Chapter 106: Birds of a Feather (3)
Chapter 106: Birds of a Feather (3)
One question that popped into my head at this point.
“Unni, you carried us when we played duos last time, right?”
“Right? Should I carry us again today?”
“Sure.”
What kind of connection do these two have to seem so close?
Listening to them, it seems they’ve played games together a few times…
Recently, whenever I contacted Na-young, she was playing <Ground of Battle>.
But was she playing it with Se-yeon noona?
When I looked at them with wide eyes, they glanced at me and explained.
“There was a game presentation in Daejeon two weeks ago. I met Se-yeon unni there for the first time, and we got closer since then.”“…Oh.”
I see.
No, wait a minute.
If that was the case, couldn’t Se-yeon noona have told me beforehand?
“Se-yeon noona, why didn’t you tell me about this?”
“It wouldn’t have been fun then.”
“Sorry?”
“I had so much fun! By the way, Na-young, did you hear what Chan-sik said earlier? He said you’re much prettier than me.”
At that, Na-young’s face, who had been chatting happily, turned red, and she glanced at me.
“Re-Really?”
“You donated earlier. Are you pretending you didn’t hear?”
-Haha, this house sprinkles sugar well.
-Who spread honey here?
-Oh? Who’s that girl?! Is she a Korean idol?!
-No. She’s a Twipod streamer!
-But seriously, both of them are so pretty…
-If I could squad up with such pretty people, I’d do anything.
Na-young glanced at me a few more times, then put on a shameless expression.
“He probably said that because we broadcast together a lot. Isn’t it obvious that you’re prettier than me, unni?”
“No, that’s not true. Our company president asked us to recruit you. He said you could definitely be a top idol.”
“Excuse me.”
If left alone, they would keep talking endlessly.
So, I decided to take the plunge and speak up, and Se-yeon noona and Na-young, who had been chatting happily, looked at me.
“This is my broadcast… How about we start the game now?”
I meant to keep things moving, but it wasn’t the girls who got angry, it was the viewers.
-Dude, stop babbling and shut up, haha.
-How dare you interrupt two beautiful ladies chatting, you man?
-Haha, let’s know our place, friend.
-We don’t need to play the game today, what’s he talking about?
-Right, haha, just keep broadcasting those two on a solo shot, and the viewers will skyrocket.
-Let’s just make them take over the broadcast today, haha.
Are these bad guys really my viewers?
Judging by the chat IDs, these were the regulars who always stuck around on my stream.
But the one who listened to me was Se-yeon noona.
“Right? Na-young, your man is saying this, so we should listen once, right?”
“Unni!”
“Why? Just kidding. Let’s start the game.”
It seemed Se-yeon noona’s pranks would continue throughout this squad.
Anyway, after a brief issue time, we immediately started the <Squad> mode.
I hadn’t been playing this game for long, but it seemed Na-young had been playing quite often with Se-yeon noona.
When I first met her, all she played was League of Storm.
Definitely, since starting the broadcast, she’s learned to play more games.
“Kyaaah!”
…Except she still wasn’t good at any of them.
We naturally landed at the military base, and Na-young screamed with her eyes tightly shut.
“I’m scared!”
In fact, parachuting in this game wasn’t that difficult.
Just a little movement could get you to the target, but it seemed too hard for Na-young.
She landed far behind our intended target, so Se-yeon noona and I had no choice but to land near her.
“Parachuting is so hard. I still can’t get used to it.”
“What’s so hard about it? Just a slight move and it will…”
“It’s hard, okay! Why don’t you teach me!”
Na-young seemed unusually sensitive today.
I looked at her and nodded.
“Okay.”
“…What?”
“I’ll teach you later. Let’s go to a capsule room together on a day off.”
I give up!
I could already hear the cheers of the fans who ship us.
At my sudden reply, Na-young blushed and looked away.
“…Fine.”
This didn’t seem like her usual character.
She seemed to be deliberately exaggerating her character, but in this situation, it didn’t matter.
The chat room was exploding with the strange tension between Na-young and me, and Se-yeon noona, watching us, nodded with satisfaction.
But then.
“There they are!”
“Wow!”
“It’s Kim Se-yeon! Wow!”
Our peace was perfectly shattered by people rushing toward us.
Stream snipers, common in broadcasts like this.
And it wasn’t just one or two teams.
Some just wanted to see the famous faces.
Bang!
But many wanted to eliminate the celebrities themselves.
I loaded my K2 rifle, which I had just looted, and stretched lightly.
‘NationMissionMan’ donated 100,000 won!
[50,000 won per kill with the K2! Show them the power of the army reserve… but only if you win, haha.]
The K2 Korean rifle.
Sung-soo hyung had set up a mission befitting his nickname, and I quickly responded to the mission audio.
“Yes, sir.”
And then, as I looked at the numerous stream snipers rushing in from all directions, I smiled.
“Everyone, aim for their foreheads.”
Capitalism is a great law.
Taste the bullets of capitalism, you bastards.
7.
The lack of numbers in <Squad> mode acts as a bigger penalty than one might think.
Especially in terms of firepower, the difference is palpable.
In the old days, when there were many newbies, it would have been easy to face multiple opponents alone.
Every game has such a period.
However, at the current point in <Ground of Battle>, only seasoned players were left.
In other words, it was a very challenging time to face multiple opponents alone.
Originally, there were many new users, but most of them quit the game due to Chinese-made hack programs.
It was the same fate as the PC game that could be considered the predecessor of this game.
The users currently playing this game were essentially all veterans.
But occasionally.
Bang!
A new player would emerge to challenge the veterans.
-What game is he not good at?
-The Ministry of National Defense should seriously consider Shia as a promotional ambassador.
-He’s nailing it.
-Did you see him not miss a single shot?
-This is the power of the South Korean reserve forces!
-Even pro gamers’ aim is crazy, but his is on another level.
-King of new players.
-Jeju Samdasoo?
This time, I was that new player.
As I shot bullets into the foreheads of the stream snipers rushing at us, I made everyone equal.
It was still early in the game, so they hadn’t looted any helmets yet.
Without a helmet, you could kill with a single shot to the head, even without a sniper rifle.
Bang!
Next to me, Na-young, who had also been shooting, jumped up and down in excitement.
“I got one! How about that, am I amazing or what?”
Cute.
But unfortunately, the one she got was the enemy I had downed.
<Squad> mode has a system where if an ally is still alive, you get knocked down when critically hit.
To completely kill, you need to shoot the downed body again.
Of course, in that case, the kill is counted as mine.
“Na-young.”
“Yes?”
“That one you got, I had already downed them.”
“It’s still a kill, isn’t it?”
She was cute, so I decided to let it go.
I smiled and nodded.
“You’re just dripping with honey, huh? Good for you… I’m single, and Na-young, can you lend me Chan-sik for a bit?”
“I’m not an object, noona.”
“I wasn’t asking you.”
“I… I’m not sure about that, unni.”
“Oh my, look at her.”
…I wouldn’t get caught up in their banter anymore.
As I quickly gave up, Se-yeon noona threw in some comments and laughed.
Despite her demeanor, she had already recorded 6 kills.
As I mentioned earlier, she seemed to have a good understanding of the game.
I had seen her play earlier; her shots were good, and she had a good sense of the game.
That meant she was naturally talented at games, not just skilled from playing a lot.
The remaining survivors were 11 in total.
Excluding our team, there were 8 left, and the survival area was extremely small.
Seeing that no one was showing themselves, it was likely there wasn’t a full team of four.
As the uncomfortable silence continued.
I finally came up with a strategy and immediately spoke to Se-yeon noona and Na-young.
“Let’s finish this quickly.”
“How?”
“Se-yeon noona, you were good with the sniper earlier, so stay hidden and wait…”
From now on, Na-young’s role was very important.
My current kills were 21.
Converted to money, it was 1.05 million won.
But since I could still get killed by a stray bullet, it wasn’t safe money yet.
Given that we couldn’t easily locate the enemies, we had to move even at the risk of some sacrifice.
“What should I do?”
Na-young was looking at me with bright eyes.
She seemed to be enjoying the game quite a bit, looking much happier than when playing League of Storm.
Actually, using Na-young wasn’t that complicated.
At least in this area, I was something of an expert on Na-young.
I exhaled lightly and spoke to her.
“Na-young, the role you’re about to play is the most important.”
Na-young was weak to compliments.
And her thought process wasn’t very complex, so a few words could easily make her feel good.
They say praise makes even whales dance, right?
This was exactly that moment.
“Seeing you play this round, you did surprisingly well. It really showed that you played a lot with Se-yeon noona.”
Just two words.
But those two words made Na-young, who had been tense until a moment ago, smile.
“Really?”
-Devil’s whispering, wow.
-Doesn’t it seem like they really suit each other?
-Their synergy was amazing, haha. Remember during Dark Spirit, when Our Evil was Na-young’s coach?
-Was Shia-Na-young coin the answer after all?
-It wouldn’t be surprising if they really started dating, haha.
-Our Na-young is so cute ><
-That Shia guy is already gearing up his smooth talk.
In the chat, viewers were going wild over Na-young’s cuteness.
Even foreign viewers who were seeing Na-young for the first time were going crazy, calling her cute.
Interestingly, the focus of this broadcast, where Se-yeon noona was invited as a guest, seemed to be on me and Na-young.
It was as if Se-yeon noona had intentionally created this situation.
It felt like she had deliberately shared the spotlight that was initially on her.
…Could it be for our sake?
“Na-young, you’re so lucky. To have someone who takes such good care of you… These are the good times.”
…It’s clear she’s just a malicious shipper.
I shook my head and quickly spoke to Na-young.
“It’s almost time to determine the first place. With your skills and sense, you can definitely change the situation.”
“Just leave it to me! I’m really confident I can do well!”
“Of course. I know your skills well. Na-young, can you give me the bullets, grenades, and items you have?”
At my words, Na-young cheerfully handed over all the items she had looted, with a bright smile on her face.
She listened so well, it was great.
“And then?”
“Now you use your perfect physical abilities to figure out the enemy’s positions. Quickly get up and run to that bunker you see over there.”
Na-young, who had been listening intently, nodded resolutely.
Then she looked at me and asked cautiously.
“When?”
“Move when you’re ready. You deserve that much, right?”
“…Thanks!”
With my encouragement, Na-young, who had been lying down, stood up and ran towards the bunker in the opposite direction.
And one second later.
Bang!
Bang!
As if waiting for this, bullets started pouring in from all directions.
Although Na-young was downed by the hail of bullets, we managed to identify all the enemies’ positions thanks to her.
“Chan-sik.”
“Yes, Se-yeon noona.”
“You… What are you going to do?”
“…Well. Won’t we figure it out somehow?”
“I don’t know. Na-young said she’s coming to the office later, so deal with it yourself.”
…She didn’t mention she was coming here, though.
Thus, the tragic end of a streamer who sold his soul to capitalism was approaching.