Sneaking a Free Ride on a Streamer

"Hiiyaaaah...!!!"

I screamed and collapsed in front of the washing machine.

How did this even happen?

"Did I get punished for tossing out five slices of the pizza I ordered for lunch?! What is thisss!"

I’d only come out of the shower feeling fresh and clean, opened the washing machine, and suddenly this trial had been dumped on me for no reason.

In my hands was the lingerie panties I’d worn yesterday specifically to stir up trouble, now hanging there in a horrifying state.

I’d worn them straight through after taking the picture, and since they’d gotten wet, I’d tossed them in the wash...

"Why... why are they ruined? What is this? Why is it like this? Don’t tell me you can’t just throw lingerie in the washer?!"

I had followed basic common sense. It was dark black, so I hadn’t washed it with white clothes.

But no matter how I looked at it, it was ruined, wasn’t it? If I held it against my lower stomach now, it didn’t even compare to yesterday.

Still half convinced I was imagining things, I hurriedly pulled the damp lingerie panties back on.

"I-it’s... ruined."

Even taking the water into account, this was definitely ruined.

Why had it stretched out? And not only that—the pretty lace had been ripped to shreds too.

Did I need to wash it by hand after all?

"Uuugh..."

...And yesterday’s bra, which had been annoying to wear but I’d put on with the panties, had gone weird too, hadn’t it?

Was this what they called a wire? The stiff part inside the underwear was poking out?

Even to me, a man who’d lived more than twenty years in the body of a man, wearing this looked like torture!

"Guess I’ll just throw it out and buy new ones."

I took all the ruined underwear out of the washer and shoved it into a black trash bag.

"Lingerie... washing method... hand wash..."

On a desperate hunch, I searched the internet and immediately learned I’d done something incredibly stupid.

"You’re supposed to hand wash it or put it in a laundry net and press the lingerie cycle... ah, there it is, that button..."

The big washing machine had a very kind little button labeled Lingerie Cycle.

Why hadn’t I seen that? I’m sure I looked at it when I started the wash. Am I an idiot?!

"When I was living as a guy, I didn’t need to know any of this. Seriously, what a pain."

Next time I used the machine, I was absolutely not going to do something this dumb.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Since I’d already decided to splash money around, I wanted to place first in the clan battle too.

The truth is, winning first place in a clan battle is simple.

You just need clan members who can score high.

"No matter how strong I am, I can’t do the work of thirty people at once! I need to think about this coldly."

Honestly, maybe I could manage the score of five average users, but thirty was impossible.

A clan could have up to thirty members, and the chance to earn points was equal for everyone.

"Everyone gets three attack attempts, and the important thing is how fast and accurately you handle the bosses that appear in order."

There were all kinds of strategies, but in the end, what mattered most was having clan members with real combat power.

That meant I needed to gather clan members now.

So how did I get them to join?

If I posted on the Galaxy Express Gallery, would people flock to me right away?

"That’s nowhere near enough... I’ve got 4 billion won in my account, but there’s nothing else I can really buy in Galaxy Express!"

I hadn’t looked through the entire shop, but in a game like this, nothing showed off your spending power quite like character pulls.

But Galaxy Express had only just launched.

If it were an old game, I could brag about my spending ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by maxing out every character released so far, but not now.

Right now, I didn’t have a proper way to show off how much money I could burn.

There was no choice but to admit that the power of money alone would be weak when it came to drawing people in.

"Then I’ll have to get famous. Once you’re famous, things somehow work out."

Why did streamers and VTubers have clans overflowing with people?

Human psychology, that’s why.

Because people would rather mess around under someone who clearly shines than struggle alongside thirty random nobodies they don’t even know.

That was exactly why so many galleries always ended up in friend-group drama against the moderators.

Sure, those people had power too, but they also got swarmed because they were names.

"But what if I bragged about being a girl and used that to gather clan members? Mm, absolutely not."

That kind of thing would trigger way too much backlash.

I wanted people to say I was impressive and cool and awesome, not treat me like trash.

And from years of gaming experience, the guys who went crazy over women were almost never any good at the game.

"Then I guess I really do have no choice but to hitch a ride on a famous person."

The famous streaming site, Pazik.

There were thousands of streamers broadcasting all kinds of content there every day.

Among them were people whose main content was Galaxy Express, and the most famous of them all was a streamer currently known as Mallang-i.

There was also a person called Heretic, but she was more of a skilled type, and her viewer count wasn’t all that high.

She was good for absorbing information, but not the right person if I wanted to become famous.

"I was going to pull anyway, so~"

I turned on my phone, staring at the limited character banner that had changed overnight.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

"Hi-hi, nice to meet you! Hello, hello, YouTube friends! It’s Mallang-i!"

Picking Mallang-i had clearly been the right call.

He was a streamer with 130,000 followers and a steady 5,000 viewers on average, which made him perfect for sneaking a ride on.

"Today I’m going to pull for Galaxy Express’s new limited pickup character!!"

He’d answered my email properly too, and the fact that he’d cheerfully said he’d do a proxy pull for me had left a pretty good impression.

"Galaxy Express’s first~~! limited! Knowledge Lightning character!!! Let’s pull Ha Eunrich!"

Mallang-i, with a face somewhere between ordinary and handsome in a likable way, clapped furiously.

"A lot of people have been waiting for this limited character, right? I’m sure plenty of you watching on YouTube were looking forward to pulling this one too."

Mallang-i, true to his role as a streamer pushing Galaxy Express hard today, was planning to pull Ha Eunrich.

But before rolling his own account, he was going to do proxy pulls on accounts sent in by viewers.

That wasn’t even unusual.

"Among fans, he’s got the nickname of God’s Hand because his own pulls always flop but his proxy pulls are always fire!"

I was watching Mallang-i’s stream while eating the rose pasta I’d ordered for dinner.

Honestly, whether my proxy pull went well or not didn’t matter to me.

If it succeeded, that would actually be a problem.

"I’ve done some closed beta for Galaxy Express, unlike the rest of you, and back then Ha Eunrich was seriously strong."

"So, since this was a character I was pretty excited about too! I’m planning to pull for them today. But first! There’s a huge request from a viewer, so I’ll do their proxy pull first!"

Mallang-i clapped as he showed the game screen already logged into my account.

"A-ah... sorry..."

"I said something stupid earlier..."

When I came back from the bathroom, there was a message on Discord.

And Mallang-i, who was still live on stream, was sitting there on his knees.

"Wow... he really got utterly wrecked, huh."

The chat, which I skimmed over, was in complete chaos from teasing Mallang-i.

"No, um... everyone. Before the person who requested the proxy pull comes back, could you please, um, stop with those kinds of comments..."

People usually ask for proxy pulls because they’re hoping for a good result.

To “pull well” generally means not getting off-banner.

If you get off-banner, you usually need to spend another two truckloads—about 240,000 won—so everyone hopes for good luck.

But if a proxy pull goes full off-banner?

Six ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hundred pulls and only ending up at three breakthroughs instead of a full breakthrough count wasn’t exactly a normal disaster.

"Heh heh heh, honestly, this being a disaster is even better~"

I hummed to myself and sent a Discord message.

『It’s okay, Mallang-i! I feel like I would’ve flopped even if I did it myself!』

『I already stocked up on currency, so please relax and keep going for the full breakthroughs^^』

Mallang-i, who’d been prostrating himself in penance, shot up from his seat the moment he saw the message.

"O-oh! Thank you! Thank you so much! See, this viewer... everyone! Everyone! Look at this! They said it’s okay!"

"All right, all right! Then Ha Eunrich is at three breakthroughs right now! Three breakthroughs! That means we only need three more copies!"

Smiling, Mallang-i pressed the button in the gacha window that converted the premium currency known as Flashing Dream into the character-pulling currency called Rainbow Promise.

I always think of it as doing a single pull for 160 crystals, but the actual game system made you go through this conversion first.

...Just another dirty little trick by the company to make refunds harder, wasn’t it.

Anyway, the important part was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right here.

I waited for the moment of conversion.

"I can’t use all of the viewer’s crystals, so! This Mallang-i will use exactly 100 here! And pull three more Ha Eunrichs... huh?"

A suspiciously rich, insane account.

From here on out, it was time to show off in front of more than five thousand viewers.

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