I Have Reasons to Hate Streamers

[FlameOfCommunismDestruction has invited you to a party.]

[Do you accept the invitation? Y/N]

[You have joined the party.]

The most basic farming method in Infinity Black is field hunting.

It’s not that there aren’t raids or instant dungeons, but unless you’re forming an elite team, they surprisingly don’t yield good efficiency.

Everyone said they were experienced. But why can’t they dodge this?

It was a pattern that could be broken if everyone just used their items.

Was 30 won more precious than 10 minutes of time?

The hell of infinite retries that only those who’ve experienced it know!

For someone like me with many enemies, gathering people was quite difficult, so it wasn’t an option I was keen on.

It’s not that it’s not fun, but fighting against people is more enjoyable.

[Party List]

[Party Leader: FlameOfCommunismDestruction (Sniper)]

[FundoshiManiac (Fighter)]

[DaddyGoesToTurkey (Berserker)]

[Gawol (Assassin)]

[MountainBird (Bard)]

The party composition was quite satisfactory.

The Fighter and Berserker would take the front line, while the Sniper and I would be responsible for the actual damage.

With a Bard to provide support, it could be said to be a completely orthodox combination.

While the party members exchanged formal greetings, my eyes turned to the chat window.

[Whisper from VoidLord]

– This is SSA’s guild master VoidLord. I heard from DongjakStation.

– I’ve finished talking with the higher-ups, and the Fighter is the dispatched member.

– Please take care of our youngest. I’ll contact you again when the job is finished and war is declared.

“Higher-ups” is slang for superior guilds.

And the Fighter named FundoshiManiac had set their guild name to private.

I guess they’ll use that side as a pretext to intervene if the situation gets rough.

Well, petty power struggles are none of my business.

I just need to work as much as I’m paid for.

It’s a rare chance to do my own farming while earning money.

It’s a hassle even to gather party members for top-tier hunting grounds, but I’ve passed all those troublesome steps to others.

I’ll just suck up the honey here and maybe cut down a streamer if necessary.

The party leader, FlameOfCommunismDestruction, spoke in a businesslike tone.

“We’ll take 3 minutes for personal preparation and start on the hour. Gawol will handle mob luring, FundoshiManiac will be the main tank.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t forget your experience and wealth buffs.”

Befitting a party with clear objectives, there was no unnecessary chatter.

As soon as it was on the hour, I moved first, with the Fighter following me while maintaining some distance.

This place, ‘Ancient Weapon Hangar’, is one of the best hunting grounds at the moment.

And InBl was a game where it’s difficult to raise specs and growth periods are long.

Unless you were quite a shut-in, you couldn’t even set foot in this place.

True to being such shut-ins, the party members clearly understood their roles and moved accordingly.

A cool breeze wrapping around my calves. The Bard’s buff came in with perfect timing.

[The blessing of the field wind descends upon you.]

[All action speed increases by 10%, movement speed increases by 15%.]

[Caster: MountainBird]

It wasn’t a particularly difficult hunt.

I, being the most mobile, provoke and lure monsters with my chain scythe.

When a certain number gathers, the Fighter who followed throws in their main skills to draw attention.

The Berserker’s role is to push in monsters so they don’t scatter. When all preparations are complete, the Sniper and I reap their lives.

If there’s a problem in this process, health bars would evaporate in an instant, but no one made such amateur mistakes.

Field hunting should be safe and efficient.

And as people got used to the mechanical movements, casual conversation would gradually open up.

The first to speak was the Bard, MountainBird.

Being a supporter with relatively less pressure, they seemed to find the long silence boring.

“Gawol.”

“Yes.”

“Are you the real Gawol?”

“Is there a fake one?”

Basically, this game shouldn’t allow duplicate nicknames.

There are various ways to hide nicknames or guilds, so it wouldn’t be strange if there was some oddball imitating me.

In fact, there were occasionally impostors in the community.

Looking back, it wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience.

Maybe that’s why my tone lowered a bit? The blonde Halfling shook their head.

“No! That’s not what I meant. You’re famous these days, aren’t you?”

“I’d rather not talk about the video…”

“It’s not that, I’ve been a fan for a long time.”

“Huh? What?”

“A fan. Our guild was once in trouble because of a war, but it was resolved when we were attacked by you. I was really grateful.”

Urk.

Oops, I need to manage my expression.

It was fortunate that I was at the front of the party.

When I was far from the party members, I opened MountainBird’s information window.

Their guild affiliation was LesserPanda. It’s a name I’ve never heard of, but the number of guild members was large.

Seems like a guild that accepts even newbies without entry conditions.

The more guilds like that in the game, the better, but they’re also easy prey to target.

Regrettably, the survival of the fittest in this game doesn’t spare beginners.

Even if there were some unfair incidents, once newbies started taking damage, it was common for the executives to bow their heads.

In other words, they’re herbivores in the field ecosystem.

It seems my request overlapped while they were being preyed upon.

“It wasn’t intentional, though.”

“Still. Actually, it’s not the only time we received help. I’ve always wanted to express my gratitude.”

“I don’t play the game that cleanly either…”

“I’ve heard. But herbivores like us haven’t actually been harmed, right? Anyway, I’m rooting for you.”

“Hm. Thank you.”

To think such a day would come in my life.

The word ‘fan’ left a strange flutter in my chest.

The reason I don’t mess with weak guilds isn’t because of some grand principle.

I simply had no reason to. Most of my clients are at least at the level of wolves.

They wouldn’t pay me expensive fees for not being able to catch a single rabbit.

Killing streamers is much more fun when they’re popular ones.

There’s no satisfaction in stomping on those who are too weak.

[★ You have acquired an Intact Ancient Weapon Power Source.]

And there’s even a system message that makes me feel good.

Feeling my game balance becoming plump, I put more effort into hunting.

* * *

Generally, the unit for party hunting is one hour.

In these top-tier hunting grounds, it’s common to spend several hours once gathered, but there are still people who want to take a short break.

While the Berserker went for a smoke, I sat in the safe zone and browsed the streaming platform.

[Whisper from FlameOfCommunismDestruction]

– It’s been quite a while since we started hunting, but they’re not coming.

– Actually, I thought they’d come within an hour.

The broadcast I needed to look for was streamer Dongmicham’s.

After all, they’re a potential opponent I might face in this job. There’s no guarantee we’ll fight, but there’s no harm in checking in advance.

However, searching didn’t show any live broadcasts.

Seems they’re offline now.

After setting an alarm to know even during hunting, I tweaked the voice channel options.

Now my voice will only be heard by FlameOfCommunismDestruction.

I’ll be chatting on Luce’s broadcast.

I shrunk the screen and stuck it next to the minimap.

This way, I can watch Luce and not lose my vigilance.

Perfect arrangement.

“We don’t know yet. Dongmicham’s broadcast was off.”

– They might be logged into the game though. Okay, I understand for now.

“By the way, how did you get involved with that guy? You don’t have to answer if it’s a difficult question.”

– Ah, I was originally in that guy’s guild. It was before I went to the military…

“Seems like your relationship soured?”

– The things he does are a bit… no, very much so. Then I met DongjakStation hyung at my duty station.

A rather tragic story was heard.

Originally, DongjakStation and FlameOfCommunismDestruction were in opposing factions.

It seems they even had friendly conversations mixed with profanities in the field.

But as both of them had to fulfill their military duty, FlameOfCommunism ended up as DongjakStation’s junior in the military.

When he first learned this fact, he thought terrible bullying would start.

Even if not, he thought there would be an uncomfortable atmosphere throughout their service.But DongjakStation surprisingly took it in stride, and they quickly became close.

– Now that we’re both discharged, I completely switched over. But you know, right? How traitors aren’t treated kindly in this field. I’m going through an initiation.

“So that’s why you’re not fighting directly and called the higher-ups.”

As I said, justification is an important issue even in the game.

In a situation like this where a guild member was poached, it means there’s a need to tolerate the opponent’s anger to some extent.

Anyway, revenge can’t last forever, so things usually fizzle out after a few weeks of trouble.

I understood why SSA’s response was passive.

“DongjakStation seems to care for you quite a bit. Calling the higher-ups to help, and even attaching me to you.”

– That’s… because I stole a few unique items when I left the guild. I was an executive.

“That’s crazy.”

– They’re protecting me because I might drop the items if I die. But if they openly shield me, we’d lose too much in terms of justification, right?

As expected, it was the story of the siege scene I knew.

This strong and pungent garbage smell.

How nostalgic.