A Swordsman’s Stream

Chapter 9

“Damn, I think I’ll get caught again.”

Alpaca.

He was a streamer with an average of ten thousand viewers, hitting thirty thousand on the day of the Assassin’s Dawn launch, and even now, a week later, he maintained twenty thousand viewers.

He was one of the go-to streamers for new releases of the Assassin’s Dawn series.

He provided story summaries for the series, review videos, and recommendations for beginners.

Starting from the launch day, Alpaca was undertaking a challenge to assassinate enemies barehanded.

『You little rat, hiding there! Hahaha!』

“Oh crap, I got caught…”

Swish!

A dagger flew swiftly between his eyes, and his screen, attached to the ceiling, went dark.

After respawning, Alpaca trudged back to the guild and said,

“Phew, I just need to kill Drake for the fourth zone, but it’s not easy. There are too many organization members, and knowing Drake’s exact location in the stronghold would be great.”

The Rulers.

The guild managing the fourth zone of Altheon, the primary villains of the game, composed of the Queen, the Tower Lord, the Royalist Leader, and the Dissembler’s boss, Drake.

Their assassination difficulty was similar, but higher than even the royal factors in other zones, marking them as mid-boss level entities.

Among them, the Dissembler’s boss Drake had ten strongholds in the fourth zone and appeared randomly in one of them.

At this point, Alpaca had been caught four times.

His reputation was on the line; he might not be able to buy location information from the guild next time.

Alpaca bought Drake’s location information from the guild.

“Hmm, it’s in the theater. Where might he be hiding in the theater this time? I have to succeed this time.”

Overwhelmed with fatigue, Alpaca sighed deeply.

Then, he sighed again due to a donation.

『If it’s the theater, just go Musou. There are people who do Musou play barehanded; why are you struggling so much?』

“Thanks for the ten thousand won donation. What do you mean by Musou? Where’s someone who can do that…”

-LOL, seriously?

-Have to be realistic.

『It’s true; they might clear it soon?』

“You can’t catch Drake. Even if it’s some other NPC, the Rulers are made by developers with extra care, so it’s impossible.”

Alpaca preferred assassination playstyles.

He didn’t dislike Musou. Combat was also part of Assassin’s Dawn.

However, he was just a bit lacking in skills for this release.

『Did you check the community?』

“Ah. Is someone doing it in the community? If they succeed, I’ll take them as my mentor, learn from them, and do a Musou clear against Drake live until I finish it!”

“Kingslayer” is content where the stream doesn’t end until a specific goal is achieved.

If you’re good, it ends in hours, but if not?

『LOL, that statement.』

“Yeah~ No way. Thanks for the donation. What a treat.”

Some seemed to mock Alpaca genuinely in the chat, but he shrugged it off.

“Of course, if the person who cleared it is a pro, I won’t do a Kingslayer.”

He added, fearing someone might think he was scared, knowing busy pros wouldn’t have time for other games.
-Coward???

-LOL

-Alpaca, you cheeky!
-Just quit, man.

* * *

Thirty minutes before Alpaca made his reckless Kingslayer statement.

Sojun was entering an alley where organization members were to find Drake’s whereabouts.

“Alright, alright, come over here, let’s have an honest conversation.”

“Let’s follow for now, whatever.”

He saw the chat warning him that fighting in broad daylight would attract the guards, making things troublesome.

Splosh, splosh.

As he entered the alley, an inexplicable stale odor mixed with stagnant water assaulted his nose.

“It’s good that you’re obedient.”

“Indeed. Hey! Hand over everything, including the wallet you stole earlier.”

As Sojun followed them deeper into the alley, two more members showed up and surrounded him in the narrow passage.
-He can handle 13 vs 1; this is nothing.
-LOL

-But Nameless has no weapons, right? How is he planning to fight?

-How will he get information on Drake? LOL, no reputation to use the info guild, and finding a traitor in the organization needs lots of subquests and actions.

“Hmm?”

Sojun paused the game for a moment as he noticed something odd in the chat.

“Guys, is it hard to catch these gang members? Does it take long?”

-If you’re fighting a Ruler, would it be easy????

-LOL

“What’s a Ruler?”

-Captain!!!
-This is our boss, newbies, are you watching?

-Reminds me of ‘What is parrying’…

The chats of Winter Bumper, white Horse Patient, and Brick Raider popped up sequentially.

『’Nope’ donated 1,000 won!』
『You plan to catch them without knowing what a Ruler is?』

“Please explain.”

In fact, Sojun knew about Drake. He had acquainted himself with basics from the community.

He recognized the need to know enough to lead the stream effectively.

Encountering the Dissembler members in the market had been coincidence, though.

He knew two methods to tackle Drake.

First, completing several assassination missions to raise your reputation high enough to make organizations or guilds in Altheon trust you enough to sell you the information.

The second task involved performing a side quest to create a secure information trade environment where identities could not be traced, to buy the location of Drake from a Dissembler member. The key element here was the consideration of the informant’s future repercussions before obtaining any information.

Was there any other way to do it?

Community users thought so. It was a game with such a high degree of freedom.

Sojun also thought the same as he read through the information posts. However, his approach was different.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to beat the organization members so badly that they couldn’t even think of repercussions?”

If that didn’t work, he could follow the strategy guide.

Once he knew the location, capturing Drake would be a piece of cake.

“Hm, so you need to get information, but it’s tough. And capturing him is also tough.”

– Yeah

– Are you seriously postponing this to tomorrow?

– No strategy guides allowed

“Pssh. I don’t do backtracking.”

The chat window was filled with “LOLOLOL !”

As always, the viewers enjoyed when the streamer was in a dilemma.

Thinking this, Sojun resumed the game that had been paused.

“You guys scared the kid.”

“Well, why were you doing business without our permission, huh?”

Dissembler members exchanged dumb jokes with laughter.

Sojun asked them.

“Do you know where Drake is?”

“The boss? Yeah, we know. But why would we tell you easily…”

He interrupted as soon as he got the answer he wanted.

“That’s enough.”

“?”

“First, you guys need a beating. People always talk after being hit.”

“What nonsense! Boys, kill him!”

Members pulled out daggers from their sides and charged at Sojun.

Sojun first kicked off the wall, leaping over the approaching members.

Dealing with attackers from both sides in a narrow alley was more troublesome than one might think.

After dodging a dagger thrust by one attacker, he grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground.

“Ugh!”

『A basic dagger from Dissembler member』

The attacker dropped the dagger, and Sojun caught it mid-air.
– How did he catch that?

– Reflexes are insane

With the weapon in hand, Sojun began swiftly taking down the henchmen.

Kaa-caaang!

“Ugh!”

Kaa-caaang!

“Ugh!”

Kaa-caaang!

In no time, all were dead except the one who knew the boss’s location.

“Parrying is definitely easier.”

– Wow

– Master level!
– Looks fun, musou

– Dream on if you want to play it too, lol

Still, the remaining member rushed at Sojun.

Kaa-caaang!

He fell next to his comrade’s corpse, groggy.

Sojun slowly approached the terrified member on the ground and asked.

“Where is Drake?”

Viewers began mocking his antics.
– Like that’ll work, lol
– Literally lol

The member trembled without speaking.

Sojun patiently waited for him to recover.

“You think I’ll tell you?”

And when he got up again.

Kaa-caaang!

He fell in the same spot again.

“Where is Drake?”

– ??? Is this a new form of interrogation?

– Dream on, lol

“You think I’ll tell you?”

The member regained his strength and shouted.

Kaa-caaang!

Sojun parried him once more.

“Where is Drake?”

– LOL

– Truly insane, lol

Although viewers didn’t understand, Sojun noticed a slight decline in the member’s resistance each time he was groggy.

“Oh, it’s gradually working.”

– Where is this even going?

– What are you seeing, sir?

– No point, check the guide already

After immobilizing him once more, the difference in the member’s reaction was noticeable even to the viewers.

Sojun asked once more.

“Where is Drake?”

“That… that is!”

The member tried to evade but started running, and Sojun quickly caught up.

The member swung the dagger wildly, but Sojun disarmed him again.

Finally, the groggy member began to talk.
– ???

-Does this even make sense?

-The movie soft developers are crazy, lol. They said they discouraged Musou play and then made this route.
-Is it normal to learn the game on a newbie stream like this?

“The largest theater in Street 13. So please…stop….”

“Oh. This really works. But where is Drake?”

But the gang member didn’t respond.

“Well, there’s no particular reaction. No seizures or anything?”

-Diabolical, lol
-Isn’t the host talented in game strategy too? He found this new route, dang.

『’YouAreThisType’ sponsored 1,000 won!』
『Etor, you fought so hard to stop such people』

-Reevaluating Etor, lol
-So, he fell in the line of duty…

Sojun let the viewers chatter away and opened the map.

“Hmm. Besides, the dagger is too short and inconvenient. Isn’t there something better?”

There wasn’t any weapon that couldn’t be used in “Assassin’s Dawn.”

A fruit knife from a market stall, darts and glass bottles from a tavern, even pins from a bowling alley, all could become weapons.
-Let’s earn some money and get weapons.
-If you buy a wire, the game becomes super fun. Spy-X-Man vibes, lol
-Pickpocket time?

“Hmm, I… Oh. This looks good.”

Sojun looked around and found something nice. He swung it around a few times.

『Rusty Pipe』

“This length is perfect. Now that I got a weapon, let’s head to Street 13.”

Street 13 was a cultural street.

The largest theater on Cultural Street was White Lotus Theater, located about three blocks away from the market.

In fact, the largest theater was implied to be under the influence of a gang called the Dissembler.

Sojun soon arrived at the White Lotus Theater.

He noticed people loitering around, their level of armament too substantial to be mere guards.

‘There’s no way to know where Drake is.’

The organization seemed overly saturated with members.

But it didn’t matter much.

Because he wasn’t intending to perform an assassination.

And the viewers hadn’t come to watch an assassination.

“Sorry, but the performance has ended….”

Crash!

Without warning, Sojun approached the main entrance and smashed the glass with the pipe.

Then, as a gang member pulled out a machete, Sojun quickly struck them with the pipe.

Not even a tenth of their health points were depleted.

‘Not even close.’

He had no choice but to wait for them to swing the machete.

Clang!

He read their trajectory and parried it.
-Wow!
-Every time I watch, it’s amazing. How does he never fail, lol?

Rat-a-tat!

Hearing the commotion, other gang members began to join in.

But.

Each time Sojun swung the pipe, a crisp sound could be heard.

Sojun dealt with the members one by one, moving toward the entrance’s stairs.

It was advantageous to deal with them coming down the stairs.

Eventually.

Gang members piled up on the stairs.

Occasionally, external patrols tried to ambush him, but Sojun sensed their approach by sound and dealt with them easily.

The total number of enemies accumulated was 30.

“To think there were 30 members in such a theater. The producers are too much. How would anyone perform an assassination here?”

Clicking his tongue at the difficulty set by the producers, Sojun leisurely entered the theater.
-????

-Do you even have the right to say that?

-What did I just watch? It was so absurd, I could only laugh.
-This guy’s the real deal!

As Sojun entered the theater, mad laughter echoed from the stage.

His opponent was waiting at the center of the stage.
-I saw this scene on another streamer’s stream when they got caught while trying to assassinate, and it was terrifying. Why is it just funny now, lol?

-So, can Drake do a 1 vs 30? Can he beat Etor, lol?

Dissembler’s boss, Drake.

True to his cunning gang leader image, he threw a knife as soon as Sojun got closer.

“Die!”

A small, thin throwing knife flew toward him.

Ching!

Sojun swiftly swung his pipe, deflecting the incoming knife.
-Deflecting it instead of dodging, again?

-How did he do that?

-Top-tier reaction times

“Don’t react to the flying knife. Watch the enemy’s fingertips and predict their throw; it’s pretty easy.”

The closer Sojun got, the more knives Drake threw.

The throwing speed increased, and midway, Drake started throwing knives with both hands.

But Sojun deflected them all.

With the pipe.
-He deflects them all, lol. What can’t he deflect?

-A viewer

-Oh right, he can’t deflect viewers, lol.

In no time, Sojun reached Drake’s front.

TL’s Corner:
켠왕(Kyeonwang) is an abbreviation for ‘Kyeongime Wangkkaji’,