305. Sis, Can I Buy This?
305. Sis, Can I Buy This?
***
"Then I'll end today's Thursday, September 2nd stream here. Thank you so much to everyone who subscribed today. To everyone else who's been watching, I hope you all wrap up your day well. I'll see you all tomorrow at 4 p.m."
She kept her voice calm as she spoke, and at last even the chatting stream came to an end.
Click.
She pressed the end-stream button, and the chat window turned gray.
After that, she closed the tweetie site and the streaming program entirely, then slumped back against her chair with her whole body.
"Hoo."
She let out a small breath, closed her eyes, and slowly massaged them.
She'd turned the stream on at 4 p.m., and before she knew it, it was nearly midnight. In the end, after streaming for close to eight hours, her whole body felt heavy, as if she were completely worn out, and her mind was simply blank.
That brief rest lasted only a moment. Soon she opened her eyes again and picked up the smartphone sitting to one side.
She turned off the mute setting she'd used because of the stream and ran a hand through her hair. At that moment—
BaTalk!
As if it had been waiting, BaTalk rang.
"Pfft..."
Feeling oddly glad, she opened the BaTalk app.
The many messages she saw had come from a wide variety of people. As she checked them one by one, there didn't seem to be anything requiring an immediate reply.
Still, a few messages did stand out.
SJ MCN Editor Kim Haneul.
[Hello, Rin! I'm Editor Kim Haneul, and starting today I'll be in charge of you. I'll be handling communication, suggestions, and notices related to you for the Five Million Project. Aside from that, if there's anything you'd like to say or anything you think you need, please don't hesitate to let me know.]
"...MCN, huh."
She muttered flatly. Was the MCN company Sua belonged to called SJ? The thought crossed her mind.
She'd streamed especially long today, so her reply was late, but she sent an answer anyway.
Me.
[Hello, Editor Kim Haneul. I look forward to working with you.]
Probably, if she had to receive contact through Sua every time regarding the project, it would be a hassle, so she figured the editor would relay necessary points and other contract-related matters as they came up.
She left the room to check the next message.
BaTalk!
SJ MCN Editor Kim Haneul.
[Ah, it's such an honor. You worked hard on today's stream too. I actually watch your streams often!]
"...?"
A reply came less than thirty seconds after I'd sent mine, and I was a little startled.
I wondered how everyone who contacted me was so quick to respond, but I just checked it and moved on to the other BaTalk messages.
Seoyun.
[Sis, I think I'll come up on Saturday. The Another World capsule installation is also set for Saturday at 2 p.m.]
Seeing Seoyun's message, timed right as the stream ended, gave her a fresh sense of emotion.
"A week's already gone by."
It felt like only a little while ago that I'd met Seoyun last week. Before I knew it, the weekend when Seoyun would come up to my place was almost here.
Setting aside the small feeling, she began typing a reply.
Me.
[Okay, got it. Oh, and how about just booking a flight when you come up? If you take the train, you'll probably be really tired.]
When she'd had free time, she'd once looked up the dormitory where Seoyun lived.
Seoyun had always come to see me, so I'd looked it up out of curiosity about how long the trip took.
She still remembered the search results clearly.
Just getting here took close to four hours by train, and my place was far from the arrival station too, so even taking a taxi added more time.
When she'd looked into the shortest route, flying actually saved far more time, so she'd said that even if it meant spending a bit more money.
Seoyun.
[A flight? Oh, should I?]
Me.
[Yeah, you can come comfortably. It's closer and saves time.]
Seoyun.
[Okay, got it. Oh, right. And sis, there's something I want to ask. When I start Another World, is it okay to start with legendary items?]
At Seoyun's completely unexpected question, she blinked for a moment.
From what Seoyun had said so far, she understood that Seoyun had barely played games at all.
"...A legendary set. Is Seoyun planning to spend real money from the start?"
But seeing the words "legendary set" come up, it seemed she'd heard something from someone, or she wanted to start with a bit more comfort.
She thought about it for a moment, but it didn't seem bad.
After all, I wasn't the one spending real money, and it was Seoyun we were talking about.
For Seoyun, who was a beginner, wouldn't it actually help her adjust to the game? She even thought that.
Another World was a VR game, and for beginners, the better the equipment, the easier it was to adapt to the movement.
Me.
[Starting with a legendary set seems fine. But anyway, are you spending real money right from the start, or getting equipment from someone? If you need money, I'll support you.]
Honestly, she personally didn't prefer spending real money on games, but when it came to Seoyun, it was different.
I thought it'd be much better if Seoyun got into Another World too.
After she'd revealed she was a streamer, Seoyun's nagging about games had completely disappeared. Still, if they were family sharing the same interest, wouldn't it be more fun?
'The more I think about it... it seems fine?'
On top of that, I thought teaching Seoyun the game myself would be fun.
If I got gift-only items like Grianne's ring or items that didn't suit me, I could give them to Seoyun. It seemed perfect for looking after her.
Considering how Seoyun usually took care of me and tried to do things for me, having something I could do for her in return seemed really nice.
Seoyun.
[Really? Oh, it's nothing, actually. A friend is trying to sell me a legendary item, and she said she'd give it to me cheap, so I was thinking of just buying it.]
"It's not some weird friend, right?"
She couldn't help wondering if it was someone trying to take advantage of Seoyun for profit.
She could give her as much money as she wanted, but if someone was exploiting Seoyun's lack of game knowledge, that was a different story.
Me.
[It's not some weird friend or anything, right? Legendary items are still fairly high-priced, so I think it'd be good to check the market price first before buying. Or I could look into it myself and get you a legendary item.]
She'd sent the message out of concern, and a reply came right away.
Seoyun.
[No, she's not weird or anything. She's not the type to trick me at all. You know, the one I told you about before. It's Chaerin. Lately she's been trying out Dancer because of you, but she says it doesn't suit her, so she wants to sell it.]
"...Uh."
The moment she saw the message, she was at a loss for words.
—[I switched to Dancer this time! Legendary full set purchase complete +_+!]
Someone's BaTalk profile flashed clearly through her mind, as if passing before her eyes.
"That legendary set... is it hers?"
She muttered blankly, and a deep sigh escaped her.
Seeing that she was now trying to sell it to Seoyun, the thought suddenly struck her: was Seoyun planning to raise a Dancer too?
'That doesn't seem great.'
I'd filled my proficiency through life-or-death struggle in Black Ark, so I still used the Crescent-Moon Weight as my main weapon, but...
A beginner just starting the game and a Crescent-Moon Weight didn't seem like a match at all.
Me.
[I think it'd be better not to buy that Dancer legendary gear if possible. First of all, Seoyun, you're new to games. And you want to use a Crescent-Moon Weight with Dancer...? It has a high difficulty, so I don't think it's a very good choice.]
She sent the message out of concern, but Seoyun's answer was completely unexpected.
Seoyun.
[Why? I'm trying Another World because of you, sis. I want to try the same thing as you. Even if it's hard... you use it, so couldn't I do it too?]
The moment I saw the message, I frowned without realizing it.
"...This is driving me crazy."
Seoyun saying she wanted to do it because of me, that she wanted to try the same thing as me—that itself was adorable.
But when I imagined teaching her myself and pictured Seoyun struggling, my first thought was that this wasn't right.
No matter how well I could handle the Crescent-Moon Weight like an extension of my own body now, that didn't mean I had the talent to teach someone else.
Using something myself and teaching someone else were completely different things... Honestly, I wasn't confident either.
Me.
[First, log into Another World on Saturday. I'll show you a bit. Seoyun, how about trying it yourself then and buying it after?]
Honestly, more than the money being wasted, it was Seoyun's personality that worried her.
With her usual sharp, decisive personality, once Seoyun pushed forward with something she'd decided, even I couldn't stop her.
She worried that making her use the wrong weapon like the Crescent-Moon Weight from the very first step would only make her lose interest in Another World.
Seoyun.
[Should I...? Sis, and Chaerin's right next to me now. She's showing me the item price and says she'll give it to me for 80% of market price. If I don't buy it, it feels like too much of a loss.]
"That Chaerin must really want to sell it."
She hesitated a little while exchanging messages.
'80% of market price is incredibly cheap.'
Legendary items went for tens of millions of silver. At that kind of large sum, a 20% discount was truly exceptional.
She wondered why she was selling it so cheaply, then suddenly understood.
"Legendary items that have been traded once... if you list them on the auction house, the fee is 30%, right?"
She wanted to sell it cheaply to Seoyun while losing a bit less. That was probably her mindset.
"Wait, is she trying to dump this on Seoyun...?"
Thinking about it, the situation was a little funny.
No, she called them best friends. So why was she trying to offload an item onto a close friend?
Maybe Chaerin had talked Seoyun into considering starting with Legendary gear. The thought even crossed her mind.
She went through all sorts of thoughts... but then decided it wasn't something to view entirely negatively.
I even thought maybe this was my own karma.
The one who had unintentionally sold the fantasy of the Crescent-Moon Weight Dancer was none other than herself.
Even in the community she'd checked recently, hadn't the phrase "Imperial Dancer" been going around as a joke?
She clearly knew that the term was half-used to mock Dancer users in jest. And she couldn't not know why that term had come about.
'If you get down to it, it's because of me.'
Lately, low-proficiency Crescent-Moon Weight users were springing up like mushrooms after rain, so there were bound to be more nuisance players.
Just looking at Seoyun's friend and Seoyun herself wanting to play Dancer, the Dancer's popularity was soaring day by day.
"Let's just say I'll buy it for her."
It seemed easier on her mind to think of it as a gift for Seoyun and, at the same time, a way to help out this best friend named Chaerin.
First, I'd buy it and give it to Seoyun as a gift. If she decided she couldn't adapt, I could just use the rest of the gear myself.
The more she thought about it, the less it seemed like something to view negatively.
'Isn't this actually an opportunity?'
Her thoughts tilted toward it being a good thing.
Most of the gear I currently wore was only Unique grade, so there was no reason to consider it a loss in the first place.
Me.
[Well, if she's your best friend, I guess me buying it for you isn't a bad idea. I'll buy it as a gift to celebrate your first Another World experience.]
Seoyun.
[Sis, seriously. Why are you trying to buy me even this? It's fine~ I still have plenty of allowance left from what you gave me. I'll just buy it with my own money.]
"So she's going to buy it after all."
From what she'd seen in the messages, Seoyun had already made up her mind about Dancer and the Crescent-Moon Weight.
"Hoo..."
Letting out a deep sigh, Serin then began searching for classes and weapons worth recommending to a beginner, even through her fatigue.
No matter how favorably she tried to think about it, in her opinion, the Crescent-Moon Weight was absolutely not a weapon for a beginner.