Chapter 19 Part 1: No, I’m Japanese

Kieeeeek-

At first glance, it might sound like a bird’s call, but it was louder and thicker than that.

Without a doubt, it was a dinosaur.

“Here, we need to check them from beside the stairs.”

Solnamu, having roughly grasped the game’s structure through a few rounds of experience, calmly began giving instructions.

Inside the narrow building, the stairs, among other places, were practically a wall of tears for the dinosaur faction.

Due to the dinosaurs’ characteristic of having inherently larger bodies than humans thanks to their long tails, they often get shot by people while climbing the stairs because of their specific turning radius.

‘Of course, that doesn’t always work…’

Concerned that humans might carry out massacres using the stairs, the game company implemented balance patches in its own way.

They put in multiple staircases, created other ways to go up besides the stairs, or set it so some dinosaurs could climb walls.

They even gave large theropods the privilege of smashing entire buildings with force.

‘And since it’s escape mode now…’

The game mode was Escape Mode, where you escape the dinosaur island by helicopter or boat.

Tyrants were fixed as 2 Spinosaurus.

Not only did they have more health than the T-rex, but they could also lurk in the river and throw the boat, one of the escape routes, making caution necessary.

They even continuously applied defense buffs to allies, making them subtly annoying opponents.

‘For now, let’s focus on the one that’s here.’

Tap tap-

Judging by the sound continuously hitting the wooden floor, the enemy was a Raptor.

Being a basic dinosaur, even beginners could easily handle it, so it wasn’t a particularly difficult opponent.

“Cheongha, how about you try fighting it first?”

“Ah, me?”

Solnamu decided to watch the fight first and sent Cheongha forward.

Eh, surely not.

Even if she’s a beginner, it’s a basic character; she should be able to handle it, right?

Idol Maker.

The dating sim game she played in her past life, and the world she was currently reincarnated into.

Even after the status window appeared, Cheongha perceived this place not merely as a game world, but clearly as another reality.

What does that mean?

It means, precisely,

“This damn…!”

-Wow, host sucks lol fr

-Looking for the person who carried last round

-Who are you, you’re not the host

-Gotta protect the image lolol

-At this point isn’t it intentional? lolol

-Seems like there’s a weirdo in this chat? lololol

‘Past life beauties are good at games’ type TS tropes don’t apply!

Cheongha quietly cursed seeing her character being thoroughly mauled after being ambushed by the raptor on the stairs.

The steadily decreasing health bar came into view.

-Why lose when hugging the stairs?

-Shooting is damn bad  lol

-Ghostly avoids only the target lolol

-Took ages just to come up, and couldn’t hit that?

The sight of being ravaged by a dinosaur on terrain highly advantageous to humans immediately elicited ridicule from the viewers.

Of course, she had her own excuse.

‘Well, because I didn’t have time to play games.’

While active as an idol, there was no leisure to enjoy pastimes like games.

Until a few years ago, she was getting IV drips due to overwork; would she have the stamina to take time out to play games?

To make matters worse, the result combined with forgetting recoil control due to nervousness and aim that wasn’t great even in her past life was disastrous.

Tatatatang-!

Eventually, only after Solnamu cleared the raptors on his side and came to her location could she get off the stairs.

Who said dinosaurs are punching bags on stairs? Forget dinosaurs, I became the punching bag instead.

Ding-

At that moment, along with an alert sound, a mission appeared for Cheongha.

[Mission : Get 1 kill]

[Prize Money : 5,000 Won]

[Time Limit : 30 minutes]

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“….Ha?”

The mission content was so easy it was almost absurd.

The viewers’ reactions upon seeing it were unified.

-Giving this as a mission lolol

-Flexing legend

??? : Here, eat this. If you can, that is.

-Chicken?

…Look at this?

“…Solnamu-nim, I have a goal now.”

“…Yes?”

Seeing the text written on the mission, Cheongha uttered words of determination.

She didn’t remember well anymore, but her past life was clearly male.

No, regardless of gender, hearing words that subtly seemed to disregard her skills, she couldn’t just let it pass.

“Gotta take down at least one.”

-Ooh

-Voice sounds f*cking powerful lolol

-Noona fighting~!

In my hand were a shotgun and an automatic rifle.

With this equipment, I should be able to catch at least one by luck.

-Thwack!

“Ah.”

And that thought was instantly shattered by a Carnotaurus charging to ram her with sharp horns raised.

A medium-sized theropod charging with the frontal damage reduction effect applied was powerful.

“Ah, I’m down.”

“Yeees, coming!”

A beginner playing an FPS game for the first time in her life.

As if perfectly fitting that description, Cheongha fell in all sorts of ways.

Paralyzed by Troodon, blinded by Dilopho, and even frozen by Cryolopho.

“That side seems determined to play dirty.”

Like other games, it was common in this game for experienced players (‘goinmul’) to deliberately prey on beginners or engage in toxic behavior (‘inseongjil’).

Just looking at the enemies encountered so far, they had low stats but possessed abilities to hinder opponents.

-Save noona~

-But is she really a noona?

-Voice sounds mature though…

Well, whatever.

Despite Cheongha dying repeatedly, Solnamu didn’t rebuke her.

‘At least it’ll be more interesting than the last one…’

Internet broadcasting is a male-dominated culture.

Most top streamers were male, and Solnamu’s viewers were also mostly male.

Wouldn’t getting wrecked while duoing with a nice-voiced woman get more views than him suffering alone?

‘Trying out X trash game’ doesn’t grab attention as well as ‘Carried a woman I met in X trash game’.

-Host, but hasn’t the video quality been a bit bad since earlier.

-Agreed, keeps stuttering when shooting since earlier

“Ah, the screen…”

At the viewers’ words, Cheongha looked down below the screen.

The game ping, constantly increasing and decreasing, causing chaos, was visible.

Hmm, what should I do about this.

Games. Especially in the FPS genre, ping was extremely important.

The lower the ping number, the shorter the delay between the game and the computer; the higher the number, the more the game lags.

For that reason, in the FPS genre involving real-time gunfights, ping was truly like a lifeline.

Losing a team fight and the game crashing just because of a few points difference in ping was a common occurrence.

‘I think there was a way to fix the ping before…’

I wasn’t very interested in FPS games, so I just skipped past it, but knowing this, I should have just looked it up.

Besides, I’m not playing the game alone now, but clearly in the middle of a broadcast.

Since I couldn’t turn on the internet and search for information in this situation, Cheongha decided to ask the FPS expert right next to her for help.

“Um, Solnamu-nim?”

“Ah, yes. Cheongha-nim.”

“Um, perhaps… do you know how to fix the ping setting?”

“Ah, ping? Just a moment…”

Tatatatang-!

After dealing with the raptor rushing towards him, Solnamu led Cheongha to a corner.

“That, you can do it by going into network settings… Perhaps, are you residing overseas?”

“Ah, yes… I’m Japanese….”

At the casually thrown words, silence instantly flowed in the call room.

“….Eh?”

A few seconds later, Solnamu’s dumbfounded voice flowed through Cheongha’s headset.

‘What, did he hear something he shouldn’t have?’

Just as Cheongha mentally questioned the inexplicable reaction, the chat began scrolling down at high speed.

-What, host is Japanese?

-Fr???

-Damn Korean is f*cking good?

-Nah seriously thought she was Korean;; Speaks our language damn well

It was a speed unbelievable for a small stream with just over 20 viewers.

Seeing the chat content, Cheongha suddenly remembered a fact she had forgotten.

Ah, I didn’t say I was Japanese…?

Worrying about the members, reporters, computer, microphone, etc.

Worrying about all sorts of things, she completely forgot to tell the viewers of her broadcast about her nationality beforehand.

“Ah, no.. Um… Really Japanese…? Um, the accent…”

“Ah.. Yes, I am indeed Japanese.”

And it seemed the situation was the same for the other side, as Solnamu’s voice, seemingly quite flustered, was heard.

He thought maybe she lived far overseas since the ping bounced around so much, but to think she wasn’t Korean at all but a foreigner.

‘No no, Japanese with that vocal cord?’

If so, isn’t the Korean pronunciation too good…?

Anyway, the surprise was brief; Solnamu immediately continued the conversation.

Because his video title, which would attract even more attention than before, had been newly decided.

Met a Korean language master foreign woman in a trash game.

At the unfolding development that seemed increasingly marketable, Solnamu’s heart was doing a tap dance of joy.