The Divine Magic Root Class

Lim Sarang had never been this confused in her life.

She was more emotional than she had ever been, making calls her reason would never have allowed. It had started with declaring a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two-year hiatus.

Fortunately, the members cheered her on.

"We've earned a break, haven't we? It's already been years since we debuted."

"Mm-hmm, exactly, unnie. Don't worry about us. We may not be you, but we've got plenty of solo schedules!"

"...I'm jealous. I want to stay home and play games too..."

"Thanks. All of you..."

She had always been the type to charge straight ahead once her mind was set. It had been that way when she stepped into the entertainment world, and when she composed. If she wanted to do something, she tried it first. So she had been able to decide this time, too.

Even if her face in reality and her face in the game were different. No—she had chosen to make that not matter, and to stay with him in Haven. If they were going to hunt, grow, and spend all day glued together in there anyway, then whatever she looked like in the real world wouldn't matter.

Of course she knew. Someday, if they kept staying that close and the moment came when she liked not only how he looked but the person himself, a moment of truth would arrive that she would have to face. Even so, she decided she wouldn't worry about it before then.

And if, when that day came, she met the truth in reality and her heart cooled—then all it would mean was that her feelings had never been more than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an interest drawn to an appearance.

Once she settled it that way, her heart eased a little. She had Kim Siwoo's permission, too. There was no reason left to hesitate.

She deleted the character without a second thought. The decision was made; what good would clinging to it do? Anything tradable could simply stay in the house. The character would be erased, but the records on her account itself were not deleted from Haven, so even if she came in on a new character, the house under Lim Sarang's name would not vanish. The features that worked that way were limited to a few things, like the bank and a house. Thanks to that, she was spared having to dump every item in a panic and eat the loss.

"Haa."

Two years ago, when she had known nothing about Haven and was starting the game, she had stood in this room once. Only now, coming back to it, did it finally feel real. I threw everything away. I'm starting over. She had prepared ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠herself, but the hollowness of actually facing it landed with a meaning all its own.

She gave herself a moment of meditation and quieted her heart. Cards inscribed with classes turned.

"Can I do this?"

Resolving to abandon everything and come all the way down—if that had been the first gate, the second was not a matter of heart. It was a gate made of money.

Her wallet. An emerald mine with no end in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sight. A mine no one else could enter with her, where only she could decide whether to keep going. Could she dig those emeralds out?

She had no confidence. Lim Sarang had aimed for a four-star and pulled one, but if she judged by her memory of that time, she fell on the unlucky side. She had a feeling she was going to spend a lot. That worry was why she had sold a building, and why she had wrung so much out of her contract fee that—even after signing a confidentiality agreement—she earned a grumbling earful from a president said to be the best in the industry.

In prepared cash alone, she had more than eighty billion won.

"Please... let this be enough..."

Of course, even if she spent all of it pulling, a separate problem waited afterward. The whole world already knew, through Kim Siwoo, that a five-star class was a hippo that guzzled money. It had to appear quickly. Only then, even if she couldn't match his pace, could she go around with him without getting in the way.

And so she, too, entered a lonely stretch of time.

But it wasn't as lonely, or boring, or tedious as she had expected.

"Pfft."

Because she had already pulled a four-star once, she could leave auto-pull running—and with it running, she had Kim Siwoo's stream up beside her and was watching. More than once or twice, her fingers itched. She wanted to donate and catch his attention. She held back anyway.

"I don't think it's going to pop..."

That was her verdict after letting it run for a day. The balance, nearly a hundred million won already gone, made her vision swim. She had spent more than this playing Haven, and what she had left was far greater still, but she had always lived without much extravagance, and she honestly didn't like this kind of pouring water into a jar with no bottom.

"Still... I have to."

Because it was something she liked that much. Haven, and Kim Siwoo. If she could have both, then doing something that made her hesitate a little was nothing.

"Whew. I'll do just ten million more and shut it off for today."

She had meant to simply turn it off, but right then a new segment was starting on Kim Siwoo's stream. Pay money, and he rolled options for you—a segment where a jackpot worse than the lottery came back. The moment she saw it, she thought he had made something good.

"I might've tried it, too..."

If she hadn't deleted her character, wouldn't she already be donating a million won at a time, endlessly? The pretext was perfect. A level 60 full five-star set. If she said she was investing for that, no one would doubt what she was really after. Even now her hand itched to donate, but she had her own place to spend, so she was only enduring it.

"Ahaha. This is actually hilarious."

"This is fun, though..."

She couldn't really understand the reactions. Not that she cared. It only had to be fun for her.

She watched for a long while. Kim Siwoo's option stream, spinning on other people's money, was good too. Please, just pop. She was thinking the same thing he was.

"Is it even right to hope it pops?"

If it did, how much in items would she have to match for him? The thought made her snort.

"Who am I even worried about?"

There was a saying going around the Haven community lately: worry about celebrities if you must, but don't worry about Kim Siwoo's wallet. What he even did for a living, why he had this much money—still hidden behind a veil, with countless people trying to dig it up, and still not exposed. Every day the posts multiplied. He must be broke by now. It's loans. He's crypto-rich, but he'll be cleaned out soon. And still, endlessly, the money kept coming.

Realizing that her ideal type came with this kind of financial ease on top of everything else, she thought it might only make him more attractive. Even if she let herself imagine the what-if. A boyfriend who loafed around at home, yet didn't lean on her and handled everything himself. Then he wouldn't be some deadbeat living off the house. He'd be a freelancer, faithful to the work he actually wanted to do.

In the middle of that happy daydream, Lim Sarang felt that something was off.

"Huh?"

She had been so absorbed in the stream beside her that she hadn't noticed. The class-pull cards, which should have gone back to turning in the background, weren't moving. She didn't think much of it. Had the money she'd loaded run out? She had wanted to spend exactly a hundred million won a day, so she had charged Windy Pay with exactly a hundred million. Thinking that might be it, she turned her head.

And she saw it.

"Eek! What? I pulled it?"

A five-star class had appeared. She couldn't contain herself. She wanted to donate on the stream that very moment and announce it.

"...No. He's in the middle of rolling options. I shouldn't..."

Even then, Lim Sarang thought of Kim Siwoo, days deep into rolling for a four-star option. If their places were reversed, would he feel good about it? She could congratulate him, but Kim Siwoo might be different. Still, it would be better to tell him.

First, she logged into the game. Her body felt light. Haven, the world she had always logged into, was the same as ever, but her character—everything reset—was shabby and plain. Strangely, though, even at level 1, with every stat at 1, her heart felt steadier than it ever had when she logged into her ranker character.

"Hehe."

She shouldn't interrupt the stream, so maybe she would just send a friend request for now. She sent it lightly, almost in passing—but maybe the timing was strange, because Kim Siwoo accepted it immediately.

"Huh?"

She had missed the broadcast for a moment while logging in, and the mood in chat was anything but ordinary. There was a great deal of talk about a Saintess appearing, about five-stars, about all of it.

"How did they know?"

She was certain she hadn't told anyone. There hadn't even been time. Had Kim Siwoo seen the friend request and put it together? She had told him she was challenging a five-star pull, after all. While she was still wondering, a call came in.

Hearing a voice through the phone that was full of sincere congratulations, Lim Sarang couldn't help but smile. How many people, while spending a fortune themselves and still failing to pull, could congratulate someone else's success? Somehow, her fondness for him climbed a little higher.

So that was how the viewers, and Kim Siwoo, had found out first.

Question marks were plastered across the chat, and seeing Kim Siwoo grit his teeth and ignore every one of them made her laugh. His interest in her felt good.

The call cut off in a rush, and Lim Sarang closed the chat window along with it.