Encountering An Yumin at the VR Training Ground (1)
"Well? What kind of method could there be?"
I deliberately dragged it out, just to make Ha Yeeun squirm.
Her face went pale in an instant.
She hurriedly parted her lightly tinted lips.
"To raise my viewer count... I still need you to help me like before, Lee Junwoo...!!"
And true to her simple nature, she showed no intention of figuring out a method on her own.
Like before, huh.
Back when I'd ground myself down to grow Aegis — to build An Yumin's reputation. That was what she meant by helping her "like before."
I had zero intention of doing anything of the sort.
I'd rather spend that time helping Jiyu or Choi Hana.
Both of them were registered as my party members in the system. Same party for Middle Class activities. And they were comrades who fought alongside me in PvP content and the underworld side content as well.
Naturally, I had not the slightest bit of goodwill to spare for Ha Yeeun.
As befitting the villain Unknown, all I needed to do was offer her a way to escape her current crisis. Those temporary fixes would pile up and drag her even deeper into ruin.
"That won't work. I'm not a high schooler anymore. I can't be your personal manager."
"Then... in that case... it's fine if we get closer!"
That caught me off guard for a moment. Old memories flickered through my mind.
The old Ha Yeeun had found even my approaching her unpleasant.
"Just summon that high-performance lighting... no, just leave a mirror near me."
I'd summon a mirror from a distance and wait around for hours until her stream ended.
But things were different now. The power dynamic between us had completely reversed.
"Do you understand what that means? With you, Lee Junwoo... I'm saying I'd even date you."
Ha Yeeun was still nestled in my arms, staring up at me intently. There was no mistaking it — she was openly trying to seduce me.
She must be that desperate.
I didn't show it, but her words pleased me. Of course, it wasn't her display of affection that made me happy. Openly seducing a man for the sake of her own fame was hardly the behavior of a nun.
If she's this far gone already, corrupting her won't be difficult.
I slowly pushed her out of my arms.
"L-Lee Junwoo..."
"Sorry, but I have absolutely no intention of dating anyone."
"But you've always been interested in girls! Am I... am I not enough for you?"
She tried to press her body against me again, but I shook my head.
"I just want to focus on my own work right now. Anyway, you should hear me out to the end, right? I do have a way to help you."
At those words, Ha Yeeun's expression transformed in an instant. She spoke urgently.
"W-what method?"
"If you revise your current streaming concept... no, your outfit concept to a camgirl style, that alone should be enough to pull aggro."
"That's not possible!"
Just as I'd expected. She'd been pressing herself against me to appeal, but the nun's habit she was wearing now was pure white. Ha Yeeun was glamorous enough that her curves showed through, but there was no direct exposure.
"I'm not telling you to go full sexy camgirl. Just match the standard streaming style."
I pulled up a photo of the Underdolls on my phone screen.
"You'd need to dress at least this much to draw any real attention, don't you think?"
The outfit I pointed to was off-shoulder — shoulders and collarbones fully exposed. Some of the members' clothes plunged low enough to show considerable cleavage.
Ha Yeeun said nothing. Even she couldn't deny that outfits like that were good for pulling aggro.
"This is your comeback after an unauthorized long hiatus. If nothing's changed from your previous streams... if there's no content at all, you're guaranteed to tank. So you need to pull at least this much aggro."
"You're right! Even those otaku anime character VTubers show more skin than I do... so off-shoulder should be fine..."
Just as expected, simple-minded Ha Yeeun fell for my sweet talk.
The Holy Grail that floated in my mind's eye — the one belonging to Ha Yeeun — was filling with holy water. That was the proof. And like a drop of black ink dissolving across its surface, that holy water was taking on a dark hue.
She's violating the virtue of proper conduct that a nun is supposed to uphold. Of course it would.
Of course this level of exposure wasn't extreme. But it would be more than enough of a trigger to corrupt Ha Yeeun going forward. She was falling for my words far too easily.
And a moment later, Ha Yeeun said exactly what I'd anticipated.
"I understand that an outfit like that can pull comeback aggro. But how do I maintain viewers going forward..."
"You don't need to worry about that either."
I'd already forged connections with the underworld through Blood Jaguar. The underworld had deep roots in the entertainment industry as well. In particular, the camgirl streamers managed by their entertainment agencies had a useful tool they employed without a second thought.
"I know someone. I'll help get viewbots into your stream."
"V-viewbots?"
"Shh. Keep your voice down."
Ha Yeeun looked panicked. Viewbots were a method of manipulating viewer counts through software. If she got caught, a streamer's image would take massive damage.
"If you use viewbots wrong, you could tank..."
"That's a prejudice. You've heard the rumors that the Mungsukkyu Crew is already using viewbots, right?"
"Th-that's true, but..."
"Sloppy viewbots leave evidence. But the people I know are solid. They're viewbots, but they also keep chat messages flowing through macros. Nothing to worry about. Drop in a light five hundred viewers and no one will even notice."
"Five hundred people... now that I think about it... that sounds pretty good!"
Ha Yeeun had fallen for my temptation with almost embarrassing ease. I discussed the matter with her a little further.
"I'll help you out on your streaming days. So don't worry too much."
Then I stood up from my seat. Ha Yeeun looked up at me with deeply regretful eyes.
"Um... n-next time, if you have time, could you meet with me again? If you need it, I can cast as many healing recovery spells as you want!"
"I'll see about my schedule when the time comes."
"Ah... okay. Lee Junwoo... you're truly my lifesaver!! Then maybe dinner..."
Ha Yeeun tried to hold me back further, but with all business concluded, I left without looking back.
Theia Academy's midterms were two weeks away. And the crown jewel of the midterms was, of course, the dungeon raid.
Unusually, rather than being conducted by each department, grades were determined by dungeon raids within the party activity divisions.
The dungeon raid logs are all recorded anyway.
Meaning they'd score each class's contribution during those activities. So Theia's VR training ground was packed with cadets.
Jeong Siu, a cadet of the Free Major Class and a member of the Middle Class, had arrived a little earlier than the time he'd arranged with his party.
This is a meeting with Unknown — no, with Lee Junwoo. If I'm late, I might get killed without anyone knowing.
So he'd come out a full hour early and was waiting in advance.
That was when one side of the training ground grew noisy.
"Whoa... it's Aegis."
"It's Ha Yeeun! She looks even better in person than on stream, doesn't she?"
At those words, Jeong Siu turned his head without thinking. Just as the cadets said — High Class. The members of Aegis had arrived.
Damn. She's in a regular nun's habit today.
And he found himself disappointed at the sight of Ha Yeeun.
Just yesterday, Ha Yeeun had done her comeback stream. In that stream, she'd appeared in an unexpectedly bold outfit. Of course, it wasn't particularly revealing compared to actual camgirls. But none of the viewers had expected a currently serving nun to do her comeback stream in an off-shoulder look.
The chat went crazy.
So even though it was her first comeback after an unauthorized hiatus, the viewer response had been excellent. She'd even surpassed the viewer count of Naharing, who'd been doing so well lately — hitting nearly four thousand viewers.
Well. Honestly, it wasn't that entertaining on its own.
But in streaming, viewer count was absolute power. It was proof the response hadn't been bad. That face that had seemed a little fuller somehow had returned to its former look, probably from the recent hard training. Even Jeong Siu found himself thinking Ha Yeeun was quite pretty.
But she's the boss's... no, Lee Junwoo's ex. I absolutely cannot touch her.
But separate from those inner thoughts, watching her streams continuously had grown boring. In truth, Saintess TV's solo streams were no different from content-less camgirl broadcasts. Whether it was gaming, dancing, or singing — the Underdolls members were far better at all of it.
In the end, he'd found himself watching that VTuber crew's streams out of habit. Though he was careful when it came to Naharing's streams specifically.
She's the boss's current girl. So I can't let any impure thoughts creep in.
Still, the other members were full of charm too.
As expected, the boss... Lee Junwoo is amazing!
Since Hell Week, Jeong Siu had been calling Lee Junwoo "boss" in his head. Not just Lim Jaeho — every cadet in the Middle Class thought highly of the student named Lee Junwoo. For someone who admired Unknown, that was only natural.
The Underdolls were the same. At first, he couldn't understand why Choi Hana — the boss's current girlfriend — was doing that kind of VTubing. But the boss must have seen through her talent and put her up to it. Of course, maybe he just had particular tastes.
The fact that the boss included me in this midterm party... maybe...
Jeong Siu had been overjoyed by that party invitation. Just like with Naharing — maybe Lee Junwoo was evaluating him highly.
And just as Jeong Siu had predicted, Lee Junwoo — Unknown — had begun to act.
During the last Pure White Festival event, Jeong Siu had participated in civilian security duty alongside his father's organization. And because of something he'd overheard by chance from Yun Hyeona, president of the Crime Research Club, he'd learned that Lee Junwoo and Choi Hana were also participating in the event.
Right. And after that, I saw it.
B+ rank villain Running Claw. The sight of Unknown fighting an unbelievable battle against that villain. And while the organization Lee Junwoo had collaborated with back then wasn't particularly notable, it had Hwang Yonggyun — as an individual Awakened, a powerhouse comparable to an A-rank Hunter. Even Hwang Yonggyun's gaze toward Lee Junwoo had been anything but ordinary.
After that Pure White Festival day, he'd heard that the reputation of Hwang Yonggyun's organization had changed from what it used to be. Indeed, Unknown was someone who brought definite change to this dull Seoul.
Jeong Siu was excited.
Right. Today I'll somehow outperform Lim Jaeho and become the boss's number one sword!
But unfortunately, Lee Junwoo had also invited Lim Jaeho to the party. Honestly speaking, that werewolf was stupidly strong. That guy would also be desperate to become Lee Junwoo's right hand. He absolutely couldn't yield that position.
I'll become Unknown's subordinate... and pull off something big in this Seoul myself!
According to his father, the underworld — no, the atmosphere in Seoul — was on a hair-trigger lately.
But Jeong Siu's thoughts stopped there.
Boss? The meeting time is still far off. Why is he here already?
He was startled. So he hurriedly moved to offer a polite greeting, but the boss already seemed to have business with someone.
Lee Junwoo could be seen calling out An Yumin — the party leader of Aegis — first.