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Chapter 51
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“…You can open your eyes now.”
At Raven’s cold voice, Daehyeop Kim immediately opened his eyes.
[Successfully triggered Raven’s jealousy!]
[You have acquired the NPC emotion display ‘Jealousy.’]
Seeing the system message appear before him, Daehyeop Kim turned his gaze to Raven.
Like a puppy guarding its owner from a stranger,
Raven was wary of Celestia, the sudden rival who had appeared.
On the other hand, Celestia only found amusement in observing Raven and Daehyeop Kim.
Caught between these two contrasting women, Daehyeop Kim broke out in a cold sweat.
Breaking out in a cold sweat in virtual reality?
Akare’s technology is truly remarkable. As expected of the Record Eye.
After his quick mental praise of Akare, Daehyeop Kim took Raven’s hand.
“…!”
“You don’t need to do that.”
Daehyeop Kim, a romantic who preferred true love over harems,
seemed to convey his sincerity to Raven.
Raven, visibly calmer than before, interlocked her fingers with his.
“Sharing a lovely moment is nice and all, but what are you going to do?”
Celestia, watching their affectionate exchange with a mocking expression, spoke quietly.
“Elves are creations born from the World Tree. Any changes in our Mother also affect us Elves. If we go into more detail, there are some of my kin who, aligned with Mother’s twisted ideology, might try to kill you both.”
Daehyeop Kim felt a question arise at Celestia’s explanation.
If the changes affected all Elves, wouldn’t that include Celestia herself?
“Are you okay, Celestia?”
“Me? Oh, I’m a mutant.”
Despite being born as an Elf, she had always been curious about the outside world.
Not only was she unable to connect with the World Tree, their creator,
but she also couldn’t communicate with spirits.
An outcast among her kind, a weirdo who was an Elf in appearance only.
“That’s me.”
“Then, why did you come back to Elderheim?”
At Daehyeop Kim’s question, Celestia let out a bitter chuckle.
“That’s a stupid question. What child wouldn’t visit their mother when she’s sick?”
With that answer, Daehyeop Kim felt he had grasped the type of person Celestia was.
“I’ll go with you.”
“Huh? Seriously?”
“Yes. We came here to resolve the problems of this place from the beginning.”
“Hmm… The Empire I remember isn’t exactly a charity organization, though.”
For a fleeting moment, suspicion flashed in Celestia’s eyes.
It was so brief that neither Daehyeop Kim nor Raven noticed it.
“Well, fine. Better to go together than alone.”
Snap-!
Celestia snapped her fingers, causing a crack to appear in the air.
The crack swallowed her magical engineering bike and spit out a green potion.
“Here, take it.”
“This is…”
Accepting the potion, Daehyeop Kim used the sub-skill “Appraise” from his secondary job, Appraiser.
Even though he had already changed his secondary job to Mercenary,
secondary jobs could be layered, so this was possible.
―――
[Special Mana Antidote]
Removes all mana-related debuffs upon use.
―――
“At the center of Elderheim lies a barrier.
Any non-Elven creature that crosses it will experience mana reflux or mana overload.
If that happens, drink this, and you’ll be fine.”
Using his Appraise skill, Daehyeop Kim confirmed that Celestia wasn’t lying.
However, Raven, not being a player, still harbored doubts.
“If you don’t trust me, you don’t have to drink it. But no blaming me later, okay?”
Shrugging, Celestia took the lead.
Watching her back for a moment, Raven eventually picked up the antidote
and followed after her.
Thus began their peculiar journey with Celestia, the wandering Elf they met at the entrance of Elderheim.
***
[Akashic Records Gallery]
Akare tends to add a lot of content at once.
Like when Cultists were introduced with the full-scale launch of the Elder Lich Raid,
this time, too, came the Bard’s appearance ahead of the new area update for Elderheim.
According to the showcase for the second half of the year,
the new job Spirit Summoner is also expected to be updated soon.
The massive volume of updates made Akagal chaotic,
but it was still better than having fewer updates.
―――
[Title] Has the identity of the first Bard been revealed?
(Video of Lee Hyun-woo busking at the Capital Plaza)
He says he’s preparing to become a singer-songwriter.
Crazy good voice—drew all the female users in.
Like: 2069 | Dislike: 15
―――
[Comments: 996]
Isn’t this guy that deaf singer-songwriter?
ㄴ Who?
ㄴ (Link to article) It’s this person.
ㄴ I came after reading the article. Damn, the army, lol.
ㄴ Faulty earplugs during shooting practice, wow.
ㄴ It’s been 10 years since he discharged, but the military hasn’t changed.
ㄴ And his character customization matches his real-life appearance, geez.
ㄴ Looking at stuff like this, the military really needs to be reformed.
―――
The video of Bard Lee Hyun-woo busking in the Capital Plaza spread widely,
naturally bringing his past to light.
Whenever military-related issues were highlighted, male-dominated communities
always criticized the Ministry of Defense.
But this time, things felt a bit different.
―――
[Title] Even women’s communities are criticizing the military?
(A snapshot of opinions from female-focused Akare communities)
Don’t they usually just mock whenever military issues come up?
Why are they suddenly like this?
Like: 756 | Dislike: 126
―――
[Comments: 543]
You’ll understand if you go to the Capital Plaza now, lol.
ㄴ What’s happening?
ㄴ Just go. You’ll see.
ㄴ I’m stuck at work and can’t log in. Tell me.
ㄴ It’s basically turned into a mini-concert.
ㄴ Lee Hyun-woo is even shaking hands with all the female users.
―――
Akare is virtual reality.
No matter what someone looks like in real life,
they can present themselves as they wish in Akare.
Even those who lacked confidence in reality,
borrowing the body of a pretty character could boost their self-esteem.
Once their confidence improved,
they might even venture to receive fan service from an alpha male in real life.
Lee Hyun-woo’s handshakes and light hugs—
just those were enough to steal the hearts of many female users.
―――
[Title] If we compare this situation to Aurora
(A picture of Aurora streaming live in real life)
This Alpha Female appears just as she is in Akare.
Hugging and shaking hands with Kabung losers?
Sometimes throwing in lines like “I love you all”?
No wonder people are getting all worked up.
Like: 1206 | Dislike: 1
―――
[Comments: 980]
It makes so much sense now.
ㄴ Seriously, lol.
ㄴ That’s a good analogy.
ㄴ Just imagining it gets me excited…
ㄴ Oh, come on, Kabung.
ㄴ Spilling 10 litters of sweat right on the spot. Totally possible.
ㄴ What a lunatic, lol.
Even an amateur like Lee Hyun-woo does fan service. What is Aurora doing?
ㄴ Exactly, lol.
ㄴ At least start streaming.
ㄴ Fera’s been AWOL too, damn it.
ㄴ What are you even saying?
ㄴ Fera = mm?
ㄴ (Hey, hey, calm down.)
―――
This incident revealed a new possibility for Akare.
What if the entertainment industry integrated with virtual reality?
This idea simultaneously emerged in the minds of those in the entertainment industry
after witnessing this phenomenon.
The Bard’s arrival brought a fresh wave to Akare.
***
All day long, I repeated the task of imbuing capsules with divine power.
From capsules already on the market to prototypes based on new models,
I manually worked on every single one and even completed testing for side effects.
“Ughhh…”
I’m tired. That was my first thought once the work was done.
Still, I didn’t regret the choice I made yesterday.
On the contrary, thinking of it as doing something good gave me a sense of fulfilment.
Pausing my habitual attempt to log into Akagal,
I turned to check the pile of emails that had accumulated.
It had become a habit to check emails at the end of my day.
“Hundreds of emails from agencies?”
The emails were all asking for permission to use Akare for celebrity activities.
“Do people usually ask for permission for things like this?”
I mean, considering all the streamers broadcasting Akare,
and the truckload of people uploading Akare gameplay videos to MoTube,
why even bother asking for permission? A quick search provided the answer.
“There’s talk about copyright issues.”
Apparently, to avoid potential backlash later, they wanted prior approval from the developers.
Everyone was already doing it, so there was no reason to deny them.
I sent out a batch email granting permission and logged into Akagal.
Switching to the popular posts page, I checked out the ones with the most recommendations.
“Ah, so that’s why the agencies sent all those emails…”
I finally understood the reason behind the influx of emails from agencies.
“The story is progressing nicely.”
The Elderheim story had reached the part where Elves aligned with the Twisted World Tree’s ideology appeared,
culminating in a meeting with the Elf Guardian, who was less affected, like Celestia.
The Elf Guardian, being exceptionally handsome even by Elf standards,
had become particularly popular among female users.
“Still busking?”
A glance at the latest popular posts in Akagal showed that the Bard was still at it.
Busking for over half a day must be exhausting.
“Should I go check it out?”
Why hesitate? My work for the day was already done.
Switching to Observer Mode, I transported myself to the Capital’s Plaza.
“This will really be the last encore! I’m exhausted too!”
At the centre of the plaza, a man shouted to the crowd, smiling brightly.
A cheerful atmosphere. A voice full of excitement. Eyes brimming with passion.
The tragic figure of his past was nowhere to be found.
I had planned to just watch and leave, but I changed my mind.
Deactivating Observer Mode, I immediately cast Invisibility Magic to hide myself.
In this state, I bestowed blessings upon everyone present, including Lee Hyun-woo.
―――
[Blessing of a Special Memory]
May this moment remain a special memory for everyone…
―――
Despite its grand name, the blessing’s effect was nothing extraordinary.
It simply soothed the weariness of the half-day-long busking session
and helped create a beautiful memory of the moment.
“Maybe I should’ve shown myself.”
I knew many people wanted to see me directly,
but there was a simple reason I didn’t.
Because today wasn’t about me.
Rustle, rustle—
The blessing I cast caused a brief commotion.
But as Lee Hyun-woo began his final song, the crowd settled down.
I stood back, quietly watching his performance from afar.
***
“Thank you so much for joining me today, everyone!”
Waaaaah!
A response closer to a roar than applause.
The heat of the moment.
A starry night sky sparkling above.
Lee Hyun-woo still couldn’t believe the miracle of today.
Especially after being bestowed with the “Blessing of the Shy.”
It felt as if he’d been reborn.
There’s only one person capable of casting such a buff.
During breaks in his busking, Lee Hyun-woo had researched Akare.
He knew exactly who could perform such a miraculous feat.
“I’d like to take this moment to thank the one who made this miracle happen…!”
She must be watching.
With this belief in his heart, Lee Hyun-woo called out her name.
“I want to thank Aurora, the Director!”
Waaaaah! Aurora forever!
The gathered crowd chanted Aurora’s name in unison.
Witnessing this, Aurora hurriedly logged out,
threw herself onto her bed, buried her face in a pillow,
and stomped her feet in embarrassment.
But unbeknownst to her, the crowd continued their fervent worship of Aurora.
It was an odd scene, but one that was sure to become a special memory for everyone involved.
—
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