Chat messages from viewers climbed endlessly.
Donations came in so fast it was annoying to count them.
For someone like me, who had long been used to receiving screams of terror and feelings of fear, it was an entirely new sensation.
To think that so many people were showing me goodwill.
“I think it was a good thing I joined the guest segment. And if it’s all right, may I promote the Withube channel I run?”
“Your Withube channel? Of course you can!”
I’d been so busy lately that I hadn’t been able to upload many videos to my channel, but this might be a good chance to aim for a sudden rise.
“The channel name is Sanbeom’s Voice-Imitation Channel... It only has a few thousand subscribers so far.”
“A few thousand...?”
Dodohan asked in a puzzled voice.
Was that praise for having fewer subscribers than expected compared to my abilities?
“I just looked it up, and you’ve already passed ten thousand?”
“...Pardon?”
“Yes.”
Wait, I passed ten thousand? Was this some kind of human-style joke?
I immediately opened my Withube channel on my smartphone.
Notifications: 99+
So notifications max out at 99, and anything beyond that gets marked with a plus... I never knew.
...Which meant.
-gidd has subscribed.
-Hoshino’s Oshi has subscribed.
-fixxxer has subscribed.
-Comment from Hoshino’s Oshi: [I understand how people who call this fake feel.
.
.
.
.
.
“There’s no way I could hit ten thousand subscribers. No way, no way! (*It wasn’t no way?!)”
-CUTE
-CUTE
-As expected of a voice actor whose first work was dubbing yuri.
-CUTE
-The host’s viewers are all going to jump ship, aren’t they?
-Fr
“Uh...? This might be dangerous?! Guys, are you going to abandon me?”
-Yeah
-Beep, transferring.
-Sanbeom, you’re going to livestream, right?
-Host, you’re getting abandoned!
“In that case, there’s only one method left...!”
Just as I started to feel burdened by the guilt of having stolen someone else’s viewers, Dodohan seemed to come up with a clever plan.
It felt like a dilemma with no way out, but for Dodohan to find a solution even in this situation—she really was a professional streamer...
“Sanbeom! Please go out with me!”
“Ghk! Wh-what did you say?!”
So she wasn’t a professional streamer, but a professional water ghost dragging others down! No, wait, this wasn’t even a water ghost situation, was it? What was this, seriously, suddenly confessing feelings? And to me?
-I was drinking cola and it went up my nose!
-LOLOLOLOLOL
-If you can’t break them, make them yours. Is that it?
-I, for one, approve of this yuri.
-Me too!
-There it is! Dodohan-style WGM proposal.
-Flustered Sanbeom is CUTE
“This is... a WGM proposal, right? It is WGM, isn’t it?”
“Of course it’s WGM.”
Dodohan was a streamer who didn’t show her face.
That didn’t mean she was good at jokes or bits, nor was she a good singer.
Even so, the reason she had made it this far was her utterly absurd words and actions.
-But doesn’t the host already have a streamer she’s doing WGM with?
-Yeah
-Is this cheating!
“Ahem! I may not have a husband slot open, but I still have a wife slot left...!”
Dodohan’s answer did resolve the chat’s question, but instead it set the chat ablaze.
-This is my first time in this stream. Is it always like this here?
-Can’t deny it.
-Ahem...
-The weak cannot make it out alive!
“Uh... WGM... Mm, it’s already late today, and I’m getting sleepy, so I’ll give you an answer later. Thank you for today.”
Had I ever slept before? I wasn’t sure. Even so, for now, I had to be getting sleepy. Anyway, that was that.
“Ah. She left.”
-She ran.
-She ran away.
-Yuri was so close!
-Don’t run! Stand and fight!
-It’s Dodohan’s victory!
“Well, nothing we can do. I still haven’t heard her answer to the WGM proposal, so that means there’s still a possibility, right?”
Click.
Using electronic devices before bed activates the sympathetic nervous system and suppresses melatonin secretion.
For the sake of sleep quality, let’s turn off the computer.
Nothing happened during today’s guest segment.
Truly, nothing happened at all.
(too much happened to me im so tired for real)
Ding.
Just then, my smartphone rang.
[7,000,000 won has been deposited into Sanbeom’s account.]
S-seven million? I made seven million from just those few hours?
By convenience store wage math, that was money I would have had to work over half a year to earn, and I’d made it in one go.
If I just appeared a few more times... No, would it be better if I streamed myself?
I already had all the equipment.
The computer, too—Brother Baekho had bought me an extremely high-spec one from the start.
Wouldn’t using this only to watch Withube and play Minesweeper be like using an ox-slaying blade to butcher a chicken?
“I’ll put it into action tomorrow~! For now, I should just rest.”
Laozi said not to force anything to change, but to let it flow naturally.
This wasn’t me procrastinating. The work had simply been pushed back naturally.
“Right, Mr. Laozi?”
(A beastly brat is saying beastly things.)
Beasts speak beastly words by nature, so that meant I had said the right thing!
(Oh, my head!)
Since I didn’t sleep at night anyway, I soon got bored and turned the computer back on.
The type of game I wanted to try was something called an FPS.
I’d gotten interested after watching Withube videos, so I decided to give it a shot.
“The game’s name was definitely Handorant, right?”
It was a game where two sides split up, one side planting a bomb and the other defusing it.
I went to the Trueot Games website and downloaded the game.
When I started the tutorial, the screen showed me holding a gun in first person.
I’d only ever dodged bullets or been hit by them; this was my first time shooting one like this, so my heart pounded.
One hour later.
[Hit the exact center of the target 30 times in a row. 0/30]
“You piece of crap! Let me play the game! I’ve been stuck here for fifty minutes!!”
It was a mission where I had to control the gun’s recoil and dump an entire magazine into the exact center of the target.
To succeed, I had to carefully move the mouse downward.
But since I truly only had experience dodging bullets or getting hit by them, I had been failing this part for fifty minutes straight.
“Right, the sages of Withube will tell me how.”
When I searched for a method, I found the answer in less than a minute.
All I had to do was restart the game.
Apparently, then I could skip the tutorial.
“Give me back my one hour!!”
I shouted fiercely at the battle start screen that appeared after I restarted the game, but nothing came back to me.
It was fine as long as the problem was solved. But... why did I feel like I’d taken a loss?
It was one hour, so by minimum wage, I’d been robbed of ten thousand won.
A clear, undeniable loss.
Buddhism also says that clinging to something causes suffering, so I decided to stop clinging and just enjoy the game.
[Match found.]
The agent selection screen appeared.
There were five agents provided by default.
Naturally, I wanted the attack-type agent who would rampage at the very front like a fierce beast...
It was taken.
Someone else had selected that agent first.
With no other choice, I ended up choosing an agent who set up walls from the back and restored health.
-Hello.
-GLHF
-GLHF
The team’s atmosphere was warm and friendly.
Maybe because everyone was a beginner, they all wished each other luck before the game started.
I also typed GLHF in chat.
The wall separating the two sides disappeared, and the game began in earnest.
...I died?
I had wandered around without any caution and was instantly killed by an enemy lying in ambush against the wall.
I’d revive next round anyway, so other than feeling a bit frustrated, I felt nothing in particular.
-Dude, is your mom dead? Why the fuck are you running off alone with the bomb?
“What...?”
When I checked the ID, it was the guy who had stolen the agent I wanted earlier.
He’d been fast at choosing an agent, and he was the fastest at cursing me out too.
-What did you say?
-I said is your mom dead!
For reference, this match wasn’t ranked. It was a normal round, and on top of that, a lobby only beginners joined.
Naturally, my teammates made mistakes similar to mine.
Every time that happened, that guy hurled unspeakable abuse in chat.
“Please, stop!”
In the end, one of the teammates who couldn’t take it anymore turned on voice chat and spoke.
Since they’d even turned on voice chat, if he were someone with his head on straight, he’d get scared at this point and...
“Who are you to tell me to stop? You’re worse than me.”
The other party was not someone with his head on straight. And... he was young.
His voice was like a whining mosquito.
Judging by how he kept saying people had no parents, he seemed to be using his own greatest lack as an insult.
As the rounds continued, his slander crossed the line more and more.
On top of that, he was now cursing nonstop through voice chat.
I had reached my limit. The score was already 3 to 11.
The game was just about to end.
If I didn’t screw this bastard over somehow before that, I would live the rest of my life in regret.
-[Whisper] Please mute your speaker volume for a moment.
I sent whispers to the other teammates.
I had warned them in advance, so any teammate who didn’t listen was responsible for themselves.
Then I turned on my mic.
I can produce all sorts of sounds in the universe.
Among them, what sound is the most lethal to humans?
The voice of someone close to them? The cry of a beast? Or the sound of nature?
None of those.
The most lethal sound to humans is one that resonates with the eardrum.
If you match what’s called a resonant frequency, you can shatter a glass, and with that, I can tear a human eardrum apart.
If it’s transmitted through a mic, the power will be weaker, but he’ll suffer for at least three days.
“Ah, ah. !%@!%#$@^#^@”
“Uh...? What is this? What the hell? Fuck, I can’t hear! Tinnitus, fuck!”
[Defeat]
However, I had won. (Laugh)