Former Hero Streamer – Chapter 136

If you ask when the most leisurely period as a Professional Gamer is, most would pick the time after the regular league ends and before the preseason kicks in.

Since a new patch hasn’t been applied yet, the builds have been long established, and there won’t be any more leagues under the current patch version. The same goes for the STK Gaming Team. Even though most team members were gathered at the dorm, clear strategy research or scrims were temporarily on hold. Normally, they’d be off on vacation or at a workshop, but for some reason, the entire team was sticking around the dorm, focusing on practice.

Putting aside strategies and scrims, they consistently grind for ranks. No matter the changes in game balance, sharpening game sense isn’t a bad idea. They could adapt faster than anyone else. However, the coaching staff knew that the biggest reason behind this was something else. The problem was that openly talking about this would definitely scratch their pride as professionals, so they made an unspoken agreement not to mention it out loud.

During a break, Yoon-soo stepped out for a quick refresh and glanced at the other team members through their doors, but he sighed internally at the same sight: everyone busy polishing their individual performance focused on solo queue.

“Well, we’ve become a pro team completely owned by Friede.”

It was an unofficial event, but who knew the main ace players would get utterly wrecked by Friede? Thankfully, STK had dominated all leagues this season, otherwise, they might have faced overt criticism about their professional skills. Criticizing STK would naturally mean belittling every pro team below them. Of course, some still gnawed their teeth and called them has-beens.

“Unbelievable.”

All this because of just one user named Friede. Where did such a talent suddenly pop up from? Lately, they’ve been calling her the “Billionaire Friede,” and she’s practically a bottomless onion with endless drama unfolding.

As he stepped into the lobby, he spotted Eun-ha stretching ahead. Yoon-soo quietly approached and asked.

“Are you on Broadcasting?”

“Yeah, I hit my quota. No one can stop me this week.”

“I still have two days left, so I’m super jealous.”

If it were a broadcast done out of personal desire, it’d be one thing, but having to meet a set quota makes it feel more like work than play. Seeing Eun-ha, who was done early, stirred that envy. It was like feeling towards a friend who finished homework ahead and got to play.

“If you’re jealous, work hard.”

Eun-ha replied nonchalantly to Yoon-soo.

“Sure, leaving vacation homework to the last minute is definitely the rule of the land.”

Eun-ha shook her head at Yoon-soo and decided to ignore him. Just the other day, she was reminded of having been scolded for not fulfilling the broadcasting time stipulated in her contract, so she felt everything was pretty much chill. Worrying beyond this seemed like unnecessary mental expenditure that would only hurt herself. Eun-ha ignored him and chugged an energy drink from the fridge. Meanwhile, Yoon-soo, munching on some snacks, suddenly brought something up.

“Shall we duo? No wait, let’s invite Sister Friede and do it together.”

While he could just ask her directly, Friede had remained silent despite multiple friend requests. Officially, she seemed friendly, but personally, she felt distant… there was just no proper channel for communication. The person with the most connection to Friede in STK was Lotus—Eun-ha—so it was Yoon-soo’s way of getting things rolling.

“She’s on Broadcasting. She said she has a prior commitment, so it might be hard.”

“Really? That’s a bummer.”

He swallowed hard. The time leading up to the last event was incredibly pleasant for Yoon-soo, days perfectly fitting the term “event.” People made all sorts of noise about how STK got wrecked by the solo queue warriors, but what did it matter? Those who participated in Friede’s fan meeting and hugged her were the real winners in life, they were the champions of their own world.

Sure, there were various types of popular streamers, and some got noticed purely for their looks. But Friede was too special to be reduced to merely being a good-looking person. To be exact, she exceeded the limit of being just good-looking. No one could help but admire her beauty, and if someone were to ask Yoon-soo to point out someone everyone would like, without hesitation he’d name Friede.

The reason all of STK’s players, despite being wrecked by her, held no ill feelings was undoubtedly due to the way her hugs melted hearts like butter. Friede’s hugs were incredibly sweet; Yoon-soo’s memory still vividly held onto that feeling. So, he tried to subtly suggest playing ranked games together through Eun-ha but was thwarted outright.

“Hey, have you heard any news?”

When Eun-ha shot a question his way, Yoon-soo tilted his head.

“News? What news?”

‘Does she not know?’

He thought Eun-ha would have heard, given how well-connected he was. She clicked her tongue.

While the true source remained unknown, recent rumors circulating in the community were subtly getting on Eun-ha’s nerves. They said STK got utterly wrecked while trying to recruit Friede. Where did such talk come from?

“No, it seems somewhere they said we tried to recruit her and got wrecked in the process. Apparently, even executives were involved or something.”

“Wow, that’s news to me. Even if we count the directors, we don’t have many higher-ups. Maybe if we include the office staff…?”

Were those people really concerned enough to care?

‘No way, right?’

Thinking it over, being associated with STK Friede sounded like good PR.

In any advertisement, beautiful women always catch attention. Even Yoon-soo thought Friede had high commercial value. Even as a streamer, she would certainly bring in significant promotional benefits, especially when you consider the sponsors currently backing the STK Gaming Team—hardly ordinary names.

Ah, if that actually happens, it’d be perfect. Then, he could propose collabs all the time.

“…Are you having weird thoughts about her?”

“No, just thinking good thoughts.”

“Well….”

Receiving a hug from his sister at the fan meeting would have been fine by him alone. But to think all STK team members and fans at the event would get that chance too.

When reflecting, what a bizarre turn of events. For him, being the same sex, and his feelings being purely admiration, would those others feel the same?

‘Especially with her wearing something way too revealing….’

Of course, that doesn’t mean he thought it was bad. In fact, it was incredibly alluring, and he wanted to keep his eyes glued. However, having such feelings based on her appearance felt like more than enough for just himself.

Maybe that’s why. Thinking about how many people had likely engaged in ugly fantasies at home while thinking of his sister made him grind his teeth involuntarily.

It started from this point. Eun-ha’s new goal was formed…

If she could secure the highest career and corresponding wealth as a Professional Gamer, then aiming to be her personal manager seemed like a great plan.

On her sides were streamer Forming and editor Ah-jini, Ryu Ah-jin.

Forming and Da-young were formidable rivals, but she was confident that no one could care for Friede and Se-hee as much as she could.

If Yoon-soo could peek into her thoughts, he’d probably tease her about where such unfounded confidence came from.

But no one could know her true feelings, and Eun-ha fell deeper into her illusions and resolved even more.

“Anyway, I should head in now.”

“Sure. I won’t stop you if you want to go solo. I’m going to play a bit and boost my score with Chan-hyuk.”

“You know practicing solo like that can get mixed comments about pro players boosting each other’s scores, right?”

“Yeah, what are they going to do about it? If they’re so mad, they should win.”

Truly, they were hard to deal with.

Well, not just in terms of career, but there are indeed solid metrics to contributing to victories, so it was hard to complain too much. After all, they were on the same team.

Eventually, Eun-ha took a step back and immersed herself in the device, logging into the virtual world.

[Player: Friede777]

[Status: Waiting]

Ah, her sister was already in matchmaking.

Should she just take the plunge and ask to join now?

Caught in conflict, Eun-ha recalled the reproach she made to Yoon-soo earlier.

“Improve your skill on your own….”

‘Never thought I’d bring this upon myself so quickly.’

Well, it couldn’t be helped. Opportunities would come again.

Shrugging off her feelings, Eun-ha began her matchmaking process as well.

Her sister and herself as challengers. Who knows? They might land on the same team after this.

—Thud!

Just in time, matchmaking completed, and Eun-ha entered the lobby.

Naturally, she checked the nicknames and confirmed they were on the same team.

Familiar nicknames, including other pro team players, caught her eye.

No apparent holes in their team; it was a clean setup.

Eun-ha felt a surge of good vibes. At least….

“Huh?”

Until she turned to the opposite side to see the enemy team….

[Friede777]

[Forming222]

A familiar nickname caught Eun-ha’s attention, and as the two exchanged glances, she realized that Forming, Da-young’s eyes were smiling at her, and her teeth clenched involuntarily.