Chapter 2 Samurai Hearts – Tutorial (2)

‘Black History Taxidermy’ has gifted a ‘3-month’ Gooold-tier subscription!

[Show us the Gooold-tier subscription reaction! Go go!]

“Thank you for the 3-month Gooold-tier subscription, Black History Taxidermy! The Gooold-tier subscription reaction? Hmm······.”

-Of course, this is how we start Family VR Exploration!

-Hey hey, Victoria! You did this in front of your parents too! Don’t back down!

-Damn it! I believed in you, Victory-Defeat Squad!

Dohyun tilted his head at the Victory-Defeat Squad’s instantly boiling reaction.

He had no interest in streaming, so he didn’t know what subscriptions and reactions were.

The platform Seung-yeon was currently streaming on was ‘Tricky TV’.

Subscription was a system unique to Tricky TV. If regular donations involved sending a certain amount of money at that moment, subscriptions could be seen as supporting the streamer for a set number of months.

They were also divided into types: Basic Subscription, Mid-tier Subscription, and Gold-tier Subscription. As you can roughly tell, it was a system where the higher the tier, the larger the amount of support.

Of course, the higher the subscription tier, the more various benefits the subscriber received, but anyway.

Because of this subscription system, those who streamed on Tricky TV usually prepared and showed various reactions according to the subscription tier.

Dance, singing, aegyo, etc.······.

Among them, the Gold-tier subscription reaction Seung-yeon had prepared was aegyo!

The Victory-Defeat Squad was demanding she perform it in front of her younger brother.

‘These devilish bastards!’

No matter how good their relationship was, he was her brother.

As siblings, they had fought often, so even Seung-yeon couldn’t help but hesitate at the command to unleash her signature aegyo in front of that same brother.

Of course, she had anticipated that the Victory-Defeat Squad would make such a demand.

But now that she was actually in this situation, she felt very reluctant and hesitant.

It was the psychological burden that comes with being siblings, perhaps!

She had done it in front of her parents by just closing her eyes tightly, but how could she show such disgraceful behavior in front of her brother!

Seung-yeon shouted strongly towards the stream camera.

“Kratos is a clean kid who doesn’t even watch personal streams! What do you think he’d say if he saw a Gooold-tier subscription reaction? Huh? It’s on a completely different level from when it was in front of our parents, a different level!”

-Abs-o-lute-ly Re-act!

-Nooo way! A streamer who received a subscription but doesn’t do the subscription reaction? Poof-paf-poof?

-Kekeke So what?

It was an obvious statement, but Seung-yeon’s words had no effect on the Victory-Defeat Squad.

If Seung-yeon aimed for ‘streams that make viewers grind their teeth’, conversely, the Victory-Defeat Squad aimed for ‘streams where Seung-yeon suffers’!

The Victory-Defeat Squad’s reaction was immediate.

‘GoToHawaii’ has gifted a ‘3-month’ Gooold-tier subscription!

[Still no reaction?]

‘PerfectWeatherForDying’ has gifted a ‘3-month’ Gooold-tier subscription!

[Let’s see how long you can hold out]

‘BremenTownMusicians’ has gifted a ‘3-month’ Gooold-tier subscription!

[So? You’re not doing it?]

“Hunyangnyang! Thank you for the Gooold-tier subscription! You’ll keep subscribing, right? Riiight? Aing-aing! Do it for me, do it! Thank you, everyone~!”

Seung-yeon, having surrendered to the consecutive Gold-tier subscriptions, showed the reaction she had prepared in advance.

Acting cute with a thoroughly melted pronunciation while twisting her body!

She was even making a perfect heart with both hands.

Dohyun, who had thought there might be something but hadn’t expected such a bold (?) reaction to burst forth, turned to stone.

Because he had never imagined the aegyo would be this cringe-inducing, the psychological damage was even greater.

“······.”

“······.”

A heavy silence flowed between Seung-yeon, who was too embarrassed to even look at her brother, and Dohyun, who had frozen like a stone due to overload.

The ones excited to see the two fallen quiet were the Victory-Defeat Squad.

They were already having a blast amongst themselves, giggling and causing a ruckus about making clips—referring to cutting out a part of the stream to make a video.

These saved clips would become Seung-yeon’s black history and be endlessly reproduced.

They might even be exported to some streamers she’s close to under titles like ‘Real-time Black History in Front of Younger Brother’.

No, they would probably be exported one hundred percent.

Since consecutive Gold-tier subscriptions had come in, it was unavoidable, but for Seung-yeon, it was a painful blow.

Dohyun, who had been silently still for a moment, spoke with an awkward smile.

“You’re…… working hard on your stream…… Yeah……”

“That’s not it! Just curse at me! Uwaaa! What kind of reaction is that!?”

“No…… Life is originally tough…… Yeah……”

-Brother lolololololol

-lololol ololololololol

-So funny lolololololol

The skit of Dohyun with an expression of understanding everything and Seung-yeon screaming continued for a few minutes.

“A! Ny! Way! Today’s game is Samurai Hearts, which I’ll be playing with my brother!”

-Good job changing the subject, huh?

-Your face is still bright red, right?

Seung-yeon, having barely calmed her heart, began proceeding with the stream again.

Although her face was still flushed bright red, if she dragged this out any longer, she didn’t know what else they might make her do.

The small consolation was that Dohyun, who had been somewhat tense until now, looked a little more comfortable because of her earlier actions.

‘Of course, what I lost is greater.’

What can’t be helped, can’t be helped.

Seung-yeon expelled even the last bit of embarrassment with a big exhale.

Having streamed for quite a long time now, she had the mental fortitude to handle this level of black history.

She would suffer because of it for a while, though.

Just thinking about it made her feel like her guts were already twisting.

But the rise in recognition and the consecutive donations resulting from it would be incredibly sweet.

After all, she was a personal streamer who lived off consuming people’s attention.

“Then, let’s properly start Samurai Hearts.”

As if refusing to hear any more talk, as soon as she finished speaking, Seung-yeon launched Samurai Hearts.

Then, the location she had set as her waiting room began to change rapidly.

Seung-yeon’s waiting room looked like a small gymnasium, but the surrounding walls all crumbled away, transforming into a different space.

It was a field.

But not an empty, deserted field.

Because before they knew it, the area around the two was filled with numerous soldiers.

Doong doong!

The sound of a giant drum reverberated.

It was the war drum of the battlefield, striking directly at the heart, boosting one’s fighting spirit.

Waaaaah!

The fierce war cries of enemies facing each other roared powerfully from all directions.

Soldiers wearing Japanese medieval armor swung their spears and swords at each other.

The clang of metal rang out incessantly, and even more blood was splattered about.

Since it had received a 15+ rating, there were no overly cruel scenes, but it was a scene where the ferocity of the battlefield was felt in its entirety.

“What’s with the warzone from the start?”

As a flustered Dohyun muttered, everything in the battlefield began to scatter into cherry blossoms.

The cherry blossom petals, which had been swirling wildly, completely obscuring their vision, soon moved like a single brush and formed large letters in the air.

It was the text ‘Samurai Hearts’.

Added to that, the surrounding scenery, which had been a battlefield, had also somehow transformed into a peaceful place adorned with blooming cherry blossoms.

“Wow! The intro video is legendary! Now I understand why this game is so hot!”

‘Ah, so that was the intro video.’

Only after Seung-yeon’s follow-up comment did Dohyun realize that the spectacle he had just seen was merely a simple intro.

Simultaneously, Dohyun could also understand why people were so enthusiastic about VR games, and why they looked at him strangely for never having tried one.

Of course they would find it odd if he said he’d never experienced something like this.

-Brother’s soul left his body lololol

-Samurai Hearts’ intro is kinda legendary though

-I heard you could make a game just with the intro battlefield

The Victory-Defeat Squad spammed giggling chats, seemingly amused by Dohyun looking around dazedly.

‘Tsk tsk.’

Seeing that, Seung-yeon poked Dohyun in the side, meaning for him to get a grip.

Only then did Dohyun recall that they were live streaming and grabbed hold of the composure he had briefly let go of.

Of course, his image of looking around dazed had already been clipped under the name ‘The Man Playing a Game for the First Time’.

Seeing that Dohyun seemed to have regained his senses, Seung-yeon immediately resumed the stream.

“Samurai Hearts, as the name suggests, involves progressing through the game by becoming a samurai. It seems similar to a kind of role-play. Reviews say the freedom isn’t very high.”

-If it had high freedom too, it would’ve been a real masterpiece. A shame.

-That’s an unavoidable limitation.

-It’s a game that went all-in on combat.

Samurai Hearts didn’t have very high freedom for a VR game.

It meant there was a fixed story flow, and players could only progress the game by following that flow.

A clear difference from most VR games which tout high freedom as an advantage.

Opinions were divided on this point, but those who had played it were generally satisfied.

And rightly so, because not only was the fixed story flow not bad, but above all, Samurai Hearts’ strength was its ‘combat’.

“To summarize the story simply, it’s a revenge drama. The theme is the desperate revenge drama of a samurai who lost his lord. A revenge drama······. Interesting.”

-For real, it seems like it’ll be desperate.

-You’ll keep dying, so it’ll definitely be desperate, I guess.

-This body dies and dies again…

‘PassingByScholar’ has donated ‘1000 won’!

[Info) If you die over 100 times, even a non-desperate story will look desperate]

‘Tamkoi1244’ has donated ‘1000 won’

[Spoiler) Everyone, my deaths were all to enhance the story’s desperation. You all know that, right?]

“Thank you for the 1000 won donation, PassingByScholar! Hmm······. That’s true. Thank you for the 1000 won donation, English1244. But what’s this. Don’t spoil! Who’s spoiling the later parts of the stream already?”

-lolololololol

-Spoiler lolololololol

-Ololol The script got leaked lolololololol

Seung-yeon, lightly making a joke to lighten the mood, continued her explanation.

“Fortunately, it supports play for up to 2 people. If it didn’t, I would’ve had to play alone without any choice, so it’s a relief, right? However, if it’s 2-player, the difficulty increases a bit, they say. I’m not sure by how much.”

-Info) First of all, the boss’s HP doubles.

-I heard a few patterns get added too?

-For real? But you’re going to do that with someone playing for the first time?

Despite her beaming, smiling expression, Seung-yeon suddenly felt worry washing over her.

‘It’ll be…… okay, right?’

Actually, Seung-yeon only said she didn’t know for the stream’s entertainment value.

She already knew how much the difficulty increased through prior research.

As the viewers were chattering about, first of all, the boss’s HP basically doubles, and a few multi-player patterns are added.

The fortunate thing is that the regular mobs’ HP only becomes 1.5x, and no other special features are added, roughly?

“But actually, Samurai Hearts has many subtly realistic aspects, so regardless of having high or low HP, if you behead them or stab a vital point, it’s a one-hit kill, I heard.”

-But that’s impossible, isn’t it?

-If hit-and-run tactics to whittle down HP become impossible, will it be okay?

However, since the beginning and end of Samurai Hearts was the boss fight, it was clear that the increased boss fight difficulty would be a great hardship.

‘Well, if it really doesn’t work, we can just do 100 attempts on one boss.’

Even if that happened, it wouldn’t be such great damage to Seung-yeon.

Because it was always like that with physical games.

Of course, since she was human too, she would get tired and find it difficult from the repeatedly challenges.

But this was ‘work’ for her.

Among the things you do to earn money, how many aren’t difficult?

Considering the money she earns, continuously retrying the game isn’t that difficult either.

Moreover, she had viewers who would suffer and grind their teeth even more than her, didn’t she?

If it got really hard, she just had to look at them and draw strength!