Luck Bug vs. Wallet Bug

There was no special reason I'd asked Lim Sarang. She'd said a few days ago that she was going to pull a 5-star class, so I figured she'd been rolling day and night ever since. I'd burned through something like 3.2 or 3.4 billion won to get mine, and I assumed she'd land in the same neighborhood.

Then I heard something off. A one—something.

Thankfully, the reflexes of a man in his early twenties cut her off and killed the call before she could finish. Even after I hung up, though, my head kept tilting.

"What do you mean, a hundred million? Does pulling a 5-star for a hundred million even make sense? Pop into any stream right now and you'll find people who've spent at least a billion won stacked to the ceiling."

I scrambled to patch it up. I'd cut her off mid-sentence, so maybe she really had spent a fortune and I'd simply misheard. Whatever the truth was, a phone call was the wrong place to let a misunderstanding like that take root. And if I was honest, part of why I'd hung up was that it was a number I hadn't wanted to hear in the first place.

"So this is what it feels like."

I went back to finishing the rolls I already had going, and that was when Lim Sarang showed up.

"Oh. Sarang."

"Hello."

"Wow. Seriously, congratulations."

"Hehe. Thank you."

"Yes. The class is Moon Saintess. I think it's a healer type... I don't know the exact details yet."

Her face was bright enough to light the room. Her love of Haven was famous, after all, and just the fact that she'd pulled a 5-star would have been enough to set her buzzing.

"But seriously... did it... come out that fast?"

"Ah... yes... It came out even faster than when I pulled my 4-star... As for the amount, it's probably kinder ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not to say it, for the people listening?"

"Pretty sure they already heard all of it."

"..."

"Actually, I met Sarang separately a few days ago. She said she'd been a little worried about playing Haven lately. Said that looking at me made her want to try for a 5-star. And that if she pulled one, she wanted to party with me and hunt together."

"No. I'm serious.."

Feeling wronged, I looked at Sarang. This was a part that needed the person involved to explain it. But her face had gone red, and she ducked her head, dodging my eyes.

"...So she left after that, started pulling for a class, and ended up coming back with a 5-star."

"Yes... that's what happened."

The shy little smile was cute. Maybe it was because we'd gotten a bit closer, but I suddenly wanted to tease her.

"All right. Then, for every user in the country still grinding class pulls as we speak, a quick video letter on how it feels to spend ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a hundred million won and pull a 5-star—"

"...Hey!"

"Kidding. I'm curious too. What kind of skills a Saintess even uses. Moon Saintess sounds like it'd be seriously strong."

"I was going to head to the temple anyway. Want to come with me once we've just pulled our options?"

"Oh. I'd love to. But are you really okay with that? If you party up with me and run around, you're going to keep showing up on stream."

Popping up on a broadcast now and then is a different thing from ending up on camera every single time you go hunting. The whole reason Sarang played Haven was to catch a breath after broadcasting had squeezed the air out of her, so if she had to stay conscious of other people's eyes in here too, Haven would turn into an uncomfortable place as well.

At the worry in my voice, she smiled, bright and easy.

"It's fine. I've decided to rest from broadcast work for about two years. I'm going to rest in Haven, playing comfortably as myself."

"What!"

"I already told the fans, and I explained it properly to the members, too."

"...You did, huh."

It was pitiful, and impressive at the same time. How well do you have to be doing — sitting so close to the top you might as well already be there — to throw that away, even temporarily, for the life you actually want?

"..."

Head dipped just a little, that pitiful tone could melt a man.

"A 5-star healer? Yeah, I can't resist that. Let's stay together for life!"

I stuck my hand out on the spot. A handshake, and a verbal contract was sealed. For a second even I went completely blank from the charm of it, and a brief silence hung in the air.

So I hurriedly grabbed for any topic at all.

"Want to make a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bet?"

"Sorry?"

"You need to pull your unique option too, right?"

"Yes."

"We roll together, and it's whoever pulls an option first. How about it?"

"Whoa. That's amazing. Sounds fun."

"You go SS up through two stars. I'll stick with my four-star SS special option as it is."

"Okay!"

Pulling an SS option is no easy thing. But Sarang had money too. When she was raising that 4-star ranker character, she must already have pushed SS through two stars, and now that she'd pulled a 5-star there was no way she'd just shrug and move on. Besides, up through a two-star SS isn't that heavy a burden by whale standards. I'm the problem.

"If you pull first, I'll pull you a three-star SS special option."

"Gasp. That's too—"

"Instead!"

And this, in its own way, was my angle. She must have seen straight through me, because she was about to refuse, and I cut her off. A scheme was a scheme, sure — but I'd tucked another scheme inside it.

"If I win, grant me any one wish."

"...."

"No. Guys. Lim Sarang of Lovely is standing right here. Is that really something you say? It's not that kind of wish, so don't drag the quality of this stream down."

The word wish hits hard. Balance a bet against something of equal weight, and a little competitive fire starts up on its own. Sarang nodded.

"Okay. Let's do it."

We agreed to keep today's rolling short.

"We've got the temple to get to. Should we only go for about two hours?"

I settled into a seat, and Lim Sarang sat down right beside me.

"Then how about you turn a stream on for a bit, too? You don't have to do it often. Just when we're pulling options like this, I think it'd be good to have each other's streams up and watch."

"Ah. Yes. I'll do that."

Sarang switched on a temporary stream, and the viewers in my room poured straight into hers and started watching both screens at once. I pulled her feed up beside me, too, and set to rolling options.

The viewers slipped back into casual-talk mode. They knew that once the rolling started, it went on for a long time. An option-pulling stream is the kind of thing you're supposed to half-watch while your brain wanders off somewhere else. But that iron law shattered the moment Lim Sarang got going.

"Huh? Kyaa! It popped! It popped!"

"Eh?"

I turned toward Sarang, who'd shot to her feet cheering.

"No way."

Not even ten minutes had passed since we'd started rolling. And Sarang's first one-star option slot was already filled — at SS. There wasn't even a reason for opinions to split over whether she should equip it. I was already using that option myself.

On her screen, the Moon Saintess. The 5-star class's information went public.

Glance at it wrong and you could easily misunderstand.

The word magic was doing a lot of work. I'd had the same question when I heard it from Windy. Holy power. Why was a healing skill magic? But if that was the setting, what were you going to do about it?

Anyway, the base effect of the 5-star Moon Saintess looked excellent in its own right.

I didn't know exactly what a Moon effect was, but the option I'd had to pull as a three-star SS special was just sitting on her kit by default. There was a condition, sure — the skill had to include Moon. On top of that, Moon skills tripled in range. Think of her as a healer, and it looked like an incredible option. Triple a heal's range, and a lot more users would fall inside it.

Or would they?

"......"

"......"

Either way, ten minutes in, the score was 0 to 1.