Chapter 45 : I, first place. and… …

My running body feels heavy.

“Haa.”

This virtual body, made of data, always performs at its peak. It’s only natural. A body of numbers and code can’t deviate from the performance values set by the game.

But the body controlling it, *my* body, is heavy.

My physical exhaustion is bleeding into the game.

I’m in unbelievably terrible shape. I’ll probably feel like a drowned rat when I finally log out today.

Over 10 hours… 13 hours of continuous streaming.

I’ve invested more than half the day in this game, and every single match as Minder, no less.

I’ve already far surpassed my physical limits. The only thing keeping me going, as I pile exhaustion upon exhaustion, is sheer willpower.

The same willpower that I cultivated as the Agent of the Divine, facing down 72 Demon Lords, three Evil Gods, and even the Outer Gods.

“Huuuh.”

My consciousness wavers.

I want to give up right now.

I want to turn off the game and sleep.

I want to break my promise, abandon my declaration, and rest.

I just want to close my eyes.

“…Don’t be ridiculous.”

No, what am I even saying?

Who am I?

I am the Agent.

I *was* the Agent.

And I *will* continue to be the Agent.

‘Telekinetic Burst.’

I blast the incoming Breaker away with an explosion. Immediately, The Batter and more charge in, like clockwork.

I narrowly dodge a swinging baseball bat, trip The Batter, pull him down, and use him as a shield. A beam of light fires at my head but dissipates after hitting The Batter.

Ion’s attacks don’t deal damage to allies, after all.

It was the optimal decision.

As always.

‘The battlefield has simply changed, that’s all.’

I activate Cognitive Acceleration and propel myself with telekinesis towards Ion, who finally reveals himself.

He must have been hiding between buildings, trying to avoid exposure, but it’s pointless. If I couldn’t anticipate this, I’d have already died fighting the Evil Gods.

[不行! 真不可思议!]

“What are you babbling about? Just die.”

I slam ‘Singularity’ into Ion’s head.

The ultimate skill of a fully leveled, max-damage Minder.

See if you can withstand *that*.

Ion’s head caves in instantly, and he falls unconscious. I immediately follow up with another ‘Telekinetic Burst’ to finish him off. Without allies, I have no choice but to rely on guerilla tactics. Damn Chinese players.

“Next is… Dammit!”

C, Shit. Shit!

At C’s appearance, I abandon the crumpled Breaker and The Batter and accelerate skyward again.

‘I can do this.’

No matter what unfairness the world throws at me.

I’ve always overcome it.

I will win.

I will always give it my all, with every fiber of my being, crush every injustice and obstacle thrown my way, then raise my head and laugh maniacally at the heavens.

As if to say, “Is that all? Is that your limit?”

So, this is nothing new either.

It’s just this much.

High above, I looked down on the world and muttered.

“Is that all?”

Now, only four teams remain.

If I win this match.

I will be number one in the world.

At the summit.

* * *

Current viewers in Sno.1’s stream:

37,000.

* * *

[???]: Minder is a f*cking trash hero

[Sno.1 stream clip]

[Picture of Minder breaking a rock with telekinesis]
‘Wrong’

Will soon become the world’s number one main hero

—Bullshit lol
└Yeah, come back and talk after you hit number one~
—What? Solo queue rank 1 is world number one? LOL Disrespecting the pros?
└Fact) Even Ready2Die couldn’t hold solo queue rank 1 for long.
└Oh, she’ll drop soon too.
└She hasn’t even climbed up there yet, what are you talking about? LOL

[This guy seems a bit off his rocker lol give upvote]

[Sno.1 stream clip]

Usually uses polite speech, but now, after playing Minder for too long, she’s just spouting whatever comes to mind? LOL Seems like her condition is completely wrecked LOLOLOLOL

—Where’s the gimmick?
—LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
—But Ready2Die said the same thing LOL Said that Minder wrecks your stamina so bad that she dropped it after a few matches during Spring.
└Didn’t she dump it because she thought it was gonna get nerfed?
└No, it didn’t get nerfed. Ready2Die even said she was super surprised it didn’t.
└Shit, they’ll nerf it now LOLOLOLOLOL
—Her voice is so sexy… Unnie……
└Almost came when she cursed.
└Already changed my panties.

[Emperor SeongWon]

[Sno.1 stream clip]

This guy’s insane

Started the game with 3 Chinese players, everyone thought it was over, but he assessed the situation, immediately abandoned his team, and went full guerilla LOL

But now he’s in the last 4 teams

If he wins this, it’s rank 1.

—????
—What the hell is this guy?
└This monster, quickly get to rank 1 and disappear.
—3 Chinese game. But, can win.
—But this guy really does have star quality;;; He declared he’d hit The Hundred rank 1 in a month, and he’s actually attempting it, actually about to do it;;; Real superstar.
└And it hasn’t even been a month yet.
└Was it day 28 today?
└Yeah, 3 days left until a month;
—Crazy bastard;;; Truly insane;;;;
└Ahem, it’s ‘crazy bastard’… Please correct yourself.

[So will she really do a face reveal?]

[Picture of Pepe the Frog grinning slyly]

Inside must be the ultimate world’s best prettiest donation #1 unnie, right? Has to be, right? It doesn’t make sense otherwise, it has to be, otherwise I’m posting poop pics for the next 3 days LOL

—f*ck you, why would you post poop pics here?
—Post your poop pic terrorism on SeongWon’s stream bulletin board, you asshole.
└Ah shit, they blocked image uploads from unregistered users.
└Hey mod, you know? Even if you block unregistered users from posting images, there are other ways to get them through?
└Ah.
—Donation #1 pretty girl my ass, you weeb loser LOL The delusions are real LOLOL
└Because of this asshole, I’m using Tor to upload them no matter what.
└Ah, I’ll ban this one too.
└There is no negotiating with terrorists. If you don’t want to see poop pics, chant ‘Sno.1 is live streaming on Pachichik. Subscribe, like, and turn on notifications!’

[Sno.1 is live streaming on Pachichik. Subscribe, like, and turn on notifications.]

Happy now? You asshole? Shit, I did it, so now quickly tell me how you uploaded the poop pic as an unregistered user, so I can block it right away.

—This forum is really going to shit.
—For real, SeongWon is a true superstar. Driving both fans and haters crazy.
└She’s supposed to drive fans and haters crazy, why are you driving *me*, a perfectly normal forum moderator, crazy, you asshole?
└Then you’ve become a hater now too.
└Assimilated……
—So, is she the pretty girl donation #1 or not?
└The match is about to end, wait and see.
└Yeah, if she wins this, she’s The Hundred rank 1.
—No, f*ck that, how did you upload the poop pic, asshole? Come here and confess.

[This forum is truly fucked]

So when will she hit rank 1?

—Go and see.
—Sno.1~ is live streaming on Pachichik~ Subscribe and like~ and don’t forget to turn on notifications~

* * *

Current viewers in Sno.1’s stream:

52,000.

* * *

[Whoa, what the hell? The viewer count suddenly spiked.]
[52,000 viewers, holy shit LOLOLOLOL]
[So when does she hit rank 1? So when does she hit rank 1? So when does she hit rank 1? So when does she hit rank 1?]
[The chat is wrecked.]
[Whoa, what the hell was that just now?]
[She dodged that?!]
[ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ]
[Unnie, your voice is so pretty.]
[So is she doing a face reveal?]
[I don’t know.]
[Is rank 1 in sight? Is rank 1 in sight? Is rank 1 in sight?]
[If she wins this match, is it rank 1?]
[Whoa, shit.]
[헉ㄷㄷㄷㄷ]
[That was so close, she dodged that?!]
[Last 3 teams.]
[Ah, but this is tricky.]
[Both sides seem to have 3+ members left, but SeongWon’s alone;;; Can she even win this?;;;;;]
[How does she win a 3:3:1?]
[I don’t know.]

* * *

This is difficult.

One team has 3 members, the other has 3 or more.

In this situation, I need to finish the game in first place, in other words, win, to become rank 1.

During the earlier engagement, I confirmed one of the teams has the current rank 1 player. I absolutely have to take them out. That’s the only way I have a chance, however slim, of hitting rank 1.

So, check their nickname, and target them first….

-Thwack!

I smacked the bear doll head.

“…Are you crazy? What nonsense.”

I seem to have finally lost it.

Hoping for victory based on slim odds?

To think I’d say something like that, I must be really exhausted.

…Or maybe my senses have dulled that much.

I clenched my fists.

I can’t achieve anything by relying on luck.

I have to proceed as if walking on a tightrope.

The moment I falter, I’ll plummet into the abyss.

I release the tension in my body for a moment, then immediately regain my composure.

“I can do this.”

I can do this.

I hypnotize myself, check my hero’s condition, take a deep breath, and leap into battle.

“I can do this.”

Freefalling from the sky.

One, two, three.

-Kwa-kwa-kwaaang!

I spam skills with a hazy mind.

Hit and run, strategically picking off both sides.

Oh, I just took out rank 1.

No, wait, it’s the tank.

Ugh, this guy just won’t die.

Retreat for now. Is it 2:2:1 now?

Wait. Are there any pure damage dealers left?

I can’t remember… No wait. There aren’t any.

Yeah. None left.

That means only bruisers remain, so as long as I don’t get hit, I should be fine. This is doable. I’ve done this before.

So, I’ll hide here for a moment, then lure….

No, these bastards. They’re ganging up on me. Isn’t this teaming? Do I look easy? Do I?

This is so frustrating. Die, just die!

Did I kill them?

I did?

“Huh, Huuh.”

I catch my breath atop a pile of rubble from a destroyed building.

A large icon immediately appears before my eyes.

[Victory!]

“I won. I actually won. Huh, huhihi.”

I won.

I only have a hazy recollection of how, but I don’t care. It’s not like this is the first time. No need to remember it perfectly.

‘The result is what matters, not the process.’

In the end, I survived.

The fact that I won is what’s important.

I collapse onto the ground.

As I lay there, the victory screen disappears and something else pops up. The rating calculation window, the same one that’s been appearing since I reached rank 30.

[2nd → 1st]

A dry message without any congratulations or anything, but nothing could be more moving.

“Yes. I won.”

Let’s see, the time….

Barely made it, 28 days.

I stagger to my feet.

Then, I check the chat, which I’d forgotten about at some point.

Messages are flying by so fast that even I can barely read them.

It’s even lagging a little, which means a lot of people are chatting simultaneously. Well, I didn’t set any limits.

I slowly bow my head towards the viewers.

“I barely made it, but I hit rank 1 within a month.”

Then I slowly raise my head.

After slightly adjusting the options, I take off the bear doll head. In reality, my sweat-drenched hair would be plastered to my face, but since this is a game, that doesn’t happen.

Finally facing my viewers with my bare face, I smile.

“Well, that’s it for today’s stream. I’m so exhausted that I’ll have to do donation shout-outs tomorrow.”

The chat starts lagging even more.

I deliver my usual closing message.

“Sno.1 is live streaming on Pachichik. Subscribe, like, and turn on notifications.”

Now, let’s rest.