A Subtle Transformation

“Huh?”

The Fated Connection had exceeded 30. Just in case, I tapped on Affection and found that donating coins to raise it was now possible again.

Nice.

“110 coins per point of Affection, huh.”

It was a hefty amount, but I had coins to spare. I could have saved them, yet I wanted to win her over as quickly as possible, so I decided to raise her Affection with coins.

I pushed her Affection all the way to 60.

I wanted to keep going, but once it hit 60 the system blocked me again, citing insufficient Fated Connection.

“Still got plenty of coins left……”

I was saving coins for when my own stats appeared, but I figured I could comfortably spend down to around five thousand.

“Oh, right! Is there anything else I can raise?”

While I was thinking that, my eyes landed on her Appearance and Figure stats. I opened her basic physical stats.

The numbers hadn’t changed much since the last time I checked.

“Hmm. Her Stamina went up by one, though.”

Did it rise because I’d been pounding her senseless? That would be pretty impressive.

I nodded to myself as I studied the stats.

“For now, just Appearance and Figure. I won’t touch the others.”

Once I had more coins and she was completely mine, I planned to raise everything else too. But for the moment, I would focus only on her looks and figure.

“Raising Strength or something might just cause unnecessary trouble……”

Right as I was about to raise the stats, something occurred to me.

“Ah. Come to think of it, is she streaming right now?”

The clock read 8:30. I remembered she usually started at 8 every day.

“She is.”

I launched the streaming app, searched for her, and nodded when I saw the red “LIVE” text next to her nickname “Strong Crystal” along with a viewer count of 700.

“Seven hundred viewers. Not a small number.”

It was a lot compared to streams with only dozens of viewers, but small compared to those pulling thousands.

Her viewer count had been about the same a few months ago when I last checked. It didn’t look like it had grown since.

“Is it because of the nickname?”

Strong Crystal.

Was it just her name Kang Sujeong translated straight into English? I still couldn’t understand how she’d come up with such a legendary handle.

“Let’s check it out.”

I entered her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stream.

“No! The enemy jungler is literally camping top~~!! Haa… seriously!”

The moment I joined, a gray death screen filled the display. Her voice alone made it obvious she was furious.

A few mocking comments scrolled by. As I kept watching, she died to the jungler’s gank again and the gray screen returned.

Her face wasn’t on screen. Instead, there was a picture of a dog with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the text “No swearing X, Calm stream O” overlaid on it. The sight made me smile, knowing it was because her Affection toward me had risen.

“So she’s not using cam after all.”

That was fortunate. It meant I could raise her stats right away.

If she’d had the camera on, her appearance would have changed in real time on stream. I wouldn’t have been able to do it then. I tapped her Appearance stat.

“Appearance… maybe I’ll take it up to 62?”

I raised her Appearance by seven points.

Next was Figure.

“Stats in the 60s cost 160 coins each.”

If I used coins down to five thousand, I could raise Figure by six points. I brought it up to 67 and left myself with 5035 coins.

“I wonder how much she’ll change……”

I was genuinely curious.

In a good mood, I closed the stream and started preparing to clear the rest of my daily quests.

“Aah… that was exhausting.”

After ending her stream, Kang Sujeong leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling.

Streaming from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m. Even though it was just playing games with the stream on, doing it five days a week was starting to wear on her.

Of course, she didn’t dislike streaming. She genuinely believed there was no job better suited to her.

“I’d never survive at a regular company……”

Her social skills weren’t great, and there was no guarantee she’d even get hired. Streaming was clearly her calling.

But it wasn’t exactly a stable career, so she lived with a constant, low-level anxiety every single day.

She uploaded her VODs raw without an editor, so views were low and revenue suffered.

“At least the donations are coming in strong.”

Most of her income came from live donations. Kill missions and other donation goals brought in steady money—sometimes as little as fifty thousand won, sometimes over three hundred thousand on a good day.

She was saving as much as she could by spending very little.

Her first goal was to get a properly soundproofed streaming room and a nicer place to live.

“Alright. Let’s do this. Fighting!”

She cheered herself on, shut down her computer, and headed to her room with a smile on her face.

These days the anxiety felt a little lighter.

You could call it the time she spent finding peace of mind.

“What should I wear tomorrow?”

The daily 11:30 a.m. grocery run had become her personal healing time.

It used to be a supermarket she visited only twice a week, but ever since she started running into Jinhyun from downstairs by chance, she’d begun going every single day with him.

After that first accidental meeting they’d parted without making any plans. Yet when she went out at the same time the next day on a whim and saw him there, she’d wondered if it was fate.

Ever since, they’d gone to the mart together every day, and those short moments had been incredibly fun. It felt just like a date.

Only a few weeks ago she’d disliked him, but now she loved being with him. It was a feeling she’d never experienced before. At first she’d thought it might be an illusion, but with each passing day the feeling only grew stronger.

Humming to herself, Kang Sujeong picked out an outfit. She couldn’t just throw on anything in front of him.

“I should dress up a little more tomorrow.”

She chose a set of clothes and tried them on in front of the mirror.

“Huh……?”

Her eyes widened as she looked at her own face.

The next day, 11:36 a.m.

“Four minutes left.”

I was waiting at the bottom of the villa stairs.

Ever since the first event, we’d been leaving at 11:30 every day and pretending to bump into each other on the way to the supermarket. Today was different.

I had deliberately left early and positioned myself downstairs.

There was only one reason.

The event keywords had changed slightly.

The list of keywords had grown a little longer.

Was it because her Affection had reached 60? Or because I’d raised her stats? Either way, it felt like the time had come to approach her more proactively.

“……”

So I waited at the bottom of the stairs, watching her. If the keyword had been “late,” I would’ve stayed inside and come out at 11:40, but since it was “missed timing,” I waited outside instead.

She was lingering in front of my door.

At first ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she just stood there, but for the past three minutes she’d been raising and lowering her finger, clearly debating whether to ring the bell. It was adorable.

“By the way, I only raised her stats a bit… but she really ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠did get prettier.”

She’d always been beautiful, but now that flower had bloomed even more fully.

Her facial features looked sharper, her eyes more defined, her skin clearer. Her figure had also improved, the lines becoming even more attractive. And it all looked completely natural—no sense of dissonance at all.

“I can’t believe coins can raise Appearance and Figure this naturally.”

Maybe I could even turn someone considered the ugliest person in the world into the most beautiful woman alive.

I had an average face myself. If I raised my own Appearance stat later, could I become a total heartthrob?

While I spent the remaining four minutes admiring her figure to my heart’s content, she finally let out a long sigh.

“Huuu. So he’s not coming out today?”

“……”

“I even got all dressed up……”

Looking sulky, she muttered to herself and slowly started climbing the stairs. Checking the time, it was exactly 11:40.

“11:40. Right on cue.”

Seeing her, I began climbing the stairs as well.