chapter_0026

26 – Yes, Gladly

26 – Yes, Gladly

Here is the English translation of the Korean novel excerpt:

The situation was down to a standoff with the last enemy remaining.

I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the kill score.

Those weirdos on the gallery kept trying to slam down signal flares.

Not a chance, right?

Signal flares are totally useless, right?

At the very least, I can hold my own against pros in normal games, right?

I feel bad saying this to Mu-gun, but before I picked up the double barrel to crack the skull of our team’s troll, my main weapon was actually the sniper rifle.

My annihilation combo was to break shields with a low-magnification sniper at medium range, then rush in while the damaged enemy was recovering and finish them off with the weapon equipped in my second slot.

But even I have to admit that Mu-gun is an excellent sniper.

Was it when he put a bullet into the guy shooting from the hill as soon as we took cover?

I thought we had dodged and taken cover with the same movement, and aimed at almost the same timing.

But Mu-gun was definitely faster.

If we weren’t on the same team and were aiming at each other instead, my head would have exploded first – that’s how much of a difference there was.

It was the same when he tried to steal my kills later too.

He would pretend to shoot as a feint, but he was actually watching through his scope to see if my bullets hit the enemy or not.

You really have to give credit to guys who made a living as pro gamers.

They make that kind of money because they’re so damn good it’s infuriating.

…But in the very end, who was the ultimate winner?

The king, god, great Signal Flare.

[You were lucky. I lost.]

Mu-gun tells me I was lucky, but not at all.

What is the identity of Signal Flare?

It’s the double barrel and smoke grenades.

My specialty was sticking to enemies with the acceleration zone of Crazy Shot while popping smoke, then popping their heads one by one inside the smoke where they thought they were safe.

And inside the smoke, I can take out enemies with any gun.

I’ve been doing this for 5 years, so it’d be weird if I wasn’t good at it.

So when Mu-gun seemed to be testing me,

[…Then could I watch you play sometime? I’d like to invite you to an in-house match.]

Along with the rage of “How dare you”, a brilliant idea flashed in my mind.

It may have started as simple reconnaissance sniping, but wasn’t there a collab stream in a few days?

A promotional task the boss entrusted to me, no less.

Thinking I should really make a splash with it, my mouth moved on its own:

[Unnecessary. You can see.]

OTNXSU9XcTFURXdtd0tweHpoait4akVEQVJoTmMrTm16VjVSWTNEeEJiUmtVRlBXZUc0cmFLTE5seStMZEhabw

“? What do you mean by that?”

[Reason. Shown in 60 hours.]

─ ??

─ Not 60 seconds?

─ What’s happening in 60 hours lol

─ Aaaaargh

─ Speak properly!!

Thanks to winning the bet, people’s attention is quite focused on me right now.

I can tell just from the chat reactions and Mu-gun saying he wants to invite me to an in-house match.

As it happens, Mu-gun’s crew’s in-house match starts in 2 days and 12 hours.

Won’t people who just heard about the 60 hours be curious?

Wondering if “Mu-gun is a Famous Momo Anti” is the same person as Signal Flare, who participated that day with the nickname “1stGen1stAnniversarySongNovember5thRelease”?

Well, I’d be a little sad if they didn’t pay attention.

If a lot of people gather for the in-house stream, such talk will surely come up.

Asking if I didn’t snipe Mu-gun recently.

I’ll play dumb until the end of the stream.

People’s curiosity will remain unresolved and continue to swell. And in that process, if my nickname “1stGen1stAnniversarySongNovember5thRelease” keeps getting mentioned…

It’s like the news about “It’s our 1st anniversary! Please pay attention!” will spread far and wide through the fans’ mouths without me having to repeat it over and over.

Pretty good strategy, isn’t it?

This is the wisdom I can recite after 6 years as a simp and 3 years of observing and learning under the boss.

…I wonder if the boss will be surprised at how I came up with this idea?

Hehe.

… ─ Mu-gun (Internet Broadcaster) Gallery ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …

[Damn, what’s the deal with this mysterious sniper]

I’m dying of curiosity hahahahahahahahaha!!!

[Comments]

— Mu-gun831: He’s really gone crazy;

— Mu-gun701: This guy’s really lost it lol

— Mu-gun732: Muhahahahahahahahahahahahaha

— Mu-gun923: Damn I’m so curiouuuuuuuuus

— Mu-gun124: Did all the stream viewers collectively get put on a quiz show or what lol

… ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …

… ─ Mu-gun (Internet Broadcaster) Gallery ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …

[Was he actually using hacks?]

Honestly, it doesn’t make sense to know exactly where enemies are in smoke without hacks

I think he was probably using aimbot or position hacks

[Comments]

— Mu-gun334: The broken Korean was suspicious from the start

— Mu-gun892: Is it you again, mainlander?

— Mu-gun984: But Mu-gun didn’t say it was hacks?

–
Mu-gun734: Well it’s not like Mu-gun is a hack detector lol how would he know

–
Mu-gun325: This friend’s brain has gone mushy

… ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …

… ─ Mu-gun (Internet Broadcaster) Gallery ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …

[So what the h~]

What’s this about being revealed in 60 hours lol

I mean, you gotta at least tell us that before leaving lol

[Comments]

— Mu-gun020: What if there’s actually nothing and he just threw that out there?

– Mu-gun393: Ugh that’d be even more annoying lol

— Mu-gun890: I think there’s a possibility it’s a bluff lol

– Mu-gun890: The psychology of snipers is pretty obvious

… ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …

… ─ Mu-gun (Internet Broadcaster) Gallery ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …

[I did some speculation]

*This is all just my theory

If you refute it, you’re absolutely right*

So he mentioned 60 hours later, right?

Just in case, I looked at Mu-gun’s streaming schedule.

He said that at 5 AM, so exactly 5 PM two days later, right?

There’s a stream right at that time

Mu-gun’s crew in-house match, yeah

Could he be someone appearing there?

I mean, there are tons of other streams starting then too, but I’m saying this because I don’t think he’d snipe just to mention some other stream.

[Comments]

— Mu-gun734: What does he even gain from doing that

– Mu-gun242 (Author): I d?k

— Mu-gun842: It’s a somewhat convincing analysis, but I have no idea what this Momo anti bastard is thinking lol

– Mu-gun242 (Author): Well if he doesn’t explain it himself, we’ll never know…

… ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …

… ─ Momo (VTuber) Gallery ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …

[Anyone here know Signal Flare well?]

I’m curious

Does Signal Flare like smoke combat by any chance

Not just like preferring smoke grenades

But like enjoying fighting inside smoke after throwing it

[Comments]

— Momo849: Yeah

— Momo375: Yeah he loves it

— Momo484: He likes it lol Signal Flare’s 1-second kill is popping smoke and cracking skulls inside

–
Momo843 (Author): Oh I see

–
Momo484: But why?

–
Momo843 (Author): Found an account that might be Signal Flare’s alt

–
Momo484: Oh I see, want me to show you some clips?

–
Momo843 (Author): Sure, roll them out nice and spicy

… ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …

The next afternoon.

Cheon Do-hee, who was busy communicating with the label representative about the 1st gen song, received a phone call.

“You’ve been calling a lot lately?”

The caller was Mu-gun.

After worrying all day yesterday, checking communities, and agonizing, he finally found a plausible lead and came to Momo.

[You know that person, Employee D or Signal Flare or whatever. You used to play a lot of games with them, right?]

“I did until 3 years ago, why?”

[That guy. Is he good at fighting inside smoke? Like, can he pinpoint locations just by sound and shoot?]

Do-hee answered nonchalantly.

Thinking he was probably asking to balance the in-house match teams.

“I’m not sure if he’s that accurate, but he definitely loves fighting with smoke out. I guess it’s because that double barrel he carries around is useless at long range. So he throws smoke to close the distance, then causes chaos inside. It’s his specialty.”

On the other end of the phone, Mu-gun let out a long groan before speaking.

[That Signal Flare person, was he maybe a pro trainee before? Or did he used to be a pro?]

“No?”

[But he’s that good?]

However, with the praise continuing like this, Do-hee was also perplexed.

It felt just like when Jia would secretly play a game with him and then come praise, “I played with that person yesterday and they were amazing.”

Feeling inexplicably uncomfortable, Do-hee was lost in thought when Mu-gun spoke.

[Anyway, that Employee D or Signal Flare or whoever. Can you ask them to free up more time two days from now? I heard they’re busy so I only asked for two matches. Is more than that too difficult?]

“They’re busy. Busy as hell.”

[What is the boss doing? Tell him to hurry up and hire someone to help out.]

“What do you know to be saying that… Will you pay their salary instead?”

[Haa… Alright. Two matches as promised, okay.]

Mu-gun’s reaction had clearly changed.

If last week he was just a bit curious, now he was acting like he’d lost half his life.

It’s a well-known fact that if Mu-gun is a skilled gamer streamer, he’s a drip machine who never fails to send friend requests and calls them to his squad whenever he’s bored.

But even Do-hee had never seen him this regretful before.

“If you’re that disappointed, should I fill in instead?”

[With your skills… No, I’m sorry about what I just said.]

“My, cancelling so quickly? Holy shit, this horse-faced bastard is crazy?”

[Sorry. I’m sorry. Ahem. No, hey. But immediately dropping f-bombs is a bit…]

“Sigh.”

It’s not like it’s the first time Mu-gun has looked down on Do-hee.

Since Mu-gun is actually much better at games, Do-hee just let out a short sigh.

The more important thing right now was why Mu-gun was suddenly so busy praising Majiya out of nowhere.

The only event she could think of was that he secretly sniped Mu-gun with an alt account.

It seems like they played together, but that’s the only reason she could think of.

I mean, Majiya is a hardcore Momo simp, isn’t she?

She’s a fan with such fervent devotion that it’s almost too much for Do-hee,

So she might have harbored ill feelings towards Mu-gun and sniped him to play a nasty prank, like a unicorn.

That’s why she asked, but…

[Uh. They came to my room around 5 AM yesterday. I’m not certain, but it seems that way. There are a lot of speculative posts on the community.]

…Why doesn’t this sound like a lie?

She couldn’t even pretend not to know, because when she checked the community, that nickname Jia had jokingly mentioned recently was going around.

Do-hee let out a long groan and clutched her forehead.

“They didn’t cause any problems or disrupt your stream, did they?”

[Not at all. The stream was fun thanks to them. The viewers were all wide awake in the early morning, busy laughing. And I’m still not certain. It’s just speculation. Why?]

“Just in case… I’m glad there was no trouble.”

Still.

Even if they just played quietly and left, still.

To snipe after it’s already been revealed that they’re a Parallel employee?

You should have told me about this beforehand, Majiya!

“Majiya.”

As I headed to the boss’s office with the usual morning coffee, I was greeted by two eyebrows furrowed towards the bridge of the nose.

Those kids who say “reward” every time the boss gets angry on stream wouldn’t make such noises if they saw the boss’s face in person.

I guess you could say the Momo character’s eyes are quite softened compared to the original.

Fans shouldn’t see this, it’s horror material.

…So why is she so angry anyway?

Grateful to be alive, I answered.

“Yes?”

“Yes? You say ‘yes’. What’s the deal with this?”

“With what?”

The boss was playing Mu-gun’s VOD on her phone.

It clearly showed me sniping Mu-gun in the early morning the day before.

How did she find out?

I thought I was careful not to get caught.

Of course, being shameless is my specialty, so my next words flowed smoothly.

“To be caught so quickly. As expected of the boss’s keen eye.”

“At least use a different nickname when you say that… So, why did you go sniping without saying anything?”

“Ah. Just for reconnaissance. I thought I should experience firsthand how good he is so I can promote effectively on the day.”

“Promote effectively…?”

“Yes. Don’t you think people will be shocked if I get one over on Mu-gun during the in-house match? I even changed my nickname, gotta make it count.”

The boss thought for a moment, then asked.

“Don’t tell me you sniped because I told you to handle the promotion on your own?”

“Yes. It’s my first time doing this, so the more thorough the preparation the better, right?”

“…I see. I mean, who in the world does reconnaissance by sniping in the first place.”

As the boss pressed with her eyes for the real truth, I smiled brightly to show that everything was true.

The boss’s fierce gaze softened— lately I’ve been thinking cuteness is justice and invincible more often, probably because I can see such diverse expressions from the boss that I couldn’t see before.

“Alright. Considering the attention it’s gotten, the approach itself isn’t bad. But from now on, if there’s anything like this, let’s discuss it with me first. Got it? It’s not good for my heart…”

I muttered with a sulky expression.

“But I don’t want you to owe Mu-gun anything.”

“The act of sniping itself puts us in debt, you know?!”

“Mu-gun is the one who owes us. His early morning stream was super fun thanks to me. I really stayed within the lines! I didn’t cause any problems.”

“That evil mindset of yours…”

Her hand shot up and I flinched, thinking it was another flick to the forehead, but thankfully it was just a pat on the head, phew…

“…Aaaaargh.”

It was a pat! It was a pat!

When did you switch to a fist!

“After you promote on Mu-gun’s stream this time, you’ll basically be the face of Parallel. You know that, right? So you need to be even more careful.”

“I-is that so?”

“Of course. This was originally something I did after consulting with the PR team, you know?”

“Ah. That’s true. I’m sorry. I just thought of it as a task you assigned me.”

“No need to be sorry. Just be careful from now on. I know you stay within the lines, but there are a lot of sensitive people these days. Good promotion is great, but I can’t stand to see you get torn apart. So make sure to consult with me from now on, okay?”

“If they’re uncomfortable, they should just adjust their posture…”

The boss looked at me intently with half-closed eyes and said:

“Anyway, if any controversy breaks out, I’ll do an explanation stream, so keep that in mind.”

But I can’t accept that.

The boss doing an explanation stream because of my mistake?

“I don’t want that. I’d rather kowtow and apologize myself.”

The boss chuckled and asked me:

“You’ll turn on a stream by yourself?”

It’s nice to be doted on after becoming cute. But my credibility has definitely dropped a bit compared to before.

I guess it’s not easy to show professionalism with this face, huh.

But I am the boss’s reliable and trustworthy errand runner.

If the boss is worried, I just need to keep talking until she’s not worried anymore.

…To be honest, as a Momo simp, I’d rather she stream for 30 more minutes instead of wasting time worrying about me.

“I’ll do it if I have to. It’s no big deal.”

Author’s Note (Afterword)

I’ve served you a heaping portion due to a massive failure in controlling the length!

Please accept this instead of the usual short update…

(I won’t press the dislike button, so no such speculation please nnnnnn)