56. A Celebrity Among Celebrities
56. A Celebrity Among Celebrities
***
She toyed with the cold, heavy weight.
Then she gently let it go.
As soon as the slender support holding it disappeared,
the blood-red weight dropped straight down. The black cord attached to the end of the weight naturally followed along with it.
Swish.
The tiny sound of the cord brushing against her clothes reached Serin's ears with deep familiarity.
The black cord wrapped around her right arm slid down after the weight, about to fall to the floor, when—
Serin caught the black cord with practiced ease and swung her right arm wide.
Whoosh!
The weight traced a crescent arc through the air, and at the same moment Serin pulled the connected black cord back.
Shwip!
Feeling the cord wrapped around her right arm and the sensation of the weight, something felt strange.
Familiar and natural.
It felt like wearing clothes that fit her body perfectly, yet oddly, the weight seemed to be sulking.
As if asking why she hadn't picked it up yesterday.
As if asking whether she'd had fun using other weapons all this time.
Serin let out a small laugh at her own ridiculous thought and parted her red lips.
"After using a greatsword, picking up the Crescent-Moon Weight—do you viewers even know how insanely comfortable this feels?"
[lolololololol]
[what's she suddenly talking about lololol]
[isn't she just saying greatswords are heavy as hell? lololol]
[fr when you use a greatsword and then try another weapon it feels stupid light lolol]
[the whole feel is completely different with the Crescent-Moon Weight, what the]
[idk if I should call it natural but every time I see it it's amazing, it really doesn't feel like a character]
[she looked so serious when she was holding the greatsword]
[Rin... I'm dying...]
[that character customization is genuinely stunning every time I see it]
[...ah, please use the greatsword.]
[greatsword fanatic cut lololol]
She checked the chat reacting to her words one by one and opened the Arena status window.
*
————
Rin (rinhh)
Solo Rank: Platinum 5, 0 LP
Free Rank Tier: -
Win Rate: 100%
Dancer of Lingering Blood
————
*
The first thing she saw was her tier emblem, its appearance now changed to blue.
The tier emblem looked like a finely crafted gemstone, which struck her as newly fascinating.
"I guess because I got promoted to Platinum Tier yesterday, seeing the tier change is kind of interesting."
The final four ranked wins, including yesterday's Platinum Promotion Series, had ended every single match in a single strike, with no need for any explanation.
The Archer user she'd been matched against right before had gotten on her nerves so badly that she'd wanted to end things quickly after that, and that had played a big part.
And as she'd just confirmed, upon promoting to Platinum Tier, her LP points, which had been close to 3,000, had been reset to 0.
A 100% win rate made sense because she'd never lost, but the phrase below it—'Dancer of Lingering Blood'—made her wonder.
"Everyone, looking at my rank status window, it says 'Dancer of Lingering Blood.' Dancer I get, but what's this 'Lingering Blood'?"
[isn't that just a title?]
[Lingering Blood is a title you get when your win rate in your last 10 ranked games is over 80%]
[I figured Rin would have Lingering Blood with her skill, but it's hilarious that she doesn't even know it herself lololol]
[well, she's never lost]
[what's Rin's ranked win rate?]
[I've watched all of Rin's streams and she's never lost once, yeah]
[I mean, stream or not, she beat even Challenger-tier users, so obviously her win rate is 100%?]
[fr is it 100%?]
[Rin, tell us your win rate]
"...My win rate is 100%, yes."
She answered while looking at the chat, then felt awkward because somehow it looked like I was hyping myself up.
"Then I'll head straight into Arena Rank without any more chatter."
She quickly queued for ranked matchmaking, partly to warm up her hands.
—Ding!
And the moment she queued, a match was found.
"I feel this every time... the queue speed is no joke, seriously."
How did a match get found in under three seconds? It made her think once again that this was a god-tier game.
She watched as a cluster of light formed at one side of the Colosseum.
Ding!
—The user 'Jeanne d'Arc' has accepted your friend request.
At that moment, a notification rang and drew her gaze.
It seemed the person who had donated the huge sum of two million won had logged in.
—The duel will begin shortly.
"I'll let you have the first move."
She spoke the words with practiced ease at the duel notification.
At least if the opponent got to make one attack before losing, they might feel a little less resentful.
Because if their head got pierced the moment the match started, the newbies would feel too empty.
As she thought that, she slowly checked the opponent revealed as the light faded.
—3.
Serin's crimson lips parted slightly.
"...No way."
And what came out was Serin's flustered voice.
And Serin wasn't the only one surprised.
"Whoa. What the! Is that you, Rin?!"
Even the opponent had spotted Serin and looked shocked.
—2.
The user Rin was facing had an unusual appearance.
A slender female body.
The bizarre sight of her holding a massive lump of iron that didn't suit her at all.
And hilariously enough, the first opponent Serin faced was a 'Dancer wielding a greatsword.'
"I'm a fan of yours, Rin!!"
Flinch.
At the sight of the opponent smiling brightly as she spoke, Serin's hand holding the Crescent-Moon Weight hesitated, and she couldn't say anything.
—1.
Even after the countdown ended, Serin stood in place and stared endlessly at her opponent.
How would she move?
That absurdly huge greatsword was probably a buster sword type. It was already obvious to her eyes that the opponent wouldn't be able to swing it properly.
No, at the very least, normally when someone bought a weapon, wouldn't they test-swing it before taking it into real combat? But she couldn't understand at all why the opponent was holding such a greatsword that she clearly could barely even swing.
And even with those thoughts, I still couldn't bring myself to speak.
She was simply curious whether the opponent could even move properly while holding that heavy greatsword.
And then, at last, the opponent took a step.
Clomp.
Serin couldn't hide the huge sigh that burst out.
"Haa..."
So my hour-long explanation was all for nothing.
Clomp.
Another step.
Was it just me, or would anyone have said that looked slow?
The sight of the woman trudging toward her, struggling and straining as she held the greatsword, like a grub crawling along.
Seeing that, she realized.
That I'd unleashed a terrible poison on Dancer users.
Watching the opponent continue to approach, Serin muttered quietly, as if giving up.
"...I don't know anymore."
She'd definitely told them not to do it.
***
Luxurious knight's armor with a subtle black sheen. And a beautiful woman with lustrous black hair tied up, darker than the armor itself.
The woman seated at one side of the Colosseum was the most famous user in Another World.
—Another World nickname: Jeanne d'Arc.
The undisputed rank 1 in Another World for two years running, and the pro gamer with the most ACK Pro League championships.
And for some reason, her character looked just like the real Yoo Eunha.
No, it went beyond resembling her—it was at a level where you could simply say it was Yoo Eunha herself.
Truly, a character customization that was uncannily similar to her real-life appearance.
That was the reason Yoo Eunha was the most famous among current pro gamers, and one of the big reasons she had come to hold such overwhelming star power.
First was her overwhelming skill, unmatched by anyone, and next was her beautiful appearance.
A character that seemed to project not just a character, but her very self.
Yoo Eunha appeared in every tournament with a character identical to herself and seized dazzling victories nearly every time. Her very image shone brilliantly, drawing people's eyes.
So when combined with the distinctive nickname 'Jeanne d'Arc,' Yoo Eunha's overwhelming fame was perhaps inevitable.
......
[Argalia: you okay?]
[Jeanne d'Arc: Yes]
[Roland: ???you logged in after a really long time]
[Jeanne d'Arc: I felt like I'd rested enough... logged in to loosen up a bit]
[Astolfo: one duel, go?]
[Jeanne d'Arc: Let's do it next time]
[Angelica: I was so worried about you, really...!!! You suddenly said you were taking a break mid-season, so I thought something really bad had happened!! Why didn't you contact me?]
[Jeanne d'Arc: Thank you for worrying about me]
......
"...This is why I didn't want to log in."
Gesturing at the air, Eunha erased the whisper holograms one by one.
It hadn't even been ten minutes since she logged in, and she was already more annoyed than anything as she answered the flood of holograms one by one.
And with good reason—the whispers had passed double digits and had already reached triple digits.
Part of her wanted to close them all at once and not answer.
"But... well."
Most of the whispers were asking after her well-being.
On top of that, most of the people whispering her were fellow pro players or users maintaining Challenger Tier, the highest tier.
They weren't people she'd only see for a day or two; they were faces she'd seen to the point of exhaustion, so Eunha's personality wouldn't let her ignore the whispers.
She also considered it rude to answer later, so she replied to all those countless whispers one by one.
Click.
Click.
As she kept answering whispers and erasing holograms, Eunha spotted one and her expression brightened.
The reason she had logged into Another World right now.
It was to accept a friend request from one single user.
"You sent it..."
Eunha smiled brightly, naturally, and carefully reached her hand toward that hologram.
—Accept.
And so, the new nickname Rin settled into Eunha's friend list. Since Serin was still streaming, the nickname showed a green light indicating she was online.
"I should watch the rest of Rin's stream."
If anyone who knew Yoo Eunha saw her now, they would doubt their own eyes—Eunha speaking with such a bright expression was utterly out of character.