Chapter 2: The Demon King’s black dog
3
After that, Kim Bingkwon had to send three more messages before BlackHound finally responded.
“Sorry, I was lost in thought and didn’t see the chat.”
But she spoke informally at first.
What’s this, a concept?
Are streamers these days deliberately dropping politeness to stir up attention?
Kim Bingkwon was confused, and his viewers were in an uproar.
— Are you out of your mind?
— 5,000 viewers can’t handle being spoken to informally by someone with 4 viewers? LOL.
— Meanwhile, Bingkwon’s bstard ass always talks to us like this.
— LOL.
“Goddamn it. Isn’t it weird for her to talk like me? I heard it’s standard to kiss up to viewers with polite language. It’s a basic skill.”
— Con.
— Koo On.
— Cryosphere bstard… One year in, and you’re done acting young, lol.
— Been a while since I felt this annoyed.
There was a reason viewers said that.
Kim Bingkwon never bothered with polite speech from the start of his streaming career.
Less than 10% of his audience doesn’t know what happened during his legendary first broadcast.
There are many ways to awaken abilities, but Kim Bingkwon’s case was a life-or-death moment.
Who could’ve predicted he’d awaken while streaming a villain attack to scrape together some viewers?
“Anyway, chicks like this? Once I show off my villain-hunting skills, they’ll fall for me in no time.”
— Bullsht.
— Bing-sht, you got a mirror at home?
— That guy smashed his mirror with an IcePunch ages ago, lol.
— True, lol.
“Let’s just call her out. Will she show up?”
— Bet she will.
— Call.
— Call call call.
“I’m betting she shows. You guys bet she won’t.”
— ?
— You fcking idiot, stay away from stocks.
— Kekekekeke.
— Yo, pick one stock that’ll spike tomorrow.
— This guy updates his idiot legend daily.
“No, you motherfckers are unbelievable. Fine, give me a mission right now. If I fail, I’ll donate the mission’s bet to Villain.”
(Villain Damage Recovery Fund)
— You’re screwed.
— Hold up, I’m throwing in all my gacha money too.
— If this flops, you’re a fcking black cow, lol.
[ㅇㅇ has created a mission!]
[Mission: Summon BlackHound, and she’ll appear]
+ 100 D
+ 50 D
+ 15 D
…
In an instant, the broadcast was filled with the sound of jingling coins.
Ten minutes after the mission was created, IcePunch activated the sidecar.
“You guys are fcking idiots. You’re the ones I shouldn’t be betting on.”
[Mission: Summon BlackHound, and she’ll appear] – 1,000 D
In a flash, a massive amount was wagered on the mission.
A thousand Dreams, worth nearly 1 million won in Korean currency.
— Don’t be ridiculous, lift the betting cap, lol.
— You bstard, lol. You capped it at a thousand Dreams because you’re scared of losing?
— Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release Release.
— Yo, I’ll pay, lol.
“This is Kim Bingkwon’s kindness to stop you aboongis from diving into the Han River with your overinvesting, got it?”
— You bstard.
— If this kid wasn’t a legit genius, he’d get his ass beat.
The chatroom erupted with rage, spammed with countless ASCII art.
But Kim Bingkwon didn’t back down.
“Anyway, watch closely. I’ll show you how your bro handles a thousand Dreams. Thanks to you, the price of recovery meds is set for a while.”
Before long, the chatroom swapped frog ASCII art for night owls.
It meant sht, plain and simple.
Kim Bingkwon sent another message to BlackHound.
Maybe because the chat had been quiet for a while, she was smoking again.
A few messages popped up here and there, and before he knew it, her viewer count had climbed to 15.
[BlackHound / Live – 15 viewers]
— BlackHound-nim, do you like heroes?
At that, BlackHound, mid-drag on her cigarette, responded immediately.
She was now keeping an eye on the chat as the viewer count grew.
“Heroes? Well… I don’t hate them. But I’ve never been helped by one, so I don’t exactly love them either.”
She exhaled, and thick cigarette smoke billowed out.
— If you had a chance to see a hero fight in person, what would you do?
BlackHound tilted her head, seemingly pondering.
After resting her chin in her hand for a moment, she muttered into the air.
“Father, you said I can’t go outside yet, right?”
What? Who’s she talking to?
‘What the… Is she crazy?’
No matter how you looked at it, she didn’t seem sane.
Two possibilities came to mind.
Either she was talking to an imaginary being, or there was someone called ‘Father’ outside her room.
Both options were equally grim—either she was mentally ill, or she was a slave, locked up and forced to stream by her ‘Father.’
Despite all his bravado on stream, Kim Bingkwon had a soft heart.
He felt sorry for BlackHound’s situation.
“I’d love to see it, but it’s probably not possible right now. Sorry.”
Her so-called Father had flat-out denied her going out.
She looked barely twenty, yet she was trapped like a caged canary, unable to experience the world.
Kim Bingkwon’s viewers seemed to share the sentiment, as the chat grew unusually somber.
But Kim Bingkwon, who’d approached her wanting her by his side, couldn’t just let this slide.
— Why can’t you go out?
— Is this ‘Father’ stopping you?
BlackHound took a deep drag and exhaled.
“I’m still too weak. To go out, I need to get stronger. Father says the world’s dangerous.”
Too weak to go out?
Clearly, she meant the outside world was too dangerous.
But that was a problem IcePunch could easily solve.
— I’m actually a Delta-class hero. I can protect you if you want.
— Don’t you want to see the outside world?
Just a little more, and he could pull her out.
Kim Bingkwon smirked, confident.
“Hmm…”
BlackHound muttered something to the air again before turning to Kim Bingkwon.
“Nah, it won’t work. Father’s word is absolute.”
A gut feeling hit him.
This woman wasn’t going to be won over easily.
Kim Bingkwon exploded with frustration.
His viewers were yelling at him to stop harassing the poor caged girl and just donate to the Villain Damage Recovery Fund already.
Chewing his lip, Kim Bingkwon spoke.
“Hey, this mission ain’t over yet. I’ve got a feeling.”
At that moment, the mission’s betting cap was lifted.
[IcePunch / Live – 5,439 viewers]
— What, you lifted the cap?
— You’re done for.
— Want a horrific experience? Want a horrific experience? Want a horrific experience? Want a horrific experience? Want a horrific experience?
[Mission: Summon BlackHound, and she’ll appear]
+ 100 D
+ 50 D
+ 10 D
…
It was obvious IcePunch was going to lose this bet.
The aboongis started pouring in money like crazy.
It was a guaranteed safe bet.
[Mission: Summon BlackHound, and she’ll appear] – 2,740 D
“…Where the hell do you guys get this money? So fcking suspicious.”
— Lol, it’s not from part-time jobs.
— Bing-sht, stop flapping your tongue and seduce BlackHound already.
The mission pot kept climbing.
Kim Bingkwon calmly sent another message to BlackHound’s chat.
[BlackHound / Live – 17 viewers]
— BlackHound-nim
— Just tell me where you are, and I’ll come pick you up.
The aboongis jeered at his old-fashioned gentleman act.
Over half of IcePunch’s chat was calling him an idiot for thinking she’d reveal her address.
BlackHound, looking a bit flustered, sought her Father again.
“Uh… I asked, and he says it’s fine to share the location. I’ll give you the address.”
Nice!
BlackHound cheered inwardly, thinking it was a done deal.
Now he could find her and drag her out if needed.
Owning slaves was illegal in his city-state.
From the looks of it, she was undeniably a slave, likely without proper ID.
If Kim Bingkwon rescued her, enrolled her in a protection program, and became her guardian, everything would be neatly resolved.
He’d gain an easy sidekick, and she’d escape her cage, free from her slave status.
“Uh… 37.45576˚, 126.44498˚.”
But then, a sudden string of numbers.
Kim Bingkwon was thrown off.
‘What the… Coordinates?’
A viewer who’d already looked up the numbers on a map app broke the news.
[IcePunch / Live – 5,491 viewers]
— Those coordinates are right in the middle of the Chaotic Area?
— Someone lives there…?
— ???
— She just threw out a random spot to dodge, lol.
— For real, lol.
And at that moment, strange words spilled from BlackHound’s mouth.
“Father said, come, but o≪ g’lㅔ ■ ■■■≡ 236-161-176s’m.”
It wasn’t just a foreign language he couldn’t understand.
It was an indescribable tongue, impossible for human vocal cords to produce.
BlackHound spoke it with a faint smile.
And Kim Bingkwon wasn’t the only one who heard it.
Everyone watching felt an instinctive sense of danger.
— Uh… Maybe don’t go?
— I’d just pay the donation.
— Even Bing-sht wouldn’t go for this, right?
— I almost sht myself, aboongi…
They all realized she wasn’t an ordinary slave.
She was undoubtedly brainwashed by Void energy, the source of countless villains.
As Kim Bingkwon grappled with confusion, a status window visible only to ability users appeared.
「New Ability Awakened!」
A new ability at this moment?
Kim Bingkwon quickly opened his status window to check his abilities.
[Kim Bingkwon / Abilities]
— Skadi’s Strike (A), Winter Skin (B), Light Steps (C), 「NEW!」SP (59/60)
A never-before-seen ability name, marked with a number like a limit.
It was the first time Kim Bingkwon had seen an ability ranked with numbers instead of letters.
4
“Phew.”
After IcePunch’s visit, the number of viewers watching the channel was steadily climbing.
[BlackHound / Live – 19 viewers]
Nineteen viewers already, without doing anything.
Most of them were silent, not saying a word.
Sure, I have a clear goal and need to stream to achieve it, but shouldn’t there be at least some entertainment?
This body, Lathy Teparon’s thoughts, keeps demanding fun and chaos.
To fill the emptiness in my heart, it won’t do for viewers to just sit there in silence.
Smoking helps a little, but the moment I pause the chain-smoking, boredom threatens to drown me.
After a long silence with no one speaking, I mutter irritably.
“Hey, you guys, say something. I’m bored.”
That’s when the quiet chatroom suddenly exploded.
— Speak
— Words
— Speak
— Words
— Wörter
‘Words’ in every language imaginable kept pouring in.
Lathy Teparon’s memories naturally accepted this phenomenon.
“I can’t understand other languages, so just use Korean.”
Then, as if they’d coordinated, the viewers typed the same message.
— Korean
It’s weird.
But it’s fun.
The boredom tangled in my complex thoughts started to fade.
“You guys, play a word game in Korean. Loser donates 1 Dream.”
— Black dog
— Dog
— Owner
— Parking lot
— Jangdokdae
— Bamboo
— Tanning
— Pottery
[GG sponsored! (1 D)]
A smile spread across my face as I looked at the screen.
It’s weird.
Something is… seriously weird.
*