Chapter 34

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: penny

Chapter: 34

Chapter Title: Defect (3)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

After confirming she could access the capsule, Seo-hwa breathed a sigh of relief.

If error messages kept popping up and she couldn't log in, she might not have been able to stream at all.

Thankfully, the problem had been resolved, if only temporarily.

But soon, Seo-hwa spotted some news.

Ariant World was finally catching on late, causing capsules to become scarce.

'...Ugh?'

The original price of a capsule was ten million won. But now, it had risen even higher.

Seo-hwa's tail went rigid as she saw the capsule's price.

'E-even holding out for six months is gonna be tough...'

The maintenance costs for modifying the capsule were high. No, extremely high.

Seo-hwa racked her brains, calculating her current income.

A building? No such thing. Stocks? She gave up on those ages ago after buying and watching them plummet.

So her only immediate income was from stream donations.

With 30,000 to 50,000 viewers including overseas ones, the donations pouring into Seo-hwa were a substantial amount.

'...Not enough.'

But after crunching the numbers in her head, she came to the conclusion that it fell short.

'Ugh, I hate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thinking about money...'

If only she could just ignore everything and focus solely on streaming, she'd be happy. But that didn't seem possible.

'Ways to make money without turning off the stream...'

Naturally, Seo-hwa thought of Moby Dick.

The world's largest video platform. Moby Dick, with its black whale icon.

Of course, uploading videos to Moby Dick generated revenue. A significant number of Abyss streamers already uploaded their streams there.

Clips from 'Cheisi's' Ariant World streams had even climbed the real-time popularity rankings, so channel revenue wouldn't be insignificant.

Still, something told her it wouldn't be quite enough.

'Please don't let the capsule price rise any further...'

There was no guarantee it wouldn't, leaving her anxious.

After creating a Moby Dick channel, Seo-hwa checked her email in case there were any responses to her inquiries.

There was one new email.

It was from Rowen.

'...Custom capsule?'

Seo-hwa's ears perked up.

Hello. This is Ariant World's developer, Kang Yoo-hyun.

First, our deepest sympathies for the situation faced by the inquirer using the nickname Cheisi...

Brushing aside the unnecessarily lengthy content, the core message remained.

'...O-one hundred billion.'

They could produce a custom capsule for her. But she'd have to cover the one hundred billion won cost.

An astronomical sum. Seo-hwa's ears drooped limply. As if she had one hundred billion won lying around.

However, if you meet just one condition, Rowen will cover all costs.

"A condition...?"

It didn't take long for her drooping ears to slowly rise, then perk straight up.

"Hello. This is Ariant World's developer."

Moby Dick, Rowen's official channel for Ariant World. 7 million viewers.

"I'm Kang Yoo-hyun."

The gazes of those 7 million focused on the black-haired man politely greeting them.

The developer of a virtual reality game with worldwide impact was doing his first official stream.

Gamers, streamers, gaming media—not to mention major news outlets from various countries—were all tuning in, waiting to hear what he had to say.

And soon, Kang Yoo-hyun spoke.

"To help those who love Ariant World enjoy it even more diligently, we're launching a special event."

Languages from around the world flooded the chat of the 7 million viewers. Every word from Kang Yoo-hyun was instantly translated into various languages and appeared in the chat.

"If you visit the homepage now, you can choose one quest from 'Eternal Footsteps' and several others."

Kang Yoo-hyun continued.

"Rewards differ per quest. And the reward for the first to clear the hardest one, 'Eternal Footsteps'..."

Then, Kang Yoo-hyun raised both hands and spread his fingers wide.

"One hundred billion won."

Ariant World communities worldwide.

Moby Dick channels everywhere.

News outlets around the globe, already sensitive to the hype and impact of the first virtual reality game.

Moments later, they all exploded.

Seo-hwa accessed Ariant World's main site.

Various quests were listed.

Some quests looked easy at a glance, others quite difficult. Naturally, the rewards varied accordingly.

As Seo-hwa browsed the quests, her eyes stopped on the very last one.

It was the only one with the qualifier "first."

Which explained its extremely low selection rate. Even in raw numbers, it was only about 9,600 people.

The condition in the email was for Seo-hwa to select this quest.

More precisely, to stream herself clearing it.

There were details about marketing and attention in the email, but that wasn't her concern.

What mattered was that she'd receive a custom capsule while tackling this quest.

There was no reason to refuse. She didn't even look for one.

A custom capsule. That alone was enough.

After accepting the quest, Seo-hwa's gaze naturally drifted to the old capsule in the corner of the living room.

Now on a one-month timer.

Already disassembled and reassembled, its exterior was battered, and the interior wasn't normal either.

'......'

Seo-hwa silently watched the tragic end of her ten-million-won investment for a moment.

Logging into Ariant World early in the morning, Cheisi checked her quest window before starting her stream.

Two of the titles she'd collected so far were displayed in the quest window.

The 『First Visitor of Azelchen』 that had uselessly boosted her faith in the sea serpent Siurug.

And the 『Wanderer in the Fog』 that gave the not-so-important info about Kallium ore.

They were titles that seemed a bit off-kilter, aside from being limited.

They didn't boost proper stats or help in combat—even inferior to 『First Logging』, which gave a tiny bit of extra damage to wood-type monsters.

'...Who knew they'd come in handy here.'

Right now, those worthless titles felt more reliable than anything.

Cheisi opened her title window.

Only two of the titles she'd gathered so far seemed to count.

『First Logging』 from monster hunting made sense, but it was surprising that 『Visitor of the Island Where Stars Fall』 wasn't reflected in the quest.

'Well, that one wasn't a limited title anyway.'

Cheisi pondered as she stared at the quest window.

'Eight more.'

There were probably more than eight undiscovered areas that granted titles. Someone else might snag one, preventing anyone from clearing the quest at that point.

She doubted they'd design it assuming one person would monopolize them all.

Of course, it'd be great if she could sweep them all, but that wasn't something she could just will into existence.

'They told me to stream.'

What Kang Yoo-hyun and Rowen had requested was for her to stream her challenge of ｢Eternal Footsteps｣.

Were they wary of her turning off the stream, hoarding info, and adventuring solo?

'...I wasn't planning to hide it anyway.'

Of course, doing it that way would greatly increase her chances of being the sole achiever.

But that wouldn't make her a streamer.

Forget donation revenue or Moby Dick videos—viewers wouldn't want that either.

Even if sharing info with viewers led to disadvantages, that was a risk streamers had to bear.

And she'd long decided to live this life solely for streaming, not money or fame.

'Well, let's do it.'

She even had a destination in mind.

The sunken path of Azelchen that Nell had mentioned, and the region beyond it. She'd been planning to earn money for aquarium fish to prepare for that.

Truth be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠told, her desire to just eat the fish was stronger, but her intuition told her to prep underwater breathing effects in advance.

Closing the quest window, Cheisi finished setting up her stream.

Then she suddenly noticed something odd right beside her.

A knight ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in black armor was dozing off with his head bobbing. Right next to her.

It was so close she should've noticed the moment she logged in.

"...Hm?"

As if just waking up, the knight let out a groggy metallic rasp toward Cheisi.

"...You're finally here! Add me as a friend! Add me as a friend!"