Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 199

Ellie smiled as she checked the post on the Deron Gallery’s concept article.

To ensure she wasn’t caught taking her own photos, she created a GIF using the camera settings positioned a bit farther away.

She staged the situation as if someone else had taken it.

She didn’t forget to leave comments either.

Using 8 out of her 20 accounts, she wrote just enough comments to get the concept article noticed.

All of this was learned from the Soft & Chewy Raccoon and the Blood Demon King.

Now, comments praising her would begin to roll in.

That’s how it should have been.

However, reality was different from Ellie’s expectations.

[Comments]

[Hahaha!]

[The sparrow won, haha!]

[I knew it would be like this from the start. Jupiter’s skills are top-notch, you know?]

ㄴ[For real, lol.]

[Gallery owner gets mad props, haha!]

These were all comments written by Jupiter using multiple accounts.

The problem was the comments that started coming in underneath.

[What game is this? This isn’t Deron?]

ㄴ[Looks like VRS.]

[Bro, you’re in the wrong gallery.]

[Isn’t that Jupiter and the Blood Demon King?]

ㄴ[They just share the same character model. Seems like an impersonation.]

ㄴ[Do they share characters? I want one too!]

ㄴ[Please!]

[This is the Deron Gallery, though????]

[Isn’t this fabricated? When I refreshed, suddenly there were 20 likes?]

ㄴ[Seems like it.]

ㄴ[It didn’t even take a minute after posting for it to get noticed.]

[What’s going on? Did both the Blood Demon King and Sparrow girl quit Deron?]

ㄴ[Seems like an impersonation. The games are different, right? How could Jupiter beat the Blood Demon King?]

The reactions were not as friendly as Ellie had hoped.

Swallowing her discomfort, Ellie kept refreshing the comments.

But no matter how long she waited, the comments she was hoping for never appeared.

How, how did this happen?

People even started to question the legitimacy of her post.

In this unfamiliar situation, Ellie was bewildered.

The Soft & Chewy Raccoon had never taught her how to handle such a scenario.

Feeling anxious, she bit her nails.

This isn’t how it should be!

She had beaten a rival competing for the title of gallery owner.

Even though it was a different game, wasn’t her skill unmistakably proven?

As she kept refreshing the post, Ellie let out a tiny scream.

“Ahhh…!”

It’s gone. No matter how hard she searched or even checked the username of the account she used, the post was nowhere to be found.

The post had been deleted.

Ellie checked the Announcement regarding the rules of using the Deron Gallery.

There was a warning stating that posts not matching the gallery’s theme could be removed.

That’s right. Ellie’s post didn’t fit the theme and had been deleted due to user reports.

In disbelief at this reality, Ellie stood there with her mouth agape, before heading over to the VRS gallery.

VRS Galleryⓜ

If a post needs to align with the gallery’s theme, then she could write it here.

Once again, Ellie started drafting a post similar to the one she’d written in the Deron Online Gallery.

After the post was up, she immediately used her phone to comment and fervently hit the recommend button.

Naturally, the post was featured as a concept article.

Quickly, other users began reacting to the newly posted concept article.

Ellie checked the notification for comments and entered the post she had written.

But.

[This post doesn’t exist or has been deleted.]

You will be redirected to the gallery list shortly.

It was gone again. She hadn’t even seen the comments before it was deleted.

What could possibly be the problem this time?

With shaking hands, Ellie began to write a question post in the gallery.

Her post had been deleted, and she wanted to know why.

She had followed the gallery’s rules after all.

She was sharing screenshots from the VRS game, so it shouldn’t have broken any rules.

Just as she clicked the post registration button, the message appeared.

[Your ID has been blocked by the manager.]

Block Period: 30 days / Reason: Concept Article Fabrication and Disruption

Available Time: 2/22

“This, this can’t be…!”

Her account itself had been blocked.

Ellie, who had only been active in the formal gallery until now, had never experienced anything like this.

*

As she emerged from the capsule, she let out a late sigh.

It wasn’t the white-hot pain that provoked her, but a sigh to cool the boiling anger rising inside her.

Her whole body felt hot. It wasn’t just that someone she deemed weaker had gotten a hit on her; it was her anger at not being able to keep her cool in such a situation.

She had found herself submerged in water, bleeding. It was too hasty of her to think.

If she had just held her ground, distanced herself, and used her bow to buy some time, it would have been her victory.

But now that the heat had already boiled over, the outcome of the match couldn’t be changed.

Defeat was familiar. There was nothing to be ashamed of. It was just the natural result of pride.

“Ugh!”

But being angry was still being angry.

She dove into her bed and began to wildly punch her soft pillow.

Wham! Her relentless punch rush made the white pillow squish helplessly.

Like this, like this!

Next time we meet, Jupiter, I’m going to pound your belly like this!

“Sigh…”

She sank down, beginning to slowly replay the recent battle in her mind.

In the beginning, things were even. Both of them used their talents and entered a state of acceleration.

As their swords crossed, she wondered how she didn’t manage to overpower Jupiter.

Even now, it struck her as strange.

However, the equal fight didn’t last long. In a fleeting moment, after Jupiter’s energy shifted, she felt herself beginning to falter.

It was as if he had read her every move, parrying her strikes before she’d even committed to them.

Why? How did Jupiter know her swordsmanship?

Why was it that Jupiter was moving faster than her?

Think, when did Jupiter change?

In that moment, she recalled a woman she had been with at the Future Digital Comprehensive Center.

“Sohee…!”

That’s right. Jupiter’s activity in the game began only after meeting Sohee.

To be specific, it was when he started learning how to control his talents there.

Thinking back, there were more than a few oddities.

It was a place where Jupiter learned to control his talents.

But why was she supposed to be there?

Why did she have to take the test before Jupiter used the test machine?

She hadn’t thought too deeply. She just approached thinking she was doing a small kindness by helping the little Soft girl.

She had given no thought to what was happening there or the materials Sohee was gathering.

It felt like the puzzle pieces were clicking together one by one.

There was something there. Something that Sohee had never explained to her.

In a rush, she pulled out her phone; her secret friend, the Guide of Light, was desperately searching for her.

But right now, she had no time to answer his call.

Quickly, she dialed Sohee.

After a short beep, the call connected.

“Sohee?”

[Oh, Hayun…? What’s up?]

“Can we meet now?”

[You want to meet…? Right now?]

“Yeah, I have something to ask.”

[Something to ask…?]

On the other end, Sohee’s voice sounded deflated.

It seemed she had been expecting to hang out together.

Ellie smiled slightly and added, “Yeah, what kind of testing was Jupiter—or rather, Ellie—doing inside that test machine?”

She didn’t expect an easy answer.

It was something Sohee had been conducting in secret, keeping it a well-guarded secret from others.

The reason they adhered to an analog format for storing information might have been rooted in that.

[That? You wanted to know?]

“Can you tell me…?”

[Yeah, there shouldn’t be a problem.]

But Sohee’s answer was different from what she had anticipated.

She could tell her that easily? Was it something that could be casually mentioned?

“Is it okay to just tell me?”

[Yeah, if it’s you, Hayun, there shouldn’t be a problem.]

“Then why didn’t you tell me until now?”

[You didn’t ask. You didn’t seem curious at all, did you?]

Ah…

Ellie nodded blankly at Sohee’s words.

That was right. At that time, all she could think about was getting home quickly to log into Deron.

She hadn’t considered it to be something important.

[But suddenly, why are you interested?]

“Well, that’s…”

She honestly shared what had just happened.

Is it possible that Ellie had started to overwhelm her in battle after gaining the ability to control her talent?

She even asked if Sohee had been secretly teaching Ellie something special.

After quietly listening to her, Sohee asked cautiously, [Is that really true?]

“Ah… yeah.”

[Ellie surpassed you?]

“Yeah, that’s what happened.”

[That can’t be true…?]

It couldn’t be true? But it was undeniable reality.

If she rewinded the Shadow Play inside the capsule, she’d be able to see the moment it happened.

[Alright, I’m coming over to your house, okay? Will you wait for me?]

“Uh, okay…”

After the call ended, Sohee really drove to curb outside their home.

It was becoming familiar to see her waiting in front of their house.

Ellie put on her coat and stepped outside.

As always, the driver was sitting at the front wearing sunglasses.

It was getting to be that time of day when the sun was setting; wouldn’t it be dangerous to drive wearing those?

Staring blankly ahead, she suddenly felt Sohee poke her shoulder.

“Did you bring it?”

“Ah, yeah.”

Nodding in response to Sohee’s question, Ellie took out her phone.

The gallery contained footage of her losing to Ellie.

“See? We were fighting evenly up to this point. But then suddenly, Ellie’s reaction sped up.”

“Hmm… Did you guys meet in VRS?”

“Ah, it was just a coincidence. It popped up while I was matchmaking.”

Sohee watched the phone’s video for a long while.

Then she tilted her head and looked back at Ellie.

“You really lost? It wasn’t just letting her win?”

“It’s true!”

“That’s odd…”

What’s so odd about it?

Was it hard to believe she lost?

Ellie tilted her head, looking up at Sohee.

“Well, we better talk about it after we get there. All the info’s over there.”

Sohee said this then signaled the driver.

The car began to glide forward.