The True Taste of CK

"Hey! Rim-ani, we're calling an MCK today. You're locked in as ADC, and go recruit a matching support yourself. And contact Seo-a. Tell her today's her memorial day, so she'd better come prepared. Huh? I've been waiting just for this day and ground out over thirty solo queue games. I'll make her feel the wall for real."

It was the final day of November, the grand finale of the month.

Park Bong-sik had finally drawn the blade of vengeance he had been honing for so long.

Apparently the taunt he had thrown out during yesterday's Best Streamer official broadcast had done its job.

I leisurely polished off a slightly late lunch while watching the clip that had already been uploaded to the fan ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠café.

Not bad. No—this is a good opportunity. If I can lock in the buzz one more time today, scoop up some floating viewers, and carry them straight into Rena World, that would be the absolute best.

Last time the match mission had netted me a full 46,000 candies. And now Park Bong-sik was offering me another chance just like it.

To me, he was nothing more than a tree that gave without limit.

I went live about thirty minutes earlier than usual.

If it was an MCK, there would be a match mission again today, so I needed to soothe the fans' feelings ahead of time.

The one thing that worried me a little was that I had already run a match mission once this month.

And it had been a big one at that… back then my stream had pulled roughly 38,000 candies from the match alone.

For big-corp streamers or the PUBG streamers who lived and breathed match missions, it might have rolled by cheerfully enough. But virtual streaming had gachi-koi—pseudo-romance—baked in as a passive skill.

If I pushed too hard with a pure "Hand over the money!" style of broadcast, there was a real risk of shattering that fantasy for the virtual fans.

On top of that, match missions had a tendency to whip up competitive spirit between each room's fans and squeeze the candies out of them a little too hard.

You saw it all the time—fans overextending their wallets just to protect the pride of their home streamer.

But that was also exactly why the dopamine hit so hard.

Competition, competition, and more competition.

Few things got the audience more fired up than a blood-soaked rivalry…

The moment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I went live, the title's aggro pulled a massive invasion of Park Bong-sik's fans.

Or maybe they had been waiting for me to turn the stream on the whole time.

Judging by the clip I had checked in the fan café earlier, that was entirely possible.

Park Bong-sik had pointed me out by name, so from their side's perspective, the absolute worst-case scenario of me taking a day off simply could not be allowed to happen.

"Seo-ha, Seo-ha! Hello everyone, it's Seo-a, here today to steal Uncle Bong-sik's allowance. Nice to see you all. Looks like a lot of Uncle Bong-sik's fans showed up too. Everyone, please do me a favor and hit that fan join button once, okay?"

Getting flustered by the chat of big-corp streamer floaters was the mark of an amateur.

Lucy had taught me that before the regression.

She had won a singing competition and then cleanly swept every single floating viewer into her own room—her legendary achievement.

The bone-deep lesson I had taken from that moment was exactly why I could respond so smoothly now without panicking.

Park Bong-sik's fans seemed to appreciate my friendly approach; a solid number of them tossed small candy donations while joining as fans.

This was the runoff of a big-corp streamer.

I checked just now—my favorites count had jumped by nearly two hundred.

All from a light mention by Park Bong-sik. That much of an effect.

If I played today well, I might even snatch the number-one virtual streamer favorites rank away from Rena-ttang.

I'm at 6,245 right now, and Rena-ttang was at 6,500, wasn't she?

It might look like I was obsessing over every little title, but each one of these badges connected directly to name recognition. I couldn't afford to treat them lightly.

In the meantime the chat had turned into a lively uproar.

The fans seemed happy I had gone live earlier than usual.

And they must be feeling pretty proud too. The so-called King of Pangea TV, Park Bong-sik, had specifically called me out by name.

Some fans might have felt uneasy if I had simply become a big-corp streamer's underling, but as long as the LoL side kept playing out like a genuine rivalry, they couldn't help but love it.

I soothed those fans' hearts, did a fan café tour, and moved into chat time—when suddenly Rim-ani appeared in the manager list!

"Yes sir! Understood, loyalty!"

The crisp salute from my pretty-girl avatar set the viewers cackling, asking if I had practiced it from YouTube videos.

Hey, half of you lot enlisted later than I did.

But there was no way I could claim a military serial number that had vanished the moment I regressed.

With a bitter little smile I wrapped up the remaining chat time with the viewers.

And before I knew it, it was eight o'clock.

I zipped into the promised Discord channel.

Then I casually peeked into Park Bong-sik's stream.

"Hey! It's eight already—who's still not here? Huh?"

That face of pure genius talent was working overtime again today.

The way his expression twitched with every long snort of excitement made me laugh just watching it.

Ha, this was what a face genius looked like.

That overwhelming talent almost made me feel a little intimidated right from the start.

"Bong-sik, why are you already screaming your head off from the jump, you piece of trash."

"Come on, hyung-nim. Hearing you say that really hurts my feelings. Okay? Hyung-nim and I got here this early, but these younger brats have completely lost their discipline."

Park Bong-sik poured out his complaints in an exaggerated tone.

I had been waiting on edge for an opening, and my instincts screamed that this was the exact moment to jump in.

"I completely agree, hyung-nims. Kids these days are just so soft."

"Huh? Who are you? Wait—Seo-a?"

"Yes. Seo-a Seo-a, here to extort Uncle Bong-sik's allowance! The reason I talk like this is because I'm a soft little young brat. Please understand!"

"……"

In the wilds of internet broadcasting, nobody ever thoughtfully set you up with screen time or looked out for your cut.

You had to snatch your own share with pure instinct.

"Seo-a, you'd better come prepared today. No free passes just because you're young. Huh? I'm going to make you feel the wall for real."

"Ugh! You piece of trash. You really want to do that to a kid nine years younger than you?"

"Hyung-nim! Do you know how many times I've been taunted already? I can take anything else, but I will not stand for anyone disrespecting my jungle."

"But you're Gold, aren't you? You deserve the disrespect."

"Ha? Are you finished talking, hyung-nim? I'm going enemy team no matter what today. Okay? Don't regret it."

As expected of regular CK members, the banter between Kkul-tem and Park Bong-sik flowed with practiced ease.

It might have felt like too much talking before the games even started, but every single beat of this was story crafted to pull the viewers in just a little deeper.

Park Bong-sik, disrespected by Kkul-tem, and the question of whether he could actually cross over to the enemy side and get his revenge.

On top of that, the story was already tangled with his previous loss to the virtual streamer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who had gone through her initiation rite in the last MCK.

From Park Bong-sik's fans' perspective, there was plenty to get invested in.

"Alright, let's make the teams first. How do we want to do it? Full random? Or lock one role and pick in order?"

"Today we're locking roles and picking. I'm seriously going opposite of Kkul-tem hyung-nim and showing him the spicy taste."

"Go ahead and try, you piece of trash. Just don't cry about a mid gap after you lose."

I had been wondering why Kkul-tem was so aggressive today, but according to chat there was a reason.

Apparently he had been on the same team as Park Bong-sik in LoL Land recently and gotten absolutely steamrolled in a brutal losing streak.

In the end they decided to draft teammates starting from the jungle role.

"Hell yeah! First pick is mine! I'm taking President Jeong."

Whether he was actually sulking or just protecting the story, Park Bong-sik started with top instead of mid.

The roster was identical to the MCK I had joined last time.

They had clearly put this exact lineup together on purpose for a complete rematch of that day.

"Then I'll take Kkul-tem-nim."

"Good. Then we redraw the ladder."

The final teams looked like this.

Compared to last time, only the tops had swapped; everyone else stayed the same.

Considering that top had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠slightly in our favor back then, today's lineup actually felt a bit more balanced.

"Alright, opening the match mission. Everyone hit accept!"

Rim-ani volunteered for the annoying work again today, leading by example.

Truly worthy of being Park Bong-sik's direct line.

I hit accept on the participation prompt and the familiar match mission screen from last time appeared.

"I already told you once, but let me emphasize it again. I announced it as capital-M MCK today, not lowercase m. Make sure every single one of you brings the entry fee. Okay? My grudge over the 40,000 I lost last time!"

Park Bong-sik's voice ground out between clenched teeth as he faded from Discord.

I carefully muted Discord myself, then turned to face my fans.

"Uh… so…"

The viewers were already buzzing with excitement at the thought of throwing their weight around.

No—pretty girl cams and virtuals who knew how to simmer a good broth always got their fans dumping donations without being asked.

Why did my room have so many vicious ones?

…I almost said that out loud. Cancel, cancel!

I looked at the chat with an awkward, aegyo-laced smile and scrambled to salvage public opinion.

And inside my head I chanted over and over, I am a professional broadcaster, brainwashing myself.

Then came the big decision!

"Oppas~ Seo-aaa~ I want candy donations so baaad! Okay!? Please donate candy! Okay? Pretty pleaseeeeee!"

The chat exploded with viewers cackling about how secondhand-embarrassing it was, and I felt a historic level of shame.

And I made a vow.

I would win today's MCK no matter what.

If I went this far and then lost every last candy donation, I would not sleep a wink tonight.

This—this was the true taste of CK.