Chapter 11 - Chapter 11

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Translator: 8uhl

Chapter: 11

Chapter Title: Drake Musou First Clear

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"Enemy! An enemy has infiltrated!"

The organization member NPC, who had been patrolling the theater in a set pattern, finally spotted Alpaca's tail.

'Damn. Too crowded.'

Alpaca immediately used his smoke screen skill and decoy clone skill to scatter the aggro, then clung to the outer wall of the second-floor audience seating.

'Gotta hope my stamina holds out.'

Stamina drained every time he parkoured.

He could conserve it with wires, adhesives, or other tools, but Alpaca was in the middle of a no-gear assassination challenge.

'If I fall, they'll swarm me and I'll be done for. But if I climb up, the NPCs are still on high alert. Lingering in one spot too long, and some grunt on the first floor will spot me. What skill should I use...'

His mind raced, drawing on the experience piled up over the past week, but before he could even finish pondering...

"Kuhahaha!"

A mad cackle echoed through the air, followed by the sound of something slicing toward him.

Swoooosh!

Clinging to the wall, Alpaca twisted around. His eyes squeezed shut reflexively at the sight of the fast-approaching object.

The blade embedded right between his eyes, and he plummeted from the second-floor seating.

Thud.

"Argh! Failed again!"

Busted.

Reputation dropped every time he died, and now buying info from the guild meant grinding it back through basic fetch quests.

Or tackling some other mindless sub-quest.

Both were a headache either way.

He'd been banking on the rep naturally gained from assassinating other NPCs to take down Drake somehow.

His viewers were reveling in his failure more than anyone.

'So vicious.'

Was it really that fun?

He thought his stream didn't attract the worst trolls, but years of streaming had taught him one thing.

Most viewers harbored at least one little devil in their hearts.

"Oh? Thanks for the 1,000 won donation!"

Yeah.

Viewers like this gave him the energy to keep going!

'No wait.'

Sure, but when he actually checked, it was always some crappy photoshop of a real alpaca caught on a fishing line.

'But knowingly taking the bait is a streamer's fate.'

Alpaca paused the game and returned to the lobby.

A vast highland plain stretched out, and he plopped down on a haystack-shaped chair.

All fan-customized backgrounds sent as gifts.

'At first, I thought they were mocking me.'

But surprisingly comfy chair and great view.

In the end, appreciating the fans' effort, he set it as his default background.

Ptoo-ptoo!

As he sat on the hay chair, the resident lobby alpaca animal approached. Name: Daepak.

His stream mascot, with snow-white fur and a perpetually grumpy cute face.

Ptooey!

Alpaca jerked his head aside as Daepak spat.

"Ack!"

He knew the spit was just graphics after getting hit so many times, but the reflex kicked in anyway.

'Did they really have to implement the full spit animation?'

Like this, even loyal fans making high-quality lobbies snuck in their malicious touches. That was the viewer way.

Ptoo-ptoo!

Ignoring Daepak munching on his hay chair, he opened the web browser.

"What to search? Gotta hit the info boards... Here we go."

These guys.

Who could he blame but himself for asking the viewers?

"Right here."

The video showed someone extracting info from an organization member in a unique—no, extremely unique—way.

"Whoa! Didn't know this method existed. Wonder which kind soul shared this."

Alpaca, who could parry decently himself, grinned. No more boring rep grinds.

"Seriously, the guy who found this or the devs who hid it... impressive stuff. Right?"

With the pressure off Drake's base info, Alpaca started calculating how many more attempts he could fit in today's stream.

Then, a long donation pinged.

Maxed out on characters.

Followed by voice chat.

Huh?

"Who cleared it? Nah, no way. You guys won't bait me."

Even in VR, Alpaca felt a chill sweat on his back.

Uneasy.

Suddenly, yesterday's Etore clear popped into his head. Nah. Why didn't he think of it earlier?

As he berated himself, the chat started filling with silent laughers.

Just spamming "lol".

For his usually disorganized viewers, unified laughter meant one thing.

'When I'm suffering.'

Right on cue, above the post he'd opened, another 30+ rec post appeared.

"Whoa, come on. Rigging recs to troll me? I'm not falling for it. You guys are ruthless."

Gulp.

Mouthing denial, his hand slowly clicked the post.

And the truth revealed.

A guy wielding a pipe, casually beating down Drake.

Truly casually.

At first, he thought:

'Huh? Looks doable. Non-stop stream might work?'

But then, the man on screen parried a sword, glanced back without turning at a chain stabbing from behind, and casually dodged with a head tilt.

Any relief vanished; the sequence forced reality on him.

'We're screwed.'

He couldn't replicate that.

He was struggling with assassination; musou? Forget it.

So.

"That video's edited, right? Yeah? No way a human pulls that off. Right? Agree quick."

He denied it outright.

No dice, obviously.

"Ah, so this is the streamer who musou'd Etore."

Now pivoting topics.

His viewers knew from his week-ago flop how tough Etore was.

Interest instantly shifted to how Etore was cleared. Perfect topic pivot, he thought.

Perfectly timed video donation played: Streamer Jin Seo-jun grabbing an iron mace and unleashing acrobatics.

Even having seen it before, Alpaca gasped again.

How much practice would it take him to pull that off?

Smooth, flexible, yet restrained movement.

"And the craziest part? It's only his second day in the game. Blew my mind when I heard."

Alpaca's eyes trembled scanning chat, like a sailor facing a storm.

A mocking voice from the heavens: "As if you'd succeed."

Then voice chat again.

"Ha..."

Alpaca sighed deeply. So much for pivoting.

He bitterly regretted his hasty past self.

'Three days of all-nighters might earn mercy...'

Clearing Drake to end stream? Not even on the table.

Alpaca, face fallen, glanced at the next post title and yelled pointlessly.

"Hey! If I had hooves, I'd wear shoes! You shoe! Don't upvote that crap, guys. I'm stressed enough."

This one he liked.

Alpaca slyly upvoted it.

Consistent bunch.

Alpaca sighed deeply and surrendered.

"Fine, a promise is a promise."

They'd understand if he collapsed mid-stream, right?

Or not?

Alpaca glared at the viewers.

Still, collabing with that streamer sounded fun.

As if reading his mind.

But.

"Don't mention me on his stream, guys. That's just annoying."

Better safe than sorry on this.

Second-day streamer was the issue.

No collab experience, smooth sailing—don't jinx it. Might burden him.

'Hmm.'

As Alpaca pondered, a Travel notification popped up.

Checking it, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Anyway. Stream ends here for today."

"Good work."

That day, a collab announcement went up on Alpaca's fan cafe.

Meanwhile.

Mubi Soft, overseeing over ten subsidiaries worldwide.

In the president's office of Mubi Soft Korea, developers of Assassin's Dawn - Shadows in the City, someone burst through the door.

"President! Big trouble."

"What?"

Mubi Soft Korea President Eve Phymo swiveled her chair to eye the intruder.

Kim Yoon-chan.

Her eternally optimistic subordinate.

"The Overlord's down, President."

"..."

"Musou'd."

Troubling news; Eve demanded details.

"Who?"

"Drake."

"Pfft, no biggie. About time he fell. Weakest one, right?"

Eve's serious demeanor relaxed.

"But if people start wondering about the Fragment of Order..."

Eve cut Kim off.

"Enough. Unnecessary worry. Sure, collecting all Fragments early screws our plans, but you're the one who designed the blocks to prevent that and coded them in. What's with you?"

Fragment of Order dropped on musou'ing Overlords.

One Overlord couldn't be beaten on skill alone; required a specific skill.

They'd tuned it so unlocking that skill took ages—no need to fret yet.

"I know, but 'what if' can bite. And get this: the guy's a streamer. Just walked up and did it."

"Optimist my ass."

"Gut feeling."

"Shut it and work. Wait... just now? You were streaming during work hours?"

"...I'll be going now."

"Hey!"

Next day.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Just checking game skill info."

Tae-woo shook his head pityingly at Seo-jun browsing forums from the taxi passenger seat.

"Don't get sucked into that rabbit hole."

"...Shut up. Double-checking for the collab."

Sudden collab meant little prep time, but they'd discussed how it'd go.

"Why're you tagging along anyway?"

"Wanna see that hyung after ages."

"What about your stream?"

"Capsule nearby. It'll be fine."

'Sigh.'

Seo-jun sighed deeply.

Veteran streamer's class shone through.

"We're here."

The driver announced arrival; they paid and stepped out.

"Lemme lead. Been here a few times."

"Sure. But why'd you meet him?"

"He did newbie scouting content back then. Met then. I was year four, you were day three. Damn."

No real envy or self-pity.

Tae-woo had endured hard times and succeeded; knew comparisons were pointless—self mattered most.

After 30 minutes of wandering, they reached the place.

'You said you'd been here.'

Seo-jun shook his head and rang the bell.

Ding-dong.

After a moment, the door opened, and someone emerged.

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