After Grace, now Irene threw a nuke into the broadcast.
With the camera focused on Irene and me, her words were clearly caught by the mic. At her sudden request for me to hug Han Se-ah, the chat exploded like an active volcano.
It literally exploded before the AI mod could enable slow chat mode.
"Suddenly?"
"Well, since Hanna is our hero. I'm worried she might be troubled by something she can't tell us... And she seems to have feelings for Roland."
"What?"
Glancing at chat, Earth-4's advanced BB Games tech like VR and AI quickly restored everything as nonsense flooded in.
More importantly though - why was Irene trying to set up Han Se-ah and me? While Grace often teased like a playful big sister, Irene bringing this up meant she was 100% serious.
So ignoring the camera sneaking closer, I held her hand and looked into her kind golden eyes. Those honest eyes showed unwavering affection for me, and a maternal willingness to share that affection.
...Was it too trashy to feel like they wanted to use me as shared mental care?
"Well, we've found common ground to talk openly about such things, but... Hanna doesn't have any of that. It feels like even when we get closer, she puts up a wall somehow. But I really think she likes Roland."
After letting that brief bad thought pass, I started understanding the situation from Irene's words. The viewers seemed tired of spamming chat like excited primates, or maybe feared the AI mod's banhammer, as they began analyzing Irene's words.
Basically, it was a misunderstanding due to Han Se-ah being a player.
She wasn't just playing - she was streaming and communicating with viewers in real time. No matter how much she used meditation as an excuse for being a mage, Grace, Irene and Katie would see it as her spending too much time alone.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Ironically, this happened because Han Se-ah was too good at broadcasting.
I half-jokingly called her a broadcasting genius. Not just popular for her looks and figure revealed in workout streams, but gathering fans through her unique talking style and engaging radio presence while gaming.
That signature radio style hadn't gone anywhere - she still chatted with viewers for 1-2 hours while playing Heroes Chronicle to maintain engagement. But...
From the party women's perspective, she voluntarily isolated herself daily. So when Grace and Irene discussed it, they misunderstood it as "shy Hanna distancing herself from companions due to unrequited love."
"Wait, what? I'm distancing myself from everyone... huh?!"
-lol Mom's worried since you only talk to viewers lololol
-My friends are the internet friends in chat
-Is shipping people a girl thing? They see someone alone and turn it into love, not just young girls but Mom too?
-Look at Teacher Roland's face and body, it's not stereotyping but justified confidence lol
-A woman's certainty that no girl could travel with a man who looks like that without falling for him
If you film Teacher Roland from Han Se-ah's POV I'll do monthly $150 donations
A direct counterattack.
Viewers who'd been teasing about getting an NPC boyfriend in a game seemed cowed when Han Se-ah went further by offering to sell Roland body cam footage.
Of course, they'd wanted to see Han Se-ah squirming in embarrassment, but would Broadcasting Genius Han Se-ah crumble from a few taunts? Instead she boldly proposed filming newlywed vlogs or attaching a camera to Roland's head for first-person harem POV, coming up with all kinds of monetization schemes.
By then, those teasing Han Se-ah were long gone, everyone busy exposing their own desires. From hardcore gamers saying to focus on catching ogres to suspicious friends oddly fixated on my naked body, the chaos was quite diverse.
At some point chat twisted weirdly toward condemning anyone requesting footage of Grace, Irene or Katie as perverts... but better I become a toy than have my women become objects of base desires.
And better Han Se-ah play the clown than I become a toy.
"Um... Roland?"
"What?"
"No, you were coming this way so I wondered if something was up."
Though cries for big sis's mommy milkers were buried under screams for teacher's ass, I didn't want to keep seeing calls for my back and butt.
So I decided to tease Han Se-ah.
While moving through the gate from floor 60 toward the tower's exit, all eyes gathered as I deliberately strode toward Han Se-ah's side. The kid was busy talking monsters with the knights as kids do, but Grace and Irene watched like they were cheering me on.
Some knights interested in the smell of rom-com looked over too, so even dense Han Se-ah had to notice something was off.
"Nothing's wrong. Just felt like talking."
"Uh, um, w-what about?"
At least she didn't run away screaming "Eek!" this time.
Thinking that, I took another step forward. As the distance clearly shortened, her small head tilted up. When we got close enough that our height difference made her look up naturally, chat went crazy like housewives watching morning dramas. Watching Han Se-ah diligently moving the camera even then, I dropped a line:
"We have lots to talk about... don't we?"
"Hieek?!"
When the camera briefly turned to Irene, I gently stroked her hand.
As Han Se-ah let out a strange yelp, startled by that subtle touch, chat instantly flooded with question marks.
Sorry, taking one for the team to save my ass.