The Noob Internet Broadcaster
Because there was a streamer in my room, I worked just a little harder than usual.
It wasn’t definitely not because I’d been embarrassed by the thought that I’d mistaken him for someone who recognized me and wanted to take it out on him. It was just that a lot of people would be watching, so I gave it my all to avoid humiliating myself.
And absolutely, absolutely, it wasn’t because I’d been so ashamed my hands and feet were trembling that I’d clutched my mouse with tears in my eyes.
Yeah, yeah. Of course. Sure.
When you play FPS games, that kind of thing happened sometimes.
You kill someone like usual, and then—
Huh? That guy again?
I kept running into the same people, namely [MyNameIsTaeyon] and [FlyingChair], every time I got a kill.
Conveniently, one of them was a streamer, and the other was the guy who’d sent the chat message I’d misunderstood.
What?
You’re saying with a customized character, you can tell who someone is before you even shoot them, even if you only kill them once?
Yeah, but so what?
Anyway, it was all a coincidence.
MVP
[Woniwoni>.< - 23 Kills, 4 Deaths]
When the game with the streamers ended, I clicked my tongue in disappointment.
“I only got Momozi once….”
What, had she noticed and run away?
Had she realized I was hunting her down with murder in my eyes?
I hit Alt-Tab.
The screen showed the internet broadcast page I’d opened the moment I heard there were streamers in the match, just so I could check their nicknames.
One was named Momozi, and the other Jeong Taeyon.
Jeong Taeyon had about a thousand viewers.
And Momozi…
“Huh!? Four thousand?”
She has even more viewers now?
I wasn’t the sort of person who watched internet broadcasts, so I had no real idea how famous she was, but still—
“Wow… four thousand.”
I felt a wave of respect.
Back when I was doing game trading in my previous life, I’d once heard that a streamer was a customer, and out of curiosity I’d gone to watch a live broadcast for a bit.
Oh, they’ve got five hundred viewers? I’m bored too—maybe I should try this broadcasting thing.
I sat in front of the computer for long hours anyway, and it seemed like a way to play games without feeling lonely, so I’d painstakingly learned how to stream.
I don’t need five hundred! A hundred would be plenty!
That’s how boldly I’d started out, only for my viewer count to remain at zero for more than a week.
Nobody came.
I’m a boring person.
Internet broadcasting is hard…
I’d ended up as nothing more than a CCTV camera within a matter of days.
So I couldn’t help finding it incredible that she’d managed to gather four thousand people.
Unlike Jeong Taeyon, whose expression of helpless frustration was visible through the webcam, Momozi’s screen showed a cartoon character instead.
I preferred being able to see the streamer’s face, since I liked seeing reactions.
[Hahahaha, look at his face!]
Momozi had switched over to Jeong Taeyon’s screen, so there was no need to go into that room after all.
In fact, it made the reactions twice as delicious.
Everyone seemed to be having a lively, fun time, so I made my own account too.
Tap, tap, tap—
DuelKingChaeChae: Hello.
I even tried sending a test chat message.
“Oh.”
There were so many people that it quickly floated upward and disappeared.
With four thousand viewers, there was no way they could read every single chat.
It was a shame, but there was nothing to be done.
After that, I obediently kept watching, but when Woniwoni was mentioned, my ears perked up.
“Big deal.” I snorted. “Heh.”
Praise always felt good.
It was exhilarating.
As I watched the streamers and the chat’s reactions, my fingers started itching so badly I couldn’t stand it.
In the end, I couldn’t resist and reached for the keyboard.
Tap, tap, tap—
DuelKingChaeChae: Haha, that person seems pretty good. I think they even appeared on Angler’s YouTube?
Stuff like this was supposed to be cool when other people bragged about it for you.
Unfortunately, nobody knew me, so I casually slipped it in myself.
But I wasn’t ashamed.
Why not?
This was something people might be curious about, so someone had to say it.
I just happened to be the right person in the right place.
There are four thousand people here. There’s no way they’ll ever figure out it’s me.
I’d have been satisfied if it just drew a little attention in the chat, but Momozi actually read my message aloud.
My heart thudded wildly, as if I’d done something bad.
Once my fingers got going, they didn’t stop.
Wrong information deserved correction.
Anyone slandering me deserved a sharp rebuke.
I was happily rattling the keys when…
09:48
“Ugh….”
I can’t chat for ten whole minutes?
She ignored me first!
Why am I the one getting singled out?
I grumbled to myself, but…
“Oh! Not bad. Hey, that duck shot is… well, it’s hard to use at the right time. Yeah, better to start with the basics.”
By the time I’d muttered my way through the punishment in an obedient little sulk, ten minutes had passed.
Internet broadcasting…
It was fun?
***
Momozi, a streamer on Internet Broadcast Link.
Her real name was Kim Naeun, and she was a twenty-two-year-old college student.
College student, yes—but because she missed classes so often while focusing on streaming, she might as well have been a high school graduate in waiting.
She’d started streaming in high school, then gotten lucky and made a name for herself through a big company’s “discover a hidden gem” content.
From there she’d ridden the wave all the way up, becoming one of the biggest no-cam streamers around.
She loved games so much that she was famous for picking one title and sinking into it like a starving person at a feast.
“You idiot troll bastaaards—!”
Ah, nooooo.
She’d been dreaming of Diamond, that grand and glorious future.
But her steadily climbing points had slammed into the wall called Platinum.
She’d even taken lessons from streamers who’d once been Challengers, but her skills still weren’t improving at all.
Is this the limit of online lessons?
Still, what could she do?
Because of how the streaming ecosystem worked, Momozi couldn’t exactly invite a male streamer into her house.
She knew there were fans who wouldn’t say anything in chat, but would still be upset enough to pack up and leave by the truckload.
And since Momozi was a no-cam streamer, she especially didn’t want to do anything that might break trust.
She even made sure to keep broadcasting on Christmas.
I can do this!
Let’s reach Diamond!
Steeling herself, she moved on to the next match.
Before it started, she even cast a little spell on herself.
“I’m-not-made-for-Diamond, Mom, Dad, I’m-sorry-I-couldn’t-save-the-world, I’m-sorry. I’ll-never-make-it, I’m-a-hopeless-piece-of-trash.”
Match complete.
“Oh! I got matched.”
Use every means at your disposal to reclaim the objective zones stolen by the enemy!
“An objective battle? Ah, so this is the one I got?”
In personal ranked matches, the mission was assigned randomly, which meant you had to know a variety of maps rather than just drilling one lane into the ground.
But Dead Zone had twenty-four battlefields in all.
For a newbie like her, who’d learned the basics in a hurry just to qualify for ranked play, there were inevitably maps where her familiarity was weak.
The same was true for Momozi, who was only a month in.
I only know where the objective points are…
Even though she’d tried to keep every sense sharp as she moved along…
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-!
[KAISTreamer ╓╦═─ Mojimoji♡]
“Eek! You scared me. So there’s a side passage here….”
Because her understanding of the map was shaky, it was hard to prepare for enemies suddenly popping out at her.
Fortunately, her teammates were good, so they kept the match nearly even.
[2 Kills, 8 Deaths]
“Ah, sorry. If I’d done better, I think we could’ve won easily.”
The thought that she was dragging the team down made her feel terribly guilty.
While her screen was gray with death for ten seconds, she skimmed the chat—
“You little brats.”
It was nothing but talk of demotion.
Snorting in annoyance, she was just about to turn her eyes back to the game when—
DuelKingChaeChae: Stand behind the wooden door at the place where you died earlier and listen for footsteps. When they get close, shoot the moment you see a shadow. The door there is wood, so the bullets pass through. You can still pull your weight.
“Pull my weight…?”
It was a long chat message, and advice, too.
If it had been any other day, she would’ve dismissed it.
But she wanted to win more than she wanted to be stubborn, so she decided to try it.
“Let’s see, where was the spot I died earlier—ah! Found it. That wooden door?”
She focused every bit of her attention on the sound through her headset.
Step—
“Oh! They’re here.”
Step, step, step—
Before she knew it, an enemy from the opposing team was approaching.
The, the shadow, they said to watch for the shadow?
Her aim wobbled as she waited for the enemy to come in any second.
Just when she started wondering how much longer she had to sit there—
A shadow appeared on the floor, and then the enemy emerged at once.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-!!
[Mojimoji♡ ╓╦═─ TPShyBoy]
“Huh, huh, that startled me.”
According to the viewer’s tip, the moment a shadow appeared, you were supposed to shoot the wooden door immediately, and after trying it once, she understood why.
“Okay, so the shadow means they come out right away? Then I’ll shoot the instant I see it this time.”
Another enemy appeared moments later.
Rat-a-tat-!!
[Mojimoji♡ ╓╦═─ KAISTreamer]
“Eeeek, a two-kill streak!!”
This time, she pre-fired through the wooden door and managed to kill the enemy without taking a single hit.
Because she could hear when enemies were coming, she even had enough room to glance at chat while playing.
“Tch, what are you talking about? I’m gonna rank up.”
Just a moment ago, she’d been mocking the viewers who’d been teasing her, but then—
DuelKingChaeChae: Unless the guy you killed earlier is a goldfish, he’s going to throw a grenade there and push in. Climb onto the box beside you and stick to the wall. Then, when it blows, drop back down and wait.
“Ah.”
Another long message—no, another piece of advice—from the same viewer.
Without even hesitating, she shifted onto the box.
Then pressed herself to the wall.
Will he really throw a grenade?
Momozi waited, half skeptical.
And soon enough.
Tap—roll, roll.
“Whoa.”
The grenade rolled into the room and exploded with a boom!
She quickly moved back behind the wooden door.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-!!
[Mojimoji♡ ╓╦═─ TPShyBoy]
“Waaaah, nice! Three in a roooow!”
She ate up the enemy who’d come barging in confidently after checking with a grenade.
“Hmph, whatever. Diamond, here I come!”
Thanks to Momozi’s late-game carry, the team safely secured the objective.
Victory!
Platinum 2 — 24 Points
“Wow, nice advice—no, wait, this is just advice.”
Even after hearing endless lessons from Challengers about things like recoil control and movement, nothing had really changed.
Maybe a few immediately usable tricks like this would be better.
And as it happened, there was someone in the room who was perfect for giving that kind of tip.
Momozi acted right away.
“DuelKingChaeChae, right? Got any other good tips? Tell me a few more.”
It’d be awkward to interfere with the stream by calling a regular viewer, especially a guy, but if they were written out in chat like before, that was enough.
DuelKingChaeChae: Me??
“Yeah. You!”
For people who loved backseat gaming, nothing was sweeter than a streamer’s attention.
Usually they kept quiet because people banned backseating, but who could say how many were out there, fingers itching to talk?
Momozi had figured that if he was bold enough to send long messages ignoring that unwritten rule, he’d probably be willing to help enthusiastically.
But then—
DuelKingChaeChae: Hmm, what’s your offer?
“…My offer?”
But the backseat-gamer viewer suddenly started veering off course.
“Aw, why’re you like that? We were getting along so well.”
Is he joking because it’s a broadcast?
Momozi tried again to coax him.
DuelKingChaeChae: I only told you because I felt bad seeing you struggle… and now you’re trying to leech off me like some kind of ssalmeok grifter….
“What’s ssalmeok now?”
—I dunno?
—Never heard that one before.
—Somehow every word out of him sounds ancient.
—No clue.
She was just about to cancel it and wrap things up before the chat heat up against a normal person, when DuelKingChaeChae was one step faster.
DuelKingChaeChae: But I have to go to sleep now. I’ll come again tomorrow.
“Huh? It’s only ten o’clock.”
Is he coming back? I can’t tell what he’s thinking.
Momozi, still uncertain, shook it off and went back to climbing the ranked ladder.
Platinum 2 — 0 Points
Winning and losing over and over, she finished the night back at zero points.
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