50. Jeanne d'Arc
50. Jeanne d'Arc
***
—I'm not in good condition.
—I think I need rest.
—Even just for a little while, I want to rest.
In the middle of the league season, she had suddenly said she wanted to rest.
The ACK Pro League had been growing year after year and was now at the peak of its popularity. This year, multiple leagues had launched simultaneously in other regions, and at last, the first Another World international tournament was set to take place. It was a crucial time.
She knew all of that, and still she had really said it.
That she wanted to rest. That it would be hard for her to keep playing matches.
At first, no one—including my teammates—could accept what I'd said so suddenly.
Because all along, she had quietly played without showing any outward signs.
She had shown no particular emotion, simply doing as she was told, stopping when she was told to stop, more compliant than anyone.
So maybe that was why they couldn't accept this sudden version of her.
Her teammates who had synced with her, the coaching staff, even the head coach and team management all stepped in and tried to persuade her somehow. But faced with her unwavering attitude, they ultimately had no choice but to accept it.
And so she left the team dormitory and headed to an officetel she had scoped out in advance.
Maybe she had been thinking, deep down, that she wanted to rest.
No—maybe what she had kept feeling was that she wanted to escape, that she wanted to be alone.
That was probably why she had even signed a lease on an officetel ahead of time.
Beyond the dark room, the dazzling nightscape of the city was visible.
She stared at it blankly.
"...I don't know."
She murmured the words while leaning against the bed.
Her disheveled black hair fell across her vision, but she simply kept gazing vacantly outside.
The city, glittering with multicolored lights, stood in perfect contrast to her pitch-black room, as if it kept seizing her gaze.
And yet no particular thoughts came to her.
She just wanted to lie in bed like this and do nothing at all.
—Lethargy, burnout.
If she had to describe her current state with her shallow knowledge, those two words were probably the closest fit.
She let out a meaningless laugh, forcing a dry smile.
Because of all the light filling the city, her reflection in the window felt alien.
......
—Another World nickname: Jeanne d'Arc.
Current Another World rank 1.
The starting player and core ace of TSJ, the first-place team in the ACK Pro League.
The woman lying blankly on the bed in the officetel was Yoo Eunha.
Since her pro debut, she had never once relinquished the top of the league. She practically carried the team, delivering overwhelming performances every match—and even when her form dipped, she still did at least her share.
Another World had become a mainstream game with sensational popularity, and so many of its users called themselves her fans.
Yoo Eunha was popular.
Not merely popular—her personal fandom was almost as large as TSJ's entire team fandom.
There were several reasons for that.
Overwhelming individual skill.
Captivating in-game play that hooked users.
Beautiful real-world looks.
A warm, pleasant voice even during interviews.
From minor personality controversies to a spotless past with nothing to pick at even if someone went digging.
While other Another World pros got tangled up in all sorts of scandals after debuting, Yoo Eunha had never attracted any real controversy.
She had no dating history or anything involving men, so people tried to dig up her past by any means. But even if malicious rumors circulated, not a single one of them had ever turned out to be true.
That was why even the words used to describe Yoo Eunha were unusual.
Flawless player.
Saintess.
Doesn't seem human.
As a pro player, she showed a nearly perfect image.
From praise by industry insiders to childish nicknames fans gave her, and so on.
Even her Another World nickname, "Jeanne d'Arc," seemed almost to foreshadow the star quality she would show from the moment she debuted as a pro.
"...Get up."
She murmured to herself in the empty officetel, as if forcing herself to pull it together.
Yoo Eunha was saying it deliberately, because she felt that if she didn't, she really would just keep lying in bed doing nothing.
She was aware that she had recently been talking to herself more and more, but she couldn't help it.
It was like a side effect of spending weeks alone without meeting anyone.
After that, Eunha headed to the bathroom.
Splash.
Water splashed as Eunha's skin—so pale it was almost translucent—caught the dim light.
Even as she washed with cold water, she kept trying to shake off her dazed mind, if only for a moment.
......
In the past, she had loved games so much that she had no hobby besides gaming. But once she actually became a pro and games became work, she couldn't enjoy them the way she used to.
But funnily enough, even now, there was still nothing I liked more than games.
I still liked Another World—I just liked it less than before. That was probably the right way to put it.
It was ironic, but that was the reality.
"..."
When she returned to her room and turned on the light, the capsule-type connection device sitting in one corner caught her eye.
But even now, the one thing she was reluctant to do was log into Another World.
If she logged in, people she knew would definitely try to talk to her, and she hated receiving their worry—worry that wasn't really worry.
Right now, being alone was simply more comfortable.
It wasn't as if her body was actually sick. Was she hurting emotionally? Honestly, she wasn't even sure about that.
She just wanted to be away from the world for once.
More than anything, she wanted to be alone.
It wasn't so much that she was afraid of people's attention—it was more that she found it unwelcome.
At first, there really had been a part of her that enjoyed all that attention.
The feeling of being recognized by someone.
So there are people who like me this much.
It had made her feel like she had really succeeded as a pro player.
But once that attention crossed the line into something extreme, like stalkers, I stopped finding it pleasant.
"August 1st."
Two weeks had already passed since she had said she wanted to rest and come to this officetel.
The ACK Pro League was surely nearing its final stretch by now.
The ACK schedule naturally came to mind. Before long, the league schedule would wrap up and they would go straight into the playoff season. With additional matches on top of the existing practice load, the players would have to endure a brutal schedule.
The thought made her laugh without realizing it.
Getting through the schedule was hard, but if the results at the end met expectations, it would feel like the effort had been worth it.
She trailed off mid-thought and murmured blankly.
"Resting doesn't really feel like resting."
She had left the dorm saying she wanted to rest, but in the end, all she thought about was the ACK League and things related to Another World.
In the end, Eunha turned on her PC and tried to at least take an interest in what was going on in the world.
She had spent the last two weeks blankly wasting time like a shut-in, so she knew nothing about recent news.
And now there was this lethargy filling her, this emptiness she couldn't clearly define. Yoo Eunha desperately wished for something—anything—that could erase it.
......
About three hours after turning on her PC, Eunha had learned a great deal.
The first thing she looked into was the ACK Pro League and her own team, TSJ.
She had left the team to rest, but it wasn't because she had any conflict with her teammates or complaints about the coaching staff or head coach.
No, honestly, they were so obviously trying to accommodate her that having complaints about them would have been laughable.
A pro team with good results rarely had internal conflict in the first place.
With the team performing so well, management kept receiving bonuses and threw themselves into the work even more enthusiastically.
And because the team kept winning, even teammates she had once thought weren't the type began speaking more gently and smiling all the time.
Wasn't there a saying that praise makes even a whale dance?
For a pro, strong team results brought money, fame, praise enough to make even a whale dance, and plenty of other benefits.
And so, even while she was away, the team seemed to be managing fairly well on its own.
They had seemed shaken after a recent loss, but the player filling her absence was putting in a decent effort.
After that.
She browsed various communities, trying to catch up on Another World's patch direction and current trends.
But instead, she learned about a certain user.
Then a video about a user called "Rin" appeared in her NewTube recommendations, and as if bewitched, she began searching out one Rin video after another.
Before she knew it, she had watched most of the Rin-related videos on NewTube, and three hours had flown by.
She also learned that this Rin user had become a streamer.
—Someone who streams online on tweetie.
She had known streamers existed, but she had never looked them up separately, so she went to the tweetie site and browsed around. Then her eyes landed on a broadcast positioned at the very top.
[Rin vs. Gosu—Matchup of the Century! You'll Regret It If You Miss This!]
It was an obviously clickbaity stream title, but—
As if bewitched by the word "Rin," she entered Plea's stream and started watching.
Over the next hour, Eunha watched the entire duel between Gosu and Rin.
Now Plea was approaching them to wrap things up, exchanging words.
Eunha suddenly felt a sense of urgency.
She quickly finished signing up for a tweetie account.
"How much do I need to donate..."
She murmured blankly, but still wanted to get in touch somehow—to talk to Rin.
That single thought now filled Eunha's entire mind.
Even when someone donated a hundred thousand won, Plea only thanked the donor and still didn't actually pass the message to Rin.
"...Would a million won do it?"
Eunha murmured blankly, then casually loaded money into her account.