I Have a Reason to Hate Streamers

I devoured the food like a beast, and before I knew it, the meal was over.

Crunch. Crunch.

The knife in my teacher’s hand sliced the apple peel.

There were several disposable plastic bags in front of me, indicating he had prepared them in advance for easy eating.

I couldn’t hold back and popped a piece into my mouth.

Not long ago, I would have thought there was no room left in my stomach.

But thinking of the sweet and tangy flavor of the apple made it impossible to resist.

The juice dampened my mouth. Delicious! Is this what happiness is?

As the corners of my mouth lifted, my teacher quietly asked,

“So, how have you been these days?”

“Same as always. Working for money, going to the hospital. Just living like that.”

“Have you been getting better?”

“Well, not sure. At least they say it’s not getting worse.”

We were talking about my left leg.

Knowing how much money I was pouring into hospital bills made him concerned, after all.

How much money had I spent in total?

I couldn’t say for sure, but it was definitely a considerable amount.

This leg, which felt like it was rotting alive. If I had just severed this trashy extremity, I wouldn’t be living on this studio apartment floor.

But… I just couldn’t let go.

Because once I cut it off, I felt like I would never go back to the way things were.

“Now, I may sound like I’m nagging, but take care of your health. Your body is connected in every way. If you keep trying… someday, good things will happen.”

My teacher trailed off.

Now I understood the reason for that hesitation.

He was probably afraid of becoming a source of false hope.

Sports, after all, is a world just as cold and harsh as it is fiery.

There’s no middle ground in competition; you either win or lose.

Talent can be mercilessly trampled as well.

Having been in that industry for a long time and lived as an educator,

How many frustrations had he seen? How many hopes had turned into poison, devouring their disciples?

Contrary to what people think, hope isn’t such a beautiful word.

Yet, my teacher chose comforting words for me.

I nodded not just to his words but to his great courage.

“I’ll be heading to Japan for a business trip soon, so I’ll look into the hospitals there too. If I hear any good news, I’ll let you know.”

“I appreciate it. Thank you! Is it for training?”

“Yeah. There’s some friendly competition event too, but it’s nothing extravagant.”

“If you’re doing it, you should win. Safe travels.”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure to win.”

Though I was no longer a player, my teacher was still my mentor.

I wanted to at least spectate if possible.

If it’s a small-scale event, it probably won’t even be broadcasted, so I should ask for footage if I record it.

A tournament… it always sounds good no matter when I hear it.

Still, it would be difficult for me to return to the kendo world.

It wasn’t just because of the TS condition.

In kendo, there are no weight classes.

Since it involves weapon techniques, the difference in physique can be overcome adequately, and I’ve faced opponents taller than me several times.

I heard it was to consider real combat, but… I’m not so sure about that.

The problem was, of course, my leg.

Even if my left leg healed, it would take a considerable amount of time for rehabilitation.

It would likely take even longer to get my body back into a state where I could compete.

Right now, it felt unrealistically long.

“Don’t you have anything? You play games well, right? That’s a fighting thing too, with your skills you could place in something.”

“Hmm, most official competitions require you to participate in person too. You’d have to use their connection device.”

“I know that. But I was wondering if there were any small competitions that you could join from home or something.”

“I haven’t come across anything that fits that description yet…”

I didn’t want to participate in overly small tournaments.

Winning in such places would be like drinking seawater when thirsty.

In fact, I had received invitations to tournaments run by streamers a few times, but I declined them all.

It felt like it would tarnish my honor even more.

Right. Should I even call this honor?

Right now, words like winning or being the best in the world had become a thirst for me.

A dream I failed to achieve. A dream I could no longer attain.

I just wanted to reclaim what I had lost due to a moment’s catastrophe.

It no longer had to be kendo; I just wanted to be recognized ‘properly’ for something.

Just before the international tournament. The resolve I had harbored twisted grotesquely and became a monster.

“I noticed a tournament announcement recently; I haven’t read it yet though.”

“Really? You should check it out. Let’s look at it together.”

I waved my hand, thinking it wouldn’t work, but a strange sense of expectation grew within me.

The title of the announcement sent by a client I received a while back caught my eye.

[Announcement: Find the Strongest Adventurer! The 1st Infinity Arena is being held!]

I scrolled quickly, absorbing the important details with my mind.

Unlimited participants. No entry requirements. No specification restrictions.

Divided into five ranks based on specs or levels… matched randomly for one-on-one duels.

In the first preliminaries, you advance to the second preliminaries by winning at least three out of five matches.

In other words, they were trying to determine the one-on-one strongest player from all users of this game.

Since it was an event, the prize money was nothing compared to the pro scene.

However, what mattered to me didn’t lie in that.

Regardless of how the tournament’s content was, it was meaningless if I couldn’t participate.

And inevitably, the bottom of the tournament announcement had the note, “Airfare included for finalists.”

Tsk. Why did I look and ruin my mood?

But now that my teacher was present, I had to maintain my expression.

“I guess I can’t. It’s alright. Someday, there will be a good day.”

Thump. Thump. My heart raced for no reason.

Calm down. This isn’t the first time.

I clenched my right fist tightly, pouring all my strength into it.

Then my face wouldn’t tense up.

It would ease that stiff and awkward expression a bit.

Fortunately, my teacher was still looking at the monitor screen.

Just as I was about to close the now-unpleasant event page, his thick fingers pointed to a corner of the screen.

“Hey, Da– Da-eun. What’s this?”

“What about it?”

It seemed like my field of view had narrowed significantly.

I probably hadn’t slept enough.

It wasn’t because I was emotionally stirred.

The section my teacher pointed to had a notice posted just an hour or two prior marked as ‘Next Post.’

And it was a title I could never overlook.

[Announcement: Notice of Schedule Change for Infinity Arena]

– Recently, a volcanic eruption in Iceland has led to the suspension of aircraft operations across much of Europe.

– Experts predict the volcanic ash eruption will continue for an extended period…

– There are concerns about further eruptions…

– Consequently, even if flights are restored, it will be difficult to hold the event in Reykjavik, which was to host the finals.

Was it when I was looking at the community in a convenience store?

It was a piece of news that had slipped by in a post.

A volcanic eruption.

Though it’s unfortunate, I thought it had nothing to do with me.

So I didn’t bother reading it, but life really is unpredictable.

Just as misfortune had come knocking without notice, it seemed that fortune could also come without warning.

I scrolled down the page as if I were possessed.

– The Infinity Arena is an event open to all users worldwide.

– Due to our lack of preparation, we cannot have finalists miss the tournament venue.

– Therefore, the Infinity Arena will proceed online through a dedicated server.

I checked the announcement multiple times, thinking I might have read it wrong.

Scrolling back up and then down again, with my eyes wide open so I wouldn’t miss a single character.

I rubbed my tired eyes, just in case, and dug through the community.

For such an announcement, there should at least be one or two articles posted.

I could only hope I had understood correctly.

[Conducting only online! Infinity Corp, Arena Schedule Change]

[What impact will the changed arena schedule have?]

[Infinity Arena! We’ve gathered the list of professional gamers who declared participation!]

The results all said the same thing.

This tournament. I could participate too.

Would such an opportunity come again?

I didn’t know. It felt surreal, and my mind was clouded.

I wondered if my teacher had said something, but I couldn’t recall if I answered properly.

What was clear was that my hands moved as if enchanted.

Back on the event page.

When was it? I wanted to press the participation button so badly, and when I eventually opened the entry page, I had pressed ‘Cancel’ due to the pain in my heart.

Ironically, the participation button this time looked just like it did back then.

[Adventurer Gawol’s Infinity Arena rank is ‘Black’.]

[Do you really wish to participate? Join/Cancel]

I clicked the ‘Join’ button with great excitement.

[Your application for the Infinity Arena has been completed.]

[We support your challenge.]

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