Chapter 44: Our Legendary Streamer is a frail, delicate beauty

To understand how this situation unfolded, we need to go back to yesterday.

Today is Lunar New Year, and yesterday was the holiday’s eve.

What happened yesterday?

Right, I drank with Seol Yoon and my dad.

We drank a lot.

In hindsight, calling it binge drinking wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Now, back to today.

Despite feeling unwell from the alcohol, I declared a Challenger marathon, thinking, “What could go wrong?”

I played games for nearly 10 hours in that condition.

When I started feeling a bit tired, I drank an energy drink.

The culprit was caffeine shock!

The arrhythmia was treated promptly with a sedative injection at the hospital.

My blood test results came back normal.

It turned out to be nothing more than a simple case of caffeine shock.

“Just one can!”

Stop it. Your liver has already reached its limit.

If you’re tired, just lie down and rest.

Ignoring my body’s pleas, I added water to an already overflowing glass, leading to this mess.

“Ugh, how embarrassing.”

I felt a profound sense of shame as I walked out of the hospital in perfect health, having been taken there by ambulance.

“But that’s not the worst part.”

Right before I turned off the microphone, I remembered letting out gasping, strained sounds of distress.

In front of 90,000 viewers.

Such an ugly display.

“Survival update… the stream…”

Feeling I should at least let people know I was alive, I turned on my phone and started the stream.

“I’m fine and alive.”

Then I quickly ended the broadcast.

I couldn’t bring myself to read the live chat.

The online gallery isn’t entirely a gathering of demons.

It’s a place where socially awkward individuals, who struggle to converse in person yet long for connection, gather to meet others online.

Of course, there are the occasional true lunatics who refuse necessary psychiatric treatment.

But they’re a very small minority.

The point is, even these people have boundaries they try to uphold.

[Author: ᄋᄋ]
[Title: Did the Legendary Streamer really get hospitalized???]

[Does anyone know what happened?]

[The mic just cut off; how would we know?]

[Please be okay.]

[This is seriously shocking; is this going to end in tragedy?]

[Ominous words…]

[Author: Legendary Streamer Fan]
[Title: I’ll make sure she survives.]

[Call both 112 and 119! ᄀᄀᄀᄀᄀ]

[One call is enough. Don’t waste resources.]

[What if they think it’s a prank and ignore it?]

[Are you going to take responsibility for Legendary Streamer, you idiot?]

[You seem too agitated. Let the police and firefighters handle it calmly.]

[Author: ᄋᄋ]
[Title: Has Legendary Streamer always been unwell?]

[Why did she suddenly collapse?]

-[Collapse? Is that really the right thing to say to someone who’s unwell?]

[No, “collapse” doesn’t mean tripping. It means a sudden onset of illness.]

[Kids these days, seriously. ᄃᄃ.]

[You use the term “collapse trigger” so much you don’t even know what it means anymore.]

[Read a book once in a while instead of just watching YouTube.]

The mood was filled with worry for Legendary Streamer.

With 90,000 viewers on her broadcast, the discussion continued for quite a while.

Eventually, when the stream resumed and a survival update was given:

[Author: ᄋᄋ]
[Title: That madwoman only gave a 5-second survival update.]

[It was 7 seconds last time, now 5 seconds, and next time it’ll be 3 seconds?]

[ttttttttttttt]

─[That’s just her style; it’s fine.]

[She accomplished the goal of letting people know she’s alive. What’s the problem?]

[Are you and Legendary Streamer both introverts?]

[Legendary Streamer is like me? Awesome.]

[Both are extreme introverts, huh?]

[Author: ᄋᄋ]
[Title: Now I can finally sleep.]

[Why did she have to collapse in the middle of the night?

I stayed up all night worrying, but at least I’ll get two hours of sleep.]

-[It’s still the holiday, isn’t it?]

[I have work tomorrow. ᄉᄇ.]

[Wait, it’s today now.]

[Two hours of sleep is better than nothing.]

[ᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ.]

[People work during the Lunar New Year holiday? ᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ.]

[I wish I didn’t have to believe it, but here I am.]

[Now I can get 1 hour and 55 minutes of sleep.]

[Log off and go to bed already. ᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ.]

[Unemployed me adds another win today.]

[Author: ᄋᄋ]
[Title: Did she fail the Challenger marathon?]

[If she hadn’t collapsed, she might’ve succeeded. What a shame.]

-[Legendary Streamer collapsed after using all her strength to fight Victory and ended up hospitalized as if it were a scripted scene.]

[Damn it! Victory, just how strong are you?]

[But what caused her collapse? Overexertion? Overexcitement? ᄏᄏ.]

[Surely not. ᄏᄏ.]

[Our Legendary Streamer is truly the frail yet charming heroine.]

As the mood lightened, people began reminiscing about the incident.

It was a truly shocking event.

Who could forget the broadcast where 90,000 viewers heard those strained sounds?

[Author: ᄋᄋ]
[Title: But expensive mics are really amazing.]

[It felt like she was right next to me. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah…]

[One Step Back]

-[Are you seriously saying that the moaning sound Legendary Streamer made at the end of her broadcast was arousing?]

[There’s not a single word in the original post suggesting that.]

[I wasn’t referring to that streamer at all, but it seems you misunderstood.]

[Oh, I see. I must’ve misread it. My apologies.]

-[Ugh, toxic deflectors.]

[Author: ᄋᄋ]
[Title: I recorded the infamous sound]

(Voice replay)
“Enjoy your pleasure.”

-[Thank you.]

[You lunatic, is this really what you want to do to someone who just got out of the ER?]

-[I captured everything and sent it to her agency.]

[Does Legendary Streamer even have an agency?]

[Take the post down, kid.]

[Take it down, kid.]

-[Take it down, you piece of crap.]

[Author: ᄋᄋ]
[Title: Looks like she got carried away while indulging herself. Thumbs up if you agree.]

[I’ll go first. ᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ.]

-[What if she really did overdo it, though? ᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ.]

-[Horny comments everywhere.]

-[If she beat Victory, she deserved at least 10 rounds, right?]

[Effortless release incoming.]

[The doctor must’ve been stunned.]

[Maybe they thought, “What’s wrong with this idiot?”]

[But Legendary Streamer is still an SSS-rank beauty, right?]

[Says who?]

-[As the author, I was actually talking about a Brazilian adult video I was watching. Not her.]

[Author: ᄋᄋ]
[Title: In two weeks, everyone here will be posting police station meet-up reviews.]

[You maniacs. ᄏᄏᄏᄏ.]

-[Just looking at this gallery would make the streamer hate humanity instantly.]

[What makes you think she’s the gallery star? She’d be furious.]

-[Legendary Streamer, please sue them and bring justice.]

-[As long as it’s not me getting caught, I’m fine.]

Hmm, now that I think about it, this place might really be full of demons.

Their inability to respect boundaries is just astounding.

If only 900 people had witnessed it, it might have been forgotten. But this incident, seen by 90,000 people, is unforgettable.

It was a game I lost but thoroughly enjoyed.

The thrill of a gripping match, felt for the first time in ages.

As he eagerly anticipated the next game, Victory’s runner-up opened Legendary Streamer’s broadcast.

“Huh? Mm… Ah… Haah…”

The sudden sound of moaning caught him completely off guard.

“Hic, n-nine… one… one… Is this nine-one-one?”

The mic turned off, likely to prevent revealing her address.

After that, there was no response from the streamer.

All that remained was the echo of concerned viewers in the empty chat.

“Why?”

The shock of realizing a friend you were just gaming with had suddenly collapsed.

But strangely, it all started to make sense.

The lingering questions he’d had.

Why did someone who loved gaming so much disappear for three years as if it were nothing?

Was it because of an illness?

Were you hospitalized all this time?

Have you been unwell?

So unwell you couldn’t even play the games you loved?

I don’t know much about Legendary Streamer.

At best, we’re connected through Teamfight Arena and added as friends on Discord.

Neither connection means much.

The only lead I had was Wild.

Perhaps he’d learned something during their collaboration.

“I don’t know anything either.”

Calling Wild yielded no new information.

It couldn’t be helped.

Asking for her number or trying to reach out further would make it seem like I wanted something from her in real life.

Like I wanted to be more than friends.

“To be my friend, don’t fall for me. Even if you do, don’t confess.”

Those were the conditions she’d laid down.

Because of that, I couldn’t ask her anything.

“Is this the reason?”

Victory wondered.

Perhaps her playful warnings were meant to dissuade anyone from prying into her personal life.

Where had she been for three years? How is her health now?

Was it all a smokescreen to avoid those questions?

A common cliché comes to mind.

An incurable disease. A terminal condition.

A trope that moves audiences but, for some, is a grim reality.

Not a tale of inspiration or heartbreak, but a source of pain and torment.

“Are you there now? Are you in that hell?”

“Is that why you’ve told no one? Because no one can help anyway?”

I clenched my fists tightly.

For some reason, today, I felt painfully powerless.

Like Victory, I couldn’t sleep that night, staying awake with growing worry for my friend.

Victory was only able to sleep peacefully at 4 a.m., after Legendary Streamer’s brief survival update.