Chapter 23 : Breathtaking Merger

I carefully reviewed the details I received ahead of my collaboration with Curry.

The collaboration would begin with a phone connection, followed by an opening segment where I would answer a few simple questions.

I was curious about the questions, but I didn’t ask Curry in advance.

After all, it wasn’t a live broadcast on a public network, so there was no real need to stick to a scripted format.

Besides, if I knew everything beforehand, it wouldn’t be as fun, and the reactions wouldn’t feel as genuine.

I prepared for the collaboration with the goal of being as considerate as possible of Curry’s position.

But as I was preparing, I realized a major issue that I had overlooked.

The critical problem was that I didn’t have a Diamond-tier account to use for the collaboration.

‘I shouldn’t have said I had a Diamond-tier smurf account…’

When Curry asked if I had a smurf account in the Diamond range, I had said yes.

The problem was that the smurf accounts I had were the ones I used to target Curry before—*NayeonQueen* and *NayeonPrincess*.

The maximum number of accounts a person can have under one name is five.

*NayeonGongdu*, *NayeonQueen*, *NayeonPrincess*, *Barcode*, and the account I used for targeting.

I had already been using all five of these accounts.

The collaboration Curry had announced was scheduled for next Sunday.

Would I be able to get a Diamond-tier account before then?

I didn’t want to do anything illegal, so I thought about changing the nickname of one of my existing accounts.

‘No, the risk of getting caught is too high.’

I was already notorious as a *malicious targeter*, with my user ID plastered all over various statistics sites.

Even if I changed my nickname, people would quickly figure out that Barcode’s smurf account was the account of the infamous targeter.

Was I really left with no choice but to get a new account?

+1 |

A person who doesn’t form relationships, and, in fact, never does.

That’s right, Son Minwoo was a missing person, not reported, *yet* still alive.

There was no family to report him missing, no acquaintances, and no remaining human connections, so Son Minwoo’s account would likely remain inactive for a long time—if not forever.

And now, I wasn’t Son Minwoo; I was Choi Nayeon, a new identity.

Separate from Son Minwoo’s name, I could create five more accounts under the name Choi Nayeon.

As soon as this idea hit me, I immediately created an account under Choi Nayeon’s name.

When the account was successfully made, I held back a laugh and logged into Leorie.

I set the nickname to Barcode, skipped the tutorial, and moved straight to the main screen.

Once I was in the main screen, the first thing that caught my eye was the level of the account.

Level 1.

To duo with Curry, who had been demoted to Diamond just as the preseason began.

Before long, Curry’s nickname lit up, and I heard the familiar voice.

“Are you the famous *mysterious Yone master* and the one who carried the game against Showdown players, Barcode?”

I wondered if Curry knew.

Did she know the person she was collaborating with was the same targeter who had tormented her so much?

This situation was just too funny, and I tried my best to hold back my laughter before speaking.

“Yeah. That’s me.”

“Nice to meet you! I guess it’s because you’re a Challenger, huh? Your answer is full of confidence.”

Curry smoothly continued the broadcast after hearing my response.

“Barcode, you’re known as the *mysterious Yone master*, the Yone artisan, right? Do you mind if I ask how you ended up with such a nickname?”

Now, all that was left was to hit Diamond.

Of course, for someone like me, a Challenger, reaching Diamond in four days was nothing but a walk in the park.

I didn’t stream at all during the preparation period for the collab after the first broadcast.

It wasn’t just because I was busy leveling up the new Diamond-tier smurf account.

If I, the streamer who had gone missing for a week, reappeared because of the collab with Curry, it would undoubtedly draw a huge crowd to Curry’s stream. And sure enough, as soon as Curry started the broadcast, a massive number of people flocked to her channel.

“Hello, everyone!”

I ended my stream as soon as Curry greeted the viewers.

“Yes. That’s me.”

“Nice to meet you! I guess it’s because you’re a Challenger, huh? Your answer is full of confidence.”

Curry smoothly continued the broadcast after hearing my response.

“Barcode, you’re known as the *mysterious Yone master*, the Yone artisan, right? Do you know that people call you that?”

“Of course, I know. Just yesterday, I even saw a post on a specific community forum titled *‘Barcode’s voice is so hot’*. I’m pretty interested in the latest LeoRe news.”

“…Ahaha! Well, of course, a famous Challenger wouldn’t be uninterested in LoL!”

Karé was a little taken aback by my words for a moment.

But like the professional streamer she was, she quickly used her smooth talk to navigate out of the situation.

Seeing a new reaction that wasn’t from a troll made the corners of my mouth involuntarily rise.

“Actually, before we play together, I had prepared a few questions…”

“And?”

“…You don’t really have to ask, right?”

“Hmm… But I’m curious about the questions Curry prepared.”

I turned the question around.

Would she really not ask me anything?

A brief silence revealed Curry’s hesitation.

Maybe she hadn’t expected me to respond this way.

I could clearly see her flustered expression.

“Are you really not going to ask anything?”

“Uhh… If you insist, I guess I’ll have to. Haha!”

Curry’s voice was filled with disappointment as she responded, her awkwardness evident.

She forced a dry laugh before finally getting a question out.

“Barcode, you set an unprecedented record of 50 consecutive wins when Yone was released, but then suddenly stopped playing ranked. Could you tell us why?”

“At that time, I got tired of winning all the time. So, I just quit.”

“You quit because it got boring! That’s such a confident, maybe even arrogant answer. But hearing it from Barcode, who set that unprecedented record, it doesn’t seem strange at all.”

“Heh, thanks for the compliment.”

I responded casually with a smile, thanking her.

I could already see Curry’s troubled expression starting to show.

“Alright, let’s move on from the question time and get into the game!”

“Wait, the next question? If I’ve made a mistake or something…”

“That’s not it! Actually, I didn’t prepare any questions at all. The questions I asked were all made up on the spot to keep the broadcast’s realism intact.”

“Ah, I guess Curry doesn’t have any curiosity about me… enough to lie about it… So the collaboration proposal was…”

“No, no! That’s not it! It’s just that the questions I came up with on the spot weren’t interesting, that’s all. It’s not your fault, Barcode, it’s my fault!”

“Is that so? Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

The conversation between the two of us truly hit a dead end.

…Well, to be exact, it was Curry who had run out of things to say.

After that brief exchange, Curry invited me to a game.

I accepted the invitation, and Curry, who was a Master-ranked player (previously Diamond 1), queued up.

Of course, there was silence during the matchmaking process, and Karé spoke to me to fill the broadcast audio.

“You know, recently, both Yone and Yasuo’s performance have been skyrocketing, but I heard that Gu Insu got nerfed in a recent hotfix. Is that true?”

“Tier 1.”

“Normally, other players would call their champions Tier 1 regardless of actual performance, but…”

“No. Putting aside my love for Yone, Yone is definitely Tier 1.”

I cut off Curry’s words and asserted confidently.

Even though Gu Insu’s nerf had been applied through a hotfix, his standing had not dropped at all.

The mere 10 damage nerf at the 1st core level had no effect on Yone.

Was the price increased by 200 gold?

Gu Insu was still worth buying at 3,000 gold instead of the previous 2,800 gold.

A legendary item that surpassed the performance of a Mythic item, and it was still 600 gold cheaper than the average Mythic item.

Yone and Yasuo, who could unleash the full potential of such a broken item, were undoubtedly the top-tier champions in the current preseason meta.

As I chatted with Curry, the game was quickly matched.

In less than a minute, the queue was filled, and it definitely smelled like a counter-pick. But I didn’t care.

My goal was not to win the game, but to torment Curry as much as I could during this collaboration.

“If Yone gets banned, I’m dodging, so make sure you behave accordingly.”

Curry’s firm determination that this time, he would not allow a counter-pick ban was obvious.

Did that resolve get through to the opposing team?

Yone was not banned.

As the fate of an OP champion goes, it was likely that even without a counter-pick, Yone would have a high chance of being banned.

But since Yone wasn’t banned, it seemed the opposing team had ‘actors’ on their side.

“Thankfully, Yone’s still available. I’ll pick it first.”

Curry, who was first pick on the blue team, grabbed Yone right away.

But did Curry think I would pick all champions?

I was an all-champ player, but to pick without consulting me first—how rude!

It wasn’t that I was mad, but I wanted to mess with him a bit, so I spoke up.

“My top champ pool isn’t that wide, though…”

“Really? Ah, what should we do… Do you have Aatrox or any of your other main champions?”

“Well… I only have mid champs.”

“Then… I guess I’ll dodge…”

“Just kidding.”

“…Is that so.”

Now, Curry’s voice sounded resigned.

How long had the stream even been live, and I can already feel the low strength of voice coming ?

This was just the beginning; much worse situations were bound to happen multiple times.

The picks went on from both sides.

The enemy top champion was Darius.

“Pick Jayce.”

“Jayce… Jayce… Huh…?”

“…Stop messing around.”

“Did it show that much?” I chuckled quietly and picked Jayce.

For some reason, I thought I heard a sigh from Curry.

Finally, the enemy’s fifth pick was Zyra, and the ban-pick phase concluded.

I checked that the enemy mid was still Shyvana and adjusted my runes accordingly.

And with that, the first game of the collaboration began.