Three days later.
With about four thousand viewers watching a certain broadcast, a young man with his mouth agape moved his controller, his face a mask of intense concentration.
-Oh
-Oh
-Is this the clear?
"Aaaaaaaahhh!!"
The moment his character reached a certain point, the young man leaped from his seat and let out a triumphant roar.
"I did it!!"
-Ooooohhh
-wtf
The young man, streamer ReaperAjo, clenched the controller in one hand and threw both arms wide in a victory pose.
His face was filled with joy, and the chat was scrolling so fast it was impossible to read anything properly.
"Ranking! Updated!"
-This dude's so excited he forgot how to talk lol
-He's gonna get the cops called on him again.
-Even the cops would probably take a picture with him and leave if they saw this lol
So excited he seemed to have lost the ability to speak in complete sentences, ReaperAjo waited for the end credits to finish normally before immediately accessing the ranking site.
1st. ReaperAjo.
2nd. Rasian.
"Kuaaaah...!!"
-grats grats grats
-congrats
-It's finally over.
He'd won.
He had finally won.
For three days, he had pushed himself to the limit, speedrunning to the point where he wondered if he'd even gotten ten hours of sleep in total. The result was that he had finally claimed the number one spot.
"Ha, haha. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for watching me clear it."
-You worked hard.
-If you knew that, you should've cleared it sooner.
-What? Did he clear it? Ah crap, I missed it.
Bowing his head to the viewers on the monitor, ReaperAjo calmed his excitement and reached for the mission window.
No, he didn't even need to.
⚙ MISSION COMPLETE ⚙ Achieve 1st place in the Fafle 1 speedrun. You have acquired 3,449,000 won.
He had earned a mission reward of nearly 3.5 million won.
The one who had pressed 'Success' on the mission was not the streamer or his manager, but the person who had issued it in the first place.
Thanks to the viewers who had chipped in and increased the mission prize, he had managed to shave off every possible second.
"I, I really went into this with the mindset that I'd quit streaming if I failed to get first place, you know? It makes sense. A mission this huge... oh my! A 1 million won donation from Songdo Professional Deliveryman!! Thank you!! I'll live a good life!!"
In the middle of his thanks, a donation so large came in that he had to immediately bow in gratitude.
While the 1 million won donation was a massive one-time hit, as soon as his first-place rank was cemented, smaller donations in 10,000 won increments started pouring in, like an infinite combo in a fighting game.
"Ha, really... To be honest, you're right. Yes. Just as you all pointed out, I took Rasian's tactics and used them to get first place. If he hadn't gotten screwed by that random mid-game pattern, I'd still be in second."
ReaperAjo lowered his head, his eyes welling up.
"A lot of people came to the fan cafe and told me to 'just play like you always do,' but I didn't think I could ever get first place that way. I'm sincerely grateful to Rasian for uploading his gameplay video."
While practicing the speedrun tactics, he had attracted some trolls along the way. They said things like even if he got first place, it was thanks to Rasian, and they couldn't acknowledge it since he didn't achieve it with his own original strategy.
"But I still got first place, didn't I? Hah, really."
However, there was one thing no one could deny: ReaperAjo was number one on the leaderboard.
"Rasian. Are you watching? If you are, please send me a message! I'll seriously treat you to a meal at a nice place sometime!"
-lol this guy
-Nope, not a girl~
-You think someone with the name Rasian is a girl? lol
A rumor had been circulating about the user Rasian, the former number one and current number two.
Both the ID and the YouTube channel thumbnail had a slightly feminine vibe.
The gameplay was anything but, but you never knew in the world of the internet.
"No, what, you think I'm trying to meet up just because I think they might be a girl? I just want to express my gratitude and treat them to a meal. It'd be great to do a collab stream with a skilled player, right?"
Was Rasian a woman or a man?
It wasn't even clear if they were Korean or not.
Just because the text on the YouTube channel was in Korean, who was to say they weren't a foreigner living in Korea?
💰 Anonymous Supporter has donated 100,000 won! -Honestly, if you have a conscience, you should give Rasian a cut.
"Ah, of course. But there's no business email listed, and there's still only that one video uploaded, right? Ah, thank you for the mission. 'Conscientiously give all the mission money to Rasian'... Hey, I need to make a living too!"
The moment he threw out a bit of bait, the viewers immediately latched onto it.
Rasian.
People couldn't help but remain interested in this being who had appeared out of nowhere, claimed the world's number one spot, and then vanished, only to now be number two.
💰 OnlyWatchesGirls has donated 10,000 won! -So is she a girl?
"Ah, I don't know. Thanks for the 10,000 won. Hmm... should I put out an APB on social media or something? Haha, maybe they're busy grinding speedruns for Fafle 2 or the next chapter? Like, a new video will just suddenly get uploaded after some time."
-dunno
-How would we know?
-Maybe they're trying to get 1st place in speedruns for Fafle 2 through 8?
With the streamer himself speculating, all sorts of theories began to fly around among the viewers.
Is Rasian a girl? A VTuber? Maybe they're trying to stir up buzz by creating a channel before reincarnating somewhere? Shouldn't we compile a list of all the streamers who used to play Fafle 1 and analyze their playstyles?
Amidst the chaos.
💰 Anonymous Supporter has donated 1,000 won! -By any chance, does this Rasian person also play fighting games?
"Huh?"
-?
-??
-What fighting games?
The sudden donation left ReaperAjo and the viewers bewildered, but...
💰 Anonymous Supporter has donated 1,000 won! -Not sure if it's the same person, but someone with the nickname Rasian is beating all the pros.
The follow-up message only deepened their confusion.
"...What do you mean, fighting games?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Watching a game with stakes is always enjoyable.
For every game, there are 'games that are fun to play' and 'games that are fun to watch others play'.
If the former is exemplified by the pinnacle of MOBAs, the latter could be represented by strategy simulations or fighting games.
The problem is that fighting games fall into the 'I'd rather not play it myself' category.
'How is a game fun when you just get caught in an infinite aerial combo by a veteran and get completely crushed?'
In a fighting game, you have to win.
The world of competition is cold, and you must secure victory in a match that lasts about five minutes in total.
But even a slight skill gap means you'll quickly be demolished by an expert, which is why fighting games aren't a particularly popular genre for streaming.
Occasional event tournaments are held, but most people just participate for the sake of it or enjoy the game when a new title is released.
As a result, the average viewership for the fighting game tag is quite low.
The fact that even a pro gamer streaming a fighting game has fewer average viewers than a non-pro like ReaperAjo's speedrun stream speaks volumes about the market size.
So, despite all that, why fighting games?
"I've won."
K.O.!!
"It was more difficult than I expected, but I have finally entered the Master Rank."
Because he was good.
Rasian showed talent in fighting games as well.
He was incredibly adept at executing optimal inputs at the perfect time and gaining the upper hand in psychological warfare against his opponents.
It was as if he had experienced battles like this before.
'It's like he has real combat experience.'
Since it hadn't been long since that other world found peace, I suspected Rasian might have been a war hero who played a crucial role in achieving it.
He must have defeated countless enemies in the process of war, and among them, there must have been duels involving magic.
Perhaps it was because he had won numerous life-or-death strategic battles that he was now consistently winning in fighting games.
"Producer. I've reached the highest tier in ranked games. What should I do now?"
"We wait."
"Wait?"
"Yes. Until the fish, the prey, appears."
While Rasian played ranked matches, I organized the video footage for a future upload.
I ruthlessly edited out any matches where the opponent rage-quit by disconnecting.
I secured a continuous stream of footage showing Rasian defeating various players. If I edited the footage from the past three days, the video would be about five hours long.
At the same time, I scoured fighting game communities, gathering information.
Three days had passed.
During those three days, Rasian's name had begun to circulate in the communities, little by little.
-Is this guy who uses the Korean team with Master Kim as his first pick a pro?
The hidden masters who had lost to Rasian were starting to spread the word themselves in the communities.
"It's a place where only the hardcore players gather, so it's bound to attract attention. Not only do the losers find common ground, but by sharing it in a public community, other people inevitably find out."
"Is that why you deliberately had me use the same characters?"
"Yes. What's easier to remember than an ID is the opponent's character and their lineup."
A rising star who shot up to Master Rank not with a top-tier character, but with a patriotic pick.
Those who lost to Rasian had no choice but to turn their attention elsewhere.
"Pros are bound to show up in Master Rank. We just have to face them, and..."
"And if that pro also streams, it would be the icing on the cake."
"Exactly."
Whether it's a variety streamer or one dedicated to a specific game, there's one path to becoming a personality.
"It's a common strategy now for a notorious stream sniper to become famous and start their own broadcast."
"...I understand, but I must say that description does not suit me."
Rasian sat back down at the computer, pressed the record button, and placed his hands on the keyboard.
"I am not the one sniping them."
It had begun.
"They are the ones sniping me."
🔥 HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER! 🔥
"...I suppose you're right."
He was matched with a fighting game streamer.
A streamer with about 100 average viewers, 80 of whom were actual fighting game players themselves.
"Alright, then..."
Before starting the match, Rasian's eyes sparkled as he turned to me and spoke.
"How should I win?"
"...."
How, indeed.
"If you get to world number one without a single loss, I'll buy you fifty hamburgers."
"Deal."