The Passenger Who Refuses to Ride

The matchmaking queue for this passenger, who had absolutely no intention of carrying anyone, popped incredibly fast. I had only been jumping around the plaza for a brief moment to avoid the people staring at me when the notification asking if I wanted to accept the match popped up. The queue took less than a minute, drawing an impressed "Ooh" from my lips. I guess this is what you get from the most active game on the market. Back in the day, the games I played took over ten minutes just to find a match. I used to wait endlessly for a queue to pop, like waiting for food at a slow restaurant. Since I didn't have to endure that agonizing wait this time, things were off to a relatively good start.

However, there was one thing I had overlooked.

"Oh, it's the person from the plaza earlier."

"Are you a newbie since you're playing a normal match?"

"Ex-Excuse me! I'm the one who asked about your character customization earlier. Do you remember me?"

A large portion of the people from the plaza had been matched onto my team. Among them was a guy showing blatant interest in me, as well as the female player who had been pestering me earlier. For a random match, my luck was terrible. I would have preferred them to be on the enemy team.

Tsk.

I clicked my tongue inwardly, keeping my head lowered as if to signal that I had no intention of answering their questions.

When I remained silent without saying a word, they began whispering among themselves.

"No answer. Are they a foreigner?"

"The customization does look western."

"Well, Asteria characters basically look western by default."

"But the nickname is in Korean?"

"True. JjeonguPark...? What does that mean?"

"Maybe it's her boyfriend's name?"

"Ah, a boyfriend."

"Ex-Excuse me..."

I can hear everything, you know.

While the two men, who seemed to be a duo, bantered back and forth, the female user who had asked about my customization still kept her eyes glued to me. Her mouth twitched slightly. She didn't approach and bombard me with questions like before, but her eyes were sparkling so brightly that anyone could tell she was deeply interested in me. I had no idea what character customization meant to her to warrant such a reaction. It was beyond me.

It's so hard just to play a single game.

As always, unexpected events only brought fatigue. But surely, this wouldn't happen again in the future. Through this incident, I had fully realized the sheer impact of my face. I didn't know about the real world, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at least within Asteria, it held immense power. But that was that, and now it was time to focus on something else.

Along with the system notification, I tightly gripped the hilt of that hanging from my waist.

"She's not answering me..." Han-ah muttered with an awkward expression. Her gaze was still fixed on the mysterious female user in front of her. First of all, it was an incredible coincidence that they were matched together out of the countless people in the plaza. How did Han-ah happen to queue for a normal game instead of a ranked game, and how did she queue at the exact same time? And how did they end up on the same team? They say that when coincidences pile up, it becomes destiny. Even if it wasn't quite destiny, surely it was fate. That was what Han-ah thought.

However, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the other party seemed to think differently. Despite the series of coincidences that brought them together, Han-ah hadn't managed to extract a single word from her.

"But... you guys also said her customization was the prettiest you've ever seen."

True, true~ Waves of agreement flooded the chat. For once, Han-ah and her viewers were in complete agreement. Objectively speaking, it was indeed perfect for YouTube. If she edited everything from getting rejected in the plaza to this current situation, it would easily rake in views. It was highly entertaining for the stream, and above all...

She really is incredibly pretty.

Her appearance was so striking that she seemed to radiate light just by standing still, naturally drawing everyone's eyes. Han-ah hadn't been able to look closely earlier, but now that she was observing her up close, the sheer scale of her beauty truly hit home. For a moment, she thought this user was even prettier than the lead actress in a recently released movie.

...Actually, I think this person might be prettier.

But that thought quickly faded.

It's not even her real face, anyway.

It was just customization. Nothing more than a bunch of polygons. What did it matter if it looked like a divine masterpiece? She was getting way too immersed in the game. Han-ah let out a soft, self-deprecating chuckle.

"No, but seriously, what should I do, guys? How do I get her to talk to me?"

After blankly admiring the user's appearance, Han-ah finally snapped out of it upon seeing the scrolling chat and asked her viewers for advice. Everything—from the YouTube content to getting her customization settings—depended on this mysterious female user's cooperation. But since the person in question wouldn't even give her the time of day... it was a real predicament.

"Sigh, I'm the idiot for asking you guys."

As Han-ah clicked her tongue at the useless chat, a rather plausible answer came through.

"Oh..."

Han-ah naturally ignored the weird chat messages, as she always did.

Right, let's carry the game first. I can teach her a bit about Asteria along the way, too. We'll get close like that.

Han-ah clenched her fist, reminding herself of her goal. Carrying the game. That was step one.

Fortunately, it wasn't a difficult task for Han-ah. After all, the character she was playing right now was on her alt account. Just thirty minutes ago, she had gotten exhausted from grinding ranked games on her main account and decided to play some normal matches on her alt.

"I'm playing a Mage, but... I'll make it work somehow."

The only catch was that the Mage ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she was playing wasn't her main class. But it didn't matter. This was just a normal game. It was vastly different from ranked matches, which were fierce battlegrounds where blood and flesh flew, and players gritted their teeth to win.

Besides, hadn't Han-ah achieved the Diamond tier in that brutal arena?

Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond... It was the fifth tier from the bottom. This rank was the culmination of Han-ah's blood, sweat, and tears—her absolute pride.

Her pride was synonymous with her confidence, and Han-ah quickly made her judgment. This was just a normal game. Even if she wasn't on her main class, she could easily carry here.

"Ah, as if I'd lose! I'm Hanya, an active Diamond player. You guys don't trust me?"

Since the viewers knew this, they didn't really expect her to lose either. Unless they were extremely unlucky and the enemy team had an alt account of someone even higher-ranked than Han-ah, victory was practically guaranteed.

Of course, Han-ah had already secretly checked everyone's match history behind her viewers' backs. There was no one on the enemy team who looked like an alt account. The same went for her own team. Aside from Han-ah, everyone's match history was completely clean, indicating they were all beginners.

And the cherry on top was the mysterious female user. The one Han-ah wanted to befriend and talk to had a completely blank match history, as if this was her very first game.

Perfect.

Having verified all the conditions, Han-ah smiled faintly. The lack of alt accounts on the enemy team, and the fact that this suspiciously beautiful female user was a complete newbie who had never played a single game before—everything was working in Han-ah's favor. All she had to do now was smoothly carry the game.

With her calculations complete, Han-ah spoke in a voice brimming with confidence.

"This is totally my stage."

With five seconds left until the game started, Han-ah warmed up her hands while bantering with her viewers. Soon, the five seconds ticked away, the barrier blocking the area dissolved, and the game began.

And then, she saw it.

"Huh?"

The person Han-ah was supposed to carry, the passenger she was supposed to give a free ride to...

As soon as the game started, she had charged straight ahead, brandishing some kind of katana.