Samurai Hearts – Tutorial (2)
"'Black-History Archive' has subscribed at High-Tier for 3 months!"
Show the high-tier subscription reaction go.
"Black-History Archive, thanks for the 3-month high-tier sub! A high-tier reaction? Ughhh…"
—Yesss, this is the proper way to start the Family VR Tour!—Hey hey, Victoria! You even did it in front of your parents! Don't back down now!—Damn! I believed in you, Win-Loss Gang!
At the viewers' sudden frenzy, Dohyun tilted his head.
Since he had no interest in streaming, he didn't know what subscriptions or reactions were.
The platform Seungyeon streamed on was Tricky TV.
A subscription was Tricky TV's unique support system: unlike a one-time tip, a subscription supported the streamer monthly.
There were three types—basic, mid-tier, and high-tier—and naturally, the higher the tier, the larger the financial support.
Subscribers of higher tiers received various perks as well.
Because of this system, streamers usually prepared different "subscription reactions" depending on tier.
Dances, songs, cute acts, and so on…
Among them, Seungyeon's high-tier reaction was—cuteness overload.
And now, the Win-Loss Gang was demanding she perform that reaction in front of her little brother.
You devils!
No matter how close they were, he was still her younger brother.
They'd fought plenty as siblings—and now she was supposed to perform her ultimate cute act in front of him?
Even she faltered.
She had expected the viewers to ask for it.
But actually doing it in this situation was… mortifying.
That psychological wall unique to siblings!
She could barely force herself to do it in front of her parents—how could she commit such disgrace in front of her brother?!
Seungyeon shouted at the camera, desperate.
"Kratos is a clean kid who doesn't watch personal streams! What do you think he'll say if he sees a high-tier reaction, huh?! This is a totally different level from when my parents were here!"
—ABS! O! LUTE! LY! DO! THE! RE! AC! TION!—What?? A streamer gets a sub and doesn't react?? Blasphemy???—Hehe, and so?
Of course, her argument meant nothing.
If Seungyeon aimed for "a stream that makes viewers grind their teeth," then the Win-Loss Gang aimed for "a stream that makes Seungyeon suffer."
Their counterattack was instant.
'Go To Hawaii By Yourself' has subscribed at High-Tier for 3 months!Still not reacting?
'Perfect Weather To Skin Someone' has subscribed at High-Tier for 3 months!Let's see how long she can endure.
'Bremen Town Musicians' has subscribed at High-Tier for 3 months!So? Still not doing it?
"F-fu-nyangnyang! Th-thank you for the high-tier sub~! You'll keep subscribing, right? Right~? Aing aing! Love you all, thank youuu!"
Defeated by the relentless barrage of high-tier subscriptions, Seungyeon performed the reaction she had prepared.
Her voice melted into sugary aegyo, her body wiggling cutely.
She even finished with a perfect heart shape made with both hands.
Dohyun froze like stone.
He knew something was coming, but he had never imagined it would be this cringe-inducing.
The psychological damage was immense.
"…"
"…"
A heavy silence fell between the two siblings—Seungyeon unable to look at him from embarrassment, and Dohyun frozen from sensory overload.
The ones excited were, of course, the Win-Loss Gang.
They were already clipping the moment—cutting out portions of the stream into short videos—and laughing their heads off.
The saved clip would become eternal black history, reproduced again and again.
It might even be exported to a few streamer friends under the title"Live Black History in Front of Her Brother."
Actually, it was almost guaranteed.
The wave of high-tier subscriptions made it unavoidable—but the blow to Seungyeon's pride was devastating.
After a moment, Dohyun let out an awkward smile.
"You're… really working hard… at streaming… yeah…"
"No! No, curse at me instead! Aaaargh! Why would you react like that!?"
"Nah… life's just… difficult sometimes… yeah…"
—Her brother lololol—LMAOOOOO—I'm dying hahaha
A few minutes passed with Dohyun's "I understand everything" expression and Seungyeon's shrieks forming a comedy skit.
Then—
"ANY! WAY! Today's game is Samurai Hearts with my brother!"
—Peak topic change—Her face is still totally red lol
Barely having calmed down, Seungyeon resumed hosting.
Her face was still burning red, but if she stalled any longer, something even worse might happen.
At least the good news was that Dohyun, who had been nervous, looked a bit more relaxed now after that chaos.
Though what I lost was definitely bigger…
It couldn't be helped.
Seungyeon took a deep breath, shaking off the last bits of embarrassment.
With her years of streaming experience, she had the mental fortitude to survive black-history moments like this.
She'd suffer for a while, sure—
But the increased recognition and incoming donations would be worth it.
That was the life of a streamer who lived on public attention.
"Well then, let's officially start Samurai Hearts."
With a tone that allowed no objections, she launched the game.
Immediately, the waiting room environment she had set up began to transform.
Victoria's waiting room looked like a small gym, but the surrounding walls collapsed one after another, morphing into a new space.
A battlefield.
But not an empty one.
By the time the transformation finished, countless soldiers were gathered around them.
BOOM… BOOM…
A massive drum thundered through the air—
A war drum that hammered directly into the heart, igniting one's fighting spirit.
WAAAAAA!!
Shouts filled with murderous intent exploded in every direction.
Soldiers clad in armor from medieval Japan swung spears and blades at one another.
The clang of metal rang endlessly, and even more blood splattered across the battlefield.
Though the game was rated 15+ and didn't show overly graphic gore, the brutal atmosphere of war was vividly conveyed.
"What the—why does it start on a battlefield?"
While the startled Dohyun muttered, everything before him dissolved into cherry blossoms.
The petals swirled violently, completely obscuring his vision, then moved like a giant brush across the air to draw massive characters:
"Samurai Hearts."
At the same time, the war-torn scene transformed into a peaceful field overflowing with blossoming sakura trees.
"Wow! That intro is top-tier! No wonder this game is so hot!"
Ah, so that was just the intro.
Hearing Seungyeon's comment, Dohyun finally realized that what he had just witnessed was nothing more than an introductory cutscene.
And suddenly, he understood why people were so passionate about VR games—and why they found it strange that he had never played one.
Anyone would be puzzled if someone said they'd never experienced something like this.
—Her brother is totally out of it lol—Yeah, Samurai Hearts' intro is legendary—People say the intro battle alone is enough to make a whole game
Seeing Dohyun stare blankly and gape at the scenery, the Win-Loss Gang teased him in the chat.
"Tsk."
Seungyeon poked him in the side, telling him to snap out of it.
Finally remembering he was on stream, Dohyun reeled his wandering mind back in.
Of course, the moment of him gawking at the scenery was already clipped as "Man Experiences His First Ever Game."
Once he looked normal again, Seungyeon continued the stream.
"Samurai Hearts, as the name suggests, lets you play as a samurai. It's kind of like a role-playing experience, though the player freedom is said to be not that high."
—If it had high freedom it would've been a masterpiece, shame—Yeah that's a limitation of this type of VR—It's because they dumped everything into the combat
Compared to other VR games, Samurai Hearts had relatively low freedom.
There was a fixed story flow and the player progressed only along that path.
A clear departure from the typical strength of VR games, which was freedom.
This was polarizing for some, but most players were satisfied.
Why?Because for Samurai Hearts, the main attraction was the combat.
"To summarize the story: it's a revenge tale. A samurai who lost his lord goes on a desperate journey of vengeance. Revenge stories… always interesting."
—Yeah, this one's gonna be brutal—Considering how often you'll die, it'll definitely be brutal—This body dies and dies…
'PassingScholar' donated 1,000 won!Info( If you die over 100 times, even a non-brutal story feels brutal )
'Tamkoi1244' donated 1,000 won!Spoiler( Everyone, I only died to increase the emotional weight of the story. You get it, right?
"Thank you, PassingScholar, for the 1,000 won! Mmm… true enough. And thank you, English1244! But hey! No spoilers! Who's spoiling what happens later in the stream?!"
—LOL—Spoilers hahaha—Script leaked lolol
After light joking to warm up the mood, she continued.
"Thankfully, the game supports up to 2 players. If it didn't, I'd be stuck playing alone, so that's a relief. But I heard the difficulty increases with 2 players. Not sure by how much though."
—Info) Boss HP doubles—I heard they add new patterns too—Seriously? And she's doing that with someone who's never played VR?!
Despite smiling, a wave of worry washed over Seungyeon.
…It'll be fine, right?
Truthfully, she only pretended not to know for the stream's entertainment.
She had already researched exactly how much harder it became.
Just like the viewers said, boss HP doubled and a few multiplayer-only patterns were added.
Fortunately, the regular mobs only got a 1.5× HP increase without any special changes.
"But Samurai Hearts is weirdly realistic. So even if something has a lot of HP, you can still kill in one hit if you slice the neck or stab a vital spot."
—Yeah but that's impossible for us—If chip damage isn't reliable anymore, how's she gonna survive lol
But because Samurai Hearts began and ended with boss fights, increased boss difficulty meant serious suffering.
Well… if all else fails, I can just do 100 attempts per boss.
It wouldn't be a big problem for Seungyeon.
That was how she always played physical-skill games anyway.
Sure, she was human—she'd get exhausted and frustrated from repeating a challenge endlessly.
But this was her job.
What job doesn't get tiring?
And for the money she earned, grinding bosses was nothing.
Besides, she had her viewers—viewers who would suffer even more than she did, grinding their teeth watching her attempts.
If she struggled, she would simply look at them and draw strength from their misery!