I Became a Malicious Streamer

– Yes! Hello viewers of South Korea. It’s the EOW Streamer Battle returning this year, just like last year. I’m your caster, Bang Hyeongjae. Next to me is the commentator, Kang Seonghun, just like last time, and we also have Tex, the star of last tournament’s victory.

– This is Bang Hyeongjae.

– This is streamer Tex.

– It seems like Tex, as a participant from last tournament, can really relate to the mental pressure and burdens that the current competitors face.

– Since I was the star of the victory, that pressure was definitely heavier for me.

– Yes, that’s what he said. I’m not sure if the viewers will agree with that.

The tournament didn’t take long to start. It seemed things were running smoothly as they had just asked me about my participation.

Right now, we’re livecasting the tournament taking place in the official channel. If the directors call for me, I’ll just show up then.

“Why is that guy over there?”

[Familiar faces, huh?]

[Tex, haha!]

[The star of the victory, right? LOL]

[I was wondering why he wasn’t showing up, turns out he went out there.]

[Mollru is with the director, and Tex is commenting; they’ve both gone pretty high up, huh?]

[Mollru can’t play as a competitor anymore; she’s gone too high up now, haha!]

[There are many new faces this time; do you have any players in mind, Director?]

[Aha, trust in Director Mollru’s foresight.]

[Are there no other members from Jackie’s team at all?]

Even in our Jackie team, which hadn’t exploded on Discord yet, there was talk about the tournament.

When asked if anyone was participating, it was ironically unanimous that everyone was unable to participate this time due to work.

Except Tex. Tex said he would be participating without technically participating, so I guess that’s what he meant.

– The tournament proceeds just like last time. 20 players will be split into 4 teams for the semi-finals. The directors will identify and select the players they want.

– The main difference from last time is that this time, we’re not using an auction rule, right?

– Yes! This tournament will follow a draft system instead of an auction. The directors will take turns selecting one player each.

– A draft, huh? How is the order determined?

– The order… is determined like this.

As Bang Hyeongjae spoke, something appeared on the screen.

A gigantic roulette. The physical roulette is divided into 4 sections, each labeled with the names of the directors.

Jinsu, Mare, Dakdak, Mollru. The directors consist of these four.

– It’s a roulette.

– There’s no issue of fairness, and it’s the cleanest method, really.

– That’s true, I guess.

[Wait, what’s with the roulette? LOL]

[Spin it, spin it, let’s go to the roulette!]

[Leaving all to the goddess of fortune, wow!]

[This means Mollru is the first pick, right?]

[For real, haha!]

Unlike what I already knew, the viewers seemed to find this method quite refreshing. I felt the same way when I first heard it.

– The roulette will be spun four times total. The directors will select their desired players in the order dictated by the roulette. If there’s a duplicate, we spin again! After each director picks one player, if it completes a rotation, we spin the roulette again to determine the order.

– If things go wrong, a director might keep picking first or might get duplicates?

– Since it’s an actual roulette, those issues can happen; but when duplicates happen, we’ll just keep spinning. The first pick issue comes down to luck, so it can’t be helped.

– Ah, right… it’s circular after all.

– Yes, that’s right. The roulette is circular.

[‘A roulette is circular.’]

[The earth is round too! Haha!]

[Oh, just keep spinning, that’s all!]

The explanation of the game continued.

– Once a player is selected by the director, they belong to that team.

– Do the players have any right to refuse?

– That might create a fun scene, but then players would cluster too much on certain teams, and it would extend the process too much, hence players have no option to refuse.

– Instead, after the director picks a player, there will be a short one-minute interview with the player to ask how they feel about being selected, whether they like the team, and whether they like the members.

As I watched, I wondered. Since there’s no refusal, they have to belong to that team—could they honestly express whether they liked it or not?

Suddenly, I felt a bit worried.

“What if I pick a player and they don’t like our team?”

[Huh? LOL]

[What’s this person talking about?]

[Everyone wants to join the Bangjang team, what are you saying? Haha!]

[As long as they come to Bangjang’s team, even if they don’t win, it’s still worth it—everyone would want to join!]

[For real, that’s a pointless worry.]

[Haha, would they even say they didn’t like it?]

[The moment they say they don’t like it, 70 million Molbus might come and bury them, would they say they didn’t like it? Haha!]

[When did it rise to 70 million?]

[That’s more than the population of South Korea, right? Haha!]

[Including overseas fans, of course!]

It was indeed a pointless worry. Whether our team was disliked was irrelevant. Players have no right to refuse, so they can’t just quit the tournament or the broadcast.

So what can you do? If I say I’ll pick, and the player dislikes it—what are they going to do? I have to think of it like that.

– All other rules remain the same. The semi-finals are a best of 3, and the finals are a best of 5. More detailed rules can be found on our website.

– Alright, with that, I’ll finish explaining the rules, and let’s move on to the directors’ calls.

One by one, the conversation between the directors and commentators unfolded. They introduced themselves briefly, gave their determinations, and shared any players they were watching.

– Lastly, we can’t skip hearing from our Director Mollru.

– Director Mollru is someone with quite a backstory. They used to play in the same team as Tex.

– Right! They evolved into a coach from a player all on their own.

– And Tex transitioned from player to commentator, didn’t he?

– Should we consider it that way?

Attention was drawn as Bang Hyeongjae finished introducing Director Mollru, and my turn to speak approached.

– The star of the first EOW Streamer Battle, and now participating as a director! We’re welcoming Director Mollru!

“Ah, yes. I am Director Mollru.”

– Yes! I don’t think there’s a viewer who doesn’t know Director Mollru. Currently, you are also streaming on Switch and recently participated in our league commentary, and before the Ed Cup event as well—you’ve truly showcased your gamer side. But this time, you’re here as a director.

“Yeah, I got contacted by the organizers asking if I would participate as a director.”

– Right, indeed! You’ve risen too high to participate as a player now.

– Among the four directors, you’re the only one currently active and have the highest tier.

– Do you have any mindset or resolve while participating in this tournament?

Same as last time: I really don’t have anything more than that.

“Of course, my goal is to build a team aiming for the championship and lead the players.”

– Right! To be honest, answers to this question can get repetitive. But it certainly felt like there was meaning in Director Mollru’s reply.

– You were the key to leading your team to victory last tournament; this adds weight to your words.

– Didn’t you just say I was the star of the victory earlier?

– Did I? Can’t remember well…

As banter continued with the commentary team, the same question that all directors had received came to me.

– Do you have an eye on any specific players, Director? After all, more than half the participants have changed since the last tournament.

“There are a lot of new faces. I’ve scanned through them via my info network and have chosen a few candidates in my mind.”

An info network, huh? That’d be the kind of fact that viewers share in the cafe. Posts detailing the tiers and main picks of the streamers participating in this tournament.

– So you’re quite passionate about this tournament to set up an info network.

– There are urban legends in the chat that Mollru runs a dark underworld unit. The scale of Mollru’s fan cafe is quite enormous.

– It was intriguing to hear which candidates Director Mollru has mentally shortlisted.

With that, the interview ended. Following that were short self-promotion videos of the 24 participants, along with explanations from the commentary team.

The time for the player selection roulette drew near.

– We’re going to spin the roulette to determine the order and gather the teams.

– Without further ado, let’s spin the roulette! I wonder who the first director will be. The first pick is immensely important.

– Right! There must be common players that all directors covet. Who will the goddess of fortune smile upon?

– Here we go! Spinning the roulette!

Drrrrrrr… The roulette spun rapidly.

As it spun quickly, it gradually slowed down and finally came to a stop at one of the four sections.

– Ah, the director who will pick first is Director Dakdak!

– I thought it might be Mollru!

– Close call for Mollru, but Dakdak snatched the selection! Who will he choose?

“Ah, that’s unfortunate…”

[Oh gosh!]

[That one didn’t go in, haha!]

[It’s okay, you can pick next time!]

However, next time, and the one after that, I still wasn’t able to select first.

– For the second time, the director who will pick first is Director Mare!

– It’s Jinsu!

– Again, it’s Director Jinsu!

– It’s Dakdak again! Oh, several rounds have gone by, and Mollru hasn’t gotten to pick first even once. This must be quite disappointing.

And just like that, as the teams were left with 6 players, even when they called for the last player, I was still getting crushed by the roulette.

“Damn luck is so bad…”

[Oh no!]

[Mollru, what’s that about?]

[Looks like it’s just not your luck, haha!]

[The universe isn’t very fair, is it?]

[They must have patched the balance badly!]

[Aren’t you worried this will mess up the team composition?]

[Stop the bad luck!]

[Is the goddess of fortune intimidated by the rising goddess Mollru?]

[Haha, did the goddess get jealous of Mollru?]

[For real! Haha!]

In that way, I reluctantly built my roster with the remaining players after others had picked.

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