NOVEL WEB Chapter 14
Chapter 14
* * *
– This doesn’t seem like a question I should answer on my own. I’ll report to Director Kook and then provide a response. However… I think higher-ups will probably give a positive answer.
After Park Yoonsik left, Yoon Seah spoke weakly.
“Uncle, I’ll… take a rest for a bit.”
The conversation with high-ranking officials didn’t seem easy for Yoon Seah, who was just a high school student.
Seong Jihan nodded slightly.
“Sure, take a nap. I’ll be starting the league, so come watch Battle Tube when you have time.”
“You playing on the…. Dad’s connector?”
“No. Barehanded.”
“Huh… barehanded?”
Seong Jihan said it nonchalantly, but it was a serious matter for Yoon Seah.
Yoon Seah grabbed Seong Jihan’s arm urgently.
“Uncle! That’s too dangerous! Battle Net play should be done on the connector! You know how painful it could be!”
“Well, you have to take a hit at least to feel the pain. I haven’t been hit even once so far.”
“…Mister, why have you become so showy?”
“It’s a bit disheartening to be called ‘mister’ at 27 years old.”
Seong Jihan chuckled and patted Yoon Seah’s head.
“Get motivated by seeing your cool uncle, Niece.”
“Geez, winning first place in Gangnam and showing off… I’ll see through your weaknesses, Uncle.”
“Yeah, yeah. Take a rest.”
As Yoon Seah went back to her room, Seong Jihan waved her goodbye and checked his achievement points.
“It’s 45,600 points. Quite a collection.”
He wondered how he had earned more points by broadcasting on Battle Tube than by playing the game.
Seong Jihan looked around the achievement store.
[Achievement Store LV.4]
[Upgrade Achievement Store – 50,000P
Status Window Expansion LV.1 – 10,000P
Class Slot Addition LV.1 – 10,000P
Inventory Expansion LV.1 – 10,000P
Title Slot Addition LV.1 – 10,000P
Emergency Recovery (Item) – 10,000P]
Upgrading the achievement store required a bit more points than he had. However, upgrading the store could be postponed for Seong Jihan.
“Let’s add a class.”
To acquire a new unique stat, he needed a total of 2 classes. Eventually, to return to the Warrior class, he needed 3.
For now, it would be wise to add one.
Seong Jihan selected the Class Slot Addition LV.1 in the achievement store.
[Class Slot Addition LV.1 has been purchased.]
[10,000P will be deducted from your achievement points.]
After the message appeared, a new class slot was added.
“It’s so easy.”
Seeing the new slot below the Support class, Seong Jihan let out a bitter laugh.
It only took 10,000 points to gain one class slot. It’s too cheap.
Seong Jihan checked the next class addition item.
[Class Slot Addition LV.2 – Requires Achievement Store LV.5.]
To add another class, he needed to raise the achievement store level once more.
“Now the conditions seem to be getting tougher.”
Store upgrade costs 50,000 achievement points. And to get Class Slot Addition LV.2, he would need tens of thousands of points, probably.
“If it weren’t for the achievement points earned through Battle Tube, it would have been an unimaginable figure.”
“I need to actively use the broadcasting feature.”
Now that Yoon Sejin was gone, the nation’s attention was focused on me.
Rather than shrinking from people’s gaze, he had decided to use it actively while the public’s interest was on him.
Seong Jihan touched the newly added second class slot.
[You can switch to the base class.]
[The classes available for switching are as follows:
-Warrior
-Archer
-Mage]
[Would you like to select a class?]
As expected, the switching window only removed the Support option, leaving the rest unchanged.
Seong Jihan looked at it and chuckled.
“Barren, I will choose what you used to brag about all the time.”
Barren Williams, the world ranking 1 in the previous life.
The guild master of American First, he possessed an SSS-rank gift.
“My two status windows… is a cheating gift.”
Two status windows. True to its name, this gift doubled all the items in the status window—classes, titles, even the future Sanctum section.
With the doubled experience points and GP, and two sets of ability points, no player could match Barren’s growth speed.
He was a staunch American-first advocate as the founder of the American First guild, but oddly enough, he would grab Seong Jihan when he got drunk during guild parties.
“Jihan! Come here. Let’s have a drink!”
“Master, if you’re going to talk about the past again, I’ll pass.”
“I won’t! I just want to talk with you!”
He kept saying the same things.
“Jihan… I feel sorry for you. You’re not a true American.”
“Master, I told you to stop saying that.”
“Argh! Shouldn’t you have immigrated to America sooner? If you had immigrated before 2010, I would have appreciated you more…”
“Sigh.”
“Jihan, listen to me!”
While saying that, he kindly told how he had acquired the unique stat.
“I’m Barren! Honestly, when I was in Bronze, I lacked self-confidence. Even though I got the SSS-level gift of having two status windows… I didn’t even know if it was good.”
“That’s a good thing, Master.”
“I know, I know! Haha! Anyway!”
“Because you didn’t know if the gift was good, you decided to just stick with an easy Support. While you were raising your sanctity, you suddenly got a connection… Weren’t you going to say that?”
“Jihan… how did you know? Did you hack me?”
“This is the fifth time you’ve told me this.”
Seong Jihan looked back at the past and chuckled.
Barren Williams, the guild master of American First and world ranking 1.
Although he was an American-first advocate, he wasn’t actually a bad person.
“Actually, following his words, if I were to naturalize in the US now, I might become more influential.”
Barren’s prejudice was limited to immigrants after the tutorial.
And the criterion for this distinction was remarkably simple.
People who immigrated before the tutorial had their nationality changed on Battle Net, but those who immigrated afterward didn’t.
“Later, that felt like a stigma.”
Seong Jihan shook his head and remembered how Barren had told him about acquiring the unique stat.
“I chose Support and Mage classes. Fighting upfront didn’t look cool.”
“First, I’ll obtain the Support and Mage classes.”
Following Barren’s words, Seong Jihan chose his classes. Since he had already chosen Support, the next choice was the Mage profession.
[You have switched to the Mage class.]
[The F-rank skill ‘Fire’ has been added.]
[The F-rank skill ‘Ice’ has been added.]
Seong Jihan, who had chosen two classes completely unrelated to physical strength, checked his Divine power.
“It’s 8. Without the title effect, it’s 7.”
The gains from yesterday’s broadcast weren’t just achievement points. While the ad-free broadcast had fewer views than expected, it still brought in a considerable amount of GP.
Seong Jihan had used that GP to purchase relics from the Battle Net Market and had experienced their effects.
“Holding relics while sleeping. It really had an effect.”
After sleeping with relics bought with GP from the broadcast, his Divine power has increased by 1.
“First, Sanctity needs to reach 10 to meet Barren’s conditions.”
Sanctity 10 was the minimum requirement to acquire the unique stat.
“Physical strength was quite easy to obtain.”
Compared to the instantaneous gain of physical strength, Barren’s unique stat had strict acquisition conditions.
“But it’s worth it.”
Seong Jihan collected the relics he had purchased for his room.
“Well then, I need to quickly acquire Divine power in the next game.”
* * *
“This mission is Survival.”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
As the sound of drums echoed from all directions, Seong Jihan quickly analyzed the map.
“Once again, it’s the Colosseum.”
The Survival map, the Colosseum.
It was the same map he had seen during the first tutorial.
Although the map itself was the same as before, there was a clear difference from back then.
Unlike the tutorial, the Colosseum in the main game had an audience.
“Is the audience elves this time?”
Seong Jihan looked at the arrogant figures sitting in the Colosseum seats, sticking out his tongue.
Tall human-like race with large ears, elves.
They had a remarkably beautiful appearance that would make humans sigh in awe. However, they were a race with a sinister and treacherous nature.
“Elves have deceived humanity quite a bit.”
If you were to allocate blame for the downfall of humanity, more than half of it would be on the elves.
They were backstabbers through and through.
“And this time, it won’t go as it did before.”
After making that resolution, Seong Jihan looked around.
Unlike during the tutorial, many players with much better and stronger equipment were staring at him.
“It’s Seong Jihan!”
Seong Jihan, who became famous overnight.
The players looked at him with cautious eyes.
“The guy who did the tutorial just yesterday. How is he matched with me already? My level is 16.”
“Did he use that Divine power-infused aura in the broadcast? He’s not an easy guy.”
Seong Jihan’s appearance seemed extremely pitiable.
He held an iron club in one hand and a huge kitchen knife in the other, making his balance completely off. His attire was like that of a sweatpants-wearing casual player, offering zero defense.
Compared to the other players who were equipped with generous guild-provided gear, he looked like a delicious target to anyone.
But people were cautious.
“I might die from just one hit.”
“It seems like I’m bothered by something I used.”
“Should I watch other guys fight first?”
As players exchanged glances and observed the summoned players, a player appeared near Seong Jihan.
A man adorned in dazzling golden equipment.
As soon as he appeared in the Colosseum, he started speaking energetically.
“Hello~ everyone! It’s Golden Light here. Today, let’s begin our deep-sea exploration together! Oh my gooood~ Boss!! Thank you for the GP support as soon as I logged into the game!”
The other players frowned upon seeing him.
“Ugh, that guy showed up too.”
“Is he still doing the deep-sea exploration project?”
Golden Light.
A BJ who had gained some popularity on Battle Tube due to his handsome appearance, and just a few months ago, he was a promising “Gold Leaguer”.
However,
“What will happen if Gold drops to Bronze? Let’s find out through the deep-sea exploration project. It begins!”
He had planned an unprecedented project to grow his Battle Tube channel further. It was called the ‘Deep-Sea Exploration Project.’
Since that day, Golden Light began intentionally losing matches.
“Sorry, teammates~ I have to be last place… Hehe~ I’ll go commit suicide!”
“Hey, wait a second… You crazy bastard!”
Golden Light, who lowered his level from Gold to Silver, and then from Silver to Bronze.
He stopped losing deliberately only after reaching level 5.
“Now, from here on,I, Golden Light! I’ll keep aiming for first place and climb up~ Aren’t the skills worth it? Haha! The skills I waste can be restored with the ‘love’ of my viewers!”
And that’s when Golden Light’s deep-sea exploration broadcasts began.
Even though his level was 5, he had plenty of game experience, and he had all the Gold-level equipment from his Gold days…
There was no Bronze player who could defeat Golden since he was a complete player who had risen to Gold League.
“Ah, come on… Is this the level of Gangnam?”
“Tsk, tsk. Not that you just swing around a human liver sword.”
Broadcast content that ridiculed opponents who were putting up resistance.
Even if promising players gathered in Gangnam Area 1, no one could match Golden Light.
“The first place is beyond reach.”
“Let’s avoid that guy.”
When all players decided not to fight against Golden and turned their heads to avoid his gaze.
Golden Light’s eyes sparkled as he looked around.
“Oh… Oh! Everyone, look at what I’ve found!”
The person he locked eyes with was none other than Seong Jihan in his sweatpants attire.