Chapter 5: The Original Taste

Pangea Management Bureau.

The organization that managed the only hole leading to Pangea.
Inside its headquarters, adventurers gathered in front of the giant hole, buzzing with conversation.

The common topic on their lips was about what had happened here a few hours ago.

A truly absurd story about some crazy adventurer who had thrown themselves into the hole.

[The third shuttle of the day will be departing shortly. Adventurers, please…]

Most adventurers used the shuttle to enter and leave Pangea.

Jumping down directly wasn’t explicitly forbidden by the rules.
It was clearly one of the ways to get to Pangea.

But there was no need to jump when there was a convenient shuttle, and there was no benefit to be gained from it.

“No, I’m telling you, they just jumped in!”
“They must have been wearing a parachute.”
“They were bare-bodied!”

“Maybe a physical enhancement type?”
“Nonsense. Even with that ability, it’s impossible to survive a fall of several dozen kilometers.”

“It was definitely a woman with silver hair.”
“How long was her hair?”
“Uh… was it short? I think it came down to her neck.”

Bare-bodied.
Wore gear.
Used an ability.
It was a woman.
Maybe it was a man.

Whether they witnessed it directly or heard it through the grapevine, baseless rumors circulated among the adventurers.

Someone who wanted to act smart used the difficult term ‘Mandela effect’, but unfortunately, there was one piece of conclusive evidence.

“Did a meteorite fall or something…?”

It was the giant crater that had formed at R Point.

The sky of Pangea clearly had an end called the ‘surface’.

There had never been a case of a part of the ‘surface’ falling, and no fragments of the ‘surface’ were visible either.

In the end, the adventurers came to a single conclusion.

A crazy adventurer fell to the ground bare-bodied.
And since no body was found, they probably survived.

It would have been nice if the management bureau provided the CCTV footage, but they had no reason to.

Anyway, behind such debates, an adventurer stood in front of the hole.

The continent of Pangea, barely visible in the distance.
The woman who had a taste of that dizzying sight felt her vision spin.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

“Hoo-ah… hoo-ah…”

-OO-nim has donated 10,000 won!-
《You think you can do it? lololol hurry up and chicken out and run away!]

[Hey Yoo~ hurry up and jump!]
[Chicken? Chicken? Chicken? Chicken? Chicken?]
[Sht, it’s so fcking high lol.]

“Guys, hold on a sec…. Just wait a little bit.”

-OO-nim has donated 10,000 won!-
《Just give up and do the punishment dogeza already!!!》

[For real lol.]
[Sena, who already got a sweet MeTube clip, is fine.]
[Last time’s punishment costume was a bunny girl… so this time, could it be?]

“Ah! I said wait! I’m going to jump!”

Sena snapped at the viewers who were subtly teasing and rushing her.

At that, the gazes of the surrounding adventurers all fell on her.

In fact, she had been attracting attention for a while now.

Yoo Sena.
Streamer nickname Sena.

Her skills as an adventurer were unknown, but her viewer count was always in the TOP 3, a popular streamer.

The secret to her popularity was ‘stimulation’.

She provided viewers with new scenes they had never seen before.

She had experience dealing with rare monsters a few times, and had already cleared two dungeons.

Sena was a trendsetter, and she had an uncanny nose for content.

Today was no different.

The bizarre event that had happened here a few hours ago.
She intended to make a broadcast out of it.

Come to think of it, she had no memory of broadcasting the view of Pangea from high up in the sky.

It was only natural, as there were no windows around the shuttle seats.

So Sena now stood in front of the hole.
To jump down herself and capture the beautiful scenery.

-Akgjongseongyang-nim has donated 10,000 won!-
《So when is this person jumping?》

[She said she’s just going to take the next shuttle~]
[Lock]
[Her up]

But even with the viewers’ teasing, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

‘It’s too high…!’

Being an adventurer was a life-risking job, but she wondered if it had ever been this dangerous.

It was a height that boasted a transcendent level beyond a normal skydive.
And Sena had never even been bungee jumping, let alone skydiving.

She clutched the backpack she was wearing tightly.
Inside was a parachute.

A brand-new, top-of-the-line one-touch parachute, purchased solely for this moment.
Even with such a pinnacle of technology, she couldn’t quell her fear.

“I think… it must have been a lie. How can you jump this bare-bodied? It doesn’t make sense.”

[lol]
[Honestly, it does seem like a lie.]
[This son of a b*tch has a long tongue.]

“Hoo-ah… everyone. I’m sorry. I will… jump, though. Probably. So please don’t swear at me. No… everyone be quiet!!!!! My heart is… beating so fast right now!!!!”

[Why the sudden outburst lol.]
[Hey, don’t go black.]

After shouting, Sena tried to compose herself again.
At the same time, she started banning the abusive chats that were pouring in.

[Dodge!]
[F*ck, how many kills is that?]

She tried to suppress her fear with the catharsis of getting rid of the malicious users.

“Hoo-ah…”

Whether it was actually effective or not, her heart slowly began to find its place.

-Gulp!

Sena held her head high and never looked down.
And she took a step forward.

Now, if she stretched out her foot, there would be nothing there.
An endless fall would welcome her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and stretched her foot forward.

The moment her weight began to shift forward, or rather, downward, she cursed inwardly.

Not at anyone else, but at herself.

‘What a crazy b*tch, obsessed with views.’

[lol]
[That’s not how you do it.]
[She’s really going to jump?????]
[Adventurers are insane, adventurers are insane.]

---

“Haa-aahm…”

After finishing my shower, I buried myself in the blankets with a long yawn.

As a pre-sleep warm-up, I was fiddling with my smartphone and entered a community.

[Adventurer Streamer Gallery].

It was a place where they talked about adventurers who were also streamers.

I had never visited it before, and only knew of its existence.

As soon as I entered the site, a huge picture greeted me.

It was a pretty-looking black-haired woman in a peculiar pose.

But for some reason, she looked familiar…

“Ah. It’s her.”

The broadcast I had turned off on my way home earlier because it was boring.
The owner of that broadcast was the woman in the picture.

She was probably a major streamer, so it wasn’t strange for her picture to be up like this.

Next to the picture, the words ‘Overall 2nd in user count for the day’ were written in large letters.

Perhaps because of that, with every refresh, several posts would pop up.

[What is the mod doing? What’s with the crappy banner? Bring the original right now.]
[Breaking News) Sadhoe officially gives up on raiding Aldabaite.]
[Is it for real that Sena actually jumped? lol]

Some were live-commentating on broadcasts, while others were talking about their favorite streamers.

Some even posted very malicious pictures.

“Ah, what the!”

The power of the bomb I had stepped on was considerable.

I rubbed my eyes vigorously, trying to purify the evil.
It took quite a long time to forget the lingering afterimage.

Since there were a lot of people, it seemed unavoidable that there were some who were just looking for attention.

I stopped exploring the gallery’s atmosphere and put my hand on the search bar.

And I slowly typed in my nickname, ‘Rea’.

Ego-searching.

Honestly, couldn’t there have been at least one post?
There was also the possibility that Lena-nim had written it.

[No Gyulppang stream today, f*cking pissed lol.]
[(Live) Greas hits a new legend lol.]
[Halraemalraehalraemalrae, ah, it’s ambiguous~]

“Ah, sh*t…”

But it was all just a vain hope.

Among the things that were listed, not a single post was related to me.

Because of the strangely functioning search mechanism, I felt my irritation rising for no reason.

‘As expected, one day is not enough.’

Realizing that nothing in the world is easy, I started browsing the gallery.

What caught my eye was the popular posts.
What did the users here like?

I clicked on the post that received the most recommendations from today, or rather, yesterday now.

[Sena: Aaaaaaaaargh!] [Author: OO]

[(Video of Sena falling through the hole into Pangea)]

-No fcking way, how did she jump?
ㄴ For real, she’s a no-brakes crazy btch.
ㄴ A monster born from views…
-Wow… that’s f*cking amazing.
ㄴ Excuse me? What’s so amazing?
-She’s pretty, but… why did she open her parachute so early?
ㄴ She said she felt like she was going to die, so she opened it right after passing through the hole lol.
ㄴ For real, it was so quiet for all the hype, so boring. Even the landing was boring.
ㄴ But she got a sick video out of it~

I had a feeling, but it really contained the content of the broadcast I had just watched.

Was this really popular enough for this?

The scenery itself was beautiful, of course, but it literally lacked dopamine.
Aside from the initial scream, it was closer to a documentary.

I couldn’t tell if it was popular because the streamer named Sena was famous, or because of the video’s aesthetics.

So I immediately tapped my smartphone screen rapidly.

I went to my archive where my videos were collected (though there was only one) and checked the video I had filmed today.

I edited the initial fall part using AI and checked the content once.

“Yeah, this is the taste.”

I nodded my head several times, expressing my satisfaction, and then uploaded the video to the gallery.

[(Live) Did the original video of Sena’s fall get released????] [Author: OO]]

[Apparently, Sena copied this.]

The content of the post was also assisted by AI.
I wasn’t sure, but I figured it would probably attract some attention.

“Ah, whatever.”

And even if it didn’t, there was nothing I could do.

Overcome with fatigue, I roughly threw my smartphone aside and closed my eyes.

And just like that, I drifted off to sleep.

-Ting! -Ting! -Ting