The Demon of Northern Incheon Awakens

"That Japanese sword user from earlier!"

Jeong Gyeong-sik was not someone you could call good-natured, even if you were trying to be polite. True to his fierce-looking face, he had a rather prickly personality and was prone to roaring in frustration at mischievous viewers who pushed his buttons. Lately, however, he had been trying to show a more civilized side. This was likely because he had recently caught wind of another streamer saying, "Gyeong-sik's stream is kind of scary." Since then, he had been cutting back on the swearing and doing his best to minimize arguments with his chat. But...

Why must You test me like this?

For the first time in a long while, Gyeong-sik felt the demon within him stirring. It had all started the moment he saw the Japanese sword equipped by a teammate in the game lobby.

"Uggghhh..."

Normally, Gyeong-sik wasn't the type to micromanage his teammates' picks. In fact, he prided himself on having an open mind, respecting a wide variety of weapons and team compositions. But today—or at least, at this very moment—he couldn't bring himself to be so generous.

To be fair, he had plenty of reasons. He was already coming off a catastrophic losing streak, having played through the night without a wink of sleep. And losing repeatedly in that state? For Gyeong-sik, who was more obsessed with Asteria than anyone else, his mental state was practically fragile enough to qualify for a medical exemption. To make matters worse, he had just lost his very last match because of a trolling teammate who picked a Japanese sword. It was only natural that bitter words were threatening to spill from his mouth.

Even so, Gyeong-sik swallowed his rising anger and asked, "The Japanese sword... do you absolutely have to play that?"

The target of Gyeong-sik's question was a blonde female character. Her customization was so incredibly detailed that she looked as lifelike as a famous foreign celebrity. However, regardless of how high-quality the customization was—or rather, because it was so high-quality—Gyeong-sik's trust in her skill plummeted to rock bottom. Most high-tier players didn't care about customization at all. If someone had spent that much time tweaking their avatar's appearance, they were bound to be more obsessed with aesthetics than actual gameplay.

And she's a female player...

Gyeong-sik wasn't someone who discriminated based on gender or held a grudge against a specific sex, but he had years of experience playing Asteria. Statistically speaking, whenever he ended up on a team with female players, the results were rarely good. If she had picked a Priest to play a pocket support from the backline, that would be one thing. But when a player like that picked a weapon that demanded raw mechanical skill, he didn't even need to see the match play out to know how it would end.

The player with the username Blonde Beautiful Girl Samurai reacted to Gyeong-sik's words, staring blankly back at him. Gyeong-sik desperately hoped she would change her mind. As long as they could agree on a decent team composition, Gyeong-sik could handle the rest. Since he was a player who didn't belong in this low tier anyway, he was more than capable of carrying his team to victory.

Please, please, just put down that cursed sword!

Did Gyeong-sik's silent plea somehow reach her? The girl holding the Japanese sword offered a bright smile and replied.

"Yes."

"Yes...?"

What did that answer mean? Gyeong-sik mentally replayed the question he had just asked.

"Ah..."

He let out a heavy groan. Despite Gyeong-sik making his disapproval so painfully obvious, the woman in front of him was stubbornly insisting on keeping the Japanese sword in her hands.

"Do you really, really have to use the Japanese sword? There are so many other good weapons. Sword and shield, greatshield, axe..."

Despite Gyeong-sik's tearful pleading, the girl replied flatly, her expression not changing in the slightest.

"I'm good with the Japanese sword."

"No! Ha... I mean, of course you're good... you'd better be..."

He didn't even have the energy to get angry anymore. He was completely exhausted, both physically and mentally. Instead, it was his chat—the very people who usually teased him by calling him a washed-up has-been—that flared up on his behalf.

"..."

Managing the chat was an essential duty for any streamer. As the host of the broadcast, responsible for accommodating so many people in his room, he had an obligation to moderate excessive criticism or controversial comments directed at others. But just this once, Gyeong-sik decided to turn a blind eye. For some reason, watching his chat say the very things he couldn't say himself felt incredibly cathartic.

The reactions of his other teammates only added fuel to the fire.

"Whoa, your match history is actually really good. I think you're fine playing the Japanese sword!"

"Wow, but your customization... where did you get that preset?"

"You have a really nice voice. Let's have a good game together!"

Their words and actions were blatantly driven by ulterior motives. Gyeong-sik's face contorted in disgust.

"Come on, how good could her match history even be? Besides, the guy in my last game had a good record too, and he played like absolute garbage when he was with me," Gyeong-sik grumbled, muttering only to his stream after muting his in-game voice chat. Normally, he would have looked up her stats himself, but he was simply too exhausted. Perhaps because he looked particularly pitiful today, his viewers were actually agreeing with him for once. Gyeong-sik let out a deep, heavy sigh as he watched the chat roll by.

"Ah, maybe I should just dodge and go to sleep... Today is really not my day."

It would certainly be better than losing the game and wasting his time. Yet, he couldn't help but feel a sense of injustice. Dodging a ranked game meant he wouldn't be able to queue up again for five minutes, and he would lose a few rank points. To Gyeong-sik, who was already in the depths of a losing streak, even those few points were precious.

Why do I have to be the one to dodge?

"How should we build our comp?"

"What goes well with a Japanese sword...?"

While his teammates chatted amiably amongst themselves, Gyeong-sik was just about to bite the bullet and dodge the lobby.

Whoosh—

"Huh?"

The screen suddenly shifted, throwing him back into the matchmaking queue. Someone else had dodged.

"Oh, someone else dodged. Thank goodness. I almost got a free loss there."

Gyeong-sik queued up again with a look of relief.

He completely missed a message that flashed briefly in his chat:

Wait, wasn't that Geummisa?

"The backlash against the Japanese sword is worse than I thought."

A message popped up on my screen indicating that the team was being reassembled. It seemed someone had left the game. Was it the user from earlier who had asked me if I could play something other than the Japanese sword? I had heard people say that the weapon had a bad reputation, but I hadn't expected someone to show such blatant aversion right from the draft screen.

At this rate, I might have to defend myself in every single match, explaining that I was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a Japanese sword user who actually knew what they were doing. After waiting a short while, a new group of teammates was matched with me. I recognized a few familiar faces from the previous lobby, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the user who had shown such a strong aversion to my weapon was nowhere to be seen.

"Carry us, please."

"Your match history is insane. Is this an alt account?"

Instead, I was met only with friendly gestures.

"Can I add you as a friend after the game? Hehe..."

Some of the gestures were a bit overwhelming, with intentions that were far too obvious. But looking at it this way, it made the user from earlier seem like he had been overreacting. Well, everyone had different standards and opinions, so there was nothing to be done about it.

The game is starting!

With that, the match began, and I ran out toward the battlefield as I always did.

"Is it a control point map?"

Let's see who our opponents are this time. Just as I quickly dashed toward the central control point, someone from the opposing team arrived at almost the exact same time. I immediately swung my sword to greet him. However, contrary to my expectation of landing a clean hit, my opponent evaded my attack with incredibly fluid movements.

"Whoa!"

"Huh?"

The person who had dodged my slash with a rather comical gasp was a face I recognized. Holding a one-handed sword and a shield, he stared at me with wide, startled eyes. He, too, seemed to recognize me.

"That Japanese sword user from earlier!"

"Hello."

It was him—the very user who had looked down on my Japanese sword right before the lobby was dodged.