Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Narrow Logout Angle
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A hamster running on its wheel and a human living through their day.
Though they seem like completely different beings, there's one thing they have in common.
Both are trapped in an endlessly repeating process, unable to reach any destination.
The hamster keeps running on its wheel but never moves forward.
Humans spend their time but lack certainty about where they're headed.
Even when they move, there's no real progress,
and even if they advance, the sense of accomplishment feels faint.
They're alive, yet often they don't feel it.
We think we're living our daily lives,
but in truth, we're quietly imprisoned in a jail by that very name.
I, too, was one of the inmates locked in the prison called routine.
My days always flowed in the same pattern.
Sleep in late, wake up for lunch, shower, head to my usual PC bang, and start streaming.
After the stream, grab some half-hearted dinner, go home, flop onto the bed, and scroll through communities on my phone.
Then fall asleep just like that, repeating the same day tomorrow.
Even if I had new experiences or went through various events—
I still couldn't escape this wheel.
Here's a question at this point.
Is the hamster on the wheel truly happy?
I don't know the answer.
>
It could be happy, or it might not.
The answer depends on the hamster's personality
and whether it knows of the wide world and dreams of it.
However.
If someone asked me if a "wheel-like life" was happy,
I'd answer without hesitation.
Yes, it is.
Why is it happy?
I couldn't give a clear reason.
Even if I had some basis to recall, the logic was lacking, and the evidence insufficient.
But happiness isn't something that requires proof or reasoning.
If you feel it that way and think it so—that's enough.
And I was fully content with my current routine.
Showering was a joy.
>
Ever since becoming a woman, entrusting my body to the warm streams of water made me lose track of time.
Streaming was fun, too.
>
Pondering what mischief to pull today or what to do brought great pleasure.
And lurking on communities had become an indispensable delight in my day.
After streaming and returning home to lie on the bed,
the indescribable anticipation of meticulously reading the good posts—I had no idea how to explain it.
Like this, I knew my routine was like a prison, yet I was a model inmate satisfied with my sentence.
Today was no different.
The preliminaries had a bit of tension, but overall, it was an enjoyable time.
The pride when my prepared strategy clicked perfectly,
the thrill of overcoming a crisis with quick thinking—they were real.
Of course, there were unpleasant moments,
but compared to the joyful memories, they were trivial.
After winning on Ghost Island,
the triumph of crushing them with skill on a relatively ordinary map was beyond words.
The day had already been plenty fun, but today's highlight hadn't started yet.
My day always ended with community browsing in bed.
"Hooah."
I finished a refreshing bath with warm water, roughly dried my hair, and threw myself onto the bed.
Carrying the post-bath high, I'd read the good posts and fill up on dopamine.
Was there a better way to end the day?
📰 Ias Gallery [Long post) Reasons why ICK is more watchable than expected] [Just stream the prelims too??] [White Dragon Pavilion is legit top dog] Entering the gallery, the boards were already flooded with PVP tournament talk.
Naturally, there'd be posts about our Nice team and me.
I closed my eyes for a moment, replaying today's matches scene by scene.
'Honestly... I was kinda-'
Amazing.
Of course, being a team effort, this win wasn't solely my doing.
But if I had to pick the one who shone brightest—
It was me.
'Ghost Island would've been tough without my judgment. Mhm.'
I'm a troll, not an attention whore.
>
But truthfully, trolls and attention whores weren't that different deep down.
Both were beings who couldn't live without others' reactions.
Yeah, right now, I was craving reactions.
People marveling at my plays, praising me.
"Kuh..."
I hadn't even read the posts yet, but my mouth was already watering.
I wasn't one to overrate myself,
but today's performance was flawless, I could say confidently.
So naturally, the reactions would be all praise.
With that expectation, I opened the good posts list—
"Huh?"
It was a bit different from what I'd imagined.
The content... wasn't quite what I'd expected.
"What the..."
There were talks about me, sure.
Thanks to Suha Yam's big-corp fame, our team had high visibility,
and about one in five good posts was about us.
But—
— Anonymous [That gong bitch is fucking insane lol] — Anonymous [Where'd she even find that thing?] "What? Gong...??"
Something felt off... My performance was getting less attention than the fact that I brought an instrument to the tournament.
"Come on... there's so much more to talk about."
Using an instrument as a weapon in PVP might've been novel.
It was familiar to my viewers, but not every Ias player watched my stream.
For first-timers, of course their eyes would go to the 'gong weapon' first.
Still—
"There was strategy... judgment... tons of that stuff..."
The scene calling ghosts with the gong, trusting Suha's protection to break the encirclement—
Shouldn't someone notice at least one of those?
There were so many highlight moments...
And in the second round, I didn't even use the instrument.
I straight-up butchered them with a one-handed sword!
— Anonymous [Suha trash hands? She's good tho??] — Anonymous [Bro Eder's physicals still on point] Suha and Bro Eder got all the praise.
"Why am I the only one—"
⭐ Top Comment — Anonymous [White Dragon Pavilion is insane fr] — Anonymous [Shoulda just let him solo lol] — Anonymous [Strategy = White Dragon Pavilion wins anyway] Scrolling down the good posts, White Dragon Pavilion's name dominated.
In a PVP tournament, attention on the rank 1 player was natural.
Still, still...
"I thought I'd be the biggest topic..."
Honestly... White Dragon Pavilion just physically dominated.
Doesn't my strategically dominant play deserve a little attention too?
Before I knew it, the post-shower warmth had vanished.
>
In its place settled damp, cold inferiority and jealousy.
"Ugh...!"
Was that why?
I made a mistake I'd never normally do.
Forgot to log out...
💬 Ias Gallery 📰 Tournament Analysis) Saintess this crazy bitch is actually insane lololol — Saintess Nice Everyone's just seeing the instrument and thinking 'this crazy bitch up to weird shit again'. But that gong was fucking OP cracked item As you know, Ghost Island has narrow sightlines so sound play is key (Ooh instant deal?.jpg) But Saintess from the start gathers ghosts with gong noise and collects souls to seal enemy sound - god move ... Gong has loudest sound among instruments so picked that on purpose, intelligent choice from the getgo (Saintess VS Warrior, Paladin 2:1.jpg) And not just that, in this scene here— — Anonymous tl;dr plz — Anonymous Oh... — Anonymous OP fucking lolololol — Anonymous ↳ Reply No wtf it's true?? lololololol — Anonymous ↳ Reply Saintess... fuck you're so pathetic fr... — Anonymous OP not logged out — Anonymous No 3-line summary? — Anonymous OP is Saintess fml lolol — Anonymous This post will vanish soon — Anonymous ↳ Reply Fr — Anonymous Tournament talk was boring af but this made it fun instantly — Anonymous Saintess just write another post already — Anonymous Gal log says it's real?? — Anonymous In that situ wasn't she Yingcha? How'd she crawl out? — Anonymous Wtf... she made a throwaway to praise her own play?? lolololol — Anonymous No way it was actually Saintess??? — Anonymous [Deleted post.] 💬 Ias Gallery 📰 Lol~ Already got screenshots~ — Anonymous (Tournament Analysis) Saintess this crazy bitch is actually insane lololol.jpg (Tournament Analysis) Saintess this crazy bitch is actually insane lololol2.jpg Where you gonna run — Anonymous Screenshotting this lol — Anonymous Reflex screenshot on seeing OP — Anonymous Caught ya bitch lol — Anonymous Heavy karma incoming... — Anonymous Dare turn on stream tomorrow — Anonymous Gonna go roast her too — Anonymous Thought it was big bait turns out fucking lol — Anonymous A girl who lurks gallery all day how'd she fuck up like that — Anonymous At this point suspecting it was on purpose fr 💬 Saintess Gallery 📰 Gal lord what the hell are you doing out there... — Anonymous What does "couldn't narrow the logout angle" even mean.. — Anonymous ? What happened — Anonymous (OP) Check Ias Gallery good posts — Anonymous No this real?? lol — Anonymous She gonna no-stream tomorrow? — Anonymous (OP) Don't let her you guys — — —
My usual day starts with rubbing crusty eyes awake, a refreshing shower, and lunch.
That flows into heading to the PC bang to stream—that's my routine pattern.
But today, the day was ruined before it even began.
And because of—
"Aaaah!!!"
That idiotic mistake I made last night.
I deleted the post late, but screenshots were already circulating the community.
Thanks to that, the hot topic in Ias community shifted from White Dragon Pavilion to me.
One might say stealing his spotlight was what I wanted, but.
Sadly, while I wasn't pessimistic about life, I wasn't that positive either.
"Ah... why'd I do that."
Clutching my head with both hands, I regretted yesterday's choice over and over.
"Why forget that... No, if I'd deleted it quicker..."
There were countless chances to fix it, but I did nothing.
The price? Not praise for doing well, but mockery and piling on for being pathetic.
— Anonymous Saintess did play well tho Some praised my play occasionally, but...
— Anonymous Saintess you lurking right now right? — Anonymous Don't forget to log out next time! — Anonymous Saintess hit back button quick lol — Anonymous Her personality she def checking gal 100% — Anonymous Prob doing it rn — Anonymous You bad boy lol — Anonymous Woo trash Even that was bait to mock me.
"Hoo..."
Feeling my face heat up from rising frustration, I somehow calmed my emotions.
I'm a warrior... a warrior who masters emotions.
Their mockery doesn't faze me.
Get excited and you lose, lose...
Yeah, everyone makes dumb mistakes like this once or twice in life.
It wasn't immoral; no reason to bow like a criminal.
"Right, what did I even do wrong?"
Forcing some dignity back, I headed straight to the PC bang and started streaming.
And then,
💬 Saintess LIVE ON: Hello~ — Chat -lololololololol — Chat -Not running, top tier — Chat -Saintess lololol — Chat -What even happened — Chat -Mad cuz no praise? — Chat -Pfft.. pf.. lol I regretted that choice.
Ah,
'Should've just taken the day off.'