Chapter 70: By any chance, am I a broadcasting genius?

Of course, I know there aren’t many of them.

It’s not like there are tons of crazy people who go, “The streamer gave me a gift, so they must like me! We were meant to be together!” and completely lose their minds.

But even if the probability is low, there’s a saying: for the person it happens to, it’s 100%.

No matter how rare they are or how unlikely it is to encounter one, if it does happen, it’ll be incredibly exhausting and even dangerous.

Maybe it’s best not to leave any room for misunderstanding at all.

0x…….

“Room for misunderstanding,” huh…

To a stalker, the possibility of romance is as vast as the Pacific Ocean—it’s not something you can easily avoid.

No, completely avoiding it is impossible.

That’s why I stay locked up at home.

Going outside is scary, and forming relationships with people is several times scarier.

Even meeting my manager, who is also a woman, took a lot of courage.

“A woman, huh…”

The weight of the (fake) chest pressing on my shoulders.

Even if it’s fake, the weight is real. It’s heavy.

No matter how much I try to deny it, that fact won’t change.

A suit can be taken off, but that doesn’t mean my gender will return to what it was.

I don’t expect people to treat me like a man when I look like this.

I know that’s impossible.

But still, it makes my head a mess.

I still share the same interests as guys.

And I keep thinking, “I don’t want to be lonely anymore.”

“Is there really no one who would never fall for me? Someone who would just stay as a friend forever?”

Back when I was a guy, that was easy to find.

But ever since I became like this, I haven’t met a single one.

Would it be faster to find a girl who shares my interests?

But that’s like searching for a mythical creature.

Oh, wait.

There is one.

Me.

A stupid thought pops into my head—playing rock-paper-scissors with my reflection in the mirror.

<Did they fall asleep while standing?>

<Wake up, Legend! You need to keep streaming!>

<If this is the legendary streamer whispering to their boyfriend off-camera, I’ll give it a thumbs up.>

I must’ve zoned out for a while because the chat was already filled with ridiculous rumors.

“What do you mean, a boyfriend off-camera? You guys are insane. You come up with the wildest stuff.”

<Aww, the Dark Broth appears.>

<Hey, it was just one person saying it! Why are we all getting blamed?>

<Tyrant Legend, abolish collective punishment!>

“Ah, my bad. It’s a habit.”

Viewers may look like one big group, but they’re all different individuals.

It’s just that the human brain struggles to process that.

Are they some kind of locust swarm or what?

<A quick apology, that’s respectable.>

<Do better next time. LOL>

“Thanks. Really, thank you.”

Being too scared of stalkers to send even one gift—that’s ridiculous.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll be reckless about it.

I’ll be sending them with the company’s address as the sender.

I already had everything planned out.

“Alright, let’s do the raffle.”

I turned off the camera for a moment and walked over to my streaming room.

I had been recording with my phone, but the stream was being broadcast from my main computer.

After quickly setting things up, I spoke into the mic.

“I’ll be taking entries for three minutes. I’ll pick ten winners. If you want to enter the brownie raffle, type ‘1’ in the chat.”

A few moments later, the stream started lagging badly.

The chat was flooded with ‘1’s.

Too many messages!

“The participation rate is insane.”

I thought many people would hesitate because they didn’t want to share their address.

But with 30,000 viewers, of course the response would be overwhelming.

<Only ten winners?>

<1>

<1>

<1>

<Sir, there are 30,000 people watching. Only giving ten is too harsh!>

<1>

<1>

<2>

<1>

<Making us type ‘1’? I sense some political agenda here.>

<1>

<The odds are 3000:1. Legendary. LOL>

<1>

Whenever the chat froze for a moment due to lag, I could catch glimpses of people complaining.

Some thought ten winners were too few.

But isn’t ten already a lot?

If I include my manager, Seol Yoon, my dad, and the ten winners, I’d be baking all day.

I’m not a bakery owner, after all.

The lag was getting too bad to continue, so after the full three minutes, I closed the entries.

A total of 13,000 participants?!

Yeah, maybe ten was too few.

“The entries are closed. I guess 13,000 participants and only ten winners does seem a bit stingy. Should I at least send some gift cards as consolation prizes? Just for the sake of getting a gift from a girl?”

Some people might find my words and actions contradictory.

I don’t want to be treated like a girl, yet I’m giving out chocolates—doesn’t that count as manipulating the audience?

But when I think about how most of my viewers won’t receive any chocolates on Valentine’s Day, I feel like I should at least give them something.

<Sounds good!>

<Legendary generosity!>

<Legend’s chocolates!>

<1111111111111>

<Isn’t this way too kind? 😭😭😭>

<I’ll follow you for life, boss.>

<So how many are you giving out?>

Seeing my viewers so happy made me happy too.

“I’ll send out twenty gift cards.”

<Shining! Shining! Shining!>

<My screen is broken! All I can see is light!>

<That’s a total of thirty gifts? That’s a lot of work.>

<???: Manager, please handle this.>

“Who said the manager would do it? If I don’t do it myself, it loses its meaning.”

<Ka.>

<무친련무친련무친련>
<Didn’t you say you wouldn’t farm reactions!!!>

What kind of things have these people been through?

I don’t know much about internet streaming since I only studied it briefly.

“Pulling all the winners at once wouldn’t be fun, so I’ll draw 5 for brownies first, then 20 for gifticons, and finally another 5 for brownies at the end.”

<Now that’s a good event organizer!>

“Oh, and there won’t be any duplicate winners.”

The odds of that happening among so many people seemed low, but you never know with these things.

“Alright, let’s begin the draw.”

The roulette wheel spun with a rattling sound.

The winner’s username was revealed.

The drawing system allowed me to have a one-on-one conversation with the winner, so I asked the first one for their thoughts.

“Congratulations! Could you share a few words about winning?”

<I love you, Jeon Jeonseol.>
<Warrior.>
<Who is Jeon Jeonseol?
To the blind, she is sight.
To the hungry, she gives chocolate.
To the lonely, she streams.
If Jeon Jeonseol claims something, I agree.
If Jeon Jeonseol speaks, I listen.
If Jeon Jeonseol has only one fan, that fan is me.
If Jeon Jeonseol has no fans, then I no longer exist.>

“I said a few words, not an entire speech! When did you even prepare that?”

Did they know they were going to win?

Or did they type this all out in advance while praying for their name to be drawn?

I couldn’t believe they wrote all that in such a short time.

<The savior of lonely souls, Jeon Jeonseol!>
<Where did they even get that template?>
<Is this some kind of charity soup kitchen?>
<Give me chocolate!>
<Jeon Jeonseol must distribute the chocolates!!!>

“It’d be nice if you talked about yourself instead of just repeating memes… But you’ve already used up your chance.”

<Still think you’re not farming reactions? Still think you’re not farming reactions?>

<No, Your Honor! She seduced us first!>

Wouldn’t it be better to have actual emotional exchanges rather than just repeating overused memes?

Even this whole FOX FOX thing was just them copying each other.

I didn’t really understand it.

Maybe they felt a sense of belonging by consuming memes together.

There was no need for me to force them to stop.

If they were having fun, that was what mattered.

After all, a streamer’s job was to entertain people, right?

I tried to interview the second winner.

If this person wasn’t interesting either, should I just skip the interviews?

I still had 30 people to go through.

<Wow.>

<Thank you, thank you, thank you.>

“Wait, you actually posted that?”

I checked Jeon Jeonseol’s LightIt forum and, sure enough, there was a video of them doing a full prostration.

A “full prostration” was the highest level of bowing etiquette, where a person stood on their hands and lowered their head to the ground.

It was both a sign of ultimate respect and incredibly difficult to do.

“Thank you!”

In the eight-second video, they bowed deeply and shouted their gratitude in a loud voice.

“Why go this far? That’s dangerous. Just saying thank you would’ve been enough.”

<Words alone don’t convey true sincerity.>
<If you don’t give your all, your feelings won’t reach the other person.>

I mean, sure.

It was definitely more impactful than just saying thanks.

But did they really have to phrase it like some cringy anime dialogue?

“Khh!”

Alright, fine.

I approve.

[oo has donated 1,000 won.]

“This streamer is so stingy with reactions, but the viewers give them out so generously.”

“You guys keep donating even though I told you not to. That’s on you, not me.”

People had a psychological tendency to expect something in return for the money they spent.

I wasn’t ready for relationships that deep just yet.

The drawing continued.

Some winners simply said thank you, while others, trying to outdo the full prostration, went way overboard.

Since there were 30 winners, I got to see a wide range of personalities.

Streaming without playing games and just interacting with viewers was actually pretty fun.

I could probably make some good YouTube content out of this too.

Could it be?

Am I a natural-born streamer?