Actually, My True Identity Is...
As it happened, my true identity was...
Since DeoEn was a virtual reality game, it came equipped with more than just adventures and PVP — there was a fair share of relaxation systems as well.
More than half of the general player base spent their time on gathering, fishing, crafting, and farming, enjoying tourism in a world that felt even more real than reality itself.
Why sweat and spend money traveling in the real world when you could vacation comfortably inside a game?
By some accounts, the tourist spending users burned through in a single year amounted to a full ten percent of the Empire's annual budget.
"DeoEn really is something else. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a Nutri VIP."
Yena smiled as she guided me into a neatly arranged room.
It was a strikingly modern style of architecture, a far cry from DeoEn's medieval setting.
Had a giant bird not soared past the window, you could have easily believed you were on Earth.
The room was roughly thirteen pyeong — about twice the size of mine — with a bed and a chest of drawers at the back, the drawers filled with dolls and figurines that had become symbols of DeoEn.
At the front stood a black panel with no cables connected to it at all, apparently meant for streamers, alongside an array of DeoEn-only snacks lined up in a row.
As I stood there going "Ohh..." and taking it all in, Yena crept up beside me and whispered.
"The rental fee here is five gold per hour."
"...That's a hundred thousand won."
"Expensive, right? But what can you do? DeoEn is an adventure game brimming with dreams and hope — you can't have people locking themselves away in rooms identical to reality, now can you?"
In other words, using this room meant straying from everything DeoEn stood for, and paying a hefty penalty for the privilege.
After all, if the price were cheap, plenty of players would simply refuse to go adventuring at all.
Yena plopped down onto the plush mattress with an audible fwoomph and swung her legs back and forth.
"Honestly, DeoEn itself hated making rooms like this at first, but around the two-year mark they suddenly started building them. That was right about when the streaming function on the access device got its big upgrade, so..."
"I can see how it'd be out of reach unless you're a famous streamer."
"Exactly. Small-timers can forget about ever getting to use one of these."
Whish! Yena sprang back to her feet.
She nibbled a little cookie from the table, then began adjusting her broadcast settings.
"That's why lots of people go out and hire builders to make environments as close to reality as possible. Some folks even set up whole clusters of these rooms on the outskirts of cities and run them as businesses."
Though this kind of custom setup system is only available in official rooms, of course~
I was nodding along to Yena's addendum when a question occurred to me.
"Is there really a reason to use a realistic room like this? I'd think a nice spot somewhere in DeoEn would do just fine."
DeoEn was a fantastical world you could never see in reality.
Plenty of places were breathtaking just to look at — and truth be told, the world of the past had been painfully beautiful too.
The angels and demons had devastated and ravaged it, but that didn't change the fact that it had been beautiful.
Yena pressed firmly into the empty air as if tapping an invisible screen, shaking her head.
"You've got a lot to learn, Lily. Sure, some people love fantasy, but there are tons who just prefer modern, casual talk streams."
"...Hmm. Fair point."
I did miss the modern world.
Missed it desperately, in fact.
Coming back had made me so happy.
It was just a shame my body was still Lily's.
"Besides, ever since DeoEn launched, a lot of the old webcam streamers have died out. Just so you know, I'm one of the casualties too. Ah — wait, does that mean I've been reborn?"
Vrrrm. The black panel flickered to life.
A green browser window bloomed across it like a modern computer screen, and the black keyboard beneath lit up in glowing neon colors.
Yena cried "Aaand~ done!" and stretched her arms toward the ceiling.
"Thank you so much for your help. I'll cover the room fee and send it over once we finish."
"Nope! I'm not taking it."
"Why not?"
"Because you didn't take payment for the last content either, that's why!"
Yena looked genuinely put out about not being able to pay me.
Shouldn't it be the other way around?
She wasn't demanding more money — she was upset I wouldn't accept any.
Besides, that five million won had been an appearance fee for her broadcast content, and hadn't I also run my own stream and earned money that day?
It might be a different story if I'd streamed for free.
No reason to take it, really.
When she sent the money and I sent it back, and that little tug-of-war repeated a couple of times, Yena finally gave up — while promising an even more luxurious Newdlebak session next time.
They say money's always good to have in the modern world, but there was no need to scrape and scrounge for it.
I was already receiving more love and more money than I deserved.
"We streamed together, so there's no reason for me to take payment."
"Whew... Lily, I'm starting to resent you a little. You keep stabbing my conscience."
"You did buy an entire ship to cross the ocean. That's a big expense."
"That's completely different from this. And that expense already paid for itself many times over, thanks to a certain beautiful someone."
"What about what you did for me?"
"That was content! And I've already earned plenty off it! I made a fortune on NewTube because of you, Lily! Ugh, this is so frustrating!"
Gulp, gulp! Yena chugged a blue drink.
It must have been one of DeoEn's special beverages, because she seemed to perk right back up, jabbing a finger in my direction as she declared:
"You are way~ too defenseless, Lily. What are you going to do if someone saddles you with a debt or tricks you into some exploitative contract and milks you dry?"
"I'm not that easy a target."
I had lived as a saint for a long stretch of time, then spent twenty years wandering the world, where countless things happened.
Anyone who knew the mountain of karmic entanglements that had piled up along the way would never dream of saying something like that.
But Yena, blissfully unaware of all that, muttered "You are so, so, SO easy a target..." and flopped back onto the bed.
Absolute menace. A total menace.
I chuckled and settled into the chair in front of the monitor, glancing back at Yena over my shoulder.
"Want to know why I only work with you, Yena?"
"...Gasp. I've seen this before. Is this where the truth comes out? You've been watching those videos, haven't you? The ones like this?"
"What are you even talking about."
Yena craned just her neck up to look at me.
There I was, still smiling. Lily.
"Only you get to know, Yena."
"...Okay."
"Actually, my true identity is..."
"Your identity?"
"......I'm an alien. I was dispatched here to conquer both DeoEn and Earth. My superiors told me to act nice for the time being."
"Ah. I got my hopes up for nothing."
Yena shook her head at the ceiling for no particular reason and hauled herself up off the bed.
"It's half true, though."
"What, the acting nice part?"
No — the alien part.
"Well, whatever, fine, I get it. Just send me the money. That gave me a headache for nothing."
"I'll keep the remaining time on the room saved for you."
"Might as well just exploit you shamelessly myself. If the higher-ups say to act nice, I'd better make good use of it."
"Sound strategy."
It was true that Yena's help and my own influence didn't clash — but that didn't mean I had any intention of extracting more from her in return.
Relationships aren't built on money alone.
Just my personal opinion, but I hoped this one would last a good while longer.
"...Wait, now that I think about it, haven't you not done a collab stream with Leo yet?"
"Hmm, well, my superiors issued another directive about that."
"And how long are you planning to keep putting it off?"
"For a while."
"Welcome, everyone. I've got a lot on my plate today, so this is going to be a working stream."
Seated in front of the computer like a streamer I'd once stumbled across in the past, I gave the camera a small smile.
No doubt the words Now hiring: editors and managers were floating across the stream overlay at that very moment.
Unless something unusual happened, today would be nothing but work, all day long.
"Thank you for the ten thousand, SparklingWater. You've all been supporting me so generously that it looks like I'll have no choice but to put in a full day of work."
"So far, there are about 800 support applications, once I merged the duplicates."
Out of 2,600 total, 800 were genuine proposals, after filtering out the miscellaneous mail.
And that was 800 in a single day.
If more kept coming in, I couldn't even guess where the number would end up.
Still, this was the path I'd chosen, so I'd have to grit my teeth and see it through.
"Thank you for the generous donation as always, LiliLily. Shall we do that?"
My opinion mattered, of course — but so did the opinions of the viewers who would actually be watching that video.