[TS] Malicious Sniper

Did I fall asleep earlier than usual?

I woke up early and dragged my sleepy body to the bathroom to shake off the sleepiness.

Walking with half-closed eyes, I almost lost my balance a couple of times, but I successfully arrived at the bathroom.

I quickly washed my face and came out of the bathroom.

Once I was somewhat awake, hunger struck me.

Thinking back, I hadn’t had dinner last night.

Gulp

“I should’ve ordered a midnight snack.”

As I swallowed my regret, I went downstairs to tackle the hunger I was feeling.

I headed to the kitchen where the refrigerator was, and as I got closer, I could hear someone humming.

Since there was only Ji-hye apart from me in the house, I figured out who the source of the humming was.

When I arrived in the kitchen, I saw Ji-hye cooking while wearing an apron.

With her AirPods in, it seemed like she was listening to music.

Hmmm~ Hmm?

As I deliberately made some noise, Ji-hye, who was happily cooking, turned her head.

When our eyes met, Ji-hye was momentarily flustered, but quickly blossomed into a lovely smile as she took out her AirPods.

“Good morning!”

“Yeah, good morning.”

Did Ji-hye look so full of energy because I went to bed early last night?

Unlike me, Ji-hye seemed to be bursting with energy.

But there was a delicious smell wafting from the kitchen.

Maybe because I was hungry, my mouth started watering.

Growl~

“Ah.”

Is that pork belly? It smells amazing. I can’t wait to eat.

As I had those thoughts, my stomach audibly chimed in.

“If you could wait at the dining table, I’ll have it ready soon!”

“…”

Her words seemed considerate, aiming not to make me feel too embarrassed.

However, that didn’t erase my embarrassment.

Actually, if I thought about it, this was all Ji-hye’s fault.

If she had just served dinner last night and gone to bed, such a situation wouldn’t have occurred.

If this morning wasn’t satisfying, I would’ve been a bad employer.

That was how far the earlier incident crossed the line from embarrassing to humiliating.

I moved to Ji-hye’s dining table and sat down to await my breakfast.

Her assurance that it wouldn’t be a lie was likely true as Ji-hye busily set the table with food.

How much did she make?

Just by looking at the side dishes, there were more than seven types.

And she didn’t stop there; more dishes kept piling on.

Stir-fried fernbrake, pork belly, seaweed soup, dumplings, napa cabbage kimchi…

… omelette, chili peppers, sweet potato snacks, squid jeotgal.

Even just what was presented already felt like a feast.

Would all of that even fit into my stomach?

There were so many side dishes that I questioned if they all could fit.

I heard she was confident in her cooking skills.

I thought to myself how remarkable her skill was when she peeled apples into checkerboard shapes.

But I never imagined she would be this good at cooking.

I hadn’t tasted the food yet, but just looking at it was already satisfying enough.

“This is the end!”

Once Ji-hye placed the last dish, she took a seat across from me.

She looked at me with expectation mixed with excitement.

I took a spoonful of seaweed soup first.

“Mmm…”

My taste buds are a bit dull, so I can’t express the taste well.

But simply put, this seaweed soup was the best I’ve ever had in my life.

That’s the best way I could describe it.

“Delicious.”

“Really? Thank goodness…”

I couldn’t help but smile at Ji-hye’s relieved sigh, as if she was worried I would say it wasn’t good.

Thus, I started my breakfast with a happy heart.

*

Only ten days remain until the opening of the Platform Tournament, marked by the “Representative Selection.”

Most high-ranked League of Legends streamers and BJ’s were doing scrim broadcasts.

Among the numerous scrim broadcasts, the most popular one was undoubtedly the team ‘Curry Breaker’ scrim.

Previously, they had managed to juggle both fun and skill well, and the replacement member, ‘Barcode,’ had also created a massive buzz.

Before broadcasting, Barcode was famous as the “Unknown Yone Master,” leading to the image that he only played Yone.

However, Barcode had never used Yone in a scrim.

No, it wasn’t that he didn’t use Yone; it was that he couldn’t.

Because of his fame as the “Unknown Yone Master,” Yone was always banned.

Consequently, Barcode had to play different champions in every scrim.

Even while playing other champions, he dominated the game perfectly and carried the games.

This wasn’t just once or twice; it had happened over ten scrims!

With the differing results from the solidified image, perceptions about Barcode had inevitably changed.

From a player who was just good at Yone to one with an excellent grasp of all champions.

He plays well, has money, is a goddess-level beauty, and is a current Challenger.

Such rumors kept circulating, refusing to die down.

Around the time Barcode kept rising, a notice was uploaded in the Curry fan cafe.

[Today’s scrim opponent – Team ‘Curry Breaker’]

The abrupt notification from Curry without any prior hint spread like wildfire, attracting massive attention.

*

After having lunch prepared by Ji-hye, I was about to play a quick game of Solo Queue before my broadcast when Jericho called me on Discord. I quickly canceled my matchmaking and answered the call.

“What’s up?”

“Tomorrow evening, we have a scrim scheduled against the ‘Ohapjijon’ team.”

Once again, Jericho called to inform me about the scrim schedule as expected.

“Oh, Ohapjijon…”

The team name Jericho mentioned sounded familiar.

Who was the captain of that team again?

I pondered deeply and recalled who formed the team ‘Ohapjijon.’

Just thinking of that streamer’s nickname made me smile.

“That’s the team Curry is the captain of, right?”

“Yes, we have to win against them.”

Currently, there were two teams cited as the strongest contenders for the championship in the T-Ich region.

One was Jericho’s team ‘Curry Breaker,’ and the other was Curry’s team ‘Ohapjijon.’

Though they hadn’t met in the tournament yet, the scrim schedule between the two titans, Curry Breaker and Ohapjijon, was set.

Regardless of good or bad outcomes, it was bound to attract colossal attention.

If we weren’t careful, the same incident as last time could occur.

But this time, we had managers and a chat bot overseeing the chat, so I wasn’t worried. In fact, I was excited about the scrim tomorrow.

“This should be fun.”

“Of course, assuming we win.”

“Wouldn’t it be amusing if we lost to a team named like that?”

“No, it wouldn’t. Seriously.”

Although it started as a half-joke, Jericho took my joke seriously and countered.

“I’ll go inform the other team members about tomorrow’s schedule.”

Ding~

Jericho ended the call right there.

Did my joke not sit well with him?

Usually, he would chat a bit more before leaving.

After Jericho left, I messaged Ji-hye.

Originally, I was going to play a game of Solo Queue to warm up and then start the broadcast, but perhaps the special anticipation for the scrim had such a significant effect that I didn’t want to play my usual Solo Queue.

I let Ji-hye know I would start the broadcast now.

Soon after, I received Ji-hye’s message saying she was ready.

All that was left was to turn on the stream, but I felt a little worried.

Will I be okay?

Nevertheless, I had received training from the hardcore manager experts at Curry.

I believed Ji-hye would handle her managerial role exceptionally well, so I turned on the broadcast.

[Live]

[Follow-only mode (7 days)]

As soon as I started the broadcast, the follow-only mode was activated.

It was clear that Ji-hye, who had received managerial permissions in advance, had activated it.

Not long after the broadcast started:

[Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!]

[Filthy streamer Barcode, explain yourself! Filthy streamer Barcode, explain yourself! Filthy streamer Barcode, explain yourself!]

[Why are you so late? Why are you so late? Why are you so late? Why are you so late? Why are you so late?]

[Is this where the streamer who went on a mysterious hiatus is broadcasting?]

[You didn’t stream yesterday, explain it!!!!]

[For real, you crossed the line this time!]

[If you show some aegyo, you can win the people’s hearts instantly!]

[Just one cat shake and no explanation necessary, lol!]

Viewers who received the broadcast notification started spamming the chat.

It was hard to believe follow-only mode was active; the chat was moving that fast, with bizarre spam mixed in.

At a glance, one might wonder if the manager was doing their job, but I saw enough blurred spam to confirm it was beyond tolerable.

Thanks to Ji-hye’s hidden efforts, the chatroom’s heat slowly began to subside.

As I watched silently, I turned on the microphone.

“Um, uh, can you hear me?”

[Yeah, we can hear you]

[Yeah]

[So hurry up and explain]

[Are you really the rich daughter?]

[Is it true that you own a building in Gangnam?]

[I heard rumors you are the hidden daughter of a conglomerate chairman, true?]

Once I confirmed that the mic was working, I deliberated how to explain myself.

Already rumors like owning buildings in Gangnam and being the chairman’s hidden daughter felt absurd.

Sighing at how out of hand the rumors had grown, I decided I must put a stop to this right here.

“Honestly, I just live a bit better than others. The person who peeled the apples for you is the housekeeper who lives with me. Please don’t spread those weird rumors.”

[Yes, hehe]

[If she says so, let’s just go with that…]

[Are you serious that you haven’t caught on yet?]

[I’m surprised you’re serious]

[You clarified last time, and now again, ah lol]

[Everyone, shhh]

[So innocent compared to the mood, it’s real]

[Hehehe… innocent girl…]

Though I thought this was a neat explanation, the audience’s reaction felt off.

Reading the chat comments made it seem like I was the fool in this scenario.

Realizing what was actually happening, my hands began to tremble.

I felt embarrassed about how I had worked myself up to explain properly.

In reality, there wasn’t even a controversy that required an explanation.

After all, I had clarified it last time.

It just felt that way because the viewers had reacted strongly, making me feel like I hadn’t made myself clear.

It peeved me to think I had made a fuss about nothing.

Seeing the chat mockingly joint in to tease me only added to my irritation, prompting me to lower the camera angle.

“I’ll be doing hand-cam from today onward.”

[?]

[?]

[Oh no]

[We were wrong]

[We are sorry]

[I’ll do a great bow, please raise the camera again]

[Aaah! I feel like I’m losing my mind!]

[Your hands are pretty too?]

[Your face is much prettier, so please raise it, please!]

Although apologies flooded the chat afterward,

I resolved to maintain the hand-cam for at least that day.

I needed to establish discipline now so they wouldn’t repeat such behavior later.

Reading the panicking chats, I quietly smiled.

You guys will get to experience this too.

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