Scramble for the Presidency

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The key was rusted, steeped in a gothic design that practically dripped atmosphere.

The kind of visual you'd expect to find in a museum.

What kind of description is that supposed to be…?

I already knew perfectly well how hard this key was to get. Hell, it said so right there. Grade S, no less. The problem was that I had absolutely no idea how to use it.

I'd figure that out later.

"Chat, hurry up and donate before I end the stream."

Right now was time to rake in as many donations as possible.

Despite the chat's reactions, donation alerts kept popping off on the other side of the screen.

There were so many donations that I'd set the special donation sound effect threshold at 100,000 COIN. Thanks to that, the donation window was quieter than before.

But then—

Ba-da-bam—!

"T-ten million Coin…! Association President! Thank you so much…!"

The Association President, who hadn't donated a single Coin until now, seized the number-one donation ranking in one stroke—snatching it right from Slimming.

Not about to take that lying down, Slimming fired back with a donation of her own.

Ba-da-bam—!

"Slimming…! Thank you for the fifteen million Coin!"

One of the few party tricks I had up my sleeve: a full ninety-degree bow. I bent at the waist again and again, pouring ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out my gratitude.

Fifteen hundred million won. Enough to buy an apartment in Seoul without breaking a sweat.

The back-to-back massive donations had the viewers just as fired up.

The scorching attention from the viewers was enough to make my face burn. I waved my hands at the chat, which was seething with barely contained resentment.

"Hey now, when did I ever ask for donations~? This is all thanks to the Association President and Slimming's generosity~"

"Aigoo~ Is that so? Should I end it?"

"Since you all want me gone, I'll wrap up the stream here. Bye~"

The broadcast ended on a high note.

My hands were still trembling. Whether it was from the sheer rush of excitement or my dystonia, I couldn't tell.

My heart has never pounded this hard…!

Today's stream had run just under ten minutes. Making over 2.5 billion won in ten minutes—of course my heart was racing.

I was still grinning from ear to ear when a blue system window materialized.

"Today's on me, everyo—"

Before I could even finish the sentence, the system kicked me out of the Tower.

Meanwhile, at that very moment, in Han Chaewon's home.

Han Chaewon was sprawled across her bed, thrashing under the covers and rolling into every corner of the mattress.

"Kang Yujin…!"

She wasn't one to cry under normal circumstances, but for some reason tears were streaming down her face.

"Waaah…! She's insane! Completely insane…!"

The reason Chaewon was crying was none other than the donations. No matter how much she earned from streaming, fifteen hundred million won was still a stretch—a serious one.

And yet the sole reason she'd dropped that much money was one person: Hunter Association President Kang Yujin.

She'd originally planned to donate just 1,000,000 Coin. But then Kang Yujin had dropped a full ten times that amount and snatched the presidency right out from under her.

Still… I had to defend the presidency…

The stream president received a number of privileges. First, among the anonymous chat messages, the president's username appeared as a highlighted badge with flashy emotes, making it easy for the streamer to spot. For Slimming, who chatted constantly, that was a benefit she simply couldn't give up.

The second privilege was being permanently pinned as the number-one donor. Even if the streamer minimized the screen, the president's name stayed displayed at the bottom of the broadcast—a public metric showing the entire world just how much you loved that streamer. That was what the donation ranking meant.

"Why are there so many girls after Jinwoo, seriously…!"

There were far too many rivals targeting him. And compared to them, she had no particular advantage. Eun Hayoon was his childhood friend and an S-rank. Kang Yujin was an S-rank with the power to destroy a person's life with a single gesture.

And me? Just an A-rank famous streamer…

If she wanted to claim the seat beside Jinwoo, she had to show him something. This killer figure sculpted by three-meals-a-day dieting, her community streams, or else…

"It's money, after all."

The one weapon that let her fight them on even somewhat equal footing was money.

"Ugh… Being the rich older-sister type is harder than it looks. Time to go rice some currency."

Right after that, Han Chaewon entered the Tower—loaded with mana potions—to farm donation money for Jinwoo and Jinwoo alone.

Meanwhile, in the Hunter Association President's office, Kang Yujin's reaction to watching Do Jinwoo's stream was nothing like Chaewon's.

"Hehe. Slimming, you sure spent a lot of Coin."

The way Slimming had immediately dropped fifteen million Coin the second she'd donated ten million—it was just too funny.

"Ah. I can't stop laughing."

It was so hilarious she was nearly in tears.

Truthfully, Kang Yujin had been certain that the moment she claimed the number-one donation rank, Han Chaewon would immediately fire back with a massive donation of her own.

The way Han Chaewon acted in the Hunter Association office was the textbook picture of someone in love.

If Chaewon truly saw Do Jinwoo as special, wouldn't she try to reclaim first place? That had been the thinking behind it.

It was a test, and also a way of conveying my own feelings.

Kang Yujin was the Hunter Association President—a government official. Compared to other Hunters, she genuinely had less money. But because she also worked as a Hunter on the side, she'd managed to save up a decent amount. Every last Coin she'd accumulated had just gone up in smoke with this one donation.

She'd blown her entire fortune on a single donation, and somehow she was still smiling.

"Ahh~ If I end up broke later, I guess I'll just have to live at Jinwoo's place~"

Kang Yujin had never been particularly materialistic, even as a child. That didn't mean she was free of greed entirely, though. Possessiveness. Once Kang Yujin decided she wanted something, she had to have it—even if that something was a person.

And the person Kang Yujin was interested in right now was Do Jinwoo.

It had started a few weeks ago. Work had been so dull that she'd opened the community boards for the first time in a while. The topic setting the entire community on fire at the time was "World's First Successful Unique Difficulty Clear."

As she read through every related post, one name kept coming up from Hunters across the board.

Eastern Gunslinger.

As Hunter Association President, Yujin immediately pulled up every file related to the Eastern Gunslinger. Her curiosity had started with Is he an S-rank Hunter…?—but looking at the Eastern Gunslinger's profile didn't resolve the mystery. If anything, it deepened it.

"E-rank…? Seriously?"

She wanted to know. How had he cleared Unique Difficulty Floor 1? She wanted to know more—about the Eastern Gunslinger. About Do Jinwoo.

So she investigated.

"Oh… He's handsome."

A tall frame, sharply defined features, broad shoulders. She also dug up the fact that he'd been a national shooting team athlete.

Wanting to know everything about Do Jinwoo, Kang Yujin watched his gold medal footage. After watching every video, her impression was:

"…Cool."

After a single mistake left him trailing his opponent by a massive margin, Do Jinwoo had landed consecutive X-tens and closed the gap. Then, in the final round, he'd hit yet another X-ten to take the win. The image of him biting down on the gold medal with a radiant smile was cool enough—but Kang Yujin was looking at a different scene entirely.

She rewound that clip over and over. Because it was just that cool.

Some might have written him off as a bit of an eccentric, but her take was different.

A man with clear convictions.

Even more curious about Do Jinwoo, Kang Yujin hunted down every video related to him. Buying merch on the side was a bonus. She went straight to the community and followed the Eastern Gunslinger so she could catch his streams live whenever he went on air.

A few days later, a system window floated up into the air.

"Finally…!"

She tapped the system window, and the stream title appeared at once.

"Gonna break the Floor ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠1 record…?"

How on earth was an E-rank supposed to set a Floor 1 record? Burning with curiosity, Kang Yujin watched the stream in silence. After chatting with viewers for a bit, the Eastern Gunslinger declared a re-clear. The moment an Iron Golem appeared—bang!—it vanished without a trace.

"…That's an E-rank?"

That insane firepower was something even she, an S-rank, couldn't hope to replicate. Did a person capable of that even exist in this world?

Nowhere. Nowhere at all—

Except for Jinwoo, that is.

That was the moment. If until then Kang Yujin had considered Do Jinwoo merely one person among many who caught her interest, she now saw him as someone she could spend her life with.

That state of mind had continued until just a few hours ago, when Kang Yujin had summoned him under the pretext of protecting his license.

I would have preferred a private meeting, but some strange person tagged along too.

"That person was Slimming, I believe."

Pretty enough, but that was as far as it went. The type who clearly made a living off popularity. The two of them had arrived together for some reason, but they hadn't looked like a couple.

In which case…

"I suppose it's fine if I take Jinwoo for myself."

Kang Yujin hummed a little tune as she opened the community window. Then she began composing a Hunter Message supported by the community platform.

The recipient: Eastern Gunslinger.