Chapter 42: A Night of Celebration and Confessions.

The story of how the team was formed.

Stories from the scrimmages.

The preliminary rounds and the main tournament.

If I were to divide the history of Team Crinex’s LoL Team Tournament, which the five streamers and one editor were sharing over expensive meat, into chapters, that would roughly be the breakdown.

When the flow of the story, which began with the team’s formation, reached the finals, the group was nearly finished eating and were having the naengmyeon [TL Note: Korean cold noodles] they’d ordered to finish off the meal.

It was a harmonious and pleasant dinner.

Although being expensive doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll taste good, it seemed that held true for the meat.

Even a team that had been eliminated in the preliminaries would have had a harmonious after-party if they’d eaten this kind of food.

In the case of Team Crinex, which had come all the way to winning and hadn’t faced any major crises or conflicts, it was peace itself.

‘Hmm…?’

Everyone had had a little to drink while eating the meat.

I had had a few sips myself.

It wasn’t to the point of feeling tipsy or anything; it was just a taste when everyone drank the traditional liquor that Crinex, who had booked the restaurant, said would be good to have with the meal.

I hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but as we reached the final stages of the meal, I started to have some doubts.

I had only had about two sips, but the other four streamers, with the exception of Park Hayan, had drunk more than I had.

How were they planning to get home?

If it was Yu Sieun and me, who hadn’t brought a car, we could just go back the way we came, so there was no problem.

But, although I didn’t know about Yeonggirong and Hayan, Crinex had definitely come to the restaurant in his own car.

It was certain since Yu Sieun had said that Crinex was planning to pick up Hyungyeok and bring him to the meeting place in his car.

But now, both Crinex and Hyungyeok had had something to drink.

Of course, having a few drinks with a meal doesn’t seriously affect your cognitive abilities. And it seemed Crinex and Hyungyeok were people who could hold their liquor.

But whether your limit was four bottles of soju or twenty, if you grabbed the wheel after even one drink, it was simply a crime.

‘Hmm…?’

It didn’t seem like Crinex was the kind of person who would do something like that. He’s someone who hadn’t caused any controversies even after a long career as an internet streamer, after all.

Was he planning to call a designated driver?

Although it felt like calling a designated driver after only a few drinks wasn’t cost-effective, this was someone who was paying for the meal at a fancy restaurant, so it wasn’t my business to worry about.

I finished my thoughts there and continued to finish the bowl of naengmyeon that Yu Sieun and I had split.

What made me resolve the doubts that I had brushed aside as something they’d figure out on their own was when we got up from our seats a little later.

“Alright, now that everyone’s done eating, shall we move to another place for a second round?”

When the group came out after finishing the meal, Crinex, who had cheerfully swiped his card for an amount in the three digits, smiled and threw out a suggestion to the group.

It was a suggestion to go to a second location.

The policies proposed by a president who amazed America with tremendous economic growth and made Japan regret, become devastated, and obsessed with it, would inevitably receive the passionate support of the people.

A second round suggested by someone who had bought them a very expensive meal also received the same support from the four streamers. The one editor, who could read the room, agreed as well.

When everyone had approved, Crinex laughed, saying that he’d actually booked a place in advance, so he would have been very sad if he’d been rejected.

“Then let’s split into teams to move. I’ve called a designated driver, so shall we have the three women’s team take a taxi? The location is…”

After telling us the address to meet up again, Crinex left with the designated driver and the two Challenger players in his car, which had arrived a few minutes later.

It was also around that time that the taxi we had called arrived.

Yu Sieun, raising me and Park Hayan, who were sitting down, opened her mouth.

“Alright, shall we go too?”

It seemed the after-party was going to last a little longer.

As I headed towards the taxi, led by the hand, I thought that perhaps this had been planned from the start, ever since Yu Sieun had suggested I attend a few days ago, when she said that if I went alone, I’d have to sleep alone.

If the location they were going to after the restaurant was anything to go by, it would probably be a bar.

With a mega-streamer who does camera broadcasts as part of the group, I thought we would probably be going to a party room or something like that.

But, the place the taxi arrived at wasn’t a bar or party room that I had been expecting, but some hotel.

When I saw the building after getting out, the thought ‘I wonder how much it cost to build that?’ naturally came to mind.

It was a place I, who was completely unfamiliar with travel, had heard the name of on the news sometime, so it had to be a famous place.

The Crinex I used to see as a viewer was someone with a jovial and comfortable atmosphere, like a young uncle.

If I was thinking that something was increasingly being added to that image based on today’s experiences, was I being too materialistic?

The group, which had arrived at their destination almost at the same time since we’d left around the same time, split up again when we joined together.

A shopping team consisting of me, Yu Sieun, and the two Challengers.

A lodging preparation team consisting of Crinex and Hayan.

Each team dispersed to carry out their mission, and when we entered a nearby supermarket, I was assigned the role of handling ice cream and simple snacks. The other three were handling getting drinks and alcohol.

‘Hmm…?’

The reason for the biased allocation of personnel became clear when we gathered again to pay.

Perhaps it was because they were people who could confidently say that they could hold their liquor, but, to put it a bit exaggeratedly, it seemed like they had brought a box full of alcohol.

After each of us completed our missions and gathered again in the vast room, the group began to share drinks with a spirited toast.

Even Park Hayan, who had declared earlier that she shouldn’t drink, was now holding up a glass and sipping it.

When I asked, I heard a cheerful answer from the brightly smiling Park Hayan: ‘I wasn’t drinking earlier because I have a very bad memory of taking the subway after drinking, but if it’s like this, of course I’ll drink!’

As another hour or two passed, I could now definitely feel the effects of the alcohol.

I didn’t have some incredible tolerance for alcohol, but since I was aware that I had a tendency to become more honest in my actions and words, I gradually slowed down. It also seemed like Yu Sieun had been looking at me more often since earlier.

The topic of conversation, which had mainly been the LoL Team Tournament at the restaurant, was now flowing towards internet broadcasting, now that there were six industry insiders gathered who had loosened up.

Although you could lump them together and call them six people in occupations related to internet broadcasting, if you looked at each member of the group in detail, the composition was quite diverse.

In Crinex’s case, he was someone who had survived from the early days of internet broadcasting until now.

In the case of Hyungyeok and Yeonggirong, they were both Legacy of Legend Challenger streamers, but one had purely been streaming, while the other had started streaming after finishing their professional gaming career.

In Yu Sieun’s case, she was a unique commodity as a top female player, and in Hayan’s case, she was a pure and innocent general gaming streamer.

And finally, there was one YouTube editor mixed in.

The six who had gathered now had many overlapping fields, but were also different from each other; it was a group that had quite a few things they would be curious about.

As an hour or two passed, and the effects of the alcohol started to build up internal intimacy instead of awkwardness among the people, the direction of the story began to slowly deepen.

Stories from before starting broadcasting.

Stories from while broadcasting.

Concerns they had.

Futures they were imagining.

It was when the story of the future each of them was aiming for had been going around, starting with Crinex saying that there wouldn’t come a time when Legacy of Legend would fall, that Crinex opened his mouth.

“But, Sieun-nim, Hyungyeok, and Hayan-nim… do you have any thoughts of turning on your cameras in the future?”

Crinex, a veteran among streamers who do camera broadcasts, threw the question ‘Are you going to keep broadcasting with no cam?’ to three younger streamers: Yu Sieun, Hayan, and Hyungyeok.

Crinex continued to speak.

“I was really surprised when I saw you earlier. Hyungyeok was just handsome, but Sieun-nim and Hayan-nim were… This might be a dangerous thing to say in today’s world, but don’t take it the wrong way. Haha.”

Whether or not you show the streamer’s face on the screen is one of the criteria for categorizing broadcasters on Treech.

In general, it was true that turning on the camera was more advantageous for growth.

I don’t know about research papers and stuff, but from experience, it was certain that viewers preferred streamers whose real appearances were revealed, unless there were some disqualifying factors.

Hyungyeok didn’t have any disqualifying factors, and in Yu Sieun and Park Hayan’s cases, far from having disqualifying factors, they could use it as a tremendous strength.

It was Crinex who had asked the question, but it was a topic I was also curious about.

In my memories, Parallel World Yu Sieun had started turning on her camera several years after starting her broadcast.

What she must have been thinking.

How she might be thinking now.

“Um, I….”

Thinking that this might be a chance to confirm an answer to this, I stared intently at Yu Sieun, who seemed to be about to say something.