Chapter 16: Chapter 15

【Virtual VTuber Gallery】

[General] Breaking News) DEFCON Alert

(Stream Link)

Anna has started her Labyrinth stream.

[Comments]

Ugh, this f**ing btch! Just stick to ASMR!!!!

But you still love her, right? ㄴ(Author) ????

Why is she messing around with this when she’s not even good at it?

I’ve found the perfect channel for growing cancer cells.

Tell her to just turn on ASMR.

This is pure evil.

[Stream] Anna picks Mechamancer

Stop messing around and just sing.

[Comments]

Does she even know how to play Mechamancer? ㄴ(Author) Doubt it.

She can’t even support, and now she’s picking a DPS? Haha!

She’s trying too hard...

Is she picking Mechamancer because ‘demon’ is in the name? ㄴ(Author) Don’t let Anna roleplay. ㄴ She probably doesn't even remember that she was a demon. ㄴ She was never a demon to begin with.

I checked out her stream, and why is she playing Mechamancer as a roamer? ㄴ Mechamancer roaming, LOL. Of course.

[Stream] Why is Anna suddenly so good?

Why did she suddenly improve?

[Comments]

Maybe her boyfriend taught her. ㄴ What...? ㄴ Our Anna is still a virgin, okay? ㄴ(Author) Anna’s boyfriend is in my bed right now. Anna is still a virgin, yes. ㄴ I gave birth to Anna; she told me she doesn’t have a boyfriend! ㄴ Anna hasn’t even started producing milk yet. ㄴ You’ll just have to accept the lawsuit when it arrives...

[Stream] Why does Mechamancer Roaming look good?

Did it always farm this fast?

Is Anna carrying?

[Comments]

It’s just good for farming.

Mechamancer Roaming was always fast at farming.

It’s fast at farming but can’t do much else. ㄴ(Author) Isn’t the main point of a roamer to have fast growth? ㄴ The character’s tier is low, so it almost always loses in 1v1 against other roamers. ㄴ(Author) Just use the ult to escape. ㄴ That’s still a waste of the ult. ㄴ Fact: Without the ult, it’s like playing a Master Yi without Q. ㄴ It has no CC, so it’s basically trash as a roamer.

[Stream] Anna, why are you just watching?

Anna, why are you just standing there?

Have you really betrayed us?

[Comments]

All your teammates are dying, LOL.

Watching increases armor penetration~

What did you expect from a Bronze player?

She must have only learned farming routes, LOL.

This person didn’t come to play; she came for a walk.

[Stream] Yup~ Anna~

Anna isn’t going anywhere~

She’s going to live here forever~

She doesn’t care if her teammates die~

[Comments]

Abandoning teammates, LOL.

Mom, don’t leave me, Mom… I’ll be a good kid from now on... ㄴ(Author) Nope~ Get lost~ I can always have another child~ ㄴ Don’t slander Anna... ㄴ(Author) Yup~ I already have a boyfriend~ We’ll just make another baby~ ㄴ Anna doesn’t have a boyfriend!!!!

[Stream] Anna with the triple kill!!!!!!

Did Anna really do this????

[Comments]

I turned off the stream when I saw her playing Mechamancer Roaming. What happened? ㄴ(Author) Anna just hard-carried the team fight. ㄴ What? How is that even possible?

[Stream] Can someone explain what happened in Anna’s stream?

Did that useless b*tch really carry?

[Comments]

During the team fight, Anna used her invisibility skill and flanked them. ㄴ(Author) I don’t get what you mean. ㄴ Just rewatch the stream. ㄴ(Author) Anna blocked the stream replay!!!!

[Stream] Anna’s backstab.mp4@@novelbin@@

(Video clip)

The Great Anna

[Comments]

That was a good decision.

She was a total troll at first, but then she really pulled through, LOL.

That flanking play was really good.

You need to watch the part where she uses her ultimate to really appreciate it.

Anna really improved out of nowhere. What happened? (No, seriously.) ㄴ It must be thanks to her boyfriend. ㄴ As much as I hate to admit it, she did improve so suddenly that it’s believable.

[General] A quick analysis of Anna’s gameplay

There was a time when Mechamancer Roaming was slightly researched, but it fell out of use because it was too weak in 1v1s against other roamers and couldn’t effectively disrupt the enemy team.

So, Anna just farmed quickly to charge her ultimate.

(GIF of the ultimate activation)

She activated her ultimate, quickly identified the enemy’s and her team’s positions, and moved to the expected team fight location to wait.

It seems like she intended to flank from the start.

(GIF of Anna’s first-person view during the team fight)

After the fight started, she didn’t care if her teammates were dying. Once all the enemy’s skills were on cooldown, she used her invisibility skill, flanked the enemies, and took out three of them to win.

[Comments]

Great analysis.

But how was she so strong without any damage skills? ㄴ(Author) She farmed neutral mobs for attack power boosts + backstab bonus + headshot bonus + targeted enemies with low armor. ㄴ The character has always been really strong with basic attacks. ㄴ Isn’t it too strong? Shouldn’t it get nerfed? ㄴ(Author) The ultimate isn’t a damage skill, so the basic attacks need to be strong... ㄴ But it has no mobility, no survival skills, no CC, nothing.

[Stream] Why is Anna so good?

(Anna winking GIF)

It’s talent~~

[Comments]

What nonsense, LOL.

You won one round, calm down, you maniac, LOL.

[Here, top damage. Right here.]

Anna’s voice echoed throughout the space.

A screen, the size of a movie theater, displayed Anna pointing to the top damage section on the results screen.

[Here, top damage. This spot. Right here.]

Stop emphasizing it, LOL.

Why are you suddenly so good? Did you join the military?

Okay, okay, we get it. Enough now...

Sis, you’re embarrassing...

[You kept mocking me, but how do you feel now? I told you I could do it. I’ve really been practicing.]

Anna’s Live2D model displayed a confident expression. It was impressive how expressive the 2D model was, despite just being a drawing.

[Let’s watch the replay while we’re at it. Huh? You don’t want to? But I want to.]

[To get better, you need to review and study. So just bear with it. If you don’t like it, you can become the stream host.]

Anna started the replay on the screen. Feeling a bit peckish, I reached out into the air.

Then, with a pop, a cup of tea appeared. A snap of my fingers, and a scone and macarons appeared.

I leaned back in my recliner, halfway lying down. It was quite an improper posture, not something a noble lady would be expected to do.

But it didn’t matter. No one was watching, and no one would come here.

This was my own private space.

“At this rate, I won’t need to go to the movies.”

I muttered to myself as I pressed the refresh button floating in the air. A few new posts had appeared in the gallery, so I clicked through them one by one.

I was in VR, in a virtual space I created.

Even the food I was eating was just data wrapped in the skin of macarons.

Unusually, I wasn’t using the VR device for gaming.

I was using it to watch a broadcast. To watch the Labyrinth stream in real-time, viewers also needed to use the VR time acceleration system.

Of course, you could watch it on your phone or PC in the real world, but it felt like you were just rewatching archived content.

I didn’t want to speed up the playback to 5x, nor did I want to watch it at normal speed because that felt boring.

I wanted to watch Anna’s stream live.

“I got paid a ‘friend fee’ yesterday, after all.”

She deposited 1 million won as a ‘friend fee.’

Anna probably doesn’t know that I’m subscribed to her channel. After all, she only introduced herself as a streamer and never mentioned that she was VTuber ‘Shiroki Anna.’

So I didn’t have to follow her streams, but since I got paid, I felt obligated.

“Hmmm… but how long do I have to keep this hidden?”

I’ll probably keep watching her streams until she enters the tournament.

I could just check her gameplay through replays, but watching the live stream gives me more information.

Especially about her emotions.

Even pro gamers are often criticized for making ‘emotional plays.’

It’s natural. No matter how much you try to stay cool-headed, humans aren’t machines.

And Anna is particularly susceptible to her emotions.

So understanding Anna is necessary.

The biggest challenge is how to help her overcome her fears and what to replace those fears with.

Watching her streams was necessary for that.

But this situation where we’re both hiding things from each other feels inefficient.

“Still, there’s no need for me to reveal anything on my side.”

Tap, tap.

I changed the macarons to a roll cake. Eating the same snacks repeatedly was getting a bit dull.

“Revealing Anna’s identity wouldn’t be much fun anyway.”

I took a bite of the 0-calorie roll cake. The soft cream flavor spread in my mouth. The taste and texture weren’t much different from the real thing.

It’s been about a week since I started coaching Anna. During this week, I realized that Anna is a person who is incredibly indifferent to her surroundings.

She doesn’t seem to care much about what’s happening in the world.

She doesn’t show much interest in other people’s situations.

She’s even indifferent to herself.

But when it comes to the things she likes, she’s extremely passionate.

Anyway, Anna definitely doesn’t care about how others see her.

She probably doesn’t feel embarrassed about being a VTuber and wouldn’t bother hiding it.

So even if I dramatically revealed to her, “I know your secret! You’re VTuber Shiroki Anna!” she would probably just casually reply, “Oh, you figured it out? Since you know, please subscribe, like, hit the notification bell, and follow me on social media.”

There’s no fun in teasing her.

“Still, I suppose she’s keeping it a secret because of Rion.”

That’s the most reasonable conclusion.

It turns out Rion has been a VTuber for about two years.

But she never told me, probably because she was embarrassed to admit she ends her sentences with ‘nyan.’

You should’ve picked a better character, then.

She always teased me for being too into my character.

“What should I do?”

While my thoughts swirled around, I suddenly heard Anna’s voice loud and clear.

Just two weeks ago, you were a mess. What happened?

Where did you learn to shoot like that?

Did you marry someone who served in the military?

Did your boyfriend teach you?

Explain!

[What boyfriend…? And who said anything about marriage?]

Who taught you? Tell us!

Ouch… I’m a baby unicorn… my horn hurts too much…

We’re from the animal rights organization; we’re here to protect the rights of unicorns.

It’s not ‘animal rights’; it’s ‘animal welfare,’ you idiots.

Is it your boyfriend? Or is it an invasion?

Gasp! An invasion.

[It’s not my boyfriend… These days, I have a teacher. And she’s a woman.]

Bullshit.

Don’t lie to us, teacher.

Is there really a woman who can teach you how to navigate the labyrinth?

Is it April Fool’s Day?

If you lie, Santa won’t bring you presents, you know that, right?

Anna, did you lie to your father?

[Have you all been living under a rock? Alright, wait a minute. Manager? Are you watching the stream? If you are, please call me on Discord. …Hmm, I guess you’re not watching. That’s even better.]

Anna nodded.

[I’ll do a collab with the teacher who’s been coaching me… How about that?]

“...Huh?”

I opened my eyes wide.

Anna, what are you talking about?