Reincarnator’s Stream

The manager of the training grounds dozed off with his chin resting on his hand. Training grounds existed on every floor.

However, on the 2nd floor, which was practically considered the lowest floor except for the 1st, players rarely visited the training grounds.

Recently, many players opted for the more expensive virtual trial grounds, leaving the training grounds virtually deserted.

This allowed the manager to take naps, just like now.

Step, step—

“Huh?”

The sound of footsteps woke the manager with a start.

It wasn’t a new customer.

The steps were unsteady.

It was the customer who had entered Room 4 about ten minutes ago.

‘It hasn’t even been the full time yet.’

Stagger—

The customer, emerging from the training room, looked unsteady. Watching their wobbly steps, the manager clicked his tongue and muttered,

“I told you it wouldn’t work. Should’ve listened to me.”

Getting up from his seat, the still-groggy manager headed towards the training room. Only ten minutes had passed, but it was his job to clean up after anyone who used the room.

Screech—

The door to Room 4 creaked open. Still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he peered inside.

‘It should be clean. What could someone who just cleared the tutorial do in here…’

His drowsiness vanished as he surveyed the state of the training room. Disbelieving, he rubbed his eyes and checked again, but nothing changed.

“What the…”

Thud—

In his shock, he stumbled backward, losing his balance and falling to the ground. He sat there for a moment, taking in the training room’s condition in a daze.

Arrows littered the floor, broken crossbows lay scattered, and the spears that had sprung from the ground were severed. Sword marks covered the walls.

The training room was a complete wreck. Cleaning this up would take hours.

“What, what, what happened here?”

This wasn’t just passing through traps; it looked like everything had been destroyed along the way.

In other words, it was the work of a player with skills far surpassing the 4th-level training room’s challenges.

‘Who on earth…’

But there had only been one person who entered Room 4.

“…Could it be?”

*

Suhyuk collapsed into the bed of his newly rented room and fell into a deep sleep.

Using the magic sword to push his fatigue to its limits had taken a toll on his body, leaving it aching and battered.

For the next half a day, Exhausted, Suhyuk slept deeply, then hastily washed up and went outside.

‘I’m still a bit stiff.’

A single night’s sleep wasn’t enough to fully recover from the extreme exertion of the previous day. Kindre’s magic sword was known to potentially take the user’s life.

‘Considering it’s one of Kindre’s failures, I should be grateful I got off with just this.’

Stretching his stiff neck, he stepped outside. Walking into a café, he paid 30 points and ordered a cup of coffee, then settled into a seat.

A quiet morning.

Suhyuk sipped his steaming coffee, reminiscing about the previous day’s events in the training room.

‘I can’t believe it actually worked.’

『Status Window』

『Name: Lee Suhyuk』

『Affiliation: Earth』

『Level: 10』

『Strength: 17』

『Agility: 17』

『Stamina: 16』

『Focus: 18』

『Magic: 8』

『Fatigue: 61』

—

It was clear he wasn’t just a player who had barely passed the tutorial. But with only 16 points in stamina, using Kindre’s magic sword was still a stretch.

Originally, it would have been hard for him to use the magic sword’s power effectively, let alone hold it for even a minute.

But now.

‘The physical burden has significantly lessened. Thanks to that, I could draw out more of the magic sword’s power.’

Three minutes.

That was the amount of time Suhyuk could handle the magic sword.

The duration he could use the magic sword had noticeably increased. Plus, he was drawing out a level of power far beyond what his current stamina should allow.

A player on the second floor wielding Kindre’s magic sword. Even the previous Suhyuk would have found that hard to believe.

And that was thanks to the combination of the magic sword and Selfish Sacrifice.

‘This can work.’

Both the magic sword and his lightning ability shared the same mechanism. They utilized the user’s stamina to unleash greater power. It was a very simple structure.

If he could suppress the burden of the magic sword, the same would apply to his lightning. Properly mastering this skill would give him wings.

‘The real issue is my level.’

Checking the skill level of Selfish Sacrifice, which he had upgraded with points, Suhyuk noted,

—

Grade: E

LV: 2

Required Points: 20,000p

—

E-grade.

In his past life, this would have been a skill he wouldn’t even glance at. That was understandable.

Among the skills in the tutorial shop that cost over 2000 points, there were even B-grade skills mixed in.

“…In the end, it’s about the money.”

Ten thousand points. It wasn’t an enormous amount. But for points earned in the tutorial, it was indeed a significant sum.

And that entire amount had vanished in an instant.

Now he needed 20,000 points.

At this point, he had no points, and no one would lend money to a player who had just reached the second floor.

‘The stronger the skill’s power, the more points it requires to improve. Right now, I can’t even handle a rare-grade magic sword, let alone my lightning ability…’

The issue was clearly points. Selfish Sacrifice was a rare growth-type skill. Moreover, the only way to level it up was by using points.

In other words, he needed to make money.

Not just a little, but a substantial amount of money.

“Who would’ve thought I’d have to worry about this?”

Suhyuk sighed and looked out the window. Back in Blue Eyes, he never had to worry about such things. Back then, points flowed in from all directions without him needing to do anything.

If he had taken an interest, he could have earned several times more by actively gathering points. But now the situation was different.

‘How should I earn money?’

Thinking more about points than raising stats or acquiring skills was a new experience.

“….”

As he stared out the window for a while, Suhyuk’s expression gradually contorted. And then, with a tone of determination, he muttered, “There’s nothing.”

Nothing came to mind.

Nothing at all.

He had never had to worry about such things.

Points kept flowing in while he just sat idle, and he personally acquired most of the items he used, so there was no reason to know how to earn points.

Eventually, his frustration turned to complaint.

“Why points, of all things? This isn’t even a game.”

To think he needed to spend money here too.

‘Sure, if I climb higher and clear dungeons, I can earn points. But that would take too much time.’

Suhyuk needed results now. If he regained his former strength, earning points would naturally follow, but that was a long-term goal.

He needed a more groundbreaking method. Realizing that his own thinking wouldn’t come up with a solution, Suhyuk finally decided to get some help, and took out his player kit.

『Would you like to search ‘How to earn points’?』

It seemed like a popular search query as several pieces of information popped up.

—

『Earn points even while you sleep. Easily make 10,000 points a month as a side job…』

『Safe point-based lottery. I made 100,000 points with this…』

『High earnings guaranteed! Limited to the first 3 people…』

—

The articles that appeared seemed aimed at duping the naive. Most of them were posted by multi-level marketing scammers. Fortunately, Suhyuk had enough sense to filter out such obvious traps.

‘There’s nothing useful.’

For now, the only way for him to earn points was by climbing the tower. As he passed trials and ascended the tower, he would receive points similar to the rewards from the tutorial.

Of course, From the 2nd floor onwards, he needed to pay an entry fee in points to participate in the trials.

“That’s why there’s no other way right now…?”

Just as he was about to close the kit, a headline caught Suhyuk’s eye.

—

『Now is the era of ‘Players’. One out of ten players has tried streaming.』

—

‘Streaming…?’

He seemed to have heard of it before.

From 20 years ago, when he was active, a certain site was known to stream individual streams of players.

And the body’s previous owner had some vague memory of it as well.

‘Players. A major site recognized by the system.’

Gathering information about it, Suhyuk started to understand how it worked. It was similar to what existed in his original world, making it easy to grasp.

‘This is just like YouTube.’

Reading about Players’ streaming system gave off a strong whiff of opportunity. The smell of money—or rather, points, in this world.

Suhyuk’s eyes lit up.

It seemed a bit troublesome, but he had found a viable method.

“Oh, what’s this? Suhyuk?”

Just then, a customer who just entered the café called out to Suhyuk.

“You’ve come up as well?”

It was a man with long blonde hair that reached his shoulders. Despite his clear-cut features and delicate face, his eyes had a somewhat fierce gleam.

Step, step—

Even his stride was menacing. The excitement Suhyuk felt a moment ago vanished instantly. He sensed unknown hostility from the man approaching him.

“Good to see you, man. You must have found a place nearby, huh?”

Thunk—

Without asking for permission, the man sat down across from Suhyuk.

Rude.

Irritated, Suhyuk frowned and scrutinized the man sitting across from him.

‘Where have I seen him before?’

His memory wavered but didn’t immediately surface. It wasn’t his own memory.

It belonged to Lee Suhyuk.

The memories of the body he now inhabited.

As he tried to recall, “Why… Why are you doing this?”

“I don’t like your name, you piece of shit. You know that?”

“My name?”

“Yeah, your name. Lee Suhyuk? It’s unlucky to have the same name as that dead bastard.”

A scene played out in his mind. And the man’s name came to him.

‘Isaac.’

The memory triggered a sheepish smile from Suhyuk as he scratched his head. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but he felt a bit guilty.

‘Was it because of me?’

Not liking his name. Whether the guy was a fan or an anti-fan, it was clear he had been harassed for having the same name.

Tremble, tremble—

His hand shook slightly. It looked as if he was scared. Despite his will, the tremor in his hand made Suhyuk meet Isaac’s gaze.

The guy was still smiling. When had he last seen that kind of look?

It was a look that belittled and dismissed the opponent.

“My lodging is right next to this building.”

“Really? Fascinating. A fool like you managed to pass the tutorial. I thought you wouldn’t even be able to take down a single goblin.”

Isaac was a fellow student at the same educational institution as Suhyuk. With a famous ranker for a father, he had inherited exceptional talent and received generous support.

“Just lucky, I guess.”

Suhyuk replied dismissively. He was too old to be wasting breath arguing with this young brat.

Taking his words at face value, Isaac started bragging about his accomplishments.

“I passed up to the 20th stage. Surpassed my father’s record. Examiner Hugo praised me so much.”

“Oh, really?”

“I got a skill as a reward. It’s….”

Isaac kept chattering on. Suhyuk listened with one ear and let it out through the other.

He had no intention of avenging something that hadn’t happened to him personally. Besides, they had graduated from the institution, and he wouldn’t likely cross paths with Isaac much in the future.

“But talking so much makes me thirsty.”

Then,

“Why don’t you buy me a cup of tea too?”

That was something he couldn’t let slide. With a sharp expression, Suhyuk, who had been casually ignoring Isaac’s words, turned to him.

“Aren’t you rich? Buy it yourself.”

Every point counted for Suhyuk right now.