[TS] Malicious Sniper

In fact, there had been several suspicions raised about the possibility that Nayun Queen and Barcode might be the same person.

It’s understandable because, while there was no concrete evidence, there were plenty of circumstantial indicators.

Like Most, the non-overlapping activity times, and the fact that both of them had been tormenting Curry maliciously.

There were many commonalities between Nayun Queen and Barcode.

The reason this suspicion never became public was simple.

During their first real collab stream, Barcode and Nayun Queen had played the same game as Curry.

That single alibi disproved all the circumstantial indicators, hence the suspicion of whether Barcode and Nayun Queen were the same person never saw the light of day.

“Tsk…”

So, I thought all I had to do was handle Curry’s mental state, the only one in on the secret, with care.

But the existence of Lee Seon-a, who was very likely aware of my secret, was like a thorn in my side.

I would have loved to use my resources to get rid of her right away, but since Lee Seon-a was the representative of an MCN, that wasn’t easy either.

How could I get rid of that pesky Lee Seon-a from my sight?

No, before that, why had Lee Seon-a rejected me?

Was it truly because she had penetrated my identity?

No matter how I thought about it, if I were Lee Seon-a, I would have signed a contract and taken my secret as leverage.

That would have made it easier for her to manage me.

But the fact that she didn’t do that meant she probably didn’t know my secret.

I pondered why she sent the rejection email under the assumption that she didn’t know my secret.

Like me, Lee Seon-a was a viewer who had watched Curry’s broadcasts from the very beginning.

Since she watched the broadcasts without fail every day, it was likely she had personal feelings for Curry.

Perhaps Curry joining Crystal was all part of Lee Seon-a’s plan?

Whether viewer Lee Seon-a and Crystal’s representative Lee Seon-a were the same person was still uncertain.

It was a situation with only circumstantial evidence and no concrete proof, so making a hasty judgment would not be wise.

But if all this circumstantial evidence were true, then Curry might have a closer relationship with Lee Seon-a than I thought.

‘They aren’t dating, right?’

The figure of Curry I saw in the League of Legends Academy studio’s waiting room was absolutely not acting.

From the standpoint of someone who had watched Curry for years, that genuine joy could not have been an act.

If they were in a relationship, he wouldn’t have shown such a reaction at all.

What was crucial now was whether Lee Seon-a knew my identity.

Were Curry and Lee Seon-a’s relationship closer than I imagined?

The truth of whether viewer Lee Seon-a and Crystal’s representative Lee Seon-a were the same person.

But for now, I couldn’t determine the truth at all.

In this frustrating situation where nothing was certain, there was nothing I could do.

“Huh…”

Sighing from my frustration, I began to organize my tangled thoughts.

It wasn’t the right time to act, so I didn’t need to rack my brain any longer.

I just needed to enjoy the remaining time of this pretend couple living arrangement and torment Curry for fun.

Having cleared all thoughts of Crystal and Lee Seon-a from my mind, I began planning the collab stream with Rine that I had promised last time.

*

After talking to Barcode, Curry spent some time investigating what was going on.

He called the person in charge and brought up Barcode’s name, but all they did was repeatedly say they didn’t know anything.

Realizing something was off, Curry used his connections within Crystal to find out the whole story.

Crystal’s representative, Lee Seon-a, had completely banned Barcode from being recruited.

He learned about the useless information that the team leader who had many complaints had moved to a competing MCN.

Curry felt something was wrong.

Of course, he thought about distancing himself from Barcode after this pretend couple living arrangement ended.

However, one had to distinguish between public and private matters, and it was proper to take this seriously, putting personal emotions aside.

It wasn’t right for a specific streamer to be excluded from the recruitment process due to the representative’s influence.

Most importantly, Curry couldn’t understand why Crystal’s Lee Seon-a had excluded Barcode.

While it was beneficial for Curry, who wanted distance, Barcode was practically a golden goose for the MCN.

If they managed to recruit Barcode, it could elevate the MCN significantly, as she had already accumulated immense popularity.

Why on earth would they exclude such a streamer from recruitment?

From Crystal’s perspective, it was essential to take in Barcode, who had approached them.

But not only did they not recruit her, but they actually pushed her away, which was a decision close to madness.

It wasn’t rational at all, as if it were an impulsive decision filled with personal emotions…

…Wait a minute, personal emotions?

Curry recalled a suspicion he had several times before.

When Crystal had presented him with ridiculous contract terms.

Especially when the one handing over that contract was Crystal’s representative, Lee Seon-a.

Curry had suspected that Lee Seon-a might actually be a viewer who diligently followed his broadcasts, using the nickname ‘Lee Seon-a’.

Back then, he still hadn’t cut ties with Noryang City and was operating in the shadows, which meant his popularity wasn’t that high.

Yet, despite that, they presented him with absurd contract terms.

Naturally, he began to wonder if this representative was indeed one of his viewers.

But of course, that suspicion didn’t last long.

The representative of an MCN being a hardcore fan?

That was more of a scenario you’d find in a comic book, just delusions.

Thinking that way, he brushed it off.

But now that he thought about it, there were more oddities than he could count.

If representative Lee Seon-a truly were his fan…

The fact that they had communicated personally.

The unsolicited push for a merchandise business.

Opportunities to participate in various competitions to quickly increase his visibility.

Various benefits had come his way, which he hadn’t considered strange at all.

Yet, he could see several streamers who were much more popular than he was at that time, but they hardly received any of those benefits, and some even had to quit their broadcasting careers due to incidents.

“…Crazy.”

It was practically the case that competitors within the MCN had disappeared on their own, and thinking that all of this had occurred due to representative Lee Seon-a’s influence made him curse under his breath.

Curry decided to investigate this matter further later on, and today he began his personal broadcast as usual.

*

Having finished the stick snack game and thoroughly enjoyed the blissful pretend couple living arrangement,

Repeating anything too much would naturally lead to boredom.

My current state was right on the brink of getting bored, and although not a dramatic change, I wanted to introduce some novelty to my daily life, so I carefully reviewed some pretend couple-related videos.

After spending all day looking through countless pretend couple videos on Mutube, I found one common feature.

Outdoor dates.

Unless they were a streamer who kept their face covered, also known as “dratan,” most streamers who had done pretend couple activities had at least once gone on outdoor dates.

Spending a day visiting various places with a pretend couple partner.

Intrigued, I started to consider how I would conduct an outdoor date.

After all, the actual pleasure I would derive from going out would be mainly in tormenting Curry, over 99%.

So, I thought I didn’t need to outline an elaborate or perfect dating course but instead sought out locations where I could efficiently torment Curry.

Based on the vast amount of pretend couple video data, I concluded that a vacation rental with an indoor swimming pool and spa would be the best.

Before putting my plan into action, I went down to the first floor and headed to Curry’s room.

“Barcode? What brings you here this time…”

“Wouldn’t someone think I’m just coming to do bad things?”

“…Isn’t that the case?”

“What did you just say?”

“Nothing. So, what brings you here this time?”

“I thought since our pretend couple living arrangement is coming to an end, how about we go on a trip?”

Upon suggesting an outdoor date, Curry’s expression turned dark in an instant.

Since the broadcast wasn’t on, he openly showed how much he disliked the idea, but it merely seemed like the cute rebellion of a disobedient child.

“Where do you plan on going?”

“I’m thinking of renting a vacation rental for four days and three nights.”

“Four days and three nights… just the two of us?”

“Well, I will take my manager, but you can invite one of your managers along as well.”

Curry propped his chin up with two fingers, deep in thought.

An idea came to me, so I smiled and continued softly.

“If you want, should I invite Rine along too?”

“Why are you suddenly bringing up Rine?”

“So, are you going to invite her or not?”

“…Well, I’ll go with whatever Barcode wants.”

“Then we won’t invite her…”

“Please invite her.”

“Pfft, you could’ve just said that from the start.”

Seeing Curry reluctantly and honestly answering made me crack a smile.

Somehow, this had turned into a group collab stream that included Rine for the outdoor date, but it worked out well.

It meant I could torment Curry in more diverse ways.

“Hmm… so during this vacation rental trip, you’ll be the only guy, Curry?”

“Thinking about it again, isn’t it better for me to also call my manager…”

“I’m sorry, but it’s too late for that.”

“Sigh…”

I whispered to the sighing Curry in a teasing tone.

“Just me alone isn’t enough, is it? Pervert.”

“What have I done to deserve this…?”

Feeling adequately satisfied from tormenting Curry today, I left the room with a smile.

I moved to the kitchen and carefully peeled an apple to soothe Curry’s mind and placed it on a plate.

Having taken cooking lessons from Ji-hye, I naturally got better at my skills, and now I could easily slice it into a checkerboard pattern.

Knock knock knock—

“Curry, here’s your apple.”

“Thank you.”

After handing the fruit to Curry, I returned to the second floor and called Rine with the number I received before.

After a few rings, the call connected, and I heard Rine’s familiar sweet voice on the other end.

-Hello?

“This is Barcode; is this Rine?”

-Oh, this is Rine! Why are you contacting me now… I’ve been waiting for a while.

“Hahaha… I’ve been a bit careless.”

-But it’s all good! You contacted me! But because you did, does that mean… the collab date has been set?

“We’re planning an outdoor date-like trip to a vacation rental; I was wondering if you’d like to join us.”

After asking if she wanted to go on the vacation rental trip, Rine fell silent for a moment.

It felt like she held her breath, so much so I was about to check if the call had disconnected when her voice finally came through.

-Well, if it’s a date, I don’t want to intrude…

“We’ll be taking my manager along! And she’s a woman, by the way.”

-Then I’ll go too!

Initially, it seemed like Rine was trying to be considerate with her jab at politeness.

But as soon as I mentioned the manager, she dropped her facade.

It made me chuckle at how similar she was to Ji-hye in this regard.

Having successfully enticed Rine, I looked for a vacation rental.

I only checked out rental properties that had actual review videos.

I found a vacation rental that suited the four of us perfectly, and I immediately submitted a reservation request.

Not long after, the reservation was successfully finalized.

Having wrapped up all preparations, I turned on my personal broadcast.

[What’s going on?]

[Who woke the sleeping ghost…?]

[Baha]

[What’s with the sudden broadcast at this hour?]

[Show us Curry, show us Curry, show us Curry]

[Are you guys asleep or what?]

As I played music and waited for the viewers to join, I kept an eye on the growing numbers.

After confirming there were enough viewers, I turned off the music and activated my microphone.

“Ah…”

Checking that the microphone worked properly, I grinned and softly said,

“We’ve decided to go on a vacation rental trip together.”

Suddenly, the chatroom that had been calm exploded into excitement at this unexpected news.

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