91. G1
91. G1
***
—Kang Hyeok donated one million won... Thank you. If it's about a scrim, I'm guessing you're with G1?
The moment the song ended in her earbuds, a sudden sound made Minseong turn his head.
And on Kang Hyeok's phone right next to him, his eyes immediately went to the screen—a woman with pure white hair smiling softly as she expressed her thanks.
'Kang Hyeok?'
When he saw the donation message on the screen, Minseong couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.
"Whoa. Hyeok, what's this?"
Bae Minseong, a pro gamer on the G1 pro team, looked at Kang Hyeok and spoke.
"What do you mean, it's nothing."
Kang Hyeok answered Minseong indifferently, covering his phone so Minseong couldn't see it and pretending to be distracted.
Vrooom.
The heavy, low engine sound of the premium large van lightly swept over the bodies of the people riding inside.
The van rose up a slight incline, jostling faintly.
"Hey, take it easy with the driving. You'll wake the kids."
Han Siwoo, the G1 head coach sitting in the very front seat, frowned and turned to the seat right next to him.
"No, this road's always a bit steep here."
Team manager Jooseok, answering Siwoo with an awkward expression, made the excuse that it couldn't be helped.
Inside the van heading to the stadium, everyone looked different—some held their phones watching NewTube, some played phone games, and some players even slept to make up for their lack of sleep.
And in the back of the van sat Minseong and Kang Hyeok. Minseong was dumbfounded when Kang Hyeok tried to hide his phone.
"No, Hyeok! Didn't you tell me last time not to watch internet streams?"
"When did I?"
Kang Hyeok, wiping his expression completely as if playing dumb, made a face like he had no idea what Minseong was talking about.
"What do you mean, when? Just a few days ago, the day we lost to TSJ, you took it out on me for no reason."
Minseong, speaking with a playful expression, stared openly at the phone Kang Hyeok was hiding.
As if asking what on earth he was watching right now.
"And Hyeok, you just donated to Rin, right?? If Rin said 'Kang Hyeok' and thanked you by name, it's not a small amount, and you even wrote your real name as the donation nickname?"
The quick-witted Minseong grinned as if he'd caught something good and spoke.
"No... this is just, you know. Since a scrim schedule suddenly came up, I donated as a way of saying hello. I don't normally watch internet streams."
Kang Hyeok turned off his phone screen as he said that, acting as if it were nothing.
"...Come on, Hyeok, don't be like that and be honest. You're a Rin fan too, right??"
"What, Kang Hyeok, you watch her too?"
Jinhyeok, who had been playing a phone game in the front of the van, turned back to look at Kang Hyeok.
"Ah, Jinhyeok, don't you start talking nonsense along with Minseong. I'm not a Rin fan or anything. That was just... so there wouldn't be any awkward distance during the scrim, I donated as a greeting."
Minseong curled up the corners of his mouth and looked at Jinhyeok.
"Hyeok's really easy to read, you know. Right, Jinhyeok?"
Jinhyeok also looked at Minseong and grinned, thinking he'd found material to tease Kang Hyeok.
"Right, he's always going on at the kids about why they watch internet streams. And now he donated?"
"Seriously. I'm telling you, it was just a greeting. We're going to be doing the scrim without ever having met in person, so how awkward would that be? I had to reduce the distance in advance. Ah, never mind. At this point, you guys should donate too."
***
Clang!
Serin knocked aside the opponent's longsword cutting at her leg, activating a parry as she spun her body and thrust her leg forward.
Between the red cloth, Serin's pale white leg extended, carrying a blood-red aura,
—Single Kick.
Rin's leg whipped back and struck the opponent's ankle hard.
Bang!
Along with the sound of something bursting,
"Agh!"
The opponent, whose stance had already half-collapsed from the parry's aftermath, screamed and toppled forward.
In that instant, she gripped the Crescent-Moon Weight directly and brought it down, using a skill.
—Heavy Spike.
A dense blood-red aura formed at the weight on the end of the Crescent-Moon Weight, and the air around the weight rippled violently.
She drove it down as if to burst the fallen opponent's back.
Crunch!
With the sound of the armor wrapping the opponent crumpling, the area around the opponent's back caved in deeply.
And with that, the opponent instantly became pixelated and turned into light.
—Victory!
*
————
[Platinum Tier 2]
—365 LP → 397 LP
—Additional bonus LP has been awarded for the ongoing win streak.
————
*
"Viewers, how did I do..."
—Ding!
『Minseong donated 500,000 won!』
《I'm looking forward to the scrim too. I'm a fan of Rin!》
"...Minseong donated 500,000 won... Thank you so much."
Serin, who had been nodding her head and expressing thanks as if by habit, felt her eyes twitch subtly.
'Why do they always donate when I'm about to end...'
She smiled outwardly and expressed thanks, but it was an insincere, forced smile.
[Wow, what is with G1 lololol]
[Minseong, I'm dying!!!]
[After Kang Hyeok and Jinhyeok, now Minseong too lolololololol?]
[No, what is this, a G1 pro gamer meetup?]
[The armor crumpling is seriously creepy even for me lolololol]
[What's with the sudden G1 pro donation relay lolololololol]
[No but how is Rin scrimming with a pro team?]
'Again.'
At first, a G1 pro gamer named Kang Hyeok donated a huge sum of one million won, then when the next match ended, a pro gamer named Jinhyeok donated 500,000 won.
And now this time, someone with the nickname Minseong donated 500,000 won.
Judging by the chat reaction, he was obviously a pro gamer from the team called G1.
"...I'll take a short break to chat with you all, then queue up again."
Even as I spoke slowly, my mood felt strange.
The reality was that most of the viewers in chat weren't properly watching me or the Arena.
I sat down on a nearby rock, my gaze drifting to the donation message on the stream screen.
—I'm a fan of Rin.
'Even pro gamers... watch my stream?'
I wondered whether it was normal for G1 pro players to come to my stream and donate just because a scrim had been scheduled, but at the same time, it felt strange that the viewers' attention was going to the G1 players instead of me.
I understood why streamers told viewers to refrain from mentioning other streamers, but since they were donating huge sums and were all connected to the scrim, I couldn't exactly tell the viewers to stop mentioning G1.
"Um... by any chance, if I finish the next match, is another G1 pro gamer going to donate?"
Then, out of nowhere, those words slipped out before I knew it.
Because I wondered whether they would keep donating going forward.
[Money-hungry to the core;]
[Rin now expecting who'll donate next is so funny lololol]
[Lolololololol aren't there 2 G1 pros left?]
[If you count subs, it's 4 lolololol]
[Rin's really calculating her donation angles today lololol]
[Getting 2 million won in donations 30 minutes into a stream is seriously sweet]
[Life goals: be like Rin...]
[We get that a scrim got scheduled because you donated openly, but can you tell us more details?]
[How did you get in contact with G1? Start by explaining that]
[Is this really life]
[Rin, when's the scrim? Is it a public scrim??]
The chat seemed to take it differently, so I hurriedly added more.
"Ah, I didn't mean to ask for donations, so G1 players watching, please don't misunderstand. I'm really fine."
I let out a hollow laugh at myself for getting jealous over my viewers' attention being stolen, of all things.
Even after receiving 2 million won in donations.
'Why am I getting jealous over something like this.'
So I decided to just take it lightly.
If anything, having a pro team with a huge fandom like G1 step up and draw attention like this was good for my stream.
And taking it further, I thought maybe I could make a NewTube video out of this material.
—Park Soyul: Rin, if you make your next NewTube video about G1, it'll blow up. Can I take this one?
As if she'd been watching the stream, a whisper from my editor appeared.
I manipulated the hologram to send a reply, then spoke.
"As for the scrim schedule with G1, I understand it'll be conducted privately. Judging by the players donating just now, it seems they don't mind people knowing about the scrim itself."
[Private...?]
[What's this after raising expectations]
[But isn't today a G1 match day?]
[I know they have a match against BS at 8 PM]
[So they're watching Rin's stream on match day? lolololololol]
[Even 3 hours before a match, they can't resist Rin's stream lololol]
[For real lolol]
[I'd watch too lolol]
[They're probably watching on the way to the stadium right now?]
Serin, sitting on the rock and fiddling with the Crescent-Moon Weight, suddenly felt curious.
She knew there was a pro league called ACK.
So she wondered what level the pros playing in that league were at.
"Looks like the G1 players have a match today?"
[Yeah]
[Wanna watch ACK together?]
[On tweetie, streamers can watch ACK together no problem]
[You got a lot of donations, so how about watching the G1 match while you're at it?]
[Let's watch together!!]
[2 million won is worth cheering for a day lololol]
"Since you donated 2 million won, then..."