Chapter 5: A perfect score with no one around and no one to take responsibility for

“Hoo.”

The day I decided to do the training simulation.

To be honest, I was a little curious too.

Just how difficult was it that ‘no one’ had received a perfect score until now?

Considering the rate at which people have been buying these capsules, user numbers, and accessibility, the number of people who had attempted it must have easily exceeded hundreds of millions.

No matter how difficult the developers made it.

Not a single one among them?

“Is it really that hard?”

And so, with the feeling of just warming up, I lightly attempted it.

[Reflexes 100 / Agility 100 / Accuracy 100 / Evasion 100 / Concentration 100]

Total Score: 500

“…?”

Wasn’t the lack of a perfect score not because the system was difficult, but simply because people couldn’t do it?

A perfect score that no one had achieved.

Were the people not responsible at all?

They were.

‘No one got a perfect score on this easy thing?’

Wondering if I had misunderstood something, I reviewed the tests I had just taken one by one.

I had taken a total of two tests.

The first was a test of dodging balls flying from all directions.

It seemed to primarily measure agility and evasion rate.

‘It was sigh-inducing.’

Monsters emerging from dark caves.

Unpredictable attacks flying in urban areas.

Compared to the experiences in my previous world, this was just child’s play.

I could have dodged them all with my eyes closed, just listening to the sounds.

In fact, from about halfway through, I started dodging with my eyes closed, and in the latter half, I was so bored I even struck a one-legged chicken fight pose.

‘And I still dodged everything.’

More accurately, I didn’t even give them a chance to hit me.

‘If I get hit by something like this, I should just go die.’

Those 15 years weren’t spent in vain.

The next, second test was running through a real-time changing environment while avoiding obstacles.

With a ‘beep-‘ sound, the floor started collapsing from behind, and an indicator appeared to run forward.

Obstacles suddenly popping out from all directions.

Collapsing floors.

And constantly changing environments.

In short, it was a course where you had to keep moving to avoid falling.

I had to avoid unpredictable traps through jumps, slides, and direction changes.

Of course, ordinary people might find these things sufficiently difficult.

But even this was a piece of cake for me, who had cleared numerous Gates.

‘And I even started running backward from the middle of that.’

The score that resulted was a perfect 500.

Someone might have been overjoyed beyond control at achieving 1st place with a perfect score.

But not me.

Because I was used to it.

The position of 1st place.

Hundreds of millions of humans, thousands of species of monsters, hundreds of Gates.

I was always the strongest.

If there had been just two more of me, the world would not have fallen.

Because I alone couldn’t protect the entire Earth.

Thinking about the past, I soon shook my head.

‘It’s already in the past.’

There’s no point in thinking about it now.

That aside.

“This is a bit unsettling…”

At this rate, the reason I bought the capsule might disappear.

It’s too dull.

Of course, I also bought the capsule to earn money through broadcasting.

But the most important thing is dopamine.

My brain, having crossed the line between life and death for 15 years, was already soaked in dopamine.

If this continued, what would kill me wouldn’t be anything else but boredom.

“Huh?!”

Could it be that this was what the Demon King was aiming for?

A peaceful world with no battles.

It could have been the Demon King’s nefarious plan for me to die of boredom, unable to get any dopamine here.

If so, his plan had worked splendidly.

‘As expected of the Demon King. A terrifying fellow…’

Realizing the Demon King’s true nature only after a year, I unknowingly shivered.

And Nyua, as if reaching the same conclusion as me, was shivering its jelly-like body beside me.

To reach the same conclusion as me simultaneously.

It truly was a Spirit King.

“Nyua..?”

I picked up the creature, which was looking at me with a puzzled expression, with one hand and placed it on my head.

Then, I sat down on the implemented floor and pondered my future plans.

‘What should I do? Is that the only thing I can rely on after all…’

The training simulation was more disappointing than I thought, but what I was looking forward to was something else.

Namely, Reality Mode.

A mode where I could enjoy virtual reality with my physical specs as they are, with only minimal adjustments, not the superhuman character specs given by the game.

I thought I might be able to enjoy myself enough in that mode.

As long as the capsule couldn’t recognize mana, my body was just that of a delicate woman’s physique.

Of course, this body, being the same existence as me just from a different timeline, possessed the same talent.

‘It’s just less trained.’

Even with an untrained physique, I got a perfect score in the training simulation, so it’s natural to feel a bit uneasy.

But right now, this was all I could believe in.

“I need more dopamine. Or I’ll really die of boredom…”

Nyua, hearing my words, shouted as if in agreement.

“Nyuaat!!”

“Should we start streaming tomorrow?”

“Nyua.”

“Alright, let’s try turning it on as you say. I do need money too.”

Who knows.

It might be fun once I try it.

So, I came out of the capsule, slept soundly for a day, and then turned on the broadcast with the Pajijik account I had created beforehand.

The nickname was Haerang.

It was an alias I was called by in my previous world, roughly meaning orca or sea wolf.

There were many reasons why I was given the name Haerang back then, but well… wasn’t it mostly because of my appearance?

Black hair and red eyes from awakening.

In a way, it did give off an orca-like vibe.

When I said that, everyone waved their hands in denial, and my colleagues said it was because of my violent personality.

‘I don’t believe such fabrications.’

Naturally, I broke one limb each of those who spouted such nonsense.

However, that was the fault of those who slandered me, definitely not because my personality was trash or violent.

Anyway.

I started broadcasting under the nickname Haerang.

Since it was my first broadcast, there was a high probability that not many viewers would come.

Still, to attract a minimum inflow, I planned to play the currently trending game, Wilds Hunter.

“…What is this situation again?”

Not even a few minutes after turning on the broadcast, viewers suddenly started flooding in.

When it was around the first five, I thought, ‘Ah, is it because of the game?’

‘Did I pick a good game?’

However.

In less than 30 seconds, it became 50 people.

“Huh?”

From then on, I wondered if it was really this popular.

And even after that, it started to increase rapidly, eventually hitting 2,458 viewers less than 10 minutes after starting the broadcast.

In that absurd situation, only an empty laugh could escape.

“…Was I unexpectedly talented at attracting aggro?”

Of course, I knew it was a ridiculous thought, but the situation was so absurd that such words couldn’t help but come out.

Normally, the chat window would have been quiet and deserted for a first broadcast.

-Are you really Haerang?

-Fake fake fake fake

-Probably a fake lol

-Have you started streaming?

-Full-fledged hacker broadcast

-Is a perfect score of 500 possible?

-The scene of the 500-point fabrication lol

-Hacker streamer appears lol

-Explain yourself.

-Let’s see if it’s real skill.

But now, the chat window was scrolling up so fast it seemed like it would explode.

Dozens of chats scrolling up per second.

An ordinary person would have been flustered, not knowing what to do with such a sudden explosion of chat on their first broadcast.

Since it was their first time broadcasting, they wouldn’t be used to reading chat, nor would they know how to respond.

Of course, that didn’t apply to me.

Dozens, hundreds of chats.

I could follow all of them with my eyes.

The moment I read through all the scrolling chats one by one, I immediately understood why so many people had gathered.

‘…This is because of yesterday’s training simulation score.’

Most of the chat content was all about yesterday’s score.

I didn’t know where the “coordinates” were shared, but it seemed there had been a lot of talk about my score.

(TL Note: a term for when a link or information is shared leading people to a place)

When I quickly searched ‘Haerang’ in the capsule’s built-in search bar, countless posts poured out.

I clicked on the post with the most recommendations.

The number of comments alone was in the hundreds.

‘Not even 24 hours have passed, impressive.’

The content, roughly skimmed, could be summarized in one line.

“This score makes no sense.”

Some said the score was manipulated, and some claimed the leaderboard itself was wrong.

There were a few mentions that it might be real skill… but they were rare enough to be counted on one hand.

And today.

When someone with the same name as on the leaderboard started a broadcast, a passing user saw it and posted about it on a community.

And people who saw that post flocked here by following the link.

A series of coincidences that fit together perfectly.

‘Ha… How long has it even been since I started streaming.’

It was truly an unbelievable flow of events.

I couldn’t have imagined that running the training simulation just once to get used to the capsule would cause such a commotion.

However, no matter how I thought about it, it wasn’t a bad situation.

No.

To be honest, it was a very good situation.

‘If I had really used a ‘hack’ like they’re chattering about in the chat, the story would be different.’

But for me, who hadn’t used any such thing as a hack, this was an opportunity.

Of course, I had expected to succeed with broadcasting from the beginning.

But I naturally thought that would take some time.

I needed to build word-of-mouth, and there needed to be time for inflow.

But due to an amazing coincidence, a huge influx of viewers came from the very first broadcast.

If this is the case, the result is obvious.

I’ll just rise much faster than I expected.

Watching the chat that was still endlessly scrolling, I briefly pondered what I should say.

Since it had come to this, I felt like properly seizing this opportunity.

Just then, a donation arrived that perfectly opened the way for me to speak.

[Cheonhyehyangijoah-nim has donated 1000 won.]
[Is the training simulation score real?]

‘That’s it.’

A question that came at the right time, allowing me to speak naturally.

Thanks to it, it seemed I could bring up the topic more easily.

Still, since it’s the first donation, I should answer properly.

‘Was this how it’s done…?’

I cleared my throat with a brief cough and slowly began to speak.

“Cheonhyehyangijoah-nim, thank you for the 1000 won donation. If you’re talking about the training simulation score, you mean the one at the top of the rankings, right? Looking at the chat, it seems everyone came because of my nickname and that…”

I trailed off slightly, testing the waters.

-Yeah, that’s right.

-Seriously, explain that.

-Faking has its limits lol.

-No matter how you look at it, 500 points is too much of a bluff.

-But she was a woman? Her voice is amazing?

-FR lol.

-Seeing that she’s a woman makes it even more certain that the score is a lie.

The chat exploded even more when I answered.

[Invertebrate-nim has donated 1000 won.]

[It clearly looks like you manipulated the score to start broadcasting. Setting aside how you did it, you’ve drawn too much aggro.]

And then, even a donation overtly mocking me.

‘Hmm, perfect.’

It wasn’t intentional, but a perfect stage had been set.

A situation where everyone doubted me, demanded an explanation, and raised their voices.

This wasn’t the first time I’d experienced something like this.

Rather, it was familiar.

In the days when the whole world trembled in fear of Gates and the Demon King.

I had experienced far greater suspicion and pressure countless times.

You don’t believe me?

Prove it?

It was always like that.

When hundreds, thousands of eyes stared at me and sharp words pierced me.

I said nothing.

I simply showed them through action.

Who I was.

Why I was called the strongest.

And the end was always the same.

People falling silent.

Lowered gazes.

Words shrinking as if in shame.

And eventually, people began to praise me.

Words of praise started coming from the mouths of those who had cursed me, and the gazes that had doubted me soon sparkled with respect.

Later, there were even followers who said they wanted to be like me, to help me.

This time is no different.

I just need to show them.

Who it is that you’ve come to see.

I didn’t particularly answer the words of those who wanted an explanation.

I simply moved my hand and clicked on the Training Simulation.

The room turning white.

Looking at that room, I calmly said a word to those who were watching me with suspicious eyes.

“Showing you will be faster than talking, right? Let’s prove it right away.”

[Cheonhyehyangijoah-nim has donated 1000 won.]
[If it’s real, I’ll donate 500,000 won.]

‘I can’t believe she’d even set up a mission.’

-Super safe asset lol.

-FR lol.

-It’s gonna be fake anyway, might as well watch a whale play for free.

Other viewers, also certain it was a safe bet, started laughing and talking amongst themselves, even raising the mission pot.

Seeing that a mission fund of about 5 million won had been staked, I smiled faintly.

A good start.

“I should probably thank you in advance. Thank you for the 5 million won.”

And then, I adjusted the screen to show myself properly.

So that they wouldn’t say it was faked again.

When my appearance showed on screen, people started to get flustered.

-?

-Huh?

-Wow…

-What is this?

-Is that her real appearance?

-Oh my…

-It’s probably a custom character, not her real face.

-The customization is damn good.

-Wow, so pretty.

-Hngh…

-Possible!!

(TL Note: “Possible!!” (가능!!) is a slang term indicating attraction.)

-Wow, her b**bs are…

Suddenly, all talk about the explanation vanished, and the chat filled with comments about my appearance.

‘What are they doing…’

Shaking my head slightly at that sight, I proceeded with the training simulation.

And they, who were chattering amongst themselves, soon.

[Cheonhyehyangijoah-nim has donated 1000 won.]
[Sh*t… my money…]

Were struck speechless by another scene that appeared on the screen.

Total Score: 500

[You have succeeded in the mission.]

Gulp.

5 million won is sweet.