24

"Ugh, Dayoung, you're such a drama queen. My stomach is churning. Can we slow down a bit?"

"If you throw up, I swear I'll toss you in the washing machine and spin you around."

"Sheesh, you… miserable frog."

Swallowing the irritation rising from Pepe's complaints, Dayoung pushed her feelings down her throat.

'Seriously, why did he insist on tagging along in the first place?'

Ignoring Pepe, who was whining about motion sickness inside the bag, Dayoung rushed to the designated meeting point she had been told about.

The message had come just two hours ago.

There wasn't enough time to prepare for much, and she found herself quickening her pace as she moved.

"You went through all the trouble to bathe, dress up, and do God knows what else. You're not even meeting a guy."

"So what? Do you expect me to show up looking like a slob? And stop talking to me. If anyone sees us, we'll get caught and dissected."

Despite Pepe's sharp tongue, his words oddly pricked her heart.

'Why did I dress up so much?'

'Is this some sort of debut?'

'Who is this woman that I feel so nervous about meeting?'

Unable to vent her simmering irritation anywhere, Dayoung simply clenched her mouth shut.

***

She remembered when the woman had suggested this one-on-one meeting as her second favor, following their collaborative stream.

[You promised to grant my request…]

'She said it wasn't an unreasonable favor, but this…'

This felt like a bit much.

Still, Dayoung couldn't refuse outright, having owed the woman in question.

Yet she couldn't shake her curiosity about the timing of the summons.

'Why now?'

'Is it because of that recent sniping incident?'

'If that's the case, wouldn't the MS Room have been a better place to discuss it?'

'The hacking controversy was settled, so what else could there be to say?'

'Or is there some problem so sensitive it can't be shared with anyone else? Did she actually use a real hack?'

The trail of questions spiraled into increasingly bleak assumptions, sowing anxiety in her chest.

"Huff, huff."

Her chest heaved as she ran, her breath coming in shallow gasps.

The cold air was at least a relief, preventing her makeup from being ruined by sweat.

She grumbled internally about how much easier it would be with a hero's powers as she approached the location Friede had shared.

Then it hit her.

"Huh…?"

As Dayoung neared the meeting spot, she felt the shift.

The world around her had changed.

Even though her powers were sealed, her senses, honed as a hero, rang loudly in her head like an alarm.

She was only a dozen or so meters from the meeting place, but the boundary between here and there felt like the edge of two separate worlds.

People walked by, seemingly unaffected or oblivious, going about their lives as if nothing were amiss.

The tension she felt now surpassed even the nuclear controversy that had erupted after arriving in Korea.

This wasn't just related to her work as a streamer—it carried a level of danger belonging to another realm altogether.

'Better be careful.'

Dayoung leaned down and whispered to Pepe, nestled in her bag.

"Pepe, can you sense it?"

"Of course I can. Are we at the meeting point?"

"Yeah, almost there."

"Stay on your toes, Dayoung. If things go south, get ready to run."

Nodding in silent agreement, Dayoung steeled herself.

Though she could only muster a fraction of a hero's power for a few seconds at most, it would have to be enough.

Her hand instinctively moved to the brooch pinned to her chest as she took slow, deliberate steps toward the bench partially obscured by trees.

'As expected…'

This was definitely the meeting spot Friede had indicated.

'Why is something like this happening here, of all places?'

The lack of logic behind it only made the situation more unsettling.

Step by step, she rounded a curve and approached the agreed-upon location.

-Flash!-

A blinding golden light engulfed her vision, forcing her to shut her eyes tightly.

Startled by the sudden turn of events, Dayoung clenched the brooch in her hand and shouted.

"Pepe!"

Responding to her call, a brilliant white light enveloped her, transforming Pepe from a frog-shaped doll into a massive metallic staff.

Crimson flames seemed to dance through his red hair and ruby eyes.

A uniform of white and red, marked with blazing streaks, wrapped around Dayoung's body as she returned to her hero form.

Clenching her teeth, she tried to suppress the overwhelming force of the world's laws that limited her powers.

'Even if it's just for a moment…!'

As she awakened her hero's strength, her vision began to clear, and she finally saw what stood before her.

What she saw was a familiar figure.

"Friede?"

Dayoung's resolve to run wavered as she stared, dumbfounded, at the woman in front of her.

Clad in silver armor and a golden cape, the figure resembled Friede.

But this version of her emanated a sacred presence that couldn't exist in virtual reality.

The golden aura embroidered across her armor and cape sparkled like a celestial galaxy—a radiance far beyond the capabilities of any VR system.

As she raised her head, golden hair swayed gently in the breeze.

Opening her eyes, Dayoung was met with the sapphire-blue gaze of the woman who stared directly at her.

"Nice to meet you," the woman said, smiling.

Her voice, unmistakably Friede's, was one Dayoung knew well from the MS Room.

But the divinity she exuded was something entirely foreign—an energy that could only come from a single type of being.

A hero.

"A… hero?" Dayoung muttered in disbelief.

[Another one?!]

Pepe's horrified reaction echoed in her mind.

And so, standing there in the golden glow, were two women who had just revealed themselves to be heroes.

Perhaps she should have ordered something sweeter.

Sipping her americano nervously, Dayoung found her heart still racing with unease.

She had thought her connection to this world ended with Pepe, after defeating the Demon King.

Across from her, the woman sipped her tea with a serene smile.

Dayoung reflected on what had just transpired.

Overwhelmed by the flood of information, she looked at Sehee, who smiled softly and extended her hand.

"My name is Ji Sehee. I'm a former hero who was summoned to another world and has since returned. Now, I'm unemployed."

"Ah, I…."

"Judging by your current appearance, it seems like you're a hero too, Forming."

Sehee gave a slight wink, leaving Dayoung in a state of panic.

'Wait, this is way too sudden!'

The abrupt development felt like a narrative twist that was almost dizzying.

It was hard to dismiss Sehee's claim as a lie when the unique aura of a hero emanated from her unmistakably.

Although their appearances differed, Dayoung knew that same energy well—it was the power she herself wielded.

As if singing in harmony, the powers of the two heroes resonated with each other, creating a subtle sense of unity.

Dayoung stared blankly at the hand covered in a pristine white gauntlet until Sehee tilted her head slightly.

"I just want to shake hands. Was that too abrupt?"

"Oh, no, it's not that… I'm just confused…."

'That "Hero of Light, Friede," the player she had known, was actually a real hero?'

"I'm Park Dayoung," she stammered.

Hurriedly taking Sehee's hand, Dayoung lowered her gaze slightly, trying to hide her embarrassment.

From the moment she heard Sehee's voice in the MS Room, she had a feeling, but now she truly understood that sometimes reality could be just as narratively cohesive as fiction.

'That appearance… it's like that "Opening Ceremony Sister" everyone talked about on the forums.'

'Wait a second?'

As she lifted her head, Dayoung's eyes widened as she took in Sehee's features.

"Ahhh!"

"The Opening Ceremony Sister?!"

This unbelievable revelation crashed down on Dayoung like a ton of bricks.

The extraordinary player she met in virtual reality, who had saved her during the nuclear-sniping controversy, turned out to be not only a hero summoned from another world but also the beautiful woman known in online communities as the "Opening Ceremony Sister"?

'This is insane!'

Dayoung clutched her head, overwhelmed by the absurdity of the situation.

This was too much to process.

Feeling awkward, Dayoung broke the silence first.

"Friede—no, Sehee—are you really a hero who saved another world?"

"Hmm, yes. It seems we were summoned to different worlds, but isn't the situation fascinating?"

Sehee took a sip of her tea, then neatly lined up three sugar cubes on the table.

"There's so much we don't know about this world, and now we know at least two other worlds exist. If one is a coincidence, and two is a coincidence, then wouldn't three be a necessity?"

"Are you saying there could be other heroes out there?"

"Yes, meeting you made me think that."

Nodding, Sehee gazed out the window, her expression wistful.

The city lights reflected in her eyes, shimmering like tears.

As she looked around briefly, Dayoung noticed people glancing at them with curiosity.

'Ugh, this is uncomfortable.'

***

Sehee lowered her voice slightly, covering her mouth with her hand as if shielding her words.

"You're curious why I wanted to meet you, right?"

"Well…."

It would be a lie to say she wasn't curious.

Dayoung couldn't help but feel drawn to Sehee's demeanor as she traced her fingers along her teacup, lost in thought.

'Does she have some kind of magnetic charm? Or is this just narrative coherence at work?'

Even the way Sehee swirled her tea with a teaspoon and rested her chin on her hand while gazing out the window seemed like something out of a painting.

"I wanted to meet you for no particular reason at first. I didn't even know you were a hero. But then, while watching your streams, I noticed something strange."

"Something strange?"

"Did Pepe appear on my stream? No, that's not possible. I stream in virtual reality, so Pepe wouldn't show up."

"Mmph!"

Pepe let out a silent cry of frustration from inside the bag, clearly annoyed.

Sehee chuckled softly and waved her hand dismissively.

"No, not your frog friend. It was something else."

"You've been cursed, Dayoung. Didn't you realize your streams have been stuck in obscurity?"

"What?"

Dayoung blinked in confusion as Sehee tilted her head, as if to say, "Of course you didn't know."

'What kind of nonsense is this?!'

"I was browsing Soul Warfare streams when I came across your channel. There was this faint, sinister energy lingering around it."

"And you think that's my channel?"

"Exactly. It's some kind of curse. The message it conveys is amusing, though. It basically says, 'Ignore this stream.'"

'So all this time, I've been struggling because of some stupid curse?!'

"Wait a minute. I have a decent sense for these things after my awakening. How did I miss it?"

"It was cheap but discreet, targeting only your viewers, not you directly. And let's face it, your hero's intuition doesn't work well on Earth."

Sehee shrugged, as if to say, 'What a bargain-bin curse,' leaving Dayoung clutching her head in frustration.

"That's why I became interested in your streams, Dayoung."

"Mmph!"

Pepe once again let out a muffled cry of protest from the bag.

"Your frog seems to be struggling."

"Ah, Pepe doesn't like being confined. Let's step outside and talk."

"Sure, let's go somewhere else. Like…."

Sehee's gaze curved mischievously, though it was hard to dislike her expression.

"Your place, maybe?"

'She's moving way too fast!'