Chapter 7

Chapter 7: [Knight Soul] No Way... A Hidden Route...? (3)

Trinex.

Not long after Ju Seo-jin succeeded in conquering the first boss monster of [Knight Soul], posts began circulating through the community.

[Dustnet(=Category: {Game / Streamer}]

*Post Title: [Knight Soul] Someone killed Trinex on their first encounter in “Nightmare” Mode hahahaha

└Author: Anonymous(OP)

━{ Video }

━I was watching because some female streamer on Space Stream was baiting people by saying it was her first time playing a virtual reality game while doing a gaming stream hahahahahaha

━Fuck, the boyfriend next to the female streamer smashed Trinex’s instant-death pattern gimmick, then suddenly went for a one-on-one duel and won without getting hit even once haha

━Isn’t killing Trinex on the first encounter in [Knight Soul]’s Nightmare Mode a world record??

-〔Anonymous〕: ??????????????????

-〔Anonymous〕: Holy fucking shit; what is this???;

-〔Anonymous〕: I watched it all the way to the end because I thought it would be fake.. Why is this real?;

-〔Anonymous〕: Fucking Trinex in [Knight Soul]’s Nightmare Mode, could you actually kill that thing in the tutorial?? No, wasn’t what came out at the start of that video the instant-death gimmick in the first place?? That was breakable, fuck??

-〔Anonymous〕: Wow hahahahaha Isn’t this Myangbangwool? I heard rumors that her Physical Skill is historically bad even among female streamers haha

└[Anonymous(OP)]: Yeah; it is Myangbangwool. I turned the stream on for a moment because she was insanely pretty, but the crazy handsome boyfriend next to her — his Physical Skill was insane, seriously;

└[MyangbangwoolGuardSquadMemberA]: Hey, she is not Myangbangwool’s boyfriend, but her real older brother. Get your facts straight before you talk. Myangbangwool does not have a boyfriend. Okay? Got it?

└[Anonymous]: Haha, did that get to you?

└[MyangbangwoolGuardSquadMemberA]: ...?

-〔Anonymous〕: Fuck.. I think this really is a world first? I searched WeTube and Kogle a bit, but there is no record;;;;

└[Anonymous]: Fuck, then a Korean was the first in the world to one-turn kill Trinex in [Knight Soul]’s Nightmare Mode haha? Kya hahahahahahahaha

└[Anonymous]: What are you doing? Prepare the national pride. We are drinking in national pride until we die today hahahahahahahahahaha

└[Anonymous]: Fuck haha This actually fills me with some national pride?????? Is this streamer really Myangbangwool? I am going to watch right now haha

-〔Anonymous〕: This is insane.. Isn’t this beyond-human Physical Skill?? What is that female streamer’s boyfriend’s identity? Was he an athlete or something? What is he??

└[Anonymous]: He is a total newbie trying Full Dive for the first time today hahahahaha Apparently, he has never even played a virtual reality game before haha

└[Anonymous]: ???

└[Anonymous]: It is true haha Go check

└[Anonymous]: Why the hell is this real..?

└[Anonymous]: That is insane;;;;;;;;;

And there were not just one or two, but several posts in succession.

[Dustnet(=Category: {Game / Streamer}]

*Post Title: Myangbangwool — when did she get a boyfriend? There is an insanely handsome guy who is ridiculously good at games?????????? He is seriously crazy good at games, so you guys should go watch too haha

[Dustnet(=Category: {Game / Streamer}]

*Post Title: Someone one-try killed Trinex in the tutorial in [Knight Soul]’s Nightmare Mode, and he is Korean hahahahaha

[Dustnet(=Category: {Game / Streamer}]

*Post Title: Wow.. someone managed to one-try kill tutorial Trinex in [Knight Soul]’s Nightmare Mode. 

Seems like a world record?

…

……

………

The title of Trinex’s first-encounter killer was inevitably a topic that drew attention at the present time, when interest in [Knight Soul] was high.

The viewers who had been watching Ju Seo-yoon’s streaming, swept up in excitement, posted about it all across internet communities, and attention rapidly gathered... leading to a single result.

《 [Knight Soul] : An all-time genius talent is going for a One-Coin Clear in “Nightmare” Mode haha (※He started virtual reality games today ha) 》

━Myangbangwool(wntjdbsdlqslek1231)

*Viewer Count : 2,172 → 3,712 (※HOT!)

...It was a rapid surge in popularity.

***

At the same time.

After killing Trinex, Ju Seo-jin sat on the stairs near the entrance of the chapel, tilted his head, then nodded.

“Hmm. So... to summarize, the fact that I defeated Trinex is something very impressive. Is that what you mean? I understand.”

At the same time, reactions rose in the chat window as if the viewers were deeply moved.

-Kya..

-Finally!

-Wow... he really is the type who is insanely hard to make understand, fuck haha.

-For real, I almost died because he was so frustrating;;

-Myangbangwool — what the hell is she doing? She is not properly assisting Ju Seo-jin, is she? She has gotten too complacent..!!

-?? This is our streamer’s stream, so why does she have to assist the guest?;

-Why the hell would this be your stream, you bastard hahahahaha

-From now on, this is Ju Seo-jin’s stream, got it??

Ju Seo-jin belatedly read the chat window and realized just how impressive what he had done was.

No.

In truth, he was merely accepting it because the viewers on the streaming window were saying so; it did not really feel real to him. 

He wondered if it was truly such an impressive thing.

Even if defeating Trinex without getting hit even once might be difficult, defeating Trinex itself had seemed doable.

It was only natural that he would tilt his head.

‘Well... even so, defeating Trinex without getting hit even once would be fairly difficult. Let us leave it at that.’

To Ju Seo-jin, who had spent his entire life struggling to keep the Eyes That Saw Fate “closed,” it was bound to be something difficult to understand.

Because the Power of Foresight leaked out little by little, his senses were slightly sharpened even in ordinary times, so the threshold of “difficulty” was different for him than for others.

Still, he could readily accept at least the fact that this was not an easy task.

Well. He, too, would not have been able to accomplish this much if he had not used the Power of Foresight to its limit. 

The problem... lay elsewhere.

Ju Seo-jin stared silently at the chat window, which was rolling along just fine on its own, and narrowed his eyes as he sank into thought.

‘Could it be that if I use the ability all the way to its limit, it can be depleted...? Otherwise, this is difficult to understand.’

Why was it? 

Even when he tried to forcefully draw out the Eyes That Saw Fate, that is- the Power of Foresight, it did not work as he wanted.

‘I have been trying to activate the Power of Foresight for a while now, but it will not do what I want. It feels like... it has overheated.’

The Power of Foresight. 

The ability to see and change fate had temporarily entered an overheated state. 

It was unprecedented.

‘Rather than being completely unable to use my eyes... it feels like I used them to their limit, so a cooldown has formed. I think I will be able to use them again if I wait a little.’

It felt unfamiliar.

Was it because, ever since he was young, he had only thought about what he had to do to suppress this ability? 

He had never imagined there would be a “next” after using this ability all the way to its limit.

At the same time... perhaps because he had used the Eyes That Saw Fate to their limit, he felt a new sense opening. 

The scenery reflected in his two eyes had changed slightly.

‘I do not know why, but ever since I used my eyes to their limit... how should I put it, I started seeing something strange.’

Ju Seo-jin glanced over and looked over Ju Seo-yoon, who was still going, “Uh-buh-buh-,” and unable to come to her senses.

And... at the white smoke-like energy rising from her body, he narrowed his eyes.

‘This... no matter how I think about it, it feels like I have gained eyes that can see the Divine Energy...? No, to be more precise- Spiritual Energy...? Something like what Grandfather told me about before.’

Suddenly recalling the words of his maternal grandfather, Ju Seo-jin rubbed his chin and sank into thought.

He had heard that even ordinary people, while they might not have Divine Energy like a Shaman who had received Spirit Descent, did have Spiritual Energy, and that it was also their fortune, which influenced the entirety of their life.

As he looked at the white energy leaking out of Ju Seo-yoon’s body, he could instinctively perceive things like whether it was “auspicious” or “inauspicious.”

For now, it felt closer to “auspicious,” but how it would be going forward was unknown.

‘I am not certain... but even so, if there is something I can feel to this extent, it would be right to say my eyes have developed further.’

In other words.

Did that not mean that because he had used the Power of Foresight to the maximum and gained a certain degree of proficiency, the Eyes That Saw Fate had also been strengthened further?

Whether this was good or bad.

He did not know for sure, but at least at the present moment, it did not feel particularly unpleasant.

Had he not confirmed that inside a virtual reality game, he could use his ability to the maximum without any price or backlash?

It was not a bad thing that, in addition to the Power of Foresight, one more ability he could use with the Eyes That Saw Fate had increased.

‘Mm. If I can use it the same way in reality as well, I am a little worried about the Rebound... but just because my eyes have improved a bit, the backlash will not become larger... right. Probably.’

If it stopped at merely divining a single person’s fortune through good and ill luck, then even if it was constantly activated in reality, the aftereffects, price, or backlash would probably not be very large.

CRACK-

Then. 

Ju Seo-jin, escaping from his thoughts, stretched widely and turned his head.

It was about time to drag Ju Seo-yoon, who was standing there blankly, back to the real world.

“Seo-yoon.”

“Uweh... ek?”

“You. What have you been doing this whole time? Trinex died ages ago. Why are you just standing still?”

“Ah... th-that’s true. Now that I think about it, we did defeat Trinex... Cong-congratulations on clearing the Mission...? No! That is not it!”

Ju Seo-yoon came to her senses with a “Gasp-,” then immediately approached Ju Seo-jin and stammered in a fluster.

“H-How did you do that? Trinex! You... you really defeated it, right? Right?”

“What? ......What are you talking about? You watched me defeat Trinex by myself.”

“Waaah... Is it true? It is true, right? Th-Then, Oppa... you achieved a world record by one-turn killing Trinex in [Knight Soul]’s highest difficulty mode, right?”

“Mm... uh, well, people said that was the case. I suppose I was lucky. It is nothing much.”

“Are you insane...? Nothing much, my ass! Th-This is huge! It is huge!”

“I see-.”

-(Soulless)

-Look at that reaction...

-Is he a block of wood..

-No.. does this money demon not react unless it is about money? Seriously, this is ridiculous;

-This is.. the image of someone who achieved a world record..? The first-encounter killer of Trinex.......???????

It was not a story that really struck him in any particular way.

Even if they said it was impressive, it was difficult for him to get a sense of what exactly was so outstanding about it.

To Ju Seo-jin, the Mission Funds he had received for clearing the Mission were far more interesting.

‘Well, I suppose that is natural. Praise leaves nothing behind, but money leaves a great deal behind.’

...It was, inevitably, a capitalist mindset steeped all the way into the depths of his soul.

DING-

[ has donated ‘10,000 won.’]

━Ju Seo-jin. You achieved a world record in [Knight Soul]’s Nightmare Mode.. Please say a few words about how you feel.. you money demon..

“Ah. Thank you for the ten-thousand-won donation, ‘LetUsGoHardcore.’ Mm... I can hardly believe it, but if I achieved a world record, I do feel proud.”

-...?

-This bastard?

-His reaction is still soulless, but look at how he suddenly gets polite when it is said through a donation;;

-He really committed to the money demon concept, seriously;

-Hey, you sons of bitches, hurry up and donate.. Try to draw a bit more of his thoughts out of that block of wood;;;

-I thought he might be a machine after watching him fight earlier, and I guess he really is a machine. There is no way a human would react like this..

It was just when the viewers, having realized that Ju Seo-jin at least reacted fairly well to donations, were about to try communicating by sending donations.

“Uh...? Uhuhuh? U-Uhuhuh?”

“?”

“W-Wait a moment. I-Is this real?”

“What is?”

“O-Oppa... l-look at the streaming window...!”

“Mm?”

In that instant. 

Suddenly, while manipulating the streaming window, Ju Seo-yoon inhaled sharply and showed a shocked reaction.

It was a strange reaction. 

At that, Ju Seo-jin tilted his head briefly, then began to look into the streaming window. 

And... soon, his eyes began to blink- blink- in puzzlement.

Then, that puzzlement soon turned into surprise, leading to a rare expression of emotion.

“What is this?”

Naturally.

《 [Knight Soul] : An all-time genius talent is going for a One-Coin Clear in “Nightmare” Mode haha (※He started virtual reality games today ha) 》

━Myangbangwool(wntjdbsdlqslek1231)

*Viewer Count : 2,172 → 3,712 (※HOT!)

***

《 [Knight Soul] : An all-time genius talent is going for a One-Coin Clear in “Nightmare” Mode haha (※He started virtual reality games today ha) 》

━Myangbangwool(wntjdbsdlqslek1231)

*Viewer Count : 3,712 → 4,211 (※HOT!)

***

《 [Knight Soul] : An all-time genius talent is going for a One-Coin Clear in “Nightmare” Mode haha (※He started virtual reality games today ha) 》

━Myangbangwool(wntjdbsdlqslek1231)

*Viewer Count : 4,211 → 5,112 (※HOT!)

***

《 [Knight Soul] : An all-time genius talent is going for a One-Coin Clear in “Nightmare” Mode haha (※He started virtual reality games today ha) 》

━Myangbangwool(wntjdbsdlqslek1231)

*Viewer Count : 5,112 → 6,112 (※SUPER HOT!)

-Look at the Broadcast Title hahaha An all-time genius talent is going for a One-Coin Clear hahahahaha It is so honest haha

-Kya.. Is this the place where the Korean who set a world record in [Knight Soul] is haha....??

-What is this haha? Looks like he really did succeed at a first-encounter kill on Trinex? Legendary hahahahahahaha

-What is this? Is this the place with the person who achieved the world record for a one-try kill on Trinex? There is a female streamer here too?

It was none other than───.

“……….”

‘The viewer count...’

Interest had burst forth beyond the level of a rapid rise in popularity, closer to a massive explosion.

‘6,112 people, you say...?’

All of a sudden.