156. Jeanne d'Arc, Yoo Eunha
156. Jeanne d'Arc, Yoo Eunha
***
Players and officials never ran out of things to say about Jeanne d'Arc.
With overwhelming performances every season, an unshakable first-place league record, and a career that had taken first place at every single Another World tournament held over the past three years without exception, her resume was dazzling.
On top of that, there were even assessments that she alone had pulled the ACK League into a revival, so among league officials, her reputation could never be anything but stellar.
......
Honestly, no matter what you ask me to say about Jeanne d'Arc, I don't have anything to say.
Because no matter what flowery words you attach to her, no words can keep up with Jeanne d'Arc.
It's a little embarrassing to say, but a player like Jeanne d'Arc is like a brilliantly shining jewel in and of herself, so when it comes to saying what I think of her, I really have nothing to say. She's just an incredible player.
Ah, did that all come out a bit much?
- ACK caster Seong Junhyeong, in an interview right after the 2030 ACK League ended.
When you watch Jeanne d'Arc play, just that alone makes you admire her.
And if you actually get to play alongside her, even those words stop coming out.
So if I had to put into words how it felt to play on the same team as her for a year, I think this is the only way I can express it.
An ally so reassuring that it's a blessing we never met as enemies?
To me, calling the real Jeanne d'Arc a saintess wouldn't even be wrong.
You know how in history they say Jeanne d'Arc rode into battle holding a banner and lifted her allies' morale?
That's exactly what it felt like just having her on the team. No matter who we faced, it never felt like we could lose.
- Former TSJ pro player Park Hajin. From an interview given upon leaving TSJ.
Jeanne d'Arc... To me, she's a player I'm truly grateful for. And also an incredible player.
It's no exaggeration to say that the reason I'm in the head coach position now is entirely because of Jeanne d'Arc—because of Eunha.
Honestly, every season I end up placing big expectations on Eunha for our league results, but sometimes I wonder if that puts pressure on her. She's performed absurdly well for us all this time, after all.
So even as I keep expecting her to do well going forward, lately I've found myself thinking without realizing it about whether there's anything more I can do for her.
You know that supercar—no, they call it a hypercar—one of only a handful in the world, that recently came into the country as sponsorship for Eunha personally, right?
Watching that from the sidelines, I just kept worrying about whether there's anything more the team can do for her.
I can't share the details of the contract, but I can say this with certainty: there is no player in this country who receives the same treatment as her.
And just having Eunha stay with TSJ next year is something I couldn't be more grateful for.
- TSJ head coach Seong Jinwoo, November 2030. From an interview right after successfully re-signing Jeanne d'Arc.
......
August 21st, Saturday.
Before the collab stream, Serin was briefly browsing community posts and articles.
She had looked them up to figure out what to say to Eunha during the upcoming stream commentary, and the posts were all uniformly full of praise for her.
'...Was she always this big?'
Serin had already known that Eunha's popularity was enormous, but the articles and community posts about Jeanne d'Arc went beyond a kind of praise and gave off an inescapable sense of near-deification.
Click. Click.
As she closed the open articles and community pages one by one, she felt oddly strange for no real reason.
"Is it really okay for me to collab with Eunha?"
The words slipped out before she knew it.
The more she looked into it, the greater the value of the name Jeanne d'Arc seemed, to the point where she genuinely wondered if it was okay to do a collab.
No matter how much people said perceptions of internet broadcasting varied by streamer, there was still an average image attached to the profession.
The image that came to mind for a prosecutor, lawyer, or judge was clearly different from the image that came to mind for a streamer.
Just as high-priced athletes and famous celebrities didn't appear just anywhere.
"But... I already talked about it so much on stream, so I can't back out now."
It was far too late to message Eunha on BaTalk and ask again whether the collab was okay. After all, she had spent the last three days talking about the collab on stream, so viewer expectations were already sky-high.
She abruptly checked the time.
—12:37.
There were less than thirty minutes left until Eunha was supposed to arrive.
"Still, I should at least ask once."
Thinking she should ask again, she swept her hair back out of habit.
Because they had been messaging quite comfortably on BaTalk, she hadn't paid much attention to the weight of a collab.
Now that she'd read those posts, though, they each had their own positions to consider. Maybe she had been thinking about it too lightly.
"A collab, huh."
She muttered blankly, thinking anew that it was funny how the collab had even been arranged.
Originally, she'd had no intention of doing a collab at all.
After all, a few days earlier, while looking at the list Soyul had sent of people wanting to collab with me, I'd briefly considered it. But after the call with Big Cat, any desire I had to collab with someone else had completely vanished.
Then, right around then, she happened to receive a message.
Yoo Eunha.
[An icon of a pure white lamb holding a sign that read "Hoping the weekend comes soon."]
Seeing that message reminded me that I had plans with Eunha this weekend, and I sent a message of my own.
Me.
[Eunha, I'm thinking of streaming for a little while on Saturday. What do you think?]
It was a message sent as a joke, figuring there was no way she'd accept given the weight of the name Jeanne d'Arc.
After that, when Eunha—who normally replied within thirty seconds—went quiet for about ten minutes, I'd belatedly started to send a follow-up saying it was a joke, worried I'd made a mistake.
Yoo Eunha.
[Serin, sorry for the late reply. It took a little while because I was talking with the front office. I got the okay for the collab.]
But Eunha had taken my words seriously and answered that the collab was possible.
Now, days later, she let out a hollow laugh as she looked at that message again.
"From Eunha's perspective... I must look like a total opportunist."
Because when Eunha had asked to spend time together, I'd proposed a collab.
Even so, Eunha had replied that if it could help me, she'd be happy too, and sent messages saying she was looking forward to the collab.
Amid those complicated thoughts, one thought struck her.
—Sponsorship.
She realized that all of this had ultimately been set in motion because of sponsorship.
During last week's personal stream, Eunha had donated a massive sum amounting to ten million won in a single day.
That had truly been the start of everything.
Since it was no small amount of money, Serin had intended to grant whatever Eunha wanted to a reasonable degree, and when they met in Another World, Eunha had cautiously brought up one request.
She asked if Serin could spend time with her next weekend.
And not just one day—Eunha asked me to spend the entire weekend together. I honestly thought that was too much and refused at first.
On her days off from streaming, she wanted that time all to herself. It wasn't so much that Eunha made her uncomfortable as that she considered it personal rest time.
So she said she didn't think she could grant that request and offered to return the donated amount, but Eunha refused, saying it was really fine.
Then, uncharacteristically for Eunha, she pressed once more, saying that if not then, she wouldn't have any free time, and I ultimately accepted.
—Ding-dong.
Shaking off her thoughts at the sound of the bell, she immediately moved toward the door.
***
"..."
In front of the door to an officetel,
A woman stood there, carefully checking her appearance.
Swish.
Her hand moved past her white shirt and smoothed out her blue cardigan.
Yoo Eunha.
Unlike usual, she had tied back her long black hair to clearly reveal her pale neckline, and once she decided she looked fine, she slowly raised her hand.
Her expression was calm and composed.
But in contrast, her eyes, shining like jet-black jewels, gleamed as if filled with heat, subtly revealing that she was looking forward to this moment.
Ding-dong.
Only a few seconds passed after she pressed the bell, but to Eunha even that time felt long.
Clack.
Through the slowly opening door, the first thing that entered Eunha's vision was a head of pure white hair, whiter than anything else.
And as the full figure of a woman gradually came into view, she found it fascinating.
Serin in a white box tee looked different to Eunha.
Maybe because she was at home, it was a completely casual look, nothing like when they'd met at the cafe last time.
"Hello, Serin?"
"Yes, hello."
As she answered and looked at Eunha, Serin momentarily felt like she was looking at a celebrity.
'Why did she get so dressed up?'
She'd thought they were just going to hang out casually, but the way Eunha had dressed up felt nothing like that, and Serin briefly even wondered if Eunha dressed this nicely every day.
Thinking that maybe a star's life was just different, Serin exchanged a few simple words and then slowly led Eunha inside.
Thunk.
As Eunha stepped into the living room and set down something wrapped in obviously high-end packaging, Serin glanced at it.
Eunha gave a small smile and shook her head.
"Ah, this is... just a little gift. Still, I'm visiting your home, so I couldn't come empty-handed, right?"
"Sure. I'll accept it gratefully. Ah, Eunha, please have a seat on the living room sofa for a moment."
With that, Serin went to the kitchen and started taking out cups.
'This feels weird.'
Trying to play host felt unfamiliar, like wearing clothes that didn't fit.
After pouring drinks into two cups, Serin set one down in front of Eunha on the sofa.
"Make yourself comfortable. For today, you can think of this place as your own home."
"Okay, thank you."
Eunha picked up the cup Serin had set down and looked around the interior once before turning to Serin with a small sound of admiration. Even the inside of the house looked so tidy to Eunha. Thinking that Serin lived as neatly as she looked, Eunha spoke with a smile.
"Serin, do you always keep things this tidy?"
"....Yes."
That wasn't true at all, but Serin figured denying it would be silly, so she fiddled with her cup as she chose her words.
Wondering what to say first, a thought suddenly came to her.
"Ah, Eunha."
"Yes. Go ahead, Serin."
Seeing Eunha answer in a calm voice, Serin decided to start with this.
"Why don't we drop the formalities?"