Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Waiting Room Break
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The place they moved to after the preliminaries ended was a small room of about four pyeong, containing nothing but a single bed.
30 minutes of rest.
Fortunately, the schedule wasn't too tight.
-Damn, so intense
-Too bad about the time limit...?
-It was way too rushed
The chat was lamenting how the fight between Soo-hyuk and Schneider had been cut off midway.
It was only natural, since their battle was the biggest highlight of this content.
And Soo-hyuk felt the same regret.
"Yeah. My ten thousand points..."
-lololololol
-You were serious? lololol
-This guy even greeted with 'ten thousand points' at the end last time
He had genuinely seen Schneider as a ten-thousand-point target.
Killing Schneider right there in the preliminaries would clear a ten-thousand-point mission on the spot, which was plenty profitable.
But in the end, Soo-hyuk chose to hold back Lightning for a bit and postpone the showdown with Schneider.
The decisive reason was Unhyang's whisper.
-[Manager][Whisper] Soo-hyuk, fight that guy in the finals later! We need to milk the views!!!
Unhyang's message, right in the middle of the chat window.
That made Soo-hyuk rethink his calculations.
'I do need to build up the views.'
The fight with Schneider was the core of this broadcast.
The longer he kept Schneider alive, the more entertainment for the viewers, and the richer the stream would be.
The viewer count proved it in real time.
Over ten thousand—now past eleven thousand viewers.
At that moment, he recalled the conversation with Unhyang.
"Ten thousand. The team leader said this is kind of a wall. It seems like it'll break, but it doesn't."
"A wall? What kind of wall?"
"Not sure exactly, but once you hit ten thousand even once, that streamer can survive. Well, not everyone, but probably most."
Ten thousand.
Since then, he'd been subconsciously aware of that number.
Could he keep delivering as a streamer going forward?
Would he fade away after a brief flash, like so many others?
To shake off that uncertainty, he had to confirm that ten-thousand mark.
And right now, in this moment.
Soo-hyuk's stream had succeeded in gathering that many viewers.
'In the end, it wasn't a bad call.'
For the broadcast, and for the matchup with Schneider.
Not jumping into the fight hastily during the preliminaries had been the right choice.
Soo-hyuk looked down at his palm. It hadn't been long, but they'd exchanged several blows with Schneider.
His hand was trembling slightly.
Schneider's spear strikes carried power that couldn't be ignored.
'Still tingling.'
The force in that spear was stronger than expected.
Not from some special skill, but from level-based stats and pure spear mastery.
'Way above 3rd floor level. His stats are at least higher than mine right now.'
Seeing Schneider's skill, Soo-hyuk thought ahead.
Thunder Cave.
The impenetrable dungeon that Omar Schneider had obsessed over for ten years.
'He can't clear it at this level.'
No.
Probably more than this.
Just as Soo-hyuk hadn't shown Lightning, Schneider must have cards up his sleeve too.
As Soo-hyuk mulled over the fight with Schneider—
-Think you can win?
A viewer's question laced with worry.
Soo-hyuk sat on the edge of the bed and answered.
"Yes."
He was stronger than expected, but the outcome wouldn't change.
No.
It had to be that way.
"The win is mine. No intentions of yielding."
It wasn't just pride, or the bet's apology stream, or the Thunder Cave info on the line with Schneider.
The grand prize of this tournament.
He absolutely wouldn't lose, not with that at stake.
And to ensure that—
"Oh, right. The mission."
This was essential.
-lololol sudden mission
-Missions in your sights even now!!
-So resolute, Lee Soo-hyuk!
-Just money-grubbing Soo-hyuk!
100 points per kill.
Two missions of the same type, so 200 points per kill.
And total kills in prelims: 98.
"Gotta tally it up, at least."
A total of 19,600 points in sponsorships.
"Gumongidu-gaejiyo, Bongole Pasita. Thanks for the support."
And with this, he'd met the required points.
His points shot up in an instant.
He'd wondered when he'd scrape together 80,000, but the condition was met much faster than expected.
Points drained out in one go.
But still, 16,000 left.
'This mission was a total jackpot.'
He almost wished there were deathmatches like this every day. Then he could level up Selfish Sacrifice a few more times.
'Skill rank...'
【 Selfish Sacrifice 】
# Type:Skill
# Rank:B-
# Lv:5
# Effect:Suppresses harmful effects on the user's body from skills and items they directly use.
# Upgrade:Skill rank and level can be raised using points.
# Required Points:160,000
He tried not to look at that final 160,000 figure.
When would he ever gather that? It doubling each time was impossible to get used to.
Still, one clear improvement.
'The rank went up.'
The skill's rank, stuck at C, had risen to B.
Even with the minus (-), a full rank up meant noticeably better effects.
As he felt satisfaction and a twinge of pain from the level-up—
Soo-hyuk's gaze shifted back to the chat window he'd briefly ignored.
-Why so quiet
-Probably resting
-Next is the main round. Sharpening his blade ahead of time
-ㅗㅜㅑ... so cool. If only he wasn't so money-obsessed
-lololol totally
To the viewers, his silent figure sitting on the bed looked like he was honing his focus for the next fight.
Should he clear up the misunderstanding?
'Let it be.'
This kind of misunderstanding was welcome.
Soo-hyuk decided to rest for the full 30 minutes.
In the yard where the ice hadn't fully melted yet.
Kim Si-woo sat on his bed, stroking his chin as he watched Lee Soo-hyuk building his focus.
"That's different from that guy."
Honing focus before a fight?
That didn't match the Lee Soo-hyuk he knew.
Lee Soo-hyuk could focus anytime, anywhere. And the more he fought, the sharper he got.
Devoted to real combat, resting when it was time to rest.
That was the Soo-hyuk Si-woo knew.
"Not like spot-the-difference. What're you doing?"
Si-woo shook his head, brushing off idle thoughts.
He was watching this stream for one reason: Ye-ryeong was gunning for this tournament's grand prize.
The event hosted by Kim Il-su.
The top contenders boiled down to two.
'Schneider still has the edge in win probability.'
Just moments ago, for a split second, Soo-hyuk's hand had trembled on camera.
Few would have noticed. It was too brief and subtle.
But that alone showed the level gap between them.
'Lower floors especially, levels are absolute.'
Unlike higher floors stacked with special skills, know-how, and experience, lower-floor strength was mostly judged by level.
And levels required effort and time.
Schneider had both in spades.
'Soo-hyuk's only edge is that Lightning...'.
Lightning.
No one knew what that skill entailed better than him.
Maybe Ye-ryeong and Il-su, the two who'd carried Blue Eyes together.
That's why Si-woo could guess their matchup.
"Out of ten fights, he might win one."
For one reason.
"If he lands that one proper shot."
Lightning's fatal flaw.
It devoured the user's stamina, making long fights impossible.
Especially against a veteran like Schneider, landing that one clean hit was tough.
But if it connected perfectly, even Schneider would take a critical hit.
'That guy would've pulled it off.'
Yeah.
If it were the real Lee Soo-hyuk.
A middle-aged woman with heavy makeup sat in the middle of the audience seats.
With her face altered, Ye-ryeong crossed her arms, legs folded, watching the matches live.
'This is pretty fun.'
She hadn't expected much from the kids' squabbles. Most players on the screens made her grimace.
But two were exceptions.
'Knew Soo-hyuk was solid... but Schneider's the real deal.'
His spearwork was no joke. Late bloomer, hard worker—most hype around him was like that.
But in Ye-ryeong's eyes, he was something else.
'He broke through the wall.'
Obsessing over something for ten years was impressive.
Mental fortitude. Schneider was a genius born with it.
That was Ye-ryeong's take on the player Schneider.
'If he grabs the prize here and pushes through Thunder Cave upward.'
A nice picture formed.
'Won't be long before he's a ranker.'
Intriguing.
Both the kid with Schneider's unbreakable will, and the kid sharing his friend's name, Lee Soo-hyuk.
She wanted to keep watching, even without her goals.
"Ugh—."
It was then.
"He can win, right...?"
Right next to Ye-ryeong.
A black-haired woman sat with legs pressed together, mumbling at her kit screen, not the venue's.
Ye-ryeong glanced at the kit.
'A stream?'
It was a stream.
A familiar streamer's, at that.
"Lee Soo-hyuk..."
"Huh? You know him?"
The woman's head whipped around.
Too close, uncomfortably so.
"A fan, by chance?"
"Pardon? Oh... yeah."
"Nice to meet you. I'm a fan too. Over twenty years."
Twenty years.
Lee Soo-hyuk the streamer had only been at it for ten days or so.
Meaning she was a fan of a different Lee Soo-hyuk.
'A Soo-hyuk fan, huh.'
A strange sense of kinship welled up.
How long since someone remembered them, and this close up?
"I'm Unhyang."
Unhyang's eyes curved into a smile as she said it.
And the next instant.
"...And you, sis?"
Ye-ryeong realized for sure.
She'd seen through the fake face.