Chapter 24 : Curry is free

Curry, who had started a joint stream with Barcode, felt more and more that something was wrong as time passed.

During the Q&A session, which was meant to fill the opening time, there were comments like “Barcode’s voice is f*cking hot.” The way Barcode kept making awkward remarks that seemed to be poking fun at him made Curry feel uncomfortable.

This was the first time Curry was talking to Barcode through his voice.

The invitation to the joint stream had come through LoL Messenger, and the details after the stream was confirmed were shared through the Discord server. So, aside from a few exchanges, Curry and Barcode were essentially strangers.

He had expected the atmosphere to get awkward frequently, but surprisingly, it wasn’t like that at all.

In fact, Curry had thought that Barcode, who had only streamed for a day, would make an effort to make the joint stream easy for him.

The Q&A session, which he originally never planned to do, was part of that consideration.

Curry had even prepared his opening lines in advance to ease the tension that Barcode might have been feeling, using his natural talent for talking.

But Barcode wasn’t as tense as Curry had expected.

No, Barcode was not just not tense—he seemed to be enjoying the situation entirely.

Whenever Curry asked a question, Barcode would give chaotic answers, and when the conversation shifted to fill the broadcast sound, he kept making Curry uncomfortable.

Curry thought Barcode was acting like a mischievous girl.

It felt like all his energy had been drained just from talking to her.

His usual high-energy persona, one of his few strengths, had instantly dropped because of Barcode.

The problem was, this wasn’t the first time he had felt this way.

‘That guy…’

That crazy bastard who’d been sniping with three accounts.

He’d sniped during the entire five matches of his promotion match and ended up throwing it away with a record of loss, loss, win, win, loss.

Not just once, but multiple times—this was the “real” bastard.

It felt eerily similar to when he’d been tormented by that guy.

‘What the hell did I do wrong in my past life…?’

How is it that people in the so-called “bastard” category cling to you like this?

He had thought he was briefly freed from the pain of sniping when the preseason started.

But now, in a different form, his energy was starting to drain again.

“…Curry-nim?”

“Oh, yes. What did you say?”

Maybe it was because he was feeling drained.

Curry answered Barcode’s voice like a machine, as he called him a little too late.

“We’re going to push this lane, so please respond.”

“Ah, got it.”

Curry, who was playing a breathless and mindless laning phase, managed his lane at Barcode’s roaming call. The position was perilous in the tower’s range, neither too pushed nor too pulled back. It was the kind of lane that top laners often call a “death push”—a lane that has to be pushed even if it means dying.

The opposing Darius, in an attempt to push the lane, overextended.

As soon as Darius used his Q to clear the wave, Curry’s Jayce quickly used all six of his abilities and engaged in a fight.

He managed to land a quick burst combo, but Darius still had about half his health left.

Thinking he could win, Darius activated Ghost and decided to take the duel.

At that moment, Yone, who had arrived at the top lane, hit a clean ER combo.

Darius, who had recklessly engaged, met a pitiful end, and Curry seized the opportunity to farm the tower gold while Darius was dead.

“You’re really impressive, I have to admit.”

“You don’t need to praise me like that; it won’t change anything.”

“Heh… Do I look like the kind of guy who praises people for something in return?”

“A little?”

“…If I seem that way, then I guess I have nothing to say.”

“I’m just joking. Did I upset you?”

Curry stayed silent at Barcode’s voice, which was filled with playful and amused tones.

He couldn’t respond, too busy drinking water to replenish his energy.

Did Barcode misunderstand Curry’s silence?

“Curry-nim?”

**”Cough! Cough!”**

As Barcode’s voice, now dull, reached him, Curry quickly turned his head away from the mic, having accidentally swallowed wrong while drinking.

After narrowly escaping the audio assault, Curry sighed in relief, but…

“Answer me.”

At the cold tone in Barcode’s voice, Curry hastily turned his head back and opened his mouth.

“Y-Yes! What’s going on?”

“I thought you weren’t answering because you were upset.”

“Heh, who’d get upset over such a joke? I’m not a kid.”

“Right?”

The cold voice that had been there just moments ago seemed to vanish as if it was all a lie.

In the blink of an eye, Barcode’s voice returned to its usual tone, and Curry felt like he was losing his mind.

And it wasn’t a joke—he was serious.

“When did you get here?”

“Too bad.”

“Ah, what a shame.”

Curry, who had been tormented by Barcode for a while, couldn’t focus on the game and kept dying.

He didn’t notice the enemy jungler in the river bush, got caught and dived on, then died.

He tried to farm the last turret gold that would disappear in a minute, but got killed by the roaming support and jungler.

He mindlessly split-pushed but didn’t check when the enemy Sylas was coming down, and ended up dying.

He had done well during the laning phase, but he couldn’t focus on the game.

Curry had a vague idea of why he wasn’t able to focus, but he couldn’t say it directly in front of the person involved.

In the end, Curry’s KDA was 3/7/3.

Considering his KDA before the laning phase ended had been 2/1/2, he hadn’t lived up to the investment his jungle and mid had made.

“Curry-nim.”

“Yes…”

[Quadra Kill!]

[Master of the Battlefield!]

Curry watched the slaughter of enemies by Yone on his gray screen.

At this point, it was hard to tell if it was Curry’s personal screen or a black-and-white broadcast of Yone.

With the heart of a sinner, Curry slightly lowered his head and waited for Barcode’s words.

“I clearly pinged and called out that Sylas was coming down, why didn’t you back off?”

“Didn’t I tell you not to greed for turret gold earlier and to back off?”

“Did I do it wrong? Or did I do it right?”
“…”

“Answer me.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Like a child being scolded by their parents.

Curry quietly listened to Barcode’s reprimands, taking it all in.

“But from my perspective, that 2v1 fight in the bottom lane was honestly winnable…”

“So, it’s not my fault?”

“…No.”

Curry had tried to resist a little, but at Barcode’s dominating tone, he quickly lowered his head.

There was a bit of injustice, but he knew he was still in the wrong.

“How about you try doing what I say just this once?”

“Mm… Alright.”

Curry pretended to hesitate but ultimately accepted Barcode’s suggestion.

The truth was, most of the times he died, it was because he hadn’t followed Barcode’s calls.

Having respawned, Curry’s Jayce headed for the bottom lane.

The enemy had no teleport, but Jayce’s teleport was still up, and with Brand alive, it was the obvious choice to go to the bottom lane.

As he began splitting again, Curry moved cautiously, concentrating as much as he could.

Then, he caught sight of the enemy support, Leone, moving downwards and disappearing.

Drawing a mental map of Leone’s movements and position, Curry judged that the lane was safe up to this point.

“Curry-nim, back off.”

“Huh?”

“Back. Off.”

“…Yes.”

Curry instinctively questioned it, but when Barcode emphasized each word, he quickly dropped his rebuttal and retreated from the lane.

“If you have a ward, place it in the middle of the lane. Then you’ll understand why I told you to back off.”

“Got it. I’ll do that.”

Curry obediently placed the ward in the middle of the lane.

After retreating to a safe distance, he noticed Sylas appearing near the warded spot.

“…When did he come down?”

Curry had clearly seen Sylas go up to the top jungle before Leone, so how did Sylas get to the bottom lane faster than Leone?

Wait, how exactly did Sylas even come down to the bottom lane?

Logically, it didn’t make sense to go all the way around the map after heading up, it would take too long.

“It’s a kind of fake using the minion’s vision. He pretended to go up, cleared the minions at the second tower, and right before the next wave of minions came into view, he jumped over the wall and went straight down. So, from the enemy’s perspective, they’d think Sylas is either near Brand or went top… But honestly, the enemy Sylas doesn’t seem to have Diamond-level skills.”

“I see! I understand now!”

“Hmm…”

“…You didn’t understand, did you?”

“No, I did.”

“If you’re lying…”
“I couldn’t.”

Curry tried to force himself to lie and say he understood, but as Barcode’s voice slowly sank, he couldn’t help but confess the truth.

Just hearing her sinking voice now made his hands and feet tremble uncontrollably.

In a short amount of time, Curry had been thoroughly tormented by Barcode.

After that, Curry followed Barcode’s calls, and with perfect execution, they secured a smooth victory.

Of course, it was Barcode’s Yone who hard-carried, grabbing the team by the collar.

Having finished a match with Barcode’s Yone, Curry finally snapped back to reality and continued with the content.

“Now that we’ve played a game, do you have any hidden tips or tricks about Yone that the average person might not know?”

“Of course. But they’re all tips that anyone with even a little interest in Yone would already know…”

“That’s fine. After all, there are far more people who don’t know than do.”

“Well then, we’ll need to open a private room…”

“I knew you’d say that, so I’ve already set one up. I’ll send you the invite.”

Curry sent invites to Barcode and the friends he had lined up to help with the assistant role.

After hitting the start game button, both Curry and Barcode picked Yone.

Once they entered the rift, they all leveled up to 6.

“I’ll skip the very basic Q-flash and W-flash since I’m sure you all know that already.”

“What I’ll teach first is the secret behind the E mark.”

“Curry-nim, could you use E and then attack me until I’m almost dead?”

“Just focus on the mark.”
Curry used E as Barcode had instructed and attacked Barcode.

He focused on the mark above the enemy Yone’s head, wondering how long he had been hitting.

“Uh…?”

The red mark turned black.

Not all of it turned black, but just part of it.

When the E effect wore off, the enemy Yone died.

“When the enemy is at a low enough health to die from the return E damage, part of the mark turns black.”

“Wow, that’s something I didn’t know either. That’s amazing…”

After that, Barcode shared many more tips and tricks for playing Yone during Curry’s stream.

For example, using the ultimate to jump over thin and thick walls to reach the second tower, or using the return E to dispel the sleep from Zhui and Lilia. These were things anyone with a decent understanding of Yone would know.

However, for those just starting with Yone or those who didn’t know her well, they were incredibly useful and valuable tips.

After successfully finishing the segment on the master’s tips and tricks, it was time for the duo rank games to showcase practical application.

Having played about five duo games together, Curry had managed to land many clutch moments, but by now, he felt almost like a zombie, drained of energy. He desperately hoped that this time would end soon.

Not long after, the “Meeting the Master” content finally came to a close.

‘Freedom!’

Curry wanted to finish the collaboration and shout for freedom.

Curry wanted freedom!

Of course, he kept that thought hidden, showing a lot of regret as he spoke.

“Really, thank you so much. I can’t believe time has flown by so quickly… It’s such a shame.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? We still have the ‘Part 2’ of the broadcast left.”

“…Pardon?”

Curry thought he must have misheard for a moment.

So, he asked for clarification, and Barcode continued nonchalantly.

“We agreed that in ‘Part 2’, you would play ‘Yone’ in solo queue while I give you real-time feedback.”

“When did we…?”

“I didn’t even turn on my own stream and helped you out with yours. Now, are you going to ditch me after taking all the benefits?”

Barcode’s voice sounded like he was on the verge of tears, and Curry felt dizzy.

He never agreed to any “Part 2,” and he certainly hadn’t told Barcode not to stream.

But if he rejected Barcode’s suggestion of a second part now, it was obvious that he would come across as a complete jerk.

What should he do in this situation?

After pondering for a moment, Curry decided to ask his staff for advice.

**Curry, the Boss**: What should I do, guys?

**Curry, the Boss**: Help me out.

**Curry, the Boss**: You’re watching, so you should have a pretty good idea of what’s going on.

**Editor 1**: Boss, thanks to Barcode, we’ve already got three 10-minute highlight clips, so let’s keep going.

**Editor 2**: Barcode’s content suggestion doesn’t seem bad either. Two more episodes worth, maybe.

**Manager 1**: Starting an internal vote now. If you think the boss’s opinion is wrong, type “Evan-de” (Meaning: Absolutely not).

**Editor 1**: Evan-de

**Editor 2**: Evan-de

**Manager 2**: Evan-de

**Manager 1**: The boss’s opinion is completely rejected by a landslide.

**Curry, the Boss**: What the hell #%$

Not even getting proper boss treatment from his own staff…

Curry quietly shed a tear inside and opened his mouth with a heavy heart.

“Fine. Let’s do it. Part 2 it is…”

And so, Barcode’s stream began, and for Curry, the hellish second part of the broadcast started.

NOTE :

This section shows how Curry, in a somewhat humorous and helpless situation, gets pushed into continuing the collaboration, even though he’s clearly exhausted by it.