My Favorite Has Started A Live Broadcast!

“…Is it… turned on…?”

On the small broadcast screen surrounded by a purple border, my desktop appeared to overlap dozens of times.

“What is this…?”

The broadcast had started, at least. So now, what am I supposed to do? I opened the window again, but the viewer count was still at zero. It was a busy weekday afternoon, and it was unlikely that anyone would stumble into a newly created broadcast.

There were still about 3 to 4 hours left until Chocoa’s broadcast. Since there wasn’t much else to do, I figured that if I played a game, maybe someone would watch, so I moved my large mouse and launched the game.

“Legendary Six,” or “Lesik” for short, was the game. It was the one I played the most and had become a staple in PC bangs, ranking in the top three FPS games made by a company called Newbisoft.

The game had characters with dozens of unique traits. You could break or reinforce walls, floors, ceilings, and windows, kill enemies, or plant a diffuser at the defense team’s site to win by defusing the bomb. Conversely, the defense team could win by either killing all the attackers or holding out until time ran out. It was a first-person shooter game with those basic mechanics.

While the long loading screen started, I figured I had time until Chocoa’s broadcast began, so I pulled up her stream replay from yesterday. I’d missed a few hours from the beginning, and hearing her signature husky voice somehow helped me concentrate better.

Within less than ten seconds, the game screen transitioned, and I quickly took down yesterday’s replay.

On the screen, which I hadn’t seen in a month, something felt odd. There were two bars beneath the brilliant platinum badge.

It was the rank demotion from inactivity.

Even though my rank had dropped due to sudden inactivity, it wasn’t something to get mad about. I could just raise my score again. After all, I hadn’t played or even turned on my computer for a month, so it was to be expected.

“Newbi-soft jerks.”

To get used to my changed body, I entered the training ground—Lone Wolf mode.

The difficulty was set to the highest of the three tiers: Battleground.

I saw something white spinning in the corner of the screen, and the screen transitioned.

Lone Wolf – Extermination

Consulate

Battleground

It wasn’t called the hardest difficulty for no reason. All the AI placed in the training ground originally had aim hacks. But as the difficulty increased, their accuracy, damage, and numbers also increased. In Battleground mode, you were often allowed only one or two shots before it was game over, especially if that one shot was from a shotgun.

But today’s goal wasn’t to clear the stage; it was to practice my aim, so I chose a character where movement speed was important.

“Hmm…”

I picked Ash. She was known for rushing, and among all the guns in Lesik, she had a top-tier one. But that wasn’t the reason I chose her.

As the game started, I moved my drone. I didn’t really need to, but I wanted to scout the exact number of enemies in the basement.

My little drone buddy rolled its wheels strongly, slipping under the barricade and heading down the stairs toward the basement. The first place I’d break into would be the basement. Fortunately, the AI with aim hacks didn’t shoot at the drone. After a thorough 30-second scan of the basement, I counted seven enemies.

Considering that there were a total of 30 enemies, they were likely evenly distributed from the basement to the second floor of the consulate.

I put away the phone and picked up my rifle.

Then, I pulled out my pistol.

I wasn’t using the pistol for style. This was an important practice with a reason behind it.

Instead of going down the barricaded stairs, I took the other set of stairs. What I saw was the clean white wall at the garage entrance. If this were a match with actual players, that wall would already be firmly closed, but since the enemy wasn’t human, I used Ash’s special ability: the breaching round.

It’s a simple ability where you shoot a round that breaks through certain surfaces.

I shot the small round into the garage wall, and shortly after, with a loud noise, it became an open garage. I congratulated myself and entered with the pistol drawn.

As soon as I entered, I aimed left and pierced through the head of the enemy sitting quietly on the stairs.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

As if angered by the death of their robotic friend, three enemies inside the garage began firing at me. As I mentioned before, they all had aim hacks, so if I stayed still, I’d get turned into a honeycomb in no time.

I immediately hid behind the nearby parked car.

I waited for the moment when the enemies ran out of bullets and started reloading, then stood up and shot preemptively. Since I had already pinpointed their location through the sound and bullet trajectory, there was no need to adjust my aim.

Bang! Bang!

The two bullets from my pistol accurately pierced through the enemies’ heads, and I quickly ducked behind the car again.

Just as I crouched, bullets rained down. When they lost sight of me, the enemies stopped shooting and began cautiously approaching my position.

I heard footsteps getting closer. The enemy was right behind the car.

But I wasn’t there anymore.

Like a game of “Ring Around the Rosie,” as the enemy approached me, I moved in the opposite direction to get behind them. Bang!

With four shots, I had taken down four enemies. A good start. I continued searching for the remaining enemies.

“Ah…”

Unfortunately, I failed to kill all the enemies. The last two enemies managed to perfectly flank me, creating holes in my head, and the word “FAILURE” appeared on the screen. Considering how hard it was to clear in the first place, I praised myself for getting this far with just a pistol before exiting to the main menu.

Luckily, my new body adapted well to my play style. My wrist turned just right, allowing me to move my aim and shoot enemies. My small fingers didn’t interfere with pressing other keys, so it actually felt even better. Having found a perk to this new body, I started a ranked match.

***

??? POV

If I had to describe myself, I’d say I’m a hardcore gamer with no life. Since my school days, I never did the studying I was supposed to, and I spent all day playing games. I became an adult, didn’t go to college, and now I waste my life holed up in a studio apartment, playing games or watching streams.

I love FPS games, especially Lesik, with over a thousand hours of playtime under my belt. My rank is Platinum 2, the kind of rank that would make my friends beg for me to carry them if I had any. In Lesik, the ranks go Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and finally, Master. Not that I have any friends who would care.

Over the past month, I hadn’t seen the familiar barcode nickname that I used to run into frequently in games. Although we didn’t always meet, given our rank, I would usually run into them at least once on weekend afternoons. But I hadn’t seen them in over a month. They were disgustingly good, so maybe they’d finally ranked up to Diamond, and I couldn’t match with them anymore. Or maybe I just wasn’t getting carried by their bus.

I’m not a bus leecher, though. I worked hard to get here. But if I looked at my win rate with Barcode, I’d guess it was around 70-80%. They always left right after the game ended, so I never got the chance to add them as a friend. I’d been content with the occasional match, but it’s been over a month now. Isn’t that a bit too much?

Grumbling about the stupid developers who only knew how to make a good game but nothing else, I turned on my computer as usual.

The light from my monitor, set to an adequate level, illuminated the dark room, and I launched Lesik.

Since my computer was expensive, the game booted up instantly, and the screen transitioned. Everything in my apartment combined probably wasn’t as expensive as my computer and equipment. If this breaks… I’m screwed.

I started matchmaking and opened Twitch. I didn’t care because I always muted the sound while I played anyway.

“…Why isn’t anyone streaming…?”

None of the dozens of streamers I followed were broadcasting. It felt like they’d all made a pact to go offline at the same time. It didn’t really matter, but it kind of felt like forgetting your phone when you go to the bathroom. I hurriedly started searching for something to watch before the match started. I scrolled through “Just Chatting” streams, looking for something not too distracting.

“…What…?”

Something strange caught my eye. The tag said “Just Chatting,” but the screen showed Lesik. The viewer count was at zero, and the title was just a simple “Hello.” At first, I thought it was some elaborate bait aimed at Koreans who loved pointing out anything annoying, but I clicked on the stream out of curiosity.

The stream quality was terrible, and there were constant, mildly irritating background noises. However, those distractions were completely overshadowed by the aim and skill on display.

“What… What the… Is this person playing with less than 70 FPS… and using a pistol to clear… a battleground…”

I watched silently for about a minute. The nickname was “Baraa.” No broadcast history. The equipment… It was obviously old and outdated. No commentary. But I couldn’t bring myself to click the back button.

Even though it was break time for students, most Platinum players had already poured their lives into the game, so it didn’t really affect matchmaking speed. Still, today it was taking a bit longer.

I minimized the matchmaking screen and watched the stream again.

The character was on the second floor of the consulate. Despite being in a battleground, they had full health. They hadn’t been hit even once while killing all the enemies. Had they done it with insane stability? The timer at the top of the screen said three minutes had passed. The character, wandering the second floor where only three enemies remained, suddenly stopped.

“……”

What’s going on? Did they hear something? Did I set the volume too low?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The character that had been standing still suddenly swung around and fired at the wooden wall. Then, a kill log appeared.

“…What the hell… what is this…”

But it seemed clearing the stage with a pistol was still too much, as two simultaneous footsteps echoed out of nowhere. The screen spun wildly. The character pierced the head of an enemy coming out from the door, but a bullet from the opposite direction came flying and killed them.

“Ah….”

Wait, was that a girl’s voice just now?

No way… No way… It couldn’t be…

Just as I minimized the stream, the sound of matchmaking being completed echoed.

Round Two.