98. Jeanne d'Arc and RinTube
98. Jeanne d'Arc and RinTube
***
Morning sunlight filtered softly through the officetel window, signaling the start of a new day.
6:17 a.m.
A woman neatly dressed and put-together moved her lips slightly, as if confirming something to herself.
"Five days left."
The time remaining before she had to join the team at their accommodations ahead of the playoffs.
The woman, tidying her jet-black hair that fell to her waist, was the core player of the pro team TSJ—a pro player also known by the nickname "the Saintess."
A pro gamer who had been writing an ongoing legend of five consecutive league championships ever since the launch of the ACK League.
There had been times when the team TSJ had wavered along the way, but even so, Jeanne d'Arc—Yoo Eunha—had always shone.
And right now, on a personal level, she was carrying one enormous worry.
"Can I do it in five days?"
Eunha, speaking in a calm but composed voice, recalled the conversation she'd had with Sua inside Another World just a short while ago.
Sua's answer, given after a moment of thought, to the question of how she'd gotten close to Rin.
—I met Rin in person and we got close.
That she'd met her in person and gotten close.
At those perfectly ordinary words, Eunha couldn't think of anything to say in response.
In the end, she hadn't been able to ask directly, "Could I meet Rin in person?" Instead, she'd circled around it and asked cautiously, and Sua had smiled as if she'd caught on to Eunha's intent and given her an answer.
—I'll ask Rin for you!
After that, Eunha had expressed her thanks to Sua, and their conversation had ended.
The time for her to join the team was approaching, but her relationship with Rin showed no signs of progressing.
Looking back, ever since that single whisper thanking her for the donation, there had been no further contact with Rin.
To be precise, Rin seemed so utterly indifferent toward her that Eunha couldn't find the right moment to close the distance.
So on the day Rin's suspension was lifted, she'd been about to donate again right away—but then the G1 players had suddenly donated first.
It meant a scrim schedule with Rin had been arranged, and at that fact, Eunha had simply gone blank.
On top of that, Eunha had watched all of Rin's stream yesterday as she watched the ACK match, and by the end, she'd even felt jealousy.
Rin watching the match while cheering for G1.
Rin's voice, laughing as she said she'd donate five million won if G1 lost, came back to her vividly now.
—Kang Hyeok, fighting!
And decisively, even a voice cheering for a specific player.
Eunha had never imagined that receiving someone's cheers could be something so enviable, so to her, it was like a small shock.
She'd always been grateful to her fans, but she'd never felt jealousy like she had yesterday.
Then, all of a sudden, the thought crossed her mind: what if she asked her team to arrange a scrim with Rin too? Would that be possible?
If so, then maybe the person hearing Rin's "fighting" wouldn't be the player Kang Hyeok—maybe it could be her.
Lost in all sorts of idle thoughts, Eunha soon realized how pointless it all was and shook her head.
"...What am I thinking? Like an idiot."
In the end, all of it was nothing more than a "what if."
There was no guarantee, no certainty that it could happen.
And she was dumbfounded at herself for having considered asking for the same thing just because she envied someone.
Then, all of a sudden, she remembered Rin's voice from the ACK opening, speaking as if in admiration, and Eunha let out a soft, quiet smile.
With all the donations that had poured in one after another, even the nickname Jeanne d'Arc had been mentioned often, but judging by Rin's voice, she'd clearly caught on to some extent about her identity.
In the first place, Another World didn't allow duplicate nicknames, so maybe it was only a matter of time before Rin figured out who she was.
Her pro name and her actual in-game nickname weren't different, so in the end, the nickname Jeanne d'Arc was bound to stand out.
But even so, Rin hadn't let it show on her stream.
She could have mentioned that she knew the pro gamer Jeanne d'Arc, or that she'd already donated to Rin multiple times.
But Rin, as if it were nothing at all, brushed it off with a natural-sounding "Is that so?" every time the nickname Jeanne d'Arc came up.
Eunha liked that side of Serin, but at the same time, it left her feeling a little wistful.
Even if Rin had tried to use her name to gain some advantage, Eunha would have pretended not to notice—or accepted it as something unavoidable.
After spending several days studying internet broadcasting and learning about streamers, Eunha found Rin's attitude a little disappointing.
"I heard ordinary streamers usually treat their donors like royalty."
No one had donated more than she had, but Rin didn't even mention her when she watched the stream.
"......Is it because the money's too small?"
The thought suddenly crossed her mind, but she shook her head again.
The donations that had gone off yesterday had casually blown past the ten-million-won mark.
And yet Rin's attitude hadn't changed at all.
The way she'd watched the ACK match as if seeing it for the first time, focused and exclaiming in admiration, and at the end, even cheering for G1 as if she were enjoying the match.
"...Hoo."
Letting out a small sigh, Eunha soon began looking things up on a nearby PC.
She opened the NewTube videos and communication-related e-books she'd been looking at earlier.
She wanted to see if she could actually meet Rin, but she also didn't want to meet her and have an awkward conversation or show an unimpressive side of herself like last time, so she was trying to prepare at least a little in advance.
Tap-tap-tap.
【How to Get Close to Someone You Want to Be Close With—100% Success! (Hey! You Can Get Close Too!)】
That was the title of the NewTube video Eunha played.
—Getting close person-to-person actually has a set formula, surprisingly! From famous celebrities known as social butterflies with wide networks, to celebs who've made a name for themselves by building connections far and wide! I'll tell you the common trait they all share!
As the woman in the video spoke confidently, Eunha watched with shining eyes.
—The first formula for getting close to someone you want to be close with! It's the "mere exposure effect"! In other words, just being near the other person, or somewhere within their field of vision, has a huge effect! What's more, this works just as well even if your first impression wasn't great! The more often you're exposed to the other person's field of vision, the stronger the effect......
After watching that one video with full concentration, Eunha immediately browsed through several community videos.
And across hours of videos and books, she sensed a common philosophy.
If you want to get close to someone, you have to be near them somehow, or you have to keep imprinting yourself on them.
—Payment completed.
And so Eunha charged another one million won into the donation account.
She didn't care if it was just a fleeting, insincere greeting.
Because she wanted to hear any personal word from Rin.
***
Sleep.
Something that exists in nearly all living creatures, and most living creatures must sleep periodically.
During sleep, the body recovers and the mind finds stability—essentially a period of rest—and failing to get enough sleep can cause all sorts of abnormalities.
In fact, there's even a saying that the hardest urge to endure is the urge to sleep, making sleep an indispensable element for nearly all living creatures.
......
"No... fourteen hours is a bit much, isn't it."
Blinking her eyes, Serin checked the time and muttered blankly.
2:15 p.m.
Sunlight bright enough to sting was shining brightly into the room.
I'd streamed late into the night yesterday, and on top of that, I'd pushed myself a bit looking into places to donate after checking the community. Sure enough, the moment I threw myself onto the bed and sank into its coziness, the next afternoon arrived in the blink of an eye.
BaTalk!
A notification popped up on my phone screen, so I turned it on and checked the message.
Kim Hayoon.
[I seriously can't sleep!! What do I do?]
"...What is this about."
The latest message in the newly created chat room exclusively for RinTube staff.
Park Soyul.
[I know exactly how you feel, Hayoon!!]
I blankly scrolled with my thumb and checked the chat room contents.
It looked like the editors had been chatting back and forth about all sorts of things while I was asleep.
From what I could gather, the response to the first video uploaded to RinTube was so good that Hayoon couldn't sleep.
On top of that, it had entered the real-time trending videos during the early morning hours and received a boost, so the views and subscribers were climbing rapidly.
I could see the chat history of the two excited editors talking all night about this and that, and reading it, I just found the two of them adorable.
Me.
[I streamed late last night so I haven't seen the video yet, but I guess the NewTube response is good?]
I already knew the answer, but I sent the message anyway.
Kim Hayoon.
[Yes!!! It's seriously insane!!! It's #3 on the trending videos ranking right now!! Rin, go check it right away!]
The reply came within one second of sending the message, and the joy in it was so palpable that I couldn't help but smile.
Me.
[Hayoon, get some sleep now. It looks like you've been working nonstop.]
Kim Hayoon.
[I just... I love this moment so much right now, ah, I'm just not going to sleep! Ah, it really feels like a dream! I'm so happy, seriously!!]
Soyul.
[Just enjoy the moment, Hayoon!! That feeling when the video you worked on slams into the real-time trending rankings! So you have to enjoy it now!]
From Hayoon saying she wasn't going to sleep at all to Soyul telling me to enjoy the moment, every single message was so funny that I couldn't help but let out a soft laugh.
Slip.
I got up from the bed and turned on the PC.
My unkempt white hair blocked my vision, but with the editors that happy, I had to react somehow too. I planned to properly check the video on the PC.
Tap-tap-tap.
I went straight to the NewTube site and entered my channel, where a single video had been uploaded.
Click.
—Trending Video #3.
[RinTube Open!]
Views: 601,672
The moment she clicked, the bottom of the video displayed its current ranking as a trending video, which made her a little happy.
The video that began like that showed cutscene-like clips of her swinging the Crescent-Moon Weight in all sorts of stances, and then—
—Clang!
The screen suddenly inverted into darkness as a clear parry sound rang out. Immediately after, RinTube's signature red logo appeared.
The video went on like that, and at the five-minute mark of the time-lapse—
—So. I'm saying let's do it like this, with no handicaps on either side.
At the sound of her own voice ringing out again, Serin couldn't help but move the mouse.
Click.
Unable to watch even half the video, she turned it off.
"......"
With her face flushed bright red, Serin blankly raised her hands and covered her face.
The video was zooming in on her face as if the meaningless things she'd said to the people she'd fought were some kind of famous quotes. She'd managed to get through the first one or two, but as it kept repeating, her face grew so hot with embarrassment that she felt like it might burst, and she simply couldn't watch to the end.
"Ah... ugh."
After agonizing for a moment over how to reply to the chat, she finally just sent "The intro was really good," and then fled the room, heading to the bathroom.
Clack!
And so the smartphone was left sitting alone in front of the desktop.
After that, notifications kept popping up on the screen from the editors' messages arriving by the second.
Unlike the group chat she'd muted, the phone suddenly rang with the distinctive BaTalk sound.
—BaTalk!
A new message appeared on the smartphone screen.
Yoon Sua.
[Serin! Do you happen to know someone called Jeanne d'Arc?]