***
***
A week later.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
Sitting on the living room sofa sipping coffee, Yoon Sejin heard the ringing from the wall pad and looked at Yoon Seah.
“Is it Sophia?”
“Yeah, Dad. I’ll go check.”
Yoon Seah, now accustomed to these visits, walked to the entrance and opened the door.
There stood Sophia, dolled up with her makeup on point.
“Hi, Seah~”
“Yeah, I’ve been seeing you a lot lately, huh.”
A week after moving into Sword Palace, Sophia had been visiting the penthouse every day around 3 PM.
“Is Jihan perhaps here?”
“Uncle’s not here.”
“Not here? Again?”
“Yeah. He’s training.”
“Really? Should I come before 3 PM? But Jeanne D’arc’s transfer of the Holy Flame doesn’t end until then…”
Sophia had been visiting the penthouse every day for a week, mainly to see Seong Jihan, but she had been missing him every time.
And that was because…
“No. It wouldn’t matter what time you come… Uncle just doesn’t come out of the training room.”
“Not… for a whole week? What about food?”
“Food? He’s not eating.”
“Eeeek?! What if he faints?”
“For uncle, we don’t need to worry. Plus…”
Yoon Seah shook her head, looking towards the direction of the training room.
“It seems like he’s not there either. No sign of him at all.”
“Where did he go?”
“I heard he got access to a training space where time flows differently. When I asked to go with him, he said only he can enter.”
“Wow… such a place exists?”
“Yeah. So I’ll let you know when he comes back.”
“Tch. I was expecting to see Jihan a lot… Okay!”
Sophia left after another day of futility.
When Yoon Seah returned to the living room, Yoon Sejin, who had been drinking coffee, remarked.
“That girl really never gives up, huh.”
“You’re not the one to talk, Dad.”
“It reminds me of when I followed your mother around.”
“But wasn’t Mom underage then?”
“Cough… maybe I need to go level up a bit.”
Startled by the mention of underage, Yoon Sejin rose from the sofa.
Yoon Seah smiled mischievously, then looked back at the training room.
‘But really, when is uncle coming out?’
Since Seong Jihan acquired the training hall of the void, he had become a recluse in his training room.
Lately, Seong Jihan’s viewers were even flocking to Yoon Seah’s BattleTube channel asking when he’ll stream again.
‘Though it helped increase my subscribers… now they fight amongst themselves.’
Since Seong Jihan had overwhelmingly more fans, each time Yoon Seah streamed games, the chat would be flooded with questions about “When will Mr. Seong Jihan come?”
Those against searching for Seong Jihan on her channel were clashing fiercely with those just looking for updates.
Yoon Seah eventually gave up moderating the chaotic chatroom.
“Today’s game stream… I’ll probably have to deal with uncle’s fans again… Maybe I should turn off the chat.”
Yoon Seah mused this with a wry smile when,
“Someone is looking for me? Who?”
Behind her, without any prior indication, Seong Jihan appeared.
“Ah, uncle! You’re finally out?”
“Yes. How long has it been?”
“A week. Did your training go well?”
Seong Jihan shook his head at Yoon Seah’s question.
“Not really.”
The fifth Annihilation technique, Descend of the Heavenly Tree.
Armed only with the clue that it’s a martial art of the Wood attribute related to Gilgamesh, Seong Jihan gave it a shot in the void training hall. Despite spending a significant amount of time, he made no progress.
‘There seems to be some connection between Heavenly Tree and the Martial Arts of the Wood Attribute…’
Heavenly Tree, Initially, Seong Jihan thought it functioned as some kind of buff.
Usually, descent implies gods bestowing their strength upon the user for a certain period, enhancing them.
‘But the last martial art of Annihilation technique to be a buff type? That doesn’t seem right…’
While not backed by hard evidence, Seong Jihan’s instincts told him that the Descend of Heavenly Tree was not merely that type of power.
Having explored other directions but always failing, he stepped out of the void training hall for a breather.
“What’s this chat about from earlier?”
“Oh. Nothing much. Just that your fans have been coming to my channel looking for you.”
“Really? Well, I’ve been doing fewer streams lately.”
Ever since becoming the hidden boss, Seong Jihan had stopped regular gaming.
Because not only was the hidden boss garnering a lot of experience, but if he joined the race to level up, He would quickly become world number one.
He would then be the focus of concentrated bans during the Space League, so he was regulating his pace.
“Do they not somewhat know the situation?”
“But they are curious about what you’re doing.”
“I’ve said I’ve been training.”
“And I’ve said it over a hundred times too.”
“Sorry if it caused any trouble.”
“No, it’s fine. Thanks to that, many of the viewers who came ended up subscribing to my channel…”
Thriving from her recent victories in BattleTube, Yoon Seah was gaining subscribers amongst Seong Jihan’s fans, enjoying the spillover benefits.
Yet, she seemed somewhat hassled by the chat.
Noticing her dim expression, Seong Jihan patted her on the head.
“You won’t be bothered by the chat today.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because I’m going to play today.”
“Oh… but I thought you couldn’t level up? If you become number one in the Space League, that wouldn’t be good, right?”
“I was going to do that, but this special map’s rewards are quite unique.”
“Oh, what’s it?”
“I’ll show you in the game.”
Seong Jihan said with a grin and entered BattleNet.
***
“Hello, everyone.”
Upon accessing BattleNet, Seong Jihan immediately turned on BattleTube.
-What? Seriously, it’s Seong Jihan?
-Oh… the notification popped out of nowhere, and it’s actually him?!
-Ah, finally you logged in to BattleTube… Did you finish your training?
Immediately as Seong Jihan launched the game, the chatroom brimmed with welcoming messages.
Amid the flurry of fleeting comments, Seong Jihan began to speak.
“Training is an ongoing process, but Space 4 has assigned me to another special map.”
-Another special map?
-It’s special every time
-Doesn’t surprise me anymore that it’s Seong Jihan lol
-So does that mean another hidden boss appearance?
Viewers were no longer impressed by the assignment to a special map.
Instead, it was almost expected, to the point where it’d seem strange to see him in an ordinary game.
Meanwhile…
[A.DaVVies has donated 100000 GP.]
[Uh, Mr. Seong Jihan, we are really sorry, but you know the Space League isn’t far away.. could you somehow… perhaps stay at the 2nd place this time……?]
-The human coach donated lol
-Donating while asking to keep a check on leveling up lol
-He did enjoy the recent 1st-place fake stunt.
-Really, if only Seong Jihan could stay forever below 2nd for the Space League…
-Isn’t Seong Jihan now ranked 7th because of the hidden boss?
-Even without playing the main game, he’s at that level? He must have earned a lot of experience points.
Davis, who had greatly deceived Orcs, thinking Seong Jihan would naturally be first, appealed to him to somehow use similar tactics in the next game, even sponsoring him.
“I have no plans to become world number one right now. I’m trying to hold back on leveling up as much as I can. It’s just that this special map has quite a unique reward. I have to participate.”
People showed interest in Seong Jihan’s response.
-If Seong Jihan says the reward is good…
-Was it as good as when the hidden boss popped up last time?
-What exactly are the rewards?
“Just that…”
As Seong Jihan was about to reply,
[Oh. Welcome back, our esteemed customer. Long time no see.]
Flash!
A giant robot appeared beside him and started speaking.
“Artemus?”
There stood Artemus, the greatest blacksmith in the universe, in its combined form.
[Yes.]
His body glowed, then split into hundreds of dwarves who lined up neatly on the ground.
[Are you also participating because of your membership, customer?]
“Yeah.”
[So am I. Can’t miss out on a 6-month extension.]
The basic reward of the special map was a Space League Premier Membership extension voucher.
An item inherently equipped with a function of 100 percent boost in experience and GP gain.
In fact, it was often chosen not only for that but for a 30 percent chance of evading the opponent’s ban list and for particular functions like ‘Spotlight’ or ‘Hideout.’
[Are you planning to extend the hideout this time too?]
“That’s the plan.”
[If someone as talented as you used the Spotlight, you would have received universal attention. With GP sponsorship flooding in, and many constellations calling for your love, you’d be overwhelmed.]
“Are you planning to use the Spotlight?”
[Of course. I need to gather GP to modify my race.]
-Spotlight? Hideout?
-What are they talking about?
Seong Jihan explained briefly to the viewers who were not familiar with the Space League membership card.
-Oh, so that’s why they couldn’t see Seong Jihan’s face.
-I thought the aliens were talking nonsense lol
-And it seems he wasn’t banned due to that too.
-It seems worth joining .
Although viewers took the explanation about the membership card quite casually.
[A.DaVVies has donated 100000 GP.]
[Sir, Mr. Seong Jihan, does the membership card reduce the chance of being banned?! But it seems like it hasn’t been applied even once during the national games…]
Coach Davis from humanity’s representative team excitedly made another donation with his query.
Seong Jihan, sharing the same doubts about the 30 percent ban evasion, asked Artemus who was standing beside him.
“But Artemus, this 30 percent ban evasion thing… is it effective? I don’t recall it ever working for me.”
[Really? I’ve made quite a profit off it. When was it you faced trouble?]
“In national competitions. I’m always under concentrated bans.”
[…National competitions? Does your planet, which your race rules, have several countries?]
“Yeah.”
[Huh. Of course, that doesn’t work then. Is that a real game, competing against your own race? That’s just part of training. But… What did you even do? You should declare immediate world unification and become a dictator.]
Hundreds of dwarves, sounding incredulous, simultaneously shrugged and stared at Seong Jihan.
“A dictator, what nonsense are you on about?”
[You’re the one talking nonsense. To join Space 4 as a lowest-tier race, you’ve got to have celestial genes. You must not stop there; it’s your duty to evolve your race. Unify the world and spread your superior genes to all prolific women!]
-The guy’s lost it…
-What’s this world unification joke? lol
-But seriously, if Seong Jihan tried to unify the world, would anyone be able to stop him? lol
-Can’t they just bomb him?
-Seong Jihan could probably dodge a nuke…
-His spatial control ability is brokenly overpowered, isn’t it?
As the chat began to seriously debate whether world unification by Seong Jihan was feasible, Seong Jihan immediately waved his hands.
“Don’t worry. I have no thoughts of world unification.”
[Tsk. One should dedicate themselves to one’s race… What a waste of ability.]
Why bother with such tedious affairs?
As Seong Jihan flatly denied it, Artemus kept nagging aside,
[Player has been assigned to special invade map, ‘Race Annihilation Battle.’]
The system message appeared and the chit chat stopped as focus shifted to it.
[The designated race is the ‘Blue Blood Demons’ demoted from the Silver League.]
[Divided between ‘Void’ and ‘Solar’ factions, the process of clearing the demotion planet begins.]
[Will you participate in the ‘Race Annihilation Battle’?]
Race Annihilation Battle.
Seong Jihan, having only thought of it as a special invade map before participating in the game, furrowed his brow at the revealed name of the map.
***
***
