Chapter 438

The first match ended in just 3 minutes.

The Shadow Queen muttered with a blank gaze.

"Now... Bankruptcy... I'll be dragged away by the World Tree Elves for not being able to pay back the debt..."

"...Don't tell me you borrowed money from them?"

Seong Jihan knew that the loan business was one of the businesses operated by the World Tree Alliance because he had been summoned last time and saw it.

But he never imagined that the Shadow Queen, who was the archenemy of the World Tree Alliance, would have used it, so he looked at her in disbelief.

"They have the lowest interest rates and lend the most money. I was trying to make a glorious comeback with the enemy's money, but..."

"Are you crazy, seriously? But they quietly lent you money?"

"I didn't go to the loan counter directly because of that, and got a remote loan..."

After suffering so much while being treated by the Void in the World Tree Alliance, how could she think of borrowing money from there?

"Hey,. I'll lend you..."

As he was about to say that, he saw the game over screen.

The result of the business she started by borrowing a large sum of money from the World Tree Alliance's loan counter was already failing twice.

"Ooh... You're not going to lend me, are you? I couldn't even bring it up because I was too ashamed to borrow from my lifesaver, but if you can..."

Before the Shadow Queen could finish her words,

– Seong Jihan, no!!!!

– It's like pouring water into a bottomless pot. Wow.

– Seeing her already fail the broadcasting rights twice, she's a hand of minus.

– You might end up being a joint guarantor. You need to cut this off from the start.

– My father also ruined our family like that...

Not only from Korea but from viewers all over the world in the chat window were shouting in unison not to lend her money.

Because it looked like a route where she would gather all the money from the people around her and ruin the business.

However,

[R.E.GATES donated 100,000 GP.]

[American First is interested in investing in the Queen's business. I will personally come to Korea after this broadcast ends.]

When Robert Gates, the de facto leader of American First, fired a donation, the reaction changed.

– Huh? Is that real?

– Yeah, it's Robert Gates.

– What, why is this person trying to invest?

– The Shadow Queen's channel... But if you think about it, it's quite valuable. This is the only place that broadcasts the alien BattleTube.

– There are a lot of interesting alien races. It's way more fun than Earth's animal documentaries, lol.

– Yeah, those items got more views than the last tournament, lol.

As soon as the Gates family showed their intention to invest, viewers began to pay attention to the value of the Shadow Queen's channel.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Queen asked Seong Jihan while looking at that message.

"Who is this person?"

"He's one of the wealthiest people in the world. He's one of the executives of American First."

"Investment... Does he want to get involved in my channel operation?"

"Broadcasting the alien BattleTube is a big merit. Currently, only you and I can do it, right?"

"But as the level of human players rises, they will be able to watch alien channels too."

"He probably wants to preoccupy it before then."

"Oho... Is that so?"

The Shadow Queen nodded and slightly raised the corner of her mouth.

"I'll have to arrange a meeting later."

"Yeah. Now that the urgent fire is out, shall we focus on the original work?"

"The original work... You mean commentary?"

"Yeah, what do you think about that?"

Seong Jihan skillfully rewound the match just now.

The duel between the two dragons that seemed like they would engage in a battle of the century ended too easily with the Black Dragon exploding on its own.

"I don't know the exact reason either, but considering the fact that 128 of the Dragon Clan participated and the winning dragon grew an extra head... It seems like something the Dragon Lord designed targeting you."

"Yeah. The dragons said they would carry out the Lord's order... But is the Dragon Lord's influence so great that a level 9 constellation would willingly self-destruct?"

"Hmm. He's on a different level."

The Shadow Queen pointed to the Seven-Horned Blue Dragon and continued.

"Originally, the Dragon Clan was strong but had a small population. They didn't even have the numbers to push 128 Dragon Clan constellations into a tournament that proceeds with 256 participants like this. But the situation changed since the current Dragon Lord became the leader of the Dragon Clan."

"Did the numbers suddenly increase?"

"Yes... The Dragon Clan's catastrophically low reproduction rate drastically improved since the current Dragon Lord's time. In my guess, it seems they received cooperation from the World Tree Elves. The Dragon Clan started unconditionally losing to the Elves since the current Dragon Lord's time."

Seong Jihan frowned.

The World Tree Elves were really involved in everything.

– Now, can we just point to the World Tree Elves as the culprit whenever something is suspicious?

– Seems so.

– It's common sense that dragons are originally stronger than elves, but was this the reason they were acting weak...

– But the Elves have an Administrator on their side too. Isn't their faction just stronger?

Perhaps because they indirectly acquired BattleNet information while watching Seong Jihan's channel, the human viewers now knew how to grasp the power balance between factions to some extent.

As they were talking about the Dragon Lord for a while like that,

[The arena match begins.]

A message signaling the start of the second match appeared.

"Oh, this time the dragons aren't matched against each other. There's only one from the Dragon Clan."

"Really? They'll fight a bit this time."

"I hope they fight for a long time..."

The Shadow Queen said that sincerely and displayed the match screen largely.

* * *

15 hours later.

[Day 1 of the tournament ends.]

Seong Jihan looked at that message and stretched.

"Phew, it's finally over."

"Conducting 64 matches in a day, it was a tighter schedule than last time."

"I guess it's because the Dragon Clan guys ended it so quickly."

"Seems so. After the first match, the arena matches were also conducted simultaneously. Phew..."

The Shadow Queen sighed and organized the videos she had filmed so far.

"As long as it's not a Dragon Clan vs Dragon Clan match, some pretty good videos came out, but..."

As long as it wasn't a Dragon Clan vs Dragon Clan match, the matches flowed quite fiercely.

Especially the scale of the battles between the high-level constellations at level 9 was considerable.

– I thought it was so boring when I only watched the matches of the human-born Ashoka last time...

– It was quite fierce in this tournament.

– The fight between the giant monsters, the effects were flashy, lol.

– But why are they all so big; Are there no human-level beings?

– I guess you need to be big to be a high-level constellation in the Space League;(

The viewers also enjoyed it to some extent compared to last time.

"Won't you avoid a deficit like this?"

"...If it keeps going like it is now, I don't think we'll see a deficit, but the problem is that a large number of the Dragon Clan have advanced to the round of 128."

"The Dragon Clan was indeed strong."

The Dragon Clan, who seized victory with a 60-70% probability in matches against other races in the tournament.

Many dragons had already risen to the 32 slots in the round of 128.

"If two heads meet, will it become four?"

"How about continuing to appear as a commentator to see that?"

"Ah, forget it. I didn't know it would take 15 hours. Plus."

Seong Jihan continued, recalling the dragons with two heads each.

"Level 9 constellations with two heads... If they got stronger by growing one more head, I need to prepare too."

"Indeed, level 9 constellations are already powerful, so if they became even stronger, you need to prepare."

"Yeah. I'll have to stay in the training room for a bit."

When Dongbang Sak wasn't participating, Seong Jihan thought he could handle the level 9 constellations.

And in reality, even after watching the fierce battles of the level 9 constellations who fought hard when not matched against the Dragon Clan, it didn't seem too difficult for him.

However,

'The dragons' heads merging, it's not just the number increasing. A lot of their power must have been enhanced.'

Right now, they have two heads.

As the tournament progressed, he didn't know how many heads that number would increase to.

Before that, he had to prepare to fight the opponent by making the most of the power he currently possessed.

It wasn't the time to do commentary.

"Alright. While you train, I will also analyze them and create data."

"Oh, yeah, I'll leave that to you."

And so, Seong Jihan, who saw the number of dragon heads increasing, entered the training room.

The Shadow Queen proceeded with the commentary alone for 2 days.

Like that, the report card revealed after Seong Jihan was gone was,

– Queen, the number of viewers is too low compared to the first day...

– Is it 1/10th…? Isn't this going bankrupt like this?

– Is a deficit confirmed if it's like this?

miserable beyond comparison.

The Queen's channel, where the concurrent viewers didn't even reach 10% compared to when Seong Jihan was there.

– I think you need to show the high-level constellations' fights more slowly. It's too fast;

– Seong Jihan adjusted the speed well from a human perspective...

– Their battles are too advanced... It's more fun to just watch the bronzes rolling on the ground.

– Lol, right.

– Queen, I think you need to get some investment.

She frowned as she listened to the human viewers' unsolicited advice.

'It's absolutely impossible alone.'

At this rate, even if she received investment from American First, it would be bankruptcy.

'I need to call people with topics as guest commentators...'

In order to avoid being dragged to the World Tree Alliance's loan counter at all costs, she mobilized all the connections she currently knew.

And the commentator she called on the 4th day like that was,

"Queen. I'm grateful that you called me as a commentator, but I really don't know anything, you know? A mere Master level being here..."

none other than Yoon Seah.

* * *

"Seah, you just need to show your face."

"Hmm. Even so, the number of viewers will be miserably different compared to uncle's..."

"I didn't expect to match Seong Jihan from the beginning, so don't worry."

"Hehe. Then I'll just do it without any burden?"

– Oh, Yoon Seah appeared, lol.

– The Queen was desperate.

– But she doesn't really fit as a commentator, right…?

– The commentary isn't that important anymore anyway.

– That's true. I don't get it even if I hear the story of star wars.

Although the attention was much less compared to Seong Jihan,

"Seah. People are asking if you have a boyfriend."

"I feel like I've answered that over a thousand times already... I don't have one!"

"What's your ideal type, they're asking."

"Hmm... Someone strong enough to beat uncle… and also handsome as a bonus!"

"'Someone'?"

"Of course a person, you think I'd date an alien race?"

"You'll live single for life."

Still, perhaps because she, who was now being recognized as the world's number 2, appeared and chatted,

the number of viewers that had been constantly falling since day 1 was able to significantly rebound on the 4th day.

'Good. Riding this momentum...'

Now entering the round of 128 in the tournament.

To reverse the atmosphere even more, the Shadow Queen called another guest.

[...You're telling me to do commentary? You must be really desperate.]

Seong Jiah.

"You're not doing anything at home anyway, right?"

[Queen. Who made the breakfast you ate today?]

"Wasn't it just something heated up in the microwave?"

[No, it wasn't? Sigh. How do I cook with this body...]

Seong Jiah, who had been quietly listening to this in her statue state, glared at the Shadow Queen.

[No, isn't that strange? Originally, you're supposed to pay the appearance fee even if the program is in deficit. Saying you'll pay if it makes a profit, aren't you an evil employer?]

"Well, it's because there's no GP..."

[If there's none, is that it? You can just get investment. Quickly get investment and pay proper GP to my daughter and brother. Especially to Jihan, it seems like you should give him half of what you earn?]

"That's a bit..."

Unlike Yoon Seah, who didn't put many conditions when asked to just come as a commentator,

Seong Jiah was criticizing the Queen item by item.

'I shouldn't have called her...'

Yesterday, she took up too much of Yoon Seah's time, so this time she tried calling the constellation Seong Jiah who was at home.

She didn't expect to be bombarded with nagging like this before the match even started.

However,

– Wow, yesterday Yoon Seah appeared and today it's Seong Jiah? Wow.

– Hey, the Queen's connections are no joke?

– She's bringing everyone living in one house, lol.

– Seong Jiah!!! There was a rumor that you divorced the Sword King, is it true?

When Seong Jiah appeared, the number of viewers was rising even more than yesterday.

Of course,

[Yes. We split up.]

the people started to show interest in Seong Jiah's divorce rumor rather than the tournament match.

– But why...

– You were such a loving couple.

– Why do you think so? The Sword King had an affair. ㅡㅡ

– Who told him to go to Japan? Abandoning his daughter too.

The Shadow Queen looked at the chat window where the reactions were exploding with wide eyes.

The Queen had become somewhat accustomed to human society.

But she hadn't predicted how much the word 'divorce' would attract attention, especially the split of the Sword King couple, one of the most famous couples in the world.

– Wasn't that because of brainwashing???

– Still, it's unacceptable!

– He made a mistake inevitably due to brainwashing, please forgive him just once. 🙁

– What forgiveness; If you forgive, he'll do it again.

"...Why are they making a fuss over the breakup?"