Chapter 59: A Devastated Glim

“Oh, yeah. I just started streaming.”

By now, I was very familiar with Glim.

Maybe too familiar.

She had been around since the beginning of my streams, so it felt weird when she wasn’t there.

[+HurryAndLeave: Glim, hi.]

[What have you been up to, Glim?]

[Long time no see.]

[ㅎ]

[Pepe: Glim, what have you been doing lately?]

[She’s probably just been streaming lol.]

Still, I wondered why she had joined my stream today.

It had been a while since she last showed up.

[Glim: I heard something interesting.]

[Glim: Apparently, you duoed with someone I know.]

After checking the chat, I realized what she meant.

She must be talking about Guo-in.

‘Wait, they know each other?’

I hadn’t expected them to have any connection.

It was a bit surprising.

“Guo-in?”

[Glim: Ah, yes.]

[Glim: I’m talking about Guo-in.]

[Oh.]

[So they know each other?]

[+HurryAndLeave: I mean, it makes sense.]

[Streamers usually know each other.]

[Pepe: Yeah, but I didn’t know they were close.]

It was a bit surprising to learn they had a connection.

They just didn’t seem like they’d have any overlap.

‘Well, Guo-in does seem like a Japanese player…’

Now I was curious about how they became friends.

“How did you two get to know each other? That’s what I’m most curious about.”

[Glim: Ah, well.]

[Glim: We met while streaming and got close.]

[Glim: We even met in person lol.]

[??]

[Yukki actually went outside? Lol.]

User has been temporarily muted!

[Hey, it’s Guo-in, not Yukki.]

[Spreading false info ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

Meeting through streaming made sense.

After all, I had met plenty of people that way too.

“By the way, what are you up to right now? If you have time, we could play a game together.”

Since I had just started the stream, I had plenty of time.

A few duo matches would be no problem.

Then.

[Glim: Oh?]

[Glim: Then let’s go with an FPS game ㅎㅎㅎ]

[Glim: My rank has dropped a lot recently…]

[LMAO]

[+HurryAndLeave: Glim is so brutally honest.]

[??? That’s what you call honesty…]

[Why is she being so upfront? Lol.]

[Pepe: Ranking up is important, after all…]

Glim unexpectedly agreed, revealing her real motive in the process.

It seemed like she had started caring more about her rank lately.

Either that, or her rank had dropped so badly that she didn’t even want to talk about it.

“What’s your rank right now? No way you’ve dropped below Diamond.”

…Plat.

“…Excuse me?”

Did I hear that right?

I clearly remembered her being Diamond before.

“…Weren’t you Diamond last time?”

There were… certain incidents. Ahem.

[????]

[+HurryAndLeave: Is this real…?]

[How do you even drop to Plat?]

[Is that even possible?]

[This is actually kind of shocking.]

[Pepe: ???]

She wasn’t continuing her sentence.

It seemed like there was a genuinely painful story behind this.

Maybe she just kept losing due to pure skill issues…

Or something worse.

Feeling a bit bad for her, I spoke up.

“I’ll get you back to Diamond today. You should at least be there.”

I had a long-standing connection with Glim.

Carrying her to Diamond wouldn’t be a problem.

If I really wanted to, I could push her all the way to Master, but keeping it at Diamond seemed like the best balance.

Wow…

Thank you.

It’s been really tough lately.

Her voice was completely sincere.

She really sounded like someone who had been struggling.

“…Just how many games did you lose?”

A lot happened.

A lot…

“Yeah… it sure seems that way.”

Since she sounded so exhausted, I decided to carry her properly.

[+HurryAndLeave: Let’s gooo lol]

[This should be fun.]

[But seriously, what did she do to lose that much?]

[A lot happened.]

[LMAO this is hilarious.]

[Pepe: Yeah, once you start a losing streak, it’s insanely hard to recover.]

[Yeah, once you go on a losing spree, climbing back up is hell.]

After some casual chatting, we finally started the game.

“By the way, how close are you with Guo-in?”

Uh… just close enough to talk comfortably when we meet?

But we’re not super close.

“Hmm.”

So they were friendly enough to talk without awkwardness, but not exactly best friends.

That was actually the best kind of friendship.

The kind where you don’t see each other often, but when you do, it feels natural.

“Huh…”

Still, it was surprising.

I really thought they’d have no connection at all.

As we continued chatting.

Ding!

A match was found.

“Guess the game’s finding matches quickly since the rank is a bit lower.”

…What?

“Oh—uh, I didn’t mean it like that… If it sounded that way, I’m sorry.”

…No, it’s fine. I’m just sensitive right now.

[+HurryAndLeave: LMAOOOO]

[He’s just straight-up roasting her lol.]

[Unbelievable.]

[This is hilarious lol.]

[Glim is seriously too pure.]

[Glim is so innocent, omg.]

I genuinely hadn’t meant anything by it.

It was just a natural thought process:

High rank = long queue times.

Queue times are short now.

So, this must be a lower rank.

It wasn’t meant to be an insult, but I could see how it sounded that way.

“Alright, let’s focus. I’ll play seriously this time.”

Please do. I really want to win.

“Got it.”

She sounded so desperate that I decided to use my main hero—a long-range sniper.

The same hero I had wiped the floor with her last time.

“I’ll end this quickly.”

Saying that, I checked what hero Glim had picked.

She’d probably chosen something she was comfortable with.

Or so I thought.

“…You went healer?”

I was a bit taken aback.

Last time we duoed, she only played healer because I forced her to.

But now she was voluntarily picking it?

Just how badly did she need to win?

I couldn’t even begin to imagine.

Yes.

I have to win.

Seriously.

[+HurryAndLeave: Damn, she’s desperate.]

[What the hell happened to her to make her like this?]

[She used to hate playing healer, even when forced lol.]

[Unbelievable.]

[Now she picks it on her own, huh? Hmm…]

[Pepe: She sold her pride for rank.]

And so, the game began in earnest.

[Author: HurryAndLeave]

[Title: Live Update – Yoddu and Glim’s Duo on a Destructive Win Streak ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Content: (CLIP) Just straight-up GOATed lol.]

L: Yoddu is hard-carrying Glim so damn well.

L: Really

L: Carrying someone this efficiently isn’t easy.

L: He’s literally a bus driver at this point.

L: [Info] Still need 10 more wins to reach Diamond.

ㄴ: Oof.

L: Really?

ㄴ: Yeah, it’s true lol.

[Title: Glim is just sticking to Yoddu and healing nonstop lolol]

[Content: (CLIP) What the hell happened to make Glim play like this?]

L: She went on a 15-game losing streak, then kept win-trading the next day and lost 6 more games.

ㄴ: Holy shit lololololol.

ㄴ: I’m honestly impressed she hasn’t lost her mind.

ㄴ: That was even broadcasted live on the forums back then…

[Title: Yoddu, please fix Gllim’s broken mental lol. She might not stream for a while]

L: If I lost that much, I’d stop streaming too.

ㄴ: [Live Update] 7-win streak secured ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Title: Is Yoddu literally a god at this point?]

[Content: (CLIP)]

L: If this isn’t god-tier, I don’t know what is.

L: He’s actually insane, wtf lolololol.

ㄴ: “Insane”? Is Yoddu your buddy or something?

ㄴ: Yoddu is always with us in spirit…

L: Winning 7 games in a row while carrying a deadweight teammate is just crazy.

ㄴ: Whoa, whoa.

ㄴ: Who are you talking about? I genuinely have no clue.

ㄴ: It’s Glim. She’s the deadweight. Confirmed.

[Author: Pepe]

[Title: Is this real??? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Content: (CLIP) He’s just straight-up carrying her to Diamond lololol.]

L: ???

L: Wait, was he actually serious about carrying her all the way to Diamond??

L: Yeah

L: But to be fair, it wasn’t just a free ride. Yoddu got exhausted midway, and Glim had to carry for a bit too lol.

ㄴ: Yeah, after six games, Yoddu was completely drained.

ㄴ: Makes sense. No way he wouldn’t be tired.

The Next Day

“…Ugh.”

I woke up feeling sore all over.

Probably from focusing too hard on gaming last night.

My whole body ached.

“Hoo…”

Stretching lightly, I checked my phone.

There were a few messages from overnight.

One, in particular, caught my eye.

[Seolhwa: I’m planning to release the album today at 6 PM.]

“Oh.”

That was sudden.

I thought she’d take a few more days before releasing it.