[Title: Ha, Showing Off Right Before Ending the Stream]
(A clip of her whispering, 'That's all for today, everyone. Good night.')
This was meant for me, right?
'That's all for today' means tomorrow, the day after, the day after that, four days from now, a week from now, a month from now, a year from now — every single day, she'll be with me, right? This is basically a confession. It has to be.
└Calm down, she said that to me.
└└Address.
└└└ ;;;
└ㅠㅠㅠ Why is the whispering so good too. I need ASMR. Her voice is literally broken.
└Watching her do whatever she wants makes me want to flick her on the head, but then I hear her talk and it all melts away… hah… damn, she's like poison.
└Transparent and adorable lol
└For real, she probably never listened to her parents growing up
[Title: Don't Care About Chaechae or Whatever]
Where'd all those guys go who were foaming at the mouth saying Durihyeok got banned unfairly?
Honestly, those days were better. Simping is not easy. She doesn't even have a cam and people are calling her cute and whatever.
There's a woman in her thirties behind that mic, I'm telling you. Wake up, idiots lol
└Shut up, that can't be right, Chaechae is an angel
└└Ugh, gross
└That's not the voice of someone older. Way too young-sounding.
└But she seems like she has a job, so thirties might be possible?
└└How does someone with a job stream at 4 in the afternoon
└└└Oh right, good point. College student maybe?
└Lmaooo that voice literally cannot belong to an ugly person, no way
└└Wake up. If she were pretty she would've started with a cam
└└└Chaechae doesn't even have a smartphone… she's broke… can't afford a cam.
└Chaechae is cute though. Doesn't give off thirties vibes at all.
[Title: LMAOOO Chaechae's Mom Appeared]
(A clip of a knock during gameplay followed by the sound of her mom walking in)
LMAOOOOO Chaechae's stream is just the default desktop wallpaper right now.
Mom walks in and she instantly alt-tabs to hide the game — same as me honestly.
And her mom almost leaked her real name while walking in lmaooooo
You could hear 'Chae~' from the knock and then the sound gets muffled — looks like she grabbed the mic with her hand.
Chaechae, be careful if you want to keep streaming, okay?
└So Chaechae's real name starts with 'Chae' something.
└Her reaction speed is insane though, she just grabbed the mic like that?
└Mom walking in lmaooo how old even is she? Just from how she talks, even being generous, she's a college student at most.
└Hmm, it's hard to tell with girls just from their voice.
└└Chaechae doesn't have that toxic vibe older streamers get. Obviously young. I'd say high school at the youngest, early twenties at the oldest.
└└└That's fair — how do I put it, freshness? You can feel it in the way she talks.
└Chaechae's getting scolded by her mom lmaooo if you turn the volume up you can barely hear it.
└└She's actually an adult, right? lmaooo
└└└You're always a kid to your parents no matter how old you get.
└└└└How are you guys even hearing anything? I can't make out a single thing.
└└└└└Turn the volume up to 100 and you can catch a little.
└└└└└└????? What about the game sounds? Are your ears okay?
└└└└└└└Ears bleeding but the corners of my mouth are going up
└└└└└└└└You're all insane lmaooo
***
"Chae-won, are you busy?"
"Mm, y-yeah? A little? Maybe? Why?"
"I'm cleaning the house, so open your door and window to air it out."
"Can't it wait a bit…?"
"You don't even clean, and now you're going to give me a hard time too?"
"Yes, ma'am. I'll leave them open."
Maybe I shouldn't have started streaming on a weekend….
On the outside I was playing it cool, but my heart was pounding like crazy.
'This feels like sneaking junk food behind Mom's back.'
After lunch, I'd figured I'd play some Dead Zone and stream at the same time.
I'd been whispering and shooting away with focus, and before I knew it, Diamond 2 was right around the corner.
"Hehe, one more win and I hit Diamond 2!"
Excited, I queued up fast — and landed Team Deathmatch, my favorite mode.
Everything was going great up to that point.
Knock knock knock—!!
"Hyeek!"
Mom had walked right into my room calling my name. Mid-stream.
The second I heard the knock, my left hand flew to the keyboard and alt-tabbed to the desktop, while my right hand clamped over the mic.
It was pure reflex from the shock, but I was already regretting minimizing the game.
'I should've just left the game up.'
If I went 'hehe, I was actually gaming, oops' now, it'd make it look like gaming was something I had to hide from my parents.
So I decided to just keep it hidden until Mom left.
'Ugh, my score… Sorry, teammates. Sorry, viewers.'
"Open the curtains too. See, it's so much nicer with the light in. You decorated this room so nicely and you're just letting it go to waste."
"I didn't decorate it, that's Dad's taste."
"Excuse me? What are you saying — that was when you were little, and you still like it now, so we've just been maintaining it. All the pink is so cute. And look, even your headset is pink again."
"Ugh… don't bring that up…."
I tightened my grip on the mic with my right hand.
'I don't even like pink, I just use whatever's around!'
Mom is trying to assassinate me.
While I'm live!
I wanted to just hit the power button right then and there.
The conversation probably wasn't getting through the mic, but the situation was mortifying enough on its own.
"My goodness, you've gotten shyer as you've gotten older. What's gotten into you."
"It's not that… c-can we just clean?"
"Fine, fine. Little miss prim. Honestly, this room would turn into a landfill."
While Mom went to grab the vacuum, I scrambled back to the game screen.
[Woniwoni>.< — 0 kills 3 deaths]
"Huh?"
Why do I have 3 deaths.
I was sitting in our base — how did I die three times already?
That innocent thought didn't last long.
'Oh right, I'm streaming.'
The enemy team definitely heard about it.
Walk into the enemy base and get a free kill —
I'd do the same thing. Rush in, grab the kill, get out.
Anyway, I was dead and staring at a grey screen, so I figured I'd handle the urgent business before Mom came back.
'I need to mute the mic!'
But I'd set up the streaming software so haphazardly that I had no idea where to even click.
The panic wasn't helping either — nothing was registering.
"Ugh, hey, hey, guys. How do I mute the mic."
- lmaooooooo
- Is your mom gone?
- Nope, not telling you~ go away~
- Go into settings and do this and that, it's in there
- As a streamer, why not just boldly go live with it.
- Agreed, NuTube moment
- Guys turn the volume to 100 you can actually hear stuff for real
"I'm not even on NuTube, what are you talking about! Ugh… I almost yelled… just tell me already, you little gremlins."
They never listen.
What's the difference between you guys and the stray dog at my school, honestly.
Actually, at least that dog is cute.
Just then, I heard the sound of a gun being drawn through my headset.
"Oh, I must've respawned."
Better run back and rack up some kills.
Mic or no mic, game first.
I equipped the MF5, the fastest movement speed gun, and bolted out of base.
And right as I did, someone was charging straight into our base —
Tatatatang—
[Woniwoni>.< ╓╦═─ AnglerTV]
Got him before he could freeload!
Picked up a quick kill.
I kept W held down and didn't stop pushing forward.
I had to get at least a few kills before Mom came back, or I'd never be able to face my teammates.
Dash dash dash.
I ran and ran until I reached wherever the gunfire was loudest.
'Head for the narrow terrain.'
Better to fight somewhere tight and focused than out in the open.
I headed for the side alley, one of the main rifle battlegrounds.
Aimed at head level and charged forward.
Didn't bother conserving ammo — just sprayed at every spot an enemy might be hiding.
Tang— tang— tatang—!
[Woniwoni>.< ╓╦═─ (HEAD)ChallengerBlood2]
[Woniwoni>.< ╓╦═─ (HEAD)Hyeoksuni]
"Nice…!"
Two of them walked right into my line of fire like fish in a trap — 3 kills, 3 deaths. At least I pulled my weight.
Just needed one more kill to feel good about it —
"Chae-won~"
Scramble—!
Mic back on, alt-tab.
The vacuum cleaner roared into my room from the doorway.
VRRRRRRRRRRR—!!!
Oh my god, so loud.
'Is that even something you can muffle with your hand?'
The viewers must be suffering.
Hmm, what do I do — I was mulling it over when a brilliant idea struck.
'Oh! I can just unplug it.'
Am I a genius?
"Chae-won, lift your feet."
"Okay."
I hopped up onto my chair and reached out my hand.
I was going for the headset jack to unplug it, but —
"……"
A thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Not a single one of them told me how to mute the mic.
They just cackled and messed with me.
Why exactly should I be considerate of them?
"Hmm. Yeah. Right."
I stared at my right hand, still clamped over the mic.
Then glanced over at the vacuum in Mom's hand.
"Heh."
I grinned and slowly let my right hand drop.
VRRRRRRRRRRR—!!!
'Ha. Revenge.'
Snicker.
I bit back the laugh creeping out and waited for the cleaning to be done.
'I want to see the chat.'
Nothing to see — just the desktop wallpaper.
***
Momoji had five years under her belt as a gaming streamer, and she carried a certain pride in her skills because of it.
Fair enough, really — no matter what game she picked up, she'd consistently proven herself somewhere in the upper-to-upper-mid tier, even if not quite the very top.
So when she first started Dead Zone, she'd set her sights on Master rank as the goal, but…
"Aaaargh, why can't I get to Diamond. Is it actually my hands."
- Plat 2 is still pretty high though.
- Moji, the seeds for Diamond are just a different breed from you^^
- For real, I know so many people stuck in Bronze-Silver-Gold.
- Honestly rare for a girl streamer to be this high
- You're probably in the top 15% or so?
- Moji Plat forever! Moji Plat forever!
She'd blazed through to Platinum without breaking a sweat, but she'd been stuck there ever since, and her viewers had gradually given up expecting more.
That atmosphere was grinding against Momoji's gamer pride.
"This shouldn't be happening. It's the teachers. This is the teachers' fault."
- Kidnapping countless Challengers as we speak
- ????
- Does this person know what a conscience is
- True true, walking into the wrong bomb zone was also the teachers' fault, right ✓
Half joking, half serious.
If she'd picked one teacher and stuck with them consistently, maybe. But bouncing between multiple people for bits and pieces of advice had only made things muddier — sometimes the concepts she'd learned from different people flat-out contradicted each other.
'But you should've just stuck to one person from the start!' — fair criticism, but it couldn't be helped.
'They're all male streamers….'
Momoji had made the mistake early on, back when she knew nothing, of regularly playing with male streamers — and she'd gotten burned.
It started with comments that she wasn't fun to watch.
Then backseat gaming on stream.
Eventually, threatening emails.
Of course, she'd been a small streamer back then, so it hit harder. Now she could just block the toxic ones one by one and keep going, but…
Why put herself through that if she didn't have to?
Streaming was supposed to be fun. As long as there were fans who didn't like it, there was no point in forcing it.
Momoji lightly slapped the desk.
"I need a new teacher."
This had been the whole buildup.
She was going to say it today, no matter what.
- A teacher?
- Challenger recruitment arc: ON
- ??? : Hey you, get me to Diamond
- Wonder which Challenger it'll be this time….
She gave a dismissive snort at the teasing chat.
Momoji had made up her mind after a lot of thought.
She was going to learn properly, for real this time.
So who would be the right person?
"I'm going to go beg in person."
Someone with outstanding skill and buzz around them.
A streamer with a certain inexplicable charm.
Someone who'd given genuinely effective coaching in just a single line of chat.
'And most importantly — a girl!!'
"DuelKingChaechae — I'm going to ask her to come back. Come back, you backseat gremlin!"
She'd actually planned to reach out privately.
But when she checked Chaechae's channel page, it was completely bare — no personal email listed, no mutual connections to go through.
In the end, the only way to reach her was to ask during a live stream.
Going over while streaming herself might put a bit of pressure on the other person, but, well.
Even if she slid into her DMs privately, word would get out anyway.
'And… somehow she didn't seem like the type to care about that sort of thing…. Yeah.'
A quick glance at the chat confirmed it — overwhelmingly positive reactions were pouring in.
Once the decision was made, move fast.
Momoji headed over to DuelKingChaechae's stream.
'Should I drop around 30,000 won as a greeting?'
She was still debating how much to send as an opener when the loading screen for Chaechae's stream finished.
[VRRRRRRRRRRR—!]
A deafening roar slammed into her ears.
"Hyeeeok, oh my god!!"
She yanked the volume down immediately.
'Is this a stream malfunction?'
The screen was just the default desktop wallpaper with what sounded like a fighter jet engine — she had no idea what was going on.
But Momoji quickly realized this was no accident.
In the gaps between that horrible noise fading in and out — a faint sound of laughter.
[Kph, khkh.]
And the chat absolutely on fire.
- What the hell did she put the vacuum cleaner up to the mic
- Your mom isn't real, is she
- Ha, she's not even looking at chat and that makes it worse somehow
- We can hear you laughing
- Hehehehehe my ears are gone
- Turn it off you idiots
- You never know though. Might be able to hear the conversation.
"Hmm…."
She's doing this on purpose.
'What kind of stream is she even running…….'
Momoji found herself genuinely worried about whether it was a good idea to ask this person to teach her Dead Zone.