[TS] Malicious Sniper

With the news that Barcode had turned on their broadcast after a week, many viewers flocked in an instant.

Not even 10 minutes after the broadcast started, the viewer count had already surpassed 5000.

Although it was an unexpected broadcast, it was proof that many people had been worried about Barcode.

Since it had been a while since they last turned on their broadcast, it was only natural that a few malicious viewers would act out.

[? Why is the chat so quiet?]

For a chat room with thousands of participants, it was oddly quiet, and even the viewer who asked why the chat was silent didn’t continue typing after that.

It could be that they were too worried about Barcode to type, but it was definitely strange that even the malicious ones were quiet.

‘Why is it so quiet?’

I had subconsciously expected a wild chat filled with reactions, so I couldn’t help but find the silence puzzling.

I already knew that a lot of ‘malicious’ individuals who were drawn in through the collab stream with Curry, known as a den of malice, were here.

With even those kinds of individuals not typing, my curiosity turned into worry.

Could it be that my aesthetic sense is different from others?

Having not formed many human relationships in my life so far, perhaps it was possible.

The silence now can only mean that the reality of me must be even worse than I thought.

If that weren’t the case, a chat room filled with malicious viewers wouldn’t be this quiet.

As that thought crossed my mind, I decided to speak up.

“Um… if it’s not good, maybe just stick to the usual handcam…”

[?]
[?]
[?]
[Is this deception?]
[So what’s the name of the goddess?]
[I thought I had entered the wrong broadcast and didn’t type anything.]
[The Barcode I knew was a shut-in who couldn’t rely on looks.]
[Why is a beautiful goddess appearing in Barcode‘s broadcast?]
[At this point, shouldn’t we designate them as a national treasure?]
[I fell in love with those two eyes. But I don’t want to confess.]
[If the confession succeeds, wouldn’t I be bullied every day like Curry? Haha.]
[Getting bullied by a girl like that is a reward, right?;;]
[Hehe… Please step on me, goddess.]
[I thought you looked scary with those dark circles in the photo.]
[But those dark circles are almost gone now?]
[No wonder, you’re incredibly pretty. Amazing.]

Since there was absolutely no reaction, I thought it was a negative response.

As soon as I tried to switch to handcam mode, the chat started flooding in so fast it was almost invisible.

Most of the comments were compliments about my appearance, which only added to my suspicion.

Was I being deceived because they were trying to comfort me after the last incident, saying I looked pretty when in reality they didn’t think so?

Everyone must have different standards of beauty, so why is there not a single chat saying ‘not that great’?

Doubts bred more doubts, and that silence in the chat room served as evidence for my suspicion.

It felt as if the nine people targeting Curry in Solo Queue were all pretending to be ‘normal’.

The excessive praise, which made my limbs cringe, felt more like an act.

While I could handle being targeted, I didn’t want to be the protagonist of a Truman Show where I was toyed with.

“Telling nice lies isn’t going to fool me. If you’re going to comfort me, just compliment my gameplay. That would be more reassuring.”

I was already onto their little act.

Feeling a bit proud inwardly, I said it confidently.

[?]
[?]
[Are you trying to deceive us again?;]
[Stop with the brain fart, huh?]
[Are you really brain farting now? Ah haha.]
[Mu7-Ryeon… Mu7-Ryeon…]
[So you were the goddess of deception after all.]
[The true name revealed! Haha.]
[Isn’t it Barcode who’s good at telling lies?]
[Do you think all these viewers are actors?]
[Hahaha, no way.]
[That’s a serious case of self-consciousness.]
[Isn’t it because of ‘that’ incident that you’re in such a fragile state?]
[Whoa.]
[Talking about ‘that’ incident will get you banned.]
[You’ll get banned in reality if you mention it. Haha.]

The viewers’ reactions were completely different from what I expected.

Only then did I realize, late to the party, that all the viewers were being genuine, and I started trembling.

What I thought was a reasonable and rational deduction turned out to be nothing but my delusions.

While I was understanding the situation with my head, my heart still hadn’t caught up. No, it wouldn’t.

Is my appearance really of such a caliber that terms like ‘goddess’ or ‘national treasure’ are thrown around?

I could hardly believe it, so I checked my reflection on the camera being streamed.

Thanks to the consistent exercise and sufficient sleep over the last week, the dark circles that had been dark as spread makeup had almost disappeared.

Now they were just faintly visible if you looked closely.

There were no other noticeable changes.

If I had to nitpick, it might be said that my skin improved a bit?

“Ah, did it show that it was a lie?”

I knew it was hard to believe.

For now, I’ll just cover it up as if it was a false statement.

If I didn’t put on some wrapping, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to continue the broadcast out of embarrassment.

[Why does your voice sound so awkward?]
[You really thought like that?]
[No way, haha.]
[Which woman would think she’s ugly with such looks? Haha.]
[No anime has characters like that.]
[What the?!]
[What is this?]
[Could it be that this is also an act?]
[Acting deity!]
[From brigade to talented actor goddess? Hehe!]
[An actor hybrid…?! Oof! My head…]
[That such a hybrid actually exists.]

Realizing that continuing on this topic would just be detrimental to me, I decided to ignore it and hurriedly logged into League of Legends.

[What’s with the first broadcast and League of Legends?]
[No way.]
[Huh?]
[No way.]
[Don’t bring up League of Legends, just give an explanation! Haha.]
[Besides, won’t you open the sponsorship? I want to set a mission.]
[Huh?]

“Sponsorship?”

Once a topic that was good for shifting the mood came up, I read that chat.

Now that I think about it, I mentioned before that I don’t open things like sponsorship because I have plenty of money.

“Do you all want to sponsor?”

[Yeah.]
[Host!!! Open sponsorship!!!]
[You don’t have to open sponsorship for your tokens… Just open sponsorship!]
[We should do the usual cat mission for female streamers! Haha.]
[While we’re at it, please set up a roulette too.]
[1% chance for cosplay! Let’s go!]
[Both missions and roulette are just a mess.]
[Just try opening the sponsorship! Haha, I’ll show you how frightening capitalism can be.]

I had no reason to backtrack my statement about not opening sponsorships.

But with the viewers wanting it so badly, maybe opening it would be better?

As soon as I saw the dangerous words like ‘cat mission’ and ‘cosplay’ popping up in the chat, that thought completely vanished.

No matter how high I raised the stakes, there were things like the cat mission that I absolutely didn’t want to do.

I wasn’t hurting for money; broadcasting itself was plenty fun, so was there really a need for cat missions?

“Thinking it over, I guess it’d be better not to receive sponsorships. If you want to sponsor, how about donating to another room instead?”

[Shut up!]
[I’m going to lay down until you open sponsorship!]
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SDVIMVFoanVzY1YwSVhjamMzUkt1ZXY3OUpHZHJ5SEdNU2pqSkRSOWtXZmJTdUdUdWxVVUR3QjVjRFRTNVNtRQ

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[Zzz…]
[Please wake me up when Barcode does a Valkyrie cosplay.]
[It says so here?]

I thought it was a truly constructive suggestion, but it seemed it wasn’t.

With viewers blatantly lying down like that…

“Ha…”

I involuntarily sighed.

I again averted my eyes from the chat and moved my mouse to log into Mutube.

Playing ‘ASMR of therapeutic rain sounds for sleep’ for the viewers who I wished would stay asleep forever.

[Lying down doesn’t mean sleeping!]
[I do feel sleepy…]
[Host!! Block the rain sounds!!]
[Feeling suddenly sad…]
[Lay down again!!!]
[●▅▇█▇▆▅▄▇]
[●▅▇█▇▆▅▄▇]
[I feel dizzy…]
[●▅▇█▇▆▅▄▇]

“Is this copyrighted?”

Hastily closing the video with that copyright comment.

I honestly didn’t expect that streaming such an ASMR Mutube video would go against copyright.

Since I decided to stream, I thought I’d better study about it later.

With that thought, I shifted my gaze back to the chat.

[LOL]
[Seriously fell for it, huh? Haha.]
[Hehe… How naive are you?]
[I’m feeling so annoyed…]
[The Barcode I knew was so much more dominant… Where did that go?]

“…That was a lie?”

Recalling moments ago when I hastily closed the video without realizing it might have been a lie.

A deep sense of embarrassment began to swell from deep within, and I searched for a little mouse hole to hide in.

Of course, no mouse hole was within reach.

“Please, don’t lie to me again.”

[Why should I?]
[I’ll think about it if you open sponsorship!]
[If you don’t want to be bullied, open it!!]
[Do you think begging will work? Haha.]
[Absolutely not! Haha.]
[Hehe… A vow of conquest from a cute goddess!?] – [This message has been blinded.]

As soon as I saw that ‘cute’ comment, I unknowingly blocked that viewer.

A chill ran down my spine, and I didn’t want to have such an experience again.

“Don’t even say that I’m cute. It makes me feel bad.”

I warned the viewers with that intent, but…

[Cute!]
[You’re adorable!]
[Cute!]
[You’re adorable!]
[Cute!]
[You’re adorable!]

…Those damned viewers were like rebellious frogs.

They wouldn’t follow what I said, only doing the opposite.

“I’ll open sponsorships later, so please stop.”

[Stop?]
[Why should I?]
[Cute!]
[You’re adorable!]
[Cute!]

“…Please stop.”

[I can’t refuse a request.]
[Really, LOL]
[Tip: You can set ‘banned words’ in chat management.]
[Get rid of that damned shit!]
[I swear that needs to go!]

As soon as I saw the comment that I could ban ‘cute’, I rushed into the chat management window.

Not long after, I was able to find ‘banned word settings’.

I promptly set ‘cute’, ‘adorable’, ‘cuteness’, as well as the variations like ‘kawaii’, ‘cute’ to banned words.

I also added ‘adorable’, ‘cuteness’, ‘cute’ variations to the banned words as well.

“Thank you for the great information. kear1234, I’ll remember you as my ‘loyal subject.'”

[Oh no! With just one traitor, my kingdom is lost!]
[Traitor, you’re truly blind.]
[Don’t you have any sense?]
[So empty…]
[LoL so classic!]
[This is Barcode’s viewer!]

Thanks to one loyal subject, I regained my state of mind, cutting off the queue.

Over ten minutes had passed with no matching, which usually indicated a matching bug.

After I regrouped with the match, I continued the broadcast while interacting with the viewers.

*

Leaving no dust behind, Kim Jihye finished cleaning the residence and opened the refrigerator.

Since she had permission from the Lady to use it, there was no issue.

Kim Jihye pulled out a sports drink and a cold apple she had placed in the refrigerator beforehand, then shut the door.

As her reaction wasn’t bad when she peeled an apple for the Lady last week, she thought to peel one again now.

‘How should I peel it this time…?’

Last time she carved it into a rabbit shape, maybe this time she could try a checkerboard pattern?

Having pride in her dexterity, Kim Jihye began to focus as she peeled the apple.

About 10 minutes later, as she concentrated, she put down the knife and gazed at her creation.

It came out beautifully enough to be worthy of a photo for social media bragging rights.

Carefully cutting the apple shaped in a checkerboard pattern, she transferred the pieces to a plate.

Carrying the plate with the apple, Kim Jihye went upstairs and slowly reached out her hand.

Knock knock knock!

After knocking, Kim Jihye waited for the Lady to come out of her room, but after a while, the Lady still didn’t appear.

Maybe she didn’t hear the knock? So she knocked again.

But the Lady still didn’t reveal herself.

She had definitely been there in the morning.

She hadn’t seen anyone leave outside either.

The Lady was certainly in that room.

Could something have happened?

What if she fell and lost consciousness!?

“Excuse me…”

Kim Jihye grabbed the doorknob, opened the door, and cautiously stepped into the room.

Entering the Lady’s room for the first time, she was surprised to find it was larger than expected.

The Lady‘s room seemed even bigger than the house where her entire family lived.

As she entered the room, Kim Jihye saw the Lady sitting in front of a desk with multiple computers set up at the end.

Upon closer inspection, the Lady was wearing earphones, and with the sight before her, it quickly dawned on Kim Jihye why the Lady hadn’t reacted to the knock.

Stepping closer to the Lady, Kim Jihye opened her mouth.

Then she suddenly remembered she had never addressed the Lady with a specific title and pondered what to call her.

What should she refer to the Lady who was engrossed in something in front of her?

The answer was already set in her mind.

“Um, Lady?”

Kim Jihye tentatively tapped the Lady’s shoulder with her finger to get her attention and the Lady turned to look at her.

Then she quickly turned back, hurriedly lowering something that looked like a camera.

“Why did you come into my room?”

As the Lady’s voice came out cold as ice, Kim Jihye instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

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