Chapter 0: It’s been a month since the broadcast-1

A dark room, roughly about 4 pyeong in size.

The room reeked of a foul stench.

Trash was scattered everywhere.

Empty cola bottles and snack wrappers.

Leftover garbage and delivery bags were in disarray.

Covering the view~

On the sink, dishes from a Chinese restaurant lay unwashed, and the food scraps felt unpleasant.

The room’s owner, as if it were nothing, kicked the trash aside with their foot and sat in front of the computer.

Click, click.

The sound of the mouse.

The room’s owner cleared their throat, “Ahem,” and greeted in a cheerful voice into their 140,000-won microphone.

“Liha!”

No doubt the voice was pleasant, but it had a peculiar awkwardness, as if they were trying too hard to sound that way.

The room’s owner was an internet streamer.

How many people will show up today?

The streamer’s nickname was “Liera,” with “Li” from Liera and “Ha” as in hi,

Together it became “Liera Hi.”

After shouting energetically, they glanced at the human-shaped icon in the bottom right corner.

• 0 viewers

No one had entered yet.

But that was okay.

Yesterday, six people had shown up, hadn’t they?

If I work hard today, maybe at least three people will join.

I filled a cup with tap water, placed it beside me, and took a sip to moisten my throat.

Don’t they say a streamer’s voice is their lifeline?

Chuckling to myself, I stared at the number 0 and raised my voice.

“Today’s game is Skull Soul!”

• 1 viewer

Ah! Someone joined.

“Hello!”

• Boring.

Ah, they left.

What was boring about it?

Tilting my head in confusion, I couldn’t figure it out.

“Well, it’s still a good start!”

Didn’t it take 40 minutes yesterday for one person to show up?

Of course, they left quickly, but the fact that they came was meaningful in itself.

Since my computer specs weren’t great, setting all the options in Skull Soul to the absolute lowest made the game look terrible.

It felt like graphics from the year 2000, not the 2020s.

After finishing the settings, I glanced at the chat window.

“They say this game is trending these days, right?”

I clapped my hands together, creating a sharp sound, and laughed alone in the empty room.

“I didn’t want to fall behind the trend, so I splurged a bit to buy it!”

It lagged a bit, but not to the extent that it was unplayable.

If I were unlucky, the screen might turn blue, but let’s hope that doesn’t happen.

“Alright, let’s start!”

My voice echoed in the 4-pyeong trash-filled room.

Feeling a bit cold, I adjusted my clothes.

Still cold?

“Hmm…”

Looking back, I saw a slightly discolored coat tossed carelessly on the bed.

Should I wear that?

The decision was quick.

There’s no audience right now anyway, right?

Okay, let’s wear it.

“I’m sorry, but it’s too cold. I’ll just grab something to wear!”

Even though no one was there, I politely excused myself and quickly went to grab the coat, just as someone entered.

• 1 viewer joined
• “What kind of stream is this?”

A viewer!

“Ah! Uh, I, uh… I’m playing Skull Soul!”

I saw the message pop up in the previously empty chat, and in my rush to get back, I stubbed my toe against the chair leg. The sharp pain shot up, but did that matter?

A viewer had entered!

• “What’s with your voice?”

“Uh… I stubbed my toe rushing over…”

• “Are you a girl?”

“Uh, yeah! I am a girl…”

• “That’s so hot.”

“Huh…?”

• “Call me. 010-2xxx-xxxx.”

“Uh… um…”

I squeezed my eyes shut and banned the user with the ID –tpRmsska04.

They were my precious second viewer of the day, but some things were just not acceptable.

“Uh, let’s start over!”

If I was going to upload this to YouTube, I’d have to cut this part out.

No one on YouTube wants to see something like that, after all.

“Alright, uh… So, the game for today is Skull Soul!”

I cleared my throat and continued speaking.

Thankfully, the game hadn’t started yet, so editing it out would be easy.

Two viewers had already joined today.

This must be my lucky day.

“While others play games on the highest settings, I’ll do something unique and play on the lowest settings!”

Of course, it’s only because my computer can’t handle more, but it’s all about how you spin it, isn’t it?

“Whoa! This looks… kinda creepy!”

I exaggerated a bit, making my tone more animated and my gestures more comical.

This was something I’d practiced after watching several popular streams.

“I’ll start with the werewolf! No traits… and let’s go with these stats!”

Humming softly, I said,

“Hmm, I heard this game is really hard. I’m a bit worried… but since we’ve started, let’s aim for a clear! Let’s do this!”

Though there was no one to cheer me on, I shouted confidently, then firmly pressed Enter.

Immediately, my computer made a loud noise, as if it were overheating.

Could it be that it wouldn’t work?

I held my breath in suspense, but thankfully, it moved to the loading screen. Relieved, I scratched my itchy wrist.

“Hmm, it’s a bit slow…”

Most people said the loading only took about six seconds, but it was still at 70% after 40 seconds.

“This doesn’t look good…”

I chuckled awkwardly.

Playtime: 9 minutes and 18… 19 seconds.

I could still get a refund since I hadn’t played for two hours—or even one hour—but I thought, “Shouldn’t I at least get to the first stage?” and decided to wait a little longer.

76%, 82%, 83%, 89%.

It paused briefly, then climbed to 96%, 99%, and finally 100%.

As soon as the loading finished, the loud noise from my computer returned.

And then— pop!

“Ah!”

The dreaded blue screen appeared before my eyes.

“Seriously? Are you that clueless?”

I mumbled complaints under my breath and reached out to reboot the computer.

“With this, new games are impossible.”

I sighed deeply, chewing on my fingernail.

“Do I need to get a new computer?”

My bank account had a balance of 6 million won.

If I wanted to buy a good-spec computer, it wasn’t impossible.

But this money wasn’t meant to be spent recklessly.

“No way am I touching my living expenses…”

That 6 million won was my lifeline.

I didn’t know exactly how much a high-spec computer cost, but it definitely wouldn’t be cheap.

“Are there any popular games my current setup can handle?”

I fumbled through the pile of trash to find my phone, only to see the battery indicator glowing red at 13%.

“Ugh…”

The charger had been left in the wrong position.

As I jiggled the frayed charging cable, my phone let out a “ding,” signaling it was charging.

“Alright, it’s working.”

After clearing away the overdue bill notification, I used the neighbor’s Wi-Fi to do a quick search.

I found a low-spec indie game that caught my eye.

It was a roguelike game that many popular streamers had played and continued to play.

“This is it!”

This game seemed like something my computer could handle.