Chapter 101. Platinum Promotion Match (1)
Thud!
The luxurious door swung open roughly. A woman just finished taking a shower.
“Hoo!”
A charming woman with agile eyes came out, vigorously drying her wet hair and walking unsteadily. It must have been quite uncomfortable with the dampness between the bathrobe.
“Alright! Now I’m also a gold rank!”
The woman’s eyes were filled with excitement rather than irritation. Near her ear, a clear voice chimed in.
“Malsuk, I told you last time, didn’t I? You need to dry your hair carefully.”
The owner of the unexpected clear voice approached, snatched the towel Malsuk was lazily drying her hair with, and said, “You’ll go bald if you keep doing that.”
She meticulously dried Malsuk’s wet hair. Malsuk tilted her head with a lazy expression.
“Enough. Is drying my hair now the issue?”
“Then what? Let’s go and apply some body cream. Your skin is getting dry.”
If it were the usual Malsuk, she would have probably said, ‘Oh, forget it! I’ve been fine even without bothering about such things.’
“But I bought a new body cream made from arena materials not long ago, it was so moisturizing! Come here.”
“Um, well…”
Why is it that for some reason, Malsuk can’t say no to this peer of hers, Lee Yujeong?
Confused by the situation herself, Malsuk scratched her head and obediently followed Lee Yujeong’s lead.
Whiiing.
Lee Yujeong neatly dried Malsuk’s hair with a towel and a hairdryer. She looked at Malsuk, filled with annoyance on her face but receiving the grooming quietly, and smiled faintly.
‘She’s really cute. No wonder I can’t leave her alone.’
Although she had other friends of the same age, whenever she was with Malsuk, she felt inexplicably uplifted. There was no need to ponder why.
‘The ability to express oneself as one feels… so enviable.’
The confidence to express one’s opinions without hesitation. It could be considered rude by some, but for Malsuk, it was merely being herself.
‘Would I have been happier if I had lived like Malsuk, throwing away all pretenses?’
She thought. If she wasn’t Lee Yujeong. The sole heir of Holy Trinity. To live up to that title, she had lived her entire life showing only the life that others wanted to see.
Certainly, it wasn’t all bad. Even though it was a fabricated appearance, everyone liked her, and being liked by others fundamentally felt good.
But…
‘It’s suffocating.’
In living like that, one ends up conforming to the image others want rather than acting based on one’s own will. Many people might say, “What’s there to complain about when you have it all?”
But because of that, it became difficult to seek understanding from someone. Except for one person. As Yujeong’s thoughts reached that point, she subtly nodded her head.
‘Come to think of it, Malsuk is similar to Kim Shimun.’
Kim Shimun. The person who showed himself as he truly was. Of course, she showed it to the doomed Kim Shihyuk as well. The only person who could express his innermost feelings without hesitation was Kim Shimun, and Yujeong felt that same vibe from Go Malsuk whom she had recently met.
“Somehow, when I look at that aspect, I feel a hint of jealousy towards Malsuk…….”
Yujeong’s lips softened as she cast her eyes down.
“The comfort and goodness are as much as Kim Shimun.”
Had she shattered the mask of the Unbreakable Saintess?
“What’s up? Is there something on my head? Why are you suddenly smiling?”
Go Malsuk, who was gently patting her head, looked at Yujeong through the mirror with the same expression. Yujeong quickly turned off the dryer and finished styling her hair.
“Oh! No, I was lost in thought for a moment.”
“What were you thinking about? Did you suddenly think of your boyfriend or something?”
Despite her straightforward nature, Go Malsuk unexpectedly hit the mark immediately.
Yujeong’s eyes flickered briefly, but that was it.
“You got promoted to Gold rank. I’m happy for that.”
Having become the Unbreakable Saintess, she skillfully handled the situation.
“What? Did you watch my broadcast before the promotion?”
“Of course. I watch all broadcasts of people I know.”
“Haha… Seeing a ranker watch my broadcast….”
Malsuk shook her head back and forth in disbelief. However, contrary to her reaction, the corners of her mouth gradually curved upwards.
“Well, since you broke through the promotion as number one, maybe it’s okay for a ranker to watch, right?”
“Well, then. Did you learn something as a combatant, or did you receive a lot of sponsorships?”
“Did you even see that?”
After the promotion match ended. Not as much as Kim Shimun, but Go Malsuk received an overwhelming number of sponsorships for her Silver broadcasts.
Especially, guilds above mid-tier offered promising conditions and scout proposals.
Yujeong said with a subtle tone.
“Ordinary Silvers would have liked it, but I guess not for you, Malsuk.”
“Yeah. They were really persistent. I’m still recovering from rejecting them.”
“Of course. Even I can see that you’re at least top-tier Gold, almost at Platinum rank. Plus, you didn’t reveal your guild membership.”
“That’s true.”
Go Malsuk did not publicly disclose that she had joined Shimun’s guild, shimdrasil. Even though she was in a guild, scout offers were pouring in.
“From just suggesting to meet to asking for an address, they were making a big fuss.”
“Oh, they even asked for your address? That’s too much. Filtering is a must.”
“I had no intention of leaving this guild in the first place. Just looking at the buffs alone is impressive.”
“That’s true.”
Yujeong nodded her head. Didn’t she even step down from her position as the master of Holy Trinity Guild and join Shimun’s guild?
Of course, there was the return of her mother, Dohu, a first-generation ranker. But even considering that, leaving Holy Trinity Guild meant a lot to Yujeong.
“By the way, Yujeong….”
Go Malsuk, who was applying body cream generously, cautiously spoke.
“Is it true that you spent over 400 billion as the monthly guild fee?”
“Ah, that? Right. It’s limited to a TO from the Continental, but I heard it exceeded 400 billion.”
“Really?”
Go Malsuk’s voice trailed off.
Lee Yujeong, who had been nodding at her for a moment, chuckled and said, “Don’t worry about the membership fee. Didn’t Shihyuk also not pay the membership fee?”
“Hey, you guys are Rankers. Even the Night Hunter-ajussi is the same.”
Despite not having paid the membership fee, those three were all top-tier players. Just by being members, they significantly increased the value of the guild.
In comparison.
“Receiving such a buff with no cost at all as a small fry like me is a bit…,” Go Malsuk mumbled under her breath. Lee Yujeong simply gently brushed her shoulder, knowing well that no words of comfort would help Go Malsuk feel better.
Was Yujeong’s choice the right one after all?
“Darn it! That’s right!”
Go Malsuk quickly regained her emotions, standing up abruptly.
“If you don’t have money, just pay with your body fiercely!”
“Alright! Then I’… Uh, huh?”
Yujeong, who was attempting to empathize, malfunctioned like a machine. Luckily, “That guy is getting famous now, so he needs to manage his image. Wasn’t it a bit distasteful? I’ll handle those guys and take the blame for him.”
It was a thorough misunderstanding on Yujeong’s part.
With even the nickname of a Saintess, “She’s really…,” Yujeong covered her face with both hands and blamed herself for her momentary lapse.
Completely oblivious to this, Go Malsuk clenched her fists and continued, “My debut date is in two days anyway, right? I must have earned some gold; we can join forces and pay him back together.”
“Um, yeah…”
Yujeong regained her composure with effort.
“But, Malsuk, that method is probably impossible.”
“Huh? Impossible?”
“Yeah.”
Yujeong handed her the phone.
“This is Kim Shimun’s broadcast?”
“Yeah. I’ve been watching it since before you came in, and Shimun just started the Platinum promotion match.”
“What, what?!”
Go Malsuk exclaimed in shock. She grabbed the phone Yujeong held out to her frantically.
Just as Yujeong had said.
[Platinum Promotion Match – Kim Shimun]
The title of Kim Shimun’s broadcast indicated the promotion match.
“Wait… How long has it been since he had his Gold debut match…?”
Go Malsuk, with her hand on her forehead, stared blankly at the broadcast screen.
* * *
[Welcome to the Platinum Promotion Match.]
[The event for this arena is ‘Survival,’ with 50 participants.]
[A new condition ‘Cooperation’ has been added.]
[All participants will be grouped into teams.]
[Once all members are visible, the arena will begin.]
The system window popped up, with even more windows appearing for a particular player.
[Player Kim Shimun will be promoted to Platinum rank just by clearing this arena.]
[If the promotion fails, penalties will be given in the status window.]
Having read the contents, Kim Shimun nodded to himself.
“So the arena has already nailed me down to Platinum rank.”
From the beginning, matching a Gold arena with the notorious Poisoned Supply Route from Platinum.
Even the Dragonkin, which has never appeared in Platinum before and even included the Squama Circle member, Drahel.
It seemed like the Galaxy Arena had made a deliberate decision to match the highest possible ranking according to the Gold MMR.
“Having practically cleared such an arena alone…..”
Achieving a breakthrough in the primary stat at 101. It seemed that the arena was determined to send him to Platinum no matter what. The viewers seemed to share the same thoughts.
-Oh! This guy is in a promotion match?
-This is insane, lol. How long has it been since his Gold debut match, lol.
-Last time with the Poisoned Supply Route, now his MMR is insane, right?
-Exactly. Even with the Poisoned Supply Route being a completely new type, he carried it all by himself.
-At this rate, for the sake of domestic Gold players, he has to reach Platinum.
Even watching the hot content of promotion matches, there was no sign of great surprise. On the contrary.
-He was carrying the team, but seeing Dayna like that is still shocking.
-For real, lol. Dayna went to the extent of even giving entry items.
-I had a match in the Poisoned Supply Route a while ago and aced it, but they never gave me the entry items, lol.
-That was when you carried them…. Oh, no, it’s not!
Referring to a previous arena, the atmosphere naturally assumed that Kim Shimun was at a Platinum rank.
“By the way……”
Kim Shimun raised his head and glanced at a group message instead of a personal one.
“It’s a survival event with a cooperation condition?”
A national sport. Survival, also known as ‘Gukjong,’ in Korean. Normally, the person who survives till the end after fighting each other gets a higher rank in survival games.
But when a cooperation condition is added, the story changes.
“Usually, scenarios like natural disasters or surprise attacks by specific groups unfold.”
And players cooperate to overcome those hardships. Of course, individual survival still had to be ensured. Since the fundamental goal of survival events is ‘to survive’. It seemed that the viewers were well aware of this.
-Having a cooperation condition in a promotion match survival event is really rare.
-It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out.
-Haha! I’m already looking forward to it, lol.
-Can’t they reveal the map quickly?
Discussions about the event continued without a break.
As usual, Kim Shimun remarked,
Kim Shimun: If possible, could you please impose a chat ban or penalties for those who spam, curse, or act rudely?
Constellation Black Goat: Ohhh~.
Constellation Heavenly Demon: No need to worry.
Kim Shimun opened the manager chat and asked for the chat review.
[Constellation Odin ‘Why am I not getting it? I want it too!’
Whines while looking at you.]
“Hmm? What does he want?”
Kim Shimun, who briefly tilted his head at him.
“Oh.”
Realizing what Constellation Odin wanted, Shimun opened the broadcasting settings for Arenia.
After tapping the air a few times, soon:
Constellation Odin: Oh! There we go!
Constellation Odin’s message appeared in the manager chat.
Constellation Odin: So you’re giving a manager to the Constellation here? I’ve never seen a player like this!
Constellation Black Goat: Why did you bring that up again? Young one, don’t listen to that brat whining. It’ll become a bad habit.
Constellation Odin: What is this old guy saying? So annoying.
Constellation Black Goat: You! You think I couldn’t understand that?! You little piece of trash!
Of course, things quickly escalated.
Before the fight between the two Holy Seats could escalate further.
Kim Shimun: Stop. Don’t fight in the manager chat.
Quickly suppressing them, Shimun redirected the attention of the two Holy Seats.
It wasn’t that difficult.
Kim Shimun: Already, the number of viewers has increased a lot, so there are a lot of aggro chats. Please go there and manage it.
Perhaps it was due to the sensationalism of the promotion match?
[151,745 viewers watching]
Even though the arena hasn’t started yet, the number of viewers had easily surpassed 150,000.
– Why are we watching this cringeworthy broadcast like this? Such a white-handed move lol.
– Didn’t ‘that incident’ happen as well…? Why isn’t there any controversy about it…?
– The aggro from the promotion match is no joke lol. Platinum is not a place you can go just by counting deals, right?
– That’s right. Isn’t Plat trash?
Of course, aggro chats including foul language were overflowing.
And then.
[Manager ‘Black Goat’ has banned user dlrjfcuqhrpTdj2.]
[Manager ‘Odin’ has banned user dlrjfcuqheksl.]
Shimun’s plan was very successfully implemented.
Of course.
– Constellation Black Goat: You little brat? How dare you touch my prey!
[Manager ‘Black Goat’ has banned user wjdtjddlswjdgkqslek.]
– Constellation Odin: Hehe! Will you let this amusing thing be enjoyed by that old guy alone?
[Manager ‘Odin’ has banned user rmaksqhk.]
– Constellation Black Goat: That guy for real! Shall we try this out?
Unexpectedly, the competition even extended to banning users.
“I can’t stop them.”
Shimun smirked at the heated Holy Seats, shaking his head slightly. Towards that Shimun.
[All players have been matched.]
A message announcing the start of the Arena flew in, heralding a change in the once desolate area.
More accurately.
[The location is ‘Geyser Battlefield’ in the dimension of Insectia.]
It would be more appropriate to say they were summoned to a different dimension.
[‘Insectia’ is the dimension of ruthless insect queens. Prove your qualification to advance by surviving until the time limit.]
[Time limit: 29:59]
Lush and vast grass and flowers to an alarming extent.
However, to Shimun’s eyes, there was more to this unknown terrain.
“Crazy! Insectia?”
The contents of the system window stood out more to him.