How to Instantly Steal Back the Spotlight
“…So how’s life treating you? You guys need anything?”
“Of course not! We’re doing just fine, so don’t you worry about us!”
“That’s right, son! Absolutely nothing to worry about! We’re getting by wonderfully!”
I didn’t buy a word of it. Sehye had just said she was going back to school. They were probably scraping by just to cover her tuition.
“Hang on a second.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear and started tapping rapidly at the screen.
“Sinhyeok?”
“Just a sec.”
About a minute later, I pressed the phone back to my ear.
“I just sent you some spending money. Put it toward living expenses.”
“Huh? Spending money? What are you talking about? Wait—t-ten million won?! Sinhyeok! Where on earth did you get that kind of—”
“I’ve got plenty of money. Don’t worry about it.”
I really was making a lot these days. And the crown I’d brought back yesterday alone was worth well over ten million.
“But still, no matter how you look at it…”
“Seriously, it’s fine. Don’t stress. Anyway, I’m in the middle of eating right now, so I’ll call you back later.”
“O-okay! Next time, come home for a visit!”
“…Home? Yeah. Alright.”
“That’s a promise, okay? You have to come home!”
“Yeah.”
I really did miss my parents and my little sister. The promise slipped out before I could stop it.
“Alright, I’m hanging up.”
“Sinhyeok! Take care of yourself!”
“Son! We love you always!”
“Honey, you’re going to make him feel pressured—”
“We just got ten million won! This is the least we can do! Right, son?”
“Pfft.”
Dad’s line got a genuine laugh out of me. Still grinning, I ended the call.
My mood had completely flipped. Family really was something else—just knowing they were there was enough to recharge me.
That was when I noticed Cheonma watching the whole thing with an unmistakably warm look on her face.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because it’s a lovely sight, Master. Come to think of it—please take me with you next time. It’s been so long since I’ve seen Mother and Father’s faces.”
“Mother? Father? Since when are they your mother and father?”
“I am your clone, Master. To me, those two are family as well.”
“Ahem. Well… when you put it that way…”
I had nothing left to say to that, so I hastily changed the subject.
“More importantly—you’re doing the dishes, right?”
“…How about rock-paper-scissors?”
“Absolutely not! You’ll just sneak a look at my hand and switch at the last second!”
“I would never do such a thing.”
“I don’t believe you!”
“I am the Heavenly Demon.”
“Even the Heavenly Demon can lie!”
“…I do not.”
“That’s already a lie!”
Come to think of it, thanks to my clone, I never had a dull moment. That much, at least, was a genuine plus.
“Then instead of rock-paper-scissors, how about a spar—”
“Absolutely not!”
In the end, my clone did the dishes. Heavenly Demon or not, I was still the original. Keep pushing long enough and even she had to fold.
While she washed up, I sat down at my PC and opened the internet.
So he actually cleared the 60th floor, huh?
The first thing that jumped out at me was Wood King Cheon Gangmok’s successful clear of Dungeon Floor 60.
The entire internet was losing its mind over it. Every community board, every NewTube channel, every social media feed—Cheon Gangmok’s Floor 60 clear was everywhere.
Articles were pouring out nonstop. The frenzy was almost on par with the chaos when Cheonma first appeared.
Clearing Floor 60 really is that big a deal, huh.
Normally, the news cycle should have been drowning in stories about me. Yesterday I’d shown up looking like a total wreck. Rumors should have been flying left and right.
But not a single one of those rumors had gained any traction. Right now, Korea was talking about one thing and one thing only: Cheon Gangmok. That was how monumental his achievement was.
Yeah… this is kind of pissing me off.
A streamer’s entire livelihood ran on attention. Maybe that was why I secretly loved the spotlight myself.
And now Cheon Gangmok had stolen every last scrap of it. Of course I wasn’t thrilled.
To make matters worse, some NewTube video had gone so far as to compare the two of us—and the comparison was stacked heavily in Cheon Gangmok’s favor.
Watching the video did irritate me a little, but I cooled off almost immediately. Compared to the hit pieces people used to make about me, this was nothing.
Besides, I had a secret weapon that could snatch every last bit of their attention right back.
The second I drop this, every scrap of interest in Cheon Gangmok is going to evaporate.
The footage I’d recorded during this dungeon run.
The moment I released it, the entire country would lose its mind. I was sure of it.
That said, I was also a little nervous. The attention might get a little too intense.
I’d even briefly considered not uploading it at all.
But no—I had to. Releasing it was the right call.
It just needed a little work first. The raw footage was way too long to drop as-is. It needed editing.
I fired up my editing software for the first time in a while. I’d always done my own editing, so it didn’t feel awkward at all.
I scrubbed through the footage, cutting the dead weight and punching up the good parts.
“Even I have to admit—this came out pretty well.”
The early zombie fights looked a little stiff. Even I could see it. But the awkwardness faded as the run went on. By the end, I looked like a genuine Murim master even to my own eyes.
The absolute peak was the moment I carved a path through the zombies in the royal palace.
“Mm, a little cringe, but it works. Keeping that one.”
It didn’t quite measure up to Cheonma, but it was still a damn cool shot. As I advanced, a road of blood literally formed in my wake. Even watching it back gave me chills.
Then a familiar voice spoke up from behind me.
“Ahem. At last, you’ve begun to take the Heavenly Demon seriously. I’m quite pleased.”
“Huh?”
I spun around in surprise—and there she was. Cheonma stood behind me, eyes sparkling as she stared at the monitor.
“When did you get here?!”
“Just now. More importantly—are you reviewing the footage alone as a form of training?”
“Huh? Training?”
“Yes. Filming it was an excellent decision. Being able to visually identify your own shortcomings is invaluable.”
With that, she dragged a chair over and sat down right next to me—practically pressed against my side.
“W-wait—”
Squish.
Her enormous chest pressed against my elbow. She pretended not to notice and kept right on talking.
“I’ll sit beside you and point out your deficiencies as we watch. Please play the footage again.”
“Uhh… okay.”
My face went a little red. Still, I didn’t bother moving my elbow. I just stayed like that and reached for the mouse.
“Stop there. At this moment, shifting your foot roughly one step to the left would have been preferable.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Though your judgment in the moment wasn’t bad, either.”
I hadn’t expected an editing session to turn into a lecture. But I didn’t mind (and it absolutely was not because of the chest), so I sat quietly and took Cheonma’s instruction.
“However—why didn’t you use Swift Step?”
“Ah. That.”
I’d definitely learned the footwork technique. But in yesterday’s dungeon, I hadn’t used it. More accurately, I couldn’t. The rules forbade it.
Because running wasn’t allowed.
If I said that out loud, though, she’d launch into another rant about how “the Heavenly Demon is one who shatters rules” and “you must never submit to them,” and I really didn’t have the energy for that.
So I went with a half-truth instead.
“I-I wanted to look as much like you as possible…”
“Pardon? Like me?”
“Y-yeah. You barely moved at all. It looked so cool that I tried to copy you.”
“…I see.”
Apparently that was the correct answer. The corners of her mouth curved upward at once. She clearly liked what she’d heard.
And then she pressed her chest even more firmly against me.
Squish.
Ahem.
Come to think of it—my clone wasn’t wearing a bra. I’d only just realized.
Sh-should I buy her one…?
Something to figure out later.
“Now then—let’s examine the next movement.”
“R-right.”
And so I ended up receiving video coaching from Cheonma.
A deeply meaningful experience, in its own way.
My concentration was… exceptionally sharp.
Thankfully, I finished the edit without any disasters.
It took about three days, but the quality came out better than I’d expected.
Oh—and Cheon Gangmok beat me to the punch, uploading his own dungeon clear video first. He’d clearly hired a professional editing team.
Korea went even more berserk after that.
During the Floor 60 clear, Cheon Gangmok had single-handedly carried the entire run, and the footage was packed with it. Even I had to admit it looked incredible. His power, in particular, left a serious impression.
Okay, yeah—that tree ability is completely broken.
By now, stories about me were nearly impossible to find. It was like the country had already forgotten I existed. Everywhere you looked, it was Cheon Gangmok, Cheon Gangmok, Cheon Gangmok.
But that was fine.
I was certain those reactions were about to change.
I quickly opened my NewTube channel.
Subscribers: 516,000
Oh, it went up again already?
I’d finally broken 500,000 subscribers. When I uploaded my first dungeon clear video, I hadn’t even hit 30,000. Now I’d blown past half a million in no time.
Of course, I still had a long way to go. Ideally, I wanted to crush it on NewTube, crush it on live streams, and crush it as a superhuman. Maybe I was just greedy.
Either way, this wasn’t the time to sit around admiring numbers.
With a faintly tense expression, I hit upload on a single video.