Not an Easy Broadcast

"Evita, thank you so, so much for joining the fan club. I'll work hard on the stream, so please enjoy the show."

Yes! Yes!

She had gone live at five in the afternoon, and already it was eight. Now and then she had paused for water, and whenever her throat started to feel the strain she had dressed up a five-minute break as "music appreciation time," but she was worn to the bone all the same. Her throat genuinely hurt. Thinking back on it, she had never in her life talked this hard for three hours straight. Dropped without warning into forced labor, of course her voice was going to fall apart.

Still, I did it. I actually pulled it off!

If her voice went hoarse, that was a problem for tomorrow's her. Right now was the moment to celebrate clearing her first mission. She read off the nicknames of the thirty-odd viewers still lingering, one by one, said her goodbyes, and ended the broadcast.

"Haa... I'm dying."

The water bottle beside her had, somewhere along the way, been emptied clean. She took a fresh one from the fridge, wet her throat, and headed straight for the bathroom.

Finally. I have points.

Spend points, she had been told, and divine power would grant her all sorts of abilities. The catch was that the only abilities she could obtain were the kind meant to swell the Goddess's following and expand the faith—which, in the end, meant only the kind that would actually help a broadcast.

What can I even do with ten points? Hey. Any chance these points can turn me back into a man?

No, I already knew that. I just wanted to know how many points it takes.

...

Three thousand times what she had earned today. Even if she cleared one mission like today's every single day, it would take close to ten years. A sigh slipped out of her on its own.

Ha...

The road was far longer than she had imagined. Still, if she had to get there anyway, she could not afford to waste time dragging her feet. An ability that could make the broadcast take off... The first thing that rose in her mind was appearance. A beautiful face, and simply turning the camera on would more than double her viewers.

"What?"

She had only blurted it back out of shock, but when she turned it over, the number had a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠logic to it. The woman she had been picturing was one of the top stars who had the whole of South Korea in the palm of her hand.

Then what about something around here?

Then this much?

"Damn it!"

Even swapping a single eye, or a single nose, ran a baseline of about a hundred points. She was desperate to earn points as it was; at this rate she would be better off just getting plastic surgery. Not that she had the money for surgery either. Appearance, in any case, was a dead end.

Then what about her voice?

"Ha..."

Had she set the bar too high? She had been imagining the voices of famous voice actors, and the point cost dragged another sigh out of her. It was humbler than remaking her face, but from the vantage of someone holding ten points, it looked every bit as impossibly high.

In the end, the best she could manage was a slight improvement in how fast her throat recovered, or a reduction in the tremor of her vocalization so her pronunciation came out a little cleaner. And even that was so faint she could mistake it for a placebo.

Change of plans, then. For the time being, she would dig in and endure. She still had not even settled on a direction for the broadcast, so she would stockpile more points and sink them all in a single investment. With that in mind, she leaned on the Helper. Hurry up and hand over more missions!

Three missions generated at once. She was glad, sure—but offerings?

"Cut the crap!"

It really would try anything. Not that she could do anything but get dragged along by that logic anyway. Still, if she cleared every newly generated mission, she stood to gain thirty-five points.

Good. Motivation, surging!

Or so she thought—until that feeling collapsed without a fight the moment she woke the next day.

"Ugh..."

Her throat hurt. Not enough for her voice to crack or come out hoarse, but a dull ache that made her wince.

Did I overdo it?

Talking for three hours with almost no real rest had strained her body worse than she had expected. She boiled water, sipped it little by little, and ordered some of those supplements that were supposed to be good for the throat. It felt a great deal like locking the barn door after the horse was gone.

"What do I do?"

Taking today off would snap her momentum. Through a reasonably successful first broadcast, she had stamped her stream into viewers' heads. But she had only done it once, yesterday, so there was a good chance they would forget her just as easily. For that reason, rest was rejected.

Today's broadcast, then, had to aim for something she could run while talking as little as possible.

Of everything I can stream right now, the one thing that lets me talk less is games. Games, and nothing else.

She had no choice. At first she had written her own skill off as uncompetitive, but that had been from a man's standpoint. As a woman, it was different. Skill that hovered between Platinum 1 and Platinum 2. Among the female BJs who played Legend of League, that sat in the upper ranks. And since her main role was jungle, with ADC and top as secondaries, there was no reason for anyone to write her off as a Hyeji.

All right. Today, this is the play.

The decision was made. From here on, it was time to prepare.

Before she knew it, it was five in the afternoon. It was not a fixed time slot, but yesterday, before she signed off, she had told her viewers she would probably go live again at five. A promise was a promise. In a lighter mood than the day before, she pressed the button to start the broadcast.

The screen washed white. A moment later the familiar Legend of League client filled the center. Fierce BGM swelled, the kind that set a chest buzzing, and her eyes went straight to the window of connected viewer names.

"..."

Unfortunately, it was still perfectly empty. Right. She had only just gone live. She set the greed aside and steadied herself. This was only day ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two. Better to put in the work than to sit around expecting results. Ah... of course, pulling aggro with the stream title counted as work, too.

Korean men, it was said, could endure being mocked for being bad at studying or at sports, but they could not endure having their skill at games disparaged. Thanks to that, the title aggro landed perfectly. Her gloom over the empty viewer list lasted only a moment. In a flash the list filled, and little by little the scrollbar grew dense.

"Hello, everyone. Good to see you. I'm Hani, and today marks day two of the broadcast."

The harder the aggro pulled, the faster chat plunged toward hell. Leave it like this and she might lose control of the broadcast, get dragged around, and crash the whole thing. An emergency measure to break the situation.

"Everyone! I'm sure you've got plenty you're curious about and plenty you want to pick apart, but let me start with the important fact. I am not a Hyeji."

"I'll prove it with actions, not words. Here. Look at my match history."

Starting with her most-played, Evil Queen, the roster unfurled: Daina, Jargan, Lillin, Noktan, and the rest.

"My main role is jungle, and if the lanes overlap I go top or ADC. It's not that I can't play support at all, but if you look at the share, it's under ten percent. Even then, am I a Hyeji getting boosted?"

Once she proved it outright, the mood in chat eased a little. At the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠same time, a welcome sound rang out.

Nice!

A pleasant start to day two of the broadcast.