96. That Day's Hot Topic
96. That Day's Hot Topic
***
—Baekya... this player is insane. Just... absolutely insane!! Who can stop this player!?
—BS in the Gauntlet Match!!! They blow through G1's Opener and Second in an instant!
—Will Baekya write the legend of the All-Kill once again!!
The voices of the casters and commentators, running hot with excitement, were busy singing the praises of the player on screen named Baekya.
And Serin, listening to it all, cautiously glanced at the chat window.
[Is the G1 coaching staff out of their minds?]
[No but seriously, are they joking? They have Baekya and they match Gunners into the Opener and Second slots of the Gauntlet?]
[Minseong hard-carried Game 2 against ranged classes and they do this lmaooo]
[For real, even if I picked the players myself I wouldn't pick them like this lololol]
[Chat's getting toxic...]
[Gunner Class level, seriously, ugh]
[What do you mean "this summer is different," the coach is hopeless from the start, ugh watching this is pissing me off]
[Han Siwoo, when the hell are they firing this bastard??]
[Kang Hyeok might take down Baekya, but how do you let BS break the win streak, ugh]
[Wait, is Baekya actually going to All-Kill?]
[Baekya! Baekya! Baekya! Baekya! Baekya! Baekya! Baekya! Baekya! Baekya!]
[Ugh, I'm just not watching anymore]
The chat was rising so fast it seemed ready to burst, not just overheating.
Out of the roughly 30,000 current viewers, it was impossible to know exactly how many were G1 fans, but one thing was certain: a great many viewers were cheering for G1 or hoping they would win.
Otherwise, there was no way chats seething with such genuine fury could keep flooding in like that.
Click.
Click.
She kept banning viewers who crossed the line in real time, but the chat showed no sign of calming down.
And on top of that, the words she herself had let slip earlier.
—Baekya won again this time too... at this rate, isn't she really going to All-Kill all by herself?
As if those careless words had been the spark, viewers had erupted in rage one after another without exception.
She had never seen viewers this angry before, so it was both fascinating and a strange feeling.
If she had been watching the match from a neutral standpoint, it might have been different, but with the team she was rooting for now in such a disadvantageous position, it was incredibly hard to manage the situation.
But even so, the match was still in progress, and as the "Player Entrance" notification appeared and G1's final player, Kang Hyeok, entered the Colosseum, I spoke up.
"Baekya might very well complete the All-Kill at this rate. But conversely, I think Kang Hyeok could also show us a miracle-like All-Kill of his own."
[????]
[lololol what are you even saying at this point]
[It's hopeless, just give it up]
[I'm rooting for them too because of Kang Hyeok, but sigh...]
[We get it, you got a 2 million won donation, but say something that makes sense]
[Rin, you're not even a real G1 fan, why are you acting like one now?]
[Weren't you just saying Baekya would All-Kill lol]
[You take a 2 million won donation and cheer for them, and now suddenly you're acting like a fan lol?]
[Looking at this chat, a ton of people are getting banned today lmaooo]
Even while reading the angry viewers' chats, she continued speaking calmly.
"That's right. To be precise, I can't really call myself a G1 fan. Today I received a large donation of 2 million won from the G1 players, and since we've agreed to scrim, you could say I'm cheering for them. But if we go by what that chat says, then among the viewers here, the real G1 fans should be the ones encouraging and cheering on the players even more in a crisis like this, shouldn't they?"
If I wasn't a fan, then shouldn't those of you who were real fans be properly cheering on the players? That was what I wanted to say.
Watching the chat tear down the players and coaching staff out of anger because the team they supported was losing, I could understand the feeling, but it still seemed far too excessive.
[lolol Rin's watching the match for the first time today so she wouldn't know]
[Rin's seeing the match for the first time today, but it's not like this is the first or second time this G1 coach bastard has thrown the ban-pick]
[So is Rin actually cheering for G1 properly or not?]
[She says it's a G1 cheering stream but she barely even cheers lol]
[She took 2 million won and is just watching the match doing a free-ride stream lololol]
[Chat's gone completely insane, for real]
[Rin's right, but... honestly I'm so pissed]
[lolol it's not like Rin asked for the donation, why are people blaming Rin now?]
[I'm just mad because they're losing so pathetically]
[Those fans are taking it out on Rin now lmaooo]
Some viewers accepted what she said, while others seemed to get even angrier.
I watched the chat continue to scroll rapidly for a moment, then added more.
"If G1 really does get All-Killed by Baekya today, or if they just lose outright, then I'll take the 2 million won donation I received from the G1 players today, add my own money on top of it, and donate 5 million won."
Because there were so many chats saying I was only pretending to cheer for G1 because of the 2 million won donation, I decided to show my sincerity through action by putting up an even larger sum of money.
If I wagered far more than the amount I'd received, then at least I wouldn't have to see any more comments calling me fake or saying I was only doing it for the money.
[Wait, in this situation??]
[No, you're saying that when the Gauntlet is 2:0?]
[5 million won donation, that's insane lmaooo]
[She's crazy lololol]
[What's with Rin's boldness lmaooo]
[Generous donation declaration, damn]
[No but the match is already tilted]
[If you're saying that because of the toxic viewers, just take it back;]
[Isn't that too much money?]
[Most of the people saying that are just angry, you don't need to take it seriously]
[Rin got so many donations just today, what's she worried about lol]
"Since it seems like the viewers saw me as fake-cheering because of the donation I received, I wanted to prove that I'm really cheering for G1 by putting up even more money than that. I have no intention of taking back what I said now. So I hope the G1 fans and viewers will stop insulting the players and coaches and just cheer them on. It's written in the stream title too, but I'll say it again. Right now, this is very much a G1 cheering stream."
Was 2 million won a small amount of money? It certainly wasn't, but not enough for me to cling to it while streaming.
From the start, I'd labeled it a cheering stream and was watching the match because of the players' goodwill in donating and because of the scrim schedule.
The donation amount itself wasn't that important to me.
Honestly, even a 50,000 won donation wasn't a small amount, but more than that, I said thank you because I was grateful for the feeling behind someone giving me money.
Which was why she could say 5 million won now without any lingering attachment.
—2. 1.
As the countdown to the duel began and Kang Hyeok appeared on screen holding a massive greatsword with a grin, the situation felt a bit fascinating.
The player named Kang Hyeok, smiling even while down 2:0 in the final Gauntlet Match.
And herself, wagering 5 million won on such a player—somehow their situations seemed to overlap.
Still, she did like that he was smiling even in a crisis. It was far better than seeing him cowed or tense.
'Money really is a strange thing.'
After declaring she would put up 5 million won, she genuinely found herself wanting to cheer for the team called G1 and the player named Kang Hyeok.
Whether to call the human heart fickle or fascinating...
So as the Gauntlet Match began and the cheers of the live fans rang out once more, I half-jokingly shouted along with them.
"Kang Hyeok, fighting!"
After saying it, she felt oddly embarrassed.
Enough to find it fascinating how fans cheering for players could shout like that so naturally.
And when I said that.
The chats that had been tearing down the G1 coach and the players who lost in the Gauntlet disappeared, and people started typing "fighting" along with me, which was funny for some reason.
Because the chat that had been busy insulting the players and coach seemed to have returned to something a bit more normal.
......
The Gauntlet Match that unfolded afterward was nothing short of a miracle.
The ACK commentators and casters let out continuous, frenzied cheers and exclamations of admiration.
Astonishing results one after another.
And at the end of it, even Serin, who had impulsively put up money and cheered for G1, was dazed by the outcome.
Because an unbelievable miracle had occurred.
Kang Hyeok had produced the result of a reverse All-Kill.
—Kang Hyeok!! In a crisis situation, he produces a truly unbelievable result!!!
—With this, 7 consecutive wins! Kang Hyeok, who took the dying embers of the win streak and set them ablaze even more brilliantly at the very end!! Depending on future match results, G1 can now even contend for 1st place.
—...Truly incredible. The captain of G1! Isn't there a reason the team's players all follow Kang Hyeok!
***
The most famous site among Another World community sites.
—Another Level.
And at the very top of that Another Level site, there was always a hot topic of the day, every single day.
The hot topics for Saturday, August 7th were all filled with talk about one team, one player, and one streamer.
[The reason Kang Hyeok smiled when he first entered the Colosseum for the Gauntlet revealed lmaooo]
[The dignity of a pro team captain.jpg]
[G1 Kang Hyeok's individual stats during the 7-win streak lmaooo]
[The ending of the streamer who said she'd donate 5 million won if G1 lost...jpg]
[Kang Hyeok smiling as he appears in the Colosseum vs Rin saying Kang Hyeok will All-Kill]
[Scraped a full post of Rin correctly predicting every result of G1 vs BS]
[If G1 and Rin scrim, wouldn't they actually be able to win it all? (Rin mad movie)]
[If you're happy G1 won, upvote lmaooo starting with me lmaooo]
[Today's Gauntlet Match summary...gif]
[The total amount of donations Rin received today]
Rustle.
A woman stirring the ice and contents of her kiwi smoothie with the straw poked into it took a sip through the straw, her starry blue eyes taking in the hot topic posts on the screen.
Leaning back in her chair with her pure white silver hair disheveled, the woman checking the Another Level community was happily agonizing over which post to read first, yet couldn't easily choose.
Then the woman, Serin, abruptly pulled the straw from her mouth and laughed in disbelief.
"I really didn't think they'd win..."
After ending the stream at 11 p.m., far later than her usual ending time, she had been taking a belated rest, but the more she thought about it, the more unbelievable the result was.
The commentators, casters, and everyone in chat had predicted it wouldn't happen, and even she herself, though she had impulsively cheered, hadn't actually thought they would win.
Slurp.
As she put the straw back in her mouth and drank the smoothie again, even her heart seemed to melt into that sweet-tart flavor.
In truth, the sweetness of the kiwi smoothie filling her mouth was sweet, but the sense of mental fulfillment she felt right now was even greater.
After Kang Hyeok defeated Baekya, she had genuinely started cheering partway through, and when the result came about like a true miracle, the joy was unexpectedly even greater.
Scrolling the mouse wheel and browsing up and down through the posts, Serin soon spotted one post that caught her eye.
—[The total amount of donations Rin received today]
"I didn't check the total donation amount before ending."
The massive flood of donations that had burst out right before the stream ended after the match.
Since it was a G1 cheering stream, when G1 pulled off the dramatic victory, everything from the chat to the donations had gone absolutely wild, one thing after another.
After the match ended, she had said she would read the backlogged donations, so it felt like even more time had passed before she could finally end the already long stream.
If there was such a thing as true madness, the chat at the moment Kang Hyeok achieved the reverse All-Kill might have been it—the chat had blazed up in the best possible way.
'But how do they know something even I don't know?'
Out of curiosity, Serin clicked that post before any of the others.
Click.