Chapter 22

Pape quickly queued up for the next match.

Thanks to the enemy Main Carry’s trolling, they won way too easily.

The fruits of victory are always sweet, but in games, that’s not always the case.

Winning so effortlessly often left him feeling oddly empty.

“Does Novella even do any work these days? Look at the state of this matchmaking quality.”

Pape frowned, taking a jab at Novella, the developer of *Eternal World*.

—

Now that they’re the world’s number one game, they should build employee break rooms and improve benefits, lol.

Game company rule #1: Once they become a big corporation, the game stops being fun.

—

“Who said anything about making a perfect game? But lately, they can’t even get the basics right. If they only care about tournaments and neglect solo rank, they might as well just host tournaments.”

This was a common complaint among *Eternal World* players these days. The chat was buzzing with excitement.

It was the reaction Pape wanted, so he took a sip of tea.

As the hot liquid entered his body, he felt his brain start to function a bit better.

Every broadcaster has their own weapon.

For some, it’s diligence. This seemingly trivial trait is surprisingly one of the most powerful talents.

Broadcasting 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, sometimes even 24 hours straight, isn’t easy, even if being a streamer is considered a cushy job.

For others, it’s their gaming skills. Even without flashy commentary, exceptional skill can captivate viewers.

Some rely on their wit, others on their looks, and some on their voice.

As for Pape, his weapon was his strong opinions.

Having clear opinions is also a powerful talent. Humans are designed to be influenced by others. Being social creatures carries that meaning.

To overcome this biological mechanism, you need a fair amount of self-confidence.

Having clear opinions gives a person consistency. If someone is the same every time, even if they’re doing something unlikable, it can become likable. Consistency from start to finish is that important.

On top of that, Pape was also smart.

No matter how strong your opinions are, if you’re not smart, you’re just a stubborn person.

If you want to succeed, even if you have tendencies that go against the mainstream, you need to know how to hide them, walk the line, and choose comments that don’t stir up controversy.

Pape was born with that ability set to a very high level.

No wonder he’s a big-time streamer.

—

*”User ㅇㅇ donated 10,000 won.”*

Not going pro?

“Pro? Who’s gonna sponsor me? If you ask Rumen, being a pro isn’t all that. And if I were going to do it, I should’ve done it earlier. I’ve built up my stream like this—how could I just throw it all away and go pro?”

Would Pape have done well as a pro? It’s a recurring topic.

Whenever it came up, Pape would deftly steer the conversation elsewhere.

No one knows the answer to that.

He might have adapted well and become one of the best, like his friend Rumen, or he might have struggled and remained just another solo queue warrior.

Ultimately, since Pape never went pro, it’s impossible to prove. Talking about it would only make him look bad. It’s better to stay quiet.

The queue popped, so Pape picked “Metatron” and went to the bathroom.

After washing his hands and returning to the streaming room, Pape frowned at the chaos in the chat.

—

Stop sniping, damn it.

If you’re gonna snipe, at least don’t make it obvious.

—

What’s going on?

Pape put on his VR device and checked the in-game chat.

Han Yoorim (City Core): Is that really Pape?

About 20 seconds ago, the enemy City Core had typed that in all chat.

Pape sighed internally.

It was just one of those things that came with being a popular streamer.

“It’s not sniping; we just happened to match. If you cross the line in chat from now on, I’ll ban you.”

The reasons streamers dislike sniping are a bit complex.

For example, if you just happen to queue into the same game and play normally, no streamer would dislike that.

But usually, that’s not the case.

Streamers dislike sniping because of the situations that come with it.

Stream sniping? They don’t like it, but the bigger issue is the chaos it causes in the chat. That’s why streamers dislike it more when snipers make it obvious.

Like right now.

Pape was sure that Han Yoorim, the City Core, was sniping. But he left room for the possibility that she wasn’t.

Even if the probability is 99.9%, labeling someone as a sniper is a dumb move.

It just raises the toxicity in chat and increases the chances of problems.

It’s best to handle it like this, keeping things under control.

—

*”User ㅇㅇ donated 1,000 won.”*

She’s a streamer, probably not sniping.

…A streamer?

It was hard to believe. A streamer wouldn’t type something like that in chat.

It’s probably just a donation trying to stir things up. Better not to pay attention.

Pape, along with the Support, stirred up the middle of the city.

The Support’s movements were frustrating, but that’s just because of their low tier. Getting mad at someone playing at their tier level would make him the weird one.

The Scout, who had died after attempting an ambush, started avoiding Pape. Not bad. This meant most of the mid-city objectives were now Pape’s.

After securing a Tier 4 objective, Pape checked the scoreboard and clicked his tongue.

The allied City Core had died twice in a row.

[0/2/0]

That was the allied City Core’s KDA.

The City Core is a battleground, so early-game mistakes are common.

Two deaths. Not great, but not the worst. If they died that much, they should realize their situation and focus on farming.

Of course, avoiding fights would lead to accumulated losses, but Pape was making up for it by securing more advantages.

He planned to let the City Core take the loss while he took out the enemy Scout, Main Carry, and Support—three kills in total.

Pape (Main Carry): Know the enemy Carry’s location?

CCTV잘해요 (Scout): Nope, no idea.

The fact that they still hadn’t located the enemy suggested they were half-asleep, but it was fine. The enemy’s movements were predictable anyway.

Pape moved toward the expected path of the enemy Main Carry, pinging the predicted area.

Then.

*Thud.* A faint sound of footsteps echoed from afar.

Pape stopped and looked in the direction of the sound.

From the alley ahead, a blonde woman walked out, accompanied by the Scout.

The enemy City Core, Thierry, had arrived. Pape sighed internally.

Stalking the Main Carry is one strategy a City Core can use.

But it’s rarely used. It’s a matter of efficiency and success rate.

First, you absolutely need to secure a kill to make it worth it. In an empty city, one kill isn’t much. You’d need back-to-back kills to make it worthwhile.

But how do you get two consecutive kills in such a vast mid-city area?

On top of that, City Cores are weak early on.

City Cores usually pick late-game characters. The role assigned to them forces this.

Support, assassination, information gathering, late-game damage, even playmaking—if you add early-game strength to that, is it even a character? It’s more like a developer’s account.

In this situation, two consecutive kills? You’d have to be dominating the enemy.

There’s a reason the standard strategies are standard.

It’s not a fluke. It’s the standard because it has the highest success rate.

Watching that play, it became clear. The earlier donation was just bait, and the enemy Thierry was definitely sniping.

That was a play you could only attempt if you knew all the positions from room play.

Well, it didn’t matter much.

Even if Pape’s character, Metatron, was particularly weak early game among main carries, it was still hard for a Diamond to kill him.

There was that much of a gap between Diamond and Challenger.

Thierry charges in. The ground beneath her feet freezes solid. It’s the second derived skill of the ice element, [Frost Walk].

Enemies who touch that area get a slight slow. The effect isn’t great, but in extreme close combat, it’s enough of a nuisance.

Whoosh. Flames gather on Thierry’s sword. Pape also summons a sword made of light.

Swords clash.

The core of close-range melee combat is reaction speed.

An arrow shot from 1 meter away is harder to dodge than one from 100 meters. Similarly, a sword swinging right in front of you is hard to avoid.

To excel as a close-range user, the delay between recognition and reaction must be minimal, and in this regard, Pape had never lost.

Even his friend and current pro, Rumen, had lost to him in reaction speed battles.

He could easily toy with an average user.

The light sword pierces through the air. Thierry tilts her head to dodge the attack and swings her flaming sword.

Clang—. The light armor blocks the enemy’s attack. The light sword cuts through the air again. Thierry dodges and swings her sword once more.

Explaining it in words makes it sound long, but in reality, it happens in an instant.

Lost in the flow of swinging his sword, Pape suddenly realizes.

The opponent’s reaction speed was subtly faster than his.

Thierry’s slightly better gear also played a part.

The health gap widens bit by bit. Occasionally, his basic attacks miss, which was the cause. The situation wasn’t looking good.

Gritting his teeth, Pape activates Metatron’s ultimate skill.

Wings of light sprout from his back. Still at 0 Ascension, so only two wings. This only grants the basic effect, but even that was needed now.

Metatron’s slash cuts through the air. A close-range attack converted to long-range. The basic effect of Metatron’s ultimate skill.

It was a mechanic befitting Pape’s main character, who excelled at both ranged and melee combat.

Pape quickly jumps back and swings his sword.

If I can just create some distance, victory is mine…!

Crackle—.

Sparks fly from Thierry’s hand.

Seeing that, Pape instantly realizes his mistake.

In <Eternal World>, the most vulnerable moment for a character is when they’re in mid-air.

Jumping long distances is the fastest way to move, but overusing it in combat leaves you exposed to enemy attacks.

Even Gold-tier players know this.

And yet, he momentarily forgot.

The fight with Thierry had strained his nerves too much.

Seizing the moment when Pape’s body is momentarily airborne, Thierry activates her skill.

Lightning gathers in her right hand.

There was a time when Thierry was an OP character.

It was due to the developers’ balance failure, where just one skill could deliver decent performance.

After nerfs and adjustments, she’s now balanced, but the strong image she left behind still makes that skill the first thing people think of when they hear her name.

The skill’s name is [Jupiter].

A derived ultimate skill of the lightning element,

It was Thierry’s only single-target long-range damage skill.

The scattered sparks gather into one.

Holding a massive lightning spear, Thierry lightly opens her upper body and throws it.

The wrath of the thunder god pierces through the air.

And with that, the battle was over.

Pape, now in a gray screen, checks on his team’s support.

The support, who had been holding off the enemy scout, was instantly killed by Thierry’s arrival.

This wasn’t good.

His pride was hurt, but now there was only one option.

He had to run and avoid the enemy….

‘Ah. It’s room play, isn’t it? What do I do?’

But there was nothing he could do.

Pape twisted his psychology as much as possible and re-routed his path.

And then he ran into Thierry again.

Pape, who died once more, mechanically changed his path.

And every time, he was caught by Thierry.

He repeated this endlessly.

Naturally, the chat exploded.

—

“Is that really a streamer? It’s blatant room play.”

“Who the hell is Han Yoorim?”

“The enemy Thierry last game was her too. And you’re saying it’s not sniping?”

—

The chat moderators were busy banning people, so there weren’t any extreme curses, but the chat was flooded with questions about whether he was really a streamer and how they wanted to tear Thierry apart.

In that atmosphere, Pape actually calmed down.

“I don’t think it’s sniping.”

Unlike before, Pape’s thoughts had changed.

Enemy Thierry. Maybe it wasn’t sniping.

Feeling something off during the game, Pape tried taking a path full of junk that even room play would struggle to follow.

But Thierry still arrived at the farming spot before him.

This was strange.

If they had met midway, he could’ve understood, but she arrived at the destination first?

This was….

Han Yoorim (City Core): “It’s Pape, right?”

It was a play only possible if you were on top of the opponent’s head.

Who is this?

Names of current pros flashed through Pape’s mind.

No one came to mind. He didn’t know any pro with this kind of style.

Someone with such a sneaky, suffocating, and unpleasant playstyle—.

…….

One name did come to mind, but that guy quit gaming, didn’t he?

Pape, just in case, typed in the chat.

Pape (Main Carry): “By any chance…”

He stopped mid-sentence.

It was hard to type the rest.

Pape glanced at the viewer count.

23,921.

Perhaps because of the increased attention, it had surpassed 20,000.

He wanted to cover the screen and ask, but since the enemy had also turned on their stream after the donation, covering the screen wouldn’t help unless both turned off their streams.

Pape took a deep breath and asked.

Pape (Main Carry): “By any chance, are you VirginUnicornLoveGame?”

Thierry responded immediately.

Han Yoorim (City Core): “You abandoned your first love and started a new life with Metatron, huh? Feeling good?”

Pape let out a hollow laugh.

It was confirmed.

But still.

Even if the world is small, who would’ve thought he’d run into a connection from nearly 10 years ago like this.

He never imagined it.