Debuff Master - Chapter 1129

Chapter 1129

News of Lee Geon’s coming out spread like wildfire.

The number of viewers tuning into his livestream skyrocketed, surpassing one million in an instant.

Lee Geon had vanished, completely disappeared, for the last three years like a ghost. His sudden disappearance was so shocking that there were even jokes floating around that he was dead.

To everyone’s shock, it was revealed that he was none other than Beowulf, a top-ranking player in BNW.

The impact of this revelation was immense.

Of course, the ranking in BNW had long lost its credibility, and most people no longer took it seriously. Even still, the name “Beowulf” carried weight in the community, and the fact that Lee Geon was the player behind him was more than enough for it to make headlines.

“I haven’t been streaming for the past three years cause I was busy playing BNW. Streaming just ain’t fun for me, you know? I’ve made more than enough money, so I’ve got zero interest in turning this into a career. I’ll just stream whenever I feel like it—no more, no less.”

Then, he moved on to explain why he suddenly started streaming again in the first place.

“I’ve had fun with BNW for the past three years, but it’s starting to bore me now. I’ve done everything I wanted to in the game, so I was thinking of just quitting it. But then it hit me… No other game can come close to BNW, so nothing else would satisfy me.”

Then, he grinned and continued.

“So I started thinking. What if I destroyed this game world? Wouldn’t the artificial intelligence system react? It would most probably create a new world… something like a new season, a second season, I guess?”

To sum up his stream…

1. He got bored with the game.

2. He was about to quit.

3. But BNW’s artificial intelligence system was so good that no other game could compare to it.

4. So he thought of destroying the world in hopes of the artificial system generating a new world, which would officially become the game’s second season.

This was the exact same thing he had said back when he fought Siegfried.

“So from now on, I’m going to focus all my efforts on destroying the world. I’m bored to death with this game, but I really want to keep playing it. Ah, some of you might be wondering why I’m doing this when I’m the number one player. But with my talent? I’ll just be at the very pinnacle of this game again, so no problem for me there.”

Just like that, Lee Geon publicly revealed his ideology and goals, with a level of audacity that only a few could match. He had just declared that he would ruin the happiness of the hundreds of millions of players around the world, who loved BNW, and it was all because he was bored.

Naturally, the chat exploded with mixed reactions, but the general consensus was negative.

[Hanjo: Ptooey! This guy is fucking nuts!]

[DSiku: Fuck off!]

[KohoMapKuryeo: 凸(｀Д´)凸 ]

[MyDaughterSoYoungJi: I feel like puking… disgusting…]

[Hyeokatos: This is proof this guy’s got no parents.]

[Half-bloodPrince: Can’t believe this shithead is still alive…]

Lee Geon’s reputation had been in the absolute gutter after the stunt he pulled at his pro debut match three years ago.

As proof of his reputation, the insults hurled at him were beyond hateful, and some even started hurling death wishes at him and insulting his family.

However, Lee Geon did not give a damn, no, he actually enjoyed it.

“Gee! What’s with all this love y’all are showing me? Isn’t it too much? Kekeke! It’s freaking hilarious how mad you are!”

He had spent close to a decade showering in hatred from people, so these kinds of toxic chats couldn’t even scratch him.

That said, not all of the chats were hateful.

Why?

It was all because he also had fans, or more accurately, fanatics out there.

[K-Yun: Lee Geon is back! LMAO!]

[RajaHell: LOL! This guy really has the biggest balls! He’s trying to shut down the most popular game in existence!]

[PungwonLord: This is Lee Geon!]

[YongguDarkJongseol: The king is alive!]

[OgataKouji: SSS-Tier Troll right here!]

[GangesHwangdo: I’ve been waiting for God Geon!]

[YouNoEatYouDie: This guy’s the devil. LOL!]

Lee Geon also had a devoted following, but rather than fans, they were more like zealots. Despite his three years of radio silence, thousands of them had been waiting for his return. The twisted charisma, overwhelming talent, and sheer madness Lee Geon possessed drew these people in.

“Anyway, that’s all I have for today’s stream. I’ll be back some other time whenever I feel like it. Ah, and I’m thinking of creating my own guild so those who are—”

One comment in the chat caught his eye, making him pause.

[QQDERWBoomBoom: What are you gonna do about Han Tae-Sung?]

Lee Geon’s eyes glistened at the comment.

“Han Tae-Sung? Did you really just ask me about that no-name loser? Keke!”

A cold smirk spread across his face.

However, anyone could tell that Lee Geon was absolutely pissed right now.

***

Lee Gein’s personality was absolute garbage.

Whenever things didn’t go his way, he wouldn’t hesitate to cuss at even his own followers. And whenever he was really pissed off, he would casually toss out every slur known to mankind.

There was even a time when he blacklisted a VIP patron who had donated tens of millions of won to him just because he was in a bad mood.

Despite all that, countless people still followed Lee Geon.

Why?

It was all because of his talent.

The sheer level of performance Lee Geon had demonstrated over the past decade was nothing short of legendary.

There was a time when he went up against the world’s top-ranking player one-on-one and crushed him three to one in a best-of-five match. In fact, that single loss was solely due to him letting the enemy win the first match as a handicap before playing seriously.

It was widely accepted that he would have become one of the most iconic legends in gaming history if he had continued as a pro gamer. He would have become a legendary—no, mythic name in the world of eSports.

He was a gamer born with an inhuman level of talent, a true gaming prodigy.

Thus, in Lee Geon’s eyes, Han Tae-Sung was nothing more than a bottom-tier nobody. In his eyes, Tae-Sung was just a lucky bastard who got his hands on a hidden class by pure chance and rode that to the top.

It didn’t matter how far Han Tae-Sung had come, as Lee Geon was confident he would win if they were to fight face-to-face without any broken buffs or debuffs.

“Have you heard of the saying that a fox acts like a king in a cave with no tiger? That’s Han Tae-Sung in a nutshell. He only got to play king cause I was not around,” Lee Geon said with a shrug. Then, he smirked and said, “But things are different now. The king is back, and that punk can no longer stay on the throne.”

At those words, the chat exploded once again.

“From here on out, I’m going to destroy everything Han Tae-Sung has built. I’ll drag him down into the dirt and make him realize just how weak he really is. I’ll force him to admit what a joke he truly is. Kekeke!” Lee Geon added, his voice dripping with cockiness.

He declared without even a hint of hesitation that he would drag the main protagonist of BNW to the mud, and that he would erase everything Han Tae-Sung had built.

“That bastard’s already a ruler, an emperor, right? That’s perfect because I’m gonna topple his empire and drag him off his throne. Let’s call this… a revolution, shall we? Ah, that word got a nice ring to it… Yes, revolution… I guess I’m a revolutionary now? Oh! That should be my guild name!” Lee Geon exclaimed with a twisted grin. It was the same twisted grin when he revealed his true colors to Siegfried and the others.

***

After returning to the Proatine Empire, Siegfried spent his evening with Brunhilde and Verdandi. They had dinner, sipped tea, and simply enjoyed each other’s company.

Afterward, he went to pay his respects to Deus.

“You’re here.”

Deus was sharing a drink with the First Red Dragon, Vulcanus.

“Greetings, Master.”

“I take it things went well where you were? Judging by the fact that the world hasn’t ended yet.”

“It was all thanks to your teachings, Master.”

“Kekeke! Hearing that puts me in a good mood!”

“Hahaha! I am glad that you are delighted, Master!”

“My disciple.”

“Yes, Master?”

“If there is light, what must also exist alongside it?”

“…Pardon?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion and blinked, caught off guard by the sudden philosophical question. Then, he wondered, ‘What’s this all about? Is he drunk…?’

However, that did not make sense at all, as there was no way Deus could get drunk.

“What do you mean, Master?”

“I asked, if there is light, what must also exist alongside it?”

“Well, I suppose… there would naturally be darkness, too?”

“Exactly.”

“But may I ask why you are bringing this up all of a sudden, Master?”

“Your natural enemy.”

“…Huh?”

“No matter who you are, you’ll always have a natural enemy lurking somewhere. Just as light cannot exist without darkness, so too must all things exist in balance. That is the law of causality.”

“Your teaching is far too profound for me to fully grasp, Master.”

“I’m saying that you, too, likely have a natural enemy out there.”

“Me? I have a natural enemy?”

“Of course you do! Yes, the techniques I have created and passed down to you are close to perfect. But you have yet to obtain the power of true invincibility, so somewhere out there, there must be someone or something that is a threat to you.”

“A natural enemy…”

“So don’t become complacent just because you’ve ascended to a higher level. Continue honing and refining yourself without rest, do you understand?”

“Yes, Master. I will etch your teachings into my heart.”

Siegfried was not sure why Deus would suddenly say this stuff out of the blue, but he made sure to etch the lesson deeply into his heart. After all, none of the things Deus had taught him had ever been useless.

***

On that same night, Tae-Sung returned home from the gym, took a shower, and sank into his sofa with a cool glass of orange juice in hand.

“Hmm… Maybe I’ll watch a movie before bed,” he muttered.

However, his me-time didn’t last long.

“Hey, Han Tae-Sung.”

He was suddenly greeted by a surprise visitor—Cheon Woo-Jin.

“Huh? What are you doing here? Why show up out of the blue without even a text?” Tae-Sung asked.

Cheon Woo-Jin completely ignored his question and asked, “Did you see the stream?”

“What stream?” Tae-Sung tilted his head in confusion. Then, he said, “Is there a scandal about me or something? But I’ve been super careful with Seol-Hwa every time we—”

“Not that!” Cheon Woo-Jin cut him off, clearly irritated by the response. Then, he let out a sigh and said, “I’m talking about that stream. The one by Lee Geon.”

“Lee Geon? Who the hell is that?”

“You seriously don’t know who Lee Geon is? You don’t know that Lee Geon?”

“Hold on…” Tae-Sung tried to jog his memory. Then, he asked, “Are you talking about God Geon? The guy who disappeared three years ago?”

“God Geon” was one of Lee Geon’s nicknames during the peak of his career.

“Yeah, that Lee Geon.”

“I know him. Anyone who played a game in recent years would know. That guy’s insanely talented, after all. I doubt we will ever see someone with that kind of mad talent ever again.”

“Exactly. That bastard is a total piece of trash, but he was the real deal.”

“So what about him? He’s back?”

“And he’s targeting you.”

“What? Me? For what? What the hell did I do? Why come after me?”

“He said he’s going to start a revolution and destroy you. Bring your empire down and all.”

“What the hell? Out of nowhere?”

“It’s not out of nowhere, man.”

Cheon Woo-Jin activated his phone’s hologram and played a video for Tae-Sung to see.

“It turns out that Beowulf was actually Lee Geon all along.”

“What?!”

“It’s seriously insane. He managed to hide his identity for three full years. The guy’s just completely crazy.”

“No way…”

Tae-Sung was in genuine shock. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that Beowulf, the top-ranking player, would turn out to be none other than the infamous devil of the gaming world, Lee Geon.

Even someone in Tae-Sung’s position couldn’t afford to take this threat lightly.

Just thinking back on Lee Geon’s past actions was enough to make anyone shudder, as he was the very embodiment of chaos, the kind of monster capable of doing just about anything.

Thus, it wasn’t strange that Tae-Sung was feeling after realizing that he was entangled with someone like Lee Geon.