[TS] Malicious Sniper

At first, all I wanted was to see Curry floundering in front of me after failing the eye-tracking challenge.

But when Curry’s gaze turned to the woman in the video, I felt an inexplicable, complicated sensation wash over me.

I had been watching Curry express how much he liked her, so I had expected this reaction. But why did I feel this way?

The enjoyment derived from tormenting him had been a convenient excuse for my deliberate denial of the truth.

As the realization hit me that Curry clearly hated me, I could no longer enjoy this situation.

No matter how hard he stared, I had no flaws compared to that woman.

He’d been too busy avoiding my gaze during the last collab stream, yet when his crush appeared, he couldn’t withstand even the briefest temptation.

A silence hung between Curry, who failed the eye-tracking challenge, and me, and during that silence, I understood why I felt this way.

It was true that I had tormented him to an extreme, but I had also taken care of him just as much.

No matter how I thought about it, I had definitely cared for him more than I had tormented him.

It was upsetting that it wasn’t happening out of sight, but right next to me.

In simple terms, my pride was hurt.

Shouldn’t it be normal for a woman like me to make him a little wobbly if I approached him?

Thinking from a male perspective, I could understand why the viewers would regard Curry as helpless.

When we were together, he was too busy avoiding eye contact, but at the sight of his crush striking a pose, he just couldn’t help but stare.

It was amusing to see Curry like that, and it was equally hilarious that I couldn’t enjoy this situation.

“What are you looking at?”

Having organized my turbulent thoughts to some extent, I asked Curry, who was glancing nervously.

Was he too shy to answer my question?

Curry remained silent, not even offering an excuse.

Not liking that demeanor one bit, I continued with a slightly trembling voice.

“Do you like her that much?”

“No, I don’t…”

“Then why is your gaze directed that way?”

“It’s a man’s instinct, I can’t help it…”

“And yet you can’t even look me in the eyes, your ‘virtual girlfriend’.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Curry, who was trying to give a half-hearted excuse, ultimately apologized.

Seeing him like that eased my heart a little, but I felt it was too bad to end the content here. Above all, I wanted the cheeky Curry to suffer even more.

If the torment Curry had been through was solely for my enjoyment, now it was time for him to pay off the karma he had built up.

“I didn’t expect it to end this quickly. Thanks to whom?”

“I have no excuse…”

“Let’s keep it going until three lives are gone.”

“…Are we doing more?”

“Are you scared that your gaze will wander again?”

“…”

As a streamer, I presented a choice that was impossible to refuse.

Sure enough, Curry swallowed his tears and nodded in acceptance.

“The success criteria for the eye-tracking challenge was originally to last 30 minutes… so let’s extend it to an hour.”

“An hour is too long…”

“To be honest, watching you, it looks like it would end in less than 10 minutes anyway.”

“…”

With that brutal fact bombshell, Curry sealed his lips, fixing his gaze straight ahead.

The spicy content had resumed playing, which was a donation video featuring a famous female cam BJ dancing, and of course, the exposed parts vastly outnumbered the covered ones.

Though he tried several times to divert his gaze, Curry displayed superhuman patience and managed to keep it in place.

Finally, he exhaled a sigh of relief when he persevered until the end of a video titled “Warning: Rear View Ahead.”

But he had only overcome one of many hurdles, and as the stream of spicy video donations continued, Curry wore an expression as if he were about to die.

Yet still, his strong will to maintain his focus was commendable.

How many video donations had he endured like this?

In the end, Curry was defeated by a video titled “ASMR of a G-cup woman whispering sweet things.”

“Come on, half the screen is that part! Isn’t this just Eva!?”

“Ugh…”

Curry lamented with a sense of injustice, and honestly, I could somewhat empathize with him.

I mean, what kind of mind considers sending a donation video that covers more than half of the screen with breasts?

Even I, who had no interest in that at all, momentarily glanced in that direction, so…

“Well, I’ll let this one slide.”

“Thanks…”

This instance would be considered void, but that was just for this one time.

Curry’s challenge continued afterward, and I, reflected on the screen as I smiled.

At some point, I began to enjoy this situation, wiping away the complicated feelings I had felt earlier, and simply focused on tormenting Curry.

Thus, the eye-tracking challenge went on smoothly.

Although there were genuinely crazy videos in between, Curry notably displayed a fragile demeanor whenever a video related to the solo artist Liné appeared.

With her charming body and exceptional singing talent, Liné was a beloved solo artist in the public eye.

She continuously drew Curry’s attention, and with each video, I felt a slightly troubling mix of emotions loom within me more than before.

The only things Liné had over me were her voice and singing skills.

So why was Curry more interested in her than me, who was right by his side and even his virtual girlfriend?

I didn’t want to care about it, but…

It kept bothering me.

Extremely so.

*

Thanks to Curry’s incredible willpower, I thought the eye-tracking challenge would end smoothly, but each time a video related to the famous solo artist ‘Liné’ appeared, he was shaken.

Eagle-eyed viewers picked up on this fact right away and started sending videos related to Liné.

[Curry, why do you like Liné so much?]

[Who would have thought he liked her this much? LOL]

[He’s always mentioning her, huh…?]

[So he did lie when he said he wasn’t interested in dating!]

[Why is the Barcode next to him and his eyes are wandering?]

[Getting a little too comfortable, huh? LOL]

There were videos of Liné’s magazine shoot, her sexy concert clips, and vacation videos in a bikini.

Watching those, Curry felt every bit of what it’s like to go crazy.

Being unable to view his favorite celebrity as a fan was torture worse than any other.

As he precariously walked the tightrope, he eventually burned through the remaining two lives after 35 minutes.

It was indeed videos related to Liné that took away all three of Curry’s lives.

“Curry.”

“…Yes.”

Curry carefully shifted his gaze but couldn’t turn his head to the side.

The Barcode maintained an eerily emotionless expression, radiating a chilly and uncanny atmosphere that made Curry unable to even swallow the saliva pooling in his mouth.

In this stormy silence that felt like the calm before the storm, swallowing could lead to an embarrassingly audible sound.

“Why did you do the virtual girlfriend thing with me?”

It was Barcode’s question that ended our infinite silence.

Curry almost blurted, “You made me do it, you crazy woman,” but…

Holding onto my fading sanity, I bit my tongue and calmed myself in my head.

“Because it was you, Barcode.”

“You’re not thinking, ‘Ugh, being treated like a chairman is annoying,’ right now, are you?”

“…How could I dare think something like that about you, Chairwoman?”

Curry was momentarily flustered by her look that seemed to see straight through him, but quickly regained composure and, with a casual tone, denied Barcode’s suspicion.

“Hmm… I’ll believe you if you follow through on your punishment.”

“Punishment? We didn’t set a punishment…”

“Viewers? What kind of punishment should we impose on the audacious Curry who failed the challenge?”

Drowned out mid-sentence, Curry quietly accepted his fate in the consensus surrounding his punishment.

After some heated discussion between Barcode and the viewers about Curry’s punishment, it was decided he would dress up as a bunny for a week.

And thus, the eye-tracking challenge came to an end.

Curry, having exited Barcode’s room, prepared to stream again in his own room.

While I couldn’t give a more impactful show than the eye-tracking challenge collab, there was no way I could skip today’s broadcast.

But thinking a short break wouldn’t hurt, Curry first went into his mailbox.

Among the various messages from fans and advertisements, one title particularly caught his eye, and as if drawn to it, he moved the mouse to check its content.

[League of Legends Academy x T1 Collaboration Invitation]

The mail’s content was surprisingly simple.

It was, as the title stated, a collaboration between League of Legends Academy and T1.

And it was an invitation for Curry to act as a mentor for that collab.

One thing he couldn’t understand was why he was being invited as a mentor.

With many capable streamers with higher tiers than him, why had he been chosen?

Setting aside the questions bubbling in his mind for a moment, Curry read the rest of the mail.

The rest of the message clarified his doubts.

The mentee participating in this collaboration could choose their desired mentor among the League of Legends streamers, and by a jarring coincidence, one had picked Curry, which led to him receiving this invitation.

In reality, it was more of a scouting than an invitation, but since he wouldn’t lose anything by participating, Curry thought positively about the collaboration.

“…”

Mentor? That thought suddenly reminded him of painful memories from that day.

Quickly brushing that memory away, he looked over the list of mentees.

As streamers took on the role of mentors, the mentees were all registered students of the academy.

Of course, they weren’t just any typical students.

He saw many familiar names, recognizable from where he stood.

Upon researching, all were celebrities, and notably, at the very bottom of the list, there she was.

A famous solo artist acknowledged by the public since her debut, Liné.

Her name was clearly written in the ‘mentor’ section next to Curry’s name.

The filming date was set for 14 days from today.

Should Curry accept this invitation? Or should he not?

Deep in thought, he pondered this decision as he turned on the stream.

[You’re late ㅡㅡ]

[You were 40 minutes late.]

[Looks like Curry’s lost his initial passion.]

[Let’s choose bunny ears first, shall we?]

[Ugh LOL just imagining it makes me happy.]

Starting without an opening song, Curry dove straight into League of Legends while running matchmaking, continuing his inner dilemma.

The viewers misunderstood his preoccupied demeanor for something else, but right now, Curry had no leisure to care about that.

While engaging in some humor here and there for the gambling-style stream, it was evident his energy was drained.

Normally, this would have caused a mass exodus of viewers, but most had stuck around after watching the eye-tracking challenge collab, so the drop-rate wasn’t that significant.

“Alright, everyone. I’m ending today’s stream here.”

[That’s a cover.]

[That’s a cover.]

[Looking forward to the bunny costume, Curry!]

[Looks like you’re exhausted, it’s a shame to see.]

[Let’s save up points to make Barcode do some cute acts!]

[Cover!]

Once the stream ended, Curry got up and led his tired body to bed.

Staring blankly at the ceiling, he continued mulling over the dilemma that had been troubling him throughout the broadcast.

Comparing the pros and cons of accepting the collaboration, he finally arrived at a decision.

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