Game Coaching Drives Even a Saintess Crazy? (2)

Ha Yeeun froze for a split second, realizing her mistake.

Oh no, no no no!! If I drop the act for real… eek!!

Under ordinary circumstances, Ha Yeeun never let her genuine self slip out during a stream. Gaming, however, was a different story entirely. Northern Warworld, in particular, refused to cooperate no matter how hard she tried.

Why does anyone even say this garbage dump of a game is fun?

As a nun, Ha Yeeun's combat style boiled down to one thing: flooding the field with holy spells powered by her vast reserves of divine energy. Theory had never been her strong suit. Complex calculations, the deeper philosophy buried in Goddess Sect doctrine — she found all of it exhausting.

The Goddess blessed me, so I don't need to bother with that annoying stuff!

Her sheer volume of holy power had always papered over the gaps. Northern Warworld, though, was different. Once her mana heart linked in, her divine energy got nerfed — a balance measure designed to curb over-specced Awakened. Without the ability to spam those flashy holy spells, she had zero advantages left for streaming.

S-SaintessLand has to maintain an air of mystery! I can't just show my real self in some VR setup!

That was why she had brushed off Lee Junwoo's suggestion that VR integration would be better, answering with nothing but vague noncommittal noise.

Which left Ha Yeeun with only one option: manual play.

Even An Yumin and Song Sia — who barely touched games at all — outperformed her whenever they linked in for a casual session. Streaming was Ha Yeeun's domain. Being compared to those two on a game live stream, of all things, was something she would rather die than endure.

VR linking is absolutely off-limits!!

So she had practiced like her life depended on it. She had even endured Lee Junwoo's brutal Warworld crash courses through entire nights — the same Lee Junwoo who was a full-blown game addict. Consider it a reward for letting him indulge his personal interests.

And back when Lee Junwoo was still her manager, every time she played on manual he would guide her move by move over a separate voice chat.

Things were fine back then…

Viewers were far more forgiving of manual mode. Die ten times, rack up three kills, and the loyal fans would gush about how talented she was. Right now, though, the game was spinning her eyes in circles.

H-how am I supposed to do this?

Twenty deaths without a single kill. And this was a co-op match on the absolute lowest tier. Naturally, every team stuck with a hole like her went down in flames. The in-game chat was already flooding with vicious insults — on top of the stream chat hammering her playstyle like a broken record.

The in-game chat pushed her over the edge.

These… these absolute bottom-feeders… they're not even my parents… nitpicking every single step I take… ugh, I'm so pissed!!!!!

Fuming, Ha Yeeun hammered at her keyboard. There was no need to show her sweet side to random game randos who weren't even her viewers.

She poured every ounce of genuine feeling into that chat message. The game itself was garbage to begin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with. The field maps were so convoluted you couldn't find a path if your life depended on it. It made her nauseous. And even when she attacked first — even after landing five hits — she was still the one who died.

Why… why don't those things die and only I do??

In the end she ignored the chat entirely and played in stony silence. She stepped back onto the field and died instantly.

The chat exploded all over again.

Kyaaaaaaah—

Her hero died without her even understanding why. Just hearing that death scream was enough to make her blood boil. In that moment, she found herself wishing Lee Junwoo were still around.

Th-that's not it! Why should I be the one missing him!

He had been completely open about his interest in her. When she refused to reciprocate, he had gone after her female fans ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instead — total trash. Looking back now, though, he hadn't been a bad manager. And he had possessed a fairly useful Authority, plus lighting skills.

No. I exiled him… I can't be the one to contact him first! He'll reach out again eventually anyway!

Still, the anxiety had been growing stronger by the day. Maybe even those near-abusive ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rants he used to aim at her diet and figure management…

You fat pig! Keep this up and you really won't be able to stream! Stop stuffing delivery food during broadcasts already!

…with the weight she had packed on so rapidly, those words no longer felt entirely wrong.

But… that kind of verbal abuse… I can never forgive it.

He had said the one thing she hated hearing most, over and over. Being around Lee Junwoo had stressed her so much that the weight had actually melted off.

There's no way the reason I maintained my weight back then was… because of Lee Junwoo, right?

Ha Yeeun hurriedly shook her head. He had been nothing more than a pack mule. She refused to admit that Lee Junwoo — who wasn't even a real trainer — had managed her so systematically.

"……"

Either way, this couldn't continue. Not just her personal streams — Aegis's hero work was grinding to a halt too. They needed a pack mule. Pouring energy into the grunt work a hero shouldn't have to touch was exactly why her energy was tanking.

We need a new party member…

The other two were probably thinking the same thing. In hero work especially, the difference between three people and four was night and day.

That's right! The reason my stream energy is dropping is because… I have to worry about hero activities on top of everything else… that's why!

And of course the problem was party leader An Yumin. That bitch — no, that girl — had spearheaded Junwoo's exile, and yet she still sat in silence instead of bringing in a replacement pack mule. She had even swallowed the freshman representative title that should have been Ha Yeeun's, and after yesterday's entrance ceremony she had been in a foul mood ever since.

Who does she think she is, throwing a tantrum? Thinks she's so special?!! Riding that high horse of hers…

At least Song Sia had casually mentioned a new operator. Among Theia's freshmen were scholarship students from Valhalla's Apostles — the foundation itself — and Sia said she was already making contact with a few of them. She had also promised to look for a new stream manager, so things would improve from here at least.

Well… if Lee Junwoo comes crawling back later, I can take him on as a sub… like a junior road manager or something. Aegis is always busy anyway.

If a real talent replaced Lee Junwoo — who had been useless as an Awakened — Aegis could throw itself into hero work even more aggressively. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Dungeon raids, villain sweeps, all of it. No one could deny that the three of them ranked among Theia's absolute top in raw Awakened ability.

That's right. There's nothing to worry about at all.

The fire at her feet came first. She had to get better at this garbage game somehow if she wanted to enter the Mungsukkyu Tournament. It was tier-bracketed, sure — but she was already getting roasted in the lowest-tier co-op matches.

What do I do…

That was when she remembered the chat from a moment ago. The guy was an obvious thirst-follower and it annoyed her — the long private messages, the sneaky probes about whether she had a boyfriend, all of it was deeply creepy. But the sucker… no, the fan using that nickname was a high-tier donor with serious money behind him. She remembered him.

A beginner tutorial video, huh. It popped up in my recommended feed a while back and I watched a bit.

Unlike her, the streamer was clearly some ugly girl who couldn't even turn on her cam, stuck with an anime profile picture — a total small-time female streamer. Still, that beginner tutorial had gotten some traction.

Ha Yeeun had zero interest in Northern Warworld, so she had only glanced at the thumbnail and the opening before moving on. Right now, though, she needed that video.

Huh? This small-time streamer doesn't just do YouTube — she's streaming on TwicaTV too?

She died mid-match again. Waiting for the next round to start was boring, so she casually clicked into the small-time streamer's broadcast.

Wait. Why is this guy here?

Ha Yeeun's gaze locked onto one spot. On Eumjjin-i's viewer list, right at the top of the manager section, sat a nickname that was far too familiar.

The display name had changed, but she remembered the account ID.

Lee Junwoo is this small-time streamer's manager?

In that instant, Ha Yeeun felt it again — that same unexplainable anxiety from before, the one she still couldn't put into words.

Ha Yeeun's stream seemed to be falling apart.

If I were still the old me — the one with a mountain of grudges piled up against her — I would have been laughing my head off in pure satisfaction. And then, the moment she apologized, I would have reluctantly gone back to being her manager anyway. There was a reason I had awakened as a Holy Knight class with a primary Light-attribute Authority. Put generously, I was a good person. Put less generously, I had a bit of a sucker streak.

Well. Not anymore.

Mental Strength 90 was no joke. That ironclad rationality had made me realize I didn't need to be kind and gentle to every single person on the planet.

Just be kind to the ones who are worth it.

In other words, only people who operated on give-and-take. And against those three, my composure was absolute. Not even the faintest scrap of leftover attachment could get a foothold. No matter how they apologized, no matter how they clung — I wouldn't feel a thing.

Still, leaving things like this is a little inconvenient.

An Yumin was the original game's protagonist, and the other two were her party members. That meant Aegis was the vehicle that would resolve every major plot thread in the main story. If Aegis fell apart as things stood, I couldn't picture stubborn-yet-fragile An Yumin building a proper new party on her own.

Too much worry was unnecessary, though. Song Sia was in that party. A rich young lady through and through — more rational and pragmatic than anyone. She wouldn't throw away a useful asset like Aegis now. Through her family's connections, she would pull a serviceable new party member from among the freshmen.

Whoever they pick, they're going to suffer.

I had literally ground my body down to build Aegis into what it was. Whether it was Aegis or some new member, the gears would never mesh the way they used to. The current three were all exceptional Awakened — which meant each of them had an ego far too large to play nice.

I set Aegis aside and focused on the work in front of me.

Back when I was living at Jiyu's place, the two of us had put together a Northern Warworld beginner tutorial video. It got a solid response — over fifty thousand views on YouTube.

That traffic spilled over and boosted the TwicaTV follower count too.

Which meant I had casually cleared the quest and picked up a special currency called Content Points. One-time only, but the quest shop had some decent starter items worth buying.

I can raise stats with them too.

A reevaluation would require higher Intelligence. My skill — Multi-Mirror Summon — was something I planned to evolve through my new Authority.

Just earlier, I had run a custom match against Jiyu's hero using that exact concept.

"You're going to use a skill with this kind of concept in real combat…? Is evolving a skill that way even possible?"

It was an unconventional approach compared to the usual methods, so Jiyu tilted her head. But it was definitely possible.

As long as Rain Weapons has the item I'm thinking of.

Once training was done, Jiyu and I left the practice grounds and headed for Theia Academy's commercial district. There, in the members-only weapons shop — Rain Weapons — I stopped in front of an explosives section. The system immediately began scanning the items.