episode_0001

The era of MMORPG has come to an end.

Once a popular trend, MMORPG (an abbreviation for Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) has gradually given way to online battle games due to its long gameplay time and the need to establish continuous relationships with others. Additionally, the difficulty of quick updates played a role in this shift.

Of course, these days, many people are leaving those battle games as well, citing reasons like not wanting to play with mentally unstable individuals.

However, Heroes of Legend, which gained popularity a few years ago, was different.

Tired of RPGs being bothersome, battle games being burdensome, and single-player games being lonely? This game was created with the motto of encompassing all of them.

It was undoubtedly a concept that seemed excessive. While it may appear plausible to include everything, in reality, it would result in tremendous pressure for constant updates.

However, the developer of Heroes of Legend, Leptilion, turned out to be an exceptional company. By incorporating AI technology, they were able to complete the game at a much faster pace than other developers and continued to provide regular updates.

As a result, Heroes of Legend became the epitome of a game that encompassed all genres. It was like the Holy Grail of the gaming world.

Whatever genre you desired, Heroes of Legend had it all: RPG growth, battles, nurturing, VR, management, and more.

Absorbing all players in this manner, Heroes of Legend achieved the mythical status of having 500 million monthly active users, gaining fame even among the general public who had no interest in games.

Even now, in some economically devastated countries, it is said that mining in Heroes of Legend earns more money than going outside to work. It’s beyond words.

Naturally, streamers flocked to this game as well. Twitch has a saying about it.

“There may be streamers who don’t play Heroes of Legend, but there are no streamers who don’t play Heroes of Legend.”

You started playing Hiole because it was such a famous game. Among them, there were streamers who had tens of thousands of viewers, even reaching hundreds of thousands internationally. But on the flip side, there were also countless small-time streamers like Hakko.

And I was one of them, a small-time streamer playing Hiole.

Looking back now, I couldn’t understand what kind of absurd perseverance I had. With the sole belief of relying solely on my skills to compete, I played without turning on the camera, with minimal commentary, and focused only on intense gameplay.

Yet, despite that, there were still dozens of viewers gathered, solely because of the class I played.

“Why do you play as a Red Mage? Is there a specific mission?”

“Is this your first time in this dungeon? You only play as a Red Mage.”

“Isn’t it the lowest-ranked class among all classes? Wow, Tier 1?”

“This person is the only Tier 1 Red Mage in Hiole.”

“Ah, I’m leaving the same team.”

It was a common occurrence. Leaving right after picking the Red Mage was a daily routine, and there were many users who openly insulted.

Of course, such users were immediately caught by AI algorithms. Nevertheless, it was no longer surprising.

Based on its concept alone, the Red Mage seems like a versatile class that uses healing magic, offensive magic, and even swords.

But if that were the case, everyone would be playing as a Red Mage. In reality, it was a trap class.

First of all, they couldn’t wear medium or heavy armor like melee classes. They could only wear cloth robes like mages or priests.

Additionally, their healing magic was overshadowed by the priest class, and their offensive magic was overshadowed by the mage class.

Although they possessed CC (Crowd Control) abilities like tanks, the duration was so short, not even half a second, that it was questionable if they could even apply CC.

As a result, the Red Mage was the lowest-ranked class among Hiole classes. It had occupied the position of the least popular class since the early days of the game.

[Hiole Class Tier Chart. I won’t mention the lowest rank. Let’s move on.]

YouTubers had already made enough comments about this.

“What are you doing?”

“Just streaming.”

The daily routine was simple. When I woke up, I turned on the stream, and as soon as I finished streaming, I went to sleep.

It was the life pattern of a zero-rank soldier.

Someone whispered to me, a streamer I had a close relationship with. They were called “Gobang,” short for “Gogi Bangpae” (Meat Shield).

Like Nick, he played as a tank class, specifically a “shieldbearer” who wielded a shield in both hands. Tanks were essential, so he wasn’t rejected like me, but tanks themselves were not a popular class. On the flip side, you could call them nobles… Gobang usually referred to them as carrots. Carrots. They add color to dishes and are good for the body, but it’s something I personally don’t want to eat. Because of that, most of his content involved him being teased for constantly getting hit in the game, which he found painful. Thanks to that, he had many more viewers than me. He was like a big company among the small fry, with an average of around 300 viewers. [Interested in becoming a YouTuber?] [What’s a YouTuber?] [Don’t you know about virtual YouTubers?] [Ah, those people who wear weird costumes and broadcast?] [Gal!!!!!! How dare you call them weird costumes! That’s their true form!] It’s a chat window and it’s noisy. I roughly understand what they’re talking about. I’m aware of it here and there, but I’m not interested. [You don’t seem interested. But why?] [Someone from our company wants to become a YouTuber, but they’ve never played Hiole before. So I thought maybe you could teach them.] The company referred to a company like an MCN, which manages streamers and YouTubers and distributes profits. Of course, I’ve never received a contact from such a company, and I myself had no intention of joining such a place. [Why me?] [Because I’ve never tried anything other than being a tank, so teaching would be difficult for me. But you can explain attack, healing, swordsmanship, and tanking to some extent.] [That’s true.] Come to think of it, that was a valid point. It took a lot of time to nurture a character in Hiole. While it wasn’t impossible to change classes, it wasn’t easy to dispose of all the equipment and switch to another class. As a result, even game experts rarely provided accurate information. To give accurate information, you needed to experience the game as a whole, but they only focused on their own class.

In that sense, the spellcaster class in Hiore, who can use all types of class skills, is realistically the optimal profession for teaching newbies.

[Dislike.]

However, I immediately replied, “Why bother? It would be a bad idea to collaborate with a Vtuber whom I have no interest in.”

I had no intention of rudely criticizing an area I didn’t understand. But if we were to broadcast together, there was no guarantee that I wouldn’t touch that area.

It’s better for us not to see each other.

[Don’t say that… I caught a glimpse of them, and they were really cute. Isn’t it a win-win situation to collaborate with a Vtuber?]

[I don’t even know the Vtuber well…]

While chatting like that, I glanced at the broadcast chat window.

Ah, I forgot to turn off the whisper screen.

-Hmm….

-That emotionless guy is being misogynistic again.

-Why are you spitting when the Vtuber is suggesting the collaboration on their own? Are you really gay?

-Me

-Rock

-Me

-Rock

They were causing a fuss. I sighed and tapped on the keyboard.

[I’ll do it once. When are you available?]

[Whenever you’re comfortable.]

[I broadcast for 20 hours a day.]

[Crazy person… They start their broadcast at 7 p.m., so let’s do it then. I’ll let you know in advance, so turn on Discord.]

[Okay. Oh, by the way, what are their names?]

[Arisa and Neon. The one with half-red and half-blue hair is Neon, and the one with black hair is Arisa.]

[Got it.]

I looked at the chat window again.

-Guk (sound of gulping)

-Rock

-Guk

-Arisa. Neon. Confirmed.

-Rock

-I’ll be Arisa.

-Then I’ll be Neon.

-Is this where the Kimchi Stew Eating Championship is being held?

They were having fun among themselves. I rotated the queue silently.

Until now, I hadn’t thought much about it. Since I was a complete beginner who had never done it before, even if they just taught me the basics, time would pass quickly.

“Yawn…”

I stretched and got up from my seat.

In my late twenties, living alone in a room where I only played games… To avoid being the protagonist of such ridiculous headlines and not contribute to game hatred, I had to stretch at least once every two or three hours.

What should I eat? Should I have instant noodles?

I glanced at the tower of cup noodles piled up next to the monitor.

No, that won’t do. I might die like this.

But let’s eat something nutritious. Curry is good. It’s reasonably easy and nutritious.

Of course, it’s a 3-minute retro curry.

Out of laziness, I rotated the bag containing instant rice and retro curry at the same time. There was a sound of crackling and sparks flying in the microwave.

Ah, so I was supposed to open this and then rotate it.

After quickly finishing a few spoonfuls, I sat back in front of the computer.

-^^7

-^^7

-We didn’t say anything.

The viewers pretended not to know, but even if they did, there weren’t many viewers, so it would be seen quickly if I uploaded it.

When I uploaded it, there was another debate titled “Is it okay for the Elderly Care Center Social Club Breaker to continue like this?” shortened as “Yangigwaen Debate.”

If it fails, I’m screwed, so why are you guys worried about my future?

-Oh, it’s 7 o’clock.

-Hurry up and decode, tap-tap!

Nonchalantly, I entered Discord.

“Hello. I came here because you asked me to teach. Both of you are new to Hiore, right?”

As I said that into the microphone, the greetings came back as if they were waiting.

“So, are you the teacher who will teach Bonnyeo?”

“Hello~”

…It’s not easy. Being a YouTuber.