Chapter 30: High-Stakes Collaboration: A Chaotic Duo’s Gaming Adventure

Using the public opinion survey results, I analyzed the trends and then lay down on the bed.

Since I had the chance to rest, I decided to take it easy.

Elections are a long-term game, and impatience could be harmful.

I opened the Twika TV homepage for the first time in a while.

As mentioned during lunch, Yuseong was broadcasting.

“Huh, Changsoo is streaming too? Should I join and say hi? No, forget it. It’s hard for me to donate these days. It would just make things awkward.”

And honestly, I wanted to see Yuseong.

A haunted house experience? Sounds fun.

I clicked on the stream title while staying logged out.

“See? It’s not just me being weird.”

Arin had collapsed in fear and was sobbing.

The chat was mocking her, but I completely understood.

That sense of disconnect I felt the first time I met Yuseong—those who haven’t experienced it wouldn’t know.

“No, I’m fine. I’m just resting. This is nothing for a woman like me… Aaah! Huh? What’s going on? Why can’t I hear anything?”

An embarrassing memory suddenly flashed through my mind.

The more I thought about it, the more cringeworthy it became.

What was I even doing back then?

Ugh, my face is burning.

Knock knock—!

“Unni, I’m here. Are you working?”

“No, come in.”

Ah, right! My goodness, how could I forget?

My younger sibling had said they’d come over and stay the night.

Hastily, I straightened my disheveled posture and sat up on the bed.

The door opened, and my sibling walked in.

They climbed onto the bed and sat next to me.

Ugh, the smell of alcohol.

Can’t they drink more moderately?

Lately, it seems like every time I see them, they’re coming back from some drinking session.

“Don’t drink so much. It’s bad for your health.”

“I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately.”

Well, I could understand that.

Starting next year, they’d have to join the family business on our maternal side.

Originally, they loved drawing and dreamed of becoming a comic artist.

I could see why they’d feel lost now.

“What are you watching?”

“Just a stream.”

“Wow! You haven’t watched in over a year. Are you making a comeback as a Jin-guk (stream fan)?”

“Not really. I’m just watching someone I know.”

“Who?”

My sibling leaned in close to my phone screen.

Turning their head suddenly, they gaped in surprise, their mouth hanging open.

“Unni, you know Shin Yuseong? That’s amazing.”

Back to Arin’s studio.

The haunted house experience had left my clothes in a terrible state—covered in grime and dirt everywhere.

I really wanted to wash up.

I should’ve brought a change of clothes.

“Ah, ladies, think about it from my perspective. Wouldn’t you cry too? From now on, anyone posting ‘crybaby Arin’ comments will be banned!”

Arin was still arguing with the viewers, getting mocked endlessly. Sorry, but you brought this on yourself. I couldn’t just sit back and take it either. You reap what you sow.

“Yuseong, do you want to wash up?”

“Yes, I was just thinking about that.”

“Wait a second, I’ll check if I have any clothes you can change into.”

Arin went into her room.

I wondered if there would be any clothes that fit me.

Probably not.

Even at a glance, there’s a height difference of at least 15 cm between us.

Maybe something close to what I wore in middle school?

No wonder it’s taking her a while to find something suitable.

[Arin’s looking for more than clothes, I bet kekeke.]

[Trying to decide whether to grab “the spinning one” LOL.]

[ox aa]

[If there are no fitting clothes, oof.]

[No way… nude stream incoming?]

“These chat comments are something else. Seriously, where do they learn this kind of nonsense?”

Sitting on the living room floor, I entertained the viewers a bit.

No matter how you look at it, there are so many clueless single guys here.

It felt like being in a middle school s*x-ed class.

The moment any slightly suggestive topic came up, they lost their minds, turning it into a brainless competition to see who could be the most outrageous.

“Sorry for the wait.”

“Thank you. Is it okay if I wash up first?”

“Of course. There are towels hanging inside.”

Arin returned and handed me clothes.

A pink oversized T-shirt and green sweatpants.

The shirt seemed fine.

It looked wearable enough.

Excusing myself, I went into the bathroom.

[Hehe~]

[Time to restrict this to 19+ kekeke!]

[Let’s goooo!]

“Do you think I’m going to get banned? I’m leaving my phone outside.”

What were they even expecting?

I set the phone on the floor, brought up a standby screen, and stepped into the bathroom.

As expected, the facilities were rough.

The walls weren’t even tiled—just bare gray bricks.

Isn’t it uncomfortable to live like this?

With all the money Arin earns, how does she manage to stay in such a place?

There were towels… over there.

Next to them, a crumpled blue pair of underwear.

I decided to pretend I hadn’t seen it.

Would it be awkward if Arin came in right after me?

Should I just tuck it into my pocket to hide it?

No, bad idea.

That could lead to misunderstandings.

You never know.

Maybe in this upside-down world, such things aren’t a big deal.

Best to avoid unnecessary actions.

I stripped off my clothes and stood in front of the shower.

Huh? The hot water isn’t working even after waiting for a while.

Do I have to deal with cold water?

Sighing, I splashed cold water onto my chest.

Ack! The chill made my heart seize up.

Counting to ten in my head, I forced myself under the stream of cold water.

“Wow, that actually suits you better than I expected. Hehe!”

“Be honest. You’re still holding a grudge against me, aren’t you?”

“What are you talking about? I worked so hard to find those clothes!”

As I expected, the oversized T-shirt fit just fine, but the sweatpants turned out to be shorter than anticipated—more like cropped pants.

The waistband was tight, so I couldn’t wear them any lower.

If I lifted the shirt even slightly, the two jewels under pressure would be on full display.

Still, what could I do?

I’d already showered, so I had to make do.

Like Arin said, there probably weren’t any pants in the house that would fit me.

Besides, we were about to game, and my lower body wouldn’t be visible on camera.

I decided to just wear them for the stream.

“I’ll go wash up too. Ah, the studio is in that room over there.”

“Got it. I’ll restart the stream and wait.”

I ended the phone stream and went into the studio.

The room’s interior was completely different from the rest of the house.

Sleek monochrome wallpaper and high-end streaming equipment were arranged neatly.

It felt like stepping through a portal into another world.

There were two computers set up side by side. I sat in the chair closer to the wall and got ready.

Adjusting the streaming program settings, I remembered—I also needed to set the mouse sensitivity.

That’s something I’m really particular about, so I wanted to get it just right.

[“Rookie Male Streamer” Finally Collabs with the Stream King!]

[Hurry up and restart the stream!]

[Still a rookie after all this time? Yuseong, your new nickname is ‘Stream Emperor.’ Haha!]

[Whoa, this really is Arin’s room. Feels kind of surreal.]

[Yuseong, isn’t it cold there? There’s no heating in that house, right?]

“I’m fine. We’ll wrap up in three games with 15-minute surrender cuts.”

[Legit run lol]

[But seriously, it’s scary because it seems doable.]

[Just switch to a non-stop Diamond stream.]

I restarted the stream on my computer, launched LoL, and entered practice mode to check if the settings were fine.

Good, it feels similar to how it does at home.

I should be able to perform at my usual level without any issues.

“Sorry, I’m really late, aren’t I?”

“Yeah. Did you go to a bathhouse or something?”

Arin finally arrived after quite a while.

Normally, I’d just let it slide, but this time, it took way too long.

I couldn’t queue for a ranked game alone, and I’ve been awkwardly waiting all this time.

[Yuseong, cut her some slack, Arin came with full makeup on lol]

[Even at an awards ceremony, she wouldn’t do makeup this heavy]

[She probably just wanted to look pretty lmao lol]

Now that I look closely, Arin’s face has changed quite a bit.

Her eyes look bigger, her lips are more vibrant, and her cheeks are redder—did she use blush?

We’re just here to play games; a bit of lotion would’ve sufficed.

Wasting time on this seems unnecessary.

Still, judging by the chat, it looks like she wanted to impress me.

I can’t stay annoyed forever.

I’ll compliment her to lighten the mood.

It’s not like it’s a lie—she does look good.

“Did you do your makeup to show me? You look amazing.”

“W-what are you talking about?! I just didn’t want to look plain compared to you, that’s all!”

Arin’s cheeks turned even redder.

She seemed pretty upset by the misunderstanding and was visibly flustered.

Her ears were practically glowing from embarrassment.

Sigh, I shouldn’t have let the chat influence me into saying something weird.

Viewers can’t be trusted.

“We’re both mid-laners, so how should we handle the roles?”

“Let’s duo bot. It’s a collab stream; we’ve got to duo bot at least once.”

“Alright… should I ADC then?”

“No, I’ll do it. I’m good at Jinx ADC. How about a poke-heavy bot lane combo?”

Arin casually switched to informal speech.

Well, it’s a stream.

Staying formal the whole time would be boring.

I decided to switch to informal speech too.

“Just a heads-up, I get a bit rough when I talk while playing LoL. Hope you’re okay with that.”

“Got it.”

“Alright, we’re starting our LoL stream now! Please send in some missions. We’ve got to keep our pride, so let’s get some big ones!”

Wow, Arin doesn’t hold back when asking for donations.

She’s so bold—it’s actually impressive.

I need to learn from her.

Honesty really is the best policy.

[[God] RecklessOfficeWorker has donated 100,000 KRW.]

[Mission: Rank up within an hour of game time, and I’ll give each of you 3 million KRW.]

Moonhwa took the first step.

Every time I see their name in the chat, I feel a wave of warmth.

Spending just one day together was enough to grow attached.

They feel like an old friend now.

I kind of want to meet up and grab drinks with them again after the stream ends.

But still, this feels unfair.

Splitting 3 million KRW with Arin hurts my soul a little.

Then again, I already got a 2 million KRW donation earlier, so I can’t complain.

“You’re the best, Moonhwa. I seriously love you. The mission seems tough, but we’ll do our best to succeed!”

“Wait, Moonhwa gave us a mission? Why?”

“Yeah, they said they’d give us 3 million KRW each if we rank up within an hour.”

“Waaaah!”

Jeez, why are you screaming all of a sudden? My ears are about to fall off.

“I love you! Ladies, does this confirm Moonhwa as one of the ‘Big Three’? Jin-guk has been AFK, holding the guild leader seat, and Kei has deleted their account. Moonhwa’s the undisputed top dog of Twika TV now. Am I right?”

[But isn’t it more impressive to hold onto the guild leader position for a year while being AFK?]

[Hey, young’un, take a hint]

[ox]

[To be honest, Moonhwa is the only active one left.]

Wow, I’m learning a lot from Arin.

This is what they call hyping someone up?

She’s seriously on another level.

Compared to her, my gratitude feels shallow.

I need to study this more.

The missions kept coming in.

The donation alert sound rang nonstop: bam-barabam-bam-barabam! It was overwhelming.

I couldn’t even begin to estimate how much money had been pledged.

At least 50 missions had come in already, and the count was still climbing.

Collaborating with Arin was creating an insane synergy.

But organizing all these missions could take all night.

What should I do?

Ignoring them to play wasn’t an option.

Just as I was agonizing, Dajang’s message popped up like a savior.

[Hey, I’m keeping track of all the missions from your and Arin’s streams. Just start the game.]

Ah, thank goodness.

Dajang always shows up in these chaotic moments to save the day.

I’m so lucky to have them as my manager.

“Arin, let’s just start. My manager is organizing the missions.”

“Your manager? Oh, it’s Dajang. Then we’re good. Ladies, no more missions, please. We’re delaying the game too much, so bear with us.”

I stalled with small talk to avoid stream snipers and pressed the start button.

As the match queue finished, the ban-pick screen appeared.

“What are you picking?”

“We’re going poke-heavy, right? I’ll go Xerath.”

“Ooh! Nice.”

I chose Xerath, and Arin picked Jinx.

The infamous bot lane duo was complete.

Both champions have long attack ranges, allowing us to harass enemies from afar.

Relentless poking.

Constant harassment.

The goal was to dominate the lane and end it as quickly as possible.

[Ah, this is going to be so fun.]

[Honestly, Yuseong and Arin together are an ecosystem-destroying duo lol]

[The enemy bot lane is doomed]

[Looks like an early GG incoming]

“The game has started. Watch as our bot duo forces an early surrender!”

The loading screen came up.

I stretched my fingers, clenching and unclenching them, preparing myself.

Before long, the Rift appeared before us.