“Ajin, you might be a Hero.”
“What?!”
Her reaction was undeniably intense, even though it wasn’t the first time she’d heard about heroes.
‘Could my words really be that shocking?’
Looking at Da-young, who dropped her cake in a panic, I was convinced she was overwhelmed.
“Geez! Da-young, you’re so clumsy.”
Pepe grumbled as he grabbed a napkin to wipe the corner of Da-young’s mouth.
It was one of those rare moments when Pepe seemed mature—maybe even the first time.
Back to the point: the person I suspected to be a Hero was Ajin, the editor I recently hired.
“I realized it earlier today when we were holding hands. That editor, Ajin, is one of us.”
“You can tell just by holding hands?”
“Well, you figured it out by looking at the Switch channel playlist.”
“Haha, Bitch Sehee was right.”
“Though I almost overlooked it because of how timid she seemed, there was a strange sensation when our hands touched—like a tickle in my nerves.”
“At first, I didn’t know what it was, but after some thought, it made sense.”
“It was the same feeling I had on the day Forming first discovered her stream.”
“So, are you going to ask her directly?”
“I don’t know… Should I?”
“If she really is a Hero in trouble, I’ll have to help her.”
“Saving Heroes!”
‘That was one of the few resolutions I made when I returned to this world.’
‘Didn’t I already contact Da-young and lift Hako’s curse?’
“Even you two thought Ajin wasn’t exactly normal, right?”
“Well…”
“She was a complete loner. Stammering and mumbling every word… Haha!”
Da-young hesitated, trying to sugarcoat her words, while Pepe added her signature snark.
Though their tones differed, their meaning was the same.
It was a clue for how to approach her.
“The power I used earlier has a calming effect. Originally, it’s meant to protect allies’ mental states, but that’s not important. What matters is that Ajin seemed overly fixated on the power I showed.”
“Wait, Sehee… Don’t tell me you’re planning…”
“Exactly.”
I nodded at Pepe’s guess.
Asking her outright, “Are you a Hero?” would probably yield no meaningful answer.
The atmosphere would turn awkward, and worst-case scenario, she’d think I was crazy.
Instead, I needed to create a situation where she’d confess on her own.
The method was…
“Ajin…”
I sipped some water and spoke calmly.
“I’ll train her.”
‘Ah, was that phrasing too harsh?’
Seeing Da-young freeze like she’d seen Medusa, I began second-guessing myself.
I might need to clarify.
“Don’t misunderstand. It’s not what you think.”
They seemed to be imagining something weird, but I meant nothing inappropriate.
“She seems pretty dependent on me already, as you saw earlier. I’ll take it slow, build trust, and when we’re close enough, I’ll ask her gently.”
“Ugh, what a letdown.”
“Phew, thank goodness.”
Pepe grumbled in disappointment, while Da-young sighed in relief.
“So they really had weird ideas. Ugh, such dirty minds.”
Da-young tilted her head in thought before cautiously speaking up.
“What if she isn’t a Hero? Or what if she is?”
“If she’s not, then that’s that. If she is, I’ll figure out her problem and solve it.”
“I see… Okay.”
Though she smiled faintly, Da-young didn’t seem like she wanted to probe further.
‘She’d tell me when she was ready, I guess.’
‘Well, let’s wrap this up for now.’
“By the way… What time is it?”
It felt like I’d been stuck on this for ages.
I instinctively checked my smartphone.
6:30 PM.
I was already 30 minutes late for the stream I’d announced today.
Oh no!
***
[Host, open the damn stream already!]
[The most tardy woman of the year, crowned by TIME.]
[It’s just one day late, calm down.]
[Already acting smug like she’s all that, huh?]
[Teehee, Mommy, we’re 30k viewers strong. Take care of your babies!]
[The babies are dead.]
[The White Horse Necromancer revived us as zombies.]
[Tonight, the hunt for Freedah begins.]
[At least put up an announcement, Sensei!]
[Sis ㅠㅠ I waited for your first live stream all day ㅠㅠ]
[What the heck? Where’d this greasy old hag come from?]
[Algorithm brought her in, didn’t it?]
[These newcomers are already acting up—spit on them!]
The chat was in chaos, even with me being just an hour late.
Strangely, there was a sense of disconnection and a prickling sensation on the back of my neck—a sign things weren’t going smoothly.
It was… unsettling.
I logged into my channel using a secondary ID and saw that everyone was eagerly watching the waiting screen for the stream to start.
At this point, it felt more like covert surveillance. With their skills, they could easily snipe other streams.
It was the calm before the storm.
The moment I opened the metaphorical door, hordes of zombies would flood in.
But for now, it was an odd standoff, separated by the closed door, unable to recognize each other.
However, the door wouldn’t stay closed forever.
It was destined to become an automatic door when the time came.
Preparing myself to face the zombie horde, I quickly fortified my defenses from the survivor’s perspective.
And then…
***
―The stream has started.
The moment I flipped the stream switch to “on,” a tidal wave of viewers flooded in, making the stream lag.
With every tool at my disposal—follower-only mode, a two-minute chat limit, and extreme slow mode—I launched a counteroffensive.
When the slow mode was dialed to an extreme, the zombies flailed in the frozen chat window, their momentum slowly waning.
‘This should be manageable now.’
Once communication became feasible…
“Hello, everyone. Welcome to day six of Friede’s stream.”
I opened the broadcast with my usual intro.
[Finally! Friede’s here, even though she’s super late!]
“Sorry for the delay. Something came up on my end.”
[Noona, why not apply for a Switch panel board now?]
[You seem to focus only on YouTube. Shouldn’t you pay attention to your main channel on Switch?]
[If you set up a notice board, you could post announcements early.]
“A panel board? What’s that?”
[What does she even know?]
[Molu~]
[She’s clueless about anything besides Soul Warfare massacres.]
After hearing my viewers’ explanations and doing a quick search, I realized the panel board function was similar to a community tab on YouTube.
More communication channels were always good.
Even before my otherworldly summoning or return to modern life, I never delved deep into streaming systems.
If I hadn’t chosen to be a streamer, I might have just stuck to watching others.
But as a streamer now, I needed to be ready to connect with my audience.
“Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll set it up after today’s stream.”
[Hahaha, look at this guy grinning over some praise.]
[Hearing her say ‘thank you’ feels so rare and special!]
[Black Ring donated 10,000 won!
-Noona, are you joining the STK Brawl Tournament?]
A donation came in right after the stream began.
Normally, I’d thank the donor and move on, but the topic caught my attention.
“The tournament? I’m not a pro, though. Isn’t STK for professional teams?”
“STK… That’s the team with that franchise star, Warden, right?”
[Do you know anything today? LOL.]
One viewer explained:
[ZiegCarterBelt donated 10,000 won!
-STK runs casual event leagues after their regular season. It’s tradition.]
Ah, an event league run by a pro team.
That sounded new to me.
[They use it to scout talented amateurs who might join their youth division and even start in the second team.]
[Last year’s STK champion started this way.]
The event league sounded fascinating.
The SCK League for Soul Warfare had apparently already ended.
That must be why they had time for this.
It had been ages since I played a ranked game or kept up with the league due to streaming and other activities.
Returning to the present…
“Where can I find details about the tournament?”
A viewer answered:
[Check the Soul Warfare Outvent website. There’s a banner for it.]
I visited the site and found the tournament announcement.
It was a one-on-one, single-player format—a pure skill competition without team dependency.
‘This… feels tempting.’
‘The event’s biggest draw?’
‘Lotus.’
STK’s top-tier female gamer and a star challenger, known as “Prima Donna” in Soul Warfare.
This tournament promised a one-on-one match with her for the winner.
“If the schedule works, this could be fun.”
I clicked the link and signed up, ignoring the chat exploding with reactions.
[Noona joined?!]
[Is this Friede VS Lotus in the making?!]
[Calm down! The event hasn’t even started yet.]
With my application confirmed, I leaned back.
Time to bring my A-game.