The Abandoned Stream
The four members of the family sat around the cozy dinner table. Mrs. Kim brought up the stream while they were eating. "How's the streaming going?"
"Yeah, quite a few people showed up."
Mrs. Kim looked worried about her streaming. "Aren't the viewers waiting for you?"
"Don't worry. They're all nice and waiting patiently."
Nice or not, they were definitely waiting—after all, they needed information. "You're not doing any dancing or weird stuff, right?"
Manager Lee, who had been quiet until now, spoke up. Worry really was his hobby. "It's a wholesome gaming stream, so don't worry about it."
Even if someone asked, there was no way she'd do something that damaged her pride. "Alright, then. That's fine."
Relieved by the mention of gaming, they continued their meal. The rice was nearly gone, leaving only one piece of spam. Unfortunately, Seong-a wasn't the only one eyeing it.
"Let go." "Oppa, let go."
They fought over it with chopsticks again. That pig of a sister, daring to covet her older sibling's spam? After a long standoff, the winner wasn't Seong-a or her sister—it was Manager Lee. He finished his rice, picked up his bowl, and snatched the last piece of spam with his free hand. They could only watch helplessly as it disappeared into his mouth.
Meanwhile, the stream without its host had descended into chaos.
The viewers were anxious, but a single donation instantly calmed them.
…But contrary to their expectations, the host didn't return even after ten minutes.
Another million won from the Chairman arrived, but the host still didn't appear. Roughly two hours later, after two million won had been donated and the "Come and take it" mission exceeded two million, the sound of the door opening could be heard.
"What's with the chat?"
The chat was filled with nothing but ice emotes. On top of that, the mission had reached two million won. There were too many things she couldn't understand. 'First priority is accepting the mission, right?'
When she pressed the accept button, countless donations poured in. She sat down and explained why she was late. "Hey everyone. Sorry I'm late—I was eating and showering."
The chat instantly filled with money-related questions about lotto, stocks, Toto, and real estate. This wouldn't do.
"…If one more person asks me to tell them something, I'm ending the stream."
The moment those chat messages appeared, she ended the stream and left the room. This was the viewers' fault, not hers.
When she came out, she ran into Mrs. Kim. "What? Stream over already?"
"Yeah, the viewers seemed pretty satisfied."
When Seong-a shrugged, Mrs. Kim lost interest. "Well, that's fine then."
No matter how much Mrs. Kim researched internet streaming, she didn't understand the culture. Earning six million won in just two hours meant she could comfortably roll for avatars and options for a while.
The next day, as promised, she started the stream again. The moment it went live, a huge crowd gathered.
"Sure~ Stream end."
She hit the end stream button in under thirty seconds. She'd warned them yesterday, but they clearly had no learning ability.
"Sure~ Stream end."
"Sure~ Stream end."
She was the boss here, and the viewers were the employees. If they didn't like it, they could just not watch.
Two weeks later.
She started the stream at the usual time, and one to two thousand viewers gathered within a minute.
Now the chat was finally satisfying. They could've done this from the start instead of bothering her.
"Hello, everyone. The chat finally looks pleasant."
She frowned at the ASMR request. Bad memories from the pre-stream visit surfaced. Ignoring the chat, she started with the self-introduction as planned.
"Nice to meet you all. Let me briefly go over the stream rules."
She opened the notepad she'd prepared and listed the new rules for her channel:
1. No spamming
2. No spoilers
3. No mentioning viewer count
4. No forming cliques
5. No mentioning other streamers
6. No advertising
7. No backseat gaming
8. No comparing to the Prophet (I'm better)
"If you understand, type 'ㅇㅋ'. Before I end the stream."
At least they listened well to that one instruction. She felt good. She'd keep this atmosphere for a while.
"Now it's question time—everyone's favorite. Questions start at ten thousand won and up. Anything below that gets eaten."
Countless question marks flooded the chat. Who decided? Obviously, she did. She was the owner of this channel, and she made the rules.
A question came in right away. Though the way it was phrased was… "I'm twenty… four years old."
"I don't care."
Her real age from the other world bothered her just a tiny bit, but on Earth she was twenty-four, so she'd live accordingly.
"University?"
Wait a second—she'd been a high school student when she went to the other world, so… "I only graduated middle school."
The viewers were busy laughing at the word "middle school graduate." It felt unfair. She hadn't wanted to become one.
"A boyfriend? I've never had one."
Even after becoming a woman in the other world, she hadn't felt any romantic interest in men, and she couldn't imagine herself dating one.
Reactions varied, but they mostly split between positive and skeptical. Why didn't they believe her? It was true.
The question she'd been waiting for finally arrived. She gave the answer she'd prepared. "Yes, I'm an Awakener. I can generally predict anything with divination."
From what she'd seen, it was common these days for Awakeners to stream online. The viewers weren't particularly surprised.
"…However, my success rate is only ten percent."
It was a lie, but necessary for the stream. Ten percent was an ambiguous number—too good to dismiss, too bad to brag about.
The expected objection came. She gave her prepared answer again. "My luck was at its peak back then. Honestly, even I didn't expect to get everything right."
She protested to the viewers in the most wronged voice she could manage, pretending she hadn't known either. The skeptical atmosphere lingered, but she smiled awkwardly and soothed them. What else could she do when they doubted the ten percent?
"Anyway, let's drop the controversy. I'm planning to do wholesome gaming streams from now on. Please watch a lot!"
"Lame."
When viewers asked what class that was, she answered mage.
"Ugh, I even divined that the class with the highest damage would be mage!"
She still regretted picking mage. If only she hadn't let her pride get in the way back then…
"Today I'm planning to just chill and farm as usual."
When she launched the game, her main character "GochuWangHa-im" appeared on the character screen. Just as she was thinking the nickname was at least well chosen, the viewers' reactions were strange. Why was the chat suddenly full of demands for an explanation?