Excuse Me, But I Didn't Use Hacks?
The chat exploded right as I was in the middle of a match.
“Boss!! The Star Live staff member’s hack controversy just blew up!!”
“Huh? What the hell are you talking about?”
Kang Ha-neul was controlling her marshmallow-like character, racing toward the finish line in Fall Guys, when she unconsciously spat out the reaction after seeing the sudden flood of messages.
Hacks? Not even a member, but a staffer? What kind of nonsense was this?
“Earlier, the Yeon-ha who duo’d with Eos got hit with a hack controversy lol”
“Someone reported it to a broadcaster who judges personal plays for hacks. The BJ straight-up called it hacks, and now the official cafe is burning down.”
“……That kid?”
After her body changed, she wasn’t even close to using hacks—she was basically a noob who couldn’t even play properly. The whole thing was so absurd that she immediately gave up on the game and opened the official cafe.
The posts were on fire.
“No way……”
The official cafe was genuinely burning. She had no idea why people thought that kid was hacking, but there were actually a few fans who seriously believed it.
“And right now Yeon-ha is appearing in that BJ’s stream.”
“She says she’s going to explain the hack thing?”
“……What?”
Normally she would have banned every single one of these report-style messages without hesitation. But with her head pounding, she had even forgotten that she needed to ban the cuckoo-like spam. She hurriedly pulled out her personal phone and searched for the stream.
“Lmao for real”
“Super hyped for Yeon-ha’s handcam.”
“Thank you. You are the father of our Yeon-ha squad T_T”
“Time for debut…… right? Yeon-ha?”
The atmosphere was already full of people sitting down in excited anticipation, as if her explanatory handcam was already confirmed.
“……”
She had no idea how the situation had spiraled this far, but……
‘When you get home today, both cheeks are getting the full course.’
She felt like she wouldn’t be able to calm down unless she thoroughly pinched both of that self-proclaimed ttyuttya’s cheeks.
“Hawa wa……!”
She frantically rummaged through the boss’s room and grabbed a smartphone holder. After somehow installing it properly on the monitor in her own room, she connected her company phone to the computer and adjusted the angle.
“I-is this okay?”
The angle was set so that only the keyboard and hands were visible. She checked multiple times—face completely hidden, confirmed again and again—then sat down in front of it.
“……It won’t show, right?”
One final check. Thankfully, neither her face nor body appeared. Only the keyboard and hands were visible.
“My hands though……”
She stared at her own hands for a moment. They were absurdly pretty. So pretty that just looking at her hands would reveal her face. They were distinctive enough to identify her at a glance.
“……Being a VTuber really isn’t easy.”
There had been a case in the past where a corporate VTuber got doxxed simply for doing a handcam. Even though the hands had been completely ordinary, the community had used them to dig up personal information. Hands this pretty meant a 100% chance of getting doxxed.
“Then……”
Anyway, all she needed was footage of her actually playing the game. She pulled out a random long-sleeved shirt from the boss’s closet and put it on. As expected, there was plenty of room thanks to the height difference between her and the boss. When she lowered her arms, her hands were completely covered.
She shook them around a few times.
“……This should be enough.”
Handcam preparations complete.
Preparations complete.
The replies came quickly.
“D-don’t be nervous! Ha Yeon-woo!”
Even our kids can pull off a handcam! There’s no reason I can’t do it too! Fighting!
Click!
She clicked the link in the chat and entered the channel. PersonalPlay was already seated in the voice channel.
Ding!
“Aaah! Can you hear me well?”
The moment she entered the same voice channel, PersonalPlay’s voice rang out.
“Employee000: Yes.”
“Employee000: I can hear you clearly.”
“Oh! Great!”
Just as she was about to launch League of Legends Legends to prepare the handcam──
“By the way, Yeon-ha-nim?”
“Employee000: Yes?”
“Employee000: What is it?”
At PersonalPlay’s call, she paused the game launch and looked at the broadcast screen.
“Your claim is ‘My reaction speed is hack-level, but my brain processing is trash.’ Is that correct?”
She wasn’t sure about the hack-level part, but that was what people who talked to her always said.
“Employee000: Yes.”
“Employee000: That’s correct.”
“Then do we really need to play League to prove that?”
“Employee000: ?”
Then what should I do?
“Villain Land…… uses the same Vanguard so that might be a bit much.”
PersonalPlay pretended to stroke his chin in thought for a moment, then raised one finger.
“Let’s prove it with Zero Ground, shall we?”
“Employee000: ??”
Zero Ground. Commonly abbreviated as Zeg. A survival game where you roam the map, loot guns and equipment, then fight enemies inside a shrinking safe zone with the goal of being the last one standing.
“You said even if your physical reactions are good, your brain processing is bad so you can’t dodge, right?”
“Employee000: Uh……”
“Employee000: Yes.”
“Then let’s prove you’re not hacking by showing that physical ability in an FPS. Sound good?”
Well…… there wasn’t really a problem with that, but……
“Employee000: Um……”
“Employee000: I’ve never played Zeg before”
“Employee000: Will that be okay?”
“It’s fine! We’re not trying to see if you’re good at Zeg. We just want to check if your reaction speed is truly hack-level.”
“Employee000: Understood.”
“Zeg has a large file size, so please install it as quickly as possible. I’ll be waiting.”
“Umm……”
She clicked the install button for Zeg anyway. Maybe because it was the boss’s house, the download was ridiculously fast. Two gigabytes per second? Was this that fiber optic thing or whatever?
Ding!
“?”
At the same time, the company app popped up in the corner of the screen.
“Hey!”
“I told you to rest properly, you little shit!”
“What the hell are you doing right now!”
“Hawa wa?!”
How on earth did the boss find out about this?!
“Me: B-but!”
“Me: This isn’t just my personal problem, it’ll cause trouble for Eos and the boss too……”
She frantically typed out excuses on her phone, but──
“You don’t understand what ‘don’t worry about it’ means?”
“You’re getting your leave extended for another day.”
“Get ready to be scolded when you get home!”
“Me: Hawa wa?!”
……She was instantly suppressed by the boss. Was “leave extension” really the right word to use in this situation?
“Are you about ready?”
“Employee000: Yes. Installation is almost done.”
“Then please share your screen.”
“Employee000: Understood.”
She brought up the smartphone cam she had prepared earlier along with the now-installed Zeg screen. Her two hands covered by the long sleeves appeared on camera.
“No way!!”
“What the heck! That long shirt!”
“She really is doing every possible crazy thing to avoid debuting……”
The chat was furious at the sight of both hands covered by the oversized sleeves. But that wasn’t her problem, so she waited for PersonalPlay’s instructions.
“Just to be safe, could you show us your process window once?”
Click click…… She immediately opened the process window and proved there were no suspicious programs.
“Doesn’t look like there are any suspicious programs for now.”
“Employee000: Of course not.”
“Hmm…… Then let’s jump into a casual match.”
She skipped the tutorial and immediately queued up. The unique waiting map for Zeg that she had seen before spread across her monitor.
Thud! Thud!
Several guys immediately ran up and started swinging punches at her.
“You crazy sniper bastards!”
It was the usual orphan sniping. She wondered why they were sniping a normal person who wasn’t even a streamer.
The game will begin shortly.
Thankfully, she got matched before the orphans could harass her too much. The map was Erangel. Obviously, it was a name she had never heard before.
“Employee000: Where should I drop?”
“Employee000: This is seriously my first time playing Zeg ㅇㅇ”
“Hmm…… Then shall we drop at Zarki?”
“Employee000: ?”
“Employee000: What’s Zarki?”
Why are you all using words only you know?
“……Just drop wherever and try to pick up a gun somehow.”
“Employee000: Okay”
She immediately pressed the drop button.
“Yeon-ha-nim?!”
“What the—?”
“Hey you idiot—”
“Dropping in a place with nothing is crazy.”
“Employee000: ?”
“Employee000: You told me to drop wherever I wanted.”
Thinking it would be dangerous to fall like this, she pressed the parachute button.
Whoosh──!
“No you idiot!”
“You still have to drop somewhere with loot!”
“Employee000: Molla rehu.”
“Employee000: I told you I’ve never played Zeg before?”
Thump!
Her character landed on a completely empty hill. For her first time, just managing to open the parachute properly made her feel like an incredible genius pro player.
“F-for now, let’s try to loot some weapons?”
Following the flustered tone of PersonalPlay’s voice, she began looting the surroundings. But no matter how much she wandered around, not a single one of those so-called common items appeared.
“Employee000: Hmm…… This game is really unfriendly.”
“Employee000: Guess it really is a trash game.”
“Ah!! Ah!! Ah!!”
“Why would there be guns on a mountain, you dumb bitch!”
“Please!! Look at the map! Move to where items would be!!”
She had no idea where they got their information from, but the Zeg experts immediately started giving unasked-for advice.
“Employee000: How is a newbie supposed to know where the items are?”
“At the very least there won’t be any in the mountains, right? You idiot?”
“Employee000: There might be!”
“Are you insane?”
“Now that I think about it, Yeon-ha was always like this, wasn’t she?”
“I completely forgot……”
While she was wandering around the roads and hills completely empty-handed, just sightseeing the map──
Whiiiiiiiiiir──!
“Ah, I’m dead.”
Apparently having seen her character, a cool-looking car came speeding from far away and stopped nearby.
Tap!
The player who got out was clearly fully looted and shining. The kind of player who had finished farming everything.
“Employee000: Heh, kill me!”
She waited for death while making a sound like a knight captured by orcs.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The player who approached her took off all his equipment and handed it to her.
“?”
“Employee000: What is this?”
“What the hell is he doing?”
“It’s sniping, fuck”
“Is he a Yeon-ha fan?”
“He’s probably just telling her to prove it with that.”
“Hmm……”
She wasn’t the type to refuse kindness when offered, so she picked up the items. The gun’s name was……
“……Molla rehu.”
Since she wouldn’t know what kind of gun it was even if she looked, she immediately loaded bullets into it. From the shape, it seemed to be a sniper rifle.
Click!
As if his job was done, the mysterious sniper gave her a salute.
“Employee000: Thank you for the tribute.”
Bang!
She immediately put a headshot into his skull. A tribute was a tribute, but orphan snipers had to be dealt with immediately!
“Sniper handling is ice cold.”
“That’s the minimum standard to be a Star Live staff member ㅇㅇ”
“Employee000: Then shall we head to the village?”
“Finally, fuck”
“Is there a streamer whose final content in Zeg is just going to a village?”
She pressed the map key and looked around. Even the closest village seemed to require crossing several hills. But she wasn’t worried at all.
“Employee000: This car is mine now.”
“Employee000: I can drive it however I want.”
There was the car the sniper had arrived in. She got in.
While driving while checking the map and heading toward the nearest village──
Peek!
She saw a character sticking only its head out from behind a tree. She immediately leaned out of the car and aimed the gun at its head with right-click.
Bang──!
A single gunshot rang out.
[KILL ‘Employee000’ → ‘OneShotgunIsEnough’]
The system immediately notified her of the result.
Hehe…… This should be enough to clear the hack suspicions, right?
“Huh?”
“?”
“??”
“What the hell?”
“Hm?”
What was going on? Why were they all reacting like this?
Vrooooom──!
She continued driving the car.
Slide──!
A character was boldly walking past the second-floor window of a building in the distance. She immediately leaned out again and zoomed in.
Bang──!
[KILL ‘Employee000’ → ‘MyBiasIsStarLive’]
“Nice!”
The bullets were landing really well. She was starting to wonder if her talent was actually in Zeg.
Screeeech──!
She stopped the car at the edge of the village. Just as she was about to check the chat for advice or instructions──
“Um…… Yeon-ha?”
“Employee000: Yes?”
At the sound of PersonalPlay’s voice in her ear, she stopped moving for a moment. What? Was this enough?
“Um…… Are you trying to hide it?”
“Employee000: Hide what?”
At her question, PersonalPlay continued speaking as if he couldn’t believe it.
“The hacks.”
“Employee000: ?”
I didn’t use any hacks, you know?