144 - The Payback Tournament
2051 Fall from Grace / Payback Tournament Season 2 – Recruiting Influencers!
Prize Pool: 50 million KRW per category, 300 million KRW total across 6 divisions
Recruitment Period: April 10, 2051 (Mon) ~ Until further notice upon closure
Tournament Period: Late May ~ Early June
Categories: Resonance / World of Arceria / Legacy of Legend
Eligibility: Twitch or VTube streamers; tiers per category in attached operations plan
Applications accepted via email only ([email protected]). Selected participants will be notified separately. Thank you.
Sponsored by Letterbox, the Payback Tournament ("Pay Back What You Took") was the largest-scale event on Korean Twitch. Pro esports casters and commentators handled the broadcasts, while legendary ex-pros who had shaped esports history served as coaches and directors. It was a prestigious competition.
Even with controversies and scandals during the first half of 2051's Season 1, it had wrapped up successfully, and the staff were now hustling to recruit for Season 2.
"Sighhh... This is seriously tricky..."
The planning team lead, reviewing applicant documents from Letterbox, let out a deep sigh.
"What's up? Someone faking their tier again?"
His junior, still treated like a newbie despite being a year into the job, approached and asked.
Each category featured two sub-tournaments: the "Fall from Grace," packed with top-tier streamers, and the "Payback," for streamers from Silver to low Diamond. Most issues stemmed from the latter, thanks to the team auction system.
Players with ambiguous skills—high Diamond or even Master—often sandbagged their tiers intentionally. But the lead shook his head.
"Nah, not that. We've got a streamer who applied to two categories."
"Two? Which ones?"
"Legacy of Legend and World of Arceria."
"Just drop one then. Fall from Grace is whatever, but Payback might pair you with randos—practicing would be a nightmare, right?"
"That's the thing. Ditching one feels like such a waste for the other. And get this—she entered Payback, not Fall from Grace, for World of Arceria."
"What's her tier?"
"Unranked, but says she'll hit Silver by tournament time."
"Silver's doable, no? Team auctions are still weeks away."
"That's not the issue. Come look for yourself."
The junior pulled up a chair and scanned the monitor.
"Eek! This is that streamer, right? The one who set the world combat power record in Korea recently...!"
"Yup. And she's the youngest Twitch Korea partner ever, apparently. Fourteen years old."
"Whoa, NoName's joining? Youngest ever? For real?"
The man, clicking his pen, leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.
The reason the lead couldn't pass on NoName was her viewer demographics. She had award-level foreign viewer ratios. While others hovered at 1-2%, half her audience was international—without even using Twitch's translation interface, forcing viewers to hack their own ways in.
The Payback prizes were growing, but it still ran on Letterbox and a few sponsors' backing. They needed fresh capital. And the lead's mission included drawing in foreign viewers.
"But her skills are definitely not Silver."
"Exactly! Even with combat power normalization for the tourney, the girl who crushed Story Mode isn't scraping by at Silver!"
"Good mechanics alone get you Diamond, though?"
"Even Master. If you're good."
But there was no solid reason to reject her. Why? Her account was her main. Picking her blindly would spark balance controversies.
Story Mode and team games were worlds apart, so gauging her true skill was tough. He'd heard World of Arceria was brand new to her—basic macro knowledge probably zero.
Still, she was a massive catch. After agonizing, he showed the docs to his boss.
"Peak viewers at 30k? Pick her. Why even hesitate?"
Swept up by the simple logic, the lead sent the acceptance.
Whatever blows up now, not my fault.
roflmao
didn't see that coming at all lmao
where tf are the alts???
"NinguninguNing!"
"Hey, Pyo Min-jun! Cut it out! Why you always picking on me? Pfft!"
"Sia sis, either stop me or laugh—just pick one!"
"Ack, hek, sorry! I don't laugh easy, but once I crack... kuh!"
"Sia's the worst of us, IMO."
Deciding to team with them for Legacy of Legend's Fall from Grace was starting to feel like a regret.
To skyrocket recognition fast, she'd applied to every tournament she could kinda handle. Her Legacy of Legend clanmates were all streamers anyway, so teaming for Fall from Grace made sense.
She'd tossed a casual Payback app for World of Arceria with zero expectations—and got accepted quick.
"Middle school edgelord vibes, sure. Perfect age for it."
Min-jun nodded sagely.
"Hurry and smash the nexus."
"Our ADC's missing, so DPS might be tight? But dude, NoName. You're wild—I'm older, and you hit me with banmal from jump?"
"Ugh, that line was pure cringe, right Nami?"
"Sia, buzz off."
"Aaaang, Nami mad? Huh? Sis sorryyy! Here, ult incoming. Grow big!"
"Then make me taller already."
Rat-a-tat-tat—
My machine gun riddled the enemy nexus with holes like Swiss cheese.
The foes seemed unfazed, prepping the next game as their base crumbled. Their momentum had died ages ago.
"Way too dominant."
"Bro, slap any mid Master on this squad and we're tourney champs, fr."
Mir and Min-jun were hyped already. And why not? They'd crushed a consistent Free Rank Challenger 5-stack without a single deficit tipping the scales.
The lone random mid just scratched his head, baffled.
"You guys doing Fall from Grace?"
"Yup! How'd we do?"
"Girls outplaying the guys? How do you even lose this?"
Fall from Grace had no tier limits but mandated at least two female streamers. Sia had held Challenger for years, and with my game count, we matched them skill-for-skill. Min-jun and Mir were Challenger-bound too—a cheat-code comp.
"Pros enter Fall from Grace too."
"So? One Diamond line's huge."
"Fair."
"Good luck champs! Oh, NoName—huge fan! Loved your old Mid Asteria run, even if you bombed 400 points lol. Fun build."
"Why Mid Asteria tho? Yo NoName, know how much shit you dumped on the ladder before ditching for World of Arceria?"
"When did I?"
"Kyaaaa! Brutal."
Sia stretched, signaling wrap-up.
"NoName, cool if I upload today's VOD to my VTube?"
"What? Recording, Pyo Min-jun? Already farming Nami viewers?"
"Industry standard, no?"
"Aha! So selling personal info almost tanked you cuz 'industry practice'?"
"I got scammed too! So unfair."
"Nope. Nami's precious—no sharing."
"Fine, be the big corp solo. We'll scrape by forever. Sigh."
Sia hugged me, blocking my view. Pink hair tickled my nose—sneeze incoming.
Mir dipped for a meetup right after. Min-jun, no chat fodder left, logged soon too.
"What was that 'almost tanked' bit? Tied to your hiatus?"
"Oh that! Still pisses me off."
Sia thumped her chest, fuming.
"Heard of BebeGood? Anyway, their crew subtly pushed collabs with girl cams, promising free edits if we sent footage."
"Yeah?"
"Duh, I passed. But Min-jun bro was hooked, bowing thanks. Mir's always clueless."
Later, it turned out collabs logged their extension programs on our capsules—hacking tools to steal personal data, Sia explained.
"Psychos, right? Buyers and sellers. Creepy knowing they could snag addresses."
It leaked mid-alcohol collab with clanmates, mic hot unbeknownst. BebeGood got eternally pinned in Twiwiki's controversy section.
"They messed up—why splash us?"
Sia got leniency as a girl, back in a month. But Min-jun and Mir still caught shade.
"They pitched it—how's the guy clueless? Deny much?" Public hated it. Victim girl cams even sued civilly.
Lead scammer BebeGood got criminal charges—a massive scandal.
"Scary."
"Right? No random collabs for you. Who knows the tricks."
Twitch vowed prevention, but Sia stayed distrustful.
> [Unread: 186 messages]
> Kariri: Come on, collab with me! Collab!!
"Yeah, I'll be careful."
"But academy kids should be midterms by late April—playing hooky?"
"That's why streams are paused."
"...? You're gaming now—wut?"
"Huh. Nah, nothing left to cram."
"Genius perks..."