Chapter 101
Chapter 101
Translation: godtl
Thud!
An elegant door swung open roughly.
As if she'd just finished showering.
"Phew!"
A woman with sharp, alluring eyes stepped out, roughly drying her dripping hair as she shuffled forward.
The dampness seeping through her bathrobe must have been quite uncomfortable.
"Nice! Now I'm Gold too!"
Her eyes were filled more with exhilaration than irritation.
Then, to this woman's ear—
"Mal-suk, didn't I tell you last time? You need to dry your hair thoroughly."
A clear voice rang out.
The owner of that melodious voice, who had approached unnoticed, snatched away the towel Go Mal-suk was haphazardly rubbing with.
"Keep this up and you'll go bald, you know?"
She meticulously dried the wet strands.
Go Mal-suk shook her head with an annoyed expression.
"Whatever. Is drying my hair really the issue right now?"
"Then it isn't? Come on, let's apply some body cream too. Your skin's getting dry."
If this were the usual Go Mal-suk,
'Ugh, whatever! I've lived just fine without bothering with that stuff.'
she would have snapped.
"But I just bought this new body cream made from Arena ingredients recently? It's so moisturizing! Come here."
"Uh, well..."
Somehow, this woman her age—
Why was it that she couldn't refuse Lee Yu-jeong no matter what?
Scratching her head in confusion at her own unexplainable behavior, Go Mal-suk obediently let herself be led away by Lee Yu-jeong's guiding hands.
Whirrr.
Yu-jeong dried her hair with a towel, then thoroughly blew it dry with a hairdryer.
Watching Mal-suk—whose face was full of annoyance yet who sat quietly without complaint as she was groomed—Yu-jeong smiled faintly.
'She's just so cute. How could I leave her alone like this?'
It wasn't that she'd never had friends her age before, but being with Go Mal-suk somehow lifted her spirits in a way she couldn't explain.
There was no need to dwell on why.
'Being able to express what you feel without hesitation... I envy that.'
That unapologetic confidence in voicing her opinions.
To some, it might come across as rude, but—
'If I'd thrown away all pretense and lived like Mal-suk... would I have been much happier?'
Not for Lee Yu-jeong.
The Iron Wall Saintess.
She had spent her entire life living up to that title, performing for others' eyes.
Of course, it wasn't all bad.
Even if it was a fabricated image, everyone adored her.
Being liked by others was fundamentally a pleasant feeling.
But.
'It's suffocating.'
Living like that, you end up conforming to what others want rather than acting on your own will.
Many would say she had everything one could want—what was there to complain about?
But that very fact made it harder to expect anyone's understanding.
Except for one person.
As her thoughts reached that point, Lee Yu-jeong nodded slightly.
'Come to think of it, Mal-suk reminds me of Si-mun Oppa.'
Kim Si-mun.
The only person she could show her true self to.
Well, she'd shown it to that damn Kim Si-hyeok too, but—
The only one she could pour out her deepest thoughts to without reservation was Si-mun.
And now, she felt something similar with Go Mal-suk, despite having known her for such a short time.
'How should I put it... Seeing that part of her makes me feel a little jealous, but...'
The corners of Yu-jeong's lips, which had been slightly downturned, softened.
'She's as good and comfortable to be with as Oppa.'
Was that what had broken down the mask of the Iron Wall Saintess?
"What? Is there something on my hair? Why are you smiling all of a sudden?"
Go Mal-suk, who had been sitting with a blank expression, stared at Yu-jeong through the mirror with the same look.
Yu-jeong quickly turned off the hairdryer and finished up.
"Ah! N-no. I was just lost in thought for a moment."
"What were you thinking about? Wait—don't tell me you were thinking about a boyfriend?"
Despite her simple personality, Go Mal-suk had an uncanny knack for hitting the nail on the head.
Lee Yu-jeong's pupils trembled slightly at the remark, but that was all.
"You just got promoted to Gold, didn't you? I was happy about that."
The woman who would soon become the Iron Wall Saintess handled the situation with practiced ease.
"What? You watched my Promotion Match?"
"Of course. I make sure to catch all the broadcasts of people I know."
"Ha... A Ranker watching a measly Bronze stream..."
Mal-suk shook her head like a whale flapping its tail.
But despite her reaction, the corners of her lips gradually curved upward.
"Well, since you cleared the Promotion Match in first place, maybe it's not so bad for a Ranker to watch?"
"Hehe, exactly~. As a combat-type, there were things to learn from it too, you know? And wow, you got a ton of donations, didn't you?"
"You saw that too?"
After the Promotion Match ended—
Though not as much as Si-mun's, Mal-suk's stream had received an unbelievable flood of donations for a Silver-ranked player.
Especially from mid-tier and above guilds, who had come forward with promising offers and recruitment proposals.
Yu-jeong spoke in a sly tone.
"Any ordinary Silver would be thrilled, but... you're not just anyone, are you?"
"Ugh. They wouldn't leave me alone. I had to go through hell just turning them all down."
"Of course. Even I can tell you're at least high-tier Gold, if not Platinum level. And you haven't even revealed that you're already in a guild."
"Yeah, I guess so."
Mal-suk hadn't publicly announced her membership in Si-mun's guild, Simdrasil.
Even if she were openly affiliated, scouts would still be swarming her—but since her guild status wasn't known, the flood of offers was inevitable.
"First it was 'Just meet me once!' and then 'Give me your address!'—it was absolute chaos."
"Wow, your address? That's crossing a line. Definitely reject those outright."
"I wasn't planning on leaving this guild anyway. Just look at these buffs—they're no joke."
"That's true."
Yu-jeong nodded.
Hadn't she herself stepped down from her position as master of the Seongsam Guild to join?
Sure, her mother Do-hu—a 1st Generation Ranker—had returned, but even so, leaving Seongsam meant a great deal to Yu-jeong.
"By the way, Yu-jeong..."
Mal-suk, who had been slathering on body cream, spoke cautiously.
"That... rumor about the guild's one-month membership fee exceeding 400 billion—is that true?"
"Ah~ that? Yeah. It was limited to just one slot from the Continent Guild, but they say it went over 400 billion."
"Really?"
Mal-suk trailed off.
Yu-jeong tilted her head for a moment before chuckling.
"Don't worry about the membership fee. Even I didn't pay one, and neither did Si-hyeok."
"Hey, you guys are Rankers. Same with that Night Hunter guy."
Even if they hadn't paid a fee, those three were among the top-tier players.
Their mere presence in a guild skyrocketed its value.
Compared to them—
'For a bottom-feeder like me to get buffs like this without paying anything...'
Mal-suk bit her lower lip lightly.
Yu-jeong simply stroked her shoulder gently.
She knew Mal-suk well enough to understand that no words would comfort her now.
Had Yu-jeong made the right choice?
"Damn it! Fine!"
Mal-suk quickly recovered and sprang to her feet.
"If I don't have money, I'll just pay it back with my body!"
"Right! That's the— Huh? Wait—?"
Yu-jeong, who had been about to agree, short-circuited like a broken machine.
Fortunately—
"That guy's getting famous now, so he's gotta manage his image, right? Bronze-Silver-Gold players are disgusting, aren't they? I'll take care of those bastards and even soak up the hate for him."
It was purely Lee Yu-jeong's own misunderstanding, and hers alone.
'And to think she even has the nickname of Saintess... What kind of person am I really...'
Covering her face with both hands, Lee Yu-jeong briefly chastised herself for her vulgar thoughts.
Completely oblivious to this, Go Mal-suk clenched her fist tightly and continued speaking.
"Anyway, my Debut Match is in two days, right? By then, I'll have hit Gold-rank too. We can just throw a party and pay that bastard back like dogs."
"Uh, uh..."
Lee Yu-jeong struggled to regain her composure.
"But, Mal-suk."
She scratched the back of her head with an awkward expression.
It wasn't just because she'd made such a strange misunderstanding on her own.
"That method might be impossible."
"Huh? Impossible?"
"Yeah."
Lee Yu-jeong held out her phone to Go Mal-suk, whose eyes had gone round with surprise.
"Is this Kim Si-mun's stream?"
"Right. I was watching it even before you came, but Oppa just started his Platinum Promotion Match."
"Wh-what?!"
Go Mal-suk immediately let out a shocked exclamation.
She pulled the phone Lee Yu-jeong was holding right up to her face.
Just as Lee Yu-jeong had said.
[Platinum Promotion Match - Kim Si-mun]
The title of Kim Si-mun's stream announced the Promotion Match.
"No way..."
Had she lost her mind?
"It hasn't even been that long since his Gold Debut Match..."
Go Mal-suk pressed a hand to her forehead and stared blankly at the stream screen.
[Welcome to the Platinum Promotion Match.]
[This Arena's event is 'Survival,' and the number of participants is 50.]
[The condition 'Cooperation' has been added.]
[All participants will be paired into teams.]
[The Arena will begin once all members are visible.]
System windows popped up one after another.
For one particular player, even more system windows appeared.
[Player Kim Si-mun will be promoted to Platinum-rank simply by clearing this Arena.]
[If the promotion fails, a penalty will be applied to your Status Window.]
After reading the contents, Si-mun nodded.
'Looks like the Arena has already decided to nail me into Platinum.'
From the start, they had matched him with the Infested Supply Route—a notoriously difficult map even in Platinum-rank.
Not to mention the secret Draconic faction that had never appeared even in Platinum before.
Hadn't Drahel, a member of Squama One, shown up too?
The Galaxy Arena must have given him the toughest possible match within his Gold MMR range.
'And I practically broke through that Arena all by myself...'
Not to mention his main stat breaking past 101.
It seemed the Arena had already made up its mind to push him straight into Platinum.
The viewers seemed to think the same.
-Whoa! This guy's Promotion Match, huh?
-LMAO. It hasn't even been that long since his Gold-rank Debut Match, lol.
-Like with the Infested Supply Route last time, this guy's MMR must be insane, right?
-For real. The Infested Supply Route was a completely new type too, and he solo-carried the whole thing.
-At this point, he should just go to Platinum for the sake of the Gold-rank players in Korea.
Even though they were watching the hotly anticipated Promotion Match, they didn't seem particularly surprised.
In fact...
-Not just the carry, but I'm still shocked that Dayna acted like that.
-For real, lol. Dayna not only used honorifics but even gave him entry items.
-I got matched into the Infested Supply Route a while ago and got hard-carried, but she never gave me any entry items, lol.
-That's because you didn't carry... A-ah, never mind!
Mentioning the previous Arena, the atmosphere was one of treating Si-mun's Platinum-level strength as a given.
'Speaking of which...'
Si-mun lifted his head and looked at the group message rather than his personal ones.
"Survival, but the condition is Cooperation?"
The national event.
Commonly known as "Gukjong," Survival.
Normally, Survival involves fighting each other until the last person standing takes the higher ranks.
When cooperation conditions are added like that, the dynamics change entirely.
'Usually, it means natural disasters or surprise attacks from certain factions will unfold.'
And the players must work together to overcome those challenges.
Of course, they still had to prioritize their own survival in the process.
After all, the fundamental goal of the Survival mode was simply to "stay alive."
The viewers seemed well aware of this too.
-Cooperation conditions in a Promotion Match Survival? That's really rare.
-Yeah, this is gonna be fun to watch.
-Hah! I'm already excited lol.
-When's the map gonna show up?
Discussions about the match type kept pouring in.
As usual, Si-mun...
-Kim Si-mun: If possible, could you moderate spam, profanity, and trolls? Please time them out if needed.
-Constellation Black Goat: Sure thing~.
-Constellation Heavenly Demon: Worry not.
...opened the manager chat and requested moderation for the chatroom.
[Constellation Odin whines at you,"Why not me? Give me one too!"]
'Huh? What's he asking for?'
Si-mun tilted his head briefly in confusion before—
"Ah."
—realizing what Odin wanted and opening Arenia's broadcast settings.
After tapping the air a few times...
-Constellation Odin: Oh! It worked!
...Odin's message appeared in the manager chat.
-Constellation Odin: So you give manager roles to Constellations here? First time seeing a player like this!
-Constellation Black Goat: Why'd you invite this guy? Kid, you shouldn't indulge every brat who whines. It'll spoil them.
-Constellation Odin: What's that old hag babbling about? BS.
-Constellation Black Goat: You! Think I can't read that?! You little sht!*
Naturally, flames erupted immediately.
Before the two Constellations could escalate further...
-Kim Si-mun: Stop. Don't fight in the manager chat.
...Si-mun swiftly intervened and redirected their attention.
It wasn't too difficult.
-Kim Si-mun: The viewer count's spiking, so there's a lot of aggro in chat. Could you help manage it?
Perhaps due to the hype of the Promotion Match...
[151,745 viewers currently watching]
...the viewer count had already soared past 150,000, even before the Arena began.
-What kind of loser watches this? Total NEET vibes lol.
-Didn't this guy have "that incident"...? Why's no one talking about it...?
-The Promotion Match aggro is insane lol. Platinum isn't a rank you can reach just by having high DPS, right?
-Exactly. Do you think Platinum is a joke?
Naturally, the chat was flooded with aggro and trolling.
And then...
[Manager 'Black Goat' has banned dlrjfcuqhrpTdj2.]
[Manager 'Odin' has banned dlrjfcuqheksl.]
Si-mun's plan worked brilliantly.
Of course...
-Constellation Black Goat: That damn brat! How dare he touch my prey?!
[Manager 'Black Goat' has banned wjdtjddlswjdgkqslek.]
-Constellation Odin: Heheh! You think I'd let the old hag have all the fun?
[Manager 'Odin' has banned rmaksqhk.]
-Constellation Black Goat: That little—! You wanna go, huh?
...he hadn't expected them to turn banning into a competition.
'Hopeless.'
Si-mun shook his head with a wry smile at the two fired-up Constellations.
Then, before him...
[All players have been matched.]
...a message announcing the Arena's start flashed, transforming the empty battlefield.
To be precise...
[Location: 'Underground Battleground' in the Insectia dimension.]
...it was more accurate to say they'd been summoned to another dimension.
['Insectia' is the dimension of brutal Insect Queens. Survive until the time limit to prove your qualification for promotion.]
[Time remaining: 29:59]
Absurdly massive, overgrown grass and flowers.
But what caught Si-mun's eye wasn't the unfamiliar terrain—
'Holy sh*t! Insectia?!'
—it was the system message's contents.