Chapter 27 : Woodang tangu

내시반청內視反聽(Naesibancheong).

A proverb from Sima Qian’s *Records of the Grand Historian*, meaning to reflect upon oneself and one’s actions.

Baek Ji-hyeok had a short educational background, as he quit school early to prepare as a professional gamer as soon as his talent was confirmed.

However, he knew this proverb well.

Because it was the family motto of Baek Ji-hyun’s household.

Even now, if you go to the old, dilapidated family home in Nampo, there is a magnificent frame that doesn’t fit the family’s situation at all, with the family motto that his grandfather personally wrote with a brush and ink.

For reference, the picture that was originally enshrined in the frame like a treasured object was ripped in half before Baek Ji-hyeok was even born.

Well, it’s been posthumously disgraced, so a picture is nothing.

Anyway.

Although it was a long-standing family motto, Baek Ji-hyeok had never really paid much attention to it in his life.

There was nothing to look back on, and nothing to regret.

From the moment he turned pro, he was always in the spotlight. Endless success. He had only ever run on the road to success and had never made any mistakes.

Until today, that is.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it!’

And only after such a day of reflection and introspection.

Baek Ji-hyeok realized to his core why such a principal’s speech-like saying could be a ‘family motto’.

Because it’s hard to recover from a mistake!

It’s best not to make mistakes, but if you do, you should reflect and look back to avoid repeating such actions! That’s why they had such a family motto!

[‘SeongWon’: Follow me faster. Your timing is off.]

[‘SeongWon’: ? Aren’t you coming faster? What are you doing?]

And Baek Ji-hyeok was now keenly feeling the cost of his mistake with every fiber of his being.

[‘SeongWon’: If you keep falling behind, I might just kill you now? Are you not going to clean up the mess you made?]

[‘SeongWon’: What was that missed skill shot just now? Are you just giving up and want to sleep? Then just turn off the game, destroy the team’s image, and go to sleep.]

It’s too harsh.

It was supposed to be a waltz, but was a waltz always this rough? Isn’t it a social dance? I think I’ll die if I dance one more time?

Even though it’s clearly a staged act by both sides, it doesn’t feel like one. The opponent, Minder, was constantly sending chats to provoke Baek Ji-hyeok. Saying that if he messed up, she’d just blow him up.

[‘SeongWon’: And of course, after this is over, subscribe to Sno.1, like, and set up notifications.]

[‘SeongWon’: Please.]

[‘SeongWon’: 😆]

Teabagging is a bonus.

“Ugh, Uaaah!”

It feels like I’ve become a puppet on a string.

But the person controlling it is too rough.

Because of that, at some point, there were moments when his competitive spirit flared up again, but Baek Ji-hyeok still couldn’t catch his opponent. Rather, after doing this for over 14 minutes, he just wanted to kill himself.

The duration of an instant engagement between heroes in Soul Frame is usually 1 to 2 minutes at most. This is the same for pro matches.

He had to spend more than seven times that time in an engagement, and a very intense and fierce tail-chasing engagement at that, so Baek Ji-hyeok felt physically exhausted.

‘Please, please just end it….’

I, I was wrong.

I’ll really apologize….

Can we… just stop now?

*

*

*

NoSurrender didn’t look good.

His reaction speed was starting to get worse.

‘Well, 15 minutes is a lot.’

I thought he’d last a little longer, though.

Looks like he’s already broken. How weak.

‘It’s a shame.’

Honestly, I’d like to ignore that emergency signal and keep him running until he reaches his limit.

I mean, I’m the victim here, aren’t I? This is.

‘Well, who told you to troll?’

You were the one who suddenly started sniping and trolling, ruining our grand plan.

So pay the price… I’d like to say, but it wouldn’t be good to end it with NoSurrender collapsing from exhaustion.

‘Then it would look like I was playing with him.’

It would be a letdown if it turned out that the two people who were passionately dancing were actually just one person stepping on their partner’s shoes and pretending, right?

[‘To Manager Cha’: How’s the response? It looks like we should wrap things up soon, judging by their condition.]

[‘Manager Cha’: It would be better if we could go a bit longer, but if it’s too much, it’s fine to end it now. All the issues have already been pushed down.]

Good, good.

First, the chat window.

[What the hell am I watching lolololololol]

[They’re tail-chasing for over 10 minutes in Soul Frame, is this some kind of dogfight? lololololololol]

[Both of them have such stubborn tenacity lol]

[Wow, but the host is really good]

[He’s not getting caught;]

[NoSurrender is desperately clinging on, but he keeps self-destructing to escape lol The distance control is insane]

[Wow, this is it]

└ Chats containing severe sexual harassment are subject to warnings. Warning 1 time.

Still cheering.

‘Viewers, oh. 18,000.’

Did the word really spread that far?

Or maybe Manager Cha’s side did something.

Anyway, thanks to NoSurrender’s desperate pursuit, the play didn’t look as bad as I thought. The general public probably wouldn’t be fooled.

Of course, from the perspective of Soul Frame experts and pros, they might realize that this is a setup… but honestly, I think the chances of that are slim.

‘Because, what expert knows information about Minder?’

Cycle, routine, combo, etc.

No one knows anything.

There’s probably no one in the Soul Frame scene who knows more about Minder than I do. I bet even the Soul Frame game company doesn’t know the performance of this guy properly.

‘Right now, Minder has ridiculous, overpowered specs.’

It’s obscured by the frustrating convenience of cognitive acceleration, but this guy really needs a nerf.

With this incident, my play will spread beyond Korea and overseas, so shouldn’t it get a hotfix soon?

Well… maybe not.

‘Okay, shall we end it?’

I think I’m starting to feel a little strain on my stamina.

I’ve overused cognitive acceleration so much that the feedback hitting my body is no joke.

[‘To NoSurrender’: This is the finale.]

[‘To NoSurrender’: Thanks for your hard work so far.]

[‘To NoSurrender’: 😁]

At the same time, slowly stall without raising suspicion.

Through that, I allowed NoSurrender to approach.

Then, NoSurrender’s Sapmal charged in furiously.

He even used afterburners and evasive maneuvers to avoid skill shots, it doesn’t look like acting, and it feels like he’s trying to counter me somehow.

Well, of course, he wouldn’t want to go down without a fight.

But.

‘If that were possible, it would have happened a long time ago, my friend.’

I immediately counterattacked, giving him the thumbs up.

“Th-This!”

NoSurrender gritted his teeth when he saw it.

Well, serves him right.

‘Psychokinetic Explosion’

‘Psychokinetic Explosion’

‘Psychokinetic Explosion’

‘Psychokinetic Explosion’

‘Singularity’

The 4+1 hits precisely on the limbs and center, crumpling the heavy robot’s limbs like tin cans. The robot, exploding in mid-air, was immediately declared dead.

‘Hmm?’

What, why instant death?

At that moment.

The team voice came through.

“……Well, after a heated battle between men, you should help your allies!”

“It was really awesome and cool, so I’ll let it slide once, but this is troll-level material for archiving. You know?! This isn’t a fighting game!”

Then I remembered.

‘Ah, our team.’

Come to think of it, we had a team.

It seems our team wiped out all of NoSurrender’s allies. They didn’t abandon me even after I messed around for over 15 minutes. Such grateful teammates.

‘I should add them all as friends.’

Thinking that, I glanced at the status of my allies, and one was stunned. The other two, including the Fist King Girl, were carrying the stunned teammate and running away.

‘Hmm? Why are they running away?’

Weren’t those three teams or so all wiped out?

Puzzled, I turned my head and looked at the battlefield.

Then.

“Whotoldyoutofightfirst?Whotoldyoutofightfirst?Whotoldyoutofightfirst?Whotoldyoutofightfirst?”

“Hyat-ha! These guys are G!”

“Weren’t we H?”

“Who cares? Let’s just mess around.”

“Wow. It’s a mess here, really. I really like it.”

“Damn, who suggested coming here? How many teams are here?”

“Didn’t you say you have to join in whenever there’s a fight?”

“Wow, it looks like all the in-game teams are gathered here?”

-Bang! Kaboom! Boom!

Dozens of heroes were rampaging wildly, like some kind of Civil War. It seems that I attracted a lot of aggro because I was busy dancing with NoSurrender.

No, more importantly, how many teams have gathered here…?

[Um, well.]

I don’t know either.

[Anyway, it’s the rule to join in a fight, right?]

[If it’s a fight, I’ll join too~]

[GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO]

[Let’s go crazy!]

[lolololol It’s a chaotic mess]

[It’s like an old comedy movie’s chaotic ballroom scene]

Nice expression. Ballroom.

‘Then, shall I find a new partner?’

I accelerated my body and jumped into the battlefield.

*

*

*

“This is our incompetence.”

Manager Cha.

No, Cha Eun-ho, the provisional representative (acting) who had been elevated by the chairman’s supreme authority, slammed the table and rebuked the middle managers.

“The chairman came up with the solution to stop the problem, the solution, and the resolution. We did nothing. What is the reason for the existence of our department, of this company?”

“…….”

“This should never happen again. Think about the salary you’re receiving, which is abnormally high compared to the standard. Even if you can’t be worth more than that salary, you must at least be worth that salary.”

“Yes, Representative.”

“Understood, Representative!”

“Hmm. For now, it’s still, Manager.”

“……Ha, haha. But you’ll be taking office soon.”

The corners of Representative (acting) Cha’s mouth rose slightly at that flattery, but Manager Cha regained a stern expression.

“Prove it with performance rather than flattery. Now, dismissed.”

After sending out the staff, Representative (acting) Cha sighed. Actually, this was largely his responsibility as well. Although he squeezed the staff to prevent this from happening again, he was also behind in his ability to respond to the situation instantly.

‘I underestimated it because it was just an internet broadcast.’

Unlike when he was at a terrestrial broadcasting station, the snowballing of issues is too fast. In addition, the industry over there has a web-like network of connections where information is somewhat controlled and censored, but that doesn’t happen at all here.

Basically, all the viewers use the internet, and information spreads through the internet.

‘Should I develop my ability to respond instantly?’

Is it a problem that I have little experience in live broadcasting?

Representative (acting) Cha concluded that it would be good to recruit some people with extensive experience in live broadcasting, such as news.

“Well, for the time being, I can be a little comfortable with this.”

Then he took out a very old folder phone.

A burner phone he made after accidentally finding out about it.

He pressed the number of the viral marketing company.

From now on, the nuclear buildup begins.