NOVEL WEB Side Story 5: Estasia TV
It had been quite a long time since I started living with two angels.
During that time, Aronia and Estasia, the two angels, seemed to have adapted to the modern life in their own way.
Of course, they were careful not to expose their halos and wings outside, but they were now well-versed in the benefits of civilization and the life beyond the network.
For example, Estasia’s hobby had changed to gaming.
She spent 80 percent of her waking hours playing video games or online games.
Just like she was doing right now, using a controller to play a fighting game.
“…”
Thud. Thwack.
Every time Estasia’s fingers moved the controller, a merciless combo followed.
The opponent’s character, who had allowed Estasia’s character to combo, was in a critical state.
Estasia, who was busy moving her fingers, soon knocked down the opponent’s character.
On Estasia’s screen, the word ‘WIN’ was prominently displayed.
She had won the match against her opponent.
Estasia made a V sign with her fingers and said to me.
“Master. I won again.”
She smiled and boasted of her victory.
I nodded my head with a half-hearted smile and replied.
I didn’t feel like teasing her when she was happy with her win.
Besides, Estasia’s matching rank was also close to the top.
I gave her a short compliment that was not sincere.
“…Well. You’re amazing.”
“I’ll keep defeating your enemies.”
I couldn’t help but wonder about Estasia’s words that followed.
Why were Estasia’s opponents my enemies?
They were just Estasia’s opponents.
I asked her directly to clear up the doubt in my mind.
“Why are they my enemies?”
“Anyone who blocks Estasia is your enemy.”
“…?”
“Estasia is the most excellent angel on earth.”
Was it because of Estasia’s words?
Aronia, who was watching us, stopped the broom she was holding.
She looked at Estasia, who was engrossed in the game, and made a sharp remark.
“Estasia… If you’re such an excellent angel, why don’t you clean up your feathers?”
“It’s okay. Aronia will take care of everything.”
“Estasia is always like that. What are you going to do without me?”
“Let’s live together forever. Aronia.”
But in the end, she couldn’t refute Estasia’s logic and bowed her head and continued cleaning.
I felt a bit sorry for her.
I was the one who made them have a master-servant relationship at first, but now Aronia couldn’t get away from Estasia’s grasp.
Even if I gave her freedom now, she wouldn’t be able to leave Estasia.
I chuckled and watched them.
Then, Estasia, who was holding a controller, picked up another one and said to me.
“Master. Let’s play together.”
“Okay. One round won’t hurt.”
I gladly accepted Estasia’s offer.
I wasn’t very good at fighting games, but it wasn’t bad to play with her sometimes.
Especially since Estasia wanted to play with me.
I didn’t hesitate and grabbed the controller.
I chose a character that was considered a cheat character by the players.
Estasia picked a difficult character that required precise control.
A cheat character and a high-difficulty character.
It was clear which one had the advantage.
“This time, I defeated you, master.”
And the game was over soon.
The result was my defeat.
Estasia’s brilliant hand skills made my character lose without any resistance.
But I didn’t accept the result cleanly.
I gave Estasia a suspicious look.
I had noticed something strange about her during the game.
“Estasia. What did you do just now?”
I saw Estasia’s eyes turn golden while playing the game.
And at the same time, her hand movements became faster.
They were different from before.
Estasia looked at me with her eyes turning golden again.
She reproduced the phenomenon that had happened before.
“I used holy magic.”
“Holy magic…?”
“It’s a magic that only high-ranking angels can use. It makes your thinking speed 10 times faster…”
“That’s cheating.”
I moved my finger and slapped Estasia’s forehead.
She had used cheat in front of me.
I gave her a stinging punishment with my finger.
Estasia covered her forehead and made a crying face.
“Huek.”
“Estasia. One more round.”
After punishing her, I forbade her from using magic and asked for a rematch.
The next match was my victory.
It wasn’t because my skills had suddenly improved, or because Estasia’s skills were lacking without cheat.
Estasia was good at games even without magic.
It was just that I used my power this time.
The reason was simple.
I just wanted to win the game.
I used my power to knock down Estasia and said with a smug look.
“You still lack skill. You need to work harder.”
It was a very evil thing to do, even by my standards.
***
Estasia, who played games every day, started to buy electronic devices one day.
She bought things like computers, cameras, and microphones online.
She used to only order strawberries and ice cream with the money I gave her, so I was very surprised by her behavior.
I asked her why she was doing this.
She showed me the controller and said.
“Someone called me a coward.”
“In the game?”
“They said they could win the whole round in 10 seconds without the program. But Estasia doesn’t use any program.”
Of course.
Estasia used magic instead.
I didn’t see much difference, but she seemed reluctant to admit it.
So her solution was to start a personal broadcast and prove her innocence.
I gave up on trying to stop her, and told Estasia to do whatever she wanted.
“Fine, just do as you please.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll make sure your wings and halo don’t show up on the camera.”
For the next few days, Aronia, who learned about the broadcast settings through the internet, helped her.
She was a capable and clear-minded angel, quick to learn and accurate in her actions.
With Aronia’s skilled touch, Estasia’s studio was completed in no time.
As soon as the studio was ready and the broadcast settings were done, Estasia turned on the camera and started the broadcast.
More people than expected came to watch Estasia’s broadcast, where she claimed to prove her innocence.
I had no idea how they found out the broadcast address and came so eagerly.
But it seemed that her account and play had been controversial on the internet from the beginning.
“Yup. Today I’m going to show you my game and prove it.”
“Right. My nickname is ezez1111.”
“I don’t use any programs or anything.”
Estasia showed her play to the people who came, proving herself with the camera.
She showed a scene where she shot down the opponent’s character with long-range attacks in a duel between the top-ranked players.
Of course, there were cases where the opponent’s character came out of the range of the long-range attack, but as soon as they did, they fell to Estasia’s cheat combo.
After a few attempts, the opponent realized that approaching was meaningless and gave up resisting, choosing to die while only allowing long-range attacks.
As long as she proved her play by herself with the controller while the camera was on, the accusation of using a program was no longer valid.
-eksldpf donated 100 coins.
-eksldpf: Wow… this was not a program?
-ekslapf: This was real skill?
Right after Estasia finished the duel with another player with a one-sided victory.
The viewers who were watching her match poured out chats and donations.
The suspicion of program abuse towards her was cleared, and instead, many compliments began to flow.
-vmffnxh donated 1000 coins.
-doqjs donated 10000 coins.
-vmffnxh: I’m sorry for doubting you… I donated as an apology.
-dkfhsldk: I saw you for the first time today, but you’re good at games and cute as a streamer… I donated for your success.
Some of them were even ridiculously large amounts of donations.
It was enough to make me gasp for a moment as I watched the broadcast.
Estasia seemed to be happy with the compliments, and she shrugged her shoulders with a V sign while looking at the camera.
Maybe someone didn’t like Estasia’s behavior.
One viewer expressed a short complaint towards Estasia through the chat.
-vlxj: What’s with her? She got a million won and didn’t even say a proper thank you or reaction?
It was a suggestion that there should be something corresponding to the large amount of donations.
It was a hard thing to ignore for a professional broadcaster.
But Estasia showed a sullen look at the viewer’s chat.
Rather, she tilted her head and asked him a question.
“Do I have to be thankful if you give me money?”
-vlxj: Isn’t that obvious? If you get a million or two million won, you should have some reaction.
“I’m annoyed… I don’t want to say thank you.”
Estasia said that and kicked out the viewer who protested to her.
After that, she started to read the chats that the viewers posted one by one.
Most of them were compliments to her.
Of course, some chats were not properly delivered to her.
“You look like an angel, but you play like a devil…? Estasia doesn’t like devils.”
Estasia shook her head and read the next chat.
She didn’t understand the meaning of the chat.
Rather, she preferred more direct expressions.
For example, like the chat of the donor who gave her a large amount of money.
-dpqks: I donated, but there’s no reaction and no fun.
-dpqks: I won’t donate anymore.
“You still have to send me money. I have to order strawberries and ice cream.”
Estasia argued her opinion without hesitation to the high-value donor.
Regardless of Estasia’s attitude, the viewers had to pay her money, according to her theory.
-dptmxpf: Look at her conscience. She’ll ask for all my assets at this rate.
“Yup. I’ll like it if you give me all your assets.”
It soon evolved into a more advanced theory, that the viewers had to dedicate their assets to Estasia.
She liked the theory that she came up with herself.
Estasia repeatedly preached to the viewers that they had to dedicate their assets to her.
The reason was that she had to buy strawberries and ice cream.
“I think it’s better to give all your money to Estasia as a gift than to give it little by little.”
-dptmxpf: What do I eat and live on if I give you everything?
“You don’t have to worry. It’s not a shameful thing to donate to a great angel.”
It reminded me of a cult’s recruitment scene.
Estasia added a spoonful of sugar and packaged her story as a package product.
She started to justify her donations.
The donation product with added options soon changed into a form of indulgence.
Estasia, who abused her position as an angel, propagated her proposal through the microphone.
“If you donate a lot, I’ll ask the master to let you go to heaven.”
“Heaven is a place where strawberries and ice cream come out five baskets a dayyyyyyyyy…!”
I couldn’t stand it anymore and dragged Estasia out of the camera and ended the broadcast.
That was Estasia’s first and last broadcast.
After that, Estasia never turned on the broadcast on the internet again.
Sometimes there were posts on the internet asking about her whereabouts, but there was never a proper answer about Estasia’s whereabouts.
And there will never be.
As long as I keep my eyes open and watch her closely.