An Unexpected Stroke of Luck
Abyss had grown so massive that people were starting to call it a national game.
The league ran steadily, the player base thrived, and now word had broken that a movie was in production—news that sent shockwaves through the community.
Dozens of articles dropped overnight. Even the pro players couldn't hide their excitement, most of them openly declaring they were going to see it, which meant anyone who somehow hadn't heard yet finally learned that an Abyss theatrical film was coming.
And so, on the day every eye in the country seemed fixed on the same thing, Abyss: The New World finally landed in theaters across Korea.
"No seats left? Are you serious?"
"Dude, if we'd been any later we would've missed the reservation window."
"Ugh, guess we're stuck with the next showing…"
Opening day. The throngs packing the multiplex were almost entirely there for the Abyss movie.
Casual fans who simply loved the game. Couples who'd met through Abyss. Die-hard stans of particular streamers.
Word of the theatrical release had spread everywhere, and the crowds turning out to see it turned every cinema into a full house.
And among them, one moviegoer stood out.
"So… you're saying you want every single showing from the first screening through the last?"
"Yes."
The woman answered without a flicker of hesitation and gave a firm nod.
Opening day—when advance tickets were already impossible—and she'd shown up first thing in the morning to buy a seat for every available timeslot.
That much, honestly, wasn't unheard of. Plenty of people were camping every screening today for coupon-code events or pure fan devotion, even without her.
What was unusual was her outfit. A cap pulled low, sunglasses, and a mask that covered more than half her face.
Is she a celebrity?
The thought came unbidden. That tiny face, the flawless skin visible in the gaps, and above all a hair color far too striking for an ordinary person.
Hair that pure white was the kind of look someone in a high-visibility profession would choose on purpose.
The ticket-counter clerk tilted his head and kept sneaking glances at the woman in front of him, quietly narrowing down a mental shortlist of celebrities she might be.
"Tickets are ready. Enjoy the show."
In the end, he never figured out who the mystery woman was. Identifying someone wrapped up that thoroughly would have been a problem in its own right—but he couldn't even hazard a guess.
He watched her retreating back for a moment, then let his curiosity go.
"Hwaaam…"
A yawn slipped out on its own—I must have been a little more tired than I thought.
Getting up at eight had been pushing it. Even Camilla's steel-forged body apparently found four hours of sleep seriously lacking.
But there was no helping it. Everyone had known the place would be mobbed. If I hadn't come this early, I wouldn't have gotten tickets at all.
A sea of people. The chaos already thronging the theater entrance at this hour proved my call had been right.
The weather had turned cold already. I'd come fully geared up—thick jacket, cap, sunglasses, mask, the works.
The cap, sunglasses, and mask had nothing to do with the cold, but they were still non-negotiable.
Of course they were. This was an Abyss movie. If someone who looked exactly like Camilla just casually strolled through the middle of a packed theater, what do you think would happen? Absolute pandemonium, that's what.
Realistically, most people don't pay that much attention to strangers. So yeah, this whole line of thinking could just be my ego talking.
Still, better safe than sorry.
If I wanted to watch in peace, this was the only way. I'd just ditch the sunglasses and mask once the lights went down. By then everyone would be glued to the screen anyway—no chance of getting spotted.
"My streamer said she's going starting today too."
"Wait, so if we just camp the theater we can get a fan meet?"
"We don't even know what she looks like. Fan meet my ass…"
"You'd recognize the voice, though, right?"
"Maybe. But she's on break—feels kinda wrong to hunt her down."
"I mean, if we run into her by accident, that counts as a fan meet."
I flinched.
Three guys' voices drifting over from the other side made me twitch just a little too visibly.
Please tell me they're not talking about me.
Or… were they? Were those my viewers?
As a joke, people had asked if running into me at the theater counted as a fan meet, and whether I'd give autographs if they did.
I'd said sure—autographs, hell, even hugs. And the chat had immediately lost its mind, everyone swearing they'd hunt me down at the cinema.
That was exactly why I was being careful. I'd thought, no way… and yet here we were.
Good thing I came in full stealth mode.
A dazed feeling that I'd somehow become a real public figure people might actually recognize. Relief that I hadn't been caught. And, underneath it all, a quiet little thrill—like I was pulling off some undercover infiltration mission.
Carrying that whole messy cocktail of feelings, I headed into the theater.
"Ah, shit…"
A man who loved Abyss. Rank: Platinum.
College student Park Juseung raked a rough hand through his hair, looking thoroughly displeased.
One in the afternoon. He'd gotten up early and already finished his third screening.
Abyss: The New World. Every time you watched the movie, you got a coupon code for in-game rewards.
Three viewings meant three codes entered. Every single one had been a dud.
"Nothing again?"
"Got some shitty old-man skin. You?"
"Camilla emote. Honestly, I'm pretty happy with that."
"Fuck, I'm jealous…"
"At least it's a skin. Earlier I just kept pulling weird icons."
"I don't want the grandpa—I want a hot female character skin. Or Lenok, even."
Juseung muttered under his breath and clicked his tongue.
Somehow he seemed to have the worst luck of the whole group.
They'd started as three, but only two were left now.
During the second showing at ten sharp, one of them had hit his goal and gone straight home.
Snow Queen Camilla! Hahahaha! I'm out!
"It's just me. I'm the only one with shit luck."
That face split ear-to-ear in a grin was still burned into his retinas.
"I mean… I'm just sticking around to maybe snag an emote or a skin while I'm at it. Can't you just buy Snow Queen Camilla normally?"
"There's no romance in that. Zero romance."
Walk out of the movie, punch in the coupon code, and Snow Queen Camilla pops up?
Nothing else on earth would dump that much dopamine.
Four verification posts had already hit the gallery. The limited stock of Snow Queen Camilla was vanishing fast.
At this rate, every winning coupon would be gone by today or tomorrow—three days at the absolute outside.
And the lucky bastard who snagged that chance had to be a guy.
"Let's just go in. It's time."
"Yeah, okay."
Juseung clenched a fist, steeling his resolve, and his friend clapped him on the shoulder before heading in first.
"Nice and empty. Love it."
One p.m. With lunch hour overlapping, the theater was quieter than before.
Most people had gone to eat. The ones still here had either fueled up early or, like him, were the real deal—willing to ignore hunger entirely.
Feeling a quiet kinship with that crowd, Juseung glanced around.
And somehow spotted a familiar face. Someone he'd already run into several times just in this one theater.
He leaned toward his friend and whispered.
"That person—weren't they here earlier too?"
"Yeah. Looks like they're doing the same thing we are. Marathon viewing."
A woman with long, striking white hair. And that outfit on top of it.
From the cap down, her whole face was wrapped up tight. It made you curious in spite of yourself.
She fidgeted with her fingers, eyes locked on the screen ahead, occasionally scooping up a handful of popcorn from the bucket beside her.
Each time, she'd tug the mask down just a little—and even that glimpse was enough to make it obvious she was seriously beautiful.
A low hum rolled through the room as the lights dimmed and the film began to play on the screen.
This is getting boring.
Honestly, Juseung was starting to feel the drag. He'd already seen the movie three times. He could roughly predict the plot, the lines, even which scene came next.
Watching the exact same film three times in a row was a first for him, and it was more tedious than he'd imagined.
So instead of watching the movie, he decided to keep an eye on the woman who'd been pulling his gaze since earlier.
It was dark, but she wasn't far enough away to make glancing difficult. If anything, the darkness let him spy freely. Staring at someone in full light just wasn't an option.
Then it happened. Without warning, the woman took off her sunglasses and mask and sat up straight in her seat.
It was a Camilla scene. Specifically, one of Camilla's combat sequences.
The woman stopped mid-popcorn, her whole face locked in concentration on the screen.
"Uh…"
Juseung started concentrating for an entirely different reason.
What. What. What the hell.
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.
The kind of pretty that made the phrase "breathtaking" suddenly feel literal.
But something even more stunning sat underneath that.
Doesn't she… look like Camilla?
Other people might miss it, but a guy who poured eight hours a day into Abyss could tell.
Her face, her features—it was as if a master craftsman had forged a perfect replica of Camilla.
Cosplay? The quality is insane…
There was no real reason to cosplay at a movie theater. And covering her face the whole time was weird too.
But if she'd done it for her own satisfaction, that tracked. The world was big, and people came in every flavor.
Either way, for a bored Juseung, it was pure profit.
A woman who looked like Camilla—whether it was cosplay or something else—watching her face was way more entertaining than the movie.
So until the credits rolled, Park Juseung never took his eyes off the mystery woman.
Somewhere along the way, Snow Queen Camilla had been completely wiped from his mind.