Official Commentary (2)
Chae Ji-hyeon was on edge. Seon-a’s stream was official commentary. A corporation’s official broadcast. It was genuinely important. She prayed Seon-a wouldn’t make any mistakes. She had been praying every five minutes since yesterday. Please, Manager, don’t slip up. I’m begging you.
But the prayer never reached any god. The commentary was so aggressive that Chae Ji-hyeon’s heart pounded.
“Ah… there it is. Speed deck versus speed deck. You all know how this goes, right? The faster one wins. Nothing else to it.”
“No… Seon-a-nim!! You don’t know that. Miracles can happen. You have to give them hope. That’s not allowed. Forbidden.”
“Hmm… I’ll think about it… ugh… ugh… Ah! Caster and commentator, please handle the ban-pick analysis. I’ll try to figure out a way we can win. Aha!! I got it. I figured it out.”
When Seon-a grew excited, Chae Ji-hyeon clasped her hands and prayed again. Please… please. Don’t, Manager. She prayed Seon-a wouldn’t say anything strange. Yet this prayer, too, went unanswered.
“If speed gets countered, you should just leave. What is the world supposed to do about this?”
“Hey…! Think of something!”
Magu Father’s shoulders shook as he glanced sideways. There was nothing there for him to see, but he acted as if Seon-a were sitting right beside him.
“Seon-a-nim. This is a dignified tournament!”
“Ah… ah…! Yes. Then… ah. There’s one. I’ve got it. Found it. Just like that Doctor-whatever guy, I found the single winning scenario. Ah!! No, make that two.”
“O… oh! What are they?”
“Even now, the speed player who lost should grab a hammer, go find the opponent, and smash their phone.”
“Aack! That’s not allowed. That’s cheating.”
“Aphahaha-haha!”
“Then… hacking. Log in with the opponent’s ID and hack them.”
Every single line was nuclear. Chae Ji-hyeon felt a headache coming on the moment she heard them. She pressed her temples and trembled. Don’t, Manager. Please… stop while you still can…
Wanting to gauge the reaction to the spicy commentary, Chae Ji-hyeon opened the chat and community tabs.
Chae Ji-hyeon refreshed the community page every second, checking the titles. So far the reception was still positive, but…
Chae Ji-hyeon was extremely anxious about Seon-a’s opening moves. Once the match began, Seon-a spoke as though the outcome was already decided.
“Ah… Maruka-nim… what a shame…”
“We still don’t know.”
“You’d need to dodge an 80% chance four times. If you have that kind of luck… maybe you should save it for the finals instead of using it now…”
“We can use it here and in the finals too.”
“Ah…! Perfect. You’re right? I wonder if that luck will actually trigger. Ah… too bad.”
“No, we’re doing official commentary right now. Please mind your manners, Seon-a-nim…!”
“Ah. Ah! What a shame. Do better next time. It’s still 2-2, right?”
“Yes~ That’s right. 2-2. The player advancing to the semifinals will be decided in the next game. What did everyone think of this match?”
Match? There hadn’t been much to watch. Just as Seon-a said, the ban-pick phase had lasted longer than the actual game. The player who won the speed roll used their skill, pushing all the opponent’s characters back in speed. Then the wide-area attacker who gained the turn thanks to that finished everything. It took less than fifty seconds.
K-MONSTER, handling the right-side commentary, spoke like the professional he was.
“This game was decided in the ban-pick phase. The opponent brought a ban-pick that caught them off guard, and it worked perfectly.”
“Oh… is that so? Then what did you think, Seon-a-nim?”
“Speed decks need to be banished. They’re completely unfair. I’ve already spent over ten million won on this game. The players must have spent even more. Honestly… this isn’t about money or skill. Would I have won if I spent ten thousand more? A hundred thousand? A million? I can’t say for sure. It’s too broken. Spending money is a skill too. I don’t understand why they ignore luck while killing skill.”
“Oof. Yeah. You really packed that in there. I’ll make sure to pass it along to the developers. So, how was this particular game?”
“Ah… still better than defense decks. If it had been a defense deck, we’d still be hearing ‘hup, hup, hup, hup, huff-hup…’ right now… This dopamine hit feels right.”
Chae Ji-hyeon’s entire body shook. She immediately refreshed the community and kept a close eye on the chat. There was some swearing, but also praise… “It’s fun.” Reactions were mixed. Her words were polarizing.
“Hah-hahaha! Then may I ask Seon-a-nim a question? In your opinion, what kind of match is a ‘Hwangbel’ game?”
K-MONSTER asked with a laugh.
“Sigh… that’s a tough one. Just a game that flows decently… but has a lot to talk about. Maybe that’s what makes a Hwangbel match? Plus a decent amount of dopamine, and you can see the players’ strategies…”
“So does that mean something was lacking until now?”
“Um…”
Watching the stream, Chae Ji-hyeon shouted, No! Seon-a-nim, don’t say it. Don’t! Please! It was a futile cry, but this time it reached her.
“It means I have high expectations. It absolutely does not mean anything is lacking!!”
“Ah~ I see. Understood.”
Chae Ji-hyeon clenched her fist and raised it toward the ceiling. Well done, Manager. She even clapped and nodded.
The very next match began, and Chae Ji-hyeon sighed. Of all things, it was a defense-deck mirror match that would require long commentary. Seon-a was the first to speak.
“Hup. Huff-hup. Hup. Huff-hup. The question is how long it lasts! Right? I can explain this one for sure. Hup. Hup. Hup. One hundred percent attack power victory. Hup. Hup. Hup…”
Chae Ji-hyeon slapped her own face with an open palm and squeezed her eyes shut. Then she slowly let out a long sigh. No… Manager. Prayers hadn’t worked. Despair hadn’t worked. There was nothing left to do but watch. Who says things like that in official commentary, Manager!!
Only the crease between Chae Ji-hyeon’s brows deepened.
Whew… that was really tough. I poured everything I had into it. I had so much fun. I’m satisfied. Magu-nim even praised me and said I did well. So I guess I really did do a good job. Honestly, there were so many things I wanted to say, but I held back a lot. Good job, me. Really… if it had been the old me, I would’ve blurted out something stupid. Heheh. I really did great. I gave myself a huge compliment. I deserve praise for this, right? Of course I do!!
Today was really productive. Lying on the floor, I pulled out my phone. Well done is well done, but I still need to figure out what to do tomorrow.
“Hmm…”
Finding content is… seriously hard work. What am I supposed to do tomorrow?! Why… why must I face this trial? I wish someone would just decide my content for me. That would be nice. Really. I want to live a life where I do absolutely nothing… and content just keeps pouring out on its own!!
“Ugh… I’m dizzy.”
I opened YouTube. Today Moddeok-nim did a chat stream, Raming did team games, and Maru-nim posted a short compilation… Why won’t anyone give me content?! I kept refreshing… searching for new videos.
Huh? After ten minutes of refreshing, I finally found something fun. “Survive for 100 Days.” It looked really entertaining. There was Minecraft, which I’ve played before, Zomboid, dinosaur games I haven’t tried yet, and even farming games. When I looked deeper, tons of people had uploaded tons of videos. Damn… the algorithm’s curse. I got stuck in my own algorithm and couldn’t see anything else.
Survive for 100 Days. If the Zomboid version hadn’t shown up in my recommendations… I would’ve gone my whole life never knowing about these great games and content. Especially the farming game. It was exactly my style. Just pure grinding. It looked so fun.
I immediately called Pyeong-nim. Even though it was already 11 p.m.… Pyeong-nim was probably deep in editing right now.
“Hello.”
“Pyeong-nim. Have you played Stardew Valley? Is it fun?”
“Yeah~ It’s a masterpiece.”
“I’m thinking of playing it tomorrow… Is it okay to do it solo?”
“That one’s super fun even alone. You can start with vanilla and then download mods later. Ah! Just grab the NPC face skin mod.”
I was a little confused. Out of all the countless mods, why was the face skin mod the essential one? Why? How important could it be?
“Why that one?”
“Ah… you’ll understand when you see it. The base game is, well… like that.”
“Ah…!! But what kind of game is it exactly? Does it really just end after farming?”
“Hmm… I think you’ll be great at it, Seon-a-nim. There’s even a feature for wooing girls.”
I was moved…!! I’ll be good at it? Really? That’s so touching!! Pyeong-nim just said the happiest thing ever. Suddenly I felt confident. If it’s fun, I should ask Maru-nim about it too. I’ll need her permission for RP anyway. This way I can play the game and ask about RP at the same time—killing two birds with one stone!
“Really? You think I’ll be good at it?”
“Yeah~ I think you’ll be amazing.”
“Yesss! Yesss! Got it. I’m definitely doing it. By the way, how was the commentary? What did people think?”
“Uh… um… it was good… I thought it was good…”
That was a lie. Her voice suddenly dropped and she started dragging her words.
“I did badly?”
“No no, you didn’t do badly, it was just… a little spicy.”
“Spicy? Where did it go?”
I was shocked. I really held back so much… If even that was considered spicy… then I’m not Korean. Is Pyeong-nim actually a foreigner? That’s the only explanation.
“Way too much. I’ll organize it and send it to you later…”
“Organize it? Was it that bad?”
“Uh… I’ll sort through it once. I’ll gather as much as I can.”
“Ah~ What? It was that kind of thing?”
“Yeah?”
She’s trying to nitpick things that aren’t even there! Well, fine. If it’s for my growth… okay. I like it. Go ahead and nitpick all you want. I’ll absorb every single one of those nitpicks. Ehehe.
“Understood! Then I’ll do Stardew tomorrow. I just need to download that face mod, right?”
“Uh… before you download it, take a look at the faces first. If you don’t like them, you can skip it.”
“Hmm… got it.”
“Good luck tomorrow too!”
“Thank you. Hoo-hop!!”
“Phew-phew…”
“Hoo-hop!!”
I can never let her have the last word. This is a matter of pride. The final comment, the final line, the final chat… I have to claim it. If she does another “phew-phew,” I’ll devour it with my own “hoo-hop”!! In the end, I secured the last word.