A Swordsman’s Stream

Chapter 11

“Enemy! The enemy has infiltrated!”

An NPC, wandering around the area in a set pattern, caught Alpaca by his tail.

‘Damn. It’s too crowded.’

Alpaca immediately used his smoke and duplication skills to disperse the aggro and hung on the outer wall of the second-floor spectator seats.

‘My stamina better hold up.’

Parkour depleted stamina with every move. He could have conserved it by using wires, adhesives, or other tools, but Alpaca was currently attempting an assassination challenge using only his bare hands.

‘If I fall, they’ll swarm me, and I’ll be caught with no escape. But if I go up, the NPCs are still on alert. Even if I stay put for too long, the organization members on the first floor will spot me. What skill should I use…’

Even with a week’s worth of accumulated experience, his hasty thought process seemed in vain.

“Ha ha ha ha!”

Suddenly, a maniacal laugh echoed, followed by the sound of something slicing through the air.

Shwooosh!

Alpaca, still hanging on, turned to look behind him. Then, he instinctively shut his eyes tight as something fast approached.

The blade struck him squarely between the eyebrows, causing him to fall directly from where he had been hanging.

Thud.

“Ahhh! Failed again!”

It was a disaster. Every time he died, his reputation took a hit, and now he had to perform simple, repetitive tasks just to buy information from the guild. Alternatively, he could engage in another mundane sub-quest.

Both options were equally troublesome.

He had hoped to handle Drake using the reputation he gathered from assassinating various NPCs.

– Hahaha!
– You really suck! Quit the game.
– Time for some grind.
– Give up on going bare-handed already.

The viewers relished in his failure more than anyone.

‘How wicked.’

He couldn’t help but wonder why they enjoyed it so much.

Although Alpaca didn’t consider his stream to be one that attracted the nastiest types, his years of streaming experience had taught him that most viewers harbored at least a bit of mischief in their hearts.

『’ㅇㅇ’ donated 1,000 won!』
『There’s a new route for getting Drake’s location info on the community. Go check it out.』

“Oh? Thank you for the 1,000-won tip!”

Indeed, it was viewers like this that kept him going.

‘But then again,’ he thought, because whenever he checked such tips, it usually led to low-quality photoshopped pictures of real alpacas caught on fishing lines.

‘But a streamer’s fate is to play along even when they know.’

He paused the game and returned to the lobby. A vast highland meadow spread out before him, and he sat down on a haystack-shaped chair. It had been a gift, custom-made by a fan.

‘At first, I wondered if they were mocking me.’

But to his surprise, the chair was incredibly comfortable, and the scenery was nice. In the end, he decided to use the meadow as his default background, out of appreciation for his fan’s effort.

Baaah! Baaah!

As he settled into his hay chair, the resident animal Alpaca approached him. Its name was Daebak. With its pure white fur and an adorably disgruntled face, it was a mascot of his stream.

Spit!

Alpaca turned his head aside as Daebak spat.

“Ew!”

Although he knew the spit was just a graphical effect, he couldn’t help but react each time.

– Hahaha!
– Daebak is here!
– When will you ever get used to it? Lol.
– ㅡㅅㅡ
– ㅡㅇㅡ (Spat!)

‘Did the fans really need to include a spitting motion?’

Even the most loyal fans who designed high-quality lobbies couldn’t resist adding a touch of mischief, it seemed.

Baaah!

He ignored Daebak, who was munching on the haystack he was sitting on, and opened the internet.

“What should I search? Perhaps I should check the info board…”

– Try the 30 posts recommendation board.
– Discussion board.
– Incident and accident board.
– Free board.
– Nope, it’s the tips and tricks board.

These responses.

Who could he blame but himself for asking the viewers?

“Let’s see. Here it is.”

『New Route for Drake’s Location Information』

The person in the video was extracting information from the organization members in a very unique, no, extremely unique way.

“Wow! There was a method like this? I wonder who was kind enough to share this.”

Alpaca, who could parry fairly well, immediately brightened up. He wouldn’t have to engage in tedious reputation farming anymore.

“Whoever discovered this, and the developers who hid this route, are truly amazing. Don’t you think?”

– Indeed.
– Amazing.
– The detail of an open-world game lies in its level of freedom.
– Breath is a godly game!

With the burden of finding Drake’s base lifted, Alpaca began calculating how many more attempts he could manage within today’s stream.

And at that moment, a long donation message appeared.

『’Hahahahahaha’ donated 10,000 won generously!』
『Is now really the time to be impressed? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha』

It seemed like they had crammed the message to the very limit of the character count.

Then, a voice chat rang out.

『”What a Fool” donated 10,000 won generously!』
『???: If that succeeds, I’ll take that person as my mentor, learn from them, and stream non-stop until I defeat Drake using Musou!』

What?

“Who cleared it? No way. No matter what you say, I’m not falling for it.”

Even in the virtual reality setting, Alpaca felt cold sweat trickling down his back.

It was unsettling.

Suddenly, he remembered the fact that Etor was captured yesterday. No way. Why didn’t he think of it earlier?

While blaming himself, the chat started to fill with people silently laughing.

People typing only ‘LOLOLOL ‘.

Given his viewers’ usual inability to unite, there was only one time they’d all laugh together.

‘When I struggle.’

Just then, another post with 30 recommendations popped up above the one he was reading.

『First Clear of Drake Musou.』

“Wow, geez. Did you manipulate the recommendations to fool me? I told you, I won’t fall for it. You guys are so harsh.”

Gulp.

Though he verbally denied it, his hand slowly moved towards the post.

And then, the truth was revealed.

A man was holding a pipe and was beating Drake effortlessly.

Really effortlessly.

At first, he thought.

‘Hey? Maybe this is doable? Kingslayer stream might be possible?’

But at that moment, the man on the screen parried a sword and dodged a chain coming from behind just by tilting his head casually.

His sense of relief vanished, and the sequence of events forced him to confront reality.

‘This is messed up.’

There was no way he could replicate that.

He’d struggled even with assassinations; Musou was out of the question.

So.

“That looks like video editing, right? There’s no way someone could beat it like that, right? Agree with me, please?”

He began to deny the video.

– No way LOLOLOL

– Rambling LOLOLOL LOL

– Alpaca started denying reality LOLOLOL LOLOLOL

– Threatening on

– He’s a streamer. It’ll all come out in travel clips.

Of course, it fell on deaf ears.

“Oh, so this is the streamer who defeated Etor using Musou.”

He started to change the subject.

– ??? Was Etor defeated?

-??

– On the first day of Alpaca’s opening LOLOLOL LOL got beaten by Etor for 10 hours trying for a Perfect Clear. Now someone’s defeated it?

– How did they do it????

His viewers knew just how hard defeating Etor was due to his failed challenge a week ago.

Their interest quickly shifted to how Etor was defeated, and Alpaca thought it was a good change of topic.

『’ThisIsHowYouDefeatEtor’ donated 10,000 won generously! – travel clip』

A video donation played just in time.

The streamer, Jin Sojun, demonstrated his skill against a flail.

Even Alpaca, who had seen it before, was once again impressed.

How much would he have to practice to reach that level?

The movements were smooth, flexible, yet disciplined.

– Wow! As expected from Nameless.
– Seriously amazing.
– This blows someone I know out of the water.
-LOLOLOL LOLOLOL
– You need to be this good to do Musou.
– What’s the streamer’s name?

Even new viewers seemed surprised.

“And what’s more amazing is that he’s only been playing the game for two days. I was totally amazed when I found out.”

-?? Crazy talented.
– Isn’t he some kind of intangible cultural heritage in real life?

– Not a fluke. GG.
– We get it, but you still have to stream non-stop, right?

Alpaca’s eyes shook like a sailor facing a storm while reading the chat.

He heard a voice from the sky saying, ‘Do you really think you can?’

Then, another voice chat played.

『”What a Fool” donated 10,000 won generously!』
『???: If that succeeds, I’ll take that person as my mentor, learn from them, and stream non-stop until I defeat Drake using Musou!』

“Sigh…”

Alpaca let out a deep sigh. Changing the subject was futile.

He deeply regretted his previous reckless statements.

‘Would they let it slide if I stream non-stop for three days…?’

Defeating Drake to end the stream didn’t even cross his mind.

With a sullen expression, Alpaca looked at the title of the next post and shouted for no reason.

『Raise your hooves for the Alpaca trembling after Drake was defeatedLOLOLOL 』

“Hey! If I had hooves, would I even be wearing shoes? You fools! Don’t upvote posts like this. I’m already feeling down.”

– LOLOLOL LOLOLOL

– Alpaca hoovesLOLOLOL LOL

– Who wrote that? Well done.
– LOLOLOL LOL

– ㅡㅅㅡ

『Upvote for the handsome Alpaca watching the community.』

This one he liked.

Alpaca slyly entered the post and upvoted it.

– Traitor!
– Cut down the traitor!
– Where is the manager?

The usual suspects again. The Alpaca heaved a deep sigh and conceded defeat.

“Well, a promise is a promise.”

Even if he collapsed during the stream, viewers would understand.

– “Wow, amazing Alpaca!”

– “Is the next stream titled ‘New Year’s Waiting Room’?”

– “Let’s aim for the longest streaming session in the Guinness Book of World Records, lol.”

– “Who wants to bet on whether the new ‘Assassin’s Dawn’ game will come out first or if the game is completed first?”

– “It seems like in this lifetime, you’ll die just doing broadcasts, geez.”

Was it not? The Alpaca glanced at the viewers. Meanwhile, he had a thought that collaborating might be fun.
– “Hey, it would be fun if you did a streamer guest panel like earlier.”

– “I went to their community page, and they are really good, lol.”

As if reading his mind, similar chats popped up. However.

“Firstly, please don’t mention me when you go to their stream. It would be a nuisance.”

In such matters, caution had to be preemptively and firmly provided.

– “Okay.”

– “Sure.”

– “Got it.”

The fact that he was a second-day streamer concerned him. The chance of a collaboration was slim, and the circumstances suggested it might be more of a hindrance. It could be stressful for the new streamer.

‘Hmm.’

As the Alpaca pondered, a Travel notification popped up.

Checking the notification, the Alpaca’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Alright. That’s it for today’s stream.”

– “We understand today.”

– “If we complain now, we’d be shameless, considering the next stream will be never-ending, lol.”

– “Really, lol.”

“Thanks, everyone.”

『The stream has ended.』

An announcement was posted on the Alpaca’s fan cafe about a possible collaboration.

* * *

Meanwhile, in one of the more than ten subsidiary development studios under MubiSoft. In the office of the president of MubiSoft Korea, the developer of “Assassin’s Dawn – Shadows in the City” someone abruptly burst in.

“President. We have a problem.”

“What is it?”

Eve Faimo, the president of MubiSoft Korea, swiveled her chair to see who had just entered.

Kim Yunchan. A very optimistic junior employee.

“A Ruler was captured, president.”

“…….”

“He was captured using Musou.”

The content was troubling enough for Eve Faimo to ask for detailed information.

“Who?”

“Drake.”

“Well then, it doesn’t matter. He was bound to be caught at some point. Isn’t that guy the weakest?”

Eve Faimo’s serious expression relaxed.

“But what if people start getting curious about the Fragments of Order….”

Eve Faimo cut off Kim Yunchan.

“Enough. It’s unnecessary worry. If the Fragments of Order are gathered too quickly, it would indeed disrupt our plans. But you are the one who devised and implemented the mechanism that prevents this in the game. Why the sudden concern?”

The Fragments of Order could be obtained every time a ruler was captured using Musou. Among the rulers, there was one character that couldn’t be captured by skill alone and required a specific skill’s help.

They designed the game so that it takes players a considerable amount of time to unlock that skill. In other words, there was no need to worry just yet.

“I understand that, but you never know. Especially since that person is a streamer. He just walked in and captured him moments ago.”

“You are such an optimist.”

“It’s an intuition.”

“Be quiet and get back to work. Wait… did you just say moments ago? Were you watching streams during work hours?”

“…… Oh dear. I’ll get going now.”

“Hey!”

* * *

The next day.

“What are you doing?”

“Just looking up game skill info.”

Taewoo shook his head disapprovingly as he watched Sojun looking at community pages from the cab seat next to him.

“Don’t get too obsessed with that stuff.”

“… Shut up. I’m just double-checking things for the upcoming collaboration.”

The collaboration was arranged quite suddenly, leaving little time for planning. However, they had managed to discuss how to proceed with the collaboration.

“By the way, why are you coming along, Taewoo?”

“I want to see him again after a long time.”

“What about your stream?”

“I’ll do it at a nearby capsule room. They work perfectly fine.”

‘Sigh.’

Sojun sighed deeply. The demeanor of a veteran streamer was truly admirable.

“We’ve arrived.”

The cab driver announced their arrival. They paid the fare and stepped out.

“Follow me; I’ve been here a few times.”

“Alright. But why did you meet him before?”

“He used to run a new talent discovery content. I met him then. Though, I had four years of experience, and you have just three days. Damn it.”

Despite his words, Taewoo did not seem genuinely envious or despondent. He had endured a long, tough period before finding success. Comparing oneself to others was futile—only oneself matters.

It took them about thirty minutes of wandering to finally arrive at their destination.

‘You said you’ve been here before.’

Sojun, shaking his head, pressed the doorbell.

Ding-dong.

After a short while, the door opened, and someone appeared from inside.