Chapter 147: Acknowledgment from the Sword Demon - (3)
At the same time.
“Huh, what’s this? Yeona, wasn’t this supposed to be Do Kyungsoo’s post-strategy interview? I thought it was a success celebration interview?”
“That’s right. The PlTube channel title says so too.”
“You’re right. Live Broadcast: Do Kyungsoo’s Final Interview. But why is the camera focusing on Sanghyun?”
“I’m not sure.”
It was Han Hyunjeong, who happened to be enjoying a break with no schedule and had tuned into a channel related to Players.
Coincidentally, breaking news came in that Do Kyungsoo’s Sword Demon–Sword God team had successfully completed a large-scale raid.
She already knew Sanghyun had participated as a member, but he was just one of the team.
However, what Do Kyungsoo had just done drew the spotlight to Sanghyun while he himself faded to the background.
“What the? What is this?”
Lying sideways on the sofa while watching comfortably, Han Hyunjeong moved in front of the TV and took a seat.
She couldn’t overlook it, especially since it involved Sanghyun, who was a sponsor of Hyunjeong Corporation.
Do Kyungsoo, after a brief silence, finally opened his tightly shut mouth once the fans and reporters at the scene had fully turned their attention to Sanghyun.
His voice was clearly transmitted through PlTube to tens of thousands of live viewers.
[Up until now, our team always had a chronic issue of not being able to get past the mid-point of Phase 3 during raids.]
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Han Hyunjeong nodded.
She wasn’t particularly close to Do Kyungsoo, but it was natural to keep an eye on the actions of big-name Players.
[But thanks to Player Shin Sanghyun’s cleverness and outstanding ability, this time we achieved a completely different outcome.]
[Could you explain that a bit more specifically?]
A reporter asked the question everyone was curious about, and Do Kyungsoo nodded.
[First, we reduced the time it took to clear Phases 1 and 2, which normally took almost a week, down to just two days.]
[Are you saying that credit goes to Player Shin Sanghyun?]
[Yes. He had a far sharper understanding of the internal strategy than our team did.]
At Do Kyungsoo’s words, all the Sword Demon–Sword God team members nodded in agreement.
It was an undeniable and clear truth, no matter how much one wanted to deny it. The Lighthouse of the Holy Spirit was the ultimate game-changer.
[Thanks to him, the entire team maintained peak condition without any losses.]
[It looks like you’ve sustained an injury though! What happened?]
[It’s from the Phase 3 boss monster fight. Sanghyun saved my life.]
[You’re saying it wasn’t Player Do Kyungsoo who saved Shin Sanghyun, but the other way around?]
[That’s right. I essentially dropped out in the early-to-mid stages, and the rest of the fight was entirely Sanghyun’s.]
“So you’re saying Sanghyun carried the whole thing to the end. That means most of the credit for the boss clear goes to him.”
Han Hyunjeong hit the nail on the head.
There was no need to explain every step in detail to understand the situation.
Whether it was a mistake or a matter of skill, something went wrong during the boss strategy, and Do Kyungsoo was injured and withdrew.
Sanghyun filled that gap perfectly and even saw it through to the end.
“…But how is that even possible?”
This was the critical point.
Based on officially known information, Do Kyungsoo was a Player who had clearly surpassed level 500.
Sanghyun hadn’t even reached level 200 yet. As far as Han Hyunjeong had assessed, that was certainly the case.
The boss monster was powerful enough to put a level 500+ Player in trouble and even injure him.
Yet Sanghyun, with a significantly lower level, managed to take it down perfectly — and that meant a lot.
“The fact that he received clear recognition from Do Kyungsoo means his skills have already been verified.”
It was true that Do Kyungsoo had a favorable view of many Players, but he never made things up.
Moreover, whenever he had previously shared the spotlight with someone, he was always the protagonist in the end.
But this time was different.
His words thoroughly directed attention to Sanghyun, and the gazes captured on screen also shifted.
Was it a satisfied look of watching a rival emerge?
The look of joy in welcoming a new competitor was clear — it wasn’t envy or jealousy.
Others might not have noticed, but Han Hyunjeong definitely saw it.
At that moment.
Han Hyunjeong’s Constellation, who had been silent for a few days, sent her a message.
[The Immortal God says he now knows who the Player is that has recently been disturbing the God of Storms’ emotions.]
‘There was such a Player?’
[In the past two months in the Earth Dimension, the only Player who has shown dazzling growth is him.]
‘That’s true. He’s overwhelming. There are promising talents on other continents too, but no one like Sanghyun.’
[The Immortal God says he is intrigued as well. He asks if he can observe him closely later.]
‘Do I have any right to tell you what to do, my Lord? Always act as you wish.’
Han Hyunjeong smiled softly.
Usually, Constellations were tight-lipped.
They didn’t casually bring up these kinds of topics, but her relationship with the Immortal God was a bit different.
They had distance in rank, but it still felt like a close sibling relationship. That was how tight-lipped Han Hyunjeong was, too.
‘If even a Constellation is taking interest, this changes everything. There are only 100 Constellations, after all.’
Han Hyunjeong’s fingertips trembled slightly.
It had taken her a long time to form a contract with the Immortal God.
And she had needed a tremendous amount of growth.
But now, a player who hadn’t even been in the spotlight for two months had caught the interest of a Constellation?
Something unusual was happening!
“This live broadcast is going to cause quite the ripple. This’ll boost our corporation’s advertising effect too.”
The success of a sponsored player directly improved the image of the sponsoring guild or organization.
That also meant foresight, which could give her the upper hand in future sponsorship contracts.
“I really don’t want these three months to pass too quickly.”
Han Hyunjeong was already worried about the renewal. At this rate, she wasn’t sure if a re-signing would even be possible.
“I’ll need to load up some serious bullets.”
Shin Sanghyun’s stock, which had been steadily climbing, was now skyrocketing with no ceiling in sight.
From here on out, it was a money war.
If she wanted to maintain the sponsorship contract with Sanghyun, the base amount would have to be at least 100 billion won.
No, it might even shoot far beyond that! Her mind became tangled with calculations she’d have to run over and over.
A night covered in thick darkness.
At a villa near Gapyeong owned by the Sun Guild, two people were present.
It was clearly a vacation, but they both wore badges clearly indicating their affiliations.
The symbol of a blazing red sun. It was the badge of the Korean player guild “Sun.”
“Do Kyungsoo, that crazy bastard, is doing a showcase to blatantly promote a rookie?”
The one who spoke first was a female player, Joo Eunhye, with lips painted in deep black lipstick.
The all-black dress code and matching lip color were a part of her identity.
“Shin Sanghyun, that sneaky punk. First he clung to the Eden Guild to mooch off them, and now it’s Do Kyungsoo?”
The man agreed with Joo Eunhye.
His name was Ma Dongho.
Ranked fourth in the Sun Guild hierarchy, he was a swordsman-tanker type often compared to Jo Jinho.
The one facing him in conversation, Joo Eunhye, was ranked third and a debuffer-type player.
The fact that both of these famous players were talking about Sanghyun spoke volumes.
Since the Sun Guild had always been hostile to the Eden Guild, it was only natural they wouldn’t see Sanghyun in a good light.
Even though the relationship had cooled recently, it was well-known that Sanghyun and the Eden Guild were quite close.
Ma Dongho’s thick lips twisted.
“Someone like that needs to be stepped on at least once. I don’t know why Do Kyungsoo’s doing this, but it’s disgusting.”
“They keep hyping him up—maybe they’ll offer him up as a sacrifice like they did to Park Gwanghyuk in the past?”
Joo Eunhye brought up Do Kyungsoo’s dark past.
Though it had been a legal duel, she was clearly interpreting the situation with bias.
Ma Dongho spoke.
“Should we stomp him once?”
“Why bother?”
“The Master said to look for anything we could use to pick a fight with the Eden Guild.”
“But Shin Sanghyun isn’t a member of Eden Guild.”
“But it’s true Eden is deeply interested in him. If we touch him, Eden will have to react too, don’t you think?”
“Looking to stir things up, huh?”
“Something like that. And personally, I just hate Shin Sanghyun. Never liked him from the start.”
Crack. Crack.
Ma Dongho moved his thick fingers around, making small cracking sounds. His eyes were full of hostility.
In truth, Sanghyun had done nothing wrong to Ma Dongho.
But once someone starts looking at another with twisted intentions, emotions quickly spiral out of control.
Ma Dongho was building anger and hatred toward Sanghyun as if they had been enemies from the beginning.
That was partly because of Sanghyun’s connection to the Eden Guild and Do Kyungsoo, both of whom he already disliked.
“How’s the invitation?”
At that moment, Joo Eunhye changed the topic as if a good idea had come to her.
“Invitation, huh? That’s a pretty useful card.”
“If he got an invitation after being recognized by Do Kyungsoo, he wouldn’t just keep quiet about it, right?”
“That’s a great idea. Let’s go for it. I definitely want to designate that bastard myself and crush him.”
“Alright. Let’s give it a try.”
Gulp, gulp—
Joo Eunhye downed the red wine in one shot.
A clear mark of her black lipstick remained on the wine glass.
Rumble...
Dark clouds just before a storm rumbled with an unpleasant sound.
Meanwhile, back home, Sanghyun was taking a solitary break, having cut off all communication.
Even reporter Park Jungmin had sent an earnest message requesting an interview.
But after unexpectedly appearing on live broadcast today, Sanghyun wanted to avoid the media.
He was already on the front page of every player-related news outlet.
“The new Sword Demon, acknowledged by the Sword Demon himself! Is this a new name among swordsman players?”
“Foreign rookies, brace yourselves! The spicy taste of a Korean rising star is coming! Storm Sword God Shin Sanghyun advances!”
“Who is Shin Sanghyun, the one who stole all the glory from the Sword Demon–Sword God team?”
There were tons of flashy headlines. But the articles themselves were empty, recycled content.
He knew Park Jungmin would probably take a different approach, but for now, he intended to ride out the storm.
If Park Jungmin released his article now, there was a high chance the media would endlessly milk it for more.
“I’ve decided to negotiate the raid strategy sale later. But this guy is the definite financial reward.”
With a satisfied expression, Sanghyun looked down at a violet-colored magic stone placed on his bed.
Two magic stones obtained from Sage.
They were legendary-grade magic stones.
Each one traded for over 100 billion won—extremely precious.
A total of 200 billion won!
Sanghyun, whose sense of real-world money was beginning to blur, stared silently at the stones for a long time.
He wondered what exactly he could do with these two pieces.