NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39
“I’m going to end today’s broadcast here.”
Ba-ba~
Oh-bang-al
“Before you go, please show your face just once ㅠㅠ”
Ba-ba~
“Are you leaving already?”
“I just got here and you’re ending the stream?”
“What the heck is this, I just arrived…”
After streaming for about 6 hours, I declared the end of the broadcast in a tired voice.
Some viewers requested to see my face before I left, but obviously, I had no intention of showing it, so I immediately pressed the end broadcast button.
“Huh…”
Having finished the stream, I let out a sigh tinged with fatigue.
Practicing various champions in preparation for tomorrow’s scrim drained my energy completely.
I was sure I could sit in front of the computer for half a day just playing games.
But balancing streaming and everything else, there were countless things I had to pay attention to.
‘Is Ji-hye okay?’
Managing the chat room for 6 hours isn’t an easy job at all.
In fact, being a manager might be even harder than my job as a streamer.
I went downstairs to check on Ji-hye’s condition.
I intended to head straight to Ji-hye’s room, but a presence in the kitchen caught my attention, and I changed direction.
In the kitchen, Ji-hye was cooking with a bright demeanor, showing no signs of fatigue.
Turning her head at my presence, Ji-hye smiled slightly and said,
“Good job on the broadcast today, unni.”
“Good job, what? Didn’t you find being a manager hard today?”
“Not at all! I actually enjoyed it!”
“Really? That’s a relief.”
I walked into the kitchen to watch Ji-hye cook.
She was frying pork coated in potato starch batter.
Just looking at the cooking process and the food’s appearance made it clear what she was making.
“Are you making sweet and sour pork?”
“Yes! I was originally going to cook ‘guobaorou,’ which is similar to sweet and sour pork.”
“But…?”
“I didn’t know if you preferred dipping or pouring the sauce, so I decided to just make sweet and sour pork.”
I was about to ask what she meant by that confusing statement, but it felt awkward to talk to Ji-hye again since she had refocused on cooking. So, I took out my smartphone from my pocket and searched for ‘guobaorou.’
The search results revealed that guobaorou is a dish similar to sweet and sour pork, characterized by being served with a sweet and sour sauce.
Realizing what Ji-hye meant, I let out a pfft laugh.
As long as it wasn’t horrendous to the point of being inedible, I could eat almost any food.
I never cared much about how it was served, so whether it was dipping or pouring, I was indifferent.
It was a small consideration that didn’t have to be made.
Yet, it made me feel good to be respected for my preferences.
Moving to the dining table, I eagerly awaited Ji-hye’s cooking to conclude.
*
On the day of the scrim between Ohapjijon and Curry Breaker.
The members of team Ohapjijon shared screens to analyze the strength of ‘Curry Breaker.’
If they could defeat only the Curry Breaker team, there would be no team capable of stopping them from winning the representative selection.
The analysis proceeded smoothly.
The top, Latte, overcame his lack of game sense with overwhelming physicality.
Jungler, Jericho, preferred highly aggressive play.
ADC, Coldog, had a style that actively shoved damage in.
Support, Antenna, was cautious and didn’t miss even slight variables.
Each player’s style, synergy between members, overall teamwork.
How to respond to various situations had all been calculated, but…
There was just one person who was the very definition of an unpredictable variable.
“What do you think?”
Curry asked, while looking at Barcode’s scrim highlights.
Barcode had used more than 15 different champions in scrims.
Although he didn’t handle them all on the level of ‘Yone,’ he showed competent play with most of the champions he picked.
“I have no idea… Analyzing won’t make a difference, we just have to clash and see.”
“Seems like analyzing in-game contents won’t bring any changes.”
The support player Nian and jungler Shin-giru broke the silence with their comments.
Nian was a well-known former pro gamer with multiple domestic league championships under his belt.
Although his skills had declined with age, Nian’s game sense was still superior compared to the active pro players.
So when Nian said, “I don’t know,” it was fair to say that Barcode was almost a monster in human form.
Similarly, Shin-giru, praised as the best jungler among amateurs, felt unable to assess Barcode freely either.
Typically, high-tier junglers tend to work harmoniously with their mid-laners, but even Shin-giru couldn’t pinpoint Barcode’s style.
That was how diverse Barcode’s play had been during the scrim period.
“I don’t think there will be major issues in the bottom lane, but I’m worried about mid and top.”
Lass, who took on ADC for team Ohapjijon, spoke up with concern in his voice.
Like Nian, Lass was also a former pro and was a close companion of the same team.
No bottom duo could match Lass and Nian’s combo that had thrived in pro leagues.
Therefore, Lass couldn’t help but worry about top laner Curry and mid laner Wandering Swordsman.
Objectively, Curry couldn’t win against Latte, and Wandering Swordsman couldn’t defeat Barcode.
Just like it was clear that Yone would be banned without question, it was also obvious that Yasuo from Wandering Swordsman would definitely be banned.
“Let’s stop here and reconvene in the scrim later.”
“Thanks for your hard work.”
As it became meaningless to analyze further, Lass was the first to leave the voice chat.
Following him, Nian left after him, and Shin-giru departed to warm up before the scrim.
In the end, only Curry and Wandering Swordsman remained in the [Strategy and Planning] voice chat.
“Wandering Swordsman.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t feel too pressured, just go with the flow. Ignore whatever anyone else says.”
“…I’ll try my best.”
Curry swallowed hard at Wandering Swordsman’s stiff response.
If he was this tense during the scrim, it wouldn’t end well.
Pondering on how to ease Wandering Swordsman’s burden, Curry softly spoke.
“I haven’t even dated yet, so I don’t want it all to collapse like this. Let’s win and give them a proper shock.”
Curry left that remark before exiting the voice chat.
Left alone in the chat, Wandering Swordsman chuckled.
Thanks to Curry’s self-deprecating joke, Wandering Swordsman felt a degree of tension lift and steadied himself before exiting the chat.
*
“Ah! Cleaning is done!”
As always, Ji-hye finished her cleaning and wandered around the house.
The house where Nayun lived was quite spacious, but not so large that it needed to be cleaned daily.
As she checked around to see if there was any dust building up or areas that weren’t cleaned, nothing was found due to her thoroughness.
Now, Ji-hye only had to prepare a meal for Nayun.
After ending her daily tasks, she was free to do anything except roam outside mindlessly.
Could there be a workplace that pays so well for so little work?
Meeting Nayun was like a life-changing blessing for Ji-hye.
At least, she thought so.
With nothing else to do, Ji-hye returned to her room and lay on her bed.
Feeling sleepy lately, she felt drowsy but not yet sleepy.
“…”
However, Ji-hye soon sat up.
Having worked a busy life since childhood through various part-time jobs, suddenly having this vast freedom felt quite uncomfortable.
An irrational urge surged in her, as if she had to do something immediately, making it impossible to remain still.
She turned on the computer, which she rarely used unless she was managing.
Sitting in front of the desk, she made sure the computer booted up and moved the mouse.
When there was nothing to do, creating tasks was the solution.
Ji-hye began researching ‘League of Legends,’ which her unni played and was commonly known as ‘LOL.’
As Barcode’s official manager, she thought she should at least know the basics of League of Legends.
Thus began Ji-hye’s study of LOL, and as she studied, her interest in the game blossomed.
‘Should I give it a try just once?’
Really, playing a game at a place that was practically her workplace?
It was not like she hadn’t worked and it was her free time, right?
Even if she’d finished all her work, playing games could be considered rude.
Isn’t it ridiculous for a manager of an LOL streamer to have never played LOL once?
Just because she felt a bit relaxed doesn’t mean she should completely let go!
What if, playing League of Legends, it ultimately helped Nayun even more?
The inner angel and devil argued fiercely, and the devil’s persuasion was far more convincing.
In the end, succumbing to the devil’s whispered temptation, Ji-hye accessed LOL’s official site and clicked the [Download] button.
*
On the day of the scrim between Ohapjijon and Curry Breaker.
Both teams decided to activate a 3-minute delay for the broadcast.
The delay was necessary to prevent chatroom parrots from briefing the opposing team’s positions.
It was a preemptive measure to avoid such incidents and essentially a restriction.
Before the scrim started, I joined the voice chat of team ‘Curry Breaker.’
Ding-dong-
“It’s about to start.”
“Just remember, it’s only a scrim, so don’t be too tense.”
“With that said, isn’t Latte’s voice shaking too much?”
When I entered the voice chat, Antenna, Jericho, and Latte were in conversation.
“Looks like only Barcode is late.”
“Late? It’s not even started yet.”
After doing scrims for some time, I naturally started speaking casually with Coldog.
At first, I had trouble adjusting to Coldog’s humorous attitude, but now I could playfully banter back.
“Everyone, please accept the invites and go into the waiting room, then turn on the broadcast.”
“Sure~”
I accepted the invitation from Jericho and turned on the broadcast.
[Live]
[Follow Mode (7 days)]
The 3-minute delay was applied before the game started.
Since the ban-pick phase hadn’t even ended, there was no need to apply the delay yet.
I had already informed Ji-hye, so she would automatically apply the delay once the game started.
Ba-ha~
Ba-ha~
Revenge on
Ba-ha~
“Look at the speed at which viewers are increasing ㄷㄷ”
“Everyone is drawn here.”
“Why the hand cam? Why the hand cam? Why the hand cam?”
“Please greet Barcode, I want to see it once.”
The speed of the chat was phenomenal.
Sensing something was off, I checked the viewer count.
[Current viewer count: 12,309]
It hadn’t even been 10 minutes since the broadcast started, and the viewer count had already broken 10,000.
With this momentum, reaching 20,000 was a given, and possibly even exceeding 30,000.
Though it wasn’t a tournament, Curry was on the opposing team.
In front of countless viewers, I had to hide my identity as “Nayun Queen.”
The thrill of having sniped the scrim made a rush of excitement spread throughout my body.
If ever, just if.
If the fact that Barcode and Nayun Queen were the same person was revealed…
Just imagining it made my heart race for no reason.
It was enough that I worried my heartbeat would be caught by the mic!
“Looks like they are all ready on the other side; should we send confirmation too?”
Jericho asked the team.
“I’m ready.”
“I’m also ready.”
“I hope we start soon.”
The other members signed off with an okay, excluding me.
“Barcode?”
Jericho called out to me, the only one who hadn’t answered.
Turning my microphone back on, I responded softly.
“I’m ready.”
“Then let’s send over that we’re ready.”
After getting confirmations that everyone was ready, Jericho tapped away on the keyboard.
A brief cheerful typing sound rang out, and a moment later, we were moved to the waiting room.