abcnovels
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
From my point of view and whoever was watching, Celeste is doing very well.
Even if Celeste had been an ordinary person without superpowers she would have attracted a large number of viewers.
She was hard working, talented, and her abilities were good.
With such precise movements to calmly and wisely respond to every monster it was hard to believe that she’s only 17 years old.
And since she is the eldest daughter of the Costantini family as well as beautiful, it was natural the viewers would flock to her channel.
The number of normal viewers remained largely the same, but the situation changed in her private channel.
Celeste’s cam 7.
Originally, it was only seen by one or two officials, but at some point, many officials suddenly gathered.
And, that was the moment.
[The protagonist Lee Yeonjun has gained the skill Take Notice (A).]
That’s the damn message that appeared in my mind.
This was the third protagonist I’ve met, and they all seem to be able to gain skills simply by thinking of overcoming their crisis.
It was surprising that he suddenly acquired an A-Rank skill here, but the real problem was next.
[Take Notice (A), the more attention you receive the stronger you become.]
The skill’s effect.
If it was another world, frankly speaking, this A-rank effect was so bad it could be as low as B or C in power.
But Earth was different.
In modern times the media has developed rapidly and it was possible to watch someone from the other side of the world.
This skill could honestly be S or SS rank.
I’m surprised such a crazy skill appeared as A-rank in this world.
Well, S-rank superpowers are rare while there are quite a few people with A-rank superpowers.
Fortunately, if someone had this crazy superpower from the start they would have easily become the strongest.
‘I have to stop him now.’
If Lee Yeonjun continues this dungeon and starts broadcasting on his own, something terrible could happen.
Tens of thousands of people were still watching him, and thanks to them messages kept popping up in my mind.
[The Level of protagonist Lee Yeonjun has increased: 63(+3)]
[The Level of protagonist Lee Yeonjun has increased: 63(+4)]
[The protagonist Lee Yeonjun…]
Fortunately, the increase was not fast, and sometimes the bonus levels fell.
It was being influenced by the number of viewers.
‘If an extraordinary attention seeker had that superpower, Earth would be ruined.’
It’s still fine.
When I have the chance to kill him I will do it.
Although, he was slowly losing his viewers thanks to Celeste.
The viewers who watch a hunter only for their appearance.
Celeste was wearing a white one-piece aether suit that looked quite similar to a spandex.
It blended in very well with the background of the snow-covered forest, causing a stir among the viewers.
‘What should I do?’
As time went on there was a possibility that all the viewers from the other channels would come to his channel.
But the good news was that it was a personal broadcast and not a live broadcast.
‘Right. I just have to proceed as normal. In the meantime I need to prepare a way to hunt him.’
It doesn’t matter whether he’s guilty of murder or not.
He has to die now, so I’ll settle it first and think about the future later.
The number of viewers have not increased that much.
At this level it was still possible to deal with him.
Yeah, as long as there’s no variable.
But it was a complacent thought.
I’ve only fought against the protagonists so far and have never participated in the flow of the plot.
That’s why I didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘cliché’ until now.
[Cliché detected in the protagonist’s story.]
Ansan City.
Monster Disaster Prevention Main Headquarters.
It was one of the places where dungeons and gates throughout Gyeonggi Province were monitored.
Whooing! Whooing!
Suddenly, alarms started to sound.
The director of the institute, Han Eunjung, hurried to the control room due to the sudden warnings.
Researchers in white coats were busily moving.
“What’s going on?”
“I believe a ‘dungeon mutation’ has occurred.”
“Location?”
“Uijeongbu. The dungeon has been identified as the C-Rank dungeon Snow Peak of Paulownia!”
“…What?”
Dungeon mutation.
With a very low probability, the difficulty of a dungeon could fluctuate sharply.
If the original wavelength was C-Rank, it could suddenly become F-rank, and vice versa.
However, it was really rare and the headquarters could not help but panic because it was a phenomenon that has only happened a handful of times in Korea.
Director Han Eunjung’s expression wrinkled.
“Damn it. We have to follow protocol. What’s the read on the wavelength?”
“That…”
The wavelengths changed sporadically, then slowly began to stabilize.
“It’s S-Rank.”
“W-what?!”
Without notice, the C-rank dungeon changed to a S-rank dungeon.
What a terrible thing to happen!
Director Han Eunjung hurriedly spoke.
“Contact the Capital Defense Headquarters and have them on standby! We need to deploy A-Rank and S-Rank hunters right away.”
Director Han Eunjung was sweating profusely.
Of all dungeons, it was Snow Peak of Paulownia.
Isn’t that the dungeon where the famous trainees are currently having their debut?
Come to think of it, that dungeon was not even registered as a ‘wavelength observation’ in the first place.
It was very rare for anything to happen, and no major problem has ever occurred.
This is because a prophet who has the only “prediction” superpower on Earth has done very well at preparing for such a thing when it happens.
The same was true of the C-Rank dungeon Snow Peak of Paulownia.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
Once you enter a dungeon, you can’t go out until it’s cleared.
In other words, all the people in there were stuck.
Fortunately, there were A-Rank and S-Rank senior hunters inside.
With that number of people, it may be possible to clear the dungeon, and it was also possible to hold out until the support unit came.
‘Suddenly S-Rank…’
A-rank dungeons were clearly quantified, so if you send a few hunters you can attack it without damage or variables.
However, it is different for S-Rank dungeons.
Things that don’t abide by common sense are bound to occur, and there are deformed monsters that were not registered in the monster database.
It’s not because S-Rank comes after A-Rank, but because it was impossible to measure S-Rank.
She prayed inwardly, turning on the live broadcast in a hurry.
‘I hope nothing happens…’
Kugugu!!
Three hours into the dungeon exploration a mutation occurred.
Currently, Seodam saw that Celeste’s ratings were still higher, and judged that everything would go smoothly right up to the boss area.
“W-what!”
“This is…Damn, it’s a dungeon mutation!”
“Everyone pull back to point-D!”
Suddenly, there was a dungeon mutation, and a call came from headquarters.
[S-Rank]
[Weathered Snow Peak of Paulownia’s three thousand years of bitterness.]
[The dungeon has been detected as ‘S-Rank,’ so try to avoid engagement as much as possible!]
It was not the first time Seodam has experienced such a phenomenon.
However, other hunters were visibly shaken since it was their first time.
Even the S-Rank Jang Hyunsuk.
When attacking a S-Rank dungeon or gate, it was advised to have a party of at least three S-Rank superhumans and twenty A-Rank superhumans.
Of course, it was possible to attack with fewer numbers.
If the number of superhumans were low, vertan hunters could make up for it.
However…
Most of those who gathered here only had five to seven years of experience, and Jang Hyunsuk was a fresh newbie who had just entered his fifth year.
In fact, when Seodam was in his fifth year, he wandered the world and encountered many strange things that modern hunters did not.
Since we had a 100% clear rate before the dungeon mutation, there was nothing to be embarrassed about if we went down to 99% now.
So.
Seodam was forced to speak up.
“Everyone, calm down and listen to me.”
He was lower in rank than everyone else here.
Nevertheless, without realizing it, the superhumans listened to Seodam as if they were possessed.
No one could explain why.
“We’re not returning to point-D.”
“Hm? Why? It was ordered by headquarters.”
“The headquarters’ judgment is wrong. If we retreat from this situation, we will encounter monsters that have regenerated and are stronger. It’s better to move forward and build a point-E.”
“Re-regenerated?”
The hunters learned a new word they were unfamiliar with today.
Though of course the ‘regeneration’ phenomenon wasn’t a common thing to happen inside a dungeon.
Seodam led the way with his aether blade coated in a blue light.
“The real battle starts now. Senior hunters will take the lead in protecting the trainees.”
“Ah, yes sir.”
“Hunter Jang Hyunsuk, you will protect from the rear.”
It was a demand, but Jang Hyunsuk only slightly frowned, then did what Seodam told him.
Looking ahead, Seodam exhaled deeply.
S-Rank dungeon.
I’ve attacked it countless times.
However, the equipment and colleagues are qualitatively different from then.
Even though I have obtained a swordsmanship talent, to clear this S-Rank dungeon with my current equipment was asking for too much.
Seodam’s current plan to overcome this situation was to move to a safe place and wait.
The live broadcast was still on, but if we wait it out, the viewers will naturally fall off.
But.
The plot’s narrative knows that things are not going well.
[When a protagonist is faced with a crisis, the plot of their world will deviate.]
[Because of the crisis of losing viewers, the protagonist has awakened a new skill to regain viewers.]
[The most suitable environment for the use of the awakened skill has been created.]
The protagonist should never be defeated.
Even in ‘number of viewers.’
If Seodam was not here then neither would Celeste, and Lee Yeonjun would have had a stable number of viewers.
The plot would have ended without any chance for him to awaken a new skill.
They would have successfully cleared this C-Rank dungeon, his ability would have grown slowly, and the skill he probably would have awakened is ‘Attention.’
However, problems arose once the only person who could escape the influence of the “protagonist blessing” entered the plot.
Lee Yeonjun has not even stabilized his previous ability, ‘Steroids (C),’ but has already awakened another superpower.
A supporting character taking away the protagonist’s viewers?
This was a crisis.
Once the plot reaches its climax the protagonist will regain his viewers, completing his ‘sweet revenge.’
In other words, due to the appearance of Seodam an abnormal phenomenon occurred out of nowhere, and the normal C-Rank dungeon mutated into S-Rank to serve as the stage for the protagonist to stand out.
The protagonist was an existence who can make the most out of any situation.
“Wait! What do you mean the prospects shouldn’t take the lead huh…?”
“W-who do you think you are?”
Boom, Pa!
Everyone’s eyes widened when they saw a prospect smashed a monster in the front, as if he would not listen to such cowardice orders.
[Wow. What was that?]
[Oh, my God. Did I just witness a C-Rank trainee smashing an A-Rank monster?]
[(Muscle emoji)]
[(Surprised emoji 4x)]
[Waaah.]
[Was that even possible??]
The Viewers’ reactions were explosive.
Lee Yeonjun was still at least C-Rank.
In addition, he is a newcomer who had just awakened.
It came as a shock when he attacked and defeated an A-Rank monster, who even senior hunters were wary of.
Although it was Jang Hyunsuk and Yoo Seodam who actually wounded the monster first, nonetheless, it was noteworthy for a trainee to take the initiative.
Viewers naturally began to turn their attention to Lee Yeonjun again.
[The Level of protagonist Lee Yeonjun has increased: 63(+7)]
Seodam clenched his teeth.
‘Damn it. Should I just shoot down all the drones?’
But he soon shook his head
There was no need to risk Lee Yeonjun awakening another skill by taking away his viewers.
I’m sure if I had done it, Lee Yeonjun would have gained another plot armor to overcome it somehow.
Resisting his intense urge to destroy all the cameras, Seodam thought of the current situation in his head.
I’ve only been paying attention to Lee Yeonjun so far, but in fact, the real problem right now is not him.
It was this S-Rank dungeon.
I suggested we move to point-E first, but will it be safe there?
No way.
In the first place, the premise that we could hold out in this S-Rank dungeon until reinforcements came was virtually impossible.
Perhaps, if this continues, we will be wiped out in less than an hour.
The best way to survive is to kill the boss of this dungeon, which is absolutely impossible with this party, but even if it was possible, Lee Yeonjun will definitely awaken more skills.
By then, Lee Yeonjun will be so strong that it’ll be impossible for me to deal with him.
Seodam again lamented that he had no superpowers.
If he had superpowers, he might have been able to suppress this situation by taking ‘interest’ away from Lee Yeonjun.
However, Yoo Seodam was a F-Rank hunter who had to respond carefully and calmly even against F-Rank monsters.
Lee Yeonjun on the other hand was blessed.
The ridiculous situation of being in a crisis by falling to the mobs should never happen.
Obviously, the combination of Yoo Seodam and Celeste was also doing a good job against the influx of A-Rank monsters who suddenly appeared, but it was not enough.
[Skill ‘Attention’ (A) and skill ‘Power Steroid (C) are out of balance, colliding with each other.]
Collision?
The moment when Yoo Seodam was hoping for a negative effect, his eyes widened.
[…The skill Power Steroid (C) has risen to (B)!]
[The Level of protagonist Lee Yeonjun has increased: 77(+8)]
‘This fucker…’
To make matters worse, as Lee Yeonjun’s ability awakened to B-Rank, even his Level had risen.
The situation is getting worse.
‘I have to do something…’
I’ve never experienced such a situation in my life.
I’ve never even seen a live broadcast, so I don’t know how the viewers are watching at all.
Then.
Two messages appeared in my mind.
[The protagonist Lee Yeonjun’s skill ‘Power steroid (B)’ is showing excessive growth rate.]
[The protagonist Lee Yeonjun has the potential to acquire the skill ‘Power Frenzy (S).]
“…Huh?”
Yoo Seodam unconsciously looked into Lee Yeonjun’s eyes.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Anxiety?
Fear?
Despair?
S-Rank dungeon.
Hunting the protagonist who is growing without breaks.
Either situation seems impossible, and anyone would feel that way.
But Seodam was different.
He felt as if his mind was beginning to clear up.
Drones, broadcasts, S-Rank dungeon, attention seeking protagonist, and the skill Power Frenzy.
The corner of Seodam’s mouth rose.
He came up with a way to catch two rabbits, or two sharks, at the same time that seemed impossible to hunt.
And to catch sharks, you have to bait them first.
“Hey, Lee Yeonjun.”
“Yes?”
Seodam called Lee Yeonjun over, and with his arms on his shoulders, quietly asked.
“You, do you want to become a celebrity?”