Aegis's Joint Stream Without Me? (1)

But before I checked the details—

I paused for a moment to consider the internal logic of this game-world.

First-clear bonuses… still, there shouldn't be a problem.

If there were, the system wouldn't function this way in the first place. And from a story standpoint, it checked out fine.

An Yumin was a native three-star character.

Not bad as a warrior-class, but under normal circumstances she wouldn't have completed her 2nd Awakening by this point in the timeline.

She was always going to fall behind Song Sia and Ha Yeeun, both native four-stars.

That was why a substantial portion of the early story was built around quests designed to push her toward that second awakening.

But An Yumin had already finished her 2nd Awakening—thanks to my help.

Which meant I could freely exploit those early quests she no longer needed.

And first-clear rewards were, of course, better.

At some point I'll have to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hand the first clears back to her…

Still, that was fine. An Yumin needed to stay active and aggressive either way.

Only the protagonist—An Yumin—could approach the main story, the secrets of Theia Academy.

The truth of Theia Academy.

That was the core plot hook of the main story content.

Even before I transmigrated—even after clearing every hard-mode story route in the original—the true identity of the "something" buried inside that secret had never been revealed.

Aside from the fact that it was connected to a grand mage whose name no awakened person could fail to know.

They said the later story would be updated eventually.

So when An Yumin, as the protagonist, finally drew closest to that truth—

I intended to take everything that truth would unleash, and strip it from her completely. That was my revenge. The same went for every other title.

The hidden title: Unknown.

The villain's instinct that title carried—its destiny—was whispering the same thing. That this was what I had to do.

It won't be easy.

Countless side characters from outside the academy. Named heroes. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Villains.

All of them would get tangled into the late stages of the main story because of the academy's secret.

And if you limited it to the academy alone, there was a prerequisite for participating in the final story.

For a cadet to take part, their rank has to be…

Exactly: In 5.

Even at Theia, where elite awakeners gathered in droves, you had to place in the top five to qualify.

So that prerequisite was, in turn, my goal.

I'll make it happen. No matter what.

Whether it was the high mental fortitude or something else, genuine confidence was flooding through me.

I hurried to check the quest rewards.

A notification window floated up before my eyes.

The rewards were more than satisfying.

The standard reward was, of course, the physical first-place gold medal I'd already received.

It was strangely warm. Probably forged from a fire-attribute mana stone or some special mineral.

True to an award from the prestigious Theia Academy, its surface gleamed with a pristine polish. I held the medal up and caught my own reflection in it.

Naturally it was a rarity-grade item. Which meant I could generate an authority from it through the Throne of the Shadow Mirror.

I almost activated the authority on impulse—

But doing that here would be a little awkward.

I reminded myself I was in a PC bang.

Once I have some money, I need to get into a motel, at least…

This place doubled as a net café, so sleeping and showering were possible, but there were plenty of restrictions either way.

And I was an orphan with no family to go back to and no money to my name.

Until I got my first paycheck from the part-time job, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I planned to stay here.

Well, I only have to tough it out for a month.

Having somewhere to freeload would have been nice, but nothing came to mind. I didn't have any close guy friends either.

Anyway, I can always use the authority later somewhere private.

I continued reading through the rest of the quest rewards.

The system rewards—the ones that arrived digitally rather than as physical objects.

One hundred Theia Crystals. Ten thousand gold. And a status bonus on top of that.

It's exactly the same as the original.

The original was a classic mobile gacha game, so of course it had premium currency—gems—and in-game currency—gold.

Both mattered.

Gems were for pulling gacha, obviously. Gold was used for weapon crafting and enhancement, and for various content shops down the line.

Though since this is reality, there's no gacha. Makes sense.

Ashen City of the Full Moon only had character gacha.

I wasn't a god—I couldn't just manufacture people out of thin air.

So in reality, that function was useless. Even so, the premium currency—Theia Crystals—was still extremely valuable.

Useful items you could buy instantly with gems had always existed, after all.

Especially for authority leveling and skill growth.

Those gems could cut down on pointless quest grinding—the pure busywork. Meaning the ways I could spend them on my own growth were virtually endless.

And thanks to the title Avenger of Cold Fire, I'd gained even more.

Exactly as described.

Because it was a main-story quest belonging to Theia Academy—An Yumin's side—I'd earned Fame on the Academy track and doubled the rewards.

And right now, that desperately needed stat bonus had been doubled too.

I should put it into Strength for now.

Once Strength was reinforced to a certain point, I'd be able to start proper mana-infused strength training.

Stat bonuses from the system were just that—bonuses. Actually raising those stats still required real-world, repetitive training.

It'd be nice if I could use something like a high school training facility…

Once the short-term part-time job brought in some money, heading to an awakener-exclusive gym would be a solid plan. Those facilities charged steep fees, so money was a prerequisite either way.

But for now I had nowhere suitable, so I figured I'd at least hit a nearby park. Personal training mattered that much.

I need to prepare properly over the next month.

After enrollment came the class placement evaluation. That placement was completely separate from high school grades.

In the original, An Yumin started in the middle training class.

The protagonist An Yumin began the story as a member of the so-called Middle Class.

With my current skill—different from the original—I'd naturally land in the upper training class, the High Class.

Which meant I needed to aim for Middle Class as hard as possible. As the original An Yumin's affiliation, it was packed with quests I could get tangled up in.

To pull that off, I had to reinforce this ordinary civilian body—at least enough to manage it before the placement evaluation.

Having finished checking the rewards, I figured I'd play a few casual matches.

This isn't me wasting time on pointless leisure.

In the original, the characters' streaming broadcasts were surprisingly useful growth content.

You could earn Fame and currency through them, which made them major tools for both authority growth and skill enhancement.

Especially the dominant game of the internet broadcasting scene: Northern Warworld.

It was an awakener-friendly game that actually helped with skill development.

And as streaming content, it was excellent.

Which was why I'd suffered through the absolute hell of teaching the basics of that game to Ha Yeeun—whose gaming talent was a lost cause.

That bitch was one of my revenge targets too. I had zero intention of throwing away all the streaming know-how I'd built up because of her. I'd be stripping Fame from the streaming side as well.

Whoever I party with later, that experience will come in handy.

So I planned to lightly brush up on the current meta of the biggest game around.

I launched it.

I was a little curious about the Aegis collab stream playing on the monitor next to me.

Mungseokkyu was major among majors right now.

If that joint stream took off, Aegis's popularity would climb even higher—

But if Aegis tanked the broadcast, Mungseokkyu's notoriously extreme fandom wouldn't sit still.

Well, if they had any sense, the three of them would've talked it through beforehand.

The three of them still weren't on screen. Mungseokkyu was probably waiting to pull in more viewers before unveiling Aegis.

Not that I particularly want to look at Mungseokkyu's face.

But the viewer count was climbing at a terrifying speed. In a few minutes, I'd probably get a look at the three members of Aegis.

That was when it happened.

"Huh? Junwoo? What are you doing here?"

The person returning to the seat next to mine suddenly acted like they knew me.

Who…?

A girl with light-blue short hair and a cap. Even looking again, I didn't recognize her.

"Who…?"

"What… you don't even recognize me anymore…?"

Her voice had gone strangely weak.

The moment I heard that voice again, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knew exactly who she was.

"Baek Jiyu?"

The face was completely different—

But that voice belonged, without a doubt, to my childhood friend. The messy-haired gloomy girl, Baek Jiyu.