You Know About Unknown, Right? (1)

The moment I pulled up the stream on my phone, Ha Yeeun's voice came through.

"Today's villain is a D+ rank villain!! Saintess-ddang is also a little... hnnngh...♡ He's a teeny bit scary bad guy, but... with the power of the Saintess, I'm gonna give it my all~♡♡!!"

She was busy rattling off her opening spiel, trying to fill ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the viewer count.

She had zero natural streaming talent, so I'd more or less built that concept for her myself. Honestly, if Ha Yeeun's face weren't on the cute side, the whole act would have been unbearably cringeworthy.

That's not a Saintess. That's a magical girl.

As her manager, I'd drawn certain lines she was supposed to stay behind. Without anyone reining her in, though, she seemed to have completely drowned in the bit.

Well, the sensibilities of live streaming were a mysterious thing, and audience needs ran the full spectrum. To Aegis's dedicated fans, even that version of her probably still looked adorable.

Once the viewer count settled around two thousand, Ha Yeeun kicked off the actual content.

"This vicious-looking villain right here is the one Aegis!! And Saintess-ddang!! Are going to take down today~!!"

On one side of the stream, the profile of the villain Aegis planned to clear today popped up.

His criminal history was spectacular — over twenty entries. But for all that volume, he was what you'd call a small-time villain. Pure trash-tier.

Dark Snake is the kind of guy you farm for achievements when you're low-level.

Of course, that was true once the main story had progressed a fair bit. For me right now — genuinely low-level — he was a golden opportunity. Same as this part-time gig. More importantly, it was a chance to test the new Authority I'd forged through the reward medal.

And that new Authority wasn't a Paladin-class skill. It was Mage-class.

Completely separate from everything I've learned in the Paladin department so far.

The Throne of the Shadow Mirror. That broken skill — infinite Authority formation — naturally had no class restrictions either. And as someone who'd been a top-tier ranker in the original, I knew the growth paths for every class. There was no reason to force myself into a Paladin-only build.

The more tools you can use, the better. Authorities come with all kinds of attributes and matchups.

I turned my attention back to the stream. The chat was flying.

A few of those chats caught my eye.

Calling a D+ a trash villain, huh.

Not wrong, exactly. Back when I was Aegis's operator, those three had taken down C-rank villains too. All three of them held C-rank hunter licenses issued right after graduating from the secondary academy. Most of the re-exam candidates, by contrast, were D-rank. Considering Choi Hana — the highest-ranked among them — was only D+, the gap between Aegis and everyone else had always been massive.

They're each a full rank above this Dark Snake guy.

Of course, ranks were relative, not absolute. But those three had plenty of real combat experience from their hero work. For them, this villain shouldn't be difficult at all. The viewers clearly expected Aegis to make a clean, easy arrest.

If they fail, though, things get messy.

The fallout from a failure would be severe. But Ha Yeeun's face was full of confidence. She looked eager to wrap this villain up fast — and from the looks of it, a lot of mission donations were riding on the outcome.

Aegis's reputation has been taking hits lately.

The chat alone made the public mood obvious. Comments criticizing stream quality, calling it boring — there were quite a few. And I knew exactly why.

An Yumin was almost certainly pushing herself way too hard.

I thought back briefly to my time as Aegis's operator.

Whether it was dungeon raids or villain sweeps, I'd chosen every target with extreme care — weighing conditions that would let An Yumin grow while also keeping the stream audience satisfied. I hadn't just wanted her to get stronger. I'd wanted her reputation to climb with her.

A high Fame stat came with advantages across the board — skill formation, growth in every direction. For someone who wanted so badly to be a hero, Fame was a critical stat.

Under my meticulous management, An Yumin had grown far faster than her original-story specs. In short, I'd been an operator optimized entirely for her activities. Every tedious hassle a hero might face, I absorbed myself, so she could focus purely on being a hero. I'd never once let the effort or the hardship show — to the point that An Yumin had no idea it was even happening.

And just as I'd expected, she was running wild now — a horse with the reins cut free.

An Yumin was the type who clung to the words "hero of justice." She was probably accepting every single request from civilians crying out that they were desperate, that they needed help.

With that rigid personality of hers, she can't handle ordinary people's malice very well.

Ideals and reality were different things. Plenty of people who claimed to be struggling and desperate would clam up the moment you actually helped them. No — sometimes you'd help them and still get cursed out for it.

The way she'd lost her composure on Mungseokkyu's stream was already proof her mental state was cracking. An Yumin's conviction as a hero ran so strong it bordered on warped. And when a conviction that fierce started to shake, holding her mental fortitude together became even harder.

She's the type who can't manage without a support system.

If you wanted the roads to stay clean, someone always had to be out there sweeping them. Aegis had no such person now.

Come to think of it, Ha Yeeun's condition was off from usual too.

The cam settings are overdone.

Ha Yeeun had soft, indistinct features — the cute ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠type. But right now the camera was making her skin tone unnaturally bright, with something artificial about it. She looked like a full moon.

She's put on weight, hasn't she.

Her appetite was legendary. The slightest stress and she reached for food, so the moment she stopped managing herself, the weight piled on fast. And once the weight started showing, she'd endlessly tweak the cam settings.

Remembering how much stress her diet control used to put on me, the word "pig" rose unbidden.

Well. She's only got fatter days ahead of her.

At least Song Sia, always expressionless, seemed relatively unaffected.

And so Aegis was grinding its gears exactly the way I'd figured. Which meant today's villain sweep — for all its low difficulty — might actually be a fairly important operation for them.

"You're worried about Saintess-ddang~?!! Oh myy~!!! Against a trash villain like that... no, a low-tier villain, Aegis has absolutely no trouble at all~!! Oh! 3rdGenBaldnessGene-nim!!! Twenty-thousand-won donation, kyun~! Saintess Kyun~♡!!"

Still, no matter how many times I saw it, that donation reaction was nauseating.

The streaming world really is a mysterious place.

Donations were still coming in decent numbers, so the loyal viewers I'd cultivated seemed to be holding strong.

I endured the reactions and watched Aegis's stream through my full hour of break time. Before long, the three of them locked onto the villain — Dark Snake. Combat began.

He was a villain with Wind and Poison attribute Authorities. True to his snake-like slit eyes and long tongue, his body was slippery-fast. Taking a skill that mixed poison and wind head-on would be rough, but Aegis was holding their own.

I outfitted Aegis with top-tier basic armor and gear — the expensive stuff.

And they were skillfully herding him into a dead end.

About time I moved.

My patrol shift had come up.

"Junwoo, don't go near where the villain alert went out! It's dangerous!"

"Yes, sir! I won't go that way — I'll just patrol our assigned zone!"

Stepping out of the duty room, I confirmed Aegis's position. Not far from here. I moved quickly. Nearby, a man's voice tore through the air in a shredded tone.

"Son of a bitch! How the hell did they find me! You goddamn bitches!"

Dark Snake. The villain was in terrible shape.

I carefully hid nearby. Beyond, I could see An Yumin.

The look in her eyes from the day she'd exiled me rose up for a moment — and before, I'd always been the one staring only at her. Now, I felt nothing.

She's really worked up. An Yumin.

That was the full extent of the thought. Her eyes were burning. The resolve to catch this villain no matter what was plain on her face.

But she can't keep going like this.

Their formation was sloppy. Dark Snake was clearly outmatched, and the three of them had him surrounded — but there were too many gaps. When An Yumin got ahead of herself, her field of vision narrowed. This was one of those times.

Ha Yeeun kept filling the audio, hyper-aware of the drone cam. Song Sia was off too — uncharacteristically distracted by something.

"Villains can never be forgiven!"

An Yumin shouted. Cold blue mana spread out around her body, coiling around her blade.

"Yumin-nim! Finish that snake-head already!"

The finishing blow. An Yumin swung her sword.

"Ghk—"

A clean, solid hit. Like a fighter going down for the count, Dark Snake collapsed.

"Nice! Now Saintess-ddang will make the arrest~!! Saintess Kyun~♡"

Ha Yeeun, certain of victory, waved her priest's staff with an utterly arrogant look on her face. The binding spell landed on the villain.

But then An Yumin cried out.

"Wh-what?"

The body of the villain who should have been completely restrained exploded. No — his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠body crumbled away at incredible speed, like a snake shedding its skin. The instant Aegis's eyes were drawn to the shed husk, the real body moved.

He bolted toward Ha Yeeun, whose guard was the loosest.

"Don't let him get away!"

Song Sia shouted.

Dark Snake had pulled a trick. Faster now than even before, he slipped past the three of them and fled. An Yumin's face twisted.

"After him, now!"

Aegis hurriedly left the scene, putting distance between themselves and this place fast.

This is my moment for the finishing blow.

I checked the medal in my pocket.

I'd already forged a new Authority with this medal. The moment I activated it, heat surged through my body.

With a new Authority, taking down Dark Snake is doable.

And since the target was a villain, the hidden title would apply too. Meaning I could claim the kill myself. All I needed was the finishing blow — no reason to hand it over, right?

Aegis might see me. But as far as I was concerned, I didn't care what they thought.

I stepped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in front of the repulsive husk left behind.

"You can drop the act and come out now. I know you're in there."

At my words, the empty husk twitched. He'd meant to keep playing dead to the end — but the moment I moved to attack, he shifted back into the form of the Dark Snake who'd been fighting Aegis.

That pointed, snake-like head was disgusting to look at.

"How did you figure out the husk was the real body?"

His face had gone pale. I smiled, expression calm.

"You know about Unknown, right?"

The instant the words left my mouth, a sphere of flame began to blaze in my hand.