I Brought the Heavenly Demon as a Guest!

Once the viewers had finally settled down, I calmly began to speak.

"Well, first of all — yes, I did learn martial arts from the Heavenly Demon."

The chat exploded all over again. Honestly, I couldn't blame them — it was that kind of revelation.

"I trained for about two weeks, give or take. That's how long I studied."

I glanced at the chat and chuckled. Then I delivered the unfortunate truth.

"But the Heavenly Demon told me I'm a once-in-a-generation genius. She said ordinary people would have a hard time learning the way I did."

Disappointed messages flooded the chat almost instantly. Honestly, I would have reacted the same way.

"So basically, if a normal person tried to learn the same martial arts the same way I did, they could spend their whole life at it and still struggle. However."

For some reason, the viewers were especially endearing today. I laughed for a moment, then gave them the real answer.

"It's not like there's no method at all. I mean — she's the Heavenly Demon. She said if you become a Demon, you can grow strong incredibly fast."

The chat erupted like a bomb going off. Just as I'd expected — if becoming a Demon meant getting stronger, people would jump at the chance.

"Unfortunately, the Heavenly Demon said she has no intention of teaching anyone else."

The chat turned hostile in an instant. I'd seen that coming too. But I hadn't said any of this without a plan.

"But I'm different, you know? Once I get strong enough, I could take on disciples of my own, right?"

And just like that, the mood flipped again — exactly as I'd predicted. Holding back a laugh, I continued.

"So to summarize: learning martial arts the way I did is extremely difficult, but becoming a Demon makes rapid growth possible. And that only becomes available once I reach a certain level of mastery. That's the situation."

I never outright promised I'd take disciples. But I left the door open — the possibility that I might. That was enough. People live on hope, after all.

And sure enough, the chat response was fantastic. Every sour message from earlier vanished without a trace.

If I was being honest, I wanted to teach martial arts to the twelve Faithful Dogs who'd stuck by me through everything. Given their loyalty, it was the least they deserved. Of course, I was in no position to teach anyone right now — so I kept the thought to myself.

"Anyway, shall we start interacting properly?"

I'd been monologuing for too long. It was time to actually talk with the viewers. Naturally, the vast majority of questions were about martial arts. Everyone was obsessed with it.

How much time passed like that?

Honestly, I didn't even need content at this point. Just chatting with the audience was enough to make the viewer count explode. It had hit seventy thousand. I'd never seen a number like that before, and I couldn't help getting excited.

At this rate… could I actually overtake Inhwang?

There was a streamer named Inboom. He went by the nickname Inhwang — the Emperor of Streaming — and he'd earned every bit of that title. Amazingly, Inboom streamed simultaneously on both Twiv and PopTV, ranking number one on both platforms at once. Simultaneous dual-platform first place. First time in history. There was a reason they called him the Emperor of Streaming.

And he was streaming right now. Roughly ninety thousand viewers on Twiv, eighty thousand on PopTV. Meanwhile, I was sitting at seventy thousand on Twiv. If things went well, I might actually have a shot at surpassing Inhwang's numbers.

Well — on Twiv, at least.

Even that alone would be incredible. Streamers who'd beaten Inhwang on even a single platform were vanishingly rare.

Damn, now I really want it.

I was a Superhuman, sure. But I'd spent more time as a streamer than I had properly operating as a Superhuman. The streamer identity still ran deeper.

What would it feel like to beat Inhwang — even just on Twiv?

I was genuinely curious. So I streamed harder than usual.

"Oh, you want me to check the articles? Sure, why not. There's a ton of them out right now, right?"

I actively catered to what the viewers wanted, even doing a segment reading through articles about myself. The viewer count kept climbing — eventually hitting eighty thousand. At this pace, I really might overtake Inhwang.

But eighty thousand was the ceiling. No matter ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠how interesting the articles were, the numbers wouldn't budge any higher. A flicker of anxiety crept in. It was frustrating. If I didn't seize this chance today, I might never get another one like it.

Then, reading the chat, a brilliant idea hit me.

Wait — what if I bring the Heavenly Demon on?

Convincing her would be tough, sure. But it still beat streaming alone. It might even be enough to overtake Inhwang.

I asked the viewers for a moment.

"Hang on a sec. I'm going to grab a guest."

A few sharp-eyed viewers had already figured out who I was going to fetch. I pretended not to notice and headed to the room.

Knock knock.

"Coming in."

"Go ahead."

I opened the door to find the Heavenly Demon sitting cross-legged in meditation. A twinge of guilt hit me — I felt like I was interrupting something important. Still, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Any chance you'd want to come on stream?"

"You mean right now?"

"Yeah."

"No."

She was quite firm about it. Looks like I'd gotten my hopes up for nothing.

Should I just order her?

She'd obey if I did. But that felt too cheap.

I tried attaching a condition instead.

"Well — is there anything you want?"

"Something I want, you say?"

"Yeah. Help me with the stream, and I'll grant you one request."

"Very well."

"…Huh?"

I never expected her to agree that fast. The Heavenly Demon rose from her seat as if she'd been waiting for those exact words, then walked right up to me.

"What are you waiting for? Let us go stream at once."

"Uh. Y-yeah. Right."

I had the distinct feeling I'd just been played. For all I knew, she might ask for something truly bizarre.

She's not going to bring up Dual Cultivation, is she…?

I shook my head. Even as a granted wish, there was no way I was fulfilling that particular request.

I'll worry about it later.

What mattered was that I'd successfully booked the Heavenly Demon as a guest. Honestly, I wasn't free of worry that she might do something unpredictable on stream. But right now, I wanted that number-one viewer count. So I took the gamble.

I walked confidently back in front of the camera with the Heavenly Demon at my side. And the chat immediately lost its mind.

The chat was lagging from the sheer volume. That's how hard everyone was cheering for the Heavenly Demon's appearance. Even my clone didn't seem to mind the flood of messages — she sat down with a look that said she rather liked the attention.

"Alright, let me introduce her properly. You've seen her on my stream a few times before, but this is her first appearance as an official guest. Everyone, please welcome — the Heavenly Demon, Kim Sinhye."

"……"

I glanced sideways at her. She was just staring blankly at the chat. So I gave her a subtle nudge in the ribs.

"Say hi to the viewers."

"Mm…"

I tensed slightly. If she started refusing to cooperate right from the beginning, this was going to be a headache. But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠maybe the promised wish was doing its job — thankfully, the Heavenly Demon opened her mouth and greeted the audience.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Honestly, I hadn't expected formal speech from her. This much was already a major victory. And the viewers loved it.

Not a single chat complained about her casual speech. If anything, they were eating it up. I let out a quiet sigh of relief and kept things moving.

"So — how does it feel being on my stream?"

"It is good."

"…That's it?"

"Yes."

I couldn't ask for too much. I had to be satisfied with this. Still, the viewer reaction was excellent. I snuck a look at the count.

Ninety thousand!

Inhwang Inboom was sitting at roughly ninety-two thousand. I'd closed the gap to a razor's edge. My heart was pounding — somehow more nerve-wracking than my first dungeon dive.

I tried to calm my nerves by talking with the Heavenly Demon. I never expected to end up more tense than my own guest.

"Is living with me decent enough?"

"Yes. It is very good."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Hmm… then what do you think of me, normally?"

"I hold you in the highest respect."

"For real?"

"Yes."

I never expected to hear something like that from the Heavenly Demon. It caught me off guard.

My clone respects me?

Well — that would explain why she listened to me. Even after becoming the Heavenly Demon herself.

"Thanks."

Then my clone said something I hadn't seen coming at all.

"And you, Master? What do you think of me?"