Chapter 31: Riding the Hype

Of course, my character didn’t enter the boss room, but since Ban-ye was right next to me, I could watch his gameplay directly.

And Ban-ye, as if sniping at the guild members who were sneering at him for being a cheerleader, said.

“It’s not a cheerleader, you’re supposed to go in with the minimum number of people here. The summons appear according to the number of party members who entered.”

As he said that, Ban-ye took down the summoned monster in the boss room, where only one had appeared.

Of course, the summoned monsters in the boss room kept spawning endlessly even after being killed.

But due to the nature of summoned monsters, if only one was summoned at a time, it was relatively easy to defeat.

The role of the summoned monster was to tie up the player’s feet, deal damage over time, and make the player vulnerable, so that they couldn’t dodge the boss monster’s attacks or would die even if they were just grazed by them.

But with Ban-ye entering the boss room alone and only one being summoned, the number of times Ban-ye’s feet were tied up was reduced, and in proportion to that, the damage over time also dropped to a manageable level.

Especially when the boss was caught by the summoned monster’s snare, it used an AoE attack, yelling Marionette! while lowering strings from the ceiling, which Ban-ye could dodge.

So, Ban-ye was able to face the boss without dying yet.

Of course, it was also because Ban-ye was agile and good at dodging, but it meant that he was almost never hit by the forced combo attacks from the summoned monster and the boss.

Moreover, Ban-ye was thoroughly knowledgeable about various functions that even I, whose main character was a Lilith, didn’t know about.

[HeyYam] Why does Lilith get out of the trap in 1 second, yam?
[Aki] Right, that’s broken

“If you spam Lilith’s Kiss, it’s recognized as a movement skill, so you get the effect of using a movement skill twice in a row. I don’t know if it’s a bug, but it’s quite useful when you’re caught in a holding skill like this. You should try it before it gets patched.”

[asdqw] a f*cking ……
[Sukeot-udumeori] I’m switching my main
[BG] ㄷㄷ

Perhaps because of Lilith’s various good functions, everyone became spectators, watching in admiration.

The number of people praising Ban-ye’s exquisite movements, saying their own Lilith couldn’t do this, also increased.

[nonsmoking] no, I’m a Lilith too but it feels like he’s using skills about two times faster than me?
[real] for real
[BetterKnight] To those who are raising a Lilith, does it normally deal that much damage?
[Pan1tom] no, I don’t know what percentage of type defense reduction he has, but he’s consistently breaking through the boss’s defense for hundred-million-level damage, holy sh*t ㄷㄷ…… I’m max level too

“I have 99% type defense.”

[Pan1tom] holy sh*t ㄷㄷ how’d you do it
[Pan1tom] I could never get past 98

[Daerumjwi] Theoretically, to get 99%, you need to collect all the max-level titles + achievements + type defense reduction collection + type defense reduction jewels?

“I collected them all.”

[BetterKnight] crazy m0ron!

‘If they’re cursing while asking how you did it, the game is over…’

Watching the broadcast chat, which was filled with high praise, made my chest swell with pride.

Moreover, the character receiving all this praise was the Ah-ang account, of which I was the original owner.

A smile automatically appeared on my lips.

Ban-ye glanced at me, my shoulders rising with pride, and gave me a ‘what’s with him?’ look, but he didn’t publicly reprimand me.

“Ban-yeStorage-nim, come in.”

And when the boss’s health dropped below 10 percent, Ban-ye called me.

I quickly went in and diligently dealt what little damage I could.

[Kyaaaak—!]

And so, Ban-ye died only once (which is practically a miracle since he almost soloed it) and defeated the boss.

And around the time he defeated the boss, he hit the peak viewership, with a whopping 337 people watching simultaneously.

For a first broadcast, this was almost a miracle.

“That’s all for the broadcast.”

[Aki] bye
[HeyYam] bye, yam
[Sukeot-udumeori] gg
[BG] b2
[Pan1tom] Good work, Ah-ang-nim

Ban-ye ended the broadcast as bluntly as ever, but almost none of the people watching left.

The churn rate was also below 20 percent.

After the broadcast was completely over and I confirmed that the recording had stopped, I patted Ban-ye on the back and said.

“Wow, that was amazing! Ban-ye! It was a complete success!”

“…Was it?”

Ban-ye said it doubtfully, but it really was a success.

Because it’s usually difficult for a broadcast to do this well from the first day.

How anxious was I when no one came in for the first 7 minutes of the broadcast!

The beginning was humble, but the end was grand.

I was excited and started talking to Ban-ye non-stop.

“Yeah, yeah! Now we just have to edit what we broadcasted today and upload it…! Then we’ll have finished this week’s mission too. Wow, but how did you do it without getting nervous at all? I was so nervous….”

Ban-ye answered my words nonchalantly.

“There wasn’t really anything to be nervous about.”

“Still… a lot of people were watching! I couldn’t even speak….”

“….”

“Ban-ye, you must have a knack for being a streamer!”

Ban-ye didn’t agree with my words, but he didn’t particularly deny them either.

I was excited and grabbed Ban-ye’s arm and shook it.

“You didn’t make any mistakes either… you were so cool. I wonder if I ruined it at the beginning with those weird questions? You do so well even on your own….”

“It’s fine….”

Ban-ye said that and got up from his seat.

Then he placed a firm hand on my shoulder and said.

“Let’s just eat. I’m hungry.”

“Should we?!”

Of course, Ban-ye was the one who cooked.

Today, it was kimchi jjigae.

That day, the video that Ban-ye edited and uploaded was selected as Chaos Online’s Best Clip.

For a whole week, it was featured as the first video on the main page of the official Chaos Online website with the title Lilith, Try Raising One Like This!.

Thanks to that, Ban-ye’s YouTube subscribers also increased tremendously, already nearing 3,000.

I was already full of dreams and followed Ban-ye around from the morning, talking about my hopes for the future.

“Ban-ye, what if you get a call from a really famous YouTuber agency? Wow, sh*t…. What if you start making hundreds of millions a month?”

“It’s only been a week since we started.”

“No, but you’re so good at games…. Chaos Online is a pretty popular game too! And are you good at other games too? Like Battlegrounds.”

“I know how to play….”

“That’s amazing! You can expand your territory by playing those a little at a time. Then you’ll get like ten thousand subscribers a day…. Hah… and I’ll be your manager.”

“….”

Ban-ye had a reluctant look on his face, but I thought it was just his characteristic shyness.

Ban-ye is good at things when he’s told to do them, but he has a tendency to need someone to push him when starting something.

Is he just being humble?

Anyway, I had a strange sense of confidence that Ban-ye would listen to me this time too.

So I followed the annoyed Ban-ye around and continued to talk about my ideas.

“But Ban-ye, have you thought about revealing your face?”

“What?”

“If you reveal your face, you’ll get 300,000 subscribers in a single day…. You’re really handsome. And tall. Come to think of it, how tall are you?”

“….”

Ban-ye didn’t answer my question.

And he paused for a moment as he was about to enter his room and looked down at me.

His strange expression made me clamp my mouth shut without realizing it.

‘…Did I, did I say something to upset him?’

An unreadable gaze swept over me.

Ban-ye, sensing the strange atmosphere, tilted his head as he looked down at me, who had obediently shut my mouth.

“If I were really handsome, I would have become a celebrity and changed my fortune long ago.”

“…Huh?”

“You’re the only one who tells me I’m handsome, hyung.”

My eyes widened at Ban-ye’s words.

No, that can’t be…!

Whenever I see Ban-ye at his usual smoking spot, both women and men always glance at him at least once.

Especially the women, they tend to stare for a very long time.

Even when we’re grocery shopping at the mart, how many times have I seen people glance at Ban-ye as he leans against the shopping cart!

“No! You’re really handsome! I’ve been to the airport a lot, and you’re better looking in person than the male celebrities I saw there!”

“Hah…. I guess your taste is just unique, hyung.”

“What?”

Listening to his following words, I thought Ban-ye was strange.

But at the same time, the thought occurred to me: am I really the only one who thinks Ban-ye is perfect?

‘W-wait a minute… perfect?’

I was a little shocked by the thought I had come up with myself.

But Ban-ye didn’t even give me time to compose my thoughts and delivered a direct hit.

“There’s probably no one else who likes me like you do, hyung.”

“…!”

At those words, I froze solid.

Then I stumbled backward… but of all things, the door was behind me, so my heel hit the door.

In other words, there was nowhere else to retreat.

Besides, this was in front of my room… I need to get away from Ban-ye before things get more awkward here….

‘Don’t block the door, you !diot!’

I tried to step aside in a flurry.

But before I could, Ban-ye reached out his hand to me.

I couldn’t move and had to just watch blankly as Ban-ye cupped the back of my head with his hand.

Tuk.

Ban-ye nonchalantly cupped my head to prevent it from hitting anything, and looked down at me with incredibly cold and dry eyes.

“Be more careful, will you?”

“….”

A look of pure pity, with no other emotion whatsoever….

The hand that was quickly removed grabbed the doorknob and opened the door.

Ban-ye strode past me and went straight to his room.

And I was left standing there, then I closed the door and sat on the bed.

Then I silently tore at my hair.

‘What does that mean!’

But I didn’t have the courage to ask Ban-ye… and in the end, I spent another sleepless night with my eyes wide open.