The unplanned stream had turned out to be surprisingly fun.
The sheer volume of dopamine was on a completely different level compared to quietly grinding games alone.
Land one sick play and the chat just explodes—
Pull off some flashy, style-over-substance move and it explodes again—
That feeling was weirdly addictive enough to keep popping into her head at night.
If there was one thing she regretted, though.
'I should've done a proper sign-off like Momoji does……'
Right in the middle of the stream, her mom had tried to come into her room, so she'd killed the computer on the spot.
Jammed the power button with her big toe. Stream over.
Her poor computer had probably screamed.
Sorry. Your useless owner is so sorry.
I couldn't help it, I really couldn't let Mom catch me….
Sitting in class with her chin propped in her hand, she replayed the chaos of the night before.
'So did the whole explanation thing actually work out?'
It had been a mess at first, but by the time she'd gotten into the game, the chat seemed like it wasn't in bad shape.
She'd gone live specifically to draw away the toxic trolls that had been swarming Kim Eun-ha's stream—but who knew how that had actually turned out.
'Sigh… Kim Eun-ha will never know about my quiet sacrifice.'
She gazed out the window at the clear blue sky.
Someday, she'd be thanked for it.
"I might actually be kind of cool."
Personal sacrifice aside, she did want to stream more often.
That rush of satisfaction when you pull off an amazing play and then look at the chat—there was nothing like it!
She figured she wouldn't get bored if she went live every time she played Dead Zone.
She had run into a fair number of stream snipers, sure.
But only one of them had actually trolled her on purpose.
Most of them had just sidled up next to her and made it very obvious they knew who she was.
She'd had chat blocked, so she had no way of knowing when they were on the enemy team.
Unless their username literally had a streamer's name in it, there was no way to tell.
Getting stream sniped hadn't made her furious the way it had with Durihyeok.
If anything, they probably just wanted to try joining a viewer participation session, same as she would have.
'I'm going to be a streamer who's open to viewer participation.'
She nodded firmly, tiny fist clenched.
But.
There was exactly one thing standing between her and being a great streamer.
'How am I supposed to get a mic.'
To actually communicate with viewers, she'd have to keep pulling up Notepad mid-game, which was a massive pain.
Viewers were just watching, so maybe they didn't care—but she couldn't focus fully on the game, which meant she couldn't show off her skills at a hundred percent.
She'd quietly searched the house while her parents weren't looking, but there was zero chance something she'd never even seen before would just magically appear.
Asking them to buy one was out too—the moment they asked "what do you need that for?" she'd have nothing to say.
Save up her allowance and scrape together a cheap mic?
But that would mean cutting out the chocolate rolls from the school snack bar.
"Ugh, n-not that……"
Just imagining it was painful.
She was, by nature, a person who had built a wall between herself and the concept of saving money.
She was going to be loaded in the future anyway, selling cards and stocks. Her allowance got flexed the moment it hit her hands.
And even if she did cut the chocolate rolls, she'd have to go days without before she could afford even the cheapest mic.
Picturing herself walking past the snack bar display case in tears for days on end—
The grief was already welling up.
What was a mic, that it had to hold her precious snacks hostage like this.
'There's no solution here.'
She was slumped over her desk, groaning to herself, when—
"Are you sick? What's wrong."
Si-yeon had quietly drifted over to ask.
A sudden wave of emotion hit her. She was genuinely touched.
That's Si-yeon for you. A kindergarten friend really is different. She picked up on my inner turmoil just like that—
She answered with mature composure.
"No, I'm not sick."
"Liar! Then why aren't you eating your yogurt?"
"…?"
"Don't tell me you're dying…? There's no way Chae-won would leave a snack from lunch untouched."
"Oh, come on."
Who did she think she was calling a pig?
She was an idiot for being moved, even for a second.
Still, she figured she'd ask, just in case.
Without much hope.
"…Si-yeon, do you happen to have a spare mic?"
"A mic? No? When would I ever need something like that."
Well, she'd expected as much, but it was still disappointing. A sigh slipped out.
Kim Si-yeon tilted her head.
"Do you need a mic?"
"Yeah."
"Just a mic? Do you have earphones or anything?"
"I have earphones."
"Ah. So a headset with a built-in mic would work too, right?"
"…Oh? Yeah. That'd actually be even better."
Si-yeon blinked at her, as if to say, so what's the problem then.
"You could just go to Nero PC Bang and ask for one."
"Huh?"
"The owner there, he basically does whatever you ask. That place has got to be full of headsets."
"…Oh."
Right?
Was she a genius?
After everything she'd done for that place.
One headset should be totally fine.
Good thing she could protect her chocolate rolls— no, good thing she could stream without any issues.
The moment class ended, she bolted straight for the PC bang.
She'd barely set foot in the place since her mom bought her the computer.
But she still snuck in every now and then.
Because if she wanted to game with Si-yeon, the PC bang was the only option.
'But she never even plays properly when we come here. So why does she beg to come every single time.'
A mystery that had never been solved, no matter how many times she thought about it.
Creak—
She pushed the door open, and her eyes met the owner's right away.
"Oh my! Look who it is, long time no see! Here to game?"
"Hello, sir."
"Want something to drink?"
"I'm okay."
Something was always different about this place every time she came.
She swept her gaze around the shop—sure enough, it looked even sharper than before.
'What did he upgrade this time? He seems to pour every penny he makes right back into this place.'
Anyway, she only had one thing on her mind right now.
"Sir, sir."
"Hm? What is it."
"Do you happen to have any spare headsets?"
"Headsets? Ha, listen to this. I just made a big decision and overhauled the whole place. Look at those. I went and put the latest models that all the gamers are using on every single seat. The sound quality is just—"
Oh, he'd gotten new ones.
She sat quietly and listened to him rattle on about his new equipment.
Normally she would've cut him off ages ago.
But she had a conscience.
She was here to ask a favor. The least she could do was hear him out.
After going on for a good while, the owner seemed to come back to his senses and cleared his throat.
"Goodness, where was I. Right, spare headsets? Got quite a few of the old ones. Haven't gotten rid of them yet, they're in the storage room."
"Yes! Would it be okay if I took one of the spares?"
"Oh, of course, they're not worth much anyway. Actually, wait. Don't do that. Take one of the new models I just got in."
"What?? No no, that's really not necessary."
"Come on, take a look before you decide. Hold on."
She genuinely would've been fine with a cheap one, but the owner had already disappeared cheerfully into the storage room.
A moment later.
"Here, this one! What do you think, isn't it nice? Want to try the sound?"
He pulled it out with great confidence, and it was, indeed, impressive.
But.
"…It's pink?"
"Oh, it comes in a few colors. I picked one I thought you'd like. Want me to show you a different color?"
"……"
'Hmm.'
The pink had a glossy, shiny sheen to it.
Whether she liked it or not, she was here to receive something—it wasn't her place to be picky.
She suppressed the way her heart was inexplicably drawn to it and answered.
"…Are you really sure you can give me this?"
"Of course, take it, take it. Oh, it suits you so well. Adorable, just adorable."
Under normal circumstances she would've made a face at that, but today she had something to receive, so she'd let it slide.
"Thank you. I'll put it to good use, sir."
A polite little bow.
She hugged the pink headset tight to her chest and headed out of the PC bang.
"Heh—"
The corners of her mouth curled up on their own.
***
Momoji—Kim Na-eun—had watched every moment of DuelKingChaechae's shocking stream, right up to the sudden, out-of-nowhere sign-off.
'What happened?'
When a stream cuts out like that, it's usually a computer issue or a network problem on the broadcast end.
But no announcement had gone up on DuelKingChaechae's channel, so the exact cause was a mystery.
She might just disappear after this.
She'd said everything she needed to say.
But from the brief time Kim Na-eun had watched the stream—
'She'll be back.'
There was that unmistakable streamer quality, that clear love of being in the spotlight, ringing through loud and clear.
Even while tapping away at Notepad, she'd looked like she was having the time of her life—and that was a drug. Once you got a taste, you couldn't quit.
Kim Na-eun knew that type very well. She only had to look in a mirror.
And no matter how many of the viewers had drifted in because of the drama and controversy, getting hundreds of people watching on your very first stream wasn't something that happened easily.
DuelKingChaechae would come back. She was willing to bet on it.
So she'd hit follow and turned on notifications.
Ding!
[DuelKingChaechae has started streaming.]
"She actually came back."
Early for a streamer.
The stream had gone live at 4 PM.
It wasn't time for her own stream yet, so she hopped on just to watch.
Yesterday, without any way to communicate, she probably hadn't even realized how frustrating the screen looked to viewers—so the chat was probably going to tear into her from the very start.
The moment she entered the room, the chat was an absolute warzone of chaos.
―this little shit is back lmao
―hey you piece of garbage i set up notifications just to say this. stop pulling up notepad it hurts my eyes.
―queue up already.
―stop playing on your alt and bring out your main stop playing on your alt and bring out your main stop playing on your alt and bring out your main.
The spam made her frown instinctively.
'Someone needs to moderate this chat.'
Every single one of those needed to go.
Just then, the mouse that had been still started to move.
[Kzzt—]
[Hello?? Hello?? Is this working?]
"……Huh?"
Before she could even process what was happening—
The mouse on screen moved toward the chat window and scrolled through it, then stopped.
[Hey! You want to die?! I said this IS my main account!! You weren't here yesterday!!]
A clear, bright, high voice rang out.