Chapter 160
[The Honey Badger Emperor Kariri, who ruled the Savannah World for 3,000 years. After a coup broke out due to a prolonged drought, she temporarily fled to the human world. She has grand plans to immerse herself in all human subculture to better understand her people's lives!]
-Kariri Introduction Blurb-
This is why the unique settings possessed by a VTuber character are collectively called RP (Role-Playing).
The biggest difference between a streamer who broadcasts using an ordinary avatar and a VTuber is that a VTuber can be seen as someone playing a specific character.
There was no consensus on how faithfully one had to follow RP to be considered a VTuber. As a broadcast continued, the boundary frequently crumbled away.
However, despite being so devoted to her RP that anyone would recognize her as a VTuber, Kariri was a truly unusual case in that her so-called “person behind the character” was also widely known.
Even after her age as a middle schooler was revealed through her own carelessness only a year into her streaming career, it was even discovered that she had once been an idol trainee under the famous entertainment agency Entis.
“Kariri, I heard you did a collab and sang with NoName before the scrim?”
Streamer Daltori poked her head into the scrim waiting room and asked.
“Eek! Who said that?”
“Our viewers told us through donations. They said you two met up to practice WoA but just played around and called it a day.”
“Heeheehee, getting closer is all part of our strategy for victory! A king must always be thinking several moves ahead.”
Usually, there were two ways to handle a situation like this.
Either abandon RP and continue broadcasting as the person behind the character, or deny or suppress the truth and stick to the RP.
But Kariri was different.
“Kariri, did you use to be an idol trainee?”
“Yes! I danced in front of lions many times!”
“Lions...?”
-Dancing in front of lions vs forcing a ridiculous persona on someone you just met
-Both are way too difficultㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-I choose deathㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-The former means you die automatically
-The lions would probably get flustered and run awayㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
“Apparently, she was an idol as a hobby in the Savannah Kingdom.”
When I explained it to Daltori, she agreed in a flustered voice, doing her best to sound positive.
“Woooow... amazing...!”
Daltori’s two palms smacked together in the air.
-I'm embarrassed just listening to thisㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-That setting is still too early for normal people
-Am I the only one who feels NoName is subtly roasting Kariri?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋNoName's a vicious one too, I told you
-Why are you the one embarrassed, Kariri! Are you ashamed of being an idol?
“I’m not embarrassed...? I don’t care at all, okay?”
It was her own way of preserving her identity as a VTuber while acknowledging her past as well.
“Ah, in theory, that’s fine, but no matter how I look at it, NoName’s role seems pretty crucial... Are you sure you’re okay with it?”
The coach of Team The Blurry asked with a deep frown.
I had explained the general outline of the strategy we planned to practice in this scrim, and he had finished reviewing its details with the coaches under him.
“I’m confident in my running.”
“Kariri too!”
Kariri had approached my side at some point, linked her arm through mine, and raised her hand high.
How could anyone spit in a smiling face?
Kariri’s innocence moved the hearts of the coaching staff.
“Then let’s try it for this one game, and scrap it if it doesn’t work. Okay?”
“Sounds good.”
“The scrim is finally starting!”
“Good luck. The... Blurry team, let’s go, let’s go, fighting! Damn it, you really have to be careful with the pronunciation. Who came up with this team name, anyway!”
“Coach, I’ll come back after beating Kariri!”
Kariri defended herself with confidence instead of an explanation.
[The Blurry vs Omniscient Mage’s Viewpoint]
* * *
The eyes of ‘HoyaMuyaho,’ the oldest viewer of Name, sparkled with anticipation.
Ding-ding-diri-ring-
After locking the front door and carelessly kicking off his shoes, he leaped straight onto the sofa.
The young boy belatedly realized that he was still wearing his backpack and clumsily flung it onto the floor.
He had just been held captive at math academy for three hours.
His stiff back, sore from sitting for so long, could finally rest.
After taking off the school uniform bearing the name tag ‘Seol Taeyang’ and changing into pajamas, the live broadcast provided by Twitch began playing on the TV as the signal connecting it to his phone came through.
The scrim NoName was participating in.
More than that, Taeyang found it amazing that she had been assigned to the same team as Kariri.
Would his past self ever have known?
That the streamer he had happened upon by mindlessly scrolling through Twitch’s broadcast list because he didn’t want to do his vacation homework
was actually a girl the same age as him,
and would grow into a major streamer capable of overturning WoA’s rankings and even end up collabing with Kariri.
Watching her broadcast grow day by day, even Seol Taeyang couldn’t hide a strange sense of pride.
[Now! Full assault!]
Even though it was merely a practice game, its intensity rivaled that of a tournament.
The urgent cry of Han Yongcheol, whose name Taeyang had heard countless times, rang out.
NoName’s first-person view shook wildly.
Her sword swept past the soldiers facing off in the narrow gorge, leaving a trail through the air.
It wasn’t one-on-one.
The players alone were six versus six.
Including the soldiers, NoName displayed her prowess in the middle of a full-scale war fought fifty against fifty.
[Open up the center for Kariri.]
That was NoName’s order as she checked the formation changing by the second.
Her voice was calm and refined.
[Okay, chirp!]
Kariri, much smaller than before, gave a thumbs-up.
She had died only five times during the skirmish that had lasted over twenty minutes, so her level was considerably high. However, her 20,000 HP, lower than usual, made her look precarious.
[Trust me and keep going.]
[Name’s saying this, so what else can we do but do it!]
Kariri, who was fearless even on a normal day, exuded even more spirit today.
A spear tip shot out from the frontline, where allies and enemies were tangled together in a complicated melee.
It was an attack aimed at the ice mage Daltori.
Clang-
Thanks to Kariri joining the fight so quickly, Daltori escaped the danger of close combat and repeatedly thanked her.
[Welcome to hell, you badgers!]
Trusting NoName’s healing, Kariri charged steadily toward the front.
Swords crossed to block her advance.
Weapons collided, sending sparks flying in every direction amid the sound of metal scraping against metal.
Kariri was surrounded by soldiers in an instant, and her body slowly began to turn red.
She looked as if it was becoming difficult to knock away each sword thrust at her.
Her health was being shaved away by the second.
But each time, NoName’s timely heals landed, while supporting fire poured in from the allies waiting in the rear.
[Just a little... Just hold out a little longer...!]
Kariri swallowed a groan and swung her claws wildly.
Even blind attacks were bound to hit someone in such a tightly packed space.
Her desperate struggle seemed to have some effect, as a small gap appeared in the encirclement of the enemy troops lined up in a long row.
NoName would never miss a gap like that.
Taeyang’s prediction proved exactly right.
NoName leaped over the allied soldiers in one bound and threw herself at the enemy.
The shabby sword in her hand transformed, if only for this moment, into the blade of an executioner.
To her, the sword’s grade was irrelevant.
A critical-hit judgment that dealt additional damage.
It was enough to create the illusion that she was wielding a Legendary-grade weapon with a 30% hit bonus.
A slash was carved across the opposing player’s chest, with the English word ‘Critical’ superimposed over it.
Without even allowing the enemy to bleed out, she resolved to make certain of the kill and severed every joint in their arms and legs. This, too, was ‘Critical.’
‘Wow, is she even human?’
Taeyang had seen scenes like this on VTube before.
Edited compilations of ranked highlights from Challengers and professionals.
Something that was difficult to see even once in a single game, NoName was pulling off as casually as eating a meal.
[Mirage Strike: Upon a successful parry, deals bonus damage proportional to spell power.]
Clang-!
[What kind of parry was that!]
[You should have attacked more carefully.]
Immediately after successfully parrying, she sliced open the enemy knight’s side.
A scarlet flash burst outward, and he seemed visibly bewildered by the much heavier bleeding than usual.
[Rule the Nation, Pacify the World: Each time you land a stacked strike, deal additional damage equal to 3%.]
[Current: 17 stacks]
The enemies judged that confronting NoName any longer was dangerous and began to retreat.
The enemy’s Yggdrasil stood directly ahead of the battlefield. They had practically won!
Just as Taeyang’s thoughts reached that point,
[No, Kariri!]
Kariri added another death to the counter outside the range of NoName’s healing.
She suddenly jerked her body backward, lost her balance, and ended up like a hedgehog impaled on dozens of spears.
Taeyang, who had been lying on the sofa, sat upright in dismay.
[Ah, so close! We almost had them all!]
[It’s okay. We’re not at a disadvantage yet.]
Kariri was the team’s only tank.
No matter how advantageous their health situation was, being outnumbered and losing their tank could lead to a catastrophe during a reckless advance.
[I only had to hold out a little longer!]
The team members couldn’t help feeling disappointed either. Taeyang felt the same way.
[Kariri, can you run all the way from the respawn point?]
[I... don’t think there’s... enough time.]
Their strategy was to give the enemy control of the respawn point and boldly charge all the way to the enemy Yggdrasil.
Even if Kariri ran back now, Taeyang was troubled by the thought that the game could be turned around depending on how the coming battle unfolded.
What would NoName do here? Even so, charging in here seemed a bit much...
Just as Taeyang was wracking his brain along with the others, Kariri’s hurried voice rang out.
[Hold on... I think someone came to my house...!]
[Right now?]
[Ha... Ah, what is it...? Maybe it’s a delivery? What should I do...? I think I need to go get it... The doorbell’s ringing. Can’t we finish this right now?]
[We can’t. It looks like it’ll take Kariri over a minute to rejoin anyway, so let’s push through and finish it like this. NoName, you’re okay with that, right?]
[...I’ll give it a shot.]
[S-sorry...]
[Kariri has left the game.]
Kariri suddenly abandoned the game.
The chat of the viewers watching the tournament along with them erupted into a firestorm as well.
-Fucking hell, she rage-quit in the middle of a scrim?
-There are limits to being oblivious
-Can’t be helped. Looks like they can finish it if they play well.
-All she had to do was avoid getting hit and hold out. Why did she go out of her way to get herself killed?
-Kariri, this might actually become controversial;;
-Did she really go out to get a delivery?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ They would’ve just left it at the door, though. Why?
└ Must be registered mail.
-She quit a scrim because she couldn’t be bothered to go pick up registered mail??? That’s seriously fucking stupid.
-It could’ve been someone from downstairs who came up to find her, not a delivery.
└ Who would come looking for her while she’s just sitting in a capsule playing?ㅋㅋㅋ
-Even so, Kariri’s definitely in the wrong here.
-Gasp, could it be a stalker?
└ Holy shit...
└ That’d be seriously creepy.
└ Don’t bullshit me.
It was because of a delivery, a neighbor coming up to find her, or a stalker chasing her.
Various theories flowed chaotically through the chat, but there was no time to watch it.
The boy sprang to his feet and checked the front door. It was quiet.
No matter how loudly he had turned up the TV, it wasn’t loud enough to drown out the doorbell.
“Damn it! Noona! Noonaaa! Seol Yoonseul!”
Crash-!
His foot caught on a small table, sending its contents spilling everywhere.
Without even having time to feel the pain in his ankle, Taeyang entered the master bedroom and grabbed the pill bottle.
[Alpram 0.5 mg]
“I can’t believe you!”
He entered another room far from the master bedroom and clicked open the door.
A pink capsule sat alone in the corner of a room haphazardly decorated with all kinds of Post-it notes and bromides.
He slammed his fist down on the red button rising from the exact center.
[OPEN]
Hiss-
The capsule opened amid a flurry of noisy sounds.
“Haa... haa...”
The girl kept opening and closing her mouth with her face screwed up in pain.
She had been repeating diaphragmatic breathing until the glass window fogged up.
“Who told you to keep playing until you were about to be force-quit! Are you out of your mind? Here, take this medicine!”
“Hng... haa... I can’t... breathe... I can’t breathe... sob...”
“I told you to come out immediately if you felt the symptoms coming back! Why do you keep being so stubborn!”
Taeyang couldn’t hide his troubled feelings as he looked at the girl, who appeared as if she might die at any moment.
He forced an antianxiety pill into her mouth, then brought her a cup of water and urged her to swallow it.
“Haa... hhh... I don’t want to die...”
“You won’t.”
“I’m scared. Why is everyone doing this to me...? Haaa... I really feel like I’m going to die... This time, for real...”
“Breathe, breathe. Come on.”
“Waaah...”
Clear tears streamed endlessly down her pale cheeks, as if her tear ducts had broken.
The girl clutched her chest, her hand trembling violently.
Holding his throbbing head and letting out a deep sigh, Taeyang stayed beside his older sister until her panic attack subsided.
It was around the time the second hand had made several circuits around the clock face and Yoonseul’s breathing had stabilized.
Taeyang felt a sudden squeeze in their clasped hands and looked at the girl again.
“The game... Did we win?”
Taken aback by the question, Taeyang checked his phone and showed it to his sister lying in the capsule.
[Victory]
[Kariri (Assassin) - 4/6/12]
“Haaah, is that what you’re worried about right now...? Ah! We won thanks to you!”
“Thank goodness...”
Kariri—no, Seol Yoonseul. As expected, she was not normal.