Chapter 70: Sudden Bombshell

“Oh, a four-man party?”

A four-man party all of a sudden?

I was a little taken aback.

I was close with Glim, sure, but I hadn’t expected her to suddenly suggest a four-man squad.

“But aside from you, Glim, is there anyone I know…? I don’t exactly have a wide social circle.”

That was my biggest concern.

The others might all know each other, but I didn’t know many streamers.

At best, I was only familiar with Glim.

Just as I was starting to worry a little.

[Glim: Oh, don’t worry about that.]

[Glim: I only picked the real ones.]

“Oh…”

Just how solid were these people for her to say that so confidently?

Normally, I wouldn’t expect much, but at this point, I was starting to get a little excited.

She had to have a good reason for being so sure.

With that in mind, I asked about the team members.

“Who are the members? That’s what I’m most curious about.”

[Glim: Ryu Arang.]

[Glim: And one more person.]

[Glim: But that’s a secret for now.]

[Who could it be that she’s keeping it a secret?]

[+HurryAndLeave: This is way too suspicious, lol.]

[Who is it if Glim’s being this secretive?]

[There aren’t that many streamers who fit the description of ‘the real ones.’]

It seemed like she wasn’t planning to reveal everyone just yet.

Maybe she wanted to keep it as a surprise.

‘Who could it be?’

Feeling a bit excited, I logged into Reore.

I had originally planned to play a medieval game, but playing with other streamers like this wasn’t so bad either.

It didn’t seem like there would be anyone I particularly disliked.

With that thought, I entered the lobby Glim had created.

And then.

“Mmm, this is good.”

“Huh…?”

A familiar voice reached my ears.

It was the voice I kept hearing in that battle royale game.

“Guo-in?”

No, I told you, I’m not Guo-in.

“But how did you end up here?”

Glim invited me.

“Hmmm.”

[Meeting here, huh? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Was wondering who she invited, turns out it was Guo-in? Lol]

[So can we call them by their real name now?]

[Pepe: Yeah, I think we can ㅋㅋ]

[+HurryAndLeave: We’re meeting as streamers, so Yukine is the right name, right?]

[Really==]

Yukine showing up here…

I had heard that she was acquainted with Glim, but I didn’t know they were close enough to game together.

I thought they just knew each other in passing.

“Well, anyway, nice to meet you.”

Yep.

Just as we were exchanging greetings.

Oh, oppa, you’re here?

Another familiar voice rang out.

It was the voice of someone who would never normally call me “oppa.”

“Ryu Arim, hey.”

It’s been a while. Feels like it’s been quite some time since we last met.

“I’ve been busy.”

Ah, I see.

I had deliberately kept my distance from Ryu Arim when it came to streaming, but here we were, meeting like this.

As I thought about how unexpected this was, our conversation continued.

Alright, is everyone here?

Glim made a noisy entrance.

[+HurryAndLeave: Glim-hi]

[What was Glim doing before this?]

[Move faster, geez ㅇㅇ;;]

[Pepe: Probably got distracted lol]

[Are we finally starting duo matches?]

[This is gonna be hilarious ㅋㅋ]

And with that, the four-player queue officially began.

“Ah, you’re not supposed to place a ward there, Guo-in.”

—It’s not Guo-in, it’s Yukine.

“I’m just gonna keep calling you Guo-in, so get used to it.”

—What the—

[+HurryAndLeave: Name change? Nah, Daeyote ㅋㅋ]

[Renaming skills on point lol]

[From now on, you’re officially Guo-in]

[Wait, but why is she called Guo-in? I missed the last stream.]

[Pepe: It’s because she’s Chinese ㅇ]

[Isn’t Yukine Japanese? Why Chinese?]

[Hey, listen up, dude. If you’re curious, go look it up yourself, or just shut up and watch.]

You have been temporarily removed!

[Pepe: Whoa, let’s keep it civil ㅋㅋㅋ]

Guo-in and I were assigned to the bot lane.

Ryu Arim was playing top.

Glim was in the jungle.

“By the way, the mid-laner really needs to do well.”

From my experience playing Reore, having a strong mid-laner made the game much easier to manage.

Mid was the core of Reore, after all.

With that in mind, I gave Glim a word of caution.

“Glim, keep an eye on mid often. Bot lane is guaranteed to win anyway.”

—Hmm… If bot loses, that’d be pretty embarrassing.

“We won’t lose.”

—Oh-ho.

Objectively speaking, there was almost no chance we’d lose the bot lane matchup.

I was already highly skilled at Reore.

And since this wasn’t even a ranked match, there weren’t likely to be many players better than me.

—You don’t have to come top either. I can handle things all by myself.

“…Handle things?”

—Ah, I misspoke! I meant I can turn the tables on them.

“Hmm.”

[+HurryAndLeave: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Why are we talking about ‘handling’ all of a sudden…]

[Handling is important, though ㅋㅋ]

[Pepe: Honestly, Ryu Arim taking charge is kinda hot]

You have been temporarily removed!

[Bro, what the hell ㅋㅋ]

[Hey.]

[Wait, isn’t that guy a cafe manager?]

[Yeah, he manages oo cafe ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

I didn’t really care whether she “handled” things or not.

It wasn’t like I was the one being handled, after all.

There was no need to worry about it.

With that, the game officially began.

“Guo-in, use your skills carefully.”

It was important for Guo-in to be precise with her skills.

While the ADC’s performance was crucial in bot lane, the support’s role was just as vital.

—Yeah, yeah.

“You sound like you can’t be bothered to answer me. Just my imagination, right?”

—Yep.

“Hmm…”

[+HurryAndLeave: Yeah, she definitely sounds like she can’t be bothered to talk ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[As expected, the ultimate lazy Guo-in ㅋㅋ]

[How many times is she gonna repeat the same thing?]

[Pepe: If it were anyone else, maybe, but it’s Yukine… If you’ve ever seen her play games, you’d get why. Makes you wanna throw up.]

[Throw up? She seemed fine in battle royale, though.]

[Battle royale and Reore are totally different, dude.]

I ignored Guo-in’s uninterested tone and focused on the laning phase.

Then.

Aagh.

[You have been slain!]

Ryu Arim, who had confidently declared she’d dominate her lane, got solo killed.

—She got turned around on.

—It’s fine. I can still afford to get beaten two more times. The matchup is in my favor.

—…Wouldn’t three losses be too much?

—That’s still manageable.

[+HurryAndLeave: What the hell are they even talking about…]

[Oh.]

[Soft and squishy, chewy chewy ㅋㅋ]

You have been temporarily removed!

[The way people talk here is insane, seriously ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Pepe: This is just your average Twis stream chat, love it ㅋㅋ]

[Truly high-level conversation ㅇㅇ…]

I thought everyone here was normal, but seeing them all together, they were barely even human in the way they talked.

It was like something was fundamentally broken in each of them.

‘Good thing I’m normal.’

If I weren’t here, the conversation probably would’ve spiraled into complete chaos to the point where the stream would get taken down.

Feeling relieved, I continued playing.

“I’ll pressure them and take tower gold.”

—Got it.

Crunch.

“…Are you eating something right now?”

—Ah, yeah, I’m eating Cheetos.

“Can you stop eating for a bit?”

—But I’m hungry, what do you want me to do?

Well… she wasn’t wrong.

Being hungry was understandable.

But she was eating way too often.

It’s not like she had a black hole in her stomach or something.

“…I get it, but let’s not eat while playing. Losing because of that would just be annoying.”

—Mmm… I’ll take that under consideration.

“That’s not a consideration, I need a definite answer.”

—I’ll try my best.

[What a joke ㅋㅋ]

[She’s seriously not easy to deal with]

[Their gameplay level and conversation level are like a pro match…]

[+HurryAndLeave: Giving a clear answer is tough, I get it ㅋㅋ]

[This is hilarious ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Why does this feel like a dodge ㅋㅋ]

[Makes me wanna punch something…]

With that, we continued the laning phase.

And before I knew it—

Boom!

[Enemy turret destroyed!]

“Turret cleared.”

We took down the turret with ease.

I didn’t expect it to go down this quickly.

But given the skill gap between us and our opponents, it wasn’t surprising that we could take it down so fast.

—Ah, that was easy.

“Yeah, and top hasn’t fallen either. If everything keeps flowing smoothly, we should win this game easily.”

—Agreed.

Just as we were talking—.

[You have been slain!]

[You have been slain!]

[Double Kill!]

Suddenly, disaster struck up top.

And it was a big one.

“Huh?”

—Eh.

I was a little taken aback.

I didn’t expect things to go this wrong.

[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[What even was that double kill lol]

[+HurryAndLeave: If the enemy jungler got the kills, that’d be one thing, but the top laner took them all. What now?]

[And it’s literally the worst nightmare for an ADC ㅋㅋ]

[Pepe: This is gonna be rough]

[Win this, and I’ll donate 10,000 won]

[Honestly, I think you can still win ㅋㅋ]

[Jax is gonna be hard to stop]

[Just CC him a lot in the front ㅋㅋ]

To make things worse, the champion who got fed was one of the worst matchups for an ADC.

This was not going to be easy.