292. Mythic Item ????? ???? ??
292. Mythic Item ????? ???? ??
***
At the word "sincerity," Serin accepted the trade request with a light heart.
Ding.
Then, at the item that appeared in the trade window, Serin's light heart melted away like snow, replaced by a different weight.
"...What is this?"
As she stared straight at him, as if asking why he had put up an item like this, Seo Eunwoo was the one who looked flustered instead.
He had been sure she would like it, but Rin's expression seemed, if anything, to have gone cold, making her earlier bright mood feel like a lie.
"No, I just—please think of it as an item given out of pure goodwill, as a fan......"
He answered with an awkward smile, but Serin looked at him with a subtle expression, unlike before.
His calling himself a fan, his well-meaning words—they didn't feel like pretense.
He seemed sincere to a degree, and as a person he seemed considerate and decent.
But the item he had put up in the trade window under the name of goodwill was something that went far beyond all of that.
—Rainbow Bracelet of the Celestial Maiden.
She deliberately didn't check the detailed stats of the item in the trade window. But the border of the item, glowing with a vivid and brilliant orange light, caught her eye at first glance.
From her experience of obtaining Moonlight, her first Mythic item, and even receiving a Legendary-grade item from Sua, there was only one grade that an orange border could mean.
'A Mythic item.'
It wasn't that she felt no greed the moment she saw it.
But that didn't mean it was an item I could just snatch up and accept.
She forcibly dragged her gaze back from where it had unconsciously drifted toward the trade window.
"Seo Eunwoo, I'll be direct. A favor this big is too much of a burden, so I don't think I can accept it."
Even a collab stream with no compensation would make a gift like this burdensome, and now he was giving her something worth even more than that as a gift, so she simply couldn't accept it.
"Rin, I thought it might be burdensome for you too, so I'm giving it to you after the stream ended."
Even when he said he had deliberately waited until the stream ended to give it to her, Serin softened her expression and continued.
"I do appreciate that you didn't bring this up during the stream. But is it possible you're giving me an item like this because I added you as a friend?"
Since he had given her a gift right after she added him as a friend, she brought it up just in case, but he hurriedly shook his head.
"Not at all. Even if you hadn't added me as a friend, I would have given it to you all the same."
Fortunately, his answer that it wasn't that put Serin's mind somewhat at ease.
She had wondered if it was some kind of bribe.
"But even so... I can't accept a Mythic-grade item."
When she had received the Legendary item from Sua, she had shown an ugly side, frantically pressing accept at the time. But she had also been able to let it go by thinking of it as a condition and compensation for the duel.
So the Mythic item now sitting in the trade window meant something entirely different.
An item worth tens of millions of won on its own.
At a first meeting, and on top of that, in a situation where she had already received proper compensation.
And now she was supposed to accept an item worth even more than that.
'This isn't something I can just brush off as simple goodwill.'
Even the words of the celebrity who had called himself a considerate person and a fan now seemed suspect in their intent.
By common sense, who gives an absurd gift like this at a first meeting?
No matter how successful he was as a celebrity, an item worth tens of millions of won couldn't be meaningless money to him.
"Are you saying it feels burdensome?"
"Yes. It's an item with far too much value to accept as simple goodwill or a gift."
Serin, who had spoken with feigned calm, slowly began moving her hand toward cancel trade.
Ding!
At that moment, the other party's trade window turned blue, signaling acceptance of the trade.
"What are you doing right now?"
"If that's how you feel.... then I'd like to receive something else in return. I run a NewTube channel. How would you feel, Rin, if I gave this to you in exchange for uploading today's stream as a video on my NewTube channel?"
As Seo Eunwoo made an unusual proposal, as if to lighten her burden, Serin blinked as she looked at him.
'Why on earth does he want to give it to me so badly?'
The word "fan feelings."
I had no way of knowing just how deep those feelings ran.
But one thing was crystal clear: the other person's determination to give me the item no matter what.
'Ah, seriously.'
The greed nestled in her chest stirred again, and her gaze unconsciously drifted to the item wrapped in its orange border.
A Mythic item.
She had searched up Mythic items on stream only a few days ago, so there was no way she didn't know how extraordinary their value was.
Honestly, it wasn't that I didn't want it.
There was a part of her that wanted to just snatch it up since he was offering it like this.
On top of that, the other party was a famous celebrity.
Considering the possibility of some kind of scam, or the standing of a well-known celebrity, he didn't seem like someone who would do anything strange.
-Wouldn't it be fine to just accept it like this?
-A famous celebrity didn't say anything weird the whole stream, right?
-They say he's a good person.
-Why are you trying to refuse when he wants to give it to you?
Whispers like those of a demon seemed to circle endlessly in Serin's ears, but in the end, she shook her head.
"Still, it feels too burdensome for me to accept..."
As she was saying that, Eunwoo naturally smiled with his eyes and cut her off entirely.
"Then three."
"...Excuse me?"
As Serin looked at him as if asking what he meant, Eunwoo smiled faintly and continued.
"I'm saying I'll use this item to buy the right to upload videos if I come across material related to you, Rin, that's worth posting on NewTube in the future. You seem to feel one video isn't enough, so I think three videos would be fairly reasonable. What do you think, Rin?"
Eunwoo had seen her brief moment of hesitation, so he spoke without any hesitation himself.
'He really is a fascinating person.'
Moreover, Serin was the first woman who had ever refused a gift he was trying to give, so she only sparked even greater curiosity in him.
Countless women had tried to give him things over the years.
But the opposite—him giving a gift to a woman and being refused?
He could say with certainty it had never happened once.
'Had there ever been a woman like that?'
Even after thinking it over briefly, not a single woman came to mind.
Thinking of all the women who had clung to him under the pretext of wrap parties, this woman called Rin was, if anything, something entirely new.
Unlike Eunwoo's thoughts, Serin was thinking quickly in that moment.
'Wouldn't those terms be okay?'
The RinTube channel was growing day by day.
Her own fame couldn't compare to his as a celebrity right now, but when it came to the value of video content, she thought it was a different story.
She didn't know when it would happen in the future, or when that time would be.
But I didn't think my own value was all that low.
She believed that becoming a million-subscriber NewTuber in the future wasn't just a pipe dream.
"...Make it four."
After a brief moment of thought, Serin finally said it.
"Four?"
"Yes. In exchange for the value of this Mythic item, I'll give you the rights to four NewTube videos. I can't promise when we'll do another collab stream. But if another opportunity like this comes up, I'll consider it positively."
When she said she would consider future collab streams positively, a bright smile slipped out of Seo Eunwoo before he knew it.
To Seo Eunwoo, it was a gain beyond anything he had imagined even when he first brought it up.
"Great. Then if you're willing to make it four, Rin, I'm more than happy."
"...Thank you."
Serin, who had answered briefly, moved her hand from cancel trade to accept trade.
Ding!
Immediately, along with a notification that the trade was complete, the Mythic item entered her inventory.
Likewise, Seo Eunwoo, who had been watching the trade completion notification in a very good mood, looked at Rin and added one more thing.
"Ah, Rin, if it's not too much trouble, could you put it on right away?"
He had chosen the item while imagining Rin wearing it, so he wanted to see how it actually looked on her.
Serin readily nodded.
"Sure."
She equipped the Rainbow Bracelet of the Celestial Maiden from her inventory.
Then a bracelet holding a brilliant, bright light settled on her right wrist.
The thin, colorless cloth floating weightlessly in the air held a mystery all its own, and then it flaunted its presence by emitting many colors, as if it held a brilliant light within itself.
Ding!
—Due to the effect of the Rainbow Bracelet of the Celestial Maiden, the skill 'Celestial Maiden's Mindset' is automatically activated.
An additional notification popped up because she hadn't checked the options, but Serin didn't bother to look at it.
Instead, she raised her right hand, now wearing the bracelet, and showed it to him.
It was a small gesture of thanks to the person who had given her the gift, and her sentiment touched Seo Eunwoo deeply.
"Honestly, I chose this item thinking it might suit you, Rin, but seeing it in person, it suits you even better."
"...Thank you for the gift."
"No need for thanks. I didn't give it to you without anything in return, and seeing you wear it like that makes me happier, actually."
As Seo Eunwoo spoke with a bright smile, Serin nodded awkwardly.
It felt as if the situation were reversed, with the giver being happy and the receiver feeling embarrassed, but Serin wasn't unhappy either, since it was a Mythic item.
"Today's stream was truly enjoyable. I won't be able to contact you often going forward. But if I occasionally send you a whisper, you'll reply, won't you?"
At his playful farewell, Serin smiled faintly.
"Of course."
How hard could it be to answer a whisper in a game?
After that, Seo Eunwoo looked once more at Serin's bracelet, smiled with satisfaction, and left the space.
Serin stared blankly at the spot where he had turned into light and vanished, then, as if her earlier composure had been a lie, immediately opened her equipment window in a fluster and checked the equipped Mythic item.
*
————
Rainbow Bracelet of the Celestial Maiden.
Grade: Mythic.
Base Effect: Evasion adjustment +20%.
Additional Effect: Critical damage +40%, automatically activates the passive skill 'Celestial Maiden's Mindset' while equipped.
- Description: The bracelet most favored by the Celestial Maiden. Having been influenced by the Celestial Maiden's divine power for a long time, it naturally came to possess the quality of a treasured object. Its original appearance also came to hold an inexplicable 'mystery,' and the bracelet's appearance, emitting a varied light of seven colors, is beautiful beyond compare.
- Celestial Maiden's Mindset: Unconditionally resists lethal status effects (Does not apply in PvP; cooldown 30 minutes)
————
*
"This is insane...!"
Serin broke into a beaming smile without realizing it and stroked the bracelet on her right hand.
Swish.
The moment she touched it, she felt the utmost softness, and Serin liked the bracelet even more.
Ding!
And just then, a whisper arrived from someone.