Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Pak Soo-hyuk
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Pak Soo-hyuk.
The first time he started streaming was about five years ago.
With his natural cheerfulness, he began broadcasting by cosplaying as Lee Soo-hyuk using a mask.
A pitiful physical build that didn't match the mask at all.
And the hilarious scenes that arose from that pitiful physical build.
He was truly a born streamer.
"He's a big-name streamer, that's for sure. He sometimes gets over 100,000 viewers."
Even so.
Unhyang seemed reluctant to collab with him.
"Still, somehow..."
"Why is that?"
Soo-hyuk set down his utensils after finishing his meal.
At this point, he was genuinely curious.
Why was everyone so averse to collabing with Pak Soo-hyuk?
The viewers, fine—but even Unhyang was trying to dissuade him, so there had to be a solid reason.
"Pak Soo-hyuk has a nickname."
"A nickname?"
"The Destruction King."
A question mark popped up over Soo-hyuk's head.
Destruction King?
Not only was the nickname childish, it just didn't suit Pak Soo-hyuk at all.
"He doesn't look like someone who'd have such an epic title."
"He is epic, in many ways."
"In many ways?"
"There've been over twenty streamers who've collabed with him. And yet..."
Unhyang let out a deep sigh.
"They all crashed and burned."
"Crashed? The collabs?"
"No. The streamers."
It was hard to grasp at first.
Not the collabs failing, but the streamers themselves tanking?
What did that even mean?
"The collabs themselves were mostly successful. Pak Soo-hyuk is super popular on his own, and the streamers collabing with him were pretty big names too."
"So what's the problem?"
"There is no problem. Not for Pak Soo-hyuk."
Unhyang frowned, struggling to explain even as she took a bite.
"Basically, it's like a curse. A really powerful one."
"A curse..."
"Yeah. Mostly, the fault lay with the streamers doing the collab. Dating scandals, major screw-ups on stream, or their channels slowly dying off."
The reasons varied wildly.
"You can't pin it on Pak Soo-hyuk for any one of them, but this much is certain: Streamers who collab with him all end up destroyed."
"So that's where 'Destruction King' comes from?"
"Yep. They say he destroys every streamer he collabs with."
At those words, Soo-hyuk recalled the viewers' reactions.
'Now it makes sense.'
A collab with Pak Soo-hyuk, the Destruction King.
To the viewers, it must've felt like watching a moth fly straight into flames.
But on the contrary.
Learning that fact only piqued Soo-hyuk's interest even more.
"It's definitely not Pak Soo-hyuk's fault, right?"
"Well... yeah?"
Pak Soo-hyuk was a streamer under Baehae Entertainment.
As a fellow company streamer, Unhyang could confidently say it wasn't his fault that he'd earned the Destruction King moniker.
Just a cruel twist of fate.
"Then that's fine."
And with that answer, Soo-hyuk made up his mind.
"Let's do the collab."
"Pardon?"
Unhyang looked shocked.
She'd brought it up to talk him out of it, but Soo-hyuk reacted the exact opposite.
He'd seemed indifferent at first—collab or no collab, whatever.
Now, he was dead set on making it happen.
"B-but Pak Soo-hyuk won't collab with just anyone."
"Am I still not enough?"
"Well... honestly, you probably are at this point, but..."
Unhyang seemed desperate to dissuade Soo-hyuk from the collab.
"Pak Soo-hyuk cares about the Destruction King nickname too. If he collabs and your channel tanks, it'll really look like his fault, and he'll feel unjustly blamed."
"Doesn't matter."
A big-name streamer with the title Destruction King.
Collabing with him was bound to generate buzz and bring positive effects one way or another.
The only hitch was that one curse: Collabbers always tanked.
But Soo-hyuk was confident.
"I won't tank, no matter what."
He had the confidence to even fight—and win—against Pak Soo-hyuk, the Destruction King.
Lately, Hawk's Eye's hottest trending content was 'Lee Soo-hyuk.'
For a reviewer like him, rankers and streamers themselves were content.
And Lee Soo-hyuk was the hottest new face stirring up massive buzz.
It wasn't strange that viewer reactions had turned out like this lately.
Hawk's Eye reviewed Lee Soo-hyuk's streams every other day.
At this rate, it'd only be a matter of time before Lee Soo-hyuk became the most-reviewed channel on his broadcast.
Then, from the black screen.
Hawk's Eye's voice flowed out.
"Hey, hello. This is Hawk's Eye, specialist Lee Soo-hyuk reviewer."
The chat flooded with laughter at Hawk's Eye's greeting.
After the opener, Hawk's Eye showed his face and kicked off the stream proper.
"Seriously, am I turning into a full-on Lee Soo-hyuk reviewer? Kinda worried."
"That was a joke. But what can I do? Every stream has review gold. I've been at this a while, but this guy's a first."
"Exactly! I figured he'd clear it eventually, but 1-try? I thought maybe 5 tries tops..."
Seeming genuinely awed, Hawk's Eye continued with an excited expression and tone.
"But the real killer is the process and result. I straight-up yelled watching live."
Indeed, Lee Soo-hyuk's reviews stood out from Hawk's Eye's other content.
His stream ripped into rankers without mercy, but when it came to Lee Soo-hyuk, it turned sickly sweet.
'Definitely...'
Hawk's Eye recalled yesterday's broadcast.
"No, you don't back off there! If your shield's got durability left, tank it somehow!"
"Look, health's depleted, gasping for air, but mana’s overflowing, so he pulls back and solo heals."
"I've said it a million times: Health and mana should deplete proportionally. That's ideal."
"This is basic stuff undone. Ranker or not, not all rankers are equal? Back to floor 1 for fundamentals—."
The temperature difference was stark.
But it couldn't be helped.
Sweet, spicy, or bitter— all reviews had to be honest. That was Hawk's Eye's motto.
"Nothing to roast. What do you want from me?"
In the end, Hawk's Eye put on a straight face.
And luckily, it landed well.
As chat heated up over old drama, Hawk's Eye quickly calmed things.
"Alright, alright. No off-topic stuff. Let's keep it short and punchy today."
With that, he played the video.
But.
True to 'short and punchy,' it started way late in the clip.
The review kicked off right as Lee Soo-hyuk entered 'Thunder Room 2.'
Essentially, the Thunder Cave clear was nearly done.
Soo-hyuk spotted Pelius battling Schneider in the distance and readied a spear throw at him.
"The spear throw pose was solid. Target selection too."
Clang-!
Lee Soo-hyuk's spear deflected Pelius's sword.
Or so it seemed.
"Honestly, I was more shocked by Pelius the knight here than Lee Soo-hyuk. Spotting and reacting to something that fast mid-fight with Schneider?"
Lee Soo-hyuk's spear hadn't deflected the sword.
Quite the opposite.
Pelius had deflected Lee Soo-hyuk's spear.
"That's when I thought: This won't be easy. Nah, it'll be tough."
Pausing to think, Hawk's Eye added,
"Not the scrub Pelius from before."
The footage rolled on.
"But Lee Soo-hyuk fought better than expected. I was surprised here, but not that surprised. Why? It's Lee Soo-hyuk."
Lee Soo-hyuk.
Now he was a man defined by three syllables. It was heading that way, and Hawk's Eye was making it happen.
"The real shock was this."
Ding-.
The footage slowed at a key moment.
Schneider's spear flying between the fiercely battling Lee Soo-hyuk and Pelius.
"This was the turning point. Pelius reacted, obviously. But it opened a gap."
Even in slow-mo, the speed held steady.
No— it accelerated.
"See? Solo speed-up. Insane, right? Floor 3 boss my ass."
Hawk's Eye's voice rose.
"And this part!"
Ding-.
Lee Soo-hyuk leaping high in front of Pelius, stepping off thin air.
And he didn't stop— he twisted mid-air toward the cave ceiling.
"Flipping like that instantly boosts jump power. To the enemy, it'd feel like the guy in front vanished into the ground or shot to the sky."
It was an acrobatic feat.
An insanely hard, flashy one.
"Landing clean from that pose is impressive enough..."
Slash-.
Lee Soo-hyuk beheaded Pelius from that position.
In one clean stroke. Through bone.
Thud-!
"This is straight madness. Pinpoint aim like that from that pose, instantly?"