“…What?”
Silence settled down.
Countless question marks filled the chat, just like the insides of Jerry Kim’s head.
‘W-What just happened?’
He couldn’t even see it properly.
In the instant the blue lightning blazed up, the three Murlocs were brutally cut apart and scattered across the ground.
It wasn’t that Ohjin used a powerful star relic, nor was it a special move that cut off lifespan.
Casually, he swept away three 5-Star monsters like they were nothing.
“Are you planning on staying like that for the whole 30 minutes?”
Ohjin smirked and waved his hand at Jerry Kim, who was completely spaced out.
“If you’re not going, I’m heading off alone.”
“W-Wait!”
Jerry Kim urgently tried to grab hold of Ohjin.
Naturally, he had no reason to wait for him.
Thud, thud, thud!!—
Roughly kicking off the ground, Ohjin sprinted into the tunnel.
“Argh! Damn it!”
Ohjin could see Jerry Kim trying to catch up behind him.
“Mgggruull!!”
“Mgrul!!”
The number of Murlocs gradually increased the deeper they went into the tunnel.
‘Two on the right, three on the left, and…’
—Two assassin-type Murlocs hiding under the ground.
‘I couldn’t sense their presence before, but now that I know they exist…’
Now that he was aware of the existence of the assassin-types, it wasn’t hard to find their locations by briefly utilizing the stigma of the Hunting Dogs.
“Gatling Shot!!”
Not willing to lose, Jerry Kim loosed his arrows quickly this time.
Ttutututututu!!—
The arrows made of blue light shot at the Murlocs like a machine gun.
“Mgrugugul!!”
It was most definitely a formidable skill, however…
‘The accuracy is all over the place.’
Ohjin smiled as he aimed his arm at the Murloc that had become a porcupine from the barrage of arrows.
Bang!!!—
The sharp weight hung to the end of the wire accurately penetrated through the middle of the Murloc’s forehead.
“Ah…!”
“You said the last hit counts as the kill, right?”
“Argh!”
Jerry Kim roughly chewed his lips.
-Hahahahahahahahaha, this is crazy…
-Fucking hell, where’s the guy who said the Lightning Wolf was a 3-Star???
-No way, this is a 4-Star????
-Wtf? what am I looking at right now??
-Are you fucking with me? I bet this month's entire paycheck!!!!
-UnderdogWinsUnderdogWinsUnderdogWinsUnderdogWinsUnderdogWinsUnderdogWins.
The chat heated up from how Ohjin was overwhelming Jerry Kim.
“Goddammit!”
Jerry Kim unconsciously spat out vulgar language. He chewed on his lips with a nervous expression.
‘I can't lose like this!'
Hundreds of thousands of people were watching him.
If he was defeated without even being able to put up a proper fight, it would tag along with him throughout his entire life.
"Kuuuugh!"
He gave everything he had to rile up his mana.
The sudden increase of mana made his mana circuits start to scream.
However—
"Arrow… Blast!!"
—it was a match he couldn’t afford to lose.
Ba-ba-ba-ba-bang!!!—
Tens, hundreds of arrows swirled and rained down on the three Murlocs that were standing to the left.
"Mrclughluh!!!"
The muscular merpeople were swept back by the barrage of arrows and collapsed onto the ground.
-Oooooooooh!!!
-Jerry Kim! Jerry Kim!!
-Let's goooooooooooo!!!
-Mom, I'll seriously become a good son if I win this!!!!
The viewers went crazy over Jerry Kim’s performance.
"Huff! Huff!"
Jerry Kim wasn't even able to confirm how the chat reacted as he sat down on the ground and tried to catch his breath.
Due to using so much mana at once, strong fatigue weighed down his body.
At that moment—
"Mgrul!!"
Bam!!—
—The two Murlocs that were hiding underground jumped out and charged at Jerry Kim.
Their sharp thorns—stained with poisonous, purple liquid—aimed at his neck.
"E-Eeeeeeeeeek!"
A disgraceful scream escaped out of Jerry Kim’s mouth.
He tried to get his body back up in great haste, but his fatigued body didn't move as well as he wanted.
"S-Save m…"
Bang! Bang!—
"Mrulgrurururl!"
The wires wrapped around the Murlocs that charged at him. Blue lightning shocked the Murlocs, causing them to wriggle out of pain.
"H-Hiccup!"
Jerry Kim’s shoulders trembled as he looked down at the Murlocs' corpses that collapsed right in front of him.
Had it been a little bit later, his body would have been stabbed by numerous poisonous thorns.
"You have a unique scream."
Ohjin smirked and retrieved his wires.
-Eeeeeeeeeek? What was that LOL
-Seriously, what a legendary stream XD
-My Jerry-chan normally isn't like this :<!
-Hahahahahaha, Jerry Kim’s reaction was fucking hilarious.
Before they knew it, the chat was filled with messages that mocked Jerry Kim.
"Argh…"
Jerry Kim got back on his feet with a heated face.
"Let's go deeper inside."
In order to make up for his humiliation, he had no choice but to show them a performance so amazing that it would leave the viewers’ mouths agape.
However…
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzt!!!—
"Mrgrgrul!!!"
—The difference between him and Ohjin only increased as time went on.
"I-It makes no sense…"
Jerry Kim opened his mouth wide with disbelief.
The number of Murlocs killed during the 30 minutes was 24 for Ohjin and 7 for Jerry Kim.
It was an embarrassing defeat where the phrase ‘you lost, but you fought well' couldn’t even be said.
-Holy shit… Does this make sense?
-What part of him is a 4-Star? LOL
-Shit, what about my monthly paycheck?
-The ones who bet on the upperdog got shit on, yeah? Hahaha. Feeling dizzy?
-Lightning Wolf! Lightning Wolf! Lightning Wolf!
-Mom, I want to grow up to be the Lightning Wolf! Mom, I want to grow up to be the Lightning Wolf! Mom, I want to grow up to be the Lightning Wolf!
The messages that had told Jerry Kim to teach Ohjin a lesson before the match suddenly turned into ones that praised him.
"30 minutes have passed, right?"
"…"
Jerry Kim opened his mouth with a frustrated expression.
"Didn't you say that you were a 4-Star?!"
"When?"
"Pardon?"
"When did I say I was a 4-Star?"
"…Ah."
Jerry Kim’s mouth widened.
Thinking about it carefully, not once had Ohjin said that he was a 4-Star with his own mouth.
Ever since he first met him, no, even before then—
He had been completely fooled…
Not by anyone else…
But by himself.
* * *
* * *
"Then…"
Just what rank was the Lightning Wolf?
"5-Star. I'm a 5-Star."
Ohjin unfolded five fingers.
"5-Star…?"
Jerry Kim’s eyes widened.
An Awakener becoming a 5-Star a little over half a year after they awakened was surprising news, however…
"S-Still, even if you're a 5-Star, just how…"
Ignoring the difference of one star wasn't that uncommon between Awakeners. However, that was only the case when the opponent had a second-rate stigma.
Jerry Kim was an Awakener of the 12 Zodiacs known to be the very best amongst hundreds of constellations.
‘But losing this overwhelmingly despite that means…'
Gulp—
Just like how the Awakeners of the 12 Zodiacs overwhelmed Awakeners with second-rate stigmas…
—The 12 Zodiacs were nothing but one of the common second-rate stigmas in front of a North Star.
"Shit…"
Jerry Kim looked at Ohjin with trembling eyes.
It was an expression like that of not seeing a human but an alien that came from outer space.
"Then I'm taking this, alright?"
"Ah…"
Jerry Kim looked down at his sack as he exclaimed in shame.
He wanted to hold onto it, he even thought of going as far as to forcefully claiming that the bet was, in truth, a joke, but he couldn’t do that in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers.
"…Yes. A promise is a promise."
Grip—
He nodded his head with his fists clenched.
There were no words he could say other than obediently admitting defeat.
-Wow… he was a 5-Star??
-Holy crap (≧▽≦) hasn't it only been two months since the article that he became a 4-Star came out??
-Isn't that faster than the Star of Celestial Shining Pearl?
-Breaking News) Jerry Kim gets robbed of all the starstones he gathered for a month.
-Breaking News) Along with the people who bet on the upperdog.
-Ah, Jerry Kim, you fucking dumbass. You should have asked what Star he was before making a bet.
As he expected, the chat he glanced at was in a complete mess—messages of swears that crossed the line filled up the chat.
If he had it his way, he would have just turned off the stream.
"Well, then~ shouldn't you finalize the point bettings?"
Ha-eun smirked as she approached Jerry Kim.
"…Yes."
Jerry Kim nodded with a lifeless expression.
As she had said, he still had to settle the points that were bet before the match started.
-I'm losing my mind! I'm losing my mind! I'm losing my mind! I'm losing my mind!
-WooooWooooWooooWooooWooooWooo.
-Mom, I'm sorry. Mom, I'm sorry. Mom, I'm sorry. Mom, I'm sorry. Mom, I'm sorry. Mom, I'm sorry. Mom, I'm sorry.
-The underdog is invincible, and the Lightning Wolf is a God. The underdog is invincible, and the Lightning Wolf is a God.
As most of the viewers had bet their money on Jerry Kim, the chat started to be filled with madness.
Jerry Kim skimmed through the chat and let out a brief sigh.
"Now I'll start announcing the IDs of the people who earned the most points!" shouted Jerry Kim, who placed his finger on the point finalization button.
"—Huh?"
Ha-eun's eyes opened wide.
"W-Wait!! Why are you announcing IDs all of a sudden!!!"
"Hm? What do you mean? I'm doing it because it's one of Twitch's policies."
Jerry Kim looked back at Ha-eun with confusion on his face.
"Wh-Wh-What? S-Since when was there a policy like that? There was nothing like that in the streams I saw before!!!"
"…That's only in the case of streams with low viewer counts—a Twitch partner like me needs to be transparent with the betting results."
Announcing the ones who earned the most to the public was a policy made to prevent illegal actions such as match-fixing.
"Then the annou—"
"W-Wait!!!"
Ha-eun urgently stopped Jerry Kim.
"Cancel it! Let's cancel the point bettings!!"
"Pardon? What are you talking about all of a sudden."
"Ha-eun?"
Ohjin and Jerry Kim furrowed their brow as they looked at her.
"Th-The viewers didn't know what Star rank Ohjin was before betting, right?"
Ha-eun put on an awkward smile and continued.
"So it doesn't count!! This should be canceled!!!"
The chat fluctuated from her words.
-For real, it shouldn't count.
-ILoveYouILoveYouILoveYouILoveYouILoveYouILoveYou.
-What do you mean? =.= It's not like revealing one's star is part of the rules.
-Fucking dumbasses, LOL. Would you have bet on the Lightning Wolf if you knew he was a 5-Star?
The chat's reaction was distinctively split into two opinions.
One side claimed that it shouldn't count, and the other said that it doesn't matter. The two sides started to fight intensely.
"Easy now, everyone, calm down."
It was the streamer's job to manage a chat that had become a mess.
"As revealing the Star rank isn’t stated on the betting terms, I’ll proceed as usual," said Jerry Kim with a firm voice.
There was the reason that the public opinion would plummet If he really followed what Ha-eun said and canceled the bet—
‘Since I got robbed of everything, all of you should, as well.'
—But also because of his petty thoughts of not wanting to be the only one to lose.
‘It's not like it's my money.'
Whether others lost money wasn't his business.
"Then I'll start the announcement from first place. It's probably the person who bet a large amount on the underdog back then."
"Ahhhhh!! S-Stop!!"
Ohjin held onto Ha-eun, who tried to run in Jerry Kim’s direction.
"Stay put."
"Let go!! Let go, bastard!!"
It wasn't hard to notice that the reason she was acting like this was because of her ‘ID'.
‘Just what did she use as her ID to be acting like this?'
He tilted his head while pulling in Ha-eun, who was struggling in his grasp.
‘Is it something like ‘BlackEyedReaper'?'
Judging from how she reacted so violently, it seemed likely that it would be a rather childish ID.
‘Tch, tch. Does she not know how precious money is? Is revealing some ID that big of a deal to where she would try to cancel this?’
He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
Ohjin didn’t care if it was BlackEyedReaper or FallenAngelPower, he couldn’t let a bet that popped off with $430,000 get canceled.
“The first place of this point betting is—!”
“Ahhhhh!! N-Noooo!!!”
“‘CutiepieOhjinSlurpSlurp’!!!”
“…”
“…”
‘…Slurp, what?’
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