He'd managed to spam-click his way into the room through sheer persistence.
"You're Diamond 3?"
Streamer Masok raised an eyebrow at the tier badge next to [Woniwoni>.<].
Sure, it was the tail end of the bracket, but he himself was a proper Challenger.
He couldn't help but start wondering if the viewer who'd just donated was actually a troll.
He had no desire to be known as the clueless Challenger who sniped a fellow streamer mid-win-streak content.
— She's actually insane. Check her match history. She'll hit Master soon.
"Really? Hmm. Let me take a look."
You could never just trust what viewers said.
He searched her ranked history himself.
┌ Woniwoni>.< [Ranked History / Season 4] ┐
Current Tier — Diamond 3 · 62 LP
Season Peak — Diamond 3
Ranked Games — 29 played, 27W 2L (Win Rate 89.7%)
MVP — 24 times
Win Streak — Current 8 / Best 13
Avg Kills — 24.1
Avg Deaths — 6.6
Avg Assists — 3.8
Overall KDA — 4.21
Weapon Stats
Sniper Rifle — 88% (372 kills / 51 deaths)
Assault Rifle — 69.1% (221 kills / 97 deaths)
Pistol
Grenade
.
.
.
└───────────────┘
"Oh… wait. These stats are straight-up Challenger-tier…?"
He said it casually, but he flinched on the inside.
'Even when I was grinding ranked on my alt, I never pulled numbers like this…?'
To be fair, he hadn't been playing seriously then, so it wasn't a perfect comparison.
But there was no denying these were terrifying numbers.
Ding—!
[Hyeokjugari – ₩1,000: Not a 1v1 thing, but she bodied Jeong Tae-yeon too lol]
"Huh? Tae-yeon hyung?"
'That guy wouldn't get stomped by some Diamond or Master player.'
"She must be pretty good then."
While he waited, the chat and viewer count steadily climbed.
Masok's stream was the kind of quiet, skill-focused broadcast where a single chat message every minute was the norm — so this was genuinely unusual.
He didn't follow community drama and had no interest in internet gossip, so he'd just assumed Woniwoni was some popular streamer.
— Came to watch~
— No way he loses to a girl, right?
— Let the education begin.
— She's a girl? lmaooo
— Cap
— Nah I just checked, it's real. A girl with a higher tier than me, what.
— You think Challenger is a joke lmao she's just gonna win.
He'd wanted to focus on the 1v1, but chat wouldn't leave him alone.
"She's a girl…? For real?"
Still things left to be surprised by, apparently.
Honestly, more than anything else, the gender thing caught him off guard the most.
'Okay. I absolutely cannot lose this.'
The fact that he'd even considered going easy on her now seemed laughable.
If this went even close to fifty-fifty, he'd be the one taking the image hit — not her.
Masok decided he'd rather be the one doing the beating than the one getting beaten by a girl.
A rare crowd had shown up, and his gamer pride was on the line. He gripped his keyboard with quiet reverence.
[MasokSNiper: I'll go first.]
[Woniwoni>.<: Sure. Sniper? Or rifle?]
[MasokSNiper: Sniper.]
The moment he got his answer, the map switched to Dead Line — the dedicated 1v1 map — and the game started immediately.
Dead Line was the classic 1v1 map, the battlefield where snipers came to settle scores and defend their pride.
And as luck would have it, Masok's best map.
'How many hours have I put into this thing.'
It was the place he dragged people to whenever someone picked a fight during ranked or guild matches.
He practically lived here when warming up, too.
(Dead Line Map)
Masok pressed Tab with a faint premonition of victory.
Woniwoni's weapon was, as the viewer had said, the Winchester (Win34).
Undeniably a charming gun — but it fell so far behind the AWR in practical viability that he'd never once seen it in high-tier play. It was the kind of rifle you used in low ranks out of affection, or just to look cool.
'And in a sniper duel, of all things, there's nothing more to say.'
True to his streamer nature, Masok gave his viewers a quick breakdown of the matchup.
"The Winchester can fire faster if you cancel the reload animation. That part's true. But the timing has to be razor-sharp. The moment you mess it up, it actually becomes slower."
The window was less than half a second by feel.
Somewhere between 0.1 and 0.3 seconds?
"On top of that, this is a sniper map, so the fast-reload advantage barely matters. Maybe you get to hold position after firing first? But at the top level, holding position isn't always the advantage it sounds like — so the benefit basically disappears."
— That's accurate ㅇㅇ
— Looks like she's filming NuTube content, is it okay to interrupt?
— Save the lectures for Masok's channel^^
— Damn, actually educational.
— Stop trying to mass-produce Winchester users. Not happening.
Maybe it was the unusually lively chat, but he felt a little puffed up.
"Alright. The foundation of a 1v1 sniper duel is the knife check. You use the knife because it gives you the fastest movement speed."
He kept his tone relaxed, like he was giving a lecture.
"You hug the wall and peek just enough to show your arm, then pull back — or you commit to a full dash and cross to the opposite wall. The key is reading your opponent's position and drawing out their bullet."
He'd been talking and arrived a beat late, so Woniwoni would already be holding position.
Go with the safest option — the minimal peek, just an arm's width.
'At high tiers there are lunatics who react-shot you even on a long dash.'
Better to play it short and safe.
'Okay, like this—'
He faced the enemy side and slid sideways — just a sliver — then started pulling back.
BANG—!!
[Woniwoni>.< ︻デ═一 MasokSNiper]
"What the—!"
He'd barely peeked out, or so he thought, and yet he'd eaten Woniwoni's bullet clean.
— Teacher?
— What the hell just happened?
— Watching both streams at once, this is great lmaooo
— Come on, don't go easy ㅡㅡ
Chat erupted, but Masok's eyes didn't go there.
'Was that a pre-aim?'
Firing a predictive shot while repositioning from a hold was a common sniper habit.
Could've just been unlucky timing.
But if she'd actually reacted to him…
'That's inhuman. Or did I mess up? Maybe I peeked a little long.'
Masok went quiet. The moment Round 2 started, he sprinted.
He'd decided to take mid first and hold.
Fortunately, the other side didn't force an aggressive push, so he secured the position cleanly.
"Hss…"
He pulled every ounce of focus he had and trained his scope on the wall Woniwoni would have to peek from.
Then, from the wall — something edged out—
Masok's hand twitched reflexively toward his mouse, but he barely held back.
'The barrel?'
Not a knife check. The long barrel of a sniper rifle.
Peeking out — pulling back — peeking out — pulling back — on repeat, endlessly.
Is she messing with me?
He tried to ignore it and sharpen his focus, but—
'God, should I just shoot?'
Every so often it came out a little longer, and he could see the right hand gripping the rifle body.
If he kept his aim glued to the wall, he felt like he could hit it.
Eventually, Masok's patience snapped. He pressed his crosshair even tighter against the wall.
The next time the barrel peeked out a little too far — BANG—!
The shot clipped the wall behind the hand instead, and Woniwoni immediately burst out and claimed the position.
"Ugh. Damn it."
'Should've waited. Idiot.'
At this point, the opponent had played him perfectly with a method he'd never seen before.
Now Masok was the one who had to push through.
His character stood still.
Two rounds in a row, and both felt like losses.
'How do I approach this one?'
The death in Round 1 still didn't make sense to him, and his brain was running slow.
Knife check again?
What if she really did react?
But what other option is there? Go head-on?
Just peek as short as possible and bait the bullet?
Or commit to a full jump dash?
Masok was cycling through options in the span of a heartbeat.
Then—
Tap—
"Huh?"
Footsteps — something you almost never heard on a 1v1 sniper map—
Thud—— thud— thud— thud-thud-thud—!
The sound was getting louder. He swung his barrel toward the entrance in a panic.
But that same infuriating long barrel had already peeked out first.
BANG—!
[Woniwoni>.< ︻デ═一 MasokSNiper]
"What the—! A sniper just rushed me…."
He couldn't finish the sentence.
Didn't want to look pathetic.
He just stared at the pink rabbit character standing over him, silently spinning the Winchester.
And the death message, of all things.
[You were an excellent (target)!!]
"How did she even put that together."
God, that's annoying.
— Sensor…
— Going to buy a Winchester brb.
— The age of the AWR is over! The Winchester spring has come!! The age of the AWR is over! The Winchester spring has come!! The age of the AWR is over! The Winchester spring has come!!
— I said don't go easy. There's a penalty to pay.
— It's only Round 2, chill
Masok glanced at the chat.
For the sake of focus, he shouldn't be looking.
He knew that, and yet…
'Damn. What do I do.'
His mental was already cracked.
But there was no time to collect himself — Round 3 started immediately.
"What the—! What is this?"
Woniwoni pulled out a pistol and came charging straight at him with the most bizarre movement — hopping and bouncing all over the place.
He took a few pistol hits and was down to 40 HP.
'This is a sniper map.'
Through the long corridor, weaving between the rooms and the center boxes, dodging every which way.
He thought she was trying to kill him with the pistol, but—
Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!
Once she'd closed the distance, she switched to the Winchester and rapid-fired in quick succession.
The firing speed was almost on par with the pistol.
Woniwoni fired predictive shots while methodically cutting down the angles one by one.
Bang—! Bang—!
[Woniwoni>.< ︻デ═一 MasokSNiper]
"…."
He'd lost the shot exchange.
After that, Woniwoni kept moving in the same pattern.
Aggressively using the terrain to close distance, then slicing the angles down.
Masok got lucky twice with predictive shots and took 2 rounds total.
[DEFEAT]
[5:2]
Final score: 5 to 2.
A clean loss.
[MasokSNiper: You're really good….]
Rather than dwelling on the 1v1, he typed to at least build some rapport.
'I have zero desire to run that back…….'
[Woniwoni>.<: Are you a streamer? Chat was saying something.]
[MasokSNiper: Yeah.]
[Woniwoni>.<: Hmm….]
'What's she thinking.'
[Woniwoni>.<: If you're a streamer, does this count as viewer participation…? Or is it a snipe? This is awkward.]
"Huh? Viewer participation?"
What is she on about?
[Woniwoni>.<: This isn't viewer participation, this is a snipe, isn't it… hmmmm….]
"That's a bit of a loaded thing to say."
Trying to slap a sniper label on him — absolutely ridiculous.
It was probably a joke, but Masok typed back quickly.
[MasokSNiper: No no, nothing like that. Someone asked me to come check out the Winchester. Said to give it a shot.]
[Woniwoni>.<: Oh! The Winchester is great, right? These guys just never listen to me.]
[MasokSNiper: Right? It really is. I'll have to practice with it myself.]
[Woniwoni>.<: Hehe, I knew it! You get it! I can't give you anything in return, but I've got a lot of people in my stream who love snipers — want me to send some your way? They're absolutely obsessed with snipers.]
I'm not a sniper, I said.
He was having a hard time keeping up with the flow of the conversation.
'Just give a vague answer and get out.'
[MasokSNiper: Ah, sure haha. Anyway, let's run it back sometime. Good game.]
Masok's gut was screaming at him.
Something told him that getting any more tangled up in this would not end well.
So he tried to make his exit — but.
[Woniwoni>.<: Oh, that was a joke. You weren't supposed to actually agree to that.]
"What do you even… mean…"
While he was trying to parse what Woniwoni had just said—
— Is this the stream with the notorious sniper?
— Bring Hyeok back!! Bring Hyeok back!! Bring Hyeok back!! Bring Hyeok back!! Bring Hyeok back!! Bring Hyeok back!!
— Sniping is bad, heuu~ Sniping is bad, heuu~ Sniping is bad, heuu~ Sniping is bad, heuu~
— Right!!! My true calling is to cause chaos in sniper streams!!
"What the hell is this."
A horde of absolute lunatics came flooding in.
[Woniwoni>.<: Hey, you lot, get back here. Why are you causing trouble in someone else's stream.]
They disappeared quickly enough thanks to Woniwoni's message, but.
'What on earth is she raising over there.'
What a day.
