I Have a Reason to Hate Streamers Chapter 13

I quite enjoy the combat in this ga.

A world nearly perfect in its simulation of reality. The vibrant system enhances the taste of battle, and the enemy before shows no hesitation in exuding murderous intent. What I love most is the cold sharpness that a well-forged blade gives off and the crisp sound when two real swords clash. The thrill of narrowly avoiding a deadly strike from the opponent is what captivated and drew into this world.

And then, there’s the pure exhilaration of cutting off your opponent’s lifeline. It felt like my brain was drenched in the kind of euphoria only drugs could induce.

[Victory! You have earned 18 points.]

[You are on a 9-win streak. The longer you maintain your win streak, the more points you earn.]

[Current record: 9 wins, 0 losses.]

A few more matches like this, and I should be safely within the zone. From the reactions in the community, it seed like the penalty for losing was harsher than expected. If you couldn’t keep up a winning streak, earning points beca much harder.

On the flip side, as long as you racked up enough wins, you wouldn’t need to grind through dozens or hundreds of matches. As long as you kept an eye on the trend each day and stayed within a safe margin, you’d be fine. After all, when competing for rank in ranked gas, there weren’t many cases where the score cutoffs suddenly skyrocketed.

I had expected the second preliminaries to consu all my ti, but it turned out I had so breathing room. Since matches were set up regardless of tier, it wasn’t too hard to accumulate victories.

Maybe this was the developers’ way of considering the ti constraints of pro gars. Could it be that the participation rate was lower than they had expected? Either way, it wasn’t bad news for .

“At this rate, I could manage this alongside my other work.”

[Marketplace Notification: 1 Sky Scout Arrowhead has sold for 15,000,000 Gold.]

[Marketplace Notification: 1 Azure Crystal Gem has sold for 22,000,000 Gold.]

[Marketplace Notification: 1 Horribly Sour Lemon has sold for…]

I had been stressing over financial matters as it was.

Infinity Black is an RPG ga. The objective, at least according to the lore, is to find the "Abyss of Infinity" hidden sowhere on the continent. Supposedly, the person who first saw it said, "It was endless blackness spreading out forever," hence the na… I’m not really sure.

Honestly, the na lacks creativity. It feels like the lower ranks tried to polish up a na the lead developer insisted on pushing through.

In any case, I wasn’t just a pro gar who could get by solely within the ranked ga environnt. Quite the opposite, actually.

Most of my inco ca from siege guilds, so scrappy field fights were my bread and butter. For soone like , having good equipnt was essential. In RPGs, gear is part of your skillset.

With the announced patch coming soon, I’d have to upgrade to even better gear. Since I needed to maintain high-end specs, my expenses were always significant. Sure, I had so money saved up, but no one ever likes dipping into their savings.

With the finals approaching, it’d be smart to earn so extra now.

[Victory! You have earned 17 points.]

[You are on a 10-win streak. The longer you maintain your win streak...]

[vs DongjakAgent]

“…Hmm?”

There was sothing oddly familiar about the na. Sure enough, I had just matched with soone I knew. And, as expected, text began to appear in the chat.

Since I had all unfamiliar players’ chats hidden, it had to be soone from my friends list. Not that I was sure calling this person a "friend" was entirely accurate.

[Whisper from DongjakAgent]

Whoa, you startled !

So you really joined the Arena, huh?

I thought you weren’t interested in these kinds of events.

Why aren’t you replying?

Well, I didn’t have to answer. Why should I engage in conversation with soone like him?

DongjakAgent was part of the "SSA" guild. SSA wasn’t quite big enough to be considered a major guild, but it was a bit too strong to be considered mid-tier either. It was known for its aggression, even within the field of siege-focused players.

And among them, DongjakAgent was part of the harassnt squad—those who targeted enemy guild mbers relentlessly. I didn’t need to explain what kind of person that made him. I had added him to my friends list mostly for business reasons. Our relationship was more like that between a contract killer and a hired thug. We fought each other at tis, but occasionally, we cooperated...

"I saw that KimchiNinja video."

"Is that really your thing?"

“Where are you now? I’ll co over. It’s been a while since we last t face-to-face.”

"Now you answer, huh, Tenryun?"

I clearly asked where he was, but why wasn’t he answering? Did he think I was easy?

Maybe it was ti to reestablish the hierarchy. For people like us, killing each other wasn’t that big of a deal. The reason? “You pissed off” was not only acceptable but the perfect excuse for murder.

"I’m kidding. Chill out, okay?"

"I am chill. So where are you? I swear I won’t co. I an it. I’ll bet my balls on it.”

"You don’t have balls, you crazy girl."

"Now you’re just blatantly lying."

It’s a bit sad. I used to have them, you know. Back in the day, swearing on your balls was like a sign of trust between n. Not that I ever made a promise I intended to keep, but still.

If you can take them, go ahead. Beat with a bamboo sword, if you can.

There was a ti when I could have said things like that.

"Hey, actually, this is perfect timing. Are you free?"

"Looks like you’re racking up Arena points with no problem."

"I’ve got a job for us to work on together."

I frowned at his words. I didn’t even think before replying.

“No.”

"Why? Got too much work?"

“You know, that line you just used is from one of my favorite movies. You putting that filthy mouth on it is a serious offense. I’m disgusted now.”

"Goddamn you, really..."

As much as I said that, I decided to hear him out. There was too much money on the line to reject him outright. And honestly, the job didn’t sound too bad.

"Don’t worry, I’m not going to drag you into a field war."

"Not that you’d do it anyway, right?"

“You know too well. I don’t plan on getting too deep into that ss.”

I rarely accepted requests to participate in sieges or wars. Once you aligned yourself with one faction, it beca hard to raise your value, and playing both sides like a bat could make you a target.

Guild wars in this ga had a strong sense of camaraderie. If you were being harassed and a guildmate dropped what they were doing to help you, it felt heartwarming. Once you joined a guild, you accepted your fellow mbers as comrades.

That emotional connection naturally fueled strong hostility toward enemies. If you overdid it and beca too hated, it would only make things difficult for you in the future. It was better to show up occasionally, making an impression without causing too much trouble. That was the most profitable strategy.

Still, exceptions could be made if the offer was good enough.

"You’ll just be farming with our rookie."

"The drops will be split equally, just like any other party hunt. And, of course, you’ll get paid extra."

“What if the enemy harassnt squad shows up?”

"The deal includes responding to the first fight. And if our rookie doesn’t die, we’ll throw in an extra 2,000."

Sotis, this sort of thing happened. If a guild wanted to intervene in a dispute, they’d start a party hunt to create an excuse to fight.

In MMORPGs, parties were an essential feature. But you couldn’t always fill a party with guild mbers alone, and so of the people you gathered might belong to warring guilds. If an enemy guild interrupted your hunt, that gave the other party mbers a reason to declare war.

It was a bit like covering your eyes and pretending not to see, but surprisingly, even in ga wars, justification mattered. It prevented screenshots from being posted in the community, discouraged guild mbers from leaving, and strengthened internal bonds. There was always a reason behind these tedious actions.

“So what’s the endga? What are you trying to do here? Let warn you, if I feel the least bit uneasy, I’ll walk away imdiately.”

And if I walked away, I wasn’t giving the deposit back. Just because soone was a client didn’t an they were trustworthy. I had almost been stabbed in the back more tis than I could count.

I had even fought against DongjakAgent as an enemy a few tis. Sure, it was all for money, but that made him even less trustworthy. He could easily betray at any mont, depending on the situation.

The reason I had managed to survive despite my reputation as a villain was because of this caution. There wasn’t a single easy thing in this world.

"There’s this strear called ‘Dongmicham,’ have you heard of him?"

“I think I’ve seen the na once or twice. Never watched his streams, though.”

"No need to. His content’s trash. He grabs players and takes screenshots as his main bit."

“You’ve got to be kidding .”

I was so shocked, I couldn’t even close my mouth. DongjakAgent seed surprised by my reaction.

"What’s with the surprise? There’s no shortage of weirdos in this industry."

“No, that’s not it. I just can’t believe you used the words ‘trash content.’”

"Should I hand this job over to soone else?"

“Sorry, go on.”