The Seventh Masterpiece
6:30 PM.
The hour most of Twich — no, far more than most — had been waiting for finally arrived, and the doors of the official broadcast swung open.
The official broadcast, Twich Korea Channel, co-hosted by the organizer Vlack and his partner company.
Despite a mere thirty-minute wait, the viewer count for this broadcast had already shattered 180,000 and was now barreling toward the 190,000 mark.
And that was excluding the viewers of the famous streamers competing as participants.
That combined total boasted the largest audience of any tournament ever held — bigger than any official league, bigger than any privately run competition in history.
Is this the biggest viewership ever lolololololol
This is insane
for real lol
LILY! LILY! LILY! LILY!
I love Vlack!!!!!!!!!!!!
Leo's gonna win, obviously lol lolololololololololol
Holy crap
Dinosaurs Are Alive are taking this one
This is practically official-league level
Even with a one-message-per-three-minutes cooldown and verified-chat requirements in place, the messages flooded in like a deluge.
Alongside a short cinematic of three castles glaring at one another across a river, the countdown began.
[432]
[4]
[3]
START? START? START? START? START? START?
[1]
If you don't give Lily Grand General I'm throwing hands
Oh
GOOOOOOOOOOOO
We got this~~~
The screen cut to black for a moment.
And from the center of that darkness, a tiny ember bloomed.
Flames flared up like a phoenix, rocketing skyward in a streak of light before gliding across the heavens.
The light danced gracefully through the sky, then split into three branches, each shooting toward a different destination.
Three shafts of light plummeting toward three separate castles. Their targets were each castle's Core — and as the light wrapped around each one, revealing castle after castle and the wildly different terrains between them, the view swept back and transitioned to Runos Central Plaza.
A camera hovering high overhead like a drone washed its lens across the sea of people gathered in the plaza.
The crowd packed the plaza wall to wall. And from the miniature castle at its very center, effects began to surge upward.
The effects lifted high into the open air, and with a flourish of sound, the words 'Mock Siege Season 3!' blazed across the sky, announcing the true beginning.
Insane
They burned a FORTUNE on this
lololololololololololololol
Sick
LILY! LILY! LILY! LILY! LILY!
This is a historic moment lololololololololol
Honestly this IS official league level
How much care did Vlack put into this
whoa
The screen shifted once more, and the commentators appeared along with the live crowd noise.
"Good evening, Twich viewers, and viewers of BHC. I'm Kim Yong-woo, caster for the 3rd Mock Siege on Twich."
"And I'm Rakl, on commentary."
"And I'm Fracion, your special commentator."
"Well then — hello, everyone!!! Welcome!!!"
WHAAAAAA—!
WOOOO
Clap clap clap clap
Whoa, it's Kim Yong-woo
Wait, KIM YONG-WOO?!
Insane lololololololololol
What is this lineup lololol
This caliber is unreal
Kim Yong-woo?!
Whoa
No way this is real?
lolololololololol
"Who's Kim Yong-woo?"
When I asked while watching the screen set up in the room, Yena shot the question right back at me, a question mark practically hovering over her head.
"...Lily. Don't tell me you don't know?"
"Is he famous?"
Lily why don't you know
You DON'T know Kim Yong-woo?
Lily's a newbie after all
Still, you'd think she'd know Kim Yong-woo — he's been casting for over 10 years, not just DeoEn
He's probably been on TV a bunch of times too
Lily doesn't know?
Guess she's a newbie
"He's one of the main casters of DCK. He even hosted the official Siege War when it aired on TV last time."
"Ah, did he?"
"Yeah. Hmm... I guess if it was your first time, and you really weren't paying any attention, you might not know..."
It would make sense if she'd cut all ties with DeoEn entirely.
If you never watched DeoEn matches, sure, it could happen.
But DeoEn had already spread across the world as far as it could go, and even without watching a single match, Kim Yong-woo's fame was such that nearly everyone in the country knew his name.
He'd even built a respectable fanbase overseas, at that.
fr tho this one's a stretch lololol
Sometimes I don't think she's a newbie, then I see stuff like this and... yeah, newbie
fr lol
Maybe she's not a newbie, maybe she's just not Korean lololol
Honestly I'm convinced Lily just fell into this world from somewhere else lol
Lily alien theory lolololol
─Wow, this is my first Mock Siege, and all of you came out here just to watch it.
─I suppose that's because this season's Mock Siege is the greatest lineup in history. And especially — I hear the prize pool this time is anything but ordinary?
─That's right! Wow. Fracion, are you excited? I hear the prize comes to a staggering 500 million won. Is that correct?
500 million won.
Five hundred million?
The shocking words spoken through the screen were more than enough to leave every mouth hanging open.
"Five hundred million?"
"Whoa."
"Seriously?"
"For real?"
It was such a bombshell that it even pried open the mouth of Chukachip, who had been silent this whole time.
fr? 500M?
???????????????????
Wasn't it like 100M last year?
5x increase?? what lolololololololololol
? wasn't it 100M?
Last time it was 50M and 2500 gold
no way
What lolololol
Honestly 100M was kind of low anyway, we're all rankers, 100M is small potatoes lol
fr lol, split between everyone that's less than 20M each
On screen, Fracion — with his long, snow-white hair — nodded and took hold of the microphone.
─That's correct. With sponsorship from various companies this time around, we've dramatically increased the prize pool to make sure everyone who participates is rewarded handsomely.
─And how will it be distributed? The entire 500 million?
─First, in the spirit of the festival, every participant will receive roughly 5 million won as an appearance fee. The long-awaited first-place team will receive 300 million won and 5,000 gold. And most importantly of all—
Fracion stopped mid-sentence and gave his hand a little flick.
Space warped slightly, and a single ring materialized in his palm.
A ring of gorgeous blue gems entwined in thick, pure-white lines.
The Seventh Masterpiece, forged by the continent's great blacksmith Drak —
Blue Guardian
Whoa
Masterpiece...?
?????????
For real?
Insane, that's a NAMED item lolololololololololol
They're giving away a Mythic item?!
Just the one though?
Mythic grade, I'm actually losing it holy crap lololololololololol
no way
That thing is literally priceless
Shouldn't that be worth 1 billion, not 100M
It wasn't just the chat — an awed ohhhh rolled through the venue as well.
One look was enough to tell the equipment was exorbitantly expensive.
Even though I could only observe it through a screen, it radiated power comparable to the gear I'd once clawed my way through blood and hardship to obtain in the past.
"That looks insanely expensive?"
"It is insanely expensive. Though the price isn't the real problem."
The one who answered wasn't Yena.
Chukachip gave her golden hair a little toss and looked at me.
"Mythic-grade equipment is extremely, extremely hard to come by. To actually get your hands on one, you'd need to be at least top 0.1% ranker level."
"Hmm..."
"The problem is that rankers already make money easily. And anyone who can acquire something like that is serious about DeoEn — so there's no reason to sell it for a measly 100–200 million, which is honestly a cheap price for it."
Coming from Choco, we'll take her word for it lol
Choco probably has a Mythic item or two already
She popped a strawberry snack into her mouth and stared at the ring beyond the screen.
"That's why rankers almost never sell Mythic items. Me included. When Vlack oppa put that up as a prize, he wasn't valuing it in money — he was putting the meaning into the Mock Siege itself."
Normally I wouldn't sell that even for a billion won, you know?
"I kind of want it, though..."
Chukachip murmured to herself and turned her focus back to the screen.
A great Masterpiece, huh...
Wouldn't be a bad thing to have.
And its grade was 'Mythic.'
Back in the day, the gods tended to use that word when speaking of 'Celestials' — or 'Demons.'
fr lol
But if they only give one, what do the other players get?
Don't they split the money?
Probably goes to the Grand General?
─A Mythic-grade Masterpiece! I've seen the pros cherish ones like it many times, and to think they're just giving it away! Wow, everyone's going to take this Mock Siege dead seriously now.
─Honestly, I did wonder whether Vlack should really be parting with it... but this friend of mine is dead serious about the Mock Siege, it turns out.
─Fracion, you must be excited too! If that ring ended up in your hands! How would you feel about that?
─Well, I'd obviously be thrilled... but since I happen to be close friends with Vlack, I worry quite a few of you wouldn't be too happy if I won it...
Fracion laughed heartily and licked his lips.
fr, he staked the prize he might win himself
Anyway who actually gets it?
─So who among the winning team takes the ring? Is it split up within the team?
When Rakl, the commentator seated across from Kim Yong-woo, asked, Fracion turned his gaze to the camera.
─The money will be distributed at each team's discretion, but the ring goes to the Grand General. I'm hammering that nail in with no ambiguity whatsoever. And a note for the record — Vlack's team says that even if they win, Vlack himself won't take it. Hahaha!
"Grand General...?"
"Grand General."
Two voices echoed through the room.
One of them was mine — but my eyes were locked on the ring alone.
'The Grand General gets to take it, huh?'