Chapter 79: This Is Highly Rated by the Hero (Part 5)

Of course, her cries were meaningless.

This was Shihyun, who pressed on even when the viewers wailed.

Would anything change just because Ji-eun cried?

Of course not.

One must be consistent. That’s the only way to live with pride. And Shihyun was always proud.

Therefore, she was completely unfazed by Ji-eun’s mental breakdown. It wasn’t because Shihyun was a psychopath.

By the way, psychopaths can’t be Heroes. They fail the personality test.

“Oof.”

Shihyun jumped down from the wall she was sitting on. Unlike normal rock climbing, she didn’t need the safety equipment she was wearing.

Naturally.

This was a game, and it was virtual reality. Falling from a 20-meter wall wouldn’t shatter her into pieces.

Thud!

Shihyun landed lightly on the ground and rotated her shoulders. She was trying to loosen up her arm muscles. Of course, it was a pointless action. As mentioned before, this was virtual reality.

But Shihyun rotated her arms anyway.

Whether it was virtual reality or real life, what did it matter?

If she wanted to do it, she did it.

If you live with pride, there’s no need to care about others. Worrying about what others think only leads to a life adrift. Shihyun confidently stretched her arm muscles.

It definitely wasn’t a force of habit.

Definitely.

“Hmm.”

After loosening her muscles, which wouldn’t have been stiff anyway, Shihyun nudged Ji-eun’s side with her foot.

“Ji-eun,”

“My climbing life… My hobby…”

“Ji-eun?”

“It’s been violated by a monster… I can’t get married anymore…”

Ji-eun was still muttering nonsense.

But Shihyun, from past experience, knew that she was putting on an act for the broadcast.

How could she not know? There was no reason for talk of marriage or violation because of something like this. It was all an act.

“Stop acting and get up. Time Attack is more boring than I thought. Let’s try Infinite Mode.”

“Y-you! You monster! Does this look like an act?!”

[Haha, we saw through your act ]
[Seriously lol, it was too obvious. No one’s fooled ]
[Not a monster  A Hero]
[But it must feeling empty lol. How much time did Euning pour into this game lol]
[I’d be frustrated too if I saw a monster cheat in front of me]

“It’s not an act! You’ll understand if you experience it yourself!”

[She’s already been exposed]
[Hey Kim, stop the nonsense and start Infinite Mode ]
[Our Hero wants to play Infinite Mode]
[But where did this Shihyun Hero concept even come from?]
[? Didn’t you see the stream title?]
[?]
[??]
[Why?]
[You don’t know? ]
[You’re a ‘disgrace’ to the ‘Shihyun-dan’]
[??]

Of course, no one was buying Ji-eun’s act.

Her viewers knew her patterns too well, and Shihyun’s viewers had a ‘Who cares?’ mentality.

So, instead of playing along, the viewers filled the chat with unrelated chatter. Ji-eun’s frustration grew as she watched this unfold in real time.

Because it wasn’t an act.

‘Y-you mean people…’

For Ji-eun, who genuinely loved The Climber (Kim Kuma might have punched someone if he heard this), Shihyun’s climb, which was anything but climbing, was a pure deception.

Even Shihyun’s record was a deception.

[5.781 seconds]

It was a superhuman record.

Olympic climbing athletes typically clocked between 8 and 9 seconds on a 20-meter wall. Considering that, Shihyun’s record was something beyond human comprehension.

Ji-eun couldn’t understand how it was possible. This wasn’t a game like Arfellium, which provided superhuman physical abilities. This game was based on real-world physical data.

How could a human do that?

The answer was simple.

Anyone could achieve this record if they had the athleticism, stamina, and strength to climb 20 meters vertically using wall kicks like Shihyun.

Or if they had been transported to another world, slain a Demon King, and decimated millions of demon soldiers.

Ji-eun, who was neither of those, couldn’t help but feel wronged.

“My…dreams and hopes…life…”

Her strange muttering was proof of that.

Inexpressible thoughts were overloading her brain.

Fortunately, it wasn’t enough to cause a language processing error, so Ji-eun remained coherent.

Though she was still in despair.

“Sigh.”

Feeling completely wronged, Ji-eun flopped onto the floor. This terrible difference in talent…! The unfairness of an aircraft carrier flying over an earthworm crawling on the ground…!

Someone approached Ji-eun. It was Shihyun.

Shihyun smiled brightly, held out her hand, and said,

“Ji-eun, get up. You need to switch to Infinite Mode.”

“…”

Ji-eun muttered,

You’re the worst.

Even though Ji-eun pretended to have a mental breakdown for a bit, the situation was soon resolved. She got up like a slug coming out of its shell and focused on the broadcast again.

“Right, right… It’s my fault for providing a playground for a monster. Sigh.”

Although she kept muttering behind me, puffing out her cheeks as if she was sulking, Ji-eun eventually changed the game to Infinite Mode for me.

‘Was it that shocking?’

I scratched my cheek and looked at her. I could understand it, though.

Her most cherished game had been violated(?) by a wild Hero who appeared out of nowhere.
It was hard to describe because I hadn’t experienced anything similar, but wouldn’t it be like a random dragon sniping the Demon King I was about to slay?

“Hmm.”

I still didn’t understand. I couldn’t imagine it.

Instead of continuing with the futile imagination exercise, I decided to focus on what I could do now. I spoke to the viewers.

“This is more boring than I thought, everyone.”

[Why is it boring? lol]
[Haha lol, is she saying it’s too easy and boring? lol]
[“This isn’t very good”]
[The climbing wall was too small to contain the Hero…]
[Contain? Possible]
[?]
[Do you want to be contained?]

I hadn’t paid much attention to my commentary in the past, but now I was making an effort to fill the silence and keep the stream engaging. It was significant progress.

[It’s nice to see Shihyun improving… It feels like raising a small streamer]
[Small where?]
[Improving? Wasn’t she perfect from the start, from Arfellium?]
[No, Shihyun’s streaming talent wasn’t that great, she’s just a game genius, face genius, charm genius]
[? Aren’t those the qualities of a streaming genius?]
[Haha, she has something extra lol]

And my viewers seemed to notice my efforts as well. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Rewarding.

“I heard that was level 5, how many levels are there?”

[Didn’t Euning explain it earlier?]
[No, she didn’t]
[Lol, Euning’s slacking off]
[Info] The Climber Time Attack Mode has 10 levels. Level 1 is a 15-meter wall, and the height increases by 1 meter for each level.]
[Thanks for the info]

“So it was 20 meters. I thought it was about that much. But it’s a bit strange that level 10 is only 25 meters. Isn’t it too easy?”

[???]
[You’re the only one who thinks it’s easy]
[Info) 25 meters is the height of a 9-story building]
[Haha, a 9-story building is nothing for the Hero lol]
[She ‘proved’ it]
[Seriously, it would take me all day to climb that]
[Fact) Even if you gave an ordinary person all day, they could never climb 20 meters]

“That’s right. Never.”

Ji-eun muttered from behind, as if she had been reading the chat. Her voice was still slightly gloomy. Hmm, it seemed like she was still affected by what happened earlier. How should I cheer her up?

‘Ji-eun seems to like pudding. Should I buy her some?’

The problem was that I didn’t eat pudding often, so I didn’t know any good places. I should probably call Manager Kang Ara and ask her to find a good pudding place. She looks like she likes pudding, so she probably knows some good spots.

As I was seriously pondering ‘What does someone who looks like they like pudding look like?,’ Ji-eun snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Done. Infinite Mode.”

I turned my head and saw an astonishing sight. The giant wall from when we first started The Climber had changed drastically.

Colorful, jewel-like holds were embedded all over the wall. The previously flat, vertical surface now had various inclines and overhangs.

And its height was still endless.

After staring at the towering wall for a while, wondering if it reached into space, I turned to Ji-eun.

“Is this wall really endless?”

“Probably? Iceborn hasn’t officially said anything. But no one has ever reached the end, so…it probably is.”

I grinned at her words.

Then there was a possibility that it wasn’t endless.

‘An endpoint no one has reached.’

It ignited my competitive spirit.

I slowly approached the wall. I assessed the protruding holds, then reached out.

The next day, a post appeared on the internet forum for streaming discussions.