Chapter 21: The Unstoppable Force

-Tantaratantantan!

-ㅇㅇ donated $10.
〔Video Donation: <You see, everyone? This is me. This is true talent.>〕

A donation exploded on Leni’s stream. SolNoon’s voice resonated with everyone. It was a voice brimming with boundless confidence.

[Kyaaaah!]
[Real talent lol]
[SolNoon! SolNoon! SolNoon! SolNoon!]

Many viewers cheered for SolNoon. The reason was quite simple.

It was just plain fun. How could anyone resist when dopamine was pounding their brains?

Of course, unfortunately, not everyone reacted this way.

It’s one of the immutable truths of this world, isn’t it? Achieving unanimous agreement is incredibly difficult.

No matter what group of people gathered, there were bound to be some who stood out. The people who had ‘Hongdae disease’.
(TL Note: Hongdae disease refers to a tendency to be a contrarian or to like things that are not mainstream, often associated with the trendy Hongdae area in Seoul.)

It didn’t mean they were absolutely wrong, but it was very difficult for them to receive a good perception within a group.

[She’s truly insane.]
[That bich…] (Message blocked. Reason: Inappropriate chat)
[What kind of is this?] (Message blocked. Reason: Inappropriate chat)

These chats were similar.

The intensity of their expressions varied, but their intentions were generally similar.

They were people who described SolNoon as a ‘madman’ and, at the same time, didn’t particularly like her.

Such chats naturally stood out more. It would be strange not to see them when they were sticking out alone.

Leni was also well aware of them. And managing such abusive chats was her and her managers’ job.

-Click

So, when her character returned to base, she banned the most severe offenders… but left the milder ones.

Normally, they would all be banned, but this time, she was letting it slide. This was because Leni strongly empathized with their feelings.

‘She must be really crazy.’

As a popular streamer, Leni had encountered countless snipers. It was a professional hazard she couldn’t avoid.

Usually, snipers would harass from the enemy team. They could do what was called ‘stream sniping’, or they could relentlessly target only the streamer.

Conversely, snipers on her team were usually one of two types.

They either tried hard because they didn’t want to lose, or their maliciousness outweighed the value of their account, so they just openly threw the game. The latter was generally more common.

-SuperRedFlavorLeni has slain an enemy.

“No… how is that an assassin’s kill? The ranged damage is unbelievable…”

[Kill-stealing machine ON]
[lollollollollol]
[The difference in talent, they say lol]

But SolNoon didn’t belong to either category. She was a being with the devil’s talent, playing diligently on the same team while thoroughly tormenting Leni…

Even now, SolNoon had stolen Leni’s kill with a play she had never seen before.

‘Wow… really.’

Assassins are fundamentally a class based on stylish skills.

From elegant 1v1 plays to surprising kill angles due to explosive close-range burst damage.

This was also why Leni mained Assassin. It was fun, and it suited her profession as a streamer.

And those same aspects were also why Assassins had an immense number of trolls. And since this was Iron tier, she could encounter Assassins displaying unpredictable plays to her heart’s content.

But an Assassin wielding a bow like SolNoon was a first. There was no reason to play Assassin if not for close-quarters combat. If you were going to shoot from a distance, you might as well play Ranger.

Leni still believed that SolNoon’s play was just luck… what they call a ‘fluke’.

No, it had to be a fluke.

-SuperRedFlavorLeni is on a killing spree.

“Argh, seriously!!!!!!!!!!!”

If this was all intentional, she would be truly, genuinely furious. Not just because her kills were stolen, but because the difference in talent was palpable.

[Yessssssssssss]
[Getting angry now, huh? Feeling the urge to curse, huh?]
[Leni, with mission failure in sight, gets an upvote lol]

It was already the third kill steal.

To avoid this, she had intentionally waited for SolNoon to recall and return…

“No, why is the range so long? This is a complete bug. A bug.”

A dagger flying from a considerable distance sniped the enemy character. She had never heard of such a range.

[Ah, anyway, it’s a bug]
[Yeah, yeah~]
[lollollollollol]

Leni voiced her bewilderment, but unfortunately, no one in the chat sympathized with her.

I always feel this, but online broadcasting is all about performance.

No matter how skilled a game streamer is, it’s difficult to attract viewers with skill alone. In fact, those who put on a good performance, even if they’re not great at the game, are often much more popular.

Leni was a perfect example. She wasn’t great at games, but her reactions when she was getting owned were gold. That was all a kind of performance.

And me imitating my Assassin character’s voice now was in a similar vein.

-Ambush!

“Ambush!!”

A dagger launched with that grand declaration. The target was the enemy Shaman who was fiercely fighting Leni’s Dark Mage.

-You have slain an enemy.

Naturally, the attack was successful. [Dark Veil] was active around my character.

[Kya]
[lollollollollol]
[What the is this? lol hilarious]

“This, everyone, is a true ambush. How can hitting someone up close be an ambush? You’ll be seen. Hitting them from afar while hidden, that’s an ambush.”

[Agreed, agreed]
[He’s right though..]
[What’s with this cowardly truth-telling?]
[SolNoon, SolNoon, are you making the 800,000 Assassin players look like trash..]

As expected, the viewers’ reactions were satisfying. Everyone loves this kind of thing.

[Current Viewers: 401]

Putting aside those reactions, just looking at the steadily increasing viewer count showed that the situation wasn’t bad.

It was truly the era of dopamine heaven. There was an endless amount of content to get a dopamine fix, not just on my stream.
Most viewers would leave immediately if a broadcast wasn’t fun. So, this meant I was still doing well.

Anyway, since the momentum was high, I decided to try a slightly more extreme build.

This was a risky investment, but… what the heck.

The bigger the wave, the more dopamine it would surely unleash if I rode it well.

-Charang!

Returning to base, I dumped all my gold into stats. Specifically, Dexterity.

It was a stat that slightly increased critical strike chance, so it was standard practice to invest in it moderately when playing a ranged damage dealer.

Of course, that was only ‘moderately’. In LoL, where there were numerous ways to grow a character, the most important thing was balance in investment.

It was the established theory in the LoL community that the most powerful build involved a balanced investment in stats, items, and skill trees.

Of course, for me, eliciting an entertaining reaction from Leni was more important than such balance.

-Poof poof poof!

“Oh… our team’s Dark Mage is dealing good damage.”

As I was diligently walking back to the lane, Leni’s Dark Mage started bombarding the enemy. She was probably trying to get a kill before I returned.

But it was absolutely no use.

-Pshhh…

My character stopped at a slight distance from everyone else. [Dark Veil] spread around me again. And then, I aimed my bow.

-Ambush!

“Alright, one more ambush!!”

-You have slain an enemy.

-SuperRedFlavorLeni is on a killing spree.

The dagger, flying a considerable distance, once again cleanly sniped the opponent.

[lollollollollol]
[Crazy]
[How did she even do that?]
[Today’s broadcast dopamine is insane lol]

It was probably an unexpectedly long range. The range buff gained from equipping a bow and having Dexterity above a certain threshold. Combined with [Throw], it was an incredible range.

“You see, everyone. This little ~click! is all it takes. There’s no need to foolishly think ‘I have to win…’ like that Dark Mage.”

[The trolling is insane lol]
[Are you dissing our Leni Leni now…]
[lol]

What a great build this was. Frankly, it was a build that threw physical skill out the window. All you had to do was click the mouse from afar.

Of course, this was limited to cases where I was very well-farmed, like now. Just like it’s meaningless to throw a toothpick even if the range is long. The Assassin’s buffs also complemented this type_of attack perfectly.

If my farm had been even slightly lacking, I would have chosen a different build… but today, it seemed sufficient.

It was truly my day. Once I had the momentum, there was nothing I couldn’t overcome.