Chapter 214
Chapter 214
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 214
Chapter Title: Reincarnator's Streaming
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His body had fully recovered. After using Lightning to his heart's content in the real world rather than in a trial for the first time in ages, Lee Soo-hyuk stepped out into the garden to loosen up his stiff muscles.
Crackle-.
Sparks flowed from his fingertips, gathering into a spherical shape. As a fist-sized orb formed, a message appeared.
There wasn't the slightest difficulty. The skill, now at level 10, offset a significant portion of Lightning's penalties.
But it still wasn't enough.
‘Shinryeong Castle's Deputy Lord.’
Lee Soo-hyuk replayed his fight with Baek Yi-dan.
A pure one-on-one battle, without Unhyang's help or the intervention of Shinryeong Castle's warriors, including the White Wolf Unit.
And the conclusion he reached after reviewing it was this.
‘It's not impenetrable.’
Baek Yi-dan was tough. And that toughness wasn't just physical.
His martial arts. His techniques. Even the subtle habits ingrained in his fighting style.
All those elements combined to form Baek Yi-dan's unbreakable solidity.
But the spear Lee Soo-hyuk wielded was powerful enough to pierce that solidity. He might need to crank up the output a bit, but it was more than capable of breaking through and piercing his heart.
And that meant.
‘I can win.’
It was a confidence born from always emerging victorious against seemingly unbeatable foes. If the fight with Baek Yi-dan turned into a one-on-one, he was certain he would win in the end.
He had grown to the point where he could fight Shinryeong Castle's Deputy Lord.
It was rapid progress.
But speed aside, his absolute power was still lacking.
And there were two ways to make up for that deficiency.
One was to keep climbing the tower as always,
And the second was—.
To keep leveling up this damn skill.
"This is driving me crazy..."
As expected, all that came out was a sigh.
Lee Soo-hyuk looked again, and again.
Wondering if he'd misread it.
But.
# Required Points: 25,600,000p
No mistake.
‘Twenty-five million six hundred thousand points.’
To be precise, it was that plus six hundred thousand, but even that felt insignificant.
It was an absurd amount. Even doubling it each time was grueling, but now the points needed for the next level had jumped tenfold.
‘It'll boost the effect that much, though...’
But how on earth was he supposed to gather this?
As he racked his brain with this headache-inducing dilemma,
Step-.
Cautious footsteps.
Sensing Unhyang approaching, Lee Soo-hyuk dispersed the orb in his hand and turned his head.
"You're up early."
Her eyes were puffy. Lee Soo-hyuk asked with a puzzled look.
"Were you crying?"
"Ah, no?"
"Looks like you were."
Unhyang's face was unmistakably the face of someone who had cried. Even the greatest Players apparently had no way to reduce facial swelling.
"Ah, I didn't cry. Do you think I cry all the time?"
There was no persuasiveness in her swollen face, but Lee Soo-hyuk didn't press further. Unhyang glanced at him cautiously before quickly changing the subject.
"More importantly, about what you said yesterday."
"Yesterday...?"
Lee Soo-hyuk realized why she'd come and said,
"The streaming?"
"Yes. That."
She'd clearly come to talk about this.
"Made up your mind?"
"Yes."
Unhyang nodded.
"I'm going to do it."
"Good call."
"But I have a condition."
A condition?
As Lee Soo-hyuk tilted his head questioningly, Unhyang declared confidently.
"I don't want to do it alone. I'm doing it with you, Soo-hyuk."
"With me?"
"Yes. It'd be great for the broadcast angle too, right? Ta-da! Revealing the beauty manager!"
Unhyang put on a flower-like smile, grinning mischievously.
"Wouldn't it be popular? I never hear I'm ugly anywhere I go. It'll help your stream a ton."
A face with plenty of plausibility.
Lee Soo-hyuk let out a hollow laugh. He'd suggested she try streaming, but that didn't mean he wanted her to help him.
True.
Having Unhyang on his stream would be a huge boost.
In fact, among streamers, the one generating the most revenue was 'Lena', a stunning beauty. And Unhyang was just as gorgeous as Lena.
But that raised a question.
"You could get rich on your own."
Unhyang had been in the streaming scene longer than he had.
If she had any objectivity about her looks, she knew their value.
Yet she was saying she'd use it to help him.
"Does that mean you admit I'm pretty now?"
Unhyang beamed.
How did that follow?
Lee Soo-hyuk blinked in disbelief.
But it wasn't wrong. Seeing Unhyang in a good mood wasn't bad either.
"Yes. So you'd probably make a fortune streaming."
"You need points, right, Soo-hyuk?"
As Lee Soo-hyuk nodded, Unhyang asked,
"Why? What for?"
"To get stronger."
"Stronger?"
After a moment's hesitation, Lee Soo-hyuk explained the Selfish Sacrifice skill.
It wasn't some huge secret, and he'd judged Unhyang trustworthy now.
"The synergy between those two skills is insane."
Unhyang was impressed by the explanation.
Lightning offered top-tier attack power and versatility at the cost of stamina penalties. Selfish Sacrifice negated those penalties.
The two skills meshed perfectly, like gears turning together.
"Without Lightning's penalties, Lee Soo-hyuk wouldn't have died."
Even Unhyang, unaware of the details that day, nodded at his words.
In fact, most people said it: On the day the Blue Eyes legend ended, it wasn't the Hydra that killed Lee Soo-hyuk—it was Lightning.
"You know? Most people get stronger to get rich or gain fame."
It was obvious.
Long ago, Lee Soo-hyuk had been one of those people at first.
"But you're neither. You spend all your points on getting stronger, and you hide your face—the one that should be gaining fame—behind a mask."
Even now, Lee Soo-hyuk wore a mask.
To Unhyang, it felt like he was saying this face wasn't his real self.
"If it's not for money or fame... then you must have something else you have to do."
"That's..."
"Don't worry. Whatever it is, I won't ask."
As if reading his concerns, Unhyang quickly added,
"Just let me help. That's all I want."
Murim Alliance Leader Namgung Hwayoung sat in the Alliance Lord's chamber, staring into her kit.
Search term: Lee Soo-hyuk.
Lately, the name dominating her mind.
"I might have to fight you all."
Those were his words when she'd personally recruited him to the Murim World.
Even overshadowed by the Heavenly Demon or Jin Do-ha, to speak like that before the Murim Alliance Lord...
‘So that's what he was thinking.’
Her eyes caught an article.
Author: Big Mouth.
Namgung Hwayoung's eyes gleamed after reading the article.
‘Was this it?’
Shinryeong Castle's Deputy Lord was dead.
Killed in a fight, with the castle half-destroyed.
The culprits: Lee Soo-hyuk and his manager, Unhyang. The article was speculative hearsay, but Murim Alliance intel confirmed it.
"This is tricky."
Before her stood the Alliance's strategist, Zhuge Dancheon.
"Someone who openly challenges the Murim head-on, and we can't punish him harshly..."
His white beard contrasted with Namgung Hwayoung; he read a physical newspaper of ink and paper.
It featured speculative articles on Lee Soo-hyuk, Unhyang, and their ties to the Murim World.
Hawk's Eye and Big Mouth had teamed up to report on the 'genius' of the Murim World's latest developments.
And right on cue, Lee Soo-hyuk and Unhyang clashed with Shinryeong Castle.
"Public support is the strongest shield and justification. Lee Soo-hyuk seems to be quite the strategist."
Zhuge Dancheon added another hypothesis.
"Or perhaps someone experienced in handling the masses."
"Either way, we can't touch Lee Soo-hyuk right now."
Zhuge Dancheon's eyes narrowed at Namgung Hwayoung's words.
"You don't want to punish him, Lord."
His insight was uncanny. Namgung Hwayoung stuck out her tongue.
"Can't fool the strategist's wisdom."
"Wisdom is too much. Old age just sharpens intuition."
Zhuge Dancheon chuckled dryly before asking gravely,
"Do you still expect him to be the blade that takes the Heavenly Demon's head?"
"The blade that severs the Heavenly Demon's neck doesn't have to be mine."
With that, Namgung Hwayoung gazed out the window.
The sky was clear. Two birds pecked at each other on a branch outside.
On the surface, the Murim World looked utterly peaceful.
But just days ago,
A storm of blood had swept through this world.
"Has the Heavenly Demon... stopped now?"
Zhuge Dancheon let out a heavy sigh at her question.
"...Yes. Fortunately."
"Not stopped by force this time."
The previous Alliance Lord Jin Do-ha's alliance with Blue Zone had wounded the Heavenly Demon.
But only that. The battle ended in crushing defeat, and the Heavenly Demon joined the counteroffensive boldly.
Afterward, he drew his sword against the Murim World.
Not to drown it in blood, but to sweep away the harsh sects and guilds that had drawn blades against him in Jin Do-ha's stead.
He was a calamity.
Unpredictable in direction, arrival—an utter disaster.
"Only Lee Soo-hyuk has stopped him. Coincidentally, the same name as the one you expect, Lord."
With that, Zhuge Dancheon finally understood Namgung Hwayoung's dilemma.
"I must have grown shortsighted as strategist. Expectations aren't born from pure reason or calculation."
"And that expectation isn't just ours."
"The Heavenly Demon, perhaps?"
Namgung Hwayoung nodded, recalling the Heavenly Demon watching Lee Soo-hyuk during the counteroffensive.
The Heavenly Demon, absent from counteroffensives for a while. Speculation abounded on his return.
But those who'd participated knew.
He'd appeared to see Lee Soo-hyuk.
"I understand your intent, Lord, but Yun Cheon-geuk is the problem."
Even if the Alliance stayed out, Shinryeong Castle was an exception.
They'd clashed directly with Lee Soo-hyuk. And as the genius's father, Yun Cheon-geuk had justification.
Above all, he wasn't the type to back down easily.
"That's for them to overcome."
With that, Namgung Hwayoung checked her vibrating kit screen.
"...It's starting."
Perhaps at this very moment,
Quite a few eyes would be watching this broadcast.