It’s not that kind of malicious broadcast

-Whoosh!

The dagger sliced through the air, missing its target. The lack of impact felt disappointing. However, the attack wasn’t intended to deal deep damage from the beginning.

In a one-on-one situation, a priest didn’t need to be taken down with a single blow. After all, the hero was designed for support. Lacking in damage, slow in movement.

And in a one-on-one battle, the most critical weakness was movement—the point of contention was clear.

The game hinged on how, when, and at what cost one could force out the priest’s survivability skills to compensate for their slow movements.

By combining heavy and light attacks with perfectly mixed fake motions, a rogue’s victory plan involved drawing out the priest’s survivability skills using light attacks or fake motions.

A priest without their survivability skills was just easy prey for a rogue, provided they had enough stamina.

However,

-Thump!

For the third time now, J. Dox failed to extract even one of the three survivability skills, and the rogue’s shoulder blade was struck by the priest’s staff again.

J. Dox suddenly recalled his memory of visiting a temple for a retreat during his trip to Korea. While he was trying to adapt to the time change, he had dozed off and, as a result, got smacked on the shoulder by the chief monk, who demanded he focus. Whether it was a broom or a stick…

It didn’t hurt, but it was shameful enough to make him wish he were dead.

Just like now.

But, fortunately—unlike with the chief monk, he could seize an opening and beat down this priest swinging a staff in front of him.

With a rather irreverent thought in his mind, the rogue darted low toward the priest.

And then, with a dash skill.

Though he had gained some weight and aged, up until high school, he had juggled medieval swordsmanship and boxing clubs. He channeled that agility into his dagger, closing the distance to pierce the priest’s abdomen—

-Clang!

Both daggers bounced off a hardened barrier.

Crystallization. A survival skill enabling a temporary stop in movement in exchange for extremely high defense.

Finally, he forced out the first survival skill.

A small yet significant glimmer of hope. Bearing a slight smile, J. Dox began a series of follow-up attacks with all his might—

-Boom!

Accompanied by a dust kick-up effect from the ground, the rogue’s body was sent flying backward.

It was a shockwave. A survival skill that slightly pushed back enemies within a one-meter radius, canceling their motions and draining a considerable amount of stamina.

Despite its inefficiency against opponents wielding long-range fencing techniques, it was still considered an S-tier survival skill. This was because it could be fatal to enemies who recklessly dive in.

Of course, the rogue at the moment was the latter.

However, he was a master despite everything. He loved this type of game so much that he even ended up creating it. Before he burdened himself with titles like CTO, he had played KoK using an account under his wife’s name during his breaks while working from home.

The moment the rogue saw the sand rising from the ground, he instinctively stepped back. And just as he barely escaped the range of the shockwave, his right arm swiftly swung.

It was a throw.

The attack exploited the inevitable carelessness that followed using a survival skill and the blind spot of the shockwave that only pushed the opponent’s body but couldn’t deflect weapons.

It was such a fine play that even he marveled at himself, thinking, “I’m not dead yet.”

In J. Dox’s mind, he was already envisioning boasting to his friends over beers at this year’s end party, the next year, and the year after that about how he had outsmarted that ATM with psychological warfare.

Regrettably, it was a somewhat premature imagination.

For some reason, it was as if the cleric had anticipated all of the rogue’s reactions, expectations, and even the surprise attack. The cleric then made a wide step to the right and-

Followed it by thrusting a cane held like a spear.

“No way, this can’t be real—”

-Slash!

There wasn’t even time to complain. The long cane plunged into the rogue’s solar plexus, and his vision turned a deep red. It was an attack packed with all the elements that would add damage modifiers: a counter, airborne, a strong attack, and a critical hit.

It was a fatal blow.

He still had some health left, and he wasn’t entirely out of stamina. He had already forced two survival skills out of his opponent.

Nevertheless, it was over. He was practically an amputee, having his stamina drained from the recent strike. The rogue had no means left to pull out his last survival skill.

It was inevitable. Throwing one of the twin daggers as a projectile required a level of commitment equivalent to throwing a rock in desperation.

Initially, anyone would think Lee Yena was odd for casually using that technique as a finishing move. Even followers of GetDevoured, known for rushing into ranked games whenever a new build from her appeared, would often say, “Throw the game if you must, but never throw your dagger.”

‘Oh… I was too rash…!’

Self-reproach and analysis occurred simultaneously. Had he grown too impatient with flawless evasion and defense? Perhaps he had developed a bias toward playstyle due to the overly aggressive rogue in the videos of GetDevoured he had watched before.

Either way—

‘I want a rematch.’

“……I lost. Wow, it’s not the rogue that’s the problem, it’s the player… Hmm. This, honestly, it’s more about the player being strong rather than the rogue—”

Regaining his composure and acknowledging defeat, the gamer spirit within J. Dox began to ignite. Even though it was just an event match and losing was to be expected.

More than the defeat itself, the feeling of not having fully unleashed his abilities left a bitter taste.

“Shall we go again?”

A quiet voice. Was it just his imagination? Somehow, it felt slightly nervous.

What was going on? He removed his headset and glanced to the side, but Lee Yena did not even turn her head, simply staring intently at her monitor.

Thinking that even GetDevoured might have been quite tense while facing him was somewhat comforting, even if it wasn’t something he could brag about.

Unfortunately, as always, it was difficult to read any emotion on her perpetually expressionless face.

“And since you’ve taken it off, how about we go keyboard and mouse versus keyboard and mouse?”

“… Sounds good. This time, I’m going all out for real. Honestly, there aren’t many who have played KoK more than I have with a keyboard and mouse. Do you have any idea how many tests I’ve conducted since the alpha version? Wow, look at the viewer count… All these people saw me lose, huh? That won’t do. Everyone, don’t say that I’m going easy or being serious because it’s a woman, okay? This time, it’s genuinely gamer versus gamer!”

“… Great.”

* * * *

-Gulp.

In the tidy studio.

Ark and Kim Jinhee took a large sip of the wine they had poured, their eyes fixed on the monitor.

『Wow, a rogue against a priest ㄷㄷㄷ』

『Challenger rank 1 is truly on another level LOLOLOL』

『But is it really okay to beat down the boss like this…?』

『Die, avenger of my husband…!』

『Losing to a female priest in front of 90,000 viewers LOLOLOL I’d kill myself 』

『Why do I feel empathy for the boss』

『Poor boss…』

『Combining the view counts across streams, how many viewers is that ㄷㄷㄷ』

On the screen, naturally, was the broadcast of “CravingWarmAmericano.”

The rare combination was due to the coinciding dates of her promised once-a-year drinking broadcast and Yena’s broadcast, which Jinhee couldn’t miss live.

At least it was a mutually agreed co-broadcast. Unlike countless other broadcasters who either tuned in or essentially watched through video donations without actually playing it themselves.

Maybe that was why.

The number of viewers for Lee Yena’s broadcast had surged to several times its usual count. This was due to many of Yena’s viewers already being familiar with Kim Jinhee’s broadcast, and having it on simultaneously, which also allowed them to donate.

-User ㅇㅇ donated 5,000 won!-

『Is it crazier to start your first cam broadcast with a beer session with a potbellied man, or to beat up the CEO of a game company as a priest…』

-User ㅇㅇ donated 5,000 won!-

『But not casting the staff-boom~ on the CEO shows she’s grown a bit… Well, that’s something…』

-User ㅇㅇ donated 5,000 won!-

『Now, GetDevoured should say ‘I don’t play with noobs’ and bolt out of there. Losing twice is a hundred times more humiliating.』

Although donations, set at a higher rate for smoother broadcast management, were flooding in, Jinhee couldn’t just sit back and smile comfortably.

『Absolutely ruthless, wow. The word ‘courtesy’ doesn’t exist in her dictionary. I’ll never match up. If I ever say I’ll match up, even in a drunken state, you guys should stop me. Wow…』

-User ㅇㅇ donated 5,000 won!-

『Where’s the pride of a Master, hyung?』

– What does a Master not wanting to match up with the top Challenger have to do with anything? I mean, you’re saying this after watching the CEO being beaten up by a priest? Even the CEO’s rogue is at least top Diamond tier.

『Stop the courtesy comments』

『Social skills ON』

『Even if you say that, Ark won’t send advertisements』

『A rogue being beaten by a priest? That’s no Diamond』

Most viewers were simply laughing and chatting, saying ‘Now GetDevoured is toying with the game company CEO as a priest and teabagging him’-

But Jinhee’s gaze was fixed on Lee Yena, whose eyes had been subtly shaking.

“… Anyway, I don’t think Yena is just playing around. Look, she’s got such a serious expression.”

Even through her usual expressions, Jinhee could notice the seriousness and significant tension.

‘The level of tension… it doesn’t seem warranted. That guy. Why…’

-User ㅇㅇ donated 5,000 won!-

『Maybe she’s teabagging seriously?』

Perhaps because she was lost in thought, Jinhee felt slightly annoyed for not instantly refuting the donation’s trolling comment.

She wasn’t sure if that was really the reason for her annoyance, though.

-Gulp

Slightly irritated, she gulped down some wine and focused on Yena, who was about to start the second match.