Stocks and LoL

Sora's stream.

She was already famous among ordinary people. It was only a matter of time before League players found out about her.

Lately the whole country was buzzing about her. No—she had already left her mark long before this. Dream Girls. The Eom Bok-dong incident. The fact that a girl like Sora was playing League was more than enough to make headlines.

That kind of talk gaining traction didn't mean she was popular. The League scene valued skill above everything else. That was exactly why almost no big companies backed female League streamers. League players could feel it.

Little by little, things ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were changing. Her attitude toward the game, the speed at which her tier climbed—both were exceeding expectations.

It was more than enough to change the hearts of League players. She became an issue across the entire LoL community. The reason wasn't just her looks. People were starting to take interest in her streaming style.

Investing. A completely unfamiliar field. In Korea there was even an atmosphere that treated it like a sin. But that didn't mean people weren't interested. They simply had no way to learn even if they wanted to.

A game they already played every day. A game nobody didn't know. Suddenly it had extremely high accessibility. The community was buzzing. Countless League players heard the rumors and flocked in.

"Yes, if you watch the stream you'll grasp the rough concepts pretty quickly."

Sora herself was a little bewildered. After getting thoroughly wrecked by her senior, her competitive fire had simply ignited.

Well, it worked out.

In the end it was a good result. The viewer count that had ballooned during the Eom Bok-dong incident was holding steady.

And that wasn't all. If she had simply been playing games, it wouldn't have meant much.

"That's what I'm saying! The game keeps exploding before I can even do anything."

Mentions happened naturally. League terms were being swapped out for investing terms.

It's a little different from what I imagined.

A stream viewers would enjoy. She had succeeded in reaching that goal. And once she tried it, it was actually pretty fun. She felt like she had done nothing but play League for the past two weeks straight.

She didn't agree 100% with everything her senior said. It was the kind of delusion only a game addict would have.

Still.

She had to admit there was a fair amount of connection. The structure of the game was as complex and profound as the stock market.

"I've tried, but for now I'm focusing on what gets me good win rates."

That was why it hit home even harder. As long as you grasped the core, it wasn't a game you needed to overthink.

You just have to do your own role well.

Stocks were the same. Rather than spreading yourself thin across a bunch of random plays, you had to dig deep into the stocks you actually knew. That was how you raised your win rate. That was how you learned more. The exact same principle applied to League.

A bear market of terrible team luck was unavoidable. But in a bull market you could steadily stack up wins.

"Mid and jungle are carrying so hard bot can just ride the bus."

The viewers loved that too—watching her dive into the game with real seriousness.

It's nice that just working hard is enough for people to notice.

Being serious. It was both Sora's strength and her weakness. In League it worked in her favor. Streaming felt rewarding. She had already been taking pride in spreading the fun of investing, and now—

The laning phase was underway when the atmosphere suddenly turned ominous. The enemy ADC activated their ultimate and dashed forward with a roll.

They saw this as a buy timing?

Sora hadn't been playing League for just a day or two. She knew how to punish someone who crossed the line.

Thud!

Flash into stun. She slammed Leona's Q. All that was left was to plant the sword and cook them.

Huh?

Everything she knew flipped upside down. In 0.1 seconds they used Cleanse and vanished outside her vision.

Whoosh! Clang! Clang! Bang!

No—they had moved forward. Flash into Condemn. Kalista was slammed into the tri-brush wall.

Before she could even help, the combo continued. Lulu's ultimate landed on Vayne.

Condemn into airborne. Kalista died pinned to the wall, and Sora had no choice but to die with her.

"Should I have? I didn't know it would turn out like this."

Sora felt wronged. She had completely dominated the early laning phase. The enemy support had done nothing.

Lulu just stood there staring blankly the whole time.

She only clicked her skills every now and then. Just now, aside from using her ultimate, she hadn't done a single thing. How were they winning? Realizing it wasn't hard. The same thing happened in the stock market.

"What?"

The League scene was a tilted playing field too.

Queen-ji.

A female streamer whose main content was League of Legends.

"If you add just one more zero I might feel better."

A pretty girl playing League? That alone was enough to gather popularity.

Team luck my ass. Just throw donations, you LoL dudes.

That was why Queen-ji played League. There was no easier way to make money.

"Thanks, Hotteok oppa! You're the only one for me~."

Suckers lined up. If she won they donated because she was good; if she lost they donated to cheer her up.

Just whine a little and milk the donations.

It was similar to the fishing she used to do in college. Queen-ji was a veteran at this. She knew exactly how to make men crawl, how to make them offer up their livers and gallbladders.

That was the secret to growing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her stream so fast. Until now it had worked perfectly.

Why are the viewers and donations so dead lately?

A moment like just now should have triggered a donation chain. The suckers would voluntarily throw money just to look good in front of her. If she acted a little sulky they fell for it instantly.

"What the fuck is that— wait, what does bear market even mean."

Only weird random donations were popping up. Queen-ji clicked her tongue and tried to ignore it, but—

Reactions she couldn't ignore kept appearing. The chat was talking about another female streamer.

Sora?

She knew who that was. She'd seen her on TV often enough. But she hadn't known the girl had started playing League. It shouldn't have been a big deal. In the League scene, female streamers who had both looks and a high tier like herself were rare.

What? Platinum? In two weeks?

The same tier as her. The Platinum she had taken three years to reach, this girl had apparently hit just recently.

"Ah…… is that so?"

A sense of crisis. She felt like she finally understood why her viewer count and donations had been dying lately.

What a fucking shitty concept, that bitch.

A streamer with the same character as her had appeared. She was even spreading weird catchphrases. If Queen-ji just sat here?

She would watch with her own eyes as her viewers got stolen.

KakaoTalk!

That couldn't happen. Before that bitch got any more full of herself, Queen-ji would crush her pride.

She summoned her dedicated duo partner. Her personal servant who also streamed League on PaprikaTV.

Just beat her in front of the viewers.

She would teach everyone who the true number one female League streamer was.