The Price of Flattening Baekdu
I couldn’t help but admire the scenery before me. “Hmm… what happened here?” Wasn’t I just standing on the freezing peak of Mt. Baekdu moments ago? Why was there suddenly a vast grassland…? A wave of anxiety crashed over me. ‘…No way. This isn’t because of the technique I used, right?’ If it was, I was truly screwed.
I closed my eyes for a moment and checked the satellite feed over Mt. Baekdu, then let out an automatic sigh of relief. ‘Phew… thank goodness.’ Thanks to my transcendent luck, the satellite had glitched out temporarily.
“I need to get out of here fast….”
“Unni!”
A voice called out from afar. Turning toward the sound, I saw Rona rushing over at full speed. Afterimages trailed behind her, but the fact that she’d returned meant she’d won. She slowed down as she approached, unable to hide her flustered expression.
“What happened?! A pillar of light suddenly appeared and the entire Baekdu area…!”
“Shh.”
“……”
I pressed a finger to Rona’s lips. There was no point talking here. We escaped the Baekdu region and slipped into a forest near the 38th parallel. When I explained what had happened, Rona’s face went pale with shock.
“What do you mean… So you’re saying you defeated Azrael on Baekdu?!”
“Yeah.”
Azrael was the name of the monster I’d just taken down. It didn’t even look like an angel, so I couldn’t understand why the name ended with “el.”
“…Sigh.”
Rona let out a long sigh for some reason. Why? Shouldn’t she be happy that the credit was going to her?
“…That thing wasn’t an ordinary 1st-class monster.”
“Then what?”
“Ultra ultra ultra!!! 1st-class!”
As expected, there were ranks even among 1st-class monsters. Azrael, stationed at Baekdu, was the very definition of ultra ultra ultra 1st-class. A single slash had killed over a hundred A-class hunters, and two slashes had wiped out half the S-class. It hadn’t earned the title “Angel of Death” for nothing.
How strong was it, roughly? Rona silently held up five fingers.
‘We’re screwed.’
The one I’d defeated was among the top five strongest monsters in the world. I had to fix this, and fast.
“Even if I say I defeated it…”
“Of course no one will believe you.”
“……”
Bang!
I slammed my head against a tree. Blood trickled out, but it was nothing. I’d thought any strong opponent would do, but I’d picked one that was far too strong. ‘And on top of that, I flattened Baekdu…’
I hated my master so much. If he had a technique like that, he should’ve told me sooner! He only taught me how to use it! ‘And the price… I can’t ignore the price either…!’
Just thinking about the cost gave me a headache, but it was already too late for regrets.
“Can’t we just say you took care of it?”
“Would you believe it if it was Unni?”
“……”
No matter how much I tried to escape reality, only cruel reality awaited. “Let’s just stay quiet for now.”
“Will that even work? The media won’t stay still…”
“I already told you. The satellite’s broken right now. No one will know it was us.”
“But Baekdu turned into a plain…”
Rona was clearly anxious. Honestly, the geography issue wasn’t a big deal. North Korea’s territory was already unusable wasteland crawling with monsters, and both sides had basically told each other to take it. The real problem was China. I couldn’t even imagine the kind of chaos that prideful country would cause if they found out another nation had defeated something they couldn’t.
Seong-a seemed to read Rona’s thoughts and sighed. “Forget all that. If you don’t say anything, no one will ever know.”
“……”
In the end, Rona seemed to agree. She carried me home without another word, the fact that Baekdu had become a vast plain buried forever in our hearts.
A day passed without incident. Right now, thanks to the technique my master had taught me, I was in a state of Great Misfortune—extreme bad luck. The solution was simple: just stay home and do nothing. But staying still was unbearably boring, so Ha-im and I were watching the news on the sofa.
-“This morning, along with a massive pillar of light, the area around Mt. Baekdu…”
“Whoa, that’s insane…”
“……”
Ha-im was impressed. I said nothing. Staying quiet was the correct answer right now.
“Who do you think did it?”
“Dunno. Not really curious…”
“Can’t you check with divination?”
“No.”
What was I supposed to do with this clueless girl? She looked ready to keep asking, so I had no choice but to keep flipping channels.
-“Currently in China…”
-“We’re live at the Baekdu area right now…”
-“Astronomers from various countries…”
No matter how many channels I changed, every single one was talking about Baekdu.
“Wait, stop for a second.”
“……?”
At Ha-im’s words, I paused. On the screen was me. Ha-im smiled brightly at Seong-a.
“Lately Mom’s been smiling nonstop because of this, you know?”
Seong-a’s reaction was indifferent. “What’s the big deal about being on TV.”
I didn’t understand why she was making such a fuss over filming one ad. We kept watching.
“Wow, the ad came out really well…”
“It’s all editing. You can’t trust it.”
“No, how is that editing? There’s literally no difference.”
Ha-im searched up the ad on NewTube and started reading the comments.
The comments were nothing but praise for my looks. This was getting embarrassing. What did I even do to deserve this…?
We watched the second ad together.
“The vibe of the ad really suits your face.”
“Really? Do I have a scary face?”
“That’s not it. It’s more that it looks cold. Oppa’s face just isn’t the type people feel comfortable approaching.”
“Is that so?”
I didn’t really know. Pretty was just pretty. I didn’t see the need to overanalyze it.
After the ads ended and there was nothing left to do, I stood up and headed to my room.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m turning on stream.”
I usually streamed at night, but since I’d taken yesterday off, I figured I’d start early today. I went into my room and hit the stream button.
“……?”
The moment I started streaming, the chat was flooded with apologies. Did I do something wrong?
“Why are you all acting like this suddenly? It’s so cringy…”
It was so embarrassing I got goosebumps. Viewers who usually hurled insults were suddenly apologizing—it felt completely alien.
Yeah. This was my usual stream.
Then a donation popped up.
“Huh? I took a break because I had something to do with Rona.”
Did they really think I was mad just because I wrote the break reason honestly?
The chat was flooded with countless “naraks.”
“Pfft, what narak? You guys were the ones overreacting in the first place.”
Getting angry over something so small was petty to begin with. Did I look like the type to get mad over that? Besides…
“And that’s just a fact.”
“Well, being good at plugging a straw is a skill too, isn’t it?”
As internet streaming became mainstream, more and more people made it their job. In a way, sucking through a straw was also a skill. And someone like me had done a pretty good job of filtering out the trolls while still sucking well.
“Yeah, she’s here. She’s probably watching the news in the master bedroom.”
At the news that Ha-im was in the master bedroom, the viewers immediately started demanding I bring her out.
“Do you want to see her that badly?”
‘Tsk. I can’t tell if this is her stream or mine.’
I couldn’t understand why they wanted to see such a weak girl. Just then, a bit of mischief stirred in me.
“It’s a shame to show her for free…”
As expected of my viewers, they caught on immediately.
“How about we play a game with a week off as the penalty? Sound good?”
As expected, they didn’t accept it. But I had a trump card.
“Scared?”
As expected, men were simple. One “scared?” and they immediately took the bait.
‘Hmm, it does seem too long.’
Actually, this week off was meant for my trip to Japan. I was planning to play around there for a whole week anyway, so granting one more wish before leaving wouldn’t be bad.
“Okay. Is there anything else you want?”
The Gojadan clearly wanted a penalty stream.
“If it’s a penalty, something like a horror game?”
‘Tsk!’ Unfortunately, they didn’t fall for it. Strangely, the viewers only got smart at times like this.
Then the president sent a donation.
“……”
Female cam… wearing revealing clothes and acting cute for the viewers?
“Ha… ha, Female Cam Day? As expected of the president! Your sense of humor is amazing…”
I tried to brush it off, but it was useless.
Before I knew it, the viewers had completely forgotten their original goal of seeing Ha-im. This couldn’t continue. I had to convince them quickly.
“Hey… it’s not fun at all, so stop it. What… what do you mean by me dancing…”
Female cam? There was no way I could do something like that. Revealing clothes and dancing while acting cute—my pride absolutely couldn’t allow it!
“……”
The viewers didn’t seem willing to change their minds. Thus began the bet with Female Cam Day and a week off on the line.