Chapter 45: A Mysterious Chinese Person

And so, instead of sleeping after getting home, I sipped on some coffee and called Ryu Arim again.

“I got the file. You just need me to draw something simple like this?”

Yeah! It’s for my stream.

“Got it. I’ll start working on it.”

I was about to end the call and focus on drawing when.

…Senpai, who was that girl with you earlier?

Ryu Arim suddenly asked an unexpected question.

She had never asked me who I was with before.

‘Did she just get curious all of a sudden?’

Well, I guess that was possible.

So, I answered simply.

“Just someone I know.”

Ah, okay. Then, I’ll leave it to you, senpai!

“Yep, I’ll do my best.”

Thanks!

With that, the call ended, and I started drawing what Ryu Arim had requested.

Since I had drawn cute things plenty of times before, it wasn’t too difficult.

‘Let’s highlight the key points here…’

That being said, I had no idea how she planned to use this hippo illustration on her stream.

I was pretty sure she already had some drawings I had made for her before.

But it wasn’t my concern.

She’d figure it out on her own.

Swish, swish.

The request was simple.

A hippo.

A cute hippo.

I had never once thought about how to make a hippo look cute, so it was a little tricky at first.

But as I sketched freely, it turned out pretty well.

“…Yeah, this looks good.”

This looked pretty good.

It was clear and recognizable, even easy enough for others to copy if needed.

Feeling satisfied, I drew a few more versions from different angles before sending the files via email.

The next day.

[The stream has started!]

I went live, as usual.

At this point, streaming had become part of my daily routine.

‘Though, once the semester starts, I won’t be able to go live as often…’

I wasn’t sure when to announce that.

I hadn’t even registered for my classes yet, so I’d only know the full schedule later.

For now, I’d just have to wait and see.

“Hello, everyone.”

[+HurryAndLeave: Hahah]

[Hi, hi.]

[Why didn’t you stream yesterday?]

[Why didn’t you post a notice about it? ㅡㅡ]

[Pepe: Yeah, I was waiting for an announcement. ㄹㄹ]

Ah, right.

I was supposed to post a notice.

That was on me.

“I should’ve left a notice—sorry about that. I’ve just been really busy lately.”

And that was the truth.

I had so much going on that some things were bound to slip through the cracks.

Still, I tried my best to keep up with everything.

[+HurryAndLeave: Ah, well, if you’re busy, it can’t be helped.]

[Please leave a notice next time, though!]

[Pepe: Not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed. ㄹㄹ]

[I’m sure he had his reasons. ㅋㅋ]

[So, what’s the plan for today’s stream?]

[Hope it’s something fun.]

I was probably going to do a gaming stream today.

At first, I had been reluctant to do game streams, but lately, I found them really enjoyable.

…Except for Reore.

‘Reore is just too mentally exhausting.’

Games are meant to be enjoyed—not to start fights with other people.

That’s why I avoided Reore whenever possible.

“Today, I’m going to play that battle royale game again. I had a lot of fun with it last time.”

[Ohhh.]

[Let’s go, time to stream snipe!]

[User has been temporarily banned.]

[+HurryAndLeave: Oh, you’re playing that? This is gonna be hilarious. ㅋㅋ]

[Let’s go, let’s go!]

[Pepe: Finally! You’re doing it again. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Last stream was absolute gold. ㄹ]

I wasn’t particularly a fan of battle royale games, but my last session had been unexpectedly fun.

I figured I wouldn’t mind streaming it a few more times.

“Alright, starting the queue now.”

I remembered getting stream sniped last time, so this time, I didn’t queue up openly.

Instead, I used a bit of misdirection before starting the match.

After a short wait.

Vwoom—.

The game had started.

[+HurryAndLeave: ???]

[Wait, you already queued?]

[Damn it, I was waiting to snipe you. ㅠㅠ]

[Why are you guys so shameless about stream sniping? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Tbh, it is kinda weird that no one got in.]

I switched the stream to show the in-game screen and waited in the pre-game lobby.

The match wouldn’t start until all 100 players had loaded in.

Smack! Smack!

I started punching a player named “XiRuiShen” standing next to me.

“Hm, this guy has a nice hit reaction.”

Beating up innocent players always had the most satisfying hit feedback.

Of course, only in games—not in real life.

[+HurryAndLeave: Why are you just hitting them? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Based on their username, I kinda get why. Hmmm… ㅋㅋ]

[Yeah, that’s fair game. Beat ‘em up.]

[Now I suddenly want to punch them too. ㄹㄹ]

[Justice must be served…]

[This is hilarious. ㅋㅋ]

[Pepe: He’s already mentally destroying them. ㅋㅋ]

As I kept punching the player beside me and casually chatting with my viewers—

“Hey, why are you hitting me?”

“Huh?”

I was surprised.

I had assumed they weren’t Korean, so I had been comfortably landing body shots on them.

[+HurryAndLeave: ?]

[Wait, why are they speaking Korean?]

[Aren’t they Chinese-Korean?]

[Feels like a mainlander… hmmm.]

[Ask them why they chose that username.]

[Pepe: Probably just pretending. Ignore them and keep going.]

I had my suspicions too.

It was strange for someone with a name like that to suddenly start speaking Korean.

“I just felt like hitting you.”

“…What?”

“It’s not like you die from getting hit.”

“…That’s true, but…”

While they hesitated, I started beating them up again.

Gotta warm up my aim before the match starts.

Smack! Smack!

“Ah, stop…!”

“It’s not like it affects anything. You should practice too.”

“I can’t, my hands are dirty right now…!”

“Well, then I guess you’ll just have to take the hits.”

There was no other option.

[+HurryAndLeave: How dare you eat while gaming??]

[If you’re playing, you should be focused. ㅋㅋ]

[Where’s your manners? ㅋㅋ]

[Pepe: Let’s make them grab their mouse with greasy hands.]

[Yeah, force them to use their mouse like that. ㄹㄹ]

Smack!

Even in hand-to-hand combat, aim was important.

Most shooting games applied different damage depending on where you hit an opponent.

Smack—!!

A direct hit to the stomach could even make the character collapse.

Thud—.

“Ah, seriously, stop hitting me. It actually hurts.”

“What the hell are you eating that’s taking this long to clean up?”

I was genuinely curious.

What kind of food made your hands that messy?

“A hot dog.”

“A cheese hot dog?”

“No, what? Just an onion hot dog.”

“…What?”

I wasn’t sure if I had heard that correctly.

An onion hot dog?

“You’re eating onions in a hot dog?”

“Yep. It’s really good.”

“…If onions are the main ingredient, that’s a bit much.”

“Well, I like it, so who cares?”

[+HurryAndLeave: An onion hot dog is wild…]

[Aren’t onions already in most hot dogs anyway? ㅋㅋ]

[Yeah, but making them the main ingredient is a bit much.]

[Pepe: By the way, why is this guy so good at talking? ㅋㅋ]

[Feels like a streamer.]

I had the same thought.

For someone who wasn’t a streamer, they were incredibly smooth with their words.

Of course, it wasn’t impossible for a non-streamer to be well-spoken, but still.

As I continued chatting with this supposed Chinese player.

[10]

[9]

The countdown began.

It seemed like the lobby had finally filled to 100 players, the minimum required to start.

“Did you finish your hot dog?”

“I’m almost done eating, but why?”

“Take your time. You’ll have plenty of it soon anyway.”

“Hmm… I don’t think so.”

A subtle battle of nerves unfolded between us.

And then.

Tudududu.

The plane took off.

The game had officially begun.

“Alright, I’ll try to get first place this round. The skill level here isn’t that high anyway.”

The matchmaking tier I was in wasn’t very competitive.

Since I had only recently created this account, the difficulty wasn’t too high.

Winning shouldn’t be that hard.

[+HurryAndLeave: Looks easy. ㅋㅋ]

[Take out that ‘Chinese’ guy first.]

[Wait, are we even sure they’re actually Chinese?]

[Pepe: I don’t think so. ㅋㅋ Their pronunciation was way too natural, like a Seoul native.]

[Probably just a bit.]

[They never actually claimed to be Chinese, just had the username…]

I was confident in my aim.

As long as nothing unexpected happened, I could win this.

With that thought, I deployed my parachute over a crowded area.

“Let’s go.”

[+HurryAndLeave: Time to drop in!]

[If you run into that guy again, it’ll be hilarious. ㅋㅋ]

[No way that happens.]

[Meeting them again would be nearly impossible.]

[Pepe: If you run into them, I’ll donate 10,000 KRW.]

[Please, let it happen. ㅋㅋ]

[10K is kind of tempting…]

[Let’s go, let’s go!]