The Heavenly Demon's Resolve (2)
After Myeong-yun appeared on the news, the community was on the verge of exploding.
The once-quiet Narak community, whose popularity had cooled, was now buzzing with talk of Myeong-yun.
Myeong-yun had become a trend.
With the appearance of a new floor in Narak, whose popularity had cooled, he became a challenge for various streamers, a sensation for meta researchers, and a hot topic in the community. It was as if the era of the Heavenly Demon Cult was beginning.
At the same time, the developers and operators of the martial arts roguelike game Narak, On the Rocks, were stunned after watching Myeong-yun's play.
They could not understand how a human could do something like that. Yet when they examined the logs, there was no trace of file tampering. No matter how hard the developers searched, they found no signs of cheats, hacks, or bugs.
That meant what Myeong-yun had shown was pure physical skill.
"How the hell is this possible?"
When Myeong-yun had played, the On the Rocks developers had gathered to watch the stream. They wanted to see how far a physical monster who cleared the God of Fighting difficulty would go in Narak.
Myeong-yun completely ignored what they had intended.
The fun of a roguelike was supposed to come from collecting various items and completing a build. The game was optimized for the "rush" of synergy effects and power spikes. Yet Myeong-yun had only consumed elixirs that slightly boosted physical stats and carried nothing but pieces that lowered his physical abilities.
Even that did not seem to hinder him. He cleared every enemy barehanded, without a single piece of equipment, taking no damage and moving faster than anyone else.
"We never expected the sixth floor to be revealed like this. So it's really not a hack? That can't be right."
Originally, opening the sixth floor required layers of coincidence and luck. The prerequisite was a no-hit time attack—reaching the fifth floor quickly without taking a single hit. Entering the sixth floor route increased the difficulty of all floor bosses, making the condition even harder to satisfy. Because even a single scratch was unacceptable, and because players had to carry the key and play under restrictions, the developers had judged it nearly impossible without godlike physical skill and extraordinary luck.
It was a condition worthy of the greatest under heaven descending upon Narak.
"It has to be a hack, right? Didn't he clear the God of Fighting stage the same way?"
"But New World's Soul Link system isn't that lenient. If it were a hack, he wouldn't even be able to connect."
They found not even the letter "h" for hack in the logs. The only unusual point was the enormous processing load New World was handling. It was as if Myeong-yun lived in a different time, pushing the system to its limits.
"This isn't our jurisdiction. It's a hardware issue. We need to contact the New World manufacturer."
The sixth floor of Narak had opened. Now they had to verify the suspicious logs and determine whether this was truly possible for a human.
The Narak developers contacted Yeonamdang, the developer of New World, on behalf of On the Rocks. Thanks to Yeonamdang's quick reply, a meeting was scheduled for the very next day.
One of the Narak developers attended as a representative, bringing Myeong-yun's logs.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Lee Seok-hyun, team leader of the Narak development team at On the Rocks."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Park Ji-eon, team leader of the New World development team."
Seok-hyun looked at Ji-eon with bright eyes. Park Ji-eon, the New World development team leader, was renowned in the industry as a genius developer leading the virtual reality field.
Ji-eon spoke.
"Let's get straight to the point. You said you couldn't find any hacks in the Narak play logs?"
"That's correct. That's why we requested cooperation from Yeonamdang. It seems the hack was installed on the hardware itself."
The two examined the play logs on their tablets. As Seok-hyun had said, there were no traces of file tampering, hacks, or bugs.
However, Ji-eon seemed to see something else. He grinned.
"This is a hack."
"As expected. What kind of hack? If it can break New World's security…"
"It's a 'god-tier physical skill' hack."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean it's pure player physical skill. You can tell from the process load. He simply possesses terrifying reflexes."
"That's… something a human can do?"
Myeong-yun's movements on screen were beyond human. He lightly dodged traps, parried enemy attacks by a hair's breadth, and sometimes defeated bosses without letting them move an inch. Every attack that landed struck a vital point. Every hit was a critical.
"…It's possible. But for an ordinary human, the reaction speed would probably fry their brain. Even if it were implemented through a hack, the brain would fry all the same."
Park Ji-eon briefly explained that attempting something impossible in reality through a hack in virtual reality placed the same burden on the body. Virtual reality provided a different "experience," not "ability." Enhancements to physical capabilities within the game and external system enhancements were different.
After hearing that it was not a hack, Seok-hyun fell silent for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. He immediately called his company and ordered them to begin public marketing.
Since it had been proven that the person who opened Narak's sixth floor was not using a hack, it was now their turn to show respect.
Ji-eon, watching with a smile, spoke.
"I really want to meet him someday. This person called Myeong-yun."
"A post went up on the Narak account."
"I saw it too. Looking at when it was posted, they must have coordinated. Quote-retweet it for fun. And you know today's schedule says we're resting, right?"
"I could stream though."
"Rest. The schedule already says we're resting today. I have a lot of editing to do anyway."
Though he said that, the two had already finished their discussion right after the first Narak stream ended. What Myeong-yun had shown was something no one else could replicate. Sang-hyun judged that no one would reach the depths of Narak in a short time and decided to give the audience "warm-up" time. They would rest for a day, gauge community reaction, stir up hype, and make the second Narak stream explode completely.
"All right, got it."
"And I'll come over to your place later. You saw the email, right? There are a few things we need to discuss."
"Yeah."
Myeong-yun hung up and, as instructed, quoted the official Narak Twitter account's tweet celebrating the opening of the sixth floor and posted his own message. He did not forget to thank his supporters either.
Replies and quote-retweets flooded in the moment he posted.
Scrolling through the flood of mentions, Myeong-yun confirmed the current situation.
"The numbers keep growing."
His Twitter follower count had surpassed 100,000. Among those mentioning and quote-retweeting him, more and more had "Heavenly Demon Cult" or "Heavenly Demon Cultist" in their usernames. It meant the number of people following him was increasing. Myeong-yun smiled in satisfaction. If he continued expanding the cult's influence like this, achieving what he desired would become easier.
Afterward, Myeong-yun browsed various hashtags, looking at what people had posted—fan art, clip edits, and more. It was fascinating that people were creating such works based on him. It felt different from his previous life, and a corner of his heart tickled.
'So this is the side effect of becoming human again.'
He chuckled softly and scrolled through his smartphone, losing track of time. Not long after, Sang-hyun arrived at the house.
"All right, let us begin the third Heavenly Demon Cult strategy meeting."
"When did we have the first and second? I don't remember."
"I did them alone. Anyway, you saw the email?"
Myeong-yun nodded. Dozens of emails had arrived at the address listed on the YouTuber channel. Some were fan letters, but the ones that truly mattered were different.
"I didn't expect companies to contact us this soon. Well, I expected it, but it means we've blown up this much."
Myeong-yun was currently an "individual-type" VTuber—someone who debuted as a VTuber as an individual. The opposite was "corporate-type" VTubers, who debuted with corporate support. Both had pros and cons, but corporate debuts offered overwhelmingly more advantages, so auditions for famous companies boasted thousands or even tens of thousands of applicants.
"I'll explain. Over ten companies have made offers, but I think about five of them are decent. First, Dushi Sesi. It's a Japanese company with a separate Korean branch."
Dushi Sesi was a company that had started services from the early days of VTubers and could be considered a market leader. It was also the first to release LIVE 2D virtual streamers and had a long history of setting various records.
"They have a string of VTubers with over a million subscribers, so their fandom is enormous. I think it's not bad."
"Next?"
"Bubble Office. This one's a Korean company. They started with a five-member male VTuber idol group and now have over twenty members—a solid mid-sized agency. But given their style, they probably won't suit you."
Bubble Office was doing quite well, but their VTubers' concept was idols. Sang-hyun thought it would not match Myeong-yun, who aimed to be the Heavenly Demon.
Others included Nemo Box, Seo Forte, BEE… Offers had come from MCNs and virtual talent agencies with not only VTubers but various creators. Some were new, but most were major players. Receiving this many offers so soon after debut was proof that they recognized Myeong-yun's talent.
Each had clear advantages and disadvantages, but Sang-hyun did not seem particularly drawn to most of them.
"The last one is… Yeonamdang."
"Yeonamdang?"
"Yeah. The New World developer. Honestly, I don't know why they made an offer."
According to Sang-hyun, Yeonamdang was an affiliate of the Yeonam Group, a massive conglomerate involved in full-dive virtual reality development and many other businesses. It was a giant among giants. But it was unheard of for them to enter the virtual creator business.
"Honestly, if we're just talking company size, Yeonamdang is the biggest, but they have no track record in the virtual business, so it's worrying, right?"
"Hmm."
After a moment of thought while Sang-hyun pondered, Myeong-yun spoke.
"We can just meet all of them. There's no rule saying we have to pick only one and contact them."
"…Is that so?"
"We have nothing but time anyway."
The college entrance exam was over. They had been accepted to university. Winter break was approaching. All they had left was time. Other kids would travel and play, but for these two, virtual reality was reality.
Sang-hyun smiled as if his worries had been resolved by Myeong-yun's words.
"All right. Then let's meet them slowly, starting with Dushi Sesi, hear their conditions, and decide."
"Yeah."
"I'll think about what questions to ask. Or I could ask some VTuber acquaintances I know."
"Yeah. I trust you."
"Great! Then shall we plan tomorrow's stream? I have some videos ready. We haven't shown everything about you yet. I want to highlight your talent more. I want to show everyone what kind of person my friend is."
Myeong-yun had caused such a massive stir that he appeared on the news just two days after his debut stream. There had never been a VTuber like him before, and there would not be one after.
Myeong-yun grinned at Sang-hyun's words. It was a smile that rarely showed emotion from Sang-hyun.
"Your face is finally worth looking at. Chief Strategist."
"Likewise, Heavenly Demon."
The two burst into loud laughter.