Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: The Lee Soo-hyuk Challenge
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Upon arriving on the 4th floor, Lee Soo-hyuk ended his stream for the moment.
He had met the conditions to level up Selfish Sacrifice, and he needed to stop by the new lodging Baehae had secured for him.
Arriving at the new lodging, Lee Soo-hyuk paused in front of the building's entrance, letting out a sigh of admiration.
"This place must cost a fortune."
It was a towering building that looked newly constructed. Expensive materials had been used throughout, and the entrance was lined with statues, giving it the appearance of a small castle.
It screamed luxury at first glance.
It was worlds apart from the previous place he'd been staying.
Click-.
"What are you doing just standing there? Come on in."
The door swung open quickly, and Unhyang stepped out to greet him. She had left early and arrived at the lodging ahead of time.
"I was just taking a quick look around."
"This place? Yeah, it's pretty nice, right?"
"Yeah. Very."
This was the kind of luxury he could only have dreamed of in his previous life.
Unhyang added an explanation as Lee Soo-hyuk looked puzzled by the sudden upgrade.
"It's because you've gotten so big."
"Big? You mean the stream?"
"Yes. You're a solid mid-tier streamer now. And there's every chance you'll grow even bigger."
Lee Soo-hyuk's position had shifted rapidly.
Just recently, he had been a total newbie dipping his toes into streaming. Now, he was pulling in over 10,000 viewers—a proper mid-tier streamer.
And on top of that...
"From the company's perspective, it's a bit nerve-wracking. They don't want you suddenly jumping ship to a major guild."
Lee Soo-hyuk was a streamer with massive growth potential—and the risk of defecting to another guild.
Baehae Entertainment had to pull out all the stops to keep him on board.
Step-.
Lee Soo-hyuk entered the lodging with Unhyang.
The 1st-floor lobby had a ceiling at least 10 meters high, with a fountain in the center.
There was even a tea zone for drinks and a restaurant for breakfast. It felt like checking into a fancy hotel.
"Want some tea? It's all on the company's dime, of course."
Unhyang ordered a ton of coffee and desserts. Company money flowed freely.
Lee Soo-hyuk ordered a coffee as well, but he felt a little awkward.
"The treatment's so much better all of a sudden. It's throwing me off."
"Come on. We're just spending the money you brought in for the company."
"I don't feel like I've earned it yet."
"You will soon. You think the company would do anything to lose out?"
She wasn't wrong.
In fact, Lee Soo-hyuk's video channel was growing fast, with views climbing steadily.
The Thunder Cave攻略 video was bound to rack up serious popularity, no doubt.
"You've already got three ads attached to your videos. Proof your popularity's skyrocketing."
"Ads?"
"Yeah. And there are even more sponsors who want you to plug them directly. Seems like the challenge boosted your buzz even more..."
"Challenge?"
Lee Soo-hyuk tilted his head in confusion, but Unhyang looked puzzled instead.
"You didn't watch Hawk's Eye's stream?"
"I did."
"He said he'd give 100,000 points to anyone who could copy you."
He definitely had.
Right at the end of the stream. He'd said it casually, like a joke, but Hawk's Eye wasn't the type to go back on his word.
And the streamers who knew that...
"It's become a trend lately."
They called it the "Lee Soo-hyuk Challenge."
Deroro, a 5th-floor player and streamer.
He averaged around 5,000 viewers.
He wasn't a smashing success as a streamer, but he wasn't failing either.
Sponsorships brought in decent revenue, and he was steadily climbing the Victory Tower, if slowly.
That was, until recently.
Deroro had started an intriguing new piece of content.
"The Lee Soo-hyuk Challenge. Think I'll give it a shot."
The Lee Soo-hyuk Challenge was spreading like wildfire among streamers.
It was only natural for content-starved streamers to jump on a fresh challenge.
They could run streams around it, and success meant 100,000 points. Only a fool would pass it up.
Besides...
It didn't matter what skill you used. You just had to perfectly mimic the move.
"Practice dummy is the training mannequin."
"Level 1."
Deroro shrugged off the viewers' teasing.
"My pride isn't worth 100,000 points."
Deroro stared at the mannequin in front of him.
Sword in hand, he heightened his focus.
'I'm a 5th-floor player.'
No matter how impressive Lee Soo-hyuk was, he was still just a guy who'd barely cleared the 3rd floor.
Meanwhile, Deroro had two years of experience on the 5th floor.
If he could do it, so could he. Especially against a mannequin, not some Knight of Thunder.
'I can do this.'
He forgot about the stream for a moment.
It was just a tool to record proof of success.
Priority one: nail the challenge and bag those 100,000 points.
As his focus peaked...
"Challenge!"
With a spirited shout, Deroro charged at the mannequin.
Feather Step.
One of Deroro's skills.
Not quite Sky Step for stepping on air, but it boosted hang time and movement speed—a high-tier skill.
Thanks to it, he could even attempt the Lee Soo-hyuk Challenge.
'Longer hang time... this should be doable...'
Whoosh-.
Reaching the mannequin, Deroro kicked off hard and leaped high.
So far, so good.
He could slice its neck in one go like this.
But then...
'Gotta... flip my body...'
The moment he tried inverting his speeding body, the difficulty spiked.
Aiming feet skyward wasn't easy. No, the real issue came after flipping.
Balance wobbled. Vision upside down, hard to spot the target.
And swinging the sword full force in that position? Forget it.
"Uh? Uh oh?"
His footing tangled.
Snap-.
Deroro's blade sliced the top of the mannequin's head, not its neck.
Thud-.
Unable to steady himself after the awkward swing, Deroro crashed to the ground instead of landing.
"Ugh!"
He winced, rubbing his sore butt.
The viewers' mockery was the price of failure.
Missing the neck meant challenge failed. One shot only.
Feather Step was limited to once a day.
He could try without it, but...
"This is insane-."
Deroro couldn't even fathom it.
"How the hell do you do this?"
Slicing normally? Easy.
But flipping mid-leap to precisely neck-slice, then landing perfectly? Insanely tough.
Some had managed the flip and slice.
The landing, though...
"How do you even land this?"
"Flipping works, but landing's the killer."
"Guys, head-plant counts as landing too, right? ...Nah, not valid?"
Numerous streamers tried. None succeeded.
Even nailing the neck slice, the landing wrecked them.
Not a stats issue.
This was pure acrobatics, stats be damned.
And so...
"Can't do it without Sky Step."
"Free Rogue's Foot any good? It's Blue Eyes' relic, right?"
"I'd nail it with that."
Free Rogue's Foot.
And its embedded skill, Sky Step.
No Sky Step, no success.
And that's when it happened.
The unscheduled stream had viewers cheering.
A growing fanbase now eagerly awaited his broadcasts.
And moreover...
The title was intriguing to say the least.
The challenge exploding since Hawk's Eye's stream—now Lee Soo-hyuk himself tackling it.
Barefoot, without Free Rogue's Foot.
"Hey everyone."
The stream kicked off with a simple greeting.
"Keeping this one short. Gotta hit the 4th floor tomorrow right away."
Lee Soo-hyuk showed his location next.
"I'm tackling Virtual Training Grounds Stage 5. Word is there's a challenge trend here."
Virtual training grounds scaled mannequin difficulty by stage.
From stationary stage 1 dummies to ones with solid durability and quick moves.
Lee Soo-hyuk's stage 5 mannequin moved faster than most low-floor players.
"Who can't stand still? That'd be boring."
Unhyang had suggested this content.
"Even without sponsorships, the visuals will be killer, right?"
"Sure, if it succeeds."
She seemed eager to see it herself.
'That's why she comes up with the best ideas.'
Unhyang was Lee Soo-hyuk's biggest fan. She'd bragged about it from way back, and her tone and expressions screamed devotion.
That's how she kept dreaming up content her viewers—and she—craved.
She was one of them.
"This is fan service, kind of."
Recalling Unhyang's words before the stream...
"No need for missions today."
Lee Soo-hyuk opened differently than usual.
Yeah.
This stream wasn't for farming points via missions.
What he was about to show, briefly...
"I'm gonna nail it anyway."
This was Lee Soo-hyuk.
Pure showmanship to prove it.