Behind the Light Lies Darkness
Choi Ha-na stumbled backward in sheer disbelief.
It was Lily.
The dark, moody lighting of the VIP seats hid half her face, sure — but there was no mistaking it. That was Lily.
Plenty of cosplayers could throw together a convincing look, but a cosplayer who could replicate even her voice? Practically nonexistent. Lily's voice carried a rare, unmistakable timbre — one you'd never hear twice on the street.
Choi Ha-na grabbed her hand again.
"...You're Lily, aren't you? Lily-nim?"
"Hmm? I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. We've never met."
"........"
When Choi Ha-na could only stare at her in speechless disbelief, the eyes peeking out between hat and mask curved into crescents of amusement. As those ocean-deep eyes met hers, Choi Ha-na looked away, flustered, and studied Lily from a distance instead.
Identical.
Aside from the fact that she wasn't clad in DeoEn's signature white robes and carrying her spear, everything about her screamed Lily. Worse, the longer their eyes lingered on each other, the more a strange, crushing pressure settled over her shoulders — not an emotion you felt in real life, but one you only ever felt inside DeoEn.
'What the hell...'
"...You're lying."
"I'm really not?"
"You are Lily-nim. I know you are."
Even granting every benefit of the doubt — sure, maybe someone out there had the same build, the same face, even the same voice. The world was a wide place, and strange things happened all the time. Devil of Angel, the game that had flipped reality on its head in the span of three years, was living proof of that.
The real problem was: why was this doppelgänger here, with Yena of all people, using the ticket Choi Ha-na herself had given her?
"It's true that I've never seen you before. Out 'there,' anyway."
With that, Lily tugged her mask down just a little.
'Whoa.'
Choi Ha-na's breath caught. She reached up and pinched her own cheek. Definitely reality.
Forget whether this woman was really Lily — the fact that a face like that existed in the real world at all was a balance-breaking event in itself.
Choi Ha-na — or rather, Choco — was considered fairly pretty herself. But this was a face that could slap hers ten, twenty times in a row and walk away unscathed. She had almost never compared herself to anyone by looks before, but she had a feeling no celebrity on Earth could hold a candle to this woman.
If the truth ever got out, the shockwave would be twice — no, ten times — the size of Lily's current popularity.
"So you're not... a custom character? But then your hair... how...?"
"That's a secret for later. Good luck out there today. I'll be cheering for you."
"Ah... uh, right. Yes, ma'am."
Choi Ha-na pulled her hand free and bowed her head. Somehow, she felt like an insurmountable wall had just gotten one wall taller.
She needed to get back. Fast.
"Yena-nim, then... I'll be going."
"Yes! Good luck!"
...And suddenly, she was furious.
'Baekseol... I'm going to tear her apart.'
She was going to shred that woman into ribbons.
After Choco had completely disappeared from sight, I settled into my seat.
Her reaction had been entertaining enough to draw a laugh out of me. In a way, it was only natural.
Lily Elbrit was widely regarded as the single best custom character in all of DeoEn — the undisputed number one out of countless avatars. Even if players with more eccentric tastes didn't vote me to the top, everyone agreed that my character sat at the very peak.
When I first appeared, my appearance became a huge talking point on its own, and people spawned blue-haired, blue-eyed characters by the thousands trying to copy me.
But none of them ever quite managed it. Because Lily Elbrit isn't just a character — she's a person.
Even now, hundreds, thousands of messages were pouring in begging me to share my "customization secrets," and I ignored every last one. I hadn't done any character customization, so there was nothing to share — and even if there were, I had no intention of telling.
'Why on earth would I mass-produce myself?'
Unless I lost my mind a third time and looped back three separate times over, that would never happen. Ever.
Yena sat down beside me, shaking her head.
"The impact really is insane, isn't it? Choco must've been shocked out of her mind, judging by that reaction."
"She has every right to be."
My mysterious avatar was already a hot topic — and now it turned out the character was modeled after my real-life face? The fallout would spiral far beyond anything I could imagine.
I knew from experience. When I'd first revealed myself as a saint at fifteen, the attention had been absolutely overwhelming. Granted, the unique position of "Saintess" played a part, but the biggest thing everyone fixated on back then was my face.
And a face that beautiful attracts malice just as easily as admiration. Half of my infamous reputation, honestly, was born out of that spite.
"Um... will she really be okay, though?"
"About what?"
"Well, it's not that I don't trust Choco-nim, it's just... if more people find out about you..."
In truth, Yena had gotten a heads-up that Choco was coming to say hello, and had asked me to step away for a moment while they talked. We only got to watch from the VIP seats thanks to Choco's generosity — but my face being exposed was a different matter entirely.
Still, I hadn't left.
"It's fine. Choco-nim isn't the type to go blabbing."
"I guess not, but..."
"Besides, Choco-nim can't talk. I know one of her secrets, too."
"?"
I turned my head toward the stadium.
"I will seize victory and lift the third championship trophy!"
On the massive screen, Choco's pre-match interview was playing, her voice ringing through the entire stadium.
"Just like Choco-nim knows my face, I know one of Choco-nim's secrets."
"? What secret?"
When Yena tilted her head, I simply shook mine.
'The fact that Choco is Candy Star.'
Not the press, not the community — not a single soul knew that Choco and Candy Star were the same person. Most people were aware Choco had an alt character, but practically nobody suspected it was Candy Star. Even Yena, who had met both of them firsthand, was still only half convinced.
If anyone did know, it would be one of Choco's close friends or family. Which meant she would never, ever spread my face around.
'She'd rather die than admit she's a "magical girl," after all.'
I rested my index finger on my mask and smiled.
"That's a secret."
Six o'clock in the evening.
The hour when the sunset began its slow fade — and the hour that heralded the start of DeoEn. The lights of the colossal stadium died all at once, and the darkness gathered itself into a single beam.
A gray monolith of a temple. A portal device stood tilted at its center like the throne of the gods, while dazzling special effects crackled to life all around it. In DeoEn, such displays would be woven from magic; here in the real stadium, they were the product of science. Cameras, lights, and swarming drones spun a spectacle of light that seized every gaze in the building.
Boom. Boom. Boom. A colossal drumbeat rolled across the arena, and the moment every eye in the stadium converged on a single point—
Clack.
At the heart of the temple, a lone championship trophy caught all that light at once and blazed.
Behind the light lies darkness.
Tap. Tap.
From within the shadows, someone stepped forward.
"A battle for the throne. A journey of blood and sweat. And rivals."
It was Kim Yong-woo — the exclusive DCK caster who had called both the Mock Siege Battle and the Siege Warfare tournament. Dressed in a black suit, he emerged into the beam of light, and the entire stadium held its breath.
"It has been a long journey. Behind every brilliant glory lies a deep, dark shadow. Of the twelve fierce warriors who entered this tournament, only two teams remain."
Drones swept through the air, weaving the two team logos into the darkness above. One was a trio of dark-stained brown squares rising high like pillars of a temple. The other was a pristine white bird cradling a swirl of blue and red.
The two emblems bloomed brilliantly, then turned to face one another.
"To claim the summer throne, two teams stand upon this stage — teams who poured their very souls into every drop of blood and sweat shed along the way."
Tap.
Kim Yong-woo's footsteps came to a halt. Before him, the trophy gleamed.
"And rivals."
As his hand brushed the trophy, a burst of dazzling effects erupted and the stadium lights flared back to life. The main theme of DCK's summer season thundered out, and the temple that darkness had concealed revealed itself in full.
Before the great portal, the players of both teams stood face to face.
"Hello there?"
"......"
Even the two team captains glared at each other in silence.
"Historically, these two teams have clashed with ferocity time and again. Like two blades trading parries, they have traded victories and defeats in equal measure."
The screen replayed their storied rivalry: the countless battles, the timeline of triumphs and defeats that had brought them here.
"And today! The winner of it all will finally be decided!"
Clack!
The trio of squares descended upon the emblem of CO.
"Led by the Rank 4 player herself! The seasoned hunters chasing a third championship that has never once existed in history — Team C~~~O!!!"
ROOOOAAAR!!!
The cheer shook the stadium to its foundations. As the roar died down, Kim Yong-woo cleared his throat and continued.
"Facing them is a team led by a player whose history with CO's captain runs long and deep. She, too, is a ranker counted among the very best two hands can hold."
Fweee!
The brilliant white bird settled onto the banner of WoW.
"This time, they vow, they will win! Team Wo~~~W!!"
The crowd erupted once more. The drones raced to paint ever-more-elaborate scenes across the sky, and the rising tide of excitement was more than enough to swell everyone's anticipation into something unbearable.
"What do you think?"
"...I'm definitely glad I came."
I nodded along to Yena's quiet words, half-lost in the swelling atmosphere. Nothing on a screen — or even inside DeoEn itself — could match this vividness. Not that the game's sensations were lacking in any way.
It was just that here, with no mana, no divinity, no magic coloring the experience, I could simply feel it, pure and unfiltered. And I liked that.
"Who do you think will win? I mean, I was invited by Team CO, so my heart's with them, but..."
"Hmm... hard to say."
Honestly, Choco's talent was impressive, but stacked against Leo, Yena, or even her own alt Candy Star, it fell markedly short. If anything, Choco would have been better off debuting as a pro under her Candy Star identity.
"We'll just have to watch and see."
Had she finally crossed the wall she'd been forced to climb back during the Mock Siege Battle? Or was she still standing on the same side of it?