NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60
The firewood didn’t go out easily.
I wonder if they are that curious about the face of a no-cam streamer or if they just want to tear me down intentionally.
Or maybe they’re just excited because they finally have something to gossip about.
The problem is that the target is me.
They say from a distance it’s comedy but up close it’s tragedy.
If it weren’t my business, I might have laughed and chatted with those people over there.
Or maybe I would have just been indifferent, which is more in line with my personality.
Yet despite all this, I kept the broadcast going.
Every now and then, comments about my appearance popped up, but I had already gotten used to all of it.
It felt like it had already solidified into a meme.
Whenever I do something, chat floods with comments like “beautiful girl behavior” and whatnot.
If I yawn, they say I’m cute, and occasionally someone sponsors a donation offering to buy my used tissue after blowing my nose.
I don’t think it was this extreme even when I turned on my facecam during a tournament; somehow, it’s gotten worse.
At this rate, I’m no different from a female streamer.
No, there’s a subtle but significant difference from female streamers.
Which female streamer would want to buy a used tissue? At least from the streams I’ve watched, that kind of reaction didn’t exist.
It feels like I’m looking at a bizarre amalgamation of mixed and weird elements.
What kind of feeling is it to harbor affection for someone whose face you’ve never seen?
Seeing the threads filled with overwhelming feelings posted every day in the cafe made me wonder how I should react.
I was too weak of a human to ever feel satisfied that the fan cafe had finally become a real “fan” cafe.
And rightly so, it had been a community focused on witty banter.
It was a place where funny or cool moments from today’s broadcast were shared, and the viewers behaved with a certain level of courtesy, acting like what I had hoped for.
I marveled at the posts that sarcastically poked fun at me for not leaving notices.
But now it was different.
If every single post is filled with comments like “you have a nice voice,” “I love the Bangjang,” and “please curse at me,” what am I supposed to do about that?
Humans are always powerless in the face of overwhelming disasters.
There was nothing different this time; I could only hope this situation passed by smoothly.
Tomorrow, another sun will rise.
*
Thus, the broadcast had to continue.
Even if the world were to end tomorrow, I would stream like the person planting an apple tree.
The analogy might be a bit off, but that’s how I felt.
After a few days of streaming, I felt that I had run out of content.
It wasn’t that I had nothing to upload on YouTube or show the viewers.
It was purely that I had become tired of the games I had been playing and needed something new.
There were ways to communicate with viewers without playing games, but lately, using the word “communication” felt like a disgrace.
You can’t call a one-sided conversation communication, right?
So while searching for new games, I had a thought.
Why not leverage collective intelligence instead of racking my brain alone over here?
Of course, it could be fun to bring a game that matches my taste and educate these dishonest people, but this process of choosing a game suitable for everyone to watch also felt like part of the broadcast.
“Alright, for that reason, I’ve opened a ‘pussy-pup-pup game recommendation’ board that Mollru should play. Everyone, please suggest games that you think I should play on the stream.”
Since there are currently 10,000 viewers, the board should fill up quickly.
[Why ‘pussy-pup-pup’?]
[Just to irritate the viewers.]
[That’s kinda cute.]
[Unbelievably cute, stop it already.]
[What you’re doing is cute, haha.]
[Can I recommend any game?]
[Only horror games, please!]
“Yes, any game is fine. But as for horror games… I don’t think you’ll enjoy them that much. It’s not that I’m afraid, but really, I lack fear, so I don’t give you the desired reactions.”
What do viewers expect from a streamer playing horror games?
They find entertainment in seeing the streamer get scared and behave differently, or in their vulnerable state that triggers their protective instincts.
[You’re speaking fast because you’re scared, right?]
[Only horror games please!!]
[But honestly, if it’s Mollru, you might not be scared at all.]
[Unpredictable Ryeon…]
I genuinely meant it, but some people misconstrued my intentions.
Well, let them think what they want. It wouldn’t be bad to try out a trending horror game.
It’s not just the viewers who’d be having fun.
“Posts are coming in rapidly; I’ll play the game with the most likes in an hour.”
This way, I could communicate with the viewers while also playing a game.
It would be a perfect balance.
It seems the viewers were satisfied as the reactions were pretty good.
I began to examine each of the posts one by one.
“Currently, it’s 62% off on Steam, it’ll be sold out in an hour… but the description of the game is missing, so it’s a no.”
“A game where you survive as a dinosaur from the prehistoric era… this seems awful; I’ll put it on hold.”
“If you just upload this, you’ll get 2 billion views on YouTube?! It’s a guaranteed hit. Nope, not doing it!”
Reading and evaluating each post was somewhat entertaining content.
Everyone has different game preferences and values, leading to all sorts of unique real-time opinions.
While I was reading them and engaging in conversation with the viewers,
[Mollru's Broth has donated 10,000 won!]
– I made a presentation; could you have a look?
“Eh? A presentation?”
[Eh?]
[What are you talking about?]
[Mollru’s Broth ㄷㄷ]
[How will you show it?]
The sudden comment made both me and the viewers bewildered.
However, the donor continued without a hint of surprise, sponsoring again just to not get buried in the rapidly increasing chat.
[Mollru's Broth has donated 100,000 won!]
– Is it possible to have a whisper in the cafe?
110,000 won is by no means a small amount.
What could they want to show me for going this far?
Of course, given the recent influx of malicious people in my chat, an unverified person could act in a harmful way.
But if that was the case, I could just look at it myself and broadcast it out.
“Yes, just a moment… Your cafe nickname is the same as your donation name. I’d appreciate it if you could change your nickname. Let’s do a screen share on Discord, shall we?”
[Whisper????????]
[I’m so jealous, I’m so jealous, I’m so jealous, I’m so jealous, I’m so jealous, I’m so jealous, I’m so jealous!]
[Your cafe nickname is the same, legendary! Haha.]
[Bangjang’s whisper is too indecent.]
[We might need to caution for 19+ O_O]
[ASMR level;]
[Isn’t this basically the same as KakaoTalk? Talking with Bangjang? That might be a bit envious.]
Ignoring the uproar from the viewers, I took Mollru’s Broth’s ID and connected via Discord.
“Yes, is this Mollru’s Broth?”
“Yes, it is.”
[Yes, that’s right (confidently).]
[Is this what it takes to chat with the Bangjang?…]
“What? You have a nice voice! I thought you’d sound weird.”
“Oh, um. Thank you. Mollru, you have a nice voice too.”
[That crazy Ryeon…]
[Look at how flustered Lucid Broth is haha.]
[You shouldn’t say that easily, Mollru…]
“Let me quickly turn off the camera; I need to see if it’s suitable to be on stream.”
So, ignoring the uproar of the viewers, I started to check the materials that Mollru’s Broth was sharing on the screen.
What is this?
He quickly showed me polishes, proving he meant no harm.
Well, I understand that, but…
“Looks like it could go on the stream, but what’s this exactly…?”
“It’s a PowerPoint presentation. If it’s alright, may I directly present it while scrolling through it?”
“Yes, that seems fine.”
[What is it, then?]
[Wait, did they have the PPT ready just 30 minutes after posting on the board?]
[Talk about speed!]
[Show it already!]
Unexpectedly, a presentation was in motion.
Things escalated quickly.
I returned to the broadcast, and as I shared the visual materials of Mollru’s Broth on the screen, I added a sound effect of THUD-, and a blue ‘Bonobono’ that looked familiar popped up.
[Bonobono entering the pool, LOL!]
[Absolute trash!]
[If it’s Bonobono, I could make it within 30 minutes too!]
[Aren’t you disregarding Bonobono? For real, it’s the cheat code for presentations.]
“Um, can I start presenting?”
“Eh? Yes. Uh, it’s a game recommendation, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
They say people fall silent and feel flustered when they encounter something incomprehensible.
That was precisely the case for me right now.
Where did this person suddenly pop up from? That was how I felt.
[Mollru is flustered, haha.]
[Fake madness vs. real madness.]
[So Mollru was just pretending to be crazy all along?]
[The Bonobono Villain, whoa, you win this round!]
Thus began the unexpectedly grand introduction of the madman’s game.