The Prologue Continues

After escaping the cave, I was admitted to the hospital, and by the time I got out, my high school graduation ceremony had already come and gone. My high school was a fairly prestigious one — the kind of school you still had to take an entrance exam for, rare in this day and age.

As someone near the top of a school like that, I'd naturally been pretty popular. But —

"Well. Friendship at a school like this is always like that."

Word of my grades must have already spread through the school. Even though they clearly knew I'd been hospitalized, not a single person came to visit. I didn't feel particularly hurt by it.

I'd always known our relationships were like that.

We'd always looked down on anyone whose grades slipped. We'd always treated failure as something shameful and kept our distance.

I belonged to both categories now, so of course this was how it turned out.

Even the girl I'd promised to date once we both got into university never contacted me.

And yet, strangely —

I wasn't sad at all.

No — somehow, I was starting to look forward to the future. Because in that future, there would be Eve.

"Eve... she said that was a test stream, right?"

I logged into Diy — Drag Yourself's DY — hoping to see her again, only to find a notice posted on her channel. Apparently, the stream had just been a trial run after finishing her avatar.

Come to think of it, the background had been bare, and nothing about it had felt prepared.

There had only been... that dazzling smile.

"I miss her."

According to the notice, her debut might still take a while. Maybe a year — maybe even longer. I thought about how I was going to spend that time.

And I made a decision.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. I'll be fine. And don't worry — I'll keep studying even while I'm there."

"That's not what I meant... Never mind. Do what you want. You've lived the way your father wanted until now."

"...Dad is —"

"He's busy. But... he told me to tell you to take care of yourself."

"That's unexpected."

Even with his own son heading off to the military — for that father to offer encouragement to a failure like me.

So he did have human blood in him after all.

"You should really head back. Your deadline's coming up soon, isn't it?"

"...Yeah."

For the record, my mother is a romance novelist.

Most families stick around until the induction ceremony is over, but I knew she was busy, so I saw her off and walked alone into the square where the ceremony would begin.

That was it.

After failing the CSAT and meeting Eve, I'd asked myself how I was going to wait out that long year — and decided to spend the most useless stretch of my life in the military.

Of course, I still planned to study while I was there.

There was no way I'd ever hit the score I'd been on track for, but I was determined to do better than the disaster I'd pulled off last time.

"Alright. Let's go..."

And so I entered the military.

It didn't take long to realize I'd made one critical miscalculation.

"Why is time moving so slowly..."

Apparently, the most useless stretch of my life was also going to be the longest.

Gather enough dust and someday it becomes a mountain. Raindrops gather into rivers, and rivers into seas.

Time that had been crawling along so slowly — when I finally came to my senses, a considerable amount of it had already passed.

One year since enlistment. Before I knew it, three bars of the battery had filled up.

And then —

"Today's the day."

One of the better things about the modern military was that you could use your phone. The moment work hours ended, I pulled mine out and opened Diy.

Watching me, my direct junior — Private First Class Choi Su-yeon — came over and asked,

"Corporal Go Gachi, is that Diy?"

"Yeah. Eve's debuting today."

"Whoa. So the day finally came. You've been waiting for this more than discharge day, haven't you?"

He was right. Unlike every other soldier, I'd been waiting for Eve's debut more than my own discharge.

Of course I had.

The whole reason I'd come to the military in the first place was to dump the most meaningless stretch of waiting for Eve into my service time.

I swallowed hard.

One year.

Not once in all that time had I forgotten her. Of course, human memory has its limits — her voice, the details of her avatar, had grown a little hazy.

But still... that radiant smile, I remembered even now.

"...Am I getting my hopes up too much?"

Honestly, I was a little scared too. Maybe it had all been a momentary delusion. Maybe I'd see the Eve of today and be disappointed.

And if that happened...

"Ah."

While I was fretting alone, Eve's room opened.

With trembling hands, I entered — and stared blankly at the countdown on the screen.

The chat was flooding with messages saying "Open the door."

Thanks to the massive pre-debut promotion, the group Eve belonged to — Utopia — had already become a highly anticipated newcomer among VTuber fans. Even for a first stream, there were already around a thousand viewers.

"Three, two, one... here she comes."

The countdown finally ended.

A dazzling music video played. In a forest that looked like paradise, Eve plucked an apple from a tree, took a bite — and fell into our world.

Then she opened her eyes.

And there, right in front of me, were the sparkling blue hair and blue eyes I'd seen a year ago.

How should I put it... it had been a long time, so I couldn't be completely sure.

But — ah. Thank god, I thought.

"C-Corporal Go Gachi?!"

Looking at that smile, I knew.

"Hey, hey — everyone below me, turn around! Don't look this way! You there! Don't look at Corporal Go Gachi!"

The feeling I'd had back then hadn't been a lie.

That smile that had saved me was never a delusion.

"Eve... I missed you too."

Feeling tears I hadn't shed since that day trail down my cheeks —

my world grew bright again.

Military life had been crawling along, no question. But the moment Eve debuted, time strangely began to fly at the speed of light.

Was it because every day was happy?

Or because every day was something to look forward to?

The year and a half that was supposed to be the longest stretch of my life turned out to be only two-thirds as long as I'd feared.

"I'm a civilian now. You don't have to play the junior anymore."

After the battalion commander's speech ended, as I headed outside to board the bus, Private First Class Choi Su-yeon — no, Sergeant Choi Su-yeon — followed me all the way.

Come to think of it, for better or worse, he was the person I'd seen the most and gotten closest to.

"Nah. Until you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cross that line, you're still my senior. So... I'm gonna say everything I've been holding back while looking at that gate."

"Hey, turn around right now. Who do you think you're dumping all your complaints on?"

"Hahaha. Get going, sir."

I snorted.

The second I cross this line, he's dropping the formal speech, huh. Man. Maybe I should put my earphones in.

"Well then. Thanks for everything."

"...Loyalty!"

At Sergeant Choi Su-yeon's salute, I answered with a full-throated one of my own.

"Loyalty!"

Probably the last salute of my life.

When I lowered my hand, Sergeant Choi Su-yeon lowered his too.

"I'm going."

"...Yes, sir."

At last, I stepped outside.

"Hey, Go Gachi."

Dropped the formal speech immediately. Well — he'd always been the type to charge straight ahead.

"If you see me on the outside, you bow at a full ninety degrees."

"...Hahaha. How about we settle for a nod of the head?"

"You try just nodding and I'll pluck your eyes out. And... what's with the formal speech between us?"

"...Yeah. You're right. See you around, hyung."

And with that, I exchanged one last goodbye with Su-yeon hyung and left the military base behind.

I'd completely wiped out on my first CSAT.

But I hadn't given up on university. I'd studied as hard as I could even in the military, and took the exam the moment I was discharged.

The result:

"Better than last time."

A score that would have made the old me faint on the spot — but one the current me could look at with a smile.

At least there weren't any nines on it.

"Well, more importantly — time for Eve's stream~"

CSAT scores, whatever. Eve was my number one priority.

I checked the report card, tossed it on the floor, and immediately flopped onto my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bed to pull up Eve's stream.

"HiEve~"

Hehehehe.

This is what life is about.

Chat messages poured in one after another. There was no way to read every single one as they flew by, but Eve did her best to catch as many as she could.

Lately, Eve's goal had been to read every single chat message within the first minute of going live. It made her talk so fast she sounded like a rapper — but even that was ridiculously cute.

Plenty of people sent chats that were obviously impossible to read in one go.

For the record, Eve's fans were called Adami. Since her lore had her eating the forbidden fruit and falling into our world, the name was a slight twist on "Adam" — Eve's husband.

Once again, the Adami's mischievous pranks had made Eve fail her mission.

I sent a chat of my own.

Huh?

Did she just react to my chat?

...Hehehe.

Reacting to donations was one thing. But when she responded to a casual little message like that, it really made my day.

"Time to recharge for today."

I watched Eve's stream for a full six hours before I finally sat down to fill out my university applications.

Time passed, and the day of university acceptance announcements drew near.

Between a decent CSAT score and solid grades from the start, my acceptance to a top-tier university was essentially locked in.

About three months until the entrance ceremony. All the friends I'd had had long since gone their separate ways, so there was no one to meet up with. On days without Eve's streams, I worked part-time jobs.

The rough ones were loading and unloading cargo. The easy ones were convenience store shifts.

And of course, the reason was —

— to send donations, of course. "Donations" being short for, well, donations: money you send to a streamer as support.

One Bronze Coin was a thousand won. One Silver Coin was ten thousand. One Gold Coin was a hundred thousand. A million won displayed as ten Gold Coins.

Eve was such a good streamer that her viewer count ranked first even within Utopia, and if she reacted to every single donation from that many people, the stream couldn't move forward.

So for content segments, she'd decided not to react much unless it was at least a Silver Coin — which meant I needed money for Silver Coins if I wanted her to notice me.

For the record, my username was Eve's First.

What that meant, of course, no one else could know. Only Eve and I would understand.

...Or so I wanted to believe, which was why I'd chosen the name. Maybe, just maybe, seeing it would make her remember that the nameless person from back then had been me.

"I just hope that's the case."

Of course, even if she didn't remember me, that was fine. I remembered her.

I just thought it would be even better if she remembered me too.

I didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠watch her streams hoping for anything in return.

Just her being here was already the greatest gift.

I had already been saved.

If there was a turning point in my life, it would be the day I bombed the CSAT.

After that day, I met Eve, the world grew bright, and I started living with a completely different mindset.

Quite some time had passed since then.

University orientation was one day away. I was on my way to the studio apartment I'd set up near campus.

My stuff had been shipped over a few days earlier, and the basic unpacking was already done.

"I never thought I'd actually get to live in a place like this."

It was a top-tier university, sure, but not one that would satisfy Dad — so I'd figured help with housing was out of the question. I'd planned to live in the dorms, work part-time, and cover the fees myself.

That was what I'd been thinking when Mom told me:

"Your father already found you a place. He said to live there while you're in university."

Unexpectedly, thanks to Dad's help, I was going to have a pretty comfortable setup.

Something I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been feeling lately... no, something I'd felt for a while now.

Dad had changed.

I don't know the reason, but I can guess when it started. Probably from the day I bombed the CSAT.

Had he felt guilty about the state I'd been in after that day?

Or had he simply decided I wasn't someone worth placing excessive expectations on?

I had no way of knowing — but of course I was grateful.

"Even when I thank him, he just takes it so blankly that I still can't tell what he really feels."

Of course, Dad's reactions hadn't changed much from before. Even when I thanked him, he just nodded.

But still... the fact that he met my eyes when he nodded — that part, at least, was a little different.

"And the place he found for me turned out to be this nice."

I finally arrived at the studio apartment that would be home for my university years. It was a one-room, but the atmosphere was clean, and campus was a ten-minute walk away. Honestly, it was about as close as you could get to the ideal studio apartment I'd imagined.

I'd been here before, but the feeling was fresh all over again as I quietly looked up at the two-story building in front of me.

For the record, my room was 201. Since they'd said the second floor was for guys, I figured the first floor was for women.

"Alright. Time to head in."

And right after I said that, coincidence struck.

"Haa, this is way too much. I should've moved the stuff over earlier..."

If Dad hadn't chosen this particular apartment.

If I hadn't arrived at this place, on this day, at this time.

If Eve's stream weren't about to start soon.

This meeting never would have happened.

"...What?"

Hearing someone's voice, I turned around without thinking — as if my soul itself had told me to.

"The computer, and everything else — why is there so much stuff... I should've called some friends to help."

The person speaking was a woman.

Black hair in a short cut, a white T-shirt, and skinny jeans that showed off the long lines of her legs — all of it making her presence shine even brighter.

Not just pretty. The kind of mature beauty that made you think, cool.

"Think I can get it all moved by evening..."

And to that beauty, without even realizing it —

"Um... want some help with that?"

"Huh?"

I'd spoken to her.