I am Smart

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After putting on the VR headset and activating it, a black background greeted me.

– ♪♫

– ♪♫

– ♪♫

“……?”

As soon as the virtual reality background was implemented, the sound of Discord message notifications continued ringing in my ears.

Feeling puzzled, I opened Discord.

―――
Unread Messages – 242
―――

Messages piled up in the voice chat.

…… Did this many stack up? It was quiet until I fell asleep.

Even now, the number of messages was increasing in real-time.

―――
Satori: Hahaha, Harris, do you like that?
Harris: No!! I don’t!!! Hahaha
Squirrel: Seems like you do??? Hahaha
Satori: Squirrel, don’t you like it as well?
Squirrel: Ah!!
Squirrel: Noooo, hahaha!!!
Harris: Oh yeah~~~ hahaha
―――

Three girls were exchanging messages.

It felt a bit different from just simple polite conversation from yesterday.

Scrolling up, it seemed that only those three had been chatting so far.

As I stared blankly at the incoming messages.

“……”

Somehow, I felt a bit suffocated.

To be honest, I wasn’t used to such friendly gatherings. Especially among girls.

That intimate atmosphere, filled with laughter and playfulness… it didn’t quite match my personality.

But, thinking back, I became friends with Lee Da-ram surprisingly easily. It seemed a little strange now… I didn’t know.

Sansu was offline, while San-deng and Cactus were online, but they weren’t part of the conversation.

I decided to just stay quiet.

―――
Squirrel: Oh
Squirrel: I think my sister is here?
Harris: Oh
Harris: Hello, Si-hyun!!
―――

– Startled

“……”

How did they know?

Ah. Did they just realize because I came online?

It’s probably best to respond.

―――
Moon Si-hyun: Hello. I just got back from exercising.
Cactus: Hello, Si-hyun
San-deng: Hiyo
―――

Suddenly appearing was Cactus, followed shortly by San-deng. Quite an amazing coincidence.

Once we were all gathered, we exchanged light conversation. San-deng and Cactus mostly stayed quiet.

It felt like they were only responding to me.

―――
Sansu: Are you all awake?
―――

A message from Sansu.

We all greeted Sansu.

―――
Sansu: Yes, hello
Sansu: Did everyone have lunch?
Moon Si-hyun: No, not yet.
Sansu: Okay
Sansu: First, we need to sync our rhythms
Sansu: We need to practice continuously for a week
Sansu: Since it’s a game with a bit of physical demand, it’s better for us to eat regularly together
Sansu: It’s troublesome if our conditions differ from one another, right?

Harris: Yes!
Squirrel: Yes!!
Cactus: I’m fine with eating anytime
―――

Before long, everyone was discussing when to have lunch.

“……”

I couldn’t help but slightly frown.

Really?
What if it’s wrong?
Is it better?

…… Were they doing this on purpose?

I reached up to the air, typed out a polite, lengthy message to point out the error… then deleted it.

Maybe later… later.

*

―――
Victory!
―――
[Nice!]
[Ah, that was good.]
“…… Huh.”

―――
Sss

Kya

Breaking the losing streak is great

Phew

That really stopped the flow

―――

None of the participants approached the Demons Competition lightly.

Starting practice in the late morning, around lunchtime, Moon Si-hyun’s team had a record of 4 wins and 2 losses.

Three consecutive wins, followed by two losses, and now one win.

“…… Hmm.”
[…… Um……]
[……]
Even though we broke the losing streak, everyone vaguely sensed the issues. Especially those at higher ranks.

―――
But the stragglers’ weight classes are way too low

Moon Si-hyun’s burden is too heavy

It seems the problem is going into fights already losing

The physicality from the Sky Realm is really disappointing

San-deng is really nice;
―――

[Okay, everyone. Have you all confirmed?]

Sansu entered the voice chat and provided various feedback.

Post-game feedback, more post-game feedback.

[Yes!]
[Yeah……]
The situation that had continued thus far.

…… Moon Si-hyun felt that she needed a larger turning point now.

[Alright, let’s think while we game, and I’ll be stepping out-]
“Sansu, do you have a moment?”
*

“I made a room. Come on in.”
What Moon Si-hyun suggested to Sansu was to teach each other.

Being on the receiving end of such teachings is naturally beneficial, and the one teaching can also reflect on their own knowledge.
Having rich experience teaching someone before, Moon Si-hyun knew the effectiveness of this method well.

Sansu agreed, and after they each created user rooms, they briefly exited the voice chat.

Current Realm support Cactus to Sky Realm support Squirrel.

Current Realm damage dealer Moon Si-hyun to Sky Realm damage dealers Satori and Harris.

The positions between the Current and Sky Realms in Fiore had many conflicting points, which allowed for such arrangements.

Both locations could be accessed by each, and aside from the terrain, the operational goal to obtain objects for Nirvana and Descend was the same.

Cactus and Moon Si-hyun created their rooms and then invited their respective teaching targets.

[Did you enter? Then let’s get started. You’ll be doing the Priestess, right?]
It was Cactus.

[Ah, yes. I plan on choosing this since it synergizes well with the fighter later, and since you’ll be taking the Priest, I’ll go with this.]
[Okay. I noticed you have trouble shaking off knights when they cling to you in battles. I’ll take on the knight. Let’s learn some matchups.]
Cactus also wanted to compensate for the low weight class issues among Sky Realm participants, including Satori and Harris.

―――
What can a tiny squirrel teach

If you genuinely go at it, I bet Squirrel would win, haha

Is there anything to teach him? (I really don’t know)

Wouldn’t it be better to just play a 6-man ranked match instead of teaching him

―――
[For starters, let me share some tips. I noticed during the first engagement, you were so scared of the knight’s taunt that you buffed your front line and retreated. However, if there’s some distance from the opponent, instead, you could consider buffing yourself entirely while moving forward. Let’s give it a try, shall we? Let’s place some bots down. Here we go.]
[Sure…. Oh? Ah! Oh……! Oh? I’m not dying as easily as I thought?]
―――
Oh

Oh?

Oh

You’re actually teaching well

There’s some experience here

Is this guy a Master 400 point player?

Just smartly climbing the ranks…

He does look different somehow

There’s experience there

―――
“……”

Moon Si-hyun’s eyes lit up, watching the conversation and amazed chat.

[…… Um, Si-hyun?]
“Ah, yes. Please join.”
Moon Si-hyun invited Harris and Satori. She also invited San-deng, who might not have anything to do.

“Let’s get started.”
[Yeah. By the way, aren’t you the Garbage Fighter One-Champ? Can you do other classes?]
Satori asked.

There’s no reason to explain Fighter to Satori and Harris, so that was a natural curiosity.
“That’s true, but I know how to do other classes too.”
[…… Do you?]
Then, a slightly… strange response came back.

*

[Let’s begin.]
“Yes. I look forward to working with you.”
Hearing Moon Si-hyun’s words, Satori spoke politely.

Moon Si-hyun.

She was recently one of the hottest topics in the broadcasting space, slightly dabbling in being a VTuber.

Satori, who operated the virtual YouTube group that included Harris, certainly knew who she was.

Satori didn’t really like her.

Moon Si-hyun’s behavior… seemed, to someone like Satori who had weathered countless experiences, to be artificially, so to speak, “fox-like.”

Especially having spent a long time in the VTuber industry, where one must win favor from others while hiding one’s true nature, Satori had a sharper sense for discerning such things.

Of course, she wouldn’t naturally show that she disliked someone.

If she didn’t really like someone, it was better to treat them respectfully, hiding her emotions.

This had been one of Satori’s life lessons.

[- It’s a kill angle.]
– Ta-da

“Ah!?”

Suddenly, Moon Si-hyun charged and knocked Satori down, then mounted her and mercilessly stabbed her.

―――
Defeated by the enemy.
―――
“No, wh-what the……!”

Yet, the mask she wore to hide those feelings came off in an instant.

[You crossed the line. You shouldn’t have gone one step further.]
A voice, endlessly calm, contrasted the merciless onslaught.

―――
Wow, that’s brutal

Respect your elders, Bear Doll [Deleted message]

Satori, noooo! T_T

I mean, just a little out and it’s a kill angle, damn…

―――
[Next up is Harris. Please step forward.]
[Y-yes……. Ah!?]
―――
Double kill.
―――
Following one last gasp of despair, the announcer’s voice echoed.

[You can’t be doing this. It’s a kill angle.]
[…… What did I… do wrong?]
[You shouldn’t have stood right next to the object.]

The total deaths for Satori and Harris now exceeded 30.
Moon Si-hyun, who had never played as a swordsman before, was mercilessly slaughtering Harris and Satori.

…… It was unreasonable. Among the swordsmen she had encountered thus far, none had charged in and scored kills like this in a sudden confrontation.

Yet, it seemed there was indeed something to learn. If she met another swordsman again, a different situation might unfold.

But……

[Did you understand? This terrain is disadvantageous.]
[Ah…. So this is how it works.]

‘…Wasn’t there a better way?’

Watching the “lectures” from Cactus and Squirrel through the side, Satori thought.

[…… Everyone, the revival time…… Why don’t we have San-deng come in and practice some 1v1 setups.]

[Me? No, I’m a tank.]

[Just because you’re a tank doesn’t mean 1v1s won’t happen.]

[…… Just a moment-]
―――
Triple kill.
―――
Harris, Satori…… and unexpectedly, San-deng too, died to Moon Si-hyun dozens of times.

[Hmm. I guess we’ll call it a day here.]
With Moon Si-hyun’s words, the painful time had passed.

[Was there any help for you?]
“……?”

[Yes?]

[That… in this situation, yes.]

Moon Si-hyun’s hesitating voice contrasted sharply with her ruthless knife work and calm voice.

Satori couldn’t quite adapt to this discord and stared blankly for a moment.

[Yes…… yes!]

Only Harris, who grasped the meaning behind Moon Si-hyun’s question, responded.

[Hmph, yes.]

Then…… Moon Si-hyun’s satisfied laughter echoed.

It was a pure, innocent sound.