Chapter 37
It hadn't been long since I'd watched a Rell tournament.
Honestly, what was the point of watching a game?
Especially a game like Rell—you had to play it yourself.
"Tsk."
But then again.
Watching it from the perspective of a high-tier player was surprisingly fun.
“That was a questionable decision just now.”
I had just pointed out how one player had made a mistake and died.
It might look like ordinary play, but.
To the eyes of a high-tier player like me, the player's mistake was obvious.
-Silver) That was honestly unfortunate
-Wasn't he trying to burn their Flash?
-At least the attempt was good;
-What's so unfortunate about it?
“The result was bad, wasn't it?”
Technically, Wayo was more of a process-over-results guy.
But in pro play, weren't results everything?
And from what I could tell, it was an important match deciding second place, so that decision was unfortunate at such a crucial moment.
-Is this bastard a capital-region stan??
-Why are you hating on Suwon?
“I'm not a Seoul resident, though. And this is a neutral chat.”
I'd called myself a strong-team stan, but this was a match between the strong teams in second and third place.
So it was fair to call this a neutral chat.
Besides, rooting for a specific team on stream was a double-edged sword.
Sports were all about fanbase wars, after all.
I might get beaten up by the opposing fans for no reason if I rooted too hard.
Well, Wayo's stream was tiny, so it wasn't as though anyone would beat me up anyway.
-You try it then; there's no way you could do thatㅇㅇ
-This bastard attacks everyone
-You poisonous toad bastardㅋㅋ
“Well, I'm not a pro, am I?”
They wanted me to try it?
That was like telling someone giving pointers while watching the World Cup to go kick a ball themselves.
I wasn't a pro.
And weren't professionals specialists who played in a way that met people's expectations?
“Still, the level of play is pretty high.”
Anyway, the level really was high.
Was this what a clash between top-ranked teams looked like?
“Maybe it's because it's a tournament? I'm a little envious of how well they work together.”
I was especially envious of how well they synchronized.
As someone who only solo-queued ranked games and never even played five-man queues normally, I was a little jealous.
-They're pros, so of course they work together
-Watch a streamer tournament and they don't work together for shitㅋㅋㅋ
“Really?”
Hmm, definitely.
Was there really a difference between having a pro and an amateur at the helm?
If I were at the top, I felt like I could move the team as one.
-?
-??
-Here he goes running his mouth again ㅆㅂㅋㅋ
“I'm confident.”
For reference, this Wayo had once been the leader of a group.
Directing four people in Rell hardly counted as leading a large group.
-What do you mean, ‘at the helm’?
-You can't use your brain in Rell, though
-If you're so confident, why not enter a tournament?
-There are streamer tournaments, you know
"I'm too confident. If I entered, it'd be a balance-breaking disaster, so I can't."
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Listen to this balance-breaking bullshit
-What's your tier??
“I keep telling you, I'm not an ordinary Emerald.”
Streamer tournament players were usually priced according to their tier.
If a fake listing like me entered, there'd be no greater burden on everyone else.
-Obviously not ordinary, considering all his main and alt accounts are parked at the topㅇㅇ
-It's an auction anyway
-The team captain will pick whoever they want
-Why is this bastard's ego so huge?
-Enter first, then talk shitㅋㅋ
“Hmm, I'll think about it.”
Still, I gave them a positive answer for the time being.
I wasn't particularly fond of large servers or tournaments, but.
The last large server had been pretty decent.
-For real??
-You actually thought about something??
“What? Are you trying to start something?”
-Let's go
-I'm confident
-Shall we settle it in Rell?
I was dumbfounded.
Why did they want to fight so badly?
“Just watch the match. It's intense.”
Even while we were batting the tournament topic around, the match continued.
From a quick look, one side was comfortably crushing the other.
Seoul was doing well. Should I root for them from now on?
“If you're Korean, you have to root for Seoul.”
-??
-?
-You said you don't live in Seoul, you assholeㅋㅋ
“I do live nearby.”
Seoul was in the capital region, so wasn't it close enough to root for them?
I liked that they were the stronger team.
-Okay, confirmed
-I'll identify you
“Sure, go ahead and look.”
Were there about ten million people living in the capital region outside Seoul?
If they found me among them, I'd have Aseong buy them a meal or something.
-For real??
-What are you buying us?
"Just eat cup noodles and get lost."
-??
-?
-Wow, this bastard's fan service is something;
Anyway, we watched the intense match while chatting like that.
“The match is pretty fun.”
They say you see more the more you know.
The more I watched, the more pleasing it was to the eye.
These had to be actual professionals.
“How good is first place?”
-This strong-team stan's trying to switch teamsㅋㅋ
-About the sameㅇㅇ
-They're pretty even these days
“Really?”
For all that, though, there seemed to be a noticeable difference between Seoul and Suwon.
Ah, was that because they were mineral-tier players?
Come to think of it, you'd need an eye as sharp as mine to notice the difference.
-Busan is even better, though
-I hear they rent a venue to play in
Apparently, Busan was currently in first place.
The matches deciding first and second place in the league were held in a large rented hall, apparently.
“That sounds like it'd be fun to watch in person.”
-ㅇㅇWatching in person is worth it
-But do you even know the teams??
“Excuse me? I'm Wayo, Busan's dedicated streamer.”
-???
-You switched already?
-Wow, this strong-team dogㅋㅋㅋ
-Does this guy have no feelings??
I hadn't said it, but my father was from Busan.
So I was allowed to root for the Busan team, wasn't I?
“One, two, three—go, Busan!”
-ㅆㅂ, the match isn't over
-This bastard;;
And they were the number-one team, too.
My favorable impression of Busan skyrocketed.
Right, a man should be a tough son of the sea.
If our Haenam faction's Han Seongwon had still been alive, he would've rooted for Busan too.
“The match is over.”
In the end, Seoul won the match.
Since it had been an important match, I turned off the screen after watching the players' joy and sorrow cross their faces.
“Shall we go now?”
I'd finished watching Rell, so now it was time for the main event, right?
Whew, that tournament had taken a while.
-ㅋㅋ
-Let's go LEx~ Let's go LEx~ Let's go LEx~
-Come on, let's goㅋㅋ
“Whoa there, hardly anyone came in from the tournament, so where are you going?”
And I'd secretly expected a few people to show up for the tournament broadcast, too.
But there was practically no one.
I'd be better off playing LEx next time.
-There are even fewer viewers for LEx, fuck;;
-So when are we seeing the ending of this??
“The ending? It's still a long way off~”
I said that while organizing the guns in my stash.
The stash was piled high with dazzling guns.
-ㅆㅂ, when will the LEx occupation end?
-Wow, look at all those gunsㅋㅋㅋ
-You fucking hoarder..
-Don't you use that gun??
They were all guns taken from other users, to be precise.
Mm, the Lord's grace~
“Huh? Oh, I'll use this later.”
For reference, I kept shoving them into my stash without using them as I collected them.
Prayer was supposed to be done empty-handed, after all.
Only those who held a cheap farming gun bought for around 100,000 won from the shop and waited it out could receive the true blessing of Jerusalem.
“All right, let's go pray.”
With those words—ones that would have made Mother excited if she'd heard them—I clicked Start Matchmaking.
-ㅆㅂ, farming again?
-When the hell is ‘later’ supposed to be?
"I guess I'll use them when I go to the Lab?"
And actually, all those guns did have a purpose.
LEx had a special map called the Lab.
It was packed with expensive items.
Since its cramped spaces and set loot spots made it famous as a battleground for firefights,
wasn't that gift-like gun meant to be used there?
-Oh..
-Wake me when you go
-When are you going?
“After I level up a bit more and unlock the shop.”
Of course, I couldn't go right now because I didn't have much good ammo.
In LEx, guns were basically just platforms for firing high-penetration rounds.
-This fucking hell, so we're supposed to keep watching you camp forever?
“...Shall I put on some donation videos?”
-Are you a genius??
-Let's go go go go
-Minimum donation, please, 3,000 won
“We'll start at 5,000 won.”
-?
-??
-Are you a big streamer now?
-You're money-crazy..
"If the minimum is low, people send weird shit."
-They'll send it even if it's highㅋㅋ
-You think they won't send it if it's high??
"I'll raise the minimum even more and call it hazard pay."
[Entering….]
While I was saying that, the game had already found a match.
The ping and matchmaking had definitely gotten faster since I bought a paid VPN last time.
I had no idea why using a VPN made the game run more smoothly for users, though.
I was just using it and accepting it as one of life's mysteries.
“All right, let's lie down~”
Once I entered the map, I ran to a familiar camping spot.
By now, some camping spots had become too predictable to use, so I'd developed a few spots of my own.
Hiding beneath the flower bed outside this building was a pretty sweet spot.
If I matched my outfit to green, no one could see me at all.
-Let's start the lying-down stream~
-This is a donation-video room, isn't it
-The stream's finally back to normal
The viewers' mood had recovered before I knew it, too.
More precisely….
[ㅇㅇ sent you a video.]
It was thanks to the video playing on the left side of the stream right now.
A music video by some Japanese VTuber whose identity I couldn't determine was playing.
-Oh, fuck
-What is that??
-Kyaaㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-You're watching an industry senior's video, you asshole; what's with that posture?
“Oh, right, I'll fix my posture.”
Still, this was fairly harmless.
At least it was a song, right?
It was a slightly bouncy song far from my taste, but not so bad that I couldn't listen to it.
“Hold on.”
Anyway, while watching the donation video, I heard footsteps and quietly muted it.
-??
-Why'd you mute it?
“Because I felt like it~”
If I said anything about the footsteps, I'd obviously just get accused of hating on them.
I held my breath, sat down in the flower bed, and waited for the other person to come.
After a little while.
Tap, tap-tap!
One opponent appeared.
Rat-a-tat-tat!!
Tap!
Then a fully geared five-man squad passed right in front of me.
“....”
-??
-?
-Not shooting?
"How could I shoot people?"
Fuck, that nearly killed me.
What kind of fully geared five-man squad was that?
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-ㅋㅋㅋ
-Scared??
“They're here to take over the map. Let's leave.”
LEx usually matches around eight to twelve people into a single map.
If there was a five-man squad in the middle of that,
it meant all the other users were prey.
-Wow, Wayo-hwang's got no balls now
-If it were me, I'd have rushed themㅇㅇ
-Then why bring a farming loadout??
There was nothing for me to loot here anyway.
So, enduring the viewers' mockery, I ran straight for the extract.
Five-man squad? No problem—just switch to a fresh frying pan~
"Luckily, the extract is right nearby…."
Just as I was running toward the extract.
-Oh
-Hey
-?
-Wayo
-What's with everyone?
Suddenly, unfamiliar usernames started appearing one after another in chat.
What was going on? Had something happened?
"What is it?"
I slowed my running and stared at the chat, and, unusually, the messages started scrolling by at high speed.
-Apparently Kangseok wants to play Rell with you?
-Rell with Mr. Cheolton??
-What the hell are you guys doing??
-Forget this shitty game and go play Rell
-Fuck off ㅆㅂ;;
Huh?
Apparently, Mr. Cheolton, whom I'd met during the last large server, had mentioned me.
I was confused by the sudden news for a moment.
Then Wayo's character visibly furrowed its brow.
“Do you want to die for cuckooing about another streamer?”
What was this? Why were they all cuckooing about another streamer together, you bastards?
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-For real
-You guys want to die?
I stopped heading for the extract and sent every last one of them to the slammer.