Chapter 28. Scheduled to Shake Countless Hands at the Year-End Party
Chapter 28. Scheduled to Shake Countless Hands at the Year-End Party
The auction ended, and for the first time in a while, I did a game stream.
Because I'd recently gotten hooked on a certain game.
It was a well-received new release about hunting monsters, grinding for loot, and gearing up.
"Ugh, this is frustrating."
[Still, you're good at the game lol]
[Yeah]
"No, the thing is, I hate wailing on some dude with a club for dozens or hundreds of hits when one light tap would finish him."
[That's only possible for you;;]
[Don't confuse reality with the game lol]
[For him, isn't reality more like a game?]
While I was feeling frustrated, Laila was steadily playing through the game.
My position was up front, taking and dealing hits. Laila's position was in the back, attacking and providing support.
"Hero, you can't just rush in like that, okay?"
"Nngh..."
Whether out of frustration, I tensed up my fingers and had already wrecked several gamepads.
Just then, a donation came in from another streamer.
[ Nudungji has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- We're hunting that monster too, want to join us?
[Hey]
[Nudungji, hey]
[Nice to see you lol]
"Should we?"
I typed in the link he sent me in a private message and joined the Discord channel.
But it wasn't just Nudungji. Other people were there too.
"Hero, can you hear me?"
"..."
"Hello~"
"Nice to meet you~"
"Whoa, a celebrity!"
The storm of greetings was so overwhelming I couldn't compose myself.
Laila, on the other hand, handled the introductions with practiced ease.
[Look at Hero's eyes, half-closed lololol]
[You moron, if people say hi, at least acknowledge them lolol]
"Ah, hello..."
[He looks like such a total shut-in lolol]
"It's not easy."
Nudungji explained a bunch of things and talked about his guild.
He said a lot of other streamers were in it, and coaxed me to join them in the game.
Then, like I was possessed, I even submitted a guild application to Nudungji's guild.
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- Our Hero is really shy, so I'm sending this donation so I can go to their rooms and tell the streamers not to pester you. Don't worry.
I muted my Discord mic for a moment.
"You bitch! Pull that crap and you get banned."
[Seriously, she's the Internet Lü Bu, this chick lolol]
[How come he's so confident in front of hunters but shuts his mouth here?]
[(A Saintess emote saying "No swearing!")]
"Hero, are you coming to the year-end party this time?"
"Yes, I'll probably go."
"Let's have a drink then. I'll introduce you to a lot of great people."
Tap-tap-tap...
[ World's Strongest Hero : Ah, I really wish you wouldn't ]
[Lol you idiot lolololol]
[Go outside and meet some people, man lol]
[ World's Strongest Hero : You guys don't leave your houses either ]
[?]
[You little punk, wanna fight?]
Still, the saving grace was that Laila kept the conversation flowing in the voice chat among all these streamers.
Thinking back, the decision to do a collaborative stream was a stroke of divine genius.
'If I'd been stuck in that alone...!'
Horrifying.
"By the way, Hero, why do you use a greatsword?"
"Uh... it just has a nice feel to the swing, and it's brisk and refreshing."
The veterans who had played through the previous titles a lot gave me helpful feedback.
But I honestly had no idea what they were talking about.
"When you hunt these guys, Bwoong-kwang-bwoo-woong-kwang-bwoo-woong-kwaang is way better."
"?"
As I stood there zoning out, another streamer joined the conversation.
"But for Hero's style, tackle-tackle-bwoo-woong-kwaang would probably be better, don't you think?"
I still couldn't understand.
Tap-tap-tap...
[ World's Strongest Hero : What are you guys saying? ]
[No, dumbass, the attack you're using now is bwoo-woong-kwang-bwoong-kwang, but they're saying bwoong-kwang-bwoo-woong-kwang is better]
[ World's Strongest Hero : What the hell are they even saying? ]
Noticing I was completely lost, Nudungji chimed in too.
"Haha, Hero's new to this game, so he won't understand if you phrase it like that."
"Ah, sorry. Our slang was a bit hard to follow, huh?"
"Whoa, a genuine newbie?"
"Sounds a bit naughty..."
As they said that, they started stuffing all sorts of things into my character's inventory.
They even gave me so much and said it was a shame they couldn't give more.
"..."
[ Oil Rig has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- But that move got nerfed now, so bwoong-kwang-bwoo-woong-kwang-whoo-eeng is better now, isn't it?
Now what the hell was this guy...
In the end, I was semi-forced to enjoy the game until the sun went down.
In contrast to Laila's somewhat proud expression, exhaustion was draped all over my face.
---
Even after the game ended, our collaborative stream continued.
Thanks to that, I was completely drained...
"Anyway, Hero, you're really amazing."
"Huh?"
"Just... most S-rank hunters are a bit, how should I put it... aloof? They had this unapproachable, noble-like vibe."
"They're all just people, same as everyone else."
"Whoa! Does Hero mean that in the end, everyone's pretty much the same deep down?"
[Adding more controversy]
[They're all the same bastards anyway?]
[To him, S-rank or C-rank are all the same lol]
Maybe because they were professional streamers, they were constantly generating content.
From schemes to ship me with Laila, to this newly sparked fan war...
'But honestly, a lot of them were pretty much six of one, half a dozen of the other.'
"Anyway, this year-end party seems like it'll be pretty lively."
"Right. Speaking of which, I heard a ton of people are planning to attend this year?"
"I heard they've got way more sponsors too!"
"?"
As I quietly listened to their conversation, Laila laughed beside me.
"They're probably coming to see Hero. And the sponsors are hoping they might catch your eye."
"Is that so?"
"There was actually an article saying the sales for the brand of T-shirt you always wear went up quite a bit."
To be fair, I'd never found clothes more comfortable.
"The company CEO even made a post on social media thanking you, you know? I bet you didn't know."
"If they're grateful, tell them to send me a ton more T-shirts."
In the end, they're just ordinary T-shirts, not hunter gear.
They tend to rip fast if I move a little too roughly in daily life.
'Well, I did protect my body when fighting monsters, but still...'
The conversation drifted back to the topic of the year-end party.
The others, apart from Laila and me, had attended the party before.
"So, do a lot of people come?"
"Hmm... almost all the partner streamers come."
"There's a follower count requirement, but it's not too strict, so plenty of regular streamers attend too."
"And once you're there, fans gather outside the building just to catch a glimpse of the streamers."
From what they said, Pajijik personally contacted streamers with a certain level of reach.
If not, you had to fill out an individual application and send it to Pajijik.
"Do you just let the fans do whatever?"
"Well, most of them follow the crowd control pretty well, and they're blocked from entering the building, so."
[Even if we're no-life unemployed losers, we don't cause trouble for others, you know?]
[Don't lump everyone as no-life unemployed losers;; That's just you lol]
[Tsk]
[For real lolol]
"People who haven't revealed their faces sometimes come in separately through the back door."
"Face reveal?"
"Yes, VTubers or people who don't turn on their cameras."
"I am a bit curious about that."
"Oh? About someone in particular?"
I told them about the streamers I used to enjoy watching in the past.
Out of the ones I mentioned, many were streamers who hid their faces.
"Whoa... you've been a viewer since way back."
"Well, I come from a viewer background myself."
"Heh heh..."
"?"
He suddenly started grinning.
Why was he laughing, it's making me uneasy...
"Everyone spread this clip to every streamer room!! S-rank Hunter from viewer background is attending the year-end party to scout for red pills!!!"
"???"
[Sssssssssss]
[Kyah, as expected of the Streaming Emperor lololol]
As 3 a.m. approached, I was getting ready to end the stream.
"Well then, good work, everyone..."
[He looks exhausted as hell]
[If this is harder for him than catching monsters, 100% upvote lol]
"Upvote..."
As always when I end the stream, I turned on the scheduled music and waited until the song finished.
[ Max has donated 3,000,000 Watts! ]
- Hey, Hoon! I'm going to Korea!!!
"?"
Max?
Could it be...
[A huge donation right before the stream ends]
[Kyah, awesome]
[Our Hero's already breaking into the overseas market]
I shook my head.
Why would he, an S-rank hunter and the master of a huge guild, feel the need to watch my stream...
And in the first place, he's someone with no reason to come to Korea.
"Anyway, see everyone tomorrow."
---
In the dead of night, when everyone was asleep.
The fruit I had casually picked up at Baekdu Mountain began to work a miracle.
[ A Cure for Blood Vessel-Freezing 'Frost Blood Syndrome' on the Horizon? ]
[ The Flame from Baekdu Mountain, the Final Key to Thawing Frost Blood ]
[ Experts Warn 'Irresponsible Hope Risks Making Lives Harder for Frost Blood Patients' ]
Frost Blood Syndrome.
A rare disease where mana flows along blood vessels, causing a cooling effect.
In its early stages, it shows simple hypothermia symptoms, but in severe cases, the blood vessels freeze, and subsequently, major organs like the heart, lungs, and brain freeze over, leading to death in extreme agony.
A promising signal had just lit up, pointing toward a complete cure for that rare disease.