A blank-faced virtual avatar.
A cold, crimson gaze.
[LostAndNowStranded] - I just want to go to sleep right now.
[SaveUpAndGoBankrupt] - Who should we execute next?
[SlicethisDicethat] - Any hints? Please, I'm begging ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[MorningSquid] - Weren’t we supposed to be soulmates, Diah? Why has your heart changed?
[PotatoSweetPotatoChestnut] - Noeulis unsubscribing makes me sad.
The Iron Fist chat window.
Originally meant for brief introductions before matches, it now resembled a medieval torture chamber, flooded with the desperate pleas of its victims.
“All... all wrong! Seriously?! Now I’m really starting to feel hurt. Not even one of you knows how I feel?!”
Another Noeuli dragged in as a sacrifice to extend the time limit.
And as time passed, the number of hostages only grew.
Yet, not a single Noeuli had guessed Diah’s feelings correctly.
Strangely enough, every answer given so far had been completely off the mark.
“Alright, time’s up. PotatoSweetPotatoChestnut, make your choice. Execution or dragging someone down with you?”
Diah’s voice grew colder with every word.
The usual bright and lively tone was nowhere to be found.
[PotatoSweetPotatoChestnut] - STOP!!!
[PotatoSweetPotatoChestnut] - LET’S END THIS MADNESS!!!
[PotatoSweetPotatoChestnut] - NO MORE!!! NO MORE POINTLESS KILLING!!!
[SlicethisDicethat] - ?
“Hah. Hah. So, you choose death. Goodbye, PotatoSweetPotatoChestnut... and the rest of you fake boyfriends!”
[SaveUpAndGoBankrupt] - You son of a—
[LostAndNowStranded] - If you wanna die, die alone, you @$#%!
[MorningSquid] - He thinks he’s some noble hero, but there ain’t no Shanks here, dude.
[PotatoSweetPotatoChestnut] - WAIT!! STOP THE EXECUTION! HALT THE MOUSE CURSOR!!
[PotatoSweetPotatoChestnut] - I never said I wanted to die.
[PotatoSweetPotatoChestnut] - I choose dragging someone down.
[PotatoSweetPotatoChestnut] - Let’s go.
“Hah. Should’ve said that from the start.”
And so, the countdown timer on their bomb collars was extended once again.
Then, from the chat, another unlucky username was selected and dragged into the Iron Fist waiting room.
[DeliveryReviewScammer] - I have come... to end this war!!
[MorningSquid] - SHANKS?!
[SaveUpAndGoBankrupt] - I give it one minute before they start begging for mercy.
“Alright, the countdown starts now. Tick-tock, tick-tock~.”
Thus began yet another round of Guess Diah’s Feelings.
The Iron ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Fist chat turned into a frenzied speed game.
But unlike the others, who had been floundering with completely off-the-mark answers—
This new contestant actually hit the nail on the head.
[DeliveryReviewScammer] - You just want to make up with the Noeulis.
Diah’s avatar, still blank-faced, showed a flicker of surprise.
[MorningSquid] - SHANKS!!!
[SaveUpAndGoBankrupt] - You’re the hero of our village...
[SlicethisDicethat] - WE’RE SAVED HOLY SH—
And with that, the never-ending cycle of bomb-pass finally came to an end.
The Noeuli who guessed Diah’s feelings on the first try was awarded the Official Boyfriend Certificate™.
Shortly after, Diah’s voice came through the mic.
“How did you guess my feelings?”
[DeliveryReviewScammer] - It’s the same as when my girlfriend and I had a fight. After about a week, her voice sounded just like yours.
[DeliveryReviewScammer] - I figured she probably wanted to make up. And I was right.
[DeliveryReviewScammer] - Anyway, I get to live now, right? Thanks~.
A simple yet effective answer.
The chat, which had been filled with desperate pleas moments ago, was now overflowing with joy.
“I never said I’d let you guys live, did I? You fake boyfriends.”
From the very start, the only Noeuli allowed to survive was the one who answered correctly.
Somewhere along the way, the others had deluded themselves into thinking that if one person got it right, they’d all be spared.
The sudden realization hit like a truck.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
The victor? Already standing over their corpses, metaphorically teabagging them.
[DeliveryReviewScammer] - See ya, ‘fake’ boyfriends.
[SaveUpAndGoBankrupt] - PLEASE HAVE MERCY!!!!
[MorningSquid] - THIS BACKSTABBING BASTARD!!!
[SlicethisDicethat] - I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY
[PotatoSweetPotatoChestnut] - Ah... I lived a good life...
[LostAndNowStranded] - NOOOOOOOO
Diah carried out the executions.
Of course, there was still a revival chance.
A slightly softer voice then announced a special condition—anyone who wrote a heartfelt apology in the fan café would be unbanned.
“You have to list at least five reasons why Diah is amazing. If I like it, I’ll bring you back.”
Because in the end, Ha-eun knew better than anyone—
She couldn’t stay sulky forever.
‘It’s fun at first, but if I drag it out too long, it just gets weird.’
More than her personal feelings, the broadcast came first.
Even her disappointment in the Noeulis—
Had just been part of the act.
“Alright, hands out, everyone. We shake hands when we make up.”
A few Noeulis who dared to mention body parts other than hands were immediately scolded for being too suggestive.
Meanwhile, Diah’s virtual avatar mimed a handshake in the air a couple of times.
It was, after all, a matter of keeping her RP consistent.
She was a one-year-old spirit, not a worldly human, and truly believed in sincere apologies, handshakes, and hugs as ways to mend broken bonds.
So, after wrapping up the mass handshake with her Noeulis, she even summoned an SD avatar of a Noeuli and gave it a hug.
Because Diah gets upset easily, but she also forgives easily—and she had to stick to that roleplay.
Then, right after, Ha-eun brought up something she had been secretly checking on her phone this whole time—onto the stream.
“Tada~! We finally hit 500K~!”
So they were gonna celebrate all along... then why were they messing with me earlier?
They had already shaken hands and hugged it out.
Switching her avatar’s expression back to its usual cheerful smile, she also adjusted her voice to match.
“Let’s keep going strong~! Until we get that Gold Play Button~~.”
Having finished her official 500K milestone speech, she was about to resume her Iron Fist matches.
That’s why she prompted Noeulis to drop their usernames in the chat again.
[User eternalyg has d 10,000 KRW!]
“Hey, isn’t that ‘Review Scammer’ Noeuli cheating? I swear they said they had a girlfriend.”
The message popped up on-screen.
For a moment, Diah’s avatar remained frozen.
Then, slowly—her cheerful expression vanished.
Her face blanked out.
A voice as cold as ice.
“You. Explain yourself. A week after your girlfriend got mad? How exactly did you know what that sounded like?”
[ReviewScammer] - Hmm.
[ReviewScammer] - I’ve been exposed.
“Oh, so you’re proud of it? You’re just this confident about two-timing your girl while I’m right here, watching with my own two eyes?”
[ReviewScammer] - Well...
[ReviewScammer] - That’s how it turned out.
“...Wow. Not even a single apology? I spent the whole day thinking about my Noeulis, brainstorming fun things we could do together—and you?! While I was worrying about you, you were out cozying up on a date with your girlfriend?! WOW. I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS—!!”
Diah’s avatar, which had been emotionless just moments ago, now glared daggers at the cheating Noeuli’s username.
Instead of launching Iron Fist, she navigated to YouTube.
She played an iconic breakup song.
♪ I trusted you as much as I trusted my friends~~ ♪
As if she had actually been dumped.
She didn’t even try to hit the right notes—just wailed the lyrics into the mic.
Which, if anything, made it even funnier.
♪ You said it was impossible~~
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
“...See that? Ha-eun is in critical condition. Seriously.”
[ Maybe she’s just stressed out because exams are coming up...? ]
[ Hm, but Da-yeon seems totally fine. ]
“Well, that’s because Da-yeon doesn’t study as much as Ha-eun—”
[ ...What did you just say? ]
“...D-Da-yeon? You were here? That was a joke. Joking. Haha.”