Chapter 76
As mentioned before, Demons Saga is a game of skill.
How well you can move your body and how good your judgment is determines your combat ability, even at the same level.
Since it involves physical movement, there are bound to be differences in natural talent.
Because of this, you could easily guess which professions tend to be good at Demons Saga.
Military personnel, martial artists, or former athletes...
While not absolute, those with physically demanding jobs often excelled at the game.
Shin Han-byeol was no exception.
In fact, no one had shown as much natural talent in this game as she had.
As a promising artistic gymnastics athlete, she had been trained in body control since childhood.
She truly had talent too. She was even briefly considered for the national gymnastics team.
Whenever she did gymnastics, praise rained down from all around, so she grew to love it.
Her family even took out loans to support her, believing in Han-byeol's talent.
Her characteristic arrogant self-esteem probably developed during this time.
Sometimes the cheers of others felt burdensome, but she gritted her teeth and worked hard.
When she soared through the air on the vault and uneven bars - the epitome of grace - she could feel a hint of freedom.
The thrill when she finally nailed a move that had been giving her trouble was indescribable.
...But the world is cruel.
Despite her relentless efforts, her dream of making the national team kept slipping away.
It wasn't that Han-byeol lacked talent. She was still a quick learner.
But her tall height and large chest were the problem.
Gymnasts benefit from being small and petite.
That allows them to stay in the air longer and land with better balance.
She could compensate somewhat through sheer effort.
But it wasn't enough to compete with the monsters at the world level.
Then an ankle injury struck on top of everything else.
So she had no choice but to step down from the mat.
Left only with inflated self-esteem and desperate determination.
'What am I supposed to do for a living now...?'
Even after leaving the mat, the world remained cold.
For someone who had only focused on gymnastics her whole life, society was full of unknowns. She had no education or social experience, just pride.
She got yelled at during part-time jobs and got into arguments with customers because she couldn't control her temper.
Though she was deeply hurt inside, she couldn't rest because of her family's debt.
Then one day, as she was becoming increasingly worn down, Demons Saga found her.
'Should I give it a try...?'
Han-byeol, who had been looking for something to immerse herself in, quickly took to the game.
Though the capsule was expensive, she could manage with a 12-month interest-free installment plan.
That's when her talent blossomed.
As if everything she had built up until now was bursting forth, Demons Saga was a perfect fit for her.
Her tall height, once a disadvantage, transformed into long reach, and the physical conditioning and technique from gymnastics hadn't gone anywhere.
Her exceptional learning ability also helped her adapt quickly to combat.
This is when she started streaming too.
Fortunately, many people remembered her from her athlete days.
Between her flashy combat scenes and naturally pretty looks, it wasn't long before she became a popular skilled streamer.
Thanks to that, she'd nearly paid off all the debt.
But that wasn't all.
Her true advantage was being used to failure.
She had already tasted bitter failure due to physical limitations.
For Han-byeol, defeat was familiar. Getting killed in combat, dying from mistakes, losing to knights. None of it bothered her.
After all, pain was familiar to someone who had done gymnastics. If anything, there was an odd satisfaction to it.
Because she could see the path to grow stronger.
Racing forward endlessly like that, she eventually hit rank 1 domestically.
Considering you needed to pour in money and time to reach higher, it showed incredible talent.
Going after Yor was the same story.
Honestly, even she didn't think she would win.
Though she prepared her best, her opponent was someone who could overwhelm even demons.
She just thought it would be good to gain experience fighting a strong opponent.
'I didn't expect to be completely outmatched though...'
Nothing to be done about it.
Honestly, she had gotten a bit cocky after learning to use Sword Energy.
...But being tied up was too much.
Though she expected to die in defeat, she never imagined getting slapped and bound tightly with rope.
Squeak! Creak-!
The sound of rope rubbing echoed.
Even after being tied up for so long, she hadn't given up struggling.
When the ropes wouldn't budge at all, she started getting heated.
"Haa, haa... fuck...!"
[This girl's starting to lose her temper lol]
[Noona don't get mad ;-; it's scary]
[How can someone be named Happy lololol]
[Wow Han-byeol I'm jealous, being Yor's pet]
[Being the pet of a handsome oppa, isn't that kind of a success...?]
Of course, the viewers just enjoyed it regardless of her anger.
This was a rare scene not often seen on her skilled player stream.
And honestly, some felt she had it coming.
Because of her characteristically strong personality, some viewers didn't look kindly on her.
It was also problematic that she was popular with "male" viewers... though the person in question didn't seem to care.
"Struggling is pointless. That rope was made for capturing demon beasts. It's tougher than most chains."
As she was thrashing about, Yor approached her.
His skin looked fresh and clean, as if he'd just taken a shower.
Though viewers had various reactions to that sight, Han-byeol just glared.
"...Let me go already."
"I told you earlier. I'll untie you after you hand over all your Holy Water and tell me where you got it."
Han-byeol snorted.
She had no idea why he was so obsessed with Holy Water, but her pride would never let her give in to Yor's request.
"What nonsense. You think I'd tell you after being treated like this?"
"Oh? Then I guess there's no choice."
Yor got up from his seat. Then he started moving one hand busily.
"...!"
Han-byeol squeezed her eyes shut.
She thought he might slap her again like before.
This was someone who even tried stabbing her during interrogation. Using violence wouldn't be strange.
"......"
But no matter how long she waited, no hand came flying.
Han-byeol carefully opened her eyes.
In front of her was a plate. A delicious-looking fried rice with finely chopped meat mixed with rice.
Han-byeol tilted her head.
"...What's this?"
"Eat. You must be hungry after starving this whole time."
"Did you poison it?"
"Heh, if you think that then don't eat it."
"......"
Han-byeol stared at the plate for a moment.
She had been starving for a while in this bound state. Her stomach was actually starting to growl.
Though she was slightly suspicious if something was mixed in the food, she welcomed having something to eat.
But there was one big problem. Her hands were currently tied behind her back.
And while there was food, there weren't any utensils to eat it with.
So Han-byeol asked questioningly.
"How am I supposed to eat without chopsticks or a fork...?"
Yor gave a mischievous smile at that question. Like a playful troublemaker.
"Obviously you eat with your mouth. Why would a pet need utensils? Happy."
"Eek...!"
Han-byeol frowned sharply at those words. So he was trying to mock her after all.
"My name isn't Happy! It's Shin Han-byeol, Shin Han-byeol!"
"My, training pets sure is quite difficult."
[Happy lololol]
[Happy why so mad? Don't like the food~?]
[He's really treating her like a dog lololol]
[*Whimper*... oppa treat me like a dog too *whimper*]
[The Happy I'm training is a gentle Pomeranian, but this Happy is quite fierce~]
The chat window eagerly joined in teasing her at his outrageous statement. Others' pain is my joy, as they say. The viewers just found the whole situation entertaining.
Looking at the trembling Han-byeol, Yor spoke.
"You can't leave here until you tell me anyway. So it would be better if you stopped being stubborn and cooperated quickly."
With those words, Yor disappeared back into the cave.
Leaving only a plate of steaming fried rice in front of her.
Sigh... Han-byeol let out a deep breath. Then she spoke to her viewers.
"...I'll end the stream here for today. See you all next time."
Though viewer protests briefly echoed in the chat, she cleanly ignored them.
For someone as proud as her, this situation was honestly quite embarrassing.
And today had been mentally draining in various ways.
As silence fell, she started thinking to herself.
'This is bad...'
Though she acted unbothered, it was honestly quite a serious situation.
Maintaining rank 1 was absolutely not an easy task. Even now, the rankers below her would surely be desperately trying to climb up.
And it wasn't good for streaming either.
Her viewers came to watch her fight spectacularly.
Not to see her helplessly captured like this.
And that would naturally lead to losing viewers.
She still hadn't paid off all the family debt... that would really hurt.
In a way, you could say Yor had played his cards perfectly.
Rather than getting hit and humiliated, being imprisoned like this was more effective against her.
The longer she stayed tied up, the more losses she would take.
'I need to find a way out.'
Han-byeol tried to think up various plans.
But no satisfactory solutions came to mind, and time just kept passing.
"Eat, Happy."
When night fell, Yor replaced the plate. Since the lunch he brought had gotten cold, he brought new food.
But again there was just a lone plate, so Han-byeol didn't eat.
Yor had no choice but to withdraw, licking his lips.
He even put up a night light near the wall so it wouldn't be dark.
... For keeping her captive, it was quite gentle treatment. Though it felt unpleasant since it was really like treating a pet.
"Sigh..."
When no solution came even as night fell, she had no choice but to log out with a sigh.
Thankfully she had brought fatigue potions. A cheap 100 gold potion sold in shops.
But since inventory space wasn't very generous, she only had one potion.
'If I knew this would happen, I would have brought more...'
While having such regrets, she opened her inventory.
With both arms tied behind her back, she had to take it out with her mouth of course.
She had to struggle to open the cap with her mouth too.
It was quite a pathetic sight, but fortunately no one was watching.
After logging out like that, she immediately went to the internet community.
Since quite a lot of viewers watched today, they would surely be discussing this on the community.
Sure enough, the community was full of nothing but talk about today's stream.
+
[So is Shin Han-byeol still in that cave?]
Alone with Yor?
Oh... that might be enviable....
+
[What's the point when she can't even move lol]
[So she can't hunt or level up for a while?]
[ㄴ yep]
[This is my chance while she's stuck I'm gonna race ahead]
[ㄴ dream big]
"Haah..."
After checking the internet, she let out a long sigh.
As expected, vultures aiming for her position were already starting to appear.
Just thinking about what to do going forward was giving her a headache.
"Hmm...?"
That's when it happened. Suddenly a new post caught Han-byeol's eye.
She clicked on the post with a somewhat tense expression.
+
[Clipped the scene of Yor slapping today]
(mp4)
He really slaps hard wowowow
People who post shitty clips should get slapped like this too
+
[So if I post a shit clip I can get slapped too? ok]
[ㄴ oh please]
[ㄴ why are you like this seriously]
[Even the sound is different; thinking about getting hit by an oppa like that makes me want to pee myself;-;]
[ㄴ but isn't it kind of hot...? The composition and that look in his eyes looking down, I think I could get off to this..]
[ㄴ In our industry we call that a reward]
[ㄴ Please all of you die the air I share with you is wasted]
[ㄴ The masochists are going wild today;-;]
After checking the post, she immediately tried to frown.
No one would enjoy watching themselves get hit after all.
"......"
But why? Her mood wasn't actually that bad.
No, thinking about that moment definitely makes her frown but...
At the same time something deep inside felt like it was heating up.
'...What is this?'
Han-byeol was confused by the emotion that even she couldn't judge.
Eventually she came up with a plausible excuse while feeling that dissonance.
'Maybe it's because I'm not shown in the video.'
True enough, the video was first-person perspective.
So her getting hit wasn't shown, only his brief appearance as he delivered the slap.
That must be why it felt less offensive.
"...Hmm."
She made that excuse while playing the video again.
That behavior repeated several more times.