Fraud's "I'll Wait"

"...or so they say?"

"Seohui, sorry, but you don't have to read every single internet article to me."

"Then don't make the reactions so fun."

"Agh!"

Proud, you damn bastard.

Thanks to the nuclear bomb Proud dropped, my stream yesterday exploded completely. Viewers nearly hit five figures at peak—need I say more? And the guy just vanished after that, leaving me to deal with the fallout alone.

Well, I ended up closing the stream quick and bailing out of fear myself.

"But honestly, weren't you happy about Proud's donation yesterday? Admit it."

"Huh? You think I'm some dog wagging my tail just for Proud?"

"I didn't say it that bad."

"Anyway, it wasn't bad, sure. But it was still a total nuisance."

Yeah, a nuisance. Nothing but a nuisance—that's all it was.

Seohui was looping the clip of me freezing up then smiling awkwardly on the screen next to us, but that had nothing to do with me. Total slander.

"You know you dominated real-time search yesterday, sis? Communities are on fire. Wanna see some fun posts?"

"No thanks. Those community idiots always hype shit like this. It'll die down soon."

"'Proud x Dice? Upvote. Jesus x Dice? Downvote lmao'."

"What the fuck. Gimme your phone."

I practically snatched Seohui's phone and checked the post. It was already buried under a mountain of upvotes and downvotes, cemented as a hall-of-fame post, and the comments were insane.

These crazy fucking assholes.

Of course, there were some normal comments too.

Thanks, enlightened intellectuals of our era. At least some common sense remains in this gallery.

What the hell is this whore?

Anyway, I was fuming and started checking other hall-of-fame posts. [Dice Bitchface Mad Movie], [Dice Smiling at Proud's Donation], [Dice Stream Clips Collection to Eternity]...

"Hey, give me back my phone. Just use yours, sis."

Seohui snatched it back before I could finish. Fair enough—it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was her phone—so I switched to mine to keep digging.

The gallery was in full festival mode. MSC had just wrapped days ago, next match was the promotion/relegation games this weekend. Perfect timing for my bait to drop right in the lull—they were chewing, tearing, tasting, and savoring it all.

Were these fucks all unemployed? Hall-of-fame posts covered everything from my old Pudge Dice streams to yesterday's chaos.

My head throbbed. I'd half-expected this, but not this level. All Proud's fault. Without that final donation, it wouldn't have blown up like this.

A sigh escaped me, inevitably.

By the way, supportive comments overwhelmingly outnumbered the haters, but my stream notice post was starting to get malicious ones.

Not the cute "Hurry up and grow your stream, newbie" kind from before—these were serious hate. "Stop sucking up to Proud/Jesus," "What woman pro?", even sex jabs mixed in.

Hate comments were routine for me anyway. Hit three straight runner-ups at Eld Cup finals and you get every type. Considered blocking but there were too many; decided to ignore.

Honestly, after getting called a 5-billion-headbutt dinosaur, this shit couldn't shake me. That one was still trauma. Existential horror, for real.

"Sis has steel mentality. But why freak over that hall-of-famer? Same vibe as the haters, no?"

"If it'd been malicious like these, I'd ignore 'em. But it's not."

"Feels like you're being teased?"

"It's annoying."

"Knew you were embarrassed."

"Hmph."

"Don't play cute."

"Fuck off."

We were sprawled on the couch in the practice room corner. No scrims yesterday 'cause of my stream, and today's got canceled due to opponent issues.

Feels like savoring a brief vacation? I wasn't gaming non-stop either.

Yuseung and Seonho were out somewhere together; Hanseo hyung and Arang were heated in a 1v1.

"Ah, fuck! Your laning is dogshit, for real!"

Surprisingly, not Hanseo hyung—Arang.

How to put it... maybe 'cause her seat's right next to his, Arang was picking up Hanseo hyung's habits directly.

I figured she'd tone down his cursing, but couldn't erase it completely. She's high school age, knows it all anyway—not weird, but still sigh-worthy.

Arang's mom, I tried to stop her.

But hard to intervene when it wasn't full-on profanity and the target was Hanseo hyung—who didn't rage at that level. If anything, he enjoyed it.

"Your laning is sooooo dogshit~~~"

"Don't copy me! Fuck!"

"Lmao."

"No cursing!!!"

"That's what you chat in solo queue."

"Only I get to!"

They bickered like this often. Official reason: teaching Arang top matchups. Half the time, it was Hanseo hyung venting stress.

Pure mechanics? Even hyung struggled against her. But pro experience shone—won with weird picks, strategies, tactics.

Raw winrate favored Arang slightly, but hyung's 1v1s were her nightmare: pure exhausting laning.

Thought about breaking up their fights early on, but better let them bond naturally. Hyung never cursed at her, Arang wasn't a nonstop swearer—hardly a real fight.

Both preferred needling over direct insults. Difference: Arang was a glass cannon who flared quick; hyung, an ironclad troll master.

"Arang, you're the student—don't do that."

Still, tossed in a light word. For the promise to her mom to watch her closely.

"No way! Whose side are you on, Pudge?! You like this old dude more than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me?"

"Old dude?"

Oh, that scratched hyung too. Even the great Hanseo hates "old dude."

"I'm only 22."

"Five years older than me, old dudeee."

Ooh, first time seeing hyung take it lying down. Usually Arang fumes solo and whines to me later. She pounced on the weak spot, spamming "old dude."

But adults are adults. Hyung debated snapping, then just sighed deeply.

Definitely not a bad personality.

"Midget."

"Hey! What'd you just call me?!!"

...Or not?

"Don't you ever get tired of them going at it?"

"It's entertaining."

Arang eventually tired of ignored taunts and flopped onto the couch beside me, griping.

"So fucking annoying. Hate him."

"But you're learning from scrimming him, right?"

"He always pulls weird picks—what's to learn?"

"He uses meta ones plenty."

"Dogshit and boring."

That meta, huh?

Maybe not wrong—her winrate hovered just over 50%—but half bravado too. Team-game wise, hyung's laning was meaningfully better sometimes. Same even with Daybill picks.

After whining, Arang pulled her phone and zoned into focus mode. Seohui and I checked communities often, but Arang? Her life's the communities.

Of course, on pro contract, she got stern warnings: no rage-spamming, no solo queue flaming, no gallery trolling.

She's smart enough—promised to behave. No more incidents ahead. But what's she grinding so hard?

"Whatcha doing so intently?"

"Rigging hall-of-famers."

Excuse me?

"What're you talking about, Arang?!"

"Said no trolling or spamming—not rigging."

"They don't spell that out 'cause normal people get it!! What the hell are you doing? Stop before you get yelled at!"

I yanked her phone away. She lunged back, but I'd already seen the screen: a post not yet hall-of-fame.

The traitorous melody welcoming me back.

Darkest under the lamp, huh? The culprit behind all those hall-of-famers was right here—right next to me.

"...Arang?"

"Wait! Misunderstanding!"

"I'll hear you out once."

"It would've hit hall-of-fame without me!"

Okay, case closed.

I lunged to grab her; Arang bolted out the practice room door.

"Hey, you! Stop right there?!!"

"I only posted five!!!!"

It was summer.