My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 35

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 35
“As you can see, I’m not that different from my Evern Online character.”
True to her words, Ye-jin’s face bore a striking resemblance to “Ye-jin” from Evern Online. Had the commenter who said “Knights go to knight restaurants” seen her, they would have erupted in acclaim.
“I think you might have chosen your username poorly.”
Kim Jae-beom glanced at Ye-jin’s face, then tilted his head in confusion.
“Pardon?”
“Compared to the Evern version… you seem far more ‘petite’ in person…?”
Upon hearing this, Ye-jin responded with a cold stare.
‘Surely it’s not 95% accurate?’
“Look, ‘petite’ doesn’t mean pretty—it means small.”
“I understand. But isn’t your Evern character about 1.2 centimeters taller?”
“…? But I’m sitting down—how could you possibly tell that?”
Ye-jin found this utterly absurd.
Though taller than the average woman, at 171 centimeters Ye-jin was actually on the shorter side for a model—so in Evern Online, she had made her character just slightly taller.
That much was true. But…
‘How did he know that?’
“Well, isn’t it obvious? Couldn’t you do the same, Ye-jin?”
“I can’t!”
Though she had claimed a 100% match between Kim Jae-beom and the “veteran player,” that was only possible while standing.
How could anyone accurately estimate someone’s height when they were buried in a sofa like this?
“Well, let’s move past that. It’s not really important, is it?”
“Right.”
Ye-jin started to say something else but gave up. Come to think of it, Kim Jae-beom had always displayed incomprehensible behavior even in Evern Online.
There was no reason to think reality would be different.
‘Or… is this how he’s supposed to be in reality too?’
Ye-jin swallowed her rising doubts and opened her mouth.
“Anyway, the situation has changed now. I’m not sure if you know, but I do some modeling work.”
“I see.”
Had anyone who knew her heard this, they would have asked, “‘Some’ modeling work?”
Ye-jin was no mere model—she was practically a celebrity!
In South Korea, the name “Ye-jin” conjured images of muse offers from luxury brands and even ambassador proposals from non-acting models. She was, quite simply, a top model.
Had she removed her sunglasses, everyone would have recognized her. In fact, before the pillar and sofa had blocked her from view, the staff member had recognized her from just her lower face.
“As things stand now, both Evern and my modeling work will be affected, so we need to recalculate, don’t we?”
“But, Ye-jin and Ye-jin from Evern Online are…”
“…Ye-jin is my real name. Ye-jin.”
“Ah, I’m Kim Jae-beom.”
Now that they had exchanged names, Kim Jae-beom continued.
“So Ye-jin really does look that much like Ye-jin from Evern Online? I thought they looked somewhat different. I don’t recall seeing comments saying that either.”
“You said you hadn’t found me, didn’t you?”
“You already know that was a lie, don’t you?”
“…Well, what?”
It was truly an exasperating conversation.
“There were some. Well, since I didn’t make them completely identical, it’s just speculation… but the comments saying they’re becoming more and more alike are increasing.”
“Mm.”
As Ye-jin spoke, she held out a screenshot. Just as she said, there were a few comments searching for connections between ‘Ye-jin’ and ‘Ye-jin’.
“So… you want to know my identity because I suffered losses while working, right?”
“At least I need to know if you’re someone trustworthy.”
“…Couldn’t we discuss this in Evern Online?”
“If I just say I look like Ye-jin, you probably won’t believe me.”
It was the reason Kim Jae-beom had originally suspected. He swallowed a groan inwardly. Clearly, as Ye-jin said, this was a situation where I needed to do something.
Originally, if she were an ordinary person, I would have said ‘Isn’t it fine since you’re home anyway?’ but if she was frequently out and about, I couldn’t say that.
“Then, how about this? New Demon Realm region information is expensive right now, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s worth whatever price you ask for.”
“I’ll give you access to the Fortress Library.”
“What? No, how could you….”
To be precise, it would be Mullen who would grant it, not me, but in any case, it could be granted, so it wasn’t a lie.
“How else would I have known the appropriate level for the Beast Forest?”
Ye-jin pondered for a moment, then nodded.
“That sounds good… at that level….”
Ye-jin nodded.
If ‘Ye-jin’ and ‘Ye-jin’ truly had identical faces, she couldn’t have been satisfied with just that information, but if it was merely somewhat inconvenient, it was information worth trading for.
“Since we’re already at this point, how about we share one piece of information with each other?”
However, Ye-jin decided to be a bit more greedy.
“What?”
Kim Jae-beom’s expression turned puzzled at Ye-jin’s suggestion.
“Since I’ve already revealed my real-world identity, please give me just one hint about the identity of the high-level player.”
Kim Jae-beom was about to answer ‘You never asked me to tell you,’ but stopped. After all, this information was something I would naturally have to reveal eventually when explaining the reason Ye-jin came to meet me.
Kim Jae-beom pondered for a moment, then spoke.
“…I was briefly active as a ranker in another game.”
“Ah, so that’s why your fundamentals were so solid.”
Kim Jae-beom spoke with considerable resolve, but Ye-jin simply nodded calmly.
However, Kim Jae-beom knew.
‘Once I get home, I’ll search through videos of rankers from all sorts of games.’
Ye-jin was good at acting too, but knowing that, it wasn’t difficult to predict her actions.
The two of them were endlessly deceiving each other without either one being deceived.
“Then I’ll tell you something too. I’ve actually shot a bow before. As part of my modeling work.”
“I see.”
“That’s why I started as an archer. But you, or rather, the high-level player, you use a staff even though you’re not a mage?”
She gave information quite one-sidedly and then demanded information in return, but Kim Jae-beom decided to overlook that point.
Ye-jin had obtained ‘game information’ in exchange for ‘real-world inconvenience.’ Having let that slide a bit, she was now declaring she would be somewhat forceful in return.
Embedded in that was also the meaning: “I’ve been a bit forceful today, so I won’t push my luck any further going forward.”
“It seems you’ve misunderstood because my job title isn’t Necromancer.”
At their first meeting, Kim Jae-beom had introduced himself to Ye-jin as a Necromancer, but the quest he’d asked for her cooperation on recently was the “Overlord First Advancement” quest, so the misunderstanding was understandable.
“Overlord is an advanced class above Necromancer. It’s part of the mage lineage.”
“…A mage?”
Ye-jin’s gaze was so transparent that Kim Jae-beom didn’t even need to interpret it.
‘When have you ever cast magic?’
So Kim Jae-beom answered that unspoken question.
“Ah, the only magic I can use is summoning Legendary-grade skeletal soldiers.”
“Ah, I see.”
It might have seemed odd, but recalling Dercan’s performance, Ye-jin decided to accept it and move on.
After that, the two exchanged contact information and parted ways. Neither had the desire to continue the conversation any longer.
‘That’s experience points wasted.’
‘I need to get back and log into Evern Online. It should be fine if I wear a mask, right?’
It was more profitable to hunt even one more monster during the time spent chatting.
* * *
Kim Jae-beom returned home after finishing his conversation with Ye-jin. Then he checked the newly created YouTube account he’d made.
[DPQKSRPFLDHS: Why no new videos?]
Mint Chocolate Curry: Hurry up and add more! Make more of it!
[Spacetime Storm: Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Up.]
The newly created YouTube channel dedicated to Evern Online was flooded with endless cries from ravenous viewers demanding new content.
‘I’ve been so busy I haven’t uploaded any videos.’
Kim Jae-beom scratched his head at the sight. In truth, his upload schedule wasn’t usually this slow.
On the first day, he’d finished playing Evern and uploaded three videos. The second day he was busy and skipped. The third day he was occupied meeting with Ye-jin.
And today was the fourth day. He’d only uploaded his first video, and less than four days had actually passed since then.
So much had happened that even he thought, ‘Has it really only been less than four days?’ but the reality was that time had indeed passed exactly that way.
And in those four days, he’d accumulated far more subscribers than expected.
’35K…?’
35,000 subscribers in four days. Compared to his main channel’s 700,000 subscribers, it was woefully insufficient, but….
[Red Wolf Solo Raid.]
[Views: 152,340]
[Toying with Two PK Players Alone.]
[Views: 452,127]
[Giant Rat Solo Raid.]
[Views: 102,129]
While the subscriber count was merely respectable, the view counts were tens, sometimes even two hundred times higher than his main channel’s completely dead broadcast numbers.
It was an absurd figure even accounting for Poong Wa-won’s review broadcasts.
At this point, Kim Jae-beom, as a professional YouTuber, committed the cardinal sin of “ego searching.”
The result….
‘It’s been shared all over the place.’
In particular.
[Excavating newbies today… with some rotten gameplay mixed in]
[Views: 1,425,294]
Poong Wa-won’s video had made it into what was commonly called a “trending video,” and thanks to that, it had spread across all sorts of communities, and my videos were gaining popularity too.
“Hmm….”
In that case, it was good to upload plenty while the iron was hot.
But the videos I had right now were….
[Tutorial Hell Mode Count Heltema Raid]
[Colossal Guardian Soldier Solo Raid]
[Battle with Tomb Keeper (Ye-jin added)]
[Battle with Sphinx (Ye-jin added)]
[Equipment Analysis with Mullen before Evern Online Phase 1 Service Ends]
[2v1 Duel with Herman]
[Invasion of Shadow Region Center Left by Lesran]
[Ye-jin’s Shadow Region Video Reaction (Ye-jin excessively added)]
[Beast Forest Hunting Video and Dalikssor Appearance Footage (Ye-jin added)]
“What’s with Ye-jin being everywhere?”
I had plenty of videos, but most of them either had Ye-jin added, or uploading them would expose my identity, or they were videos that would get me a death warrant.
I pondered for a long while.
—Click.
“Let me just upload these two.”
[Colossal Guardian Soldier Solo Raid]
[2v1 Duel with Herman]
I wanted to upload the video of the invasion into the Shadow Region center that Lesran left behind, but there was no need to give others that information first.
Besides….
‘My YouTube channel’s direction right now is skill-based content, so there’s no reason to upload information videos.’
[Uploading video.]
I trusted Evern Online’s functions for the thumbnail and editing aside from the title, and uploaded quickly.
After finishing the video selection process, I stretched with all my might.
“Alright. Shall we go?”
Tap!
* * *
When I logged back in, I found myself in the middle of the Beast Forest where I had quietly logged out.
‘It’s desolate.’
But it was questionable whether this could even be called a “forest” anymore. From how much Dalikssor had rampaged, the forest was devastated in places.
[You have entered the Beast Forest field.]
[Warning! Your level is too low to challenge the Beast Forest!]
[Warning! Due to Dalikssor’s appearance, the Beast Forest danger level has been raised by 2 stages.]
[Quick escape is recommended.]
Similar to when I had entered before, but with a more intense and lengthy warning message, the system greeted me.
‘Time to run.’
—Whoosh!
I bolted forward before the warning message could even fully disappear from the screen.
[High-level Player: Ye-jin, are you online?]
[Ye-jin: Oh, yes! I just logged in!]
It seemed she’d arranged to meet somewhere farther away, probably because I’d called her. Given how little time had passed since I uploaded the video to YouTube, the timing was remarkably close.
[High-level Player: Then please find an NPC named Mullen in the City Center. You should be able to locate him easily.]
[Ye-jin: Mullen?]
Ye-jin expressed a moment of confusion, but after searching for something, she responded immediately.
[Ye-jin: Got it, I’ll head there right away!]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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