Martial Arts Returnee’s Game Broadcast

Chapter 233

Round of Night, Number 9.
A prestigious title given to the top 10 pilots of the Wandering Merchant Guild.
Those who earn this title cannot be weak.
Talent in fusion rates, equipment support,
All the elements that ensure victory were gathered.

Why?
It should have been that way. Yet, Number 9, Mangok Dongmu-seo Dari Boob* (a ridiculously long nickname for Number 9)*, who was at the bottom of the Round of Night ranking, had just been defeated.
Despite having excellent reaction time, superior weaponry, and great performance from his ship, the one who lost was him.

Why did I lose?
Heh heh, fool? Pathetic? You don't even know why you lost, you terrible pilot? Of course, it’s because you didn’t have enough resolve?
Resolve...?
A one-on-one battle.
A fair and square fight.
Mangok Dongmu-seo Dari Boob** had wanted a flawless victory in this duel.
News that he struggled against the ace pilot of the Tuttak Guild would certainly damage his standing as a Number in Round of Night.
Thus, he had not allowed any damage to his ship.
He demanded a perfect victory without even the slightest scratch on his ship.

Someone Who Likes To Get Apologies was different.

She no longer feared the damage to her ship or the possibility of death from a mistake.
What she feared was losing again.
Failing to protect the pathetic followers who trusted her.
Her strong will overcame that fear.
The two ships closed in on each other, firing beams at each other, their missiles intercepted in mid-air, as the distance between them quickly narrowed.

You crazy bitch, are you trying to die with me?!
Mangok Dongmu’s ship veered sharply.
The continued attacks pushed the performance of his ship to its limits.
In the end, he was caught from behind, suffering irreparable damage and the loss was confirmed.
Now, he was laughing bitterly.
The difference was not in resolve.
It was in madness.
She turned off her shields, fully confident that she wouldn’t take a single bullet as she continued fighting.
The result was evident in the energy difference.
The minimum shield protection for safety.
The sudden acceleration in an attempt to break free from the situation.
Many factors contributed to the failure, and ultimately, she allowed an attack while caught from behind.

I wasn’t bad! It’s just that you were a monster of strength!
Yeah, yeah? Good job? You trashy idiot?
...Damn you.
Save your pathetic excuses for the hangar! Apologize to the president for turning such an expensive ship into scrap! Apologize for being a discarded pilot!
Damn it. I’d rather log out than take this humiliation.
After the victory in the duel, the momentum shifted.
The Tuttak Guild succeeded in repelling the enemies.
However, they ultimately failed to destroy the massive station of the Wandering Merchant Guild.
They had already taken too much damage, and another victory would only be a hollow one.
Despite that, they stopped advancing and listened carefully to who would win the battle.

The Human-Faced Demon Guild has succeeded in their revenge!
The one with the horrible nickname “Silent Swordsman’s Rest Period Will” defeated Number 3.
Amazing!
But they were supported by surrounding fleets.
What’s that? That’s just fleet support.
The only one who defeated Number 3 with skill was our Mesugaki Girl!!
Long live Mesugaki!
Long live!
Long live Apple Girl!
Long live!
After all the praise, the space war ended with a victory for the Human-Faced Demon Guild, but soon after, the long-awaited announcement came.

[Streamer Silent Swordsman has posted a new public notice.]

It was a notice from Silent Swordsman.

[The selection of the Forced Return Facility has been completed.]
[The selected individual is I Can’t Stand Gaidaimax.]
[The selected location is the Gaidaimax Silent Swordsman Statue.]
[From now on, the malevolent prisoners will be forcibly sent to the Gaidaimax Silent Swordsman Statue’s Cliff Punishment Division and must repent for a set period before being freed.]
[Everyone, remember to be polite while chatting. If I were you, I wouldn’t want to be trapped in the Punishment Division of this statue.]

?
?
What is this?
Chasing after a chicken? Looking at the roof?
Is the bear doing the tricks, and the person taking the money?
The space war.
The intense battle between the three great powers.
The winner was the unexpected I Can’t Stand Gaidaimax.
Not a giant faction.
Not even a mid-tier faction.
But a lone space tycoon and madman who roams the universe.

“I made a mess and gave it away? We fought hard, but we only wasted our time, pilots, apologize? Apologize for the weak salesmanship of the chairmen?”

There were riots equivalent to uprisings across space.
The Gaidaimax Silent Swordsman Statue, which surpassed the total investment of the fan clubs with a single facility, was too strong to be shaken by sporadic protests.
Naturally, the anger of the viewers turned toward the heads of the organizations, which led to a new large-scale disturbance, a popular uprising.

[The necessary facility has been built, so let’s go back now.]

With the task complete, Silent Swordsman lost interest.
Perhaps the viewers needed their own time.
Personal time must be respected.

“...This timing? After all this chaos? This is a real arsonist move.”

With Lee So-hye’s admiration, Ha Eung Eung logged out of the ES space environment.

The world’s most brutal space architecture, with the world’s most vicious Forced Return Facility installed.
Due to the popular uprising, most viewers did not realize the brutality of the Forced Return Facility, but even the malevolent viewers acknowledged its viciousness.

First of all, if they don’t serve a set period of imprisonment, they won’t be able to watch live broadcasts.
IP blocking made it impossible to watch from other accounts as well.
Even VTube edited versions were blocked, and without serving time in the virtual space prison, direct streaming of Silent Swordsman’s broadcast would be impossible.
If they wanted to watch, they had to peek at others’ broadcasts, which meant the limit was watching from someone else’s screen or computer.
In the virtual reality world, since each person was registered with personal data and a single account,
Unless one had multiple bodies, once classified as a malevolent viewer and locked in the punishment division, there was no escape until completing the full sentence.
They could forget about sensory links or three-dimensional video viewing.

Isn’t a broadcast without sensory link just a fish-shaped bread without red bean paste?
Isn’t it like a steamed bun without the filling?
Steamed buns have red bean paste, but you shouldn’t have a pair of birds in them, that’s a mistake.
Fish-shaped bread has fish inside it, doesn’t it?
Which dimension are you from, a dimension traveler?
Fish-shaped bread with real fish?
Still, you don’t put birds in steamed buns! Stop being silly!!
Whether it’s a steamed bun or fish-shaped bread, we’re screwed anyway.
Fine, I’ll just not watch it.
Right? It’s crazy to do this.
Go away from the Punishment Division~ Just log out and that’s it!
Malevolent viewers cursed as they logged out of the space environment.
Less than a month later, they returned to their prison cells.
They weren’t truly imprisoned outside the virtual world.
They wouldn’t be locked in a real prison as long as they didn’t search for Silent Swordsman’s broadcasts.
They could always mess around on other streams and have free reign, as long as they didn’t watch her broadcasts.
But mentally, they were already trapped in prison.
They couldn’t find satisfaction.
No matter which streamer’s videos they watched, Silent Swordsman was irreplaceable.

Hey, Kim, you said you wouldn’t serve time, right?
I just returned because I couldn’t stand Um Gil-dong’s gameplay. It was so toxic.
Tsk tsk. I can’t believe Um Gil-dong’s Girlfriend Will Be Born is locked up in the Punishment Division. That guy’s never going to get a girlfriend.
Wow, even though we’re malevolent, that nickname’s scary.
Isn’t Um Gil-dong pathetic?
Shut up! Don’t criticize when you’re also Hidden Swordsman Hides Singing Skills, Maman Swordsman and 23 Year Old Baby, and Total Annihilation Swordsman and Fish Tank Total Annihilation!!!
If I do it, it’s romance; if others do it, it’s infidelity.
If I do it, it’s fan appreciation; if others do it, they’re malevolent.
In their extreme double standards, the malevolent viewers argued whose nickname was worse, but that didn’t shorten their sentence.

[Remaining Sentence - 99 Years 364 Days 13 Hours 15 Minutes]

A 100-year sentence in the Punishment Division.
Essentially a life sentence!
Yet they could endure it, because they had hope.

?Sentence Reduction Rules?
Article 1 - If they perform well as war slaves in battles, their sentence will be reduced based on merit.
Article 2 - Watching programs that only use respectful language while wearing VR helmets will reduce their sentence by double the viewing time.
Article 3 - Performing physical labor will also reduce the sentence proportionally based on performance.

The rules for sentence reduction were written on the walls of the Punishment Division.
These rules were the very hope they clung to.

This is it!
War! War is happening right now!
Hey, Gaidaimax! We’ll be war slaves! Take us to the battlefield!
As the prisoners shouted, Gaidaimax’s face appeared on the wall panel.

[That’s not something I can approve.]

Then who approves it?!
[Silent Swordsman personally approves it. She’ll only send you to battles that are worth participating in...]
So when will Silent Swordsman come?
[She came today, so... probably sometime in a week, or a few months.]
A week or a few months, huh.

This is a mess, the error range is off the charts!
Are you crazy?!
What are we supposed to do in the meantime!
We don’t even know when she’ll come! What if we miss the chance!
Gaidaimax replied, his face full of annoyance.

[Why should I take responsibility? It’s your sentence that isn’t being reduced, not mine. If you’re upset, you can just log in every day.]

The prisoners grabbed their necks.

This was the plan!
This bastard is torturing us with false hope, making us log in every day!
Well, if we have to log in anyway, we might as well watch something on the VR helmet, right?
One prisoner casually chose to watch something on the VR helmet.

[Kids’ Program! Kids Today!]
[Hello, kids. Today, we’re making a stegosaurus out of clay.]

And screamed.

Hey!! Who’s the crazy bastard airing a kids’ program where they only speak formally! How are we supposed to watch this!
[Silent Swordsman said, add all formal-language programs to the playlist.]
Sigh... What’s next?
[It’s a middle school math class about finding angles using the properties of external angles.]
What the hell is this, you jerk!
The prisoners clutched the VR helmets and screamed.

Why is this so fun?
Oh, the teacher’s hands are so pretty.
Kids these days make stuff like this with clay? The quality is amazing.
I wonder if Silent Swordsman gives lessons too?
Is this real education? Why is this useful?
Give us some clay, you jerk!! We want to play with clay, not this boring stuff!!
The life of a meerkat is so sad, sob sob.
To reduce their sentence, they watched 2 hours of clay play, 4 hours of middle school math, and 3 hours of National Geographic’s wildlife documentaries.
Thanks to watching these chaotic formal-language programs, the prisoners' childlike wonder, culture, and common sense grew.