Streamer Crazy About Slaughter - Chapter 100

Looking back, it seems like it was only a few years ago, but the time feels much older, perhaps because the changes experienced in recent years have been so significant.

Wearing a sort of mask when dealing with others.

While understanding and empathizing with people’s emotions, ironically, Sua still found that these emotions didn’t resonate with her directly.

She felt more than anyone that the statement “understanding with the head but not empathizing with the heart” truly applied to her.

Even when reports of m*rder cases or natural disasters killing dozens or hundreds of people appeared in the news or online, she merely thought, “Oh, is that so?” When someone was sad, she only understood in her head that they were sad for a reason.

She only understood, and it didn’t evoke any particular feelings.

So at some point, she began to wear a kind of mask when interacting with her classmates, going beyond just pretense to wearing a sort of self-hypnosis mask.

When someone laughed, she naturally laughed along,

When they got angry, she reacted in surprise,

When the other person played a joke, she reflexively responded in kind; Sua wore her mask.

While she understood in her head why they could laugh so easily and express emotions, she couldn’t grasp in her heart why they behaved that way.

However, Sua felt that if she did not act that way, she would be pushed out of their group, so she behaved accordingly. Moreover, she also created another mask to fit the expectations of her family, who wanted a generally pleasant daughter and a child with good interpersonal relationships, avoiding causing problems.

Thus, little by little, Sua created her masks and adjusted her demeanor according to the situation. At school, she acted like “a lively and friendly child,” and at home, she wore the “model student mask,” portraying herself as an academically successful student with no issues.

Throughout her life, Sua acted according to the circumstances at hand.

And at some point, she became accustomed to changing her appearance according to the place and situation, as if it were as natural as breathing.

While living, Sua thought, “So this is how life is.”

She had not properly felt what happiness or joy meant until that point.

Living with masks did not seem like a big problem, and there were no apparent conflicts on the surface.

In fact, she often felt overwhelmed as more and more people drew near.

While living like this, Sua stumbled upon Another World and felt as if she had been reborn.

When playing Another World, her true self felt complete, and within Another World, she could act freely according to her heart’s desires without any worries.

All of that was reality for her yet felt unreal.

Gradually distancing herself from the people she knew, she began to live a life alone.

After realizing what happiness and joy were through playing Another World, Sua’s life underwent a complete 180-degree transformation.

Feeling an overwhelming aversion to even wearing a mask, she began to cut off her connections one by one, intending to live alone, even severing ties with her family.

Dealing with others. No, by that time, she was even worn out from dealing with her family,

And after coming into contact with Another World, Sua no longer felt the need to maintain a life that forced her to adjust to others.

Three years have passed since then.

While maintaining her livelihood with the profession of a streamer suited for her, there was also a need to double as a NewTuber to earn more money.

Using the talent she had for wearing masks when dealing with others in those domains, success gradually came to her as if it were rolling in naturally.

Then, as if by fate, she met someone for the first time who took an interest in her.

It surely wasn’t a significant interest at first, but after talking and meeting, her curiosity continued to grow.

It was then that Sua began to understand the actions and expressions of her past classmates one by one.

Thus, the requests that would have been outrageous in the past, which she would have flatly refused, and the requests that had led her to block contact due to distance, she began to accept with ease and help them.

The reason was quite simple.

“I wanted to get to know them.”

Realizing that she was now doing behaviors she had resisted years ago while dealing with classmates who had stickily pretended to be friendly, Sua couldn’t help but laugh for no reason while streaming.

“Pfft…”

“Plea, why are you suddenly laughing?”

“Oh, I saw a funny chat in the window.”

When peers would cling to her and initiate physical contact, she would accept it externally while internally questioning, “Why are they clinging so much?”

But experiencing it firsthand, she began to understand.

In truth, there was no substantial reason. The behavior stemmed from wanting the attention of that person, simply wanting to get closer, and wanting to see their reactions to her actions.

Whether it was because the person was indifferent to her or did not show much interest, or because the shock from their first meeting in the café was so significant, reflecting now, everything seems ambiguous, making it difficult to determine what exactly triggered her feelings.

Whether it was wanting to get close as a person or feeling the desire to be close without any particular reason, she might have even found herself infatuated with Lin within Another World, with her nearly perfect skills.

“…”

Swallowing those thoughts, Sua calmly stated as she looked at the results screen.

“The winner of the streamer ideal type world cup is Hana, right?”

While taking turns selecting favorite streamers, the selection method became ambiguous from the quarter-finals onward, leading to audience voting.

Unexpectedly, the winner of the streamer ideal type world cup was ‘Hana.’

[No way Hana wins this?]

[LOL, this is ridiculous]

[Why are there so many delusional viewers?]

[Lin really understood guys’ perspectives well.]

[LOL, but Lin’s choices are so hilarious, did they pick solely based on the streamer’s figure?]

[They even point out the body details like a true connoisseur while saying that LOL.]

[Hana is just a cheat code with those GIFs LOL.]

[How can you not vote when that GIF comes up LOL.]

The chat and the audience’s reaction were quite positive.

Perhaps because they had never held a world cup type event for streamers before, the number of viewers was now approaching the late 20,000s.

“Plea, did you pick Hana on purpose?”

Seeing Serin’s sister, who looked skeptical, made her smile.

“No?”

While picking, she did have half the intention of teasing her sister, but she never actually anticipated that she would really win.

“The audience voting percentage was 60%, right? How could I deliberately pick someone?”

On the screen at that moment was Hana’s ‘famous’ GIF playing in a continuous loop.

Moreover, it was the scene of her dancing after being forced to do so by Serin’s sister.

Looking at her sister, it felt right for her to conclude the ideal type world cup.

As if catching on, Serin sighed softly and slowly opened her mouth.

“…Congratulations to Hana for winning. And once again, I want to say, my relationship with Hana has been resolved cleanly. I think I acted too harshly back then, so I personally expressed this to her. So, there’s no bad bl**d between us, you all understand, right?”

[The more you watch the GIF, the more of a menace Lin seems to be LOL.]

[Isn’t the image of Lin then and now too different?]

[Hana even sang about wanting to collaborate with Lin.]

[Once you taste the sweetness of NewTuber, it’s hard to give it up LOL.]

Checking the chat, a sudden realization hit Sua that she was not wearing a mask at that moment.

As she looked at Serin, she felt a peculiar sensation.

***

Sua, who had been fiddling with my hand as if it were her own, after hearing the words, seemed to be either concentrating or simply holding onto it without any further actions.

After the lengthy streamer ideal type world cup ended, engaging in trivial chit-chat about current affairs, before she knew it, the promised time of 2 hours had passed.

So, it was now 9 PM.

As I started to feel it was time to wrap up the broadcast, I looked at Sua.

— Shall we wrap it up?

As if she had caught my intention, Sua silently shaped her lips into words and nodded.

“I mentioned earlier that we would keep today’s broadcast short, right?”

Watching Sua open her mouth immediately, I lifted my cup and took a sip of water.

‘I might fill my stomach with water instead of alcohol at this rate.’

After chatting and streaming, I was thirsty and drank water, but somehow it felt like I had filled up my stomach with water.

Watching Sua continue to speak as if she was slowly ending the broadcast gave me an impression of having learned something.

Even if viewers typed negative comments, the truth was that there weren’t many viewers who truly disliked her.

Depending on the streamer’s personality, the viewers tended to follow the content, but it was obvious that Sua was a streamer who could adjust to her audience.

The vibe was generally playful, with back-and-forth exchanges with viewers, yet if looked at closely, she was the one holding the reins since those who were her loyal viewers seemed to accept whatever direction she took.

“You all know I said at the start that today would be a short broadcast, right? And I really want to drink with Lin soon.”

As I glanced over at Sua, who was wrapping up her closing remarks, I began preparing my own closing remarks.

[???]

[No, no, no, no, no]

[I didn’t see it]

[I didn’t hear that!!!]

[Oh, I’m so disappointed]

[It’s a collaboration, but 2 hours of broadcasting is really unreasonable]

[Just one more hour!!]

[It’s a no-cam, let’s do Part 1 of drinking and talking?]

[Stop the broadcast!!!]

[Oh no]

[It’s a no-cam, just a little more!!]

As the timing to end the broadcast approached, I saw the chat becoming so heated that it seemed ready to burst.

— Ding ding!!

『Kazura has donated 50,000 won!』

《Stop the broadcast!》

『Nalda has donated 10,000 won!』

《Let’s have a genuine talk while drinking.》

『rain8694 has donated 100,000 won!』

《Really just one more hour!》

Then, as donations poured in one after another, I completely missed my timing to speak.

“You all know you shouldn’t donate during the broadcast, so why are you doing this?”

Sua looked at me and moved her lips.

— Unni, please also wrap up your closing remarks now…

— Can I even say my closing remarks in this atmosphere?

— Yes, it’s fine, so please do it quickly.

As we quietly communicated, I slowly opened my mouth.

“I had so much fun doing this collaboration today. Then I’ll see you all tomorrow in my solo stream.”

I wrapped up with a standard closing remark, but Sua’s actions were bolder than I expected.

Clack.

As soon as my words ended, the chat turned gray.

“Sua, you’re so sharp.”

“If you drag these things out, they can become more awkward. If you hesitate or take too long, you lose valuable time. When ending a broadcast, you really shouldn’t hesitate.”

I burst out laughing, glancing at her staring at the PC screen.

I felt every time I saw it that she had a very decisive personality.

And as the broadcast ended, a peculiar sense of comfort, a sense of openness, washed over me.

It felt like finishing something that needed to be done.

While broadcasting was fun, resting felt right to me, as I found my mind at ease.

Clack.

Having finished tidying up, Sua suddenly turned to look at me as she opened the door.

“Oh, what should we have for our drinking snacks?”

“Um… how about sashimi?”

Sashimi popped into my mind out of nowhere without any particular reason.

“Sashimi sounds good. I’ll order a mix of sashimi and a seafood platter. Like that?”

“Yeah.”

It was almost hard to believe that this was the same Sua who had been lounging on the bed and discussing how to stream before we started broadcasting, as she acted decisively.

Pat.

As I closed the stream room’s door and headed to the living room, I naturally made my way towards the terrace on one side of the living room.

The night view of the city seen from a luxurious 17th-floor officetel was truly… quite impressive.

A city glowing in a myriad of colors; I said out loud while taking in that view.

“Oh, are we going to drink in the living room?”

“Yes, let’s enjoy the night view while we drink, sister.”

Sua appeared to be ordering while looking at her phone, reflecting against the night view.

— Payment has been completed.

Suddenly, I heard a mechanical voice.

Caught off guard, I turned my head toward Sua.

“Sua, I told you I’d drink, why did you go and pay?”

“Didn’t you buy expensive wine? I should pay for the snacks then.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine.”

“It’s okay, really. And I’m telling you now, I’m someone who thinks food that others buy is tasteless.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Understanding her words, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“What do you mean? I’m saying that from now on, it’s forbidden for sister Serin to pay in front of me.”

With a sulky smile, she approached me, and even in trivial actions, everything she did looked adorable.