Chapter 56

Pape woke up and went to the bathroom, splashing cold water on himself.

In an instant, his brain woke up. It wasn’t the healthiest way for his heart, but he loved this sensation and couldn’t let it go.

After drying off and changing into casual clothes, he brewed some black tea, poured it into a thermos, and headed to his streaming room.

The streaming room wasn’t anything special. Just a computer and a treadmill.

In the past, setting up soundproof booths and whatnot was a hassle, but nowadays, technology has advanced so much that even light construction can achieve perfect noise cancellation.

Though, the cost was several times that of a soundproof booth, so unless you were a big-time streamer, most people didn’t bother.

Anyway.

After finishing his setup, Pape turned on the stream.

In less than 5 minutes, the viewer count surpassed 30,000.

Pape’s average live stream viewers usually ranged between 10,000 to 20,000, which was relatively weak for him. But this time, he had already surpassed his usual peak viewership, and there was a good reason for it.

First place.

He was doing a once-per-season exclusive content for *Eternal World*.

Pape turned on the camera and took a sip of his black tea.

*”User ㅇㅇ has donated 10,000 won.”*

*-Breaking News: Han Yoorim reaches Challenger rank 60.*

A donation came right after.

Mentioning another streamer out of the blue was usually a bannable offense, but of course, there were always exceptions.

For example, collaborations. If another streamer appeared on screen, it would be weird not to mention them.

Or close friends. Streamers also call them “crew.”

In Pape’s case, he didn’t have a crew, but he could freely talk about Rumen, a friend he’d known for a long time, on stream (though he’d tone it down if it got too much). Now, Han Yoorim was also included in that list.

Plus, Han Yoorim was in a sort of collaboration state with him.

They never made a bet on who would reach first place first, but it naturally turned into that kind of flow.

Thanks to that, the current V-TV viewers were hopping between Han Yoorim’s and Pape’s streams, munching on popcorn.

Pape set down the thermos and fell into thought.

His current rank was 38th.

That was 22 ranks higher than 60th, but considering that Han Yoorim was Master Tier 1 when he was Challenger 60th, it wasn’t a great situation.

Tormenting the opponent until they surrendered at the 10-minute mark? That was so Han Yoorim.

Still, from now on, the level of the game would rise, and she wouldn’t be able to force such quick surrenders. In fact, after reaching Challenger, Han Yoorim’s climb speed had normalized.

…Well, she did go from Challenger 100th to 60th nonstop.

Thinking about it, it wasn’t really normalized. It just seemed like it because what she showed before was light speed. She was still at sound speed.

No time for this.

He quickly queued up for a quick match.

Pape was a well-known powerhouse in *Eternal World*.

Being an amateur prodigy and friends with Rumen, a top-tier pro, his fame spread even to those who didn’t watch internet streams.

This was the advantage of being a streamer who focused on a popular game.

Even if the players didn’t watch internet streams, they could still recognize him.

The influx of viewers was always open.

The topic drifted a bit, but what was the point again?

Oh, right. Pape’s skills were so outstanding that even the insane demons of *Eternal World* acknowledged him.

The main carry was weak. Enemy scouts harassed him, guardians kept an eye on him, and he was the top priority target in team fights.

In AOS games, it was generally easier to be the one throwing the bait than the one reacting to it.

If it were the opposite, the game would become too slow.

To react to instant crowd control skills that were maintained with the game company’s full support, you had to be one of two things:

Either have insane reaction speed or great prediction skills.

For the record, Pape had both.

The enemy scout started lurking around Pape from level 4.

Pape’s main character, *Metatron*, had a mechanic where he stacked up and ascended based on the stacks.

So, he was weak until he grew. Stack characters were all like that.

The enemy scout measured the distance, then crossed space in an instant to land a crowd control skill.

If he got hit, Metatron, as fragile as paper, would’ve been instantly killed.

But in that split second, Pape used his second basic skill, [Spirit Armor].

*Kiiing—* The armor reduced all enemy attacks to 1 for 1 second, blocking the skill.

Metatron’s core was his first basic skill, [Sword of the Covenant]. Depending on the ascension level, additional effects were added to this skill. How much you strengthened it determined Metatron’s carry potential.

But if you asked people where Metatron’s proficiency was decided, 100 out of 100 would say it was the timing of [Spirit Armor].

How well you used [Spirit Armor] determined Metatron’s early-game combat strength.

Pape, who had flipped a losing fight with a single skill, killed the enemy scout and started a destructive operation.

Roaming around and collecting kills, his ascension timing came abnormally fast.

Once that happened, no one could stop Metatron.

After easily winning the game, Pape sipped his black tea and searched for Han Yoorim’s rank.

Han Yoorim: 58th place

……What did she do to jump two ranks in that short time?

A 25-minute game is already pretty fast for me.

Curious, I checked the match history. The answer was there.

[10 minutes 07 seconds victory]

[10 minutes 15 seconds victory]

I was speechless.

Isn’t this supposed to be impossible now?

What kind of madness do you have to pull off to make even Challengers surrender instantly?

I didn’t even feel like looking up the game details out of fear.

Pape drank another cup of tea to calm his mind and body.

<Eternal World> is a mental game.

To win, you have to play mechanically. Emotions have no place here.

Pape quickly queued up for a quick match and destroyed the game again. 15-minute surrender. Even Han Yoorim would—.

[7 minutes 01 seconds victory]

“????????”

Have you ever flipped a pot of ramen right after cooking it?

That’s exactly how Pape felt right now.

It was utterly baffling.

“What on earth did she do?”

―――

Eternal World never ends in under 10 minutes. If you find a game that ends in under 10 minutes, run away immediately.

Rule 1. If you spot Han Yoorim, lock your doors. Rule 1. If you spot Han Yoorim, lock your doors. Rule 1. If you spot Han Yoorim, lock your doors.

―――

Pape couldn’t resist and watched the replay.

And then he quickly closed it.

It was too brutal to watch.

―――

“This crazy girl lol, she’s literally torturing someone until they AFK.”

“If you get the opener, the game ends in 7 minutes. Note that.”

“She’s completely destroying Challenger mentals, damn.”

―――

I had no idea Noah Weber could be used like that.

Pape muttered to himself.

“This is gonna get an emergency patch, isn’t it?”

The Noah Weber Han Yoorim just showed worked not only in Challenger but also in tournaments.

Even Novella, who’s been neglecting solo rank, strictly protects the tournament scene.

Probably, right after a pro destroys a match with Noah Weber, they’ll hotfix it.

For Pape, who’s known Han Yoorim for a while, this was all too familiar.

“This isn’t good.”

Challengers are quick with information. So, most strategies get countered fast, but…

What does it mean if it works even at the pro level?

It means even if you know, you can’t stop it.

The only way to stop it is to ban it.

Seeing Han Yoorim climbing ranks at an accelerated pace again, Pape diligently queued up for quick matches.

Honestly, who gets to 1st place first wasn’t a big deal for Pape.

Han Yoorim seemed oddly fixated on getting to 1st place first, but Pape was just playing along. Even if Han Yoorim got to 1st place first, it didn’t matter much.

It doesn’t matter. That’s the truth.

But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to lose.

Even if it’s just a lighthearted bet between friends, it’s the same.

Men naturally hate losing in situations like that.

Pape checked his win rate and calculated how many games he needed to reach 1st place.

Current win rate: 74%. Considering it gets harder as you climb, it’ll probably drop to the high 60s.

Even with a perfect win streak, he’d need over 30 games, so realistically, he’d need to play at least 50 more.

Is this even possible?

Pape’s daily maximum number of games was 10. That’s the absolute limit, and he usually played far fewer. Each game required too much focus.

Calculating, he’d need at least 5 days to reach 1st place, but considering Han Yoorim’s climbing speed, she’d definitely overtake him within that time.

…Let’s cut it down to 4 days. If he played the maximum number of games daily and maintained his win rate, it wasn’t impossible.

*Ding.* The game started, and Pape picked Metatron.

The road ahead was long.

*

A few days passed.

Maybe it was the newfound motivation. Or maybe his skills had finally leveled up.

Pape went on an insane winning streak and reached Challenger 10th place.

It was faster than expected.

But Pape didn’t let his guard down.

Han Yoorim: 11th place

Because Han Yoorim was catching up at an even faster pace.

“Still, Han Yoorim’s games are taking over 30 minutes now. I’m still ahead in 1st place, so I have the advantage―.”

*Thud.* The game started.

The enemy team was picking.

Thierry.

He didn’t even need to check the chat to know.

He had finally run into Han Yoorim.