Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Isn't it possible that White Dragon Pavilion is a woman?
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There had been a minor disaster, but their friendship didn't devolve into outright cold-shouldering.
💬 Stream Chat — Black Tiger Fist Hey, hey, you answered, I answered. — Black Tiger Fist Don't bring that up, seriously. I'm warning you. — Saintess Nice Pass. — Black Tiger Fist ... It wasn't outright ignoring, but persuasion laced with a touch of intimidation. Still, that was better than total disaster, right?
Of course, that was just Min-ji's opinion.
— Viewer They seem pretty close lol — Viewer White Dragon Pavilion's secret??? — Viewer What is it? Tell us too. White Dragon Pavilion was a player so famous in the Ias community that pretty much no one hadn't heard of him.
For someone like that to freak out and beg not to reveal his secret? Naturally, tons of people were dying to know—but
"Hey now, tsk... No can do."
Min-ji wasn't the type to cheaply spill a friend's secrets.
💰 DONATION ALERT 💰 [Anonymous donated 100,000 won!] — Anonymous What about now? "Nope, it's a secret just between me and Pavilion."
Even with donations piling up—one instance of sexual harassment and twenty curses—her stance remained firm.
— Viewer A secret just between the two...? — Viewer It's getting dark... — Viewer hoxy? — Viewer Th-those two... something... ahem... Her wording—"a secret just between the two"—was ripe for misunderstanding, and dark horns began sprouting in the viewers' minds.
Min-ji might come off as so rough and tumble that people wondered, "Is this really a woman...? Or even human...?" but she was a woman, after all.
And a female streamer getting linked with a guy? That was on par with a webnovel heroine hanging around some side character dude instead of the protagonist.
In other words, the unicorns of the chat were turning their horns black.
But Min-ji had zero grasp on these streamer girl customs.
What's up with these guys?
So she couldn't fathom why the viewers' reactions were turning sour.
Thankfully, if she were the typical cutesy, coquettish female streamer, the chat would've been a warzone by now—but
her broadcasts and viewers weren't that type.
Her audience came out of curiosity—"What crazy shit is she gonna pull this time?"—and stuck around for the dopamine hits from watching her antics.
Anyway, this bizarre standoff between the grumpy-looking viewers and Min-ji's "What's their deal?" was playing out when—
"Aha."
Min-ji, with her disastrously poor social awareness, finally clocked the misunderstanding.
They think Pavilion and I are that kind of close?
A near-miraculous feat for Min-ji. The kind of historic achievement worthy of posting online for posterity.
Of course, there was one problem...
Even realizing the misunderstanding didn't help when the person involved was none other than Lee Min-ji.
But seriously, I don't even know Pavilion's gender for sure.
They called each other friends, but they didn't even know each other's ages, names, or genders.
Only recently had Min-ji's gender come out with her streaming debut, but White Dragon Pavilion's was still a mystery.
She called him "bro" on stream (mostly to Eder) or "sis," but those were just for convenience— he'd never confirmed it himself, not once.
So a plot twist like "Ta-da! The top-ranked master White Dragon Pavilion is actually an ultra-beauty!" wasn't impossible.
Though you'd first have to confirm if any idiots actually believed that.
— Viewer Hmm... — Viewer Come to think of it, aren't those two from the same guild? — Viewer Who the guild leader dates is none of your business. — Viewer Why are there so many fake boyfriends here? This ain't that kinda stream, get lost. ⭐ Top Comment — Grape Candy Aaah, don't fight among yourselves! — Viewer Who asked you? [Banned viewer] ⭐ Top Comment — Grape Candy This jerk? You think the manager's a joke? — Viewer Ooh — Viewer This is a tyrant, right? [Banned viewer] ⭐ Top Comment — Grape Candy Haha, mess with me and you're all kicked. Min-ji narrowed her eyes at the suddenly chaotic chat.
She's been working hard today... oh, she's gotten a taste for power.
Mods who crossed the line needed swift punishment.
⭐ Top Comment — Grape Candy Huh? ⭐ Top Comment — Grape Candy Saintess, the sword icon next to my nick disappeared. What's going on? ⭐ Top Comment — Grape Candy Betrayed by my own people? This can't be! — Moon Eyes Discarded after use. — Viewer Lol got her — Viewer Cut — Viewer That's what happens when a slave gets uppity lol Having stripped the power-drunk manager of her privileges, Min-ji pondered for a moment.
As always, she never dwelled long and jumped straight into action.
"Hey everyone, I've got a question..."
If they hated her being linked with a guy, then—
"Why do you all think Pavilion's a guy?"
Problem solved if Pavilion was a girl, right?
"Pavilion could be a woman, you know?"
— Viewer ? — Viewer ? — Viewer ? Unlike his fame, White Dragon Pavilion was the epitome of mystery when it came to his personal info—he never revealed a thing.
He even showed up to an offline PVP finals wearing a criminal getup (hat, mask, hood).
Considering it was midsummer, breathing must've been harder than the heat, but he hid thoroughly anyway. That said it all about his sensitivity.
💰 DONATION ALERT 💰 [Anonymous donated 1,000 won!] — Anonymous Possible. — Viewer ? — Viewer What are you on about — Viewer No sane people in this stream wtf — Viewer Tbh it might be possible... — Viewer Bro... White Dragon Pavilion had never outright stated his gender, but Min-ji was pretty sure he was a guy.
From past chats, he'd confessed to a girl in his major, got brutally rejected, and took a leave of absence from the shock. That dark history was still his biggest weak spot—even now, mentioning it made him panic and shut it down.
He probably regretted spilling that to her of all people for life.
But Min-ji couldn't care less.
"Ahem, anyway, isn't it rude to assume someone's a guy without them saying so?"
— Viewer Uh... — Viewer She's actually a girl? — Viewer That... makes sense? — Viewer Now that you mention it, his build seemed kinda small — Viewer Anyone heard White Dragon Pavilion's voice? — Black Tiger Fist ? What? Why are you reacting?
You're watching my stream?
"Hmm..."
Min-ji's small, empty brain began whirring at full speed.
And inside, tiny, pathetic Min-jis started bickering.
Yo, you gonna take this? Is the great Lee Min-ji just gonna let this prime entertainment slip? Nah, we're done for.
One Min-ji with red horns sprouting from her head, bat wings on her back, howling in rage—
You already apologized for that crap, and now you're at it again? Keep this up and she'll cut you off for real.
Versus the one with a glowing halo floating overhead, white dove wings, nagging endlessly.
After a barrage of "Mm...", "Urgh...", "Grrgh..." sound effects, Min-ji made her call.
"It's nonsense, guys. No way Pavilion's actually a girl, right?"
Even so, dragging him under to kill her controversy? That'd be straight-up trashy.
Others might already see her as trash, but Min-ji had zero self-awareness.
— Viewer Lmao fr — Viewer No way that's real — Viewer No black sheep believed that, right? "Still, it's true we've never seen his face. Who knows? Could be a real girl."
— Black Tiger No. "Yup, he says no~"
— Viewer He's watching the stream lol — Viewer With Pavilion's attention-whoring, of course he's here — Viewer Dipped in the second he saw Saintess's nick 💰 DONATION ALERT 💰 [White Dragon Pavilion's Inner Thoughts donated 1,000 won!] [Why the hell is this crazy bitch suddenly changing my gender???] — Viewer Fr — Viewer Pavilion must be baffled lololol — Viewer We're used to this crazy bitch's antics, but he ain't... — Viewer Tbf Pavilion might be more used to it than us And so, the commotions of the "Saintess-White Dragon Pavilion dating scandal" and "White Dragon Pavilion is a girl" conspiracy theories flashed through the chat like lightning before dying down, and the rowdy vibe finally started to settle.
— White Serpent Guys — White Serpent Guys? — White Serpent When are we going? — Rowdy and Boisterous Let 'em have their fun. — White Serpent The door... is open... "Oh yeah!"
Only then did Min-ji remember the poor random player she'd been matched with.
— Saintess Nice Sorry! Coming right now! — Black Tiger Got it. Clearing Parcus's Labyrinth didn't take long.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ — White Serpent Good work. — Rowdy and Boisterous Was fun enough anyway. — Rowdy and Boisterous GG. — Saintess Nice Good work everyone! — Black Tiger Fist Good work. After clearing the labyrinth, everyone hopped through the portal back to the village they'd started in.
[Character Selection] Back in town, he moused over to the character select screen.
[Cheonmu Cham] What made Ias's dailies a pain was that they were per character, not per account.
For players raising alts like this guy hammering the keyboard,
the workload exploded exponentially.
[Parcus's Labyrinth (Hard)] Even right after grinding that boring-ass labyrinth, he dove back in.
After 15 minutes of self-torture, he finished another character's dailies and took a short break.
"Haa..."
Leaning his chair all the way back, eyes closed, resting.
"Let's do some reinforcing...? You trying to die for real?" A woman's voice wormed into his ear.
"Hup!"
At the sound, he snapped the chair upright with a thunk.
Lifting his head, he caught the stream window open on one of his dual monitors.
[Saintess Nice] "No way, absolutely not. See if I ever reinforce again. I'd rather gold farm." "Pfft."
He'd hoped to see her cry over reinforcing again, but looks like she was done with it entirely.
Unable to hide his disappointment, he reclined the chair once more.
This time, instead of closing his eyes, he grabbed his phone and opened the community.
[Ias Doomsday Gallery] Busy with tournament prep and dailies lately, White Dragon Pavilion hadn't properly read the concept threads.
Not as bad as Min-ji, but he was a community addict too, so he planned to indulge in the backlog.
"Man... there really are crazy people everywhere."
Skimming the concept threads full of lame, shitty jokes, one title jumped out and grated on him.
📰 Gallery Post Title: Is Pavilion really a girl? Author: Grape Candy He hides his face all the time, so maybe he's actually a girl? — Reply What even is this — Reply Go take your meds, auntie — Reply (OP) ㅗㅗㅗㅗㅗㅗㅗ — Reply OP, is it true you got demoted from Saintess's manager? — Reply (OP) Urgh... It's temporary! "This crazy bastard..."
His mood sank as he quietly set the phone down.
Then he stood, walked to the mirror on the wall.
White Dragon Pavilion's deepest secret—one he might hide forever, even from Min-ji—reflected quietly back at him.
A height small for a guy, a scrawny frame with no muscle to speak of.
But that wasn't his real complex.
His biggest hang-up was—
"Shit... do I really look like a girl?"
His face was prettier than most women's.