Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented

Today, Rain thought it was peaceful.

‘Rain’ simply had to enjoy the heart-pounding adventures, the freedom of movement, and the vivid sensations on the Continent of Astria.

Since he couldn’t share the burden, Lee Seulbi decided to take on all his worries and concerns.

“I’ll handle it myself.”

“There won’t be any problems.”

“Just don’t think about anything, Rain.”

Swish!

He got out of the capsule and wiped the cold sweat off his forehead.

Today, Rain was set to spin the bus around with Chris and explore mountain ranges where there might be a path to the next area.

A major expansion pack update for ‘Astria Online’ was announced soon.

Since it’s a game modeled after the Continent of Astria, the next area already exists, but an update is needed to adjust the instance dungeons and content users would encounter there.

Now that he had logged out and returned to this world, it was already time for dinner.

I sat up and stared blankly at my smartphone.

[Direct Message]

[Hanwa Corp. Team Leader Han]

[‘Drizzle Rain’님께]

I hadn’t looked at the message yet.

What could it be about?

Several scenarios came to mind.

I’m not sure how much the management can know, but they likely won’t look into every single user’s information.

However, there must be a system that detects hacks and cheats from the packets sent from users to the server.

In a way, it could be seen as pure luck that I’ve been using the cheat of 100% synchronization rate without issues until now.

That leads to two major possibilities.

Either the packets sent from my capsule to the game company didn’t show any problems for some reason, or they found an issue but chose to overlook it.

If it’s the first, I’ve been lucky; if it’s the latter, the game company has given me special treatment.

But what if my body caused major problems due to the high synchronization rate?

Last time, Chris found me by chance, and I survived.

Fortunately, the connection to ‘Astria Online’ was related to my malnutrition and mental issues, but if I had lost my life or become irreversibly damaged back then?

In that case, it wouldn’t simply be a user’s fault for hacking the capsule; the game company wouldn’t be able to escape responsibility.

Did they ignore it?

Did they know about my abnormal synchronization rate?

Would they risk facing legal responsibility for not addressing my synchronization rate for something that could have stopped them from servicing the game?

“Hmm….”

The more I thought about it, the less plausible it seemed.

There’s a high chance that something I’m unaware of has prevented any abnormal packets from being sent from my play data or they simply missed it on the game company’s end.

Now that I’ve revealed myself in front of numerous users, it’s easy to interpret that they’ve sent a message to investigate my character’s status and capsule directly.

After all, Rain’s gameplay isn’t easily explained without a high synchronization rate.

Regardless, I have to face it.

In order to continue living on the Continent of Astria.

To protect ‘Rain.’

Steeling myself, I was about to check the message from the game company when—

Knock knock.

“Ah!?”

Startled, I turned to the door where the knocking came from.

“…Rain? Can I come in?”

It’s Sister Chris.

I relaxed my stiff body and took a deep breath, responding back.

“Please come in.”

Chris, hesitating, entered my room, looking at me with a slightly worried expression.

“…Why do you look like that, sis?”

I tilted my head quizzically.

Chris carefully helped me sit on the bed and sat beside me.

“You seemed deep in thought when we were driving the bus today.”

“…….”

I thought I hadn’t shown any signs today.
Chris could read ‘Lee Seulbi’s’ worries from deep within ‘Rain.’

Chris’s eyes were peering into my heart.
I felt a small sense of relief from her kind nature.
I didn’t need to worry alone.

I opened my mouth.

“I’m feeling uneasy.”

“What’s making you uneasy?”

“I’m afraid Rain might disappear.”

“The synchronization rate.”

I looked at Chris in surprise.
I had suspected it, but she also knew about my abnormal synchronization rate.

I nodded.
“Yes. My synchronization rate is high.”

“…It must have hurt a lot?”

Her gentle tone warmed my heart.
Of course, it was painful, but it’s something I must endure.
Pain is one of the sensations that reminds me I’m alive.
It’s just uncomfortable for Lee Seulbi’s body to take the load from Rain’s pain.

Hug.

Chris pulled me closer, resting my head on her chest.

Soft. Warm.
“Yesterday, I got a message from the game company. I haven’t looked at it yet.”

“They might take measures or impose penalties regarding the synchronization rate.”

“Yes. …But,”

“I understand. You don’t want to give up, do you?”

I nodded slightly.

The legs I move freely.
The vivid sensations I feel through them.
The refreshing air of the Continent of Astria.
The immersive adventures I experience there.
Not a single one of those was something I wanted to give up.

If I lost ‘Rain’, I felt I would lose myself in this colorless world again.

Thanks to Chris being here, this world has regained some color, but still,
I largely fulfilled the meaning of living through ‘Rain’ on the Continent of Astria.

Chris tightly embraced my head again and then pulled back to look into my eyes.

Her eyes were filled with determination.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to do something.”

“…You will?”

“Of course. I have quite a bit of power in the virtual reality industry.”

Chris grinned.
I could feel my anxiety dissipating little by little at her confident smile.

“I don’t know the reason, but you’ve had a high synchronization rate from the start, right?”

“Yes. But the game company needs to take measures.”

“That’s true. They can’t just leave it alone, whether it’s a bug or hacking.”

Chris nodded.
Considering I had been in a dangerous situation because of the pain from the high synchronization rate, it was a valid concern.

“But Rain can’t give up the synchronization rate.”

“I know that’s just my stubbornness. But…”

Even though Chris showed an expression of deep concern, she respected my opinion.
Of course, if I received the measures related to the synchronization rate, my body would be safe.
But at the same time, I would revert to the weak Lee Seulbi, who hadn’t truly lived.
I simply couldn’t give up on the synchronization rate.

“This won’t be easy. Convincing them that they must care for my physical body without putting too much strain on it, and keeping an eye out to take immediate action in case of an emergency—it hardly seems persuasive. Hah, I wish I had more time.”

“……?”

Before I could ponder on Chris’s last words, she pointed at my smartphone.

“We should check the message first.”

“Yes.”

Fortunately, having Chris by my side gave me the courage to proceed.

Together, we stared at the smartphone and opened the message.

[Direct Message]

[Hanwa Corp. Team Leader Han]

[‘Drizzle Rain’ 님께]

[Content]

Hello, I’m Han Yeoreum, the team leader of the marketing department at Hana Games.

….

….

Chris’s expression grew strange as she read through the message.

“…This is an offer to be an advertisement model?”

“Whoa!”

Ding!

“Truly an aggressively marketing game company.”

“I’ve never done an advertisement contract before.”

“Don’t worry. Since I’m in the same company, I’ll handle it if it leads to an advertisement contract.”

“…An entertainer?”

Today was the first time I visited Chris’s company.
We’re currently at the headquarters of ‘Klaus Capsule Corporation’ located in Gangnam.
Klaus Capsule Corporation is a massive company and the one that produced the capsule I’m currently using.
Sister Chris worked at such a remarkable place.
I waited in a meeting room with Chris for this person, Team Leader Han Yeoreum from Hana Games.

“Is advertising the only purpose?”

“I don’t know. We’ll see what they say when they come. However, if they’re from marketing, they probably won’t nitpick about your gameplay.”

“Y-Yeah?”
As Chris told me before, in this future world, avatars for the metaverse are privately owned.
The avatars created according to the international metaverse avatar standard programs are used in-game, but that doesn’t mean they belong to the game company.
If they want to use an individual’s avatar as a game advertisement model, they must enter directly into a contract with the individual.

“Rain’s gameplay is genuinely impressive, and you’re cute too, so it’s no wonder the game company would want you as a model.”

Chris nodded.
I felt a bit embarrassed at that compliment, twisting my body nervously.
I still wasn’t used to compliments regarding my appearance.

“Rain wanted to meet them, but are you sure that’s alright? If you become an advertisement model, your face will be exposed through various media.”

“I’ll listen to what they have to say before deciding.”
This was the first case where a game company had directly attempted to reach out to me.
I truly didn’t know if their only purpose was to offer me an advertisement contract.
But there was one good point to doing it:
They would probably pay a lot, right?
To repay the gold I owe my sister, I’d be willing to risk having my face out there.

“Team Leader Han Yeoreum has arrived.”

“Yes, please let her in.”

A voice from outside spoke, and Team Leader Han Yeoreum stepped in.

“Oh.”

I gasped without realizing it.
Tall, with long, bright blonde hair down to her shoulders.
A beauty appearing to be in her early to mid-20s.
Her body was stunning, with a prominent chest that stood out even over her office attire.
In terms of size, she overshadowed even Chris.

I tugged on Chris’s sleeve and whispered.

“Wow, she’s beautiful.”

Wheeze.

Chris glanced down at her own chest, pouting.
For some reason, she looked sulky, nervously fiddling with her fingers.
“Do you prefer women with larger chests?”

“Eh?”

I tilted my head, not following her meaning.
I answered honestly.

“Someone like you is the prettiest.”

“Hehe, right?”

Chris’s face brightened again.
As we exchanged small talk, the woman named Han Yeoreum took a seat on the sofa opposite the meeting room table.
I stared at her with a tense expression.
Even though she was from the marketing department, she was definitely a person from the game company behind Astria Online.
She might bring up the topic of the synchronization rate.
This was the problem I needed to navigate while being in this world.
It was Lee Seulbi’s fight.

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