Starting the Stream
Stream begins.
I had known I possessed talent since I was around ten years old.
The catalyst had been my grandfather’s death. The passing of a family member who had always indulged my childish whims with warmth still weighed as an unbearably heavy reality for a child.
I would collapse into sleep exhausted from crying, only to wake again and repeat the cycle of tears and exhaustion, according to what people told me.
It had been about a week later. Unable to watch any longer, my father gave me a book to cheer me up while worrying over my health.
It was titled Soyo Gangho, the martial arts novel he had always enjoyed reading. I had once demanded to see it, only for him to firmly refuse, insisting it was too brutal for a child like me to handle.
“This is a gift from your grandfather and me. So that your grandfather can smile as he travels to the heavens, please make me smile as well, Muwon.”
My knowledge of Soyo Gangho was limited. I knew it featured heroes who defeated villains and that both my father and grandfather had loved it. That was all.
Yet almost immediately I discovered far more. Before long I was utterly consumed by the world within the pages.
Even in the harshest, most difficult situations, the martial hero trains his skills, upholds his own principles, and ultimately possesses everything despite the world’s contempt, calling him foolish and blind.
Reading Soyo Gangho filled me with longing for such a life. I dreamed of becoming someone who could grieve for precious people while wielding true martial arts to uphold justice.
And children are naturally gifted at imitation.
“Muwon, what are you doing sitting on the floor since morning?”
“I’m training martial arts. When I grow up, I’m going to become a cool hero.”
Remarkably, the protagonist of Soyo Gangho and I shared the exact same name. Our surnames differed—Kim and Jang—but both of us were named Muwon.
When I first learned this, I felt as if some impossible fate had arranged itself just for me. Even my father, seeing my renewed energy, refrained from telling me martial arts were merely fiction.
Thanks to him, I spent most of every day training martial arts. I diligently circulated my qi and refined my body according to the instructions in the book.
“I did it! I finally did it!”
Yet astonishingly, I had invented a real martial art. It was not a divine skill with immense power, but I could certainly call it a technique for circulating internal energy.
From then on, I naturally became obsessed with martial arts training. I poured nearly every moment after school into refining my skills and studied various fields without hesitation in order to raise my realm of mastery.
“Are you studying Korean?”
“I’m also studying Chinese characters.”
Korean and Chinese to better understand the thoughts and backgrounds in the martial arts novels.
“There are so many books.”
“Social studies and history. I borrowed others from the library too.”
Social studies and history to interpret the ideas and settings that appear in the martial arts novels.
“What are you studying today?”
“Math and science. I thought I wouldn’t need them, but there’s more than I expected.”
And science and math to grasp the subtleties of the various martial arts.
“Honestly, there’s nothing special to say about your son. Even among my years as a teacher, I’ve never had a student as outstanding as him.”
“We think so too. It’s amazing how sharp and upright a child came out of our family.”
Of course, my evaluations at school and at home were always excellent.
Since my peers studied on their own anyway, my parents had no reason to interfere. They never discouraged my life of martial arts training either.
In the end, I was both academically outstanding and physically fit. My friends at school stared at me strangely, yet my teachers adored me, so no problems arose.
Time passed, and I advanced from Third-rate to Second-rate, then from Second-rate to First-rate.
“Hoo…”
By the time I became a university student, I had finally reached Peak Stage Late.
“Sigh… I still can’t grasp it.”
After entering university, I had rented this studio apartment. I sat in half-lotus on the floor and circulated my qi, when my eyes opened.
It was just as the sun was rising in the early morning. Yet, unlike the refreshing dawn air, my mood was far from pleasant.
“The wall of Transcendence Stage is higher than I imagined.”
It was that restless, frustrating feeling of something almost within reach yet always slipping away. Once understood, my head would feel clear and invigorating, but I had not grasped it for months now.
“Even at Peak Stage Early, I was so happy thinking I was a true master.”
The first Soyo Gangho I had read belonged to the old-school martial arts novels of the so-called Nine Great Factions, the low-power murim of the era when Peak Stage was simply the ultimate realm of martial arts.
But as time passed and the world evolved, martial arts underwent tremendous development. Among the changes, the most striking was the addition and subdivision of realms.
After Peak Stage came Transcendence Stage, followed by Transformation Realm, Profound Realm, and Life-and-Death Realm. The existing realms had also been divided into early, middle, and late stages.
“Still, before I die, I must reach Life-and-Death Realm.”
One should always set the highest goal. Having read many martial arts novels and learned of realms above Peak Stage, I aimed for Life-and-Death Realm, the supreme realm depicted as the ultimate in every great novel.
“If a character in a martial arts novel knew I was aiming for Life-and-Death Realm with only Peak Stage Late, wouldn’t they laugh and blow a fart?”
I had thought such a thing. But that was the extent of it.
No matter what anyone said, I was the supreme ancestor of modern martial arts who had created something from nothing without any help.
Viewed through the lens of human civilization, I was like a superhuman who had advanced science and technology from the Stone Age all the way to steam engines alone.
“Well, it’s not as if I can just keep training endlessly.”
I unfolded my half-lotus, stood up, and checked the time on the smartphone placed on my desk. 6:20 a.m. I had been in deep meditation since 5 a.m., so more than an hour and twenty minutes had already passed.
Time itself was not the real issue. The real problem was the long list of notifications stacked beneath it.
Bank of Korea: Auto-debit for MetaCrafting Co., Ltd. – 14,900 won
CocoaTalk: Reminder for principal and interest repayment of the Korea Scholarship Foundation academic loan
Calendar Notification: Rent deposit due date for the studio apartment
No matter how high my martial arts had reached, the world I lived in was still twenty-first-century modern South Korea.
I needed money to eat and live—and quite a lot of it.
Let me check my bank balance. The money I had earned from working part-time during vacation and at the logistics center would almost certainly be gone after today’s rent payment.
“Ugh, even masters find it hard to live.”
I swallowed my sigh.
Normally I would earn a lot during vacation and live off it for the entire semester. But even with two months left in the break, my account was already at rock bottom.
“Should I have bought a sword later?”
The culprit who had drained my account was the single sword I had custom-made and placed in a corner of the room. After becoming an adult and moving out, I had decided to try a good sword, so I had ordered a custom-made one.
Originally I had planned to get a decent off-the-shelf item.
But because most sword dao in Korea were just swordsmanship, which mainly uses a knife, I had no choice but to commission a custom martial-arts-style sword.
As expected for a custom piece, the price was far higher than a mass-produced one.
“Haah…”
A helpless sigh escaped me.
With such a packed schedule, finding a new job was difficult, and my parents’ financial situation was not excellent either, so I could not rely on their help.
They would gladly assist if I asked, but I did not want to become a filial son who burdens them with his personal extravagances.
Therefore, I had to find a way to earn money directly.
“I had been thinking about it for a while, but now that things have reached this point, I might as well try it.”
Fortunately, I already had a plan in mind. The plan I had been postponing for various reasons. I had ordered the necessary items on a second-hand trading site with the intention of showing my martial arts to others, then put it off under the excuse of “preparing my mind.”
But now that my account was empty, the “preparing my mind” excuse had run out of steam.
“Everything I need is ready, so I should start in a suitable place.”
A tripod, a smartphone, and a single sword.
With all preparations complete, I headed to the open field in the nearby mountains I had scouted earlier.
#
The phrase “bread and circus” comes to mind. On the surface it seems harmless, but when you dig into its origins it is not particularly pleasant. Yet at least the phrase perfectly reveals human nature.
That is, if a person has abundant food and entertainment, he or she can live a lifetime without difficulty.
And in the twenty-first century, modern society is the most materially abundant era in history. Naturally, people filled with plenty competed to pour out more and more forms of entertainment.
“Kkueeeugh…”
Well-crafted entertainment inevitably attracts those who become truly immersed in it. And the fiercer the competition, the more enjoyable the entertainment becomes.
“Whoa, refreshing. Today’s stream was packed. For real.”
A red ocean, a blood sea—internet streaming certainly does not deserve its poor reputation. Watching a famous big-company streamer’s broadcast, Stronggil yawned and stretched after the stream ended.
“Then what should I watch next?”
But once a stream ends, another always begins, just like the internet memes. He immediately looked for his next choice.
Having hit the jackpot with cryptocurrency investing at a young age, he had secured a lifetime of income, so internet streaming was his greatest source of enjoyment.
The problem was that, apart from the verified big-company streamers, almost every other stream was boring.
“I’ve seen all the big-company streams, and even the ones that looked interesting were just all-nighters…”
And it was only just past 7 a.m. now.
Considering that most streams happen in the afternoon or late evening around quitting time, the odds of finding something fun were low.
Most streamers’ offline presence was gray, the color of the morning. Stronggil usually paid them no mind, yet he had scanned through even the deep streams before stopping his mouse.
“…What is this?”
Among the thumbnails dominated by game-play screens and virtual avatars, one stood out with a real forest clearing scene.
The Easy Way to Cut Rocks Like Tofu
Kim Muwon / Live
Even the title was unusual. It felt more like a lecture title than a stream title.
“Now I’m curious.”
It was different from the others. Whether the content itself was interesting or not, that could be checked now.
Suppressing that thought, he entered the stream like one possessed. He sent a chat message to the streamer standing in the middle of the clearing.
- What does “cutting rocks like tofu easily” mean?
His single chat message appeared in the empty chat window. At the same moment, the screen showed streamer Kim Muwon raising his right arm, gripping a single sword.
The black martial arts robe he wore matched the sword perfectly. At that instant, Stronggil’s eyes widened in a daze, completely lost in the screen.
It’s simple. Just follow the movements.
The man on screen smiled gently and murmured in a low voice.
Then, from the blue-green forest clearing, an even bluer light bloomed around the sword, wrapping it entirely.
The form was exactly like the Sword Qi described in martial arts novels.
“Eh, eh?”
Far too real to be real life, yet far too natural to be computer graphics. The Sword Qi looked absolutely real.
Confused whether he was really watching a live stream, Stronggil forgot the fatigue of his all-night vigil and stared with wide eyes.
And then—
“……Insane.”
With a crisp slicing sound, the boulder that had been as large as a person’s torso split cleanly into two pieces and rolled aside.
Not a single rough edge remained. The perfectly smooth cut surface was displayed clearly on the screen.
That’s what I meant by showing you how to do it.
A calm, matter-of-fact voice as if performing the impossible was nothing out of the ordinary.
A 100,000 won donation from CoinGuru!
Please wait just a moment, sir.
It was real. This was real.
Exhilarated, Stronggil hastily sent the 100,000 won, then smiled brightly while writing the promotional post.
Did an SSR-grade super rookie just drop???*
Author: CoinGuru
(Clip of Kim Muwon wielding Sword Qi to cut a rock)
(Kim Muwon live stream link)
It dropped, so I’ll upload it!
The martial arts master I was looking for is right here
I’m going to watch right now Let’s go!
Replies
└ Is this real?
└ Whoa, what’s Sword Qi? lol
└ Isn’t it CG? Why is Sword Qi in reality?
└ Is this guy for real scamming us with his fake live stream?
└ No, but today’s first stream was so boring lol
└ CoinGuru is a real famous scammer……
└ At this level, he’s probably not even a famous streamer lol lol lol
Of course, plenty of skeptical comments flooded in during the process, but… he felt no regret at all.
“If I told you that, you wouldn’t be able to doubt it even if you saw it yourself.”
Still, watching such an unbelievable sight alone was impossible, so he was half-hoping the shaky streamer would not die.