Chapter 22 : Meeting with the craftsman

For Curry, this preseason was like a double-edged sword.

The large-scale item changes for the new season provided Curry with fresh content, but that was only temporary content. In reality, Curry’s main content was his solo rank (Solrank) broadcasts.

During the preseason, playing solo rank to raise scores and tiers didn’t have much significance.

After all, everything would be reset when the new season started.

In the end, all Curry could gain by playing solo rank during preseason was a slight increase in his matchmaking rating (MMR).

*“Item Lab content won’t last long either.”*

No matter how big the patch was,

the tenacious Koreans would find the answers quickly, and things would settle into a fixed pattern.

*“I need content that can last until the Platform Tournament in December.”*

Solo rank content focused on researching new items, like the Item Lab, couldn’t last for a whole month. At least, Curry had to find something else to carry him through until the Platform Tournament officially began in December.

Of course, he could take a break during that time, or even go on a trip.

But for Curry, who was a born workaholic, even a brief rest felt like a luxury.

After much deliberation, Curry decided to cool his head and logged into his streaming platform, Trich. He often found inspiration for new content by watching other broadcasts, so he set out to browse as usual. After setting the category to “LoL” and sorting by highest viewers, he clicked on the top broadcast.

“Hmm?”

The broadcast at the top of the sorted list caught Curry’s attention. There was no title for the broadcast, and it wasn’t from a famous streamer or account. Yet, around 8,600 people were watching it.

Considering it was still morning, this was almost an impossible number to achieve.

Intrigued by this seemingly impossible number, Curry entered the broadcast.

As soon as he entered, the first thing that caught his eye was the handcam showing a woman’s hand.

It wasn’t surprising that a woman was playing LoL, but what was unusual was the chatroom. There were no managers, no chatbots helping with moderation, yet the chatroom was perfectly clean.

Usually, when this many viewers gather and there are no restrictions in place, the chatroom would get chaotic. But in this broadcast, every single viewer seemed to keep things civil and respectful.

The unfamiliar sight was so fascinating that Curry kept watching for a while, his curiosity growing.

How was something like this even possible?

Fueled by curiosity, Curry continued to watch ‘zxcv1234’s broadcast for a while.

In less than an hour, he learned a lot of things.

The owner of this broadcast was none other than the famous ‘Mysterious Yone Master,’ also known as Barcode Left.

And, surprisingly, the Yone Master was a woman.

What stood out most of all was that her voice, which occasionally resonated through the stream, was incredibly alluring.

After visiting a LoL-related community that he hadn’t checked in a while, Curry immediately understood why there were so many viewers.

The entire forum was flooded with posts related to ‘Barcode Left,’ and with this level of attention, it was no wonder the viewership was so high.

Curry pieced together the full story of the event through the most upvoted post titled “The Duel Between Ronin Swordsman and Barcode Left.”

As he read, an old, abandoned content idea resurfaced in his mind.

The content was called “Meeting the Masters.”

It was a segment where he invited experts of specific champions to play together.

In the past, due to scheduling conflicts and issues getting consent from the participants, the idea was eventually abandoned.

But if he could manage to get Ronin Swordsman and Barcode Left—who were at the heart of the LoL issue—on board, this content could soar once again.

‘Since it’s preseason, if I could introduce new item builds that masters have researched…’

With the massive item patch that had essentially reset everything, it was the perfect opportunity to revisit this content.

The idea of showcasing new builds researched by masters, especially when people were confused about what items to pick, seemed ideal for the current situation.

However, to make this content work, he would first need to secure the masters to appear on his stream.

‘Well, this person is currently streaming, so…’

There was nothing more disruptive in the streaming world than interrupting someone else’s broadcast.

After considering it, Curry decided it was better to reach out after the stream had ended. He first decided to approach “Ronin Swordsman” for a potential collaboration.

**Lonely Gourmet**: …Would you be willing to collaborate with me on a stream?

Curry’s sudden request for a joint stream.

It didn’t seem like he had figured out my identity, but it still wasn’t a situation I was thrilled about.

I wasn’t sure if Curry meant a real-life collaboration or just a game stream together. If it was a real-life collaboration, I was planning to decline outright, so I quickly typed a response.

**Ilillilill**: A collaboration? Meeting in real life is a bit…

**Lonely Gourmet**: Oh, no! Absolutely nothing like that, I assure you.

**Lonely Gourmet**: I have this content called ‘Meeting the Masters’ that I did about six months ago.

**Lonely Gourmet**: It’s a series where I showcase tips from top-tier players who are masters of specific champions.

“Hmm…”

I snorted lightly at Curry’s anxious-sounding message.

I was familiar with the ‘Meeting the Masters’ content.

It had received positive feedback, but if I remembered correctly, Curry had stopped it for some reason.

Now, I was weighing the decision between collaborating with Curry or not.

If I only considered the fun aspect, collaborating seemed like it would be more enjoyable.

But the worry in the back of my mind was that my identity as the infamous “Nayeon Queen,” the relentless harasser of Curry, might be exposed.

**Lonely Gourmet**: So, is it still not possible…?

As I continued to deliberate, another message from Curry appeared, one filled with a sense of gloom.

Just reading that message, I could easily imagine what kind of expression Curry was making, and for some reason, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Once you’ve been on a stream, there’s no reason not to go on again, even if it’s a second time.

‘It’s not like I can’t roast him legally, right?’

More than anything, this was an opportunity to roast Curry from the perspective of a *streamer* rather than as a *harasser.*

In the preseason, even if I went after Curry, his reactions were so indifferent that it wasn’t fun anymore.

It felt like I was slowly slipping back into the boredom of the past. Then, Curry came up with this amusing proposal.

**Ilillilill**: Alright. Let’s do the collaboration.

**Lonely Gourmet**: Thank you so much for accepting! I honestly thought you’d refuse, but…

**Ilillilill**: I was actually going to decline, but then I thought it might be fun, so…

**Lonely Gourmet**:This is a bit of a burden… I’ll send you the detailed schedule through [Discord address].

**Lonely Gourmet**: Looking forward to it.

I joined the server using the Discord link that Curry sent. Before long, a lengthy message arrived from Curry.

The message contained the details of the collaboration schedule.

‘This should be fun.’

The things I needed to prepare before the collaboration were simple.

The new item build for Yone and some secret tips that others might not know.

In terms of actual preparation, there was practically nothing to get ready for.

As I eagerly awaited the collaboration with Curry, I continued my solo queue games.

Then, the hotfix patch notes for the main server caught my attention.

The hotfix noted the nerf for Gu Insu who had been performing overwhelmingly well.

The nerf was that Gu Insu’s price had increased by 200 gold, and the additional damage per crit had been reduced from 45 to 40.

“That’s a bit ambiguous.”I immediately bought Gu Insu and summoned a practice dummy to test it out.

However, the damage nerf didn’t really feel noticeable.

By simple calculation, the damage had decreased by 10,000, so it wasn’t surprising that I didn’t feel the difference.

But the most significant nerf was the price increase, and to truly feel the impact of that, I would have to use Gu Insu multiple times in-game.

Whenever there’s a nerf to an item’s price, it’s hard to gauge the extent of it until you experience it yourself in the game.

So, I left the practice mode and dove into solo queue to research the item build I’d use for the collaboration with Curry.

“Hmm… Was the broadcast not good?”

As he queued for a match, Nangin Gyeomgaek muttered to himself while looking at Barcode’s Twitch account, which was still offline.

He had made the bet with the intention of showing Barcode the fun of streaming, and although he succeeded in winning, the problem was that she—no, *he*—had only streamed for that one day as agreed upon in the bet, and then stopped entirely.

[What are you muttering to yourself about, Gyeomgaek?]

[You’re going to talk to yourself like that? How selfish!]

[Gyeomgaek-hyung, it’s rude to be the only one talking, you know?]

“Ah, it’s nothing. Just some random thoughts…”

Nangin Gyeomgaek silenced the playful complaints from his viewers with a serious tone, shifting his gaze elsewhere.

Even so, the curiosity about why Barcode hadn’t been streaming anymore kept filling his mind.

Why was she acting like this?

Was it because the one who defeated her was a woman?

But then he shook his head.

Such a trivial reason couldn’t possibly be why he cared.

When Barcode had used a female voice, he was taken aback.

Next, when she admitted she was a woman, he did feel a strange sense of curiosity, but beyond that, he felt nothing else.

So why did he care so much about why she wasn’t streaming?

*Is it because of responsibility?*

The reason Barcode had revealed her gender was because of the broadcast, and the reason she streamed in the first place was because of the bet with him.

Perhaps from Barcode’s perspective, she wanted to keep her gender a secret, but had to reveal it because of the bet?

Nangin Gyeomgaek thought he might have figured it out, but what replaced his curiosity was guilt.

He hadn’t known the full story when he made the bet, so it was only natural that he felt guilty.

He made a firm decision to apologize to Barcode later.

Just as he was lost in his thoughts, an alert popped up in the top right corner of Twitch.

[zxcv1234 is live: Streamer ‘Curry’ is doing a collab broadcast]

“…It was all just in my head.”

Nangin Gyeomgaek wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.

But now, it was an important broadcast time to connect with his viewers.

As though nothing had happened, he continued with his stream, seamlessly transitioning into the next part of the broadcast.

The news of Curry and Barcode’s collab spread widely.

It garnered even more attention than when Nangin Gyeomgaek and Barcode first started their broadcast.

Countless viewers gathered in anticipation, flooding Carre’s stream.

[Take a seat]

[Take a seat]

[So, when is she coming out?]

Heeung…

[Barcode, stream already!] Streamer

[Barcode, awaken!]

Even though Curry’s stream was still on the waiting screen, a significant number of viewers had already gathered.

The stream hadn’t even started properly yet, but 10,000 viewers had joined, and at this rate, it would easily surpass 20,000.

Curry, who was watching the scene unfold, did her best to calm the rising tension and loosened her neck.

With almost all preparations finished, Carre moved her mouse and removed the waiting screen from the broadcast.

[Curry!]

[Curry!]

[“Curry”]

[Curry!]

[So, when’s she coming out?]

[Why isn’t it a real-life collab?]

[Curry!]

Curry greeted the viewers with a wave toward the camera.

“Hello everyone! ”

She then sat down and placed both hands on the desk.

“As I announced earlier… today, I’ve invited the one who’s been heating up the various communities lately!”

[Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!]

[I’m dying, I’m dying, I’m dying.]

[Heeung… Heeung… Heeung…]

“Now, now everyone. Are we going to show our bad sides to someone who’s obviously a veteran from the spotlight? We need to show them our gentlemanly sides!”

[That means calm down.]

[That means stop spamming.]

[What happens if ASCII art spam runs wild?]

“If the spam runs wild, of course, the viewership stops. If the viewership stops today, you’ll be the one who’ll regret it!”

[That’s right.]

[Before my patience runs out, hurry up and bring her out…]

[Let’s act like gentlemen when we’re supposed to be gentlemen.]

Curry, who had the chat room’s mood and the audience in the palm of her hand, moved the mouse again and spoke softly.

“Well then, no more stalling!”

“Let’s connect with her right now!”

After a few beeps that broke the silence of the broadcast,

the distinctive sound of a phone being picked up echoed through the speakers.

“Are you the famous ‘Mystery Yone Master’ and the one who carried the game against Showdown players, Barcode?”

Curry delivered the line she had prepared, and a small chuckle followed, accompanied by a female voice.

“Yes, that’s me.”

Her voice was filled with atmosphere, a mix of laughter and a sexy undertone.

It was so charming that just hearing it could make you feel refreshed.

As soon as her voice was heard,

Curry’s chat room erupted like never before.