Since it was a room hosting a significant individual, the door was made of luxurious hardwood with a neat coating.
Hwang Gyuseong’s teeth gleamed white as he reached out towards the door.
Could there be a moment more joyful than this? Even though he could soon die, he couldn’t contain his laughter.
At last.
Creak—.
The door opened, and through the crack, Kim Ilsoo’s face appeared.
* * *
In the distance, something sparkled.
A few players stationed on the rooftop of the building rubbed their eyes.
“Did you see something over there?”
“What? There’s nothing there.”
“Did I see it wrong…?”
“Didn’t it just sparkle a moment ago?”
Sizzle—.
In an instant, the sparkle had already moved far away.
Lee Suhyuk looked up at the high spire that soared into the sky as if it was stepping on lightning. The moment the test began, Suhyuk ran towards the center of the test field as promised.
Urban field.
The most cautious thing here was undoubtedly sniper attacks from a distance.
‘Have some of them already secured positions?’
Participants capable of long-range attacks had already taken their positions.
Early fights were likely to be battles for securing better spots.
Under normal circumstances, Suhyuk would have jumped into that fight. He was confident in sniping, as he was skilled with spears, and he had never lost in early position fights before.
『’SuhyukTwo2′ has donated 100 points.』
『What were you talking about earlier?』
As the donation came in, he finally noticed the stream.
Since meeting Cha Minwoo, viewers had been watching the stream with the sound muted.
Normally, it would have been a streaming mishap, but it actually piqued the viewers’ curiosity.
The opponent was Cha Minwoo. He was a famous streamer when he did streams, and now he was a promising talent representing Blue Zone.
Naturally, people were curious about the conversation between him and streamer Lee Suhyuk.
Thud—.
Suhyuk was the first to arrive at the promised location.
He had upped his speed explicitly to avoid any interruptions from anyone, so it was an expected result.
“Are you curious?”
He had some time now.
Though he wanted to finish the bet with Cha Minwoo as quickly as possible, he had no choice but to wait for him now.
-ㅇㅇㅇㅇ
-If you don’t tell us, we’ll assume you two are dating
-Oh, come on~~~
Out of immense curiosity, several more donations came in.
He couldn’t reveal everything, but luckily, he could share what viewers wanted to know the most.
“We’re going to have a match here.”
-????
– rly?
-Wow, no wonder he rushed straight at the start. lol
“I apologize for the audio mute. I thought snipers might target us if I talked about it live on the stream.”
A mix of truth and lies. It was true that they were going to have a match, but the audio was muted for a different reason.
Of course, Suhyuk’s excuse sounded plausible.
If he announced the promised location on the stream before the test started, given the nature of the map, snipers might aim for them.
-Understandable under those conditions
-It’s going to be so entertaining
-Cha Minwoo’s form has been insane lately
-lol, he’s gonna get wrecked instantly
Fortunately, the response wasn’t bad. The viewers were just as excited about the upcoming match with Cha Minwoo.
‘Seems like the viewer count has increased.’
Come to think of it, he hadn’t paid much attention to the stream because of Kim Ilsoo. The number of viewers he saw now was enough to make his eyes sparkle.
『Viewers: 90,948』
90,000 people.
No matter how much the content of the Counter-Fight contributed, it was an incredible number. The number of viewers kept increasing, so it might even exceed 100,000.
Of course, most of them were probably there to see Suhyuk break.
『EquipmentChung” sponsored 100 points.』
『Where’s your outfit from today? Never seen it before.』
It was a viewer’s question after noticing Suhyuk’s changed attire. That was when Suhyuk remembered the advertisement he received.
“Oh, right. I need to do the advertisement first.”
-What? Was it an ad?
-I thought you bought it yourself.
Suhyuk showed the logo of the white thin armor he wore on top of his clothing with the sword strapped to his waist.
“It’s equipment sponsored by Saint Lorek. The quality is good. I like it.”
-Bro… Show some spirit…
-Never seen this before. Is Saint Lorek new?
-Beep beep. This gear will soon be broken by Cha Minwoo.
For a moment, Suhyuk wondered if this was okay. He had simply mentioned the ad without knowing how to handle it on the stream, but this was an advertisement worth a whopping 600,000 points.
‘They’ll figure it out.’
If this led to complaints, it would be Un Hyang or John Dale’s problem, not his.
『MissionVillain” has registered a mission.』
『You have to do the mission today, right? 500 points per kill ^^ But if you die, 0 points.』
MissionVillain, who always sets up missions. However, with the increase in viewers, there were a few new nicknames today.
『AngryBaldySuhyuk has registered a mission.』
『I’ll also put 100 points per kill, lol.』
『Don’tWatchInMyRoom has registered a mission.』
『Deathmatch kill mission can’t be missed~ I’ll also put 100 points per kill. No deaths for me.』
『……』
Missions kept pouring in. It was said that missions were popular in Counter-Fight content, and it proved to be true.
There were so many that it was difficult to read them all. Some viewers added conditions like “no deaths”, which meant making it to the top 100 and advancing to the final round.
And the last one.
There was always one viewer who added fun to Suhyuk’s stream, with a win rate of 0%.
『SafeAsset” has registered a mission.』
『Over 1000 kills and I’ll give you 1 million points lol, do it if you can~』
SafeAsset.
As if he had been waiting, he again set up an absurd mission.
-1000 kills???
-Has SafeAsset finally lost it?!
-Not even making it to the finals lol
-Pissing on the mission, really
Despite his nickname, SafeAsset’s win rate was 0%. Thanks to this, he had become the most famous viewer on Suhyuk’s stream.
『SafeAsset” sponsored 10 points.』
『What now? Think this guy is actually going to the finals.』
-Kingception, LOL
-Seriously, this is so lame, LOL
-Upgraded the safe assets version, huh?
Adding safety on top of safety.
If it were the old him, he would have bet on making it to the finals, but this time he chose something far safer.
“1000 kills…”
Lee Suhyuk showed a moment of perplexity at the safe asset mission.
In such a deathmatch, even achieving 100 kills was an incredible record. Just finding opponents on the vast field was difficult, and he had to consider the continuous drain on his stamina during the fights.
Moreover, the participants here were all players with ranker-level skills.
Scoring such a record against them was something even top-ranked players found impossible.
“There’s no penalty for failing, right?”
Suhyuk asked after pondering briefly.
『’SafeAsset’ has sponsored 10 points.』
『Not completely heartless, LOL』
At that response, Suhyuk nodded.
“Well, let’s give it a try.”
-You’re really accepting this???
-SafeAsset finally gets a win, LOL
-Today’s winning streak might get broken
-Why even do this???????
Accepting the mission was a considerable risk for Suhyuk.
While SafeAsset claimed there wasn’t a penalty for failure, there was an invisible penalty, and it was quite significant.
“If a mission doesn’t seem right to you, make sure to draw the line. For example, something like winning the Counter-Fight.”
Un Hyang worried Suhyuk might take on an excessive mission this time because SafeAsset always set such extreme tasks.
“Suhyuk’s winning streak has become the identity of the stream. The viewers are curious to see when his streak will break.”
So far, Suhyuk had achieved a 100% mission success rate.
At some point, viewers, especially SafeAsset, viewed missions with Suhyuk as matters of victory and defeat, continuously setting seemingly impossible tasks.
A 100% win rate.
The longer the stream lasted, the more impressive the record became, turning Suhyuk’s show into a bigger draw.
“As long as that win rate is maintained, more viewers will gather, and more viewers will set missions. But…”
“If the win rate is broken, interest will fade, and missions will decrease.”
“Yes. Suhyuk, you’re walking on a golden tightrope right now.”
A single defeat would be fatal. He was aware of that.
Still, Suhyuk accepted the mission.
‘There’s no easy way to walk the tightrope.’
That’s right. He was on a golden tightrope.
One misstep could cut him, but success would mean walking a golden path. Such was the reality of the tightrope he was on.
Turning down a seemingly impossible mission was bound to have repercussions.
On the other hand, the reward for succeeding in such a mission was sure to be several times the usual.
More importantly,
‘It’s something I have to do anyway.’
From the moment he stepped onto the field, Suhyuk had a picture in mind.
And that picture wouldn’t change whether he accepted the mission from SafeAsset’s or not.
In any case, “Just in time.”
Suhyuk needed to finish this ordeal as quickly as possible.
“1 kill.”