A Rapidly Changing World (3)
Seon-a had been a naive follower of the Maru Church, hunting creepers with a level-9 weapon. Then, without warning, she found herself in heaven.
“Eh? What’s going on? Guys, what am I? Did I hit a bug?”
Seon-a logged out of Minecraft and back in, but the bug refused to clear.
“What the—? Guys, the bug’s still there. Uh… no, wait. I’m not a bug abuser. This is obviously the admins’ fault for running the server wrong. You all saw me, right? I was just killing creepers. Everyone saw that.”
Seon-a’s eyes widened as the viewer count and chat window exploded.
“Uh… what? Guys, what’s happening? Even the viewer count’s bugged? Did I get clipped? Who dropped my coordinates? Hey… hey! Stop spamming the long messages. Moddeok-nim dropped my coords? Why?”
Seon-a stared blankly at the chat. The viewer count had already smashed past two thousand. The flood of messages from new viewers was oddly welcome; her usual chat had been dead lately because she only played games. Now it was alive again, and she felt strangely happy.
“Oh… uh… you want me to go forward?”
Following the chat’s instructions, Seon-a started walking, then stopped.
“Hmm…”
She opened her inventory. Right now, she was full of anticipation. What was Moddeok-nim going to give her? She began sorting through the overflowing inventory. It took forever.
New viewers who had never seen her before were starting to get annoyed. But Seon-a simply asked, “You’re mad? Why?”
She wasn’t angry at all. If anything, her heart was pounding with excitement. She was sorting as fast as she could because she wanted to hurry up.
“You guys who don’t watch my streams… you don’t get it. I’m actually going super fast right now. I’m doing this out of respect for all of you.”
The chat kept spamming “just go forward.” Seon-a watched as the long-time viewers began pushing back against the flood of new messages. The regulars, who had been quiet for so long, suddenly came alive and started fighting back. Seon-a felt happy watching them, then a little wistful.
They never do this when I’m actually playing games… Why now? Sigh… what a waste.
She finished organizing her inventory and set off.
“Everyone, stop fighting. I’m heading out now. Let’s go.”
She walked forward slowly. Ahead stood Moddeok and one of the admins.
“Hello, everyone. Did you call me?”
“Jjanghaem~!! Be a Crusader, Haemi.”
“Me? Really?”
“Yes. Is that okay?”
“Give it to me.”
Seon-a answered boldly, though her heart was racing harder than before. She was so moved by how cool she sounded. She wanted to rush through it, but with so many new viewers watching, she also wanted to look impressive.
“But why were you so late?”
“Ah! I was just sorting my inventory.”
“You did that now?”
“Yeah. I figured I might get items, so I cleaned it up first.”
“You already assumed you’d receive something.”
The moment the server became heaven—not because of a bug, but because of the sudden influx of viewers—Seon-a thought to herself:
I’ll just go with whatever fate decides.
“Kya~!!! Crusader God Jjanghaem.”
“Thank you. Please give it to me.”
“Kuhahaha.”
Moddeok burst out laughing at Seon-a’s bold attitude. The admins who didn’t know her well looked awkward.
“Then, Moddeok-nim. Are you sure you want to give it to Seon-a-nim?”
“Yes, I’ll give it. Jjang-nim, you can handle it, right?”
“If you give it to me, I’ll do my best. But what exactly do I have to do?”
“Puhaha. Just do whatever you want. You’re a Crusader, after all.”
Seon-a pondered for a moment, then discussed the true essence of being a Crusader.
“Then I’ll collect donations?”
“Neeeh? Why is the conversation going there all of a sudden?”
“Oh!! Perfect. As expected of a Crusader!!! That sounds exactly right.”
The admin didn’t miss the opportunity. For the sake of entertainment, someone had to throw a stone into the quiet lake. That was exactly what the admins wanted.
“The church is poor, after all. Didn’t you mean for me to raise funds?”
“That’s not what I meant… I just gave it to you because the Crusader class suits you.”
“Ah. Really? Then… how good is the Crusader class?”
“The Crusader is the only class with an invincibility skill. You also get ten extra hearts as a passive, and you can buff your party members. Ah, it’s similar to the Paladin role you mentioned, Seon-a-nim.”
“Hmm… but it still feels weak. Smashing things with a mace sounds exhausting. I saw a Sniper earlier—one shot and everything dies instantly… This seems weaker. Can’t you give me a buff instead?”
“Excuse me? You haven’t even tried it yet. We tested the balance extensively.”
“Then just give it to me already.”
Seon-a was desperate to become a Crusader.
“Ah, understood. So Seon-a-nim will be the Crusader?”
“Yes. That’s right. Jjanghaem, do your best. I’m heading out now.”
“Ah!! Moddeok-nim, wait a second.”
“Why?”
“Are you really logging off?”
“Yeah. I’m going to sleep now.”
“Then can’t you at least give her some armor and bread before you go? She doesn’t have anything.”
Moddeok let out a dry laugh, and one of the admins couldn’t hold back a chuckle.
“Ah, okay, I’ll give you some. But there’s already plenty of bread.”
“I’m a Crusader now. I’m going to the village to do some tithing… I need to pay my tithe, you know. Hehe. I’m gonna go tithe right away.”
“Pfft… Ah. Okay.”
Seon-a wolfed down the bread Moddeok scattered, then turned to the admins.
“Don’t you admins have anything? I just became a Crusader—don’t I get a gift?”
“Uh… um… should I give you bread?”
“Great. Give it to me.”
Her boldness made them feel like they had no choice but to give something.
“What about the rest of you? Aren’t you all admins and players at the same time?”
“I’m not a player. I only handle admin work.”
“I see… Then give me an official admin gift. Finding the hidden thing was hard, wasn’t it?”
“You… you didn’t even find it yourself.”
“But I’m the hidden thing.”
“Are you a gangster?”
The admin was dumbfounded. How did someone like this even exist? Their head was starting to throb. But Seon-a didn’t back down.
I didn’t do it myself, but the fact that I’m the hidden thing is still true, right?
“Give me an invitation ticket.”
“Eh? That’s a bit difficult…”
“I need it. I’m going to invite Maru-nim.”
“Maru-nim? She doesn’t need an invitation. She was already invited on the first day.”
“No, I’m the one inviting her. So give it to me. I’ll use it for praying… A Crusader praying to God would look cool, right? I want to do something cool.”
“Th-then… since she’s already been invited, I’ll have to discuss it internally first. Are you definitely going to invite Maru-nim?”
“Yes. You know that picture of Maru-nim in the cathedral?”
“I prayed there a lot.”
Seon-a nodded happily at the admin’s words.
“Well done. You’ll receive a blessing. I’ll write the invitation there.”
“Oh… that does sound romantic. But either way, I’ll need to hold an internal meeting.”
“So you’re not giving it to me yet?”
“No. I can’t.”
“Then give me something else.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll use it well and return it when you give me the invitation ticket later.”
“Uh…?”
Question marks floated above the admins’ heads. Finally, one of them managed to speak.
“No, you really are a gangster.”
“Why am I a gangster? I don’t get it.”
Seon-a looked back and forth between the admin and the chat. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t understand. She had long since given up trying to understand things that wouldn’t help anyway.
“I don’t get it. Are you going to give it to me?”
“I can’t.”
“Got it. Then I’ll just change classes.”
Seon-a wasn’t throwing a tantrum. She knew the admins were probably exhausted, and she was grateful they had opened such a fun server. But asking didn’t hurt, right? So she had tried. If it didn’t work, then it couldn’t be helped. She moved on.
“Class change complete.”
“Thank you. I’m heading out now.”
The new viewers kept asking her to show her skills. She had already shown them ten times. She wished they would stop. She showed them again. They asked once more. This was still on the mild side. The really weird ones told her to go fight, demanded the server be locked down for RPG play, or suggested she go raiding. Honestly, she wanted to throw her weapon away.
“Hmm… my weapon… should I just give it to another guild member? They keep asking…”
She was sick of holding onto it. It was really bringing out her Seon-a personality.
“I’ll give it to Moddeok-nim when she comes later. It was never really mine anyway.”
She still hadn’t grown enough. She couldn’t keep enduring hundreds of questions from the new viewers. But she couldn’t exactly yell “Stop!!” either. Viewers were precious to her. Yet right now, she lacked both the ability and the confidence to handle them gracefully.
Self-awareness was Seonpyeong’s specialty… Unfortunately, everything had its time. Just like how Gang Taegong spent his whole life fishing without bait until he finally met his lord… If he had used bait, he might never have met his lord and would have remained just a fisherman.
Seon-a put the Crusader weapon into a chest and ended the stream. Goodbye, new viewers…
“New viewers… goodbye. I’ll give the Crusader weapon to someone else.”
Tears welled up, but there was nothing she could do. After ending the stream, she sent Moddeok-nim a long message. In short: I can’t do Crusader.
Day 14 ended like that.
On day 15, they held a meeting about how to use the Crusader weapon and ultimately decided she had no choice but to use it herself.
Days 16 and 17 were pure grinding. The cathedral was nearly finished.
On day 18, since Maru-nim still hadn’t joined, Seon-a called her.
“I’m absolutely not doing it. How am I supposed to join that?!”
“Why? It’s fun!!”
“Augh, I’ll explain on New Year’s. I’m never joining, so don’t get your hopes up.”
“Kuk. Yep! Call me if you change your mind.”
“I’m never. Joining.”
Maru-nim drew a firm line regarding the Minecraft server. Kuk… Then there was nothing she could do.
On day 19, the cathedral was completed.
On day 20, as the area around the cathedral came to life, war broke out in other regions. Since they had declared neutrality, they simply watched.
On day 21, a massive grinding session began—mining ten thousand stone and ten thousand sand.
Days 22 and 23 were spent grinding like mad, and they finished successfully.
Unfortunately, on day 24—today—she couldn’t log into Minecraft. She probably wouldn’t be able to tomorrow either, and if she was unlucky, not even the day after. Today was an important day. Because of tomorrow’s tteokguk making, she had plans to meet Moddeok-nim and Ponpyeong-nim.