Chapter 124
Chapter 124
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: To a New World
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The key elements of the Stalking Punishment Act were repetition and persistence.
But Seol-a had only been tracked by the stalker once.
So Tae-hoon filed a report positioning himself as the victim.
No one knew how the stalker found out, but repeatedly showing up and waiting in the parking lot at his apartment building was undeniable fact.
CCTV footage confirmed the culprit had visited Tae-hoon's officetel a whopping six times in the past month alone.
Back in the day, a woman who repeatedly reported stalking ended up murdered by her stalker.
The police had kept dismissing it with warnings since no crime had been committed yet.
Under the old Stalking Punishment Act, punishment and prevention were tough until actual harm occurred—a tragic reality that only changed into proper legislation after someone died.
Under the current law, even without direct threats, repeatedly showing up at a victim's home or workplace qualifies as grounds for punishment.
But the most decisive factor was possession of a deadly weapon.
Anyone could see that lurking in the underground parking lot armed with a knife was straight-up criminal behavior.
The standard penalty for stalking is up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won, but it jumps to five years or 50 million won if a weapon is involved.
The armed culprit was arrested on-site by police lying in wait.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After the incident, a group gathered at Tae-hoon's place to talk it over.
The members were Seol-a, Seol-yun, Lee Jun, and Tae-hoon.
It wasn't intentional, but Victory had ended up sidelined.
"At least it ended without anyone getting hurt."
Among them, Seol-a had witnessed the most brutal scene in her life.
Students shot in the legs, collapsing or crawling on the ground.
She was grateful this time that nightmare hadn't repeated itself.
"Streams aren't supposed to reveal your neighborhood either."
Tae-hoon never did figure out exactly how his address leaked.
He could only guess it stemmed from the few times he'd casually mentioned his area on stream, and the stalker pieced it together from there.
On Seol-a's strong urging, he decided to move.
Since he was renting an expensive officetel for tax benefits, it was easier than if he'd owned the place—at least that was a silver lining.
They kept quiet about Lee Jun and Seol-yun's involvement in the operation.
Even though Seol-yun had designed most of it and been deeply involved.
No need to air it out.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Anyway, Seol-a got her peace back—and with it, boredom.
While dealing with the stalker, the short break between TCL Spring and Summer had slipped by, and Victory and Wild were off grinding tournament practice again.
Her chances to hang out with her few friends dwindled.
But now it was fine.
She had the Once crew and the Gladiator group.
Minor issue: someone kept confessing and bailing from the server.
Hey, not her fault, right?
Still, no rivals made things kinda dull.
Seol-a, now adapted to the normalized ranks, reclaimed her overwhelming top spot and started feeling bored again.
Teaching others was fun a time or two, but she wasn't a pro instructor—she couldn't do it forever.
Then a new game started blowing up.
Or was it new?
More like ridiculously old.
Meteor Story, a relic from 20 years ago.
It had changed so drastically it felt like a whole different game from back then.
And tons of people were dying for that 20-year-old nostalgia fix.
But the devs had zero plans for an official classic server.
Private servers—commonly called "free servers"—were illegal, so most steered clear.
Enter Meteor Land, a game uncannily like the old Meteor Story.
Not official, but not illegal either—very gray area.
Meteor Story World: built on the Meteor Story IP, dreaming of being the next Minecraft or Roblox.
The IP was wide open for creators to build worlds that players could enjoy.
But it bombed hard.
Flooded with flash-game-level slop, and the now-aging original fans couldn't get into it.
Some creators decided to repurpose Meteor Story World into "old Meteor Story emulators"—unofficial but not illegal classic servers.
And just like that, a Warring States era of such servers popped up...
Anonymous donated 10,000 won. ─ "Why's this guy still grinding free servers without learning? Let's go to Meteor Laaaand!!!" The Meteor Land server stood out most.
As streamers dipped in and racked up views, fans started clamoring for Seol-a to play it too.
💬 Stream Chat — Viewer1 Honestly, no vibe if you skip Meran — Viewer2 Fr, why fake servers lololol — Viewer3 Oof, look at that damage scaling lol classic free server trash — Viewer4 Why play such a shit server? (Genuine question) For the record, the Meteor Story Seol-a was playing was the official version straight from the devs.
Even so, the mockery stemmed from a perfect storm: countless scandals worthy of "so much happened" memes, mind-boggling trash from devs and players alike, gameplay light-years from nostalgia. Complex stuff too layered for casuals to get.
"If it's that hot, maybe I'll give it a spin."
To reiterate, Seol-a wasn't hooked on Meteor Story being super fun.
Pros: You can sink infinite time into it.
Cons: It devours infinite time.
She picked it up purely out of boredom.
Logging into Meteor Land.
First up: character creation.
"Talk about retro."
Unlike the modern Meteor Story—updated to the point of renewal with trendy vibes—this preserved the early 2000s look and feel of the original.
The chat exploded in cheers at the faithful recreation.
💬 Stream Chat — Viewer5 Ahh, this is gaming — Viewer6 Fake Meteor begone! The real Meteor has descended — Viewer7 K... this is it — Viewer8 Now that's graphics lol — Viewer9 Brings tears to my eyes all of a sudden — Viewer10 Reminds me of when Mom let me play for 2 hours Seol-a couldn't really relate to her viewers' nostalgia.
The game launched in 2003.
For a 2000 baby like her, it was a bit too ancient for memories.
"You guys are older than I thought, huh?"
💬 Stream Chat — Viewer11 Fr lol — Viewer12 Ugh denture breath incoming — Viewer13 I'm a teen but all my peers played Meteor Story 20 yrs ago — Viewer14 How would teens know 20yo Meteor lolol — Viewer15 <No> — Viewer16 Schoolkids who don't get why boomers freak out, upvote lol — Viewer17 This ain't 2nd-gen dude nostalgia anymore, it's 3rd-gen grandpa tier? — Viewer18 A-Ack... — Viewer19 Fact violence stop! AnyOtherWay donated 1,000 won. ─ "Wait, so this streamer has no old Meteor nostalgia but still grinded official? What kinda lunatic is she?" 💬 Stream Chat — Viewer20 lololololololol — Viewer21 Too harsh? (But yeah facts) — Viewer22 That's a rare breed — Viewer23 Super uncommon case fr Seol-a's streams weren't usually this savage.
But Meteor Story hit a special nerve—explaining why would fill a thesis or two, so we'll skip the details.
She fiddled with the outfit a bit, set her nickname to "Legend," and hit create.
Predictably: "Duplicate nickname."
Jeon Jeonseol.
Duplicate nickname.
Jeon Jeon Jeonseol.
Duplicate nickname.
Jeon Jeon Jeon Jeonseol.
Duplicate nickname.
Jeon Jeon Jeon Jeon Jeonseol.
Duplicate nickname.
"What the hell? Even that garbage nick's taken? Who uses crap like that?"
💬 Stream Chat — Viewer24 Jeon Jeonseol influence 💀💀💀 — Viewer25 Streamers always try Legend but it's taken hence this mess? — Viewer26 Started with Team Arena nicks... — Viewer27 NoT eVeN ClearSky type nicks? No taste — Viewer28 Fuckin denture geezers quit yapping inside jokes lololol