The Blood Cult's Challenge

Recently, Minji had been getting a real taste of what popularity actually felt like. [Viewer Count: 875] Not even three minutes into the live stream and already over eight hundred people had piled in. The sheer scale of it was overwhelming.

The chat window was flying by so fast it was almost impossible to read. Donations kept popping up every time things got quiet.

She had long since shed the newbie label. At this point she could comfortably call herself a mid-tier streamer. Interest was up, revenue was up, and naturally the person enjoying all those changes the most was Minji herself—

weeeeeeeng weeeeeeeng

—and she was not happy about it.

First of all, she didn’t like the reason she’d gotten popular. So what if someone who’d never built a PC before made a few mistakes? Sure, some of it ended up looking a little… suggestive. When she watched it back later she could admit it was pretty lewd, but that wasn’t the point. What bothered her was how everyone had latched onto one slip-up and started calling her a goddess or whatever nonsense they were spouting. That was straight-up sexual harassment. If it had been any other female streamer they would’ve been hit with a lawsuit already.

In short, she hated that her popularity came purely from her body rather than her personality or entertainment value. If she’d wanted to get famous that way ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she would’ve turned the cam on ages ago and danced in a bikini. Minji had no desire to be known for that. At the end of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠day it was Lee Minji’s figure that blew up, not because people thought she was fun.

What had started as a way to pay rent had somehow turned into something she actually took pride in. Even so, she still hadn’t bothered writing a proper stream announcement. While waiting for more viewers to trickle in, she grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen, sat back down, unmuted her mic, and spoke.

“Behold, I have arrived.”

“Everyone back to their senses now?”

After casually resetting the chat’s usual chaos, Minji introduced today’s content.

“For those who know, today’s ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the ICK main bracket. There’ll be a thirty-minute delay during the matches and I won’t be able to check chat, so please bear with me.”

Minji flared up again. She considered hitting them with the mosquito sound once more, but repeating the same trick felt cheap. Besides, they probably didn’t actually believe she never read chat. No need to get petty about every little jab. Yeah, she’d be the bigger person this time. They probably didn’t enjoy getting smacked around every stream either. She was truly shameless in how much she believed she was a good communicator.

ding

“What? I’m last?”

When she joined the Nice Squad voice channel, Suha and Eder were already there. They had agreed to meet after finishing their individual stream openings, so this time Minji was the latest. She was usually the first one in—mostly because she barely did openings—so the result felt oddly unsettling.

[“Right? You’re always the fastest.”]

Minji thought, ugh, it’s because of the viewers. It wasn’t even a cam stream, but the second she started they all started spamming for cam. She’d only been late because she had to put down the riot they were causing today. Seriously, she wasn’t going to let this slide. One of these days she’d announce a cam stream and then immediately do a bell-troll the moment she turned it on. They’d all be thrilled to death. Heh, they were all dead meat. She was genuinely itching to ride the express train straight to rock bottom.

[“Let’s get going. The other team says they’re ready.”]

[“Which channel are we supposed to join?”]

[“Official channel 31. And don’t forget to set your stream delay and freeze chat!”]

“Okaaaay.”

The three of them moved to the official voice channel for the ICK main bracket match.

The team they faced in the round of 16 was Blood Cult. Their leader and master, Baek Eun-ha, was currently deep in thought.

“Hmm… It does suit her, but…”

[“What are you referring to, Cult Leader?”]

“It was a monologue. Shut up.”

[“Understood.”]

She had found a successor, but how was she supposed to hand over the master position? If she just walked up and said “Hey, you be master!” the other person would never agree. She would need to invite them to the guild first and slowly hand things over. The one saving grace was that Blood Cult was mostly an RP guild, so there wasn’t much she actually had to explain. It wasn’t that complicated. All she had to do was keep the overly-immersed members from overheating and stop them from fighting each other while staying neutral.

Still, how was she supposed to drag the person into the guild? They didn’t seem to belong to any guild, so a normal invitation might work, but the rumors said they would never join Blood Cult no matter what.

“Haa…”

It was all because of those Demon Cult idiots. If she ever ran into them in the field she was PKing them on sight. Those useless bastards.

As she rolled the problem around in her head, an idea suddenly struck. Since they were going to meet in the tournament anyway, why not propose a bet? If she lost, the other person would have to join Blood Cult. With all the attention on RP guilds thanks to the Demon Cult morons, having the Blood Cult master herself suggest a wager would definitely cause a stir. It was a bit underhanded, but since the opponent was also a streamer they probably wouldn’t be able to refuse outright.

Then another problem occurred to her. If she lost, what could she even offer in return? The bet wouldn’t work at all if there was nothing on the line from her side. That was a problem. For the bet to be fair, the other side also had to want something from her. Forcing someone into a bet was honestly pretty shameless too.

“Ugh… What do I do…”

While Baek Eun-ha was wrestling with her selfishness and conscience, one of her teammates spoke up.

[“Cult Leader, it’s time to move rooms.”]

[“Heh, I hear the opponents are famous righteous warriors from the orthodox side. We’ll have to slaughter them mercilessly.”]

Thankfully, her teammates had solved the entire dilemma in an instant. Yeah. If she stayed with these lunatics any longer her sanity wouldn’t survive. Seongna-nim? I’m really sorry. I know this is wrong and selfish and shameless, but I don’t think I can survive among these psychopaths anymore. So… please play along with my little act!

[“Nice Squad, please wait a moment. We’re currently conducting the Blood Cult team interview.”]

[“Got it.”]

Since the ICK main bracket was being officially broadcast, the pace was noticeably slower than the preliminaries. In the prelims the team leaders had just greeted each other, picked a map, and started. Here they had to do interviews, explain why they were participating, exchange trash talk, and only then begin the match.

“Haaah…”

Minji was currently dying of boredom. She wished they would just start already. She was so bored. Ah, she should’ve frozen chat later. Talking with these people made time fly.

While she was absentmindedly swinging her legs, a voice came through the channel.

[“Nice Squad, everyone?”]

[“Yes.”]

[“Blood Cult’s trash talk segment is about to begin. If you’re uncomfortable, please mute your headset for a moment. We’ll let you know when it’s over.”]

Oh, so they really were doing trash talk. They even gave a heads-up so people could choose to listen or not. They were being surprisingly considerate by warning that it might be distracting. Most normal people wouldn’t want to listen to someone insult them, but streamers?

[“I’m fine.”]

[“I’m fine too.”]

Trash talk could be great content if used well. It added spice and made the match more exciting. Which side was Minji on? Well…

“I want to hear it. Can’t miss this.”

Minji wasn’t the type to ignore it when someone was badmouthing her. Whether it made her angry or not, she had to listen first and then decide. She was the kind of person who had to taste something to know if it was shit or soybean paste.

A short while later, the voice of Blood Cult’s leader, Baek Eun-ha, finally came through the broadcast.

[“Greetings, Nice Squad. I am Baek Eun-ha, the Cult Leader of Blood Cult.”]

Minji tilted her head. Hmm… She doesn’t seem like one of those Demon Cult roleplayers, but calling herself a cult leader makes it ambiguous.

Baek Eun-ha continued, her voice trembling so badly it sounded like she was about to cry.

[“Greetings are done… so before the proper duel begins, this seat… shall convey my will…”]

She was putting on an incredibly awkward performance, clearly dying of embarrassment.

“Huh?”

[“What’s with her? Isn’t she from the same side as the Heavenly Demon Cult people?”]

[“Did someone force her? Her voice is shaking like crazy.”]

Baek Eun-ha’s voice wavered violently, thick with tears.

[“Nice Squad’s Blood Demon Witch! I-I challenge you to a wager!”]

“Huh? Me?”

Out of nowhere, the challenge was directed at Minji. She couldn’t tell why, but the atmosphere suddenly felt angry.

[“If this seat wins… th-then you must join Blood Cult! And become my successor—no, my heir!”]

Her voice sounded like she was on the verge of bursting into tears. Minji thought, If you’re that embarrassed then don’t do it in the first place. Those Demon Cult idiots had zero shame, at least. But more importantly—

“Why would I?”

Why the hell would I join Blood Cult, lady?