Chapter 49
“Team Leader Yoo! Take a look at this!”
“What is going on here...?”
One of the hunters from the Nova Guild raid team thrust his phone screen at Yoo Chaerin and said it was about an SNS livestream that had drawn huge attention online.
It was a live raid broadcast of the Desert Mausoleum, streamed for about fifty minutes from the _Princess_Eve account. Surprisingly, there were massive gimmicks inside, along with boss-class stone statues that had never been identified at all.
There were also three or four times more ordinary monsters than expected, most of them hidden in closed coffins and never properly accounted for. And the mummy warriors they had treated as mid-bosses were actually just elite monsters that appeared from time to time.
[“10-year-old A-rank girl stops Desert Mausoleum disaster... All 48 adult raiders survive!
At around 1 p.m. today, four twelve-person raiding teams made up only of A-rank and higher hunters who had set out for the Desert Mausoleum’s First Mission were driven to the brink of annihilation by a fatal underestimation from the dungeon pre-survey company.
(Photo)
(The newly built dungeon structure ‘Desert Mausoleum’ in Bono-dong, Sangnok-gu, Ansan City)
It was revealed that the number of monsters inside was more than three times the reported figure, leaving the raiding party surrounded for about an hour with their retreat cut off.
But the one who turned the situation around was, unexpectedly, a 10-year-old A-rank hunter, Ms. Lee, who had recently become a hot topic on personal SNS and hunter communities. Even though it was her first official schedule, she pushed through a path alone and subdued dozens of elite monsters, allowing everyone to escape safely.
(Photo)
(During Awakened Lee’s personal SNS livestream)
Experts are strongly questioning the survey company’s responsibility, saying, “A single child prevented a massive disaster.” It was also being streamed live through a popular SNS... more.]
“SNS... livestream...?”
Yoo Chaerin steadied herself for a moment and carefully studied the photos. One showed the inside of the Desert Mausoleum, which should still have been hidden from the public, along with scenes from a brutal battle. Judging by the interface around it, it looked like a capture from an SNS livestream.
When Yoo Chaerin turned her head and looked behind her, she saw Eve’s expression, as if Eve had been startled.
“Eve...?”
“C-Chaerin unnie..!”
Judging by the situation, even Eve herself didn’t seem to know. With slightly trembling hands, she was holding Ddaengdaeng, who was broadcasting the SNS livestream.
Yoo Chaerin quickly reached out and covered the forehead where Ddaengdaeng’s camera was with her hand, then shouted,
“Ddaengdaeng! Turn off the livestream!”
—Beep?
Of course, even that situation was also being broadcast.
* * * * *
[ㅇㅇ : Holy shit, today is seriously legendary lolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
The Dungeon Management Association << always bragged every day that it had the highest dungeon survey accuracy among OECD countries, but now it’s been exposed that hunters were secretly being told to do sham surveys lol]
-ㅇㅇ : But seriously, how did she even turn on the livestream?;; Isn’t there usually some kind of confidentiality clause?
ㄴ 갸홍 : Princess is ten years old, so she doesn’t know stuff like that ㅠㅠ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : So these bastards kept the confidentiality clause just to stop sham surveys? Didn’t this come up last time too?
[멜개구림 : I also went into a dungeon survey once and it was so different from the contents that I filed an objection
But they paid the compensation pretty generously, so I was like, okay, and stayed quiet lol..]
-엘르엘 : You’re an accomplice too, you bastard ㅇㅅㄲㅇ
ㄴ 멜개구림 : That’s not it~~~
-ㅇㅇ : (Huh...)
[김흑간 : Holy shit, the princess is a GOAT for going straight at a government agency from her very first official event lolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
She even went to her first dungeon as the First Mission and immediately exposed the sham dungeon survey, damn]
-후스타 : This is seriously huge
ㄴ 김흑간 : Then we should praise the princess, rightㅇㅇ..?
[ㅇㅇ[ㄹㅁㅎ] : I praise the princess
Princess << if she’s insanely cute, upvote lol]
-갸홍 : Show some Windmill proof first
ㄴ ㅇㅇ[ㄹㅁㅎ] : ㄴㅇㅁ
In an instant, the story spread through the Awakened Gallery and branched out to many communities, and in the Active Hunters Gallery, that old social clique cartel started getting thoroughly pounded again.
[ㅇㅇ : What’s Manguk been up to lately? lol
Got backlash after trying to destroy a young, pretty A-rank hunter? Your mom died? ㅋ]
[ㅇㅇ : Jeonbuk Waryong kakakakakakakakakakakakakakatt!!!!!!
따따다ㅏㅏ따따따따ㄸㄸㄸㄸ따따따ㅏ따ㅏㅏㅏ따따잇이이이ㅣ이이시이싱ㅅ이ㅣㄱㄹ이ㅣㅇㅅ~~~~~~~~~~]
[ㅇㅇ : Hmcheong’s mom.JPG
(Black photo)
Nothing lol]
For some reason, the targets of the now much larger number of anonymous users were the already-dead bastards, who were being desecrated all over again. Even people who were actively posting in the Active Hunters Gallery were showing heated reactions while watching this SNS livestream.
[Bread Prosecutor : The Dungeon Management Association is really going to be shaken up by this.
People in the field probably know this already, but this hasn’t happened just once or twice. Especially those who work independently in the provinces without a guild may have felt this even more sharply, since there were many people who suffered serious losses because the inside of dungeon structures surveyed by the Dungeon Management Association was so different from the survey report.]
-Archer Noi : This is truly unbelievable..! We can no longer stand by and watch the Dungeon Management Association’s tyranny, so I’m calling a lawyer over here..!
ㄴ Bread Prosecutor : There may really be a class-action lawsuit.
-Hanjulgum : The problem is whether the people who already received compensation will step up with them.
ㄴ Bread Prosecutor : It’ll probably be hard to get support from people like that, but at the very least, not having public opposition is the biggest advantage.
[Cyclops : As of today, I withdraw my support for the princess.
From this day on, I’ll break ties with the support relationship
Eve Princess and I become one body, fully united
I will consider any attack on the princess an attack on myself]
-ㅇㅇ: Uh, can a guild master of a major guild really post something like this?
ㄴ Cyclops : The princess was cute
Besides that, there were praise posts for Minyum, who had shown incredible feats, and plenty of talk about Ophelia as well.
And.
[ㅇㅇ : Nuuooongongongongkkkkk... aaaaaaaaah...
[The post does not exist or has been deleted.]
This IP has been blocked by the Awakened Manager.
[Block duration: 31 days] / [Reason: Fuck, you’re a minor]
/ [Available until: 2046/1/20 15:11:41]
* * * * *
It was true that there was no way to contact Eve while she was in the middle of clearing the gate, and the response was delayed because the livestream had started so abruptly.
More than anything, the livestream had 270,000 viewers. There were also many overseas accounts, so it became far too public a matter.
Even if they stopped her from turning off the livestream right away, the fallout would have been no lighter than it is now, and probably worse. If they forced her to clamp her mouth shut, it might cause a major backlash.
“Wow, the kid really pulled something off. Honestly, we’re guild-affiliated, and if we bleed, it’s our loss, so we couldn’t say anything.”
“Uu... I’m sorry...”
So after the four raiding teams had escaped the Desert Mausoleum and gathered together to talk,
“Nope, it’s fine. I’m telling you not to worry.”
“But... there was... a confidentiality... clause...”
“Mm... there definitely is one, but the incident is just too big, and the Dungeon Management Association really screwed up this time.”
It was basically no different from pulling a giant scam on a dream team of 48 hunters of top-tier A-rank and above. More importantly, the one who made this blow up so badly wasn’t some adult who knew all the ropes, but a newly debuted A-rank hunter on her very first clear schedule. And on top of that, it might even be proven that she was only ten and had no intent to do it at all.
“Am I going to prison..?”
“That won’t happen. Eve didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just a little irritating that Nova Guild didn’t give prior notice, but if the Dungeon Management Association tries to use that to get off the hook here... it’ll probably just stir up even more backlash.”
“Waaah...”
In terms of total combat power, about fifty hunters who together accounted for roughly 5 percent of all hunters in South Korea were showering a ten-year-old child with nonstop praise.
“That aside, that robot friend was really amazing. Hmm... it feels like my childhood dream is coming back to life.”
“Ehehe...”
“Did you say its name was Minyong? Why is it called Minyong?”
“Ah, it’s not Minyong, it’s Minyum... It was originally made from an aluminum can, and it turned out like this, so...”
“Oh, it was made of aluminum?”
“No, no! Right now it’s made of rare metals and magic stones and... various other things...”
—Clack...
Ddaengdaeng had also gotten a ton of praise and, apparently embarrassed, was scratching the back of its head while grinning foolishly beside me.
“The maid did well too. That eagle friend of hers, too.”
“Did the young lady turn on the livestream?”
“No. The livestream was turned on by this one.”
“Oh, this tiny little thing? It sure is smart.”
“You heard that, Ddaengdaeng? They say you’re smart. Hurry up and say thank you...”
—Beep!!
Ddaengdaeng, thrilled by the praise, was also shaking its butt furiously and doing a victory dance. Everyone clapped for Ddaengdaeng’s little performance. Our Ddaengdaeng is so good!
“Yeah, she seems close with Hunter Chaerin, so it’d be awkward to bring it up. If she came over to our side, we’d treat her really well.”
“Ehehe... I’m not planning to join a guild...”
“Aren’t you with Nova?”
“No, Eve isn’t a member of the Nova Guild. We do keep up a relationship, though.”
Everyone was surprised by Chaerin unnie’s answer, both because I was still an unaffiliated hunter and because I had even turned down Nova Guild’s offer to join.
“I saw it on SNS. You took a picture with Maxi too, right?”
“Ah, yes! That’s right.”
“That’s nice. Your parents must be proud.”
“Ah... that’s...”
Chaerin unnie, who was sitting beside me, looked flustered for a moment, and Ophelia stepped in first to answer.
“That is so. They would be very proud.”
“Haha! I’m really jealous. If it’s okay later, could you introduce me to your son?”
“No.”
“Huh...”
* * * * *
[Insaeng-an-mang-haetda : I think I should change my nickname
I want to go back to Insaengmanghaet-eum]
-갸홍 : Princess-nimㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : What is it, you punk;
-도슝좍 : Nice work ㅋ
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : Hng
ㄴ가갤입단 : @Insaeng-an-mang-haetda Don’t worry, the guild is getting legal advice, and they’re saying the victims are going to file a class-action lawsuit
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : @가갤입단 Is this really trueㅠ?
ㄴ 가갤입단 : @Insaeng-an-mang-haetda It’s true ㅋ
It had been a First Mission full of twists and turns. After finishing our first official raiding schedule, we went home. It felt like I’d used up almost all my energy. Minyum, who had turned into a giant knight robot, returned to its original small size at my command.
It wasn’t like I took out any materials or anything; the skill just made that possible.
“Minyum, are you okay?”
—Clack!
It had grown to almost 2.3 meters tall? That meant there was now a full meter between us, and the ceiling of my studio apartment felt like it was less than two meters high. Its shoulders were so wide that just getting it through the front door was a struggle.
So it went back to around 90 centimeters, like before. It was just compressed, so it can return to its original state anytime.
“Suri, you worked really hard too! You fought amazingly today.”
—Kiiit...
“Huh? No, no! You didn’t fall into a trap; you found the gimmick first. There wasn’t a single thing Suri did wrong!”
—Kiiit....
Suri seemed to think it had fallen into the trap because of me, and got a little discouraged. But Suri really hadn’t done anything wrong, had it? The Dungeon Management Association was the one at fault.
“As for Ddaengdaeng... well, yeah, you really did make a mess!”
—Beep?!
“You little brat!!”
Ddaengdaeng had done well in the end, but still... it had caused way too much trouble. I properly disciplined it so this wouldn’t happen again. No dinner for you today!
“Ophelia, you worked hard too. You got really badly hurt.”
“Because the princess healed me, there is no problem.”
“Hehe, is that so. Still, thank you. You got hurt trying to save me...”
“I will always place the princess’s safety first.”
After riding home in Nova Guild’s vehicle, I took a shower, and since I’d run and walked so much, I had a little muscle soreness. Tomorrow is a total rest day, with no exercises at all. I practiced like crazy for two weeks, after all.
Maybe because I’m so tired, I’m completely sleepy..
—Ddororong....
“Princess, Princess?”
By the time Ophelia finished preparing the bath and came back, Eve was already traveling through dreamland.
“Hehe...”
Ophelia wore a gentle smile.
“Princess, please wake up. You must bathe and then go to bed.”
“Mwaang.”
But baths are irresistible. Ophelia has no emotions.