A mirror match.
Until now, Lassian had never used any team other than the Korean one.
Although her winning streak had led to opponents trying to counter-pick her lineup, Lassian had steadfastly stuck with her three team members and secured victory after victory.
Her vanguard was always Master Kim.
Her mid-fighter was Lightning Man.
And her anchor was The Giant.
Although The Giant, considered a top-tier character in this version of King of Fighters 35, appeared like a final boss, the number of people who had actually faced him could be counted on one hand.
She kept winning, but there was a secret the world didn't know.
'It was like I've been fighting with weighted sandbags on.'
People didn't know.
They didn't know the real reason Lassian played the game with the Korean team.
—Lassian is Korean.
From the text on her channel to the words on the game screen, everything was in Korean, making it obvious to anyone that she was Korean.
In other words, it was a smokescreen to hide the fact that she was from another world.
If Lassian had landed in Japan and I had made contact with her there, I would have created a Japanese channel and had her play with a set of Japanese characters.
That's right.
Lassian wasn't limited to just these three characters.
[Kuaaaack!!]
She wasn't just good with those three; she was also skilled with other mainstream, meta characters.
"One down."
After taking out Park Gi-nam's first character with a flawless perfect, not taking a single hit, Lassian quietly set down her controller.
"Should I win 3-0, or—"
"If you were planning to just take hits to bring out your next character, just end it with a crushing victory."
"Tch."
Just as I suspected.
'Her skill at teabagging in a mirror match is no joke.'
Before Lassian could pick up her controller again, the second round began.
I turned up the volume on Park Gi-nam's stream, which I was listening to through my earphones.
[Got you, you damn bitch!]
Since she had let go of the controller, Lassian's vanguard stood motionless as Park Gi-nam began unleashing a full combo.
-??
-Did she just stop?
-Stopping is her own fault.
Lassian's pause threw Park Gi-nam's chat into confusion.
-What's happening?
-Did his controller get unplugged?
-I didn't hear a disconnect sound.
The confusion spread to our chat as well.
Even though we were all watching the same screen, seeing a character that had been moving so actively suddenly freeze made people start voicing their suspicions.
-Isn't she just trying to bring out her next character with full health?
A few, a very small number, had briefly thought the same thing as me.
"One moment."
I quickly unplugged and replugged a USB cable.
De-de-ding.
Ding-dong-ding—
It was a sound effect any computer user would recognize.
My voice wasn't set to broadcast, but the sounds from the computer itself were being streamed.
-Ah
-What the hell
-Can't they call a timeout? Ah
Some people, having misunderstood the inexplicable situation, couldn't stop their lamentations.
An equipment issue.
Some might wonder why they didn't hear the sound initially, but it wasn't a major problem.
After all, the equipment really did disconnect for a moment.
"My apologies. I'll play properly now."
Lassian's focus returned.
"It's a mirror match, so I was planning to beat all his characters with mine at full health, but was that a bad idea?"
Lassian, grabbing the reconnected controller, quickly began to operate it.
Just as her character was about to die, its health bar flashing red, she broke free from her opponent's combo, created distance, and composed her breath.
"It was a decent plan. Especially in the context of a mirror match meant to end a man's broadcasting career."
If Lassian's original plan had succeeded, Park Gi-nam would have suffered a mental blow so severe that it would have been difficult for him to ever recover as a streamer.
It wouldn't have just been him, but his viewers as well.
He was already looking pathetic and pitiable. If he were to be crushed by mirror match characters that she seemed to pull out of her pocket, he would have had to retire from fighting game streaming that very day.
"Of course, that's not what I was worried about. I just..."
As Lassian was blocking, she perked up her ears.
"You'd be letting that bastard win, and I don't want to see him run his mouth as if he actually won."
"...Hoo."
Lassian let out a low laugh.
"Even though Lady Lassian would win in the end, the scene of him winning would be saved as a clip."
The opponent maintained maximum distance, repeatedly using long-range zoning attacks.
"I see. Very well... I understand."
The remaining time was 19 seconds.
"If my defeat would displease you, Producer, I will ensure such a thing never happens."
Click.
Lassian moved the controller's directional pad toward the enemy.
"I will now attempt a full sweep from a state where a single poke would mean defeat."
Matching the timing of the enemy's pokes, she dashed forward, blocking at the perfect moment to close the distance.
"...."
Could she do it?
"Hmph."
Lassian was still smiling.
Her smile was overflowing with so much confidence it was as if the thought of defeat didn't even exist in her mind.
Separately from that...
-Cowardly bastard.
-I wanna smack him on the back of the head.
-Hey, you're at full health and she's on a sliver. Is spamming projectiles really the right move?
The slightly delayed chat window was turning hostile, filled with denunciations aimed at Park Gi-nam.
This atmosphere was forming not only in our chat but in Park Gi-nam's as well...
-Hey, I heard her controller had an error.
A cuckoo—a carrier pigeon—had arrived.
It seemed one of Park Gi-nam's viewers, who had been watching our stream, had relayed Lassian's equipment issue to him.
[Her controller went out? Then she should use a damn pro controller!!]
Park Gi-nam immediately mocked the equipment issue, but his expression gradually hardened.
Guard, guard, guard.
In the gaps between the long-range attacks, Lassian's character was steadily closing the distance.
One hit and she would die.
Of course, if that happened, she could always revert to the original plan of winning the mirror match 3-2, but—
'I don't even need to think about that.'
My thoughts of a backup plan were rendered moot as Lassian's character finally created an opening.
Whack!
[Ah!!]
"Feinting a mid to open up his guard with a low."
After being hit by a low kick while trying to block mid, Park Gi-nam's guard was broken. Lassian then unleashed the exact same combo that Park Gi-nam had used on her vanguard earlier.
"Do you know?"
Tatatatatatak.
"This is the same technique that man used against my Master Kim."
"...."
The viewers might miss it, but the person on the receiving end would know instantly.
He was being beaten not just by his own character, but by his own favorite combo.
But the remaining time was 3, 2, 1—
K.O.!!
What would have happened if she had been even one second later?
Such hypotheticals were meaningless.
The one still standing on the battlefield was Lassian's character, and the one lying on the ground was Park Gi-nam's.
-LOL, on purpose.
-Her own crisis was (etc.)
-Ah, there was a small accident~
A comeback victory from a sliver of health.
As the viewers cheered in relief, a sense of "what if" began to peek through the chat.
If this keeps up—
Beep.
"...?"
"Huh?"
????
As everyone stood there bewildered, Lassian's and my gazes simultaneously turned to the same place.
Park Gi-nam's broadcast, which I was watching.
There—
[Uh, what the?]
Park Gi-nam's panicked voice echoed as his eyes darted left and right.
[Ah, damn it. What's wrong? Did my game PC die? Looks like the capture card went out.]
His voice sounded flustered, yet there was a hint of a smile he couldn't quite suppress.
"Ha."
"Did he forcibly shut down his computer? But his broadcast is still live..."
"He must be using a two-PC setup."
The hooks appearing in the chat window indicated that the broadcast was fine.
However, the center of the broadcast screen was dominated by the large text, 'NO SIGNAL'.
[Ah man, I was about to make a reverse sweep with my last character and win.]
-Yeah, right.
-You were about to get crushed right there lol.
Park Gi-nam tried to act composed, but his viewers weren't falling for it.
Even during our own equipment issue, some had typed 'on purpose,' but there were also many comments like, 'Did she really let go on purpose?'
Viewers are not stupid.
When a streamer lies or boasts for the sake of the broadcast's entertainment, they are the kind of people who laugh it off and play along.
-His computer supposedly crashed?
-LMAO, what a joke. He just rage-quit.
-He couldn't just pull the plug because he still needs to get donations from the stream.
-Is this the end?
Speculation began in earnest among our own viewers.
The atmosphere grew heated, and the screen remained frozen on the disconnection notice.
"...."
It was because Lassian was clutching her controller, frozen in place without pressing any buttons.
"For now..."
"The broadcast."
Lassian said, staring straight ahead.
"Let's end the broadcast for now."
"Okay."
"Huh?"
As I reached for the mouse to press the 'End Stream' button, Lassian's expression changed to one of puzzlement.
"Is that alright?"
"The streamer isn't in any condition to broadcast. If she says to end it, we end it."
Besides, it was a good opportunity.
"If he doesn't want to settle this with the game, then we have no choice but to ruin him in reality."
If he had just taken the loss, sitting there red-faced and silent for a while, he might have had to deal with the controversy over his false accusations for about a week.
But if his pride wouldn't even allow that, forcing him to resort to the 'my computer crashed' excuse, then we couldn't just stand by either.
"Ending stream."
"Ah, wait!"
Just before I clicked the button, Lassian sent her character back to the lobby and had it perform a gesture.
A 90-degree bow towards the monitor.
Just before the bowing motion finished, I clicked the 'End Stream' button.
-?
-??
-That's it?
Lassian, live broadcast ended.
The number of gathered viewers was about 2,000.
"Well, what we need to do on our end will take some time, but..."
I waved a hand toward the chat window first.
"I wonder where the angry mob will run off to?"
"Let's let our opponent deal with that. More importantly."
Lassian rose from her seat and extended her hand to the side, summoning a staff from thin air.
"Let's go catch this bastard."
"...What?"
"The match isn't over yet."
Lassian gripped her staff as if she were about to swing it.
"First, with the power of magic, I'll drop a meteor on his house...!"
"Calm down. Wait, can we talk about this for a second?"