Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Who Are You Trying to Crash the Stream Of!
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Occasionally, days like this come around.
Even though you're already doing nothing, you feel an even stronger urge to do absolutely zilch.
You've rested plenty and even slept in, but your body feels inexplicably exhausted anyway.
No real reason for it, but your mood is inexplicably down in the dumps.
Today was exactly that kind of day.
Waking up to the soft patter of rain as background noise, a thin trickle of water trailed down my cheek.
At first, I thought it was rainwater leaking through the window.
But the bed was quite a distance from the window, so that didn't make sense.
Next, I wondered if the upstairs neighbor had a leak, but checking the ceiling ruled that out too.
After running through and dismissing a few hypotheses like that,
I finally landed on the most likely... and least welcome explanation.
Yeah. I had cried.
For no reason I could name.
Soaking the blankets through, bawling my eyes out.
"I... cried...?"
One of my personal mottos was, "A man cries exactly three times in his life."
No matter how sad or painful things got, I never let myself ugly-cry in front of anyone.
That was the ideal image of a community warrior and online powerhouse, in my book.
But ever since becoming Lee Min-ji, I'd already cried twice.
Once when the gender-swap curse hit me, and the other just this morning.
The period cramps? Fine, that was an unexpected new kind of agony crashing the party—unavoidable.
But these tears right now? What the hell were they for?
Tears with no explanation, emotions sinking into depression that I couldn't control at all.
Feeling a strange disgust at all of it, I grabbed an umbrella in a hurry and headed to the PC bang.
I figured messing around with viewers on stream—teasing them and getting teased back—would chase away this weird funk and all these feelings.
To reiterate: today was the absolute worst.
Splash!
A passing truck barreled through a puddle, drenching me with a cool spray.
"Hey, you look totally my type, so maybe...?"
"No thanks."
I got hit on by a creep who made my skin crawl just looking at him,
and to top it off,
"Argh, damn it...!"
my umbrella flipped inside out in the wind and rain, ruined.
Today of all days, it felt like the whole world genuinely hated my guts.
But the hardest part to endure was this: the more I walked rain-slicked streets,
"Urp..."
the more my stomach churned, nausea surging up.
"Urk—bleeeech!"
I barely made it a few steps before hurling into the nearest gutter, vowing inwardly.
Never step outside again on a rainy day.
I should've realized it the moment I first woke up.
The annoyingly grating rain sounds, and the disastrous morning that came with them.
But I'd never experienced anything like this in my life,
so I chalked it up to a minor funk and left the house anyway.
"Urk—bleeeeech!"
And this was the result.
At this point, I had no choice but to notice:
Lee Min-ji hated rain.
Not just disliked it—strong enough rejection to trigger nonstop puking.
Of course, there was something odd about it.
This body was definitely Lee Min-ji's, but the soul inside was Lee Min-uk's.
There was no reason I'd have such a violent reaction to rain without any of her memories.
Memories are the core pillar of a person's identity.
Without them, the soul's just an empty shell.
If I had to guess,
Lee Min-ji's "aversion to rain" must've been so deep it was imprinted on the body itself, beyond mere memories.
That's the only explanation that fit right now.
"Urp... damn it, what the hell happened to make it this bad... argh..."
I wasn't particularly curious about what kind of life past-Min-ji had lived.
But if that past was gonna screw with my new life this much, that changed things.
In a rainy country like this, living with a flaw like that was gonna be a hassle.
— Pastor Kim Everything okay? It's gonna rain steadily for a while... I'm worried. Pastor Kim's message today was laced with extra concern. Looked like something really did go down on a rainy day...
But asking the person involved point-blank, "Hey, did something happen to me on a rainy day?" would be weird as hell.
"Should I just check into a psych ward...?"
No, more importantly—
"How the hell do I get home...?"
Right now, I was stranded on some street between home and my usual PC bang.
My umbrella was half-flipped and useless,
and walking home in the rain would just trigger this damn reaction again.
"...Crap."
Ducking into the nearest PC bang like my life depended on it wasn't a bad call.
Sticking around to listen to that rain any longer felt like it might break my brain.
No single booths, no dual-monitor setups—terrible for streaming, but...
Eh, I wasn't in any shape to stream properly anyway, so whatever.
Just wait out the rain here.
"Okay, perfect."
I booted up the PC, carefully posted a hiatus notice in the gallery,
and—
"...Zzz..."
—with sleep BGM playing through the headset, passed out cold.
Even though I'd already slept over twelve hours.
Somehow, the fatigue dragged me under again.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Hmm... so, like,
— Suha Yam "Sis took a break, but why are you screwing around in my stream?!" How do I even explain this?
I'd definitely just meant to close my eyes for a bit since I was wiped out.
Gaming chairs aren't made for deep sleep, but my exhausted body couldn't care less.
A few hours of napping later, I came to and...
Somehow, I was backseat-gaming in Suha Yam's stream.
Did Lee Min-ji have sleepwalking issues or something?
Whatever, secondary concern.
"Hmm..."
Explaining everything that happened today would be way too convoluted and long-winded.
— Pure Advisor donated 1,000 won! Because of the rain..? So I summed up my situation as briefly as possible.
And the root cause of the whole mess, too.
— Chat "...What does rain have to do with backseat-gaming in my stream?!" — Chat -What's that even got to do with anything... -lololololol -Conclusion: no reason -Huh? lol — Pure Advisor donated 1,000 won! Right..? — Suha Yam "No, it's not 'right'—! Aaah..." — Chat -Whoa she's gonna faint lol -Suha's personal low-blood-pressure cure -She doesn't just cure Suha tho -Quit screwing around and start your stream already!!! Honestly, there wasn't much reason.
If I had to pick one, maybe because it'd be fun?
— Pure Advisor donated 1,000 won! (She's kinda my disciple, and I've been slacking on checking in lately... Think that'll fly, guys?) — Chat -Yeah that'll work for sure -It'll work cuz she's an idiot lol -Lmao she's so dumb lololol — Suha Yam "Aaaah! You just did it cuz you were bored! And who're you calling dumb? You guys getting banned?!" Whoops, only sent the part in parentheses.
— Chat -Sorry sorry -^^7 -Byebybyby — ㅇㅇ donated 1,000 won! Final defense time, let's go Suha — Suha Yam "I dunno, even if I make sis do final defense again, I'll just look dumb, so don't get my hopes up." — Chat -Lmao -How'd she know -Suha you bitch quit playing here and stream [Banned viewer] -Why's gallery main here..? About an hour of advice later, Suha's skills had noticeably improved.
And with it, my lingering gloom started lifting bit by bit.
— Pure Advisor donated 1,000 won! Still way better than before tho Feeling better by doing good deeds for others, huh?
Guess I was just born with a kind heart.
— Suha Yam "...R-Really? Hehe... All thanks to sis." — Chat -lolololololololol -Hour of roasting capped with praise -Is this that gaslighting thing? — Pure Advisor donated 1,000 won! Just pay a bit more attention to holy gauge, cast channel skills after boss patterns, save purges, don't greed cycles and get hit, conserve pots, keep debuffs refreshed, and care more about DPS patterns and it'll be good! — Suha Yam "Th-That's basically saying nothing's wrong in the end!" — Chat -lolololololololololol -That's just straight roasting -Suha suddenly looks exhausted lol -She's gonna pass out before collab even starts ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Suha Yam—who'd been collabing a lot lately with Saintess Nice and Shield Eder—finally went solo for the first time in ages.
Today was Eder's regular off-day, and Saintess Nice had abruptly announced a hiatus too.
Being suddenly alone felt awkward, sure, but Suha—who'd streamed solo plenty before—adapted quick.
And then,
— Pure Advisor donated 1,000 won! No holy skills used for 20 seconds... 21... 22... — Suha Yam "Oh right! I-I used it! Just now!" — Pure Advisor donated 1,000 won! Skill cooldown's 18 sec, so you rolled it twice I guess... No big loss besides DPS dip from DPSers, so fine! — Suha Yam "Eek..." Tasting Saintess Nice's "advice" for the first time in a while, she got smacked around before she could even recover.
— Chat -Ow teeth breaking Suha -lolololololololol -Saintess Nice quit it here and stream already!!! -Why hiatus just to do this lolol -She went on break for this? ㄷㄷ That said, Saintess Nice's backseat-gaming didn't bother her.
It was all just WWE-style hype for the stream anyway.
If it really grated, Suha would've cut her off sharp ages ago.
— ㅇㅇ donated 1,000 won! Seeing Suha get smacked around after so long is pure gold — Suha Yam "What? You punk... wanna get banned?!" — Chat -Upvote -Her strutting lately cuz skills improved was annoying af fr lol -Saintess Nice do this more often -Call her 'Pure Advisor' not Saintess Nice lol Besides, Suha owed her big-corp growth to troll viewers like this and her signature punchy reactions.
When Ias tanked and her trolls started bailing, her views tanking,
Saintess Nice comet'd in, beating up Suha to satisfy the masses—a perfect sub.
Plus, she absorbed Suha stream's toxic chat right off the bat, turning herself into a "detention camp."
From Suha's view, Saintess Nice was a godsend jackpot.
— Suha Yam "Hoo... I'm beat, guys. Short break till squad collab... like 5 mins..." Though the mental fatigue from that jackpot was insanely off the charts.
— Chat -She looks beat lololol -I'd be wrecked too after hours of that -Tough as nails not banning her lol Hiss... glug!
Chugging a fresh energy drink from the fridge for a quick breather, Suha got a DM ping.
Ding ding
From Poly, one of her squad collab mates.
— Poly Suha big trouble Our sub supp for today bailed last minute Know any supp streamers..? 'Supp streamer...?'
I knew one person who fit.
— Pure Advisor donated 1,000 won! 19th donation streak lol [Clip playing...] — Chat -Crazy bitch lololololololol -Mega Nice -Let's gooo~ let's gooo~ — Suha Yam "Hey, you crazy bitch! Who're you trying to crash the stream of?!" — Chat -Lmao -Oof -Their swears leveled up too lol -lolololololol -Suha snap what But this crazy bitch was definitely a no-go, right?