Chapter 2
=== FINAL TRANSLATION ===
**CHAPTER_TITLE: The Heavenly Demon Descends (2)**
The next day at school, Myeong-yun found Sang-hyun again and asked,
“So when exactly are we doing the first broadcast?”
Sang-hyun had rushed straight home the moment they logged out of New World yesterday, clutching the video file like his life depended on it. After that, he’d gone completely silent, so Myeong-yun had started to wonder if something had gone wrong.
“…Let’s talk about the date later. I’m about to die from exhaustion.”
Sang-hyun collapsed onto his desk with bloodshot eyes. It looked like he’d barely managed to drag himself to school. Myeong-yun decided not to press him any further.
Even though Sang-hyun was trying to sleep, the dopamine that had been flooding his system since last night refused to let him rest.
‘He’s insane. Completely insane.’
He already knew Myeong-yun had excellent motor skills and was good at sports. The guy was always number one in PE and constantly got scouting offers from every athletic club. Yet Myeong-yun himself never seemed particularly interested.
If he showed any interest at all, it was only in martial arts from time to time.
‘But what I saw yesterday was on a completely different level.’
He had chosen the War God difficulty specifically to mess with Myeong-yun, yet the guy had cleared it with ridiculous ease. Not only that—he hadn’t taken a single hit. A perfect run.
‘I knew he was good at sports, but I never imagined he was this good. As far as I know, no one has ever put on a performance like that.’
And that wasn’t all.
He had perfectly recreated the image of the Heavenly Demon who had come from the martial world. Sang-hyun hadn’t even known it was possible for someone to pull that off so flawlessly.
He sneaked a glance at Myeong-yun sitting beside him.
Since the college entrance exam was over, the classroom had a relaxed atmosphere—except for those preparing for arts or physical education practicals. Myeong-yun, with nothing in particular to do, was simply staring out the window and killing time.
‘Heavenly Demon, huh. Was this bastard actually the Heavenly Demon in his past life? He seems weirdly obsessed with the concept.’
Sang-hyun recalled what had happened yesterday. Myeong-yun’s appearance hadn’t felt like a concept at all.
It had looked like a real Heavenly Demon.
Sang-hyun was now certain that Myeong-yun—whether for good or ill—was going to leave a massive mark on the virtual streaming industry.
It was around ten at night.
Just as the model student Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun was about to fall asleep, a message from Sang-hyun arrived.
What Sang-hyun had sent was none other than the promotional video—PV—for the virtual streamer “Heavenly Demon.”
Myeong-yun played the one-and-a-half-minute video again.
A majestic Chinese-style background track with pounding drums. In a dark atmosphere, a tall man clad in flowing black robes emerged from swirling black mist. {cite: } The camera angles shifted dramatically, capturing his sculptural face from multiple perspectives and emphasizing his overwhelming presence.
The music’s tempo quickened, building tension. Deep, resonant string instruments joined in as footage appeared of Myeong-yun leisurely dismantling the wooden puppets on War God difficulty.
Ink-wash painting-style effects flowed along with his movements, adding both beauty and weight to every motion.
After toppling the final puppet, Myeong-yun turned toward the camera. He slowly withdrew his outstretched hand, clasped both behind his back, and raised his head.
The gravity, arrogance, and haughtiness that radiated from his sharp features were undeniable. Yet the shadowed face and the aura pouring from him left no room for argument.
Who would believe a nineteen-year-old was inside that body?
A black dragon rose behind him amid crackling yellow lightning, while a brush dipped in dark crimson ink carved the two characters Heavenly Demon in bold strokes.
Myeong-yun opened his mouth. His deep, resonant voice rang out with majestic authority.
The moment he finished speaking, the screen faded to black and the words Deb soon… appeared. The video ended there.
After watching the PV, Myeong-yun had to admit the quality was truly astonishing. He knew Sang-hyun had been fiddling with computers since he was a kid, but he never expected him to produce something of this caliber.
“Now that I think about it, didn’t you say you were going to major in film?”
“Yeah. I got in as a special admission student with a full scholarship.”
“For a guy like that to make a video for me… I should probably bow in gratitude.”
“Finally recognizing how amazing I am, huh?”
Sang-hyun’s skills were good enough that he could jump straight into the industry without issue. Myeong-yun hadn’t paid much attention to that field before, but this incident made it crystal clear just how talented his friend truly was.
“So the PV is done. When are we starting the actual broadcasts? Tomorrow?”
“Not yet. We can’t rush this. I got too excited and made the PV first, but normally you’re supposed to set up social media accounts and start promoting properly.”
“Promotion?”
“Exactly. For virtual streamers, the success of your debut broadcast pretty much decides your entire future.”
“So we have to button the first button correctly. Understood.”
“I’ll make a promotional poster tomorrow and send it over. For now, go create the social media accounts. Oh! You absolutely have to use Twitter. That’s where all the otakus hang out.”
“Twitter. Do you have an account?”
“I do, but I’m not telling you what it is.”
Myeong-yun had no idea why Sang-hyun refused to share it. Following his friend’s instructions, he created a Twitter account and finished the basic setup.
“Ah, I can see it. But are you really going to use that name? It’s your real name.”
“Yes. There’s nothing else to use. Besides, my real name doesn’t really feel like a real name, does it?”
“That’s true.”
The completed social media account was named Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun.
The surname Myeong was uncommon, and a single-syllable given name was even rarer, so most people would probably assume it was a stage name.
“I’ll write up a proper bio and send it tomorrow. For tonight, just put up some kind of greeting post.”
“Got it.”
After ending the call with Sang-hyun, Myeong-yun logged into Twitter and posted a single line.
“If it’s a single phrase from the Heavenly Demon, there’s only one possibility.”
The Heavenly Demon descends once more; all demons bow in reverence.
Cheonma Jaerim Manma Angbok
The Heavenly Demon descends once more; all demons bow in reverence.
That weekend, Sang-hyun came over to Myeong-yun’s house in the late morning and handled all kinds of settings.
He started with the New World streaming configuration and moved on to Twitter account optimization.
Myeong-yun watched his friend work and asked,
“Why are you doing so much for me? You’re handling everything.”
“Because it’s obvious you’d ruin it if you did it alone.”
“You’re not doing this yourself?”
“I don’t have that kind of talent. The virtual streaming scene is already a red ocean. I figured I’d turn you into an industry nuke instead. If you succeed, I can ride your coattails.”
Sang-hyun said this while setting the debut broadcast date.
Four days from now, at eight in the evening—the time when the most people would be online.
Sang-hyun had originally wanted to do it on the weekend, but after Myeong-yun’s persistent urging, they settled on four days later. He immediately opened his laptop and added the date to the promotional poster, then went ahead and created the YouTube channel as well.
“I got the illustration from an acquaintance. The poster turned out pretty well.”
“You’ve got connections in that field too, huh.”
“The video and illustration communities overlap quite a bit. Alright, shall we post it?”
Sang-hyun uploaded the promotional poster to Myeong-yun’s Twitter account along with a caption.
The Heavenly Demon descends once more. All demons shall bow in reverence.
A true demon descends—every fiend will submit.
#NewVTuber #VirtualStreamer #HeavenlyDemon #Murim #CheonmaJaerimManmaAngbok #RTEvent #VTuberPromotion
(Illustration Promotional Poster Attached)
(Accounts mentioned by @HeavenlyDemon_MyeongYun can reply.)
“Done.”
“Will people actually see this?”
“Yeah. Usually we reveal things gradually, but you want to start broadcasting quickly, right?”
“…I can’t exactly deny that.”
“Knew it. Let’s wait and see how the PV and gameplay video perform before uploading them tomorrow or the day after. Normally people upload singing clips too… but since you can’t sing—oh, we’ve already got reactions.”
Myeong-yun’s smartphone began ringing nonstop with notifications. When he checked, he saw that people were already retweeting the post they had just made.
He thought it might be because of the event tag, but the responses were surprisingly positive.
“‘The illustration is handsome,’ ‘Black hair and tall—that’s my type’… Is this a good thing?”
“Well, it’s not bad. Still, it’s hard to say how many will show up for the debut. We’re an indie operation, after all.”
“Indie?”
“Virtual streamers are either independent or corporate-affiliated. Corporate ones obviously get way more promotion.”
Myeong-yun brushed off the complicated details. As long as he could become the Heavenly Demon again, sweep across battlefields, and clash with figures like the leaders of the Murim Alliance, that was enough for him.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding…
The notifications wouldn’t stop.
“…There are strangely a lot of reactions. Did something happen?”
Sang-hyun frowned as he checked Twitter, then slapped his own forehead.
“Ah, right. Did you register your ranking? From that puppet fight?”
“Hm? Yeah, I did. Under the name Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun.”
“Hah, that must be why. Looks like the fact that you’re ranked number one in the world just got out. You’re ten minutes ahead of second place, so it’s blowing up even more.”
Both of them had completely forgotten about it.
Although its popularity had cooled somewhat, the War God difficulty clear was still a highly sought-after challenge. And Myeong-yun had announced its beginning by crushing the record with an overwhelming gap.
This was truly the beginning of the legend of Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun.
“…Retweets already passed fifteen hundred. Six hundred quote tweets. Follows are pouring in too. Most of the quotes are calling it fake, but that’s just nonsense.”
“Is that a lot?”
“It’s only been a little over ten minutes since we posted! This is straight-up insane! Hey, screw waiting—we’re riding this wave right now!”
Sang-hyun made an immediate decision.
He uploaded the PV and the War God difficulty clear video to YouTube right away, even though he had planned to wait until tomorrow or the day after. He also updated the Twitter post, and the reactions came flooding in like a storm.
The notifications kept ringing so relentlessly that Myeong-yun eventually had no choice but to turn them off completely.
Sang-hyun scrolled through the comments on the YouTube video.
“The view count is shooting up like crazy. The comment section is completely wrecked. Fake my ass. These people are watching it and still don’t believe it.”
“Looks like there are just as many doubters here as on Twitter.”
After thinking for a moment, Myeong-yun posted another message on Twitter. When Sang-hyun saw what he wrote, he burst out laughing.
“Yeah, that’s exactly like you. Let’s show those doubting bastards exactly who you are.”
Whether this seat is real or fake shall be revealed in the live broadcast four days from now.
XX Month XX Day, 8 PM.
Come and witness this seat for yourselves.
(Accounts mentioned by @HeavenlyDemon_MyeongYun can reply.)
Four days later.
Promotional post retweets: 9,000.
Twitter followers: 20,000.
YouTube subscribers: 40,000.
PV views: 80,000.
War God difficulty clear video views: 250,000.
And live concurrent viewers: 8,000.
A rookie VTuber carrying an absolutely insane level of hype stepped into the internet world for the first time.
“This seat is the heaven above heaven, the master of all evil. I am Myeong-yun, the 8th Heavenly Demon of the Heavenly Demon Cult.”
=== UPDATED MAIN GLOSSARY ===General Glossary1. Novel / Project Titles* Term: Cheonma Jaerim Manma Angbok - The Heavenly Demon descends once more; all demons bow in reverence [Note: A classic martial arts/cult slogan associated with the Heavenly Demon's grand appearance.]5. Religion / Mythology / Titles* Term: Heavenly Demon - Heavenly Demon [Note: The absolute supreme ruler and ultimate martial figurehead of the Demonic Cult/Heavenly Demon Cult in Eastern fantasy literature.]* Term: This seat - This seat [Note: An arrogant, authoritative, and regal self-referential pronoun used exclusively by supreme martial leaders or cult leaders like the Heavenly Demon.]12. Other Terms* Term: New VTuber / Virtual Streamer - New VTuber / Virtual Streamer [Note: Standard terms in online streaming subcultures for virtual creators who use tracked 2D/3D digital avatars.]* Term: Murim Alliance - Murim Alliance [Note: The coalition of orthodox martial arts sects, frequently serving as the main rival or opposing force to the Heavenly Demon Cult.]