Chapter 74 : Cyber Gambling Hall

The Twitch channel point system had been introduced about three years ago.

Back then, I had already been watching Curry’s streams, so naturally, my Twitch account under “Flower Shop Owner” had accumulated a decent amount of channel points.

A quick check showed I had around seven million points.

I wanted to push that number up to ten million.

It wasn’t because I wanted to play the pocky game with Curry or anything.

I was just curious about how people would react if “Flower Shop Owner” redeemed the pocky game reward.

Seeing the chat explode with excitement while Curry drowned in despair would be pure entertainment.

The problem was, I had to gamble my points on Curry’s stream to increase them.

From what I remembered, the maximum bet per round was 250,000 points.

At that rate, how long would it take to reach ten million?

The thought made me hesitate, but at the same time, I figured if I kept it up for about a month, it might be possible.

“Unni, I coordinated with Curry’s managers and finalized the reward list. What do you think?”

Ji-Hye placed her laptop in front of me as I was preparing for my stream.

The list of point-based rewards was displayed on the screen.

Something about it felt… dangerous.

Offering vouchers and gift cards as rewards wasn’t a bad idea in itself.

But when you considered that the prizes were obtained through “gambling,” it was dangerously close to illegal.

Realizing this serious issue, I pointed it out to Ji-Hye.

She looked surprised, as if she hadn’t considered that aspect.

“Then what should we do?”

“We don’t have to offer real-world prizes. Channel points don’t have much use anyway.

For example, if someone redeems the ‘call the virtual spouse’ reward, they could be allowed to choose how the streamer speaks during the call.

And the fourth reward—’speak in the spouse’s preferred tone’—is too similar to the first one.

We could change it to something like ‘call the virtual spouse by a nickname of their choice.'”

“Oh! That’s a great idea!”

Ji-Hye let out a small exclamation of admiration and quickly edited the reward list.

After finishing the revisions at an impressive speed, she showed me the updated list.

[Barcode’s Channel Rewards]

50,000 Points / Call the virtual spouse. (Purchaser selects the speech style, 10 minutes)

250,000 Points / Act cute for the virtual spouse. (Purchaser selects the type of cuteness)

500,000 Points / One-hour collaboration stream with the virtual spouse.

2,500,000 Points / Call the virtual spouse by a nickname of their choice. (Nickname chosen by the other streamer, 30 minutes)

5,000,000 Points / Pocky game with the virtual spouse.

All the potentially problematic elements had been removed.

“I’ll go inform the other side!”

Ji-Hye quickly packed up her laptop and rushed out of the room.

[ Curry is now live! ]

Not long after, Curry’s stream went live.

I opened my own stream settings and clicked on the empty title field.

“Hmm… What should I name the stream…”

In the past, I wouldn’t have cared about something like a title.

But after spending enough time as a streamer, I’d gotten used to paying attention to these details.

Even after thinking it over, I couldn’t come up with anything good.

Tired of thinking, I just typed in “Cyber Gambling Hall” and started the stream.

Setting the broadcast screen to the waiting scene, I played some copyright-free music and waited for viewers to gather.

[ Bahaha ]

[ Bahaha ]

[ What’s with the stream title today? ]

[ Why isn’t this zxcv1234’s stream? lol ]

[ This title lacks class ]

[ Cyber Gambling Hall is the real deal lol ]

[ Bahaha ]

[ Is there a collab with Curry today? Is there a collab with Curry today? ]

As viewers gathered, I switched off the waiting screen.

The screen now displayed Curry’s stream.

Normally, you needed a streamer’s permission to rebroadcast their content.

But since Curry and I were in a virtual marriage, and I knew Curry wasn’t the type to nitpick over things like this, I just openly watched his stream.

I listened to the song Curry always played before starting his broadcast and checked the channel reward list.

It looked like the revised version had been successfully updated.

As the song gradually ended, Curry’s screen shifted from the black waiting screen to his usual desktop background.

“Aaah, everyone, welcome back.”

Curry began his opening as usual.

“As you can see from the title, today’s content is an old favorite—gambling night.”

“But regular point gambling gets boring, right?

Since, well… I’m in a virtual marriage with Barcode, whether I like it or not.”

“For the duration of our virtual marriage, we’ll be running point gambling events.

Check the channel rewards below for details.”

After explaining the so-called “Virtual Marriage Gambling” content, Curry fell silent and observed the chat’s reactions.

“Did everyone hear that?”

[ That explanation was so lazy lol ]
[ But it actually sounds fun ]
[ Are those reward prices for real? lol ]
[ Five million points for a pocky game? That’s insane lol ]

[ Curry’s pocky game costs ten million points, though? ]

[ Why are the prices different between the two channels? ]

As discussions about the price differences in each stream started to spread, I, who had been silently observing the chat, slowly opened my mouth.

“The reason the prices are different is that I have less streaming experience than Curry.

So, I decided to set my reward prices at half of his.”

[ Ahhh, makes sense ]

[ Yeah, Curry’s been streaming for ages ]

[ This should be a bigger discount, like 80% off lol ]

[ Talking in a chat-determined speech style for 10 minutes? I can’t resist this one lol ]

[ So when’s the betting room opening here? ]

[ Streamer!!! When are you opening the bets!!! ]

I could practically hear the impatient complaints from the viewers.

Most League of Legends streamers used solo queue win predictions as their betting theme.

But I had no intention of playing ranked today.

“Wait, what?! Someone already bet 100,000 points?!”

Curry’s shocked yell echoed through the stream.

I scrolled up through the chat.

A viewer had just spent 100,000 points to purchase the “Call the Virtual Spouse (Custom Speech Style)” reward.

[ darktree123: Cat Speech ]

“You’ve got to be f***ing kidding me.”

The buyer, a true menace, had chosen “Cat Speech,” which meant Curry had to end every sentence with “nya.”

The moment Curry saw the chat, he swore outright.

After a long silence, he let out a deep sigh as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders.

Then, resigning himself to fate, he moved his mouse.

“Ten minutes… I’m setting a real timer for this.”

Before the main betting event could even begin, Curry called me.

I immediately picked up but stayed silent, waiting for him to speak first.

“Hello, Barcode-nya… Hah, f***… nya.”

“Pffft. Curry, you actually sound kinda cute.”

“…”

“Are you not going to respond?”

“I am not cute, nya.”

For a second, I was seriously tempted to drop five million points right then and there just to make Curry call me “noona.”

But I barely held myself back, taking a deep breath to suppress my urges before continuing.

“This content was something we didn’t even plan in advance—it was all put together last minute, right?”

“Yeah, nya…”

“Pfft!”

“…I want to die.”

In the end, I failed to hold back my laughter, while Curry was drowning in overwhelming regret.

The stark contrast between us must have been too funny because the chat exploded with nonstop “lololol.”

“If both of us redeem the first reward at the same time, how should we handle it?”

“If that happens, we’ll just extend the call by ten minutes and use separate timers for each speech style, nya.”

There were a few things I’d planned to say when we got on the call.

But thanks to that cursed cat speech, I was too busy laughing to remember any of them.

I tried to gather my thoughts while stifling my laughter.

Eventually, I recalled what I had meant to say and spoke up.

“Pffft… Curry, since we’re already doing this ‘Virtual Marriage Gambling’ thing, why don’t we keep the stream running 24/7?

Viewers without points might feel left out otherwise.”

“You, of all people, talking about consideration, nya.

How are you suddenly overflowing with kindness now, nya…”

“Oh, and Curry, can I restream your broadcast?”

“…Do whatever you want, nya… Haah, f***…”

It seemed Curry had reached his limit, as his enthusiasm visibly drained.

For the remaining ten minutes, I eagerly kept the conversation going, doing everything I could to force more cat speech out of him.
This was the first time I had ever seen Curry drowning in self-loathing, meowing through every conversation.

Once again, he had carved another moment into YouTube history, yet another embarrassing black mark to be immortalized.

Wearing an expression that blurred the line between laughing and crying, Curry hung up the call.

Maybe it was because that first call had been so impactful, but no one else bought any more rewards.

Taking a mental hit, Curry covered his screen and immediately queued up for a match.

“Alright, everyone.

Dodging snipes completely is unrealistic, so place your bets with match-fixing in mind.”

[ Betting with match-fixing in mind, lmao ]

[ No cowards here, right? No one’s betting on the underdog? ]

[ A true gambler always bets against the odds ]

[ So, the winning bet is the safe one, right? ]

[ No, losing is actually the safer bet ]

[ Fun fact: Curry’s win rate during betting streams is under 30% ]

[ It’s all because of the ‘actors’ ]

Finally, the main event—the gambling ring—opened, and channel points started pouring in.

By the end of champion select, the bets were locked at 31% for a win and 69% for a loss.

Naturally, I placed 250,000 points on the safe bet and proceeded with my own planned gamble.

“Alright, everyone.

Will I successfully win my bet against Curry, or will I fail?”

[ A double gamble?! ]

[ LET’S GOOO ]

[ No way some lunatic is betting on the underdog here, right? ]

[ Double the joy if the upset happens—how could you not bet on it? ]

[ We get to see Barcode shaking in real time ]

[ Betting on the underdog and flexing in chat is a surefire way to get banned ]

With how slim Curry’s chances of winning were, the safe bet was the only logical choice.

The game started, and before long, Curry got dove under his turret and handed first blood to the enemy top laner.

“Are you kidding me?!

Why is our jungler farming Gromp instead of coming top?!”

His jungler had been nearby but didn’t bother to back him up.

Anyone could see this reeked of match-fixing, but there was no hard proof.

After all, even in high elo—Diamond and Master, the top 0.1% of players—there were bound to be these kinds of suspicious players.

Boosted accounts, account renters…

Or maybe just “actors” who had gone all-in on the safe bet.

The game played out exactly as most viewers had expected.

At the 20-minute mark, as if on cue, the surrender vote popped up.

Four votes for yes.

With Curry’s wailing in the background, the camera panned downward as the Nexus shattered.

[ Underdog bet? Delicious. LOL ]

[ My points…? Where did my points go…? My points…? Where did my points go…? ]

[ Hi, I’m new here! Haha! Hi, I’m new here! Haha! ]

[ Why are my eyes tearing up? Oh, weird… Why are my eyes tearing up? Oh, weird… ]

[ BURP! Thanks for the meal! BURP! Thanks for the meal! ]

Watching the chat split between despair and celebration, I grinned.

In the midst of my 250,000 points swelling into 330,000, I went ahead and bought a reward from Curry’s channel.

[ FlowershopOwner has spent 1,000,000 Points to purchase ‘Collab with Virtual Spouse’! ]

[ FlowershopOwner: I’m coming over right now. ]

I had purchased it to console Curry after his immediate humiliation upon starting his stream, followed by a crushing defeat.

But—

“Wait, Barcode, why are you coming here? Haaah…”

Curry, completely missing my good intentions, made his displeasure painfully obvious.

And just like that, a tiny, mischievous thought crept into my mind.

Without another word, I left my room.