Chapter 54

[Boss. Did you know I played a game with a streamer named Arena during this solo rank?]

“She’s a VTuber I’ve been watching a lot lately.”

[VTuber…? Anyway, her editor asked if they could use your broadcast footage. What should we do?]

“It’s fine.”

[Got it. Since you’re allowing it, let’s also use Arena’s broadcast footage as a source.]

—

After finishing the call with Jeong Sang-heon, I turned on *Resurrected Students Also Need Love*.

I wanted to keep streaming solo rank, but I had no choice but to take a break due to the viewers’ overwhelming support telling me to rest.

—

“Taking a break means turning off the stream and sleeping, you idiots.”

“He’s playing a different game now.”

—

Even though I clearly granted the viewers’ wishes, protests kept pouring in for some reason.

Weird. Isn’t the rule that when you grant a wish, they move on to the afterlife?

Meaning, these guys aren’t my viewers. They’re terrorists.

There’s no negotiating with terrorists.

Ding dong. Yoorim Company! The logo pops up with a signature sound.

For a moment, I thought I heard someone shout, “But Inho Company sucks!”

What’s this? A ghost?

But honestly, “Inho” does sound kinda bad. Admit it.

Anyway. Whatever the reason, evil spirits must be exorcised.

I drew a cross and even sprayed holy water (a perfume gifted by Bunny Run).

The game starts.

The intro plays, and soon I’m dropped into the noisy cram school classroom.

—

“Did no one get Han Yoorim’s true ending, so you’re showing it yourself?”

—

“No way.”

That’s for other users to figure out. I’m not about to spoil it.

I abruptly got up and left the academy. Class was still in session.

But the viewers weren’t fazed.

Gamers are the kind of people who won’t be satisfied until they’ve completed a racing game in reverse within a day of its release.

Skipping class to wander outside? Others have been doing that for ages.

I went to an arcade and sat down in front of a fighting game machine.

The viewers were puzzled.

—

“Isn’t that just nothing?”

“It’s just a game machine with the same screen repeating over and over.”

—

Many have come this far.

But no one has done *this*.

I grabbed the controller and entered the hidden command for a famous fighting game.

Ta-da.

The logo appeared on the fighting game machine that had been stuck on the same screen.

“This works online too, so anyone who bought the game can join.”

—

“What the hell was that just now?”

“What did you even put in this dating sim?”

—

“You don’t know the hidden character select command?”

If you don’t know, go study.

I created a room and waited for someone to join.

Soon, one person entered.

HanYoorim’sToothbrush: “Hi.”

“Hello, Toothbrush.”

I greeted them warmly and picked my character.

[I don’t like that ending, by the way.]

Aylie. The name of the female character from *Excel Busters*.

In response, the opponent chose Jess, the male character from *Excel Busters*.

“I’ll give you some time to practice the moves.”

About 10 minutes later, Toothbrush gave the go-ahead.

The game began.

Whoosh. The opponent stepped around, moving back and forth.

They must have a lot of experience with fighting games.

I was already breathless from their light footwork.

“Ugh.”

Round 1. I got beaten mercilessly and lost.

Wiping my sweat, I muttered,

“You’re not ordinary. You must have over 10 years of fighting game experience.”

—

“They’re really good.”

“For someone playing this for the first time, their combos are so clean.”

—

Round 2. It was a fierce battle, but I lost again.

“This won’t be easy.”

Then Round 3. I barely managed to win.

Round 4. Again, I barely won.

Round 5. I won by a hair’s breadth.

“Guess I got lucky.”

—

“That was a real nail-biter.”

“It’s been a while since I watched a fighting game, and it’s so fun lol.”

—

“Next person, come on in.”

This time, the opponent chose the paladin character from *Fantasy Life*.

I stuck with Aylie.

Round 1: Loss. Round 2: Loss. Cornered, I barely scraped a win in Round 3 and then won Rounds 4 and 5 by a narrow margin.

Losing two and then winning three is always thrilling.

“Your damage output is insane. You must’ve already figured out the frame data.”

—

“That was intense.”

“When skilled players face off, you can’t tell who’s gonna win until the very end.”

—

“My limits are starting to show.”

The next person chose the thief character from *Fantasy Life*.

Their stylish gameplay is their strength, making them a tough opponent.

Sure enough, they pressured me hard. Using daggers to attack low and mixing up options, I couldn’t keep up.

Round 1: I lost helplessly.

Round 2: Again, I couldn’t land a single hit and lost.

This can’t go on.

If I lose like this, everyone’s sacrifices will be in vain…!

[Yoorim. Remember. The answer is always within you.]

“Master!”

That’s right. Every loss so far had meaning.

Every defeat was a stepping stone toward the future.

Once I realized this, I could read the opponent’s movements.

So this is the view you’ve been seeing.

Thud. I stepped into the void.

With a determined expression, I stared at my opponent.

From now on, it’s not going to be easy.

[Victory]

I won the 5th round by a narrow margin and let out a breath.

“That was close.”

It was a tough opponent.

Wiping the sweat off my pants, I glanced at the chat.

The viewers must have been excited watching this intense match, right?

—

“What the hell, something feels off.”

“Crazy bastard.”

“When did you even make that master voice?”

—

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about.”

<ㅇㅇ님이 1000원 후원>

– Don’t mess with people, you crazy b*tch.

It’s a misunderstanding. If I hadn’t had that epiphany just now, I would’ve been the one who lost.

But people didn’t believe me.

A society without trust is this cold.

“Next.”

In the end, there’s only one thing I can do.

Prove it.

After that, I kept repeating intense battles (barely winning by a narrow margin).

After fighting about 30 people, I felt refreshed.

I opened my mouth while drinking my usual plum-flavored beverage.

“I’ve hidden a bunch of mini-games too. Try to find them.”

After a month of no one finding them, I dropped a hint.

How about it? Can’t sleep because you’re so excited, right?

—

“Finally, all Pape wins by a narrow margin.”

“No wonder newbies don’t stick around in fighting games.”

—

Huh. Why is no one interested?

“I said I hid a bunch of mini-games.”

—

“What do you call this? A hardcore 5-stack psycho?”

“Just call them a lunatic.”

—

For some reason, the viewers aren’t interested in the game and only talk about me.

Talking only about me on my stream? That’s a Geneva Convention violation.

Ah, whatever. It’s the vibe.

“I’ll teach you how to play RTS games too. Go to a PC bang, enter the cheats for classic RTS games in order, and boom. How about it? Looks fun, right?”

A screen showing an RTS game where demons, angels, and humans fight appeared.

“The room’s open, so come in one by one.”

<ㅇㅇ님이 1000원 후원>

– I’m not playing games with you anymore, you b*stard.

*

Despite saying I wouldn’t, I got a lot of handshake requests.

After picking random and giving 56 people a taste of various strategies, it was time for my part-time job.

I headed to the movie theater in a good mood.

“Hey, you seem in a really good mood today.”

“There’s someone I wanted to see who’s working today.”

“…Who?”

“Sadly, it’s not In-ho.”

Kim In-ho flinched. He waved his hands, saying it’s not like that, but I have no idea what he’s talking about.

I hummed as I headed to the staff room.

Creak. When I opened the door, the person inside jumped and looked up.

“Unnie? Why are you so hyped?”

“Because I can finally teach that cheeky rabbit a lesson.”

Bunny Run keeps running away, so I still haven’t settled the score.

I sat down, crossed my legs, and let out a scoff.

“Diamond 1? With that tier, you still came to work?”

“Unnie, snap out of it.”

“The Bunny… I mean, Chaewon I knew would’ve been too embarrassed to sleep if she was Diamond 1. You’ve changed a lot.”

“Unnie, I’ve always been bouncing between Diamond 1 and Master. Plus, we only met a few months ago.”

Hmm.

Tasteless.

If Bunny Run was Diamond 5, I wouldn’t have reacted like this. Is there a way to make her Diamond 5?

“Unnie, your eyes are scary.”

“My eyes are always normal.”

“And unnie, don’t you have better things to do? I saw your stream yesterday, you were just messing around. Is that okay?”

What are you talking about?

I tilted my head, confused, and Bunny Run explained.

“Pape’s been grinding solo queue hard.”

“Well, he’s a skilled streamer, so of course he grinds.”

“That’s not what I mean. Unnie, have you seen Pape’s rank recently?”

“I checked it once before.”

“You haven’t seen it lately. Go search it up.”

I did as Bunny Run said and opened the ranking page to check Pape’s rank.

Pape: 64th place.

…Huh?

In just two days, Pape’s rank had risen by about 20 places.

Something felt off, so I turned on his stream.

Pape’s stream title was as follows:

[1st Place Run]

This.

Are you trying to hit 1st place first to avoid settling the score?

I saw the future.

Han Yoorim: Pape, aren’t you sleepy at that tier?

Pape: I’m taking a break after hitting 1st place before you.

No!

If you’re going to play like that, I have no choice but to use my ultimate move.

Starting tomorrow, I’m going no-life until I hit 1st place.

“Phew.”

I thought I heard a sigh of relief from the side, like ‘mission accomplished,’ but that’s not important right now.

I’m the one who’s going to get the One Piece.

No one else can have it.