Streaming? Me? Why? 1
A week had already passed since the Genre Hunter Gallery was set ablaze by the appearance of a saintess possessing a magnificent set of "holy power breasts."
As South Korea's largest hunter community, the forum was normally a playground for toxic trolls and chronic internet dwellers, constantly buzzing with new drama and flame wars.
Ordinarily, any given topic would burn out within a day. However, fueled by the anticipation of a potential new S-grade hunter and those utterly captivated by Sia's voluptuous figure, "Hunter Lee Sia" remained the dominant topic of discussion even though she hadn't streamed once in the seven days since her debut.
Naturally, Sia had no intention of streaming during that week.
Yet the community continued to churn out content. Some talented users even went so far as to clip her previous broadcast and edit together high-quality montage videos.
Given that the average hunter streamer pulled in tens of thousands of viewers, Sia's actual live audience hadn't been massive. However, the state-of-the-art AI drone camera provided by the Hunter Association had captured her from flawless angles without requiring any manual adjustment.
As a result, the footage of Sia battling the wyvern pack in the Curtala Mountain Range rivaled the cinematography of a blockbuster action film. Even without any editing, the raw visual quality was enough to leave viewers in awe.
I drew the Cantabile Saintess stealing wyvern eggs.
Her expression in the GIF where she's snatching the egg was so hilarious I had to draw it.
Then, a bombshell was dropped.
I'm an employee at the Hunter Association.
A few days ago, I attended a meeting with the Director, the Deputy Minister, and the department heads.
My hands are still shaking just thinking about it.
Damn it... I still don't know why I raised my hand in there.
Anyway, the main point is this: the topic of the meeting was the returnee Lee Sia.
As this gallery guessed, Lee Sia is indeed a returnee.
I can't share details due to confidentiality, but there's a high chance she'll be officially issued a hunter license very soon.
A lot of things were discussed, but there will probably be an official announcement later today.
I'll post again when it drops, but if things go as planned, you guys better get ready to worship me.
With that, the hype in the Genre Hunter Gallery reached its peak, and the trending posts section was flooded with topics about Lee Sia.
No matter how beautiful a hunter was, they wouldn't dominate the forum without actual skill. A few pretty pictures or GIFs might make it to the front page once, but it wouldn't sustain interest for an entire week.
However, the hardcore viewers of the gallery had likely sensed it the moment they saw Lee Sia's combat footage.
At the very least, she was a top-tier A-grade hunter, and it wouldn't be surprising if she was evaluated as an S-grade. Her voluptuous figure and celebrity-level looks were merely the icing on the cake.
The primary reason she dominated the forum was her monstrous strength. The second was her bizarre behavior—stealing wyvern eggs, beating the wyvern leader to death only to resurrect it, and essentially turning a dangerous dungeon into her personal poultry farm.
And thirdly, she had used a first-clutch wyvern egg, valued at over a hundred million won, to make soy-marinated eggs. Despite possessing a class that seemed to be a healing-type saintess, she wielded grotesque tentacles and fought with the merciless brutality of a berserker. It was more than enough to capture the internet's attention.
There was simply no reason for her not to trend.
And that night...
After a week of silence, Sia's broadcast began transmitting once again on Switch.
A week after her trip to the Curtala Mountain Range, Sia was waiting for Yeonhwa on the street in front of her shelter.
"...Isn't that Lee Sia?"
"No way, really?"
"This is the returnee shelter. It has to be her."
Although the hushed whispers of passersby reached Sia's sensitive ears, she didn't react. In fact, internally, she felt rather pleased.
Even if it was different from her past life, hearing people whisper about her gave her a strange sense of satisfaction.
I always loved the moment the empire's gaze turned from disgust to adoration...
The people of the empire hadn't looked kindly upon the undead saintess at first. Aside from Menelapie, everyone had feared or despised her.
Because she was undead.
Because she was a corpse.
A monster that refused to stay dead and might feed on the living.
It was a natural reaction, but that fear had gradually transformed into worship and praise as Sia healed the sick and secured victories against the Demon King's army alongside Menelapie. The memory of that feeling still lingered.
Yes, compared to back then, I'm starting off on a much better foot here. Even those internet trolls aren't so bad when you look at them. Besides, it's not my fault my chest is this big.
Even though she had just been reading posts on the Genre Hunter Gallery that mocked her in various ways, Sia remained in high spirits. It was like a grandmother watching her grandchildren run around and play pranks.
"Sister!"
"Ah, Binggu. You're here?"
"I told you, I'm not Binggu!"
"Sure, sure, Binggu."
Yeonhwa huffed, insisting her hunter name was Icicle Nine, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything truly harsh to Sia, who was smiling playfully. In truth, Yeonhwa had been soft on Sia ever since the saintess saved her in the Naftare Great Forest.
There was a reason Yeonhwa had been nicknamed the "Grim Reaper" back at the academy. Misfortune seemed to follow those close to her, leading her to live a cold, isolated life. Since receiving her F-grade license, she had spent her time diving into dungeons rather than socializing, living a life constantly on the line. Anyone from the academy would be shocked to see her looking so relaxed and warm.
Sia and Yeonhwa got into a self-driving electric car sent by the Yeon family. The moment the doors closed, the street noise was completely blocked out—a technological marvel that Sia still found fascinating.
Now that I think about it, Yeonhwa's house was massive too... She even had maids or attendants...
It was clear Yeonhwa came from an incredibly wealthy family. Even to Sia, who knew nothing about cars, this sleek black electric vehicle looked astronomically expensive. More than anything, the self-driving feature allowed them to sit face-to-face and talk, which was a huge plus.
"By the way, sister, did you eat before coming out?"
"Yes."
"What did you have?"
"Nothing was open early in the morning, and I think I ate too much of the wyvern egg장조림 the other day, so I didn't have much of an appetite. I just woke up early and had twenty bowls of ox-blood soup and ten servings of boiled pork slices."
"..."
Wait. What did I just hear?
Yeonhwa's expression faltered for a moment before she quickly regained her composure. Right, Lee Sia was someone who constantly defied expectations. One should never try to predict her actions, nor take her claims of having "no appetite" literally.
"Eating that much must have cost a lot... Ah, did the Association pay out the reward for the Curtala Mountain Range raid?"
"Yes, I checked my smartwatch yesterday and it had been deposited."
Sia tapped the screen of her smartwatch. Unlike the pitiful saintess who had to beg Yeonhwa for money over a bowl of soup, she now wore a triumphant smile, as if she were under the effects of an invincibility buff.
The Association paid ten million won per wyvern. Since they were typically B-grade monsters that had been around for a long time, strategies to defeat them were common knowledge, and the market was flooded with their materials. However, wyvern eggs could only be obtained during the breeding season, and attempting to steal them meant risking a fight with an entire pack of B to A+ grade wyverns, making them far more valuable than the monsters themselves.
After taxes and various deductions, Sia had received a massive sum of approximately seven hundred million won.
It was true what they said: generosity and peace of mind came from a full wallet.
"So, are you ready?"
"Ready for what? Don't I just go in and sign a few papers?"
"I mean mentally... Are you going to be okay?"
In truth, Sia wasn't nervous at all. She hadn't cared when her face, combat footage, and cooking video were broadcasted to the world a week ago, so a few documents and tests weren't going to faze her. Having survived countless life-and-death struggles, getting worked up over a simple evaluation seemed ridiculous.
"Of course I'm fine. I lived as the Emperor's right hand and a saintess for over sixty years. I won't lose my cool over this."
"That's a relief... Also, sister, I've had my family's lawyers archive all the comments from the people crossing the line online. Just say the word, and we can make them pay for running their mouths... Let me know if you change your mind, okay?"
Make them pay, huh?
Though Binggu looked delicate, she certainly had a sharp edge to her when she wanted to. Then again, her grandmother Yeon Seo had been terrifying when angered, so it made sense that the granddaughter wouldn't be a pushover either.
"Yes, yes. I already told the Hunter Association. The support drone is also under our control... Ah, welcome!"
As soon as they arrived at the Returnee Management Bureau, Sia spotted a familiar face waiting for them. It was Chief Evaluator Choi Bo-mi, the one who had handled her ethical audit before.
"Hello."
"I was waiting for you! Ah, hello, Yeonhwa! I saw the video of you wiping out the goblin raiders. The higher-ups were raving about it!"
"Thank you."
"Well then, let's head right up!"
Sia was led by an unusually excited Choi Bo-mi into a dark, interrogation-like room, while Yeonhwa watched the audit process from the observation booth on the other side.
Yeonhwa was there as Sia's guarantor and legal representative, meaning she was entitled to receive all updates regarding Sia from the Hunter Association and the Returnee Management Bureau. Naturally, she needed to observe the ethical audit.
The reason Yeonhwa had suggested streaming to Sia a few days ago was simple.
Because she looked like she was having fun.
Returnees often struggled to find work. Adapting to the modern world was difficult, and finding a suitable job to make a living in this new hunter era was a massive challenge.
In Sia's case, she had returned after sixty-four years. To Yeonhwa, Sia's adjustment to modern society seemed incredibly rocky. In particular, she possessed the terrifying trait of Evil Nature Predator. This wasn't just a matter of having a large appetite; Sia herself had admitted that if the Black Minotaur hadn't been there, she might have eaten Yeonhwa. For Sia to live safely in modern society, many conditions had to be met.
When Sia had first returned, she hadn't left her room for a month, and when she finally did, she had ended up begging Yeonhwa for money to buy soup. While Yeonhwa had found it absurd and frustrating, she also felt a deep sense of pity.
If anything, Yeonhwa was more nervous today than Sia was. Perhaps because of her anxiety, her mind was racing with worst-case scenarios.
Sia is struggling to adapt. She acts like everything is fine, but how hard must it really be for her? How hungry is she? She says she doesn't care about what people say, but is that really true?
Even putting her monstrous appetite aside, Sia simply loved to eat, which meant astronomical food expenses. Yeonhwa, as an active A-grade hunter, couldn't always be by her side to take care of her, and her grandmother Yeon Seo was even busier. Finding a job that Sia enjoyed, paid well enough to cover her food expenses, and suited her unique nature was no easy task.
Simply pushing her to become a regular hunter wasn't a perfect solution either. Sia was a predator who needed to hunt monsters and consume them entirely just to feel somewhat satisfied. Furthermore, the hunter world was a cutthroat society filled with politics, factions, and conflict. Throwing Sia into the middle of that wouldn't guarantee a happy ending.
There were plenty of unsavory characters among hunters. Given the risk of criminal awakened individuals or rogue returnees trying to exploit her, having her stream under the official backing and monitoring of the Hunter Association seemed like the safest route.
The Association isn't entirely trustworthy either... but it's better than the alternatives.
The day she suggested streaming to Sia, Yeonhwa had immediately contacted Chief Evaluator Choi Bo-mi.
"Returnee Lee Sia seems interested in hunter streaming. What is the Bureau's stance on this? Will it cause any issues with her ethical audit?"
She had asked various questions, and to her surprise, Choi Bo-mi had responded enthusiastically, promising to review the proposal positively.
They must have seen her previous stream too.
It was unlikely the Association had been planning this before Yeonhwa reached out, but the quick approval suggested that both the Bureau and the Association saw the benefits of Lee Sia becoming a streamer.
Right, everything will be fine...
Pushing down her lingering anxiety, Yeonhwa focused on the screen showing the audit room.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The ethical audit itself was straightforward. Just like before, Sia sat across from Choi Bo-mi, signed a consent form, and then participated in a word association test using random images.
"Next is a tree."
"Fruit, cabin, forest. Looking at that reminds me of the massive tree in the courtyard of Menelapie's palace."
"Menelapie... Is that the Empress you mentioned before?"
"Yes. Even when I went to see her, she wasn't always free. Emperors are busy people, after all."
"Indeed. People in high positions always are. Just looking at our Deputy Minister makes me tired..."
"When Menelapie wasn't around, I would climb up that tree and take a nap. Sometimes I'd wake up to find her sleeping right next to me... She'd complain about the cold and hug me, but we both had large chests, so it was actually pretty uncomfortable. Still, it felt nice."
"You two must have been very close."
"...Yes."
Indeed, they had been very close. Very close indeed...
"Next is the ocean."
"Sea serpents, water, fish, ships, ports. The food in the port cities was greasy but delicious."
"Oh, so there was an ocean in that world? Some returnees come from worlds without any water at all."
"It didn't have as much water as Earth. The Demon King evaporated four of the eight oceans."
"My goodness..."
"But Theresa, Menelapie, and I beat the Demon King to death, so it should be recovering by now."
"Haha, it sounds like you were a true hero, like a warrior from a legend."
"Menelapie was the Hero. I was the Saintess. Theresa was the Witch."
"I see..."
Talking about her past under the guise of an audit was surprisingly pleasant. Perhaps because of the Thought Share connection, memories she hadn't thought of in years kept bubbling up. She wondered if Choi Bo-mi could feel her nostalgia and warmth through the link.
"Well... cough. This is the final test. Honestly, you've passed all the written evaluations and previous tests with flying colors..."
"Is there a problem?"
"No, it's just that the final question might be a bit uncomfortable for you. I wanted to apologize in advance."
"It's fine."
Compared to the internet trolls, a simple question on an audit was nothing.
"Human."
Ah.
"Have you ever consumed a human, Saintess Lee Sia?"
"..."
Well, that was a heavy one.