Broadcast Accident
"From the semifinals all the way to the finals, you put on a performance no one could ever believe came from a Bronze-tier free agent. Honestly, if I had to pick the player whose skill improved the most in this entire tournament, it would be Ririyang. A Bronze everyone ignored and laughed at—a teammate no one even wanted to pick up—turned in plays far beyond her tier and took the championship. Is there some secret behind that steep rise in skill?"
"Hnnngh… hnn… It's all thanks to Kayack. All thanks to Teacher. I used to get so discouraged every practice… snf. Teacher came to me first and patiently taught me everything. She even built a character and build that fit me perfectly… I didn't do anything myself."
"Aha, so without anyone really noticing, quite a few mentor-disciple relationships formed inside the team. That chat saying 'teacher of all' is pretty striking. They're talking about Kayack, of course. Since Ririyang's skill rose so much through this tournament, I expect her solo queue will climb a lot as well. Moving on—"
And so the somewhat impromptu online drinking stream of Team Kayack began.
People who had nowhere to go after the tournament and were still stoking the fire in the communities, along with those still savoring the afterglow, heard the news and poured in.
—Ririyang_
'Kayack Team Afterparty (Online Drinking Stream)'
"Hehe, hello everyone… I was going to stream tomorrow, but everyone said they were turning on now so I came. Congrats on the win… thank you! Thank you for the donations. Gifted subs…? Fifty of them? H-huh. That's way too many…! Y-you must be rich! Chat. Why is chat so fast—did the others not start streaming yet?"
Ririyang, whose dazed charm was often praised, was one of the biggest beneficiaries of this tournament.
Viewer attention inevitably concentrated on the winning team. As a member of that team—the lowest tier, yet someone who contributed meaningfully to the victory—and a female streamer on top of that, there was no reason for people not to flood her channel.
Of course, part of the rush was simply that the rest of the team hadn't gone live yet. Only after her teammates started streaming one by one did Ririyang finally manage to collect herself amid the throng.
"Well hello, everyone. Winner of the 2nd Abyss Streamer Tournament. Lime-tak here."
"They said let's all drink together so I turned it on. Already met up? No, of course it's online. How would we meet right away."
"Gimme a sec, I'll go grab the drinks and snacks."
The Discord room exploded into lively chatter in an instant. Just like earlier, they gathered and set up one by one.
The first to bring alcohol and snacks right up to the camera was Ririyang.
She answered her teammates one after another until she suddenly noticed something odd.
"…? Teacher still isn't here?"
"Yeah? She said she was coming earlier."
Her stream still hadn't started. In chat, messages from people who had come from Kayack's room kept asking for her.
Ririyang briefly left the group Discord and called Kayack separately.
Ring— ring—
After several rings, it wouldn't have been strange if no one answered, yet contrary to expectation, Kayack's voice came through from the other end.
"Teacher? I-it's Ririyang."
"…Yeees. Ririyang… What's the matter…?"
"E-everyone's here but you're the only one who hasn't shown up. Are you still able to come…? If you're not feeling well you can just rest."
Conflicting feelings collided inside Ririyang.
The desire to share even an online drink with her beloved Kayack, and on the other hand the worry that maybe she should just let a clearly unwell Kayack go rest.
The longer Kayack stayed silent, the more that second feeling won out.
Streamers getting drunk and causing broadcast accidents was more common in this industry than people thought. There was always the chance she might say something weird while not sober, or that her face might get exposed.
Anxiety began to amplify inside Ririyang's head.
In the end she was just about to urge Kayack to rest.
"Ah, drinks. We were going to drink together… Stream too, yeah. Just wait a little…"
"Ah, no. Teacher. Today you should just re—"
Before Ririyang could finish, the call ended.
And not long after, Kayack's stream went live.
The same setup as during the tournament—meaning the hand cam was already on when the stream started.
Ririyang watched with her own heart full of unease, ready to scream if necessary to make Kayack turn the stream off.
"Aaa, can you hear meee…? Everyone's already gathered. Heh. Looks like I'm the last one!"
"Oh my, Teacher's here. Come, take the seat of honor. Yes."
"Drinking alone like that? We have to drink together for it to taste good."
Ririyang said nothing and simply watched Kayack's stream for a while, still too uneasy to look away.
That was when a donation flew into Kayack's stream.
CamillaIsStrong donated 100,000 won!
"Teacher, congratulations on the win. If it's not too much trouble, could you show the drink you're having on cam as well?"
"The drink? The drink… it's nothing special. Just something I bought at the convenience store. Cruiser, it's called…"
Rustling sounds filled the air as Kayack's stream screen began to thrash. The camera was being adjusted— the image shook wildly, plunged into darkness, then flared pure white under the light.
And at the end of it, the image Kayack's cam revealed was something entirely different from before—something rather unfamiliar.
"Pretty, right? The blue looks just like seawater… Not that it actually tastes like seawater. This is sparkling wine, sort of—"
Ririyang, watching Kayack's stream, couldn't focus on the drawn-out voice. She had noticed the anomaly faster than anyone.
"Teacher! Teacher!"
"Yeees…?"
Ririyang screamed in panic.
"The cam, turn the cam around. Hurry! No—just turn the stream off. Turn it off!"
On Kayack's stream, in the very frame that was supposed to show the blue sparkling wine she had been talking about—
two unmistakable mounds of flesh that anyone could recognize as breasts were fully, plainly on display.