The Direction of the Broadcast
I had to row the boat as the water came in.
That saying had become a common expression at some point.
It was a proverb, yet it had no associated story tied to it.
How strange. Most proverbs had at least one short fairy tale attached to them.
Where did the phrase “water has come in” originate?
In feng shui or bazi astrology, water was said to bring wealth and fortune—what did that mean?
But if you listened to it from a fresh outsider’s perspective, you wouldn’t know whether it referred to the tide or the tide—whether it was the water rising inside a ship or the water flowing outside.
In any case, the water flowing outside the ship was what you had to row.
If the water was rising inside the ship, before you rowed you should have bailed it out first.
Anyway, my situation right now was exactly like that.
Thanks to the pro-gamer I sniped at the department store, so many people had gathered in front of the stream. I needed to do something to hold onto them.
But doing it in a way that would damage my own broadcast identity—that was definitely German of me.
I had to pull out the thing I normally did best and show it.
So after both sides finished banning, I immediately picked Jaxson.
I would have loved to check the champions on both sides, our team’s pick order, the opponent’s team composition, and decide on one before picking, but the carry on our team in fifth position refused to swap.
**[Team] VolcanicGamer:** ? Even if you swap, they’re going to pick garbage anyway. Why bother swapping?
**[Team] VolcanicGamer:** Look, if it’s a first-pick Jaxson lol, they’d just go for a half-and-half tank instead.
**[Team] TwoHeadedWolf:** Why are you so mad?
**[Team] VolcanicGamer:** Last game they swapped too and I got counter-pushed and one-shot on the top laner, so the game got screwed.
**[Team] BoneSculptorBrothers:** But this game could still go well. Why…?
**[Team] VolcanicGamer:** Look, the Macao guy just popped out. Why the hell Jaxson? Just pick Horn or something.
By refusing the swap they were just dumping last game’s frustration onto me, the carry who had already shown himself to be anonymous.
I couldn’t tell if it was the same guy from last time.
Getting upset because he thought I was that person… felt… weird.
Neither good nor bad.
Well, it was still just League of Champions as usual.
I quietly reported the swearing and moved on.
I calmly checked my runes while staring at the creepy portrait of that weird-looking treant who had just come out saying he would counter me.
Only after that did I glance at the chat.
- **WorgMoCoMo:** Jaxson into world champs? Not a counter?
- **AheungHaengBalde:** lol, some people really get pissed just because of pick order…
- **dbcksrnjs7195:** Pretty face but no face cam?
- **BulsuWonShot:** Don’t you think the chat moderator should be appointed? The person refuses and they keep asking for face cam… -_-
- **TtalggakMalpaNerpeulJom:** But just trash-talking the face is a cheat for female cams. I wish we could just play in-game only…
More people complaining that I didn’t show my face than people who actually wanted to talk about the game.
I had no intention of showing my face anyway.
It seemed like a moderator was really needed, at least to shut down the people who kept mentioning my face in the middle of the game.
“Um. I’m not even making money off this stream. Among the people who come just for fun, who’s going to do something this annoying? It’s tough. Everyone else has something they’re doing…”
- **Tti-hwak-jjit:** Just watching lol lol lol, suddenly bone-crushing
- **Toe-geul-hae-in-bang-man-bom:** Can’t play games, so just watching
- **MalpaSolKillYouNi:** Because I’m a landlord I can eat and watch at the same time, why do you say that!
- **TanggoBlin:** You’re really the landlord? If it’s not rude, I’ll take one Burgen’s coffee
- **MalpaSolKillYouNi:** I’m unemployed…
I was subtly teasing the viewers.
Surprisingly, a lot of them really were just watching.
It turned out quite a few people had time to watch streams.
I was the kind of person who would never watch someone else play if I could be playing myself.
If I was watching to learn something, I’d be searching videos, not watching random streams.
But given that this seemed to be a decent demand, it almost felt like watching soccer or variety shows.
If I were out there playing, it would be even more fun.
But it was still tough.
Still, watching actual soccer players run on the field and your favorite idols having fun wasn’t worthless.
Surrogate satisfaction could still fill a hole.
So watching internet streams could definitely be a way to relax.
The problem was, when you were relaxing, who would even bother with such a troublesome job?
I didn’t know the streaming industry that well, but from watching communities for a while I had a rough idea of how it worked.
These were positions where only responsibility and obligation were given, with no pay.
It had its limits when it came to just love and passion.
If there was at least some sense of fulfillment, maybe.
Game guides, story summaries, Easter egg hunts—stuff like that.
If I thought of it as game content, I could feel happy reading the thanks from people who came for that info.
But this kind of moderator work was all stress anyway, same as in the community.
If I got tired of that, my connection to the stream might even drop.
So a proper fee was needed.
The problem was I didn’t have any real income.
Ah, there was still the settlement money… but…
If I promised to give money in exchange for managing the stream, how much was reasonable, and who should I hire?
A lot of thoughts came up.
Once I became a pro-gamer and started earning, I could give the moderator a decent amount.
But there was no guarantee it would succeed.
If it failed, I’d basically be paying the chat moderator for the rest of my life.
While I kept worrying, the game started.
“Um, of course I’d be grateful if you did. But since the game has already started, let’s talk about it after.”
As a streamer I had to focus on the game.
So I shifted my eyes to the game screen while viewers delayed replying that they would manage the chat themselves.
“I’d love to talk to you guys, but I only have one eye so it’s hard to see well. Still, I set up the chat on the right side of the game screen so you can see it as much as possible… but the view probably doesn’t reach that far.”
- **Tti-hwak-jjit:** Ah ㅠ
- **Nerfire:** What? You only have one eye? How do you even play?
- **Supernova:** The view is narrow, but isn’t playing the game still fine?
- **SilberPantheia:** Last time you couldn’t see the minimap well, so in this tier it makes sense and you got banned as a hacker for not knowing
- **Supernova:** Ahaha…
[KimipaRi-nim’s donation message.]
If it’s an urgent matter, you can use voice TTS with the donation message!
[(Private) ㄴ Nim’s donation message.]
Your team looks like it has bad matchups… you okay?
Even so, viewers had found a way.
If you donated over a certain amount, the message came as voice.
That helped me talk without looking away from the game screen.
“Thank you for the donation. Um, yeah, Macao really is a bit of a pain. Jaxson’s high sustain nature makes him a bit annoying, especially since Macao counters most of Jaxson’s skills.”
Exactly as my teammate cursed and the viewers worried.
There was even someone who asked how to deal with Macao while picking Jaxson earlier.
Because I was the moderator for a second I didn’t answer properly.
So this time I decided to give a thoughtful reply.
Explaining the situation well and teaching counterplay would make people think my stream was useful and come back.
“Think about these things before the game starts. What skills do I have, what skills does the other side have, what shape will we fight in, how will it flow. When Jaxson dashes in, Macao will Q knock him away, right? If I walk up and hit him, he’ll just back away while walking. If I try to start a fight by turning my passive on right away and getting stunned the moment we meet, Macao will also rotate his full skill set and do an appropriate trade-off before backing off. Then he’ll heal with his passive.”
- **Tti-hwak-jjit:** Yeah, normally Jaxson dashing is bad…
- **SilberPantheia:** But if you just farm CS and don’t fight, you don’t get Q’d to death?
- **SilberPantheia:** Jaxson hates being chipped away one hit at a time… 6th level and he can’t even auto even once
- **Nightowl:** Real lol, you really need to switch to Macao against Jaxson
- **GentleTurtle:** But with Jaxson’s sustain, he can still hold…
- **TopSinByeongJaBakMyungHyun:** If you survive you have more presence than Mao, but if they’re going half-and-half they should’ve picked Horn instead -_-
- **BaekhapJuk:** It’s because you didn’t swap that the snowball started rolling lol
Viewers who already understood both sides’ skill sets knew it anyway.
If everything went exactly as I said, the game would definitely go our way.
Plus, as the viewers pointed out, it was something I could blame on my own team.
If I had picked a counter, I wouldn’t have faced this difficult situation.
But instead of complaining about what had already happened, it was better to think about what to do next.
The frustration of a loser who had been eaten in the past and was just sulking—I had already experienced enough of that.
Well, maybe in real life if there was really nothing left to do you’d start blaming others.
But not now.
“Ah, having the sustain trait makes laning easier. But the late-game potential drops too much. And since I’ll be the one getting knocked away the moment I engage, the problem is there… but the flip side is that if I don’t use my skills, the other side won’t want to use theirs first either. That’s why I didn’t go all-in on sustain and just picked one regen trait. Of course, if we both level up together the other side will have better teamfights, so I have to play the lane phase well.”
As I headed toward top lane, I finished my explanation.
At that moment, while gratefully thinking about the viewer who had asked for advice, I felt like I had finally set the direction of my stream.