Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: The Manager's Overture
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Hawk's Eye stepped out in a simple hoodie and headed to the café right in front of his place.
He didn't have any standout looks, and he wasn't the type of streamer who showed his face anyway, so no one recognized him.
Glancing around the café for a moment, Hawk's Eye ordered two coffees in advance and waited for his guest. He killed time fiddling with his phone until the person he'd arranged to meet sat down across from him.
"How's the streaming going?"
Clink.
John Tail took a sip of the still-steaming coffee as he asked.
His greeting was always the same, as team leader of Baehae Entertainment's management division.
How's the streaming these days?
"Same old, same old."
"Come on, 'same old'? The stats show steady growth."
"Really? It was such small increments I didn't notice."
"That's way better than a steep climb. The faster you go up, the easier you crash down, but steady growth like this holds firm."
As professionals in the field, their conversation naturally centered on streaming.
Hawk's Eye was a long-time streamer with Baehae. They'd been like brothers long before John Tail became team leader, so Hawk's Eye used casual terms with him.
After some brief small talk...
"So, bro, what's up? Why come all the way here?"
"The company's close to your place. It's not like it's far."
"Still, you're not the type to drop by just for coffee."
Having known each other for years, Hawk's Eye had a good read on John Tail's personality.
"What is it?"
"Those sharp instincts from your eyes?"
"Everyone at the company knows you're busy. And if it was just a social call, you'd hit a bar, not a café."
Hawk's Eye shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal.
John Tail sighed and got to the point.
"It's about Lee Soo-hyuk. The one from your stream yesterday."
"That new streamer?"
"Yeah, him. What do you think?"
"You've watched all my streams. Why fish for my take?"
The conversation wouldn't drag on.
That's what Hawk's Eye sensed from John Tail's question.
"Straight up: his talent's on par with prime Lee Soo-hyuk, if not better. That's my read."
"For real?"
"Dead serious. But why?"
"We want to bring him to our company."
"Huh...?"
Hawk's Eye's eyes widened.
The hand lifting his coffee froze, then set it back down. He looked flustered.
"What? You against it?"
"Nah, not against it. Just unexpected. This soon? You're a perfectionist, bro."
"What are you talking about."
John Tail waved it off, but Hawk's Eye knew better.
John Tail never paid attention to streamers whose success wasn't a sure thing.
He only cared about those closer to polished gems than raw stones. For one of those eagle eyes to spot a streamer who'd just started? Definitely surprising.
Hawk's Eye saw Lee Soo-hyuk as a player, but John Tail was evaluating him purely as streamer material.
"One of our staff's really into that Lee Soo-hyuk guy."
"Who?"
"Unhyang. New hire, not long on the job."
"Unhyang...?"
A name and face popped into his mind.
Hawk's Eye's face twisted in shock as he spoke up.
"You mean the genius?"
The genius.
She was a rising player in the Murim World. Until she suddenly retired a few years back and vanished, she'd been one of the players Hawk's Eye kept tabs on.
And now her name here of all places.
"I was stunned too. She shows up outta nowhere saying her buddy works here."
"Unhyang's a fan of that Lee Soo-hyuk streamer?"
"Been a fan since the Pak Soo-hyuk days, apparently. But after this latest stream? Total convert."
John Tail explained the decision to recruit Soo-hyuk.
Hawk's Eye swelled with pride in his own eye for talent the whole time.
"Told you I'm not done yet. If she's paying attention, that means he's eclipsing prime Lee Soo-hyuk for real."
"You act chill, but haters get under your skin."
"Who wouldn't feel bad getting flamed? I just trust my judgment more."
"Fair enough."
John Tail nodded at Hawk's Eye's firm stance, then explained why he'd brought it up.
"This isn't team leader talking. It's your old manager."
John Tail had managed Hawk's Eye before becoming team leader.
"What is it?"
"Whether that guy joins us or not... let's set up a collab stream."
"No one's here but us, right?"
Lee Soo-hyuk read the sneer on Isaac's face.
Even if he tried hiding it, you couldn't fool the eyes.
Besides, Isaac wasn't even trying to hide it.
His gaze brimmed with contempt, disdain, rage, murderous intent—
It was all too obvious what he was thinking, almost enough to make Soo-hyuk burst out laughing.
"Yeah."
Soo-hyuk confirmed no one was around before continuing.
"...Looks like it."
His words trailed off slowly.
Isaac was convinced it was fear.
Right in the middle of the village. Not a busy restaurant, but a spot where no help would come. Facing him here? Natural to freak.
"Why'd you even strut into a dungeon like that? Huh? Buddy."
Whoosh—
In an instant, Soo-hyuk's mood plummeted.
"What? Think you're the real Lee Soo-hyuk now that you're up here? Gonna snag Lightning like that streamer?"
Step—
Isaac advanced a step toward Soo-hyuk.
And revealed why he was truly pissed.
"Fuck! Vermin like you need to know their place. Strutting around over one damn Lightning skill."
Isaac ground his teeth, glaring at Soo-hyuk.
"Don't you think so? Buddy."
Buddy again.
That tongue approaching under the guise of 'buddy' was always laced with mockery. The 'vermin' in his words included Soo-hyuk too.
Of course.
The 'buddy' he'd chosen was just a way to trample the other's pride from the start.
'Forgot about that.'
Come to think of it, he'd overlooked it.
-"Just show your face again, and see what happens."
If he ran into Isaac again.
He'd show that punk who tossed around 'buddy' like trash the wrath of an adult.
Fwoosh—
Flames danced wildly over Isaac's fingers.
Rumors said he was good with magic, and sure enough, no prep time needed for a show like this.
"So what dungeon's this? Looks like you bailed halfway, couldn't clear it."
He flicked his fingers, waving the flames threateningly.
"Pathetic loser. If it were me, pride alone would make me—"
"I remember, but let me ask again anyway."
Isaac's face twisted at the interruption.
Shing— Soo-hyuk drew the sword he'd sheathed after exiting the dungeon.
"Why do you hate me so much?"
It was a question from long ago. One he'd asked once before.
"Why... why are you doing this?"
But those weren't his words.
This body right now.
The timid, cowardly Lee Soo-hyuk who'd suffered under Isaac for so long—that version had asked it.
"That question again?"
The guy laughing like What kinda stupid question is that? probably had no clue.
Even if he didn't know now.
How much anguish this body had gone through just to voice that question.
"Your name rubs me wrong, you little shit."
"Your name rubs me wrong, you little shit. Got it?"
Word for word, identical. The killing intent in his eyes made it no joke.
"Why? Everyone else seems to like Lee Soo-hyuk just fine."
One day of streaming had taught him plenty.
Always charging ahead at the front, he'd never noticed.
Forced to the back, he realized more people liked him than he'd thought.
Just for sharing a name. Liking a faceless figure behind a mask.
It baffled him, but he was grateful.
Yet...
"You really don't know who my dad is?"
The guy in front of him was the polar opposite.
Never met him. Didn't even know his face.
But he harbored rage bordering on murder toward the real Lee Soo-hyuk.
"No clue. Should I?"
"For real? Reinhardt?"
Reinhardt?
A name in his memories. Back in the training institute, this body's owner had heard it plenty.
Isaac.
Reinhardt's son. The continent's genius set to inherit his legacy.
That's how the institute pitched it...
'Reinhardt?'
But Soo-hyuk remembered the name entirely differently.
"No way, the One-Sword Loser?"
The words slipped out as memory flashed, crumpling Isaac's face.
Reaction confirmed it.
And that's how Soo-hyuk pieced together why this punk loathed 'Lee Soo-hyuk' so viciously.
'Shoulda led with that.'
Reinhardt.
Ranker from Rune Continent's famed magic house.
Already famous up top, he bore the infamous moniker 'One-Sword Loser'.
Back when Soo-hyuk first rose as rookie Blue Eyes...
"Lee Soo-hyuk? One sword is all it'd take."
Reinhardt's bold claim in public, only to get felled by exactly that—one sword.
"You bastard... how dare you say that name?"
"That's why? Because of your dad's rep? That's why you hate me so much?"
"Yes!"
Fwooom—!
Isaac, fury boiling over, swung his hand.
Flames engulfed the space around Soo-hyuk and Isaac, cutting off escape. Isaac roared in rage.
"I hate that bastard. No—all you Blue Eyes fuckers!"
Soo-hyuk, nodding at the 'One-Sword Loser' bit, faltered at that.
Fuckers.
A word spat at his comrades as a group.
"Lee Soo-hyuk, that little shit too!"
And with that, it began.
Isaac unleashed all the pent-up rage at Soo-hyuk.
"Kim Min-jae, that fly-brained fuck too!"
A face flashed: chest pierced by a head-sized hole, dying.
Bragged about being the fastest, then died first in the fray.
"Choi Su-hun, that lanky pig bastard too!"
Grind—
He'd stupidly shielded the team, arms severed, dying on his knees.
"An Ji-young, that bitch too!"
She'd taken a sword meant for Soo-hyuk.
"Kim Il-su, why'd that prick survive all pathetic like that? Fuck!"
That one I like.
Still...
"Kim Si-woo, that parasite—"
"Enough. That's it."
This punk had crossed the line way too far.
"Can't let that slide."
Fwoosh—
Soo-hyuk swung his hand.
That instant...
Lightning
Startup sequence initiated
Fizzle—
Crackle-crackle-crackle—!
The encircling flames were shoved back, golden lightning taking their place.
"...!"
Isaac's eyes bulged as his magic got repelled in a blink.
Even more shocking was the skill replacing it.
'What the hell?'
Golden lightning crackling bright.
As Isaac gawked, a mask settled over Soo-hyuk's face in his view.
That moment.
Isaac's mind flashed back to his own words.
"The world's so unfair. Same name, totally different lives."
'...No way?'