Ties from My Previous Life (5)
I think I’ve become more emotional since becoming a woman. The sense that I’m behaving rationally has diminished compared to before. But the same goes for Jihyun.
The two of us had clearly met for the first time, yet the distance between us felt strangely close. That was true for both me and her.
It was as if something had bound us together. We were treating each other with an oddly intimate familiarity.
…Well, reincarnation itself is practically a mystical phenomenon…
This whole reincarnation—or possession, I still wasn’t sure—had been bizarre from the start. It wouldn’t be strange if some kind of synchronization had occurred between us.
Jihyun was a connection from my previous life… If something had influenced us, it was possible. At least that would explain her behavior.
But there’s nothing that would really change things.
It had already happened. It was already decided. We might as well go together.
Objectively, it did feel like my emotions were no longer entirely under my control. Still, I didn’t see it as a problem. Whether it was because of this female body or because I was with Jihyun, I couldn’t say for sure.
“Let’s go.”
The place we had chosen was a C-rank Gate.
It was dangerous for someone who had only just reached D-rank, but my actual ability was already on par with C-rank. If you factored in that I was a mage, I could even hold my own in a B-rank Gate.
When Jihyun heard that, she gave permission for me to enter the C-rank one with her. Trust? I wasn’t sure. For whatever reason, she simply believed in me.
This was probably connected to that “something” I mentioned earlier.
“…So, Sowol-ssi, you really must be careful. Even though it’s basically a C-rank Gate, it’s still a dangerous place.”
Well, I already knew that. The difficulty gap between C-rank and lower gates was enormous.
Starting at C-rank, these were classified as mid-tier. A single mistake could get you killed on the spot.
But I had faced far worse. The assassin who had tried to kill Han Yeseo was more dangerous than most gates. At least this one wasn’t an uncleared dungeon.
“Shall I start the broadcast now?”
“Yes. That’s fine.”
We decided to turn the stream on immediately.
“Hello everyone~ This is Jihyun. You all remember the promise I made today, right?”
Since I wasn’t watching the screen, I couldn’t see exactly what Jihyun was doing on camera.
“So today I’m just turning the stream on as a bit of commemoration. We’ll have to enter the gate soon, so I won’t be able to do much. I’ll come back on after we clear it.”
The promise Jihyun had made was simple. She would simply turn on the broadcast at the gate entrance and do a quick verification. She had rarely shown her hunter activities on stream before, which was why she was doing this. Honestly, I still didn’t quite understand the reasoning.
“Come on, think about it. Who broadcasts from inside a gate? If you stream that live you’ll get banned instantly. Guts and organs everywhere. All sorts of nasty stuff comes out.”
Broadcasting from inside a gate wasn’t actually forbidden. It would violate freedom of expression. But professional streamers never transmitted from inside. The scenery wasn’t pleasant, and it usually wasn’t that entertaining anyway.
If they wanted to broadcast combat, something like a WWE-style sparring match would be better. It seemed Jihyun’s reason for turning the stream on was mostly for verification purposes. That was probably why she had agreed to let me come along. Bringing a beginner on stream wasn’t easy, but simply having me participate wasn’t a big issue. Of course, there was also the fact that my face might end up exposed.
“Ah, and we have a guest with us today. That person is none other than… Baek Sowol-ssi! She’s an acquaintance I recently got to know. She said she was curious about C-rank gates, so I decided to bring her along this time.”
“Hello.”
When Jihyun turned the camera toward me, I could see text scrolling up rapidly even at a glance. Looking closer, countless messages were flying past.
Thankfully, unlike the gallery, a manager was constantly moderating, so the chat was under some control. There weren’t any major problems. That was nice.
“Hey! You’ve said enough! That was already agreed on! I didn’t want to do this in the first place! There’s no broadcast angle and all the fun stuff has to be edited out. But you guys kept provoking me and telling me not to lie! That’s why I’m doing it!”
“There aren’t many A-rank gates, and after clearing one I’d be completely drained and couldn’t stream anymore. How is that any different from just uploading two verification shots? Besides, unlike me, Sowol-ssi is still basically C-rank, so she can’t run A-ranks. We’re just going together while we’re at it. Or do you want me to send her home after and stream alone with you guys?”
I had only ever watched the edited NewTube clips before. So this was what real-time streaming felt like. The dopamine hits were definitely stronger in the edited versions that only collected the fun moments.
But the live broadcast had its own flavor. It felt like quiet everyday life. Not my preference. The cost-to-enjoyment ratio was too low. You had to watch for a long time to get very little pleasure. It was a very non-mage-like hobby.
“Then I’ll end the stream here and come back after we’re done. Bye for now~ After we finish, if Sowol-ssi is okay with it, we might stream together again. Keep that in mind.”
With that, Jihyun ended the broadcast. We immediately headed inside and checked the scenery.
“…It’s wide.”
“Yes. Ah, you said this is your first C-rank, right?”
“Yes. I’ve mostly been running D-rank gates until now.”
Even if your hunter rank was low, it didn’t mean you couldn’t challenge higher gates. As long as they were already cleared, you could enter gates one or two ranks above your own.
But people usually didn’t. This wasn’t a game, after all. The idea that running higher-rank gates led to more efficient growth was nonsense. You only had one life, so you had to be careful.
Besides, even if you scratched a couple of monsters in a high-rank gate, you wouldn’t grow properly. Experience mattered everywhere.
“Shall we head over there?”
Being dragged around by a stronger hunter was common, but Jihyun’s case felt a little different. Han Yeseo could definitely protect me. The difference between A-rank and S-rank was only one grade, but the higher you went, the harder the gap became to bridge.
The difference between Jihyun and Han Yeseo was far larger than it appeared. That was why the masked man hadn’t tried to attack with two or three A-ranks at once. He had used a compatibility strategy instead.
That was why both Jihyun and I were tense. If she made a mistake, I could get seriously hurt.
My hunter rank had been E when I was with Han Yeseo. Now it was nearly C. Han Yeseo was S-rank. Jihyun was A-rank. Han Yeseo had real combat experience. This was Jihyun’s first real fight.
The one improvement was that my hunter rank, which had been E, was now close to C. That meant the chance of problems arising had decreased a little.
Well… there shouldn’t be any major issues.
I could handle up to C-rank after all. I just had to keep that in mind. Slowly, I watched the hunt unfold.
“By the way, if this isn’t helpful for your broadcast, why are you doing it?”
I had many questions. Why had Jihyun decided to stream this? Going into the gate together with me made sense. Even I couldn’t clearly explain this feeling.
But that wasn’t connected to the reason she had turned the stream on.
She was an A-rank hunter. She could have cleared an A-rank gate. Was she worried she would be too exhausted afterward to stream? Then it would have been better not to stream at all, clear an A-rank gate, and come back with the verification certificate.
But Han Yeseo hadn’t done that. Why?
“Well… I got promoted to A-rank and people told me to do it once, so… it’s like a penalty. You might not know much about streaming, but when a penalty like this is issued, you have to do it yourself.”
“Even if you don’t want to stream?”
“That’s right. Viewers just want dopamine. They enjoy watching me struggle. Normally I don’t stream after clearing a gate because I’m tired. They want to see that exhaustion.”
“Ah…”
So that was what it meant. Broadcasting seemed to be a field I would never fully understand. Well, if the viewers found it fun, that was what mattered.
“Shall we move a little further in?”
We continued the hunt.
A truly horrific event was about to unfold.