Chapter 89

Originally, each community has its own unique style.

It’s a natural phenomenon. After all, community operators only provide the system, and the actual users are people.

The so-called “birds of a feather flock together” phenomenon occurs, and similarly, Mirinae and V-TV had completely different viewer bases.

Mirinae treats viewers like kings. From the start, people who liked that kind of thing gathered as viewers, and the broadcasters evolved accordingly.

On the other hand, V-TV treated viewers like friends. Similarly, people who liked that kind of thing gathered as viewers, so they evolved accordingly.

Mirinae and V-TV also had completely different broadcasting styles. V-TV focused on individual streams, while Mirinae had to collaborate to survive.

That’s why Mirinae’s founding member, Palpal, was skilled at handling people.

Palpal, who had run a large crew for a long time, had experienced countless things and mediated numerous fights.

Running an in-game alliance was easy for him.

―――

ㄴㅈ

Narak

Na

Rak

Rak

Na

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“No, guys. Think about it. If it’s just us, we can’t complete the raid within the time limit, right? It’s better to join forces on a larger scale.”

Mirinae and V-TV are in a competitive atmosphere.

Viewers look down on each other, thinking, “We have to beat those guys.”

Well, it’s not strange since everyone has a sense of belonging, but the broadcasters didn’t feel the same way.

Generally, broadcasters didn’t have any special feelings toward Mirinae or V-TV.

Honestly, unless you’re the owner of the site, for an individual broadcaster, Mirinae and V-TV are just platforms to stream on.

It’s like asking someone who works at Samsung why they don’t feel hostile toward Apple. Unless you’re the company owner, why would an ordinary employee feel that way?

The same went for broadcasters.

It’s too late in the era to have loyalty to a workplace. If it were the time of family loyalty, maybe, but not now.

So, Palpal also didn’t have any particular thoughts about V-TV.

“It’s frustrating, guys. Don’t just look at the trees; look at the forest. There are times when you have to join hands even with your enemies.”

However, just because he thought that way didn’t mean he acted on it.

Why?

Because it’s entertainment.

Broadcasters exist to satisfy viewers’ needs, not to say, “Mirinae and V-TV are all the same,” and make things awkward.

Of course, you need to control the viewers appropriately to keep things fun, but…

At least, that wasn’t the case now.

Palpal checked the members of the [Unified Alliance] he had created.

“Has there ever been a time when broadcasters joined forces on this scale?”

As far as Palpal knew, there hadn’t been.

“Everyone who has ever turned on a stream, apply to join the server.”

The strategy of the [Unified Alliance] was simple.

The violence of scale.

Gather as many people as possible and take down the target in one shot.

Even scraping together viewers who met the server participation conditions was part of the plan.

Perhaps because Han Yoorim’s game was such a hot topic, additional participants were expected to log in on a completely different scale than before.

Because of this, it was hard to tell if this was a beta test just for broadcasters or if broadcasters were just participating in the game company’s beta test, but Palpal didn’t care much.

After all, what mattered was the rewards. The game environment wasn’t Palpal’s concern.

[Thank you for the 100 clouds, Clone-nim!]

[Palpal, what will you do when you get the Freedom Game Creation License?]

“Clone-nim, thank you for the 100. I decided not to think about that.”

First, get the rewards, and then think about what to do with them later. That was the conclusion of the [Unified Alliance].

If they argued over grapes they hadn’t even gotten yet, they wouldn’t even form an alliance, let alone complete the raid, before the test ended.

“Anyway, we need at least 10,000 people to make it work. You guys want to see the rewards too, right? So, please participate actively.”

*

The way broadcasters grow can generally be divided into three paths: the righteous path, the heretic path, and the demonic path.

The heretic path. Masters of talking to themselves.

These are the people who turn on their streams and talk endlessly into the void until viewers show up.

It’s the hardest but has the highest potential. The image of growing alone is powerful because, as you know, broadcasters live and die by their image. Such a hard-to-achieve narrative always helps.

On the other hand, the demonic path. Masters of aggro.

These are the ones who mention all sorts of social issues to boost their clout. Political MTube creators fall into this category.

Growth is fast and powerful, but the risks are high. You never know when MTube might put you on the no-profit list and say, “Just get out of our platform.”

And finally, the long-awaited righteous path.

Masters of straw-sucking.

“Huh? Why is straw-sucking the righteous path? Isn’t it weird to call growing alone the heretic path? Did you mix them up?” No.

In the streaming world, straw-sucking is the righteous path, and growing alone is the heretic path.

Because the righteous path refers to the basics, and the basics of streaming are straw-sucking.

Male, <Eternal World> nickname “Geondmul,” streamer nickname “Geondmul,” was also one of the broadcasters who grew through straw-sucking.

A jobless guy who used to snipe streamers and laugh is now a streamer earning hundreds a month.

It was a life reversal that even Spartacus would admire.

Geondmul, who was already famous in the streaming world as a notorious sniper, gained attention after sniping Han Yoorim, but it was purely Geondmul’s sense that led him to sell MTube at the right time. Success depends on opportunity, but the skill to seize it is even more important.

Today, it was proven once again.

There were a ton of Han Yoorim kids. It was only natural since so many people had sniped Han Yoorim.

Some did well, some didn’t, but in the end, what mattered was this: the community jokingly referred to it as the “Han Yoorim Subordinate Pirate Crew,” and it had grown to that scale.

Geondmul looked out into space.

Though barely qualifying as a ship-class, there were still thousands of ship-class spaceships lined up in space.

At this scale, even the most notorious space pirates wouldn’t dare to mess with them.

The [Unified Alliance] was growing bigger by the day.

Originally, some participants who hadn’t thought much of it joined after seeing the scale, and others joined the server with the intention of dedicating themselves to the [Unified Alliance]. It just kept growing without end.

Thanks to this, the [Unified Alliance] had now become a massive coalition of about 30,000 people.

Geondmul also joined the [Unified Alliance]. No, most of the broadcasters who were former snipers of Han Yoorim, known as the “Han Yoorim Subordinate Pirate Crew,” joined the [Unified Alliance].

The reason was simple: it seemed like the most fun way to enjoy Han Yoorim’s game right now.

Han Yoorim’s game was so addictive that even the plates were eaten. This was an unspoken rule among the broadcasters who were former Han Yoorim snipers. No one set it, but it naturally became a thing.

“Geondmul, what’s your job level?”

“It’s low because I died a few times. What about you, Glass Princess?”

“Mine’s low too.”

Just so you know, both of them are former Han Yoorim snipers.

And just so you know, both of them are men.

Geondmul had taken on a sort of leadership role in the “Han Yoorim Subordinate Pirate Crew.” It wasn’t like the crew had enough structure to formally elect a leader, but anyway, the former Han Yoorim sniper broadcasters always gathered around Geondmul.

It was because Geondmul had the biggest clout.

An average of 500 live viewers. An average of 50,000 views on MTube.

With this, he could confidently introduce himself as a mid-tier broadcaster anywhere.

“If I knew it would be like this, I would’ve leveled up more diligently.”

“Who has the highest level in the server right now?”

“Probably Han Yoorim.”

Han Yoorim’s level was unmatched across the entire server.

To keep up with Han Yoorim’s level, you had to repeatedly do crazy things like soloing massive spaceships, and not die in the process. The former was hard, but the latter was even harder.

Han Yoorim’s gaming skills were so famous that it was quiet. If it weren’t, there would’ve been at least five controversies about whether she was using hacks.

“What level is Han Yoorim now?”

“She’s been hiding her level on stream for a while now, so I don’t know.”

“Really? Why?”

“Maybe she wants to surprise us?”

Geondmul nodded at the plausible explanation.

Glass Princess spoke up.

“At this scale, even a giant tentacle monster wouldn’t stand a chance, right?”

“Who knows.”

No one knew the exact specs of the giant tentacle monster.

How much HP it had, what skills it possessed, whether it was even a monster that could be killed, and so on. Everything.

When they asked Han Yoorim, she just replied, “Uncovering the unknown is the true joy of adventure.”

“But with this scale, we should be able to clear the raid. There are 30,000 of us, after all.”

“Definitely.”

“And this isn’t even the end. Right before the beta test ends, the alliance will surpass 50,000 members. If we can’t kill it even then, it must be designed to be unkillable, but that’s probably not the case.”

Putting rewards on a monster that couldn’t be killed no matter what would be nothing but a scam.

Han Yoorim wouldn’t do that, so it must be killable.

That was Geondmul’s conclusion.

“When does the raid start?”

“It’s day 8 of the server now, so probably on day 13?”

The server runs for a total of 14 days.

The game gets stronger as time goes on.

So, attempting the raid on day 14 would have the highest success rate, but there’s a lot to wrap up on the last day of the server. The day before, day 13, was more appropriate.

So, Geondmul diligently leveled up during the remaining time.

One day, two days, three days. Four days passed.

The morning of the 12th day of the server dawned.

That day, Geondmul was also hunting space monsters with the former Han Yoorim snipers, gaining experience.

And just as Geondmul was about to acquire a new ability after successfully completing the hunt—

“Geondmul! Emergency!”

Glass Princess rushed over.

Geondmul tilted his head.

An emergency? What could possibly happen?

The [Unified Alliance] was already close to 50,000 members. Unless the Human Empire went crazy and declared war, there was no reason for an emergency—

“The Human Empire has launched a preemptive strike! An extermination order has been issued!”

“What? It was concluded that the Human Empire had no reason to attack us. They said they’d leave even groups several times our size alone.”

“I don’t know the reason either!”

Geondmul was stunned. This was truly unexpected.

No.

Seriously, why?