I'll Let You Play for a Bit
I unconsciously averted my gaze. In that instant—
Swoosh──! Another grab came flying straight at me, ripping across the ground.
“Ugh!”
“We’re fucked!”
Maybe it was because I’d grown used to it after so many painful lessons. The chat held zero expectation that I would actually dodge the hook.
Grab!
“Ah.”
…Sadly, that expectation became reality.
What am I even supposed to say?
“……”
No matter who I was, there was only one thing I could say in a situation like this.
C-c-crazy…!
I hurriedly opened the report tab and slammed all three of them with abuse reports. Oh, and I made sure to add “negative attitude” for the jungler. He kept spamming surrender.
While I was perfectly dismantling the viewers with flawless logic—
The nexus exploded. It wasn’t just bot diff—the top and jungle had been running it down just as hard.
…Want to keep going?
I already used my one free day off.
Let’s play a few more. Can you actually try this time?
Matchmaking found a game again. Same bot duo positions. Same pick—Luna and Nami. But the result was the complete opposite of the previous game.
We lost, so what was the opposite part?
I didn’t get hooked by a single enemy grab this game.
Instead I ate every single poke from the enemy ADC and support. The laning phase didn’t even exist.
…Are you doing this on purpose?
Eos’s patience seemed to be reaching its limit. She knew my original skill level, so she couldn’t help but think I was throwing.
Tell me.
Since I was luckily given a chance to explain myself, I quickly typed on the keyboard.
…
As expected, that excuse wasn’t nearly enough. Eos’s eyes narrowed even further. Then here’s the second one!
What…?
This part was actually true. It wasn’t a joke—I was feeling a genuinely serious problem.
The original Ha Yeon-woo was a typical brain-over-mechanics gamer. Even if my mechanics were average, I solved games with game sense. But ever since my body changed, my brain seemed to have changed too. My entire playstyle had flipped completely.
My mechanics had improved, but my game sense had turned into complete ttyuttya.
I could clearly see the enemy skills, but the pathing calculations and movement were too slow, so I ate every single one. Honestly, I was the most frustrated one even though I could see them all coming.
But I couldn’t tell them the real reason, so…
Ha Yeon-woo’s secret technique! Using the CEO’s name as a shield!
Ah…
It was a good thing I didn’t have my mic on. This level of dramatic acting was only possible through text.
Is… your body hurting a lot?
Eos’s expression filled with worry. As a director, she really seemed to be thinking about me.
And these people really only think about themselves.
To summarize: I can still play with you. But give up on winning.
Did that meaning get across to Eos at least a little?
Then can you at least play Minecraft?
Eos, who had given up on League, immediately suggested Minecraft instead. I quickly typed back.
Don’t lie. That isn’t possible. It’s just torture.
Well, a person can stay behind tower and not even get a single CS for an entire game. And it happened twice.
When did I ever make anyone grind their teeth! You damn honey-bee bastards!
Eos, who had been quietly watching the chat with me, let out a short sigh.
…Then let’s just play Minecraft for a bit. I’ll let you go after you play a little.
“Ah… I’m so tired…”
Aomiya Rina, a member of Prism—the first-generation group that announced Star Live’s new leap forward—threw herself onto the bed, exhausted to her very core.
“Coming up with broadcast content is so hard…”
She hated how her content planning had completely stalled ever since Yeon-woo disappeared.
“Singing feels like such a burden…”
Without Yeon-woo giving honest feedback without worrying about her feelings, recording songs felt uneasy.
“Even looking at the chat is scary…”
She was afraid malicious viewers would show up and attack her again.
…All because Yeon-woo wasn’t there.
“…Can I really keep doing this job?”
Star Live, which she had debuted with after beating nearly 250 to 1 odds. She pulled in thousands of viewers every day and earned close to ten thousand dollars on good months, yet lately that confidence had been plummeting.
She was starting to feel her own powerlessness.
“Where did you go… Yeon-woo…”
Please make content for me… Tell me right away when I can’t sing well… You don’t even have to manage the chat strictly, just stay in the chat window for me…
“I hate this… I really do…”
She knew she was having selfish thoughts.
…No.
“…Why is this a selfish thought?”
When she thought about it, didn’t all the other girls bring Yeon-woo over and use him whenever they needed him? The CEO. Eos. Hera. And all the other members.
They all used Yeon-woo as much as they wanted whenever they needed him! So why was this wrong?!
“This is so annoying…”
She had declared a break from streaming today. The content just wasn’t coming together because a certain someone was missing.
“…So annoying!”
But just lying in bed made the stress build up. Seeing Eos drag Yeon-woo away as staff and laugh at her made her feel even worse.
“Ugh…!”
So she got up from the bed. She sat down in front of the computer to relieve some stress.
“…What should I do?”
Now that she was sitting in front of the computer, she didn’t really have any games she wanted to play. She wasn’t particularly close to games. After debuting with Star Live she had tried many, but there wasn’t one she was good at.
Well, the first-generation Prism group as a whole lacked gaming talent, so their internal match results were actually quite impressive… but most of those were just work-related games.
They were the kind of games that felt awkward to play for fun or to relieve stress.
“…I don’t know.”
After thinking for a moment, she clicked on one icon.
Minecraft. The game commonly called “Mark.”
“I should do some farming…”
At times like this, emptying her mind was best. Like returning to the countryside and writing a farm journal, she figured she could just farm until she fell asleep.
Of course she logged into the Star Server. She would earn money through farming and use it the next time there was a group event on the server.
“Is anyone here?”
Luckily, it seemed no one was on the server. If someone had been, the chat would have instantly filled with things like “Rina caught playing secretly!” and she would have been forced to turn on stream against her will.
“First, let’s harvest what I planted before…”
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
She quickly finished harvesting the crops. Just as she was checking her inventory to replant the now-empty field—
“What? Eos came in?”
Eos had entered the Star Server. Since it wasn’t related to Yeon-woo, they were still close sunbae and hoobae. Should she at least greet her?
While she was thinking—
“Huh…?”
Employee X. An ID given only to Star Live staff who managed in-game matters. The lower the number, the higher the authority. The current highest authority, “Employee0,” could only be used by one person within Star Live.
“…Yeon-woo?”
Ha Yeon-woo. She didn’t know why Yeon-woo—who supposedly couldn’t meet with others right now—had entered Minecraft together with Eos.
“No way…”
To confirm the anxiety blooming in her chest with her own eyes, she hid her online status with a click and moved her character toward Eos’s house.