Chapter 11: A Villain Can’t Possibly Be This Cute Part 2

“Wow, you actually accepted this. As a thank you, I’ll carry this round.”

Mr. Kim, who didn’t know much about the community or the infamous ‘Signal Flare,’ chuckled to himself.

‘… With two double-barrels?’

The double-barrel shotgun is a popular close-range weapon, but it’s rare for someone to carry two at once.

Even if the hero Crazy Shot has a bonus for shotgun damage, it’s a bold choice.

On top of that, they only had 40 rounds of ammo, with the rest of their inventory crammed with throwable weapons—excluding Molotovs.

Although his skill wasn’t outstanding, Kim had been playing the game long enough to get a rough idea of what his teammate intended.

It seemed like they planned to engage in close-quarters combat, using smokes to close in when necessary.

But it wasn’t the usual play style, meaning he could get caught up in something messy if he followed them around.

Kim had to make a choice: either trust the random teammate who promised to carry or fend for himself.

The other teammate was Chinese and silent, specialized in the ‘Thief’ class known for being elusive and annoying opponents rather than being a reliable ally in combat.

Unfortunately, Kim’s class was ‘Support,’ a class more effective with teammates around than going solo.

While a skilled player could manage alone, he wasn’t in the mood for that kind of tiring gameplay this late.

Moreover, despite their odd appearance, the teammate’s cute voice somehow soothed Kim’s irritation over his streak of losses.

“Alright, I’ll watch your back and see if you really carry.”

“Oh, then thank you.”

He decided to trust ‘Momo, the Graduate of Chicken School.’

About fifteen minutes later, Kim realized he’d made the right choice.

“Don’t come over here. I’ll clear this side. Watch the other direction.”

“Yes, Chicken School.”

The voice was as adorable as a young girl’s, but their gameplay was as bold as a hardened veteran.

Whenever they spotted an enemy, they’d lay down smoke, activate Crazy Shot’s acceleration skill, and charge forward—bang, bang!

There were some close calls when their shield broke simultaneously with an enemy’s or they reloaded at the same time, but they managed to escape with precise grenade throws, despite the notoriously long reload time of the double-barrel shotgun in Battle Colosseum.

They’d always knock down at least two opponents, ensuring Kim’s squad was never at risk of losing.

The final battle was particularly impressive.

Chicken School, facing an entire enemy team, delivered an unbelievable clutch play using nothing but double-barrels, smoke, and stick grenades.

!! Victory!!

<Grill Master Kim / Graduate of Chicken School Momo>

Kim’s squad claimed victory with surprising ease, and Chicken School was even polite.

“Wow, Grill Master Kim, your support was solid. Are you on an alternate account?”

“No, it’s my main account.”

“Lucky then. Thanks to you, we won. Good job.”

In truth, Kim was the lucky one.

He’d lost over twenty rounds that night due to poor teammates and had been considering calling it quits.

“… They’re a bit chaotic, but fun.”

Cheon Dohee loved Battle Colosseum.

It wasn’t just an empty claim—she loved it so much that she dedicated one of her weekly streams to the game.

Though she wasn’t particularly skilled and struggled in ranked matches, her tenacity always saw her reach at least Gold rank by season’s end.

She frequently browsed the Battle Colosseum Gallery for game news and noticed an unusual flurry of posts that morning.

Battle Colosseum Gallery

“Hey… Signal Flare?”

I recorded this while gaming yesterday.

Isn’t this the same player who used the account ‘Fire-something Kim Deokbae’ before? Pretty sure they’re Signal Flare.

They queued with random teammates last night and went on a spree with dual double-barrels.

(Comments)

-BC291: Haha, absolute madness.

-BC862: The voice is absurdly cute though.

As if everyone knew.

Apparently, Signal Flare had greeted each teammate one hundred times during the early-morning match, likely leaving a lasting impression.

Yet no one recognized them as their company employee, and Dohee found herself both intrigued and amused.

“… Everyone’s reaction is positive?”

Worried there might be negative comments, she skimmed through the overwhelmingly positive responses.

Each one praised the player for carrying the game after simply greeting their teammates.

With over ten clip recordings floating around, one even showed them communicating with their teammates throughout the game.

‘… Their speech was so sweet.’

It was one of the reasons Momo was known as a ‘professional troll.’

They never said anything outright problematic but knew exactly how to push people’s buttons.

“How has no one figured out they’re one of our employees?”

The reactions were so good, she had half a mind to capitalize on the upcoming joint stream for a big reveal.

Battle Colosseum #Momo #Parallel

One week later, on the scheduled day of the Battle Colosseum collab.

On Rain’s broadcast, which usually averaged around 4,000 viewers, a staggering 15,000 viewers had gathered.

Interest in Employee D-Rain was already high, and the other members had seemingly all announced breaks, as if in sync, to watch the stream.

Though this decision might mean losing some of their own fans temporarily, it was actually a tactic their boss, Dohee, had shared with the first-generation members.

Momo: Fans who watch one of you are very likely to watch others.

Momo: You’re a group, so you’ll naturally end up collaborating with other members often.

Momo: You can use breaks strategically too.

Momo: For instance, let’s say one of you has a big collab that you aren’t a part of, but you haven’t taken a break this month. If you take that break right then, people who usually watch you will gather at the collab, boosting viewer numbers, right?

Momo: When that number increases, the influx of viewers will naturally spread back to each of your individual streams based on their preferences.

Momo: It’s a kind of trickle-down effect.

So, the rest of the first-gen members intentionally scheduled all their outside appointments, even hospital visits, on that day, showing that the focal point for Parallel right now was ‘D-Rain.’

“Oh, hell yeah! Drop the Rain from the sky. I’m here again to drench this dry land!”

The energy lent by all the first-gen members and the viewer boost Momo orchestrated was evident in the speed of the chat:

-Oh hell yeah!

-O O -Rain’s here -RAIN IS HEREEEEE

ooo!

D-Rain! D-Rain! D-Rain! D-Rain! D-Rain! D-Rain! D-Rain!

-Long wait, huh?

“Haha! Right, it’s been a long wait? Then let me introduce our two guests who are here to quench your thirst! First up, our boss!”

In the Battle Colosseum lobby, in one of the empty spots in the three-person waiting room, Momo’s username ‘momopeach’ appeared.

“Hello, everyone! It’s been a while.”

-Momo’s here! -Hi, Momo! -Has it been a month?

“Next up! This guy was dragged here even though he doesn’t like to listen and had to split his schedule. Our employee, D, Lupin~!”

As everyone watched, Magia reappeared on screen after a week.

“Hello, I’m Employee D from Parallel’s Operations Team, who played D-Rain last week in <Find Rain>. Looking forward to today!”

-EmpD Lupin’s here, lol

Gomu Gomu no~

-Hell yeahaaaa!

It was a cheerful, welcoming vibe for Magia, who had made the last collab shine.

However, since Momo, whose main game was Battle Colosseum, had pulled in a large crowd, there were lots of fans eager for mentions of Signal Flare in the chat.

Just as Cheon Dohee planned, a donation came in.

An anonymous supporter has donated 10,000 clouds!

Wait, Employee D’s nickname is…………

Only then did everyone notice Magia’s nickname in the third slot on the waiting screen.

HumanSignalFlareKimFirecracker

One of Battle Colosseum’s big names.

The infamous troll, Signal Flare, was right there.

?

??

-What?

-Hold on, what? I can’t process this.

Signal Flare?

Why are you here…?