Yena Lives Here?
Yena lives here?
I need to find a house.
I'd made up my mind the moment I returned to this cramped little box of an apartment after thirty years away, and I'd assumed the whole thing would take me quite a while.
After all, finding a home in the city with no shortage of space — in a single-room unit, no less — was never going to be easy.
It needed solid infrastructure and social protections, a place where daily life wouldn't be a chore.
Ideally, the city skyline spread out below the window, and for the sake of food delivery at minimum, most decent restaurants within arm's reach.
...Come to think of it, that's a pretty tall order.
Anyway, I figured meeting all those conditions would take at least a few years. That was the plan, anyway...
"Hmm..."
In barely a month, I'd raked in an absolutely staggering sum.
To be precise, it wasn't just what I'd earned myself — the amounts people had raked in using my footage without permission had blown past anything I could have imagined.
I don't really know current housing prices, but this should be more than enough.
As long as I wasn't aiming for somewhere ridiculously expensive.
"...Hmm."
Click. Click. Click-click. Scroll, scroll.
"...Something like this."
I was browsing listings online before visiting any real estate office.
Neatly furnished homes with generous floor plans. Some boasted nothing but bare space with not a stick of furniture, while others threw in everything the previous owner had left behind as a bonus.
Every single one of them blared the same pitch — This is the home you've been dreaming of!
"They've stretched it."
The rooms were elongated to an almost absurd degree. Something about the editing and camera angles felt exaggerated.
As expected, I wouldn't believe it until I saw these places with my own eyes.
Ping!
A message popped up in the corner of my monitor.
It was Yena.
Somehow, it felt like I hadn't seen her in ages.
Come to think of it, we did agree to do another Newdlebak this week.
Is this place any good... No. Maybe not.
Guess I really do need to visit a real estate office after all.
Ring-ring!
"Yes, Yena?"
"What kind of place are you looking for? Buying? Finally living on your own?"
"Buying. I've always lived alone anyway."
"Hmm... do you have anything like a wishlist? Must-have options?"
"Well, spacious is a plus, decent infrastructure..."
"Decent and...?"
"A clear view of the city, plenty of restaurants nearby... clean, with good public safety..."
"...That's, um, quite a list?"
"I'd like to live somewhere like that, at this point in my life."
"?"
Ever since I'd given up being a saint, I had almost never stayed anywhere for long.
I'd camped in the wild, or slept briefly in whatever inn stood in a city I'd just saved. That was the extent of it.
I had tramped across battlefields for far, far too long.
That was how I had lived.
And the reason I could get away with it was simple: the blood of the angelkin always kept my body in peak condition, no matter what.
But that was no longer true.
Now, an inconvenient place made me feel genuinely uncomfortable, and too little sleep left me genuinely exhausted.
More than anything, I wanted to live a little comfortably for once.
"Hmm... good infrastructure, nice views..."
"Don't stress over it too much. If anything's lacking, I'll adjust on my own."
Honestly, all of it was wishful thinking anyway. As long as a place was livable, I'd be satisfied.
It had been the same before — I had no real desire for wealth and glory.
"Would a Han River view sweeten the deal, by any chance?"
"Couldn't hurt."
"A view it is. Okay."
"Wait, why do you ask?"
Why the sudden question?
Ahem!
"As it happens, I know a place that matches your criteria perfectly... Would you like to come see it?"
It had all started as simple content.
Just a Newdlebak — one of those "carrying the newbie" streams — and a handful of clips mined from it. That was all it was supposed to be.
But the Lily who had appeared before her had turned out to be far more than clip material.
Customization beyond anything Yena had ever seen, and a voice like clear water. Skill enough to handle rankers of her own tier with room to spare. A cool head, paired with a strangely kind nature — awkward about receiving favors, of all things.
She'd been far too good to waste on a single-episode guest slot.
Which was exactly why Yena had wanted, more than anything, to forge a lasting connection with her.
She'd deliberately supplied more equipment than usual for the Newdlebak stream, and even bought an outrageously expensive ship from that empire just to cross the sea together.
And what came back to her was help on an entirely different scale.
"...Ugh."
Too much. It was all too much.
Intel on Deoen, a few pointers on streaming — that kind of repayment wouldn't even come close to covering what Yena had received in return.
And the most infuriating part was that this woman claimed to hate receiving help, yet the moment she gave any, she gave far more than she'd ever taken.
An utterly selfish person.
Which was exactly why Yena wanted to get closer to her.
Ah, I'm actually apartment hunting right now, so we might have to push it back a bit.
Yeah. I'm looking, but it's not exactly easy.
Hunting for a house. Not finding it easy.
...Is this my chance?
Yena snatched up her phone and called.
Frankly, Lily didn't act like a modern person at all. She pulled off mind-boggling gameplay and showed an almost excessive understanding of specialized fields, yet when it came to Deoen's system mechanics, she knew less than a total newbie.
Which made no sense — even the greenest newbie on Earth had at least heard of Deoen by now. It had spread across the whole world long ago.
A woman who genuinely seemed to have fallen from some other star entirely.
All the more reason Yena wanted to look after her.
Spacious, good infrastructure, a nice view, good airflow...
Every condition Lily listed funneled toward a single answer. No matter how Yena turned it over in her head, there was only one place.
Yena spun her chair in a slow circle as the call went on.
A breezy floor-to-ceiling window, its comfortable atmosphere the room's defining feature — and beyond the glass, the Han River itself.
Only, if things went this way, then inevitably...
Honestly, I am curious...
Ahem!
"As it happens, I know a place that matches your criteria perfectly... Would you like to come see it?"
"Not bad at all."
"Right? It's definitely expensive, but there are plenty of facilities nearby, and since it's a wealthy neighborhood, it's never noisy."
The place Yena had shown me was an apartment complex in Seoul.
The interior went without saying — the surrounding amenities, the landscaping within the complex, all of it suited my tastes perfectly. A place that checked every single box I'd listed.
Yes, it was all wonderful, except...
"It's a little. No, a lot expensive. The river view has something to do with that, admittedly."
"How much... is it, exactly?"
"The actual transaction price is around 700 million won, for starters..."
"Seven hundred million won?"
Seven hundred million? Were we playing Monopoly here?
"...That's already come down quite a bit, you know. Deoen has been such a hit. People are chasing the game harder than they chase expensive real estate in real life."
That tracked. The more virtual reality advanced, the more people drifted toward it over the real thing. The real world had long since been carved up by those who got there first — but virtual reality was barely three years old.
"Still, seven hundred million is... a lot."
"It's not exactly a snap decision, no."
Seven hundred million won.
It wasn't as if I'd never touched sums like this before. As a saint, I'd received compensation well above the norm, and once, when a great city was blown to ruins with no one left to lead it, I'd even run the place for a short while.
I handed it off to someone better suited soon enough and moved on — but I still remembered the sums it took to keep a city breathing.
Intimidating.
It was unquestionably a heavy amount to be holding.
"If it's too much for you, we could look at other pla—"
"No. I'll take it."
Better to spend it fast, before it weighed on me.
"...You're taking out a loan for this, right? Right??"
"Nope. I made so much money recently that I figured I'd go house hunting."
"...Don't tell me you made seven hundred million won in one month?"
"Huh... I guess I did?"
I hadn't known I was worth that much either.
Just how many times had these people sold pieces of me behind my back?
What a frightening bunch.
The next day, through Yena's connections, I met the owner.
A middle-aged woman who broke into a warm smile the instant she saw me.
"Oh my! Hello there! What a beauty you are~ Are you from abroad?"
"No, I'm Korean..."
Well — calling myself "human" didn't quite cover it anymore.
"...I'm mixed. I've lived in Korea, though."
"Ah~ That explains the slightly exotic look. Go on, have a look around. You're going to love it."
"Thank you."
Stepping into the open living room, the first thing to catch my eye was a striking space dressed in sleek, sophisticated design.
A long black leather sofa, and across from it a slim, widescreen TV. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass, the Han River spread out in a single sweeping view — the mere sight of it settled something in my chest.
Rooms numbered more than six once you counted the small utility and walk-in spaces, and the building's own systems were impressively thorough: automatic food-waste disposal, a dedicated delivery chute that brought orders straight up to the unit, and more.
After about thirty minutes of deliberation, I decided to sign the contract.
Word was I ought to tour other places first before committing, but frankly, I doubted anything could top this one.
Besides, I'd already fallen entirely in love with it.
"Good thinking. Lots of young people live here — you'll like it. Virtual reality's all the rage these days, right? Plenty of the neighbors made their money there."
"I see."
"You won't regret it. Even my agent has lived in this complex for years."
An agent who's lived here for years... hmm...?
"Wait — the agent?"
"You came through Yena's introduction, didn't you? Yena lives here in this building."
"...I'm sorry, what?"
Yena lives here?