The Hundred-Million-Won Mission

"What's the gallery?"

"Oh, so you're saying I won't catch it even if I go sleep and come back? You all are hilarious, you know that?"

Lee-hyun laughed as he glanced at his own chat window.

Hanyabi had already started again. The sword-wielding character climbed the stairs, and at the top, a door shrouded in golden mist came into view.

Lee-hyun moved to type in chat, then stopped. The stream had over two thousand viewers now. Even if he typed, there was no guarantee Hanyabi would read it.

"Even if I type in chat, she won't see it."

Lee-hyun opened the donation window.

A voice read the message aloud.

"Thanks for the 100,000 won donation! Yes, feel free to watch!"

Hanyabi answered while moving her character. With permission confirmed, Lee-hyun started streaming his screen and audio.

The character passed through the mist into a vast hall. An armored knight stood at its center, the greatsword in one hand nearly as tall as the character itself.

A name and health bar appeared at the bottom of the screen.

"Guys, don't talk to me this time."

"Ah, fine, I won't read chat."

The knight brought the greatsword down. Hanyabi rolled sideways to dodge, but flames belatedly erupted from the ground where the blade had struck. The character's health dropped.

"I know! I know it explodes late! But my hands move before my brain does, what do you want from me!"

Lee-hyun pulled his chair in. He'd only ever heard the game's name; he'd never played it himself. Even so, he could tell how dangerous it was every time Hanyabi took a hit.

One swing of her sword bought a double swing of the greatsword. The character rolled beneath the knight's feet, barely opened up some distance, and pulled out a healing flask. The knight gave her no time to use it, charging straight in.

"Let me drink my potion, at least!"

The health she'd just restored got carved away again. Lee-hyun laughed, then focused on the screen.

From then on, she dodged decently. When a blade buried itself in the floor, she didn't roll immediately — she waited for the flames. After slipping past the greatsword, she would strike twice and retreat. The knight's health drained steadily.

"She's actually going to get him."

The knight's health was nearly gone. Having already burned through every healing flask, Hanyabi kept her distance.

"Slowlyyy— one more hit."

When the greatsword came down, the character that had been hanging back charged in. Her blade grazed the knight's leg. A sliver of a line remained on the health bar.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Why won't this thing just die? DIE already—!"

Hanyabi swung once more. But this time, the knight's greatsword was a fraction faster.

Hanyabi's character collapsed to the ground, and the screen went dark.

"KYAAAAH! You son of a—! Where's the HP coming from, seriously—!"

Lee-hyun laughed out loud.

The cat ears at the corner of the screen drooped low. Lee-hyun opened the donation window.

"Shin Lee-hyun-nim, ten mi—"

"—llion won. Thank you for the donation."

Hanyabi cleared her throat.

"Yes sir! I'll show you the kill!"

The white-haired cat nodded rapidly, over and over. Lee-hyun watched the screen and spoke.

"She's less shocked than I expected."

The character got back up, and the equipment window opened. Closed, then immediately opened again.

"Inspection. You inspect your gear before a fight."

Hanyabi closed the window without changing a single piece of equipment. The sound of her swallowing came through the microphone.

"Shin Lee-hyun-nim, thank you so much, truly. I'm in the middle of a game, so my head's all over the place. This is the first time I've ever received ten million won."

"My hands aren't even on screen. What are you looking at?"

Hanyabi laughed.

"Fine, I was shocked! But come on, wouldn't you be if someone dropped ten million on you?!"

The character moved toward the stairs.

"Being shocked isn't going to make him die for us. Let's kill him first."

"Fair point."

Lee-hyun smiled and asked his own chat window.

"If she kills that thing, is it over?"

"Then why did it take her three days?"

Beneath the elapsed-time counter in the corner of the screen, a note said the total included meals and sleep. Even so, three days meant that outside of sleeping and eating, she had done nothing but play this game.

"That's impressive. I don't think I could do it."

Lee-hyun watched the character stop in front of the mist, then opened the donation window again. This time it was one thousand won.

"Twenty-four hours?"

Hanyabi drew in a long breath.

"Haah— well, I did say yesterday that I'd beat it by today."

"Your memories are uselessly good, aren't they? Hm?"

Hanyabi laughed briefly, then answered.

"If you set it, I'll give it my best. I might not clear it, but I really, truly do try hard!"

"How do I set one of these missions?"

The moment Lee-hyun asked, answers poured into chat.

"A hundred million."

When he clicked where the viewers had told him, a popup appeared for entering the mission details, amount, and time limit. Lee-hyun set the time limit to twenty-four hours, then typed in the description and the amount.

The moment he pressed the register button, a notification appeared on Hanyabi's stream.

Hanyabi said nothing. Only the mouth of the cat character hung slightly open. A moment later, her breathing, suddenly close, picked up by the microphone.

"Shin Lee-hyun-nim, is this really a hundred million won?"

Hanyabi's gaze drifted sideways. There was the creak of a chair.

"Guys."

The chat kept scrolling.

"I'm seeing the ending today."

"This time it's real."

Hanyabi's viewer count climbed fast. The newcomers checked the mission pinned to the screen first.

"Yeah, yeah. You guys handle the explanations. I'm focusing."

The character stepped into the mist. Karden came at her, greatsword raised.

Hanyabi closed in to just outside the blade's reach, then fell back. After the knight whiffed, she darted in, landed one hit, and withdrew.

Lee-hyun watched and smiled.

"Weren't you landing two hits at a time earlier?"

This time, the boss's health drained slowly. In exchange, the healing flasks held out. She waited out the flames that erupted from the ground before dodging, and swung her sword only when a genuine opening appeared.

Once, she waited too long and slipped away without landing a hit at all.

"It's fine. Next one."

When the greatsword came around again, she rolled. A blow caught her on the back and her health dropped, but she was up instantly, pulling away. She wouldn't attack until there was a window to drink a flask.

Lee-hyun went quiet too. Karden's health fell below half. Hanyabi, unlike when Lee-hyun had first arrived, no longer read chat or screamed. Only the occasional sharp exhale came through.

The greatsword swept in a wide arc. The character rolled toward the knight and slashed at his back.

A sliver of health remained. This was the exact point where she'd charged in and died before.

"One more."

Hanyabi muttered, then corrected herself.

"No — two."

Lee-hyun swallowed a laugh.

Hanyabi fell back and drank her final healing flask. When the approaching knight brought his sword down, she sidestepped and cut at his leg.

Once again, only a thin line remained on the health bar.

The character backed away. The knight followed, greatsword raised. Hanyabi waited — and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the instant the blade fell, she rolled.

From behind the knight, her sword moved one last time.

The health bar vanished completely.

"GOT HIM!"

The giant knight sank to one knee. Lee-hyun, without realizing it, clenched his fist.

"Oh."

Beneath the victory message, chat came flooding in.

"You all saw that, right?"

Hanyabi let out a long breath. There was laughter in her voice now.

"THIS is— who I am."

"Oh, come on! I did great just now!"

Lee-hyun finally burst out laughing.

Beyond the door stretched a long staircase. Hanyabi began stocking up nearby — and this time she actually read the equipment descriptions and swapped out a few pieces for real.

Lee-hyun checked the time. He'd come in just to watch for a bit, but he'd been watching quite a while.

"Yes! This really is the end now!"

"Oh, yes! Take your time!"

Hanyabi paused for a beat, then added:

"When you come back, I'll show you the ending!"

"Shut it. Don't jinx me."

Smiling, Lee-hyun switched his broadcast over to his own camera. He left Hanyabi's stream muted in another tab.

"Yeah, let's head back then."

Lee-hyun's own stream was filling up with unfamiliar nicknames too. Some said they'd come after seeing the ten-million-won donation; others asked if the hundred-million-won mission had really originated here.

"You should chew your food slowly."

Reading through the chat, Lee-hyun asked:

"By the way, where's this gallery? A lot of you keep saying you came from there."

"Why not?"

"That's a little scary, actually."

Laughing, Lee-hyun typed Parut Gallery into the search bar. He opened the link and put his computer screen on stream — and up came the gallery's post list.

Hanyabi's 100M won no-sleep marathon.

A little further down, Kang Na-el's name appeared as well. At the title Donation Broadcast: 50 Million Won, Lee-hyun's mouse stopped.

"Why is my business on here?"

"I didn't get chewed out, though."

When he refreshed the page, a new post appeared at the top of the list.

[BREAKING) Hanyabi gives up]

"Gives up what?"

It had been posted mere minutes ago. Lee-hyun moved his mouse toward the tab he'd left running, but clicked the post first.

Lee-hyun read the title again. After a moment of silence, laughter burst out of him.

"Wow. So this is how you bait people."

Back on the list, another new post had gone up.

[The 100MilGuy is browsing Parut Gal with his stream on lmaoooo]

Lee-hyun looked back and forth between the title and his own chat window.

"So you guys are in here too?"

Laughter floated up through the chat. Lee-hyun pulled his chair in closer. Down at the bottom of the list, he could see a button for writing a post.

"I want to write something here too."