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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 317
Not long after the event announcement was posted, an additional post appeared on HoneyTube.
[This is HoneyTube.]
- The event announcement has been made.
Accordingly, HoneyTube will participate in the event and broadcast it live.
The live broadcast will begin one hour from the time this post was uploaded, so those who wish to follow the event should tune in.
As soon as the post was uploaded, comments flooded in real-time.
└ The reason I didn’t jump into the event right away!
└ For real, I better watch HoneyTube first.
└ It’s not going to be as impossible as that Ultimate Knight subjugation video, right?
└ Come on, haha, if it was, they wouldn’t call it an event.
└ It’s a survival event. Plus, there’s a penalty if you don’t participate? If this isn’t slaughter disguised as an event, what is?
└ Ha... I really can’t tell if this is just a game anymore. Even if I watch HoneyTube, I doubt I can participate myself...
└ What would we do without HoneyTube;;
└ There are so many people acting like they’re going to broadcast about this event.
└ Doesn’t matter, haha. None of them can even put on half the performance HoneyTube does, haha.
There were countless content creators posting videos about New World.
But none of them could match even a fraction of HoneyTube’s popularity.
That’s how overwhelmingly influential HoneyTube had become.
“Ha, shit. The post just said there’s going to be a live broadcast, and it already has over 100,000 likes? And it’s only been 20 minutes?”
Not everyone viewed HoneyTube in a positive light.
One such person was Lee Tae-Hyuk.
At 28 years old, he was a warrior who had completed four advancements. Although his former guild, Shinhwa, was now defunct, it was once one of South Korea’s top guilds.
Currently, he had abandoned the fallen Shinhwa and was acting independently.
During that process, he learned that points could be converted into currency, so he started streaming to earn money.
He intended to use his broadcast earnings — converted into points — to purchase new gear and necessary items.
The problem was that too many people had the same idea as Lee Tae-Hyuk.
HoneyTube’s overwhelming dominance.
Seeing HoneyTube’s success, countless others dreamed of becoming streamers and started their own channels.
“Ha, why is it only HoneyTube that’s successful?”
Even outside of HoneyTube, there were several YouTubers who had surpassed one million subscribers.
However, they were already popular before the Realization, while those who started broadcasting afterward were failing one after another.
Meanwhile, HoneyTube had surpassed 140 million subscribers.
It would have been strange if jealousy hadn’t taken root.
“Hmm? Of course, it’s only natural for HoneyTube to be successful.”
At that moment, a woman lying on the bed spoke up.
She was Yoo Ah-Ra, Lee Tae-Hyuk’s girlfriend, who was living with him.
After her home was destroyed during the Realization, she had nowhere to go. Lee Tae-Hyuk had taken her in because she was young and had a decent appearance.
“What? Why is it only natural?”
Lee Tae-Hyuk asked with a curious look on his face.
"It's because the items are good."
"Items?"
"Yeah. They share tips that a lot of people find useful in advance. A lot of people have benefited from that."
"So what you're saying is that my items are trash?"
Lee Tae-hyuk's face instantly turned grim.
His broadcast mainly focused on monster hunting.
At present, there weren't many who had reached the 4th advancement.
Because of that, his main content was hunting monsters in the high 200-level range.
In a way, it was similar to HoneyTube's direction — largely because Lee Tae-hyuk had been influenced by HoneyTube as well.
Sensing the change in mood, Yoo Ara flinched and shut her mouth.
"T-That's not what I meant."
"Shit, then what is it?"
"I... I've never thought your items were bad. I'm really sorry."
With her apology, Lee Tae-hyuk let out a deep sigh, calming his anger.
"Ha... Since I've thought of a decent idea, I'll let this slide."
"An idea...?"
"Yeah. I'm going to follow HoneyTube's lead."
"Follow HoneyTube's lead?"
"Yeah. And then I'll expose that masked guy's face to the whole world!"
Right now, all the attention was focused on HoneyTube.
In that situation, revealing the face of HoneyTube, who always appeared with a mosaic blur, would surely attract a massive audience to his broadcast.
He could then rack up cash by completing the missions viewers sent in.
"But... do you even have a way to meet him?"
The problem was figuring out how to track down HoneyTube.
"That guy announced his live stream time. So if I start my broadcast at that time, I’ll be able to meet him!"
Lee Tae-hyuk shouted confidently.
'No wonder he's failing.'
Yoo Ara shot him a pitiful look.
If only she had power of her own, she wouldn't have to rely on such a fool.
Of course, she didn't show it. Instead, she put on a concerned expression and asked,
"Um... It's a good idea, but isn't that a bit of a gamble?"
Lee Tae-hyuk scoffed.
"Ara, honestly, it doesn't matter if I don't meet him."
"Huh?"
"What I want is attention. I'll start a broadcast claiming I'm going to reveal HoneyTube's face during his live stream. That way, tons of people will tune in out of curiosity."
"...Ah."
Yoo Ara barely managed to swallow the curses rising in her throat.
She knew he was dumb, but this dumb?
If he broadcasted at the same time, all eyes would naturally be on HoneyTube — how exactly did he think he'd steal any attention?
"Anyway, I'll be heading out now, so just stay home and behave."
"Ah, okay."
Lee Tae-Hyuk went out in a good mood, having finalized his plan.
He had no idea this would be his last outing.
* * *
At that time.
Jeong-Hoon and Jang Dae-Hwi were standing in front of the Earth Korea building.
The streets were packed with employees who had completed their NPC transformations, and they were already surrounded by many players.
The same was true for Earth Korea.
Since players had to start the event through NPCs, quite a number of users had gathered at Earth Korea.
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah. We can head in anytime."
"Okay, then let's go."
As they entered the building, many eyes turned to Jeong-Hoon.
It was no surprise.
"Wow... what the heck?"
"Crazy... Level 795?"
"What is that...?"
It was because Jeong-Hoon’s level was an astonishing 795.
The onlookers stared in shock, unable to take their eyes off him.
“Well… I was just as shocked...”
Unlike the others, Jang Dae-Hwi had only noticed Jeong-Hoon’s level after finishing his preparations to leave.
When he saw the number 795, he was so startled that he almost dropped his camera bag.
"People are staring too much."
Everyone was busy filming Jeong-Hoon with their smartphones.
Just surpassing Level 500 was enough to draw attention, but Level 795?
There was no way people wouldn’t record it.
"Are you sure this is okay? Even if they blur it out on the broadcast... this might get serious."
Among those filming, there was no doubt that someone would post a photo in an online community.
If that happened, Jeong-Hoon’s Level 795 status becoming widely known was only a matter of time.
However, Jeong-Hoon just shrugged nonchalantly.
"There's no way to hide my level. Let them do whatever they want."
"Come on... that's easier said than done. At Level 795, you’re going to have all sorts of people trying to approach you."
Jang Dae-Hwi couldn’t help but worry.
If it were just about gaining popularity, he wouldn’t be this concerned.
Even with just HoneyTube, Jeong-Hoon was already receiving countless offers.
But now that both his face and level were about to be publicly revealed?
Things would undoubtedly become far more annoying than expected.
"It's fine. I'll just ignore them all."
"...I don't even know anymore."
"Alright, let's head in."
Jeong-Hoon took the elevator up to the third floor, then used the stairs to reach the seventh floor.
The seventh floor was where the management team worked.
Those guys who constantly kept an eye on his New World gameplay.
The reason he bypassed other NPCs to visit the management team was simple.
===
[NPC Information]
- Nickname: Oh Jin-Soo
- Level: 100
- Class: Dungeon Manager
===
It was because that very Oh Jin-Soo held the position of Dungeon Manager.
'This event is a Dungeon Survival. So if I find the Dungeon Manager, I can receive additional benefits.'
Jeong-Hoon had visited this place before and had previously succeeded in lowering the difficulty of a penalty-imposed dungeon.
However, Oh Jin-Soo did not recognize Jeong-Hoon.
“What brings you here?”
He asked with unfocused eyes.
“I’m here to participate in the event.”
“There is currently one active event. Are you referring to the Dungeon Survival event?”
“Yes.”
“I can offer you a special benefit under my authority. Would you like to receive it?”
“Yes.”
As Jeong-Hoon nodded, a message appeared before him.
<1. Reward Upgrade>
<2. Random Unique-Grade Equipment>
<3. Random Stat Increase>
“Please select one option.”
He could choose one of the three benefits.
In this Dungeon Survival, levels, stats, and equipment are all reset.
In other words, no matter how high one’s level is, entering Survival Mode fixes it at Level 100, and all stats are set to 100 as well.
Additionally, skills are limited to seven, meaning participants must register seven skills before starting.
As for equipment, only the default Epic-grade gear is provided.
However, with the special benefit, starting with Unique-grade equipment offers a significant advantage.
Of course, Jeong-Hoon had no intention of choosing the Unique-grade equipment.
The same applied to the stat increase.
He hadn’t come this far just to boost his stats.
“I’ll upgrade the reward.”
What Jeong-Hoon wanted was the reward upgrade.
“Understood. By upgrading the reward, your final result’s reward will increase by 1.5 times.”
A 1.5x increase in the result-based reward.
Even if he survived by chance, if his final performance was poor, that 1.5x boost wouldn’t mean much.
But if he managed to secure a good reward, things would be different.
'That reward multiplied by 1.5...'
Before his regression, Jeong-Hoon had participated in the Survival event.
His skills had been so lacking that even surviving was uncertain, yet he entered the event driven solely by his desire for revenge against his mother’s killers.
Securing a top-tier ranking to obtain powerful rewards — that was his sole motivation, and despite being pushed to the brink of death multiple times, Jeong-Hoon refused to give up and kept trying.
As a result, he had managed to secure a mid-tier reward.
'This time, I’ll make sure to obtain a top-tier reward.'
* * *
[The Dungeon Survival will begin shortly.]
[Dungeon Survival is starting. Forming a random group of 2,000 participants.]
[Select your desired area.]
[Entering Area F-9.]
[Survive until the time limit expires.]
The area Jeong-hoon selected was called F-9.
It was an abandoned factory, and along with Jeong-hoon, 20 other players appeared in the area.
Since participants were gathered from around the world, all the players had different nationalities.
“Let’s hide for now.”
Jeong-hoon took cover with Jang Dae-hwi behind a pile of discarded drum cans that filled the abandoned factory.
“Hun, do we have to kill those people?”
“No. It’s a bit different.”
“Different?”
“Yes.”
For players familiar with New World, Survival was a well-known event.
It had been used frequently in various events.
However, this Survival had a different structure than the previous ones.
Past Survival events were about competition between players, but this one was focused on survival.
Even if you were the last one standing, it wouldn’t end — you had to survive until the time limit expired to make it out alive.
[If you kill a player, your points will decrease, and you will receive a penalty.]
And since penalties were applied for killing players, the focus was solely on surviving.
“So... that means those people are allies?”
Jang Dae-hwi looked confused.
If there was no need to compete with other players, was there really any reason to hide?
“You can’t assume everyone’s an ally.”
“Huh?”
“The Incarnations will attack us.”
That penalty —
Ironically, it didn’t apply to Incarnations.
On the contrary, they could even receive rewards from Transcendents for killing humans.
Additionally, since many Incarnations were betting on whether the number of survivors would be over or under 100, they were even more eager to kill players.
“Urgh!”
As expected, the moment the Survival event began, screams echoed throughout the area.
An Incarnation had just killed an innocent human.
“D-damn it…”
Jang Dae-hwi cursed under his breath, his face pale.
“There are quite a few Incarnations.”
Among those who had entered Area F-9, 80% were Incarnations.
After confirming their identities to each other, they mercilessly killed any humans who weren’t Incarnations.
“Are there any more humans?”
“No. Two of them went inside there.”
Their next targets were Jeong-hoon and Jang Dae-hwi, who were hiding in the abandoned factory.
As the Incarnations entered the factory, Jang Dae-hwi anxiously looked at Jeong-hoon.
“Wh-what do we do now?”
“What do you mean? Time to start the broadcast.”
“Broadcast?”
“Yes, from now on, I’ll be streaming the event strategy.”
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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