Chapter 38
After a purge.
“So, he wants to collab?”
I asked while quickly restarting the raid and refreshing the thread.
-Yeah.
-Can we tell you..?
“I won't shoot anymore, so go ahead and tell me.”
Come on, if I ask, you can tell me.
Unauthorized cuckooing is grounds for gunfire.
But with permission, you're a messenger.
-He says he wants to duo in Rellㅇㅇ..
-It was just something he mentioned in passing
“Then why come making such a fuss?”
I thought maybe Mr. Kangseok had specifically called me out.
Looks like they came making a huge fuss over something he'd casually said.
-He has mentioned you a few times
-He didn't even add you separately? Is that true?
“Well, there wasn't any reason to.”
Rat-a-tat-tat!
I said that while running, and shredded the legs of a user I encountered.
“For fuck's sake, this one's a farmer too.”
-ㅋㅋㅋ
-This bastard's actually seasoned now;;
Since he had absolutely nothing worthwhile, I slipped only his headset into my bag and ran on.
“But aren't our tiers mismatched?”
I understand wanting to play Rell together.
Surely he doesn't mean normal or flex queue.
If it's duo ranked, our tiers don't match, do they?
Wayo was an indisputable Silver-Bronze-Gold-Platinum killer, with both his main and alt accounts firmly settled in Emerald.
-He hit Platinum last timeㅇㅇ
-Now you can duo?
“...Huh?”
Wasn't that old man Silver?
He's already Platinum?
“Did he get assigned some incredible teacher?”
A two-tier climb was impossible to explain otherwise.
Unless the newbie had attained enlightenment.
-He just got good on his ownㅋㅋ
-I attained enlightenment
-He might be better than you?
Apparently, Mr. Kangseok was the latter type.
Well, I'd seen at the large server that his physical skills were pretty good for his age.
“Don't cross the line.”
Still, he couldn't be better than me.
I drew a clear line, reached my camping spot, and lay down.
-He's not a camping bug like you ㅆㅂ;;
-There he goes lying down again
-This bastard just loves camping
“Is there any reason not to love it?”
If I only waited, users rolled right into my mouth.
And they were users who had geared up to some extent for the raid, too.
They'd waited through the long matchmaking caused by the unstable server, only to have their legs shredded by a camper. How must that feel?
“Huh-”
-Wow, fuck;;
-This is fucking perverted;;
-His personality is fucking rottenㅋㅋ
“Besides, camping isn't exactly getting things for free.”
How arduous a thing waiting was.
Since ancient times, waiting had also been a form of ascetic practice.
-Ah, yes
-Please let someone properly school this camping bug;;
-Why don't hackers ever show up at times like this?
“Hackers?”
Ah—come to think of it.
I'd heard Last Exit was a game full of hackers.
Apparently, there were malicious players who treated hacks like DLC.
Still, I'd never run into one.
“Why would a hacker target me?”
I said, pointing at my loadout.
A green infantry helmet for camouflage.
The cheapest headset in the shop.
The armor vest was a cost-effective outfit people called a school uniform, and the gun was just some farming gun bought from the shop.
And all the bullets were trash ammo, too.
-;;;
-I really fucking don't want to target this guy
-This bastard's KDA right now, holy shit;;
Anyway....
“Oh, that person doesn't play Last Exit?”
I understood that he wanted to duo in Rell.
But right now, I was more in the mood for Last Exit than Rell.
What do you mean Rell, when Last Exit had officially launched?
In fact, these days Last Exit was more fun than Rell.
-This Last Exit mutt..
-He played Last Exit during the official launch too
-So are you going to collab?? Can we cuckoo?
“No? What do you mean, cuckooing?”
If a cuckoo flew into a tiny streamer's broadcast, surely the viewers in that room would love it.
-Then how are you going to contact him
-Let's go to his stream and talk to him
“There's no need to rush, is there?”
I could play Last Exit today at my leisure, then somehow get in touch later and have a chat.
-You're not going to mooch off him??
-This bastard just really likes Last Exit..
-This is your chance;;
“Shh, one's coming.”
Was it really enough to call such a minor collab an opportunity?
A real opportunity looked like this.
I tightened my scope at the approaching footsteps.
He should be here any moment….
Rat-a-tat!!
That's right.
A fat, fat user emerged, so plump I wondered if he was really the same kind of user as me.
Ratatatat!!
The moment his soft, squishy legs appeared in my scope, I pulled the trigger.
[Bang!... Ugh!]
The user reacted, turned his muzzle toward me, and fired, but
he crumpled after barely hitting my arm.
“Ah, shashashat!!”
The ultra-chunky guy is down!
Fuck, all that gear is mine now.
-Hahaㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This Last Exit mutt..
-Just stay a tiny streamer forever.
Ah, fuck, this is so sweet.
This is why I play Last Exit.
*
As a result.
It wasn't Mr. Kangseok who contacted me first, but the completely unexpected Haegan.
[Haegan: Can I give him your PingPing Messenger ID?]
Apparently, Mr. Kangseok had asked Haegan for my contact information.
The fuss from the cuckoos in my broadcast hadn't been much of an exaggeration, after all.
[Me: Sure]
[Haegan: Oh, really?]
Actually, this wasn't the first request of its kind.
After the large server, several streamers I didn't know had contacted me through Haegan or Yeonguk, saying they wanted to collab or become friends.
[Haegan: You don't usually give this out]
I usually turned them all down.
But, well, didn't I have some connection with Mr. Kangseok?
[Me: It's fine]
So once I gave permission, Mr. Kangseok contacted me shortly afterward.
[Kangseok: It's been a while! The thing is….]
Perhaps considering it business, he sent a fairly polite, lengthy message.
“Hmm.”
In short, he was saying, “Let's duo in Rell on stream,” so I thought about it for a moment….
[Me: You don't play Last Exit?]
I sent that reply.
**
A few days after we exchanged messages.
“Teacher~ How long has it been?”
“It's been a while.”
In the end, we decided to collab, so I started the stream and greeted Mr. Kangseok.
-Kyaaㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-How long has it been
-ㅆㅂ, should've done this ages ago
“How come you never showed up even once~?”
“I was busy after getting back from a deployment.”
“Deployment?”
“I went to Russia and came back.”
How fierce the battles had been during my deployment to isolated Russia.
-Crazy Last Exit mutt;;
-Upvote if you're happy to see Rellㅋㅋㅋ
“Ah, Last Exit? That's difficult.”
For reference, the game we were going to play was Rell.
I'd tried to lure him in with Last Exit, but apparently he was more confident in Rell.
It seemed his recent climb in tier had gone straight to his head.
“I'll teach you sometime if we get the chance.”
“Oh? You're good?”
“I'm an expert.”
-You shouldn't learn from this bastard..
-Camping expertㅋㅋ
“Shall we queue up first? We might lose the queue.”
Anyway.
Since we'd logged into the game, we queued up first.
[If you ping it, I lock top]
[Steel Heart Stone Fist]
-Fuck, neither of their names is easy..
-I really don't want to run into them
“What's wrong with our names?”
They're both perfectly good.
They were steadfast and clearly showed a will of steel.
“Do you really lock it if I ping?”
“Oh, surely not.”
-He does play like he'll slam it inㅇㅇ..
-This bastard needs to hit rock bottom once
“What do you mean, rock bottom?”
When had I ever thrown a game?
I'd always steadfastly played for victory.
“What are your viewers saying over there?”
“Yeah, they're a little mischievous.”
“Oh, really?”
-???
-??
-Is this our fault?
-You're the one who made us like this, ㅆㅂ
“More importantly, Teacher. Do you need a lot of ganks?”
As befitted a jungler, Mr. Kangseok asked me that question.
Personally, I didn't think it was a question he needed to ask.
Of course he should abandon his own jungle and come over.
“Ganks? Hmm, the more, the better, right?”
“Heh-heh, I'll come if I see an opening.”
-Why is this bastard being so polite?
-He's putting on airsㅋㅋ
But I hadn't put it quite that way.
Rather than putting on airs, it was closer to an entrance test.
First, I needed to find out what kind of style he had.
Top and jungle were like a single team, organically connected.
It would take a few sacrifices to coordinate and get that bond in sync.
[Defeat]
Yes, like this.
“Hmm, we lost?”
-Mr. Kangseok isn't easy eitherㅋㅋ
-Is this duo a disaster waiting to happen?
-Still, he played well this game
“...Ahem, right?”
For reference, this game had showcased Wayo's specialty.
In other words, I hadn't just crushed the opposing top laner by myself.
I'd even dribbled the jungler in a two-on-one.
The problem arose on Mr. Kangseok's side.
[Western Gunslinger: Jungler ** you *** go gank properly, you ***]
[Princess of the East: For realㅋㅋ You suck at counterjunglingㅋㅋ]
-Gasp
-One Cola says what needs to be said..
-Look at the support chiming inㅋㅋ
-He really did make a lot of mistakesㅇㅇ..
Every time the enemy top came to my lane, he failed to gain any meaningful advantage.
Hmm, I understood.
I supposed there was a bit of a tier gap between Mr. Kangseok and me.
From his perspective, he was facing an opponent a tier above him, so it was only natural that adapting wasn't easy.
“Ahem, more importantly, Teacher.”
The loss was unfortunate, but I considered this still the adjustment phase, and was about to queue again when
“I watched your stream a bit while I was resting, Teacher.”
“Yes?”
Mr. Kangseok spoke awkwardly, embarrassed because he'd trolled the previous game.
-Gasp
-What
-This beast watched the streamㅋㅋ
“From what I saw, your solo streams have a bit more raw flavor.”
-It's way too raw;;
-He's right to put on some airs like he is nowㅇㅇ
-He's making mistakesㅋㅋ
It seemed he was worried because my solo broadcasts and collabs were different.
“But this is a collab….”
“Come on, we're not strangers! Relax!”
Was he being considerate, telling me to collab as streamer Wayo rather than Teacher Waryong from the large server?
“Hmm… really, I can relax?”
“Yeah!”
“Really? For real?”
More importantly, was it okay to tell me to relax like that?
I felt like I was going to relax too much.
“Aw, I said it's fine.”
“Then like we're the same age?”
“Yeah, like we've been buddies for twenty years!”
He was even going beyond telling me to relax and asking me to treat him like a friend.
Good grief.
As a solid young man from the Land of Eastern Courtesy, I ought to show proper respect to my elders.
“Don't complain later, okay?”
“No problem~”
But with that elder speaking like this, continuing to refuse would itself be impolite.
“Ahem… then.”
So I loosened my throat a little.
And I spoke as casually as I would to a true friend.
“You little shit, if you play a farming jungler again, you're dead.”
-??
-?
-You've gotten way too comfortable.
“...?”
“What do you mean counterjungling? Every time you learn a new skill, haul ass straight to top.”
To be honest, I nearly died of frustration last game.
You little shit, if we're duoing, shouldn't you come gank top first?
Huh? Don't go counterjungling—come top first.
I'll handle things myself.