Chapter 34 : Change

The team “Curry Breakers” won their first scrim with an overwhelming victory.

The one who shined during the victory was undoubtedly Barcode’s Talon. No teammates or spectators denied this fact.

Even those who were busy bashing Barcode.

And the viewers who kept saying things like “lucky” or “fluke.”

No one could deny that Barcode’s Talon perfectly carried the first scrim.

Well, maybe some were still denying it.

But even if they were, I didn’t see any negative comments in the chat.

What? What do I mean by that?

I looked over at the chat room.

GGEZ:

[Unstoppable Storm Talon! Unstoppable Storm Talon! Unstoppable Storm Talon! Unstoppable Storm Talon! Unstoppable Storm Talon! Unstoppable Storm Talon! Unstoppable Storm Talon! Unstoppable Storm Talon! Unstoppable Storm Talon!]

[God? What is that compared to Barcode? LOL God? What is that compared to Barcode? LOL God? What is that compared to Barcode? LOL God? What is that compared to Barcode? LOL God? What is that compared to Barcode? LOL God? What is that compared to Barcode? LOL God? What is that compared to Barcode? LOL]

..::

[Who am I? ‘Barcode’ viewer Who am I? ‘Barcode’ viewer Who am I? ‘Barcode’ viewer Who am I? ‘Barcode’ viewer Who am I? ‘Barcode’ viewer Who am I? ‘Barcode’ viewer Who am I? ‘Barcode’ viewer Who am I? ‘Barcode’ viewer Who am I? ‘Barcode’ viewer Who am I? ‘Barcode’ viewer Who am I? ‘Barcode’ viewer]

[Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~ Woo~ Hoo~]

.::..

[That’s how excited they are~ That’s how excited they are~ That’s how excited they are~ That’s how excited they are~ That’s how excited they are~ That’s how excited they are~ That’s how excited they are~ That’s how excited they are~ That’s how excited they are~ That’s how excited they are~ That’s how excited they are~ That’s how excited they are~]

[To all the naysayers, silence LOL To all the naysayers, silence LOL To all the naysayers, silence LOL To all the naysayers, silence LOL To all the naysayers, silence LOL To all the naysayers, silence LOL To all the naysayers, silence LOL To all the naysayers, silence LOL]

How could they be so consistent?

“Pfft.”

Looking at the chaotic chatroom, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Earlier, the chat was filled with malice, but now it was filled with madness.

[What?]

[Did I hear that right?]

[Did Barcode just laugh…?]

[First time hearing her genuinely laugh]

[Aww…]

[She’s kinda cute LOL]

[Wasn’t she supposed to be sexy though ?]

[Maybe she’s a little cute? ]

[Ew gross]

[Please return to your ward, patients]

It was funny to see everyone stop spamming just because I laughed once.

Even though it wasn’t intentional, I ended up calming the madness in the chatroom and returned to the Discord call.

“So there’s no feedback?”

“If we had to give feedback, it would be that Latte hyung’s tank champion proficiency is low.”

“Sigh… Damn Goliath, what kind of balancing is this…”

“Other than that, the teamwork was perfect, and the main shot-calling should be done by Barcode…”

“Me?”

I was listening to Jericho and Latte’s conversation for a while and then interrupted.

Usually, the jungler does the main shot-calling, and the support handles the sub calls or briefings.

Of course, there are exceptions, but Jericho and Antenna were excellent LoL players.

I had to speak up out of curiosity about why they wanted me to take on the main shot-calling when we had those two.

“Well, Barcode, if it’s too much for you, you don’t have to, but… there’s someone who doesn’t follow my calls.”

“Who doesn’t follow Rico’s calls?!”

“That rebel is you, you jerk.”

“Ahaha! Caught me!”

Ping-

It was Cooldog quickly exiting the call after teasing Jericho.

“When I give orders, Cooldog never follows them, but strangely, he follows Barcode’s calls well. Can we make that work?”

“Hmm…”

I had to consider Jericho’s proposal.

I only gave active orders in the last game to silence those who were stepping out of line without realizing it myself.

Could someone like me, who mainly played solo queue, always give proper orders?

After a moment of contemplation, I reached a reasonable conclusion and slowly spoke.

“Well, I think it’s too early to decide on a main shot-caller.”

“True, there’s still plenty of time, so there’s no need to decide now.”

Jericho quickly agreed with me.

There was no reason to decide on a main shot-caller so early, with plenty of time left.

The purpose of this joint broadcast was a simple test, and with the scrim results in, it was practically over.

That’s why Antenna had left the call before I briefly exited, and why Cooldog teased Jericho without hesitation and then left.

“Good job today.”

“Yeah, Barcode, you did well too.”

“Ugh, Latte hyung, who uses ‘~yang’ these days? You sound so old.”

“…Barcode, you did well too.”

Latte quickly corrected himself after Jericho’s sharp remark.

Suppressing my laughter at their sitcom-like exchange, I left the call.

“I’ll end the stream here for today.”

[Already? Already? Already?]

[Nooo, don’t go]

[Do you want to see me die?]

[Bye bye~]

[Bye bye~]

[Bye bye sounds nice]

[LOL]

[That’s harsh…]

[Isn’t streaming for only 2 hours a day a crime, even if it’s a collab?]

[The real crime is you staying indoors all day watching internet streams]

[Why are you attacking me too?]

[AOE attack, you jerk]

Leaving the disappointed viewers behind, I ended the stream.

Smiling until the end, I recalled the chatroom earlier and my expression turned serious.

If I were still Son Minwoo, a man, I might have let this incident slide.

Thinking it was natural for others to direct malice at me.

But not anymore.

They say that when a person gets too angry, they become calm.

That’s exactly how I felt.

How could I legally and cleanly deal with those jerks?

I had recorded the chatroom just in case, so I had enough evidence and justification.

Should I sue them all? The thought crossed my mind, but it seemed like a hassle.

Still, if I didn’t respond this time, it could happen again.

Determined to show them what real consequences look like, I was about to prepare a lawsuit when my phone rang.

No one would call me before or after I became a woman.

I turned my chair around and reached for the phone on the bed.

[Curry]

“Oh.”

Seeing the caller’s name on the screen, I couldn’t help but make a sound.

Come to think of it, we exchanged numbers during the last collab just in case.

I had forgotten.

But why was Curry calling at this hour?

One question led to another.

I answered the call with that question in mind.

“Hello?”

-Barcode.

Curry’s voice came through the phone.

For some reason, it sounded different from usual.

Was it just my imagination?

“Yes. What’s up, Curry?”

I asked calmly, setting aside my curiosity.

But there was no response from Curry, and silence continued between us.

How long did I wait in silence?

“I have something to discuss regarding your stream today.”

Curry’s voice was noticeably calmer than usual.

After finishing his stream safely, Curry turned on Discord for a meeting with his editors.

Normally, he would keep Discord off unless it was a collab, but seeing numerous Discord messages pop up on the right side of the screen made him feel something was off.

To check what was going on, Curry opened the list of messages he had received.

He found that his managers, who should have left work by now, had sent him dozens of messages.

Did they forget that he usually keeps Discord off during streams?

If there was something important, they could have called him.

“Oh.”

Curry remembered that his phone battery had died, and he had left it charging without turning it back on.

With an awkward smile, he reached for his phone connected to the charger.

Pressing the power button, he turned on the phone and saw that he had received dozens of messages from his managers.

There were also hundreds of messages in group chats and personal chats.

Thinking it would be faster to hear directly from the managers on Discord, Curry left his phone and joined the call where his managers were.

“What’s going on?”

“Boss, what took you so long to get here?”

“Not responding to calls, texts, or Discord is a triple strike…”

Curry then listened to his two managers explain the situation in detail.

The events in Barcode’s chat, and what kind of messages filled it.

“Boss, I sent you images in a private message. Please check them.”

The two managers sent images of the chatroom at that time.

Downloading and checking the images, Curry couldn’t help but frown.

The chatroom was filled with words so vile they were hard to even read.

The images, showing the depths of human depravity, were more than ten in number.

“…Do you have the list of these jerks’ IDs?”

“Yes, we organized all the IDs in a text file along with the images.”

“We also found out where the coordinates were shared. The IDs are all similar.”

Thanks to his competent managers, Curry managed to calm down a bit and excused himself from the call.

“Phew…”

Curry let out a sigh filled with anger.

If he didn’t release his emotions like this, he felt he might explode.

From the beginning, Curry had a strong sense of responsibility.

He couldn’t ignore it when someone related to him was harmed.

Especially if the person harmed had helped him.

And if the reason they were harmed was somehow related to him.

Curry was the type of person who couldn’t ignore or stand by in such situations.

Who had first suggested the collab to Barcode?

It was him.

Who had benefited from the collab with Barcode?

It was him.

Of course, thinking back to the collab with Barcode still gave him chills from the teasing.

But that was separate from the thought of how much Barcode must have been hurt by this stream.

Was this responsibility or guilt?

No, that wasn’t important right now.

Resolving himself, Curry contacted Barcode using the number they had exchanged during the last collab.

Ring ring ring ring

Ring…

-Hello?

The ringing stopped, and Barcode’s voice came through.

It might have sounded like her usual voice, but Curry could detect a slight tremble in it.

“Barcode.”

How deeply must Barcode have been hurt by this incident?

Unlike himself, a seasoned streamer, Barcode was still a newcomer to streaming.

He still vividly remembered how he struggled with every single hateful comment and curse in the past.

If he felt this way, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how she felt reading thousands of malicious comments.

-Yes. What’s up, Curry?

Imagining Barcode pretending to be okay made him feel suffocated.

The weight of guilt and responsibility pressed down on his shoulders, making him frown.

It was a familiar feeling he had experienced while streaming.

To relieve this unpleasant feeling.

“I have something to discuss regarding your stream today.”

He felt that clearing out the trash would bring him some relief.

NOTE :

Curry… even if you act cool now, you’ll just cut ties after getting teased in the next collab…

Why are you suddenly acting all cool!!