Chapter 42
As Maxi uploaded the photo he took with me to SNS, a huge influx started pouring through my account. The likes on the photos that were already popular kept rising, and in an instant my exposure roughly doubled.
[Princess_Eve]
Hello ⸜(◍'꒳'◍)⸝
Likes 27.4k, comments 4,354, shares 7,685
30 minutes ago.
“27k upvotes in just 30 minutes..!”
No matter how much Psybugger I blasted on those ugly Awkbros, it still never came close to that number. So this is the real taste of being an SNS influencer....
Besides, the comments were basically all “so cute,” “so pretty,” and nothing but praise. While managing the account, Ophelia kept replying to comments asking what brand the clothes were from, casually inserting the line, “It’s not an ad, I’m just telling you because—” to subtly signal that she was taking sponsored deals.
Is this what an adult.. is like? While I was mulling that over, my follower count instantly passed 50,000, the command rank rose to B+ grade, and then something even bigger happened.
[JP_Tennoji_UTH]
Went to the Shilla Hotel and got a present
A little gift from my new Korean friend
Likes 1.1k, comments 125, shares 277
1 minute ago
“No, this older sister gets 1.1k likes the moment she posts….”
Even the photo attached to the post was that paper I’d given her with “Inseng Anmang Hetda” written on it. She gave that as a present..? Thinking about it now, am I completely losing my mind?
Just looking at the firepower of Utaha unnie’s SNS account really drives it home. Good thing she didn’t tag my account; she even directly mentioned me as a Korean friend, and yet the so-called “gift” she posted was a sheet of paper with “Inseng Anmang Hetda” written on it.
That was a full-blown controversy. TreeWiki’s controversy tab would’ve ended up with a mile-long scroll. I really should’ve prepared a proper gift....
“This is okay, right..?”
“..I’m afraid this is a part where even I can’t predict the outcome.”
“Hmm….”
But thanks to that, the Active Hunter Gallery blew up spectacularly. The guys who had been fiercely arguing just a few days ago—whether it was manipulated, whether it seemed real, and so on—got hit with a proper backlash.
When a tightly knit clique of registered users messes up, the number of anonymous posters strangely spikes.
The regulars who had been badmouthing me, especially the ones already hated by other cliques, were suddenly getting absolutely thrashed by mysterious anons—who were actually logged-out regulars.
[ㅇㅇ : Hm-chung << this stinking old fossil bitch lol, you trashed the Awkener Gallery and totally missed the mark
I hated seeing you mindlessly sucking up to Cheonryong, so just get lost lol]
[ㅇㅇ : Jeonbuk Waryong is trash from the name alone, honestly ㅇㅇ
An 8-year B-rank scrub calling himself Waryong? What a load of crap lol. Last time you said you entered an A-rank gate, but you got in as the second party, didn’t you? That was hilarious]
[ㅇㅇ : ㄴㅁㅁㄴ Mom.jpg
(Old dust)
[Lv.137 Very old dust. Its age cannot be gauged.]
This lol]
In fact, the Awakeners Gallery anti-fandom wasn’t a big issue in the Active Hunter Gallery, but those guys had a history of camping on the board and using their tight clique to rig featured posts, so everyone had been waiting for a chance.
And the funniest part was that I, the one who gave them the excuse to be flamed, was being hailed as a hero.
[ㅇㅇ : Inseng Anmang Hetda << the resident A-rank hunter on the Awakeners Gallery, Tennoji Utaha’s friend, let’s go lol
The greatest Korean A-rank hunter GOAT who shouldn’t even exist lol.]
You can immediately feel just how huge Tennoji Utaha’s influence on the internet is from this scene. Of course, people on the Awakener Gallery were talking about it too..
[Utaha’sDropletShapedFan : What even is Utaha’s SNS
How is the world even turning]
-Inseng Anmang Hetda : lol
ㄴ Utaha’sDropletShapedFan : Please tell me it’s not real
ㄴ Inseng Anmang Hetda : What you believe is the truth
ㄴ Utaha’sDropletShapedFan : Ah
Two years ago, when Tennoji Utaha rose to fame as Japan’s new S-rank hunter, her influence was so huge she even threatened the Awakener Gallery’s gallery star spot.
For someone like that to post on SNS saying she got a present ㅎㅎ, and to have a photo of a sheet of paper with my gallery nick written on it.
“This feels so unreal….”
And most importantly, the other Awkbros who came into the “Princess Eve” account through Maxi’s SNS started looking for links to the photo Utaha unnie posted.
[MaxHamTong : Maxi’s SNS numbers are insane lol
(Photo)
The place was the Shilla Hotel, and the girl next to her is cute. Is she Korean..?]
-ㅇㅇ : Weren’t Maxi and Utaha together on the Manchuria expedition this time?
ㄴ MaxHamTong : Wait, does that mean she’s the Korean friend Utaha mentioned?
[GyaHong : Damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I found something huge
Inseng Anmang Hetda << the guy who did the voice verification last time
[Play voice reply] [Copy] [Share]
That voice clip from when I almost went windmill on that semi-regular alt account—yeah, it was basically the voice of a grade-school girl.
(Photo)
The present that Utaha said she got from the new Korean friend she made while staying at the Shilla Hotel with Maxi this time
Some familiar gallery nick seems to be visible..
(Photo)
And the mysterious elementary-school-girl photo Maxi posted while she was with Utaha..
Isn’t this ‘that guy’..?]
-ㅇㅇ : She was really a white-haired, blue-eyed elementary school girl?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : (Severe punishment mode)
[ㅇㅇ : Inseng Anmang Hetda << crappy post.png he used before he cleaned up his gallery nick
[Inseng Mangheteum : Wake up, little Awkbro
Good morning]
-ㅇㅇ : Whoa; the kid smells like cigarette smoke
ㄴInseng Mangheteum : I’ll break your fingers
-ㅇㅇ : It’s 9 p.m., what morning are you talking about lol, do you live in New York?
ㄴInseng Mangheteum : I’m a foreign mixed-race white-haired blue-eyed beauty girl
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : Beauty girl (with multiple adult diseases)
ㄴ Inseng Mangheteum : Please call me at your address~! You’ve won an event prize~!!
The ‘foreign mixed-race white-haired blue-eyed beauty girl’ thing << wasn’t bullshit, it was real]
-Inseng Anmang Hetda : What the hell, why do you have that? Delete it ㅡㅡ;;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : Ah, shit, I should’ve called out the address; that was me
ㄴ Inseng Anmang Hetda : It was you..;;;
ㄴ GyaHong : Was that really youㅠㅠ? I love you ㅍㅍ퓨ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
In an instant, one rock-solid friendship clique in the Active Hunter Gallery got absolutely battered by the regular Nahanjin from 108-ro and retired, and the Awakeners Gallery’s long-running dagger-vs-bat flame war was buried without even a chance to resist.
[KimHeukgan : Looking at it, I think Inseng Anmang Hetda is telling the truth, ㅇㅇ..
The A-rank hunter certification from last time was real too, right?
We should probably change the gallery star..?]
-ㅇㅇ : Compared to an 80-year-old grandpa, having a white-haired, blue-eyed elementary-school-girl-looking A-rank hunter who’s a regular on the Awakener Gallery as the gallery star is definitely the right move, ㅇㅇ
ㄴ Gagyeolipdan : Uh-oh, the horny gate is opening
-GyaHong : Eve << even the name is cuteㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[RamzKabilGOA : Great Eve SNS posts, figuring out where she lives.boonsuck
(Photo)
Our new gallery star is adorably devouring a chonky macaron..
I don’t really know where she lives, but she’s cute, ㅇㅇ]
-Inseng Anmang Hetda : Gasp;
ㄴ RamzKabilGOA : The gallery star has arrived
ㄴ Inseng Anmang Hetda : No weird talk ㄴ;;
Because of my identity, the heated Awakener Gallery had instantly reached the point of replacing its old gallery star.
Even just uploading a photo of me eating bread in the body text was enough to send it to featured posts, and the mods were having a hard time deleting it.
[ㅇㅇ : I want to get to featured
(Photo)
What are you doing? Upload it.
[31(27) Featured★] [↓Downvotes 6]
“No, why is it my photo but other people keep taking it to featured..!”
Honestly, I’d expected some fallout, but I never thought the reaction would be this huge. Who would’ve guessed I’d suddenly become the gallery star without doing anything?
Still, if my photo keeps getting posted into featured like this, it feels kind of weird. I did want to become a named regular, but.. not like this. I wanted the kind of thing only people in the know would know about..
“Hmm..! Ophelia! You have one leftover photo that hasn’t been uploaded to SNS, right!?”
“Yes, I do, but.”
“I’ll have to use just one!”
[Inseng Anmang Hetda : You damn Awkbros
Stop using my faceㅠ What are you doing getting featured with somebody else’s face;]
[217(77) Featured★] [↓Downvotes 7]
Maybe if I do this, the gallery chatter will die down a bit? If my face keeps getting thrown around in the Awakener Gallery like this, it’ll be hard for me to even browse the board....
-ㅇㅇ : Our goofy Awkbros use S-rank hunter faces however they want, though?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : For real lol
“Ah.”
* * * * *
Still, thankfully, the posts trying to ride into featured using my face were cut down by the mods, and using it too much was banned as well. A total ban was basically impossible, after all.
As that anonymous poster said, the Awakener Gallery is a place where they freely Photoshop and upload the faces of hundreds of S-rank hunters around the world.
They even upload plenty of pictures of domestic A- to B-rank hunters, so how did they stop me from using my face, as a newly minted A-rank hunter..?
[Husta : Okay, everyone, listen up
Let’s not mess with minors. The gallery could really collapse~]
Surprisingly, I’m a minor. If they mess with me the wrong way, the gallery could go boom! and blow apart, so everyone was carefully backing off. There was already one guy on the ban list after going on and on with that ‘Eve-chan, nnnngh, suck-suck, uhh-uhh’ nonsense.
Even with the manpower shortage, one green mod had been missing all day, only for the Awkbros to swarm them and die. Another green mod had gone down today too.
“Mwahaha.”
“Princess, are you having fun?”
“Huh? Ah.. ehehe, it’s more fun than I expected….”
Honestly, even aside from the princess ability, becoming a named regular on the board is something anyone would imagine at least once, right? Or maybe not….
“There is something you need to check, Princess.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“There are messages from various companies that came through SNS DMs, including sponsorship and advertising offers, collaborations, and scout requests.”
“Whoa.. those are already coming in?”
Come to think of it, Chaea unnie had 24,000 followers and used to do things like cosmetic sponsorships, taking photos and posting them. Now I’ve already broken through 50,000 followers, so I guess it’s not that strange.
“Uh, where did they come from?”
“There are four messages I’d recommend for a positive response, including a famous children’s clothing brand.”
“Four? Then what about the total..?”
“Companies the Princess doesn’t really need and places that could damage your image, companies with controversies or other issues, accounts with no search results that look like shell companies, small and mid-sized companies, and so on. A total of 81 have arrived.”
“Gasp.”
“Then maybe..”
“Do you have Roblox too?”
“No.”
“Hmph.”
I’m not at that level yet.