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Late at night.

With the lights off in the room, I leaned my body against the sofa cushions, relying on the pitiful light sent by the moon and stars.

A room without light didn’t evoke an unknown fear, but rather a dreamlike sweetness.

In short, it was a moment when I craved a drink.

—Gulp, gulp.

The smooth gulp of beer was simply unmatched.

I could say this was the moment to relax my body and mind after work.

Ah, so many events happened today.

It had been way too long since I had a carefree time like this, so it wasn’t surprising that I was utterly exhausted.

After all, it was my first time having fun like this after my body changed.

“Nice.”

As I said those words while blankly staring into the void in the empty room, it felt pretty short and straightforward.

The process of filling in the exceedingly hollow life one step at a time was quite exciting.

While many things happened today, regardless of the process, I tied everything up nicely.

With Da-young and Eun-ha, all my relationships.

It felt like I was piecing together a puzzle, a rather fun experience.

Maybe that’s why I didn’t want to quietly suppress this feeling.

Wanting to warm up a bit more, I suddenly thought about broadcasting and got up from my seat.

Normally, today would be a day off. There were still two days until my next scheduled stream.

It was truly a surprise broadcast timing.

As I internally anticipated the excited reactions from my viewers while trying to enter the virtual reality capsule…

‘Ah, right.’

I forgot an essential thing.

A beer can still heavy with contents.

Still in my hand, the sound of sloshing as I moved was the main character of this moment.

‘You can’t drink in virtual reality, right?’

I wanted to broadcast while drinking.

Should I do it on the computer? No, I wanted to keep this light feeling.

I really didn’t want to wear a helmet while doing it.

I was just stuck in between the sofa, computer, and virtual reality capsule, like I was in the Bermuda Triangle, anxiously pacing my feet.

If someone had filmed this scene for me to watch later, I might have laughed so hard I’d fall over.

But right now, I was serious and even getting annoyed about not being able to reach a clear conclusion.

Why does that happen sometimes? You end up hesitating in solitude, stuck on choices and then explode…

Lost in my thoughts while I paced, I eventually sank back into the comfort of the sofa, sighing.

“This is annoying….”

A word filled with lingering frustration poured out, ringing in my ears.

Ah, if only I had just frozen my face, I wouldn’t need to be contemplating all this.

Originally, I planned to gradually build up my level of interest, and then crush it with a cool freeze!

But now I was thinking maybe I should just forget it all and do something easy.

I had already become somewhat famous among streamers focusing on Soul Warfare.

Did I really need to build up more from here?

“Should I go for it?”

Or should I not?

Should I go for it, or not.

Should I go for it, or not, go for it, not.

‘It’d be nice if I had flowers or something.’

Should I count how many sips of the remaining beer I have left and decide?

As I roughly shook this damn beer can that caused all my frustration, the sloshing noise got even louder.

Eventually, a few drops splattered on my face, and I couldn’t help but grin.

What a mess, what am I even doing?

“I’m crazy, I’m crazy.”

As the beer dripped down my face, I licked it off with my tongue.

Hmm, maybe it’s because I did light makeup at the mall today.

The shocking taste mixed with the subtle flavor of cosmetics jolted me slightly awake.

I grumbled about how there were many ways to sober up and tossed the empty beer can far away into the recycling bin.

—Thud!

—Clatter.

The can that didn’t make it in rolled around on the floor uselessly.

As if mocking my current ineffectiveness, it seemed to strike a nerve with its sheer absurdity.

I didn’t even feel like cleaning it up.

Well, tomorrow’s me will handle it.

I just crawled into the capsule, holding on to the faintest glimmer of magic I could muster.

Let’s just do the broadcast.

***

The oppressive dawn had already passed midnight.

The restless spirits of Switch, lacking a daily life, roamed between channels even more energetically at this hour.

Days had passed since the STK brawl tournament ended, and now they needed new bait since the big feast was gone.

Having already tasted the giant volume of meat, they weren’t getting any buzz just by taking down a single streamer like before.

At two in the morning, an enormous bait appeared at a rather unexpected timing.

Indeed, it was right in the middle of the night.

[Friede777 has started streaming]

The familiar notification sound and the surprising alert message.

It was the moment the spirits’ eyes, which were getting heavy with sleep, suddenly snapped wide open.

No, not just the spirits.

Among the broth that subscribed to Friede’s channel and turned on notifications, there were also those who woke up randomly due to studies, work, or hobbies.

The late-night Switch channel was witnessing a significant influx of viewers.

As a space that could infinitely hold the online realm, Friede’s broadcast channel now looked pitifully unprepared to handle the overwhelming crowd rushing in at this moment.

“Hello, everyone! It’s been a while. How have you been?”

Her beautiful, calm voice elicited silent cheers.

[Friede!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

[Isn’t it rare for a precious person to be here at such an hour?]

[Friede! Godride! Hwangride! Kingride! Wangride! Juride! Byuride!]

[The top guy is so chaotic, damn this! Haha.]

[I’m the number one broth of Friede, the brawl tournament winner… I’m the number one broth of Friede, the brawl tournament winner… I’m the number one broth of Friede, the brawl tournament winner…]

[Get lost!!! You crazy people!]

[As expected of my sister. I didn’t believe the announcement of a day off. I knew you’d come back sooner. T.T]

[Hoo… this kind of surprise is quite nice. Just this once.]

[Please tell us the story of you dancing with Lotus!]

It was truly a moment of massive excitement.

A surprise broadcast began with absolutely no signs or warnings.

What they saw was the familiar, glamorous MS Room of Friede.

Yet it seemed to have a different vibe from what they usually saw.

Did she tweak the setup panel before starting the stream or something?

The lighting in the MS Room appeared to have dimmed in accordance with the vibe of a surprise event.

Bright moonlight and starlight poured through the window, creating a dreamlike atmosphere.

In the middle of that, with her magnificent armor and neat gestures waving, how could anyone refuse Friede, they thought.

For them, this was like a timely downpour on a parched ground, which led to their frantic excitement.

「ZekeGaterbelt has donated 100,000 won!

—Congratulations on your victory!」

“Thank you, Zeke. I was able to win thanks to everyone’s support.”

[Are you still running with Soul Warfare today?]

[Hey, you clueless idiot… you should share the brawl tournament stories first before even thinking of Soul Warfare!]

「MidirEatingYou has donated 400,000 won!

—Sister! Please tell us stories about the lotus dance! And also the tournament!」

“Ah, Midir, thank you for the donation. Well, this broadcast was spontaneous. I was just a bit bored and couldn’t sleep.”

Smiling pleasantly, Friede softly spoke, her reddish lips reflecting the faint starlight as she licked them.

“Let’s take some time to communicate with each other.”

[Whoa, communication is rare @@]

[Sensei, ㅠㅠㅠ to think we get to communicate with you, it’s so touching ㅠㅠㅠ.]

[Please tell us about the brawl tournament first, Sister.]

「KimKeTuraKu has donated 50,000 won!

—Sister, who was the hardest opponent in the tournament?」

Ah, the first question.

This was a question that didn’t require deep contemplation as it was quite obvious.

When Friede experienced it herself, objectively, there was a definitive answer.

“Lotus was the most challenging. I truly felt the difference when facing a professional gamer?”

[The Sensei who defeated even Lotus is on the moral high ground @@]

[I had that same feeling when I watched Set 1 ㅇㅇ.]

[It just happened that Set 2 was when you brought out the Broken Greatsword, that’s not an L for Lotus LOL.]

The conversation smoothly continued.

The motivation behind choosing the double Rapid-Fire Crossbow for revenge against Forming,

and thoughts about one-shotting Haldir with the spear of the thorn during preliminaries…

「yaSergei has donated 200,000 won!

—Which would you choose, the Holy Light Sword or the Self Sword of Lantert?」

“Ah, from my experience, the Holy Sword felt better. The Self Sword is decent, but nothing compares to the Holy Sword if you’re aiming for a one-hit kill. And…”

Pausing for a moment, Friede casually glanced through the chat looking for more responses.

Almost as if she was enjoying the reactions, treating their display like stacking layers of responses she had to answer.

Deliberately waiting for about a minute, Friede finally replied.

“I aim to scale up to Challenger rank 1 in Ranked matches. I’ll be climbing with the Holy Sword.”

[Oh?! For real?]

[Whoa! Big news!]

[Wow! Are you seriously going to fight holding the Holy Sword instead of the Broken Club? ㅗㅜㅑ]

[Sister, when you fought against Lotus with the Holy Sword, it was stunning… I’m going to cry over at Juji now.]

[Why are you crying over at Juji?]

[Wasn’t the Broken Greatsword supposed to be your identity? This is an unexpected development!]

“Um, there’s really no special reason. It just looks cool.”

I also wanted to avoid unintentionally creating rumors while fighting against Lotus.

Swallowing the backstory, Friede made her stance clear, and the chat started buzzing.

Regardless of the type of weapon, Friede had declared her goal of scaling to Challenger rank 1, or in other words, aiming for the top.

This meant,

[Looks like you need to take down Warden?]

[Yeah, he’s still rank 1, right?]

[Lotus is indeed a monster, but Warden is genuinely something else ㅇㅇ.]

[That epic 3:1 comeback was legendary.]

[As your rank rises, you’ll be meeting professional players all the time ㄷㄷㄷ.]

[Seems doable ㅇㅇ.]

By defeating Lotus, she’d validated her status as the strongest female user.

With no other female user abroad surpassing Lotus, Friede could genuinely be termed the strongest among women in Soul Warfare.

Her declared goal of reaching Challenger rank 1 was a targeted challenge that aimed not only at Lotus but also at Warden.

As the season was coming to a close, would she succeed in the upcoming time attack mission as the pre-season approached?

Everyone was preoccupied, throwing out scenarios, guesses, and analyses in the buzzing chat.

Then,

「SweetMan has donated 1,000,000 won!

—Sister! Is it true that you danced with Lotus in the Vlog? Was that a limited freeze of just Lotus? Please tell us. PooingPooing]

“Ah, SweetMan, you’ve made a generous donation. I’ll be using this to buy chicken.”

[Whoa LOL, what on earth?]

[This is SweetMan!]

[So sweet and lovely.]

[He’s one of the top broths known for being skinny and a professional gamer ㄷㄷ.]

[To be able to donate this much, is his real life hellish or is he just talented?]

[No idea.]

[Electro1.JPG LOL.]

[Right, LOL.]

“Hey, don’t be too hard on SweetMan.”

I briefly tried to calm the chat, but it was insufficient to quench the already roaring flames.

At times like this, it’s more efficient to redirect the heat of the fire than to focus on calming it down.

“Anyway, about that Vlog video where I danced with the player Lotus…”

Though it was a brief period, everyone’s attention was drawn to Friede’s ability to change the topic through her streams.

“That was indeed me. Everything, including the dance with Lotus and showing my face in front of her.”

Did her every word carry a hint of magic?

Friede’s confession stopped the flow of the stream.

The chat window froze like time that had come to a halt, becoming a desolate scene compared to its normal bustle.

Friede’s late-night stream suddenly burst from not being able to withstand the unexpected heat,

and the “explosion” was eerily quiet as if it aimed to respect those still asleep.

 

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