Chapter 19: Loneliness

When playing ranked games in any game, you inevitably encounter some mentally unstable people.

It’s only natural in games that involve teamwork.

But still, this was a bit much.

“Why do they all seem to not want to play the game?”

There were many teammates who were giving up on the game.

I was a bit taken aback.

They keep giving up like this.

It wasn’t like our ranks were that high, so the opponents shouldn’t be making no mistakes.

There were people who were giving up just because they got behind early.

[Omniscient Cthulhu: But we still won]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Let’s drink]

[Hwanhee: lol]

[If we won, that’s all that matters]

[But seriously, is this Gold-level gameplay?]

[This guy just has different playstyles…]

Though I hadn’t played “League of Legends” for that long, I was starting to get a sense of how to win without the team throwing.

I didn’t want to know this so quickly, but here we were.

Anyway, “If we keep winning against those kinds of people, they’ll just get worse.”

I once had doubts when I heard people in the Efreet gallery say, “If you keep winning for them, they’ll get worse.”

I thought winning the game was a good thing.

But after actually playing Legends, I had to retract that thought.

There were many who had sold their conscience to the pawn shop.

“Anyway, I just need to win one more game.”

Lately, I had been enjoying playing League of Legends and had planned to play for a long time, but since the game quality was particularly bad today, I decided to just rank up one level and call it a day.

I thought it would be good to have some casual conversations without ending the stream.

Talking about what’s going on in the world these days could be nice.

While “tier” is a very important aspect of gaming, I don’t really care about it.

You get matched according to your skill level.

There’s no need to be too concerned about tiers.

“I should play mid for the last game.”

After playing top all day and listening to the complaints of my teammates, my frontal lobe felt like it was drying up and about to disappear.

I’m not a babysitter or anything.

Thinking that, I checked the current viewer count.

[Viewer Count: 79]

The number of viewers had increased significantly since I first started streaming.

I didn’t expect it to grow this much.

To be honest, at this level, it felt just right for a hobby stream.

It’s easy to communicate with viewers.

‘Maybe I should randomly pick someone to chat with.’

“Communication” doesn’t mean being selective, so I scanned through the nicknames of the viewers currently watching my stream.

I couldn’t see the viewers, but I could check them.

Is that a privilege of the host?

Just as I was lost in thought while checking the viewer list, [Mangming]

“Eh.”

I was certain I had seen that nickname a few hours ago.

To be honest, it was a bit surprising.

Why was Mangming in my stream?

Even if they had visited for the sake of entertainment earlier.

“Mangming is watching the stream.”

I thoughtlessly blurted it out.

Then,

[Omniscient Cthulhu: lol?]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: What the hell are you doing here?]

[The stream is entertaining, though]

[Mangming, why are you here instead of quickly ending the stream?]

[Hwanhee: But saying this is hilarious, lol]

[I was quietly watching the stream, but suddenly it’s a massacre, haha]

[I’m Kang Hoomin: The quieter you are, the more you want to massacre.]

[Indeed, finding psychological satisfaction through the massacre of innocent civilians is strong commentary, lol]

[The commentary is getting more complicated]

The chat was starting to go wild.

Thinking back, it made sense.

According to the news a viewer shared earlier, Mangming had ended their stream right away.

It turned out that someone who had ended their stream was watching someone else’s.

‘That’s quite a lot of chatter.’

I wondered if I had said too much.

Well, what could I do about it now that it had already happened?

I could only hope it would go smoothly.

At that time,

People began to flock to a small gallery in an extreme female-oriented community called “Red.”

The name of the gallery was “Mangming Gallery.”

As the name suggests, it was a kind of fan club created by fans who liked someone named “Mangming.”

But just because they were fans didn’t mean they liked them unconditionally.

There were fans who liked them while also cursing at them.

And in Mangming’s case—

[Author: ᄋᄋ(110.12)]

[Title: Just want to kill Mangming, upvote if you feel the same, lol]

[Content: I just want to strangle them and kill them, lol]

L: Kekek

ᄂ: (Cough)

ᄂ: Cough cough

ᄂ: Speak like a person, damn it, lol

ᄂ: Oh dear…

[Author: ᄋᄋ(58.9)]

[Title: Here’s a song that represents my feelings]

[Content: Murduer on my mind <<< that’s how I feel right now..]

L: Murduer? What kind of word is that? Sounds like someone who didn’t even finish middle school.

ᄂ: Isn’t it “mudara”?

ᄂ: Is “mudara” a damn vegetable seller?

ᄂ: Ignorance is strong commentary, lol

ᄂ: Really ignorant.

ᄂ: These guys need to toughen up and beat Mangming, why are they fighting each other?

ᄂ: It’s like I’m creating solitude like in a martial arts novel…

The ones who survive here will attack Mangming with extreme toxicity, so it doesn’t matter.

There were a lot of aggressive fans.

“Won cleanly.”

[Omniscient Cthulhu: lol]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Really hard carried mid]

[At this point, that’s definitely hard carry]

[Hwanhee: Great]

[Hey, don’t put ‘great’ in front of it]

[But why has this guy’s viewership increased so much?]

[The darkness is like a damadan, haha]

[What is this, some kind of Islam?]

Since I won the game cleanly, I ended it immediately.

Then I checked the viewer count again.

[Viewer Count: 143]

The sudden spike in viewers.

Even though the viewership increased so suddenly, there were no disruptions in the chat because I had set restrictions.

By the way, I was curious.

Why did the numbers suddenly rise?

‘Did something happen?’

It seemed like coordinates were marked somewhere.

‘Is it because Mangming is watching my stream?’

It felt like I had said too much.

The streamer who ended their stream was quietly watching another, and simply because “the streamer exists in this broadcast,” they were watching together.

I could say it would be exhausting to get involved.

“So, I guess I’ll just chat a bit and then end the stream.”

Right now, Yeram was awake, so I couldn’t discuss any risqué topics.

Of course, Yeram knew that I was part of the “Red” community…

But still, it felt a bit inappropriate to bring up sensitive topics.

Thinking of sensitive topics reminded me of the past.

Back in my freshman year of college, I used to go around for blind dates.

Fortunately, my school life wasn’t that bad, so I had some decent blind dates.

In that challenging situation, I had to be the one to break the ice first.

But since I’m not good at small talk, I pondered what topic would be best to bring up, and I came up with the optimal conversation starter.

It was politics.

I thought that anyone living in South Korea would have some interest in politics, so I chose that topic.

Then I spoke to my blind date.

“By the way, which side do you lean towards, left or right? I’m more centrist.” I blurted out that nonsense.

But this wasn’t my fault.

It was the fault of the country of South Korea.

“Why didn’t they assign me to an all-boys school?”

If you go through the all-boys middle school and high school tech tree, your brain naturally ends up stuck in that direction.

From a national perspective, it would be better to legally prevent the all-boys middle and high school tech tree.

Having more victims like me… would be too cruel.

As I quickly forgot the memories of the past and tried to read the chat,

[Yeomwang Ilpae Doji Jamanming’s Aplouree has donated 1,000 won!]

• Hello~~~ I came from the Mangming Gallery~~ I’m enjoying the stream~~

A viewer with an unusual nickname greeted me with a donation.

They didn’t seem to have any bad intentions, so I responded briefly.

“Ah, thank you for the donation.”

By the way, the Mangming Gallery?

Was there such a gallery?

I had never heard of it before.

[Omniscient Cthulhu: No way lol]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Of all people]

[Hwanhee: lol]

Okay.

[Omniscient Cthulhu: So it’s from the Mangming Gallery]

[If you think it’s trash, thumbs up lol]

[What is this Mangming Gallery, then?]

[Why is everyone so scared?]

[What is that?]

In the chat, people were divided between those who knew and those who didn’t.

What’s going on?

Is it something I should know about?

“Is the Mangming Gallery famous or something?”

I casually blurted out without thinking too deeply.