This chapter is brought to you by anubisscans. More updates on our website.
Support us by reading at anubisscans.com.
130
“Please prepare it in this way.”
Returning to the shack underground, Hanbit conveyed the remaining instructions to the dwarves.
What was discussed with Gorik would be best heard directly from the man himself.
“Yes. We will see it done perfectly!”
The blessing restored to the dwarves upon the recovery of the heirloom.
They were rapidly reclaiming the craftsmanship that had grown rusty.
In particular, Kudran, who had continued to hone himself throughout, was feeling an improvement beyond his past abilities and enjoying the work.
“When the wall is being repaired, His Highness will come as well. He’ll likely have something on his mind — please take the lead and create an opportunity for discussion, Kudran.”
“Understood! Even if His Highness tries to chase me away, I’ll keep sticking close!”
Having passed along even the small request, Hanbit went down to a room on the third basement floor with Isis.
It was a space he had borrowed after asking the dwarves in advance.
“Is this a bedroom? Or a workroom? What an unusual place.”
“Stay over there. I’ll show you the power as promised.”
“Oh, you’re finally doing it! I nearly stole the sword just now!”
Isis raised her voice in joy and cheered.
Hanbit, standing a little away from her, walked toward the center.
It was to set up a borrowed armor stand.
Shing—!
Drawing the sword, he stepped back one pace.
“Phew.”
Exhaling, mind focusing.
Sword raised, Hanbit carefully used Elemental Manifestation.
Hiss—
The snow-white cold blooming along the blade became vivid in an instant.
Small ice particles catching the air and gradually spreading.
The little strength that had recovered naturally drained away.
At that moment.
Crack crack crack—!
The armor stand touched by the blade was instantly dyed in snow-white ice.
“Ah……!”
Isis, watching from a dangerously close position, eyes sparkling.
Had she moved even a little more, her body would have frozen solid.
Rustle—
Having quickly completed the ice binding, Hanbit stopped the skill.
Strength and fatigue draining continuously from his body.
He had truly reached his limit for today.
“I’ll come again tomorrow — look around as you please.”
“The very crystal structure is different here! I wish there were even books about Glacier!”
-Lol.
-Black Dragon is already gone from her mind.
-She was kidnapped, right?
-Happiness level 200%.
Isis, nearly pressing her nose against the ice, had already erased Hanbit from her thoughts.
There was a bed in the corner, but she wouldn’t be sleeping.
Creak—
Hanbit quietly closed the door and came out.
Just then, an alert appeared with a message.
Ding—
[Main Quest #10 has been completed.]
[You have received 100,000 gold.]
[2 stat points are awarded.]
[Your experience points have increased by 50,000.]
[Progress increases.]
[Main Quest #11: The Eve of the Storm]
Based on information obtained through interrogation, preparations for the final wave have begun.
Gather your resolve and prepare for the coming battle.
Objective: Complete all preparations before the third wave arrives.
Reward: None
*Current Progress: 80%
*This quest can be progressed in 12 hours.
The time limit placed this time too was understandable.
There were simply too many things being prepared within the city.
Having confirmed the quest contents, Hanbit went back up to the second basement floor.
Avantgarde was waiting there.
“As you instructed, I’ve handed over all the ice spider legs. But that bomb — how exactly are you planning to use it?”
Having been monitoring the stream throughout, he expressed his curiosity.
But it felt a little too early to spoil it now.
“It’ll be more fun to see it in person. I’m going to wrap things up soon — when are you planning to head out?”
“I’d like to capture a little more of the dwarves. I may end up pulling an all-nighter and going to tomorrow’s appointment.”
The appointment scheduled to coincide with the date Yeonwoo’s office would be ready.
The two of them, excluding Kim Jaeha who wanted to focus on the skill, were planning to stop by.
“Understood. Then for today, until here——”
“Black Dragon-nim, what about the challenge mission?”
“Hm?”
“The mission that came out before heading to the research institute still hasn’t been accepted.”
“…Ah.”
At Avantgarde’s words, something he had forgotten came back to mind.
Hanbit moved his hand and checked the challenge mission in the donation list.
[Challenge Mission]
[Success: Upload the rest of the restricted area guide.]
[Prize: 58,400,300 won]
“…Why is there this much?”
-?
-Still don’t know?
-Please pay a little attention to the community instead of just the game.
-Info) Not a single vanguard has come out yet.
-When things were hectic earlier, the corporations donated like crazy.
The viewers’ explanations followed at Hanbit’s casually thrown question.
Looking at the list in earnest, quite a few names of corporations with vanguards were visible.
‘It’s about time for it to wrap up.’
The vanguards were entities far stronger than himself right now.
Thinking about the time consumed, the end was coming into view.
Having made his decision, Hanbit pressed the challenge mission success button.
[Challenge Mission succeeded.]
[Prize of 58,400,300 won received.]
“Thank you for the challenge mission. I’ll upload the full guide video right after the game session ends.”
-Phew.
-Thumbs up for any vanguard who’s clapping right now.
-Non-vanguards are fine too.
-Please let us stop retrying.
-It’s not like they’ve been at it for a week, stop being dramatic. Lol.
-For real, try it for 2 weeks and then you’ll learn.
-Everyone please be quiet.
-Thank you so much……
The chat rising rapidly at the announcement that the guide would be made public.
Among them, chat messages mixed with tears could be seen.
They must have been suffering through repeated entering and retreating.
“Then I’ll be going. See you tomorrow, Avantgarde.”
Click—
Having ended the game, Hanbit sent a message to Yeonwoo and finished showering.
An immense wave of fatigue washing over him, he threw himself onto the bed.
***
The following morning.
Leaving his home, Hanbit headed toward Yeongdeungpo Station in Seoul.
The location of the office Yeonwoo had given him was near the station.
“Here it is.”
A seven-story building that appeared to be newly built.
The neat exterior gave a better impression than he had expected.
Entering through the front, Hanbit headed to the office on the third floor.
“Hyung, you’re here?”
“You’ve arrived!”
Yeonwoo and Avantgarde were already there.
Going inside, Hanbit looked over the quite spacious interior.
“Isn’t this too big?”
The people who would be working in the office were Yeonwoo and Kim Jaeha.
For two people, the space was quite generous.
Around 30 pyeong, he would have to say.
“More employees might come in later. And one is already confirmed.”
“One person? Who?”
“An email came through. They said they wanted to edit Black Dragon’s videos, so I had them send a portfolio and things like that. Either way, I’m not a professional editor.”
A single email arriving for Yeonwoo out of the blue.
In truth, emails saying they wanted to edit Black Dragon’s videos had been received several times already.
But they had all been at a similar middling level, so he had gradually grown indifferent.
But the skill displayed in the video attached to this email was beyond expectations.
“Aren’t editors the ones who work from home?”
“Usually, yes. But they say they’re a fan and really want to come in. Because there might be chances to run into hyung if they’re around.”
“……?”
Something about the phrasing that seemed somehow dangerous prompted a sudden wariness.
Reading that expression, Yeonwoo gave a quiet smile.
“Don’t be too scared. They are a fan, but they’ll probably be a little different from what hyung is imagining.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll understand when you see them. And fan or not, this is someone we can’t let go. Take a look at this.”
Yeonwoo moved to his own desk and turned the monitor.
Black Dragon’s recorder channel was displayed on it.
“Up to here is my edited version — everything after this is the editor’s videos. Can you see the view counts?”
“…This many?”
The video list had already reached dozens.
And the point where the view counts had jumped sharply was the sparring match with Baldur.
A number exceeding ten million, no less.
The scene of learning Wind Swordsmanship even reached twenty million.
Being a hidden skill, one might have expected as much.
Abnormally high numbers compared to the subscriber count of 300,000.
“Still low compared to Black Dragon-nim’s achievements, but the trend is at an unprecedented level. I believe view counts will continue to grow as content moves further along. After all, RP has more players currently mid-playthrough than beginners.”
Avantgarde, the expert, assessed the metrics with a cool eye.
Yeonwoo gave a nod as well.
“Yes, which is why the editor will become important. The videos they edited directly start from the restricted area, and the response is clear, isn’t it?”
As he said, praise for the editing started flooding in from certain videos onward.
Even looking at it himself, Hanbit felt it was a good video.
“They really pulled it off. It was absolute chaos.”
“That’s true, isn’t it? They have a natural eye for it. Some of the videos uploaded to the channel include ones where I used trial edits I commissioned from the editor as they were.”
Due to the nature of Hanbit’s play style, the rapid pace tended to actually cause concentration to drop.
And yet these edited videos created an incredibly appealing composition through vivid visual flow and clear narrative.
Could results like this really be achieved from ordinary recordings?
Fan or not, if the work were this good, it was welcome.
“With this many views, how much revenue comes in?”
“Speaking simply, it works out to around 5 won per view. The structure is that as subscribers and view counts increase, this amount grows alongside them.”
“…So this single video makes 50 million won?”
The figure was larger than he had expected.
Scanning through the list and calculating, the total view count across all uploaded videos reached 200 million.
By simple calculation, that amounted to around 1 billion won.
“I told you, didn’t I? The company won’t go under. We’ll support hyung and work hard at climbing. Of course I have high expectations for Avantgarde as well.”
“I have been steadily growing, but I feel the depth of my inadequacy. I think I’ll need to give some thought to how I can fulfill my role.”
Avantgarde — another streamer affiliated with DD Studio.
His video view count, building adventure content, averaged around 200,000, but the direction had changed since joining forces with Black Dragon.
Avantgarde’s worries stemmed from the wall he had run into during that process.
Even if his level was 80, higher than Black Dragon’s, his actual capabilities had been surpassed long ago.
He was taking on whatever roles he could and helping with the episode, but he was not the kind of person to stick around cheerfully if he felt he was a burden.
If he came to feel he was in the way, he would immediately step out of the party.
“There’s no need to worry about that. There’s a way.”
Hanbit, who had understood that feeling well too, already had the solution.
Not simply for Avantgarde’s sake — a plan that also accounted for his own growth.
“When you say a way…….”
The certainty in the voice caught Avantgarde’s attention.
It might seem like words out of nowhere, but if it was Black Dragon, the story was different.
“Once the episode is over, we’re going to enter a place called the Tower of Vortex. We’ll come out after raising our levels sharply in there.”
