Jenny's Sharp Guess and the Cringe-Worthy Collab
So you know who I am?
Uh, uh, how did she figure it out? I’d been working so hard to hide my identity, too!
"You all watched the explanation stream Labellehar did, right?"
"Of course. Is there anyone who didn’t?"
"Oh, man, it was crazy back then. It wasn’t just Galaxy Train Gallery going up in flames; people were talking about it in other communities, too."
Jenny wore a smile so brimming with confidence it practically sparkled.
No, seriously, where exactly had she gotten the idea that I was Kwon Seah?
... ... Come to think of it, there were more than enough clues!
"That stream you did back then... don’t you think there were some oddly specific things about it when you look back?"
"I don’t think so, really... Most of the points were clarified at the time."
"Right. Everything said then was explained, and I don’t think there was anything left unresolved. But! The explanation stream itself was just... huge, wasn’t it?"
"You mean the part where some guy who looked kind of like the CEO came on?"
At Lina’s Fire-Pressed Bibimbap’s question, Jenny nodded at once.
"I’ve seen these kinds of controversies in other games, too. Usually, a normal user clears things up on their own and that’s the end of it. I’ve never seen a company step in and sort out what’s true and what isn’t like that."
"Oh, now that I think about it, yes, that does seem right. I’ve never seen it either."
"That’s why I think Labellehar is, in one way or another, connected to the company."
"So our clan leader has some kind of relationship with Galaxy Train... no, the Korean branch of Honkai?"
Shuri, no! Could you please not use your good brain here?!
Don’t give the speculation wings!
"Yes, honestly, isn’t that the kind of thing none of us have ever actually seen before? The company stepping in like that means there’s a connection, doesn’t it?"
"Oh, but wasn’t that mentioned on the stream? Yeah, something about how the game has PvP and clan wars have such strong rewards that the company had to step in and clean up the controversy."
"Come on, Lina. Do you really believe that? Game companies always go on about fair competition, fair competition, but just look at this clan war and tell me that was fair."
Wait, what exactly was unfair about it?
"Only our clan had Iines? And with the invasion of the space station, our clan was making coins by a ridiculous margin, so by the time Colosseum opens, our clan members will probably be the only ones with the Machine Queen."
"Hmm... but aren’t those rewards something we earned by working hard? I think that counts as fair competition."
"What I’m saying is that, in the end, it isn’t fair. If they even brought out a branch manager to explain things like this, then if you dig deep there must be something there, so I think the company stepped in to put an end to it before it went further."
... A woman’s intuition, huh?
It wasn’t exactly precise, but it wasn’t wrong either!
"That’s just because our young lady hasn’t played other games."
Surprisingly, the one who pushed back against Jenny was Pioneer, wearing sunglasses and on his third drink.
"Hmm... I’ve heard those kinds of things don’t really happen in other games."
"Don’t really happen? Please. Even Thor, which I used to play, was a complete circus."
"Oh, you played Thor too, sir?"
Lina tossed out the joke immediately, and the old man with the sunglasses gave a snort of laughter.
"Thor, Legend of Mar, even HorusM—those games caused just as much chaos over the same kind of issues."
"Ah... HorusM, huh? Now that you mention it, I remember. Didn’t that make a huge racket on YouTube?"
"You bet it did. The company was paying streamers a hundred million won a month as ‘promotion’ and using them to control open-world PvP and siege battles. People were filing lawsuits left and right, asking how any of that wasn’t illegal."
Thor—wasn’t that that game?
Gacha for gods, skill gacha, guilds, castle lords, control, chaos, PK!
The game everybody in Korea pointed at and cursed as the most money-obsessed game in existence?
The one mocked as a game where you ran auto-play, clicked click-click, drank potions, and then used skills worth tens of millions of won with a ka-clack, ka-clack?
... So this old guy came here after playing that?
"Uh... I didn’t know those kinds of games. I’ve only played subculture-style games."
"Yeah, figured a young lady like you hadn’t. Anyway, there were a ton of them. Super accounts, admin accounts... all the whales who had been spending money were suddenly filing refund requests and talking about quitting. It was a mess."
"Hmm, then I can see why the company would want to crush it quickly."
Jenny scratched the back of her head with an embarrassed look.
Whew. Thank goodness.
"Still, I think it’s fine to keep talking. I am curious what our clan leader actually does for a living."
"Uh... is that okay? I actually had someone in mind because they’re connected to the company and there was that thing about receiving a figurine."
Sir...!!!
Why do you keep making her say this?!
"Oh, excellent. Yes, this is more entertaining than just sitting quietly and eating."
"Then shall I keep going?"
No, no, no, no—somebody stop her!
At the very least, if Kwon Seah’s name comes up, laugh it off as nonsense!!!
"They’re connected to the company, they’ve invested a ridiculous amount into the game... Ah! And I think that part is a lie."
"Which part?"
"The part about working at the pop-up store. I don’t think they were a part-timer, either. Or the owner? The boss? The manager? Anyway, I don’t think it was that, either."
Why are you so sharp?
How does this person have such good instincts...?!
"Oh... really? But there was that broken figurine you received, wasn’t there?"
"That too fits someone else perfectly."
Jenny smiled with smug satisfaction.
"The person I think is Labellehar’s identity is... this person!"
Ah, ah! I want to see too!
Show me! It’s not a photo of me, right?!
How cheap can you get, showing yourself off on your smartphone like that?
"Uh... this woman is Labellehar?"
"Oh, really?"
"Hmm... why do you think that?"
At Shuri’s sharp question, Jenny puffed out a cute little breath through her nose and shrugged.
"The reason I think this voice actress is Labellehar is simple. First of all, she’s connected to the company, right?"
"Oh, that’s true. This voice actress dubbed Cere."
She dubbed Cere? Then it’s not me, is it?
No, wait—why is she mixing me up with someone else? If you’re going to mistake me for someone, at least pick someone who deserves it!
I didn’t want some random woman getting dragged into trouble because of me. And I definitely didn’t want to be mistaken for some random woman myself...!!!
I eavesdropped while quickly searching online.
Lee Hae-na
The voice actress who dubbed Cere was someone named Lee Hae-na, so why, why was she thinking I was this person?!
"And second, your voice is incredibly similar."
Mine?! To Cere?
Not even close?!
"But she’s a voice actress, so doesn’t the voice part kind of stop mattering?"
"Listen to this."
Jenny immediately played a video.
Hello! To all the players who love Seven Heavens! I’m Lee Hae-na, the voice actress who played Angelina!
Oh, shit...
"... Huh? That’s insanely similar."
"Wow, I’d believe it if you said it was her own voice. The tone is exactly the same."
"Whoa... is this really not our clan leader?"
It was similar enough to astonish every man there, and even Renako’s Little Princess Adventure Squad, who had been silently chewing on pasta, nodded along.
It’s the same, it’s ridiculously similar, why is it so similar?!
"And here. You see the photo showing off the figurine, right? Well, voice actress Lee Hae-na also happens to own a Modred figurine!"
"Wow... I really think you’ve got it."
Renako, what are you even saying all of a sudden?
Anyone can have a Modred figurine now!
This is just forcing the pieces together!
"Ssssss..."
... No, but wait, isn’t this kind of good?
I glanced over. Voice actress Lee Hae-na was actually pretty gorgeous.
And honestly, her voice was amazing too.
... If I get mistaken for someone like that, isn’t that, well, kind of a win?
"Hmm... that’s definitely a pretty convincing story. Even if the company connection can’t be used as evidence, the other parts seem quite plausible."
"Right? And since revealing their identity as a voice actress would make it hard to take first place... plus, there are plenty of people these days who work as VTubers without saying they’re voice actresses!"
"Oh, yes, there are quite a few. There really are."
Amid everyone’s naturally accepting mood, Shuri coughed awkwardly.
"Still, I think it’d be better to leave it at that as just an interesting story. In fact, whether voice actress Lee Hae-na really is our clan leader or not, it doesn’t seem like this would be something good to spread in the clan or in other communities."
"Ah! Of course, I’m only talking about it here! I’d been thinking about it for a long time, so I wanted to hear everyone’s opinions!"
"Well, I also think of it exactly as a fun story, just like my friend Shuri said."
"If you dig too seriously into things like this, sometimes it just becomes miserable."
As the old man Pioneer and Renako chimed in too, Jenny broke into a bright smile.
"Great. Then please keep everything I said here a secret!"
Whew... so this weird misunderstanding wasn’t going to go spreading anywhere else.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness indeed.
Honestly, it was a little reassuring that the people most interested in my identity had gotten it wrong!
"Oh, but did you all see this? That cosplay photo that went up in the gallery the other day..."
"Do you mean that VelvetAria person? That photo?"
"Yes! That’s the one! Wow! This person was really, really good at cosplay. The outfit wasn’t even handmade, but maybe they used the right lighting or something, because it didn’t look cheap or out of place at all..."
Jenny suddenly beamed and started showing everyone the cosplay photo I’d taken.
No, what now? What is this supposed to be?
She doesn’t know my identity, right? She doesn’t know I’m listening in, right?
Why are you making me die of embarrassment in one straight line like this~~~?!
"Wasn’t this person seriously amazing at doing such sexy cosplay? They were so good I kind of want to see them at an event someday."
AAAAAAAAH! Stop praising me!!
I do not want to hear I was sexy in real life!!!
* * *
"Looks like you had quite an enjoyable time today."
"Ah... well, I heard some interesting stories."
The offline gathering, where my embarrassing stories kept popping up now and then, thankfully ended without incident.
Even after that, Jenny kept going on about where my cosplay was sexy, or how the outfit was a little disappointing.
When even the other clan members added a few compliments about me, my whole body started itching with mortification until I nearly screamed.
Ugh, I’d have taken a shower immediately if I’d been home. I sweated so much.
"I’ll take you home."
"Yes, please do. I should call Secretary Lee Eunbyul for a moment..."
The gathering was over without problems, so I ought to at least thank Lee Eunbyul, the chief of staff who’d gone and secured the meal vouchers for me.
Come to think of it, I’d been working this woman over three days in a row.
─ ♬
"Yes, Miss Seah. What is it?"
"Thanks to you, I had a wonderful meal, so I wanted to call and thank you."
"Not at all. I’m relieved to hear you enjoyed yourself, Miss."
As expected, I’d been right to call. The fact that she’d even arranged for a manager to go with me meant she really had been watching my mood carefully.
"If something like this comes up again, I’d appreciate your help. It really was great."
"Of course. I’ll always be happy to assist you, Miss."
Lee Eunbyul really was a huge help when it came to outside activities.
If Elodie was the older sister who handled cooking and laundry for me, then this one was the one who neatly arranged every little thing this chaebol youngest daughter wanted to do.
Mm-hmm, good. Very good.
So this is what carefree pleasure feels like, isn’t it?
What should I put up as the prize for the next clan war? Maybe free passes to an amusement park?
Or department store gift certificates? One million won’s worth?!
"Since you called me personally, Miss, I should mention this: did you happen to check the documents I sent this morning?"
"... It’s Saturday today."
Does this woman work on Saturdays too?
Ha. And I was just thinking this was carefree pleasure—right on cue, she brings up work.
"I assumed you’d be resting because it’s the weekend, so I didn’t check my work email. Is it important?"
"Not particularly, but I thought I’d mention it because it’s something you like, Miss."
"Oh... what is it?"
Still talking on the phone, I quickly tapped into my work email.
What was it? What did I like? Galaxy Train? Women? Goofing off? Games?!
"It’s a proposal regarding collaboration products. Please take your time and enjoy reviewing it."
"A collab? Oh... collabs... collabs! Yes, collabs are great!"
Yes, yes! That’s the stuff!
Labellehar is number one in clan wars! Number one in Colosseum!
And Kwon Seah can make the Galaxy Train IP business dance to her tune!
Heh-heh-heh...
"Let me take a look at which kind of collaboration you’d like to do..."
The moment I checked the documents that had arrived in my inbox with a happy heart, I could only say this:
"This is way too awful!!! If you actually went ahead with this, people would rip it apart online for ten years and turn it into a meme!!!"
Lee Eunbyul had clearly done her best, but the end result was absolutely horrifying!!!