[TS] Malicious Sniper

When I first received the cosplay advertisement email, I thought it would be hilarious if Curry did it.

Given Curry’s personality, she would definitely dislike such an advertisement, and I absolutely loved seeing her dislike it.

Even if I were to cosplay myself, I wanted to see Curry’s cosplay.

However, I had no justification to get Curry to do the cosplay advertisement. I pondered how I could somehow encourage her to do it voluntarily.

Thinking it wasn’t my style, I called Curry on Discord while she was streaming.

“Barcode, what do you want again?”

Maybe because she was on a losing streak, Curry responded rather bluntly. If I offered my proposal now, would she, feeling unwell, still say yes?

Of course, she wouldn’t, but a brilliant idea struck me, and I began to speak slowly.

“Curry, I received a cosplay advertisement—wanna do it together?”

“C- cosplay advertisement?”

Curry replied with a scoff, clearly amused.

“You know what I’ll say, right, Barcode?”

“Oh, so you’re declining? I was hoping we could do the cosplay ad together if you agreed. But it seems this one won’t happen, then.”

As I finished speaking, Curry’s gaze on the stream shifted to the bottom left.

The bottom left was where the chatroom was located, and it was currently blazing from my previous comment.

[Curry, are you insane?]

[Cosplay? Cosplay? Cosplay?]

[Curry and Joaquin couple cosplay, let’s go!]

[You’re throwing away the opportunity of a lifetime.]

[You’re not doing this? You’re really not doing this?]

[Decisions are crucial for the streamer, lol.]

[In a single sentence, it’s heaven or hell, hahahaha.]

Ah, of course, the one catching fire was Curry, not me.

It was a life-or-death situation dividing heaven from hell based on her answer.

Would she maintain her will or yield to reality?

Honestly, the answer was already decided.

After a long silence, evaluating the chat’s atmosphere, Curry cautiously opened her mouth.

“I just thought for a second… a cosplay advertisement does sound different, and it could be a good experience… right? Yes, it might be a good experience.”

In the end, Curry, choosing to go along with reality, forced a laugh as she continued.

“Haha! But Barcode, I’d like to know more details about that cosplay advertisement. Can I contact you later?”

“Are you outright asking me on a date?”

Creeeak—

After a moment of grinding her teeth, Curry desperately tried to keep her smiling mask intact.

“Our president is always joking, but if you keep this up, I might change my mind.”

“I’m not that concerned, you know.”

Remembering a fact I had momentarily overlooked from Curry’s more threatening demeanor, I smiled faintly.

“And Curry, why did you unfriend me?”

“Huh? What do you mean…”

“You disappeared from the friends list of the Flower Shop President account.”

“Ah.”

Was she embarrassed that she had even forgotten she unfriended me?

Curry gasped, quickly covering her mouth, but she couldn’t escape it.

[President’s behind-the-scenes unfollow hahaha]

[LOL LOL LOL]

[The worst streamer in history]

[Millions donated to this, lol]

[Me]

[Lock]

SDVIMVFoanVzY1YwSVhjamMzUkt1ZXY3OUpHZHJ5SEdNU2pqSkRSOWtXY2Y0Mm5yL2d5N2t3bDJtRWZFVXREdw

[Curry, don’t live your life like that.]

[Me]

[Lock]

[Me]

[Oh, I was too full.]

[Lock]

The chatroom was already overflowing with complaints and mockery directed at Curry.

“Okay, okay! I’ll re-add you. If it’s with Barcode, I guess I can do the cosplay advertisement, right? Does that make everyone feel a little better?”

[Yes!]

[Of course, lol]

[Curry and Joaquin couple cosplay for sure!]

[Let’s create an Outstar account with this opportunity, Curry!]

[Make sure to do it on broadcast.]

[For sure, lol.]

[I just went around to see Barcode’s cosplay!]

“Do these people seriously want to see Barcode’s cosplay?

Reading one of the chat messages, Curry couldn’t help but agree.

Although she had to endure another wave of mockery, it all ended well, with her agreeing to the cosplay ad.

“I’m in a slump and my condition’s awful, plus I need to talk to Barcode, so I’m wrapping up the stream here, everyone.”

[This guy is going on a date.]

[The second part of the broadcast is the date night.]

[If the door doesn’t open later… you know what I mean?]

[Look at the date buildup, hell yeah!]

[Whoa.]

[Stop that sudden acceleration!]

[Honestly, it’s valid to throw some insults, lol…]

[Caution: Spontaneous emergence of a single looser.]

[Keep the facts in check, damn it.] – [Banned.]

[LOL Cleanup is on!]

[Experience a taste of reality, Jin.]

After abruptly taking down a viewer who was out of line, Curry ended the stream.

Even though the broadcast had ended, the Discord call remained active, and an awkward silence settled between us.

“Barcode.”

“Yes?”

Sigh…

Pretending to be innocent and oblivious, I responded, only for Curry to exhale a deeper sigh.

Simply hearing that sigh brought me joy, but how much more amusing it would be to see her flustered while cosplaying!

“I thought it’d be fun to do it with you, but… Do you dislike the idea of filming an ad with me?”

So I tried to feign fragility, but…

“I can tell it’s all an act.”

“Tch.”

Curry caught onto my performance quickly and I clucked my tongue, promising to try again next time.

“So what exactly is the cosplay advertisement about?”

I shared the cosplay ad proposal email with her via screen sharing.

Taking a moment to read through it, Curry released a thoughtful hmm before speaking up.

“Pax Shop is a well-known brand selling cosplay outfits. I heard they’ve recently expanded into League of Legends cosplay as well… Is that why they reached out to you, Barcode?”

“You seem well-informed. You must have a keen interest in cosplay outfits.”

“Well, I make sure to read all the popular cosplay-related posts that come up on community sites…”

Unbeknownst to her, as she read the email, Curry began spilling her secrets and quickly caught herself, silencing her mouth.

“Interesting… so you have that kind of hobby.”

“…”

“They say silence often means affirmation.”

“…”

“Are you going to keep invoking your right to remain silent?”

“…”

“Was it possible you secretly liked it when I offered the cosplay ad?”

While I couldn’t see her on the stream anymore, I could picture her now with her head hanging down, trying to hide her embarrassed face.

Just imagining that brought me great joy, allowing me to casually tease her relentlessly.

Curry truly was quite the joy to toy with.

‘If I keep this up…’

She might sulk and refuse to participate in the advertisement altogether.

Quitting the teasing, I switched to constructive talk to give Curry some breathing room.

“As I mentioned earlier, I really want to do this cosplay ad with you.”

“Sigh… Fine,” she said.

To my surprise, Curry quickly agreed to my proposal, contrary to my expectations of needing more persuasion.

Having successfully convinced Curry, I shot an email back to the advertiser who proposed the cosplay ad.

In that email, I expressed my desire to partner with her for the advertisement.

“Let’s reconvene once we get a reply.”

Curry said that and ended the Discord call.

She was probably mentally drained and left to heal, perhaps indulging in the ways she could enjoy cosplay, witness cosplay, you know, that kind of thing.

That aspect bothered me slightly.

Actually, it bothered me quite a bit.

Too much to dismiss it casually.

*

“Ugh, why is everything spinning.”

After concluding her call with Barcode, Curry began researching the cosplay advertisement.

It was evident to anyone that she had not been discussed at all regarding her enlistment in the advertisement.

Barcode was someone who did things however he liked, and the one most frequently affected by his whims happened to be herself.

Thus, Curry decided to directly contact Pax Shop, the ones who proposed her for the cosplay advertisement.

– This is Pax Shop, the cosplay fashion specialty shop. How may I assist you?

“This is streamer Curry speaking.”

– Huh? Oh, just a moment.

Curry could hear someone whispering away on the other end of the phone.

It was unclear exactly what the discussion was, but they were probably either talking about Barcode or about themselves.

The love Barcode had for Curry was quite well-known after all.

‘Love? What kind of joke is that.’

Barcode didn’t love her.

He enjoyed torturing her and relished the reactions that came from it.

Even now, she still couldn’t comprehend Barcode, but he wasn’t a person who merely did bad things to her.

She couldn’t bring herself to simply like him.

Nor could she completely detest him. That was the sort of individual Barcode was to her.

Because of that, she would endure even his excessive pranks.

– Hello?

Someone else picked up the phone instead of the initial inquiry employee.

They presumably called someone right away without even confirming anything.

You could take that as either being highly diplomatic or rather careless.

Well, any fan who frequently watched the stream would have recognized the voice instantly, but even when she introduced herself, the initial employee still showed a lukewarm reaction, so they probably weren’t a fan.

As Curry considered the first employee’s actions, she slowly opened her mouth.

“Yes?”

– Wow, is this really you, Curry?!

“Looks like you watch my streams regularly? You recognized me just by my voice.”

– Yes! I’m a super fan!

The excitement of the staff member declaring their fan status was enough to leave Curry in disbelief.

She thought it would be a more business-like conversation, but the over-the-top enthusiasm felt like an instant personal fan meeting.

“Did you just finish watching my stream?”

– Oh yes, I did.

“Then you must’ve heard what Barcode said?”

– Of course! You reached out to talk about that, right?

“Yes, that’s correct.”

After that, Curry discussed advertising-related matters with the staff member.

As she wondered if they might lack a budget and thus not be able to recruit both herself and Barcode, Curry decided to quote only half of what Barcode would receive for the advertisement.

From Pax Shop’s perspective, they only wanted Barcode as their streamer.

Barcode’s audacity brought her along for the ride, so she figured she’d show a bit of humility and thus only requested half.

– Haha. Actually, if we could succeed in recruiting Barcode, we anticipated Curry would naturally join as well.

“What? What do you mean…”

– From my own radar, I’m as big a fan of Curry as Barcode is, so there’s no way he would ever do these advertisements alone.

“Are you suggesting they intended to reach out to me all along?”

– Truth be told, if we had failed to snag Barcode, we would’ve offered to you and Line. That would’ve drawn Barcode in with jealousy, wouldn’t it? Well, maybe not.

Curry chuckled quietly at the insight of the staff member who was both an avid fan and well-versed in her and Barcode’s dynamic.

Although it was a plan with a low probability of success, Barcode ended up performing exactly as Pax Shop expected.

The bit about luring Barcode into jealousy through offering her and Line was downright chilling.

If they were this thorough in their planning, it would be worth discussing working together not just limited to monetary goals. Curry decided to speak up.

“I’d like to meet and discuss the contract details properly.”

With a determination to give this a real shot, Curry said.

– Our doors at Pax Shop are always open for you.

“How does tomorrow afternoon sound?”

Upon receiving the staff’s answer, Curry immediately set a date to meet.

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