The Insufferable Name
“……Haa.”
‘I guess apologizing is the right thing to do.’
“………….”
Tap. Tada dak. [Could I talk for a moment?]
“……Hoo.”
Click. Enter.
A private message sent through the game client.
“……That’s insane. What if she really posts that? Not a crazy person.”
And then—
Ding~! Ding~!
The Discord notification sound rang out.
‘…Who is it? …Oh, Seji unni.’
Streamer
The first female Challenger streamer for Celt of Heroes. Currently ranked 138th in Challenger.
She even has three secondary accounts—all in Challenger, with one in the upper Grand Master tier, each mained on a different character.
The number-one Magic Swordsman user among all female streamers, looked at with eyes full of envy.
A genuine pro-level streamer.
In her usual cool demeanor, she becomes fiercely obsessed with winning once she logs into the game, drawing huge popularity from people.
Kim Daeun’s phone vibrated twice.
Sitting in front of her computer with a complicated expression, HrinHaneul checked the Discord message on her phone lock screen and opened the chat window on her computer.
[SejiSeji: Daeun-ah]
[SejiSeji: Daeun daeun daeun daeun daeun~~]
[HrinHaneul: Yes, unni.]
[SejiSeji: I suddenly messaged you on Discord at this late hour!! Were you sleeping??]
[HrinHaneul: No. I’m fine. Did the broadcast end?]
[SejiSeji: Unghehe, it just ended. What about you?]
[HrinHaneul: I finished a little while ago and was taking a short break.]
[HrinHaneul: What’s up? You suddenly contacted me like this.]
[SejiSeji: Ah!! That’s right…]
[SejiSeji: You know… There’s this person called Furball Slayer, right? Have you heard of them?]
[HrinHaneul: Furball… Slayer?]
[SejiSeji: The nickname is… a bit weird, isn’t it? ㅠ]
“………….”
Tap tap. Click.
[HrinHaneul: …Hmm. I think I’ve seen it before, but I’m not sure.]
[SejiSeji: Ah… ㅠ I guessed right! You don’t know!!]
[HrinHaneul: Why is that?]
[SejiSeji: Ah!! That’s right? I met them in ranked today and they were super good with Lulu… ㅜ I looked into what kind of person they are?]
[SejiSeji: But they seem really famous in KelInGal and KelGal]
[SejiSeji: I don’t go to galleries like that… ㅠㅠ]
[SejiSeji: You know KelInGal way better than I do… Maybe you know something about them? ㅎㅎ]
[HrinHaneul: …I’m sorry. There are so many KelInGal users. I can’t remember them all one by one.]
[SejiSeji: Ah… Gu-rang… ㅠ If I don’t know, oh well…]
[SejiSeji: A really amazing ranked ladder just dropped on YouTube… ㅜ There are super scary rumors going around about that person… ㅠㅠ]
[SejiSeji: Maybe I was right to say not to make videos… ??]
[HrinHaneul: The nickname itself sounds intense. Maybe it’s better not to mess with something dangerous.]
[SejiSeji: Hwung… Yeah, probably…? Ah… It’s such a shame… ㅠ It was a real legendary ladder…]
[SejiSeji: Asking all these weird things makes me miae… ㅜ]
[SejiSeji: 😭]
[HrinHaneul: What are you this tired over? You should rest. We have to collab tomorrow.]
[SejiSeji: Ung!! Got it. Daeun should sleep well tonight!! See you tomorrow! 🫶]
[HrinHaneul: Yes. See you tomorrow.]
The Discord status of SejiSeji went offline with a pop.
“……Haa.”
This crazy woman has no corner of the world without her name.
HrinHaneul thought that and swept her long hair back.
Furball Slayer.
A psychopath who obsessively stalks one-on-one since about three months ago, appearing on KelInGal.
Of course HrinHaneul knew about that psychopath.
After all—HrinHaneul was the one who created the ‘KelInGal.’
And she is still the de facto head administrator, called ‘Juiddak.’
At first it was just a kind of escape route.
To avoid the endless fights in KelGal.
—Official KelInGal gallery for Celt of Heroes.
Commonly known as KelGal.
That place was always filled with sharp criticism toward pro players and Gold Cup drama.
No one wanted to talk about the game.
Even when she wrote game-related posts with all her heart, they were mostly used as tools to bash specific players or completely ignored.
A single photo post saying……cute!! sometimes got four times more recommendations than her half-day analysis post.
She could only feel the emptiness. Clearly this was supposed to be a Celt of Heroes gallery for talking about the game, yet no one spoke about the game at all. No one cared about in-game matters.
Everyone tore each other apart.
They dug up only each other’s weaknesses and publicly exposed them to humiliate.
It made her sick.
She simply wanted to talk about the game. She wanted to exchange tip posts about the game.
The current ranked meta. Hero matchups. The most efficient dungeon runner routes. Cute tips using each hero. Constructive discussions about the latest patch notes.
The level of things she wanted to share with people was no more than that.
But no one seemed interested in any of it.
She was just drifting along on the waves of the vicious fandom like a tiny plastic bottle.
For her, who had enormous passion for this game, that felt like an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.
That was why she decided to blaze her own path.
That’s how it came to be—
The minor gallery for Celt of Heroes in-game story discussions.
Commonly known as KelInGal.
At first there were fewer than ten users a day, but even so she sat in front of her computer every day after streaming and wrote posts.
Current meta issues, direction, character balance problems, strengths and counters for top-tier characters, small operational tips for squeezing out every advantage, and so on.
She worked really hard.
And the results began to show around a week later.
Some people started sharing her posts. Then the number of posts she wrote began to increase noticeably.
Mostly frustrated Gold Cup users like her started coming here. Even serious high-tier users slowly began writing character guides here.
Readers of those posts shared the guides to every community. Inflows steadily accumulated, and a support layer began to form.
A year later, KelInGal firmly established itself as a major gallery in the DC ecosystem where countless others had appeared and vanished.
Recently there had been a small issue of people refusing to post guides and only chatting about useless small talk, but the discussion topics rarely strayed far from game matters.
She was very satisfied with this level of achievement. More and more people posted guides, and above all, the number of users jumped every time a new patch note dropped.
And everyone came together to discuss the future of the game.
She found watching that incredibly enjoyable.
How should she put it? Like the cozy atmosphere of a quiet village?
She carried enormous pride in her achievements. The same satisfaction she felt when she first reached Challenger.
…Until that crazy woman appeared.
Furball Slayer.
HrinHaneul hated that crazy woman very much.
No, it wasn’t just dislike. She hated the world itself more than anything.
If she could kill either the mosquito that ruined summer nights or the Furball Slayer without hesitation, she would call the Furball Slayer’s name without a second thought.
If a palm-sized cockroach and the Furball Slayer fell into the water together, she would immediately save the cockroach first.
If she poured out the boiling rage inside her, it could have taken over ten chapters worth of content. She hated it that much.
To the point of wishing the person didn’t exist.
If she knew where they lived, she might have gone and committed a serious crime right then.
First of all, she didn’t like the name at all.
‘Furball Slayer? Are you kidding me?’
HrinHaneul was a certified cat maniac.
She even had four cats at home.
Even her streamer nickname ‘HrinHaneul’ came from the name of the first cat she adopted.
She spent all her non-streaming and KelInGal management time on cat care—brushing their fur, trimming nails, feeding treats, and playing with toys until she collapsed.
If even one cat showed any weird behavior, she immediately took it to the vet. The vet at her usual clinic even worried about the expensive treatment costs instead of just charging her.
To a HrinHaneul like that, an extremely cruel nickname felt like a direct provocation.
On top of that, someone was messing around in the gallery she had built with so much effort. How could that be good?