A Trick I Never Expected
……This was a method I never saw coming.
(AI-generated Woo Yeonha smug-grin mandatory.jpg)
This is the same girl who supposedly can't even talk to people IRL? A total loner shut-in?
Bullshit lmao Yeonha you little shit lmao
She's so freaking cute lmao
(Photo of Kang Haneul smacking Woo Yeonha over the head with a shovel and knocking her down)
Woo Yeonha has been apprehended! Debut confirmed one day early!
"Alright! That wraps up today's Lethal Company collab!"
Seong Jinwoo's collab stream came to an end — a well-timed close that roughly accounted for the viewers' dinner hour.
Even with Woo Yeonha's ferocious trolling, the game had progressed more smoothly than expected. Seong Jinwoo held the wheel, Bangbang assisted from the side, and the boss lent a hand — and despite all the grumbling about how three people couldn't manage, they casually filled even a second quota. They even made it to the most expensive paid planet on the final run.
……But that was that. And this was this.
"I got betrayed……"
I curled into a corner, hugging my knees, and cried. Being betrayed by anyone else would have been one thing — but by the boss? I couldn't even find the words. Hngh hngh……
"Why are you sulking so hard? It's just a stream."
The boss, stream finished, came over and asked me that. After smacking me over the head with a shovel, she had the nerve to ask like that — this woman truly had no human heart.
"Well, I mean……"
"Yeah, of course……"
At least the two with some remaining humanity seemed to understand, and came over to give my shoulders a warm pat.
"You'll come running next time I call, right? Yeonha?"
"Just take the mask off for a second so we can get a couple photo……"
"Hngh hngh……"
……No. They were just hyenas who'd come to pick over Woo Yeonha's corpse.
"Stop being mad. I'll buy you something good before we head home."
"B-but……"
Going to some famous restaurant looking like this……
"Don't worry too much. We're eating here."
O-oh, well that was a relief……
"Huh? You're buying for me too?"
"Why would I? What's cute about you, Jinwoo?"
The boss immediately swatted away the hyena that lunged at her.
"Huh?! Then what about me?"
"Bangbang…… I could buy for you."
"This is gender discrimination!"
"Heh heh…… If you're jealous, you should've been born a girl!"
And so we ended up having a light dinner at Jinwoo's company. Of course, talk was talk — the boss still dutifully paid for Seong Jinwoo's share as well.
"Couple photo, as promised!"
"N-nooo!"
While we waited for the food, I wrestled hard with Bangbang, who was demanding her couple photo.
Whoosh──!
"Yeonha, you're so weak!"
"Aaaang!"
……Truthfully, I couldn't even put up a fight. Bangbang didn't seem particularly strong either, but I was so overwhelmingly weak that my mask and hat were stripped away in an instant.
"Holy shit…… Is this real?"
That was Seong Jinwoo's gasp of awe from beside me. Don't look! Don't look at my face! Why are you pulling out your smartphone from your pocket?! Put it away right now!!
"Don't take pictures. I'll kill you."
"Ah! Why?!"
"Yeonha is Star Live's treasure."
"You're being way too much! Sis!"
Thankfully, the boss blocked Seong Jinwoo's photo attempt.
"You too, Bangbang. Red Pill photos of our kids are a problem."
"But you promised me?!"
"You know our company has a strict ban on Red Pill leaks. No photos."
"I won't leak it! And Yeonha isn't even a member yet!"
"Still no. She went live, so we're doing this by the book."
"Ah…… Disappointment……"
She said that, but Bangbang put her phone away right after.
"In exchange, look all you want during dinner. I'm confiscating the mask and hat."
"Boss?!"
My face is not a side dish?!
"Whoa!"
"Now that's more like it!"
"Heeeing……"
And so the four of us sat down to dinner together, sans mask and hat. For the record, the boss ordered a traditional Indian curry set, with chicken and naan on the side.
"By the way, sis, are your kids pretty busy? Lately it's hard to see them in any tournaments or anything."
Mid-meal, Seong Jinwoo tore off a piece of naan, dipped it in curry, and casually opened the topic as he put it in his mouth. The boss elegantly stripped a chicken wing, wiped my mouth with a napkin, and answered.
Swoosh swoosh──!
"It's just that our kids don't really overlap with tournament games. We don't particularly block or restrict them from entering — they just feel the pressure and choose not to go on their own."
"Hmm…… So it's not the company stopping them."
"Of course not. There's no reason to stop them in the first place. They do regularly show up for low-pressure agency variety matchups and things like that."
"……Yeah, that's true. So why is that, then?"
He was right. Star Live almost never entered ordinary streamer tournaments — even though they had members like Rulecheop, Iseogyeon, and Chongbagi. Surprisingly, the only ones who consistently entered anything were maybe Chongbagi and Eo at best. The reason?
"Rule gets too many psychos swarming her, and Iseo's skill tier just doesn't match the other kids at all…… And FPS has way too strong a love-hate split among the fans."
I packaged up the tournament-rejection reasons I'd heard from the members over time and explained them as neatly as I could.
"Heeh……"
"Hoh……"
Suddenly, the way the two of them were looking at me changed.
"……Yeonha, you really were a Star Live employee."
"……I was genuinely shocked. That explanation just now was extremely well organized."
"?"
What on earth was that supposed to mean?
"Then what exactly have you been thinking of me this whole time?!"
I asked, flabbergasted. My debut ID was literally StarLiveStaff WooYeonha from the start — what else could they have taken me for? These two?!
"Star Live's mascot."
"Kang Haneul's comfort plushie."
"Nooo!!"
I was still reeling from their answers when—
"They're not exactly wrong."
"Boss!!"
If even the boss said that, what was I supposed to be!!
"What is it, you little Ttyuttya. All you've done lately is cause accidents."
"Th-that's true, but……"
Faced with an observation I couldn't refute, I hung my head — and then the boss turned her gaze to the other two and threw me a compliment.
"Still, like I said before, she does her work well on a normal day. The members lean on her more than you'd think, too."
……I felt a little proud. Like I'd been recognized by the boss.
"Hmm……"
Seong Jinwoo looked at me with mild wonder, then steered the topic away with a note of regret.
"That's a shame. I was hoping to put together a proper island tournament soon."
"Island? Iseo?"
"Yeah, Iseo. A lot of your kids play Iseo, right? I was going to ask for some help from that side of the roster while we were hashing out the merch contract."
"Hmm……"
It was true that Star Live had a lot of members who loved Iseo. They spanned the 0th, 1st, and 2nd generations without discrimination, so three-stack collabs rotated pretty often. Tournament invitations came in whenever an Iseo event was announced, but unfortunately our kids almost never actually entered.
"Anyone you can ask this time? Honestly, even one person showing up would help the tournament a lot……"
"I can pass the word to the kids, but don't get your hopes up. I have zero intention of forcing anyone."
"Augh……"
Seong Jinwoo swallowed his disappointment at the boss's words, then looked my way this time.
"What do you think, Yeonha? If we open an Iseo tournament, does it look like any members would join?"
"Hmm……"
I thought about it coldly.
"No?"
Sadly, not a single one.
"Why? Skill tier mismatch?"
"If I had to say why……"
The skill-tier mismatch probably wasn't irrelevant, but……
"Our Iseo crew members do like Iseo — they just don't like only playing Iseo."
"Ah…… Of course it's that."
Our Iseo-loving squad did like the game. But only at the level of enjoying it. Not enough to cling on through constant losses, not enough to show a fierce competitive fire on a tournament stage. And on top of that—
"If they went and the team balance fell apart because of them……"
"Because if Star Live participates, captains would try to draft them even if it means sacrificing some results?"
"Exactly."
Streamers entered tournaments for viewership — in other words, to raise their profile. But compared to a proper Iseo tournament, our members' skill tier and viewership were on a completely different level. That meant captains would likely throw themselves into drafting them onto the same team even if it meant taking a hit on the scoreboard. Once a team like that formed, you'd inevitably end up with a weak squad that couldn't deliver results relative to the viewership it pulled. And that made the tournament miserable not only for the streamer running it, but for the viewers watching it too.
That was what our kids were worried about.
"Is even one person really that hard? Sis? Worst case, you could join yourself."
"Hmm……"
Faced with a request from a close younger friend she'd known for years, the boss seriously rested her chin in her hand and thought it over.
"I really can't force the kids either way, but……"
"Haa……"
"……There is one method."
"What is it?!"
Seong Jinwoo lunged at the mention of a method. He really did seem dead set on opening that island tournament.
"And if you use that method, it won't just be one person — if things go well, all ten Stars…… no, all eleven Stars could end up participating."
"Th-there's a method like that?"
"Yeah."
The boss gave a light nod, tore into a piece of chicken breast coated in curry, and pointed her thumb at me. ……Excuse me? What is this finger for, Boss?
"Somehow get this one into the tournament."
"Huh?"
Grinning, the boss continued without so much as glancing my way.
"Then our kids will probably all want to join."
"F-for real?"
"I promise. If you just manage to persuade this one……"
The boss raised one finger.
"Eo."
Another finger.
"Rina."
One more.
"Karen."
And finally one last finger.
"Me too — we'd probably all go as a confirmed package."
"Uh……"
"And a bunch of the other Iseo crew would show up too?"
"……"
……Jinwoo? Why are you staring at me with that terrifying look? Put away those predator eyes right now!! You're scaring me!!
"Heeh…… That actually sounds really fun."
Bangbang, who had been watching the situation unfold, reached out and unfolded the boss's last folded finger.
"If it comes to that, I'll join too. Jinwoo's island tournament."
"……"
At that point, Jinwoo had no reason left to hesitate.
"……Yeonha, you promised earlier, right?"
"……Promised what?"
"That you'd come out once if I asked next time."
"……I didn't, though."
That had just been a one-sided claim on his part. I never agreed to anything.
"I'm opening the tournament in two weeks, or maybe next month, so practice Iseo until then."
"……Why me?"
What reason did a mere staff member have to enter something like that. No, if I refused, what could Jinwoo even do to—
"If you refuse, I'll go around every gallery spreading that Woo Yeonha's looks are insane."
"……What?"
"And I'll organize a Woo Yeonha Official Debut Squad and post daily."
"Nooo……"
……This was a method I never saw coming.