The Border Zone [Wait, Did She Actually Rage-Quit?]
The chat exploded the moment the stream cut off without warning.
I wanted to punch that guy so bad. Didn’t he know how hard our Queen worked?
It was a bit much. Maintaining regular viewers is all her own effort.
I was studying for the college entrance exam when I suddenly heard she rage-quit. I was shocked.
I’ll give you however much you want, so please calm down…
Hiatus notice is up.
What are we supposed to do if she keeps taking breaks like this?! I thought this stream would never see an ice age ㅠㅠ
It’s all because of this bastard.
I am the one who wrote that message. I deeply apologize for the chat that caused you deep emotional wounds. I promise I will never post such rude comments again.
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One-line summary: I’m sorry.
While the viewers were losing their minds, I was sitting in a café with Rona, talking things over. She was wearing sunglasses and a hat, probably because of what happened.
“Thanks for listening to my request.”
“No problem. By the way, what happened to that guy?”
“I sent him straight to America.”
Fortunately, his new identity had been prepared quickly, and according to the report, he arrived safely. For the time being, I planned to have him investigate the Prophet.
Rona looked at me with uneasy eyes.
“I don’t know why you want to investigate the Prophet, but please be careful. He’s surprisingly strong.”
“Really? What guild is he part of?”
“Huh? Unlike other countries, America doesn’t have a guild system at all?”
“……?”
I tilted my head in confusion. A country without guilds? Was that even possible?
When I showed my doubt, Rona sighed and explained.
“The entire country of America is basically in the Prophet’s grasp. There’s no need to create guilds.”
It was an era where even the American president would come running the moment the Prophet called. The Prophet’s America had united once again, and with a single word from him, any newborn guild could be crushed. So Americans simply didn’t feel the need to form guilds.
Using the information Rona gave me, I analyzed the Prophet’s personality.
Hmm. He’s the type who thoroughly solidifies his foundation.
People like him usually hated taking risks and strongly preferred safety.
If we end up fighting, I’ll have to break down that solid interior first.
Once the inside starts shaking, they usually can’t pay attention to the outside…
“…ni.”
“……”
“Unnie!”
“……!”
When I got lost in thought, Rona grabbed my shoulder and shook me. When our eyes met, she let out a sigh of relief.
“…What?”
“Your eyes suddenly looked really scary, so I got startled for a second.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
I took a sip of the warm cocoa. It was time to get to the main point.
“The reason I called you here is to give you a proper thank-you.”
“A thank-you?”
“Yeah.”
Rona had accepted my request even though she knew her reputation would take a hit. So I had to pay her back accordingly.
“Tell me anything. As long as it’s within my power, I’ll do my best to grant it.”
“……”
Even though Seong-a made such a tempting offer, from Rona’s perspective this sudden proposal felt incredibly awkward.
What should I do? I didn’t have anything prepared…
She had just helped because Seong-a asked, without thinking much about it. She never expected there would be a reward like this.
Hmm, something I want…
Come to think of it, Mi-yeon had completed a big achievement and given her a request to quiet down the media for a while.
“Then, unnie, could you come with me somewhere?”
Late that cold night, after posting the hiatus notice, the place Rona guided me to was the North Korean border zone.
A cold iron gate blocked our path.
“What are we doing here?”
“The guild leader unnie told me to go to the North Korean side and bring back a 1st-class monster to calm the media down.”
“Auntie did?”
“Yes, auntie… wait, what?”
At the word ‘auntie,’ Rona stared at me with a dazed expression.
Ah, I never explained it to her.
I ended up telling Rona that Chairman Hae-yeon was our maternal grandfather and that the auntie was the guild master of the Hae-yeon Guild.
Upon hearing that, Rona covered her mouth, unable to hide her amazement.
“Wow, then you’re basically a fourth-generation chaebol!”
“I guess so?”
“Then if you joined our company it would be total bullshit!”
“……”
Uh… would it?
But calling Hae-yeon a bullshit company felt a bit off.
Wait, why am I even thinking about this?
Anyway, I wasn’t planning to join any guild, and whether Hae-yeon was a small company or a big corporation wasn’t my problem.
“Stop talking nonsense and let’s go in already.”
“Yesss!”
We ignored the iron gate that said ‘Entry Prohibited’ and crossed a road littered with monster corpses.
“So what monster are we supposed to take down?”
“That’s your job, unnie.”
“……”
Rona looked at me with a shameless face. It meant I should pick the weakest one among the 1st-class monsters.
A sigh came out automatically.
“If you keep working like that, you’ll never grow.”
“Aww, what does my growth matter? Finishing the job quickly and resting is what’s important.”
Her words reminded me of the Sword Saint from the other world.
“Aww, I’m already strong enough. Do I really need to grow more?”
Well, I did drop him off a cliff full of monsters to fix that attitude.
“Sigh, fine. Since you listened to my request, I guess I should listen to yours too…”
I reached out and checked the locations where 1st-class monsters were living. There were four places total. One at the peak of Mt. Baekdu, one by the lake, two in the Diamond Mountains, and finally one beneath this very ground.
I lowered my head for a moment to check which spot would be best, then moved toward the place the divination had indicated.
“Rona, dig here.”
“Okay!”
Rona’s right hand transformed into sharp dragon claws. With tremendous force, she struck the exact spot I had pointed out.
Boom!
Crack!
Just one strike was enough to crack the entire solid cement road. In an instant, the ground collapsed.
Rona spread her wings, swiftly caught me as I fell, and landed us safely underground.
We looked around. Intense heat greeted us, and hot lava flowed like waterfalls into rivers on both sides. At least it wasn’t dark.
“Are you sure a 1st-class monster really lives here?”
“Of course it does. That’s why it’s here.”
It would’ve been strange for a 1st-class monster to live in a normal place to begin with.
I gave Rona an order.
“Take the lead.”
“Me?”
“Who else would?”
“……”
With no other choice, Rona stepped forward. We advanced like that.
As expected, small fry appeared, but we handled them without any trouble. However, because of all the lava around us, we couldn’t stay long.
“Hey, it’s hot. Let’s hurry.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
While taking care of the small monsters in my place and moving forward, Rona started asking questions.
“Unnie, is the monster I’m supposed to fight strong?”
“Moderately strong.”
“What does that even mean? Can’t you at least tell me its weakness?”
“You have to figure that out yourself.”
Where did this kid learn to look for shortcuts? She needed to learn how to fight fair and square in case something unexpected happened.
As we kept moving forward, we saw a lava giant bigger than an apartment building. Around it were smaller magma knights guarding their master. The lava sword it held looked powerful enough to slice through anything.
I hated to say this—it made me sound like a pushover—but I had no choice.
“Unnie, do you really think I can beat that thing… huh?”
When she turned around, Seong-a, who had been right behind her, was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, a small piece of paper was fluttering down from the sky like it was dancing. Something seemed to be written on it. Rona caught the paper and read the message.
The odds are 50:50.
Good luck.