-Ginam, I think you're wrong on this one-ahhhhhh
While the relationship between a streamer and their viewers differs from broadcast to broadcast, some channels are like this.
"No, guys. Listen to your big bro. Ah, damn, shut up with the donations for a sec."
Where the streamer speaks informally to their viewers, or even curses.
-Again
-You're not admitting it, are you?
-Pathetic, Ginam.
"What do you mean pathetic? You think I'm saying this because I got my ass kicked?"
Viewers who value politeness might remove a streamer from their watch list for speaking carelessly or cursing, but there are also those who rather enjoy it or don't mind at all.
"I'm telling you, it's 100% an AI. Hey, are you better than me at King of Fighters 35? What's your tier?"
Engaging in a battle of wills with the viewers also varies in atmosphere from channel to channel.
Some see it as WWE-style entertainment, while other times, viewers get a chilling feeling and it turns into a real UFC fight.
-Accusing them of being an AI after losing is a bit pathetic.
"What? Who's spouting this bullshit."
-Gasp
-Gasp
-This is hell now
If there's ever a case of a UFC-style fight, it would be when a 'Chairman'—someone you could call a loyal supporter of the streamer—gets banned despite their donations.
While others just type 'ㅋㅋㅋ' in the chat, some viewers use donations to say what they want, essentially engaging in a self-paid chat.
Why do they do this?
Fundamentally, it might be because they have a lot of money, but the biggest reason is likely their fandom and affection for the streamer.
But what happens when that streamer, in a fit of anger, bans someone who accounts for over 3% of their annual income?
"If I'd lost to a person, I wouldn't say a word. But I lost to a 140% AI, you expect me to just stay quiet? Huh?"
-fr lol
-fr lol
-Truly pathetic, yeah
The speed at which the chat scrolled began to slow down.
Those who usually wanted to say something either stopped typing in the chat or simply frowned while typing only 'fr lol' as if by some unspoken agreement.
-Right, right.
-All those guys making jokes about women are just horny bastards, yeah.
-Our martyr, fighting for a healthy King of Fighters 35 ranked ecosystem ㅠㅠ
Or, there were those who completely affirmed and agreed with the streamer's reaction, following his opinion.
"I'm calling customer service right now. Email won't work with these guys. You have to call and argue, then expose them online to stop them from pulling this crap. Huh? Hey, when you guys play LoL 2 and run into hackers, you report them immediately, so why not report this? Huh?"
-Go report
-How do we report? TooGoodHack?
-Wow, this is basically North Korea
Click, click.
With just a few mouse clicks, the firepower in the chat window grew weaker and weaker.
But the viewer count didn't drop much, so even newcomers could get a good sense of the usual atmosphere and how conversations typically went in this channel.
However.
-Be a man and admit you lost. Even Dogani loses, how do you expect to win?
-Mr.ParkGinam,I'm a long-time viewer.YourYouTubejusthit100kandisdoingwell,butifyoukeepshowingthissideofyourself,I'mworriedyourfanswillleave.
-The stream is a mess, but if Ginam is happy getting these 1000-won punches, thumbs up lol
"The thing that's a mess isn't my stream, it's the ranked ladder. Ah, hello. Is this SNK Korea?"
-Gasp.
-Crazy.
-This bastard, did he really call?
-You haven't just lost your touch, you should just die.
[Ah, yes. That's correct. This is the SNK Korea Customer Service Center...]
"Yes, yes. This is the streamer Park Ginam. I'm calling to report a guy who climbed the ranks using an AI. Yes. Rank 1, Rasian. I don't know what kind of hack they used, but while you investigate... yes?"
[Well, this is a bit delicate, but.]
Despite the streamer being on a live broadcast watched by hundreds of viewers.
[That player used no form of manipulation whatsoever.]
The customer service representative replied in a clear, distinct voice.
[No hacking programs were detected, nor was there any AI manipulation.]
"No, that's just because you guys haven't investigated it properly yet...!"
[An official announcement will be posted soon. We would appreciate it if you could refer to the announcement regarding this matter.]
"Huh..."
[And... yes? W-wait a moment-]
[Hello.]
While the flustered voice of the agent could be heard, a deep, dignified voice took over.
[This is Kim Gwan-hyung, from SNK Korea.]
"...!"
Park Ginam's face turned pale, and the chat began to fill with question marks at a speed incomparable to before.
"Th-the president, why...?"
[Speaking not as the branch president, but as a fellow fighting game player: that person reached Rank 1 purely through skill, without any manipulation.]
It was absurd enough that the president of the Korean branch of the game's original company had personally taken the customer service call, but the words coming from his mouth were a direct rebuttal to streamer Park Ginam's accusations.
[Furthermore, publicly broadcasting a call with customer service can lead to issues for the individual agent, so we ask that you refrain from doing so in the future.]
"W-wait a minute! Are you certain? That it's not an AI!"
[Sir....]
"It has to be some kind of bot SNK Korea created for a new event! If not, how could they win every single match to hit Rank 1!"
[Regarding that.]
Branch President Kim Gwan-hyung took a breath.
[Please check the official announcements.]
With those final words, the call was disconnected with a 'click'.
"H-he hung up?"
As the call ended abruptly, as if forcibly terminating a nuisance caller, streamer Park Ginam's face instantly began to flush red.
"Th-this, son of a, bitch...!"
Thump, thump, thump.
"I'll find out one way or another! It's a setup! This is all a setup!!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Is he crazy?"
"M-Mr. President...."
Branch President Kim Gwan-hyung, who had been watching the stream on his smartphone, twisted his lips into a sneer at Park Ginam's on-air rampage. Then, he walked over to the tearful customer service employee, patted the back of their chair, and pointed at the monitor.
"Everyone, unplug the phone lines until the announcement goes up. I'll buy a round of coffee, so don't even listen to some guy who's just spouting nonsense about it being a setup to stir up drama for his own profit."
"Mr. President...."
"Don't worry. This has already been discussed with the head office."
At Kim Gwan-hyung's words, the customer service employees began to show signs of relief one by one.
"Really?"
"Even the head office...?"
"Yes. Thanks to that, I do have some slight concerns, but the head office has delegated all problem-solving for this matter to our branch."
The relieved expressions on the employees' faces immediately froze.
"W-we have to solve it?"
"Just because they used the Korean team, just because they connected from a Korean IP...!"
"That's the problem. A Korean account."
Kim Gwan-hyung tapped his smartphone lightly.
"The channel name written in Korean, Rasian. From the name to the IP address and location of the connected account. Whether it's a he or a she, I don't know, but it's clear they are in Korea. Them being Korean is just my wishful thinking."
"Using the Korean team, isn't that an appeal that they're Korean?"
"We don't know. It could be a disguise."
Is Rasian Korean?
No one knows the answer yet.
"Perhaps it's better to think of it as getting the measles out of the way early, a problem we would have faced elsewhere eventually."
"Pardon?"
"Rasian ultimately defeated Dogani, Moyashi, Ferriqq, and others to take first place, right? And the moment they hit Rank 1, they disconnected. Right now, another player has frantically raised their score and taken the top spot, but after securing that first-place record, Rasian vanished as if they'd lost all interest."
"Couldn't it be someone from the streaming community we don't know about? Maybe they had a mission to complete and turned off the game as soon as they cleared it."
"That's possible. Maybe they're not from Korea, Japan, or the US, but from a third-world country. But one thing is certain: they are in Korea right now."
Branch President Kim Gwan-hyung raised his index finger, gesturing for everyone to be quiet.
"You all know what happens if customer information is carelessly leaked. Everything we are currently investigating must also be kept confidential. If any information is leaked, we will hold you legally responsible."
Legal responsibility.
At those words, coming from none other than the branch president, not only the customer service staff but also those who had been eavesdropping from beyond the partitions swallowed hard.
"We cannot have a situation where we dig up and spread the personal information of a rookie ranker who appeared like a comet and achieved first place. What is it they call it in the... VTuber community...."
"Doxxing?"
"No, that's not it."
"Digging up the red pill?"
"Ah, right. The red pill. Whether Rasian is an old man, a child, or a beautiful girl, there is one thing we must guarantee to the players."
Kim Gwan-hyung operated his smartphone and then displayed a certain file for all the employees to see.
"That their skill is completely genuine. Besides, the truly skilled players already know. They know whether they lost to a machine or a human."
"Huh? That's...."
Beep.
[...Ah, Rasian? I don't know. Can an AI learn to do infinite grabs and back-and-forth teabagging? If that's a machine doing that and not a person, then humanity is just finished.]
"True masters always recognize one another."
[I hope it's a machine. Because if it's a person, I feel like I'd punch them right in the face the moment we meet.]
"As for those who call it an AI or a setup...."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"To fail to recognize an opponent's skill and resort to calling them an AI. It reminds me of the old geezers from the former Magic Tower who, after every magical duel, would claim, 'That's not a human, it's a dragon in polymorph form.'"
"...They did?"
"Yes. I could only laugh scornfully when they compared me to a dragon."
Rasian scoffed at the controversy about it being a setup.
"But why is 'manipulation' called 'jujak'?"
"That's...."
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