It Wasn't Intentional - 2
“...Uwaaaang!!”
“Ah, seriously. I told her to keep it down since I’m streaming too,” Seo Jae-hyun muttered, clutching his forehead as he sneaked a glance at the chat window.
It was common courtesy not to mention other streamers. The only exception was his little sister, Mad Cat. Whenever something happened in her room, the chat here would explode with reactions.
“What’s wrong? Did your sister lose again?”
“Wait… didn’t she grind until dawn yesterday to reach her promotion matches? And she still lost?”
That was exactly why he kept telling her to play something other than mid. He wasn’t some clueless casual; he used to be a pro gamer. Yet she never listened and stubbornly picked mid every time. He couldn’t understand it.
The moment the viewers mentioned it, Seo Jae-hyun’s eyes sharpened. As both a streamer and a former pro, every single word grated on him. Sniping. Smurf accounts. Rank stomping. None of it was healthy for the game in the long run.
No matter how much affection someone had for a streamer, sniping ruined the broadcast. The sniper might enjoy it, but the streamer and the rest of the audience only got angry. Some streamers even blocked the matchmaking screen entirely because of it. His sister Mad Cat had only recently started using games as content, so it wasn’t as bad for her yet. But the second Seo Jae-hyun had gone live, snipers had swarmed him.
Sniping didn’t care about rank. They were everywhere. They’d flip the stream upside down, cackle, and then lurk to watch the chaos.
And now they’re even smurfing with alternate accounts?
That was even more unpleasant than regular sniping. Having been a pro himself, it bothered him even more. If they kept driving away new players like this, the game would rot no matter how big the population got. Eventually only the same people would play and queue into each other. The game would slowly but surely wither and die.
Just thinking about the idiots who laughed while stomping on beginners made his blood boil.
“Everyone, did it really look like intentional sniping to you? Was it actual smurf-level stomping with an alt account?”
What now? The usual rule was to ignore each other’s broadcasts. But with sniping, alternate accounts, and rank stomping involved, he couldn’t just let it go.
Seo Jae-hyun crossed his arms, thought for a moment, then picked up his phone.
“...Yeah, it’s me. Send me the replay footage. I want to take a look. That mid who kept you stuck in Bronze. The viewers are saying it doesn’t look like a local account.”
While the chat teased him, Seo Jae-hyun quietly searched the ID he had been given. Tap. Tap.
...What the hell?
The match history that appeared was nothing like what he had imagined. Red victory, blue defeat, red victory again. The KDA was far too clean to belong to a simple smurf account. The number of games played and overall record didn’t look like a throwaway alt either. There were too many things that didn’t add up.
This was the judgment of former pro gamer Clover, not the streamer Seo Jae-hyun.
The viewers had apparently found the ID too and echoed the same sentiment after checking.
Buying an account just to smurf sounded ridiculous, but the gaming community was full of every kind of idiot imaginable. Seo Jae-hyun had met plenty of unexplainable trash players even if he never talked about it. People who only felt satisfied when they dragged everyone down with them. People who intentionally threw away a winning game at the comeback moment. People who bought low-rank accounts to play on when they were bored. The list of bizarre degenerates was endless.
“Hmm.”
Seo Jae-hyun checked the viewer count. It was hovering between seven and eight hundred. Broadcasting the entire replay here didn’t seem appropriate.
“Everyone, I’ll watch the replay by myself later. It’s technically a family matter.”
Ignoring the chat’s protests, Seo Jae-hyun decided to focus on his own stream. It was a little unfortunate that his sister had failed her promotion matches again, but…
Match Found!
Today’s broadcast was also Seo Jae-hyun’s first promotion match for Grand Master.
He had his pride as a former pro. Anything below Grand Master was unacceptable. He had dropped to Diamond last time and heard “Diamond trash” for an entire month. Grand Master was the safe zone. Staying in Master meant you could fall at any moment.
As soon as matchmaking finished, Seo Jae-hyun closed every window to focus. That included the match history tab he had been looking at.
“Hey. Did you watch Mad Cat’s stream yesterday?”
“The silver promotion bloodbath? I caught the VOD. It was insane.”
“That sniper really smashed her skull in.”
“Was it actually a sniper? Not just a smurf?”
“One hundred percent a sniper. The way they played was on another level.”
The academy students sitting nearby were excitedly chatting away. It was probably about some internet broadcast, but I don’t really watch that stuff so I wouldn’t know. I’d never heard of Mad Cat before, but I could guess it was a game.
Come to think of it, yesterday’s ranked game…
It was the first time. The first time a game had felt that smooth. Skillshots that were normally hard to land had flown in perfectly yesterday. My reaction speed had been faster, and I’d felt certain about every decision I made.
That wasn’t all. The vision control techniques I had only casually watched on game YouTube channels had suddenly unfolded in front of my eyes. Where and how to take vision, how far to push based on that, roughly predicting the enemy’s movement and wasting their time. Or hitting them first to force them out of lane and make them recall.
There’s no way that was my actual skill level.
I had been in such a trance that the enemy nexus exploded before I knew it. The post-game screen showed my stats after I had completely carried, no, exploded the game.
The first thought that came to mind was, of course, the Gatekeeper trait. But why would it activate when it wasn’t at the academy or during an examination?
[Next stop, Academy Station. Academy Station.]
Another new and exhausting day was beginning. Even though this routine had repeated so many times, going to work was still difficult. From the moment I opened my eyes in the morning until one minute before leaving the office, it was pure hell.
I even had a nightmare yesterday. The moment I arrived at work, Jeong Yuhyeon charged at me. The problem was that he was a complainant and I was a powerless low-ranking civil servant. Even when he screamed and hurled curses, I could only smile.
“Did your parents go to America?”
Then the bastard dropped a mother insult. I got so angry that I punched him, and suddenly he turned into my superior. He started lecturing me about how a public servant shouldn’t use violence against citizens, how people like me make other civil servants look bad. I kept getting chewed out until I finally woke up. And the alarm was still twenty minutes away.
It was the worst nightmare. Even now I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
He’s not going to charge at me the moment I arrive at the academy, right?
It wasn’t impossible. That was why I felt anxious. Before entering the academy entrance, I scanned my surroundings. If someone with that much hostility was nearby, I should be able to feel it.
He’s not here.
Well, an elitist like him probably wouldn’t make a move here. Attacking now would be the same as openly advertising that he had been demoted to Bronze. If he tried again, he would choose a quiet place.
“Examiner Baek Seojin.”
Instead, Kim Suhyun greeted me like always.
“You’re early again today?”
“I just arrived.”
Kim Suhyun quietly stood beside me as if to walk together. Just like Kang Minsung had said, she was slowly starting to lean on me, whether she realized it or not. It seemed like a good thing, but honestly it felt burdensome.
Her background, appearance, and original talent were all exceptional. The only reason she couldn’t show it properly was because of her inferiority complex. The villains had forcibly awakened that potential and turned her into a villain. On the other hand, I was trying to help her awaken it naturally…
Third Eye activated.
Nothing had changed. It was exactly the same as yesterday. That only made me more worried. What on earth was that seed? And what was the anger supposed to mean? My heart was pounding with anxiety.
“Um, Examiner…”
“Suhyun.”
Kim Suhyun and I spoke at almost the same time. When I told her to speak first, she shook her head and insisted I go first, so I told her what I wanted to say.
“So, how about taking the Silver rank examination once?”
“Me…?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re telling me to take the examination… from you, Examiner?”
I nodded at Kim Suhyun’s question. She trailed off, looking extremely troubled.
“Ah… I still… don’t think I’m qualified yet…”
“There’s no qualification needed for an examination. You just try it.”
“Still…”
“You have to at least give it a shot to find out what the problem is and what you’re lacking.”
An examination could only be taken after applying first. It wasn’t like I could just point and say “You! Examination target!” Lee Hyunwoo would keep charging forward with his insane effort trait. But Kim Suhyun was different. If I left her like this, she would probably stay the same for months.
“Could you… give me just a little more time? I feel like I’ll only show you my lacking side…”
Her anxious, nervous eyes and voice made even me feel sorry for her.
“Alright. Then how about next week? Let’s try it next week.”
“Yes… I understand…”
The way Kim Suhyun reacted made me feel like I was doing something bad.