The Account Is Gone

The notice.

With hands that would not stop trembling, she read it again. And again.

"……Sniff."

If she just filed an appeal, that would be enough.

Then she could still save it.

Ah, if I just get Dad's card and ID and phone, I c-can save it.

She whipped her head toward the clock. Still only 5:40 in the afternoon.

Dad would not be home for a long time yet.

For now she crawled into the corner of the bed, pulled her knees to her chest, and curled into a tight ball.

Two years.

She had poured two entire years into this game.

Just earning the title she wanted had taken a full year of grinding.

Even without money she had thrown herself into every event until the character looked exactly the way she wanted.

Her little avatar with the floppy rabbit ears.

What about her friends?

She squeezed—

Tears plinked down one after another, and she hugged her arms even tighter.

All she had to do was wait for Dad to get off work.

Once ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Dad came home, everything would be fixed… right?

"……"

……Would it?

The fingers that had been fidgeting with the edge of the blanket went still.

Thinking about it, the fact that she had been playing under Dad's resident registration number was the problem itself.

How was she supposed to fix that?

In the end the rule violation did not change.

Lie to them? How?

And if she could not lie? Everything just… disappeared like this?

The more she turned it over in her head, the more every path led somewhere worse.

"Hic—"

It was her account…

She was the one who raised it…

She buried her face in her knees.

Until the world outside the window went dark, she stayed exactly like that, a tiny huddled shape.

News of DualKingChaeChae's suspension spread from the community boards to everywhere else in a matter of minutes.

A streamer's ban was always a sensitive topic, and because Lee Chaewon's star had been rising so quickly lately, the news traveled even faster.

"ChaeChae's voice on the phone was soooo cute. Curious about her off-stream voice? Jealous? Heh heh heh, next time I get the chance I'll let you hear it. I told her to call me Unnie and she got all shy~ One day I'm gonna hear it for sure."

At that same moment, Momoji had her stream open and was proudly recounting her call with Lee Chaewon.

Right in the middle of bragging about their off-stream conversation, a donation alert chimed.

"…What?"

She startled so hard her voice cracked.

Wh-wh-what??

"Wait, suspended? Why her? She cried? She actually cried?"

That lively ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠little kid, reduced to tears…

I need to contact her.

The second the stream ended she was going to call.

While some people worried, another stream was running.

Durihyeok's comeback special after a full week off.

On the desk sat a triumphant tofu feast: soft tofu, silken tofu, grilled tofu, even tofu kimchi.

"This is a prison-release mukbang. Don't laugh. I'm serious."

He had polished off about half a block of tofu when a donation rolled in.

"What?!"

Durihyeok slammed his chopsticks down.

"See?! I told you! It was hacks!"

"……Ahem. Oh, really? Name…?"

His eyes, which had been rolling awkwardly, lit up again.

"Wait! So she really was an alt— no, she wasn't, haha. Joke, joke."

Durihyeok swallowed the rest of the sentence, chewed his tofu, and carefully asked,

"So did that person also get a stream ban like me? First I'm hearing that violating the game ToS also gets you banned on the platform."

"Huh?! Why am I the only one getting discriminated against? ……is what I almost said. Ahem. Never mind. Let's just eat tofu."

"Oh, really?"

Durihyeok scratched his neck and cleared his throat.

"Nah, that just now was just me talking. Honestly, suspending someone on the platform over a game account issue is a bit much. That's going too far."

"Ah, shut the hell up you lunatics! It's my first day back! I'm trying to live quietly!"

News of DualKingChaeChae—Lee Chaewon's—suspension was dumped into every room that had ever been connected to her, and the endless flood of reactions poured right back into the communities as fresh fuel.

.

.

.

The day after the news broke.

And the day after that.

DualKingChaeChae's stream never came back on.

On the third day of total radio silence—no notice on her personal channel, nothing—another post appeared.

The sudden confirmation of Woniwoni's permanent ban set the communities that had almost quieted down blazing again.

With the person in question completely vanished, wild speculation ran rampant, and because rumors had already spread that Momoji was close enough to ChaeChae to have her number, the sparks flew her way too.

Fans asking after ChaeChae mixed with trolls who had come to sneer, and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠result was pure chaos.

Even so, Momoji did not care.

She immediately locked chat so only people who had followed for more than two weeks could type, and honestly none of that mattered to her anyway.

The problem was ChaeChae.

She had never given her exact age, but the more you looked the more obvious it was that she was young, and Momoji would jolt awake in the middle of the night worrying about her.

For two straight days she sent texts.

Have you eaten? If something's wrong just tell me.

Thankfully replies came, but they were short and sometimes took half a day to arrive.

And then out of nowhere, permanent ban confirmed.

Is she planning to never stream again?

There was no other reason she would just throw everything away without a single explanation and hole up.

Momoji already thought of her as a cute little sister she personally liked, but she also rated ChaeChae's streaming talent extremely highly.

It would be far too much of a waste for someone like her to leave like this.

And she had clearly seen how much ChaeChae enjoyed streaming.

Auuugh, what do I do.

But if she carelessly brought it up on stream, somewhere out there people would start screaming "Momoji that bitch is in on it too—" and the whole place would catch fire.

While Momoji was fretting and groaning, her phone on the desk buzzed.

The name on the screen:

[ChaeChae]

Lee Chaewon was calling.

"Ah…!"

Tap—!

Momoji hurriedly hit the mic ON/OFF button, killed the microphone, and sank into deep thought.

Answer? Or not?

If she hadn't been live she would have picked up instantly.

If she took it now, the aggro would be massive.

Even so.

Ah, screw it.

She was genuinely worried, and she could just leave the mic off.

First, off!

She hit the mic button again. Tap—!

"Hello?! ChaeChae?"

She snatched it up before the third ring.

She thought the other end of the line was quiet—

It was not quiet at all.

"……Hup."

The sound of someone holding their breath.

Inhale, swallow, inhale again.

"ChaeChae, slow down. What's wrong? Hm?"

"Um……."

The voice that finally came out was only half of what it usually was.

"I have something I need to tell you, so I called."

Polite speech, every single word.

The fact that she was still forcing herself to be polite even now made Momoji's heart ache even more.

"The…… coins."

"Coins?"

What coins?

"The Arena Coins Moji-nim gave me…… five hundred of them."

"Yeah yeah, what about them."

"Those…… hic."

Her words cut off.

"They…… went up with the account…… all of them……."

"The cash gifts you gave me too…… I didn't even get to use a single one…… hup, and now I can't even give them back……."

Ah.

The entire account had been wiped out.

After three full days of suffering she had finally managed to call, and the first thing out of her mouth was worrying about someone else's gift.

"So…… I-I'll pay you back. Hic. Five hundred…… that's a hundred ranked games…… no, looking at market price…… I even checked cash sites…… one coin is about a hundred won……."

"ChaeChae it's fine, stop calculating……."

"But I don't have money. Kngh…… six coins per…… hic, one game sooo…… I'll make a new account and pay you back real soon…"

"Stop!!"

Momoji shouted before she could stop herself.

"The coins are the problem right now?! You, your account……! No— are you okay?"

Her own throat felt like it was closing up.

From the other end of the line came the sound of a nose being sniffled.

"But……."

A voice that was shrinking smaller and smaller continued.

"But…… hup, those were things someone else gave me…… and this happened because I was stupid…… so it's my responsibility……."

"……."

She could feel how desperately the girl was holding back tears.

"……I don't need five hundred coins or five thousand coins or any of that crap. I gave them to you. They're not mine."

Momoji tried to keep her voice even, but—

"Hi— th-thank you. I called because I felt bad."

—Lee Chaewon forced a little smile into her voice, and that was what finally made Momoji's chest seize.

"Ugh, forget everything else and just answer one thing. Not me— you! Are you okay? Does Unnie need to help? Are you really okay?"

The worry poured out, completely sincere.

"……."

A brief silence flowed across the line.

Then—

"I'm not okay—! Uwaaaaaah—— what am I supposed to do about my ID—— hiiiiing! Kuh, kek-kek—"

The dam she had been holding back with everything she had finally collapsed.