Chapter 35: Hidden Piece (3)

“Mmm.”

Kim Ha-yoon slowly opened her eyes, waking from a deep sleep.

‘It was a dream.’

Even in her groggy state, she smacked her lips regretfully.

She had been dreaming about poking Yoo Seo-yeon’s cheeks, soft like mochi.

Thinking it was a good dream, Kim Ha-yoon stretched.

Her fatigue had completely vanished.

She felt refreshed, like she’d slept for ten hours straight.

“…Wait.”

She turned her head. Outside the window, it was pitch dark.

It looked like night.

“Huh?!”

She hurriedly checked the clock. It was 8 p.m.

She had only meant to close her eyes for a bit and get back up,

but ended up sleeping like she’d been cryogenically frozen.

‘I set an alarm, didn’t I?’

With her foggy mind, Kim Ha-yoon picked up her smartphone.

Sure enough, the alarm had gone off multiple times.

But all of them were turned off.

No matter how she looked at it, she must have turned them off herself.

“…I turned all of them off and went back to sleep?”

She must’ve reflexively swiped them away in her sleep.

Guess she really was exhausted from accumulated fatigue.

“Well, everyone has days like this.”

She had streamed so much recently that no viewer would complain about her waking up a little late.

It’s not like she had promised a specific time for her next stream.

A few more hours of sleep wouldn’t change the world.

Kim Ha-yoon tidied up her bedding and got out of bed.

She let the night breeze from the window hit her face,

then began stretching out of habit.

Reaching her arms overhead, she repeated motions to stretch her back and spine, waking up her body.

With the soft cracking of joints, the rest of her fatigue slowly melted away.

After finishing her stretches, she headed to the kitchen to prepare a simple but healthy meal.

Avocado, chicken breast, and some vegetables.

Body maintenance was crucial for a streamer,

and it had always been a part of her routine.

Even though she came across as laid-back, she worked surprisingly hard on dieting behind the scenes.

Completely opposite of viewers who imagined she lived off fried chicken and beer when the stream was off.

‘Maybe it’s time to stop the hidden run?’

Chewing her chicken breast wrapped in lettuce, Kim Ha-yoon thought.

Hidden run. Scouring the map relentlessly for the hidden piece.

‘A week should be enough, right?’

One week.

That’s how long she had devoted everything to finding the hidden piece.

[Somewhere in the beginner village, a hidden piece exists.]

Thanks to that single sentence from the devs, everyone had been ignoring level-ups and chasing the hidden piece instead.

People were checking bushes, wells, rooftops, behind trees—some even pressing every individual brick.

Originally, it had started as a fun event.

But the viewer response was more intense than anyone had expected.

『Let’s go find the hidden!』

『We have to get the hidden piece!』

『Gotta beat other streamers to it!』

『Is our Del going to show her class?』

Messages like that flooded the chat every day.

Naturally, Kim Ha-yoon was swept along with the wave.

From the fans’ perspective, it was only natural.

They wanted their favorite streamer to get more attention and rise to the top.

And if she found the hidden piece—

She would be recognized and take the lead in the server.

So she ran herself ragged.

She scoured every corner of the map, analyzed every NPC line,

and smashed any suspicious or out-of-place object with her pickaxe.

The result? Nothing.

Still, the viewers enjoyed it.

The chat was full of the meme “Looks fake, right?” and a glitched pose caused by a bug was turned into a viral clip.

Because there were so many funny moments, the mood remained light.

Thanks to that, other streamers were also motivated and started joining the hidden run craze.

But—

The limits were beginning to show.

One week in.

Nothing to show for it.

Streamers were getting tired, and so were the viewers.

The chat slowly started to change:

『Wouldn’t it be better to just level up?』

『I think there’s no hidden piece.』

『Isn’t this a huge waste of time?』

Kim Ha-yoon was starting to feel the same.

Was she missing something?

It definitely seemed like the devs had planned for something, but no clues were turning up.

The devs had said the hidden piece was in the beginner village,

but…

『Is this bait?』

『Did the devs confuse it with the test server?』

『Forget it. Let’s just grind and farm.』

People were becoming more grounded.

Let’s just level up and farm gear.

The phrase “hidden piece” was slowly losing weight.

Raidel sighed, rubbing her forehead.

She felt like someone who had searched a desert for treasure and come up empty.

Even checking other streamers’ broadcasts in secret showed a similar vibe.

‘Why hasn’t anyone found it?’

Was the hint misleading?

Or was there never a hidden piece to begin with?

No one could say for sure. That only made it more confusing.

Some even suspected that Zeronix, the lead dev and planner of the server, had missed something or made a mistake.

“The hidden piece is definitely in the beginner village. We’ve given plenty of clues.”

Eventually, Zeronix appeared on stream alongside fellow dev Frost and made a clear statement.

Short but firm. And just like that, the controversy settled.

‘There’s no reason they’d lie.’

Zeronix and Frost.

Would those two lie in front of so many big-name streamers?

No way.

There was nothing to gain from lying, and even if it was a joke, the mood wasn’t light enough to laugh it off.

Among the invited streamers were several top-tier broadcasters.

If they wasted a week on a prank, it wouldn’t just end in harsh words.

No, it might be enough to make someone retire from streaming altogether.

That only made things more baffling.

They said it definitely existed—yet no one could find it.

Some said everyone was looking in the wrong direction.

Others speculated that someone had already found it but kept quiet.

And so, the atmosphere began to shift.

The early excitement faded. Some streamers gave up on the hidden run and started farming and leveling up seriously.

There was no more time to waste chasing a phantom hidden piece.

Soon, the streamers they had invited with entry tickets would be joining the server.

‘If I fall behind now, I might really be left behind.’

So this was the end of the hidden run.

Kim Ha-yoon made her decision.

Sure, some viewers might be disappointed that she gave up,

but more were probably waiting for her to move on.

“Phew. Let’s do our best today too.”

Murmuring like a mantra, Kim Ha-yoon got up.

She fixed her makeup in front of the mirror, adjusted the lighting, and set the webcam angle.

Time to start the stream.

Since the hidden run was over, there was no need to go all-out anymore.

She planned to chat casually with viewers, explore a few in-game cafés, then hop onto the Pixel Wars streamer server.

Perfect plan.

She ended the stream’s standby screen and turned on her cam.

“Delha-delha~ I meant to come on earlier, but I slept way too deep.”

She expected chats like:

『Why so late?』

『You worked hard, you should sleep more.』

But instead—

The viewer count exploded in seconds.

And the chat flooded with completely unexpected messages.

[Did you see the announcement???]

[Silverhair found the hidden piece!]

[First hidden in the streamer server discovered lololol]

[The devs even named them in the announcement lololol]

[Delbung missed it while snoring lololol]

Raidel’s mouth hung open in surprise.

“Whaaaaat! Really? That’s insane!”

Then she let out a scoff of disbelief.

“…As if. At least make your prank a little more believable. What kind of nonsense is this?”

She recalled Yoo Seo-yeon waddling off into the sea after suddenly building a raft.

That bold image reminded her of watching Ace, the Pirate King’s son.

(TL note: Portgas D. Ace is the son of the pirate king Gol D. Roger in the most popular manga in the world, one piece)

In other words—headed somewhere ridiculous only to die foolishly.

‘Well, at least they’re coordinated.’

Determined to troll, the viewers were united in fooling Raidel.

Some even added to the realism with comments like “Wait, for real?” pretending they’d just found out.

At this rate,

it almost seemed like Yoo Seo-yeon really had found the first hidden piece.

“Yes, thank you everyone. If your story had even a bit more plausibility, I might’ve fallen for it.”

To begin with, Yoo Seo-yeon had never even played Pixel Wars.

Top-tier streamers had searched nonstop for a week and still found nothing.

There was no way she had found something like that out of nowhere.

《‘HeavenlyDemonRulesAsAFemale’ has donated 3,000 won!》

• Delbung, it’s not a joke. Check the announcement right now or go to someone else’s stream.

[Fr]

[Go check nowwwww]

[Stop being gullible, Delbung!]

[Go see the announcement, c’mon!]

“Okay, okay. I’ll check the announcement.”

Raidel replied in a slightly deflated tone.

Any joke gets dull when it’s dragged out too long.

Normally someone would start calling it out by now.

But it was like all her viewers’ brains were connected via fiber-optic cables—they were all urging her to check the announcement.

“Zeronix…-nim.”

Pixel Wars’ streamer server management site.

Not a real homepage—just the broadcast page of the dev, Zeronix, acting as the hub.

Zeronix’s announcements were basically the server’s official posts.

Raidel opened Zeronix’s channel and checked the latest notice.

And there it was:

[First Hidden Piece Found in the Streamer Server! Congratulations to ‘Silverhair’!]

The top notice stood out immediately.

“Huh?”