Chapter 18: Congrats on 2nd Place in the Clan War!

“I don’t understand why she’s not popular.”

My first impression of the VTuber Heretic was really good.

First off, her virtual avatar was so incredibly beautiful that I unknowingly clapped twice.

The character’s movements were subtle, but her expressions were incredibly varied and detailed, making it fun to watch.

“She seems to play games pretty well too, right? She’s not the type to let the audio go silent, nor does she ignore the chat.”

Just in case, I checked the chat window, but it wasn’t like she had a strict subscriber-only chat enabled.
Even ‘Galaxy Train’ was a game with a decent, solid fanbase on Pajijik.

If someone streamed somewhat normally, quite a few people would drop by and stick around just because they were playing Galaxy Train.

So, while not everyone could boast over a thousand viewers, for someone who achieved 2nd place in a clan war, her viewer count was way too low.

[ has donated 4,000 won]

[Heretic-nim, I want to get up to PVP Tier 3 rewards, do you have any tips?]

“Thank you for the 4,000 won donation~! But you know questions start from 10,000 won, right? Still, I’ll give you some PVP honey tips right away, so please wait a moment!”

Is it because donations related to game guides start from 10,000 won?

That can’t be it, right?

This was similar to Mallang’s stream.

If she allowed such questions for even a thousand won, there would be too many people asking indiscriminately, making it impossible to proceed with the broadcast.

“She plays the game perfectly well, her voice is very pretty, and her avatar is attractively well-made… I don’t get why only 200 people are watching!”

Of course, for a streamer in the truly deep abyss, 200 viewers would be something to shout about, but considering Heretic’s gaming skills, 200 viewers just didn’t make sense, no matter how I thought about it.

I’m not planning on becoming a streamer, but I’m really curious about this…

“Alright! You’ve waited a long time!!! Starting now, the setup guide for the upcoming Colosseum! Let’s begin!”

[– Oh, finally doing it lol]

[– For strats, it’s gotta be? Heretube]

[– Who should I raise? Who should I raise? Who should I raise?]

[– If I didn’t pull Ha Eun-rich, can I not get Tier 1 rewards?]

While I was briefly pondering, Heretic’s guide broadcast proceeded smoothly.

No, why isn’t she popular? She checks the chat window reasonably well too, right?

“First, before I give you a guide on character development, let me tell you what kind of content the Colosseum is, okay?”

Heretic immediately showed a prepared image.

“The Colosseum is PVP content. You attack defense decks set up by other players with your attack deck, and if you win, you get points and compete for rankings.”

[– It’s just a common PVP content~]

[– It’s harder to find games without this kind of thing these days.]

[– Doesn’t Red Archive have this too?]

[– It’d be disappointing if a gacha game didn’t have PVP]

“And when attacking a defense deck with an attack deck, unfortunately, there are no elements we can control.

They say real-time PVP like that will come out later, but! For now, please know that you can only enjoy this 100% auto PVP!”

It’s PVP, but for now, it’s only auto?

Then the character’s performance or whether they’ve been limit-broken would feel even more significant, wouldn’t it?

“So, what should we do to get good scores in the Colosseum? Obviously, we need to be good at earning points! When the Colosseum opens, you’ll see bot accounts like this that aren’t users. They’re quite weak compared to the points they have, so make sure to take them down right away.”

Oh, this could be a honey tip…

Raise your rank as quickly as possible to eat up the bots, which are bound to be weaker than users, and climb the ranks.

“And next, the most important thing is to set up a good defense deck. Every time you fail in defense, your rank keeps dropping, so it’s definitely better to be good at defending, right?”

Heretic quickly showed the characters she recommended.

“So, I’d like to recommend that you diligently raise the Meiring character you might have gotten from a spook or the standard banner, okay?”

[– Meiring is good]

[– Don’t you use Seren? Don’t you use Seren? Is Seren already outdated?]

[– Wow, I don’t have Meiring, what do I do? I’m already screwed.]

[– OMG, this is also a 5-star!]

What, my Meiring can be active here too?

…Should I just mindlessly pull more on the standard banner to max limit break her?

Hmm, a character that’s unconditionally super active in PVP would be quite good.

“But Meiring is a 5-star character, right? So, for you all, I recommend here! The 4-star Preservation character, ‘Nanaka.’ This is a free distribution character you can naturally get to 2 limit breaks by clearing the story, right? And she has a taunt ability, so she can play a big role in the Colosseum!”

This is pretty lucky.

To get 1st place in the clan war, I max-leveled all the characters that looked good at the moment and maxed their skills too, and it turns out Nanaka is a meta pick?

Hehehe, I didn’t know anything, but I feel like I just found 10,000 won on the street for no reason!

“Wow… But she explains things quite kindly. Why isn’t she popular? I’m already starting to like her so much I want to follow her!”

[ has donated 1,000 won]

[Instead of raising Nanaka, isn’t it better to just raise 4-star Saren, get the first turn, and use her ultimate first?]

Oh…? Is that so? Saren definitely had a skill that filled the ultimate gauge, right?

“Excuse me. Can’t you see what I’m explaining right now?”

Heretic’s voice suddenly became blatantly sharp.

[– Drive out the newbie!!!!]

[–  There he goes again, acting like he knows everything ㅋㅋ]

“No, really. Excuse me. Don’t you think I’ve calculated all this before explaining it like this? Logically, would a user who is looking for a 4-star because they don’t have Meiring have a character to spam ultimates with after getting Saren’s boost? Huh?”

[– That’s right, that’s right]

[– For real, If they had a 5-star character to get boosted, they would have raised that one.]

[– Sigh, doubting the great Heretic-nim again.]

[– Do you know the game better than Heretic???]

“Ha, really, there are always… people who don’t understand when I explain something and say such nonsense. Look. I even calculated it with Excel like this…”

Heretic actually opened Excel and began to persistently explain the benefits of raising Nanaka and the drawbacks of Saren.

“Ah… I get why she’s not popular. She has a serious personality flaw.”

It’s a surprisingly simple reason.

This woman, she gets “scratched” way too easily.

She’s the type who thinks her calculations are 100% perfect, so her personality doesn’t tolerate even a tiny bit of refutation from anyone.

[Has donated 10,000 won]

[Then Heretic-nim~ I have Meiring and Nanaka, is Saren still not good in this case?]

“Not at all~! If you have Meiring, Nanaka is actually even better! What is Nanaka’s skill~? It taunts an ally, right? It’s a perfect combination with Meiring’s counter skill!”

[– Just thinking about it sounds strong]

[– Finally, a friend who understands.]

[– Wow, then all the kids who whined about Meiring being a spook were just bragging;;]

Heretic really liked people who agreed with her story, and she was someone who got angry too easily at anyone who said anything even slightly “scratchy.”

Alright, then should I try to “scratch” her lightly too?

I didn’t intend to tease her, but I already feel like she’s fun to hit…

[– Then for people with Iines, isn’t the best defense deck Meiring/Ha Eun-rich/Seren and spamming ultimates?]

In a broadcast with only 200 viewers, my chat message remained visible for quite a long time.

“No… Ha, someone who plays the imaginary Galaxy Train has come again. If you have Iines, of course that’s good~”

Heretic couldn’t hold back for even a second and opened her mouth, “scratched.”

“But! Do you have Iines? I don’t even have her. I, who got 2nd in the clan war, don’t have her, so why are you worrying about such a thing? Why are you thinking about something you don’t have?”

The clan war coin reward was 5,000 for 1st place only.

From 2nd to 150th place, it was 4,000.

So Heretic probably couldn’t get Iines.

[– No; I said it because I have her.]

“You have her? Ah sht… Really! Why is it like this all day today! Earlier, some trash came in and insulted me for getting 2nd place! What are you! You’re those bstards who were role-playing earlier, aren’t you! How do you have her!?”

Heretic shouted loudly and then immediately started clicking her mouse.

As expected, she banned my account.

And as if that wasn’t enough to contain her anger, she fumed.

“Ah! Really! Why is it like this lately? It was occasionally like this when I played Seven Heavens back in the day too…! Sht! Did I want to get 2nd place?! Ugh! It’s because of that crazy btch, that middle school girl or whatever, that I couldn’t get 1st!!!”

She’s freaking out this much after just two chat messages?

Is she really the type to make a fuss even if she’s only slightly “scratched”?

Well, there are people like this in real life too.

[– (shivers)]

[– Heretic-nim, don’t worry too much;; What do ordinary people know.]

[– Nim, don’t get too angry]

[– Hurry up and resume the guide broadcast~ Hurry up and resume the guide broadcast~ Hurry up and resume the guide broadcast~]

[– Who “scratched” her and left again?]

“Really…! Really! The stress I get from the ad banners popping up every time I enter the ship is already insane, ugh, ughh! Really!!!!”

Her reaction is quite amusing, should I “scratch” her one more time?

[ has donated 1,000 won]

[Should’ve done better then.]

“Ah sht!!! Hey!!! You’re that guy from before, right?! The bstard who said he had Iines! Hey! You, you! You think I can’t see your ID? You think just because you sent it anonymously, it looks anonymous to me too?!”

Heretic screamed while frantically typing on her keyboard.

“What is this, why is the ID like this, 2dnlcnrgkgo…? What does it mean? Is this perhaps a curse?”
(TL: 2dnlcnrgkgo when typed on a Korean keyboard in English mode is 2위축하해, which means “Congrats on 2nd place.”)

[– Wow, this one is a real villain.]

[– It’s Korean typed in English letters]

[– “Congrats on 2nd place” is f*cking hilarious]

[– Congrats on 2nd place, Heretic!!!]

“2nd place congra… Hey, hey you… you son of a btch!!!! Who are you! What are you?! Are you stronger than me?! Are you better at calculating than me?! You’re not! You’re nooooot!! Why are you teasing meee!!!”

Heretic shrieked wildly, and I watched her meltdown with great amusement.

Including the fact that she has a strange inferiority complex towards me, she’s fun to torment.

***

“Uuugh…”

The moment I opened the food disposal unit to clean up after dinner, a scene from hell unfolded before my eyes.

The state of the disposer was so terrible that I wondered if I was being punished for teasing Heretic for an hour.

Even looking at this horrible sight made both sides of my head throb and my lower abdomen ache, making me feel extremely unwell.

“When I looked this up online, I heard it was expensive… I have a lot of money so I can just buy a new one, but why did it break?”

The inside of the disposer was full of soil, and if you put food waste in here, it would decompose on its own.
The fact that the youngest daughter of a chaebol family didn’t have to go outside to throw away food waste, like in her 9th-grade civil servant life, was really nice.

“Ugh… I really shouldn’t live like this…!”

First, I slammed shut the lid of the food disposer, from which an unbearable stench was emanating.

…Come to think of it, regardless of having a lot of money, there was a serious problem with my current eating habits.

I was having every meal delivered, and money was really no object, but the problem was the leftover food.

“I can’t eat that much… My body is such that I can’t even finish a single serving when I order it.”

I stroked my stomach with both hands, feeling firm muscles instead of flab.

Kwon Se-ah’s body was perfectly managed.

It was clearly the result of diligent exercise, but I realized something when I cooked and ate a packet of ramen the other day.

“I can’t keep eating delivery food with a body that leaves leftover ramen from a single packet…”

This, no matter how much money I had, felt wasteful.

I can’t continue this crazy life of ordering a pizza, eating two slices, and then throwing the rest into the food disposer.

Thinking, ‘Since I have a lot of money~ I won’t eat pizza reheated in the microwave~’ is fine once or twice!

And no matter how expensive the food is, if it’s leftover, it spoils, and if it spoils, it becomes food waste.

“Ah, I can’t do this! No! Instead of living so foolishly, even if I spend the same amount of money, let’s make a single serving of something I can eat deliciously!”

I knew how to cook reasonably well anyway from my long life of living alone.

The ingredients were always the problem!

“Alright then, wearing a suit to go out will obviously attract too much attention, so let’s just wear a windbreaker and jeans.”

Tomorrow, as soon as I wake up, let’s go shopping at the department store.

Since I’m the youngest daughter of a chaebol family, a supermarket is a bit much, so a department store should be fine, right?

And so, forgetting what kind of existence she had become, she thought she could go grocery shopping normally.