Chapter 439

8.

After Seong’s live ended, and until it became the next day—people couldn’t help but be excited.

Because Seong said he’d turn the broadcast on again today too!

The only thing was, the fact it was a “training stream” could be a bit of a sticking point.

Of course, most viewers who came just to see Seong didn’t care.

To some people, it might’ve been “just a training video,” but for the majority who loved the Demon King, Seong, even that alone was more than enough.

Other streamers would promote their broadcasts everywhere to get noticed, or appear through collabs with other MeTubers—but Seong, the Demon King, didn’t do any of that and barely even streamed, so people couldn’t help being desperate for it.

And even if it was a training video, didn’t he sometimes communicate a bit, here and there?

That was one of the reasons the Demon King’s viewers were so bewitched.

And then, at that moment—

[● “Rapid Guild” Live Broadcast “New Backup Team Joins, and Discord” Begins.]

Just as announced, Seong’s live broadcast started.

But the title alone wasn’t normal.

A new backup team joins?

And on top of that, discord?

It was provocative wording you could sometimes see even in the Demon King’s lives, but—had there ever been wording that pulled curiosity this hard?

Thinking that, people went in with faces full of excitement, happily paying the ticket fee to enter the broadcast.

A new backup team!!!

When everyone entered the stream with eager hearts, it was still in the standby screen state, like the screen adjuster.

- BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG open the door, owner!

Open the door!!! Right now!!!

- Who’s the new team?

- Is it Michael’s team???

- But wouldn’t they not be able to come because they don’t have a pass?

- Their level probably went up?

Did it?

- But if it’s Michael, isn’t the tier kinda low?

- ㅠㅠㅠ Hael-hyung I’m sorry but I can’t take your side ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

- Hael-hyung would admit it too, right? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

They brought up Michael, but everyone brushed it off as not that.

He was skilled too, sure, but honestly, he wasn’t at the level to be in this.

Since people knew that well, their curiosity only grew.

Still—

- Doesn’t Rapid have some second-string teams?

- If it’s this, wouldn’t it be like 1.5-string? If they’re level 300s???

- Double Rankers are 300+, right?

- Yeah, but this is usually the Triple Ranker side.

- Did Rapid even have a triple team?

- Nope nope nope, there wasn’t.

As people chattered, they wondered if it was Rapid’s second squad or “1.5 squad”—but it wasn’t that either.

Because there wasn’t anyone who came to mind right now.

So the viewers started squirming in curiosity.

That was how badly they wanted to know.

While everyone was eagerly waiting for when the video would finally appear—the screen suddenly adjusted, and the video started.

- Oh!?????

- It’s up!!!!!!!!!

- It’s on!!!!!!!!!!

- Holy shit, she’s insanely pretty?????

- He’s seriously ridiculously handsome;;;

- He’s so handsome.

- She’s so pretty;;;;;

The moment the video appeared, people burst into awe and spammed the chat.

They couldn’t help it.

Because as soon as the screen turned on, it showed a two-shot of Seong and Helena.

Everyone had no choice but to admire them.

With the two of them showing up—two people you couldn’t criticize on looks no matter how hard you tried—the viewers even forgot they’d come because the title baited them, and just kept gushing.

While everyone was doing that—Seong looked at the chat and said,

“Ahem. Sorry for the low-grade bait.”

“Mm. It’s not completely groundless, is it?”

Helena said that beside him with a small smile.

At their words, the viewers listened with curiosity.

Then—

Seong began speaking like he was calmly hosting the program.

“Today, a new team has joined. It’s someone you’ve seen before as well.”

At that—the viewers started typing like, no way...

- Is it really Hael-hyung????

- No way, seriously!?!???

- That can’t be true????

- Someone we’ve seen before??????

- Who is it??????????

- ???????????????

- Reveal it already!!!!!!!

When everyone was getting antsy—

Seong gestured, the camera followed his hand, and there stood someone who looked like an assassin in dark clothes, and behind him were three women blushing as if they were a little embarrassed.

All of them were stunning—but compared to Helena beside Seong, or Luna standing nearby, or Embris with her slightly sulky expression, and Kim Che-geon, it was hard to put them on the same level of looks.

Still, three women with quite good looks, and one man whose face was hidden in shadow like it was completely covered.

And the moment they saw them, everyone recognized him.

- Holy shit, Reaper?????

- Hyung, why are you here???????

- Weren’t you active on the Europe server?????

- Do you even meet the level requirement??????

- So you got a pass????

- Well yeah, Reaper would have to get one;;;

- Wow, he really made it all the way to the Demon King’s side????

- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ So is Reaper the right-hand man now?

Everyone got excited, chatting like that.

And since it didn’t look like the existing backup team was openly unhappy—there didn’t seem to be any discord.

But—

some viewers were already predicting something, remembering the title.

Because they had no choice but to be sharp.

- Ah?????????

- No way???????

- Exchange blood feud???????

- So we’re doing a hierarchy match??????

- This is gonna be so damn good?????

- So it’s not just training today!!!

With everyone yelling excitedly—

Seong confirmed it.

“Yes. That’s right. Today, we’re doing a hierarchy match. Last time, Kyou-nim showed a bit of a lagging performance, but this time—not just Kyou-nim. We’ll be checking how much everyone grew after receiving Helena’s teaching.”

When Seong said that, everyone had to agree.

To be honest, something like a hierarchy match was exactly the kind of thing you’d look forward to.

So even the backup team had expressions like they liked it a lot.

But Kim Che-geon and Embris had their own separate reason for looking sulky.

“However, we decided it might not be great to do team-versus-team yet, so we’ll have only the team leaders fight. We’ll hold the full hierarchy match fairly after Reaper-nim has completed all the training as well.”

At Seong’s words, all the viewers looked even more expectant.

- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

- Today will be great too, but next time is gonna be the real legend.

- Damn, I need to take a day off in advance for that.

- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Tell us beforehand, taking PTO is a pain.

- fr I’m using PTO

- Even our department head would use PTO for this

- What are you talking about, just say you need to poop and watch it on your phone while you’re taking a dump.

- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ They’ll think you fell into the toilet bowl????

As the viewers took it in cheerfully—

Seong continued.

“And so, as a test today, the person who will spar with Reaper-nim will be the one Reaper-nim personally chose: Kyou-nim.”

At that, the viewers had no choice but to go wild.

They thought it would just be a match—but a revenge match?

That really was a Reaper-idiot kind of choice.

But—

- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

- This is it!!!!!!

- The romance is insane!!!

- Who’s gonna win for real this time?

- Last time Kyou almost lost, yeah.

- But this time he trained under Helena.

- But isn’t Reaper the Dark Star’s disciple? Then wouldn’t they be similar?

- Oh? We really don’t know, then.

- I’m curious.

- What do you mean you don’t know? If he’s the Dark Star’s disciple, how is someone trained by Helena, a user’s vassal, gonna beat him??? Reaper stomps;;;

Even if Kyou trained under the amazing Helena—to the viewers, Helena was still “just” a user’s vassal, wasn’t she?

So quite a lot of people were predicting Reaper over Kyou.

Reaper himself was the same.

But Kyou and Seong looked completely unfazed by the chat reactions.

Even Helena was watching the chat window, but she didn’t say a single thing.

Their faces said, You don’t know until you actually try it.

So Reaper felt a little odd, but soon nodded.

Thinking Kyou must have grown that much.

“Then before we start, I’ll explain the rules.”

So they wouldn’t get their feelings hurt, and they wouldn’t kill the other person.

Stuff like that—various minor, basic rules.

They were so basic there was barely anything to listen to, but because it was Seong speaking, the two of them listened quietly, completely obedient.

When the explanation ended, the two of them moved away from each other.

A distance of about ten meters.

But with their skill, it was close enough to call it right in front of each other.

So both of them stared at each other with serious expressions, and Reaper narrowed his eyes and thought to himself,

'Sorry, but I’ll win today.'

While he was thinking that—at Seong’s signal, Reaper moved.

But the instant Reaper moved—a shadow appeared behind Reaper, then, like teleportation, it moved behind Kyou, and even Reaper’s body split into two, while the main Reaper’s form became so faint it vanished into transparency.

Stealth close to perfect.

But even more astonishing than that was the fact this entire process took no more than a fleeting instant—less than even 0.1 seconds.

With stealth and speed beyond anything else, Reaper moved to attack Kyou.

Of course, one shadow clone that was plainly visible but flying in at insane speed lunged at Kyou with a dagger—and the shadow clone behind Kyou also tried to strike with a dagger.

And lastly, Reaper, now invisible, was about to deliver the attack—when Kyou’s eyes met the invisible Reaper’s exactly.

“!!!”