Don't Do It

I just stared at the screen, completely frozen.

“...Huh?”

“...Huh?”

What the hell. Why is he acting like this toward me?

“...Huh? Um, excuse me… Owen-nim, are you Japanese…?”

Aha.

…What exactly did I do today for him to say all this? We just played three games together and one 1v1. I didn’t even teach him anything specific. Yet here he was, treating me with such goodwill. It felt strangely uncomfortable. But not in a bad way.

“Well… I can’t do it too often, but… maybe once every two months or so….”

I accepted the request.

“Ah, yes…”

It feels burdensome. Maybe I should cancel while I still can….

“Haa…”

These days, Tyuni was busy. It was all thanks to her suddenly walking a very successful path as a streamer. For some unknown reason, her average viewer count had jumped more than five times. When the tide comes in, you have to row. Knowing the meaning of that saying better than anyone, Tyuni had been cutting back on sleep and throwing herself into all sorts of work lately.

“I hope things keep going like this…”

Swallowing that wish, Tyuni logged into her fan cafe.

The fan cafe was noticeably more lively than before. The atmosphere felt completely different from the chat during her actual streams, which ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gave her a slight sense of alienation, but just seeing the titles of the newly posted threads filled Tyuni with energy.

While skimming through the latest posts, Tyuni came across one that stung quite a bit. She had never done a collab before. For over three years while she was still a small-time streamer, she hadn’t had any streamer acquaintances, and no one had ever offered her a collab first.

…But just like the comments said, her channel had grown considerably recently. It wasn’t completely out of reach anymore.

“A collab, huh…”

In Tyuni’s current situation, where she needed to prepare as much content as possible, a collab was one of the best options. The only problem was that she still didn’t have any streamer friends close enough to collab with….

“Ah.”

Recalling one particular fact, Tyuni immediately logged into MissCode and sent a DM.

Tyuni knew it too. That doing a collab with Lene was a bit of a gamble. No matter how fast Tyuni was growing lately, the gap between her and Lene—who was starting to climb into the big leagues—was still massive. Some people might think she was trying to ride Lene’s coattails.

Even so, Tyuni wanted to collab with her. Her stream had only started growing after she shook off the inferiority complex she felt toward Lene. Of course, there was no actual connection between the two. It was probably just that all the effort Tyuni had put in until now was finally paying off. Still, the fact that her mindset had changed was true, and Lene had been the catalyst.

Tyuni wanted to express her gratitude and get closer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to her.

“Going out to hang out together would be nice too, but…”

Considering Lene’s personality that she had seen in real life, that was probably realistically impossible, right? Then it would be better to start by approaching her in a professional capacity. After much deliberation, the conclusion she reached was a collab. It was a way to satisfy both the fans who wanted to see a collab and Tyuni herself, who wanted to get closer to Lene.

And Lene’s reply was:

A straightforward acceptance. Probably.

A sudden collab offer came from Tyuni. Honestly, I wanted to refuse because it felt burdensome, but it was hard to turn down a proposal from someone who had helped me so much.

I was wondering what we would play when another message arrived from Tyuni.

We Chained? It was a game name I had never heard before. What kind of game was this?

Curious, I immediately clicked on the OnTube link Tyuni had sent.

The voices coming from the OnTube video were all familiar. When I checked the video, the title was “Sirius Team’s We Chained! One of them is the culprit.”

Ga-eun. Owen. Rex. Aris. Atal. Everyone except one was a familiar name. Come to think of it, I think Prophy had mentioned he was called up to the first team this time. The previous first-team top laner had been demoted to the second team due to personal reasons. So that Atal person must be the former first-team top.

Even though Aris said that, the corners of her mouth were lifted, so she didn’t seem actually angry.

…It looks fun. It seemed like a game where multiple people worked together to escape a maze. The unique part was that several players’ bodies were chained together….

Hmm. Anyway, it looked interesting. If I played this with Tyuni, wouldn’t everyone enjoy watching?

…Hmm. If I play with Tyuni, there probably won’t be any frustrating moments.

[Lene]

[Streaming with Tyuni-nim]

[We Chained | 2,101 watching | 00:00:12]

If it’s her first time, it makes sense to be nervous. But she didn’t need to worry. I was way more nervous.

…I feel like I’m going to throw up.

“Haa…”

This person… her claim that she’s nervous feels like a lie. Thinking that, I unmuted my broadcast microphone.

“Um, uh… Hello, everyone…. As I announced beforehand, I’m doing a collab with Tyuni-nim today…”

After greeting my believers like that, I entered MissCode and waited. A moment later, with a ding, Tyuni logged in too.

“Ah, hello…”

…Ah. I forgot.

“Um, everyone…. The game we’re playing today is that ‘We Chained’ game…”

“...?”

Why. What is it?