There is a sense of unease when luck seems too good to be true.
It has always been a chronic issue for me.
Perhaps I’ve never really been lucky, so life hasn’t been much of a problem, but lately it has been different.
This sudden happiness feels as though it could vanish at any moment, like sand slipping through my fingers if I try to hold onto it.
Just yesterday, I experienced such absurd luck, discovering an unexpected Easter egg.
I fled the scene, letting go of everything while people praised Great King Mollu.
How high must the obstacles be set if they’re building such towers to drop me from?
Today, I need to start broadcasting again, and I can’t help but feel anxious about what to say.
The sudden streak of good fortune that started yesterday still seems to linger, making its presence known.
My shoulders, usually heavy due to my broad chest, felt light and refreshed this morning, as if I had woken up without any tension.
Or finding 5,000 won in a coat I hadn’t worn in a while while rummaging through my wardrobe.
“Double yolk…?”
When I casually attempted to fry an egg, it turned out to have two yolks.
Of course, it wasn’t extraordinary luck; it was just some mild good fortune.
At this point, though, it was starting to feel more unsettling than fortunate.
What on earth is happening?
As an ordinary person, I am satisfied with merely getting through each day. I don’t hope for special events or surprises.
I wished for another uneventful day.
I reflected on this while having a late breakfast.
*
In reality, could all of this be the manipulation of some transcendent being?
Like in The Truman Show, are they observing how I react in specific situations?
From suddenly taking the body of a woman I’ve never met before up to now, every bit of it.
Watching how I respond to various situations as if it were a TV program.
Perhaps it was the planned scheme of a crazy sadist enjoying watching me sweat.
To put it simply, nothing much has happened.
Everything was the same as usual… the issue is that the standard for ‘usual’ has sharply risen lately.
I’m starting to feel afraid of how I perceive these as regular occurrences now.
[Great King Mollu of World 23! Great King Mollu of World 23!]
[Can’t wait to discover what Easter egg awaits us today.]
[Did you see the café? The sunset hill we went to yesterday is now a must-visit.]
[??? : We estimate that it takes at least a week for us to discover Easter eggs or hidden routes.]
[Ah, it’s just in the palm of Mollu’s hand.]
[The chatters pretending to know nothing, but we all know they’ll cause trouble again.]
[For real, lol, are you seriously falling for this?]
[Just the god of surprises, Mollu.]
“Um… hello.”
That was quite the enthusiastic welcome. It hadn’t been ten minutes since I started streaming and already people were rushing in with comments.
Sure, I thought no events would happen, but that was a lie. It made sense that attention would be drawn to me since I discovered an Easter egg during a challenge, the first on the server. Of course, it would.
Thinking this way, I found myself irrationally denying reality.
No, perhaps it was that I didn’t want to think about it. Just like how I’d procrastinate on my vacation homework, I decided to give up on thinking about it, trusting my future self to handle tomorrow’s matters.
After all, it was a problem with no clear answer. Plus, it wasn’t detrimental to me.
It’s not like I committed a crime; in fact, it was a good thing. I achieved the challenge that others were desperate to complete first, so it was indeed a good thing.
<<JustMoHwang donated 10,000 won!>
- The developers of the game said, “Mollu is a goddess. We feel truly honored that she plays our game.”
…Not quite, right?
I doubt they went that far, so I checked the link the viewers provided in the café.
And it was true. They said it exactly as written, without a single mistake.
This is overwhelming. It’s so overwhelming that I feel like I might go crazy!
[Goddess of Luck, Mollu enters the room, lol.]
[She really is a goddess, lol, considering the discovered Easter egg and the conditions to clear it; you had to level up beyond a certain point and just sit and watch the sunset from start to finish.]
[Mollu, who anticipated all this… just a goat.]
[Mollu? Attach 'nim' and show respect, you fools.]
[I thought the chatters were excessive, but doing this is actually kind of fun.]
[It's oddly addictive watching the moderator’s reactions.]
I was wrong. I was completely wrong.
The loyal subjects telling me the chatter was overboard were all infected by the army of excessive chatters.
A nation that forgets its history has no future. A famous proverb. As proven by the past, a nation without any dissenting voices is bound to fail.
That said, my stream isn’t a nation, but still, judging by the nature of collective behavior, it’s somewhat similar.
My face is burning. I can’t stand how embarrassed I am.
If the object of that praise wasn’t me, I probably could have joined the ranks and enjoyed it thoroughly. I was originally close to that sort of thing—how did I end up in the opposite role?
From a utilitarian perspective, if I could endure my own embarrassment, all the approximately 30,000 people gathered here might become happy.
But it was impossible. This has become a matter of my pride. If I give in to those compliments and dance around like a whale that loves praise, it would be equivalent to losing.
There may come a day when I eventually accept defeat, but at least today is not that day.
Control your expression, control your expression.
I took a deep breath and spoke with as calm a tone as I could muster.
“Guys, please don’t make a fuss.”
[What? Do I look like I’d make a fuss?]
[The moderator pretends to be calm, lol. You were so nervous you stuttered when you first spoke, didn’t you?]
[The moderator trying to act indifferent is funny, lol.]
[Just looking at your expression, you’ve got a real poker face.]
[Your face is world-class.]
I failed. There was no way I could single-handedly dampen the excitement of the viewers acting like rowdy children.
Yet, I also couldn’t just ban them outright. That would be straight-up dictatorship, as they hadn’t violated any rules.
“Hm?”
Thinking about it, banning them wasn’t completely out of the question. When you become famous, people applaud even if you mess up, and currently, my reputation is soaring to the heavens. Even if I suddenly ended the stream now, they would wait for me endlessly.
But I had no intentions of acting in a way that contradicts my values. It was just a thought that perhaps something like this could be possible.
[Great beauty like Aphrodite would slap Mollu full swing, lol.]
I took one of the comments as an example. If I hadn’t picked an ambiguous one, I would have felt uncomfortable for no reason, but this one… just seeing it makes me dizzy; I wouldn’t feel guilty even if I executed this person.
[Wow.]
[Execution of over-the-top chats, oh my!]
[Ahahaha, let them fend for themselves.]
[Well…]
[Admittedly, it was a bit too much, lol.]
[When were these guys so eager to join in?]
[Timing is everything in life.]
As I clicked my mouse to open someone’s chat log, the spectators finally grasped the situation.
After accurately understanding my intentions, I no longer saw excessive admiration in the ensuing chats.
“Mollu'sBlackHole-likeEyes, you get a timeout for now. Just cool your head for a bit. Keep the chat clean as well… you understand what I mean, right? Since it’s your first offense, I’ll let it go this time.”
It might be good to change their nickname. It’s not exactly a malicious nickname like ‘Oh Dae-sik, the Grandfather of the Elderly Candy Thief,’ but ‘Mollu'sBlackHole-likeEyes’ is also problematic in a different way.
On second thought, that too might be another kind of malicious nickname.
It has the potential to create unease among the newly incoming viewers and agitate others in different streams.
“Please change your nickname to something more normal. How can a person’s eyes be compared to black holes? Really, this is just too much…”
[Great nickname, though, lol.]
[It really does look like a black hole.]
[Oh my.]
[If the moderator says so, then so be it.]
[The two above, goodbye.]
[LOL, immediate execution.]
I smiled, feeling refreshed as I kept handing out timeouts to the disruptive elements.
Yeah, I should have done this sooner. Why did I stay silent until now?
I realized that, with the number of viewers growing, I had to show a firmer stance than before.
“Shall we start the game? Today is also World 23.”
[Let’s go, let’s go!]
[World is awesome!]
[Goddess Mollu of the World! Goddess Mollu of the World!]
[I wonder what will happen today.]
[No one better miss this live broadcast, right?]
