NOVEL NEXT chapter 244
Of course, we called it Fantasy World Red Hood...
But like all TRPG-style games, Mephisto relied heavily on probability.
Rule the Dice.
In TRPGs, the one who controls the dice controls their fate.
Even Red Hood, who shook the world of Thunderbolt Metropolis with sheer skill, often ran into trouble here.
Take this kind of situation, for example:
[Narrator: The thug you knocked out… wasn’t just an ordinary punk!]
[Narrator: They were the top gang in the region!]
[Narrator: If you don’t clean up the scene properly, there will definitely be retaliation later.]
[Rolling for ‘Disguise’ to clean up the scene.]
[Success on 16 or higher.]
In TRPGs, every action and its outcome is determined by the dice.
When a situation comes up, the narrator (or game master) sets a number threshold. The player then has to roll that number or higher—or lower, depending on the situation—to succeed and keep the story moving in their favor.
Viewers watching the stream all thought, “It’s Magia—she’ll definitely get a good roll.”
But…
“Hngh!”
[Result: 1]
[Critical failure!]
— ?
— 😂😂😂😂😂
— Needed 16, rolled a 1—LMAO
— Where’d Magia’s luck go? 😆
— Maybe she’s just cursed in Mephisto 🤣
Unlike her usual performance, Magia’s dice rolls in Mephisto were absolutely awful.
The bad omen started when she tried to talk her way out of a fight with a group of thugs—and failed.
Sure enough…
Even while trying to clean up the aftermath of beating them up, problems exploded.
She had once detonated Thunderbolt Metropolis as a bomber—but now, she was blowing up sessions in Mephisto.
(TRPG players often call each play session a “session,” meaning the entire block of gameplay time.)
[Narrator: At this rate, the gang will find out.]
[Narrator: The boss still has a chance to cover their subordinate’s mistake.]
[Rolling for ‘Disguise’ to clean up the scene.]
[Success on 16 or higher.]
Darami muttered in disbelief.
“How many 1s is that already…?”
“Ha… maybe it’s destiny—no matter the world, the genius girl has to be number one.”
— Why does she sound like she caught Darami’s bragging bug? 😆
— 😂😂😂
— It’s like they’re contagious to each other now 😄
— Meanwhile Darami’s gotten more calm 🤣
— Darami got a brain and Magia threw hers away 🤪
Darami sighed and rolled.
“Watch this. This kind of thing, y’know, it’s all about spirit. HRYAAAAAH!”
But strangely enough, ever since Magia joined the party, the dice that used to behave just fine started misfiring.
[Result: 1]
[Critical failure!]
[Narrator: Your attempt at disguise was terrible.]
[Narrator: Not only did the gang realize their beloved youngest member was dead, but they also identified you as the killer.]
[Narrator: All three members of Red Hood are now officially wanted.]
— 😂😂😂😂😂😂
— Totally screwed
— Is this for real? 🤣
— BOOM 💥😂
— You’re wanted now! 😆
From Darami’s point of view, this was utterly absurd.
She’d been running clean sessions by herself just fine—
But the moment she added Magia and Pino to the party… this happened.
“What the hell?! We’re wanted again?!”
“Kyaahaha!”
“What are you laughing for?! This is not the time to be laughing!”
“Why not! It’s not that different from Thunderbolt Metropolis anyway!”
At this point, some viewers started suggesting maybe Magia should just change her job class.
Originally, she was supposed to use her high intelligence to lead the party out of tough situations strategically.
But if the dice won’t listen…
— Might as well just go with a cursed sorcerer class 😆
— For real 😂
— Yep 🤣 You succeed with rolls under 4
— Honestly, that might actually be better 🤔
Even Darami, who had been enjoying Mephisto on her own, had similar thoughts.
She offered Magia some polite, constructive feedback:
“Tia, maybe you should just switch classes?”
“Switch my class? Can you even do that mid-game?”
“You can. It’s not easy, but if you keep going like this, the whole campaign’s just gonna be you running away from your bounty.”
“Wow. Just like Thunderbolt Metropolis!”
“You’re not supposed to be happy about that! What’s fun about running for your life all the time?!”
“Ah. So what you’re saying is… you didn’t enjoy being in Red Hood with me back in Thunderbolt?”
But Darami was still a novice streamer, and got swept up in Magia’s teasing way too easily.
Compared to Cheon Do-hee, who had gotten used to Magia’s patterns and could dodge or counter them, Darami’s reaction was hopeless.
Even now, as Magia pouted and acted heartbroken, she immediately mistook it for sincerity and started panicking.
“No, no! That’s not what I meant! How did you even twist it like that?!”
“Ugh… you liar.”
“W-Whoa! Calm down, calm down! I’m weak against sad girls crying…”
Viewers who knew how cold Magia had been on the final day of Thunderbolt Metropolis were already reacting with: “Here we go again.”
But Darami had spent that day being dragged around to different streams, praised for her performance by people she didn’t even know.
Basically, most of the high-profile Pazijik streamers, led by Mugeon, had all taken turns shaking her hand at least once.
And she wasn’t the type to show much interest in others.
She never pushed people away, but she also didn’t go out of her way to approach anyone herself.
Case in point—she didn’t even know that Magia was Tia until today.
So there was no way for her to know if Magia cried on the last day or not.
Whether she made everyone else cry while staying perfectly fine herself?
Darami had no clue.
“T-Tia? I’ll buy you something delicious, so cheer up. No more tears, okay?”
This situation was an opportunity for Magia.
It wasn’t intentional, but still—Darami had ghosted all of Magia’s messages until now.
If they exchanged phone numbers in person here and now, Magia wouldn’t have to rely on things like Wiksuit or Discord to reach her again.
They didn’t know how often Red Hood—Magia, Pino, and Darami—would end up tangled together going forward.
So deepening the friendship wasn’t a bad idea.
“You’ll really buy it for me…?”
“Of course! Your boss never goes back on her word, right? You know that.”
“Then… wagyu beef… AAA-grade, please…”
“?”
“I’d like, maybe… enough for three people?”
“Wha—you… you can’t even finish three servings!”
“You could’ve just said you didn’t want to buy it. Boss, you really suck at being honest~.”
“N-No! That’s not what I meant!”
— Oh no
— She got played…
— Took the bait big time
— She can’t even finish one portion anyway 😂
— What’s she doing asking for three 🤣
Viewers felt sorry for Darami falling into the trap—but what could you do?
It was only natural for a newbie in the internet broadcasting scene, who didn’t know what kind of person Magia was, to get played like this.
Having already achieved most of her objective, Magia grinned and said:
“So you’re really gonna buy it?”
“Haah… fine! I’ll buy it! You think your boss can’t afford something like that?!”
“Pino-unnie too?”
“Waaah~.”
“Ugh, so that’s why it was three portions?”
“Of course! What, were you only planning to buy it for me and leave unnie out?”
“Huh?”
“And you’re saying that out loud? How do you think Pino-unnie feels hearing that?”
“Yeah, Tia. I was so upset I almost smashed your boss’s head in~.”
“Ghh… No, that’s not what I meant… God, this is driving me nuts!”
Darami looked overwhelmed by how quickly things escalated.
But even her viewers seemed to be rooting hard for this offline meet-up to happen.
And after all, wasn’t Magia someone who liked all VTubers, regardless of status?
Her viewers had faith: no way would she deny a cute little hobby streamer—whom she’d dragged around all through Thunderbolt Metropolis—a meal.
The whole “buy me Hanwoo beef” thing was clearly just a pretext to meet in person.
— Honestly I support this combo
— Fr tho 😂
— Darami needs to get out and socialize a bit 🤣
— This girl is a total shut-in recluse on a deserted island—we gotta drag her out somehow
— She finally has online friends but refuses to talk to them 😭
— Still mad she blew off actual corporate collab offers 😭😭
:: Anonymous donated 10,000 Clouds! ::
:: Please, Gia-nim… I beg you… Get our girl OUT OF THE HOUSE 😭😭 ::
Everyone was having a blast.
Everyone… except Darami.
She was the only one filled with stress and anxiety.
Maybe she really hadn’t been out much lately.
Flustered, Darami shouted in protest.
“Hey! It’s not like I never go out! I still live my life, okay?!”
— Yeah right 😂 Miss “goes outside twice a month”
— Come on, go OUT already 😂
— She doesn’t have friends so she never joins meetups anyway…
— This is the perfect time to actually make a real friend 👌
:: Anonymous donated 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: Be real, if Magia asked us to go out for food, we’d drop to our knees immediately… wait, I shouldn’t say that, should I? ::
— 😂😂
— Please, just go
— Honestly Magia could treat her to a Michelin full course and it still wouldn’t be enough 🤣
— But does Darami even know why people care?
— Uh-oh
— 😂
— Probably not 😂😂😂
While the viewers were off predicting Darami’s next move…
She finally made up her mind and mumbled, half-defeated:
“Fine… okay. I’ll go. If you’re buying.”
“Yaaay!”
* * *
To everyone’s surprise, the Red Hood IRL meet-up came together very quickly.
They’d expected it to take a week to set the date, another to decide the location—
But they were all hyped and trying to push the timeline forward.
And then, boom.
Darami made the most unexpected decision.
[Red Hood]
[Darami: Are you both free tomorrow, by any chance?]
The moment I said “O,” Pino reflexively jumped in.
[Magia: I’m good to go.]
[Pino: Absolutely yes.]
So, just one day after the Mephisto collab…
The three of us really did end up sitting together at a Hanwoo BBQ restaurant.
Darami kept sneaking glances at the grinning Pino next to me and quietly asked me:
“So… you two are really adults, right?”
“Yes.”
I was kind of worried she’d look at me and go ‘Who are you?’
But even Darami wasn’t that bad at recognizing people.
Still, both Pino and I were short as hell—
So the awkwardness was kind of inevitable.
But even flustered, Darami wasn’t exactly a normal person.
Her overall appearance was that of a sharply-dressed beauty.
With her hair cut short and dyed bright white, she looked like a pretty boy straight out of a shoujo manga.
Her voice was high-pitched and light, which probably made it impossible to hide even if she wanted to.
A plain white tee, a bright denim jacket perfect for spring, well-fitted black jeans, and just {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} enough accessories like bracelets—
You could easily imagine a casting agent mistaking her for a boy group trainee on the street.
I’d always figured she preferred male characters in RP on purpose, but I didn’t expect her to actually look like this in real life.
“Wow… people like this really exist.”
There’s usually a reason people like her naturally reject “normal.”
To break the ice, I casually tested the waters.
“So, Darami-nim, I don’t mean to be rude, but with the way you’re dressed, I have to ask— You’re not a guy… right?”
She quickly shook her head.
Then, with zero hesitation, shoved her hand under her shirt and cupped her own chest in demonstration.
“Would you still think I’m a guy after this?”
“I was mostly joking, but your first impression did give off ‘idol sneaking out for secret cheat-meal’ vibes.”
“Pffft!!”
Darami burst into loud laughter, then said:
“Okay yeah, I’m not a guy—that’s definitely a misunderstanding. But I did run away, that part’s true.”
Now I was the one caught off guard.
I mean, tomboyish female idols do exist, so it wasn’t completely far-fetched…
“Wait, you’re seriously an idol?”
“No, no. Not that. I meant the running away part.”
“Running…?”
Darami gave a crooked smile and shrugged.
“From home. When I said I wanted to do streaming, my parents were completely against it.”