Chapter 105
<World of Arseria Gallery - General>
[I canceled every plan because NoName is streaming today]
A date in the park with your current girlfriend? A movie date with the girl you're seeing? A motel date with girl number two?
Screw all that—upvote if you're a social butterfly WoA nerd who's devoted yourself wholeheartedly to NoNameㅋㅋㅋ
-Bullshit
-Is NoName streaming today?
-It's Sunday morning. If you were a social butterfly, you'd still be sleeping in a motel instead of browsing the gallery at this hour, moron.
└With over 10,000 posts dumped on the WoA Gallery, what else could you be besides a rejected loser? I almost said it~
└Feels so refreshing~ (the sound of OP's mother's blood pressure exploding)
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└(OP) I'm definitely suing you
<Featured Post>
[Testing the gallery owner's popularity] [179]
The eternal cat of WoA Gallery, our beloved Adela, deserves to be the gallery owner - Upvote
No, I'm so brainwashed that I think NoName—despite being a rookie streamer who schedules streams like crap—should be the gallery owner – Downvote
[Upvotes] 107 [Downvotes] 540
-How does it make sense that there are 107 upvotes but only 4 from registered users?
└This isn't rigged; I pressed the upvote button 30 times
└That's exactly what rigging isㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Looks like you've only experienced Adela through the stream
└You should see what a horrible personality she has in Nightmare, damnㅋㅋㅋ
-NoName will finally do a stream-until-clear this time, right?
└If she abandons Adela, a 10-hour clear is possible
-Since there aren't any League matches, all anyone talks about is streamers. I'd rather have a fandom war
└Better, bett-, bett-, bett-, bett-, bett-!
└Kids these days...
NoName's promised Sunday stream to clear WoA's hidden route had finally arrived.
But the people waiting for her weren't limited to the WoA Gallery users.
<Streamer Gallery>
<Featured Post>
[Reasons NoName has everything it takes to become a major streamer.txt] [202]
Kariri (average viewers: 16,956) vs. NoName (average viewers: 1,634)
1. Is she a woman? Both yes
2. Is she good at games?
Kariri is stuck in Bronze, Silver, and Gold no matter what game she playsㅋㅋ The best she can do is barely get a toe into Platinum in WoA.
NoName, on the other hand? She's already one of the country's top-tier gaming shut-ins, hardened by 80,000 games of LoL, and she started WoA on the highest story difficulty. Her talent is straight-up pro-gamer levelㅇㅇ
NoName 1 win.
3. Interaction
What does Kariri even do these days besides get annoyed?ㅋㅋ I felt irritated just watching her, so I turned her off.
NoName, on the other hand, is the very embodiment of a Cinderella brat who absolutely has to sleep at midnight, yet she rubbed her eyes and forced herself to stream for an entire hour just to interact with everyone.
(NoName yawning.gif)
NoName 1 win.
NoName's got two wins and one draw. Kariri gets the death penalty.
[Upvotes] 170 [Downvotes] 244
-Why does this worthless shitpost have so many upvotes?
└The honey badger bastard came running in first again
└Looks like Kariri's loss of her original spirit finally caught up with her
-Sentence to death, my assㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└A no-nonsense judgeㅋㅋ
-Did Kariri really have that many average viewers?
└She's always in the top ten
└It's disgusting how she gets away with streaming however she wants just because she nailed one gimmick
└She was incredible at walking the line during her prime, but these days she's completely lost her touch
-NoName yawning is freaking adorableㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Watch your angle, seriously. She might really be a minor
└Are we not even allowed to call her cute?
[NoName showed up early!]
But why is she playing LoL instead of WoA?
-????
-Is this for real?
* * *
They say popularity breeds popularity.
[TK Pathos hosted 22,851 viewers!]
-Raid! Raid!
-Let's invade~ Let's invade~
-20,000 viewers ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ
-King of Diamond! King of Diamond! King of Diamond! King of Diamond!
[Selected as a rapidly rising streamer. 1st NoName, 2nd...]
-NoName!NoName!NoName!NoName!NoName!NoName!NoName!NoName!
-Mom, when I grow up, I want to be NoName! Mom, when I grow up, I want to be NoName! Mom, when I grow up, I want to be NoName!
-Bring Adela back! Bring Adela back! Bring Adela back! Bring Adela back!
Text came surging in with such force that no modifier—waterfall, downpour, or any other natural phenomenon—could do it justice.
More than twenty thousand people were watching me all at once.
Their words became living masses of protein, sprouting arms and hands that reached out to strangle me.
I felt as if I were about to suffocate.
The urge to let out a death rattle emerged as one short sigh.
“Ah...”
Before my mind could objectively process the situation, my hands moved swiftly.
I turned off the camera transmitting my face and hid behind the voice people hated.
[Love Circulation (Cover – Kariri)]
-1.86 million views · 3 years ago
-Play the opening song~
-All the better!
-Kariring~ Welcome, honey badgers! Kariring~ Welcome, honey badgers! Kariring~ Welcome, honey badgers! Kariring~ Welcome, honey badgers!
-The more I listen, the more familiar it feels. Is this what they call grudging affection?
[‘Kariri's Magic Wand’ donated 100,000 won!]
-Kariri punch!
Even though donations came in, I couldn't answer them. My mouth wouldn't open.
Why? Why was this happening?
[‘realm’ donated 30,000 won!]
-Here, I'll pay the chicken bill Pathos skimmed!
Thank you. I should offer a formal greeting.
I tried opening and closing my mouth like a fish in a bowl, but even when I squeezed my vocal cords, no sound came out.
In a situation that felt as if my brain were burning to a crisp, the only thing I could barely bring to mind was the ‘End Stream’ button.
My fingers weren't even necessary.
With a single glance, I could launch the 25,000 people here into outer space. But I didn't.
“Haa... haa...”
My chest felt constricted, as if someone had split open my skin and squeezed my heart in both hands.
At some point, I couldn't even see the text anymore. My vision was covered in pitch-black darkness, even though I hadn't closed my eyes.
[Witch]
[Cursed thing]
[Die]
[Die]
Was it because flames rising from the soles of my feet had burned my eyes first?
Even though the smell of flesh burning filled the air, a chill ran through my entire body.
[‘Pathos’ donated 300,000 won!]
-What did I skim? How do you like this humble gift? Of course, I brought the chicken money too! Please keep streaming hard from now on!
* * *
I was afraid.
Everything I felt was frightening.
I do not know what the sun is. The only light I have ever seen was an LED lightbulb just before it went out.
But I knew why the sun set, why the wind changed direction, and why a chill raised goosebumps across my skin. I was afraid.
I knew that Seol-ah was my mother even before she confessed it to me.
If she wasn't my mother, then why would she stifle her sobs every night, pull at her hair, and yet pat my back with trembling hands so I wouldn't wake up?
It was the only logical conclusion.
I don't need toys.
That was because I already knew the logic behind most things.
It was obvious why a star-shaped piece of plastic only fit into a star-shaped hole.
Because a child's strength couldn't overcome the electromagnetic repulsion between the pieces of plastic.
Even if I didn't initially know what each word meant, I would understand it all at once, as though someone had driven a nail into my head.
Children, strength, plastic, repulsive force.
Those weren't the things I wanted to know.
Why couldn't Mom be with me?
I wanted to run to her and bury my head in the embrace of a woman much taller than me, then sob without end.
I'm so scared. What's wrong with my body? What is this memory?
But reason wouldn't leave me alone.
Was it because I realized that doing so would only add to the wounds Seol-ah would suffer?
Young and cunning Name put on an innocent face like a wolf in sheep's clothing.
I actually know why my body is like this, too.
Since I had already experienced the exact same thing once in my previous life, accepting it a second time shouldn't have been difficult.
But... but...
My heart wouldn't calm down.
I ‘knew’ that every command was carried out by the brain, so why did my heart rebel on its own and defy its orders?
Perhaps it wasn't unreasonable for people in the old days to mistakenly believe that emotions resided in the heart.
Defying the command to endure everything, my heart desperately wanted to escape.
It would have been better if my heart had simply gone berserk and burst.
I was afraid of becoming an adult.
If an adult's ‘logic’ was that you had to endure and endure again, no matter how much you endured, then I didn't want to become an adult.
Even though I can't understand what they say, ignoring the people who clearly insult me, forcing down my desire to win the game, and completing the same repetitive quests like a wheel turning endlessly is my duty. My purpose. The duty and logic of life.
There are days like that.
Days when you want to throw everything away and die.
On one such day, I asked the princess who lived for my sake how she could be so much like an iron woman.
I couldn't experience—or even imagine—the many horrific deaths she had gone through.
Even after experiencing the tragedy of having her head torn off, her entire body burned, and her life taken by the hands of her dearest friend, she remained strong.
The answer I received was incredibly simple.
“Actually, you want to live too.”
That's right. She knew, understood, and empathized with every one of my emotions.
She didn't use her status as an adult to scold me for being a child.
My tangled feelings crumbled away.
I tried declaring the same thing to every traveler on the battlefield who sought to seize my heart.
“I want to live too.”
Until then, I had thought I was nothing more than a wooden doll whose every desire was controlled.
But ‘I’ fought for ‘me’ alone, got angry for me, and sometimes even cried with me.
That's right. I am a being with desires. I am a person.
I want to live, eat, fit in, and dream.
That was why I used to fall asleep imagining all sorts of things I could do if I escaped from here with the princess, but
at some point, even the princess disappeared from sight.
I, whose goal was escape, gradually grew exhausted, and my brain, shriveled from a lack of nutrients, forgot everything except the goal of ‘escape.’
Fear of death is etched into instinct.
No matter how many times I died, the fear of death never disappeared.
The balance slowly tightening around my neck was fundamentally no different from the crowds who had tied me to a burning stake.
“Hng... hic....”
-?
-?
-? What's happening?
-???
-Is she crying?
“I was scared... Every day I’ve lived... Whether I was going the right way... Whether I had made another mistake.”
I felt extreme fear at even the smallest mistake.
I couldn't shake the paranoid delusion that if even one of the 20,000 spectators judging me threw an X at me, I would be beheaded on the spot.
I couldn't escape the intense, overwhelming fear that came over me from time to time.
“I’m afraid of people... All of you... Just seeing you watching me is so frightening...”
The truth was, internet streaming wasn't suited to me at all.
In this day and age, was streaming really the only way to make money easily?
-Pathos, take responsibility
-Take responsibility
-You made her cry;;
-For real, that was too much
-It's not like he couldn't lose a one-on-one
-He holds a grudge way too hard. I didn't think he was like that
Had I fallen into simplistic thinking?
[‘Pathos’ donated 100,000 won!]
-No, wait;; Um... are you all right? I'm sorry for overstepping...
Of course not.
I had always known the reason. I simply hadn't been consciously aware of it.
As the chat grew solemn, my heart grew calm with it.
Suddenly, my eyes drifted up over the chat window.
[Legacy of Legends – Someone Who Misses Warmth (chat x)]
[Stream duration - 0:48:35]
[Viewer count – 25017]
No matter how many times someone is burned by human malice, no one can make it through a winter night without a campfire.
More than the fear of facing people's malice, I desperately missed the warmth of people.
-Don't cry
-Clap
-ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Don't cry
-Clap
-Clap
-ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Look at them. Aren't they offering inadequate consolation as though it were comfort?
But thanks to them, my mind went blank and my chest grew warm.
I barely held back the laughter trying to burst out, cleared my throat a little, and appealed in a composed voice.
“I’m... phew...”
The 25,000 viewers were all waiting for me to continue speaking.
They were the complete opposite of the imperial ministers who always interrupted me the moment I tried to say something.
“I really hated humans.”
-Suddenly?
-All humans should just die
-For realㅋㅋ
-Why do you hate them?
-Just let it go and don't argue!
-Oh dear, have people hurt you?
“Looking back, for a long time... for a really long time, I was alone. I didn’t want to be alone... but somehow, I ended up alone.”
-The same goes for usㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-I'm watching the stream alone in a one-room apartment right now
-20,000 LoL nerds just got hit right in the bones and are sobbing ㅜㅜ
-So what about the fact that you played nothing but games for seven years...?
-ㄴYou couldn't do that in the first place unless you were a shut-in
-This is kind of heartbreaking...
-I was bullied at school too and holed up in my room for three years, so I understand
“The reason I started streaming. It’s obvious, but naturally, I needed money.”
That was certainly how it began.
“But I liked your warmth. The stupid looks on your faces when I taught you magic, the cheers you sent when I reached Master, even the warm kindness you showed Adela out of pity...”
Like the story of a girl who couldn't stop lighting matches, I kept using magic recklessly so I could continue feeling that warmth.
“So I decided to admit it. I’ll be honest. I like getting attention. I enjoy the time we spend together. I want to keep meeting all the people who lift up insignificant little me.”
In the end, earning money was merely a peripheral reason.
I liked the people who paid attention to every line I said, every action I took, and every habit I had.
But without an excuse like that, I felt I would quickly burn out, so I had always kept one ready.
[The Korea Magical Power Corporation has issued a bill to ■■■. Please pay by the due date.
Billing purpose: Wand-type Mid-Circle (5) -Alchemist- Spell Creation
Amount due: 12,385,021 won
Payment deadline: 2051/06/25
For inquiries regarding the billing details, please contact the billing company. +More]
“Can you see it? I used magic recklessly enough to go into debt just so I could keep seeing you all. Ten million—no, now it’s twenty million won. I’ll have no choice but to keep streaming until I pay it back.”
-????
-Why did the story suddenly veer off like this?
-She really doesn't hold backㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-She's just a crazy bitch!!!ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-What kind of magic costs that much?
“I won’t stop streaming until I’ve paid off all my debts. I’ll exploit and extort your time and money.”
Because NoName, the vicious troll, was simply that kind of person. A selfish person who only cared about herself.
“So please use me as much as you like. Whether as entertainment or for vicarious satisfaction, I’m fine with anything... I just hope you’ll stay by my side until the end.”
[‘Dayeon Super-High-Performance Smile AI’ donated 30,000 won!]
-Since we're at it, let's change the stream title and milk the simps for a good haulㅋㅋ
Right. The stream title needed to change along with the game I was playing.
It didn't take long to decide on a title.
Just honestly.
[NoName]
[World of Arseria – I Couldn't Afford to Buy Mana, so I Started Streaming]
[Stream duration - 0:56:35]
[Viewer count – 25817]