Back on Stream with My Maniac Viewer

After reuniting with Yuseung, I started watching the Eld Champs again. Well, not the 1st division league, but the 2nd division where Yuseung was currently competing.

E Revolution Gaming's situation in the 2nd division was pathetic. I finally understood why he'd said what he did. This team was doomed. That was my takeaway after watching their games so far.

The top, bottom, and support lines were all playing lifelessly, without a single redeeming quality. And it wasn't just lifeless—if only. They all radiated this vibe like they didn't want to take any responsibility.

Jesus—Yuseung, that is—was trying his best to hold the game together somehow, but no matter how I looked at it, it was impossible. The mid laner was at least trying to make something happen alongside him, but even two people couldn't pull it off easily, and their synergy wasn't great either.

Their current league standing was 9th place. At least they'd beaten the 10th-place team in both the 1st and 2nd rounds to rack up wins, putting them ahead of the 10th-place team which also had 2 wins.

Cheering for a team like this? I'd have no comeback if someone called me a crazy weak-team stan.

Either way, a tough road lay ahead for Yuseung. Being the ace of a weak team might land him a decent transfer later, but even accounting for that, this team's record was just too dismal.

Watching the downfall of what used to be my home team—my former team—didn't feel great. But that was about the extent of it.

Still, maybe I'd root for them a bit. They couldn't end the season at 9th or 10th. Dropping to the 3rd division was basically team disbandment. Not that my cheering would make them win or anything.

Sending a silent prayer KakaoTalk to Yuseung, who had to endure another week of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠game-torture matches, I gathered my thoughts.

After meeting that malignant viewer of mine, Aranggaiger, in my room, I'd taken a three-day break from streaming. No real issue—just that seeing the kid pissed me off for some reason.

If I were a pro streamer, this would've been unthinkable, but my current stream was basically a one-on-one chatroom between her and me, so it was possible.

Of course, I'd still played games during those three days. I wasn't aiming to climb tiers, since that wasn't the point anymore anyway.

No stream meant no sniping, and no running into Aranggaiger, so the days passed uneventfully.

The moment I went live, her chat spam hit within a minute.

...This was seriously weird. What kind of amazing stream did I run that she'd act like this? I got how she'd latched on after scratching at me initially and sticking around for the fun, but if I quit streaming, couldn't she just go troll some other stream?

Alright, let's see what it was. Why a Grandmaster top laner like her was glued to my stream of all things.

She said I explained things well? I got the gist. I treated streaming like streaming, even if my only viewer was her—I communicated with my audience.

After games, she'd ask all sorts of questions. Half were bullshit like "helper? hacker?" but the rest were sharp, hitting the core of the game.

I answered as best I could with what I knew. As a pro gamer, main order, mid laner, and Proud's rival, I knew pretty much everything about macro in this game.

Solo queue macro differed a bit from pro scene, but I'd solo queued a ton too, so no gaps there. Before quitting, I was Grandmaster; before that, always top of the ladder.

...What the fuck was this thick-headed moron saying?

Ah, fuck.

Me? Getting accused of hacking by this retard...?

A sigh escaped me on its own. The shock that I had a lower tier than this idiot was hitting hard. Seriously shocking.

For reference, I checked the replay—that 3-man gank, she'd nearly clutched all three. If the enemies hadn't ping-ponged aggro and at least one died, it'd have been a triple kill.

Ah.

It was a more reasonable reason than expected. She didn't know I was a girl, so requesting voice was probably just for easier communication.

I still had no plans to use voice.

I was mulling becoming a full streamer, but nothing set in stone—just killing time vaguely. Voice in that situation?

No real issue with it, but I still resisted the idea of my image fully locking in as female when people saw me. Even with one viewer, the thought of eyes on me shifting felt off.

Months had passed already—had I still not adapted to this world?

To a world where I wasn't a pro gamer, where I wasn't a man.

Goro? What the hell.

Anyway, after fielding some questions, queue popped, and champ select opened.

But,

...Our team's top was Aranggaiger.

A sigh slipped out inevitably.

The game with Aranggaiger ended in a pretty easy win.

She picked Swordsman this time—a champ similar to Dual Swordsman but without the safety nets, pure no-flashback 1v1 berserker dino. It had a counter-skill that blocked CC, but otherwise, its entire strategy was kill them before they kill you—an extreme physical champ.

Only one game with her so far, but her pick tendencies were clear already.

Better this way. Even if this hothead picked tank or macro, it'd be meaningless. She'd just lose harder. Better to let her do what she's good at and babysit.

Our team's ADC picked Fire Sorceress, so I grabbed Ice Sorceress to pair. Ice-Fire combo synergized hard when together—usually bottom duo—but our supp locked Shrine Maiden first, so no issue for me.

Ice Sorceress was a CC machine; not huge damage for a laner but specialist at peeling for ally damage. Paired with Fire Sorceress, damage was no joke.

Our jungler picked Lighthouse Keeper—vision/macro over fights—so comp was a bit off, but considering top's zero vision game, not bad.

In practice, babysitting Aranggaiger yielded early results. The unexpected part?

She just wouldn't pull back despite the ward. Jungler seemed tilted already, but couldn't abandon Swordsman babysit. Lighthouse Keeper wasn't fight-suited anyway—solo useless.

Eventually, while jungler was warding top, enemy 3-man gank lit up on Lighthouse's lantern. Ping spam and chat to pull back—of course, Aranggaiger stood firm.

I could feel the jungler's rage from just watching. Couldn't hold back, so I chimed in.

And bafflingly, Aranggaiger obeyed me instantly.

A bit late, but Swordsman barely retreated, surviving the beatdown.

Jungler's rage exploded, but luckily no throw. Fat Swordsman led us to Frost Lord teamfight win; carry lines top and bot both beefy.

Unlosable game—we smashed nexus.

Easy win aside from top-jungle drama, but headache incoming. And naturally, friend request.

Username: Aranggaiger, of course.

Sighing, I accepted.

Sheesh.

Yeah. On second thought, this might be better. If I kept streaming, I'd have to cut her off anyway.

I wasn't a streaming expert, but knew if the streamer chatted only with one viewer, others would bail calling it a friend circle.

Fun short-term, disaster long-term. Better friend her and talk in-game. Easier.

...Well, some bonds start like this, I guess.

Next game, Aranggaiger sniped me again—0/10/2 disaster, gifting our team a loss.

Our team asked about her parents' health; she scratched back yelling jungle diff.

Sheesh.