Collab Character Debut! RenaPpi Finally Enters the Game! ~ Demon God Legend Hermenian ~ (3)
For some reason, I felt so embarrassed that I mulled it over by myself a few more times. Maybe someone else had recommended it too? But for whatever reason—I was pretty damn sure it was me.
'……….'
The one who'd set up this room for me—RenaPpi, or Ryu I-se—had always said, ever since we met, that she could keep streaming because of me. She'd thanked me over and over, gushing about how she'd done everything I told her to, all excited like that. So, following that logic—it probably meant she'd played the game I'd recommended too.
Sure, streamers broadcast thanks to their fans anyway, and since she'd met me as part of a reward date concept, it made sense as fan service. But... would she really call me out like that in front of all these people, saying she'd ignored a game I recommended...?
'Haa.'
I felt my face burning, but I quickly shook my head. Was this just... another one of her advanced yuksujigi techniques? If I was making a big deal out of nothing, then I'd already been perfectly simmered by her.
'RenaPpi. What a scary woman.'
Yeah. I had to admit it. I couldn't deny that I'd almost fallen for her all over again. Even I, who wasn't all that familiar with virtual streamers, felt the urge to toss aside all dignity and become one of her hardcore yuksu. Imagine how it hit the viewers who loved virtual streamers—her showing such thoughtfulness for her fans.
She wasn't the clumsy RenaP anymore, who fumbled broadcasts and didn't even know what yuksu meant. She was now Korea's most popular virtual streamer, with over ten thousand yuksu reliably hooked—a true master of yuksujigi. The corporate-level streamer, RenaPpi.
'Gotta keep my head straight in times like this.'
Having nearly succumbed to her high-level yuksujigi, I cooled off by chugging a glass of cold water from the fridge. Maybe because it was her old room, I spotted a mug with her cute SD character on it. Pouring water into a cup like this and drinking it? Anyone else would think I was already prime RenaPpi yuksu material. I couldn't help but chuckle.
After downing the water, I closed the wiki page, fired up Prwichi TV again, and headed back into her room. The broadcast was in full swing with Demon God Legend Hermenian gameplay—or rather, gacha pulls.
"This time! This time it'll come! It's me pulling myself, after all! Here we gooo—! 10-pull! Let's do this~~~!"
This game was straight out of that old-school subculture era too. Even if it wasn't a full gacha mobile RPG, that didn't mean no gacha elements. Watching her pull her own collab character with her in-game currency? It was performance art levels of modern absurdity.
"Ah!! Aaaah!!! Red!! Please!!! Ah!!!! Not purple, gimme that red juice~~~~!!!"
Just like that, I started watching her flail side to side, yanking the gacha lever, letting all those swirling thoughts fade away.
*
A few hours later, RenaPpi's stream ended. It was a special broadcast celebrating the new character drop, so it wasn't too long.
This was my first time watching her game stream live, and I was shocked in several ways. First off, she blew through all her saved currency, plus about a million won in cash on top, before finally pulling RenaPpi herself.
Fine, whatever—gacha's like that. It goes insanely well one day and won't budge even if you sacrifice everything the next. Pure poison.
But the real impressive part? Keeping her audio live during a mobile RPG. For a big streamer, she reacted great to even cheap superchats, and she nailed roleplay in the tiniest scenes. And not in some open-world game or massive online AOS—this was a plain mobile RPG!
Maybe I needed to take back what I said about it not being stream-friendly... Nah, that was pure talent territory. Maintaining 20k viewers steadily? For this game? That was already god-tier, way above her usual streams.
'How does someone overflowing with talent like this go unnoticed for 100 days?'
She credited her success to my advice, but... realistically, tips from a non-expert who'd just watched a ton of streams couldn't have made that much difference. Her talent must've just bloomed at the right time. She was always destined for this; I just happened to show up then.
Watching her keep that energy in this game only solidified it.
'Anyway, that was fun.'
Her playing Demon God Legend Hermenian made me wanna pick it up again after ages. I pulled out my phone and updated the app—installed but untouched since I came to my senses.
Post-update, the icon was now her familiar face, sparkling with those sun-in-the-eyes above "Collab Event Live." Current players? A whopping 8,000.
Someone might scoff at 8k, but last I played, it was barely 340 diehards. A legit 20x surge, just like the wiki said.
Logging in, the title screen greeted me as always. Returnee gifts and stamp cards popped up. After checking in, my favorite girl character finally said hi.
[Ah, o-oh, it's been so long...! Master...! I missed you so much. You stayed healthy, right...? I'm really, really happy to see you again!]
Her name was Sephir. A demon clan girl—clumsy and sweet, with flowing red hair and cute round devil horns. Calling me "Master" in that soft, gentle voice. The VA's sweet acting made her super popular.
Staring at Sephir's face, it finally hit me that I'd booted up the game.
'Whoa. It's really been forever.'
About six months before breaking up with my ex, I'd been doubling down—triple, even—to fix our crumbling relationship. No time for games. Factoring in the year-long coma, it was a full year and a half since I'd logged in.
'Lemme see.'
I grabbed all the mail items and clicked a flashy banner.
Infinite Noir's RenaPpi Joins Demon God Legend Hermenian!
SSR Pickup Gacha!
Clicking it revealed a deformed illustration based on her cute avatar, tailored to the game's style. Her signature sun-filled eyes were adorably spot-on.
'Damn, the in-game art quality's improved a ton.'
More users meant more cash—and they were reinvesting it into the game, not hogging it all. Judge me for saying that off a picture, but in otaku subculture games, art quality is the core.
And this collab wasn't solo—five other Infinite Noir girls active in Korea were in too. Sena, Ayaka, Zero Sugar, Minaero, and Ayano Mui? Sena was familiar, but the rest were new to me.
Wonder if I'd meet these girls someday.
I checked my currency. Converted from what I'd saved waiting for rerolls: about 120 pulls worth.
'Alright. Time to pull like old times.'
I smashed a 10-pull. Dupes exploded out. Expected that. Next one's the real deal. Total bust. Knew it. Classic gacha.
Another round—more dupes. Yes, this was my Demon God Legend Hermenian. One more—ten junk pieces to upgrade trash to premium trash. And just like that, 110 pulls turned to digital dust.
'Haa, fuck.'
Gacha is sin incarnate. Does its existence prove humanity's a failure?
Oh, and 40 paid pulls here? 119,800 won. In about three minutes, I'd torched nearly 300k worth. Sure, saved currency, freebies, monthly sub discounts from my old spending spree... but at full price? Full price mentality.
'Haa. Last one.'
I muttered without thinking.
"Come on this time, RenaPpi...!"
The second I hit the button—
"I'm right here!"
"Whoa!"
I jolted, dropping the phone mid-pull. I looked toward the voice—my room's small window. The one connecting to her place.
And there, post-stream RenaPpi—Ryu I-se—beamed at me with a bright smile.