The Heavenly Demon Starts Streaming
I bit down on the hairpin and smoothed my hair. Even if it came from a distant memory of the past, once something is etched into the body, it isn't easily forgotten. At first I fumbled in many ways, but it didn't take long for my hands to remember the old path and begin following it. Gather the hair, twist it around, and secure it with the hairpin—a simple process. Now it feels like nothing, but back when I first learned it, there wasn't a single day I didn't get scolded by the children of the Ice Palace.
They'd say things like, "How can someone so gifted in martial arts be so hopeless at this?" It was quite unfair. How could following the principles of nothingness be the same as simple decoration? After patting my hair to check if it was done right, I summoned a mirror in front of me.
My sharp eyes and indifferent gaze remained the same, but just having long hair changed my impression quite a bit. Still, I suppose I look a little gentler now.
“You’re not tying it all up? It’s only half, secured like that?”
“The one who taught me how to tie my hair said this style suited me better.”
Apparently having some hair flowing behind me looked cooler when I unleashed my martial arts. I personally found long hair inconvenient, but at the time I was acting as that fellow’s plaything, so my opinion didn’t matter much.
“Whoever it was, they had great taste!”
“They did. When it came to things like this, they were endlessly picky.”
I couldn’t even count how many times I pulled the hairpin out and put it back in while deciding on this hairstyle.
“So? How is it? Does it suit me?”
“Yes! If you just keep your mouth shut, you look like a total beauty!”
“What? What’s wrong with the way I speak?”
“Honestly, it sounds a bit like an old man.”
“Is that even a problem?”
What’s wrong with an old man speaking like an old man? Imagine if I suddenly started talking brightly like Harin. Wouldn’t that be creepy? So I have no intention of changing my speech.
Enry listened to my grumbling, let out a small laugh, and stretched.
“Anyway, let’s call it a day! We can figure out the rest once the VR capsule arrives.”
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
She’s been through a lot because of me. I’ll have to buy her a meal later.
“Oh right, Ara. About the game you’ll play for your first broadcast—have you thought of anything?”
“I was just planning to play Apis.”
It’s the only game I play, after all. Besides, what people expect from me is the image of the Heavenly Demon, isn’t it? I think showing them what they want is better than doing something else.
“If you don’t have anything specific in mind, I have one recommendation.”
“Tell me.”
There are two kinds of dragons, aren’t there? The Eastern dragon is usually called a divine beast. Those who wield the dosul of nature always act haughty as if they’re some grand existence. They aren’t actually that strong compared to their intimidating appearance. It’s just annoying to deal with all their strange magic. If the dragon Enry is talking about is that kind, I’ll lose interest.
But a Western dragon is different. If it’s a tyrant that soars across the world on two massive wings, I’m very interested.
As expected. What Enry described was the Western dragon I had hoped for.
“Since you just massacring people in Apis would be too predictable, I thought this might be more fun?”
She’s right. It does sound entertaining.
After talking about her plan for quite a while, Enry suddenly got a call and rushed off, saying she had to start her own broadcast. Left alone, instead of logging out of VR I headed to my mother’s room.
Looking at the room again after returning, I noticed several differences from my memories. The unique scent that used to greet me when I entered. The birdsong that used to drift in from outside. My mother’s gentle voice—none of it was there. Yet why does coming here still calm my heart?
I sat down leaning against the bed where my mother always used to lie. Even though I’m now many times older than she was back then, I still feel like a child in this place.
“How do I look with the hairpin, in your eyes? Is this the appearance you hoped for?”
As expected, there was no answer.
A few days after preparing for the broadcast with Enry, I was lounging at home when a phone call came in. The caller said he was here to install the VR capsule. My rest ended with his request to open the door so they could bring the equipment inside.
There were two installation technicians. They carried in the box containing the VR capsule, asked me where I wanted it set up, and then skillfully began working. After watching them for a bit, I decided they seemed to know what they were doing and stepped aside. I turned on my smartphone.
Enry had said it would be good to post a notice a few hours before starting the broadcast. Even if my name was known, if I didn’t announce that I was going live, people wouldn’t come. Since this was my first time writing something like this, I struggled quite a bit. But after adapting somewhat over the past month, I managed to finish it after some trial and error. It was short because I’m not good with words, but those who need to see it will see it.
About an hour later, the technicians finished the installation. The older-looking one explained how to sync the VR device and gave me various precautions, but I let it go in one ear and out the other. As long as the machine worked, what was the point of knowing so many things? Besides, I had the manual Enry sent me.
When I bought the VR device a month ago, Enry had sent me a long text. This time she sent what amounted to a short novel. However, the content was different. The previous message had assumed some basic common sense, while this one explained everything in meticulous detail, as if teaching an innocent child.
Enry. Were you that worried about me?
Thanks to the explanation that left no room for mistakes, I was able to sync the VR device without any trouble. I opened the capsule door, lay down inside, and a soft cushion welcomed me.
Mmm. Nice. I could even sleep in here instead of a bed.
After closing the capsule door, I drifted through a faint drowsiness. The moment I opened my eyes again, the scenery had changed. The familiar yet not particularly missed sight of the Heavenly Demon Cult. I still can’t get used to how empty this place is. Whenever I stood at the center, the main hall was always packed with people. The elders of the cult would line up on both sides of me, and beyond them, the followers would be kneeling. It was truly an overwhelming sight. Compared to that, emptiness is much better.
I took out my long pipe, put it in my mouth, and followed the instructions Enry had written to start the broadcast.
The moment I turned on the broadcast, a viewer entered and typed in chat.
“Can’t you tell by looking?”
“I changed it a bit. How is it? Does it suit me?”
[Lady Hwaryeong looks amazing with long hair! The hairpin is cool too!]
“Yes. Thank you, Senaro. I appreciate your kindness.”
The number of viewers gradually increased, and the chat speed began to accelerate. It seems posting the notice in advance, as Enry suggested, was effective.
Han Min-jun, an ordinary office worker in South Korea, had been awake for an hour but still couldn’t get out of bed, let alone his blankets. It was the first day off he’d managed to get after working for six straight days. He knew there was a mountain of housework waiting for him, but leaving the cozy warmth of his bed was incredibly difficult.
Instead of venturing into the dangerous territory outside the blankets, Min-jun fiddled with his smartphone from within their safety. Today, the Apis community was peaceful as usual. People calling out pros with bad performances as washed-up trash. People whining that certain characters were overpowered. People claiming Bronze and Gold players were all the same. While it was a community where everyone said their piece, there was usually at least one common topic.
Today’s topic heating up the community was this:
‘Shouldn’t the Heavenly Demon character get nerfed?’
It all started with the overwhelming performance Lady Hwaryeong had shown in the tournament Dekay hosted last time. The way she had crushed top amateur players—who could have gone pro with just a bit more talent—like they were nothing left a deep impression on many.
Some people simply thought, “Wow, Lady Hwaryeong is really skilled,” and moved on. But for others, it was different. One person said that no matter how monstrous Lady Hwaryeong’s skills were, completely dominating a 1:9 fight didn’t make sense. Wasn’t the Heavenly Demon character itself just too overpowered?
That became the spark, and the argument began. One side insisted the Heavenly Demon needed nerfs. No matter how high the difficulty, wasn’t the ceiling too high? There should be some room for counterplay—how could top Apis rankers be getting completely overwhelmed?
The opposing side argued that it was simply because Lady Hwaryeong was on another level. Anyone who had played Heavenly Demon would know that achieving that kind of performance was nearly impossible. After all, even Dang So-il, another Heavenly Demon user, had been beaten by her.
The debate that started this way gradually turned in favor of those calling for a nerf. Lady Hwaryeong’s overwhelming display was one thing, but there was another major example. Han Seo-woo, famous as Korea’s Heavenly Demon craftsman. He had crushed several skilled pros in the official 1:1 league and taken the championship.
If Lady Hwaryeong had been the only one good with the character, she could have been considered an exception. But when even Han Seo-woo proved himself with results, the theory that the Heavenly Demon was overpowered gained serious weight.
The opposing side countered that other Heavenly Demon users had poor results, but that argument didn’t gain much traction. After all, it was true that the character’s ceiling seemed noticeably higher than others.
Min-jun, a Heavenly Demon user himself, desperately defended the character, saying a nerf would be too much. But public opinion had already turned against him. After hearing comments like “You really want to cosplay as a weak character that badly?” he started typing an angry rebuttal, but then got hit with a wave of enlightenment and deleted it.
Time to get up. He had laundry to do, dishes to wash, and the house to clean. Why were there so many things to do? What exactly had yesterday’s and the day before’s versions of him been doing?
As he was about to turn off his smartphone, one post caught his eye.
[This is Hwaryeong.]
It was obviously clickbait, but even knowing that, Min-jun clicked on it. After all, getting baited even when you know better was the true charm of clickbait, wasn’t it?
[This is Hwaryeong.]
Today I will be starting a broadcast on Turret.
But the post wasn’t even proper clickbait. There was no verification, no detailed explanation, not even information about which channel or when she would go live. There wasn’t even the arrogant tone unique to Lady Hwaryeong. At the very least, you had to put in the effort to make a proper composite image for anyone to fall for it. Who would believe a post written so plainly like this?
Look at that—over a hundred views and not a single comment. This was a failed attempt at clickbait.
Min-jun tossed his smartphone aside and got out of bed to start handling real-life tasks. There wasn’t actually that much housework. He lived alone in a studio apartment. How much housework could there be? It was just that the very fact of having to do it was annoying.
After finishing everything in an hour, Min-jun picked up his VR device to play some games, then put it back down. It was the weekend, so he should play the games he hadn’t been able to touch, but even that felt like a chore. So he crawled back under the blankets and turned on Turret.
Mmm. There’s no one worth watching.
There were plenty of people streaming, but nothing worth watching. As he experienced that strange disconnect, he suddenly remembered the post he had seen earlier.
It was ridiculous, but… what if Lady Hwaryeong really had started streaming?
He searched for her name and discovered there really was a broadcast running under the name Hwaryeong.
For real?
As if possessed, he entered the stream and was able to confirm the face of the Heavenly Demon with a long pipe in her mouth. For a moment, Min-jun simply stared at the screen without saying a word.
The Hwaryeong on screen was incredibly beautiful.