Chapter 137: Lotus Diving

“No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange.”

At Dayoung’s firm declaration, I tilted my head in curiosity without thinking.

“What part?”

Looking around, I didn’t see anything particularly strange.

The broadcast was running smoothly, and we were in a party together inside Soul Warfare—nothing odd about that.

Right now, Forming was live-streaming, but partying with me didn’t seem to be causing any problems.

Dayoung pursed her lips and said, “There’s no real reason for us to party together.”

“What are you talking about? Who else would I party with besides you?”

“You could just play with another streamer.”

“Don’t forget, you’re a streamer too, little sister. Who else would I even play games with besides you?”

Unfortunately, my social circle was practically nonexistent.

‘Aside from Dayoung, Ajin, Eunha, and Yuri, who did I have? Eunha, being a pro-team gamer, was out of the question, so realistically, Dayoung was the only one I could comfortably game with. The others weren’t really into gaming.’

‘As for other streamers… outside of events, I hadn’t interacted with them much. And honestly, I had no desire to initiate anything. Especially with Gundeo—it had been fun hanging out, but getting any closer felt like it would just be exhausting.’

‘I’ve really gotten lazy.’

‘Ever since I returned to Earth from that world, I felt like I had changed a lot. Not just physically, but mentally too. My body—though technically, according to my official profile, I was still 22—had aged from all the experiences I’d gone through. Maybe that’s why I lost interest in making new connections unless it was related to the Hero.’

‘In that sense, Eunha was a bit of an exception.’

‘If this were before I got summoned to that world, I probably would have jumped at the chance to make gaming friends and have fun. But now? That was just a meaningless “what if.”‘

Just as I was lost in thought, Dayoung finally spoke up with a reason that, from my perspective, was utterly ridiculous.

“Look at the rank difference between us. It’s a big problem.”

Her unexpected response left me momentarily speechless.

Over something like that?

[Haha, honestly, there is a bit of a rank gap.]

[Forming’s inferiority complex is exploding.]

[Snake behavior detected, snake behavior.]

[Come on, Forming grinded all the way to Grandmaster. Why are you being like this?]

[But if you look at MMR, she’s not wrong.]

[Like, it’s just a one-tier difference in name, but Forming is practically on the verge of being demoted to Master. It’s almost a two-tier gap.]

[From Friede’s perspective, Forming is just a baby. You gotta protect her.]

[Protecting = Raising her tough.]

[Crybaby Forming.]

The chat exploded with reactions, almost like they were filtering Dayoung’s feelings for me to understand.

‘All this over ranks?’ Seeing Dayoung fretting over it so much made me chuckle.

I reached out and pinched her cheek lightly.

“Why are you worrying so much? There’s no problem with us queuing together.”

“But… what if people start saying you’re carrying me?”

“You don’t have to care about baseless accusations. Games are meant to be enjoyed. It’s not like Challengers only play with Challengers. Grandmasters and lower ranks get mixed in all the time. We’re not pro players.”

[True, she has a point.]

[If you don’t like it, just remove the party system.]

[The rank difference is big, but it’s still fine.]

[If she were just a Master, it might’ve been risky, lol.]

[As long as team MMR averages out, it should be fine.]

“Alright. But if I mess up, you better not get mad. And if anyone talks trash, you have to back me up.”

“Of course.”

I ruffled Dayoung’s hair as she pouted, then started matchmaking.

Dayoung wasn’t the type to act in bad faith, and if I had her back, she wouldn’t have to worry about getting flamed.

Besides, ranking up was more fun together.

[Spam detected… so much spam…]

-User JeonjuBibimbap has been removed from the chat.

[Oh no, dom huangcha!]

[The mods are on fire today.]

[That was some suspiciously quick moderation, lol.]

With Ajin taking charge of the chat like a seasoned executioner, we waited.

And then—

***

Thunk!

Finally, a match was found.

Dayoung and I accepted without hesitation and entered the lobby.

And standing there on the enemy team was an unexpected figure.

[Oh? Lotus is on the other team.]

[Time for Round 2.]

[Their team looks strong, but doesn’t it feel like they’re gonna lose somehow?]

[Of course, because the team with Sensei is ‘destined’ to win.]

[She wasn’t streaming, so she must’ve just solo queued.]

[STK has been grinding solo queue a lot lately, lol.]

[How does Forming end up with a Grandmaster teammate and then queue into Lotus? What are the odds?]

‘Should I say something?’

I hesitated for a moment but decided it was better to just play the game.

‘If I acted too friendly with a pro player, drama would surely follow. It wouldn’t affect me much, but Eunha’s situation was different.’

“Unnie…”

“Hm?”

“We have to win this. Got it?”

“Of course.”

Because we needed to rank up.

That’s what I wanted to say, but something about Dayoung’s expression was off.

‘Why was she smirking like that?’

Her energy level had skyrocketed to an almost suspicious degree.

If you see the attack coming, it’s already too late.

Watch your opponent’s movements.

Anticipate the next move before the sword is even drawn.

Like lightning, the holy sword slashed forward.

Eunha’s eyes widened as she quickly lowered her stance.

Pew!

A small opening created by a supporting shot from an ally.

Eunha saw this as her chance to make up for her earlier mistakes, but just as she moved in, an arrow from the enemy forced her to retreat.

“Tch!”

Clicking her tongue in frustration, she turned her gaze to where the arrows were coming from—Forming and Dayoung, keeping her in check from afar.

‘Was it because of the rank difference? Were they treating her like nothing more than a moving target, assuming all they had to do was maintain their aim?’

‘No, stay calm.’

She took a deep breath, keeping a safe distance.

Up until now, she had been holding her breath, enduring the relentless assault from Friede and Sehee.

One minute.

For an entire minute, she had focused solely on defense and dodging against her sister.

Even with support from her team’s archer, this level of successful defense was a first.

Their eyes met, but there was no need for words.

This was a true duel within the game—only their swords needed to speak.

Just as she steadied herself to counter Friede’s next attack—

“Hik!”

An arrow whizzed past Friede’s shoulder, aimed straight for her neck.

Eunha twisted her body in a desperate dodge, throwing off her form.

Friede wasted no time exploiting the opening, closing the distance in an instant.

Allied cover fire followed, but a few arrows could only buy a single second at most.

To avoid the holy sword slashing up from below, Eunha executed an uncharacteristic backflip, rolling across the ground—

And then—

Thud!

A dull impact.

An arrow lodged right in her forehead.

The screen flickered gray.

Eunha muttered under her breath.

“Damn it…”

She could understand playing passively, relying on arrows from the backline.

‘But standing in one spot, sniping her the whole time?’ That was just too much.

Her team’s marksman was providing cover fire all across the map, yet Park Dayoung had been locked onto her from the very start.

Her sister’s sheer physical skill was already monstrous enough to make dodging a challenge.

With this interference, it was impossible not to feel like her vision was flashing red with rage.

‘No, more than that…’

‘Why were those two even playing together?’

With their rank difference, they shouldn’t even be in the same matchmaking bracket.

As the respawn timer counted down, Eunha pulled up Friede’s stream.

And then, she understood.

Ah… they were duo-queueing on stream.

Of course.

There was no other way they’d be in the same game.

Realizing this only now made her feel like an idiot.

No—anyone who got tangled up with her sister ended up feeling like an idiot.

Maybe that was why.

Seeing Dayoung playing in the backline, supporting her sister, made something dark and venomous coil deep in her chest.

‘If I were there instead, we would’ve already forced a surrender and moved on to the next game by now.’

And yet…

‘Meanwhile, some people…’

She had been avoiding duo queue to steer clear of controversy, making sure not to draw any unnecessary attention.

She couldn’t even openly stick by her sister.

Yet that girl was glued to her side without a care in the world.

“Oh, that’s how it’s gonna be?”

From the very first time they met, Eunha had never gotten a good impression of Dayoung.

Sure, they had apologized and even played a friendly match together, but differences in personality and chemistry weren’t things that could be patched up so easily.

If that girl wanted to play it like this—

Eunha had an idea of her own.

***

Time passed.

Revived, Eunha charged straight down the center lane.

Between the clashing waves of foot soldiers, Friede’s blade danced in dazzling arcs.

Normally, she would have stepped in and crossed swords with her sister.

But this time was different.

Using the enemy soldiers as cover, she weaved left and right, slipping past Friede.

‘Why the reckless rush?’

Charging solo into the center lane would accomplish nothing.

The game’s mechanics wouldn’t allow a single player to destroy an objective alone, so even Friede shot her a confused glance.

Then—

She spotted Dayoung.

Holding position in front of the defensive objective, bow drawn.

Eunha’s eyes locked onto her target, and she let out a battle cry.

“At the very least, I’m taking you down with me, you bitch!”

“Wha—?!”

Ignoring Friede, Eunha lunged straight at Dayoung.

Dayoung panicked, drawing her dagger in a frantic attempt to counter.

But Eunha had seen that kind of sloppy defense too many times before.

She easily deflected the attack with a well-timed parry.

Boom!

The familiar impact of a successful parry reverberated through her hands.

Dayoung staggered, momentarily stunned.

From behind, Friede was closing in fast.

‘Sorry, sis. But not even you can stop me this time.’

Without hesitation, Eunha grabbed Dayoung and hurled both of them off the cliff.

If they were going to lose anyway, she might as well make sure that girl got a taste of hell first.

“Aaaaaahhh!”

Even in a game, the hyper-realistic physics of virtual reality made free-falling a gut-churning experience.

Dayoung’s scream rang out.

Eunha, plummeting into the endless abyss, looked just like a lotus drifting on the wind.