Chapter 77: This Is Highly Rated by the Hero (Part 3)

The Climber.

A VR rock climbing game developed by Iceborn Studios. It was their first VR game after the “Arfellium VR Shock.”

It was also a game that continued to be loved by many users, despite being released quite a while ago.

“That’s bull.”

Streamer Kim Kuma, whose real name was Choi Sangyong, muttered while lying comfortably on the office sofa, looking at his tablet screen.

“It’s only loved by streamers, as a torture device.”

His words were true.

Honestly, the only users who enjoyed The Climber were those with peculiar tastes or streamers.

Especially streamers who weren’t good at the game.

‘That game is specialized for making streamers suffer.’

Kim Kuma frowned and clicked his tongue.

It was incredibly difficult, endless, and stressful.

It stressed out both the streamer playing and the viewers watching!

‘And it’s not even trendy anymore…’

Kim Kuma had played The Climber a few times when it was popular, so he knew.

It was already outdated content. Only streamers with truly bizarre tastes played it now.

Like Kim Ji-eun, for example.

“Kim Ji-eun, why is she showing this to Shihyun…?”

Kim Kuma rubbed his forehead and shook his head.

She was his disciple, but honestly, he felt frustrated every time that little devil started playing The Climber.

Why play this? Is it fun? Really?

Kim Kuma personally never wanted to see that damned wall again.

He had a traumatic experience of repeatedly bashing his head against it when The Climber was popular, without ever reaching past the 10th floor.

He felt annoyed just hearing the name, but his eyes were still glued to the tablet.

“But I have to watch… I have to… It’s Shihyun’s stream.”

It was only natural.

Kim Kuma had also become a devoted viewer of Shihyun’s streams. A true fan. He even donated!

Of course, he didn’t make it onto the top donator list due to the overwhelming number of suspiciously wealthy donors.

“Hey, stop talking nonsense and move your feet. I need to clean the floor.”

“So annoying…”

Even though his fellow streamer, Gentry, was bothering him about cleaning the floor, Kim Kuma wasn’t annoyed at all.

Normally, he would have told him to use the robot vacuum, but right now, he was watching ‘Shihyun’s’ stream.

His favorite streamer (he had recently become one) was live, how could he look away? Moreover, unlike other viewers, he had the honor of collaborating with her.

Furthermore, today was different from other broadcasts.

It was a day he might see Shihyun suffer!

“Hehehe.”

“…Why are you laughing? And so creepily.”

“It’s nothing.”

Kim Kuma reached for the potato chips on the coffee table and thought to himself. He felt like he could relate to the viewers watching this kind of broadcast.

‘But surely, Shihyun won’t be good at this too… right?’

A slight sense of unease bloomed in his heart.

But Kim Kuma shook his head.

“Nah, no way.”

“Why are you talking to yourself? Did you forget your meds?”

There’s no way she’s good at everything, right?

This was The Climber, where even pro gamers often fell before reaching the 10th floor. No matter how good Shihyun’s gaming skills were, this time would be different.

Surely.

[Please please please please please please please]
[Shihyun, let’s talk this over, please stop playing that game!]
[Euning, you devil, let our Shihyun go!]
[She’s actually playing it]
[Shihyun, let’s talk, seriously. Please don’t play that, Do you need donations? Is that it?]
[Donate if you don’t want to see her climb the wall “please”]

The chat was going crazy.

Like the cries of a people who had lost their country.

And just as people who had lost their country pooled their money for independence funds, the viewers were pooling their donations to stop me.

But I didn’t care.

A streamer must stream, even if the viewers cry.

That’s what I read on a wiki somewhere. Wikis never lie, so I must be right.

“Everyone, why are you like this? It might be more fun than you think.”

And I actually thought it would be fun.

Really.

Objectively, it wasn’t a very interesting game. Just climbing a wall. It wasn’t like climbing a cliff to raid a demon army camp.

But the moment I decided to play, I focused on a different aspect.

If I thought of it as just climbing a wall, of course, it would be boring. There was nothing to do at the top, and Ji-eun said it was impossible to even reach the top (though I didn’t believe her).

However.

What if I thought of it as ‘enjoying the process’?

The English playwright William Shakespeare said,

“Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in the doing.”

I didn’t fully understand what it meant, but I knew it meant that the process was more important than the result (I also saw that interpretation on a wiki). Since such a famous playwright said it, it must be a great quote.

Perhaps even a life lesson?

“Everyone, how about we enjoy the process together?”

[No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!]
[Process]
[Delete that game now, you newbie]
[Go! Go!]
[Why so dramatic? It might be fun lol]
[Seriously, Shihyun might not even suffer lol]
[But I’m suffering, please]
[Seriously, just watching that wall climbing is horrifying]

I closed the still-raging chat window.

There was no need to see the viewers’ cries when I wasn’t going to listen to them anyway. Wouldn’t it be worse to give them false hope? I’m such a nice person.

Muttering to myself, I slowly turned to Ji-eun.

“Shall we go?”

“Okay.”

Ji-eun’s expression seemed a bit strange, but it must have been my imagination.

Ji-eun and I started The Climber. We had downloaded the game while talking, so there was no waiting time.

I closed my eyes, feeling a sensation similar to long-distance teleportation, and when I opened them, a giant wall stood before me.

“Whoa.”

It was a truly endless wall. So tall that it seemed to create an optical illusion, as if it touched the sky.

“Huh?”

However, there was nothing on the wall.

Just a smooth, white surface.

I had seen a few climbing videos, so I could easily tell that this wasn’t a typical climbing wall. Those walls had colorful rock-like holds attached to them, or the wall itself was angled.

This smooth, flat surface was definitely not it.

I tilted my head and looked at Ji-eun.

“Why is there nothing on it?”

Ji-eun grinned at my gaze.

“Because we haven’t chosen a mode yet.”

“Mode?”

As soon as she said that, there was a rumbling sound.

I turned my gaze to the source of the sound, and the wall was rising from the ground. A wall with various rock-like holds, just like in the climbing videos.

What is that?

Ji-eun explained as we watched the rising wall,

“The Climber basically has two modes.”

“Two?”

“Infinite Mode and Time Attack Mode. There are other modes like Professional and Real Mode, but the most popular ones are Infinite and Time Attack.”

[Popular?]
[Lol]
[Since when was this game popular?]
[Only you like it ]
[It’s not just unpopular, it’s not even fun lol]

The chat exploded, vehemently objecting to Ji-eun’s statement, but she didn’t even glance at it.

She usually paid a lot of attention to the chat while playing Arfellium, but now she seemed completely indifferent.

It seemed like she had developed a habit of not looking at the chat while playing The Climber. I nodded. Well, the chat was probably filled with screams like ‘Please stop!!!’ or ‘You suck!!!!’ There was no reason to look.

“In Infinite Mode, you climb that endless wall. Since it’s endless, your score is based on how high you climb. On the other hand, in Time Attack Mode, it’s literally about how fast you climb the same wall.”

Ah, I finally understood.

“So that wall is for Time Attack Mode.”

“That’s right. Your score is based on how fast you climb it. Since it’s your first time, Shihyun, I set it to a level 5 wall.”

Ji-eun smacked her lips.

“Level 1 would be too easy for you.”

“But this is my first time. Isn’t level 5 too difficult?”

Ji-eun made a dubious face at my remark.

“Applying human standards to a monster is foolish.”

Who’s a monster? I felt dejected.

My delicate heart couldn’t handle it.