Chapter 6

You Said You Wouldn’t Run Away, Right?

Jeong River kept streaming.

Partly because the viewers held him there, and partly because he hated the feeling of running away.

After declaring that he would absolutely never run away, was he supposed to change his tune just because he was tired?

‘I can’t do that in front of hundreds of people.’

At first, the viewers watched Jeong River with amusement.

A person who was obviously exhausted but would grit his teeth and endure as long as you poked his pride?

It was a familiar type to people who had watched internet streams for a long time.

At first, they endured out of sheer stubbornness, but after a little time passed, they broke.

- I’m seriously too tired to keep going. Let me sleep a little, then we’ll continue.

- If I didn’t have plans tomorrow, I’d seriously go all the way.

- Everyone, I’m seriously tired. My throat hurts so much too.

They would give all kinds of excuses and turn off the stream.

It was an era where sleeping had become normal even during endurance streams or no-ending-stream challenges.

- You okay? Damn

- He’s still going?

- I slept, woke up, went to work, slept again, woke up, and he’s still going hahahahahaha

- 37 hours, damn

At first, the people had gathered to curse at him.

After more than thirty hours of story progression, perhaps the viewer pool had changed.

But they had cursed at him at first too.

There was no reason kind words would come out toward someone who insulted a game they liked.

And that had also been the atmosphere of the stream.

The viewers who came in because he was playing Neo Chronicle simply followed the mood.

Time passed.

Now, the atmosphere had completely changed.

Jeong River / Trying the Neo Chronicle Story.

[Viewers: 841]

[Stream Time 37:58:21]

Because he was someone who had been carefully going through the story of a game they loved for dozens of hours.

His mistake born from ignorance had long since become a thing of the past.

There seemed to be only two kinds of people in the chat now.

People worried about Jeong River, and people interested in the story.

“This game, fuck. An online game at that, is it really allowed to do this?”

Thanks to that, he could even curse like this.

If anything, they agreed with him.

- It’s seriously fucking cruel

- These bastards have no human heart

- Info) the foreshadowing keeps coming

Jeong River looked at the chat and shouted.

“Who doesn’t know there’s more foreshadowing?! No, you could just have that boss say something like, ‘You have outlived your usefulness,’ and kill her, right?! Why! Why!!! Do they have to make me kill her with my own hands?! That’s fucking vicious!”

Irene, who had been the protagonist’s helper since Chapter 1.

The player character had ended up killing a supporting character he liked.

Jeong River’s already bloodshot eyes grew even redder.

As a bonus, after pouring out his emotions so fiercely, they had become moist too.

“No, seriously, ah. That’s too much. Seriously.”

After rubbing his dry face several times, he finally took hold of the mouse again.

“Now we’re seriously going to beat that boss down. Morgana. I don’t know why a guy has a girl’s name, but that bastard seriously pisses me off.”

- Using a girl’s name is a capital crime now?

- hahahahahaha

- hahahaha

- This guy is absolutely full of ulterior motives hahaha

Jeong River progressed through the story while fuming.

When he planted arrows into the boss, he properly got into it.

When he finally defeated him, he even sprang to his feet and imitated Haaland’s celebration.

“I properly avenged Irene. Ah, seriously, I wish I could revive him a few times just to beat the shit out of him some more.”

He was still excitedly running his mouth when the next cutscene played.

There, the boss who had truly fallen got back up and made one final desperate move.

“Uh, uh? What are you doing? Just die! Please just fucking die!!! I’m sorry! I said the wrong thing, so please!!”

Black energy exploded violently from the boss’s body.

= Before long, everything you believed in will betray you.

“Shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up, please just shut the fuck up!!!”

= Rejoice today. You have delayed the coming end by one day.

“No!! Please! I won’t talk shit anymore!!”

Just as the black energy that burst out threatened to cover the surroundings.

Holy light covered the black energy.

The camera slowly rose and showed one character.

Victoria Ashe, the character Jeong River had shown the most affection toward.

He suddenly recited a line that came to mind.

“The heir of the Ashe family is like a phoenix...”

= I thought I would live longer than you.

“No, no way?”

Jeong River stared holes into the screen and swallowed hard.

At that moment, multiple reactions exploded in the chat at once.

- You’re quoting that at a time like this? hahahaha

- This is because of you!!

- You’re casting a fucking jinx now?

- Idiot hahahahaha

- He actually remembered that lol

- RIP

- Your wife is dying!! What are you doing!!

- hahahahahaha

- Uh oh? Stop that

People immersed in the story with him.

People teasing Jeong River.

People enjoying Jeong River’s intense reactions, and so on.

At that moment, the viewer count also hit its peak.

[Viewers: 2,219]

It was obvious even from the thumbnail.

This was the part where the streamer would have the most intense reaction.

“No, no. This isn’t right. There were multiple ways shown to prevent the sacrifice!! You throw out all that foreshadowing and she really just sacrifices herself?! Don’t give me that bullshit!!!”

Victoria Ashe blocked the black energy and began crumbling from her fingertips.

The wind blew, scattering the broken fragments and powder.

“Stop it! Stop it! Where’s that stupid little brat? She uses that monster that controls the wind! Why aren’t you summoning it now!”

Jeong River shouted like that, then suddenly covered his own mouth with his hand.

A sorrowful piece of music had begun playing.

As he listened to the music, words like a groan slipped from his mouth.

“Maybe... scattering like this is better.”

The powder from Victoria Ashe’s crumbling body sparkled as it spread outward.

Across the plains and mountains where the fierce battle had taken place, and beyond.

And Jeong River, who had been watching the sight, at some point.

“Khup, yeah. This is right. I, I was stupid. That’s right. The fate of the phoenix? Fuck that. Hhup, rather than being reborn just to turn to ash again, this is better...”

After muttering to himself, he burst into loud sobs.

He collapsed over the desk and bawled.

The camera only occasionally showed his heaving back.

Naturally.

A festival broke out in the chat.

- hahahahahahahahahahahaha

- hahahahahahaha

- Crazy bastard hahahahaha

- Holy fuck hahahaha

- So the Ashe family still had a surviving relative hahahaha

- Did his actual girlfriend die or something? lol

- Wow, this bastard is seriously insane hahahahaha

- Is this really something to cry this hard over? lol

- hahahahaha

After the cutscene ended.

For about five minutes, Jeong River, who had cried his eyes out, made no sound.

Only about the headrest of the chair was visible on screen.

At some point, with the sound of him sniffling through a blocked nose, Jeong River raised his head.

What he saw after lifting his head with swollen eyes was a certain hill.

It was the hill where Victoria Ashe had once said she wanted to build a house and live someday.

“Ah, fuck...”

Jeong River flicked the camera upward and continued the game.

“My tears seriously won’t stop, so I’m just going to stay like this for a bit.”

He said that to the chat, which was making a huge fuss asking why he raised the camera, and continued the story.

He read the dialogue between sniffles and finished by placing flowers on the grave.

The journey lasting a full thirty-eight hours came to an end.

Jeong River sat his character down on the hill and complained for a long while.

“Vicky is just too pitiful. She spent her whole life fighting battles she never wanted, and she finally met someone she loved.”

- Agreed

- She’s basically a bundle of misfortune

- I cursed like crazy there too

“The developers are seriously cruel. Why even create foreshadowing like hiding beyond the boundary of the world if you’re going to make it seem like she can survive?”

- That was seriously malicious bait

- There’s a stream that talks about the story lore, want to go?

- They’re obsessed with making a masterpiece, fuck

After talking like that with the viewers, he stood up.

“I’m going to wash my face for a moment.”

Jeong River returned after washing his face.

His face looked completely drained.

The cold water had cleared his head, but his stamina was completely gone.

After holding out while intensely concentrating for almost two days, he even looked like he had lost weight.

“Whew... I enjoyed the Neo Chronicle story. I think I understand why you all like it.”

After saying that, he stood up.

The sturdy man even swayed slightly as he got to his feet, then bowed deeply.

“Once again, I’m sorry. For those of you who play it with real affection, it must have hurt. I apologize.”

The viewers’ reaction was outside Jeong River’s expectations.

- You can insult a game a little

- Tell Go Jong-hyeok to manage the game’s image too!!

- How many people even care about that kind of thing

They acted as if it had been nothing.

Even though they were the ones who had swarmed in and cursed at him.

Jeong River, even more drained of strength, put a hand on the desk.

“I’d like to give you a detailed review too, but I’m just way too exhausted right now. I’ve been doing this for thirty-eight hours, and I seriously have no strength left. Ugh, I can’t even organize what I’m saying.”

“Anyway, I’ll rest a bit and come back tomorrow or... I’ll go sleep, recover my stamina, then turn the stream on.”

- You coming tomorrow?

- Good work

- Your reactions were top tier

- You gonna do a foreshadowing recap stream?

- When are you coming back

- Get plenty of rest~

The chat responded warmly.

Thinking that he had done it, Jeong River grinned at the camera.

“I told you. I never run away.”

After saying that, Jeong River’s stream ended.

A man smiling confidently despite looking exhausted.

The face left on the final screen of the stream couldn’t help but leave an impression.

Final viewer count: 1,104.

They chatted for a while in the ended stream.

Things like, this never should have happened in the first place, he never should have gotten cursed at, and so on.

But it didn’t last very long.

The stream ended at 7 p.m.

It was a time when practically every stream, from daytime streams to nighttime streams, was live.

The perfect time for the countless clips created from Jeong River’s story reactions to spread.

Especially on ‘OnAiri,’ where Neo Chronicle streams were active.

There, they truly spread like wildfire.

[WhoEvenPlaysNeoChronicle donated 3,000 won]

(Video of Jeong River defeating Morgana and celebrating)

= What, who is this? Wahaha, he’s really happy about it, huh? It took him that long? Huh? That’s the story boss. That’s story Morgana, and he’s that happy about beating him?

- He’s just insane hahahaha

- The amazing part is that he’s not forcing the reaction

- Killing Morgana, who made him kill Irene...

- His eyes are completely gone hahahahahaha

[IDontWatchIfTheyreGood donated 2,000 won]

(Scene of Jeong River pouring out curses while watching Victoria sacrifice herself)

= Ah... that part really was sad, but uh, is he really crying? Mm, was it sad enough to cry that hard? No, no, I’m not saying it wasn’t sad!

- His wife died, apparently

- Psychopath moment on

- Victoria’s sacrifice wasn’t that serious... noted

- Steel flows through my blood. Very cold steel

Whether small or large, the clip spread through every Neo Chronicle stream.

And naturally so, because it showed a newbie properly experiencing the story for the first time in ages.

The newbie was savoring a story they had all experienced long ago in an entertaining way.

Most streamers were veterans too.

From the perspective of fellow veterans, those reactions couldn’t help but be fun!

And so, Jeong River’s clips continued to spread.

Even to streams that had once mainly played Neo Chronicle but now played a variety of games.

[LunaOnly donated 8,536 won]

(Video of Jeong River lamenting on the hill where Victoria was buried)

- Looks like he really played it properly

- The way all the foreshadowing just keeps coming up is seriously lol

- He played like a genuine madman

The streamer watched the video while checking the viewers’ reactions.

Neruna, who had escaped the RPG scene and had now grown large enough to be called a mid-sized streamer.

Jeong River’s clip even appeared on the stream of one of the few female variety-game streamers.

“He really did play properly. He knows practically all the foreshadowing, doesn’t he? Seriously? It took him thirty-four hours to get through Chapter 8? Wow... and he did that without ending the stream?”

When she expressed her amazement, the viewers told her why.

“Seriously? He really got caught by some nasty people.”

After summing it up that way, she moved on to talking about the story.

“The foreshadowing you just mentioned really is also a clue for saving Victoria, but if you look at it a little more closely, that actually can’t happen. If you look at the main thread, it starts with the prophecy from Chapter 2 that says fate cannot be avoided.”

An excessive amount of information poured out one after another.

On another stream, the reaction would have been almost entirely disgust.

But on Neruna’s stream, at least half the viewers enjoyed that sort of thing.

As Neruna told the story and watched the chat’s reactions, a thought suddenly occurred to her.

‘This could make good YouTube content. Doesn’t seem like people would get upset if I invited him, either.’