“Ahem. Delha, Delha~ Mic check, one two?”
Slim fingers lightly tapped the broadcasting mic.
Streamer Rydel.
A content creator on the streaming platform Soopjijik.
She was a streamer who primarily focused on gaming content.
「Rydel hi~」
「Delha, Delha!」
「I’ve been waiting!」
「Ah, you finally went live!」
As soon as the stream started, the viewer count began rising rapidly.
Rydel’s average viewership hovered around 2,000 — enough for people to start calling her a “big-name” streamer.
Three years into streaming, with one year as a full-time job, she’d built up enough experience and a solid fanbase that even waited for her streams to start.
As she watched the viewer count steadily climb, Rydel checked the chat.
「So what game are we playing today?」
「O-game-mu?」
「O-fan-mu?」
“Today’s game? I’ve got something prepared, but first — I need to cook up some pancakes.”
With a playful grin, Rydel winked at the camera.
「Kyaaa!」
「Save me~」
「Are we doing a horror game today?! LOL」
The chat exploded, messages scrolling so fast it was hard to keep up.
It had only been five minutes since she went live, and though the viewer count wasn’t at its peak yet, the energy in the chat was already overwhelming.
“Hey, I’m a female streamer! Why’s the reaction like this?!”
Despite her words, Rydel was clearly enjoying herself.
With large, expressive eyes and sleek black hair, she had a mischievous charm — the kind of beauty that made you think she’d burst into laughter if you gave her the lightest nudge.
Even objectively, Rydel’s appearance was stunning.
But contrary to her delicate looks, her streaming style was laid-back and free-spirited.
Over time, this contrast led most of her audience to evolve into a crowd that loved teasing her.
And that’s exactly the kind of vibe Rydel wanted.
Unlike many other female streamers, she was genuinely into games — which made this playful, back-and-forth banter with her viewers even more enjoyable.
‘This is what my stream is all about.’
A mischievous beauty engaging in witty back-and-forth with her chat — that’s what had helped her rise from a small-time streamer to one of the platform’s rising stars.
Of course, her beauty still caught attention, and comments like “So pretty!” or “Noona, I’m melting” popped up here and there.
But Rydel brushed them off with practiced ease.
“Anyway! Looks like everyone’s here now, right?”
As she scrolled through her fan cafe and chatted with her audience about daily life, Rydel checked her viewer count.
It had already climbed to 1,700.
Satisfied, she tapped her fingers on her desk.
“Alright, today’s game is… a hot one among streamers lately!”
She launched the game she’d prepared in advance.
When the loading screen ended, three bald characters appeared on-screen.
The unique twist?
All three were wearing roller skates… and they were chained together.
「Chain Roller?」
“Yep! We’re diving into Chain Roller! A lot of streamers have been playing this one lately, and it looked too fun to pass up.”
「LOL, finally!」
「Even Rydel’s hopping on the train!」
「Yeah, this game’s all over the place lately.」
Chain Roller — a chaotic game that had become a weird sensation among streamers.
Like most trends, no one knew exactly why it took off — but the challenge of clearing the game had spread like wildfire.
As a gaming-focused streamer, Rydel knew better than to miss out on the hype.
「But isn’t that game insanely hard…? You sure you can handle it, Rydel?」
“I don’t know either… But hey, you won’t know until you try, right? Besides, I am known for being pretty good at games…”
[???]
[??????]
「Good? At games?」
The chat instantly flooded with sarcastic question marks and playful jeers.
“Hey! Stop slandering me! I’m not bad, okay?! I made it to Master tier in Legend & Magic! How many other female streamers can say that?!”
「Well… there are a few…」
「Didn’t that happen a while ago, though?」
「Well, Raid & Master is still…」
As Rydel mentioned the game, the teasing hooks in the chat slowly disappeared.
While the atmosphere of her stream was mostly playful and filled with viewers teasing her, Rydel’s actual gaming skills weren’t bad at all.
In fact, they were pretty impressive.
Though she’d been a bit off her game lately, she once reached one of the highest ranks in the popular game Raid & Master.
Whether it was trendy games or those infamous “bad games,” she always managed to show decent performance.
「But seriously, what even is this game? These bald guys are hurting my eyes.」
「Can you lower the brightness? LOL」
While most viewers were familiar with the game, since it had just started trending, there were still quite a few who hadn’t seen it yet.
“Honestly, I don’t know much either. I haven’t played it yet — wanted to experience it fresh with you all.”
With games like this, playing beforehand ruins the fun.
Checking guides or practicing ahead of time kills the spontaneity and lowers the energy of the stream.
Especially for games like this — the kind where the main entertainment comes from watching the streamer suffer — going in blind was the best approach.
“Looks like there’s a tutorial? Let’s check it out first.”
It was unusual for games like this to even have a tutorial.
Normally, you’d just get thrown into the starting zone without any instructions.
But Chain Roller surprisingly had one.
[A calm narrator’s voice began explaining:]
[“Chain Roller is a cooperative game for up to three players. You can play solo, but three-player mode is highly recommended.”]
[“As you can see, the three characters are connected by a chain. And…”]
[“They’re on roller skates. Once you pick up speed, controlling them becomes… quite the challenge.”]
[“Your goal is simple: avoid obstacles and reach the finish line way over there. Easy, right?”]
“Oh, so this is how it moves?”
When Rydel lightly tapped the keyboard, one of the bald characters started skating forward.
She pressed the jump key and easily hopped over a small rubber duck obstacle.
A triumphant fanfare played, and the screen announced that the tutorial was complete.
“…That’s it? Huh. Seems pretty easy so far.”
Rydel made a face like she’d just been let down.
She hadn’t played the game beforehand or watched any gameplay, but she’d definitely heard the rumors.
A game so difficult it made people cry.
Some streamers had been stuck playing it for three days straight.
One even claimed their arm went numb — an esports injury, they called it.
But for a game with such a terrifying reputation, this tutorial felt way too simple.
“I mean… one-hour clear? Should be easy.”
「Oh boy, the confidence LOL」
「Oh no, Rydel…」
「Looking forward to her inevitable rage quit.」
「+1」
The chat was already getting hyped for the inevitable meltdown.
Since both big-name and small-time streamers had been trying and failing at Chain Roller, most viewers were well aware of its insane difficulty.
Even the deceptively easy tutorial was a deliberate trap set by the developers.
「But is it really that hard?」
A few viewers unfamiliar with the game still had their doubts.
Checking the chat, Rydel decided to look up the current records.
“Hmm. The fastest three-player clear is… 4 hours and 32 minutes? And for solo play, the best time is 2 hours and 37 minutes.”
Chain Roller had two modes:Solo Mode: Where you played alone.
Three-Player Mode: Where three people, chained together, tried to coordinate.
Three-player mode was notorious for being harder, which explained the longer clear times.
Trying to navigate with two others dragging you around made the game far more chaotic than playing solo.
“Alright, should we try three-player mode? Let’s get some viewers in here.”
Rydel quickly checked her list of streamer friends — but they were all offline.
She didn’t have many close streamer friends to begin with, having built her channel from scratch.
In this case, inviting viewers to join seemed like the best option.
「Three-player mode can easily fall apart if there’s a troll. LOL」
「The troll might be the host.」
“Hey, no way! I’ll carry the team. And if someone’s really bad, I’ll just swap them out.”
Confidently brushing off the teasing, Rydel created a game room.
“Room name: ‘Gaming Genius Rydel’… Oh, wait — no password option? Huh. Well, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
She’d planned to set a password so only her viewers could join, but Chain Roller didn’t seem to have that feature.
‘Well, if we run into trolls, I’ll just make a new room. No big deal.’
Ignoring the chat’s complaints about the room name, Rydel went ahead and opened the lobby.
Only two slots were open.
As expected from a popular streamer’s viewer participation game, the room filled up almost instantly with eager viewers who had been waiting.
“Alright, let’s get right into it! Let’s go for that #1 streamer clear time!”
Rydel clenched her fist with determination and, fueled by baseless confidence, hit the start button.
***
Four hours later.
“…Who said this game was easy?”
「You did.」
「Who was the one talking about a one-hour clear?」
「Looks like the teammates are trolling.」
「That course is way harder than it looks.」
「It’s the terrible controls that make this so tough.」
Rydel’s dreams of setting a streamer record had long since crumbled.
Their playtime had hit the four-hour mark — but their current position wasn’t much different from where they’d started.
「Back to square one. Again.」
「Rydel, did you fall again?!」
「One of them is definitely deadweight.」
“Ahem. Maybe it’s time to switch up the team a little.”
Rydel wiped the sweat from her forehead, trying to keep her composure.
It wasn’t that her current teammates were trolling on purpose… but their skill level definitely left something to be desired.
In Chain Roller’s three-player mode, where all three characters were literally chained together, one slip-up dragged everyone down.
A single mistake often sent the entire team tumbling back to the starting area.
‘No… it’s not just the viewers’ skill.
This game itself is just ridiculously hard.
‘Rydel sighed internally.Blaming her teammates only went so far — the game was clearly designed to make players rage’.
With its brutal mechanics and unforgiving punishment for the slightest misstep, it was the perfect recipe for frustration.
Even Rydel, whose gaming skills weren’t bad at all, had made more than a few mistakes that sent the whole team falling.
Still, if they wanted to make any real progress, they’d need stronger teammates.
“Thank you to everyone who participated! I’ll reopen the room with the same name.”
Since they’d already fallen back to the starting point, there wasn’t much difference between resetting and continuing.
“Alright, if you think you’re good at this game — if you’re confident you can handle this madness — please join!”
The room filled up instantly again.
Rydel cracked open an energy drink and took a big sip, ready to give it another go.
Checking the new participants’ usernames, she nodded.
“Okay, let’s do this! Let’s clear it this time. Welcome, ‘Delbung #3’… and ‘Woke Up With Silver Hair’.”