Chapter 4: Game Start (1)

Chapter 4: Game Start (1)

Sang-Hyeon wept embarrassingly in a capsule cafe he had never been to before.

‘I can’t believe it works.’

Ten years. He hadn’t held a bow in ten years.

Sang-Hyeon told Ju-Hyeok he didn’t remember those days. However...

‘There’s no way I could forget.’

His mind wouldn’t let him, especially that day when the car accident happened. He could still see it clearly in his head.

The emotions he felt when he heard he would never be able to use his right hand again. Those feelings always lingered with him. He would even see the doctor’s cold-hearted look in a crowd sometimes.

“Sniffle... Sigh...”

He clenched his teeth to stop his tears, but they kept pouring out. He couldn’t understand why.

Was it from the joy of finally being able to shoot after ten years? Or the realization that he lived the last decade as an empty person?

He wasn’t sure. Nonetheless, he felt something boiling deep inside him that eventually leaked through his eyes.

“Hey... Sang-Hyeon.” Ju-Hyeok came up, not knowing what to do.

Sang-Hyeon pushed him away.

“Don’t come near me. This is so embarrassing...”

Sang-Hyeon wiped his tears with the tissue beside him and shooed Ju-Hyeok away.

He calmed down a bit as the owner approached and tapped his shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, thank you. It just took me back.”

“I wish I could understand... but I don’t think I can. However, I’m in awe.”

“Sorry?”

“The fact that you’re still so passionate about the dreams you had as a youth.”

Sang-Hyeon simply thought the owner had read too many comics or fairytales. However, that didn’t matter after Sang-Hyeon heard his next words.

The owner immediately earned Sang-Hyeon’s respect.

“I’ll sell it to you for seven million won.”

“!?”

Sang-Hyeon’s eyes almost popped out.

'Seven... seven million? He's not talking about the capsule machine, is he?'

From his research, even used ones fetched around twenty million won. Selling it for seven million would definitely be a loss.

“Are you talking about some other device? Not a capsule machine, right?”

“No, I’m talking about a capsule machine. You said you wanted to stream, right? This one comes with all the streaming features built in. It’s an older model, but it won’t be too shabby for a start.”

“...”

Sang-Hyeon’s jaws dropped.

“Th... Thank you!”

He bowed without hesitation and thanked the owner. He couldn’t afford to hesitate in life when he needed all the help he could get.

“How can I ever repay you?”

“Don’t worry about it! It’s a cheap model only worth around ten million. The three million off is a friends and family discount. Plus...”

The owner scratched his head and continued with the manliest grin.

“Let’s just say I’m trying to look cool in front of Ju-Hyeok.”

“!”

‘Looking cool... yes. That’s quite important.’

Sang-Hyeon nodded and recalled when his team had to go through all sorts of shit at work just to briefly make his manager look cool.

“You truly are a gentleman,” Sang-Hyeon said with a straight face and the owner laughed.

“Haha! You’re a funny guy.”

“I... I told you. He’s a bit different,” Ju-Hyeok said as he scratched his head in confusion.

The owner settled down from laughing and rephrased himself.

“It’s not that I want to look cool. It’s an investment. Like most capsule cafes, I’m also in charge of capsule distribution. Just do a shout-out for me when you become big soon! Three million for a huge shout-out is a good deal.”

“Ah ha.”

Who would invest in an advertisement from a newbie streamer who hadn’t even properly played a game yet? No one. This kindness came straight from the owner’s heart.

Sang-Hyeon nodded more firmly than before.

“Yes! Of course!”

***

Workers from the capsule cafe came to Sang-Hyeon’s home the next day and finished installing the capsule machine.

“Thank you so much! Drink this on your way out!”

“Thanks, you didn’t have to.”

Sang-Hyeon handed each worker a can of coffee as they left.

It took Sang-Hyeon another seven hours to finish setting up his stream. Now he only had to purchase a game.

“Phew, even this is no easy task.”

He wiped the sweat off his forehead and browsed the top games being streamed on the platform, Treevy.

[Battle Large] 220k viewers

[Life is Legend] 1.57m viewers

[Mana Sword] 320k viewers

[Bio Jeopardy] 120k viewers

Most of them seemed like competitive online games.

‘These might not be bad...’

These games were undoubtedly the hottest, but Sang-Hyeon had no intentions of playing them. The more popular a game, the more likely many streamers already played it.

Extremely skilled streamers or funny and witty ones already filled such popular games. Those competitive scenes didn’t suit a newbie streamer like Sang-Hyeon.

‘I’m not at the major league yet.’

He didn’t intend on diving headfirst into the red ocean. He needed to find a game gradually increasing in popularity that could showcase his skills.

‘I did have one in mind...”

One game caught his attention ahead of time. It had just enough popularity and realism to show off his skills. He found it as he scrolled through the store.

[Kingdom Age] 170k viewers.

Players took on the role of a mercenary during the middle ages in this game called Kingdom Age. It featured a medieval theme, realistic mechanics, and fights that felt real. Various factors contributed to its growing fanbase. These kinds of games always had a loyal fanbase, but not too many streamers because the increased realism meant an increased difficulty.

However, that didn’t scare Sang-Hyeon because he never played a difficult game before. He promptly purchased it through Treevy’s store.

[WOULD YOU LIKE TO PURCHASE?]

[?59,000]

It wasn’t cheap, but that was to be expected from a high-quality game. Sang-Hyeon proceeded without hesitation.

[YES]

He already planned to spend forty million won for his streaming setup. Sixty thousand wouldn’t be much more.

[PURCHASE SUCCESSFUL]

The money was deducted from his account and the game booted up.

[FULL DIVE WILL COMMENCE IN 5 SECONDS]

[5]

Gulp.

Sang-Hyeon felt strangely nervous and kept his eyes alert.

[4]

[3]

[2]

...

Flash!

A white flash burst and another world appeared.

***

Slap!

A large hand slapped him across the face.

“Keugh!” n0VelusB.c0m

‘What the?’

Sang-Hyeon got up puzzled. His cheeks burned even though it happened in a game. Was it all in his head? Then someone yelled at him.

“Get up, punk! You call yourself a mercenary sleeping at a time like this?”

‘Ah.’ The game started. Sang-Hyeon had to remind himself this was all a game.

‘Isn’t this way too realistic?’

It felt so real because of the game’s high quality. Everything seemed alive and Sang-Hyeon almost grew upset that a game character slapped him.

It felt much more real than the Olympics game he played before. The sound quality felt incredible as well.

Clippity clop.

Carriages went back and forth, screams echoed, and metal clashed.

‘Are we in a battle?’

Sang-Hyeon couldn’t see the situation as a newcomer on standby, but he could tell a battle was currently taking place.

His superior commanded him with a concerned expression.

“The bandits have invaded! Get up! Grab a weapon!”

The senior mercenary aggressively gestured to him.

Then...

“Hurry! Grab a weapon, you bas...”

The mercenary froze while making a weird face. No, the entire screen froze.

[CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON]

The tutorial had begun.

Whip.

Sang-Hyeon’s vision turned against his will to a storage filled with hay.

[SWORD]

A sword lay on top of the boxes in the corner.

His gaze turned again to the left this time.

[SPEAR]

Spears could be found behind the carriage.

Then his sight finally landed on a different mercenary’s back.

[BOW AND ARROW]

This mercenary carried a bow.

“What the... Why is he the only one with a bow?”

Sang-Hyeon scratched his head in confusion, but didn’t hesitate. As he reached for the bow...

— Will you choose the bow and arrow for a bow challenge?

Suddenly, a chat window popped up.

“!”

Sang-Hyeon quickly glanced towards the bottom left.

[5 viewers]

‘Five people already?’

He must’ve chosen the correct game, right? Five viewers already joined his stream.

‘I should probably talk a little, right?’

Every message and viewer counted in the early stages of streaming. Sang-Hyeon responded to the chat since the game paused.

“Bow challenge?”

A reply came as soon as he asked.

— You don’t know the bow challenge? Usually, people who beat the game three or four times occasionally do this challenge.

Sang-Hyeon had watched his fair share of streams and could somewhat make out the viewers’ comments. He didn’t mean to ask about the bow challenge in particular though.

“Are bows... not good?”

The fact that only experts did the bow challenge meant bows might not be very good in this game.

— Are you asking because you don’t know? Arrows can hit allies, bounce off armor, and come in super limited quantities, so you gotta calculate every shot.

— Nevermind that. Did you see the stream’s title?

— ???

— It’s his first day streaming. First time playing as well.

The other viewers chimed in.

'What are they talking about? Stream title?' Sang-Hyeon looked up.

[Automated Stream Title]

This heading hovered above with a title that read: Beginner Player, New Streamer.

‘Ah, I forgot to set a title for the stream.’

He had been too preoccupied with booting up the game, but the automated title didn’t sound so bad.

— Look at this guy's playtime.

— His ID was basically made yesterday.

The viewers could look him up and see his complete beginner status because of the game’s identification system.

— Oh wow, he’s a real newbie. That’s exciting.

— No way LOL

They actually enjoyed watching a newbie instead of being annoyed. Probably because only skilled players streamed Kingdom Age.

‘It was a good choice.’

Sang-Hyeon had to admit he picked an excellent game.

“Hey chat, is the bow hard to use?”

They filled the chatbox with?‘yeah’?in response. All five viewers agreed on the high difficulty.

“Alright then.”

Sang-Hyeon picked the bow.

— ?!

— This newbie is quite cute and feisty.

— I don’t like kids who don’t listen.

— Lol I think he’s trying to be a streamer who doesn’t listen.