December 31st
‘Water spirits? Haven’t seen them.’
‘Thanks for the airship! Didn’t see anything like spirits, though!’
‘Saw your exploits. Watching those magitech bastards get wrecked was satisfying. Hmm? Spirits, you say? Well, they’re invisible to begin with…’
December 30th.
Only one day remained until the Great Cataclysm update.
Leo and I had made the rounds through countless ranker guilds, but in the end, no one had a shred of information about spirits attuned to water.
Then again, even I—someone who had spent nearly a month living in the sea—hadn’t been able to find them. What chance did any of these guilds have?
Leo, with a snow-white ice fox wrapped around her neck, let out a long sigh.
“Pewyung…”
“Looks like they’ll only show themselves once the day arrives. The fact that absolutely nobody knows anything says it all.”
“Yeeeah… thanks for all your hard work, Professor…”
“You too, Leo.”
After visiting Chaos Guild, ranked fifth, Leo returned to the Empire to begin her preparations in earnest.
The number of top guilds I had visited so far: twenty-four in total.
Seven of them were within the top ten, and seventeen within the top fifty—so a fair number of guilds had refused my visit outright.
“……”
Frankly, I didn’t believe everyone would fight the World Boss with genuine sincerity.
Some would fight for profit rather than duty. Others would seize the chance to rake in a fortune.
And a few, going beyond mere opportunism, would use the chaos to snatch away what belonged to others.
Just like the magitech faction had.
As long as they keep it reasonable.
Villains were something I’d already dealt with plenty.
The world was full of lunatics, and among them crawled no shortage of vile wretches who tried to dominate it with pitiful scraps of power.
Such people belonged on the list to be cut down—but as long as they didn’t cross the line, I planned to simply watch for now.
Because I was no longer the Lily of the past.
And besides, those people would, in their own sneaky way, prove useful against external enemies.
Would you like to log off?
“Yes.”
Light enveloped me.
Wheeeing…
The hatch of the immersion pod opened, and I slipped back out into reality.
Chaos Guild had kept me tied up far longer than expected, so night had already fallen.
10 p.m.
In just two more hours, it would be December 31st.
The last day of the year.
It had been well over ten months since I returned to Earth.
I had always lived a busy life, even in the past, but the last ten months had been remarkably dense—dense enough to count on one hand.
So many things had happened, and while none of it had been a desperate struggle, I had forged connections with countless people along the way.
I lingered on those memories for a moment before stepping out into the living room.
Beyond the window overlooking the Han River, snow was falling.
Not too much—just enough to look pretty.
I stared at it blankly for a while, then shifted my gaze to the computer.
It had been ringing insistently for some time now.
The moment I sat down, my Discord channels were going off like crazy.
Everyone’s in the call, huh.
Ring.
“Looks like everyone’s here.”
—Hi, Lily!
—Boss!
—You’ve arrived, Boss! I have a proposal!!
“What is it?”
—Let’s have a year-end party!
“A year-end party?”
—Yes!
“Hmm…”
A party, huh…
Thanks to the Cataclysm, the end of the year felt like the eve of a storm, but a year’s end was supposed to be a festival—a time to wrap up everything that had come before.
In fact, DeoEn’s official year-end broadcast was scheduled, and a small showcase unveiling the update had been prepared as well.
Of course, the showcase wasn’t run by DeoEn itself but put together independently by the Korean branch, based on partial information.
DeoEn does love its mystique.
—We can sit somewhere nice in DeoEn, watch the official broadcast together, and share food!
—…Won’t the Kraken show up the second the Cataclysm starts, though?
—Oh, come on! Would it really be that stingy? It’ll give us at least a day.
Across the call, my video editor, White Autumn, asked with high energy.
—So? What do you say? We all agreed already.
—Did you just railroad everyone into agreeing, unni?
—No way, everyone said they liked it. Right? Battery? Hyuji?
—Uh… I mean, I’m fine with it.
—Whether Lily will agree is the question…
The editors and managers glanced around nervously.
Understandably so—these people were, at heart, perfectly ordinary civilians.
Aside from that one mukbang shoot on Kiki Island, they had zero broadcasting experience.
What’s more, editors and managers were, by definition, just people who assisted a streamer—and a fair number of viewers took a dim eye to them appearing on the actual broadcast.
In fact, I’d heard our staff had been receiving hate mail ever since that day.
“Sure. I was planning to take it easy and watch on the last day anyway.”
—Ohh!
“In exchange, only people who actually want to join will participate. Fair warning—we’re not doing anything special, just watching like it’s TV, so don’t worry too much.”
—Boss, you’re the best!
“Also. White Autumn, you’ll have the third installment of the Magitech Faction Visit series finished before the party tomorrow.”
—Eh.
The venue was the stadium in DeoEn where the DCK had been held.
A fantastical reimagining of the real-world stadium, it had hosted countless matches for legions of spectators.
I’d watched it in the real world with Yena, though.
Anyway, that was where the year’s grand events and official broadcast would take place.
Coincidentally, they had reached out asking me to attend and lend the occasion some star power, but I’d declined—too busy.
Still, they’d given me a VIP invitation, so I could go anytime I wanted.
Sway, sway…
I should spend the year’s final hours with my staff.
They were the ones quietly working day and night behind the scenes so that NewTube, the community, and the streams could run smoothly.
No matter how well they were paid, running a channel with traffic in the millions per day was never easy.
Yet without a single hint of drama, this small, elite team had been performing flawlessly for months on end.
Sway, sway…
So we’ll see the year out at one of Elbritte’s villas—one with a clear view of the night sky…
Sway, sway…
“Ah.”
CRASH!
I jolted upright.
December 31st.
A fine day to close out the year.
It would have been nice to end everything on a good note.
“Of all days—why the very last one…”
I clutched my throbbing head with one hand.
Golden water, glittering with brilliant light, soaked through my hair.
Across the sky streamed a dark, foreboding cloud of blood-red aura, while waves of that golden water—scooped up by my own hands moments ago—surged across the ground.
In the distance, a figure wreathed in white frost that seared the eyes.
On the opposite side, a crimson energy churned in an endless cycle.
And last of all—this space where I sat.
My soul.
I was dreaming.
“What’s this? Hey, unni.”
A gate dyed in blood opened in the sky, and Rasty dropped down through it.
A doll-like girl with eyes like crimson jewels steeped in blood.
“I’m dreaming.”
“Dreaming?”
Rasty tilted her head.
“Since the Crown of Succession was destroyed, I’ve never dreamed once. And of all nights, it has to be the very last day of the year…”
“What are you talking about, unni?”
“Rasty, you’re the same in dreams as in reality, aren’t you? Well, to a vampire, dreams are practically everyday affairs…”
SHLK!
FWIP!
“…!”
A pale crimson aura grazed past my cheek.
A single strike carrying the bloodlines of dozens of kingdoms.
For an instant, blood ran down my cheek, and the faint sting snapped my mind wide awake.
This place…
“Still feels like a dream?”
“…It’s real?”
“Yep. I don’t get why you thought it was a dream. You walked in here yourself, didn’t you?”
“……”
I spread my divinity.
Snow-white light stretched out across the Void Space as I examined the structure of the space itself.
“……”
That’s right.
This really was the space within my own soul.
“…How?”
“Hmm… maybe you’ve just been so busy you got a little fuzzy for a second?”
“Impossible.”
My mind was under considerable protection.
If a moment’s exhaustion could break it, I never would have endured everything that had come before.
Above all, since that day, mental attacks against me had…
“By the way, the black cloud is asleep, and the dragon and the horse are playing with each other. Pharaoh’s off in DeoEn.”
“……”
“I was watching Candy Star and am on a quick break. Oh, and Ilmacheonwang was over the moon because he got to shine for once.”
“……”
“Maybe I’ve messed with the Life Vessel too much—the kid’s gotten a bit dim-witted, I think—”
“What are you hiding?”
Rasty pressed her lips shut.
Within the Void Space, Rasty was a being who could stand toe-to-toe with the greater demon lords.
She held power surpassing even the Kraken, that calamity of the sea—yet within this space, she could never hope to surpass me.
“What are you concealing back there? You’re making it painfully obvious.”
Rasty’s doll-like face curved into a faint smile.
The curtain of blood that had been covering the space behind her melted away, revealing a girl even smaller than Rasty herself.
The girl had been standing with her back to Rasty—and through the gaps of Rasty’s slender frame, I could see a head of blue hair and snow-white skin…
“…Ah.”
“I’m used to waiting, it’s true—but I never thought you wouldn’t come until the year turned.”
Am I still not ready?
The girl hidden behind Rasty asked.
I gazed at her in silence.
So that’s how it is.
BEEP—!
I woke from the dream.
BEEP—! BEEP—! BEEP—!
“……”
Sunlight streamed through the window and fell across my eyes.
A blaring alarm—for the first time in a while.
I silenced it and checked the time.
07:00
Seven in the morning.
The same time I always woke up.
So it’s still not possible yet, after all.
I let out a small sigh, tidied my bed, and left the room.
Today was the last day of the year.