Chapter 141: The Hero Has Appeared

That’s strange.

The woman in Dayoung’s sight was definitely strange.

A black suit with neatly straight hair down to her shoulders.

‘A secretary? A career woman?’

With rimless glasses and a calm impression, she had the optimized look of a so-called office worker.

‘If that were all, Dayoung would have simply looked away.’

But upon closer inspection, something about her was undeniably suspicious.

“Someone here to see Sehee unnie? That can’t be….”

It was clear from her restless demeanor while looking at her sister’s house that she had a purpose for being there.

Though there was still some distance between them, Dayoung focused her gaze.

Maybe thanks to the warrior’s senses gradually awakening since getting involved with her sister, she could even make out the shape of the woman’s buttons despite the distance.

‘Black clothes, so the stains aren’t obvious… but there are a lot.

The fabric is crumpled with deep wrinkles and frayed threads sticking out everywhere.

Her hair isn’t that long, but it’s noticeably greasy.

Her makeup is mostly gone, but there are still traces left in the corners of her face where she didn’t remove it properly.’

‘How should she put it?’

She wasn’t sure if this was the right way to describe it, but… the woman looked like an office worker who had been laid off, fallen into despair, and spent a few days living on the streets, completely wrecked.

The conclusion was clear—there was nothing ordinary about her.

‘I need to be careful.’

Feeling an inexplicable sense of tension, Dayoung cautiously approached.

Her sister had told her that all connections to their family and even distant relatives had been severed.

Considering how much her sister’s body had changed, there was no way anyone could recognize her.

And yet, this woman was lingering near her house.

That could only mean one thing—she knew Sehee unnie.

There was no way she was just loitering because she liked the house.

‘Who was she?’

‘Could she be another hero? Maybe.’

But there was also another possibility.

The curse that had screwed over Dayoung before had come from this world—it had followed her all the way here as a fragment of the Demon King.

It wasn’t impossible that a Demon King who had lost against a hero had fled and hidden on Earth.

Not a full zero percent chance—just enough to be the worst-case scenario.

‘I’m not at full strength yet, but….’

Just in case, she got ready to run into her sister’s house if needed, then stepped closer and spoke.

“Um… do you have business here?”

The moment their eyes met as the woman sharply turned her head, Dayoung flinched and took a step back.

Her fingers clenched slightly as a strange feeling washed over her.

That woman… her eyes weren’t normal!

‘What the hell was up with those huge, sparkling eyes that could rival a Welsh Corgi’s?!’

“Are you a resident of this house?”

Her voice matched her appearance—calm, yet oddly distinct and clear as if it seeped straight into Dayoung’s ears.

“Ah… not yet.”

Crap!

‘Not yet?!’

‘No, well… to be fair, if a house like this only required a 100,000-won maintenance fee without any deposit while offering such an amazing lifestyle, it was only natural to be tempted, especially in this awful economy.’

But still…!

‘Wait a second. Was my goal really to leech off my sister like a parasite, sucking her dry?’

‘What kind of hero had no pride?! It wasn’t like burying herself in the holy embrace of Maman Friede would magically fix everything!’

‘…Or would it?’

Lost in confusion, Dayoung instinctively covered her mouth with her palm, but it was too late.

Her words had already escaped and traveled straight into the woman’s ears.

Even the subtle movement inside her bag gave her away.

Ah, Beep-Beep had heard it too.

Now she just wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

“Then, this house… Ah, um. How should I explain this?”

The woman looked just as flustered as she was.

‘Why was she acting so anxious?’

***

“Hehehe.”

The constant clacking of keyboards buried the laughter, but Ajin didn’t care.

In front of countless active PCs, her translucent duplicates—each identical to her—were diligently editing videos.

This was the final push to reclaim Friede’s rank 1 spot.

Over the past three days, it had been nothing but a storm of consecutive wins.

The number of ranked games Friede had played in Soul Warfare was overwhelming, meaning there was a mountain of footage to edit.

In the past, this workload would have been impossible to handle.

But now, thanks to her comfortable environment and a near-NEET lifestyle, Ajin was getting it done.

“Number 1, have you finished editing the duo segment with Lotus and unnie?”

The duplicate sitting at the PC labeled [1] silently nodded.

Since gaining more control over her power at her sister’s house, Ajin had needed a way to optimize her rapidly growing workforce.

Her solution was simple—assigning numbers to each PC and giving her duplicates specific editing roles for Friede’s streaming content.

The tasks varied.

Sorting and segmenting footage by theme.

Performing in-depth editing based on those themes.

Scouring the internet and other media for memes and clips to enhance the videos.

Finding appropriate background music.

And more.

Before, she would have spent days struggling to edit a single video.

Now?

In a single day, multiple high-quality, polished videos were uploaded.

Friede’s live streams ended, and within hours, edited highlights flooded the channel.

Despite covering just one day’s worth of content, the videos were split into digestible parts, leading to multiple uploads per day.

At this point, the editing speed was absurd, and the content was even funnier than the live broadcasts.

This was Team Ajin at its finest.

‘So if her duplicates were working this hard, what was Ajin herself doing?’

The answer was simple.

“Urp!”

Enjoying a warm, full belly and letting out a satisfied burp.

“This is heaven. Hehe.”

Ajin wiggled her fingers inside the snack bag a few times before grabbing five perfectly sized potato chips and tossing them into her mouth.

A satisfied smile spread across her face.

“As expected of unnie.”

She had done it again.

Ajin was watching the reactions to Friede’s broadcast.

After all, her duplicates handled all the video editing.

As for channel management and monitoring public opinion, those were tasks she insisted on handling herself.

Since she considered it the closest thing to managing her sister directly, it was a role she would never delegate to anyone else.

And then…

“I followed unnie’s instructions, but…”

A secret message from a warrior—visible only to Ajin.

As an editor, she had double-checked it multiple times out of concern, just in case.

“Will this really be okay?”

She couldn’t shake the slight worry that someone might recognize it.

After all, this was her first time doing something like this.

New tasks always carried both excitement and unease.

“Will another warrior really show up because of this?”

It wasn’t necessary for them to watch the video.

More precisely, it worked by spreading little by little across the internet, using the video as a medium.

Over time, as more of these edited videos accumulated, the effect would gradually—yet surely—amplify.

‘How does this even work…?’

It was an intricate mechanism, a power that could only belong to Sehee unnie.

Even at the peak of her strength, when Ajin herself had been a fellow warrior, she wouldn’t have been able to comprehend this system.

Well, no point in overthinking it.

Unnie was working hard for all their sakes.

“Aah, I’m so happy.”

Letting go of her worries, all that remained in her mind was comfort.

She didn’t even have to pay rent, which meant she could save money, and on top of that, her sister’s salary was high enough to slap a corporate executive in the face multiple times.

Everything was just perfect.

At this point, Park Dayoung seemed utterly foolish.

‘Why on earth hadn’t she moved into unnie’s house yet?’

This place was amazing.

Well, thinking about it seriously, the answer came quickly.

‘She’s just being stubborn. Ugh, such a pointless sense of pride.’

‘If she was worried about their mom, wouldn’t it be better to just get a job under unnie, earn some money quickly, and live here stress-free?’

“Whatever. If she regrets it later, she’ll come.”

With a huff, Ajin snorted and flopped onto her bed.

“I’m bored.”

Compared to the days when she had been saving the world, life here was overwhelmingly dull and peaceful, making her feel sluggish.

She stretched her arms out with all her strength to shake off the stiffness.

“Oghogok!”

***

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Ugh, what the hell? Who is it?”

Just as she was starting to enjoy the feeling of a good stretch, an abrupt disturbance ruined her mood.

Annoyed, Ajin frowned and strode toward the front door.

‘Who the hell was pounding on the door without even bothering to ring the doorbell?’

‘I think I already know who it is….’

This building was off-limits to anyone except warriors.

Which meant that whoever had come in must be a warrior.

And if it was a warrior who would knock like this, there was only one possibility.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Yeah, yeah. Dumbass sister, dameyo. Bang, bang, bang.”

As soon as she opened the door, just as expected, Park Dayoung came bursting in.

“OF!”

A sudden, loud shout snapped Ajin’s drowsy brain fully awake, making her scowl.

“What the hell?! What’s with the yelling?”

“Where’s unnie? She’s not answering her phone.”

“Unnie went out for a bit—huh? Wait. Who’s that?”

Ajin’s eyes widened at the sight of the office worker standing quietly behind Dayoung.

‘Why was there an outsider in this building?’

“Hey, this is bad!”

Noticing Ajin’s questioning gaze, Dayoung flailed dramatically.

“A warrior has appeared!”

“What?!”