The Ordinary Snipe and the Uncommon Kwon Seah
Kwon Seah, the youngest daughter of a chaebol family, had a perfectly ordinary morning.
She’d stagger awake around eleven, half in a dream, stumble into the bathroom, take care of business, then shower with painstaking thoroughness.
After that, she’d toss the clothes she’d worn all day yesterday into the laundry hamper, open the refrigerator, and eat whatever breakfast Elodie had prepared.
For the record, Elodie didn’t exactly live with her, so breakfast was a random affair.
Some mornings I had to boil pasta and eat that. Other mornings I’d dig out a pre-portioned salad and chew through it like a cow.
Still, since she came in every evening to make dinner, I had no complaints whatsoever—in fact, I was thoroughly satisfied with this life.
"I checked the messages. Nothing unusual on Tok...!"
While the pasta was boiling, I checked Tok.
Whenever Chief of Staff Lee Eunbyul or Kwon Siyoung had something important to say all of a sudden, I had to check it as soon as I woke up.
Elodie sent me messages like this every day, and it was convenient because I could answer with whatever came to mind.
...Honestly, if Kwon Siyoung or Chief of Staff Lee Eunbyul sent me a message, I’d sometimes get so tense my lower stomach would practically start sweating.
"Looks like I can take it easy all day today..."
If Elodie saw me boiling noodles in nothing but panties and an apron, she’d probably scream.
But what could I do? This was comfortable!
─ Bubbling, bubbling!
"The game updated, so now there’s somehow even more to do..."
After the Colosseum ended, Galaxy Train received version 1.1 not long afterward.
New characters and Arcana had been released, so I’d need to farm...
"Huh...?"
"What the... Why did the clan suddenly get Thanos-snapped? What is this?"
I hurried into the clan chat.
"What is this...? Who smeared me? And half the clan just bolted because of it?"
My head started spinning in a subtle, unpleasant way.
It felt like someone had grabbed my torso and crushed it tight.
"No... but still... there are half a clan’s worth of members who still believe in me."
For now, that should be enough for the clan members!
The gallery, true to expectations, was a complete dumpster fire.
"Ugh... my stomach hurts."
I hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet, so why did my insides feel like they were boiling?
For the moment, I sat down in a nearby chair in a hurry.
Hello.
I debated this for a while, but I can’t keep holding it in anymore, so I’m writing this post.
As others have probably noticed, Labellehar—currently rank 1 in Korean server Clan War and rank 1 in PvP—does not appear to have grown through normal means.
(Screenshot from Mallang-i’s stream showing “Flashing Dream” x685,710)
Labellehar’s account has an absurd amount of Flashing Dream that no ordinary person could possibly possess.
She even bragged about this fact on streamer Mallang-i’s broadcast.
(Screenshot showing that Kwon Seah’s Seere and Ha Eunrich are ranked number one in combat power)
Labellehar abused this abnormal amount of Flashing Dream to raise characters to a level no other player could ever match.
(Screenshot of Heretic’s long-winded calculation proving that an average user could never obtain the Arcana Kwon Seah farmed)
As you can see from the screenshots I attached, for an ordinary user to match Labellehar’s combat power, they would need to farm Arcana more than 800 times on average.
To do that kind of farming, a normal player would need 120 days’ worth of Trailblaze Power.
Considering that most users have been farming Arcana for less than three weeks, this makes no sense.
(Photo of Kwon Seah casually showing off a figure to stir up attention)
Also, Labellehar owns a figure of Mordreda, who was officially released in version 1.1.
I believe this one photo proves she has a developer account and explains how her abnormal in-game growth happened.
(Photo proving that Kwon Seah’s FID is 600000003)
At this point, anyone who looks at Labellehar’s FID can tell there’s no way she isn’t a developer account.
(Photo of Heretic’s own account)
Labellehar can’t possibly be the sort of decent user who simply spends money to enjoy the game like I do.
Unlike the rest of us who spend cash, she can farm infinitely and pull characters for free thanks to the privileges of a developer account.
At this very moment, should we really keep letting this user monopolize Clan War rewards and PvP rewards?
Are decent users supposed to just suffer?
Please, the operators need to investigate this.
This is way too far to just brush off and move on.
"... ... What is this. Are they idiots? Why would I be a developer? Maybe if I were affiliated with them, but why would I be a developer? And what privilege did I supposedly get?"
Cold sweat trickled down my forehead.
My hands went ice-cold.
"D-don’t be ridiculous! I built that party by searching overseas and working hard to put it together, and I replenished my Trailblaze Power by spending my own money, too!!!"
Breathing started to feel difficult.
Nausea rose in my throat.
"P-please believe me. I haven’t even written an explanation post yet! Why are you only listening to Heretic and yelling at me?!"
A foul smell, sharp and singed, tickled the tip of my nose.
"Ah..."
"Ah... ah..."
"Why am I... getting worked up over this..."
─ Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
I just threw my smartphone onto the floor.
A sense of helplessness I had never felt in my entire life swallowed me whole.
Was this the depression Kwon Seah felt? I wasn’t sure, but suddenly I didn’t want to do anything.
"How am I supposed to explain it, anyway? Forget it. I’m quitting."
─ BEEEEEP!!!!
The shrill fire alarm cut off, and at the same time a torrent of water came pouring down from above my head.
Ah. Right, the pasta was boiling...
"Kwon Seah can do plenty of other things besides this. There’s 4 billion won sitting in my bank account..."
The moment I muttered that and got up from my seat, I stupidly stepped on the water scattered across the floor and went down hard.
* * *
"Are you feeling better, young lady?"
Elodie, having been informed that the fire alarm at our house had gone off, came rushing over and saved me.
Thanks to her, I escaped the fate of lying drenched in the kitchen and catching a cold.
Elodie had arrived like a hero, brought a towel, dried me off, and even helped me change clothes.
"Yes... I’m okay now."
"It seems something unpleasant happened. But something good will come to you soon enough."
"...No, I’m just not going to do it."
"Oh? What is it that you mean?"
Why was I telling Elodie this, of all people?
If anything, she was the sort of person who leaned more toward the social butterfly end of the spectrum, and she probably knew nothing at all about internet community drama.
"I’m getting hated for something I didn’t even do... and it got so famous... no, it’s just... something you wouldn’t understand, unni. I’m not doing it anymore."
"Are you speaking about Galaxy Train?"
"Huh? Huh? You saw it, unni? That post?"
I felt my heart drop into my stomach.
"I’m not sure what you’re referring to, so I cannot say that I did."
"...Huh?"
"But Galaxy Train was running on the smartphone you threw to the floor, so I thought it must be related."
A dry laugh slipped out of me as all my strength suddenly leaked away.
"Anyway... sorry, Elodie unni. I’m not doing Galaxy Train anymore."
"...You’ve gone back to the way you used to be."
Elodie gave a bitter little smile, took my hand, and gently stroked it.
"But it’s all right. After all, even after rain falls, the ground cannot always remain soft."
Her concern for me was so plain and heartfelt that for a moment I couldn’t say a single word.
"Hehe, I did think it would be nice to talk about ordinary hobbies with you again after so long, though it’s a shame."
"I liked it too."
Talking otaku nonsense with Elodie was genuinely fun.
...When else in my life would I be chatting with such a beautiful mixed-race woman about how her side boob was showing and her ass was way too big?
That weird, shivery feeling, almost like I’d wandered into a women’s bathhouse by mistake, was honestly exciting enough to look forward to.
"I was going to tell you about Mordreda, too, so this really is a shame."
"Oh? What about Mordreda did you want to talk about?"
"Hmm... you saw the figure in the dressing room, right? And you read the game story, didn’t you? Mordreda first appears as a knight in armor, but in the story, when she uses her ultimate, the armor comes off."
My heart pounding, I rattled on in excitement.
"At that moment, her bare face is out there, and so is all of this, and her chest is just completely exposed... I wanted to say something like, wow, her boobs are unbelievably huge! If they were really that big, wouldn’t it be awful if she started sweating inside the armor?"
"My, yes... now that you mention it, it does look terribly stifling—enough to worry about heat rash."
Elodie covered her mouth and let out a stifled laugh.
"I thought Mordreda doesn’t wear a bra at all, so inside that stiff armor it must rub terribly and hurt by the end."
"Pff...! Elodie unni! What exactly are you thinking about?"
I burst out laughing despite myself.
Ah, right. Talking about Galaxy Train really was fun.
...Honestly, I didn’t want to quit after all.
I wanted to keep taking first place in Clan War, and in PvP, I wanted to crush Heretic’s face for that baseless smear so completely she’d be left bawling.
No! More than that, I wanted her to apologize for launching a smear attack in the first place and do a naked dogeza!
"...Elodie unni. I think I’m going to keep playing Galaxy Train after all."
"Oh my... Seah, young lady?"
"This is one of my favorite hobbies. I don’t want to give it up."
I shoved the blanket aside and got to my feet.
The depression that had been pressing down on Kwon Seah, the youngest daughter of a chaebol family, was gone now.
"Besides, most of what they’re smearing me with is just stitched-together nonsense, right? If I come back with the exact facts and refute them, honestly, it’s only a matter of time before they look like idiots."
I tapped my palm with my fist as I went on.
"And for something like this, just tossing up one post in the gallery isn’t impactful enough, you know? You need hard facts and a strong impression if you want to turn public opinion around all at once."
"Seah, young lady..."
"So first I’m going to explain myself on a livestream. And I need someone who can add facts that look absolutely perfect alongside my story... Ah! If I ask Chief of Staff Lee Eunbyul, she’ll be able to make the connections for me, right?"
Just imagining calmly refuting Heretic’s false smear post made my skin tingle.
It was only a rough plan, but even so, I could feel my heart pounding like crazy.
"Then I’ll contact Chief of Staff Lee Eunbyul about Galaxy Train’s Korean server... Huh? Elodie unni, why are you looking at me like that?"
"Ah, well..."
Elodie’s eyes reddened, and she rubbed the back of her hand against them.
"It just makes me so proud to see you no longer saying you’ll take those medicines like you used to..."
"I-I’m not going to take them anymore, so don’t worry."
What on earth was the real Kwon Seah like, anyway?
The instant she heard me, Elodie pulled me into a tight hug and even patted my backside.
"Ugh...! W-wait! Stop! Elodie unni! Quit it!!!"
... ... I’d only just gotten my energy back because I was planning how to respond to an internet smear post, and this was embarrassing, okay?!
Anyway! Just you wait, Heretic! I’m going to deliver a grand rebuttal by a method no ordinary user could even imagine!