A Swordsman’s Stream

Chapter 105

Shin Hayun had maintained the throne of the 10th level AI at the sparring ground for five years.

However, this did not mean that no one could defeat Shin Hayun’s AI.

The AI aggregated accumulated data to imitate that person.

Yet it was impossible for the skill to be conveyed fully by accumulating data on the reactions and movements of a newly victorious person for just about two hours.

Of course, it was true that, thanks to the data accumulated through the constant change of ownership of the 10th level position, the level of the 10th level AI was now close to that of the top players.

Thus, even for regular folks who defeated the 9th level AI, the 10th level remained exceedingly challenging to even consider attempting.

But what if the elite professional players kept fighting and grabbing the chance to win?

It was possible to win.

And whenever this happened, Shin Hayun reclaimed her position.

“Not a single exception in the past five years.”

Baek Doyul recalled a habit of Shin Hayun he had heard from her former colleague.

It was said that Shin Hayun enjoyed practicing by fighting the AI whenever a new challenger appeared.

She would absorb the selected necessary responses picked out by the AI during the data registration process whenever she had the opportunity.

It could be seen as the ultimate practice machine.

Facing an opponent directly was best, but there was no one at a similar level willing to fight as much as desired.

Moreover, that was assuming it was a pure swordsmanship battle.

“Swordsmanship, huh.”

He was quite versed in swordsmanship as well.

His family did not run a swordsmanship school, nor were his parents martial artists.

His parents were ordinary small business owners.

However, “The first game was ‘For Justice’.”

Baek Wigang.

An NPC that evaluates the sword moves you display.

The first NPC Baek Doyul encountered in the virtual reality world was Baek Wigang.

And he found enjoyment in demonstrating sword moves and receiving evaluations, experimenting with various sword moves before him for weeks and expanding his innate insight into swordsmanship.

Then, at one point, he received the first server achievement and was granted the title of Grandmaster (though he didn’t really wear the title), and as he started playing the game fully, he realized his overwhelming talent.

Afterward, he was discovered by the current team manager and immersed himself in the professional world, eventually clinching victory.

『Shin Hayun: Not interested』

However, recently hearing that the title of Grandmaster he alone knew had appeared, he logged into ‘For Justice’ after a long time and discovered his title had been taken.

Why?

Was it a title that could only exist once on the server?

Then, was the sword move that streamer showed just once really that outstanding?

Even though he hadn’t logged into ‘For Justice’ for years, accepting this was difficult.

He then challenged Baek Wigang to reclaim it, but the Grandmaster title did not resurface.

Even watching the video of receiving the title, he couldn’t comprehend it.

What on earth was so different?

『Baek Doyul: You’ve fought that streamer at the sparring ground too, haven’t you?』

Thus, a place he would normally not even glance at caught his interest, and he summoned the 10th level AI to confront it.

And the moment he clashed swords, he realized.

The depth of swordsmanship embedded in each strike was different.

How to counterattack, extend an arm, and prematurely secure an advantageous position.

Counterattacking in situations that seemed it shouldn’t be possible, striking in situations where it seemed one would get countered.

He learned tricks that might have taken a lot of time to realize if he had been alone.

『Shin Hayun: So what?』
『Baek Doyul: Why are you mad?』
『Shin Hayun: You’re interrupting my free time.』
『Baek Doyul: haha』

Using just two consonants, he smiled.

Such is the composure of a winner.

No wonder Shin Hayun was on edge.

In the recent tournament, they were lucky and the other side was unlucky.

The meta and team play meshed better.

Numerous trivial coincidences converged for their victory.

It could have been a defeat if they fought again.

But isn’t this a concept applicable to all contests?

Thus, they were indeed rightful winners.

The weight and composure that victory brought.

『Shin Hayun: Oh, it’s annoying. Block him.』
『Baek Doyul: Wait』
『Baek Doyul: .』
『Baek Doyul: Stop!!』
『Baek Doyul: Hang on.』
『Baek Doyul: Honestly blocked?』
『Baek Doyul: She didn’t, right? You’re seeing this? Can’t chat if blocked.』
『Baek Doyul: Excuse me?』

The composure disappeared instantly.

He almost couldn’t ask anything by annoying her.

『Shin Hayun: Quickly get to the point.』

What intrigued him.

The period Shin Hayun usually reclaimed her position was typically a day or two.

No matter how long, it didn’t exceed a week.

Then why was it taking this long?

Actually, he had already solved this question.

Realizing that there was a lot to learn and exploit, he was also entering the sparring ground for autonomous training every day.

What he was truly curious about.

『Baek Doyul: Don’t you know anything about that person? You started from the early days of virtual reality; I thought you might know something.』

A famous user who had started not from the inception of game tournaments but from the very beginning of virtual reality, that was Shin Hayun.

A living fossil, truly!

Though she was young, even though he was older and started playing late.

At any rate, Shin Hayun was both a fossil and a veteran.

『Shin Hayun: Why?』
『Baek Doyul: I could tell just by looking that they definitely weren’t new to gaming, right?』
『Baek Doyul: Is it possible they give sub-accounts to ordinary people on Surface? If not, maybe it’s a returning user, someone you’d likely know the identity of?』

The identity, what could it be?

He could confidently say it wasn’t the skill of someone playing a game for the first time.

Well, they seemed to have a reincarnation theme for the streaming.

Sure, fine.

For argument’s sake, he could accept that it’s possible for that level of skill to come from remembering a past life.

But accepting the memory of a past life was absolutely impossible.

For a pro, it’s obvious they’re not.

Even with full body plastic surgery, it would be beyond the limits of modern medicine to become that handsome.

A bit envious there.

At any rate, that’s why he speculated it might be someone who played games in the past.

An avatar would have been different from reality back then.

“Honestly, none of it matters.”

The true reason for his curiosity was different.

『Shin Hayun: Won’t tell you haha』
『Baek Doyul: …』
『Shin Hayun: I don’t know the identity either』
『Baek Doyul: That doesn’t seem true at all.』
『Baek Doyul: Anyway, I need the info. We’re considering scouting them if their gaming skills turn out decent.』
『Shin Hayun: Haha』
『Baek Doyul: ??』

Of course. She definitely knew something.

But why laugh?

『Shin Hayun: Anyway, I seriously don’t know, bye』
『Baek Doyul: Okay』

Hmm.

Maybe he should enter the sparring ground one more time.

The time was 7 p.m.

It was autonomous training time.

Though right after a tournament, things were a bit lax, the schedule of a professional gamer still revolved around practice.

Practice, practice, and more practice.

Despite that, it was enjoyable.

Partly because it was gaming, but primarily because competing and winning was fun.

A competitive spirit.

That’s why he inquired about Sojun.

“It’s a bit disheartening.”

Baek Doyul felt a hit to his pride realizing that in swordsmanship alone, he lagged behind Sojun.

The character he was most confident in, in The League, wielded a sword, and his strongest suit was swordsmanship.

Probably due to the influence of the first game he played, swordsmanship became his main weapon and personal strength naturally.

Yet an opponent emerged who surpassed his pure skill in swordsmanship.

How could he not be curious?

“In gaming skills, I’d certainly have the upper hand.”

Virtual reality game combat wasn’t solely about cold weapons.

There were far more diverse ways of fighting, and after becoming a pro, he trained not just in swordsmanship, but in comprehensive combat as well.

That was most certainly why he felt he fell short of that streamer.

He had many other priorities.

Most pros would probably relate to this.

This is also why Shin Hayun being in the sparring ground was a bit unusual.

‘Someone mentioned going to a gym to learn Martial Arts. Hmm.’

*Knock knock.*

Someone knocked on the door of his room.

“Come in.”

*Creak.*

The door opened, and it was the team coach who entered.

“Doyul-ah. How’s the training in the sparring ground going?”

“It’s going well.”

“Okay. Anyway, there’s a reply to the request you made.”

“Oh, finally?”

Sending an offer to Sojun to undergo a test for the team.

That was Baek Doyul’s request.

Though the coach seemed not quite up for it, he still thought there was no harm in testing, so he agreed.

The manager had instructed him as well.

“Yes, that streamer declined the offer to even take the test.”

“Hmm. Got it.”

“Alright.”

After delivering the message, the coach left, and Baek Doyul turned on the streamer’s stream in his solitary room.

Currently, their team was the champion.

The treatment was favorable, and all the recontracts had been completed.

The reason the coach wasn’t very keen on the idea.

That was also true for him.

He didn’t actually want the streamer on the team.

The truth was.

“I merely wanted to face him once.”

If they faced off at the sparring ground, would he lose?

He didn’t know.

Ironically, by fighting Sojun’s AI, he had rapidly absorbed and grown immensely.

Therefore, he wanted to face him once.

“Did they ever play The League? It would be great if I knew.”

So, he tried probing Shin Hayun.

But he gleaned nothing, and even getting him to take the test was a failure.

Baek Doyul didn’t plan to pursue it any further.

It was too much trouble to go that extra mile.

“I’ll meet him eventually if I stay in this world.”

That thought was predominant.

If he was a streamer, not playing The League would be really hard, surely.

With his level of skill, it’d be obvious he’d quickly climb to the highest tier, challenger.

Eventually, they would naturally meet.

“Oh. Or maybe I should reach out to MubiSoft directly?”

A scenario sounded fun.

Heh heh.

“Let’s decide the true Heavenly Demon in a showdown.”

He recalled delving into role-play during ‘For Justice’ after a long time.

Spontaneously, he sent a contribution to Sojun’s stream.

『’True Heavenly Demon’ donated 2,000,000 won!』
『Let’s face off to decide who should claim the title of Heavenly Demon!』

The sum had to be at least enough to catch his interest, right?

『Oh… The true Heavenly Demon has finally shown up. In that case, I shall return to my homeland of the Orthodox faction.』

-Weren’t you going to quit ‘For Justice’ anyway? ㅠㅠㅠ
-Does the Orthodox faction believe that?
-Didn’t he title today’s stream ‘Last ‘For Justice’ Review’? He’s just sitting in his seat milking money. What’s Orthodox about that? lolol
-Oh lol. Spent 2 million won; should just hand over the Heavenly Demon title without a scratch.

Clearly, this wasn’t it.