“Wait, Guo-in, is this really how you’re supposed to play?”
[+HurryAndLeave: lolololol]
[Yukiyukiya…]
[Yuki, is this for real?]
[Pepe: The Great Guo-in]
[I’m speechless lol]
Even though this was clearly an FPS game, Guo-in was playing like it was a battle royale.
“This isn’t that kind of game. Why do you keep trying to be the hero?”
The game we were playing right now was an FPS.
More specifically, you choose from a bunch of heroes, and the key is to play in a way that fits your hero.
But.
“You really can’t do that. I’m struggling here.”
She tried to play every hero like an assassin.
Even when using a tank, she’d try to flank and go for stealth kills.
[+HurryAndLeave: looooooooooooool]
[The Great Guo-in]
[As expected, she doesn’t listen to a word anyone says lol]
[That’s so Yuki]
[Pepe: Honestly, I’m speechless at how consistent she is lol]
[Didn’t she used to play battle royale games like this too?]
[Yeah, even in that other BR game, she’d just do her own thing]
Honestly, it’s not all that surprising.
She’s always played like this whenever we gamed together.
‘Though… it’s way worse than usual today.’
She must’ve had a rough day or something.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t be zoning out and ignoring the team like this.
Thinking I should cut her some slack, I kept playing when.
—”Ooh, I’ve got a good angle!”
Yuki said that and just dashed off into the enemy base.
Even though she was playing a tank.
“Ah. You really shouldn’t go in alone like that.”
[+HurryAndLeave: Why do you keep trying to solo as a tank?]
[+HurryAndLeave: I’m seriously gonna lose it lolol]
[But honestly, this is just how Yuki plays…]
[This is just how Guo-in is, fr]
[If you force her to team up with someone, you might just end up with a disaster lol]
[Pepe: Fact) No one said anything, but she’s over there dropping the biggest mess all by herself…]
[She’s just plain bad at FPS… which makes her even more amazing, in a way…]
Totally baffled, I grabbed my gun and followed behind Yuki anyway.
There was no chance of winning without a tank, after all.
Might as well bet on the side with some chance of success.
—”I’m using my ult. Got a good angle.”
Yuki said that, then activated her ultimate: a wide-area stun that left all enemies groggy and helpless.
“Oh, nice!”
Our rank might not be that high, but I’m not slow enough to miss an opening like that.
Click.
Tudududu~!!!
I reloaded and opened fire on the fallen heroes, dishing out bullets like candy.
And a moment later.
[Enemy eliminated!]
[Enemy eliminated!]
[Enemy eliminated!]
[Round victory!]
“Nice.”
[+HurryAndLeave: sssssss]
[Can’t believe we actually won this lololol]
[Guo-in hard carried, for real]
[Was this… actually good???]
[Pepe: After dropping the ball the whole time, she does one good thing and now she’s getting praise lolol]
[Well, yeah. When someone who normally can’t move suddenly does something right, it is kinda praise-worthy.]
We were able to win the match cleanly.
A truly flawless victory.
—”I’ve got everything planned, so just trust me and follow my lead.”
“…Yeah, I don’t know about that, but I’ll at least take it into consideration.”
I couldn’t really say she was trustworthy.
Not with the way she’d been playing all this time.
I mean, she’d been messing everything up and just happened to pull it together once.
“So please do well next round too. Since we’re duoing anyway, I wanna win.”
“I have been doing well, though.”
“Don’t start talking nonsense.”
Normally, I tried to avoid saying anything too harsh on stream, but whenever I talked to Guo-in, it felt like something inside me started surfacing.
I made a mental note to be careful and continued the duo match.
How much time had passed like that?
“Trying to sing seriously like this is making me nervous…”
I had arrived at Seolhwa’s studio.
The reason was simple.
To practice a short song I’d be performing at Seolhwa’s concert.
To be honest, I kept thinking it might be safer if they just played an AR (audio recording) instead of having me sing live as a guest…
But what could I do?
If Seolhwa asked me directly, I had to say yes.
As long as it wasn’t too much to ask, I’d go along with it.
“Come on, oppa, you sing well. I heard you last time—you were really good.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. If you couldn’t sing, I would’ve cut you from the feature a long time ago.”
“Fair point.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Even if I’d made a great beat, if Seolhwa didn’t like how my voice sounded in the track, she would’ve removed me without hesitation.
She wouldn’t have asked me to join in the first place.
“Alright, let’s go hard from here on out. It’s actually easier to go all in than to take it slow.”
“Sure, do whatever works for you.”
It’s better for both of us if we finish quickly anyway.
With that thought, we began the real practice session.
“You need to soften the final note a little at that part, okay? Pronounce it with a slight uncertainty—it fits the overall mood of the song better.”
“Got it.”
Seolhwa’s album had tons of songs.
And without even realizing it, I had lent my voice to quite a few of them.
That’s why practice wasn’t exactly a breeze.
“Sunday~”
“Not Sunday—say Ssun-day with a strong start and kind of blur the end of the word.”
“Ah, got it.”
It was clear Seolhwa was really serious about this concert.
I’d never seen her this focused before.
“‘We will find.’ Put emotion into this part.”
“Isn’t that different from the original track?”
“Well yeah, it’s a concert. You should sing it differently from the recording. I actually made the song with a live performance in mind.”
“Oh, no wonder the arrangement has so many instruments.”
She mentioned earlier that she had brought in a band.
I also vaguely remembered her saying they were pretty high-end and came with a hefty hiring fee.
“I wish I could rehearse with them every day… But they’re in Hong Kong right now for another show. Such a shame…”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll get the chance next time.”
This won’t be the only chance.
Once you make the connection, the opportunity will come again eventually.
There’s no need to force everything into one moment.
With that mindset, we pushed forward with practice.
“Let’s add a chorus here too.”
“Yeah.”
We made some extra tweaks as well.
“Raise the note here.”
Before starting the stream, I sang a few lines by myself to check my vocal projection.
Thanks to all the recent practice, my voice felt much stronger.
Even my tone seemed to have improved.
At this level, I figured singing at the concert wouldn’t be a problem.
Of course, compared to Seolhwa, my singing ability was still miles behind, but at least it was decent enough for people to listen to.
“Ahh.”
After one last voice check, I went ahead and started the stream.
[The stream has started!]
Just like always, viewers began pouring in.
And this time, they were arriving pretty fast.
“Hey everyone, welcome.”
[Hehe]
[+HurryAndLeave: You’re on time again today!]
[+HurryAndLeave: Now that’s a real streamer lol]
[‘That dude’ was late every single time lol]
[Who’s that?]
[You know, that guy who sucks at FPS but always tries to act tough with Yotte lol]
[Pepe: Ohhh that guy lololol]
I glanced at the chat, and from the looks of it, Glim had probably been late again recently.
There’s no way she’d be getting this much flak otherwise.
“Now, now, maybe Glim had something going on, y’know? From what I’ve seen of her, yeah… she probably would do something like that.
Still, I’m sure she had her reasons.”
I couldn’t exactly say she wouldn’t do something like that.
I knew Glim too well for that.
[+HurryAndLeave: If you’re gonna defend her, at least do it properly lolololol]
[What kind of weak defense was that lol]
[Unreal]
[Pepe: So what’s the stream plan for today?]
[Reore again?]
[…Please not Reore]
[Didn’t you already play that last time?]
Judging by the chat, it seemed like I didn’t need to do a gaming stream today.
I had been streaming games a lot lately anyway.
And honestly, I wasn’t in the mood for gaming today.
“How about an art stream for a change, yeah? It’s been a while.”
[+HurryAndLeave: Oh, I’m down for that]
[+HurryAndLeave: You’re finally giving us an art stream]
[+HurryAndLeave: I’m actually tearing up, holy heck]
[This is what I’ve been waiting for sssssss]
[Why are people this excited lolololol]
[Pepe: The mod’s been begging for an art stream nonstop, so I get the hype]
“Alright, then I’ll take some drawing suggestions.
Usually I just draw whatever I feel like, but today I’m in the mood to take some requests.”
At that point, I wasn’t expecting much.
I figured they’d just toss out some anime characters or something.
But as time passed.
“…You want me to draw that?”
The requests started getting weird.
Like, really weird.
So weird I couldn’t even describe them in words…