Daybreak

December 31st.

11:30 PM.

The year is coming to an end.

What better way to decorate the last day of the year than with the sunrise, of course?

Facing the upcoming new year, sharing stories about the future with precious people.

I smiled, imagining happy things.

Helena happened to be online too. I wrote her a message.

Yeon-[Helena-ssi. Got time?]

Helena is always busy. So, before asking her anything, I needed to check if she had some free time.

Maybe she didn’t have anything special going on, because Helena answered right away.

Helena-[Yeah, I do. What’s up?]

Yeon-[Wanna watch the sunrise with me?]

Helena-[R-Really? With me?]

Yeon-[Yeah.]

Helena-[I will! I definitely will!]

I smiled a little at Helena’s answer.

Seeing her so happy over such a trivial thing made me feel good too.

Anyway, where would be a good place to watch the sunrise this year?

A new expansion pack had come out, but the overall map wasn’t much different from the existing Deron.

So, it has to be that place, right?

In Deron, there’s a map called Sun Hill.

A towering hill, and a small Shrine of the Sun built on top of it.

And because all sides are open, it was a place where you could watch the sun rise from any direction.

If you were going to watch the sunrise in Deron, everyone would recommend this place.

Helena-[Where should we go? What time should we leave? What should I wear?]

Helena seems really excited. I nodded and typed a reply.

Yeon-[Come to Sun Hill, shouldn’t your costume be the same as usual?]

Helena-[Sun Hill…? Yeon-ah. When I search for Sun Hill, only screenshots of Deron come up?]

Ah, it seems like Helena doesn’t know where Sun Hill is.

I opened the map and sent her the coordinates of Sun Hill.

Helena-[Coordinates… Sun Hill… Deron… It wasn’t real…?]

What is she talking about? If you wander around outside from dawn on a day like today, you’re likely to catch a cold.

And for game addicts like me, watching the sunrise in Deron is more meaningful than watching the real sunrise.

There were achievements added to Deron every year.

An achievement you could get by welcoming the first sunrise rising in Deron, in time for the start of the new year.

I don’t usually care about achievements, but I was after the title that came with the achievement reward.

After ending the conversation with Helena, I logged onto the Deron Gallery.

Because my position has been greatly threatened lately.

[Deron Online Gallery] [4]

[Today’s Gallery Master;]

(Screenshot of a small girl paladin Jupiter wielding a holy sword)

Saw her on the street;;; lol

They said they gave out character customization reset items, but she doesn’t seem to be using it.

Honestly, I hope she doesn’t use it.

I went up to her and said I was a fan, and I could see she was really happy while pretending not to be

lol

[Comments]

[Cheepㅋㅋ]

[Baby sparrow so cute lolllll]

[What’s she been up to these days?]

ㄴ[Seems like she’s doing quests here and there alone, most sightings say she’s alone]

I frown at the post I see as soon as I enter.

Wasn’t I the Gallery Master of the Deron Gallery? It wasn’t a position I wanted, you guys put me in that position.

How can there not be a single comment refuting it?

That Jupiter isn’t the Gallery Master, that the real owner of the gallery is me, the Blood Demon King.

I was hoping for a comment like that.

But, no matter how much I refreshed, there were no new comments.

I hurriedly moved my hands and wrote a comment.

[Why is she the Gallery Master? The real one is Blood Demon King-nim lol fr]

I write it with plenty of consonants, as if a normal gallery user would comment, so it doesn’t look too weird.

I was feeling proud looking at the completed comment.

A reply notification arrived at the bottom of the blurry website.

[Why is she the Gallery Master? The real one is Blood Demon King-nim lol fr]

ㄴ[The trend is sayingㅡ Blood Demon King is washed up]

ㄴ[lol fr Where are you comparing a fake middle schooler to a real middle schooler?]

F-Fake middle schooler…?

How did they know? Does someone know my identity?

I frowned, rubbing my arms.

No, I’ve never been caught. I’m a current middle schooler, no matter who looks at me.

Even though I turn into a high schooler after 12 o’clock…

“Hoo…”

I was going to farm in the remaining time, but I guess I’ll have to postpone that a bit.

Because these guys pissed me off.

[Why is she the Gallery Master? The real one is Blood Demon King-nim lol fr]

ㄴ[The trend is sayingㅡ Blood Demon King is washed up]

ㄴ[lol fr Where are you comparing a fake middle schooler to a real middle schooler?]

ㄴ[Why is Blood Demon King-nim washed up? Didn’t you see her verify that she’s a real middle schooler?]

I wrote that reply and waited for a response.

But the replies from the people I was waiting for didn’t come back.

They must have already lost interest and ran away to a new post.

I was frustrated. I was going to explain to them how awesome I am, who is more suitable for the Gallery Master position of the Deron Gallery…

I sighed, got out of the post, and looked at other posts.

And I was shocked.

Almost everyone in the gallery was talking about Jupiter.

Cheep here, cheep there. The whole world was full of cheeping.

What, what is the reason?

[Jupiter[

(Image of Jupiter’s face photoshopped with a sparrow)

First of all, me lolllll

[Comments]

[Cheep lolllll]

[Cheep lollllllll]

[Baby sparrow flying away lolllll]

I frowned when I checked the newly uploaded post.

It was clear that they were trying to get thumbs up to get on the featured posts.

Why would anyone like this kind of post and leave a comment?

I pressed the dislike button hard.

But, despite my efforts, I couldn’t stop this post from getting on the featured posts.

It was truly lamentable.

“Eesh…”

“Why are you sighing like that?”

“Heok…!”

I was startled by the voice behind me and jumped up.

When I turned around and looked, Helena was standing there with a somehow displeased expression.

How did she find this place? It was a farming spot that not many people knew about.

“Hmm… just, there was a little problem.”

“Really? Did you solve the problem?”

I shook my head at Helena’s question.

This wasn’t the kind of problem that could be solved. I had been robbed of my share of the gallery by Baby Sparrow Jupiter. To get it back, I had to prove to everyone that I was better than her.

Publicly challenging Jupiter to a 1-on-1 duel is also not a good choice.

People didn’t know yet. How much amazing skill Jupiter was hiding.

On the other hand, I had a record of winning the arena tournament.

To others, it would look like a fight between a pro and a newbie.

Fighting Jupiter right now would do more harm than good.

“Anyway, why did you come here? There’s still a lot of time left until the sunrise.”

“… Just.”

“Just?”

“I wanted to see what you were doing to finish the year.”

“Me, well…”

Is there anything special?

I was just going to keep farming and head straight to Sun Hill when it was time.

It wasn’t something great enough to brag about to others.

“Don’t you have anything to do, Helena?”

“Yeah. I’ve already finished everything.”

She’s really diligent. I smiled lightly and drew my sword.

“I’m going to farm. Are you going to keep watching?”

“Are you going to keep staying here?”

“Probably? I think I’ll keep hunting unless something special happens.”

Helena nodded at my answer and sat down.

It seemed like she was really going to watch me hunt until the sunrise.

If she’s just going to let time pass like that, wouldn’t it be better to go to my side channel and farm?

Of course, I didn’t say that out loud. The way you play the game should be free.

If you force your play style on others, it becomes poison.

“Hmm…”

Then, I’ll show you.

Non-stop 5-hour hunting.

Since it was just killing ordinary monsters, there was no need to use Acceleration.

I moved quickly and slashed down the monsters.

An hour passed like that.

At first, I couldn’t concentrate properly because I was conscious of Helena’s gaze, but now I was used to it.

I moved more fiercely and slashed down the monsters.

The short skirt fluttered and danced.

Three hours passed like that. I was on a roll. I slaughtered the monsters like an unstoppable bulldozer.

“Are you… really just going to hunt?”

Helena’s occasional voice scatters weakly.

What was she thinking of doing then?

I didn’t answer and focused more on hunting.

Five hours passed like that. I finally stopped hunting and turned around.

The corpses of the miserably fallen monsters were fading away.

And Helena, sitting on a large rock, was squinting and glaring at me.

What didn’t she like again?

After all, understanding the mind of a current middle schooler was very difficult.

I shook off my demon sword and approached Helena.

“Are you done hunting?”

“Yeah, let’s go watch the sunrise.”

I stuck the large greatsword on my back and held out my hand, and a smile spread across Helena’s face.

I sighed in relief at the sight.

I take Helena’s hand and head to Sun Hill.

After the server merge, the time the sun rises is based on Korean time.

Users on the global server protested, but Deron ignored them.

In the end, the complaints of the global server users died down like that.

“Oh…”

In the dim surroundings, many users had already arrived.

Not only that. Even at this moment, other users were flocking here.

“Guild Leader-nim?”

“Ah, Iyap-nim.”

Someone recognized me among the users, so I turned my head and saw that it was Iyap.

As expected of a gloomy thief, he had a knack for hiding among people.

It seemed like Iyap was also trying to watch the sunrise in Deron.

“Hello… Iyap-nim…”

“Oh, Helena-nim is here too…”

Iyap and Helena exchanged greetings, and a subtly uncomfortable atmosphere formed.

Right after that, Iyap opened his mouth, startled as if he had remembered something.

“Ah, oh yeah. Look at me, losing my mind. Something urgent came up, so I’ll be right back. Have a good time.”

“Huh? Aren’t you going to watch the sunrise?”

“Ah, I’ll watch it. There’s an important deal, but the other person is on a different channel.”

“Then shouldn’t you tell that person to come to this channel?”

“I told them that, but…”

Iyap said that and smiled awkwardly.

It seemed like the other party was being stubborn.

I crossed my arms and shook my head.

“It can’t be helped.”

“Haha…”

Iyap disappeared, switching channels like that.

So, I was left alone with Helena again.

Even the moon hanging in the sky has disappeared, and now a bright light is starting to soar from beyond the horizon.

The sun is rising.

“Yeon-ah.”

“Yeah?”

“Please take care of me this year too.”

“Yeah.”

Helena said that and hugged me from behind.

A soft and heavy sensation was transmitted above my head.