Trying Streaming Alone (2)

Thirty minutes into her stream, Nam Ha-neul stared endlessly at the monitor, absently scratching her cheek.

No one had come in.

'Wh-what's the problem...'

There were plenty of problems. She hadn't set a thumbnail, she was just running LoL with no content, and she didn't even have something fun like a VTuber avatar. But she wasn't exactly an expert on streaming, so she just vaguely sensed something was off.

'Should I message her...'

CherryPicker. Seeing she was online in-game, Ha-neul hovered the mouse over her name for a moment. She'd promised to let her know when she started streaming. Plus, she still owed her money from before.

Before typing a message, Ha-neul scrolled over to check if Cherry was streaming.

Sure enough, she was streaming to a decent crowd. They were both just running LoL, so why the huge difference? Of course, Cherry was effortlessly pretty, always had her cam on—that made a world of difference.

'Hmm...'

Ha-neul watched her stream for a bit, glanced at her own unchanging zero viewers, then sent an in-game message to Cherry.

- Started streaming

- What do I do....

She worried it might interrupt her stream, but that hesitation didn't last. She was about to get kicked out of her one-room apartment—she had to grasp at any straw.

Perfect timing—Cherry's game, a total blowout loss, had just ended. Ha-neul hoped they'd stream together again.

But Cherry had been streaming for over four hours, racking up losses the whole time. Her mental state wasn't great.

Instead of chatting directly with SkyDuo, she just hosted her viewers over. She was sleepy and exhausted. For a first stream, she figured a host would be a huge help.

Not super fast, but the chat was finally picking up. Ha-neul's head spun.

"Ah, th-that. Um, g-game."

She tried saying something—anything—and bit her tongue hard. It stung so bad she had to stick it out and cool it down for a while.

Viewers were dropping fast. Sure, they were Cherry's fans leaving now that her stream ended, but Ha-neul didn't know that. She just thought it was because she couldn't speak right.

"Uh, uh, th-that's—."

88, 83, 79. She stared helplessly at the vanishing numbers, then—

"Hic, sn-sniff, hu-hueng, d-don't go."

Tears finally spilled. Cam was off, but her sniffles carried through the mic.

The sudden tearfest froze viewers who were about to leave. No one expected someone to just burst into tears right after a host drop.

"Huuuuh, h-hic, d-don't, d-don't go."

Ha-neul felt utterly wronged inside. She'd never planned to stream. Her dad forced her into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it. But people were leaving, making her anxious. Her emotions, more volatile lately, boiled over into full sobs.

"Hwaaaaaah—"

And that clip started spreading across the internet from the viewers.

Luck. What does a high Luck stat do? Probability is just a measure of outcomes. What tips the scales toward "luck" is humanity's wish for the slim chance.

So, what's the biggest stroke of luck for someone starting their first stream?

Ha-neul's obsessive sobbing clip spread across galleries, piquing curiosity. What kind of situation—or person—leads to bawling on debut to keep viewers? Plus, she'd gained some name recognition from Cherry's collab with Tseung. Hong Su-bin himself had paused coaching mid-stream on Tseung's channel. That clip was already edited on his YouTube. Cherry's channel had her debut too, of course.

"Uh... huh...?"

She'd been ugly-crying, but checking viewers froze her solid—they'd increased.

"Ah, n-no why... did people increase?"

It baffled her. She'd just begged through tears not to leave. But she was the type to embrace joy over overthinking.

"Heh... th-thanks, sniff."

She just smiled for the moment.

"S-so now what... should we do...."

More viewers didn't magically give her ideas. She'd started easy—just LoL on. After crying, even gaming mood was gone; she just clicked around the client.

One chat caught her eye. People leaving terrified her, and the idea sounded good.

"Th-then... self-intro... shall we?!"

Her voice cracked on the last syllable from nerves.

"Ah, no.... Self-intro... coming up...."

"Uh, y-yes...."

Following chat, Ha-neul opened Notepad, switched her stream overlay. Pondering where to start, she typed slowly.

"M-my name is Nam Ha-neul, and I'm a m-man."

"Ah, uh.... N-not a man.... I am a man."

"Uh... um.... Girl, but a t-tomboy."

Panicking over her slip, she backpedaled. Deep down, she still saw herself as the manliest of men. Reality differed wildly.

"And... 25 years old, live in—"

"Huh? C-can't say that...?"

Viewers freaked. Some watched for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the chaos, but most scrambled to stop her doxxing her address.

"Th-then... nothing to intro...."

"...... sniff."

Eyes tearing up again from chat, she switched back to LoL. Nothing left to say, and she feared more would leave.

"J-just game then."

Back to what she knew best. Who was she, after all?

'G-genius gamer. Heh.'

Her genius streak lately. Superstar at Silver 3.

...In her mind.

"Heh, hehehe. Yup. I'm good, for real."

Feeling better, she shrugged proudly. Chat noticed her rank—probably from Cherry collab.

"Huh?"

About to queue, a friend request popped. Thinking it was a viewer, she checked casually.

"Huh? Who's this. V-viewer...?"

"Eungh...?"

Even she sensed something huge. Quick phone search on HEMEND shocked her.

The world's top midlaner. Miracle maker carrying teams with historic talent. Neon Helra. Real name Hong Su-yeon—her LoL ID was HEMEND.

"Eeeeeeungh?!"

Impersonators were common, but the #kr1 hashtag confirmed it was the real deal.

"N-no, don't kn-know her but... uh, watching...?"

Just the news of HEMEND's request drew crowds. Her status in the LoL scene was massive.

Ha-neul clicked the mouse with trembling hands.

And she fat-fingered it massively.

"Eh...?"