Episode 6
'I am Joseon's Assassin' was a die-hard fan of Assassin's Dawn since its PC days.
He had played even the previous installments - ones criticized for failing to translate VR's appeal - for thousands of hours, such was his dedication.
Moreover, VR suited him naturally. To put it simply, he had talent.
While he couldn't soar like professional players, few could match his skills in Assassin's Dawn specifically.
He was a community legend who uploaded countless veteran gameplay videos and served as a beta tester for Shadow in the Metropolis.
[We prioritize core stealth and assassination. Musou? Try it if you dare.]
The developers announced this philosophy pre-launch. Hearing this, he rejoiced.
After all, he lived by the creed "No witnesses = assassination!" and worshipped Musou playstyles.
But raising the difficulty?
For someone of his skill, this meant fresh challenges. He relished that casuals couldn't breeze through.
These hopes shattered during beta testing.
The culprit? Difficulty.
It soared beyond reason. While melee mechanics carried over, enemy HP and numbers ballooned absurdly.
The new parry damage-boost system offered solutions, but parrying itself became brutally hard.
Even with near-pro reflexes, he'd occasionally fail - each mistake punishingly costly.
Worse, despite touting "assassination focus," the developers crafted boss battles so vicious they crushed morale.
He ultimately resorted to stealth during the beta.
Still, satisfaction lingered.
This was the "city's breath" - a god-tier game revolutionizing stealth with unparalleled freedom, praised as a genre milestone.
Yet after launch, Joseon's Assassin felt hollow.
True assassination meant Musou to him. So he turned to streams - he'd played his fill but would return anyway.
But everywhere:
[Dudes you can kill by collapsing buildings! WTF]
[Target actually reads morning papers on a bench! Just bomb that crate! This game's cracked!]
[3 hours hiding in shadows... Still getting trampled! When's this guy arriving?!]
-LMAOOO why u like this? Scout properly dude I beg
-That's assassination! snort
-Why have I watched this for 3 hours????
Musou gameplay remained elusive. He couldn't enjoy himself - not while other fans laughed, grouped up, and pulled mobs!
As motivation waned, a recommended stream caught his eye:
[First stream + first VR game - total noob. Backseat gamers welcome?]
A rookie starting VR with Assassin's Dawn? Sanctioned coaching?
He couldn't resist.
The first sight: a streamer flawlessly parrying a tutorial guard's strike - veteran precision.
'A fluke?'
He knew parries couldn't be accidental, yet doubted.
Then the streamer eliminated the guard and parried 4 of 5 soldiers.
"THIS is assassination!"
Joseon's Assassin cheered while schooling dismissive chatters (before getting banned).
Then the streamer declared:
[Chat, I'll land 13 consecutive parries.]
"Thirteen? Surviving that horde's already insane..."
He leaned forward, anticipation thick.
Group combat had become hellish this installment due to enemy synergy. Whether intentional design or not, clustered mobs moved with lethal coordination once positioned - leaving zero openings.
Yet this streamer let them organize - textbook rookie hubris... so why did victory feel inevitable?
He locked the camera to third-person for optimal viewing.
[Kill the intruder!]
[Just one foe! Hold formation!]
CLANG! CLANG!
Iron clashed as soldiers encircled, attacking in sequence.
Only then did the streamer move-
his staff carving a crescent-
KRRRANG!
CRASH!
The assassin from Joseon's eyes widened.
"How the hell did he parry from that angle? His account creation date shows he's not even a beta tester."
Unbelievable.
With just a single swing of his staff, he simultaneously deflected the sword lunging from behind and the one slashing from the side.
It was as if he’d instantly grasped that successful parries negated recoil, allowing seamless movement!
The streamer effortlessly downed both foes, then leaned back and ducked, narrowly evading a flurry of strikes like a tightrope walker.
And again.
CRASH!
CRASH!
A sweeping strike took out two more in one blow.
"How is he seeing attacks from behind? Is he hacking?"
13 vs. 1 became 9 vs. 1 in an instant. Then 8 vs. 1. Then 6 vs. 1.
-Woah, does he have eyes on the back of his head?
-Is the streamer actually a pro?
-No pro could pull that off.
-Who’d delete their account knowing they’d wait four years to remake it? VR addiction’s real lol. Definitely a newbie.
Even a 30,000-piece puzzle gets solved by starting with the edges.
The streamer methodically thinned their ranks—dodging what he could, parrying what he couldn’t.
"Easier said than done."
The Joseon assassin thought anyone surviving over a minute here should make this their career.
But the streamer went further, executing staggered enemies with lethal precision.
He flowed between fallen foes like accident, yet every move was deliberate.
-How far ahead are you reading?! GOAT assassin!!!!!!!
The viewer typed furiously.
Seo-jun checked the chat after felling the last soldier.
-Hope of the Masses! Hope of the Masses! (spammed)
-Woah
-Waaaaah
-Are my plebeian eyes even worthy of this?
-Streamer using hacks?
"Why are you surprised by this?"
-????
-Then what should surprise us?
-Are you even surprised, bro?
"Just dodge what you can dodge and parry what you can parry."
-Bruh, lol, like we didn’t know that lolol
-This is assassination! (spammed)
-This skill gap is unreal
"Too skilled? Gonna leave?"
-Hell no
-LOLOLOL
-Already followed
Oh.
Seo-jun gaped—all six viewers had followed him. A small number, but a 100% conversion rate. Not bad at all.
"Shall we go kill Etor now?"
-Something’s… something’s about to get wrecked
-Fr lol
Seo-jun strode toward Etor’s location. The mansion boasted chandeliers and opulent furniture.
As he opened the central bedroom door on the second floor, a silver glint flashed through the gap.
His pupils dilated as he instantly sidestepped.
KABOOM!
Etor, fully prepared, had swung his flail—a spiked ball chained to a handle—the moment the door opened. The iron head shattered the door and floor where Seo-jun had stood.
-He dodged lolol
-His reaction time’s insane—saw that during the ban phase too
-Most die here at least once
But Seo-jun lunged forward, beheading Etor with his staff. His HP barely dipped.
"Can you parry flails, folks?"
-Nah, trying to one-shot the boss smh
-Where’s your conscience?
-If it were possible, someone would’ve cleared the tutorial by now
-Devs aren’t dumb. How you parry a flail with a staff LOL
"Kuhaha! You scurry like a rat! Taste my flail!"
WHOOSH!
Etor began wildly swinging.
CRUNCH!
CRUNCH!
Seo-jun retreated as the flail obliterated railings and walls.
-GOAT, if you don’t kill Etor in five minutes, his reinforcements arrive and you insta-fail.
Seo-jun read the chat and considered the damage he'd taken earlier. He quickly concluded defeating the enemy within five minutes was impossible.
Yet he didn't give up.
There had to be a way—the game wasn't designed to be unbeatable after all. As he contemplated drawing the hidden blade from his staff to target weak points like the eyes, more chat messages poured in:
"Community consensus says damage increases when you hit the same spot consecutively! GOAT!"
What does 'GOAT' even mean?
"First off, thanks for the intel, Joseon's Assassin."
Damage multiplier?
Might as well check.
The opponent's weapon actually held the key to closing the distance. While normally exploiting HP advantage in combat would be suicidal, this game surprisingly didn't implement such realistic combat mechanics. NPCs behaved as if any hit could kill them, never trading blows despite high HP values.
Just as expected.
Etohr seemed flustered. Though a staff thrust to the eye wouldn't be fatal, he couldn't capitalize on this knowledge like a human player would. Seo-jun sliced at Etohr's neck as the boss tried retrieving his embedded mace, then grabbed the weapon's handle together with Etohr and delivered another clean cut to the neck.
The struggle began in earnest. The mace's dangerous spiked head became useless when both gripped the handle, preventing force transmission.
"He's grabbing it?!"
"That was insanely fast!"
But maintaining at least parity in strength was crucial. Feeling his character's strength parameter was inferior, Seo-jun immediately landed another slash across Etohr's throat—noticing how the boss weakened with each flinch.
"Get your hands off my weapon! You assassin bastard!"
Etohr tried kicking free, but Seo-jun intercepted the rising leg with a staff strike to the shin. When Etohr swung a fist from his free hand, Seo-jun simply tilted his head aside.
Whoosh!
The staff sliced Etohr's neck again, visibly chunking the HP bar.
"Just need to keep this up."
"LOL"
"Sorry Etohr T_T"
"Is this even humanly possible?"
Meanwhile, Joseon's Assassin kept marveling at the legendary stream: "Disrupting Etohr's strength while dodging every escape attempt without taking a single hit... then landing dozens of neck strikes? Holy shit! That's our GOAT right there!"
The most chilling part? He never even drew the hidden blade. Other streamers had failed using sword-sticks, hidden wrist blades, and wires—but this guy fought Etohr with just a basic staff (whose blade dealt half the damage of embedded weapons and one-third of assassination blades).
[It's over.]
Though Etohr still had 1/5 HP remaining, the confident declaration came through speakers. With damage scaling exponentially, perhaps the streamer had calculated one more hit would finish it... or maybe not. For someone this skilled, damage math should be trivial...
[Actually needs one more hit.]
Or maybe not—there was something oddly amateurish about him too.
[Ahem.]
Finally, Etohr's HP cleanly depleted as a cutscene played:
[You hypocritical Assassin Order hound! I won't go alone!]
[Tutorial Quest - Assassination Mission]
[Completed]
"Wait, is this the first clear??"
"Nah lol we're seeing history made live on some random noob stream LMAOOOOO"
"We're witnessing history right now"
After genuinely achieving world-first clearance, Joseon's Assassin briefly joined his equally stunned chat before opening a browser tab—destination: Assassin Order Dawn Community. He began composing a post with stream footage attached:
Title: [Actual newbie's first ever stream/game where he parries 13:1 odds against mobs then gets world-first Etohr clear (legit no clickbait)]
