Chapter 49 : The Mysterious Letter (1)

In the center of the altar where the Star Demon Azranox had vanished without a trace, Rydel stared blankly at the empty space.

For a brief moment, her brain seemed to freeze as if buffering, but it finally began to process the situation.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

Rydel sprang forward like a spring, charging toward Yoo Seoyeno.

She then tightly hugged her small body.

“Silver hair! I got it! We got first place in the event!”

The dopamine surging from deep within her lower abdomen made it hard for Rydel to regain her composure.

Rydel’s victory!

Though it seemed like she had done nothing but be carried along.

She decided to forget about such trivial things for now.

When they first saw the quest, they never imagined this outcome.

“Honestly, I thought it would be tough for both of us! That monster looked so huge. But I never expected you’d use the Golem there!”

The chat was in a frenzy, just as Rydel’s pure, unfiltered cheer echoed.

“Rydel’s reactions are priceless, haha!”

“Delbung’s genuine excitement, hahaha!”

“Bouncing around, so relatable!”

“I get why she’s like that.”

“That was insane, for real.”

“Only Silver Hair can pull off that face.”

“Wow, seriously… How did you even think of that? Using the Golem to defeat the boss?”

“It just seemed like it had strong attack power… and it seemed controllable…”

“Hehe, you did well. Does this mean the reward will be given right away?”

Rydel, who had been showering Yoo Seoyeno with a storm of praise, suddenly felt a cold sense of unease.

‘But… is this okay?’

As her mind cleared for a moment, a realistic concern emerged.

No matter how she thought about it, this was not a normal way to clear the quest.

They had used a completely unconventional method to finish the quest, or rather, defeat the final boss, one that the developers surely hadn’t intended.

‘Could this… end up being considered an abuse of a bug or something, and the reward gets canceled…?’

The clear was so overwhelming and abnormal that, instead, a sense of unease slowly began to rise.

It was then.

A shimmering system message window appeared in front of the two once again.

This time, it was a more detailed quest completion notification, different from the one that had appeared for the entire server earlier.

[Congratulations on being the first to complete the special event!]

[The Guardian of the Boundary, impressed by your power, bestows a special blessing.]

[Special rewards are being granted! Shortly, the ‘Blessing of the Guardian’ will reach you…!]

“Ah? The reward! They’re giving us a blessing!”

Rydel sighed in relief inwardly.

Fortunately, there was no penalty.

A moment later.

Mysterious, sparkling light particles like a nebula began to swirl around Yoo Seoyeno’s avatar, rising into the air.

[You, the worthy one, have opened the closed door and touched the truth of the stars…]

[You are entrusted with the tuning of the distorted space.]

As the light particles gently seeped into Yoo Seoyeno’s body, a new tab appeared in her character info window.

[Power: Tuner of the Distorted Space]

[You have absorbed part of the power from beyond dimensions and gained a special ability to interfere and distort space.]

[Active Skill: ‘Dimension Distortion Cast’]

[Temporarily alters the terrain within a certain range. (Creates/removes walls, raises/sinks terrain, etc.)]

[You can create a short-distance mini portal between two points to teleport.]

‘…This is.’

Yoo Seoyeno’s eyes widened slightly.

‘This could be fun.’

It was indeed the reward from a large-scale event.

It wasn’t a simple stat increase or a powerful attack skill.

If it had been that simple, it would’ve felt a little anticlimactic.

Changing terrain, moving between spaces, and detecting invisible dangers—these were utility abilities with limitless potential.

Unlike the “Mask of Deception,” which had many limitations, this one had endless possibilities.

“Terrain manipulation, hahaha!”

“Portals seem overpowered.”

“How long is the cooldown?”

“If I raise the ground to create a sniper spot, that’d be crazy.”

“Could I sink the ground and set monster traps to farm easily?”

The viewers also had a positive reaction.

It seemed that, rather than just launching powerful attacks, they preferred the idea of doing something unusual.

As Rydel pondered how to use it, she suddenly spotted a strange-looking item in a corner of her inventory.

A pure white envelope.

When she touched it, she could feel a stiff piece of paper inside.

“Eh? Yoo Seoyeno, did you receive something like this too?”

Rydel tilted her head and showed the letter to Yoo Seoyeno.

“Oh, I have one too.”

Yoo Seoyeno also checked her inventory and took out a ticket that looked exactly like Rydel’s.

A reward that wasn’t mentioned in the message.

It had suddenly appeared.

If two people felt it at the same time, it was definitely not a case of mistaking an existing item.

“Hmmm.”

Rydel moved her finger over the letter and clicked again, and faint words that hadn’t been visible before magically appeared clearly.

[Pixel Wars Streamer Server Finale Concert – Special Stage Invitation]

[Congratulations! You have been officially invited as a singer to the special stage of the Pixel Wars Streamer Server’s finale concert, which will decorate the last night of the server.]

[Date: The evening of the server shutdown day]

[Location: Central Plaza, Major City, Special Stage]

(*This invitation cannot be transferred.)

(*If you do not wish to participate, please discard the invitation.)

“S-singer?”

At the identity of the letter, which she hadn’t imagined, Rydel let out a flustered voice.

A concert?

As a singer?

Are they inviting me?

[??????]

[Rydel-chan has become an idol lol]

[Singing at the concert suddenly? lol]

[Masked Rydel lol]

[‘Rydelo_Enhanced Hearing’ donated 5000 won!]

But Rydel’s singing skills… ah… uh.

[Go!]

[Uh… uh…!]

[Just laugh lol]

[Isn’t this public humiliation lol]

[Our Rydel sings well…]

The chat window was filled with reactions mocking Rydel.

 It was such an unexpected and unanticipated invitation.

On the other hand,

Yoo Seoyeno briefly skimmed through the contents of the ticket, then turned her head toward Rydel with a calm expression, as always, and asked:

“Rydel, would you like to participate?”

“Me? M-me?”

Rydel was startled and stammered.

“Sing on the concert stage?”

She had heard that, as the server had become quite popular, not only streamers who could sing but also invited singers would be attending.

To stand there and sing along?

Her concert experience was limited to elementary school talent shows.

“Ah, if I make a mistake, it’s all over…”

Rydel could feel her heart racing.

Of course, she had occasionally sung during live broadcasts when the mood struck, but a concert was an entirely different story.

Singing in front of her own viewers, who knew her well, was one thing, but singing in front of the viewers of another streamer—especially on the last day of a popular server where hundreds of thousands of viewers were expected to show up—was a whole other matter.

It was completely different from singing during a casual broadcast, where if she made a mistake, she could laugh it off and claim, “This is just how I sing!”

If she messed up here, it would be a huge disaster.

With dozens of major streamers and hundreds of thousands of viewers, the atmosphere could turn awkward in an instant.

Just thinking about it made her shiver.

Although she had some broadcasting experience, the nervousness was almost suffocating.

She would have to do her best just to make it through, and if she failed, it would be a history of humiliation that would last forever, full of mockery.

At this moment, she felt the urge to burn the letter and forget about it.

But.

“Still… I want to try.”

It wasn’t so much about being a singer, but more about her sense of duty as a streamer.

For the sake of the broadcast, sometimes it was necessary to take some risks.

On the last day of the Pixel Wars server, the special stage of the finale concert.

‘To sing there…’

As a streamer, it would be hard to pass up an opportunity like this.

“Phew…”

In the end, Rydel took a deep breath, then smiled widely.

“I, Rydel… will set the concert hall on fire!”

「Wow!」

「Rydel’s got guts lol」

「I guess it’s time to start singing practice」

「Still, Rydel’s great at hyping up the mood with songs lol」

「This is Rydel for you」

Rydel sighed.

“Well, the expectations are low anyway. I can just sing comfortably.”

After all, no one expected her to sing like a professional singer.

That didn’t mean mistakes would be allowed, but among the hundreds of thousands of viewers there, no one would criticize her for not singing as well as a professional.

Thinking that made her feel a bit more at ease.

If she focused on fun songs like she usually did during her singing streams, she was confident she could hype up the atmosphere.

“Then… Silver Hair, you’ll do it too, right?”

Rydel glanced at Yoo Seoyeon.

Yoo Seoyeon still wore her usual calm expression.

It was a little over a month ago, during a joint singing stream.

Her overwhelming talent had made Rydel lose confidence for a moment.

With no need for fancy techniques, her pure voice alone resonated deeply—talent like that, born naturally.

If Rydel had that level of skill, she would have jumped in without a second thought.

Unexpectedly, Yoo Seoyeon didn’t respond right away.

She tilted her head slightly, looking again at the invitation in her hand.

There was something… subtly hesitant about her expression.

“Could it be… Seoyeno is nervous?”

Rydel suddenly realized.

Unlike herself, who had considerable broadcast experience, Yoo Seoyeno seemed to have a shy and introverted personality.

Such a large-scale stage would naturally be intimidating.

Playing games was one thing, but singing was a completely different domain.

“Well, it’s her choice, but…”

If it was too overwhelming, she didn’t have to do it.

She hadn’t signed any contract.

Participation was voluntary, not mandatory.

If she didn’t want to participate, she could just burn the invitation.

“I’d be disappointed though.”

It was a shame.

This was a huge opportunity for Yoo Seoyeno.

In fact, far more than it was for Rydel, who had some recognition.

Being noticed at such a large concert would drastically increase the viewership when she started broadcasting.

It would be too much of a waste to just let it go.

Above all…”She sings so well.”

She sings too well.

Yoo Seoyeno’s voice was too good to just let it go to waste.

Rydel had seen many people who could sing well, but there was no one with a voice as deep and capable of conveying something as Yoo Seoyeno.

“Silver Hair, you don’t need to be nervous at all! Seriously! How well do you sing? Everyone around here knows you!”

“The people who’ve heard her sing all know ”

“She’s good, even without the ‘oppa’ filter.”

“Her voice tone is insane really.”

“I really want to see Silver Hair’s concert, please please please please”

Rydel’s tone grew higher with excitement.

“When I heard you sing before, Silver Hair, I swear… wow… I almost cried from how moved I was! Seriously! Your voice was just, oh my…”

“”

“   Rydel’s desperate!”

“Shit, I wanna hear it too!”

“Silver Hair nuna, please sing! Silver Hair nuna, please sing! Silver Hair nuna, please sing!”

Her eyes were filled with sincerity.

Looking up at Yoo Seoyeno with sparkling eyes, Rydel gazed at her earnestly.

And then.

“…Okay. It seems like everyone wants it…”

Yoo Seoyeno nodded.

“Let’s do it. The concert.”