Back to the Usual Atmosphere

After Noel appeared on Celesty's stream, and after a wave of retribution had swept through the people who had been maliciously spreading baseless rumors about her, the League of Champions community more or less settled back into its usual atmosphere.

Swearing still mixed freely into the conversation — that was just the nature of the game — but at least the mood had returned to simple, straightforward talk about the game itself.

The occasional mention of Celesty was fair enough; he had always been a League of Champions streamer. But whenever Noel's name came up, most users deliberately buried the topic under playful nonsense.

No matter how seriously a post was written, the first reply tended to set the tone for everything that followed — that was just how communities worked. And if the regulars who lived on the League of Champions boards decided to muddy the waters like that, no one was going ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to dig too deeply into Noel's story.

Of course, those users weren't intelligence agents or hackers. There was no stopping individuals from chasing Noel's personal information out of private curiosity. But they could at least put in the effort to keep her name from becoming endless public fodder.

You could even call it a kind of consideration from people who had once torn her down purely because they had been swept up in the outrage. When it came to gameplay, fine — but an ordinary person's private information had no business circulating on a gaming board. Nothing good ever came of that.

And so the community that had burned white-hot over Noel for a while simply moved on to other topics, flaring up and cooling down in the usual cycle.

When the viewers brought him the news that things had settled down that way, Jaemin rubbed his aching lower back and muttered to himself.

"Whew. Even my own place has never been cleaned this thoroughly. Still, I'm ridiculously proud of myself. A house that was drowning in dust is completely spotless now. Ta-da."

The community wasn't what mattered. The viewers had clearly come to brag about how well they had handled things — but if they wanted to talk about who had done better, Jaemin had them beat, so he simply bragged right back.

Honestly, no matter how hard the viewers had worked, could it possibly have been harder than what he had just done? He had gone out of his way to dress up for once, and then spent a full hour cleaning in that outfit.

So the viewers, in their own way, acknowledged Jaemin's hard work. The chat was mostly playful teasing, of course — but that had always been the tone of Jaemin's stream, so it counted as a perfectly ordinary reaction.

"Hey, what do you mean 'model student who got hazed into cleaning'? And if I were a model student, huh, would I be playing RioChamp ten hours a day? Also, for the record, I did not get beaten up by delinquents."

"What, so if I didn't get hit, that automatically means I was the one hitting people? In middle school I just studied okay, and then in high school I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had a realization. Ah, I am not built for studying. So I just, you know, played soccer with the guys, played basketball, slept through class, and after school went to the PC bang to play RioChamp. I was a slacker kid, sure, but I never beat anyone up or bullied anyone. Actually, now that I think about it, our grade didn't even have kids like that?"

"Oh, is that so? Anyway, looking at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the other grades, I heard they set off fire extinguishers in the cafeteria and smoked cigarettes in the classrooms and stuff, but our grade never did that. Everyone just hung out in their own little groups and left the kids who wanted to study alone. Ah, and collecting late fees from the kids who showed up late and buying pizza with it — that was so good."

As usual, Jaemin drifted along the stream of consciousness, trading small talk with his viewers. But the chatter wasn't purely enjoyable the way it normally was.

More than anything, he was worried about Noel, curled up and waiting in her room.

She was probably fine for now. But Jaemin could never just let it slide when someone talked about dying. For people who said things like that, simple encouragement was sometimes not enough. Even practical advice could end up as nothing more than empty knowledge.

He had once had a friend who studied under suffocating, minute-by-minute control. A good kid who didn't even know how to rebel against parents like that. Because he was good, of course, he and Jaemin had become friends almost immediately. There probably wasn't a single kid who wouldn't have liked a friend like that.

But they had only been school friends. The fact that after school that friend had to go to academy until one in the morning, that he had to wake up at six, eat breakfast, and study under his mother's supervision before even heading to school — none of that was something Jaemin could do anything about.

To the friend who poured out how hard it was, how exhausting, how dying might be better — all Jaemin could offer was, once you become independent, leave home and live however you want.

For a while it seemed like that encouragement had given him strength. And then, the moment he got into a prestigious university, he took his own life right in front of his parents.

That was why Jaemin couldn't just leave Noel alone. This time, he didn't want to simply tell her to hang in there and then walk away.

That said, camping out at Noel's place, or bringing Noel into his own one-room apartment, probably wouldn't sit well with her either.

"Everyone. Noel-nim — honestly, leaving her alone is worrying, right? Is there any kind of solution? Honestly, she could just collapse at any moment…"

So he borrowed a little brainpower from the viewers — and surprisingly, a pretty solid idea turned up.

Wasn't that exactly what Jaemin himself was doing right now under the name Celesty? Of course, the viewers had long since learned his real name and taken to teasing him as Jaemin, but that wasn't the point.

If she started an internet broadcast, at the very least you would know in real time that Noel was still alive. Ideally he wanted her to turn the camera on too, but you couldn't really demand that much from someone streaming for the first time.

"That's a good idea, but the justification matters, right? If you just suddenly tell a regular person to start streaming, honestly most of them won't do it. Anyone got a good angle?"

"Excuse me, better at the game than me? What are you talking about. My rating is higher, okay? Just ten more wins and I'm Challenger."

He had only asked for good ideas. The viewers merrily tore into Jaemin — and in the process handed him a perfectly serviceable justification.

Something appropriate enough for Jaemin to suggest streaming to Noel, and appropriate enough for Noel to actually hit the go-live button.

"Noel-nim! No — the viewers are saying it right nooow!"

Jaemin already knew that. But the viewers had committed so thoroughly to roasting him that his chest filled with pure injustice, and he knocked on Noel's door in complete earnest.