Gender Swap: The Introvert’s Broadcast

I started pouring the drinks one by one.

"...I’ll drink just a little. I don’t want to get drunk and make things difficult for myself."

Of course, this didn’t mean I was struggling right now. I still had plenty of strength left, but it was better to be cautious in case anything unexpected happened. One shouldn't get too cocky.

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Oh, a scaredy-cat.] [This one’s really a scaredy-cat...] [Is he scared of this?] [Twispookjjikmareupne: You said you weren’t drunk earlier, lol.] [Twispookjjikmareupne: Drink more.] [He'll drink when he wants, no forcing him.] [Hwanhee: He’s already drunk, I bet, lol.] [Thumbs up for the drunk.]

Looking at the chat, there were a lot of people accusing me of already being drunk. So I’m drunk now, huh?

‘If I were really drunk, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking.’

I was quite good at self-objectivity. Objectively, if I were drunk, I would already be in the pension, sleeping.

"I'm really not drunk. Ugh."

Slightly exasperated, I added a bunch of ice cubes into my drink and started stirring it.

Swish-swish.

The drink itself tasted fine, but personally, I thought it was better when the ice melted just a little and diluted it. Or maybe not.

"So, last time I invested in stocks, but suddenly it dropped by 10%, so I cut my losses. If I go back, I won’t invest again." "Forget stocks, just play games properly. If you stream hard enough, the money will come in…!!" "Just streaming all the time isn’t great though. I’m still at the age where I want to have fun." "That’s true..."

I waited for the conversation between Pine and Kang Hu-min to end, since I had something to ask Rize.

"-Then, let’s go fishing together next time." "I’m good with that."

Once their conversation ended...

"Rize." "Yes?" "How’s the tournament going these days?" "Uh... it hasn’t started yet. It’s about to start soon, though."

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Ugh.] [Please don’t talk about how the mid got kicked out of the Reld Cup, please ㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴ] Temporarily logged out! [No mentioning of players ㄴㄴ] [That’s why we changed the roster.] [Seriously, I think changing the mid is better.] [Suddenly a surprise mention of the Reld Cup, what’s up with that?] [Twispookjjikmareupne: Damn, why would you bring up something like that, Da-ma?]

I knew that Rize’s team had unfortunately been eliminated from the Reld Cup last time. It wasn’t some far-off rumor. After all, I did the live commentary for the Reld Cup with Harin. That too, the finals.

Since I was drinking, I suddenly wanted to ask, so I just did. I was curious about what Rize was thinking as well.

"Is your goal still to win the Reld Cup this time?" "Uh… of course. But I don’t think it’s going to happen." "Why?" "I’ve just lost a lot of confidence. I don’t think we’ll win even if we play the game..."

[Isn’t this totally a shot at that person? ㄷㄷ] [ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ] [Looks like a shot at that person...] [Hmm... lol] [This will definitely cause some controversy.] [🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Everyone’s out of breath and talking trash about the Reld Cup ㄴㄴ] [Seriously, let’s stop talking about the Reld Cup ㄴㄴ]

As we talked, it suddenly felt like we were in the UFC. Naturally, I was trying to continue the conversation about the Reld Cup, but since so many people watched the Reld Cup, the topic switched to the Golden Cup, it seemed.

"Uh... hang in there." "Okay, let’s have another drink." "Should we?"

So we naturally had another drink. It couldn’t be helped. I didn’t expect the chat to go this way.

‘I was trying to talk about Leore casually...’

I had forgotten that the Reld Cup had just ended not long ago. I’d heard you had to be careful when it’s so soon after a tournament. Next time, I’ll have to be more careful, I thought, and had another drink.

Cheers.

How much time passed, I wonder.

"Hmm... the weather is nice today..."

The weather did feel great. I had booked a lovely pension in Gangwon-do, but today, the stars in the sky seemed clearer than usual.

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: This guy’s drunk, lol.] [If you’re drunk, go inside and pass out.] [He definitely seems drunk.] [Normally, he wouldn’t say things like this.] [Hang in there...] [If you’re drunk, stop talking weird and go sleep, lol.] [Twispookjjikmareupne: Haven’t seen this side of you in a while.] [Oh? Long time no see.]

As I was staring at the scenery, lost in thought...

"Are you okay?"

Ibaek spoke up, smiling.

"Oh, I’m fine. Just enjoying the good atmosphere."

It was true. If I were really drunk, I wouldn’t be sitting here, I’d be lying on the floor.

"Hmm... How about a short walk? I’m a little drunk too, and feel like walking." "Shall we...?"

I would’ve usually preferred to stay put, but since Ibaek was asking, I couldn’t refuse. So, I quickly asked the people around me for permission.

"I’m going to take a short walk." "Alright, take care." "Have a good walk."

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Can’t he just walk by himself?] [Walking with Ibaek... Hmm...] [Isn’t there some ulterior motive?] [Twispookjjikmareupne: Stop slandering him.] [Twispookjjikmareupne: I bet Deunggong’s thinking clearly, lol.] [For real.] [Take care.] [You don’t look great, maybe a walk will help sober you up.]

After asking for permission, we stepped away from where the others were drinking.

"Whew, the air here is really nice." "Yeah, how did you know to pick this place? It’s really nice here." "I just searched for pensions in Gangwon-do, and it came up." "Ah, I see."

As I walked around with Ibaek, chatting...

"By the way, was there anything unusual when you were streaming on my account? My viewers aren’t exactly normal."

I didn’t want to worry about it, but I couldn’t help it. There were some really strange people in the chat, and Ibaek might have gotten annoyed by some of their comments.

"There are always three managers who follow me wherever I go, so they handle those types of comments. Don’t worry about it." "...You have people like that?" "Yeah, I hired about three of them back then because it was tough to manage the chat." "Oh..."

Hearing Ibaek, I found him quite appealing. He had managers who followed him around.

‘...Maybe I should seriously consider this later.’

He seemed really solid from an objective standpoint, so I looked around a little more.

"Whew..."

As I chatted with Ibaek while walking around, my slightly dizzy head started to clear up. Maybe it was because of the cool air.

"Shall we head back now?" "Ah, yeah."

With my head now clearer, we headed back to where the stream was being held...

"I’m seriously going to smack you, so tighten your forehead." "No, please go easy on me. I’ve been smacking you lightly for a while now." "Tsk. Stop talking nonsense."

I saw Kang Hu-min getting ready to flick Mangming’s forehead.

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Finally back.] [Hey, hey.] [Da-ma, hey.] [Ibaek’s hair color is really something, lol.] [After losing three rounds of rock-paper-scissors, I’d do that too...] [Flicking his forehead, here we go, lol.] [Twispookjjikmareupne: Don’t go easy, really smack him hard.] [Twispookjjikmareupne: If you smack him lightly, Mangming’s pride will be hurt.] [For real, lol.]

I glanced at the chat and saw that they had been playing rock-paper-scissors for the flick. I wasn’t sure how it had ended up like this. It was fine when I left the room, though. That’s what I thought, and just as I was thinking that...

Flick-!!

I heard a crisp sound as Mangming’s forehead was flicked.

[Twispookjjikmareupne: Wow, holy shit, lol.] [Hu-min’s strength is no joke, lol.] [Is this okay..?] [🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: If that hit was right, he might not wake up again.] [Is Mangming okay?] [It seems like Mangming is dead, lol.]

‘...That was really strong.’

If I’d gotten hit with that flick, I wouldn’t be able to get up again that day. It was that strong.

I thought it was absurd, and just as I was thinking that...

"Whew..."

Mangming sighed and got up from his seat. And shortly after...

"Well, now that it’s come to this, how about we all play a drinking game? It sounds fun."

He suddenly suggested a drinking game that everyone could join in. And he had a really mischievous look on his face.

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Hahahahaha.] [The drinking game sounds really fun.] [Let’s do it, lol.] [Twispookjjikmareupne: Now you’re pulling everyone into this, lol.]