Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: Open, Too Many People
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“Ugh…… cha!”
I somehow managed to hook up the monitor I’d bought in a rush to the monitor arm.
Why was this 24-inch thing so damn heavy?
My hands are on the smaller side, so I ended up grunting and struggling for quite a while.
Maybe I should start doing some strength training after all.
I’m an S-rank hunter, at least on paper. I ought to be able to maintain my own body.
I’d long since given up on growing taller.
I ate a hearty serving of nutrient-packed dragon meat once a day.
I made sure to drink my essential dose of sweet mint chocolate.
And I slept a solid ten hours every night.
‘But from the first day I turned into a girl until now, I haven’t grown even 2cm…….’
Sure, I’d hit a career high with 3cm of growth at one point.
But like a bolt from the blue, I’d regressed right back to my original height.
At this point, I had to face facts cleanly.
I had high renderer syndrome.
But high renderer syndrome only freezes your apparent physical age.
‘Muscle growth isn’t impossible, though.’
So I poked around.
This was the biceps area, right? Anyway, I kneaded the spot people call the “bicep bulge” with my fingers.
Squish squish.
No matter when I touched it, the softness was addictive.
If we’re being real, this softness is my—model Han Sa-byeok’s—big selling point.
Okay.
Strength training plan canceled immediately.
Cuteness and popularity are way more precious than bulky muscles.
“Squish!”
Anyway, once I connected the HDMI cable to the monitor, setup complete.
I turned it on, and some numbers greeted me.
[Subscribers: 109,019]
The subscriber count for Molrangmol—a new site I’d made just for civilians—updating in real time every second.
You know those videos sometimes, right?
Where VTubers show off their subscriber growth on a monitor.
I’d always wanted to try that, so no way was I missing this chance.
Ding!
[Subscribers: 110,121]
Ding!
[Subscribers: 111,475]
Ding!
[Subscribers: 113,861]
The numbers kept climbing endlessly.
“Muhehe…….”
My lips curled up endlessly to match.
We hadn’t even started official sales yet, and it was already this explosive?
The site had only been up for not even 15 hours, but tons of people were signing up.
Tap tap tap.
[Me: Way too many visitors… Server gonna hold up?]
[Eugene-ah: No issues yet.]
[Me: When will problems start?]
[Eugene-ah: Don’t worry too much.]
“…….”
I trusted Jin-ah, but honestly, I couldn’t help worrying.
Midnight was coming soon.
The first Molrangtori sale to civilians.
But what if too many people flooded in and the server crashed?
It’d leave a terrible first impression on consumers.
[Jin-ah: Set up the servers super beefy from the start. No problems.]
Just like Jin-ah said, we’d crammed a bunch of gear into the spare room on the factory’s second floor.
Racks… UPS units? And other high-end stuff, plus a powerful AC. Cost us a pretty penny.
[Han Sa-byeok: Okay. If the server crashes, I’ll confiscate this month’s performance bonus.]
[Jin-ah: OK]
What’s with the confidence?
Normally, Jin-ah would hedge her bets when deals like this came up.
[Jin-ah: But if it doesn’t crash, double the bonus?]
[Han Sa-byeok: lol]
[Jin-ah: Gotta balance it out. How hard I worked setting up those servers.]
She really had worked her butt off.
For someone out of shape from lack of exercise, she’d gone all out.
I and the mini golems had wanted to help so bad.
But she’d laid down the law: ‘Don’t touch it if you don’t know what you’re doing!’ So we’d swallowed our disappointment.
Electronics are like that.
To an outsider like me, it’s like, can’t you just smack it and make it work?
But to experts, it’s precious treasure to be handled with care.
Wait a sec.
[Han Sa-byeok: Pretty sure I already rewarded you for that, though…]
Almost got pierced through the nose there.
Sneaky little…
[Jin-ah: Lol fine]
[Han Sa-byeok: If it really crashes, next month’s bonus too.]
[Jin-ah: Gah! Gah! You evil boss…!]
“Pffhehe…… What’s she saying.”
[Jin-ah: But Sa-byeok-ah, why aren’t you asleep yet?]
[Han Sa-byeok: Gotta see how many people show up myself.]
[Jin-ah: It’s obviously gonna sell out anyway.]
[Jin-ah: So just sleep.]
[Jin-ah: You’re heading out early tomorrow too.]
[Jin-ah: Or can’t sleep? Want me to come sing you a lullaby?]
Lullaby, my ass. She can’t even sing.
I still vividly remembered.
When she sang me happy birthday.
A true transcendence of vocal range.
How could a human voice frolic so freely across pitches?
Sul-baek had bolted to her room in shock.
[Me: No thanks.]
[Me: Plus, I’m gonna buy one myself.]
The Molrangtori for sale to both civilians and Awakeners totaled 9,000 units.
We excluded 1,000, which would only be sold on the existing Molrangmol site.
The current site had 6,000 up for grabs.
The remaining 3,000 offline.
[Jin-ah: If you can’t buy one, I’ll stake my absolute favorite ‘Sa-byeok sleeping photo.’ The super cute one where her mouth’s slightly open. Wanna see?]
[Me: ……Delete it.]
[Jin-ah: Hehe]
When did she even take that?
I’ll make sure to buy one and delete them all.
‘Honestly, doesn’t seem like I’ll fail.’
Thanks to Kami No.2, macros were 99% blocked.
Basically pitting pure skill against everyone else.
Sure, Korea has those ultra-trained ticketing pros.
But I’m one of those click masters too, you know?
No way I’m losing.
Diiing!
Finally, 00:00 arrived.
I entered the auth code faster than anyone and jumped to the purchase page.
Took about 3 seconds?
Not first place, but top 1,000 for sure—
[Waiting Number: 3,901]
—my hopes shattered in complete defeat.
“Eugh…….”
There were 4,000 people faster than me?
Bug, right?
“Who used macros?”
Nyaaang!
No.2 snickered.
You little shit, mocking me?
Suddenly craving butterfly stew.
No, maybe run the antivirus?
Ding!
[Jin-ah: How’d it go?]
[Jin-ah: Couldn’t get one, huh?]
[Me: IDKyetlol]
Max 4 per person.
With 6,000 total, luck might get my turn.
Diiing!
[Specified quantity sold out. Thank you for your support.]
…Yeah, no.
No chance.
[Jin-ah: (Purchase success screenshot)]
[Jin-ah: lol]
[Me: Howwww?]
[Jin-ah: Curious? 500 won.]
Jeez. What era’s old gag is that?
This is why you can’t talk to people from different generations.
Maybe that’s why.
The tension drained from my body.
The mental thread I’d been clinging to snapped.
“Yawwwwn…….”
Sleep hit me like a truck in an instant.
I’d been holding it back so long, the momentum was insane.
Of course, I gladly surrendered to it.
“Iluwa…….”
I scooped up Sul-baek, who’d been burrowing a tunnel at the bed’s edge with pababak!, hugged her tight, and fell asleep.
**
**
[Open run???] [Poster: Han Sa-byeok No.1 Fan]
(Han Sa-byeok appearing in front of Molrangmol Store)
Believe it if I say I pulled an all-nighter for this..?
Sa-byeok after so long is still cute as ever..
-Went to buy Molrangtori?
ㄴ(Poster): Nah nah, I’m here for Sa-byeok’s fanmeet
-ㅆㅂ what’s the line like. Was aboutta head out, screwed?
ㄴ(Poster): Yeah came at midnight, people already lining up then
ㄴFml
-How many selling today?
ㄴ3k
ㄴBut they sell 3k every day right
ㄴYeah
ㄴThen no need to come today, mad crowded
ㄴlol gonna be like this every day
**
**
The very spot where Molrangmol’s skyscraper would rise!
……Well, a bit removed, where the old gate monster disassembly site used to be.
[Molrangmol Store]
We’d opened a temporary shop.
Until the skyscraper’s done, this’ll be the main spot.
Hasn’t even broken ground yet, so it’ll be main store for a good while.
We’d keep the Baekya-seong store too.
But that one’s merch-focused.
This one’ll be gear-focused.
“Crowd’s huge.”
30 minutes before open, the line stretched to the horizon.
Lucky the huge park was right next door.
If it was on a road, Molrangmol might’ve caused traffic jams.
And right now, I was.
Tap tap tap!
In the temp container next to the store.
Slathering makeup on my face inside.
For my second fanmeet ever.
Last time was kinda impromptu, not much prep.
So today, full armor.
Outfit and all, plus girly mindset dialed up.
“How many showed up?”
I asked as my face touch-up wrapped.
“Probably 20k? Stopped counting after 10k.”
20k……?
Way too many.
Only 3k Molrangtori.
Fanmeet was pre-reg 1k plus first-come 2k.
“First day and all… Honestly, feels light to me.”
“Really?”
“Could be hundreds of thousands and no one’d bat an eye? Whole world’s going nuts to buy it.”
True that.
Countries, megacorps.
All dying to contact me.
Probably extra cuz of the US deal.
Speaking of, they invited me over.
State visit treatment or whatever.
I’ll swing by the month after next.
My bucket list should be done by then.
And when that happens.
Humanity will etch it into their eyes that day.
The overwhelming existence called Molrangmol.
“Huh……!”
Just imagining it made my gut buzz.
But that’s future talk.
“Sa-byeok-ah, let’s go out. Time’s up.”
“Yep.”
First, nail this fanmeet right in front of me.
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