Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Guild Master Isn't Satisfied with Just the Game
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Joo Ye-rin, Kwon Ho-seong, and even Lee Sa-hyeok.
Why did all these top rankers have to sparkle like that?
Is this really where I belong?!
Ga-hyun was seriously pondering that when she stepped away briefly to change clothes, and the staff started buzzing.
“She’s not a model, right? Just a regular person? How tall is she? Did they scout her knowing her height?”
“Looks over 170.”
“Thank goodness we set everything up to match Dart, who’s so tall.”
“They’ll look great together.”
Both Kaisha and Dart were on the tall side, so they really stood out.
“Kaisha-nim has more of an actress vibe than an idol, don’t you think?”
“Yeah. So classy.”
“This’ll really boost the brand image.”
“And Dart’s face looks smaller than my fist. Even among celebrities, you don’t see faces that perfect very often.”
“For real, why isn’t he in entertainment? If I had that face, I’d have ditched gaming for acting or modeling ages ago.”
“I heard Dart-nim has something like camera shyness.”
“Oh. Really?”
“What’s a hunter doing modeling anyway?”
“Ugh, team leader.”
“Just kidding.”
After the Dang산 Station gate rampage killed all those people and turned the country upside down, no one could claim ignorance about hunters anymore.
One person, who’d been watching nervously, finally confessed their fan heart.
“What do we do? It doesn’t feel real. Right after the gate exploded, I pulled an all-nighter watching Bipa siege videos just to find Kaisha-nim.”
“Min-jung-ssi, you stayed up for that too? It’s like a fantasy character jumped into reality, right?”
“Exactly!”
The staff, who’d seen plenty of celebrities but never a hunter, chattered excitedly.
Of course, if those words reached Ga-hyun—who believed herself to be the most ordinary of them all—they’d just slip away with a “That’s not about me.”
Once Sa-hyeok and Ga-hyun left to change, Ho-seong and Ye-rin remained on set.
“…….”
Crackle.
An ominous tension crackled between them.
Is this the terrifying aura of combat hunters I’ve only heard about? The ordinary staff quietly slipped away.
For one thing.
No one in Bipa was friends with Abyss.
Except Kaisha.
Abyss boasted the prestige of Bipa’s ranking 2 spot, a top-tier ranker.
Naturally, Goldbunker’s guild master Gilgamesh hadn’t approached Abyss just once or twice for recruitment.
And each time, Gilgamesh got shot down, shot down, and shot down again.
Their eyes met squarely.
A piercing gaze that seemed to summon a warning window:
[Warning! Hostile intent detected.]
‘If I talk to her, I’ll get shredded here too.’
Ho-seong thought to himself.
This is seriously lethal.
Kwon Ho-seong, who’d been about to lightly chat up Joo Ye-rin out of business instinct, gave up on the conversation entirely.
Can’t talk to this mad dog when Kaisha’s not around.
That was Ho-seong’s conclusion.
But.
Some things you could sense instinctively without words.
‘She’s just on another level.’
Her sheer presence was overwhelming.
Just as Ho-seong and Ga-hyun intended, plenty of people were sneaking glances at Joo Ye-rin, who’d already become an internet star.
Seeing her in person, she radiated a star aura no ordinary person could touch.
Ho-seong quietly crossed his arms.
‘But God is fair—He didn’t give Joo Ye-rin any personality to go with it.’
That temper she can’t even control herself.
It was newly fascinating how Kaisha—Ga-hyun—earned the love and loyalty from someone like that.
Even when Gentle Knights merged entirely under Kaisha.
Bipa had flipped upside down.
Gilgamesh wasn’t the only one shocked back then.
Hyun-woo, Mura, and Abyss.
Abyss could pass as a solo cheat character, but Hyun-woo and Mura together? From a guild master’s view, they were like mythic set gear.
Mythic gear that synergized to pierce the heavens when paired.
Sure enough, Fullminak—with that mythic set—ended up beating Spaceking...
‘Thinking about it, Kaisha snags all the real prizes. Must be what they call blessed with people.’
Ho-seong added himself to Kaisha’s list of human blessings without hesitation.
‘And yeah, that includes me.’
Truly, Kwon Ho-seong, the self-proclaimed god of money who knew his own worth all too well.
Goldbunker guild members, who’d been chatting with the set staff and prepping gear, approached Ho-seong.
“Setup’s ready!”
They’d brought no less than three cameras.
“Good work.”
This was the real reason Kwon Ho-seong was on set.
To film the filming.
And while at it, network with the guild masters—especially cozy up to Kaisha.
The Goldbunker cameramen glanced sideways.
“Um, what about Abyss-nim...”
Their schedule originally included an interview with Joo Ye-rin, who’d gone viral from one video.
An interview already cleared with Kaisha beforehand.
Ho-seong said,
“Don’t touch her till Kaisha’s back.”
“Yes, sir!”
Just then, the set stirred.
Sa-hyeok, now changed, strode in.
He frowned slightly at the cameras—perhaps dredging up bad memories—but when he glanced back, his expression softened.
Ga-hyun was following.
“?!”
With their vibe oddly gentle, exclamation points of confusion and doubt popped up over Ho-seong and Ye-rin’s heads.
* * *
After changing and getting light makeup,
“Hello.”
“?”
The so-normal greeting short-circuited my brain for a second.
What?
Some new sneak attack?
“Oh, uh, hi. Hi.”
The sheer wholesomeness caught me off guard, and I stuttered.
Dart had spoken politely, with honorifics.
The makeup artist, equally stunned but finishing up professionally, said, “All done,” and glanced between us before quietly excusing herself.
“…….”
Still seated, I mulled over Dart’s greeting.
Hello?
Why was this so shocking?
Kwon Ho-seong had bantered casually like in-game right away, so I’d gotten used to that without realizing.
In the awkward silence, as I panicked, Dart spoke again.
“I think this is our first time meeting in person.”
“Oh, uh, yeah. Right.”
Oh god.
Stuttered again.
No way. At this rate, my first impression’s doomed to be ditz city.
But I had nothing to say.
Dart seemed the same; our chat fizzled out again.
“…….”
Ugh, so awkward.
Am I locked in as the idiot now?
My image of Dart was so tangled in my head that I couldn’t grasp what to say or how.
Sweating bullets inside, I caught Dart rolling his eyes in equal awkwardness before he spoke once more.
“...May I ask when you plan to enter the gate?”
“Oh, the gate. Actually, we’ve scheduled it for this weekend. Gotta finish scouting before announcing new guild recruits.”
I regretted it a bit after saying it.
My real goal was beating Spaceking inside.
But honestly, to shatter this insane awkwardness, I’d say anything.
Dart nodded.
Silence loomed again, but suddenly he pulled out his phone, popped up the keypad, and held it out.
“Figured we should exchange numbers at least.”
Fair point.
I nodded, took his phone, entered my number, and called it to save his on mine.
“Here.”
Handing it back, Dart took it with a faint smile.
“...Thank you.”
Wow.
His initial greeting had hit like an ambush, but as time passed, it turned to freshness.
Who was this polite guy?
People aren’t just what they show in-game, huh.
Yeah.
Games are for venting real-life stress, after all.
Surprisingly upright and pure.
That was my first impression of the real Dart—Lee Sa-hyeok.
Of course, I had no idea then that, across all the guilds, I was the only one who saw him that way.
* * *
Communities including SNS buzzed daily with hunter talk.
Reading the public mood, Goldbunker quickly prepped a new segment on Channel Godgold, reeling in viewers.
[“Hello, this is Hunter Relay!”]
[“Golden Hand here!”]
Dubbed Hunter Relay.
This content nailed the netizens’ growing idol-like fandom for hunters, exploding with critical-hit views from the start.
It crushed old gaming streams aimed at hardcore fans in initial records.
The power of the masses.
[“Bipa rank 2 Abyss-nim shows her face on YouTube, and bam—the graphics, no, the views are obliterated!”]
[“Unbelievable! Power rivaling Kaisha’s one-shot!”]
As the hosts got pushed to corners, the screen filled with Abyss—Joo Ye-rin—playing guitar.
Views already topped 3 million.
[“Who’d have imagined Bipa rank 2 Abyss-nim would be this stunning?”]
[“Right? In-game, she’d chop you just for eye contact.”]
[“Wait, Bipa rank 2 Abyss? The one where you log out dead in a blink and sit there blankly? Iconic memory.”]
[“Bipa’s grade-1 monster Abyss debuts on YouTube—truly moving.”]
[“Hah, yeah.”]
Familiar faces rising fast.
Rank 2 Abyss.
To longtime Bipa players, one of the most intense figures.
Starting as a “vicious serial killer” to users, Abyss evolved to “grade-1 monster,” “Highguard’s final boss,” then joined Fullminak as “Kaisha’s killing machine.”
Her image had softened since with no big incidents, but old-timers still shook their heads.
A real mad dog back then.
[“Heard some K-something Ent rep exposed Abyss-nim’s personality as totally Abyss-like. Like, she was Abyss—what’d they expect?”]
[“Right? Guy did nothing himself but times that reveal—his personality’s trash too...”]
[“Peak snake energy.”
[“Should’ve fired him and sued back then. What’s with dredging it up now? Tsk.”]
Over shots of Joo Ye-rin strumming and singing floated headlines that had scorched the internet lately.
The exposé scandal.
The hosts shrugged “So what?” and skimmed the articles before moving on.
[“We’ve prepped a list of the underage rankers causing chaos in guilds right now.”]
[“Rankers with minors?!”]
[“Bipa’s VR feels like a second reality, but you can tweak looks, voices—hide age, gender, everything.”]
[“Biggest shock was Kaisha. Who’d guess she was a woman?”]
[“Whew, thank god she is. Imagine all those guild master faces as guys. Gender balance wrecked—wouldn’t even wanna relay hunters.”]
[“Ah, Lynn Jeong.”]
Up popped Spaceking’s Hella on screen.
Flashy skill plays.
Spaceking’s lone lady, but her antics were pure horror—top avoid for male players.
As siege footage of Hella rolled, a photo from raid 1 of the girl on-site appeared, and both hosts clapped hands over mouths in shock.
Subtitles read [Speechless].
[“G-Gap... moe...?”]
[“Not gap moe—gap phobia.”]
[“Hella. Real name Park Ji-yoo. High school sophomore now. Got her permission for face and info reveal, of course.”]
[“Whoa. Started around middle school, thinking back to her activity.”]
[“We got wrecked by a middle schooler all this time?”]
[“Seems so.”]
Their faces darkened briefly.
[“Even with minor mode, Bipa doesn’t have tons of kids game-wise.”]
[“Game streams boot minors at night usually. But if you can afford the rig and got skills...”]
Even accounting for her high school sophomore reveal, Hella was a strikingly petite, cute girl.