Ch. 15

The Game Company Is Good At Handling Things

***

“Seo-yoon, Seo-yoon, check this out!”

Seo-yoon turned her head toward her friend’s excited voice as she was tidying up her desk for the next class.

She saw a phone with a familiar background in her friend’s hand. She shook her head slightly as she looked at the phone.

“Chaelin, I told you I don’t play games, remember?”

It was obvious that the video on the phone featured a spectacle of characters wielding weapons in a strange, otherworldly setting, typical of the popular game ‘Another World’.

“No, Seo-yoon! Just this once, please? This video is seriously entertaining. It’s already got four million views on NewTube!”

Chaelin persisted as she walked with Seo-yoon.

Chaelin was so obsessed with games that her passion spread throughout the entire university.

Seo-yoon and Chaelin had been in the same class since high school, and their personalities meshed well, naturally leading to a close friendship.

Now they were attending the same university, and they were practically inseparable.

“Chaelin, I’m really sorry, but I don’t find watching videos of that game entertaining because I don’t play it.”

Despite Chaelin’s continued pleas, Seo-yoon maintained a disinterested expression as she made her way to the lecture hall.

“Ah, come on, Seo-yoon. Fine then. How about I treat you to a barbecue dinner tonight? How does that sound?”

“You’re well aware that I don’t touch those buffet places or those thick cuts of pork belly, aren’t you?”

“Sure, sure, I know that. Didn’t I see you pinch pennies when I treated you to a meal?”

“Not at all.”

Seo-yoon finally gave in to Chaelin’s persistent urging, as if conceding defeat.

“…Where are you getting all this money from?”

Chaelin seemed to have an unusual amount of money lately. She didn’t seem to have this much money back in high school.

Has she been buying meals more frequently lately?

“Alright, let’s just stop here and watch the video slowly,” Chaelin said, grabbing Seo-yoon’s arm and leading her to a shaded spot.

Seo-yoon couldn’t help but find it intriguing how her friend was willing to treat her to a barbecue dinner just to watch a single video.

Just how entertaining could this video be?

Under the shade of a giant tree on campus, Chaelin, brimming with excitement, started the video on her phone again.

She held her phone horizontally next to Seo-yoon, enlarged the video, and adjusted the quality settings. She eagerly pressed the play button.

Seo-yoon leaned against the bench and blinked as she watched.

As the video began, Seo-yoon blinked rapidly, unable to comprehend the fast-paced scenes.

“How is it? Isn’t it amazing? Look at that silver-haired character, it’s so realistic that you can even customize their eyelashes! If you start playing, Seo-yoon, I can really take care of you… And…”

Despite Chaelin’s continuous chatter and attempts to persuade her, none of the action-packed scenes or dazzling effects in the video caught Seo-yoon’s attention.

She was focused on just one person moving on the screen.

Her older sister, who had become increasingly unreachable lately.

Even this morning, when she checked the integrated control system app on her phone, there was not a single record of her sister leaving the house.

Yet, why was her sister appearing in the video her friend had shown her?

Seo-yoon’s mind was filled with incomprehensible questions.

“Seo-yoon, are you even listening to me?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.”

“Seo-yoon, you’re unbelievable. You haven’t listened to a word I’ve said, have you?”

“Sorry, Chaelin. I got distracted… The character in that video is just too beautiful…”

She couldn’t take her eyes off her sister’s face.

She was unbelievably beautiful.

Watching her in the video, she felt a surge of admiration.

“Really? Well, I guess even to an ordinary person like you, that character would look pretty, huh? I tried to customize my character like that too, but no matter how many hours I spent, it just didn’t work out. It would be great if that user could share their customization.”

Character customization.

Those words snapped her back to reality.

Maybe the character in the video wasn’t her sister after all.

Then, she noticed the number of views below the video.

“Over four million, wow.”

The video had gone viral in just one day.

“Chaelin, that woman character in the video, is she someone famous?”

“That character? Yeah, she’s famous. There’s been a frenzy about that female user on various forums and NewTube since yesterday.”

“So, someone became famous overnight?”

“Well, something like that…”

She knew her sister loved gaming.

But did she play ‘Another World’? She wasn’t sure.

Her sister was as much of a gamer as Chaelin, if not more.

And the character in the video looked exactly like her sister, more than just a simple customization.

Considering that ‘Another World’ was a game based on “virtual reality,” the chances of it being her sister were high.

“…What are you thinking, Serin unni?”

She muttered involuntarily.

Social anxiety.

Depression.

Her sister had suffered from them since she was young.

Her exceptional looks had attracted all kinds of unwanted attention, making her withdraw and become passive.

And after their parents’ tragic accident, her sister’s condition had worsened.

She couldn’t help but worry.

“Seo-yoon, what’s wrong?”

“Chaelin, I’m really sorry, but I can’t attend the next lecture. Could you please pass on the message to the professor for me?”

“Yeah, why all of a sudden? Seo-yoon, is something wrong?”

Seeing her sudden change, Chaelin quickly hid her concern and started to worry.

“Yeah, something urgent came up, I need to go right away.”

She had planned to visit her sister on the weekend. But for some reason, she felt the urge to see her sister now.

She and her sister were the only family they had left. She wanted to be there for her sister, especially when she might be struggling. She had been having these thoughts more and more lately.

So, she decided to skip class and go see her sister.

“…Alright, take care. Let me know if anything happens, okay?”

“Sure. Thanks, Chaelin. I’ll treat you to something big next weekend.”

“It’s nothing.”

She thanked Chaelin for her concern and left the campus to go see her sister.

—-

Beep.

Han Serin woke up and turned on her PC right away.

She picked up her phone to check the time, only to find that it was already late in the afternoon.

“…How long did I sleep?”

She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, it was already 4 PM.

She didn’t remember staying up late last night, and she felt like she had gone to bed early due to exhaustion.

She tidied her hair absentmindedly, and browsed through her bookmarked community sites. She stumbled upon unexpected news at the top of the community topic list.

A post related to her.

“[Notice] Game company officially announces that the user ‘Rin’ is not using hacks, attached document here. JPG”

She clicked on the post, and saw a picture that looked like an official announcement from the game company.

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ Here’s the information about a user who has been surrounded by suspicion of misconduct. ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

Hello, dear Another World players,

Another World has always been a clean game. We have continuously strived to create a comfortable and smooth gaming environment.

And that remains one of our foremost priorities, and we continue to expand our resources in this regard, making sustained efforts.

Currently, there has been quite a controversy surrounding a user named ‘Rin,’ which has been a topic of discussion for some time. Our team has also taken notice of it.

After precise and meticulous investigation, we have concluded that the user ‘Rin’ is not someone who has engaged in misconduct by using programs such as hacks or unauthorized software, but rather a regular user.

We emphasize once again that our security experts and key team members have conducted thorough investigations multiple times, and no irregularities were found during this process.

We are grateful to all the players who enjoy Another World, and we will continue to strive to be a better gaming company.

Thank you.

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

“What… This game company really knows how to handle things, huh?”

Han Serin read the statement carefully, feeling a refreshing clarity in her mind.

The game company had issued the announcement less than a day after the controversy had started, even before she had contacted them herself.

It was not only powerful evidence that she was not a hacker, but also a sign of the game company’s rapid response and respect for individual users.

And considering the upload time of around 1 a.m., the game company had acted much faster than she had expected.

She compared it to her past experience with a trash game like Dark Ark, and the difference was huge.

The slow response, meaningless updates, the attitude of ignoring users, and the lack of interest in communicating with users from the Dark Ark team.

Not to mention the various incidents, unpunished bug exploiters, and so on.

Dark Ark had all those flaws, but Another World had none of them.

She scrolled down quickly, scanning through the comments on the post.

They had been pouring in since the early hours of the morning, when she was asleep. There were already over six hundred comments on the announcement that cleared her name.

[ I can’t believe that was her skill?]

[Haha, those damn trolls disappeared like ghosts as soon as the announcement popped up, right?]

[Wasn’t this girl a hacker until yesterday?]

[Just yesterday, she was all over the new NewTube video as if she had it bookmarked, didn’t I say she wasn’t a hacker?]

[Another world game company handles things so quickly, why do they announce things in the middle of the night? lol]

[What’s up with this person named Rin? Is she some kind of hidden master or something?]

[A beautiful hidden master lol]

“What… when did they start defending me?”

She felt bewildered as she read through the comments.

It seemed like these people, who had previously accused her of hacking, were now acting as if they had always known she was innocent. They were even more repulsive to her now that they knew she wasn’t using hacks.

“Well… at least that’s a relief.”

She had nothing to complain about now.

She had become famous unintentionally. Apart from that, there was no reason to worry about playing games or doing broadcasts.

“Oh, then I don’t have a reason to turn on my stream, do I?”

Suddenly, she felt like her motivation for streaming had vanished.

She had planned to go live to deny being a hack user, but now that it was clear she wasn’t.

“Still, I spent hours yesterday studying how to be a streamer.”

But now, not turning on the stream made her feel like her efforts from yesterday, spent studying how to broadcast, were in vain.

As Han Serin pondered these thoughts.

Ding dong.

The doorbell rang unexpectedly.

“…?”