[Holy crap. They actually accepted it. As thanks, I'll carry this round.]
Even Kim, who didn't know much about the community or the notorious Signal Flare, snorted in amusement.
'...With two double-barrels?'
Double-barrels were popular close-range weapons, but it was rare to see anyone dual-wielding them.
Even for Crazy Shot, the hero with the shotgun damage bonus.
And ammo was limited to just 40 rounds total.
The rest of the inventory was packed tight with throwable weapons, excluding firebombs.
Kim wasn't the best player, but with years of experience, he could roughly picture what his teammate was planning.
A strategy focused on close-quarters urban combat—using smokes to close gaps whenever distance opened up.
It wasn't standard play, though, so running around together raised the risk of getting caught up in needless trouble.
Here, Kim faced a choice.
Trust the random teammate who'd declared they'd carry, or go lone wolf.
The other surviving teammate was Chinese and quiet, playing a 'Thief' class specialized in harassing and disrupting the enemy backline.
They probably wouldn't help Kim much even if a fight broke out.
But Kim's own class was 'Supporter.'
The kind that amplified effects when teamed up with allies, rather than solo.
A skilled player could solo queue with a Supporter just fine.
But Kim didn't want that kind of exhausting grind this late at night.
And despite the bizarre appearance, that cute voice had a subtle healing effect on Kim's irritation from repeated near-wins.
"I'll back you up—let's see if you really carry."
[Oh, much appreciated then.]
Trusting 'MoMo Whose Final School Was Chicken School.'
Choice made.
About 15 minutes later.
Kim realized his choice was the right one.
[Don't come this way. I cleared it. Check that side.]
"Yes, Chicken School."
The voice was adorably childlike, but the playstyle was bold as hell, like some macho dude.
Spot an enemy? Drop smoke, lay down Crazy Shot's ultimate accelerator field, charge in—boom, boom!
Sometimes shields would break simultaneously with the enemy, and reload timings would overlap in a pinch—the Battle Colosseum double-barrel shotgun had the longest reload among primary weapons—but she'd escape those crises with impossibly precise sticky grenades.
Even if her own shield shattered, she'd always drop those two enemies first, so Kim's squad never lost.
The final fight was especially memorable.
Chicken School clutched against a full-health enemy team, pulling off an insane 1v3.
Using only double-barrels, smokes, and sticky grenades.
— !! Victory !! —
[Kim Grillmaster / MoMo Whose Final School Was Chicken School / CandiedHawthornHawthorn]
And just like that, Kim's squad claimed victory, easier than expected.
Chicken School even had good manners.
[Wow, Kim Grillmaster's heals are solid. Alt account?]
"No, this is my main."
[Lucky you. Thanks to you, we won. Good game.]
Truth was, Kim was the lucky one.
He'd queued over 20 games before meeting Chicken School, dealing with trash teammates the whole time, and was debating calling it a night.
"...Chaotic, but fun person."
* * *
Cheon Dohee loved Battle Colosseum.
Not lip service—she adored it so much that one day a week was always reserved for it during streams.
She wasn't a pro, getting wrecked in ranked, but her sheer grit got her to Gold by season's end every time.
That's why she frequented the Battle Colosseum gallery for news, and while scrolling over breakfast, she noticed post velocity spiking hard right from the morning.
… ─ Battle Colosseum Gallery ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …
[SignalFlareSignalFlare...]
(Kid.ntube)
This is from a recording I took while playing yesterday—isn't this that kid?
The one who used to go by FireworksSomethingKimDukbae
Feels exactly like Signal Flare.
Queued random last night, and this random with dual double-barrels was mowing down teams like crazy—total Signal Flare vibes.
They spammed hello 55 times from queue pop, so I absentmindedly replied, then they said they'd carry and wrecked everyone for the win;
[Comments]
— BatCol291: Hello spam is peak madness lololol
— BatCol862: Trash-talking like a beast but voice is stupid cute lol
ㄴ BatCol361: Makes it cuter somehow?
ㄴ BatCol721(OP): Got a little sis so hearing that kinda creeps me out;
— BatCol634: Bring more
ㄴ BatCol721(OP): What more you want psycho
ㄴ BatCol634: BRING MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ㄴ BatCol721(OP): (brainmelt con)
… ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ …
Anyone could tell it was Magia.
Wondering what she'd done to cause this uproar, Dohee learned she'd queued randoms at dawn, greeting every teammate 100 times over.
It wouldn't be surprising if Magia's Signal Flare identity got exposed anytime—and now this troll move.
"Why...is everyone reacting positively?"
Worried there'd be hate, but it was all good vibes.
Turns out, replying to the greetings got you carried to a stylish win every time.
Clips circulating already numbered over ten, and there were even full VODs with constant teammate comms.
[No, the support was insane? Felt like I teamed with Helen Keller.]
[Sna bro, save some shield battery? Just one?]
[That's a sniper, this is sniping. Sna bro, confiscating your other guns. Snipe-only from now.]
She fast-forwarded through some since the audio was clear enough—cheering teammates on like a voice buff machine.
"...Talks so pretty too."
This was why Magia was a pro troll.
Never said anything ban-worthy.
Same with her MoMo trolling.
All pretty words that scratched people perfectly, pushing Dohee's rage to the brink without crossing it—driving folks insane.
That's why MoMo crashed the party.
Felt like she'd suffer forever without confronting it head-on.
"And no one figured out it's our employee."
Grinding teeth and playing dumb?
Or was the voice truly unrecognizable?
Dohee's main content was Battle Colosseum, so plenty of her gallery regulars overlapped with BatCol gallery—but no one had solid proof yet.
Signal Flare a girl? With a voice this cute?
...That shock might've blinded everyone, burying the Parallel employee D Rain drama that lit up Parallel and 1st Gen galleries yesterday and today.
But it'd surface eventually, even if buried now.
Might as well drop it all at once in the upcoming collab.
Scandals hit harder when they explode in layers from multiple angles, rather than one big bang.
Still just 'Signal Flare = cute-voiced girl troll' for now.
But piecing 'Signal Flare = girl = troll = D Rain' together? The fallout would be massive.
Dropping it in the collab meant handling fallout same-day.
Otherwise, endless future headaches.
Maybe that's why it bugged her.
Dohee stewed all morning, then DingTalked Jia around lunch.
[Me: Jia, what ID you using for the stream?]
[Magia: Main account]
Minds aligned, unexpectedly.
[Me: Why not alt?]
[Magia: Don't want drama from getting caught on alt]
[Magia: I didn't do anything wrong]
[Magia: Feels like showing it now lets it slide under the radar]
[Magia: But need boss to help a bit]
[Me: Oh...]
[Me: Strategic]
But Magia said this after her social experiment yielded one conviction.
That a cute troll gets forgiven for rowdy antics—a slightly twisted certainty.
[Magia: But uh, can I troll a little like when I snipe boss normally?]
Too much trolling draws obsessive haters.
[Me: You don't wanna be on every stream, right?]
[Magia: Yeah]
[Me: Then chill]
[Magia: Uuu]
Uuu my ass.
...Cute, so forgiven.
[Me: Me and Rain are there]
[Me: Just don't cross lines]
* * *
⚡Zap zap
[ Aoyagi Rain / AOYAGI RAIN ]
@aoyagirain_parallel_vtuber | 166K followers
Parallel 1st Gen, rain fallin' from the sky, Aoyagi Rain☂
[ (?Live) Holy crap something HUGE dropped ] ?15,227
#BattleColosseum #MoMo #Parallel
One week later, the scheduled Battle Colosseum collab day.
Rain's stream, usually holding 4K average viewers, spiked to over 15K.
Boosted by high interest in employee D Rain,
And other members declaring off-days like they'd coordinated.
Risky for losing personal fans, but it was a trick President Dohee had shared with 1st Gen.
[MoMo: Fans who watch one of you are super likely to check others]
[MoMo: You're a group—naturally collabing with members boosts that]
[MoMo: Use off-days strategically]
[MoMo: Say a huge collab without you gets grabbed by another member, but you had no off-days this month]
[MoMo: Off-day right then? Your fans flock to the collab, inflating viewer count visually?]
[MoMo: That draws new viewers in, who then scatter to faves—trickle-down effect lol]
So the rest of 1st Gen cleared all schedules that day, hospital included.
To them, 'D Rain' was clearly Parallel's hot topic.
[Oh hell yeah! Droppin' rain from the sky. Here to soak that parched earth today!]
A ki orb from all 1st Gen pooled together.
Plus President MoMo's viewer inflator, shown raw in chat velocity.
— OhhellYeah
— ㅇㅎㅇ
— Lehaha
— Lehahahahaha
— ㅇㅎㅇ!
— D Rain! D Rain! D Rain! D Rain! D Rain! D Rain! D Rain!
— Lehaha
— ㅇㅎㅇ
— ㅇㅎㅇ!
[So a week. Long wait, right?]
— Weeeeeeeeeek yeah
— Nearly suffocated
— Puddle almost dry
[Ahaha! Yeah, bone-dry. So lemme intro our two guests to moisten things up! First, our prez!]
In the Battle Colosseum lobby, the empty seat in the 3-man queue filled with President MoMo's ID 'momopeach.'
"Hello, puddle pals. Been a while."
— Moha
— ㅁㅎ
— MoPrez hi
— You came~
— Month since last?
[Next! The puddle scum who curse like sailors dragged me here. Despite busy sched, squeezed time for us~ Employee, D, Lupin~!]
All eyes on Magia's return after a week.
"Hello. I'm Employee D from Parallel ops team, who played D Rain in last week's [Find Rain]. Nice to play with you today."
— ㅇㄱㄱㄷ
— Employee D Lupin vibes lololol
— Gomu gomu no~~
— Hell yeahhhhh
— Jehahhahahahahahahahahaha
— Damn, MoMo, what is this employee!! She's a keeper!!
— ㄱㅇㅇ
— God Employee King Employee
Up to then, it was standard warm welcome for the star of last content.
But today's stream was packed with MoMo's Battle Colosseum stans.
Signal Flare mentions popped in chat, and as Cheon Dohee planned, one dono flew in.
:: Anonymous donor gifted 10,000 clouds! ::
:: Wait, Employee D's nick... ::
That's when everyone clocked the third slot nickname.
[3p : HumanSignalFlareKimFirecracker]
One of Battle Colosseum's named trolls.
Famous as MoMo troll bait.
Signal Flare was right there.
— ?
— ??
— Huh?
— Wait what my brain froze
— ???
— Signal...Flare?
— Bro why are you here...?
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