My Money Is Locked Away
Why is that your money?
I'm going insane.
Is this place a living, breathing cash farm?
“Huh? Fighting cheer?”
“How did I do it again? Fighting! Like this?”
It had already been a full two hours since she turned on the stream.
At the start things had been so chaotic she'd fled straight into Dead Zone just to escape, but now she had nothing more than the chat window open in the waiting room and the reactions were still pretty solid even when she just chatted.
No—solid didn't even cover it. Donations were raining down from the sky like hail.
Every time she granted one of their little requests, money came flying in.
She did clumsy voice impressions just because viewers asked. She made up three-line poems for them. The most expensive—and most difficult—request of all was…
“Please buy me a cheeseburger?”
“Ugh… Please buy me a… Tidburger…?”
Her hands, feet, and all five major organs were curling up in secondhand embarrassment, but human greed knew no bounds.
It's not like my face is on camera anyway, right? Just think of it as shooting a commercial.
If she just toughed it out a little longer, the money would keep pouring in.
“Wow, thank you so much.”
She swallowed her shame and raked in the donations.
There had been requests to sing, too, but how was she supposed to belt anything out in a regular house?
“Hmm, I'll do it next time.”
Siyeon had dragged her to karaoke once before, and she remembered she hadn't sounded half bad. An opportunity would come someday.
She shoved the game to the back burner and continued the fiery communication (collection drive) until—
“Oh! Look at the time.”
Mom and Dad would be home from work soon. She needed to wrap it up. They would come in to say hello and throw her door open to tell her dinner was ready.
“I'll try to come back tonight if I can~”
Even without a cam she waved both hands around in excitement as she said goodbye.
“Byeeeeee.”
She ended the stream.
Then she yanked the corners of her mouth up so high they nearly reached her ears.
“Hehehe, I'm rich!”
Who knew such sweet, easy monetization even existed in this world.
Streamers rule!!
A whistle slipped out on its own.
Time to check the fruits of my labor.
She headed to her personal page to see how much the donations had piled up.
“Let's see, settlements… ah, here it is.”
And then the number that appeared on screen.
Kyaaaaaah—
It was blinding!
The monitor's glow looked even brighter than usual today!
Her cheeks had been stuck up near her ears for a while now and showed no sign of coming down.
Looking at the money made every scrap of self-loathing evaporate!
Hehe, from today on I'm eating tteokbokki every single day.
How shocked would Siyeon be when she heard this news? She might even look at the overnight lottery winner with eyes full of respect. Chaewon would put on just the right amount of airs, then pretend she couldn't refuse and order the soondae set for her too.
“Hee.”
This was so exciting.
Grinning ear to ear, she hit the withdrawal request button.
And then.
Ding-!
Members under the age of 14 may only settle funds after completing legal guardian authentication. Withdrawals are currently restricted.
“…Eh?”
What, what now?
That couldn't be right. She'd gotten authentication from Dad!
But this thing…
Somehow the button looked completely different from the one when she'd gotten consent to stream. It was as if it were saying, I'm not going to make this easy for you.
A faint unease began to crawl up her spine.
She swallowed hard and carefully pressed the button labeled [Submit Documents].
Identity verification documents.
Family relationship proof documents.
Legal guardian consent form.
Legal guardian ID.
Bankbook copy.
“Urgh…!”
The moment she saw the list she grabbed the back of her neck.
How on earth was she supposed to scrape all of that together and submit it without Mom and Dad finding out?
Wait.
Hold on a second.
“Th-then what about my money…?”
What was going to happen to her precious one hundred twenty-eight thousand won?
Unable to let go of hope, she endlessly mashed the withdrawal button that had locked itself solid gray. Click, click, click. A hundred times later the screen still didn't so much as blink.
The moment the reality truly sank in that there was no way, tears welled up all at once.
“My money… Give me back my money, you stupid machine! Waaaaah.”
The blood-price donations she had traded her dignity for shimmered right in front of her eyes, and she couldn't even touch them with a single fingertip.
She raged at the innocent monitor. She begged it. None of it meant a thing.
The second Kim Eunha turned on her stream she was hit with the most ridiculous claim imaginable.
“What? A girl? Who? Woniwoni?”
These malicious little shits had finally crossed the line and were now arbitrarily swapping other people's genders—she clicked her tongue, and yet…
…Is it real?
If by any chance it was true, at least that disgusting “boyfriend” framing would vanish on the spot.
She could let the queen bee and attention-seeker labels slide. But “boyfriend”? Absolutely not. Every time she heard that word it felt like the engine of her stream growth was getting choked off.
Without a second's hesitation Kim Eunha searched Dual King Chaechae and hit the most recent VOD.
What immediately poured out was—
An unmistakably female voice. No room for debate.
Hup.
Kim Eunha clapped a hand over her own mouth without thinking.
“Hey! You spent days straight just spewing insults and now you're saying that? If you have any conscience left, stay right here!”
She said the words, but even as another woman she had to admit the voice was captivating enough to charm anyone. Soft, yet when she got excited it brightened instantly with a clean, refreshing energy. It sounded a little young at first glance, yet the crisp, piercing diction kept snagging on the ear.
This woman is the same person who's cracked at Dead Zone?
They already had a connection of sorts, after all. If she was a fellow girl, maybe she could casually ask for some game tips?
“You wouldn't take a disciple, would you?”
She was musing like that while casually browsing Dual King Chaechae's channel when—
New!
A fresh post popped up on the board at perfect timing. She clicked it without thinking.
“…? What is this.”
The notice that appeared the moment she opened the post had the unmistakable vibe of a channel quitting.
In the VOD that updated just a few minutes ago she looked like the sunniest person on earth?
Just as Kim Eunha was staring blankly, wondering what on earth was going on, posts about Dual King Chaechae were exploding across the communities as well.
Stream snipers my ass.
I never liked the whole “destroy the civilian” thing from the start.
Did Chaechae throw games? No.
Did she snipe dozens of matches? No.
Did she stream snipe? No.
Did she snipe for no reason? No.
Was it a smurf rank game? No.
For fuck's sake they lost their minds over two damn matches.
I've run into more streamers while playing than that.
Well? Go on, refute me.
Why does listening to her voice heal me this much.
Can she just skip Dead Zone and keep chattering forever.
Let's just hang out in the waiting room haha
The revelation that Woniwoni's true identity was a girl was such massive bait that it buried every previous issue about snipers and cheats. A rare high-skill female player. A feminine voice that was the complete opposite of her tough playstyle. An irrepressible liveliness she couldn't hide.
Public opinion that had originally been little more than people taking out their anger flipped in an instant, and the community started regenerating posts at a historic speed on the premonition of a new gallery queen being born.
And right in the middle of all that, one more piece of news dropped.
Title.
Dual King Chaechae's bleak notice landed like a bolt from the blue. After that came nonstop arguments about the shortest retirement in history and whether “you killed her,” and roughly an hour passed that way.
What, so she's not quitting.
Phew, you crazy bastards why scare us like that let's gooo~
Contrary to everyone's worries, Lee Chaewon had turned her stream back on.
However.
But what the fuck is this vibe, where did the fresh cute act go.
I went to check out of curiosity and
what does she say when you donate?
Zero communication Dead Zone climbing what the hell is this supposed healing.
(Dual King Chaechae stream clip)
“Don't donate. It's just noisy. Just watch the game.”
“Cute my ass. You're banned.”
“I don't like your ID. Come back after you change it.”
“What. You want to talk? Wanna queue snipe? Come in. If you don't come or if you lose, you're banned.”
I made eye contact and got banned.
Answer me.