[TS] Malicious Sniper

It had been a day since Ji-hye came into the house as my manager, or rather, as a live-in housekeeper.

Of course, I hadn’t turned on the broadcast yesterday, and it definitely wasn’t because I was too lazy to make an explanation.

As a proper employer, I assigned Kim Ji-hye a spare room and explained the tasks she would need to do moving forward.

I detailed the household chores she would be responsible for, and aside from those simple chores, I explained what her duties would entail in relation to the ‘broadcast.’

The contract contained specific clauses about broadcasting, and Ji-hye had known about its existence, allowing me to wrap things up quickly.

After that explanation, I drafted a ‘Non-Disclosure Agreement.’

Ji-hye must not reveal that ‘Choi Nayun’ is actually ‘Barcode.’

She also must not leak any details related to my personal information.

It was a pretty standard NDA packed with all those kinds of contents.

Ji-hye reviewed the NDA without hesitation and signed it.

I had already covered the contents of the two contracts, but I thought it would be better to reconfirm, so I went over them once more.

“Is it really just this much?”

Ji-hye looked at me with a teary-eyed expression, as if she thought I was her savior.

That sparkly look in her eyes was a bit overwhelming.

‘But I wonder if she’ll be okay, though?’

The tasks I assigned to Ji-hye turned out to be more than I had expected.

She would have to do all the house chores all by herself.

She needed to prepare breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks alone.

She even had to go grocery shopping on her own.

Of course, I’d cover all the costs involved in preparing those meals.

I couldn’t let her pay out of pocket for groceries while piling all those tasks on her.

From my perspective, everything was annoyingly hard, but despite all those difficulties, Ji-hye was expressing her gratitude to me.

Of course, what I saw as hard work may not have seemed so difficult compared to other jobs.

But even so, she was grateful for the work despite it not being particularly easy—what on earth had she been doing in her previous employment?

Thinking it would be rude to pry into her personal matters, I didn’t ask what kind of work she had done before.

‘If she works sincerely, I should raise her salary later.’

I had already deposited the 5 million won for this month’s salary.

I thought it wouldn’t be bad to increase her wages if she performed well as I observed her for a while.

Too much pressure could lead to the opposite effect.

But still, doesn’t this make me a pretty great employer? I felt a sense of pride swell up from deep within.

“Unni! If you have anything for me to do, just call me anytime!”

“Uh, yeah. Just don’t stick too close.”

“Ah! I got a little too carried away with joy without realizing it!”

When we agreed to re-sign earlier, we decided to speak informally, but it still felt awkward doing so.

I had always spoken formally.

“Ah, I will have some tasks for you later on.”

“Whatever it is, just let me know! I can even do video editing!”

“Huh? You can edit videos?”

“Uh, I know a little bit.”

It was unexpected that she could edit videos, but it wasn’t an immediate necessity.

What I really needed right now was a manager to handle the chat room.

“Do you know what a broadcast manager does?”

“Of course! It’s about managing the chat room, right?”

“Yep, you just need to manage the chat while I’m broadcasting.”

“I’ve never been a broadcast manager before… Will I be able to do it well?”

“You don’t need to worry. I already arranged for two active managers to give you a lecture.”

“Two of them?”

Ji-hye responded as if she couldn’t understand.

It was a pretty understandable reaction.

How could she need training from two people for a job that only involves managing a chat room?

In reality, most broadcast managers don’t even get trained before managing the chat.

But Ji-hye would be taking over a chat room full of nasty people from my broadcasts.

That was why I had invited the managers from my long-standing chat room, known for its troublemakers.

There were more commands and functions a manager had to know than I had initially thought.

With those two, I was sure they could turn Ji-hye, who was starting from scratch, into a great manager.

Ding-dong~

Hearing the doorbell ring from outside, I got up from my seat.

Ji-hye, who had been sipping tea, followed me as I stood up.

Checking the intercom, it seemed that the furniture I ordered yesterday had arrived.

I opened the door and quietly said to Ji-hye, who was standing behind me in a daze, “I’ll show you to your room.”

“Huh? Unni, are all of those…”

“Huh? Oh, I just prepared them as part of employee welfare.”

“…All of those are part of welfare?”

Leaving behind Ji-hye, whose face showed disbelief, I headed upstairs.

‘Is it really that shocking?’

Since it was her first time having a manager, I simply bought a bed, chairs, a computer, and a few pieces of furniture for the decor.

Items that were too cheap wouldn’t last long, and more importantly, they wouldn’t match the residence I was living in.

Of course, I was the owner of those items, but at least Ji-hye would be using them during her work with me.

‘I heard that proper welfare services enhance employee performance…’

To be honest, I had anticipated either one of two reactions: joy or being impressed.

Was it really just that the welfare situation was so poor that she was shocked? Or the opposite?

Deciding I would ask later, I turned on the computer and logged into League of Legends.

*

“…”

After a large-scale furniture moving operation, the scene of Ji-hye’s new room filled with luxurious furniture was incredibly beautiful.

In a state where she couldn’t even tell if this was a dream or reality, Ji-hye shifted her gaze to the sizable bed.

Just looking at that pure white bed made her sleepy.

“Could someone like me truly…”

Would she be allowed to lie in such a bed?

The struggles of dealing with family and university issues flashed through her mind.

Ji-hye wiped away her flowing tears with the sleeve of her shirt and slowly moved forward.

When she reached the front of the bed, she cautiously reached out her hand.

Even without applying much pressure, her hand sank into the soft mattress.

If she lay down in such a cozy, soft bed, she would surely fall asleep instantly.

But since there were still tasks left to be done, Ji-hye couldn’t lie down just yet; she ignited her inner passion.

After all, Unni Nayun had gone to this extent for her—if she didn’t work sincerely, she’d be lower than an animal.

She was not an animal but a person who could repay the kindness shown to her.

Reassured, Ji-hye thought about her upcoming schedule.

First, she’d clean this room that had gathered the most dust during the furniture delivery.

Next, she would clean the living room and hallway, followed by sweeping the front yard that got dirty when the truck came in.

Once she finished cleaning, she would prepare lunch for Unni Nayun and plug the computer in to receive training from the lecturers she mentioned.

With her schedule organized in her head, Ji-hye immediately began the tasks assigned to her without taking a break.

Tears visible on Ji-hye’s cheeks clearly showed her emotions, but a smile of happiness radiated from her lips like never before.

*

“Thanks for your hard work today.”

“You did great too, Jericho.”

After an earlier-than-usual scrim match, Jericho, the last one left in the voice channel, waved goodbye to me.

I also greeted Jericho, but just as I was about to leave the voice chat, he added, “If you ever find things tough, feel free to reach out.”

“Huh? Ah…”

As I almost questioned Jericho’s sudden statement, I recalled ‘that’ incident that happened a week ago.

Ever since ‘that’ incident, I had felt more consideration during scrims; it seemed like the team members were worried about me.

This team wasn’t just a temporary group gathered for a simple purpose, but a real team that took care of each other.

“Hehe.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at that thought.

“I’ll definitely reach out if it gets tough.”

“Somehow, that laughter made me feel like I was the only one worrying and looking foolish.”

“Oh come on, I wouldn’t do that!”

“…”

Ding!

Without waiting for Jericho’s response, I exited the voice channel.

Although I hadn’t been actively broadcasting, I had been participating enthusiastically in the scrims.

There was a unique enjoyment that only team games had, which was completely different from solo queue.

Of course, it was less fun compared to targeting Curry, but it was still enjoyable.

If I were to rank the fun, it might go: [Curry Targeting > Targeting > Scrim > Broadcast > Solo Queue].

I could have never imagined that solo queue, which I used to play the most, would become the least fun for me.

With that, I had achieved another victory in today’s scrim while performing well.

Getting up from my seat, I decided it was about time to start broadcasting again, but I needed to check how Ji-hye’s manager training was going first.

As I headed downstairs, I couldn’t help but admire the living room, now spotless with not a speck of dust in sight.

Since I usually neglected maintenance, dust often accumulated on the living room floor and windows, but everything had been cleaned up nicely.

Passing through the tidy living room, I made my way to Ji-hye’s room.

Knock knock—

I knocked, but there was no response.

Was she perhaps deep in manager training?

Just to be safe, I knocked again, waiting a moment.

However, there was still no response, and growing impatient, I decided to open the door.

What I saw beyond the door was Ji-hye, deep asleep.

Upon entering the room, I noticed the computer was still powered on, left unattended.

On the desk was a notebook and a pen sitting there.

“…”

Opening the notebook revealed it was filled with notes related to broadcasts.

Various commands, methods for managing the chat based on different situations, and more.

It seemed she had taken notes from the training she received from the two managers.

It appeared that she had been reviewing her training and had fallen asleep while waiting for me.

I gently placed the notebook back on the desk.

I turned off the computer and the room’s light.

Quietly exiting, I softly closed the door behind me.

---