Chapter 3 : Divine (3)

“I’m out of arrows!!!”

WooSeok repeatedly patted his back, but the quiver was gone.
How could the instructor give him a bow but no arrows?

[– Instructor had no idea lol]
[– Honestly, how could anyone know? lol The instructor was out of it too lol]
[– WooSeok, do you know how to use MP? Imbue your feet with magic power and run.]
[– Nope, can’t run. WooSeok’s about to get wrapped up in the snake’s tail and pounced on~ I’m a monmusu fan from today onwards~]
[– This room’s coordinates are all over the place lol. From now on, WooSeok is our gallery owner]

“Magic power? You mean MP?”

Almost every capsule-type game had MP.
He didn’t know this game, set in the past and present, used MP too.

As someone who mained only one game, he had no clue how to use MP.
He had never even played a mage character.

He always carried a sword or spear, walking around like a sitting duck, getting sniped and killed.
If he did pick a mage, he’d get his body pierced before he could even manage his MP properly, but he had no other choice.

[– Yeah, MP or magic power, it’s the same thing.]
[– But that’s 100% talent-based, so WooSeok would know if he’d played games.]
[– What kind of games for a guy? Normally, you’d do embroidery or cat’s cradle.]

Right. He had no talent.
He was always getting criticized for his inefficient use of magic power.
The ultimate troll, giving his team rage and his enemies laughter.

He thought it wouldn’t exist in a modern game.
Even now, the snake’s head was butting around him, its tail writhing from some unknown place.

Every time the tail or head moved, dust clouds obscured his vision, and the disgusting smell from its scales numbed his sense of smell, yet countermeasures kept coming to mind. As if this wasn’t his first time against a large monster.

Yena) – Guys, why’d you all go quiet?

The chat was completely silent.
Even if there were messages, he wouldn’t have seen them anyway, tap-dancing around the lush jungle with the snake.

Its creepy eyes followed his every move, its hard, overlapping scales deflecting his bow.
As expected, hitting it with the bow like an idiot had no effect.

Was this how he died?
So pathetically, right at the beginning?

Disheartened, he created some distance, and then he saw his beacon flashing, urging him to press it.
But, born a man, he couldn’t give up so easily.

A glance at the top right corner showed the viewer count already reaching 40,000.
He hadn’t realized his uniqueness as a male would be this impactful.
He couldn’t lose face in front of 40,000 people!

The viewers said his only solution was mana.

Magic power… MP… mana…

The feeling he had when he first entered the capsule after passing out.
As he recalled that sensation, the feeling returned, and the surrounding mana became visible.

At the same time, an image of a man surfaced.
A man who wielded mana freely, swallowing everything with a single bow.

The world turned blue.
He gripped the bow and swung at the snake’s head.

The blue-tinged bow, now imbued with the same energy surrounding him, struck the snake’s head, restarting the fight. The giant monster, struck for the first time, was taken aback. It expressed its rage, writhing violently.

The giant snake thrashed around, destroying everything in its path with even greater ferocity than before. Like a retired veteran returning to the battlefield, reliving old memories, every action felt perfectly natural.

His panicked dodging turned into controlled evasion, then into deflecting attacks with minimal movements.

Adrenaline coursed through his veins.
The blue world deepened.

Words escaped his lips without him realizing.

“I think I can do this.”

While the snake, struck several times by his mana-imbued bow, faltered, he reached for the bowstring that held no arrow.
He drew the string, picturing it in his mind.

In his dreams, that man had done this.
In his dreams, that man changed the landscape with a single arrow.
In his dreams, that man…

A refreshing wind, different from the earlier dust clouds, embraced him.
A cool sensation, and an arrow materialized on his bow.

The giant snake, regaining its composure, lunged at him with its jaws wide open. Poison dripped from its fangs, corroding the surroundings and spreading a putrid odor.

Suddenly, all the mana pulsating in the arrow spiraled and shot towards the snake. The recoil sent him flying back, but his eyes remained locked onto the arrow’s trajectory.

The impact sent his beacon tumbling, emitting its distinctive beeping, but he had no time to care.
The snake, the ruler of the forest, lay dead, pierced by a single arrow. Through the gaping hole in its body, he could see the trees of the rainforest.

Strength drained from him, and he collapsed.
As he regained his senses, the actions he’d just performed replayed in his mind.

His words, his actions.
All so unfamiliar.

“Huff… Huff… Why is everyone so quiet? The chat’s been dead for over 10 minutes.”

He was still broadcasting. Remembering his viewers, he quickly addressed them, but despite the 40,000 viewers and the unfrozen chat, not a single word appeared.

He sat there, wiping the sweat from his brow with his shirt, speaking into the silent chat. He wondered if he’d been disconnected when finally, a single message appeared, followed by a deluge of others, like a dam bursting.

[– Wow…]

A single word started it all.

[– What did I just see?]
[– Did you hear that line? I had to change my pants three times.]
[– WooSeok, eat me. Take me. I love you.]
[– WTF WHO IS HE?]
[– You’re not a foreigner, are you?]
[– Did he just imbue that arrow with magic? Wasn’t that the move the Demon King tried and failed?]
[– Wow, I was watching because he’s a guy, but I forgot I was even watching a guy.]
[– I only saw WooSeok’s face.]
[– You too?]

Yena) – I’m trying to be polite because WooSeok’s here, but I can’t. Are you guys not donating? There are 40,000 of you?

[– Ah, let me bask in the afterglow. Get lost.]
[– WooSeok said not to send money. Clueless woman, how did you even manage a broadcast?]
[– WooSeok, I’m jizzing. WooSeok, I’m going crazy. I think I’ll lose my mind.]

The heated chat reactions were amusing.
Was this why that b*tch Bitna streamed?
He felt good being praised even though he hadn’t done much.

[– Keep… Keep smiling at me like that.]
[– You’re not going to end here, are you? You’ll continue, right?]
[– WooSeok, sorry to break the mood, but can you take a look at the snake’s body? Honestly, I don’t think that’s solo content, I’m so curious.]
[– 22]
[– 33]

“Should I? Since the beacon’s probably given away my location anyway, I’ll risk it and take a look.”

He stood up, dusted himself off, and headed towards the giant mass. The game’s realism made the corpse reek, purple liquid still dripping from its fangs.

A clean hole pierced through its body, unbelievable that he’d done it.
The snake’s limp carcass looked like it could be harvested for materials.

“This is a survival game, right? These scales are pretty tough. Could I make a shield or something?”

[– Yeah. Like the legend in the forest shrine says, there are NPCs in the repair village.]
[– But if you play the game normally, you kill all the NPCs, so it’s hard to do.]
[– But… killing NPCs gives you lots of money and healing items, right?]

“Aha. No wonder they rendered each scale so meticulously. The devs must’ve been sad no one found this for five years.”

[– But no one knows the trigger. We’re seeing this for the first time too.]
[– Fr. It doesn’t seem like a ‘man’ thing. I’ve heard there were lots of sightings of something like a silhouette.]
[– Honestly, I don’t care about all that. I just love listening to WooSeok’s voice.]
[– A man talking so kindly to me… could this be a first?]
[– Hey hey, WooSeok. Did I just fall for you?]

“I’ll just take your word for it. Shall we look at the fangs next? Some kind of smoke is still coming off them.”

[– It’s definitely well-made. I’m scared of mammals, and this is freaking me out.]
[– Snakes are amphibians. Mammals are your dad.]
[– I don’t have a dad? I was born through artificial insemination? Are you insulting me?]
[– Aren’t snakes reptiles, guys?]
[– Yeah, your mom’s never met a man. You’ll be the same~]
[– You think you’re any different?]
[– Actually, me too…]

40,000 viewers meant the chat was non-stop.

“There’s nothing special here. Except that it corrodes everything it touches? Oh, and it stinks.”

[– But what use is this in a shooter game?]
[– You can’t smear it on a gun.]
[– WooSeok uses a bow lol.]
[– Koreans and bows lol.]

It wasn’t much of a reward for such a hard fight. Maybe because the developers only designed it as a field boss?

He could still feel the adrenaline from the battle.
The sensation of gripping the bow lingered in his hand.

[– Where’d that b*tch Yena go? Did she really get sulky because no money came in?]
[– She ran towards WooSeok, died, and hasn’t said a word.]

Yena) – Ah, sorry. I was too busy watching WooSeok.

[– WooSeok is understandable, lol.]
[– Yena, thanks to you, I’ve found a new joy in life… I was about to donate out of gratitude, but stopped because WooSeok told me not to.]

Yena) – No, donate! I worked really hard to invite WooSeok, and no money’s coming in.

Since when did she become so chummy with the viewers?
The fact that gender roles were reversed, the fact that he’d discovered a hidden piece in a game he’d just started, it wasn’t that important.

What fascinated him was that he was good at games now. That was the most important thing. And the online broadcast of a certain woman and her viewers who caused this whole mess.

“Should I really try streaming?”

His casual murmur set the chat ablaze again. It scrolled too fast to read, but most seemed to agree. Except for the few suggesting he switch to adult channels.

While waiting for a response that still hadn’t arrived, he sat back down on the snake’s carcass and felt something poke his butt. He stood up and checked. There was a patch of scales growing in reverse.

“A reverse scale?”

And within that patch, an iridescent orb pulsed with a rainbow light, as if begging to be found.

[– Ooh… a special vibrator…]

“Who are you?”