The Heavenly Demon Plays Games
Until today, Enry had deliberately ignored her stalker. She knew that dealing with a crazy person would only exhaust her. If the stalker hadn't crossed the line, she would have continued doing so. If it really bothered her, she could just quit the language institute and consider the money lost. But then the guy approached her while she was walking back alone and asked if she was lonely. If he hadn't suggested they get close again, Enry wouldn't have exploded at him.
The stalker's greasy smile made Enry snap. She didn't even give him a chance to speak, spewing out curses. Don't come near me again. You're disgusting. I wish you'd just die. She never considered that the stalker might turn violent. Her head was boiling hot, and she couldn't think straight.
Then, when the stalker raised his fist, Enry thought about how huge that fist looked. If Baek Ara hadn't saved her, she probably wouldn't have been able to turn on her stream today. Maybe not just for one day. After all, even Enry was only human, and there was a limit to how long she could pretend to be cheerful.
“So in saving me, that person also saved this stream. How could I not repay the favor?”
Enry's words, spoken while expressing her gratitude, made the chat atmosphere turn awkward. It was understandable that she was late. Not posting a notice was clearly Enry's mistake, but most viewers agreed that she'd had every reason to be distracted. The consensus was in Enry's favor.
“Hmm. It's hard to define, but... an eccentric?”
Until today, Enry had thought of Baek Ara as an eccentric. Anyone would think so after seeing that messy hair that looked like she'd cut it herself, or those shabby clothes that seemed picked up randomly from the floor. It was also peculiar how she still looked beautiful despite all those issues. The occasional Chinese mutterings when something didn't go her way, or her bold actions that ignored the people around her—those were all factors that made Baek Ara seem like an eccentric.
“I think eccentric is right. A cool eccentric, though.”
The sight of her lightly subduing the stalker and then asking in clumsy Korean if Enry was okay had stirred something romantic deep in Enry's heart. That's why she'd grabbed the sleeve of Ara, who was about to leave without a word. She had a feeling that if she let her go like that, she'd never get another chance to talk to her.
“Ah. That's what you were curious about! Don't worry, my broth-lovers. That person is a woman, so there's no 'that kind of thing' going on.”
Feeling the chat atmosphere lighten up, she smiled. At this rate, she could probably just gloss over the penalty roulette talk. She could crack a few jokes like this and then jump straight into Apis. Some people might complain about not spinning the roulette, but if she stubbornly ignored them, others would tell those people to stop nagging. Then it would all fizzle out. A perfect plan.
Spin the Penalty Roulette
Whoa. Penalty roulette. After confirming those words, Enry checked the chat with trembling eyes. As expected, a fight had broken out in the chat.
The two factions were evenly matched. This wasn't good. It would be better if the streamer Enry took the blame from the viewers. If a fight broke out among the viewers, today's stream atmosphere might stay ruined the whole day. And it wouldn't stop at today. The topic would keep coming up in the future. Every time the penalty roulette was mentioned, it would cause chaos. From her long streaming experience, this was a fire that needed to be put out immediately, or it would become a huge problem. It would clearly keep smoldering and burn the mountain several more times.
“Alright everyone! The boss dropped some money, so how can we not spin it!”
She hated it. She really hated it. If it were up to her heart, she'd want to press the cancel button. But she had to spin it here. With trembling hands, Enry activated the penalty roulette. Reading the penalties listed on it made her mind go blank, but she somehow held on. Was she smiling properly right now? Probably not. Her expression must look completely rotten. Please, just give me something decent. No, anything else is fine. Just not the VR horror game.
Enry had once seen another streamer faint while playing a VR horror game. The person had a pretty strong stomach and could play regular horror games without even screaming, but they'd collapsed under the overwhelming terror of VR horror. Enry, who proudly called herself the biggest coward among cowards, knew she wouldn't last even ten minutes before passing out. But she was supposed to play that? Don't talk nonsense. She'd die before clearing it.
She took a deep breath and spun the roulette. The rapidly spinning wheel gradually slowed down, and what the arrow finally pointed to was...
“Oh my. Damn it?”
It was a horror game.
The next day at the language institute, Enry waved both hands enthusiastically to greet me. Since my face wasn't thick enough to ignore someone greeting me so warmly, I naturally sat down next to her.
“Did you check the text I sent yesterday?”
“There were many types.”
After receiving instructions from Enry over the phone yesterday and struggling for quite a while, I was able to check the performance of the computer at home. Surprisingly, its specs were at a level that could be called the best at the current time.
After checking the specs, Enry sent me a list of recommended VR devices, telling me to buy whichever one I liked. The prices varied wildly. The cheap ones were tens of thousands of won, while the expensive ones reached hundreds of millions. I wondered what kind of game would require burning that many chickens, but Enry explained that serious gamers would invest that much for even a 0.01-second improvement in reaction time.
Well, in Murim too, there were plenty of people who would hand over an entire castle for a 0.01-second reaction. It must be similar.
“Was there anything you liked?”
“Yes. I bought the one Enry recommended.”
Out of all those devices, the one Enry had recommended was a VR headset in the 500,000 won range. According to her explanation, it was the best value-for-money model among entry-level options. She called it a masterpiece that could be used for years if I wasn't going pro.
Since I knew absolutely nothing about VR devices, I simply bought what Enry recommended. It wasn't like I was short on money right now, so there was no hesitation.
“Already? It wasn't a light expense, was it?”
“I wanted to play Apis.”
Yesterday, I'd watched a few more videos about the Heavenly Demon that had been uploaded to MyTube. Most of them were fight scenes against other martial artists, but that was enough. The martial arts the Heavenly Demon used were perfectly identical to what I had used. Though it was a bit uncomfortable seeing the imperfections from my younger days. Why had I gone around claiming to be the best in Murim when I could only fight like that back then?
Now that I was certain, curiosity arose about how much those people knew about me. I was also curious how they evaluated a human like me. In Murim, my reputation had always existed only at two extremes. The righteous faction people treated me as a demon who deserved to be beaten to death, while the demonic cult people would nod their heads no matter what I did, saying it was the cult leader's will.
How my life appeared to others was naturally a subject that sparked curiosity. To satisfy that curiosity, I had to play Apis myself. And for that, I needed a VR device.
“I'm glad you're interested, but shouldn't you have looked into it more? If you're really curious, you could have just played Apis at my house.”
The emotion I felt from Enry's rambling words was one thing. She hoped I wouldn't be disappointed. It was a funny story. Whether someone else recommended it or not, I was the one who carried out the action. It was my choice. My karma. So how could I blame someone else? I wanted to say something like that, but my Korean skills were too poor. So what came out of my mouth was a truly foolish string of words.
“I trust Enry.”
Enry stared blankly at the corner of my mouth before sweeping a hand down her face. Why is she acting like that?
“Miss Ara. Ask me anything if there's something you don't know.”
I was planning to do that even without her saying it. There would be more than one or two things I wouldn't understand today, and I'd be in trouble if she didn't help.
Soon after, the teacher entered the classroom. I hoped today's lesson would be something I could somewhat understand.
A few days later, the VR device arrived at home. The device consisted of a single helmet and bands to wear on the arms and legs. According to the manual kindly written in Chinese, it used brain waves to let you enjoy vivid games or something like that. I can read the characters, so why can't I understand it?
I took a photo of the VR device and sent it to Enry. Before ten seconds had passed, a long text message came back. It was like a VR device manual that Enry had summarized in her own way. Aside from being so detailed that it made me not want to read it, the manual Enry sent was incredibly comprehensive. There were still several parts I couldn't understand, so I eventually had to call her.
After receiving Enry's help and finally setting up the VR device, I was completely drained. I just wanted to rest instead of playing Apis or anything, but remembering Enry's request to try it and leave a review, I put the helmet on my head. She had said to lie on the bed and press the button next to the helmet.
The moment I did, my consciousness flickered. When I woke up from the pitch-black consciousness, as if I'd been put to sleep by sorcery, a pure white world unfolded before me.
What is this?
I blankly looked around and realized thanks to the window that floated in front of me that this world was inside a VR space. Amazing. I don't know what technology was used, but it's to the point where I can't distinguish it from reality. If a Murim sorcerer had this ability, they might have ruled the world.
The floating window had various functions, but I knew nothing about such things. They might be written in the manual Enry sent, but there was no need to look into it, was there? As long as Apis ran, that was enough.
When I launched the game, my consciousness flickered again. Ugh. This sensation is really hard to get used to. If I feel this every time I turn on a game, it's going to be quite unpleasant. Is there some kind of solution?
When my consciousness rose, what spread out before my eyes was a scene of many people fighting with their own weapons. Among them was someone splitting the sky with a single sword, and a man blocking a fist that could shatter the air with a shield as big as his body. There was a mage floating dozens of magic circles and unleashing miracles, and a spearman laughing boldly while striking them down. Besides them, many other figures were showing off their respective specialties.
The scenery was astonishingly vivid. It felt like they were fighting right in front of me. Fighting spirit welled up inside me. If the Heavenly Demon was one of the playable characters, and they could play those characters too, then their skills should be on equal footing. A world overflowing with strong people comparable to me. How interesting.
After reaching my current realm, I had never seen anyone who could stand against me. My hands are itching. No matter how much I deny it, it seems I'm a person of Murim to the bone.