Can You Pull It Off? (1)

The chat was shooting upward like it had lost its mind. Not even my dynamic vision could keep pace with it, and the words blurred until the world in front of my eyes started to spin—and that was when it happened.

"Kahahaha! This little brother believed in you all along, elder brother!"

Cho Ikdeok seized me in a bear hug and hauled me up into the air. The strength in those arms was ridiculous; it felt like my waist was about to snap clean in two.

"Aaaagh! That hurts! I said it hurts!"

"Magnificent, elder brother!"

"I get it, so put me down!"

Only after I'd been spun through the air a few full turns did he finally let go. No matter how I turned it over, that slab of pure Korean muscle was wasted as a Supporter. He was Warrior material through and through.

"Ahem! Are you unharmed?"

"...Thankfully, I don't think any bones got crushed."

"Kahahaha! This humble one simply grew too excited, that is all!"

Cho Ikdeok scratched the back of his head with one enormous hand.

"Cho Ikdeok, wasn't it?"

"Indeed, elder brother!"

"It's true your skill potential as a Supporter is high, but your physical stats and your frame sit even higher than that. So go Paladin—the multi-position that blends Warrior and Supporter. That path will fit you far better."

"Elder brother's counsel! This little brother shall engrave it well!"

His personality was a little eccentric, but his potential as a player was high. If he kept on like this... if things broke the right way, we might even meet in the KPL.

"How did this even..."

"Did we... succeed?"

The Archer and the Mage pushed themselves upright, still gathering the wounds they'd taken in the surprise attack. I gave them a small smile and delivered the news of victory.

"Yes. We cleared it."

"...!"

"Th-thank god...!"

At the word cleared, both of them dropped where they stood, one clutching at their chest, the other letting out a long, shuddering breath of relief. That was how much a single placement match was worth. There were only three games to begin with; lose one, and a full third of your result was carved away in a stroke.

"Thank you so much! If it hadn't been for you, Warrior, we would have been in real trouble!"

"When that damned snake-eyed bastard suddenly attacked, I had no idea what was going to happen... Truly, thank you."

"The two of you worked hard as well."

Whatever else was true, if those two ranged dealers hadn't stacked enough impact into the cliff, the strategy would have been useless. Valkyrie Gorge's gimmick—cliff collapse—demanded far more damage than you'd think before it would trigger. Because the two of them hadn't doubted me and had kept pouring attacks into the rock, I'd been able to bring the whole face down with Fireball.

"If you're really that grateful, follow the streaming account I'm going to make later. And spread the word to the people around you."

"Of course!"

"Haha... I'll have every acquaintance I know follow you."

"You mean if I do that, I can keep watching elder brother's path unfold?! There is no reason not to!"

"Thank you, all of you. Then I suppose I ought to tell you the account name."

I'd already made a streaming account before coming here. The most efficient name there was for promoting myself.

"Shin Jaeha."

My real name.

And with that, the second placement match was over. A team match was already a variable, and having a Bronze-tier game stacked on top of it was another—and still, we'd cleared it cleanly.

"Hyung-nim~!"

Taeya came to greet me with a face even glossier than before.

"Aigoo~ You've worked so hard! I believed in you this time too, of course~."

He worked a refreshing massage into my shoulders, letting out one dopey laugh after another.

"What's with you all of a sudden?"

"Aaah~ it's nothing much~."

Taeya leaned in and whispered at my ear, low enough that the viewers wouldn't catch it. What he told me was nothing other than the sum of the donations that had rolled in while I was playing the second match.

"...Heh heh heh heh heh heh."

"Hahaha! Why are you laughing like that?"

"No reason~ I just suddenly feel great. Heh heh heh heh!"

"Hahahaha! If hyung-nim's happy, then I'm happy too. Hahahaha!"

"Heh heh heh heh heh heh!"

People really do grow generous once there's money in hand. Just look at me now—laughing for absolutely no reason at all.

"This is wonderful and all, but... the scene you showed this time was incredible too. Especially the part where you didn't negotiate with that Troll-Poor and punished him properly—even I let out a gasp, you know?"

"I wasn't particularly thinking about the broadcast."

"Heheheh, then that's even better."

The chat was on fire too. Well, of course it was. In Stones, Iron, and Bronze, trolls like that ran wild, which meant plenty of people had already been burned by bastards cut from the same cloth as Snake Eyes. Watching him get put down was pure vicarious satisfaction.

From Silver upward, the number of trolls dropped off a cliff. At that rank, the kind of player who lived on trolling simply didn't have the skill to arrive, and it wasn't a bracket where you showed up draped in penalties either.

"Well... anyway."

I looked into the camera and put on a thoroughly capitalist smile.

"Mission complete, right?"

Ba-da-ba-bam~!

A grand fanfare of fireworks went off, and the mission reward landed.

Five million won! Even split, that's two and a half million!

My jaw trembled at the sheer size of it. It was enough to repair the training room several times over. And if I added the donation total Taeya had just whispered in my ear...

This is insane.

I couldn't even begin to guess how much I'd made in a single day. Maybe I should just quit everything and become a Channel streamer.

"Hoo."

I gathered up every greedy thought and sent them out on a breath. Right. Money was nothing more than a means to keep my plan moving without a hitch. Once the world fell, money and everything else would mean absolutely noth—

What was that. How many zeros was that, exactly?

"Tennnn milllion wooon!"

Taeya shot up from his seat like a fish flung onto a deck, letting out something closer to a scream than a shout.

A historic sum. A historic name. Among the three great houses of the KPL, the team that stood at the very top.

"Hyung-nim! This is huge! That's K1!"

Taeya grabbed my shoulder and shook it for all he was worth. I was the one who'd received the offer, and yet he looked more excited than I was.

If it's K1, a sum like that makes sense.

K1 had the skill, yes—but they were also the wealthiest team of all. Their parent company was none other than Hwarang Group, the greatest conglomerate in Korea and one of the handful that ranked at the top of all Asia. And that K1 had reached out to me first. Anyone with even the slightest sense of how the world worked would know how precious this chance was. A hundred people out of a hundred would drop flat on their faces: Oh, thank you for so much as glancing at this lowly one.

"...Thank you for the generous donation."

Unfortunately for them, I was not that person.

"Likewise, I'll be in touch later."

I was someone with nothing at all to feel short on.

"No, other teams donated as well. Even if the amounts differ, I shouldn't play favorites~."

Even if I did end up going to K1, reacting to that message now would only cost me. I still hadn't shown them my full value. Put simply, this was the moment when I was cheapest.

Nobody rushes to sell a stock they already know is going to rise.

The other teams had probably caught the scent of exactly that, and were trying to slip in a recruitment offer while I was still going for a bargain.

"Haaah... all right. I'm sure you have your own thoughts about all of this, hyung-nim."

Taeya forced a creaking nod.

"Well then, that's the second placement match finished!"

The viewers' anticipation had reached its limit. I raised a hand and hooked one corner of my mouth.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I won't be doing the third placement match today."

"The final placement match and the rank result will be held on my stream. So... follow Shin Jaeha, turn on notifications, and wait!"

The chat caught fire, warm and furious, exactly as expected.

"Thanks for watching today's broadcast! That's all for now! Poof!"

Before it could swell into a full-scale fire, Taeya slipped in at just the right moment and cut the stream. From the very beginning, the last match had been meant for my own broadcast.

"It's what you call a hook. Get the people gathered first, and one way or another you'll land yourself some regulars!"

"I think that's better too. Show them everything now, and they might lose interest in watching your broadcast."

That had been Taeya's opinion, and Suhyuk-hyung's. And the result—

Ding! Ding! Ding!

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Explosive, in more ways than one.

"Wh... what..."

At that same moment, Ju Yeonseo—who had been watching Taeya's broadcast—gave a small tremble of her shoulders.

Surely it wasn't actually over, just like that? She had donated fifteen million won.

"Why aren't you even surprised when you see the name K1...?!"

To confirm that the skill she had seen in the underground prison last time was no fluke, she had personally hung a mission and donated the princely sum of five million won from her private account.

Hmm~. Just as I thought. A man Grandfather and I both set our eyes on.

This time, too, Shin Jaeha had shown ability that sat clean outside the standard, and Ju Yeonseo's resolve only hardened: she had to bring him into K1. So she had approached him by donating ten million won from the K1 account.

Likewise, I'll be in touch later.

Shin Jaeha's reaction was lukewarm. Not a single syllable differed from the way he had answered when donations came in from other teams—even second-division teams. For her, it was a fresh shock.

"How on earth...? Why...?"

He hadn't even finished the placement ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠matches. She had been watching the broadcast with genuine, buzzing interest, so disappointment hit her all at once, tangled with a sting of hurt.

"Why won't you show any interest?!"

K1 was, in name and in fact, the greatest player team there was—the kind anyone would come running to with their shoes barely on. For a mere unranked Shin Jaeha to act like that was honestly infuriating.

...Don't tell me?

A single hypothesis flickered through Ju Yeonseo's mind.

"Is he pretending not to care on purpose, just to raise his own value?"

It was a rather convincing theory. Certainly, treating every team as equals would look better than groveling at K1 alone and coming off as a status-chaser. At least as far as Ju Yeonseo could see, there was no other reason. There was simply no way he had looked at K1 and truly not been surprised.

"Heheh. And here I thought... You've got a rather cute side, don't you, Mr. Jaeha?"

A man who knew, in his own way, how to wrap himself up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠prettily. And the more someone knew how to do that, the more satisfying it was to peel the wrapping off.

"Wait just a little. I'll come get you myself."

A secret smile drew itself across Ju Yeonseo's face.

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Meanwhile, at that same moment.

"......"

In a corner of Sky Epic's private training room, Taeya's broadcast was playing.