Wanted

"Today's store chocolate bread is fire, right? Agree?"

"…Why does your speech sound like that."

Nom nom, munch munch.

The school store was the best.

Eating bread during break time—back in elementary school, I never would have imagined it. At best, you'd sneak a candy or some jelly from your pocket. School lunch alone simply could not keep up with the bottomless stomachs of starving middle-school girls. The bread from the store was our sacred snack.

"Absolute perfection. Nom."

"What the…? Chaewon's way of talking got weird…."

"Hm? You've been on about that since earlier. Not enough bread?"

Siyeon kept picking at my speech today. Speech changes as you get older, doesn't it? She was being awfully sensitive. She was just a clueless little kid, so I decided to be understanding.

"…It's seriously weird, though. Why? I really don't want to say this, but you sound like my older brother… The Chaewon I know had this sharper-but-still-cute, round little way of talking."

"What are you on about? When have I ever. Femininity does not suit me. Agree?"

"It suits you perfectly."

"Not at all."

"Look at you right now, holding it with both hands and going nom-nom. Completely adorable. Except for the talking part."

I stopped chewing and glared at Siyeon. Cute this, pretty that, every single time. I was currently tearing into this bread with pure charisma—what nonsense. I was chomping like a half-starved beggar! Completely ravenous!

Siyeon was great in every way except for the moments when she got a little cringey.

Is she doing it more because I told her to stop?

I growled my displeasure at her, and at last she seemed to admit fault—she picked up the bread she'd set down and held it out to my mouth.

"Aigoo, fine, fine. Chaewon is cool. Not cute. Here, finish eating."

"Got it? Mmff, I 'ave neber eaben cute'y!"

"Yes, yes, I get it, so please stop talking like that. It reminds me of my stupid older brother and it's really not great."

"Nom, that— kack kack, huek—almost went down the wrong way."

"Here. Water."

Gulp gulp—

I drank the water Siyeon handed me and thought back over my speech.

Is it weird? It feels the same as always? Nobody else has pointed it out.

If there were a real problem, Mom never would have let it slide. She might have smacked me over the head with a spoon right at the dinner table. Hmm, or… thinking about it carefully, I'd been so absorbed in gaming lately that I just wolfed down my food at lightning speed and bolted from the table. Of course, saying I was gaming would get me looks, so I claimed I was studying. Anyway.

"What's wrong with the way I talk? For real, you're just being extra."

"…Sigh."

Why—why was she looking at me like that! Get that "you're hopeless" look out of my face.

"Listen carefully. I'll try talking like you. You're basically the same as my brother."

"Huh? Go ahead."

Siyeon let out a long phaaah of a sigh, stared straight at me, and opened her mouth.

"Kyaa, today's cafeteria food is absolute trash~ Just thinking about eating that is tragic in itself~ Honestly the chocolate bread from the store is way more fire, no? Agree? Store run? Let's go go?"

Oh my god, what was that.

My friend had been possessed by Satan. Siyeon, who looked pure as could be and normally spoke in that soft, refined little voice, talking like that….

The immersion is completely broken….

"Siyeon, your speech is weird… That was really not great just now. It doesn't suit you…."

"I was copying you."

"Th-that can't be. You were completely unhinged just now."

"…That's how my stupid older brother talks. Chaewon, you reek of the exact same energy right now."

Siyeon pinched her nose shut with both hands and pointed a finger at me.

Shock.

Did I really talk like that?

"Th-that's a lie."

My friend just nodded in silence, and I took another hit of shock.

I'm never speaking again…….

I gloomily munched through the rest of my chocolate bread.

I found the cause.

Leaving Durihyeok's stream running while I was illegally sniping had been the culprit.

I should've just watched Momozi's stream.

But man, his reactions when a snipe landed were delicious. I'd deliberately kept my rank from climbing just so I could keep sniping him. One more game after this and I could rank up, right? After that, I'd go hang out in Momozi's room. Throw out some coaching tips while I was at it. Momozi was an angel.

I wanted to run ranked myself, so I hadn't planned on waiting forever. But same as yesterday, Durihyeok had been on a lucky win streak again today.

I successfully sniped him in his Diamond promotion match.

Platinum is where Hyeok belongs.

I cooked him every which way while chanting "Hyeok is stuck in Platinum," and then—

Shunk—!

His mental had cracked enough that I got another chance to serve him a knife to the back ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠while his guard was down.

Our team won the game. Durihyeok screamed like he'd actually been stabbed.

"Heh heh."

Fun. This was why I sniped.

See? Who told him to go running his mouth without knowing the situation!

I was grinning to myself, watching him throw his tantrum, and was about to hop over to Momozi's stream—when he flopped down hard into his chair.

Is it over now?

I figured it was done and went to leave the stream, but Durihyeok, slumped emptily in his seat, suddenly queued up some dramatic BGM.

He lunged toward the camera like he was going to eat it and filled the entire screen with his face.

"Ugh, what's wrong with him…."

Durihyeok didn't care and kept going.

I flinched.

Huh? Me?

There were plenty of snipers out there—why single me out specifically.

…You started the harassment first.

Still, maybe the prank had gone a little far. I hadn't known he was that serious about it. Sorry. Not like I could keep sniping him easily after this anyway—I'll root for you. Yeah.

Durihyeok hung his head and his shoulders started shaking. Was he actually crying? Guilt welled up and my hands twitched—and then.

He shot to his feet, laughing like a maniac. He hadn't been crying? I felt a quiet wave of relief and watched him the way you'd watch a bizarre animal, wondering what on earth he was doing.

This time he jabbed a finger at the camera, hunting for me.

"…Huh?"

He paused his rampage for a moment, dropped into a calm tone, then ramped right back up again.

As I listened to the explanation, my heart started hammering.

"Eep…."

Ah—wait, what was he even saying. I wasn't a streamer. Why did I have to get sniped?

Some of the users in chat voiced concern, and I nodded along furiously.

Yes! Exactly! Good job!

C-come on, scold him more.

A handful of objections weren't enough to stop a Durihyeok whose eyes had rolled clean into the back of his head.

The viewers were all laughing at his deranged performance. I couldn't laugh.

This… is my main….

This was the account I'd poured hours into. Just unlocking the Weapon Master title had taken me over a year. There were exclusive weapons I'd bought with carefully saved allowance money. The character I'd painstakingly customized, the death effects….

How am I supposed to throw this away.

I'd genuinely only planned to snipe one more day and then go hang out in Momozi's stream. Now this sudden spotlight wouldn't stop making my heart race. Was I scared? I didn't know. It just wouldn't stop pounding.

I tried deep breaths to calm down, then lay on the bed and stretched my arms and legs out straight.

But… would people actually come sniping?

Durihyeok's stream earlier had maybe seven thousand ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠people. How many of those would even be high enough tier to snipe effectively? Coldly speaking, it might not mean much?

"Mmmmm,"

After some agonizing, I carefully queued up a game. After the wait, a match popped.

"Aww, what."

From the lobby all the way to the end of the game, nobody mentioned me or played in any suspicious way. Nobody even recognized me at all, okay?

I got scared for nothing.

He'd probably just been throwing a fit for entertainment. Heehee.

Only then did I finally grin in relief. And right on cue, Momozi's stream went live, so I dashed over for a change of pace and settled in.

Coming here after that raspy voice is so nice.

From now on, no more Durihyeok streams. All I got out of them was a weird speech pattern and damage to my mental health. I resolved to live a new life and spent about thirty minutes watching Momozi's broadcast.

She was mid-conversation with her viewers when—

Ding—

An extremely familiar scene started playing on Momozi's stream.

"Heeek."

I was so startled I forgot to breathe.

W-why are you showing up there?

I hadn't even known video donations were a thing. But wait—surely he wasn't blasting that clip into every Dead Zone streamer's room… right?