Shall I Try Streaming Alone (1)

After the match against Tseung ended, Cherry and Nam Ha-neul played a few more games before wrapping up the stream. Seven wins, four losses. That was the final tally for their session today. Cherry was pretty satisfied, and she was in a great mood since the stream had done quite well even beyond the gaming. On the flip side, Nam Ha-neul was dissatisfied with her win rate not being higher.

Thanks to the new skill Focus, she could unleash absolute dominance for one minute per game... but the problem was she couldn't judge when to use that minute effectively. Her basic physical stats were high, so she was nearly invincible in lane battles, but she crumbled as the game dragged into the mid-to-late stages or when the jungler intervened.

Tch, I could've won more.

As she grumbled inwardly, Cherry approached after ending the stream.

"Unnie, you ever thought about streaming yourself?"

"Y-Yeah...? S-Streaming...?"

"Yeah, I bet you'd be good at it. It'd be a waste not to."

Nam Ha-neul scratched her cheek at Cherry's words.

"Ah, no, I don't think so...."

"Why not? You were pretty chatty. Or wait, your hit rate was solid anyway."

"Hit rate...?"

"Tch... comic relief, maybe? You were kinda funny. Give it a shot, unnie! Who knows, you might even make pocket money."

"Hmm...."

"Think it over. If you start, hit me up! Let's collab again sometime."

With that, Cherry seemed to log off the game. Nam Ha-neul stared blankly at the game client window for a while before suddenly jumping up from her chair and yelling.

"Sh-She promised to split the donations!"

Cherry had said she'd give half the stream's donations that day. But she'd completely forgotten and bounced.

"Hiiing...."

Of course, Nam Ha-neul didn't have the guts to bring it up.

About two weeks passed after that.

True to Cherry's words—or rather, despite them—Nam Ha-neul hadn't turned on a stream. It was scary! She had no confidence in speaking properly, and if she got flamed, she wasn't sure she could handle it. And...

What if no one even watches... That'd be so sad....

So she hadn't mustered the nerve to start. Instead, she'd focused solely on clearing the daily punishment quests and climbing LoL ranks.

The rewards change every day, huh....

The first two days had boosted her Charm-related stats, but after that, various stats popped up evenly as rewards. Her Stamina had shot up a ton, and as the fat melted away, her Charm kept rising naturally too.

"Heehee."

The more she looked at her status window, the higher her lips curled. The stats were still below average but had risen decently, and—560P in points. A massive haul. She could draw one talent, or even two traits.

"I-I can boost stats by 56 points. H-Heehee."

"Hing...."

Whatever. The point was, she had a ton of points now. The real issue was figuring out where to spend them now that she had so many.

Hmm... Feels like it's time to splurge a bit, but what if I regret it?

Honestly, she wanted to dump it all into game stats. Maxing Physical would get her to a whopping 87. Simple math: that matched low Emerald tier physicals for free! Even with meh brain stats, raw physical could carry win streaks in low tiers.

"Hmm~"

The more she pondered, the less clear it got. Maybe pump Judgment or Comprehension? Nah, she shook her head.

But I'm already smart. That's gotta be a status glitch.

She had supreme confidence in her brain.

"A-And, um... There's the new stat creation too...."

She still had that 100P fixed-price new stat creation from the bonus. Back then, she hadn't grasped it, but after making a game stat, she saw its value.

After some deliberation, she nodded.

"Decided...!"

All-in on Luck. That was her conclusion.

"A-A real man goes all-in...!"

Her carefully considered choice. Higher Luck meant better odds on future gacha pulls for talents or traits. And she knew, even as a dummy, how crucial luck was in life.

"Fufufu, th-this was a smart spend."

The status window offered no praise or punishment. She took that as tacit approval of her rational choice.

Gazing at her beefed-up stats, she felt full—figuratively, at least. Her stomach wasn't stuffed, but with her woman's body slimming down, hunger pangs were rare.

"Feels great~"

Heading back to game at her desk, she paused in front of the mirror on a whim. Still a bit chubby, but way slimmer than before. Her old guy clothes hung loose now, ready to slip off at the slightest move.

"Looking like this... am I kinda cute...?"

Her hair was a mess from running, showering, and air-drying, but she thought her face was cute. Long thin lashes, pale smooth skin, well-proportioned features.

"...G-Good, I guess."

She fondled her chest absentmindedly, tilting her head. At first, the woman's body had just been annoying and weird. Now? She felt adapted. Like even her mind was turning girly bit by bit.

She pinched and patted her cheeks, shaking her head. Her inner self was still a total dude—no succumbing to that "female corruption" internet crap.

Tonight's dinner: spicy pork stir-fry....

With firm resolve, she plopped into her desk chair.

Silver 3

The proud tier she'd hit after two weeks glowed on screen. Silver 3—the rank she'd touched exactly once before.

"Heh, hehehe."

After that lucky Silver climb long ago, she'd never escaped Bronze again. Just hitting Silver filled her with intense joy; she was that kind of person.

"Silver celebration: time for a skin~"

She wasn't a huge Osya fan originally, but after super plays with the status window, she'd grown attached. She clicked to buy the new Dragon Knight Osya skin.

"Hmm~ Hmhm~"

"Huh?"

What? She checked her buzzing phone screen before even reading it fully. An ominous chill ran up her spine.

"Eeeek?!"

She got allowance weekly from her parents. She shouldn't have burned through this week's yet—

"Wh-What?"

Checking her transaction history, no deposit this week. She'd spent blindly and wiped her account dry.

With trembling hands, she punched in her dad's number—but hesitated, just staring.

Dad. Nam Sung-hyun, her father, wasn't strict. He'd supported her NEET life with allowance and rent up to 25. He had a big heart for his kid. Tell him she was struggling, and he'd probably up the cash.

But no deposit probably means... he forgot... or...

Time to earn her own keep. No job expectations, but at least try part-time.

But... it's tough right now....

Since turning female, meeting people outside was hard. Presence Erasure helped for park runs or convenience store trips, but even then, chatting with clerks made her avert eyes and shake.

She stared at the phone forever before deleting the number in a panic.

He doesn't know I'm a girl now...!

With rising Charm, her voice grew clearer, more feminine—pretty girl territory now.

Text instead of call, she decided.

How long after sending? Despite work hours, a long reply flew in, pre-written like.

Nam Ha-neul gaped at the text. Quit the one-room and come home? She wasn't planning to hide being a girl forever, but spilling now terrified her. And—

......

She had her reasons for not going back. Couldn't tell Dad, but drama with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his new wife.

She sighed deeply, pondering solutions. Then spotted Cherry in LoL friends list: In-Game.

"...L-Let's do it."

Streaming. Try it. It'd work out somehow? Swallowing tears like mustard, she slid to the streaming site.

Her old guy-era profile: Namneul. Nick from dropping "Ha" from her name.

"Hmm...."

She stared at the nick, then hit edit.

HaneulGongdu.

Embarrassing to type as her stream name. But it matched her LoL ID from Cherry's stream. Good for first-timers, she thought.

(Her LoL ID HaneulGongdu came from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠girly nick + support for bus rides. Ditched after learning the ADC was a dude who ate shit-talk.)

"N-Nick set...."

Now what? She'd only watched streams, never done one. No clue.

After agonizing, one conclusion: just do it.

D-Don't know!

She set LoL to stream view and hit go live.

Her first stream began. Just like that.