Unprecedented Rookie (4)
Eunho ended the stream without so much as a warning that he was about to.
"Ha."
A sigh escaped him all on its own. But what was spilled was spilled. Unless the cup itself had shattered, water can always be poured again — so there was no point dwelling on it. What mattered was… positive thinking!
Honestly, this worked out for the best. No more forcing a performance for the camera.
Eunho knew himself well. He was perfectly capable of wearing a mask and playing a part, but he had no desire to do it for strangers without a reason.
-Eunho. Eunho.
At that moment, Regressor Arin grabbed his collar and shook him.
What?
-Look over there.
He followed her pointing finger to find the present-day Arin, chewing anxiously at her lip, fidgeting with something on her mind. It was like watching a puppy trembling in the rain.
"Arin."
"……"
"Arin?"
"Uh, wh-what?! What is it?!"
Only after he called her name twice did Arin jolt and lift her head, her eyes trembling faintly.
"Something wrong?"
There clearly was. He could feel it — but Eunho didn't press.
Trust was a crucial element between people, and betraying it only planted the seeds of discord. So he simply waited in silence for her to speak.
Besides, they had already arrived at Start Village. There was no need to rush.
After a brief silence, Arin slowly opened her mouth and confessed.
"About… the stream. I think it was because of me."
"Huh? What?"
"When the fairy first came out as the examiner, I turned the broadcast on. In case a rescue team came. But then I got so absorbed watching you in action… and before I knew it, I'd forgotten to turn it off."
"Wait… hold on. So that's why I had so many viewers early on?"
"…Yeah. Probably."
Only then could Eunho grasp the full picture.
However much watching climbers' streams was a pastime of the modern age, there had been far too many viewers for someone who'd just entered the Tower.
Made sense, really. Top climbers enjoyed a status that put idol fandoms to shame, and with it came sprawling fanbases of every stripe. For Eunho to break through that wall and gather an audience was no easy feat — how else could you describe a total nobody pulling thousands of viewers on his very first stream?
That was simply how a world worked, where climbers' streams had supplanted the internet as the mainstream.
"Wait. Isn't your stream famous? Even so, the numbers coming from yours seemed short."
Not that a few hundred was a small figure. But for the broadcast of the Saint of the Nation — the face of Korea, no less — it was strikingly modest.
"That's because… I've never once turned my stream on. It's been fifteen years since I awakened, so people must have forgotten about me. That's why so many missed their timing."
Ah. The time it took to kill the fairy? It had felt long, but in reality it wasn't.
If Arin had flipped her stream on and off as fast as a lightning strike, that flow of viewers had nowhere to go but to him — the very person whose status window had awakened and left his broadcast silently running.
The impostor was on our own team!
Of course, it wasn't all Arin's fault. He had his share too.
Normally, the moment one's status window awakened, the stream was supposed to be set to 'ON' — apparently to establish a broadcast station within the status window. But he'd only just now remembered that, and by then the water was already well and truly spilled.
"…I'm sorry."
Arin apologized again and again, her expression gloomy. It was hard not to feel for her.
"It's fine. It worked out better, honestly. Silence is scarier than hate comments — being ignored is worse for a streamer."
Climbers were not few in number. The fresh graduates entering through the Academy each year alone numbered a hundred to two hundred.
All those people entered the Tower — where established climbers, the ones with loyal viewers, were already waiting. What reason would anyone have to watch a brand-new rookie's stream?
One only had to look at the internet market before the Tower's arrival. It was a red ocean where small fry simply could not survive.
"Even if some people hate me, viewers are viewers — that's exposure. And exposure draws in more people."
Step by step, one stair at a time. If he climbed patiently, wouldn't his supporters grow someday? At least, that was what Eunho believed.
But he didn't know yet.
That his fame wasn't rising one careful step at a time — it was shooting up like an elevator.
The famous Streaming Gallery.
There, a single post had appeared.
It was a title so provocative that even the big names — who normally did nothing but flood the board with clips of their own favorite climbers — found themselves clicking on it in a heartbeat.
The Saint of the Nation, Baek Arin. She was a woman who had already risen to a special position among Korea's countless climbers.
The first Saintess candidate ever selected in Korea — no, in all of East Asia. The talent drought among those in holy orders had long been a topic of concern across many nations, and precisely because of that, Korea's hopes in her had been immense.
And that woman had turned on her stream. For the first time in over a decade.
The majority had missed her stream due to sheer bad timing, but a fortunate few had been exposed to it by miracle and tuned in.
Those who watched spoke with one voice: an unprecedented rookie had appeared in Korea.
The talk of Eunho set the gallery ablaze, and the aftershocks spread across all of South Korea in a matter of hours.
The articles poured down like a torrential rain, each one riffing on what Eunho had accomplished. A climber's status was as good as a measure of national power, after all.
The reporters would sooner die than let this opportunity slip, and they set out to churn out exclusives about him with full intent.
But the comments weren't uniformly friendly.
Critics emerged, judging his methods and his character. But as was said before, a capable climber was ultimately a measure of the nation's standing. Such comments got cut off at the source by flag-waving patriots before the news agencies could even delete them.
The story of what Eunho had endured. The worst-behaved class in Academy history. Word of it spread through those in the know, and the narrative about Eunho's character slotted neatly into place. Public opinion had turned on its heel.
In the end, all that remained were posts glorifying the newly emerged Ranker candidate, Baek Eunho.
Without ever knowing it himself, Eunho had amassed an enormous level of recognition.
Meanwhile, oblivious to all of it, Eunho was cheerfully sightseeing around Start Village.
"Pretty crowded, isn't it?"
-There are second-generation citizens born in the Tower, too. Floor 1 is relatively safe, so people set up their base here.
"Mm."
Listening to Regressor Arin's explanation, Eunho walked straight toward his destination.
The Unmanned Shop. A store, as the name suggested, that ran without a single person in it.
Nothing special, I suppose. They did say unmanned shops were the norm in the Tower.
-Not always. There's a bundle merchant on the next floor who stocks special items, and as you climb higher, sometimes there are NPCs too.
Really? Now I'm looking forward to it.
Half-heartedly agreeing with Regressor Arin's and the present-day Arin's commentary, he soon found himself stepping into what looked like the Unmanned Shop.
Welcome to the Unmanned Shop.
Generating list.
The voice greeted him the moment he opened the door, and a list unfolded before his eyes. It was a sight that could only be called fantasy.
"Hm?"
Doubt flickered across Eunho's face as he slowly scanned the list.
"Is this price right?"
No, wait. Even the unawakened could watch streams, and Eunho had watched plenty himself. The streams he'd watched most often were those of people who'd just entered Floor 1 — passing the trial, entering Start Village, inching forward step by step. Naturally, the Unmanned Shop had come up more than once.
"Why is the price doubled?"
His list was unmistakably twice as expensive as the ones he'd seen on other people's streams.
"Arin, can you read me the prices on the list?"
"Sure. Potions are 20 coins, apprentice sword is 40… and finally, the Loser's Coin is 500. Why?"
"…Nothing."
Now it was certain. He alone paid double.
Double the experience, double the prices? It's not even carrot-and-stick at this point, it's just a beating.
Eunho, newly educated in just how petty the Tower could be, suddenly realized that Regressor Arin had gone quiet some time ago.
Bewildered, he turned his head to look at her, but for some reason she kept slipping out of his field of vision.
I'm going to wrench my neck at this rate.
What's wrong? Something on your mind?
-Th-that's… I think those prices might be because of me.
What?
-I-I'm not sure, but… you did say you could feel a soul, remember? So if the Tower is registering us as two people and raising the prices…
She mumbled around her lips. He'd thought her personality had changed since her regression, but in moments like these, her habits were a perfect carbon copy of the present-day Arin.
Eunho smirked and shook his head.
It's fine. Who cares if prices are high… that just means I earn more coins, that's all.
-…Really?
Yeah. However expensive it gets, could it possibly cost more than a life?
Eunho had no heart to blame her.
-Eunho!!
Regressor Arin came flying at him, arms out for a hug — he instinctively dodged before remembering that the present-day Arin was right there, and gave up.
After all, from anyone else's view it would look like a grown man suddenly glowing and flailing alone.
Stubbornly ignoring the sensation of her cheek rubbing against his, Eunho drew out the fat stack of coins nestled in his coat.
Funny how money makes a man feel relaxed.
Eunho grinned.
Hard-earned money. Time to flex.