It’s not that kind of malicious broadcast

– 『User』 sponsored 1000 won! –

【StarPork, my friend Yena started caring excessively about others’ attention after people told her she was pretty. It seems like she’s caught the ‘celebrity syndrome.’

Please knock some sense into her, and tell her to live like the crazy girl she used to be.】

Here we go again.

『Oh my』

『Yena, snap out of it~~』

『The name brings a particular 10-nyan to mind~』

『Queen pretty』

『??? Is she famous or something?』

『Yena, live as the crazy girl you are~』

Once more, a malicious viewer from Yena’s room intruded.

StarPork, Ahri stifled a sigh that threatened to escape.

Although expected to some extent, the impact of Yena revealing her face was unimaginably overwhelming.

She wasn’t just a pretty face—a top-tier broadcaster on KoK, with immense recognition even before her face was revealed.

When she won the national rhythmic gymnastics competition at the age of 13, a video of her interview surfaced and spread like wildfire across the KoK community, taking less than three days since the protest day.

Countless video donations poured in. By the second day, she gave up counting.

Despite raising the price to 1,000 won per second, malicious viewers would clip the portion showing her face alongside the caption “Lee Yena (13, ㅇㅇ Middle School) – National Competition Gold Medal” and send it in three-second increments, forcing her to feign ignorance continuously. She knew it was a fruitless effort, but still.

“Ah, Yena? I don’t know who you are, but I’ll cheer for you! But drop a friend like that. Calling a friend a ‘crazy girl’? She disregards the sacred… bond of friendship.”

However, the struggle to maintain her expression wasn’t solely because of that.

As a devoted fan of GetDevoured, truthfully, if she let her guard down, she might nod in agreement.

Since the protest. No, perhaps even before—since Yuna excitedly discussed GetDevoured’s broadcasting career at a dinner with Yena’s older sister right after the protest ended… no one knew better than her that GetDevoured’s broadcasts hadn’t been the same since then.

From the beginning, it was because Ahri fell for the way Yena recklessly sliced through everything that became a fan. Seldom had anyone felt the recent changes as much as she did.

Of course, that did not mean she sympathized with irreverent comments like calling her a crazy woman or anything. Claims that she had become strange, too timid… At such words, she would inadvertently think,

‘…No way.’

-Slap!

Ahri slapped her face with both hands, trying to collect her overflowing thoughts, and then started her broadcast with a bright smile on her flushed face.

“Alright! So, today’s game is– ‘The Rogue’! Why? Well, it’s not a punishment… Someone vouched that this game is amazing. If it turns out to be a lie, I’ll make them take responsibility! Those asking if it’s our latest game, you’re banned. Mind your words, please.”

‘Don’t worry. It’s just a bit awkward because her family found out… It’s natural. She’ll definitely come back soon.’

* * * *

Had my voice been too loud?

The conversation between the two had come to an abrupt halt, as if cut by a knife. With unusually wide-open eyes fixed on me, my mouth moved silently… Hmm.

Feeling quite regretful towards Lee Yeri, who looked visibly flustered by my sudden actions.

Still, it felt inevitable.

From the start, feeling sorry for her was unavoidable.

Simply because I didn’t know how to handle it, I justified and delayed it for a long time. It’s not something that disappears just by holding it in… It won’t get any better by just ignoring it.

Not long after deciding not to procrastinate anymore.

I had to do what I came to do.

…First, I decided to start by talking directly.

I pushed my phone across the table, between me and the boss. Hopefully, the screen would be visible to both of us. Even if I couldn’t see it well, he should be able to understand the English to some extent.

Because now, the conversation might get intense. And in that regard, he felt confident.

“Umm… this is a translator. Its performance is pretty good these days.”

I leaned forward and stretched my neck to check the phone’s screen from a distance, and saw the large text, ‘This is a translator. Its performance is rather fine nowadays.’

Yes. It worked.

Ah. And, since we’re talking about rogues…

“And, this is a gift.”

-Thump

-Eek!

As I said that, I pulled out the prepared dagger from my bag and placed it on the table—an odd little scream was heard beside me.

… I should’ve explained this beforehand.

Indeed, the dagger had quite a presence.

In the game, it always felt short due to its lack of effective range. But the dagger, realized in a 1:1 ratio in reality, was quite hefty and surprisingly large.

The CEO, too, was staring wide-eyed at the dagger, unable to take his gaze off it…he must have been startled by its grandeur. Could he be thinking that this was a threat? No matter how it appeared, probably not.

That’s Plan B, no need to worry about that yet.

… Even so, I had no intention of resorting to physical force.

* * *

The moment the hefty dagger was placed on the table.

Unlike Lee Yeri, who froze in shock, the CEO’s eyes sparkled like they were shining.

And after a brief silence.

“Ah! My goodness, this… this! No, wasn’t this pattern always smudged in the game? The VR design team said it couldn’t be done. How… how did you… are you really giving this to me? My goodness, I need to repay you immediately… I got something confiscated at the airport, but I’ll get it back somehow. I swear! Oh my God, with the rogue queen’s signature… can you write ‘to JDox’ below here?”

The CEO of Faraday began to babble praises as if he were rapping, but nothing reached her ears.

Of all things, a knife.

She was too shocked even to stop him. If she hadn’t fallen into a panic, she might have screamed the moment it came out of the bag.

Maybe it was for the best. As she gradually regained her senses, she instinctively assessed whether the length of the blade classified it as an illegal weapon, or whether it was sharp. It was realistic but not a sharp blade. Since it was from a combat game, it was probably merchandise of some sort. Still…

Lee Yeri struggled to resist looking at her younger sibling’s wrist. She had to trust, as she had been asked.

“Yes, instead…This is really not just about a simple performance nerf issue. If you nerf the rogue and then release a new character like this, the game will fail. Seriously.”

“Ah… Haa. I really do understand your feelings. Before being a developer, I am also a gamer. There’s nothing more heart-wrenching than seeing your favorite character get butchered. Have you ever heard of POAGLE? Do you know POAGLE?”

“…Yes. I played it quite a lot and watched a lot of streams… on Tw*tch. Anyway, even though POAGLE was a doomed game, they never did anything like this. The new characters just had… poor historical accuracy.”

“Ah, I see. You’ve been skilled in VR from the beginning! Anyway, I used dual scimitars in POAGLE, and when they nerfed the parrying judgment of the dual swords… I almost went to the company. If I had been living in California then, I would have gone there for sure. So… I understand the feeling. Really. But our team at Faraday is committed to ensuring users get the best experience possible—”

As the two were communicating in such a gentle atmosphere, watching them with a slightly anxious heart,

-Haa.

A deep sigh echoed through the large office.

Was it because of the main topic of the gathering? Or was it due to the probing nature of the initial statements? Since the start of this quasi-meeting, sighs had echoed several times.

However, this sigh was a bit higher in tone than the previous ones and came from the side, not across from her.

And then.

“It seems like you don’t quite understand….”

A quiet mumble. Whether a high-performance phone had captured the sound or not, a loading icon was spinning on the screen, indicating that translation was in progress.

Was this what was frustrating?

“It seems the translator isn’t performing well. This phone might do a better job. Shall I gift this phone and use it as a translator?”

Lee Yena started direct communication, tapping her dagger lightly, a thick smile covering her lips. Although her eyes were not smiling.

“Uh, yes? Ah, I see. Ha-ha… Alright. Since it’s a good seat, feel free to say whatever you want. Lately, I rarely have the chance to talk to customers genuinely passionate about our game… It’s rather nice. Please, share all your thoughts!”

“Can I? Then… yeah. Selling characters as patched-up ragdolls by severing and stitching limbs, calling it a new character, is akin to game murder. And I won’t watch our KoK die like that. Absolutely not.”

‘I need to stop them… no, what next if I do?’

Thinking back— how far and for how long had she planned to stop this? Just because she was called ‘sister.’

If she’d intended to support someone who easily surpassed her presumptions… If that were the case, she should have matched the steps, not blocked them from the start.

“I’d rather kill them by my own hand than watch them languish and die this time.”

… Although how to match such statements, she didn’t quite know.