Chapter 25: [Going over it] Mom’s coming out!!! [Yuki/Lunaverse] (1)

After searching the internet for a while, I finally found a decent apartment for rent.

The price wasn’t bad, and it even had a separate bedroom.

At last, I’d get to live in a place with a proper living room.

It had to be better than my current studio, where the bed, computer, and kitchen all shared the same cramped space.

Well, this is basically fake San Andreas.

The house is rundown, and so is the neighborhood.

“Still… I’ve grown attached to it. Kinda sad.”

I’d lived here for six years.

Signed the lease as soon as I turned twenty, so I’d spent most of my adult life in this place.

Even though I kept saying how crappy it was, it was a surprisingly livable area.

The people weren’t bad either.

A bit dirty, sure, but I’d grown fond of the scenery.

Can’t deny the high number of foreigners and the crime rate, though…

Leaving this neighborhood I’d come to love and moving to Seoul felt bittersweet.

“…Well, I can think about that later. Time to play some games.”

Gotta do today’s stream.

For someone like me who streams almost every day, it had basically become part of my daily routine.

I closed the browser and started setting up the stream.

Placed my virtual model on screen, checked the chat window position.

With the basics done, it was time to go live.

[Yuki has started streaming!]

[568 viewers watching]

-BANG ON!!

-Stream is LIIIIVE!!!

-Seated

-Yukigenyo

-Yukigen~

-Seated

I switched the screen to the standby overlay and started the stream.

While viewers were gathering, I launched the game for today’s stream.

Once the game title popped up, I checked the resolution and typed out the stream title.

[【Going over it】The Almighty Hammer Arrives!!! 【Yuki / Lunaverse】]

Going Over It.

Commonly referred to as the “pot game.”

That was today’s featured torture.

“Yukigenyo!!”

-Yukigenyo!

-Yep yep yep

-Yukigenyo! – Yukigenyo~

[“Yuki’s Foot Wiper” donated ₩10,000!]

-You didn’t look so great yesterday… Are you okay?

“Ah, I’m fine. I just got a little startled at the end, that’s all.”

Truth is, I blacked out standing up.

Clung to Rin and cried my eyes out.

But I couldn’t just say that to my viewers, so I played it off casually.

“Anyway, today’s stream is the pot game! Yay! Applause~”

–clapclapclapclapclap

–clapclapclap

-She really brought out the pot game

–clapclapclapclap

-Full stream clear maybe?

-Clearing it today??

“Clearing it… not sure. I’ll just give it a try for now.”

Infamous for its difficulty, the pot game required climbing using a sledgehammer. The mouse controls were pretty tricky.

If your direction or momentum was even slightly off, your hammer would swing somewhere completely wrong.

▷ [New Game]

I clicked the mouse and started a new game right away.

In the center of the screen was a pot.

Out of the glossy black ceramic pot emerged two arms.

Then, a muscular torso rose up from the pot.

The guy looked like he was about to start dancing to Ra Ra Rasputin~ or something.

And in his hand, a long work hammer.

In other words, the almighty sledgehammer.

-LOL

-Hammer slam!

-This f***in’ hammer LOL

-The stream title wasn’t kidding…

-The most thoroughly Korean-patched VTuber

-lolol

“Well, I am Korean. Let’s get right into the game.”

No need for a tutorial.

I mean, I’m not even sure it has one.

If you’re a real gamer, you figure out the controls on instinct.

I immediately slammed the hammer into the ground to move the character.

“Ohh, he’s going up!”

Using the hammer as a support, the pot guy launched into the air.

Then I pushed the hammer left, and the airborne guy moved right.

So it’s about using the hammer to climb, huh?

Well, I’d seen this on NewTube before, so I already had a good idea.

“Okay, let’s start climbing.”

-Yep yep

-Let’s gooo~

-Clearing the whole game??

-Yuki’s gonna take 5 hours LOL

-lolol

[MathgaGaki donated ₩10,000!]

-Ah… well, Yuki is a noob…

“…I am not a noob.”

-Instant reply lol

-LOLOL

-So fast

-???: “I’m n-not a noob~”

-lol

“You all keep calling me a noob, but Yuki-chan is an elite! Look—I have the most subscribers out of all my peers!”

[Mujiseong Harassment donated ₩10,000!]

-Excuse me. Please don’t use facts to win. Let’s fight fair with propaganda and misinformation.

“…Excuse me??”

-LOL

-LMAO

-Propaganda and lies!!

-Hahaha

-Using facts is cheating ;;

-Yuki, how low can you go

-Cringe-core Yuki

As expected of these internet ghouls, they were clearly social media veterans.

S: Spread
N: Nonsense
S: Strategy

…Come on, give a little respect to the top subscriber channel here!!

I wanna get pampered and praised sometimes too!!

(※ “Chiayahoya” = spoiled, adored, doted on)

“Well, the Yuki-dan never treat me kindly anyway… I’ll just keep playing.”

-haha;;

-You mad?

-These are the viewers you chose! Endure it with grit!

-haha… sorry! LOL ;;

-Yuki’s pouting

-Touchy~ Mad~ Why so serious~

-lol

-Don’t take it seriously~

Puffing my cheeks out like a pancake, I buckled down and focused.

I pushed the hammer to the left, moving the pot.

Like pushing off the ground.

Then a bumpy rock appeared ahead, so I slammed the hammer down.

Thunk!

The pot jumped sky-high from the recoil.

At its peak, I wedged the hammer between two rocks to keep from falling.

-?

-?

-What was that

-?

-?????

-Wait, why are you good at this?

-What is this sorcery?

“Uh… why did that work?”

-Even she’s confused

-LOLOL

-lol

-Secret master

-LOL

-Why’s she so cracked

“U-Uh… I don’t know? This is my first time playing…”

I was stunned myself.

I’d been mad at the teasing chat, and before I knew it, I was scaling cliffs.

Wait…

How did I even do that??

Did I unlock some subconscious ultra-instinct mode?

I’m not Son Goku, and I’m not even wearing a black puffer jacket!

/In our life, we always encounter moments of failure./

Suddenly, an old man’s English narration started playing.

”But no worries. All you have to do is to get over it, and start over.”

”You know what I mean. No pain, no gains.”

”Now.”

”Go over that mountain.”

”And show me you are worth more than that.”

Was I going too fast for the narration to play properly?

It all came rushing in at once.

And it was all in English.

Which I didn’t understand.

“Umm… yeah, I totally understood all of that!”

-lol?

-(Totally didn’t get it)

-fr lol

-lololol

“Something something… no pain no game! Is that from an anime or something?”

-OMG LOL

-No game no life, you say? LOL

-Her English is tragic

-And this… is a proper lady?

-She can never collab with EN lmao

-fr fr

-dumb dumb~

“Hey! I kinda understood what it meant, okay?”

It was basically telling me to climb the mountain, right?

Even if I’m a bit slow, I learned some survival English from that hub, you know?

“Alright, continuing on now.”

I told Yuki-dan that and resumed the game.

Using the hammer as support, I swung the pot upward.

Then I pulled the hammer out of the rock as I rose from the recoil.

-?

-Oh

-????

-That was a pro move

-I’m stunned

-FIRE YUKI! FIRE YUKI!

-Why is she good??

I swung the hammer like a sickle and smashed it down on the rock.

Fueled by the momentum, the pot shot upward rapidly.

Soon, I could see the summit of the first major rock.

But the next section was even more complex.

The only way up was through a narrow gap flanked by rocks.

“Hmm… that hole kinda looks like a fleshlight.”

-???

-?

-OMG LOL

-Accidental lewd joke strikes again

-Excuse me, did you say…?

-She’s lost it

-This is terrifying

“It just kind of looks that way, okay? So… is this part really hard?”

-Yeah

-Yep yep yep

-This part’s a bit rough

-It’s the boss of section one

[“Gungcha Punch!” donated ₩5,000!]

-Yeah, this is the early-game boss. Lots of newbies die here.

“That so…?”

Now I was fired up.

Could I beat it in one try?

No—I had to.

Now that I was doing well, I had to go all the way and show them.

Thwack.

I slammed the hammer into the gap and used it to launch myself up.

I landed in the hole.

It was more spacious vertically than expected.

I angled the hammer diagonally to stop my fall.

Clack!

Then I swung the hammer in the opposite diagonal, climbing up bit by bit.

How many times did I repeat that?

Thankfully, I got through the passage without much trouble.

I hooked the hammer on the last rock at the end of the tunnel.

Then I pushed down—sending the pot soaring.

It flew over the final ledge of the tunnel—

And immediately started falling.

Thud!

A surprisingly soft sound for the height I fell from.

Gone were the rocky cliffs.

All I saw now was a wide, flat plain.

And at the far right, a familiar rock stood waiting.

”What a big fall!”

”But don’t worry. You can catch up soon.”

-LOL

-She fell~

-Pikachu, we’re back in Pallet Town!

-LOLOL

-I can’t believe she fell

-Restart~

-Back to square one

“……”

Annoying narration.

And Yuki-dan doing emotional teabagging in chat.

Yeah, this game wasn’t going to be easy after all.