NOVPUBThe game's dynamics were overall quite peculiar.
First of all, all the special items obtained went straight to the support character, Aria.
Aria is not a character without damage, but she’s primarily a support character who plays music to provide shields or healing to allies. Naturally, her efficiency was bound to be worse compared to the other characters.
On the other hand, Heo Taegyun was handling an assassin character. Aich is a character where items are very important.
Without proper items, the assassin might end up getting killed instead of making a successful assassination.
‘Well, it’s just a casual game, so it’s probably fine.’
That was the thought Seoyeon forced herself to have. However, in this state, reaching the goal of getting first place in today’s stream honestly seemed pretty far out of reach. Even if her physical skills seemed fine, with such strange judgments, things weren’t looking good.
But then...
‘...What is going on?’
After about 20 minutes into the game, Heo Taegyun realized something.
‘Why are we winning so consistently?’
By the time he snapped out of it, there were only 3 teams left. Out of the total eight teams, only 3 were still standing.
And, in fact, their party didn’t get this far by chance.
The reason for this didn’t need much deeper thought. It was simply because they won every single fight.
And there was a reason for that. First off, Heo Taegyun’s rank was Eternity, so it wouldn’t be strange to easily dominate a normal game. But even then, it wasn’t at the level where he could wipe out all the enemies by himself.
‘At least, when it comes to fights... they really are good...’
That thought escaped involuntarily. Seoyeon wasn’t half-assing it in fights, even though she had a rough idea of the approach.
She avoided most of the non-targeted skills, and she effectively focused on eliminating the characters that needed to be killed first in the enemy team. What was surprising was how well Aria, who was the first to get items, did better than expected.
Once she had items, she could deal damage and support as well.
‘Was it Ramiel, right?’
Heo Taegyun thought about the virtual YouTuber character that wasn’t in the match. Her rank was said to be Platinum, but her skill seemed to be above that.
What stood out was her frequent gaming experience.
“It’s about time for the Aclis to spawn, let’s go check it out.”
If they catch it, they get a special item and a buff from the neutral monster, Aclis. This monster gives a huge advantage when the game heads into its later stages.
Catching Aclis would essentially secure the win for them!
“Oh, let me explain Aclis for you,” Heo Taegyun said, continuing his farming while giving a detailed explanation.
It had only been a day since the official release, so the newcomers tuning into the stream were still unfamiliar with the game.
While farming and talking naturally, Heo Taegyun smoothly handled the stream.
‘His streaming skills are impressive.’
Although Seoyeon had been mostly focused on Ramiel, she had to admit that Heo Taegyun’s broadcast skills were quite good. Of course, she hadn’t fully appreciated Ramiel’s value yet, but his speaking skills were top-notch.
‘Hmm, so this is what it’s like...’
Although she had watched Ramiel's streams often, seeing a live broadcast from a fellow streamer right next to her wasn’t so bad either.
No, wait. She couldn’t just sit and watch.
‘I need to say something too.’
What did she say during this round?
‘Ramiel, please take this.’ ‘I’ll protect you, Ramiel.’ ‘Ramiel...’
She only said the necessary things. However, it felt like there were a lot of conversations related to Ramiel, so she thought she should say something different.
“Ah, my bad! I got caught. Over here, over here!!”
At that moment, Heo Taegyun screamed.
Perhaps distracted by running the broadcast, he didn’t see the attack from the enemy tank in his blind spot. The assassin’s character, Aich, was sent flying into the air.
But, being from Eternity, he should have been able to escape quickly, right?
‘There’s another team.’
Just as Seoyeon was about to rush over to save Aich, she halted when another team appeared. It was unfortunate that the other team was aiming to catch Ramiel’s Aria.
“Wait, wait! You have to save me first!” “If we do that, Ramiel will die.”
Was she really protecting a support instead of the dealer?
“Here, saving Ramiel over me?”
It was more logical to save the dealer than the support. She was about to say that, but then she remembered the look Seoyeon had given her earlier when she spoke ill of Ramiel.
‘Better to just die.’
It was probably best to just accept her death. This match wasn’t the only one after all.
Heo Taegyun humbly accepted his fate.
He had taken down one enemy, but unfortunately was taken out by the remaining two enemies. The opposing team revived the one who had fallen, so they practically suffered no loss.
The chat was filled with similar comments. Heo Taegyun, feeling a little defeated, turned his head and glanced to the side.
‘What’s with them looking at me again?’
Was she blaming him for dying?
‘I don’t think so... I mean, surely not.’
Then it dawned on Heo Taegyun. Seoyeon was looking at him because, just as originally planned, she was trying to play the role of ‘slamming’ him. Seoyeon had been the one to handle the correct role, and she was trying to use this timing to her advantage.
‘Ah, is that why I saved Ramiel instead of her?’
It wasn’t really because of that. He just thought Ramiel was more important and decided to save her. But still...
“Heh, cough. Seoyeon, I mean, at that moment, you should’ve saved Ramiel instead of me...”
That’s when the screen showed the scene where another team, aiming for Ramiel, got completely wiped out in a 3v2 fight.
The sudden mad movie-like moment stopped the conversation in its tracks.
‘If they’re that strong, couldn’t they have just saved me and wiped everyone out?’
That thought crossed her mind, but she didn’t bring it up.
Seoyeon’s Vicker had put on an impressive performance, but unfortunately, they lost in the final fight.
It was possible in earlier fights due to the level gap, but the final battle wasn’t so easy.
“Ah, so close. I thought we were going to get first place right off the bat.”
Heo Taegyun clicked his tongue in frustration. But with another hour and a half left in the broadcast, he thought they still had enough time to secure first place.
“I...” “Hmm?” “Can I speak a bit during the next match?”
At that moment, Seoyeon spoke up.
The chat exploded with comments about how Taegyun hadn’t really let Seoyeon speak much.
Heo Taegyun felt wronged.
“Seoyeon didn’t really talk to me either, you know?”
The chat went wild with reactions to Seoyeon’s past visit to Japan. She had been caught watching a VTuber stream, and when the image was zoomed in, it resembled Ramiel.
Hearing these comments, Seoyeon nodded.
“That’s right. It might look like that, but... no.”
There were a lot of opinions about Ramiel, but for now, they had to move on since the broadcast had to continue.
“By the way, can I present the game next round?” “Oh, sure.”
The next round began, with Seoyeon now taking over from Heo Taegyun to host.
‘By listening to her talk, I’ll probably figure out if she’s hiding her tier or if she’s just a local player.’
Seoyeon’s tier was Diamond. But from Heo Taegyun’s perspective, it seemed to be higher than that. He wondered if she was hiding her tier.
Seoyeon, on her end, was excited.
‘Alright, even if I’m not a VTuber, it’s my first stream!’
A chance to test her speaking skills! Seoyeon was full of energy and naturally continued speaking.
“The Eternity Camp is actually pretty easy once you know a little bit about how to play.”
“Yes, it’s similar. The way you handle characters is kind of like League, but there are no lanes, and there’s not really any management, so it’s easier.”
“No, I’ll show you.”
Seoyeon’s words made both Heo Taegyun and Ramiel flustered. After all, Eternity Camp does have its share of complex strategies, despite Seoyeon’s claim that there is no management involved.
For reference, Seoyeon picked a dealer this time.
She initially chose her favorite mage character, but...
"Seoyeon, I think you'd look cool playing that axe-wielding character."
"Of course. I’m pretty good with Rekki."
The axe-wielding killer character.
Seoyeon, having fallen for Ramiel's words, picked it.
'Not a mage, huh. Not a mage.'
Ramiel let out a relieved sigh inwardly.
Seoyeon was originally a mage-type character.
She liked caster-type characters.
Before the advertisement shoot, they had played a few rounds together, so Ramiel knew.
Seoyeon was a caster-type.
Especially characters with more complex skill setups—Seoyeon was terrible at those.
What she was good at were simple melee characters.
Ramiel had definitely figured that out.
‘...But when it’s with me, she didn’t let me change her character.’
When Ramiel mentioned it, Seoyeon immediately switched, but when it was Ramiel—no, when it was Lee Jiyeon, she was a bit frustrated.
"First, let’s quickly equip items, then wait at the location where materials spawn. It’d be good if there are more people around..."
"No, this is perfect."
Seoyeon said that and moved forward with Rekki, the tank Heo Taegyun hadn’t moved in yet, to check out the situation.
"When Rekki comes out, I’ll use skills to harass. I dodge like this. Then, dodge this one."
As the enemy’s skills came flying, Seoyeon’s Rekki dodged them all.
It wasn’t just random movement; it was as if Seoyeon had carefully "seen" the skills coming and dodged them.
"Alright, let’s kill them all and take the money."
"And now, some people will start heading to the shop to equip items."
Seeing the exclamation mark on the map, Seoyeon quickly rushed over.
Heo Taegyun and Ramiel quickly followed Seoyeon’s ping.
"If we kill them all now, we can even steal the items they were picking up."
"It’s basic to raid while they’re crafting items."
Heo Taegyun didn’t say much.
He never imagined he would charge in the moment he saw them, knocking them out.
"You can’t be afraid of fighting. The ones you see, you kill them all."
"That’s a misunderstanding. I just chose the character that looks strong."
Anyway, while Seoyeon was charging in °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° and slaughtering everyone, Heo Taegyun was hiding his dedicated contributions.
He desperately tried to keep Rekki alive, and since he wasn’t sure how Seoyeon would react if Ramiel died, he did his best to keep her alive.
"...You’re working hard."
Ramiel, seeing this, said with a hint of sympathy.
Heo Taegyun nearly teared up at Ramiel’s kind words.
‘I misunderstood VTubers...’
He had only looked at the 3D avatars and hadn’t considered their inner personalities.
Compared to Seoyeon, how gentle and kind this Ramiel was.
"Ah, we’re definitely getting first place now. They’re fighting Aclis over there, so now... instead of stealing the Aclis, we just need to focus on hitting the players."
The enemies would likely focus on stopping Aclis from getting stolen, leaving a chance for Rekki to take down one of them.
That would essentially guarantee the win.
— That was Seoyeon’s logic.
"Watch, I’ll show you that I’m right."
Seoyeon rushed in and immediately attacked the enemies hitting Aclis.
The enemies quickly turned their targets from Aclis to Rekki.
CC skills from the enemies flew toward Rekki.
"I’ll dodge this."
Since most CC skills were non-targeted, Seoyeon skillfully dodged them and closed the gap, taking advantage of the enemies’ confusion.
With that opening, Rekki cleaved through the heads of three enemies with her axe.
By the time Heo Taegyun and Ramiel arrived, the situation was already over.
In the chaos, first place was secured, and the screen captured it in slow motion.
The chat exploded with a flurry of comments.
"See, I killed them all."
"I didn’t get hit, so it’s the same as not attacking."
"It’s not that hard to dodge. Eternity Camp has a lot of non-targeted skills."
Anyway, just two rounds.
Just two rounds and the mission was easily completed.
The Eternity Camp marketing team, watching this unfold, was probably smiling.
‘Is this for real? The live viewers count is 100,000?’
For Eternity Camp, this was an absurd level of viewership.
Seoyeon’s appearance must have drawn quite a bit of attention.
Unlike other actors, Seoyeon was often a topic of discussion in various communities.
And with her being a VTuber, there were likely people curious enough to watch.
Still, aside from that...
"...Seoyeon, I’ll handle the hosting from now on."
"Huh? Didn’t I do well?"
Hearing Seoyeon’s genuinely confused tone, Heo Taegyun could only remain silent.
That was all he could really do.
****
"Ju Seoyeon, the advertisement went really well today. I’m looking forward to the ad video later."
The head of the Eternity Camp marketing team, Hwang, said with a bright smile.
The promotional stream was a huge hit, and the viewership numbers were rising rapidly.
Afterward, they’d probably edit it briefly and post it, and that would draw in more users.
‘I wish I could do a bit more streaming.’
Seoyeon, of course, felt a bit disappointed.
Aside from the second round, she hadn’t had a chance to stream much herself.
"If it were just a regular stream, I wouldn’t mind, but this is a promotional stream..."
Seeing Seoyeon’s sulking face, Jiyeon said with a smile.
Honestly, Seoyeon’s stream was entertaining.
She wasn’t particularly good at speaking, but the stream itself was definitely fun.
However, it felt somewhat disconnected from the purpose of introducing Eternity Camp.
"It’s fine for one time, but it would be awkward to keep doing that."
"Yeah, I get it."
Finally, understanding, Seoyeon nodded.
Jiyeon had a lot to say about Seoyeon’s reactions when she talked to Ramiel—like she had the whole world, but when talking to Jiyeon, she was incredibly calm.
‘Well, that’s what makes it fun.’
And, of course, watching her jump when Ramiel whispered to her a few times was amusing too.
...Though, there was a small bit of jealousy as a friend.
‘What happened with Jo Sehee, I wonder.’
Apparently, while she was overseas, there were several incidents on the set of Mine.
Seoyeon seemed to be in high spirits, busy with reshoots.
‘I feel like it’s somehow related to Ju Seoyeon...’
Jiyeon watched Seoyeon, sipping her iced Americano thoughtfully. 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓅𝓊𝓫.𝒸ℴ𝓶
Lately, it seemed like a lot of people were getting involved with her.
Not just Stella, but even Park Jungwoo seemed suspicious, especially regarding Princess Yeonhwa.
Jo Sehee’s recent responses were a bit off...
"Ju Seoyeon."
"Huh?"
"Are you really going to do it?"
Currently, Seoyeon and Jiyeon were heading back after visiting Yeonhwa High School.
It wasn’t a time they would typically go, but they had been called by Teacher Song Da-yeon from the drama club.
It was something that had come up before.
"Drama club."
"Yeah. It won’t hurt to join."
"...Hmm."
Well, Teacher Song Da-yeon probably wouldn’t be too much of a bother.
But it felt a little odd that Seoyeon, who hadn’t planned on joining, was being persuaded.
‘She just falls for that kind of thing so easily.’
In fact, Teacher Song Da-yeon hadn’t thrown any particularly impressive bait.
She was just a junior.
Among the new students, many aimed to join the drama club.
The reason? Because of one student currently attending Yeonhwa High School.
Ju Seoyeon.
The most shining actress in Korea last year.
"Wouldn’t it be nice to show the juniors Seoyeon’s cool side?"
Teacher Song Da-yeon had said that.
And, being quite proud, Seoyeon nodded eagerly.
‘I’m a senior now.’
Seeing Seoyeon, all puffed up, Jiyeon let out a sigh.
She hoped that the upcoming new semester wouldn’t bring any trouble.
