Chapter 17: “Perhaps your younger sister?”

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Real-time breaking news]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: After Mangming got completely wrecked]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: “The opponent’s mid-laner is a smurf” is being used lolololol]

[Oh, damn, this is just…]

[This is truly pathetic.]

[Hwanhee: Mangming, is this really it? Mangming, is this really it? Mangming, is this really it? Mangming, is this really it? Mangming, is this really it? Mangming, is this really it?]

[Absolutely disgraceful…]

[Mangming, damn, this is just…]

“Ah…”

Even though I hadn’t heard the words directly, I felt my hands and feet curling up in embarrassment.

It reminded me of a time before I took a leave of absence from university.

I was thinking of how to propose to a female classmate, so I went to a flower shop nearby and bought some flowers.

They were quite expensive.

For a university student, anything over 10,000 won is a lot.

I brought the flowers to our MT (membership training) trip and confessed, but this embarrassment was only slightly less than that moment.

‘…Some bad memories are coming back.’

At that time, I really wanted to die.

Unsurprisingly, the confession was rejected.

With that thought, I spoke.

“Come on, let’s not be too harsh about it. Mangming must have made the judgment based on solid reasoning.”

This deserved some leniency.

It’s possible the opponent really was using a smurf account.

It’s not a good habit to suspect someone without concrete evidence.

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Breaking news of the century!!!!!!]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: After just checking]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: The opponent mid-laner is a local lolololol]

[Ah…]

[Dammit, I was trying to shield this lol]

[Is this really it?]

[Retire]

[Washed-up]

[Kang Hoomin: Hmm, yeah, yeah. Surprisingly, it’s true Mangming is washed-up.]

[As expected, facts from Kang’s review lol]

[But yeah, he really is washed-up]

[In the past, maybe not, but these days…]

The chat continued to discuss how Mangming was washed-up.

Seeing this, I started to feel a bit sorry for Mangming.

Of course, meeting him as a teammate and watching him mess up like this was frustrating.

But I didn’t think he deserved this much hate.

“Still, this isn’t so bad.

Given his age, he’s doing decently enough.”

I meant this sincerely.

To only have been solo-killed twice despite his age was a decent performance.

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Even though the opponent]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Wasn’t a smurf…]

[Hwanhee: If it were a smurf, fine lol]

[Hwanhee: But it’s not even a smurf, and he’s still like this, isn’t that a bit sad lol]

[Yeah, he’s just washed-up… lol]

But the chat kept flaming furiously.

I decided to use one method to settle things.

[Ally][UncoveringLondon’sSecret][Daous]: Mid, mid.

[Ally][UncoveringLondon’sSecret][Daous]: In our chat, they keep saying you’re washed-up. What should we do?

Ask him directly. That should get a good response.

[Omniscient Almighty Cthulhu: No way, you actually asked that? lolololol]

[Hwanhee: Is she crazy?]

[Kang Hoomin: Yeah, she’s really nuts…]

[Isn’t it “he” rather than “she”?]

[Same difference.]

[Dizzying lol]

Then, after a moment of silence—

[Ally][ClearSkies][Corki]: It’s because I’m not used to this champion.

[Ally][ClearSkies][Corki]: But if I play a familiar champion, I totally dominate in Gold.

“Hmm.”

It was a confident response, for sure.

Saying he’d dominate when using a familiar champion.

It was a very Mangming-like answer.

[Absolutely disgraceful…]

[Why is he so vulgar lol]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Vulgarity and disgrace GOAT lol]

[This is hilarious lolololol]

[Confidence is ridiculous lol]

[Please, demote his man to Platinum, please demote his man to Platinum, please demote his man to Platinum…]

The chat flared up again, though not as intensely as before.

Maybe it was because Mangming himself had spoken this time.

The game continued like that.

Whooong.

Boom!

[Victory!]

“Wow… We actually won this.”

Mangming had fed so much in the early game, spreading chaos everywhere, but this was Gold tier.

After the laning phase, Diamond-tier Mangming took the lead and began carrying the game.

Thanks to him, we were able to win, albeit with difficulty.

“If only the mid lane hadn’t exploded early on, this would’ve been an easy win.”

That thought crossed my mind naturally.

It was tough because of how badly things went in the early game.

If I hadn’t gained an advantage against Rumble early on, it would’ve been hard to carry into the late game.

[Omniscient Cthulhu: We actually won this, holy crap lololol]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Why did we win this lol]

[We were supposed to lose this game.]

[He’s washed-up, but his game sense is still there, so it got easier as the game dragged on.]

[Mangming <<< The washed-up king ruling over Gold lol…]

[I don’t want to get old, I don’t want to get old, I don’t want to get old…]

At least we won this game.

I just need to keep playing like this.

Just as I was thinking that—

[Mangming has donated 10,000 won!]

• Damah, here’s a little something to celebrate the win.

Mangming had come to my stream.

It was an unexpected situation.

I thought he’d be just a fleeting acquaintance, but here he was, showing up in my stream.

“Thank you for the 10,000 won.”

It was the first donation I’d ever received in my life.

So, I felt a bit dazed.

I wondered if it was really okay to accept this.

But soon, I set those thoughts aside.

I figured Mangming probably makes a lot of money anyway.

[Hwanhee: Wait, why the hell is Mangming here?]

[Hwanhee: But is 10,000 won really enough?]

[Hwanhee: Shouldn’t he be giving more, hmm?]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: But why isn’t Mangming chatting?]

[He’s chat-banned right now.]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Ah, that makes sense.]

At that moment, my stream had 102 viewers.

It was the first time I had more than 100 viewers since I started streaming.

It was beyond surprising.

Over 100 viewers.

‘This is kind of amazing.’

I hadn’t even imagined hitting over 100 viewers.

Realizing Mangming’s influence, I opened my mouth to speak.

“I’d love to unblock the chat for you, but there are so many trolls right now. If you have something to say, it’s probably faster to do it through donations.”

It’s not that I was greedy for money.

This was a genuine concern.

‘Why would I do something weird?’

It’s not like I was obsessed with money.

I was streaming just as a hobby.

For me, keeping the chat clean was more important than viewer numbers.

Whether people stayed or left.

[Omniscient Cthulhu: What’s with the money obsession, lolololol]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Got 10,000 won and immediately puffed up lolol]

[Hwanhee: Money is important…]

[You gotta take what you can get.]

[Kang Hoomin: With Mangming’s personality, he’s 100% gonna donate again.]

[A logically sound deduction, classic Kang review lol]

Sure enough, a moment later—

[Mangming has donated 1,000 won!]

• Your voice is beautiful haha.

“I hear that a lot.”

Mangming suddenly complimented my voice.

It seemed like he was just throwing out a random comment to keep the conversation going.

[Omniscient Cthulhu: Mangming’s live stream cam is legendary lol]

[Wow, I just saw it, what the hell lolololol]

[Han-nyeo (derogatory term for Korean woman) at it again…]

[Getting all excited just because she’s talking to a guy, it’s so pathetic.]

[Hwanhee: Well, talking to a guy is important.]

[Kang Hoomin: There are women in the world, so why only target men?]

[Classic case of a crazy lesbian, huh lol.]

[God, is she a lesbian?]

There were comments in the chat related to Mangming’s webcam, but I didn’t feel the need to tune into his stream just for that.

I wasn’t someone who enjoyed digging into other people’s dirty laundry.

As I was thinking that and chatting for a bit—

Ding!

“She’s here!!”

Yelled loudly, making a grand entrance into the house, was Lee Yeram.

[???]

[Omniscient Cthulhu: What’s this about?]

[Who is it?]

[Hwanhee: Who is it?]

[A woman at home? A woman at home? A woman at home? A woman at home?]

[Who the hell is that?]

[Wow, she’s greeting you so cheerfully.]

[Who the hell is greeting our Dama (nickname)?]

The chat suddenly became heated with people getting upset.

So, I calmly explained the situation.

“It’s my younger sister, so cut the crap.”

Some people were subtly trying to cross a line, so I figured it was best to stop them here.

If they fully crossed that line, there wouldn’t be much I could do.

At that moment—

[Mangming has donated 1,000 won!]

• Is that your sister? Haha.

Mangming tried to make small talk.