Samurai Hearts – Tutorial (1)
Numbers began counting down on the hologram in front of her eyes.
10… 9… 8…
The moment the rapidly decreasing numbers reached 0, a closed eye icon snapped open.
It was the signal that the stream had begun.
Taking a deep breath, Seungyeon immediately brightened her face and spoke cheerfully.
"Hello everyone! I'm Victoria, the streamer who always aims to make you grind your teeth down to dust!"
'Victoria' was the stage name Seungyeon used for her channel.
She had taken the "Victory" (from the Seung in her name), feminized it a bit, and it also happened to be the name of the Roman goddess of victory.
Of course, her stream was nothing like "victory"—as she introduced it, it was the kind of stream that made viewers grind their teeth in frustration.
—Oh, she already started streaming?—Vik-hi~ (means Victoria-hi lol)—For once, you're not late today
Maybe because her channel was relatively popular, the viewer count climbed rapidly even though she had only just gone live.
Of course, that was largely thanks to her scheduled stream announcement and the automatic notifications.
Seeing the chat window and the viewer counter floating in front of her, and the numbers rising fast, Seungyeon's lips curled into a smile.
"You're all quick today! Not that it'll help—this is only going to hurt more. Hehehe."
Chat scrolled up instantly.
—Don't worry, I came with a mouthguard—There's no fool here watching Victoria's stream without a mouthguard, right?—I put on two mouthguards at once. My mouth won't close. AMA.
There was a reason for the viewers' reactions.
Like most personal streamers, Seungyeon—aka Victoria—used VR games as her main content.
The problem was that she was extremely, incredibly, genuinely, unbelievably bad at them.
How bad?
Bad enough that viewers constantly wondered, "How is she even failing at that?"
It was so frustrating that you'd grind your teeth without realizing it, and you couldn't help but backseat her because watching in silence was physically painful.
Her catchphrase in the opening—"the stream that makes you grind your teeth"—was meant exactly that way.
Of course, she wasn't terrible at every game.
When it came to brain-heavy games, she was actually a surprisingly competent gamer.
Her "brain-play" (her neural skill, as viewers liked to call it) had impressed the audience multiple times.
—Judging by that intro, today is a physical-skill game—Goddess of Dentistry mode ON!
But on the opposite end—
She was catastrophically awful at physical-skill games.
Because of that, viewers jokingly called her "Goddess of Victory" when she played brain games, and "Goddess of Dentistry" when she played physical ones.
Why "Goddess of Dentistry"?
Because after tasting the spicy pain of Victoria's physical gameplay, you'd grind your teeth so much you'd need to visit the dentist.
"Gattoria" donated 1,000 won![What game today?]
"Gattoria, thanks for the 1,000 won! And the game we're playing today is… the hot new title everyone's been talking about! Samurai Hearts!"
—My god…—I suspected it when the title said 'Warrior Training'!—That game—Will two mouthguards be enough?—Considering the Bloody Horn incident, absolutely not. Minimum three.
Chat exploded in shock when she revealed the game.
That was how unthinkable it was for Seungyeon to take on this title.
Samurai Hearts.
A freshly released VR game, still piping hot from launch day, and extremely popular among streamers.
As the name suggests, you play as a samurai.
And samurai in media usually fight with swords.
The player becomes a warrior and uses a sword…
Which means the player's real physical ability was required.
But if it only required normal levels of physical skill, Victoria's viewers—called the "Win-Loss Gang"—wouldn't have reacted with such horror.
Samurai Hearts was, to put it bluntly, known as a "physical hell-game."
A game so unforgiving that if your physical skill wasn't up to par, you couldn't even progress properly.
In other words, it was an extreme physical challenge—one of the hardest VR games ever made.
Which meant it was absolutely poison for someone like me.
To Seungyeon, who had catastrophic physical ability, it was the worst possible matchup.
But she chose it anyway, deciding it was better to rip off the bandage quickly.
Ever since Samurai Hearts launched, she had been bombarded with requests.
Her viewers loved watching her suffer in physical games, so they constantly asked, "When are you playing Samurai Hearts?"
She couldn't ignore it forever—Samurai Hearts was the hottest content right now.
Yes, it was brutally hard, but that made it a huge hit. People loved watching players struggle with it.
A personal streamer couldn't just skip such a hot trend.
Not if she wanted the stream to grow.
So she planned to play Samurai Hearts once the timing felt right.
And now, the perfect chance had arrived.
Because I've got reinforcements today.
Seungyeon secretly thought of her secret weapon—her little brother, Lee Dohyun—whom she hadn't mentioned to the viewers yet.
Of course, she knew Dohyun had never played VR games before.
But he had pretty good basic athletic ability, so she figured he could put on a decent show.
Plus, since she was so bad, even if Dohyun did nothing more than "not terrible," he would look like an expert by contrast.
"You're all worried about your teeth already? I'm glad to see I'm taking good care of your dental health today too."
—No, you devil!—Why… why must you ruin everything… for your satisfaction?!—This is hell…
The Win-Loss Gang screamed in agony, but instead of dropping, the viewer count kept climbing.
People came to Victoria's stream because it was painful chaos—that was the whole appeal.
They complained, but their actions were honest.
Knowing that, Seungyeon grinned, ignoring their wails.
Choosing the hottest possible content meant new viewers were pouring in rapidly.
Not bad. Then I guess it's about time…
Now, it was finally time for the secret weapon she had prepared to make an appearance.
Reciting the line she had prepared in advance, Seungyeon quickly edited her stream title.
To: "Warrior Training Feat. Little Brother."
"Today's stream is a dual-content broadcast! You all know it, right? The Family VR Tour! And today, a new member is joining us."
—A new member? Who?—Both her parents already showed up before.—Didn't she say she had a younger brother?—Yep. Title just changed. It's her brother.
The quick-witted viewers immediately began guessing which family member was appearing.
As if refusing to let them guess correctly, Seungyeon shook her head and called her brother over.
"I recruited him for a hefty price of 100,000 won in allowance! My little brother, Kratos! Give him a round of applause!"
—Clap clap clap!—Woooo!—Clap clap clap!
Knowing it was his cue, Dohyun stepped up beside Seungyeon.
"Kratos" was the alias he would use instead of his real name during today's stream.
The reason for using a stage name was simple.
If even Seungyeon used a screen name for her channel, there was no reason for him to reveal his real name.
But the choice of name—Kratos—had not been his idea, but Seungyeon's.
Victoria's name was derived from Nike, the goddess of victory, and in mythology, Nike had a brother named Kratos—so she declared it perfect.
As a side note, when their parents had appeared on her stream, their screen names were "Pallas" and "Styx"—also the names of Nike's mythological parents.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Kratos, Victoria-noona's younger brother. It's my first time appearing on a stream like this, so please forgive me if I'm awkward."
Dohyun spoke in a calm tone.
Seungyeon had already explained the important "dos and don'ts" of streaming, so he roughly knew how to behave.
Be polite enough, don't act out.
Most importantly, don't get pulled into the viewers' baiting.
Since he was receiving a generous 100,000 won plus bonus revenue for appearing, he planned to give it his best effort.
—Kr-hi! (means Kratos-hi lol)—I suspected after seeing Victoria and her parents, but holy… he's handsome—For real, he's good-looking. Total social butterfly vibes
The reactions from the Win-Loss Gang were overall positive.
Well, of course—these were viewers who liked Victoria, after all.
They weren't going to suddenly curse at the beloved streamer's younger brother.
Seeing the chat scroll by, Seungyeon smirked and added:
"One thing you all should know! My brother has never—not even once in his entire life—played a VR game! A literal 'Natural Monument!'"
—???—Is that even possible?—?? What?—?
Chat flooded with question marks.
The idea that someone had never once played a VR game was shocking.
What era were they living in?
Even schools had begun incorporating VR systems into their classes.
To live in such a world and yet never have touched a VR game?
The Win-Loss Gang assumed she was exaggerating.
"Sounds like a lie, right? Time to prove it! Kratos!"
"Huh? What."
"Say, 'Show game history.'"
Dohyun obediently followed her instructions.
When he murmured, "Show game history," a blue hologram flickered into view before him.
"See this?"
Seungyeon zoomed the camera in so viewers could clearly read the hologram.
Its contents were hilariously simple.
"No Data."
That alone proved he had never played a VR game in his entire life.
By law, all VR games recorded play history.
That history was what they were now viewing—and Dohyun's was a clean sheet reading nothing but "No Data."
Most people had at least some record by age fifteen, the legal age to begin VR gaming.
Only someone about to play VR for the first time would have such a blank slate.
In other words: he truly had never played VR in his life.
Naturally, the viewers went wild.
—For real? Seriously??—Like actually?? Never??—Wow. Insane. Certified Natural Monument.
"See? Told you."
Seungyeon puffed up with a mysterious sense of pride as she continued more seriously:
"Anyway, because of that, my brother is the newbie of all newbies. He might make you grind your teeth even more than I do. Still, please go easy on him, okay? No overly harsh comments!"
—More teeth-grinding than the Goddess of Dentistry herself???—There's no hope left…—Just ordered more mouthguards lol sorry;;
Seungyeon smoothly continued hosting the stream.
Even Dohyun, who barely knew anything about streaming, could tell how good she was—pulling him into the conversation, keeping the energy high, throwing in jokes at the right moments.
Her humor came out naturally, and even simple conversations felt fun.
Dohyun's earlier thought—"Her stream is popular? Is everyone crazy?"—was turning into, "Okay… I get why people watch this."
At least, until a certain notification sound rang.