[TS] Malicious Sniper

Huuuh…

Waking up, I reached for my water bottle.

Maybe it was because I had tossed and turned all night, but I was really thirsty.

Glug glug- Glug glug-

Having quenched my thirst, I recalled the situation just before I ended the stream yesterday.

While stretching, the camera angle tilted up, potentially exposing my face on stream.

I wasn’t sure if my face had been fully revealed or not.

Since I hadn’t set the replay option, there wasn’t a video left behind.

People were tuning out since it was the end of the stream.

What worried me was that the camera’s angle was aimed right at my face.

Sigh…

This was a headache.

I wondered if my face was plastered in a sticky post on streamer-related community sites.

Honestly, I’d be lucky if just my face got posted; if a full-body shot was out there, it would lead to more trouble.

Even I could see that, as a guy, I now had nearly a perfect body shape as a woman.

Especially since the outfit I wore yesterday was just a sleeveless top with a thin cardigan.

If I had known this would happen, I would have just worn a hoodie.

I regretted wearing that sleeveless top yesterday, thinking I’d be comfortable.

I headed to the restroom, splashed some water on my face, and returned to my room.

My smartphone, which felt light before, now felt heavier than a brick lying on the street.

Was it really right to check the community?

I could just ignore it and not stream at all.

Even as I denied it in my mind, I found myself logging into the League of Legends community.

I didn’t have to see it, but my curiosity was too strong to resist.

Had my face really been made public?

If it had been revealed, what would the reactions be like?

Unable to suppress my curiosity any longer, I logged into the community.

I ignored all the ordinary posts and focused only on the posts that had multiple recommendations, the so-called ‘sticky posts.’

Numerous sticky posts appeared, and my eyes caught the title of the newest one at the top.

Title: If you think Barcode is a total stunner, give this a thumbs up – ㅇㅇ(223.62)

“…”

Glug-

So I really got posted.

Honestly, confirming this way erased all the swirling anxiety in my head.

Just like you can’t gather spilled water back, I decided to accept it and clicked on the post.

Content: [Photo] Here’s me first, lol

Attached to the post was one photo.

Long black hair that melded with red.

The deeper red at the ends stood out against the dark background.

Seeing my hair untamed after not fixing it post-wash made me feel a bit embarrassed.

My ruby-like red irises and brownish eyes held a mysterious vibe.

However, under those mystical eyes, the dark circles stood out, exuding an extremely realistic aura.

It was still strange to see myself in such a decadent atmosphere simply because of dark circles.

Thankfully, there was only a face picture; no other photos seemed to exist.

When I checked other sticky posts from there, nothing had pictures of my body in them.

Returning to the initial post, I scrolled down to check the comments.

[Total comments: 792]

ㅇㅇ(116.37): Kyaa kyaa

League Lord: Heeheung… What a beauty, I’m literally dying…

ㅇㅇ(59.1): Wow, wow

ㅇㅇ(101.1): If this isn’t staged, then I’ve liked it 230,000 times

Golden Mountain Tiger: Not only a Challenger in skills but looks too, huh?

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(101.2): This is correct

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(183.103): Finally, the Golden Mountain Tiger acknowledges it, haha

ㄴ Golden Mountain Tiger: Why the heck you trash talking?

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(223.62): For real, lol

ㅇㅇ(182.231): I’m crying and giving a thumbs up a hundred times

ㅇㅇ(59.41): Curry, you bastard, were you enjoying being hit by this beauty all by yourself?

ㄴ ㅇㅇ(13.8): So I’m transforming this into ASCII art for Harukasu, Curry, your stream is hell today

ㄴ ㅁㄴㅇㄹ(39.1): You gay… Didn’t you see what happened last time?

ㄴ Multi-Dog: That guy must be going on a date with Curry in court, lol

Milk Delivery Guy: But are you really Korean? Are those colored contacts?

…

…

…

There were too many comments to read through them all, but the reactions didn’t seem bad.

Honestly, I thought I’d get hate comments because of my behavior on the collab.

But there wasn’t much mention of the collab, with most comments focused on looks.

Before checking, I was anxious, but now that I had seen it, it didn’t matter much.

I wouldn’t be streaming much anyway, so there wasn’t any need to care.

Thinking about it, even if my face got exposed, it wouldn’t really change anything.

As long as the Night Move team didn’t go crazy and break the confidentiality agreement, there wouldn’t be any way for them to leak Choi Nayun’s private info.

I hadn’t been active on social media or community sites in the first place.

So, I sat down in front of my desk and powered on my computer.

*

A major problem arose.

And not just any problem, an enormous one.

Usually, Curry goes live in the evenings.

Up until then, I’d spend my time gaming.

But all the games I’ve been playing lately were boring.

League of Legends was in pre-season, so there was no fun in climbing ranks.

The RPG I usually played had promised a major update for a while without any progress.

Both games had stagnated, making gaming feel less like fun and more like homework.

Fed up with just playing games, I changed accounts to find a streamer to target.

There were streamers streaming League of Legends in the morning, but their tiers were too low.

It was an area where I simply couldn’t ambush them, and even if there were streamers in the Diamond tier, they weren’t popular enough.

Honestly, what kind of reaction would I get ambushing a small streamer with single-digit viewers?

With no streamers to target and no BJ to watch, I found myself unable to focus on gaming.

Ah, this is so boring.

Are there no streamers perfect for ambushing?

Just as that thought crossed my mind…

[NaeNeunSwordsman00 is live: Climbing Challenger Rank]

An alert for the Wandering Swordsman’s stream popped up.

Upon checking the alert, I smiled and joined the broadcast.

[Live]

[Current viewers – 1320]

Since our bet, the Wandering Swordsman had consistently streamed.

Thanks to this, just two minutes into the stream, over 1300 viewers were tuned in.

[Hello, Wandering Swordsman]

[Good morning again, Swordsman]

[The title seems intense, looking forward to today’s stream]

[Even streaming in the morning, such romance is alive, haha]

“…I really can’t get used to this chat room.”

Every single comment felt a bit off.

Like looking at a bunch of young old folks, or something.

It was a perfect atmosphere for some age-based jokes, but I didn’t want to stick around for long.

I waited for the Wandering Swordsman to show up.

Not long after, his voice drifted through.

“Ahem, can you hear me?”

[Loud and clear]

[Haha, nowadays it’s trendy to say ‘Mic Check’ instead, huh?]

[The concept has swallowed you whole, huh?]

[For that kind of dedication, it must be real…]

[You had me fooled, haha]

As more people gathered, the chat finally brightened up from its previous dead atmosphere.

If the mints had shaken any more, I might have had to leave the chatroom altogether.

“Today, we are going to climb 1000 points to Challenger that I couldn’t do yesterday.”

The Wandering Swordsman, having suffered a 9-game losing streak against me during the bet, was now near 900 points.

If he had lost 10 matches to me, he would’ve reached Grandmaster by now; how many games was he playing in just one day?

Most astonishing was the sheer dedication of the Wandering Swordsman to actively pursue ranking even during pre-season.

I logged in as Barcode just as he did; we both found matches simultaneously.

“It’s quite the effort. Why are you playing so hard in the pre-season? Um, just want to climb rank. No particular reason.”

“How high are you planning to climb? Personally, I’d love to reach 1500 points. It’s probably difficult, but I don’t want to give up.”

I remembered the Wandering Swordsman hadn’t said a single word during the matches on his first stream.

Yet now, he seemed accustomed to taking questions from viewers, smoothly conducting the broadcast.

[Current viewers – 3205]

Before I knew it, the Wandering Swordsman’s viewer count had soared past 3200.

While checking the viewer count, I realized I had finally matched, and shortly after, so did the Wandering Swordsman.

The chances of a successful ambush in the Challenger tier were far more likely than failing at this hour.

Having successfully ambushed the Wandering Swordsman without effort, I watched his stream during the ban process.

“Oh, by the way, I heard there’s going to be a Platform Tournament in early December.”

[Yep, that’s right]

[Are they going to be doing the Tournament with Dae-Ryeok? I saw the notice posted this morning.]

[Last time they were divided into real world and fantasy world, but this time it’ll only be the fantasy world, right?]

[The representatives for the Platform are chosen through a tournament system, right?]

[Swordsman, you’re certainly a skilled romantic. You must have received a scouting offer, right?]

What on earth was this talking about?

I rushed to check the notice from Trich.

Indeed, the notice confirmed that a competition between the internet broadcasts of Trich and Paprika was planned for early December.

Unlike last time where participants were divided into two realms, this tournament would only consist of the fantasy realm.

Additionally, being supported by Goliath Games Korea, the prize pool was massive.

Of course, this wouldn’t seem like much money to me.

“Actually, Curry did propose to me about being the mid-laner for his team.”

“What?”

I reflexively replied back to the Wandering Swordsman.

Did Curry really offer this to the Wandering Swordsman instead of the clear best player, Barcode?

I had tormented Curry plenty before, but there were times I felt bad and often donated to him.

After all, Curry wouldn’t think of Barcode and Nayun Queen as the same person.

The reason Curry chose the Wandering Swordsman over Barcode had to be based solely on our collab yesterday.

Sure, I had roasted him mercilessly in the collab.

But ultimately, Curry had raised his status once again thanks to me.

And yet, he approaches the Wandering Swordsman instead.

How could he?

I had done so much for him.

He should have approached me first instead of the Wandering Swordsman.

Naturally, even if Curry had approached me, I would have laughed it off.

But seeing that I wasn’t approached and only the Wandering Swordsman was, I felt a surge of envy stir in my heart.

Those old malicious feelings were stirring from deep slumber, ready to ignite.

For now, I picked Yone from champion selection and checked the ‘Qualifications for Entry’ in the notice.

The minimum qualification for registering for the Platform Tournament required over 50 hours of streaming time.

With a month left until the tournament.

In just a month, I needed to hit 50 hours of streaming?

That was a piece of cake for me, a rich NEET.

[zxcv1234 is live: Solo Queue]

I hastily went live.

To ambush Curry, the irritating one who had chosen the Wandering Swordsman instead of me.

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