Pre-Release Live Broadcast (2)
"Whoa, that crazy bitch."
Yoo Seol let the exclamation fly, pure admiration packed into every syllable.
And who, exactly, was Yoo Seol?
An awakened intellect who had, since childhood, conquered every MMORPG under the sun and stacked immunity buffs against every scam in the book. The textbook successful fan — the one who dropped out of high school halfway through, then ground herself raw under the director who had once overseen her lifelong god-tier game.
So why had she leaned in and whispered into Se-rin's ear, Doing a live broadcast is just common sense, right?
Because if there was a live broadcast, it would be Kim Ji-hyun.
Even if he was off in America now, she had never once doubted that he would show up online, brainwashing app fully activated, and enchant the entire user base.
Which was why, the moment Se-rin announced she would host it herself, Yoo Seol had tilted her head a little.
They weren't close enough to spill their deepest secrets, but after rolling around the continent of Galicia together they had at least climbed to the rank of frenemies. So she knew full well that Se-rin was a fresh-faced newcomer to the workforce. She also knew this was Se-rin's first time taking up the baton and waving it around.
"How is she this good? Is smooth talking genetic or something?"
It was so clean it almost made her wonder if CEO Kim Ji-hyun had reincarnated as a woman — like watching one of his old live streams all over again. There had to be some secret sauce for live broadcasting, and Se-rin must have been handed the recipe.
Yoo Seol forced herself to believe that and refocused on the screen.
Come to think of it, throughout the entire development phase she had mostly just hugged Elisha and fiddled with the graphics, so her grasp of the actual game systems was pretty thin. Which meant she kept going:
"Wait, you can do that too?"
"She's pretty comfortable with that system."
"Holy shit. Alchemy's gonna give you arm muscles from all that pot-stirring."
She couldn't help but gasp as Se-rin freely roamed the continent of Galicia, explaining the in-game systems one by one. And as if to hammer home the free job tree, Se-rin kept switching her own class and demonstrating everything live, which made it all click instantly.
Plus, looking at the chat…
"Ehehehe."
Watching the occasional praise for her own work scroll by, Yoo Seol couldn't help but let a greasy little smile creep across her face.
Praise me more!
Chiya-hoya! Chiya-hoya!
Of course, if she herself ever had to stand in the spotlight at an official event like that, she would instantly curl into a ball and try to dig a hole in the floor. But just knowing that people out there recognized the blood, sweat, and tears she had poured out in the shadows was enough to fill her with pure satisfaction.
While she was at it, she slapped on a little self-congratulation.
Watching the handful of viewers who actually played along, Yoo Seol's mouth stretched into a thoroughly dopey grin.
Why only a handful?
Because the overwhelming majority of the chat was…
Thirst comments.
Thirst comments filtered out by the auto-mod.
Thirst comments that crossed the line so hard the mods put them on display as a warning.
It was a bizarre situation in which far more attention was pouring onto the person demonstrating the game than onto the game itself.
And then, at the tail end of the broadcast…
Dressed in the goddess's robes, Se-rin stumbled over her words for the first time all stream, then bowed her head in a crisp little nod — and at that exact moment, a video began to play.
The "perfect teaser" that Yoo Seol had pushed for with everything she had, hammering on impact, and that Se-rin had tearfully agreed to film.
The goddess who has lost her power....
We have to save her, right?
[Closed Beta Winner Verification Screenshot]
Starting with me lol
Honestly if even half of what they showed today is actually implemented in-game, we're looking at a straight-up legendary RPG for the ages.
They just dumped every setting that only shows up in game lit fr
But
Why
Didn't
I
Get
In!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Screenshot of Se-rin drawing a bowstring in a plunging ranger costume]
[Screenshot capturing the moment Se-rin's robe flutters as she chants a spell]
[Screenshot of Se-rin grit-toothed and focused, hammering an anvil]
phya phya phya phya phya phya
Damn the bar for new streamers is high these days lmaooo
Se-rin stared blankly up at the deep blue sky of Galicia and chewed over the emptiness of life.
Out of nowhere, a colleague from the same company's mobile division floated up in her mind — a fellow director whose game philosophy could be summed up in three crude syllables: Tits-Ass-Cash.
He was the type who mass-produced beautiful girls by the truckload and bet everything on character designs that would lodge themselves dead-center in someone's heart. It was a little removed from Se-rin's own philosophy, but she had always respected his passion, and they had shared the occasional private drink.
Lately my subordinates are worse than I am. The second I look even slightly unsatisfied they go, "Hiiik…! I'm gonna throw myself into Cheonggyecheon…!" and make a whole scene.
Every time she heard something like that, Se-rin had worn a bitter little smile on the inside. Surely the cold-blooded demon of Cheonggyecheon who culled defeatists was still better than being a human instrument and dancing machine.
Se-rin sighed and left a single comment on her old colleague's social media.
She meant every word.
Anyway…
Because the in-game goddess statue had been designed to look exactly like her, the moment the game launched, the image of "Goddess Se-rin" was going to explode across the entire internet.
Hero, please — save this world, and save me.
"Uuuugh…"
The fact that she — not even a professional voice actress — had already been permanently archived saying something that mortifying…
…Well, watching the online communities go up in flames at least offered the small comfort that the viral marketing had worked exactly as intended. That had been the whole point from the start.
"Se-rin Se-rin!"
Elisha, temporarily freed from her role as Yoo Seol's living brush tool, came bouncing over and hopped onto Se-rin's back with a little spring.
"Did you memorize the whole script?"
"Mhm hehe. Of course!"
If Se-rin was playing the role of the goddess who had lost her power and been sealed away in decline, then Elisha was the sister goddess working to free her imprisoned sibling. The core of the story, boiled down: Elisha teams up with the heroes to save Se-rin.
It was a classic cliché, sure. And depending on how things went later, it also provided the justification for "Kim Se-rin" the director and "Se-rin" the goddess to exist as separate entities.
If the story ever pushed far enough to reach the rescue of Goddess Se-rin?
She planned to find a successor, hand over the title of second director, and devote herself entirely to goddess duty. Without that split, the workload itself would stop making any sense.
As for Elisha — she hadn't really been doing anything to begin with, so even if she spent her days scampering around the continent of Galicia, game operations wouldn't suffer much.
The twin mountains of outsourcing — Art Director Yoo Seol and Sound Director Seo Han-ryang — had both put in for leave. The reason was the same.
Not an office romance or anything like that…
I can't hold back from even a taste-test. Take care of things!
I'll repay you with quality QA!
They had both taken off to gorge themselves thoroughly for the entire closed beta period.
From Se-rin's perspective, that was more than welcome. Nothing was more positive for development than having the people deeply involved in building the game experience it firsthand. A game developer ought to be a game expert, shouldn't they?
It aligned with Se-rin's philosophy, so of course the leave was approved — paid leave, no less. The money was coming out of Elisha's pocket anyway.
"Uuu, I don't have that much Earth money…"
"You spend it when you need to spend it. What's the point of hoarding? If Galicia goes under, you go under too, right?"
"Uuuuugh…"
After giving the whining Elisha a whirl and yeeting her into fully organic freefall, Se-rin waved a hand through the empty air. A broadcast platform interface rose before her eyes like a hologram.
🌩 The Calm Before the Storm Waiting Room!!!!(30 min left)
ZeroIsGood · 64,392 viewers
💖 Going to save my girlfriend... I mean, the goddess
KangHyung · 29,593 viewers
🎮 New game collab with JustWater, RoundMan, TwinKa
Portia · 12,493 viewers
Beyond the "ZeroIsGood" that Se-rin had quietly slipped into the beta, a surprising number of other streamers had also won closed beta access — and the waiting rooms were burning hot.
The moment she opened Zero's stream:
"And so, with the full closed beta open a mere twenty-five minutes away… the sound of wind and the desolate rain beat against the capsule window… The calm before the storm…!"
"Pffft."
Watching Lee Han-byul spout the kind of overwrought nonsense only a developer should be allowed to say, her eyes sparkling with pure anticipation, Se-rin couldn't help but laugh.
It felt good.
No — more than that.
Right now, this world was simply, endlessly delightful—
Turning that thought over in her mind, Se-rin picked up the Elisha she had tossed aside earlier.
"Elisha, time to get to work."
"Okay!"
Even if they were only revealing a fraction of the vast content they had built…
The time had come to properly introduce the newly renovated continent of Galicia to the players.