I'd heard there was a streamer in my game, so I tried just a tiny bit harder than usual.
Absolutely NOT because I was embarrassed about thinking they'd recognized me and wanted to take it out on someone! I just figured a lot of people were watching, so I gave it my best.
Absolutely, positively NOT because I was so mortified my hands were trembling, and I had to hold back tears while white-knuckling my mouse.
*Yep. That's right. Totally.*
It happens sometimes when you're playing FPS games.
You kill someone the same way you always do.
And then you think, *"Huh? It's that person again?"*
Same thing happened to me — the names [MyNameIsTaeyeon] and [FlyingChair] kept popping up every time I got a kill.
As it turned out, one of them was the streamer, and the other was the guy who'd sent that chat message that made me think they'd recognized me.
What?
Since I'd customized my character, I'd know who it was after killing them just once, even before pulling the trigger?
Yeah, well, so what.
It was still a coincidence, okay.
MVP
[Woniwoni>.< — 23 Kills / 4 Deaths]
When the match with the streamers ended, I clicked my tongue, a little reluctant to let it go.
"I only got Momoji once…."
Had she caught on and started avoiding me?
Did she figure out I was hunting her down with fire in my eyes?
I alt-tabbed.
On the screen was the streaming page I'd pulled up the moment I heard there were streamers in my game — I'd gone to check their usernames.
Their names were Momoji and Jeong Tae-yeon.
Jeong Tae-yeon had about a thousand viewers.
And Momoji……
"Whoa!? Three thousand?!"
*Her viewership went up.*
I wasn't exactly a regular streaming viewer, so I had no idea how famous she was, but still.
"Wow… three thousand people."
I was genuinely in awe.
Back in my past life, when I was running my in-game shop, a streamer had come by as a customer once. Out of curiosity, I'd popped into their live stream for a bit.
*— Oh, five hundred viewers? I've got time to kill — maybe I should try streaming too?*
I spent a lot of time in front of the computer anyway, and I figured it'd be a nice way to game without feeling lonely, so I painstakingly taught myself how to stream.
*I don't need five hundred! A hundred viewers would be plenty!*
And so I launched my stream with all that bravado. My viewer count for the entire first week: zero.
Nobody came.
I'm just not entertaining.
Streaming is hard……
I had the fond memory of my channel becoming basically a security camera within a matter of days.
So the fact that she'd somehow pulled in three thousand people was genuinely mind-boggling to me.
Unlike Jeong Tae-yeon, whose cam was broadcasting his dejection for all to see, Momoji's screen just showed an animated character.
Personally, I preferred face cams because I wanted to see the reactions.
[LMAOOO look at his face!]
But Momoji had Jeong Tae-yeon's stream pulled up on her screen, so there was no need to go to his channel separately.
If anything, getting double the reactions made it twice as satisfying.
Everyone seemed to be having a blast, so I decided to make an account too.
*Clack clack clack—*
DuelKingChaechae: Hello.
I tried sending a chat as a test.
"Oh."
With so many people, it vanished upward almost instantly.
Three thousand viewers — you can't expect every message to get read.
Disappointing, but nothing to be done about it.
After that I watched quietly, until my ears perked up at the mention of Woniwoni.
"It's not that big a deal. Hmph."
Compliments always feel good no matter when you hear them.
Thrilling, even.
Watching the streamers and the chat reactions, my fingers started itching.
I couldn't hold back, and my hand went to the keyboard.
*Clack clack clack—*
DuelKingChaechae: haha oh, that person must be really good. I think Angler has appeared on NuTube before?
Normally, it's cooler when someone else brags about you.
Unfortunately, since nobody here knew who I was, I had to casually drop it myself.
But I wasn't embarrassed.
Why?
Because this was the kind of thing people might be curious about, and someone had to say it.
It just so happened that the most qualified person to do so was present.
I figured getting a little attention in the chat would be satisfying enough — but Momoji actually read my message out loud.
My heart pounded like I'd done something wrong.
Once I got going, my fingers wouldn't stop.
Correcting misinformation where it appeared.
Delivering sharp rebukes to anyone who tried to talk trash about me.
I was happily tapping away at the keyboard when——
[ You have been temporarily muted — 09:48 ]
"Ughhh…."
Ten whole minutes without being able to chat?
He started it by ignoring me!
Why am I the only one being punished!
I grumbled a bit, but.
"Oh! Not bad aim. Eh, duck shots though, hmm… those are hard to use situationally. Yeah, you'd be better off building fundamentals first."
I muttered to myself and quietly served my sentence, and before I knew it, ten minutes had passed.
Streaming……
This is actually fun?
***
Momoji — streamer on the platform Link.
Real name Kim Na-eun. She was a twenty-two-year-old college student.
"College student" was generous, though. She skipped class so often to focus on streaming that she might as well have been on track for a high school diploma and nothing more.
She'd started streaming back in high school, and got lucky when a major company's small-streamer discovery content put her name on the map.
From there it was a steady climb, and she'd risen to become one of the top no-cam streamers — a bona fide big-league name.
She genuinely loved games at her core, and was known as the kind of streamer who, once she picked something up, went all in.
"You absolute trolls, I swear to GOD—!"
— lmaooooo
— lmaooooooo
— demotion incoming letsgooo
— just one more loss now….
[Platinum 2 — 0 Points]
*No, no, no.*
Momoji had been dreaming the grand dream of Diamond.
Her score had been climbing like a freight train — until it slammed straight into the wall called Platinum.
She'd taken lessons from Challenger-ranked streamers, but her skills hadn't improved one bit.
*Is this the limit of online coaching?*
But what could she do.
Given the nature of streaming, Momoji couldn't bring herself to invite a male streamer to her home.
She knew there'd be a truckload of fans who wouldn't show it in the chat but would quietly seethe.
On top of that, Momoji was a no-cam streamer, which made her even more reluctant to do anything that might break her viewers' trust.
She was meticulous about it — she even streamed on Christmas without fail.
*I can do this!*
Let's go, Diamond!
She steeled her resolve and queued up for the next match.
She even threw in a little pre-game chant.
"WhoamItoaimforDiamondI'msorryMomandDadI'msorryIcouldn'tprotecttheEarthI'msorryI'mnogoodI'maloserwhocan'tdomath."
— voodoo ritual activated
— just embrace being a Platinum guardian?
— lmaooooooo
— yeah go back~
[Match Found.]
"Oh! Got one."
["Operation timer initiated. Use all available means to recapture the occupied zones seized by the enemy!"]
"Capture the point? Ugh, this one?"
In solo ranked, missions were assigned randomly, so rather than mastering one map, you needed a working knowledge of all of them.
But Dead Zone had twenty-four maps in total.
A newcomer who'd speed-run the basics for ranked play inevitably had maps they weren't comfortable with.
Momoji, barely a month in, was no exception.
*I only know where the capture points are….*
She moved through the map with her senses on high alert.
Rat-a-tat-tat—!
[KaiStreamer ╓╦═─ Moji Moji♡]
"Yikes! Scared me. So there's a side path here…."
Her poor map knowledge made it hard to anticipate enemies popping out of nowhere.
Fortunately, her teammates were pulling their weight and keeping things close.
[2 Kills / 8 Deaths]
"Ugh, I'm so sorry. If I'd just done better, we probably would've won easily."
Knowing she was the one dragging the team down, the guilt was no joke.
During the ten-second grey-screen death cam, she glanced over at the chat.
— she's gonna get demoted lol
— ??? : what, your teammates should've carried harder?
— Diamond lol more like Gold at best
— Platinum was already enough for her
— lmaoooo demoted demoted demoted~
"These little—"
All anyone was talking about was her demotion.
She snorted in annoyance and was just about to turn her eyes back to the game when—
DuelKingChaechae: Where you died just now — stand behind the wooden door and listen for footsteps. The moment you see a shadow as they get close, shoot through the door. It's wood so it has a penetration hitbox. You can pull your weight.
"Pull my weight…?"
A long-form chat message. With coaching, no less.
Normally she would've banned someone for that.
But her desire to win was stronger, so she decided to try it.
"Okay, where did I die earlier — it was around here— Oh! Found it. That wooden door?"
She focused every bit of her attention on the sound coming through her headset.
*Scuff—*
"Oh! Someone's coming."
*Scuff, scuff, scuff—*
An enemy was approaching.
*The— the shadow, they said to watch for the shadow?*
The enemy felt like they could burst through any second, and her aim started to waver.
*How long do I wait?* — just as that thought crossed her mind.
A shadow appeared on the ground, and the enemy stepped into view.
Rat-a-tat-tat—!!
[Moji Moji♡ ╓╦═─ TPShyBoy]
"Hah— hah— oh my god, that scared me."
The viewer had said to shoot the wooden door the moment she saw the shadow — now that she'd done it, she understood why.
"Okay, so the shadow appears right before they come through. Next time I'll shoot immediately."
Another enemy appeared shortly after.
Rat-a-tat—!!
[Moji Moji♡ ╓╦═─ KaiStreamer]
"Yesss, two kills in a row!!"
This time she fired through the door preemptively and took out the enemy without taking a single hit.
— what is this free kill spot lmao
— camping there would at least be useful I guess
— nooo my demotion dopamine—
She could hear enemies coming before they arrived, which gave her enough breathing room to check the chat mid-game.
"Heh, what are you on about. I'm climbing, just watch."
She was busy laughing at the viewers who'd been mocking her just moments ago when—
DuelKingChaechae: The guy you just killed probably isn't a goldfish, so he'll throw a grenade at that spot and push in. Climb on top of the box next to you and press against the wall. Then once it blows, drop back down and wait again.
"Oh."
Another long-form tip — coaching, rather — from the same viewer.
No time to deliberate. She moved on top of the box.
Pressed flat against the wall.
*Will a grenade actually come?*
Momoji waited, half-convinced it wouldn't.
And then.
*Thunk— roll roll roll.*
A grenade tumbled into the room and went boom—!
She quickly moved back behind the wooden door.
Rat-a-tat-tat—!!
[Moji Moji♡ ╓╦═─ TPShyBoy]
"Oh my GOD, nice! Three kills in a row!!"
The enemy had checked with a grenade and waltzed in confidently — and she'd eaten them alive.
— what is this luck
— ban the backseat gamer
— we have a streamer here who has sold her pride
"Pfft, whatever, Diamond here I come!!"
Thanks to Momoji's second-half performance, her team successfully captured the objective.
[Victory!]
[Platinum 2 — 24 Points]
"Okay, that was some good coaching — wait, no, that was advice."
She'd spent ages getting lessons from Challenger players on recoil control and movement, and none of it had made a single difference.
*Maybe what I actually need is a handful of immediately applicable tricks like this?*
And as luck would have it, there was someone in her chat who seemed perfectly capable of providing exactly that.
Momoji acted on it immediately.
"DuelKingChaechae, you got any more tips like that? Give me a few."
Having a regular viewer — especially a male one — on a voice call during stream could cause complications, so that was out of the question.
Written tips like before would be more than enough.
DuelKingChaechae: Me??
"Yeah. You!"
For people who love giving advice, there's no sweeter reward than a streamer's attention.
They only keep their mouths shut because backseat gaming is usually banned. There's no shortage of people with itchy fingers.
Someone willing to ignore that unspoken rule and send a wall of text — surely they'd jump at the chance to help, right? That was Momoji's read.
But.
DuelKingChaechae: Hmm, make me an offer.
"…An offer?"
— lmaooooo
— saying they won't do it for free
— they mean make a proposal
The backseat-gaming viewer had suddenly decided to be difficult.
"Aw, come on~ we were getting along so well just now."
*Are they joking around because it's a stream?*
Momoji tried to smooth things over.
DuelKingChaechae: I only said something because I couldn't stand watching… and now you're trying to profit off it….
"What's 'profit off it' supposed to mean."
— no idea
— never heard that one
— there's a certain wisdom in every word somehow
— just go
She'd been about to wrap it up and move on before the chat temperature rose over a random viewer, but DuelKingChaechae's message came one step faster.
DuelKingChaechae: Anyway I have to go to sleep now. I'll come back tomorrow.
"Huh? It's only ten o'clock?"
— going to bed early huh….
— are you a child of the new nation?
— probably has work tomorrow
— respect the grind
*Will they actually come back? Hard to tell.*
Momoji shook it off and got back to climbing ranked.
[Platinum 2 — 0 Points]
Win, lose, win, lose — she finished the night right back at zero.