God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 255: Episode _A Born Swindler (5)

8.

The road to the Demon King’s castle was long.

“Hey. Why is this so far?”

“The Demon World is vast.”

“No, I mean why is it so damn far to the Demon King’s castle?”

“Because the Demon World is vast, the Demon King’s castle is naturally far as well.”

Han Simin glared at him in silence.

His guide’s unhelpful answers were enough to make his fists clench. The only saving grace was that Grokile seemed to remember Kardian’s advice and hurriedly changed his tone.

“The place where we fell is on the exact opposite side of the Demon World from the Demon King’s castle. On top of that, the castle moves whenever a new Demon King is born. It just so happens that the current Demon King resides in a remote corner of the Demon World.”

“So this Rank 1 Demon King is actually the Rank 1 coward of the Demon World? A proper castle or territory should be like mine—built in a place that doesn’t flinch even when attacked from all sides, ready to accept all challengers to prove its strength.”

Grokile kept his mouth shut.

The only rebuttal to that was the excuse of a coward who had been forced to accept a wasteland from the Emperor, only to develop it and reinforce its walls to +15 so that not even an ant could approach.

In any case, they spent their time walking and running until they finally arrived at the Demon King’s domain.

“Doesn’t look any different.”

“The air has changed.”

“What air?”

“Can you not feel the thick scent?”

As Grokile spoke with grave seriousness, Aria also wrinkled her nose.

“I smell it. A most unpleasant scent. Surely this smell is...”

“What is it? What? Let us in on it too. Do you know?” Simin asked, turning to Specialist.

“I’m not sure.”

They listened in on the serious conversation between the demon and the celestial. At Aria’s earnest question, asked with a solemn expression, Grokile answered without much thought.

“Yes. It seems there are still many in the Celestial Realm who do not know. The Demon King who currently leads the Demon World is of the Succubus race.”

Aria gasped.

“How could a mere Succubus... Has the Demon World grown so weak?”

“Watch your mouth, Celestial wench. My patience has its limits.”

“Hmph! Says the one who handed the Demon King’s throne to a mere Succubus. I am not the least bit afraid of you.”

And so the dog-and-cat fight began again. Han Simin stepped in to break them up.

“The Succubus I’m thinking of?” he asked.

“Correct.”

“The ones that suck men’s vitality and all that?”

“Correct.”

“That race is the Demon King? So it’s a woman?”

Grokile remained silent.

Grokile didn’t know how he had arrived at that conclusion, but he nodded anyway, his face a mask of humiliation.

In truth, it had been quite some time since the Demon King had changed—a little over a hundred years. Not a particularly long time from the perspective of demons and celestials. The reason the Celestial Realm hadn’t heard of it was not only because communication between the two dimensions was poor, but also because demons were reluctant to speak of it, even if they happened to meet celestials.

The biggest reason for this, during the current Demon King’s reign, was probably embarrassment.

It was absolutely not because a Succubus had become Demon King. The Demon World was ruled by the survival of the fittest, after all. Whether a Succubus or some mutt wandering the plains became Demon King, no one could object as long as they had seized the position through legitimate strength.

What was shameful was the fact that they had lost to a Succubus. That was an unavoidable humiliation. It was like being in high school, picking the top dog, and the new "boss" came from the group they had always mocked as nerds who did nothing but study. It wasn’t strange, but it was still humiliating.

In Grokile’s case, his disdain for female forms was severe, as he had shown when looking down on Aria. It was less misogyny and more of a blind faith in the superiority of the male form.

“Tsk tsk. Man, if you’re weak, you just bow your head. What’s there to be so ashamed about? Cheer up.”

Grokile didn’t respond.

“I don’t know why I’m comforting you, but humans are the same. If a woman brings home more money, the man bows his head. He can end up losing during the day and losing at night. You just have to work harder and make more money. No need to get so down about it.”

Noticing his mood, Han Simin clicked his tongue and patted Grokile in consolation. From his perspective, it didn’t matter much who the Demon King was. In fact, a Succubus was even better.

“But if it’s a Succubus, she’ll be pretty, right?”

Grokile looked away.

“I want to see her.”

It wasn’t out of personal desire. Absolutely not. He could swear to the heavens. No one would doubt his innocence, either. Just look at the number of beautiful women constantly trying to appeal to him; the idea that he would ignore them for a Succubus was absurd.

He had only one goal.

’Time to start the stream.’

The Demon World broadcast he had planned. Just putting that title up would probably suck in twice his usual viewership. And if the very first episode was set in a Succubus domain that was a feast for the eyes?

“Stream’s on. Lead the way.”

Grokile looked puzzled.

“You said this is the Succubus domain, Demon King or whatever. Take us to where they’re gathered in large numbers.”

“Succubi are not something you can just look down on and...”

Grokile’s last words were neatly ignored. His tone had already been dripping with contempt for Succubi, so trying to say they couldn’t be underestimated now didn’t fly with Han Simin.

“If they come at us, you deal with them.”

Grokile had nothing to say.

In front of an opportunity to make money, Han Simin was braver than any hero. Without waiting for an answer, he strode forward with a spring in his step. After putting some distance between them, he stopped and shouted back,

“Are you going to get in front or not?”

No matter what, he was never the one to take the lead.

*

The continent was busy dealing with the Warlock remnants and buzzing with interest in the rising star Kenji, but even amid all that, curiosity about Han Simin and Specialist had not died down.

Where were they and what were they doing? He wasn’t the type to miss out on such an easy opportunity.

Han Simin’s fans checked his personal channel several times a day, just in case he had gone live. On community boards, they started their own threads to speculate about his activities. The interest never waned.

Then, the stream went live.

Completely out of the blue. There had been no prior notice or announcement. It wasn’t even at a time when people thought, ’Maybe he’ll go live around now.’

One week, then two, had passed. The war was over, the cleanup was nearly complete, and the Emperor had finished awarding Users and NPCs. All that remained was hunting down the Warlocks who had gone into hiding.

At this point, his appearance wouldn’t change anything. At best, he might stream himself searching for the Warlocks’ main base, for which the Emperor had promised an enormous reward. In other words, the broadcast went live at a time when the tension had already eased.

’What is this?’

Curious, people began to join. From the very beginning, Han Simin’s streams had a large number of regulars who watched despite the high price. Combined with those fans, the clickbait title was a massive success.

“Demon World Exposed: A Deep Dive to the Core. Part 1 – Succubus Edition.”

It was quite blatant. Even though they knew it probably didn’t mean that, they couldn’t help but feel that there might be something special inside.

On top of that, Han Simin had very cleverly added some marketing.

—Why is the stream rated 19+?

—Holy crap. Are we finally seeing it?

—This is the first time I’ve seen a 19+ tag on Simin’s stream. Hold on, I’m locking my door.

The perfectly placed 19+ label! For viewers who had already seen dangerously curvy bodies on his stream without any censorship, this was bait that sent their expectations rocketing into orbit.

Moreover, on personal channels provided by Fantastic World’s manufacturer, Goggle Corp, the standards for content rating were quite lenient. You could say they “respected art.” The official justification was that they were simply broadcasting in-game content.

Since players could, after adult verification, see blood, severed limbs, or engage in any kind of sexual behavior without sanctions from the game company—bound only by the continent’s laws—it would be unfair to impose restrictions on broadcasts alone.

As a result, many people supported this policy. Some complained that it could lead to blatantly commercialized adult content, but things had continued as they were. In a world where even adult films were being produced inside Fantastic World, just how provocative and explicit did this stream have to be to warrant a 19+ tag?

The viewer count climbed even higher.

And there was one thing that both long-time viewers and new arrivals experienced first upon entering the stream.

—These damn ads have multiplied again.

—Wow. When did he add more ads? The man is relentless.

—Seriously, what are these advertisers thinking? Do they really believe viewers will see this and decide to buy their products?

—Of course they do... Look at how the viewer count keeps climbing even with more than ten ads. At this point, this is probably more effective than TV commercials.

—I saw some guy humming one of these jingles on the subway.

—I could never afford to watch, but today I begged my mom for my allowance early and finally paid. Were there always this many ads? I’d heard stories, but I didn’t think it was this bad.

They say that like ripening rice, one should bow their head with success. Han Simin was not like that. When the tide came in, he rowed as if he meant to cross the Pacific, squeezing out every last drop. His determination to keep milking his audience until his dying breath meant it took over twenty minutes just to get into the stream.

Even so, the viewers who made it in did not complain.

—Let’s go.

—Good work, vanguard here reporting in. The host’s mood is decent today. Still, he’s already banned five people for whining, so watch yourselves. Getting kicked after paying $200 is hell. Replays are blocked these days, so think carefully before you type. I took a quick peek at today’s content, and you won’t have enough hands free to chat anyway.

This was partly because they already knew what kind of trash personality Han Simin had, but more importantly, because the video perfectly matched the clickbait title.

—Holy... what is this.

—Is this real?

—...She’s beautiful.

—Holy crap, this is insanely hot.

—They did cover that, right? I mean, they did cover it... so why does it look like they’re naked?

—Succubi...

—Show your hand on cam.

The dozens of succubi surrounding Simin, Specialist, Grokile, and Aria were more than enough to rivet the viewers’ eyes.

And they had to admit it.

—Yeah, this is what I’d call a wholesome R-rated stream.

It wasn’t blatantly pornographic.

In fact, compared to other 19+ streams that used this sort of content to push for outright explicit material, this could almost be considered tame.

But once you factored in the atmosphere, that was no longer the case.

—Why is the vibe so dreamlike?

—Is it because it’s a place where only succubi live?

—Even their skin tone is sexy.

—They look like they’d be slippery to the touch.

—Why are the succubi clinging to each other like that?

—I wanna live there.

A forest steeped in a hazy, dreamlike mood.

Bodies that, by their very existence, were the pinnacle of figures that could never exist in reality.

Swaying tails and sharp ears attached to those perfect forms.

Smoldering, seductive eyes.

“Coming to the Demon World was the right call.”

Receiving those gazes head-on, Simin watched the viewer count climb and finally offered his first compliment to the Demon World.

*