Chapter 110

“Looks like magic is all about willpower. The key is intense imagery to overlay the rules and the appropriate use of magic power to match it.”

“……”

“Why?”

“Yoorim-san. This is a game. Give me a proper answer.”

“I’m Yoorim-chan. And what do you mean, a game? What are you talking about? I’m scared.”

Suddenly, Mai’s abrupt change made me shiver.

Pushing a poor, orphaned child like that. I almost cried.

“By any chance, was Mai-nee also the type of adult who says, ‘If you’re gonna leave, then leave, or just shut up’? I’m so disappointed.”

“Mai doesn’t have a deceased wife or a son left with relatives at the age of three. And don’t play dumb, Han Yoorim. You’re the one who handed over all those self-made modes to the company, turning the game into this mess.”

“Nee-san. Get a grip. You don’t work at a company. You’re just doing part-time at Diner.”

It seems the recent events were quite shocking. Seeing her babble like this, maybe she needs to go to the hospital.

—

Turning someone into a lunatic in an instant, lol.

The one who invited Han Yoorim to the Life Server is at fault.

Wow. But what’s with this real-time subtitle feature? There’s no delay at all.

—

Currently, Mai and I were communicating in Japanese, but even Korean viewers had no problem watching.

It was all thanks to the real-time translation subtitle feature I arbitrarily created.

For a Super Developer, it’s a piece of cake.

“You just saw the chat, didn’t you?”

“Mai-nee. What are you talking about? How can you see a chat window in real life?”

“Right. Yoorim-chan. You’re absolutely right. So, please. How do you use magic?”

“I just told you. It seems important to have intense imagery and the appropriate use of magic to match it, right?”

It was frustrating that Mai didn’t believe the answer even after being told.

Mai exploded in anger.

“Does that even make sense?”

“Just believe me once.”

“Fine. I’ll try it your way, Yoorim-chan. Use my imagination to the max to create an image and wish desperately, right? As if this would work—”

Whoosh. Flames burst out.

Mai was left gaping.

“…Huh?”

“The world is too cold for genuine feelings now. Mai-nee. I’m cold.”

“Huh?”

Mai turned into a broken cassette. Clearly, she had never imagined becoming a magician in her life.

She must have grown up in such a harsh and difficult environment. I felt sorry for her.

“How is it? The power of magic. Isn’t it amazing?”

“What is this?”

“It’s magic, nee-san. No matter how happy you are, you need to keep your wits about you.”

“Yoorim-san? What have you done? No. Uh… Isn’t this a game?”

“Nee-san. Get a grip. This isn’t a game; it’s reality.”

Mai kept babbling nonsense again. This wasn’t something a hospital could fix. She needed a restful trip to a scenic place.

“How about a cruise? Take a month off there. A recuperation trip, you know.”

Money’s no issue.

Mai, now a magician, will earn endlessly.

—

What just happened?

I didn’t see the screen, so I’m not sure, but it seems like she used a skill just by thinking?

Does that even make sense?

—

Viewers started a discussion.

Whether it’s possible to use skills just by thinking.

It was a fresh thought.

Of course, it’s possible. Compared to such trivial techniques, a cloud gaming service with zero delay, magically eliminating packet loss, is far more high-tech.

“Yoorim-chan. You saw the chat again, didn’t you? Let’s forget the server rules for a moment and have a clear talk about reality. What is this?”

“Why do you keep saying that? I didn’t see anything.”

I clapped my hands.

It was to stop Mai, who would endlessly fall into suspicion if left alone.

“Now that you’ve learned how to use magic, there’s only one thing left.”

“What?”

What else? Practice.

An unknown enemy has just challenged us to a fight, aren’t you going to prepare?

Aren’t you going to clear the game?

“Nee-san. As a gamer, you must see the ending.”

“Just a moment ago, you said this was reality. Are you making meta comments now? Then explain what you did to this game.”

“A game? What are you talking about, nee—”

Cut.

—

Novel Live casually opened the <Arcane Punk 1009> server, which attracted a lot of attention from the start.

Not for any special reason, but Novel Live naturally draws attention whenever it does something.

Being the top VTuber company, it was only natural.

[304]

This server Novel Live prepared, something’s off

[305>>304]

The prevailing theory is that Han Yoorim did something again

[306]

The Arcane Punk 1009 I know is completely different wwww

And Han Yoorim’s peculiar assistance fueled that interest.

Using skills just by thinking?

It would be more understandable if they made the game from scratch or used special equipment, but just adding a few mods and this happening is hard to believe.

When many people gather, various human types are bound to appear.

Novel Live was no exception.

Ambitious people, those who want to take it slow, those who broadcast casually, those who work hard, interesting people, boring people, talented people, untalented people, etc. Various human types existed in Novel Live, and naturally, there were also people good at games.

Thanks to them analyzing and dissecting the game, <Arcane Punk 10...
09 (Han Yoorim Version)> has somewhat taken shape.

The important thing is the image. How clear, accurate, and fitting the image you draw for yourself is the core of magic.

Just hearing about it, you couldn’t tell if it was a game or real magic, but surprisingly, it worked as a game.

Imagination alone limits you to primitive and simple magic, so to learn proper magic, you needed the system’s help.

Especially for something called <Unique Magic>, which is innate to each person, the system was almost essential.

Anyway, in this environment, as participants enthusiastically enjoyed the game, the current Novel Live <Arcane Punk 1009 (Han Yoorim Version)> server has almost reached a state reminiscent of the Warring States period.

Government-affiliated, mafia-affiliated, neutral, fixers, shadow organizations, etc. Amidst the chaos of numerous interest groups, Mai was honing her magic in her room.

Behind Mai, who was playing around with flames, Han Yoorim sighed.

“Sigh. Unnie. I told you. The reason everyone’s <Unique Magic> is different is because everyone’s values and lives are different. But your magic lacks soul. Simply put, it doesn’t feel alive.”

“Come here.”

Mai, who grabbed Han Yoorim and threw her onto the bed, focused back on her magic research.

Mai had a lot of magical talent from the initial settings.

That’s why, even though she hadn’t been learning magic for long, Mai had become quite an exceptional mage.

4th Tier.

She had reached a level where she could be called a proper mage.

“From a level design perspective, making it harder to ascend tiers would be more fun, but it’s a temporary server, so I made it easy.”

Mai had grown accustomed to Han Yoorim, who only talked about reality when it suited her and stayed silent about the server’s rules when it didn’t.

Since she found her reactions amusing, she didn’t mind much anymore.

Mai smiled and asked.

“Yoorim-chan, aren’t you going to learn magic?”

“Magic is hard for Yoorim. I’m just a child.”

Han Yoorim answered lightly and hummed while swinging her legs on the bed.

Mai narrowed her eyes.

In <Arcane Punk 1009>, not learning magic was almost like falling behind. You couldn’t properly enjoy the game.

Would someone crazy about the game do something that would prevent them from enjoying it? That didn’t make sense.

She must have maximized her magical talent…

But despite sticking with her every day, there was no sign of her learning magic.

That was too strange.

‘Is she secretly learning magic? Why would she need to do that?’

Just as Mai furrowed her brow, unable to figure it out.

“Unnie.”

Han Yoorim slowly opened her mouth.

“So, what are you going to do about the Player Family?”

At those words, Mai crossed her arms and sank into thought.

The Player Family. A magical family related to Mai’s lineage, and also the place that sent assassins.

As soon as Han Yoorim learned the enemy’s identity, she said, ‘Looks like it’s a successor issue. The family’s a mess, so if you’re alive, the successor position is in danger. It’s a cliché.’ And it seemed she was right.

Given that they kept sending hitmen non-stop.

Even the hitman who came yesterday was a mage, making it quite a tough fight.

If Mai hadn’t reached the 4th Tier at that critical moment, she would have lost.

“We have to resolve it. But.”

“But?”

“I’m not sure if it’s possible right now.”

Mai was currently just a 4th Tier mage.

Even though 4th Tier mages are called proper mages, there are plenty of higher tiers. Fighting a powerful group like a magical family alone was far from enough.

“Why not just give it a try? When a quest pops up, trying it out is the standard in games.”

Well. Han Yoorim is a pretty successful game developer. She wouldn’t create an impossible mission.

Given how easy it is to ascend tiers, maybe if I fight, I’ll level up and get stronger appropriately?

Mai twitched her lips.

“Then, should I trust you and give it a try?”

“Mai unnie. If you trust a kid like me, you’ll get into big trouble.”

“Please, just let me twist your nose once.”

*

And so, with the justification of ‘Overthrowing the Player Family,’ Mai left the base and returned to the hotel in just an hour.

The reason was simple.

“Mai unnie. It’s a disaster. At this rate, the city will disappear.”

“……”

Because someone had erased the Player Family from the world.

No.

To be precise, because someone had finished preparing to erase the world itself and had put it into action.

‘Is Akane the protagonist again?’

Mai muttered softly to herself.

For her, it was a very familiar situation.