Headset
The stream I hadn't planned on had turned out surprisingly fun.
The total dopamine hit was on a completely different level from when I just quietly played games alone.
Pull off one super play and the chat went WAAAAAH—
Even when I went for pure show-off plays, WAAAAAAH—
That taste was so subtly addictive it kept floating back into my head at night.
If there was just one regret…
I should've done a closing greeting like Momozi…
Right in the middle of having a blast streaming, Mom tried to come into my room, so I just killed the computer power.
I jammed the power button with my big toe and ended the stream.
And my computer probably screamed.
Sorry. Your pathetic owner is sorry.
I had no choice — I couldn't get caught by Mom…
Propping my chin on my hand in class, I replayed last night's chaos.
So… did the explanation actually land?
It had been pure confusion at first, but later, once I was playing, the chat didn't seem all that bad.
I'd turned on the stream to take the toxic aggro that had gotten drawn to Kim Eunha's broadcast, but who knew how that part had turned out.
Haah… Kim Eunha will never know about my quiet sacrifice.
I looked out the window at the blue sky.
Someday the day would come when I got thanked for this.
"I might be kind of cool."
Separate from my personal sacrifice, I wanted to stream every so often.
That rush of pride when you pull off a gorgeous play and watch the chat light up!
If I turned it on every time I played Dead Zone, it wouldn't get boring at all.
I did get sniped quite a bit.
There was only one guy who'd deliberately trolled.
Most of them just snuck up beside me and made a whole-body production of recognizing me.
Since I had chat blocked, I had no idea about the ones on the enemy team.
Unless they had a streamer name stuck right in their nickname, there was no way to tell.
Getting sniped didn't make me explode like Durihyeok or anything.
Maybe everyone just wanted to try a collab stream once, same as me?
I'm going to be a streamer who's open to collabs.
I clenched my tiny fist and gave a firm nod.
However.
There was exactly one thing standing between me and being a good streamer.
How do I get a mic.
To talk to viewers I had to keep opening Notepad mid-game, and it was seriously inconvenient.
Viewers might not care since they were just watching with their eyes, but I couldn't fully focus on the game — which meant I couldn't show a hundred percent of my skill.
I'd secretly torn through the house without Mom and Dad noticing, but a thing I'd never even seen before wasn't going to just materialize out of thin air.
If I asked them to buy me one and they hit me with "What do you need that for?", I had nothing.
Save up my allowance and get a cheap mic?
But then I'd have to cut out the chocolate rolls I bought from the school store.
"Ugh, th-that… anything but that…"
Just imagining it was agony.
Speaking of me — I was the kind of human who'd built a brick wall between myself and saving money.
Anyway, in the future I'd sell cards and stocks and become filthy rich.
I flexed my allowance the second it hit my hands.
And even if I did cut the chocolate rolls, I'd have to save for several full days just to barely scrape together one cheap mic.
Picturing myself walking past the school store display in tears for those few days…
The grief was already welling up.
What even was a mic, that I had to put my precious snacks up as collateral for it.
There's no answer to this.
As I lay face-down on my desk groaning…
"You feeling okay? What's wrong."
Siyeon quietly came over and asked.
For a moment, emotion surged up in me.
That's Siyeon for you. Kindergarten classmates really were built different. To notice right away that I was this worked up—
I answered maturely.
"No, I'm not sick."
"Liar! Then why aren't you eating your yogurt?"
"…?"
"Don't tell me it's a terminal illness…? There's no way Chaewon would leave the snack that came with lunch."
"Hey."
Who are you calling a pig.
I was an idiot for being moved even for a second.
Still, I figured I might as well ask.
Without high expectations.
"…Siyeon, do you happen to have a spare mic?"
"A mic? No? When would I ever use something like that."
Well, I'd expected that, but I still let out a heavy sigh of disappointment.
Kim Siyeon tilted her head.
"You need a mic?"
"Yeah."
"Just a mic? You have earphones or something?"
"I have earphones."
"Ahh. Then a headset with a mic would work too, right?"
"…Huh? Yeah. That might actually be more convenient."
Then what's the problem, Siyeon's eyes seemed to say as she blinked.
"Just go to Nero PC Room and ask for one."
"Huh?"
"The owner there would die for you if you asked him for something. That place is crawling with headsets."
"…Ah."
Wait, for real?
Is she a genius.
Considering how much I've done for him.
A headset or two should be fine, right.
Thankfully I can protect my chocolate rolls— no. I can stream safely.
The second class ended, I sprinted for the PC room.
Ever since Mom bought me a computer, my visits had basically stopped.
But every once in a while I'd still sneak by.
If I wanted to game with Siyeon, we eventually had to go to the PC room.
But this girl doesn't even play games properly when she comes, so why does she always beg me to go together.
An unsolved mystery for the ages.
Creeeak—
When I pushed open the door, my eyes locked with the owner's at the counter.
"Oh my! Look who it is, long time no see! Here to game?"
"Hello, sir."
"Want a drink?"
"I'm good."
This PC room always had something different every time I came.
Glancing around the shop, it looked even nicer than before.
What'd he upgrade this time? Seems like the owner pours every won he makes straight into upgrades.
Anyway, I only had one concern right now.
"Sir, sir."
"Hm? What."
"Do you happen to have a spare headset?"
"Headset? Haha, listen to this. I just went all out and replaced everything. Look at those. I put the latest models that gamers use these days on every single seat. The sound is just—"
So he got new ones.
I quietly listened to him excitedly rattle off his equipment bragging.
Normally I would've cut him off mid-sentence long ago.
But a person has a conscience.
When you're here to ask a favor, listening to this much is just basic human decency, right?
After talking for a while, the owner finally seemed to come to his senses and cleared his throat. Ahem.
"Goodness, look at me. Right, spare headsets? There's quite a few of the old ones. Haven't gotten rid of them yet, so they're in the storage room."
"Yes! If you have extras, could I take one?"
"Aww~ of course, they're not even expensive. Those are cheap stuff. No wait. Forget that. Take one of the latest models I just bought."
"Huh?? No no. You don't need to do that."
"Come on, look and decide. Wait a sec."
I really just needed a cheap model, but the owner excitedly scurried off to the storage room.
A moment later.
"Here, this! How about it, cool right? Wanna hear the sound?"
The headset he confidently pulled out was, indeed, impressive.
But.
"…It's pink?"
"Ah, there are various colors. I picked one Chaewon would like. Want me to show you other colors?"
"……"
Hmm.
The pink sheen was glossy and shiny.
Whether I liked it or not, I was here to receive something, so I couldn't be picky, right?
I suppressed the way my mouth was watering and answered.
"…Are you sure I can have this?"
"Oh please, of course. Take it, take it. Aww, it suits you so well. Cute, so cute."
Normally I'd have made a rainbow of faces, but today I had something to receive, so I held it in.
"Thank you. I'll use it well, sir."
I bowed politely.
Walking out of the PC room with the pink headset hugged tight to my chest.
"Heh—"
The corners of my mouth kept twitching up on their own.
Momozi — Kim Naeun — was someone who had watched DualKingChaechae's shocking stream all the way through to that abrupt, sudden stream-end.
What happened?
When a stream cut out like that, it was usually a computer problem or a network issue with the broadcast, but…
No notice of any kind had gone up on DualKingChaechae's channel, so she couldn't know the exact cause.
She might just disappear like this.
She'd already said everything about how unfairly she'd been treated.
But from what little Kim Naeun had seen of the stream…
I think she'll come back.
She clearly got that distinct streamer vibe of someone who likes the attention.
Even while hammering away at Notepad she'd looked somehow excited, and that was the symptom of a drug you couldn't easily quit once you'd had a taste.
Kim Naeun knew that type very well. There was one just looking in the mirror.
And no matter how many toxic viewers and controversy-curious newcomers there were, pulling a few hundred viewers on your first stream wasn't easy.
She could boldly guarantee that DualKingChaechae would return.
So she'd set notifications and hit follow, and then—
DualKingChaechae's stream has started.
"She actually came."
Early for a streamer.
The stream went live at 4 PM.
It wasn't time for her own stream yet, so she logged on just to watch.
Yesterday communication hadn't worked, so they wouldn't have realized how stifling the screen felt — viewers would probably get mad and tell her from the start.
The moment she entered the room, the chat was pure chaos, trolls tangled up in an all-out free-for-all.
The spam parade made her frown on instinct.
I want to mod this chat so bad.
Those kinds of people needed to get banned on sight.
Then the frozen mouse moved, and—
Static—
"Ahh! Ah! Does this work?"
"…Huh?"
Before she could even process the situation—
On screen, the mouse aimed at the chat scrolled with a click-clack and stopped.
A clear, pure, beautiful young voice rang out.