5.
A temporary party mber.
Normally, both a newly added temp and the existing mbers would feel a bit awkward or even a bit sour about it.
The temp might feel slighted for being “only temporary,” and conversely the existing mbers might think, “He’s just here for a bit, so no need to get attached.”
Michael’s party wasn’t like that.
Seong, who’d joined, and every mber of Michael’s party were all smiles, plain and simple.
It was only a temporary signup until the deep layers of Mugan.
In truth, it was quite a decent proposal for Seong as well.
“Since you can’t enter alone, and punching through to the deep layers takes a long ti.”
Originally, Belhadan’s Mugan used a system where a party’s cleared progress was saved, letting you descend further from there; if not for that, you had to start clearing from Basent 1F.
And the sections designated “deep layers” were B100 and below, so regardless of how strong Seong was, it was undeniably a very tedious undertaking.
That’s why Seong felt he’d done well to party up.
Michael’s party was a vanguard team that had already opened the way down to B70.
Right now, in the deep-layer race, Michael’s party sat within the rankings.
Only two parties were ahead of Michael’s.
The Cheongwi Party held the lead at B76, with the Mansik Party close behind at B74.
Michael’s party had been the first to break into the 70s, but announced they’d fallen behind since progress stopped after a mber suddenly beca unavailable.
“So they were first before that.”
If Seong had tried it solo, it would have taken far longer than expected.
There wasn’t a daily floor-clear limit, but they said so floors could take a long ti to clear one by one.
So floors were like mazes that made you wander forever.
It might be better to hitch a ride with a party like this.
The downside:
“If I leave the party, I start from 1F again, right?”
The record belonged to Michael’s party, so if Seong went back in with his vassals, he’d have to start again from 1F.
He did have a map, so he’d clear faster than others, but it might actually be fine to bring this party along to kill the three Lords.
Just... not on stream.
While Seong was thinking that far ahead,
Michael’s party looked at him and said,
“We’re going live shortly.”
“Got it.”
In fact, this was the first ti he’d shown his bare face on stream like this, but he wasn’t streaming as the Demon King, and even if a broadcast went out as the Demon King, he didn’t particularly care.
Seong just wasn’t the type to fuss over that.
He thought little of it.
Seeing how relaxed he was, Lowell looked at Seong as if he found it curious.
“Wow, most people would be nervous, at least a little. You’re not at all?”
Even at this level range, people usually didn’t get chances to be on stream.
Even if you belonged to a guild, in big guilds this level range was more often second-string, so not many used streaming as a mainline activity.
Lowell had expected that too, but Seong was calr than expected, which surprised him.
Noar was surprised as well.
“Ugh, I think I still get a bit of cara shyness.”
“Pff—co on, the cara isn’t even visible. The AI picks the angle and films transparently. What shyness?!”
“Y-you still know it’s filming!”
“Pu-hahaha!”
With the warm, lively mood, Seong clearly felt this was a good party and couldn’t help but smile faintly himself.
Watching the two bicker noisily, Michael said,
“Guys, we’re already live.”
“Wuh!?”
“Oh!?”
At that, Noar freaked out, making a weird face, while Lowell grinned as if it were even better this way.
Seong had already noticed Michael fiddling with sothing earlier and knew they were live, so he didn’t react.
He just smiled faintly.
Only, that smile was lethal.
-???????????
-What the? I ca to see the tomboy and all I see is light?????
-Who is that ultra-handso guy????????????????
-What is this???? Isn’t this Tomboy Michael’s stream??? A face handso like light plus two squids, and since Lowell’s short he’s the calamari????
“Calamari is too much!!! But ahem... he is handso.”
Lowell said that, sneaking a look at Seong, and his cheeks tinted slightly red.
There was no helping it—it was violently handso—so even the viewers had to concede.
-Look at Lowell, lolol—seizing the mont to indulge her thirst, eh???
-No, but lol he is really handso.
-Why even do a deep-layer challenge? Just shoot the breeze lolol
-Right, they’re a deep-layer challenge party, aren’t they? lolololol
-I almost forgot from staring at his face.
The chat was a system the party could share and view if they wanted; Seong saw it all.
Michael had expected a hot response from the start, but he couldn’t help being a little flustered.
He’d figured there’d be a decent reaction since Seong was handso.
But it was explosively beyond that.
When they stread deep-layer challenges, the starting viewer count usually hovered between ten thousand and twelve thousand.
That was already a lot, and of course the revenue was decent.
But now, the mont they started, they’d blown past ten thousand and were rapidly closing in on twenty thousand—their career high—leaving him dumbfounded.
-lolol look at Michael’s face reacting to chat lol
-Sorry bro, but you’re not handso—please move aside.
-How handso are you to be asking that?
-I’m not handso either; that’s why it’s like looking in a mirror.
-I’m sorry. I retract my statent. Truth is, I also......
They’d always pursued cheerful streaming and playful back-and-forth, so there were mischievous viewers, but no one crossed the line.
And most of the chat was:
-Wow, look at that smile.
-Now I get why n like n......
-Hey, hey, don’t go down that road!
-But seriously, he’s gorgeous.
-I can’t even feel jealous??????
-He’s super handso even to a guy—imagine for won?
-I see the female viewer ratio’s up, but it looks like only guys are chatting; won must be struck speechless in awe;;;;
Most of it was praise for Seong’s looks.
Seeing this, Michael thought quickly.
'Jackpot.'
As soone in chat said, they could make a successful stream just shooting the breeze.
But that wasn’t an option.
As ntioned earlier, Seong said his goal was the deep layers too.
So Michael composed himself and put on his usual playful expression.
-Sorry, sir. I had a visceral reaction for a mont there.
-If you co on strong like that out of nowhere—well, the newbie is allowed, of course.
-The double standard is wild lolol
Since so chat might start to cross the line,
Michael spoke jokingly.
“Haha! Folks, don’t cross the line. If you do, I’ll only show my face on stream.”
He said it jovially, but it must’ve been taken as a clear warning—chat got busy tidying up.
-Gasp!
-Just spam ‘fr’!!!
-fr
-fr
Once the chat turned clean, Michael smiled broadly, satisfied, and began explaining the situation.
“Ah! Anyway, as you can see, we’ve recruited a new mage. He’ll be joining us to challenge the deep /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ layers.”
People were a bit surprised at Michael’s explanation.
-Whoa, going for the deep layers!!
-So he made it to Belhadan—good-looking and good at the ga... pick one thing!!!!
-And that’s why Michael-ham... we respect a man who sticks to just one thing......
-Michael-ham... even one thing is done well... mmph—who are you people!!!
Seeing such a fun chat window for the first ti, Seong couldn’t help but smile, and, as he’d told Seong earlier, Michael looked at him with a mock stern squint and said,
“Do I amuse you!?”
“Yes. You’re on the funny side.”
Seong said it flat-out.
Chat exploded.
-lmaooooooo
-No brakes lolololol
-He really said it like that lolol
-I’m dying lolol
Michael was inwardly pleased with Seong’s witty reply, but for the stream’s sake, he put on a wounded look and said gloomily,
“Always the haves who go too far......”
Viewers comforted Michael at his reaction.
-lol it’s okay, bro—huh? Why are there tears......
-Huh? Pretty sure Michael-ham was the one attacked...?
-So why the tears?
Since the chat atmosphere was great,
Michael grinned and brought Seong back on-screen.
“Anyway, this is Mr. Yuseong, who’s joined our party to challenge the deep layers!”
“Nice to et you, I’m Yuseong.”
As Seong gave a faint smile and greeted them,
the chat erupted like it would burst.
-Wow, I’m in awe every ti I see him lol
-How can he be that good at the ga and that handsoㅠㅠㅠ
-ㅠㅠㅠㅠOppaㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Aren’t you older than him?
-If you’re handso, you’re oppaㅠㅠㅠ
Sensing the unusual firepower, Michael moved it along quickly.
“What’s your position?”
“I’m a mage, for now.”
“Oho? You won’t say your elent?”
“I’ll show you soon.”
When Seong said that with such confident poise,
the reaction was, again, red-hot.
This was a line Michael had asked for pre-stream, but seeing Seong deliver it better than expected, he was very impressed.
At this rate, you’d think he was a professional strear—there was zero nervousness.
Anyway, that wasn’t the important part right now.
They exchanged a few more words, and since they needed to talk about who Seong was as a person, they did.
Even if you’re handso, if you’re not interesting, viewers get bored and drop—Michael had considered that, but thankfully it didn’t happen.
He had to be extrely handso for that.
On top of that—
'His banter’s good, too.'
To Michael, Seong was no different from a savior who’d fallen from the sky.
He desperately wanted to scout him if possible, but since Seong had said he’d at least cooperate until the deep layers, he didn’t get antsy.
From a streaming standpoint, if they shed this well, even if Seong’s skill were average or worse, Michael was ready to keep him.
Hoping Seong would remain with his party, he pushed on with the stream.
With Lowell and Noar chiming in, the talk naturally shifted toward the deep-layer challenge in Mugan.
“We cleared up to B70 last ti. The Cheongwi Party broke into B76 yesterday.”
“Argh! We were first! They leeched our B70 guide from our stream!”
“Whoa, whoa—easy, Lowell.”
Michael handled Lowell like calming a skittish horse, and seeing Lowell actually calm down made for a pretty fun bit of chemistry.
Watching them stream like this, Seong was honestly impressed and thought to himself,
'I should learn this, too.'
Up until now, Seong’s streams had been the kind that crushed everything with overwhelming firepower and skill.
This kind of back-and-forth looked pretty fun as well.
And showing his face drew a great response.
If things went well—
'I could go public here, or later stream on the Rapid ID.'
Thinking he’d discuss that with Michael later, Seong followed Michael’s lead as they now moved toward Mugan.
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