A Swordsman’s Stream

Chapter 13

– Al-Hi!
– The stream started!
– Haha2

– Oh-hi!

Alpaca glanced at the quickly flowing chat window. Although exact calculations weren’t possible, it seemed to be moving exceptionally faster than usual. Collaborating in a stream typically attracted more viewers than usual.

There had been promotional videos the day before, and Jin Sojun’s viewers, which was mainly coming from “I am Joseon’s Assassin”, also contributed significantly to the buzz. But the primary factor was that 20,000 people who regularly watched Alpaca’s stream were eager to see Sojun’s play live. This led to continuous discussions about the collaboration on Alpaca’s forum.

『Viewers: 4,327』

Within just a few seconds of starting, the viewer count hit 4,000. And the number showed no sign of slowing down, steadily increasing. Alpaca, pleased, watched the numbers rise before jumping into virtual reality at just the right moment.

“TrHa!”

As the previously dark stream screen brightened, Alpaca entered the lobby.

– Al-Hi!
– Hi over there
– Here to see Nameless
– TrHl
– ㅡㅅㅡ

『Viewers: 10,000』

Before long, the viewer count surpassed 10,000, heading towards 20,000.

“Welcome, everyone. You all know what today is, right?”

– Enough, get out.

– Of course, we know. Why else would we be here?
– For real, let’s clear Alpaca’s face off the screen.

“Yes, yes. But it seems like no one came to see me. Hah!”

Though Alpaca expressed some disappointment, the viewers maintained a consistent reaction.

– Yep, true.

– Absolutely.

– You suck at this.

– Actually, I came to see Alpaca.

“Oh? DaeBangEo, did you really come to see me?”

Having streamed for a long time, Alpaca had developed the ability to quickly spot specific chats among countless messages. This skill was essential for engaging smoothly with viewers as the chat flowed rapidly.

Then, ‘The Best Defense is Winter DaeBangEo’ typed again.

– Came to see if you’ll clear the stage, haha.

“Not today, you fool. You’re banned.”

– Hahahl
– You nasty villain, hahl
– ??? Why not today?

“You’re asking why not today? Good question. Today, I’m here to learn Musou. From whom? Now! Let me introduce the teacher who will teach me today!”

Alpaca continued the stream naturally, conversing with viewers while signaling to Jin Sojun outside the stream.

“Here he is, streamer Jin Sojun!”

– Clap clap clal
– Applausl
– Waaaaal
– ..

– Why isn’t he coming?

Alpaca focused the camera on the lobby’s spawn area and waited. An awkward silence filled the stream as the loading time extended beyond usual. Not wanting to leave the stream without sound, Alpaca blurted out anything he could think of.

“Huh? Why isn’t he coming? Jin Sojun, if you’re watching the stream, please join quickly. I’m getting embarrassed here. Manager, what are you doing!”

– Phone collab? Hahl
– Is the collab not today by any chance?

“No, it’s not a phone collab. We’re having an offline after-party later.”

At that moment, Alpaca’s friend notification popped up. A whisper had come in.

“Oh? A message. Oh no, is there an issue?”

Worried that something might have gone wrong, Alpaca quickly opened the whisper. But the content was entirely unexpected.

『I’m not sure how to get to Alpaca’s lobby. Can you send an invite? Haha…』

This time, Alpaca truly looked awkward. Was this for real? Or part of the stream’s theme?

He managed to handle the situation first.

“Um… well, since Sojun-ssi has been using the capsule for less than a week, please understand.”

-LOLLOLOLOLOL
-SPLOLLOLOLOL
-That’s so annoying, LOL.
-This guy, a teacher? LOL

* * *

Bwaaa! Bwaa!

Alpaca, who always stayed in the lobby, cried out looking at the sky, announcing the arrival of a new person.

“Hello. Sorry for being late. I am streamer Jin Sojun.”

The center of the lobby lit up brightly as Sojun’s character materialized.

Sojun, feeling slightly awkward due to the shaky start, greeted with a wry smile.

“Haha! It happens. If you think about it, you’re still a beginner.”

Sojun recalled the moment inside the capsule that had thrown him off guard just a little while ago.

He felt relieved as he saw the relatively unconcerned reactions in the chat window.

-But it’s kind of weird not being able to come to the lobby, LOL.
-《《《 Trying to learn from a novice.
-Let’s blame Alpaca for not preparing in advance, LOL.

With nearly 20,000 people in the chat, the level of activity was on another scale.

Messages raced up the screen so fast it was dizzying.

And as he had felt before, the atmosphere in this chat had a bit of a sharp edge.

It seemed like making fun of the streamer had become part of the content.

The nature of each chat room varies with the streamer’s personality.

Some streamers keep their viewers bound and even scold them, and the viewers sometimes enjoy that. Others pursue completely clean broadcasts.

Among them, Sojun liked this freewheeling vibe.

‘At least I won’t be mocked for my skills… probably…’

That would be the case.

Alpaca started explaining why they were streaming together in the first place.

“Alright! As everyone knows, thanks to Sojun-ssi catching Drake, I was forced to do a Kingslayer stream.”

『’What a Fool’ donated 1000 won!』
『???: If he succeeds, I will take that person as my mentor and receive teachings until I can master Drake with Musou!』

Timed perfectly, the donation message rang out, and Sojun recalled the scene from the previous day, breaking into laughter.

“Do you want to get banned? And Sojun-ssi, you shouldn’t be the one laughing. Even though it’s my fault for saying it, I wouldn’t have to do a Kingslayer if you hadn’t caught Drake!”

“That’s right. I do feel somewhat responsible for Alpaca-nim.”

“Exactly?”

“It’s my fault for catching Drake without realizing someone would boast about not being able to beat it with Musou on the second day of gaming.”

-LOLLOLOLOLOL
-Skewers on!
-Translation: Sorry, but still your fault.
-Translation: So what?
-Translation: Alpaca was being dumb.

Where is this going? These people were skewering Alpaca using his excuse.

Sojun and Alpaca looked at each other and laughed.

Alpaca couldn’t shake the thought that Sojun was pretty bold. He showed no sign of nervousness in front of many viewers.

In fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself while giving a subtle jab.

“Yes, it’s my fault. So please, help me out, teacher.”

“I’ll do my best, Alpaca-nim.”

Everyone present, including the viewers, knew that helping him was out of the question.

“Alright everyone! So, we have two things to do today. First, come into my game and show us how Sojun-ssi catches Drake…”

-???
-Don’t be a freeloader.
-Sly move, LOL.

The hooks popped up instantly.

Sojun watched amusedly as Alpaca quickly changed his tune, looking a bit regretful.

“Just kidding. I’ll join the teacher’s game and learn by watching you play.”

In Assassin’s Dawn, there was a “Co-Op Assassinate” feature.

This allowed one user to invite another into their game for a multiplayer mission where the invited user could help or hinder the host.

“Oh! But even though I’m doing a bare-hand assassination run, it seems like Sojun-ssi is also playing barehanded. Is there a special reason? And what basic skills did you pick?”

“Um… I didn’t pick any skills or have any specific reason.”

“You haven’t used any skills so far? Not even basic passive skills that speed up attack and movement or increase damage?”

“Yes.”

“Why not?”

“Because I didn’t need to?”

Actually, he hadn’t known till he started playing.

But admitting that would have made him look bad.

Sojun chose to embellish his reasoning a bit.

-Classy!
-We’re doomed!!! Can I replicate this?
-This is true bare-hand play.
-To show off bare-hand assassination, you need to be at this level, LOL.
-Did he really do it without skills?
-Yep.
-Alpaca, reset your skill points and play bare-handed now!

Ever since Sojun appeared, Alpaca felt as if everything was working against him.

However, seeing the viewer count rise to 25,000 people eased his mind a bit.

“And there was no skill window at all in the game interface.”

This was why Sojun hadn’t known about the existence of skills. He had only discovered their existence while preparing for the joint stream.

“You need to visit the tavern and meet Christina nuna for the first quest, she’ll unlock the skill window for you.”

“Oh. I must have missed it since I greeted her right after the tutorial and haven’t been back to the tavern since.”

Now, it all made sense.

Suddenly, Alpaca felt puzzled during their conversation.

“Wait a minute. Then why did you even capture Drake? It wasn’t a request from the assassination guild.”

“I got called by a gang member after I was caught pickpocketing in the market.”

“What…?”

Sojun mentioned it nonchalantly, but Alpaca’s expression kept changing.

“Ah…”

Even though they had a meeting yesterday, they hadn’t known about these specific details.

-LOLOLOL LOLOLOL

-wwwww This guy made it a clear stream because of a pickpocket wwwl
-The root cause is a pickpocketLOLOLOL LOL

-Is he really a pro?LOLOLOL LOLOLOL

“Haha. It happens. You’ve preserved the peace of the market, haha… Well, then onto the second topic, related to the skills.”

This was why Alpaca had mentioned skills earlier.

Alpaca opened a window.

“This is a capture of my skill window.”

A picture zoomed in on the description of an unopened skill appeared.

『Weakpoint Perception』
『Unlock condition: Break 10 weapons through its “grain” (2/10)』

-LOLOLOL Will anyone actually do that?
-No way.

-What does that even mean?

Those interested in the game recognized the picture, while those casually enjoying it asked for an explanation.

“Let me explain. Have any of you seen this kind of video before?”

The content of the new video Alpaca played was as follows.

When a user in the video attacked a specific part of the enemy’s rapier, it shattered into pieces.

Whether it was the same type of rapiers held by different NPCs or attacks with other weapons, the result was the same if the specific point was correctly targeted.

An alert appeared afterward.

『Unlock condition: Break 10 weapons through its grain (2/10)』

The video ended there.

“Everyone, the concept of ‘grain’ comes up in fantasy novels, right? The grain that can easily split an object! If we find 10 of those, we can obtain the skill called ‘Weakpoint Perception’!”

So far, they had found two grains.

One was the rapier shattered in the video, which spread among people as a product of coincidence.

The other was a longsword’s grain introduced by an NPC during a sub-quest.

-So how do we find it? LOLOLOL

-What’s the rule?
-No one knows.

-But what’s so special about Weakpoint Perception?

“We don’t know exactly what the skill does. It’s the last unopened skill. So, that’s why I asked Sojun-ssi yesterday if, with his skills, he could figure out its grains.”

-Why are you satisfying your curiosity during the stream?

“Why am I satisfying my curiosity? Doesn’t an unopened skill irritate any of you!”

-But why invite the teacher to find outLOLOLOL LOL

“Because I’m not skilled enough!”

-He’s so confident! Alpaca!
-LOLOLOL LOLOLOL

-So what’s the conclusion?

“Sojun-ssi watched the video and said he thinks he knows the rules of its grain. Right?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

Sojun shrugged. Always with his usual nonchalant expression.

-??? Fake braggart much?
-Going too farLOLOLOL

-How would he know?
-Will Al’s store be open today? LOLOLOL

“So! Let’s bet whether we can find it during today’s stream!”

This was essentially the main content of the stream.

Grain? Ruler? Teachings? All were build-ups for this moment.

『Channel Points Prediction Starts』

Straight to the channel points prediction.

The thing that drove viewers mad.

-Let’s go!
-Al’s store! Take my points!
-The bet should be easy today ㅎㅎ

Little did they know at this moment.

That Alpaca, no, that the greatest upset in Travel’s history was about to happen.

TL’s Corner:
Al-hi is shortened Alpaca hi!