Chapter 320: Episode 320_All-Star Match (1)
1.
The trip was over.
A week. Long if you called it long, short if you called it short, but looking back, it was not a week he regretted.
“We have to co again.”
“ too!”
“Let’s split it half and half. I’ll rent the private jet.”
“Deal!”
No matter how much Fantastic World was another world that felt like real life, and no matter how many things you could do there that you could never experience in reality, there was still a clear difference.
It wasn’t that the sensations or experiences felt awkward. It was a psychological difference in how you accepted them.
In the ga, it was just your avatar doing things, whereas in reality, it was your actual body moving and doing sothing.
The difference was subtle, but for Han Simin—who had spent his whole life holed up at ho and was now, for the first ti, letting the erald waves carry him as he surfed and snorkeled in the sea—it was an incredibly valuable experience.
And it wasn’t like he had gotten lucky once by chance.
Now, if he wanted to, he could go and experience it anyti.
Travel expenses were by no ans cheap, but whenever that bothered him, he could just look at the balance in his bank account and slowly get used to it.
Because of that, his urge to lie down in the capsule and dive back into Fantastic World as soon as possible was a little weaker.
He wanted to savor the afterglow of the trip.
When he got ho, he lay down on his bed instead of in the capsule.
“Let’s see.”
He hadn’t lost his edge.
He was just checking things from his bed instead of from the capsule.
What had happened while he was gone, and what he needed to do first when he lay back down in the capsule and returned to his original world.
The first things to check were his emails and ssages.
Ninety-nine percent of them were useless, but the advertising inquiries mixed in among them were precious little gems that paid for his living expenses.
As a result, the ever-increasing number of ads drew complaints from viewers, but that did nothing to change the heart of Han Simin, who watched the numbers in his bankbook climb.
He had just co back from a trip, so his eyes were especially sharp as he scanned his inbox, looking to cover his expenses.
And then he found it.
“Huh?”
An email from a well-known broadcaster.
With a paynt offer ant for him and him alone.
Unlike the other emails he skimd and tossed straight into the trash, Han Simin sat up straighter and began to compose a careful reply.
*
After adding two more ads and logging into Fantastic World in high spirits, Han Simin was greeted by a mountain of reports from his aide.
“A lot has happened while you were away, my lord.”
“It was just a week. How much could possibly have happened?”
Seeing the aide’s serious expression, Han Simin asked in a casual tone.
Fantastic World was that kind of place.
A world where you couldn’t predict even a single second.
A place where a kingdom could fall while you were in the bathroom.
Until very recently, that was how it had been, and that was why Han Simin had cut back on sleep to keep moving.
But that age of chaos had co to a brief halt.
Because the Heavenly King, who had been forced to wear the mask of the Demon King, had left.
The continent had regained peace, and the changes happening as people moved to stabilize that peace were not likely to affect Han Simin all that much, which was why he had felt safe leaving.
Naturally, it was hard to imagine that anything huge had happened.
Even in the face of his lukewarm reaction, the aide kept his grave expression and spoke.
“His Majesty the Emperor is expected to bestow a crown in the near future. The Rich Territory will finally be reborn as a kingdom in your na, my lord. Sniff.”
“Oh. Really? That’s good news.”
It was certainly sothing worth being surprised about.
But Han Simin wasn’t surprised.
“Well, that much is the least he can do. I drove out the Demon King and crushed that cult that was about to sink its roots deep into the continent.”
From the start, Han Simin’s ultimate goal had been to beco a thug who ruled the continent and made money while sitting on his ass, so a kingdom was nothing more than one more step toward his real objective.
It was too early to celebrate, in other words.
So his reaction fell short of what the aide had been hoping for.
“...Yes. So, in line with that, we’ve begun work to scale things appropriately for the Rich Kingdom.”
“Work?”
But the report that followed managed to draw a reaction from him.
A scale befitting the Rich Kingdom!
The aide’s eyes went hazy with excitent as he began to explain.
His lord was always this cool and unresponsive.
It was his role to draw a reaction from such a lord and make his wishes co true—an effort dedicated to the man who had raised the Rich Territory from a place with not a single wall to its current state.
“Yes. We are currently in the process of bringing the territories between the Rich Territory and the Rich Casino under our control, in order to lay the foundations for a large-scale kingdom. The necessary funds will be covered by the money we have accumulated so far, so there will be no need for any additional support from you, my lord.”
“If you asked
to put in more money at this point, you wouldn’t be human.”
“Pardon?”
“Ah. Nothing. Just talking to myself.”
“Yes, and any territories or small kingdoms that refuse to cooperate will be dealt with through war if necessary, in order to complete the Rich Kingdom Project.”
“Sure, sure. I’m sure you’ll handle it well. Here I was, wondering what kind of project it was and thinking I might finally see a single coin co my way, but it’s just another excuse to spend money. So how long will it take?”
“...We should be finished consolidating things and ready to begin construction within about six months.”
“Haah. So you’re telling
not to expect any money from here for the next two years. I should just give up on this place as a source of inco.”
“...My lord?”
“Ah. Nothing. My inside voice keeps slipping out today.”
It wasn’t that he bore any ill will.
Han Simin was simply blunt by nature, and he and the aide had been together since the very bottom, so his thoughts just ca tumbling out.
And honestly, it wasn’t as if he was wrong to say it.
’Shit. This is one of only two things in my entire gaming life that’s in the red.’
It was the Rich Territory, the one he had so ambitiously started to develop.
Back in the early days, when every single coin was a matter of joy or sorrow, he had poured a massive, unhesitating investnt into it. He’d dread that it would one day grow into the entertainnt capital of the world—a day when he would wake up to find tens of millions of dollars deposited into his account.
Now, the territory’s net profit had grown to far exceed his own earnings, yet he’d never received a single cent in settlent. That was annoying enough, but now they were saying they were going to pour all that money into building an even bigger kingdom.
In the end, it would still be his territory and his kingdom, but... what was this feeling of emptiness?
As the owner of the kingdom, wasn’t he allowed to at least vent this much frustration?
“Well, I’ll leave it in your hands. I’m going to the Empire.”
“Yes, my lord. When you return, you will be His Majesty the King.”
“Yeah. A puppet king.”
With one last, tidy barb of resentnt, Han Simin left the lord’s chamber.
2.
It was UGN’s ga-project:
Fantastic World All-Stars: War of the Stars!
The mont the most important decision was made—the confirmation of Han Simin, Fantastic World’s hottest na, as a participant—the promotions began in full force.
Filming was a week away, but since promotion was the most critical factor for ratings, they were hyping it up as if the show were going live that very instant.
They had no choice. A program like this had never existed since Fantastic World first opened.
A real variety show, live, with no script!
This wasn’t even a “real variety show” in the usual sense.
The program would be driven solely by the spontaneous actions of the participating All-Stars.
Naturally, there would be no MC.
They would simply herd the All-Stars onto a specially created server and let them determine who was the best.
—But if they just copy the character data from the main server, doesn’t Simin just auto-win?
—Nah. If they’re only bringing over the characters, I doubt it’ll be that easy.
—Do you even know what his stats are?
—What are they?
—I don’t know either.
—Idiot. The reason Simin is so strong is because he’s both a Tar and an Enhancer, you clueless clowns. Have you ever actually seen him fight sa-level users himself? In his early videos, he was already running around with
15 gear while everyone else was low-level. Back then, people barely understood Enhancent, so they just got steamrolled by his items. You really think that would still work today?
—True. It’d be fun to see them fight under equal conditions, but honestly, just throwing them all together like this and letting them go at it sounds fun too.
—But that’s literally his whole thing. If you strip away his abilities and only bring the character over, isn’t that unfair?
Countless debates flared up as all eyes turned to the topic.
Depending on how they set the conditions, the network could end up getting absolutely roasted, but for now, this kind of aggro was nothing but good for the broadcaster.
They weren’t particularly worried about running it live, either.
They would prepare for any one-in-a-million situations, of course, but 99% of the All-Stars were already experienced personal strears.
So, UGN designed the system to channel this controversy in a positive direction, using a format that would appeal to users while minimizing complaints.
They ca up with a thod that would satisfy users who wanted 1v1 duels while also accommodating those whose 1v1 combat ability was lacking.
“The All-Star Match will run for a total of 24 hours. All All-Stars’ stats will be fixed at 1 at the start, and they will have opportunities to grow their stats by hunting monsters located on the island or through various other thods.
We will do our best to maintain balance among all participants. Out of the 500 All-Stars, we will select the final one to ten survivors and award them prize money.”
As ti passed, a variety of classes had been revealed in Fantastic World.
The Legendary-grade class slot had yet to be filled, but from Unique to Special, most of the strears who had gained popularity were making a living with their unusual classes and distinctive playstyles.
Watching those countless streams, viewers had all thought the sa thing.
’Who is the strongest?’
This event would finally satisfy that desire.
Since so classes might be weak in 1v1 combat, they also allowed players to form factions.
Any thod was fair ga.
As long as you survived to be among the final ten, you could walk away with $1,000,000 in prize money.
Of course, if a group won, that would be $100,000 per person, but it was only natural that a ten-person faction would have an easier ti surviving than a lone wolf.
Viewers accepted this. And they eagerly awaited it.
At the sa ti, their curiosity converged on one question.
—Are all the Specialists participating?
—What about Kenji? Haven’t seen him around lately.
The two were, without question, the most famous players in Fantastic World.
What if those two were given a chance to face off again, with no ranks or titles to hide behind?
On the main continent, Kenji had used sheer numbers to pressure the Specialists, but what if the opposite happened in this All-Star event?
What kind of result would that produce?
The spectators, more excited than the participants themselves, eagerly awaited the filming and broadcast dates.
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