Helena

,”Hey, you ever thought about streaming?”

Before heading to school, Harang-i threw that question at me while we were eating.

Streaming all of a sudden? It was something I’d never even considered, so I just gaped at him, dumbfounded.

,”Streaming?”

,”Yeah.”

,”Why all of a sudden?”

,”Well… you’re pretty famous, you know…”

I frowned. My perception of streamers wasn’t exactly positive.

Having a streamer in the guild is just a pain in the ass. Famous or not. That’s just how those streamer types are.

Just because they’re under the same guild name, you end up being seen as sharing the same ideologies as that streamer.

Why did they always try to drag personal issues with that person into a problem for the whole guild?

Fuzzy memories surfaced, and my face scrunched up. Harang-i, noticing my expression, quickly added,

,”No, I’m not saying you have to or anything…”

,”No thanks. I’m not exactly a fan of streamers.”

It’s not that I dislike them. I’m just wary of them.

What was I even doing at this time?

I think I was probably wasting time on the Deron Gallery. I recalled that memory and asked Harang-i,

,”Hey, you’re not posting weird stuff on the Deron Gallery, are you?”

,”Huh? Uh? No, I’m not…”

,”Why’s your voice trailing off?”

,”No, I’m telling you, I’m not. Really.”

,”Hmm…”

Do you think denying it will cover up the truth when I know you so well?

I gave Harang-i a subtle smile.

He glanced at me, then shoved his phone deep into his pocket.

I know he won’t show me anyway. I’ll just have to find it myself.

,”I’m heading out first.”

,”Huh? Aren’t you going to eat more?”

,”I’m stuffed.”

I left Harang-i dawdling behind and headed outside.

Walking to school alone isn’t awkward anymore. I’ve also gotten used to the skirt that slightly covers my thighs.

I pulled up the slightly rolled-down stockings and walked slowly.

The last week of June had just begun.

It was humid because of the rain that fell in the early morning.

The subtle heat rising from the ground and the humid air made me feel stuffy.

Harang-i, being in his growth spurt, eats a lot. So, it takes him longer to get out of the house.

I immediately accessed the Deron Gallery on my phone.

With a quick glance, I roughly checked the topics of the gallery and skimmed through the top posts.

As expected, most of the gallery’s topics were related to my guild and Singsing.

Even the first page of top posts was plastered with content about Singsing and ChewyCow.

While browsing through the top posts, one title caught my eye.

[Sniping mtaechi?] [121]

(A very blurry GIF of sniping an opponent from a high hill)

(A GIF of sniping an opponent while hiding in the snow)

(A GIF of pushing away an approaching assassin and turning them into a hedgehog)

Never underestimate archers again.

[Comments]

[Holy sssstaechi;;;]

[Isn’t this staged?]

ㄴ[Isn’t it just those arrow-slinging bastards uploading lucky shots?]

[That’s Singsing’s so-and-so. Was this the one who was busting their heads until this morning lol]

ㄴ[Huh; then is this ChewyCow middle schooler-jjang?]

ㄴ[Middle schooler-jjangs don’t raise trash characters like that]

The person who uploaded the post was a floating nickname, not a fixed one.

But I know. I can’t help but know. This guy was Harang-i.

Wondering what he was up to, he was uploading his cool plays and showing off.

I was so dumbfounded that I felt like bursting out laughing.

Looking at the comments, he was even getting into arguments.

I quickly copied the link and sent it to Harang-i.

Me-[Hey https://gall.dciOOOOe.com/board/lists?id=DeronOnline…. did you write this?]

He’s probably messing with his phone while eating.

The reply came back quickly.

Harang-i-[No?]

Me-[What do you mean no? If you upload weird stuff, I’m telling Mom?]

Harang-i didn’t reply for a long time.

About two minutes later, a reply came.

Harang-i-[I didn’t upload anything weird, so don’t tell Mom]

After checking Harang-i’s message, I checked the gallery.

Then, Harang-i’s post that was on the top posts disappeared.

It seemed like he had hurriedly deleted his post.

There was nothing wrong with the post, but it seems he was embarrassed for his younger sister to see it.

I touched my lips and let out a hollow laugh.

***

After arriving at school and blankly attending classes, the time for going home was approaching.

In the past, this time felt so long and boring, but now it didn’t feel that way.

If you listen hard to catch up with the studies you’ve started again, time flies by quickly.

,”Heueung…!”

I started stretching to loosen up my body that had stiffened from sitting for a long time.

As I stretched my short limbs and trembled, Sohee, who was sitting next to me, approached with shining eyes.

,”Want me to help you stretch?”

,”Ugh… no, I’m okay.”

The sense of distance is strangely close. It was always like this with Sohee.

Other friends would grab my arm or hand at most, but Sohee enjoyed sneaking up and hugging me.

I was surprised by her sensitive touch, but now I was somewhat used to her skinship.

,”But, have you decided?”

,”Uhh…! Decided what?”

As I got up from my chair and twisted my waist, Sohee spoke.

Decided what? What is she talking about?

,”The school trip.”

,”S-school trip?”

,”Yeah.”

School trip? I hadn’t heard about it, has that day already come?

,”Didn’t you hear because you were listening to the class?”

,”I think so?”

,”Check the school app, you can vote there.”

At Sohee’s words, I quickly turned on the app and checked the announcements.

As Sohee said, there was a vote to decide the destination of the school trip in the recently uploaded announcements.

The dates for the school trip were the 26th, 27th, and 28th of this month.

A 3-day, 2-night trip, a very difficult schedule for me, who is playing the game.

It hasn’t been long since I created the guild. The raid team is also still new. If I leave for a long time in this state, the impact of that gap will not be light.

,”You’re going, right?”

Suddenly, Sohee tightly grabbed my left hand, which wasn’t holding my phone.

As I made a dazed expression at the soft and squishy touch of the girl, a small rustling wrapper came up into my palm.

[ChewyCow]

,”It’ll be fun. Right?”

To have a smooth school life, friendships must also be smooth.

I forced my head, which wouldn’t move, to nod.

,”Umm…”

After school, I ended up crossing the playground with Sohee.

If I had to pick the closest friend in school, I could say it was Sohee, but it was the first time we were walking home together like this.

Sohee was smiling brightly next to me.

She’s a child with a really pretty smile.

Sohee said something until the end of the playground, but it didn’t stay in my head.

I was just mesmerized by the smile she showed me because it looked so pretty.

When the playground ended and I crossed the school gate, Sohee waved at me.

,”I’ll go first?”

,”Huh? Uh…”

,”See you tomorrow, Hayeon-ah~”

Where Sohee waved and ran to, a luxurious black sedan was waiting.

As she approached, a man in a black suit jumped out of the driver’s seat and opened the door for Sohee himself.

They don’t seem like family. The man in the black suit showed a very polite attitude towards Sohee.

Sohee, who got into the car, waved at me even after rolling down the window.

I didn’t move until Sohee’s figure disappeared from my sight.

Suddenly, I remembered the ChewyCow candy left in my pocket.

My head starts to spin in a complicated way.

The scattered clues start to gather one by one and mesh together, leading to one result.

Was Helena Sohee?

But… Helena never acknowledged me in the game even once.

The same goes for reality. Sohee didn’t say a word about Deron Online.

Why is that?

I fiddled with my phone and turned around.

There must be a reason. Maybe, just maybe, it’s just a coincidence.

But…

I go home and log into Deron.

I push aside the many messages that appear in front of me and check the people who are logged into the guild window.

But Helena wasn’t logged in.

The guild chat was noisy. It was because Hwarang-i, who arrived home before me, was chatting excitedly with the guild members.

Was it because he couldn’t join the guild until he reached the maximum level? Hwarang-i was very talkative.

Iyap-[Guild leader-nim is here.]

Yeon-[Hello. I logged in right after school.]

Iyap-[You’re faithful to your setting.]

Hwarang-[Are you going to do that again today?]

Yeon-[Want to do it together? How about the new area? Are the Singsing kids still giving you trouble?]

Priscilla-[No. They just avoid us when they see us lol]

Iyap-[Hwarang-nim harassed them all night, so they seem to have surrendered.]

I nodded.

If Singsing bowed their heads first, there was no need to stir them up any further.

At least not at this time.

Last night, before going to bed, I looked into a few things about Singsing.

The Singsing guild, which started as a small friendship guild, would not be used to this situation.

The situation of being unilaterally beaten would likely cause cracks inside.

The number of guild members in the Singsing guild was constantly decreasing, so my prediction was correct.

It’s not a carnivorous guild. It’s just that a guild that started as a herbivorous guild happened to grow in size.

The cohesion is bound to be weak. In addition, the guild master has not been able to log in for a long time.

The internal situation would not have been good from the beginning.

If you beat them up in the field for a long time, they will develop resistance. Rather, it could increase the opponent’s cohesion.

So, a sure-fire blow was needed.

I recall a blurry memory. After the first new area appeared, guild raids and guild occupation battles, new content, will be updated between July and August.

The Singsing destruction is not over.

It’s just getting started.

Now, I just have to wait for the right time.

Farming during the event period was very important.

I had to collect as much [Blessing of the Sun] as possible, which I wouldn’t be able to get later.

This small buff item will become an important strategy item for the raids that will appear later.

Tactics that were originally impossible become possible when using this item.

The attack speed is also overwhelmingly faster. Doping that always appears in speedruns was the Blessing of the Sun.

That day, I didn’t come out of the dungeon.

I just holed up in a small dungeon all day and farmed event items.

10 PM, the time when the shutdown law starts.

In the end, Helena didn’t log in until that time.

I got out of the capsule, took a shower, and sat on the bed.

I can’t stand being frustrated and curious, so I was going to ask Sohee directly.

Me-[Sohee-ya]

About 10 seconds after sending the KakaoTalk, Sohee’s reply came right away.

Sohee-[Yeah?]

Suddenly, the hand that was about to send the question flinched and stopped.

-Are you Helena? I deleted the message that had been written up to this point.

Me-[Why didn’t you log in today?]

Sohee-[My dad came back. So, I couldn’t log in.]

The moment I checked Sohee’s reply, a sigh of relief came out.

I felt cold sweat running down my back.

Helena was Sohee after all. She even knew that the character Yeon was me.

No, she would have known even before I created the character Yeon.

There was one more character that Hayeon used to raise on my account.

Sohee-[Is the playing dumb game over now?]

My fingers stopped at Sohee’s message.

They were stiff and wouldn’t move.

At that moment, another message from Sohee arrived.

Sohee-[Sorry… I don’t think I can reply anymore. I have to go eat with my dad]

Me-[Ah, okay. Enjoy your meal!]

I almost got caught that I wasn’t Hayeon.