Chapter 34

Although the Black Eagle Guild wasn't among the top 10 guilds, they were still renowned. 

The Black Eagle guildies who'd entered the Gangnam 1 division were talented people who were expected to probably become professionals later on.

Still, even for them…

'A million GP…'

'A m-million?'

A million was just too much.

'You can't joke around with viewer quests. It won't let you put up a reward like this if you don't have the money. The million… is real.'

The Warrior gulped.

Even if he was a rising star within the guild, as someone with a Bronze contract, it wasn't an amount of money he could even imagine.

Of course, if he kept progressing until Gold, that sum of money would feel achievable.

'The road to Gold isn't easy…' The Warrior thought.

He'd been in the Gangnam division for several months, so he knew becoming a pro wasn't easy. 

If he'd had a great Gift in the first place, he would have entered one of the top 10 guilds. He wouldn't have joined one like the Black Eagle Guild. 

He was talented, but not as much as those who were truly talented. At least, that's what the Warrior thought.

Even if he did pass the Silver promotion match, could a person like him overcome the barrier of entry into Gold?

No.

'If I commit suicide now, my reputation might fall a bit, but…'

A million dollars was very convincing, after all.

'You never know. My reputation might not fall that much.'

The Warrior had watched JiHan's channel a few times, so he knew the type of atmosphere that hung around him.

Just so they could see his status window, there were many who didn't want him to finish 1st.

The more JiHan showed off his amazing powers, the more curious people became about his abilities. That's why, even if the Warrior committed suicide there, he would receive some backlash, but it wouldn't last long.

'Yes, let's die!'

The Warrior looked around and saw his guild members acting suspiciously.

The Archer was quietly bringing an arrow toward their throat, and the Mage was preparing to chant a spell.

The Warrior became desperate. 

'Did those guys also receive a quest from the Sword King Fan Club…?'

'What a bunch of crazy bastards… did they offer a million to each member?'

Then, if all three died, who would receive the money?

'I don't know what's going to happen, so I have to die first.'

The determined Warrior turned the tip of his sword toward his throat.

He never thought he'd be committing suicide in Battle Net, but it was still just a game. He had to die quickly to clear the quest…

Swoosh!

"Ah…!"

His sword suddenly stopped right before it pierced his throat.

'It… it won't move?'

Just a bit more was all he needed…!

He felt an unknown force holding his body in place.

At that moment…

"As expected." JiHan, who was walking ahead, turned around with a cold smile on his face.

Tap, tap-

His footsteps echoed like thunder.

The Warrior's eyes darted around, and he saw that it looked like his other guildies were also frozen in place.

'Telekinesis…! Did he anticipate this would happen?'

When he thought about it, there was something that concerned him. 

Given JiHan's power, he could've simply gone ahead and cleared the way himself, but he'd deliberately stayed near his party members and even stayed within a certain distance when dealing with enemies.

The Warrior had thought he was just trying to protect them at the time…

'He was monitoring us!'

He felt chills running throughout his body.

"If you were going to kill yourself, you should've done it sooner."

Tap, tap.

JiHan's finger tapped over the Warrior's body and pierced his thick armor.

"Ah…"

The Warrior lost control of his body.

No. To be more precise, he could only move his face and neck.

"M-my arms and legs…"

It was a completely different feeling than before. 

Previously, it was as if a powerful external force was holding his body in place, but after JiHan's weird technique, his body wouldn't obey him at all.

'Th-this!'

Only then did the Warrior recall one of the techniques a Martial Artist, one of the highest-ranking Warrior offshoots, could use.

'Don't tell me it's Acupuncture…'

Clank-

The Warrior dropped his sword and shield and fell to the ground. He wasn't the only one who was immobilized, either.

"Ah…!"

"Wh-why are you doing this?!"

As he struggled to move his neck, he saw that his other two guild members had fallen like stringless puppets.

JiHan gave them a cold stare and said, "Did you want the million that badly…?"

The Warrior was surprised. Even if JiHan had been prepared beforehand, how could he know the specific amount?

Seeming to read his mind, JiHan looked into the air and said, "Someone told me."

To be more precise, he was looking at the donation message that had popped up in the corner of his vision. 

[Streamer Golden Light has donated 10,000 GP.]

[Mr. Sung! The guild members are trying to commit suicide after receiving a quest with a million GP reward! Be careful!

Not long before that…

- Mr. Sung! I want to be your editor!

- No thanks.

'Ah…'

Golden Light was a bit depressed after being rejected by JiHan and stopped streaming for a while.

"If I could make streams with Mr. Sung, I could be a Battle Tube legend… To think the opportunity would disappear like this…"

He had a dream of becoming the best on Battle Tube. 

Although he was making troll content at the moment, he was determined to become the best streamer someday!

That was Streamer Golden Light's grand ambition.

'I can't do it alone.'

Golden Light was well-aware of his own limits.

He looked good, and his Gift was A-rank, but that wasn't enough to become the best in Battle Tube.

Such a position was reserved for top-notch players like the Sword King.

'Mr. Sung, I saw that possibility in you… but to think I'd miss it like this…'

'I'm sad.'

'I'm too sad-!'

Golden Light sighed and rolled around in his bed when…

Ring!

- Mr. Sung has started streaming.

He received a notification.

"Huh? At this hour?"

Golden Light checked the clock. It was early in the morning, when viewer count was at its lowest since everyone was going to work or school.

To think he'd stream at such a shitty hour!

"Ah, that's why I should be at his side, advising him…!"

Even as he was still lamenting being rejected, Golden Light quickly entered the stream.

JiHan had already reached level 15, entered a dungeon map, and was clearing it with the same overwhelming power as usual.

The game was going smoothly.

'He's going to finish 1st again unless something unexpected happens…'

Golden Light remembered Kim Gyu-hyuk's trolling, back when a donation from the Sword King Fan Club almost messed things up.

'I should check their channels just in case.'

Golden Light's expression was calmer than usual as he continued to watch JiHan on his phone and enter the others' channels through his computer when… 

People using Sword King Fan Club IDs started posting messages on the channels of the Black Eagle guildies. 

[Commit suicide and prevent Sung JiHan from finishing 1st.]

[Reward: 1,000,000 GP]

It was an outrageous reward.

'A million GP?! That's ridiculous!'

Golden Light's expression stiffened. It was too much for it to be a simple grudge sponsorship.

The most suspicious thing was that they'd simultaneously entered the channels of the three party members.

'First, I'm going to take a screenshot…' Golden Light's eyes sparkled.

He needed to alert JiHan to what was going on, and to do that, he needed to send a donation message.

JiHan had set the minimum amount for donation messages at 10,000 GP, which meant he would be sending the equivalent of 10,000 USD, but…

'It's okay.'

Golden Light used to be in Gold, so obtaining the trust of the person who could fulfill his dream was more important than money.

His fingers quickly began typing.

[Mr. Sung! The guild members are trying to commit suicide after receiving a quest with a million GP reward! Be careful!]

That was the third donation message in JiHan's channel after Takeda and Yoon Sae-ah.

* * *

He'd felt something was wrong after he heard the whole story from Kim Gyu-hyuk.

'50K USD for breaking the crystal?'

50K USD wasn't an amount of money that had been obtained through the Sword King's fans pooling their donations. Rather, it was a crazy amount of money that a huge donor with the ID 'Sword King FC 898' threw down at once.

It didn't matter how big of a fan someone was. That wasn't a plausible explanation.

'It's more likely that the one who asked him to insult me was a real fan…'

However, even if the circumstances were suspicious, he couldn't draw a conclusion based on a single case. After all, there was a chance that a crazy fan had really thrown such a large sum out.

That being the case, the million dollars Golden Light told him about through his donation message was too much.

"Everyone, isn't it strange?"

JiHan had blocked the chats, but he could still talk to the viewers.

"I thought that 50K USD was understandable. After all, we're talking about 'those' Sword King Fan Club members. I figured there was a chance that they could have a rich person among them."

- Yes. 50K USD is possible…

- Even a few thousand were gathered when they asked Golden Light to kill JiHan.

- But that amount was gathered through the donations of many fans. It's different from one person donating.

- I agree.

"A million is different. No, to be more precise…"

JiHan pointed to the three players.

"It's three million."

- Three million is just too much.

- Is there a crazy bastard willing to burn three million to get JiHan just once?

- Maybe a billionaire's heir? 

- The rich have cut their ties with the Sword King.

Many rich people claimed to be fans of the Sword King in the past, but they'd erased any of their posts related to him after he went to Japan and also pulled down any advertisements he appeared in.

As time went on, they realized the public's opinion would turn against him, so it was better to take action before that happened.

- Then who is it?

- Isn't it the Sword King Fan Club?

- But this was donated by a single person. It isn't a collective donation.

Three million USD was an amount of money that didn't make sense, even for the Sword King Fan Club.  

"This probably wasn't done by the Sword King Fan Club. It has to be the doing of a bigger group, a group with strong enough financial backing to be willing to spend three million just to see my status window."

JiHan pondered it and stroked his chin.

"I wonder who it could be?"

Who could fulfill all of those conditions?

- Huh… don't tell me?

- Take-chan?????

- The Neo Self-Defense Force has a lot of money.

- That's right! He's always saying, 'Please open your inbox~ Reveal your status window~' Suspicious!!!!

- No. It could be China.

- There's no way it's Cina!

A debate was going on in the chat window.

JiHan paused for a moment and declared, "I'll revise my conditions."

- Conditions?

- Is he talking about the conditions for revealing his status window?

- He's going to cancel the 1st-ranking promise.

- Ah… just… reveal… it… why are you… acting… pompous?

- He isn't acting. He's really just like that.

Most viewers thought he would cancel the promise to reveal his status window if he couldn't continue finishing 1st, but he shattered their expectations when… 

"I'll change it from 200K subscribers… to a million."

He increased the number of subscribers he would need before he revealed his status window.