God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 203: Episode _Become a Well-Treated Sucker (4)

Chapter 203: Episode 203_Become a Well-Treated Sucker (4)

7.

Nothing had changed. The entry fee for the broadcast was still $100. The only difference was that the stream was a little longer.

—I went to sleep and came back, and he’s still streaming?

—He’s at +9 now.

—Looks like this one’s taking a while.

—By the way, I heard you have to pay again every 24 hours. Is that true?

—Yep. Re-payment in one hour.

It was a starkly different atmosphere from his usual streams, where he would mess around for an hour or two, collect his money, and log off. It seemed to show just how sorry he felt towards his viewers, and they, in turn, began to lean towards understanding.

—He’s actually streaming diligently.

—To be honest, he doesn’t need to be so apologetic about adding one or two more ads.

—If he was going to do this, he should’ve lowered the price. I wouldn’t mind watching ten more ads then.

—Isn’t he overdoing it?

Sympathy! Pity! If this had been his usual style, people would have taken it for granted. But coming from Simin, the epitome of a rip-off artist, it was unsettling.

—What is this ominous feeling? There’s no way he’d stream this long.

—Well, the item he’s enhancing now is worth the long stream time.

—That’s true, but still.

—He’s probably trying to make good content to archive and make money off of. He said he was broke lately.

Various theories were exchanged, but the conclusion was the same: the streamer had changed! He had grown a bit of a conscience. He still ran ads whenever he had a spare moment, but for the people who waited for his streams to go live, who spent their time watching his VODs, and who lived for that entertainment, it wasn’t a huge problem. The important thing was that they could watch.

And so, 24 hours passed. It was the first 24-hour broadcast since Simin had started streaming.

—Does he not sleep?

—Wow, he’s still at it. What’s taking so long?

—He’s at +10, and I honestly lost track of time. The amount of stuff he has to gather for each attempt is insane.

—I can’t tell if this is an enhancement stream or a hunting stream anymore.

The materials needed to enhance the Special Enhancement Stone were numerous, and Simin’s tenacity was broadcast for all to see.

—He’s a real monster. Seriously.

—Is it even possible to play a game like this?

—It is. A good capsule allows you to play in a light sleep state. You can probably stay logged in for a few days. The question is whether the user can handle it.

—I play Fantastic World too, but I could never do 24 hours. I get sleepy even inside the game. How does he endure it?

—That’s why he’s at the level he is.

People naturally learn more about each other the more time they spend together. Through this broadcast, the viewers were correcting their initial impression of Simin as just a lucky enhancement streamer.

At least, until the 24-hour mark.

—Time to re-pay. Be right back.

—Let’s see this through to the end.

Viewers started trickling out. And they didn’t come back.

—?????? What the. Where did everyone go? I should go pay too.

—Did everyone who went to pay just pass out? The viewer count is the same, so why is the chat dead?

The eerie phenomenon was enough to jolt the remaining viewers awake. Yet, for a while, the users who had left to re-pay showed no signs of returning. Was there a problem? With no one to ask, the frustration mounted. Then, after about ten minutes, a living witness appeared, breaking the silence.

—Shit. Fucking shit. I think I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.

—Why? What is it? Did you just wake up?

—Wake up my ass. Damn it. I just came back from re-paying and watching ads.

—????????

—Now I get why that leech-like bastard apologized so profusely. Ugh.

That was only the beginning. The chat window was soon flooded with complaints from people who had re-paid and returned.

—Holy shit. How many more ads did he add?

There was always a reason for Han Simin’s kindness.

8.

Simin’s expression wasn’t bright, even after adding twenty more ads, sorted by the highest payout and longest contract duration. The money was certainly rolling in—perhaps even more than he had spent on the enhancement stones he’d gotten for free. But in return, he had agreed to pay with his time.

“I feel like I’m going to die,” he muttered.

“Hang in there, you’re almost at +13,” Yeseul encouraged him.

“Should I go sleep for a bit?”

“You promised to stream until you hit +15.”

“I didn’t know it would take this long.”

Honestly, he hadn’t thought much of it. He knew that suddenly adding a bunch of ads would generate complaints from viewers who were already paying a high price, and even a brazen streamer like him would have to accept some drop in viewership. The promise was his attempt to mitigate that. ’If you help me, I’ll work hard for you.’ The Special Enhancement Stone stream was the first step. The title was even ’Going for +15 Since I’m On.’ It was a promise made with a price, so of course, he had to keep it.

But he hadn’t thought it would be this difficult. He’d never had an item take this long to get to +15. Even if he had, he’d never pulled an all-nighter for three days straight. How could pulling multiple all-nighters be easy, even for him? Especially when it wasn’t even by choice. He wanted to sleep and continue when he woke up, but the viewers were sticking with him to the end. Many were still watching and enjoying it, despite the flood of complaints. If he broke his promise and ran away now? Forget loyalty; his profits would plummet. For Simin, who was scrambling to earn every last coin, that was the worst-case scenario.

He fought to keep his drowsy mind focused. “If I say I’ll do it, I’ll do it.”

Perhaps it was karma. If he hadn’t tried to squeeze the money out of his viewers and had just extorted the Emperor or some other NPC, this wouldn’t have happened. He knew that well. This was just a turning point.

’I can’t live off just a few ads forever. It’s not like I’m streaming for a hobby.’

This was a crossroads, a chance to forge a new path. A little hardship was something he could endure.

And so, he stayed up for three more nights.

*

Anyone who has ever played a game for days on end, sacrificing sleep to reach a goal, knows the feeling. Your fingers move on their own even as you doze off, your mind endlessly repeating, ’Just a little longer, I can sleep right after this.’ Then, the moment you achieve your goal, the fatigue vanishes. Your head is still foggy and your body craves sleep, but the sense of accomplishment brings a temporary release.

It was the same for Han Simin.

“I did it.” 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

At some point, he had stopped caring about the enhancement stones and various materials he was pouring into the project. From the moment he added the ads—no, from the moment he’d extorted the stones from the Imperial Palace—there had been no loss. All his actions had been for profit, but once he lost his focus, he had no time to worry about such things. He threw in everything he had without a second thought and hunted monsters for whatever else he needed. He encountered black magic mages and monsters he could barely handle, but nothing could stop a Han Simin who wasn’t sparing any expense.

“He’s relentless. Truly.”

“Simin, you should go get some sleep.”

“Has it been a whole week?”

Even the Specialists, who were among the most hardcore gamers, were clicking their tongues. They had been with him at the start, but eventually returned to their normal routines, watching the broadcast while doing their own thing.

“Hah.”

In any case, having achieved his goal, Simin took a deep breath. He felt disconnected from his own body, yet a profound sense of accomplishment filled him. From the fifth day on, he had switched from a light sleep state to full sleep, and his game sync rate had dropped below 60%, but that was how he had made it this far. All that was left was to sleep.

“That’s all for today, everyone.”

—gg

—Good work.

—Wow. That was truly amazing.

The viewers, half-asleep themselves, forgot their anger over the ten-minute ad breaks and left with words of encouragement. Simin waved to the Specialists.

“I’ll think about what to use it on while I sleep.”

Watching Simin log out, the Specialists shook their heads.

“To think he’s thinking about the game even in his sleep.”

“Relentless.”

“It’s not like we’re in any position to talk, but still, that was incredible.”

“What if he actually gets a +16?”

“What if the Ring of Blessing becomes +16?”

“...He might actually hit level 100.”

And they, too, began to dream.

9.

The launch of the Rich Territory’s VVIP membership was, in hindsight, brilliantly and shrewdly timed. Though the selection was said to be based on a half-year term, it wasn’t for a full six months from the current date, but rather for the remainder of the current six-month period. In Fantastic World’s calendar, that meant there was less than a month left in the second term. Naturally, those selected in the first term had plenty of complaints, but that seemed to have been smoothed over with some appropriate compensation.

With that, all eyes turned to the second term. Who would become a VIP? With NPCs and players now in the mix, the competition became overheated. There were less than two weeks left. They had to accumulate mileage and spending records simultaneously, and the Rich Territory’s sales skyrocketed daily. Entire groups came to visit from other territories, and some players even invested all their real-world disposable income.

Simin’s decision to set up a post-payment and loan system for verified individuals shone particularly bright. No matter how you get there, as long as you get the money, it’s fine. If you don’t provide such systems for people who want to reach the pinnacle of pay-to-win flexing, you’re not ready to make money.

Even while Simin was enhancing the Special Enhancement Stone, people continued to pour in. The vast Rich Territory was so packed there was barely room to stand. The spreading rumors piqued the curiosity of even those who had no intention of going. The event became such a hot topic that even wealthy individuals who had never touched Fantastic World considered participating out of pride.

Among them, Kenji could not be left out.

“This time, for sure.”

He would make Simin pay! Just thinking about all the money he’d been extorted out of under the guise of "help" made his teeth grind. Of course, thanks to that, he had acquired his own territory and, while not on the same level as the Rich Territory, had managed to get it into some semblance of order. But every night, the memory of it returned, robbing him of sleep. He had to shake off this nightmare.

So he had come. Considering the money he had poured into his own territory like a bottomless pit, obtaining a VIP membership should be easy.

’That’s not enough.’

But Kenji had no intention of stopping there. Beyond VIP, to VVIP. A realm of benefits he couldn’t even imagine. ’I will go there. I will see it for myself. The shit-eating look on Han Simin’s face. And then, I will command him as I please!’

The dignity of Kenji, who had only ever been taken advantage of and looked like a pushover, began to emerge in the Simin-less Rich Territory as he cut through the crowds of wealthy contenders.