An Odd and Beautiful Midsummer Night's Dream (1)
The War of the Forest, started with the wolf tribe alongside Yuja-cha, was conquering the surrounding continents faster than anyone thanks to the system's "fated partner" benefit.
The descendants of characters with wolf ears and tails were AIs that would obey any order from me or Yuja-cha and lead us to victory on the battlefield.
However, there was one problem.
The AIs were so advanced that they could be mistaken for real people.
Because the wolf tribe was based on wolves, which are monogamous animals, the AIs would say things like this whenever they saw me.
“No, the moment I get close to Yuja-cha, she drags me into the cave and uses me like a baby-making tool… What am I supposed to do?”
“Huh? Did you call me?”
I was deliberately participating in unnecessary battles to minimize any contact with Yuja-cha's character.
No matter how much I begged, Yuja-cha wouldn't tell me how to release the grab key, and the moment our eyes met, she would drag me into the cave to increase our forces.
Of course, I was grateful that she handled all the tedious tasks like item sorting, building, and farming.
Still, having the editor and the VTuber in charge appear as a married couple in-game and produce so many children was becoming a burden.
“Isn't the AI reaction weird? Even if the game says Yuja-cha and I are fated partners, they're only saying super explicit lines.”
“Ah, that? It's because of the game settings. The wolf tribe is a species that would easily give their lives for their partner, so they find it strange that we're keeping our distance.”
I asked Yuja-cha hoping for an escape route, but what came back were even more detailed and deep settings.
In the first work, Demon's Forest, the wolf tribe emperor NPC became so strong that he could create sonic booms with just the wind pressure of his axe to protect his beloved partner.
And in the next work, Forest of Love, there was a story about a wolf tribe NPC who repeated dozens of regressions to save their fated partner.
“So, in the entire series, these guys are a race obsessed with love? That's why the AIs born as our children are staying true to that lore?”
“That's right! Wolves are animals that stop eating and follow their partner to death if they die, and they also support their parents even after reaching adulthood!”
Meanwhile, Yuja-cha was trying to personally share game information and settings with me, like an old-timer excited to find a newbie.
As proof, she was overwhelming me in every activity except combat. It was hard to believe this was the same person whose “game idiot” image was so strong.
How on earth did she build an automated pork factory in the medieval era and construct a massive castle straight out of a fantasy movie all by herself?
“…Actually, I've wanted to play as the wolf tribe for a while, but I never had anyone to play with.”
“I thought someone like you would have lots of friends, Yuja-cha.”
“No. It's the opposite. I've actually struggled a lot because I couldn't gauge distance properly because of things like this. It was the same during my first collab.”
Yuja-cha spoke in a slightly lower voice than usual about the past. It was about the time she received harsh criticism from other streamers and viewers during an early collab.
Though quite some time had passed, it seemed to have left a deep scar in her heart.
“It was the same when you did the drinking stream with Baekseolgi last time, right? You asked to turn on the cam to show you drinking beer… and honestly, asking for photos was a nuisance too.”
Yuja-cha's 2D character had somehow moved next to me, restoring the health lost in battle while filling my inventory with equipment and items.
“Playing this kind of TenTenDo game with someone else was my wish. So maybe I'm burdening you too much, Baekseolgi.”
I realized why Yuja-cha was better at War of the Forest than other games—because she had no one to play with, she had tried all sorts of things alone.
I also remembered how, after my father left home when I was young and our family situation wasn't great, I never even got to see a TenTenDo that most kids my age had.
It might be a hasty comfort, or cheap sympathy that doesn't consider her feelings, but—
“I'm fine with it, you know? It just feels like playing games with a friendly older sister from next door. Don't think you're being a burden, just relax.”
I returned to her the exact words Yuja-cha had first said to me on CodeCode.
“…Huh?”
“Ah, of course if the dirty jokes get too much, I'll get angry. You have to keep up the saintess RP too, right?”
After a moment of silence, Yuja-cha spoke, looking slightly flustered. She was the one who told me not to be nervous first.
“Ah, yes yes. Of course. I'm the most devout and pure… Saintess Yuja-cha of the Holy Kingdom Elysion.”
“The believer who said I need to clean up cobwebs will be banned from chatting for one minute. Even so, I'm a woman too!! These people must be crazy!”
“Honestly, 30 is a bit much.”
Seeing the chat teasing Yuja-cha, I decided to chime in once. Dragging out this serious and sad atmosphere wasn't good for the stream either.
“You're doing it too, Baekseolgi?! I'm 28 in international age!! I'm not an ajumma yet…!!”
“How am I supposed to believe that? Just looking at the stream title, it's obvious you're forcing trendy words without understanding their meaning…”
The stream title was set as [🐺Starting the Forest of Beasts with a Wolf-like Husband and Succubus Girl Yuja-cha🐺], yet she didn't seem to find anything strange about it.
She was slapping on trendy internet slang from everywhere like an old person trying too hard.
“Why? This is totally MZ, isn't it?”
“Kids these days don't even use those words.”
“Then what about tungtungtungtung sahuru? I heard tralarelo tralara is used a lot these days?”
“Even if it's a meme, they don't suddenly use it in situations where it doesn't fit.”
The more we talked, the more I could see that the person behind Yuja-cha's virtual character had spent a long time alone.
In Japanese rom-com manga, they call this communication disorder. Trying to do too much for the other person or failing to gauge distance in communication.
“Still, I studied so hard…. I even subscribed to YouTube channels that teach the latest slang…”
“You don't have to go that far. If there's anything I'm personally curious about, I'll let you know.”
“Really? You promised! Don't block me later saying it's annoying!”
I offered a solution before Yuja-cha could pick up any worse habits. Even with the latest slang, there were cases of streamers going down the drain after using words they didn't properly understand.
Yuja-cha's 2D character jumped around excitedly with emotion expressions, and the wolf tribe members around us turned to look.
Triggered by Yuja-cha's heart speech bubble emotion expression, the AI characters set as our children all rushed somewhere to make way.
“Well then, since you've returned to the base after so long, we should do what needs to be done, right? Honey?”
“Do we really need to increase our forces more? We already have over 100…”
Yuja-cha grabbed the back of my character's neck again and dragged me toward the cave. Still unable to figure out the key to release the grab, I was being swung around by her without any clear countermeasures.
“No. Think of it as punishment for teasing your older sister. Also, to defeat the final boss, the ancient demon, we need to get stronger.”
“This is already enough…”
“Shut up. All you need to do is obediently provide your genes!”
The screen went dark again, followed by floating heart-shaped speech bubbles. Unable to watch it with open eyes, I missed one system message.
[SYSTEM: The northern yeti tribe, Cha Yeti, has been annihilated by your army!]
It meant that Cha Seungwoo, the former pro, was playing War of the Forest together to snipe us.
* * *
I wonder how much time had passed. The ancient demon that Yuja-cha called the final boss was cleared far too easily.
Yuja-cha and I, having filled the maximum number of units allowed by the game, led a massive army composed of our wolf tribe children and beat the final boss until it couldn't even breathe.
The demon, unable to even properly show its patterns, begged us for mercy while sobbing.
Watching this, I couldn't help but think that the advancement of AI was truly terrifying. Our children, set as me and Yuja-cha's offspring, fought with more passion than anyone, saying they would take revenge.
As if finding our play absurd, the ancient demon Rim let out a dying scream and was dragged to hell, while our children recounted what had happened to my character.
The ending credits rolled. The production team's text, which changed depending on which race the player chose to see the ending with, was quite explicit.
It was probably because Yuja-cha and I had 100% affinity and had married to receive good buffs as the wolf tribe in the game.
Perhaps because it was a newly released game, Yuja-cha's viewer count approached 500 right after the ending.
Right after the stream ended, Yuja-cha sent a message calling me Baekseolgi for the first time.
If we could gather more new viewers like this and run the virtual marriage content for the planned period to build a steady viewer base, I even thought she could really become a major corporate streamer.
Was it because I went to bed with such a satisfied feeling, thinking about broadcast plans for the succubus saintess Yuja-cha?
My field of view was lower than usual, and my hands had become smaller. I dreamed of my childhood self wearing the dobok from the taekwondo dojang I attended before my parents divorced.
“Pretty noona, why are you crying here? You'll catch a cold!”
It was a dream of an odd and beautiful summer day that I had actually experienced once, saying words filled with worry to someone.
Right now, before my eyes, I could see a female student whose name I didn't know, sitting in the playground and crying despite the pouring rain.