Chapter 45: Sub-account (2)

We decided to create an account on the streaming platform Twitch and do a test broadcast, using the laptop’s internet.

Actually, it was more like… Yu Ayeon finished everything from account creation to broadcast preparation in an instant.

“Wow… You’re really good at this? Do you watch a lot of internet broadcasts?”

“… Ah, no… N-Not a lot… J-Just… a little…? Sometimes… I watch… R-Recently… I haven’t watched at all…”

“Oh, really? I thought you watched a lot because you have a bit of an otaku vibe, Ayeon-ssi.”

“O-Otaku… D-Do, do I… l-look… that much… like an otaku…?”

“Ah, I didn’t mean it as an insult! I like manga and animation too. And Ayeon-ssi, you’re pretty, so don’t worry too much.”

“…… Hng…”

Yu Ayeon smiled faintly, perhaps feeling better at the nonchalant compliment of being pretty.

Yu Ayeon desperately denied it, but judging by how suspiciously well she handled the streaming platform Twitch, I could feel that her experience was not ordinary.

Judging from the 2D lewd pictures that filled the gallery I saw last time and the way she skillfully handles Twitch now, Yu Ayeon was definitely a hardcore otaku.

“Just a moment…”

Yu Ayeon closed her eyes and held the laptop.

Is she connecting the [Filming] skill and the laptop…? Anyway, it’s a really amazing skill.

Yu Ayeon’s brow furrowed and relaxed repeatedly.

Her mouth was also mumbling as if she was chewing something, which was quite cute, so I involuntarily picked up my cell phone camera and filmed her.

I quickly put the cell phone into my inventory just before Yu Ayeon opened her eyes.

“… I think it’s done… Um… I-It’s done…!”

Yu Ayeon, who was holding the laptop and continuing to communicate, opened her eyes wide.

And she turned the laptop around to show me the screen.

On the laptop screen, there was my appearance reflected in Yu Ayeon’s eyes, a chat window with no chats, the number of followers, and so on.

Even compared to the videos we uploaded to iTube, there was no difference in image or sound quality.

It was quite amazing that my appearance was being broadcasted fully without a camera or webcam.

We confirmed that my appearance could be broadcasted with the filming skill and that the broadcast was proceeding normally, so we ended the broadcast.

“… Would… you like to… check more…?”

“No. Well… I think this is enough, isn’t it? We’ll have to check the rest directly inside the gate.”

“G-Gate…”

“Let’s go again around next week. This time to a D-rank.”

“D-rank…!”

D-rank is quite meaningful to hunters.

It’s also the time when they start to spread their wings in earnest as hunters.

D-rank hunters, also called intermediate hunters who have completely shed their beginner status, are also the most populated segment where those who are full of inferiority complexes due to lack of talent, personality, or effort to rise to B-rank or C-rank reside.

‘It’s a zone where b*stards are concentrated, so to speak.’

There was even a saying that the gate is real from D-rank…

From the D-rank gate, the types and number of monsters that appear increase, and the average gate clearing time increases sharply to about 16 hours.

Inevitably, there are cases where you have to live in the gate, and you have to solve food, clothing, and shelter.

Because of this, porters become essential, not optional.

Of course, that doesn’t apply to me.

And there were various threats… Monsters, traps inside the gate, and a means to protect oneself from hunters.

Although I’m still a little anxious, I have the power to deal with it alone, but Yu Ayeon doesn’t have the means to protect herself right now.

Yu Ayeon is strong for an ordinary person, but she’s still an ordinary person.

She couldn’t be compared to D-rank monsters or hunters.

Besides, I think I’ll be doing most of my gate activities with Yu Ayeon in the future, so she also needs a means to protect herself.

So the item I prepared is this.

I took out a black box smaller than my palm from the inventory and handed it to Yu Ayeon.

“… A box…? What’s this…?”

“Hehe. Open it.”

At my playful question, she tilted her head for a moment, but Yu Ayeon took the box as I said and slowly opened it.

“…!”

The item carefully decorated inside the box was none other than.

“… A ring…?”

It was the ring-shaped S-rank artifact, the Ring of Protection, that I had extorted from Yeonseong Guild.

“I got it with great difficulty to give it to Ayeon-ssi.”

I took the box back from Yu Ayeon, who was staring at the ring with a dazed expression, and took out the carefully decorated ring.

Yu Ayeon’s gaze slowly followed the ring.

“So many dangerous things happen inside the gate… I was worried.”

The reason I chose this ring among so many artifacts was probably because I was worried about Yu Ayeon.

It’s only been a short time, but we’ve spent such dense time together that I seem to have unknowingly grown fond of her.

Originally, I wasn’t the type of person to easily become fond of others, so how did this happen?

No, is Yu Ayeon so special that even I, like this, can become fond of her?

I held Yu Ayeon’s warm hand and carefully put the ring on her finger.

The ring, which was slightly large, automatically shrank and fit perfectly on her finger, as if it had been made for Yu Ayeon from the beginning.

Yu Ayeon stared blankly at the ring on her finger.

I gently covered her left hand with my left hand.

“See? I have the same ring.”

On my left hand was the Ring of Binding, the same shape as her ring.

I smiled and looked up at Yu Ayeon.

“Let’s… do well together in the future.”

Yu Ayeon lowered her head and hid her expression.

Tears fell from Yu Ayeon’s eyes onto my hand that was covering hers.

Those tears, which fell little by little, eventually began to fall like a heavy downpour.

“Sob, sob… M-Me… sob, i-is it… sob, sob…! Okay… for me to receive this…?”

“Of course. Ayeon-ssi is already a precious person to me.”

“Sob… sob…! T-Tears keep, sob…! Ah, they won’t stop… sob!”

“It’s okay. What’s wrong with crying a little? It’s okay to cry when you’re happy.”

“… Thank you… Really… Really… Sob…”

She’s a woman with weak tear ducts, crying so sadly even at a small gift.

I hugged Yu Ayeon, who started crying sadly, and patted her back so that she could calm down.

But even after she calmed down, we hugged each other for a long time without saying anything.

As if to hide the sound of each other’s hearts beating.

Damwol, the tanker of the Flame of Upheaval party, returned to the office after a long time, enjoying her vacation and healing from her injuries.

“Nunim! It’s been a while…?”

And within 5 seconds of returning, she closed the office door and came out.

‘What? What did I just see?’

That Yeom Haneul was smiling foolishly, looking at the air.

She was even muttering incomprehensible sounds, saying, “Darling… Darling… Ehehe…”

A crazy battle maniac who showers in the blood of monsters on the front lines.

Rough profanity that automatically comes out when she opens her mouth.

But even so, her talent, ability, and achievements were so great that she was a woman you couldn’t help but look up to.

A woman who usually has little change in expression, so most of the time she is expressionless… is smiling so happily?

Come to think of it, I heard that she will be promoted to S-rank soon…

Is she participating in an S-rank gate somewhere?

Is she smiling so happily at the thought of slaughtering monsters again?

After calming her mind for a moment, Damwol opened the door again and entered the office.

Yeom Haneul was expressionless as usual, as if she had never smiled foolishly as she had seen a little while ago.

“Oh. Damwol. You’re here?”

“Yes. I’m back. Nunim!”

Thinking that she had seen an illusion, Damwol chatted with Yeom Haneul for a moment and returned to work.

But that strange phenomenon (the phenomenon of Yeom Haneul smiling) continued to appear after that.

During break time, lunchtime, and even sometimes during work hours, such strange phenomena occurred.

Just when Damwol was having the illusion that maybe all the smiles of Yeom Haneul were hallucinations, and that she was becoming strange,

She happened to see Yeom Haneul carefully looking around and entering the break room.

Seeing that she even locked the break room door, it seemed like something unusual was going to happen.

Damwol peeked inside through a very small gap between the break room windows.

Yeom Haneul, who entered the break room, was smiling foolishly while looking at her cell phone.

Damwol was curious about what she was looking at, so she desperately looked at her cell phone.

The person in the cell phone was none other than Han Suhyeon, a male hunter who has recently gained explosive popularity.

Han Suhyeon was a person who received considerable expectations and evaluations even though he was a D-rank hunter, with an appearance that made people’s jaws drop just by looking at him, a special skill, and outstanding ability.

In the hot news that I secretly checked during work hours a little while ago, there was even content that the representative of Yeonseong Guild had contacted him.

Not just any large guild, but Yeonseong Guild, the number one guild in the country, and the fact that Yeon-daepyo, who is known in the industry for being slow to act, contacted him directly means that Han Suhyeon has tremendous value comparable to an S-rank hunter in the future.

But despite confirming that value, no guild or party has yet approached him because none other than Yeon-daepyo has marked him.

Damwol stopped her idle thoughts and peeked at Yeom Haneul again.

Yeom Haneul, who didn’t even know that saliva was dripping from her mouth, stared at Han Suhyeon’s boyfriend picture, and then she looked around once more, and carefully kissed her cell phone like a virgin having her first kiss.

“Haa… Darling… Darling… Haa…”

Damwol was startled by the sight and fell away from the window.

“Kuhuk…!”

Unfortunately, she fell headfirst, and her consciousness gradually faded and her vision blurred.

Damwol closed her eyes, hoping that all of this was a dream.