164. Were You the Type to Watch Female Streamers Too?
164. Were You the Type to Watch Female Streamers Too?
***
Slash-slash-slash!!
As countless lines of blood crossed the empty air, Serin began sinking into the gradually rising power.
Riiiiing!!!
Along her blood-red hand, the Crescent-Moon Weight vibrated fiercely as if resonating with her.
Creeeeak!!!
The cord stretched to its limit, repeating a cycle of straining as if about to snap at any moment, then contracting.
The Crescent-Moon Weight, swung while submerged in thick blood, seemed to revel in delight as it coursed through the air like a living thing, and she, moving as if dancing lightly, never once stopped her hands.
The time granted was only a short three minutes after using the Awakening Skill.
Even as she recognized she was growing intoxicated by the power, Serin found it hard to refuse it.
Her body, dyed in bright red blood, felt no pain even when exerting excessive force. Because there was no pain, naturally there was no strain on her body either.
Though the conditions were limited, the sense of omnipotence she could feel upon returning to her original self granted Serin boundless power.
She knew better than anyone that the essence of this power felt different.
It was not power she had built up herself, and since she could only use it for a limited time, it was not wholly hers either.
And yet this Awakening Skill had something that drew her in.
The blue strike that seemed to split the sky in half felt all the more threatening because no momentum or presence could be sensed from it.
But right now, Serin found that utterly satisfying.
Before she even realized it, the corners of Serin's lips rose high, drawing a single beautiful line, and above her beautiful face, adorned with an unadorned, genuine smile, her blood-red eyes emitted a sinister gleam of deepest crimson.
——————.
Within the sensation that time was flowing far too slowly, she could see that the massive blue light dominating the sky would soon shatter brilliantly and scatter down.
Like a single already-determined future, the sight of the blue light scattering filled Serin's mind.
Swish!
'I'll break it.'
As the Crescent-Moon Weight, which had already been tinged with blood, now soaked in thick blood and embroidered the air with blood so viscous it was sticky, brilliant lines of blood began to seize control of the space behind it, as if dominating it.
The blue line that had split the sky was soon devoured by countless lines of blood. Gradually losing its light, it shattered and fell.
......
The countless feast of blood that lasted for several seconds soon succeeded in completely destroying its target.
Afterward, the sky that had appeared split in half revealed its original clear form again, like a momentary illusion.
Serin, who had been staring blankly at the sky, slowly turned her gaze.
Between her bewitchingly glowing red eyes, she slowly stepped forward.
Step.
The sound of her foot pressing against the ground was exceedingly faint, but the blood clinging to her legs embroidered thick lines across the ground as she began surging toward her opponent.
She felt no need to name it a skill, nor even to deploy one.
The opponent tried to grab his sword sheath as if by instinct. But a line of blood was drawn faster than that. His hand turned to light and vanished.
Thunk!
Immediately after, the Crescent-Moon Weight pierced through his chest and burst with energy as if detonating, and the opponent's body vanished into light.
—Victory!
A hologram appeared to announce the celebration. But Serin wore a peculiar expression.
As the match ended, her body was returning to its original pure white color. Even her eyes, which had been emitting a blood-red gleam, regained their clear blue.
Amid the emptiness of the boundless power vanishing, Serin clenched her hand slightly. Then she opened her mouth with an awkward expression.
"Everyone, was the match... fun?"
Even as she said it was a kind of performance, she felt a deep sense of regret.
-Yes, it was so fun. And also... it was so beautiful. Rin.
"Jeanne d'Arc. Excessive praise can actually be poison."
As she said that and glanced at the chat window, the reactions were decent too.
[Wow]
[Just wow, seriously lololol]
[Did she do that on purpose?]
[She was keeping such a cool expression and then suddenly smiles all awkwardly, what even is that lol]
[Looking at the opponent's face, he just looks completely lost, like he's watching me]
[Every time I see Rin, I keep wanting to try Dancer for no reason]
***
Immediately after the collaboration stream between Rin and Jeanne d'Arc, which had become a huge topic, ended.
Seo Eunwoo searched for Rin right away.
He felt a great curiosity about who Rin was.
Because just a month ago, no such person had existed.
Tap tap tap.
—Streamer Rin.
When he searched on the most famous site, several search results came up.
Among them, he entered a site that had organized the information well and looked it over. Eunwoo furrowed his brow.
"Why are there so many blanks?"
There was quite a bit of information about Rin in Another World, but information about the real-life streamer Rin was practically blank.
Aside from the gender that anyone could tell just by hearing her voice, nothing was known. Her real name, birth, nationality, education, known appearance, even religion—all blank.
Feeling a bit disappointed, he still looked over the information about Another World.
"Plea, she's dueled Gosu before, and what's this about a scrim with G1?"
Plea and Gosu, widely known as rankers, were names Eunwoo knew as well. He didn't follow their streams, but he knew of them because pros occasionally mentioned them.
He was certain both were top rankers within the top 50.
"Undefeated in duel results..."
Opponent records 2:0, 1:0. It stated that not Plea or Gosu, but the streamer named Rin had won.
When he reached the entry about scrimming with G1, Eunwoo let out an involuntary laugh.
-An unprecedented record, the first streamer to hold a scrim with a pro team.
Even setting aside the deliberately flattering phrasing that seemed to praise Rin. G1 was undeniably a prestigious team among prestigious teams, competing for first and second place in the league.
The fact that such a prestigious team had held a scrim with a streamer was funny in itself, and since he had seen it firsthand and could understand it to some degree, that made it funny for no reason.
'She was impressive, though.'
After reading through the text about Rin once like that, Eunwoo muttered blankly.
"All of this happened in less than a month."
On stream, she seemed fairly close with Jeanne d'Arc too, and it was intriguing that a woman with outstanding skill and the ability to put on a performance had only now become famous.
On top of that, he was so curious about how she had become acquainted with Jeanne d'Arc.
Because Jeanne d'Arc was famous for not letting people get close even within SJ Entertainment.
'Surely she didn't become close with Jeanne d'Arc in just a few days...'
As Eunwoo was growing more curious about Rin like that, his smartphone rang.
BaTalk!
Producer Shin Seoyul.
[Our dear Seo actor~~ You're coming to the wrap party today, right? The lead can't miss it, you know?]
"Now that I think about it... the wrap party was at 9 PM, wasn't it."
The drama he had recently finished filming, A Thousand Faces. He absolutely had to attend the wrap party, so Eunwoo sighed as he turned off his PC.
"Hoo."
Because he had to start getting ready to go out now to make it to the wrap party.
And getting ready to go out to meet someone he didn't want to see during his break was harder than he'd thought.
***
News of the collaboration stream between Rin and Jeanne d'Arc spread quickly across multiple communities.
The fact that Jeanne d'Arc, famous for rarely showing herself outside official schedules, had appeared on an internet broadcast was enough to become a topic in itself.
From the Another World community to the ACK pro team fandom communities. While talk was circulating across numerous communities.
There was one person who belatedly came across the news and checked the communities.
Having been eliminated from the playoffs with a miserable 7th-place finish in the ACK League. A team now left with only the Worlds Qualifier.
The captain of the team 'Knights of Charlemagne,' Lee Sihyeon. That was him.
"Rin, huh."
He was feeling a great sense of doubt as he looked at a topic floating around the community.
Rin and Jeanne d'Arc.
Since a scrim was scheduled for next week, his curiosity grew even more.
In truth, the scrim offer he had extended to Rin was nothing more than a scrim offer meant as a kind of change of pace.
Everyone's morale had been broken by the playoff elimination, and the purpose of the scrim was to reverse the gloomy, sunken atmosphere. The main goal was to regain confidence through a lighter match than against a pro team.
So when he actually heard that Rin had accepted the scrim, it was a bit unexpected.
Since he knew she had scrimmed with G1, he thought the conditions might not meet her standards.
The rumors about Rin he could see now were numerous.
The unbelievable scrim rumor that she had gone toe-to-toe with G1 was one rumor, and there was also the news that she had done a collaboration stream with Jeanne d'Arc.
"She even has a personal connection with Jeanne d'Arc."
He hadn't watched the collaboration stream that had become a hot topic himself. But some of the posts visible in the community suggested the content was no ordinary matter.
At Jeanne d'Arc's voice, uploaded in a clip about a minute long, Roland momentarily wore a blank expression.
—I think Rin's skill is at quite a high level.
"Jeanne d'Arc... really said something like that?"
A player whom nearly everyone admired and who was building an outstanding career. Anyone who had actually played against her couldn't help but marvel at her skill.
There was even a joke that dozens of people had quit their pro careers after feeling too great a wall while facing Jeanne d'Arc.
And now there was even audio, plain as day, of that Jeanne d'Arc acknowledging the skill of not another pro, but an ordinary person.
Most people who had exchanged words with Jeanne d'Arc knew. She was never the type to talk someone up.
Tap tap tap.
—Another World Rin.
Sihyeon, who searched for Rin on NewTube, soon began looking through countless videos.
Then, at the end, he even accessed Rin's official NewTube channel and was able to see one video.
[You're looking only at me.]
Click.
As he watched the video that started playing, Sihyeon felt a sense of puzzlement.
It clearly looked like a Colosseum background. But what filled the video was Serin's beautiful face.
'Is this not a Solo Queue video?'
As Sihyeon was watching the video a bit longer, uncertain.
Clunk.
One of the few people guarding the empty dormitory now that all the league schedules were over. It was Choi Yena.
"What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean... I was just watching NewTube for a bit."
Sihyeon stopped the video and turned his head naturally as he answered.
Yena looked at Sihyeon for a moment, then casually glanced at his screen and blurted out.
"Sihyeon, so you were the type to watch female streamers too?"