Chapter 28 – Day 28

Day 28

Suddenly, a broadcast started on the official Valorant YouTube channel.

Since this official channel had never done any broadcasts before, countless Valorant players had a ‘question mark’ pop up in their heads.

-???
-What’s going on?
-Did these guys get hacked?
-??
-What happened?

The chat was scrolling endlessly.

After the broadcast had been on for 10 minutes, with over 30,000 people joining, the black screen transitioned to reveal the Valorant director.

“Hello, viewers. I am Kang Taewon, the director of Valorant.”

Director Kang Taewon bowed his head as he spoke.

With his sudden appearance, the question marks in the minds of those watching the broadcast grew even larger.

“I understand you may be surprised by this sudden broadcast. However, this time we had to inevitably start a broadcast to make one clarification.”

-Clarification?
-What clarification?
-Ah! Could it be that??
-What’s that, you idiot
-You know, that famous hacker
-Hacker?
-That old fart?

In no time, the chat was flooded with ‘hacker’.

As if confirming the viewers’ expectations, Director Kang Tae-won nodded.

“As you all know, there’s currently a user in Valorant who’s surrounded by numerous controversies.”

-Controversy my ass
-That guy is definitely a hacker, I’m telling you
-If it’s not hacks, there’s no explanation
-How good of a hack did he get to have a 98% win rate
-But is it even possible to reach Mythic with hacks?

“Many Valorant players have contacted us at Riot with inquiries. As a result, we conducted every possible investigation, but we were only able to determine one fact. That fact is that this user did not use any hacks.”

-???
-??
-?????
-What the hell??
-You’re saying that’s not hacking?
-They’re really talking bullshit

It’s not hacks.
At those words from Director Kang Tae-won, the viewers went berserk.

Some were even making unfounded speculations about financial transactions between Riot and the alleged hacker.

Director Kang Tae-won glanced at the chaotic chat and continued speaking.

“Of course, I understand that you, our users, won’t believe this. To be honest, I find it hard to believe myself. That’s why we’ve arranged this meeting today.”

Director Kang Tae-won paused for a moment.

At the same time, the screen behind Director Kang Tae-won changed.

The newly switched screen showed five men sitting in their respective seats.

“Huh?”
“Aren’t those guys from S1?”
“I think so?”
“Why are they here?”
-???

As the professional gamers from S1, known to be the most skilled among Valorant pro teams, suddenly appeared, viewers looked puzzled.

Director Kang Tae-won nodded as if understanding the viewers’ reactions and said.

“The Valorant nickname ‘Jongeon Macheonjon’. That person made an inquiry to our Riot. It was a request to prove that he didn’t use any hacks through a 1:5 game against a Valorant pro team.”

“Holy shit lololololol”
“This is crazy”
“So they brought S1 for this?”
“Wait, does 1:5 even make sense?”
“Hahahahahaha”
“Lololol”
“Lmaooooo”
“Hahaha”

The chat was flooded with countless “lol”s.

They could only laugh at Riot for recruiting even S1 for the sake of one hacker.

However, the S1 pro gamers who were suddenly called out were equally dumbfounded.

“Come on, man. Why do we have to participate in this circus?”
“As if we’re not busy enough preparing for the tournament.”
“What can we do? The coach told us to do it.”

“Come on, everyone, let’s think positively. Let’s just consider it as playing one event-style game. At least we’re getting paid more than winning most world championships, right?”

“That’s what I don’t understand.”

At the words of Derpo, who could be considered the eldest of S1, Won-top, the youngest, frowned.

“Why is Daesung getting involved just to deal with one hacker kid?”

Daesung.
One of the major corporations currently ranked 8th in the business world, with numerous subsidiaries.

To be honest, there were even rumors that this event game was made possible due to direct pressure from Daesung.

That’s why the S1 pro gamers were even more confused.

Daesung, which had never shown any interest in e-sports until now, suddenly spent tens of billions to create this event tournament for that hacker, and the timing of it all.

While the S1 pro gamers were complaining, it happened.

-Are the players ready?

The voice of the official came through the headset.

Just as Derpo, the eldest of S1, was about to answer.

“But why isn’t that hacker coming?”

Won-top, the youngest of S1, said in a somewhat sharp voice.

The S1 pro gamers, including Derpo, frowned, but no one stopped Won-top’s behavior.

They too had built up frustrations towards Cheon Seoa, who hadn’t said a word despite this essentially being her hacking explanation session.

-The Jongeon Macheonjeon has already finished preparing.

‘What a ridiculous nickname.’

The official muttered inwardly at Won-top’s words.

By the way… they said they finished preparing.

Glancing over, all the pro gamers from S1 shifted their gaze to the Riot broadcast.

There, a screen called ‘hand cam’ was turned on, showing two rather delicate-looking hands.

“Are they quite young? No, rather, those don’t look like a man’s hands.”

At someone’s murmur, everyone else nodded in agreement.

Just hearing the name Jongeon Macheonjeon, one would expect a geezer at least in his 40s, but the hands shown on the hand cam looked more feminine than masculine.

They even appeared quite youthful, like those of someone in their early 20s at most.

Well, still.

“Come on, everyone, let’s focus. It doesn’t look good for us to be so swayed by one hacker.”

At Deren’s words, the other four nodded.

* * *

None of the numerous people watching the event tournament prepared by Valorant predicted Cheon Seoa’s victory.

No, they didn’t even consider it.

Even if the opponent used an excellent hack, playing a 1:5 game against S1 was thought to be impossible to win.

Moreover, if the opponent wasn’t a real hacker, it would be even more impossible to win.

No matter how skilled one is, the difference in numbers cannot be ignored.

Besides, isn’t S1 a team known for achieving numerous come-from-behind victories with their excellent teamwork?

However, the game that actually started was enough to give a great shock to the numerous spectators.

Through a small cam positioned in one corner, Cheon Seoa’s hand movements were broadcast in their entirety.
Furthermore, since the computer was also prepared by Riot themselves, there wasn’t even a chance to install hacks.

In other words, Cheon Seoa was not the ‘hacker’ that countless users had been calling her.

-WTF? Is that even possible?
-Crazy
-What should we call that shot? Prediction shot? Future shot?
-This is insane lolololololololol
-Hahahahahahahahaha
-Fuck, I thought she was a hacker! I thought this bitch was a hacker!
-Hacker’s trait = Extremely good

In the alley, Cheon Seoa fires her gun before the opponent even jumps out.
Simultaneously, a pro gamer from S1 who just jumped out dies.

Besides that, scenes where she gets headshots through walls even though the opponent clearly wasn’t visible.
Or situations where she encounters an enemy suddenly while holding a knife, but calmly uses her skills to secure a kill, and so on.

Those scenes were, without exception, enough to be called hacks if encountered in a game.

However, through this event tournament, users could be certain of one thing.

The user they had thought was a hacker until now, Cheon Seoa, was actually just a monster in terms of skill.

Also, the scouts from each pro team watching the broadcast shared one common thought.

Cheon Seoa, who was now showing through this event tournament that she wasn’t a hacker.

‘We must scout her for our team!’

The determination to scout Cheon Seoa by any means necessary.

Meanwhile, as Cheon Seoa’s explanation broadcast continued.

“Huh, who would think that’s an android?”

Blood Master, who was watching the broadcast while sitting around a large round table, chuckled and muttered.

The Cheon Seoa currently doing the valoant for the explanation broadcast was not the real Cheon Seoa.

It was simply an android made to resemble Cheon Seoa’s appearance.
No, it was just a doll.

As evidence….

“It’s not that impressive of a doll. It’s only a 600-series doll after all.”

The ‘real’ Cheon Seoa, sitting in a seat right next to the large round table, said while munching on desserts spread out on the table.

Cheon Seoa’s ‘separate space’ was filled with countless treasures, spirit pills, and materials, too numerous to count.

Among them, the doll currently doing the explanation broadcast was named No.642, ranked at the bottom of the 666 dolls Cheon Seoa possessed.

While its movements might be usable, it was a doll that only moved according to set commands.

In other words, the limit of that doll was what it was showing now in the broadcast.

Despite knowing this fact from Cheon Seoa, the nine villains still looked at Cheon Seoa’s doll beyond the broadcast with disbelieving eyes.

Although Cheon Seoa was saying it was nothing, even with current Earth technology, it was impossible to create a doll… no, an android of that level.

As everyone was expressing admiration for the performance of Cheon Seoa’s doll, the Sword Demon approached Cheon Seoa with shining eyes and said.

“More importantly, miss.”

“No.”

Cheon Seoa answered without even giving a glance to the Sword Demon who approached her.
At this, the Sword Demon showed a performance of shedding ‘sob sob’ tears with a somewhat shocked expression.

Cheon Seoa frowned and said with a grimace.

“As I said before, I won’t do any broadcasts. Why should I perform tricks for worthless monk… no, ordinary people in the first place?”

“But! Your cute appearance combined with those dead eyes creates a gap that could extract countless broths from people!”

“No. I won’t do it. I said I won’t.”

Heeeng-.

At Cheon Seoa’s firm refusal, the Sword Demon showed a dejected expression.

It resembled a puppy that had been scolded by its owner.

Well, Cheon Seoa wasn’t the type to be swayed by such sympathy-inducing behavior from the Sword Demon.

Nevertheless, the Sword Demon, still not giving up, said…

“Ah, is it because you don’t want your face to be shown? Then how about a virtu…!”

Shudder-!

The persistently persuading Sword Demon suddenly closed his mouth, feeling a chill run down his spine.

The air instantly turned cold.
At that moment, even the eight villains watching the broadcast turned their gaze towards the Sword Demon and Cheon Seoa.

“I. Said. No.”

Gulp-.

As Cheon Seoa spoke each word clearly and firmly, the Sword Demon unconsciously swallowed dry saliva.

The moment their eyes met, the Sword Demon suddenly felt as if he had fallen into the middle of a vast yet empty universe.

A vast universe adorned with tens of thousands of beautiful stars.
However, the ‘stars’ the Sword Demon saw were not ‘stars’ at all.
It was ‘eyes.’ The ‘vision’ of tens of thousands of giant eyeballs, each boasting the size of a planet, staring at him was not something that even a Sword Demon could handle.

To that….

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

The Sword Demon said sincerely.
Only then did Cheon Seoa show a gentle smile and pat the Sword Demon’s head.

“That’s right. Forcing others to do something they dislike is bad behavior.”

“Yes…”

The Sword Demon replied in a frightened voice to Cheon Seoa’s words.

Meanwhile, the Agent, who had been silently watching the scene, quietly opened his mouth.

“By the way, what is the level of the most powerful doll among those you possess, Miss?”

At the Agent’s question, curiosity flickered in everyone’s eyes except for the Sword Demon.