The Gacha King Goes Live

Before the broadcast, he called for Zero.

He needed to brief her, at least, before going public with the matter of the Random Box.

"A Random Box? Gacha pulls?"

When she heard the explanation, Zero's face flickered with momentary bewilderment.

"I can't give you the details, but the short version is—every skill and item I get comes from a Random Box."

"Hold on. Hold on just a second."

Zero pressed a finger hard against the bridge of her nose.

"Can you explain how it actually works?"

"You know those Random Box machines, right? It's basically the same thing. I burn points or tickets to pull."

"And the grade distribution is identical to the machine's?"

Ryu Hwi nodded.

"N, R, SR, SSR. Those are the four basic grades, plus an MR that shows up only in special cases."

LR had been added recently, but there was no need to mention that.

"N is trash. From R up, things become usable in combat. Anything genuinely worthwhile starts at SR."

"Then Delete...?"

"That's SSR. A special category that's neither a skill nor an item."

He walked her through a few more particulars related to the Random Box, and Zero distilled the briefing into a neat summary.

"Clean pros and cons. Which means you effectively can't play labyrinths like Rider-On at all, can you?"

"I can, if I pull a fighter jet. Better still if I pull the System for it."

"And the odds of pulling that are...?"

"Odds are... just odds."

"R-right. So that's how you've accumulated all those skills and items. Which probably means you can use the skills you earn ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠inside game labyrinths out here in the real world too, doesn't it?"

Zero had watched from the sidelines when he fought Iron Blood. When he offered neither confirmation nor denial, she nodded as though filing it away as settled.

"You said you wouldn't reveal everything. Honestly, if it's something like this, keeping it hidden is only natural. You're ignoring the established labyrinth system entirely—or no, it's more like you're playing a completely different game all by yourself."

"Well. Something like that."

"And now, of all times, you're telling me this because you intend to make 'gacha pulls' into broadcast content? Isn't that carrying enormous risk?"

The Random Box was his trump card.

Going public with it would reap far more harm than good.

"The King himself appointed me Silver. It's never happened before, so even the Platinums will hesitate to move against me carelessly."

"I agree with that assessment. But there are people out there far more reckless than you'd expect."

"I'm well aware of that."

He had seen this world's hideous darkness to his fill. There might well be depths uglier than anything he'd witnessed so far.

"After all, I'm making enemies of exactly that kind of people right now."

S.E.N.

They were existences of the labyrinth—even harder to deal with than the Platinums.

"Even knowing that, you're revealing the Random Box, so you must have a good reason. This ties into that accumulated five hundred million views you mentioned before?"

"That's right. I've come to need five hundred million views, no matter what it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠takes."

"As a reward, some new function gets unlocked—something like that?"

Sharp as ever.

"It's a power I absolutely need to fight S.E.N. going forward, isn't it?"

"It'll help. Without question."

"Understood. Then there's nothing to be done about it. I'll cooperate too. Should I take you telling me about the Random Box first as a courtesy between partners?"

"That's part of it."

Zero was his partner.

Beyond running Jucheongwang, they cooperated across any number of fronts. Back when he first signed his contract with Wolya, he'd never imagined the relationship would become this vital.

He still didn't trust people—not as a rule. But where Zero was concerned, that wall was steadily coming down.

"You and I are in the same boat now, so I figured it was better to cut down on what we hide from each other."

"......."

Zero's expression shifted, just slightly.

"Comrades in a shared fate... heh heh. Is that so?"

Something struck her as funny, because she let out a soft laugh. For whatever reason, she looked a little pleased about it.

"Fine. Then I'll think up plans for how you can reach that five hundred million, too. If we're doing this, we're doing it properly. We'll make aggressive use of Noel's personality as well."

And at last, the broadcast began.

⟪Hello, everyone! It's Noel from Jucheongwang! So good to see you all!⟫

Somewhere along the way, Noel had become something like Jucheongwang's official mascot. Her mere appearance was enough to set the chat window ablaze.

⟪Thank you all for gathering for today's stream. Starting today, Jucheongwang is launching a brand-new broadcast: The Gacha King! Please spread the word far and wide!⟫

He scanned the chat reactions one by one.

It was time to unveil the true nature of The Gacha King.

Having to lay his trump card bare for the whole world to see was endlessly irritating—but all of this existed to clear the mission Yggdrasil had set before him and claim 'LR' for himself.

The broadcast drone powered up and began filming from above his head. He was dressed in newly tailored light armor of crimson and magenta, fitted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for today alone—a design built using the Disguise MOD, like an avatar skin layered over the armor itself.

He'd never cared much for appearances, but for today, Bisque, Noir, and Noel had gathered to pour genuine effort into the design.

"You've already got a decent face, so at least dress it up a little!"

"Wow, look how much better you clean up when you actually try!"

"The Disguise MOD's default design is set to that from now on! Yes, yes, now the stream's actually worth doing."

For the sake of this design, he had suffered the humiliation of serving as a dress-up doll for three women.

Ragna, wanting no part of it, had bolted at the first opportunity.

Just remembering it drained the strength right out of him.

[Master, your expression is looking awfully dark.]

Oops.

At YggON's remark, he hurriedly fixed his face.

[Let us begin. Best of luck on the road to five hundred million views.]

"Yeah."

"Hello, everyone. This is Ryu7017, Ryu Hwi. The Gacha King is a broadcast where I take on Legend of Lambda's highest difficulty—Fall of Saynal—live for your viewing pleasure."

"For the record, Fall of Saynal is a difficulty setting configured exclusively for me. I requested the absolute highest difficulty possible—and that's where a problem arose."

At the words highest difficulty, the viewers' minds went straight to City of the Demon God, and they concluded he was simply the same lunatic who did nothing but pick insane fights.

A few of them gave off a distinctly disappointed vibe, muttering that all that grand build-up had led to... this?

"Tsk. Plenty of impatient folks out there, I see. I said there was a problem, didn't I? Noel is about to explain exactly what kind of problem."

He called for Noel, and she appeared on screen with an adorable expression.

⟪Yes sir, Noel here! So first, the Fall of Saynal difficulty that Jucheongwang configured was based on the highest difficulty showcased by Capsule Corp's City of the Demon God.⟫

That was precisely the level Ryu Hwi had originally envisioned, too.

⟪But here's the problem—Yggdrasil got involved! Yes, Yggdrasil! The one that takes a developer's intent and stretches it beyond all recognition, or twists it however it pleases! And so, what happened? Roll the footage, please!⟫

What followed was none other than the humiliating footage of Ryu Hwi losing match after match in the tutorial.

The chat window vanished under a flood of '???'.

Ryu Hwi—Ryu Hwi of all people—was being utterly dominated by a mere tutorial.

The sight of him getting game-overed in under a minute left viewers in stunned disbelief.

[Master, are you certain you want ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to show that? Isn't that the very definition of humiliation on film?]

"It's fine. I'm bound to suffer far worse humiliations down the line anyway."

If a tutorial had given him this much grief, he didn't even want to imagine what the main game's difficulty would be like.

"If we want to show just how miserable Fall of Saynal's difficulty is, nothing works better than this."

The footage of him suffering through the tutorial was undeniably effective.

The viewers grasped just how unreasonable Fall of Saynal's difficulty truly was.

And now, the real show began.

"As you all know, I possess some rather special 'cheats.' Today, right here and now, I intend to reveal exactly what that cheat is."

Those words were more than enough to send the chat window into a frenzy.

"In thirty minutes, I will unveil my cheat. Please spread the word across the communities as much as you can."

Hooked by the promise of a 'cheat reveal', he hoped as many people as possible would flood in.

⟪Ryu Hwi, the viewer count is climbing at an insane rate!⟫

⟪Already past two hundred thousand! Two hundred ten thousand!⟫

⟪At this pace, I'd say we'll hit a million before the 'cheat reveal'.⟫

"Shouldn't we be pulling in around a hundred million by now?"

⟪Sir, you have to make sense at least sometimes, right? Right? Yes?⟫

For now, he'd crank up the hype, and fill in the rest with content as it came.

Eventually, the time arrived.

The viewer count currently stood at 1.07 million—and since the 'show' was only starting now, the number was likely to keep climbing.

"As you all know, I can use skills and items that transcend the System. For example, right here in Legend of Lambda, like so—"

He'd already pulled out his bike once inside City of the Demon God, but the moment he produced it again here in Legend of Lambda, the chat window erupted.

"How I acquire my skills and items—allow me to show you, starting now."

He glanced back at YggON.

"YggON, prepare it in the clearest, most intuitive form you can."

[Understood.]

A hologram unfurled into the air.

The format that viewers of a livestream would grasp most readily.

There was no question what that was: a Random Box machine from the Random Box shop.

The sudden appearance of a Random Box machine left the viewers thoroughly flustered.

Before the eyes of a massive audience, he executed a ten-pull.

Ten tickets were consumed, and the Random Box machine flashed with light.

It didn't matter what the results were.

The mere fact that he was pulling from a Random Box was the point.

Then YggON let out a small sound. [Ah.]

[Master... why, of all times, did it have to be now?]

.......

He wanted to cry.

Why, of all moments, did it have to shimmer in rainbow light?

The results of the Random Box were displayed one after another.

The rest were all useless N-rank junk—but one of them was the problem.

[What would you like to do? Shall we fudge the results?]

"No... there's no real need to hide it, is there."

A sword wreathed in a faint violet radiance materialized before his eyes.

⟪Th-this is—!⟫

Before anyone could even check its abilities, Noel's voice shot up in shock.

⟪The Master Blade! It's the Master Blade! The strongest sword in all of Legend of Lambda—the one you can barely obtain even in the late game—has appeared from a Random Box!⟫

Needless to say, the chat window descended into absolute chaos.

Ryu Hwi sighed as he gazed at the brilliantly gleaming Master Blade.

[A magnificent show, indeed. My congratulations.]

"It is a show, after all... Maybe I'll rub it in a little?"

He gripped the Master Blade and thrust it high into the sky.

"Hey everyone. I pulled this thing. It's good, right?"

The instant the chat window was buried under an avalanche of salt—