The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage-Chapter 405
0.
When Seong’s eyes opened on their own in the morning and he got up to look at the clock, it was around six a.m.
Getting up early had become part of his routine, so as usual he gave his face a quick wash and stepped out—
And a groaning sound greeted him.
“Uuugh.”
“Oh? You’re already up?”
“Ever since you came, I keep waking up whenever I hear someone moving around at dawn.”
The one who’d gotten up early, of all people, was Lee Geon-dong.
Seeing him, Seong asked cheerfully,
“Then since you’re awake anyway, want to go to the gym together?”
“...You’re a terrifying guy.”
“So that’s a no?”
“No, let’s go.”
“Oh.”
Ever since seeing Seong’s body back in Sokcho when they’d gone together not long ago, it seemed Lee Geon-dong had been thinking a lot; he got up briskly.
Unlike Seong, though, he didn’t even bother to wash his face and just roughly grabbed some clothes and followed after him.
When Seong looked at him like, aren’t you going to wash up, though?
Instead, Lee Geon-dong stared back at Seong like he was the weird one.
“...? I’m gonna wash once I’m sweaty anyway, so why would I wash before I go?”
“...N-no, never mind.”
Thinking that was just a difference in lifestyle, Seong gave a small chuckle and nodded.
Well, that happens.
He didn’t particularly want to interfere with his friend’s way of living, so he just headed out to the gym together with him as is.
He hadn’t planned to do heavy weight training first thing in the morning, but just in case, Seong and Lee Geon-dong started some cardio to loosen up their bodies.
It was early dawn, but maybe because there were a lot of diligent people, there were more people than he’d thought; even so, there were at least two treadmills side by side free for them.
As a bit of time passed like that, unlike Seong, who was used to morning workouts, Lee Geon-dong became utterly exhausted.
Of course.
“At least walk slowly.”
“Ugh, yeah, I should.”
Just as Seong said, Lee Geon-dong lowered the speed and started walking, while Seong was running only fast enough that his breathing didn’t get disrupted.
Of course, even that pace was something Lee Geon-dong couldn’t even dream of managing.
“Man, you’re brutal.”
“You get used to it if you keep at it.”
Watching Seong say that with a little laugh, Lee Geon-dong shook his head, then noticed a subtle buzz inside the gym and looked around.
Seong wasn’t paying any attention, but Lee Geon-dong could feel it.
That the murmuring around them was directed at Seong.
Normally, he would have just assumed it was because Seong was handsome.
'But seeing even the guys be startled when they look at Seong...'
It seemed clear they were recognizing him.
For now, no one was actually coming up to them and getting in the way or anything.
But as he watched people recognize him, Lee Geon-dong couldn’t help thinking that Seong had really risen to stardom.
As he was thinking that, it suddenly occurred to him.
Looking at Seong, Lee Geon-dong asked,
“Hey, Seong. Come to think of it, is Mihael-nim’s team doing okay?”
“Hm? Why, what about Mihael-hyung?”
“Well, if he did a live broadcast together with you, wouldn’t his recognition have gone up like yours? It’d be okay if he’d changed his appearance a bit, but...”
“Ah, right.”
As if he hadn’t thought that far, Seong scratched his cheek while he ran.
Even Seong hadn’t expected to get this famous.
He’d known Rapid Guild’s lives had a staggering number of viewers, but who could have known they’d wield this much influence.
Seong muttered, sounding a bit troubled.
“This might actually be causing them trouble. They did agree to the live, but I feel kind of sorry; I should ask them.”
“Yeah, let’s talk to Rapid about it and see if there’s anything they’re uncomfortable with. Yoo-jin noona said she was looking into countermeasures anyway.”
“Yeah, guess we should.”
Talking with Lee Geon-dong, Seong sent a message, hoping Mihael’s teammates weren’t too inconvenienced.
Asking if there was anything that had made things uncomfortable.
1.
Just as Lee Geon-dong and Seong had worried, Mihael’s team had gone through something similar yesterday to what Seong and An Yoo-bin had experienced.
In a way, it was only natural.
It had been a massive live where the combined view count was close to a hundred million, after all.
Hadn’t half of them watched Mihael’s team along with it just to see Seong?
There was no way they wouldn’t be recognized.
So when Mihael went out last night to have a drink with his friends, everyone recognized him, and it was the same for Lowell and Noirtein.
He’d already been a MiTuber of decent size before, so he’d occasionally been recognized.
But this was the first time people recognized him left and right like he was a celebrity, so he was flustered.
For people going through this for the first time, that reaction was only natural.
All three of them, of course, looked almost exactly the same as they did on stream, so it was to be expected; in any case, as being recognized became more frequent, the trio of Mihael’s team were all bewildered yet quite happy.
Even Noirtein, who seemed somewhat timid, couldn’t help but look pretty pleased.
They wouldn’t have been doing MiTube in the first place if they hated this kind of attention.
So when Seong’s message came in, they all answered happily.
[Seong - Is everyone all right? If the sudden jump in fame is causing you any discomfort, please feel free to say so at any time.]
[Mihael - Wow, I was shocked that everyone recognized me, but I wasn’t uncomfortable at all!]
[Lowell - Same here! I was actually excited instead lol]
[Noirtein - It was uncomfortable, but it’s fine. I’d braced myself for about this much, and everyone seems to see us in a good light, so I liked it.]
The three of them sent Seong those messages, and he scratched his head as he read them.
Well, he supposed he should be glad it didn’t seem like he’d caused them any trouble.
Anyway, as they talked over messenger, they settled on a time to meet, and from the morning on, Seong and the three of Mihael’s team gathered at Mihael’s team’s hideout.
The reason they’d gathered was obvious.
They had a live today as well.
A meeting was only natural.
The current rankings were:
[Mugan Rankings]
[1st - Mihael’s party: 89F]
[2nd - Demon King Backup Team 1, Luna’s party: 87F]
[Tied 3rd - Demon King Backup Team 2, Kyou’s party: 86F]
[Tied 3rd - Demon King Backup Team 3, Embris’s party: 86F]
Roughly like this.
Kyou and Embris’s parties were a bit behind, but not by that much.
You could practically say they were almost the same.
Of course, Seong and Mihael’s party in first place still had a safe lead, with even Luna’s team right on their heels trailing by two floors.
But that didn’t mean they could skip having a meeting.
The topic of whether they should pick up the pace a bit did come up.
“Hmmm, but even if we try to speed up right now, the Demon King is doing most of the work...”
“That’s true too...”
“Indeed.”
At Lowell’s words, Mihael and Noirtein agreed.
Even if they wanted to help more, Mihael’s team was already giving it everything they had. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
It was hard to go any faster.
If they wanted to increase {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} their speed, it basically meant asking Seong to go even more all out, but they couldn’t ask that of him, so they were about to discuss coming up with a different plan when—
“Well, I can try speeding up a bit.”
“I-is that possible?”
E-even now it’s already insanely fast though!?”
“R-right, exactly.”
All three of them asked back in surprise.
Seong just gave a small grin and nodded.
“I do have to conserve a bit of strength since we don’t know what’s waiting later, but I can speed up a little more.”
He still hadn’t gone all out yet.
When Seong said that, Mihael’s team looked at one another and nodded, saying they should give it their all then.
Watching them, Seong smiled faintly and brought up the schedule.
“Since it’s Sunday today, I was thinking of doing a morning stream like yesterday, but we’ve decided to start at 2 p.m., so let’s go hard from then.”
“Sounds good!”
“Let’s go, let’s go!”
“L-let’s go!”
They all shouted like that and firmed up their resolve.
2.
And as soon as two in the afternoon rolled around, just as they’d announced in the morning, the Rapid Guild channel and Mihael’s channel went live together.
Restream rooms sprang up as well, forming the same setup as yesterday.
Before they entered Mugan again.
Everyone steeled themselves as they prepared to resume the race, and not long after the live started, Seong defeated the boss of the 89th floor and advanced into the 90th.
Holy crap???
Wow, now that he’s gotten used to it, he just deletes it instantly, damn.
That’s crazy fast???
No, the backup teams are seriously busted too, so what even is the Demon King?
Isn’t he basically soloing it?
The other party members are barely doing anything...
“Ahem, I admit it.”
“I-I admit it.”
“W-we’re trying our best too...”
“It kind of feels like we’d just get in the way if we joined in.”
Mihael was doing his best to keep aggro, Lowell attacked with arrows, and Noirtein struck from stealth.
But Seong’s attacks were far more powerful and overwhelming than any of that.
They couldn’t not acknowledge it.
The viewers felt it too and couldn’t help laughing as they watched the trio make self-deprecating jokes.
lololololRefreshing how they just admit it lolol
Full respect for just riding the bus like that lolol
I want to ride the Demon King’s bus too ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
For real, they must be power-leveling like crazy, right?
“Yeah, it’s no joke. We’re just lucky, hahaha.”
“Fufufu, it’s all thanks to me, since I asked in advance!”
“That’s true.”
As they carried on the stream and chatted here and there, they cleared the 89th floor and got ready to head down.
Seong smiled faintly at their way of running the broadcast and took the lead going down.
A few viewers voiced some doubts.
Why is the Demon King in the front when he’s a magic type???
Right? Shouldn’t Mihael be the one standing in front?
Exactly;;;
When a few people sent messages like that,
Mihael spoke up, asking them to cut him some slack.
“Guys, he seems like he’s about ten times stronger than me... what good would it do if I took the lead except getting myself killed?”
At Mihael’s plain admission, the viewers had no choice but to agree.
lololololololHe’s got a point.
lolol it’s only right that the strong one stands in front.
lololololMihael is hilarious lolol
I should subscribe lolol
Just as the mood grew that friendly,
Seong, while heading down, sensed that something was off and examined it closely.
And then—
'This is a different aura.'
Up until now, the bosses had carried the energy of the Abyss.
Now he felt something on a slightly different track.
If the Abyss had been an energy with a strong sense of seizing something, pulling it in, forcibly dragging it down, then this aura felt tyrannical, as if it would shatter everything to pieces.
He could tell just from how it felt.
'Destruction?'
As Seong thought that and continued down, sure enough, instead of a giant-type like before, a human-shaped shadow figure that looked only about two meters tall was standing there.
And seeing it, Seong smiled faintly.
Thinking that from here on things might actually be worth doing, he drew his sword, and the thing clenched its fist and pointed it at Seong in a confident stance.
“This time feels like it’s going to be a bit of a different fight.”
With those words from Seong, he and the shadowy human vanished from where they stood and collided in the middle of the chamber.
