Chapter 74
Chapter 74
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Am I... Hated?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Am I... hated?
After about thirty minutes of intense back-and-forth, it was Min-ji who finally raised the white flag.
"Sigh... Fine, fine. Call me whatever you want."
At first, she'd felt repulsed by the impure intentions behind that nickname.
And she'd been determined to shut it down hard, figuring that if she gave an inch, the trolls would take a mile.
But after three days of holding back their rampage, it was clear: blocking their desires head-on was impossible.
She couldn't help but wonder how bored they must've been to go that wild even while getting kicked.
And as a fellow troll at heart, she felt a strange pang of sympathy.
💬 Chat — Viewer lololololololol — (Moon Eyes) Kill me... — Viewer Surrender declared — Viewer Damn, she's ruthless — (Grape Candy) Thought I was gonna die lol Above all, with only two managers—'Grape Candy' and 'Moon Eyes'—it was impossible to keep things under control.
Come to think of it, what did Grape Candy even do? She didn't seem to be pulling her weight.
For a split second, Min-ji considered just firing that useless manager on the spot, but she quickly dismissed the idea.
It reminded her of that Japanese company that fired their entire flawless server management team to cut costs, only to get hacked right after.
The easier a job looks, the more likely that person is a master at it—that saying didn't come from nowhere.
Though Grape Candy probably wasn't a master... still, she'd worked hard today.
Min-ji was already skimping on pay, so pretending to be generous cost her nothing.
— Viewer Blood-Spewing Witch! Blood-Spewing Witch! Blood-Spewing Witch! — Viewer Why the sudden wuxia vibe tho — Viewer That's... — Viewer I'll explain later... — Viewer Oh, she doesn't know... — Viewer Fuckin trolls As the chat exploded with triumphant trolling like victory horns blaring at 500x volume, Min-ji's eyes narrowed.
Strictly speaking, she hadn't surrendered. She'd graciously granted their request after listening to it.
Someone might say that's the same thing, but to Min-ji, the difference was night and day—vast as heaven and earth.
A man's (no longer) pride was petty and childish like that.
"Try spamming it just because I said it's okay, and next time we'll all die together for real."
You die, I die.
If another streamer said that, viewers would reply, "Yeah, what're you gonna do lol?" But when this woman said it, it wasn't something to brush off.
She meant it, and she'd do it.
— Viewer okok — Viewer No one's dumb enough to spam after that warning lol — Viewer Yup No one watching Min-ji's stream was unaware of that fact, so luckily, no one pushed their luck and pissed her off.
And even if someone did, anyone with that self-destructive streak—or weird fetishes—had long been purged by the managers.
Besides, it wasn't like she hated the new nickname that much.
Blood-Spewing Witch was a bit harsh for a woman, but Min-ji wasn't a normal woman anyway.
Martial arts and chivalry.
The genre that made every guy's heart race at least once!
Min-ji loved wuxia too, and she was one of those young no-balls dudes yelling, "Whoa, Mount Hua Sect! Plum Blossom Swordsmanship, nice!"
In that sense, after nicknames like "crazy bitch" and "gold farm scum," getting a fancy title like "Blood-Spewing Witch" was something she'd welcome with open arms.
Hey, at least it was Blood-Spewing Witch (the one who spews blood), not Hemorrhoid Witch (...).
If it were that vulgar, she'd have nuked them on the spot, permission or not.
After all, tactical nukes were made for exactly this kind of mutual assured destruction. Perfect use case (not).
There was a hidden meaning, sure, but Blood-Spewing Witch was still pretty cool.
A witch who spews blood—honestly... she kinda liked it. Yeah, badass. Mmm. Love it.
Her initial disgust was gone; now Min-ji was starting to really dig her new nickname.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ ICK qualifiers were down to just one more round.
Her original goal had been to make mains, so she was one step away from achieving it.
As the saying goes, endings are the hardest—that's why you must be extra careful at the end.
She should be ramping up prep the most right now, but—
💬 Group Chat — Saintess Nice What're y'all doing tomorrow? — Suha Yam Ad stream tomorrow... — Eder Trip with the wife — Saintess Nice Eh? Again? — Suha Yam What'd you screw up this time? — Eder Had this fishing rod I secretly bought before... — Eder Got caught — Saintess Nice Oof — Eder Don't get married, you two — Saintess Nice Don't? — Eder I haven't cursed you out with you yet — Saintess Nice Hehe Everyone had their own stories, so practice was canceled for a rest day.
There was still about a week until the third prelim, so skipping one day wouldn't hurt.
Might even be for the best.
"So—"
She had a mountain of other stuff to do besides tournament practice.
"Today, we're knocking out dailies."
Dailies.
Not the homework kind—in online games, "dailies" means something else.
Tedious stuff you hate doing, but skipping feels like a loss.
And was infamous for its dailies being the game's biggest filter.
For example, imagine a super epic, intimidating boss that makes you think, "How the hell do you even beat this?"
It crushes players with new patterns and mechanics, wiping parties over and over, breeding despair.
At first, you're like "Wtf is this pattern?!" getting rolled, failing repeatedly and raging "Who designed this crap?!"
But unless your IQ is monkey-level (it happens), you adapt, get used to it, learn to dodge.
First it's surviving the pull, then a minute, then five.
Endurance grows until you finally see a clear in sight.
And when you down it? Massive accomplishment.
That rush of "I finally did it, I beat it" floods your body with euphoria.
That's the role of raid content in MMORPGs—one of the hooks that keeps players glued.
Only RPGs deliver that unique high.
And when it's not solo but with teammates over long hours? Even deeper satisfaction.
No wonder trial parties end with friend adds (usually ghosts until one ghosts the other).
Of course, raid content isn't flawless.
Like drug tolerance, once-beaten bosses lose their thrill.
Even at 1 win 199 losses (recent record: 1 win), AI bosses can't challenge anymore.
They repeat the same patterns; you're so skilled you could dodge blindfolded.
Victories stack, and what once moved you becomes a nose-pick clear.
That's when content turns into "dailies."
The only fix? Supply new raids before burnout.
But that's tough for devs, so dailies are inevitable in RPGs.
No skipping them either.
Too cleared out, no fun anymore? Skip?
= You skipping rewards? Everyone else gets gold—you're the only loser.
Perfectly preys on Koreans hating to fall behind more than personal loss.
Anyway, in , dailies are must-do pains in the ass.
Min-ji had barely touched them lately due to prelim prep.
With this break, she couldn't afford to skip or it'd hurt, so time to grind.
Someone donated 1,000 won! Weekly dailies all skipped? Dailies split into daily, weekly, monthly.
Weeklies take the biggest chunk—one full day per week clears them easily.
Or means they're so voluminous one day barely covers it.
"Haven't done a single one... I do guardians and stuff daily, but weeklies? Haven't touched 'em."
— Viewer lol — Viewer Gonna take all day lol — Viewer Yeah, she's always PvP whenever I check "First up... gotta knock out the labyrinth nice and easy."
She decided to tackle the [Labyrinth], the easiest but most time-sink daily first.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Parcus's Labyrinth (Hard)] ⚙ MATCHING ⚙ Most players bunch dailies on reset day to avoid losses from sudden schedules.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Parcus's Labyrinth (Hard) 1/4 (Matching...)] So matching was slower than usual today.
"Hmm... taking a while."
— Viewer Labyrinth always like that — Viewer We all do it Wednesday lol — Viewer Plz patch labyrinth Kang-seop ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Parcus's Labyrinth (Hard) 2/4 (Matching...)] But no eternal waits; it eventually filled.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Parcus's Labyrinth (Hard) 3/4 (Matching...)] Even if got called trash or "lucky hit," it had a solid hardcore base.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Parcus's Labyrinth (Hard) 4/4 (Matching...)] ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Enter Parcus's Labyrinth (Hard)?] [Yes / No] "Ugh... Almost clicked no by accident."
— Viewer Finally — Viewer Fuck, thought I'd die of boredom — Viewer She's the first streamer I've seen running labyrinth on stream, right? — Viewer She streams PvP and chores, so not that surprising Min-ji wiped the drool trickling from her mouth with her sleeve and clicked [Yes].
Declining after matching adds queue time, and she might actually fall asleep.
After a brief load, she scanned her party members' names.
⚔ PARTY ⚔ White Serpent Rowdy Racket Black Tiger Fist "Hmm... all strangers..."
Black Tiger Fist
"Huh?"
Black Tiger Fist.
Reverse it: White Dragon Pavilion.
The nickname screamed it...
White Dragon Pavilion's alt?
"It's White Dragon Pavilion!"
— Viewer Oh — Viewer White Dragon Pavilion — Viewer Meeting him here ㄷㄷ Solo dailies are the dullest grind.
With a buddy? Still boring, but chit-chat turns it into tolerable fishing.
Min-ji's lips curved up as she typed a friendly greeting.
💬 Party Chat — Saintess Nice Yo, Dragon Pavilion! She waited for his reply.
Waited.
Waited.
Wait...
Wa...
"...Huh?"
Shouldn't he have replied by now?
💬 Party Chat — Saintess Nice ...Dragon Pavilion? No matter how long she waited or pinged, no response.
— Viewer Ignoring lololololol — Viewer "Don't act like you know me" — Viewer Wait, not friends? — Viewer Why is the embarrassment ours — Viewer She's pissed pissed N-No way...?
Am I... hated?
Min-ji wasn't even considering what she might've done.