[TS] Malicious Sniper

Since the collaboration stream of the King of Games ended, Curry couldn’t dive into broadcasting with the same passion as before.

Her mind was filled with thoughts of her, and it left her feeling disturbed.

So, Curry kept her distance and completely avoided talking about her.

Yet, the unsettling state didn’t change even with the new season of League of Legends having started.

While heading into solo queue broadcasts—the main content—Curry couldn’t show the same tension she once did.

BANG!

“Ugh.”

Getting distracted for just a moment, Curry unexpectedly got a solo kill, only to vomit out a meaningless reaction.

After that, Curry acted like a sound-making doll, giving only the expected reactions.

[Why is she like this these days?]

[This guy is on his way to Grandmaster because of Barcode, you know?]

[His MMR is so high that he gets stomped, haha.]

[What’s up with his tension?]

[Curry has lost her initial passion.]

After days of showing the same pattern, viewers started to turn their backs.

Even dedicated fans, who initially sent supportive messages in the chat, eventually fell silent, witnessing Curry remain unchanged.

Viewers who flowed in during her collaboration with Barcode had fun spamming in the chatroom, but when it became dull, they stopped watching.

[DEFEAT]

In that situation, only showing losses, her viewer count kept slipping.

Could it really be that a corporate streamer, who had been climbing in view counts recently, was now seeing such low numbers?

Curry’s broadcasts had sunk to a level even worse than before her rise.

“…”

There weren’t even any mocking or complaining messages left anymore.

Curry continued streaming in silence, just cycling through match-ups.

{ CurryRiceBowl21 donated 5,000 won. }

– [Twitch Clip Video]

“Thank you, CurryRiceBowl21.”

Not long after the gratitude for the donation, the linked Twitch clip video played.

The clip’s address clearly belonged to Jericho’s channel, yet the person featured in the video was Barcode.

Instead of the familiar background of Jericho’s studio, it looked like a bar.

Others appeared in the video with Jericho and Barcode, all streamers connected to Jericho, who had participated as the ‘Curry Breakers’ team in the last pole tournament.

Were they finally having an after-party?

Well, back then, it had been a bit awkward for an after-party too.

Considering things had somewhat improved lately, gathering like that didn’t seem strange at all.

Jericho and Barcode clinked glasses, laughing and joking around in a cheerful atmosphere.

Barcode blended into that mood, smiling softly.

That scene marked the end of the roughly 30-second short video.

“…”

Curry turned off the camera without a word.

She couldn’t bear to see what expression she was wearing.

Her heart felt tight and troubled for some reason.

{ CurryRiceBowl21 donated 5,000 won. }

– [Twitch Clip Video]

“…Thank you, CurryRiceBowl21.”

Another clip donation came from the same viewer.

As much as she wanted to skip it, she couldn’t and begrudgingly had to watch Barcode’s clip.

– Is the Wandering Swordsman getting promoted to master right now? Already?

– I shouldn’t be the one to say it, but this guy is really crazy about League of Legends.

– Want to take on a carry mission for the last game before promotion? The reward is around 100,000 won.

This clip showed Barcode giving the Wandering Swordsman a mission during a live broadcast.

When the carry mission was presented, the Wandering Swordsman looked flustered while Barcode watched on, smiling happily.

If it weren’t for the Wandering Swordsman, I would’ve targeted Nayun Queen with a support mission.

It seemed the Wandering Swordsman was going to struggle, having mistakenly gotten caught up with such a troublesome guy.

Curry thought to herself while trying to ease her troubled heart, but her insides still felt tight.

{ CurryRiceBowl21 donated 5,000 won. }

– [Twitch Clip Video]

“Thank you for the donation. Since it’s queued up, I’ll check the next one after the game.”

Checking the donation list, she saw several more clips lined up.

She couldn’t watch the clips while the game was on, so Curry temporarily closed donations.

After a bit, she shifted her gaze back to the clip videos.

Instead of Barcode, Jericho appeared, downing a shot for a penalty game.

The sight of Barcode quietly clapping behind Jericho, looking pleased, kept catching Curry’s eye.

The image of Nayun Queen, who had tormented her for years, was nowhere to be found.

Was that really Nayun Queen? It was confusing seeing Barcode fitting in so well with everyone else.

Looking back, on that day in front of the police station, Barcode hadn’t offered a proper answer at all.

He had only blurted out, “When will we go on a virtual relationship?”—a response utterly mismatched with the mood at the time.

While he hadn’t denied being Nayun Queen, he also hadn’t affirmed it either.

If it turned out that Barcode wasn’t Nayun Queen…

‘…That’s ridiculous.’

Barcode’s name alone was Choi Nayun, and he didn’t deny being Nayun Queen.

Clearly, during the collaboration, he had been treated on par with Nayun Queen, making Curry angry previously. There was no reason not to affirm being Nayun Queen.

‘Wasn’t it better this way?’

Since Barcode seemed to hang out with Jericho and other streamers.

If this continued, and Barcode lost interest in her, it would be like cutting that dreadful connection with Nayun Queen she so longed for.

“…”

She should be happy having her wish fulfilled, so why did her heart feel so suffocated?

Curry couldn’t find the reason for her state and concentrated back on the broadcast.

Fortunately, she managed to immerse herself in the game somewhat, and with perfect team luck, was playing pretty decently.

All lanes were performing well, with everything going smoothly.

Instead of just relying on her teammates, she took an active role in steering the game.

BAM!

As a result, Curry achieved her first pentakill of the season.

After winning the teamfight by a landslide, as the game looked to wrap up, Curry glanced at the chatroom.

It was a chatroom she had feared looking at for a while due to her disappointing condition, but now, she felt she had enough of a reason to check.

Thinking that, Curry found only chat messages praising her for achieving a pentakill with her super play pouring in.

“…”

However, Curry couldn’t be overly happy.

While she knew Nayun Queen and the Flower Shop Owner were the same person, the absence of the Flower Shop Owner felt painfully clear.

Curry couldn’t bring herself to smile, nor could she raise her tension.

The Flower Shop Owner was a regular in the chatroom, frequently praising her during moments like this—when she scored a pentakill or performed a dominating carry—often donating when doing so.

Now, neither Nayun Queen, Barcode, nor the Flower Shop Owner were present in her stream.

Though Nayun Queen’s disappearance was truly a blessing, the absence of the Flower Shop Owner was a regrettable loss.

Even knowing they were the same person, Curry still unconsciously viewed Nayun Queen and the Flower Shop Owner as entirely different individuals.

Had she finally lost her mind?

She doubted her own state and at the same time, a thought crept in.

Could she forgive Nayun Queen? A ridiculous notion.

But that thought quickly faded as reminders of the things Nayun Queen had done to her surged in.

Shaking off all distractions, Curry resolved to ride this momentum to raise her tier and restore her tension, but then…

{ Flower Shop Owner donated 500,000 won. }

– Congrats on your first pentakill of the season!

The sudden donation from the Flower Shop Owner sent a massive upheaval through Curry’s heart, bringing her a wave of calm.

*

Curry Breakers’ after-party, which she hadn’t expected, turned out to be more fun than anticipated.

Even for someone like me, who doesn’t like going out, I thought, “It’s not so bad to mingle with others.”

But that didn’t mean it was more fun than hanging out with Curry—hence, I simply managed a pleasant smile.

During the after-party stream, everyone had a blast, while I sat there expressionless, but it would be odd to be the only one like that.

I spent time streaming personally afterwards.

I would challenge the Wandering Swordsman with missions during his master promotion stream, or share stories of living together with Curry while chatting with viewers.

That’s how the week slipped away since the living together collaboration.

“…”

In the span of just a week, I had grown tired of the broadcasts, games, socializing with people, and even talking with viewers.

Originally, I had planned to avoid Curry’s streams for a month, but I found it impossible to endure any longer.

Reluctantly, I logged into Twitch and entered Curry’s stream for the first time in ages.

I had understood before that she was distancing herself from me, so I watched her stream without logging in.

After a while of silent viewing, I quickly realized Curry wasn’t doing well.

The chatroom was filled with comments ridiculing or mocking her poor state.

Thinking that her condition had worsened because of me, my heart ached needlessly.

I contemplated logging in to donate right then and there, but it seemed like that would only backfire, so I remained a lurker.

Checking Curry’s recent matches, she had suffered three consecutive losses just today.

All her recent records were red.

Given such a state, targeting her would undoubtedly cross a line.

With Curry already distancing herself from me, it was clear that if I targeted her now, I’d just earn eternal resentment.

Thus, I quietly watched the broadcast, cheering for Curry in my heart.

Maybe that desperate support reached her?

BAM!

Curry’s pentakill echoed through the stream, breaking her streak of losses.

[Wow, that’s Curry!]

[That was insane!]

[Is this ‘former Grandmaster’ material…?]

[King of Housebreakers! King of Housebreakers! King of Housebreakers!]

[Haha, these guys are such flip-floppers.]

[We have only Udyr masters here, lol.]

Fans who had been hiding their faces quickly praised Curry, shifting the the chatroom’s tone in an instant.

“…”

In typical scenarios like this, Curry would normally roar in triumph, but she seemed focused just on finishing her game, still in bad shape.

It wasn’t inappropriate for her to concentrate solely on the game rather than the stream.

However, it felt too wasteful to let this moment slip by, thus I hurriedly logged in as the Flower Shop Owner and donated all the credits I had.

{ Flower Shop Owner donated 500,000 won. }

– Huge congratulations on your first pentakill of the season!

After donating, I awaited Curry’s reaction.

Curry stared at my nickname intently, then broke into a light smile.

In an instant, the suffocating atmosphere transformed.

“Thank you so much, Flower Shop Owner, for donating 500,000 won to celebrate the pentakill!! Kyaaaah!!”

Curry let out a massive shout as if everything she had been holding back burst forth, gasping for air afterwards.

Seeing her regain her original condition sparked a smile on my face, something I couldn’t contain.

I hopped onto my computer and logged into Discord, immediately calling Curry.

DING-DONG! DING-DONG!

DING-DONG! DING-DONG!

“Barcode? What’s going on…”

“Curry.”

Taking a deep breath, I spoke quietly.

“When are we going to have our virtual relationship?”

It was something I had really wanted to say at such a timing.

What kind of reaction would Curry have?

With expectation, I kept silent and waited.

“Ha… really. This is absurd.”

Curry chuckled in disbelief.

Her ambiguous response left me confused about whether it was positive or negative.

“When would be a good time for you, Barcode?”

Her subsequent words were pure affirmation.

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