Chapter 1
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 0
Chapter Title: Prologue
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“Cadet Kim Hanul. You don't have what it takes to work on the front lines.”
It was a cataclysmic era, where so-called 'Gates' opened, monsters poured out, and Awakened Beings emerged to hunt them.
I slipped up at the most crucial moment.
[Awakened Being Kim Hanul. Final Hunter Rank: E.]
Hunter's Den, the place where Awakened Beings are reborn as monster-hunting 'Hunters'.
At the graduation ceremony, I was publicly informed.
That as a Hunter, I was useless.
“Ha, what did you expect? What's the point of being book-smart? You gonna kill monsters with theory?”
“Exactly. His actual abilities are trash.”
“He acted like he was the leader, being the mood-maker and all, but look at him now.”
I accepted the license from the dean, the laughter of my peers ringing in my ears.
E-Rank, the lowest of the low, closer to a regular person than an Awakened Being.
I said nothing.
What else could I say?
I wanted to raise hell, but I couldn't.
My mother was watching from the back, her heart in her throat.
Instead of complaining about the world, I spent every possible hour in the field, earning money.
And even then, I never stopped studying monsters and dungeons.
Seven years.
Perhaps the heavens were moved by my efforts.
[You have acquired a new skill.]
The dream I had long given up on had returned as a new opportunity.
“Alright, let's do this.”
I won't let it slip away this time.
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Synchronization (1)
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Yi Yi Je Yi.
Use barbarians to control barbarians.
And right here is a game that perfectly embodies this ancient idiom, passed down through generations.
‘Monsters Are Blocked by Monsters’.
It started as a simple indie game.
...And now, seven years after its release, it remains nothing more than a simple, poorly made indie game.
When it was first released, they claimed it would rewrite the history of dungeon defense games.
That they would implement real-life monsters into the game.
That they would make it a game even the world's most renowned Hunters could enjoy casually during their expeditions.
They spouted all sorts of bullshit.
- Thank you for playing 'Monsters Are Blocked by Monsters'. Due to company circumstances, there will be no new updates for 'MonMonMak'. Furthermore, as of the 7th at 11 PM, service for 'MonMonMak' will be terminated.
In the end, this is how it turned out.
"Fuck."
I let out a deep sigh, staring at the notice that had been posted a week ago.
Well, it was the kind of game that could have gone under at any moment.
Honestly, it's a miracle it lasted seven years.
The concept was to hire and strengthen monsters to defend a dungeon called the 'Lord's Castle' from invading monster waves.
Yeah, the concept itself was good.
Thanks to its charming yet detailed pixel graphics, it even had a decent player base in the beginning.
But from its very name, 'Monsters Are Blocked by Monsters!', which reeked of 2000s-era sentimentality...
...to the shitty game balance where my 1-star goblin was a trash mob, but the invading goblins could wipe the floor with my 4-star ogre.
And even the roguelike system that mercilessly reset everything if the final room, the 'Audience Chamber,' was captured.
"It makes no sense for a dungeon I poured thousands of dollars into to get reset because it couldn't stop a single ogre. I tried to stick with it out of attachment, but in the end, they just screwed me over."
I grumbled in frustration.
Just then, new comments popped up on the side of the screen.
[Crap is Blocked by Crap: Ah lololol, I mean, why would you even play this crappy game?]
[Last of the Diehards: It was an expected ending lol. But hey, you broke the wave record yesterday, so take comfort in that, CrappyGame-bro ㅎㅎ]
'CrappyGame' is short for 'What Kind of Crappy Game Is This,' my stream ID.
And the ones chatting were the viewers who had been consistently watching me stream this god-awful defense game for the past five years.
All six of them.
Still, I offered them a final greeting.
"Yeah, yeah. You guys have been through a lot, too."
[CrappyGame-bro's Stalker Fan: CrappyGame-bro, what are you gonna do now?]
[Last of the Diehards: What about him? lol. He's got a Hunter license, he won't starve.]
[Crap is Blocked by Crap: Oh, so are you going back to being a Hunter, CrappyGame-bro?]
"Being a Hunter is a bit..."
I replied with a vague expression.
My heart aches.
It was a mistake to flash my Hunter license at the beginning just to attract a few viewers.
Thank god I had the presence of mind to cover my rank, name, and photo.
If I had revealed the letter 'E' written next to my rank, it would have gone down as my greatest cringeworthy moment, Forbes-list worthy.
[Hunter Who Blocks Monsters: This guy's being humble again lol. The prevailing theory is that he made enough money as a Hunter to stream crappy games as a hobby ㅎㅎ]
I wish that were true.
But unfortunately, I'm just an ordinary guy living from one temp job to the next.
Gates started appearing everywhere, and monsters began pouring out of those holes.
It's been thirty years since superpowered individuals called 'Hunters' started fighting them.
But it's not a world where opportunities are handed to an Awakened Being whose only skill is something like 'Regeneration Lv.1'.
"Anyway, it's the last day of service. Any missions for me, guys?"
I quickly changed the subject.
[Bald is the Strongest: A mission? Is there even anything left to do? zzz]
There isn't.
I know that all too well.
For someone like me, who has played 'Monsters Are Blocked by Monsters' every single day since its release, there were no challenges left.
I'm the kind of guy who would laugh while doing perverted things like strengthening the single starting goblin to survive 100 waves.
I've literally tried every crazy stunt imaginable and lost just as many meticulously rebuilt Lord's Castles in the process.
In short, I'm a true diehard.
[Crap is Blocked by Crap: Bro, how about we do 'that' for a hundred-dollar mission?]
Oh, for once, someone took the bait.
Though honestly, it's more like they willingly bit the hook I dangled.
I grinned and spoke.
"'That'? Should we go for 'that,' guys?"
[Last of the Diehards: Oh, that's a great idea. Do it, do it! A hundred-dollar donation is on its way!]
[Hunter Who Blocks Monsters: Of course we're doing that. I'm in for two hundred!]
I nodded.
Well, at this point, there was only one mission left anyway.
My mouse cursor moved past the pixelated, ant-farm-like dungeon toward the button at the very top.
[Begin 700th Wave]
The 700th wave.
The ultimate wave that no one had ever managed to clear since MonMonMak's launch!
If I succeeded this time, I'd be setting a new record.
Not that it meant much, since you couldn't find anyone else playing this game even if you tried.
"Here I go, guys. You have to pay up even if I fail. And you know how much money went into raising these monsters, right?"
I said, hovering the cursor over 'Begin Wave'.
The chat immediately lit up.
[Last of the Diehards: lol, it's not like you paid for most of it. We did.]
[CrappyGame-bro's Stalker Fan: ㅎㅎ The Lord's Castles you've built so far were a joint effort, right? Yeah, totally~]
[Crap is Blocked by Crap: Nah, honestly it was more like 9:1 lol. Pretty sure CrappyGame-bro hasn't even spent a hundred bucks on this game in five years ㅎㅎ]
They were right.
Without these viewers who had supported me from the very beginning, I never would have become a MonMonMak diehard.
I'd never seen their faces, but I was truly grateful to them.
[Hunter Who Blocks Monsters: Don't you trust us? I'm getting dizzy, just let's goooo!]
[Crap is Blocked by Crap: Let's go make that money disappear!]
[Bald is the Strongest: Lmao, is this how the dungeon that conquered the 600s falls?]
The chat, with only six people, was in an uproar.
I squeezed my eyes shut and clicked the cursor.
Then, slowly opening my eyes, I watched the monster wave pour down from the dungeon entrance.
[Lv.100 Goblin Sharpshooter has been annihilated!]
Soon, a series of heart-wrenching notifications began to pop up.
Ah, I think I spent at least a thousand bucks just to strengthen that one goblin.
[Lv.130 Succubus Queen has been annihilated!]
Goodbye, succubus. Your charm was great for taking down those hero bastards.
[Lv.250 One-Eyed Bullseye has been annihilated!]
Normally, this would be the time for me to be frantically moving my hands, repositioning monsters according to their type advantages.
The time to display the valor of stopping an unstoppable wave by exploiting those advantages, earning the admiration of my viewers.
But I just folded my arms and watched the screen quietly.
It was the end, after all. I'd decided to let them all go.
[Lv.150 Ogre Tailor has been annihilated!]
[Lv.130 Cerberus has...]
The notification window kept flashing, making my heart ache.
The monster wave moved in perfect unison, tearing through my dungeon like a flood.
And finally, it reached the deepest part of the Lord's Castle.
The heart of it all, the 'Audience Chamber'.
I counted the number of monsters displayed in the corner of the screen and muttered.
"No way I can stop this."
Thanks to my babies that I'd poured so much money into strengthening, the number of monsters had been significantly reduced.
But this was it.
There were no monsters left.
Inside the Audience Chamber, there was only a female knight titled 'Lord' and a butler standing guard beside her.
The butler could be upgraded, but true to his pixelated form of a white-haired old man leaning on a cane, he was pathetically weak.
The Lord was even worse; she was just a decoration with 1 attack power.
I'd gotten a game over hundreds of times, but the Lord had never once stood up from that throne.
[The monster wave has reached the Audience Chamber!]
"*Gasp*."
I covered my mouth, my heart aching.
So this is how my last Lord's Castle falls.
"Guys, are you watching? Burn this image into your minds. The beautiful finale of MonMonMak!"
In the end, I could only hide my sadness behind lame jokes.
The viewers must have been savoring the final moments too, as the chat remained silent.
[The monster wave has breached the final gate of the Audience Chamber!]
At last, the final door protecting the Audience Chamber shattered.
The monster wave stormed madly into the Audience Chamber.
Watching this, I moved my mouse cursor to the center of the screen.
Ready to dismiss the 'Game Over' notification.
But.
[You are the first to challenge the 700th wave.]
"Huh?"
I stared blankly, my mouth agape.
[The 'Lord' awakens!]
An unbelievable status window popped up with a flourish.
"Whaaa?"
The Lord's pixelated sprite moved.
She stepped down from the throne, drew her sword, and swung it forward.
*Fwoosh!*
At the same time, red pixels filled the screen.
"No way...?"
When the screen returned to normal, the monsters that had filled the Audience Chamber were gone without a trace.
Immediately after, a new notification window appeared.
[You have cleared the 700th wave!]
And my reaction was...
"Oh, fuck, what the hell?"
...summed up in those exact words.
I stared blankly at the notification before finally coming to my senses and shouting.
"Hey, guys?! Did you see that? You saw it, right?! What's with the Lord? I thought she was just a figurehead, but she's a totally broken character!"
But something was strange.
"Guys?"
The chat was still completely silent.
I moved the cursor to check if the stream had disconnected.
"What the? Why is it like this?"
But this time, the cursor itself wouldn't move.
Is it lagging?
But it couldn't be lag, because the screen itself wasn't frozen.
The pixelated Lord was panting, her sword stuck in the ground.
Oho, now that I look, this is a new sprite.
"Should I restart the computer? But surely the record won't get reset, right?"
Still, I had no other choice in this situation.
The moment I scrunched up my face and reached for the power button...
*Ting!*
"Oh!"
A new message suddenly appeared in the chat.
I quickly checked the chat, happy to see it, but then I couldn't believe my eyes.
[Viewer 1: Thank you, What Kind of Crappy Game Is This.]
"Huh?"
Viewer 1!
There was no way I wouldn't recognize that plain, ordinary ID.
This person had been watching my stream without missing a single day since I first started broadcasting five years ago.
What's more, they had never once typed in chat.
"Wait, you weren't a bot?"
I asked with genuine curiosity.
I had actually assumed it was a bot someone had set up out of pity for a nobody streamer with zero viewers.
But Viewer 1 didn't answer my question and continued with their own message.
[Viewer 1: Thanks to you, What Kind of Crappy Game Is This, our Lord has finally awakened from her long slumber.]
"Excuse me?"
'Our Lord'? Are they talking about that knight?
Turns out this guy was a super role-player.
[Viewer 1: Thanks to you, we can now make a new start. Together with you, What Kind of Crappy Game Is This.]
"Hey, what on earth are you talking about?"
Please say something that makes sense.
And why are the other viewers staying silent?
Surely they didn't just dip to avoid donating.
[Viewer 1: Our Lord is also willing to follow your will, What Kind of Crappy Game Is This.]
"..."
I decided to keep my mouth shut now, too.
I think I understand why people are wary of hardcore role-players.
This was enough to kill the thrill of clearing the 700th wave.
And then, Viewer 1's final chat message appeared.
[Viewer 1: Then we ask that you continue to lead us well from now on.]
[Viewer 1 has left the chat.]
At the same time, a flood of chats began to pour in.
[Bald is the Strongest: Wait, what? 'You have cleared the wave,' what's that?]
[Crap is Blocked by Crap: ? I got disconnected and just came back, what happened, CrappyGame-bro?]
[Hunter Who Blocks Monsters: Did you really clear the 700th wave? How?]
[Last of the Diehards: What insane timing lol. But why does this guy look so spaced out?]
[CrappyGame-bro's Stalker Fan: Maybe he's just happy that ten grand didn't just go up in smoke lol.]
But I couldn't see the chaotic chat window.
Right in front of the screen, above the keyboard.
A 'real' status window had appeared before my very eyes.
[Synchronization with 'Monsters Are Blocked by Monsters' is complete.]
"...Guys."
[You have acquired a new skill.]
'Looks like I've found a way to make a living, huh?'
The moment the crappy game diehard's Hunter life began.