“Ahem. Delha, Delha~ My mic’s working fine, right?”
Her slender fingers tapped lightly on the broadcast microphone.
This was the streamer Rydell.
A broadcaster on the streaming platform Soopjijik.
She primarily focused on game streams.
[Rydell hi~]
[Delha Delha!]
[We’ve been waiting~]
[Ah, she finally started.]
[Hi hi hi]
The viewer count surged rapidly the moment she went live.
Rydell typically had around 2,000 viewers.
She was now a streamer significant enough to be considered a mid-tier (TL Note: A common term in Korean streaming culture for popular streamers who aren’t top-tier but have a substantial following) personality.
It was her third year streaming, and her first year as a full-time broadcaster.
Having accumulated considerable experience, she had amassed a large base of loyal fans who would wait for her broadcasts to begin.
Observing the steadily rising viewer count, Rydell checked the chat.
[So what game are we playing today?]
[What game today?]
[What kind of fan today?]
“Today’s game? Well, I do have something prepared, but I also need to ‘bake a pancake’ (TL Note: ‘Jeon eul guwoda’ (전을 굽다) is a Korean idiom meaning to make someone wait while you stall for time, often used humorously in streaming) first.”
With that, Rydell flashed a cheeky grin and winked at the camera.
[Ugh!]
[Ugh!]
[I’m going to lose my mind I’m going to lose my mind I’m going to lose my mind I’m going to lose my mind I’m going to lose my mind I’m going to lose my mind]
[Are we playing a horror game today lolol]
“Hey, I’m a female streamer (TL Note: ‘Yeocam’ refers to a female streamer who primarily focuses on her appearance and interactions rather than gameplay), why are you reacting like this?!”
With her large, captivating eyes and neat black hair,
she was a beauty with a playful aura, the type who would break into a shy smile at the slightest nudge.
Objectively speaking, Rydell’s looks were exceptionally striking.
However, contrary to her pure and innocent appearance, she pursued a free-spirited and easygoing streaming style, which led most viewers to evolve into teasing her.
In truth, this was precisely the atmosphere Rydell desired.
Unlike typical female streamers, she was genuinely passionate about games, and thus preferred an environment where they could playfully tease each other.
‘This is what my stream is all about.’
Her stream was a dynamic exchange, a playful beauty bantering with her viewers.
Thanks to this unique atmosphere, she had gained popularity by word of mouth since her ‘hacco’ (TL Note: A Korean slang term for a small, unknown streamer with few viewers) days, growing into a mid-tier streamer with an average of 2,000 viewers.
Even so, her striking beauty was undeniable, so comments like ‘Kyaa’ (TL Note: A Korean onomatopoeia expressing cuteness or excitement) or ‘Noona, heueung’ (TL Note: ‘Noona’ is an honorific for an older sister or older female friend, often used playfully; ‘heueung’ is an onomatopoeia for a soft, suggestive sound, implying infatuation or a teasing plea) would occasionally pop up in chat, but Rydell deftly brushed them aside.
“….Anyway. Alright, has everyone who’s going to join arrived?”
Having chatted casually with viewers while browsing her fan cafe, Rydell checked the viewer count.
The number of viewers had already climbed to 1,700.
Deeming this sufficient, Rydell tapped her fingers.
“Alright, the game we’re playing today is… that one all the streamers are just ‘dipping their toes in’ these days, right?”
Rydell launched the game she had prepared.
After the loading screen, three bald figures appeared on the screen.
What was peculiar was that all three of them were wearing roller skates.
Furthermore, their bodies were connected by chains.
[Chain Roller?]
“Yes. We’re going for a ‘Kyeon-wang’ (TL Note: A Korean slang term meaning to play a game until it’s cleared or beaten) of Chain Roller. I mean, a lot of streamers are playing it these days, right? It looks fun.”
[Hahaha, she’s finally playing it!]
[Rydell’s playing it too, lolol]
[All the streamers are doing it these days, though]
[Let’s go~]
Chain Roller.
A ‘ddong-game’ (TL Note: A Korean slang term for a bad or frustrating game, often intentionally so, that gains popularity for its difficulty or comedic value) currently trending among streamers.
The game Rydell had prepared for today was indeed Chain Roller.
As with most trends, she wasn’t entirely sure why,
but attempting to clear it had become a widespread craze among streamers.
Rydell, being a game streamer herself,
knew it was wise to quickly jump on such trends.
[But I heard that’s super hard… Can Del-boong (TL Note: A playful, slightly derogatory nickname for Rydell, roughly ‘Rydell-idiot’ or ‘Rydell-fool’) even do it?]
“I don’t know… But shouldn’t you try everything? Besides, I’m quite famous as a game expert (TL Note: ‘Gem-jal-seu’ is a shortened slang for ‘game jal haneun streamer,’ meaning ‘streamer who plays games well’).”
[???]
[????]
[Game? Ex? Pert?]
No sooner had Rydell finished speaking than a barrage of question marks (TL Note: ‘Gal-gori,’ literally ‘hook,’ is slang for question marks used to express doubt or disbelief in chat) flooded the chat.
“Hey, why are you always ‘eok-kka’ (TL Note: A Korean slang term meaning to unfairly criticize or attack someone for no good reason) me?! I’m actually pretty good! Who else among female streamers has reached Master tier in Raid & Master besides me?!”
[Master (half a year ago)]
[There aren’t none, though…]
[Isn’t that a bit old?]
[Still, Raid & Master is 인정 (TL Note: ‘Injeong,’ slang for ‘acknowledged’ or ‘admitted’).]
At Rydell’s words, the question marks in the chat began to subside.
While the stream’s overall atmosphere was one of teasing Rydell, her actual gaming skills were far from bad.
In fact, they were quite excellent.
Although her performance had dipped slightly recently, she had once achieved a top-tier rank in the popular game Raid & Master.
She also consistently displayed decent skills in other games, regardless of whether they were ‘ddong-games’ or popular titles.
[But what kind of game is this anyway? My eyes just hurt from all the bald heads.]
[Could you lower the brightness a bit, lolol]
As it was a game that had only recently gained popularity, there were quite a few viewers unfamiliar with Chain Roller.
“I don’t really know either. I’m playing it for the first time right now, to experience it with all of you.”
Usually, playing such games beforehand spoils the fun.
If you check guides or play in advance, the sense of spontaneity vanishes, and the excitement drops.
Especially with ‘jar-like games’ (TL Note: A genre of games known for their extreme difficulty and often frustrating mechanics, named after ‘Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy,’ which involves a man in a pot with a hammer), the main objective is to watch the streamer endure ‘cyber torture.’
Therefore, playing in advance was highly discouraged.
“There’s a tutorial here? Something exists? I’ll just watch this and then we’ll start.”
Typically, tutorials are uncommon in ‘jar-like games.’
It’s usually standard to just drop players at the starting point.
However, Chain Roller surprisingly offered a tutorial.
[‘Chain Roller’ is a cooperative game that up to three players can enjoy simultaneously. While single-player is possible, three-player is recommended.]
A calm narration began to play.
[As you can see, the three individuals are connected by chains. And…]
[They are wearing roller skates. It would be quite difficult to control them once they gain speed, wouldn’t it?]
[In this state, you simply need to avoid and overcome various obstacles to reach the finish line far in the distance. Simple, right?]
“Ah, so this is how they move?”
Rydell lightly pressed a key on her keyboard, and one of the bald figures began to move.
Manipulating the jump key, she made it leap over a small duck toy that appeared to be an obstacle.
Simultaneously, a fanfare sounded, signaling the end of the tutorial.
“That’s it, right? Hmm… It seems less challenging than I expected.”
Rydell wore a deflated expression.
Although she hadn’t played it beforehand or watched gameplay videos, she had heard some rumors.
A game so difficult it would bring tears to your eyes.
There were streamers who had been broadcasting for three days straight trying to ‘kyeon-wang’ it,
and she’d heard of people complaining of e-sports injuries from numb arms.
Yet, for such a game, it had a surprisingly helpful tutorial, and the difficulty seemed like child’s play.
“Well, at this rate… an hour to clear it? Seems doable.”
[Her confidence is insane lolol]
[Oh, Del-boong…]
[If you’re looking forward to Rydell ‘shotgunning’ (TL Note: A slang term referring to smashing a keyboard or controller in frustration during gaming) later, hit recommend!]
[Recommend!]
[Recommend recommend recommend]
Most of the chat was in a mood to tease Rydell.
Countless broadcasters, from major corporations to ‘hacco’ streamers, had already suffered (TL Note: ‘Pi-reul bwatta,’ literally ‘saw blood,’ means to suffer greatly or struggle).
Most viewers were well aware of Chain Roller’s devilish difficulty.
That tutorial, too, was intentionally designed by the developers to be anticlimactic.
It was meant to be a stark contrast to the main game’s maddening difficulty.
[But is that really difficult?]
On the other hand, there were a few viewers who didn’t know this.
Checking the chat, Rydell looked up other streamers’ records.
“Hmm. The top record for 3-player is 4 hours and 32 minutes, I see?
And for single-player, the top record is… 2 hours and 37 minutes.”
Chain Roller supported two types of gameplay.
One was single-player,
a mode where you literally played alone.
The other was 3-player mode, where three people challenged the game.
Typically, the 3-player mode was considered more difficult, and its clear records were relatively longer.
After all, it was easier to play alone than to have three people dangling together like dried fish (TL Note: ‘Gulbi,’ a type of dried yellow croaker, often hung in bunches, used here to describe people clustered together).
“Hmm. Should we go with 3-player mode then? We can do a viewer participation stream at the same time.”
Rydell said, glancing at her list of broadcasters.
All the streamers she was friendly enough to collaborate with were currently offline.
Having started from scratch, she didn’t have many close streamer friends to begin with.
In this situation, Rydell decided it would be better to simply invite viewers to participate.
[Go go go go go go go]
[3-player mode is doomed if there’s a troll lolol]
[That troll might even be the host]
“No way. I absolutely have to carry. And if a participant is too bad, I’ll just ‘change the water’ (TL Note: ‘Mul-gal-i,’ literally ‘water change,’ is a metaphor for replacing underperforming team members or participants) myself.”
Having said that, Rydell created a Chain Roller room.
“The room title is ‘Game Genius Rydell.’ The password is… I can’t set one? Well, it shouldn’t be a big problem, right?”
She had originally intended to set a password so only her viewers could join.
However, the Chain Roller game lacked such a feature.
‘Well, if I meet a troll, I can just remake the room, no big deal.’
Rydell ignored the viewers clamoring about the strange room title and created the room.
There were only two empty slots.
As it was a viewer participation event with a popular streamer, the room was instantly filled by viewers who had been waiting.
“Shall we start right away then? Let’s go for a streamer number one record!”
Rydell clenched her fist,
and with unfounded confidence, pressed the game start button.
****
“Who… who said this was easy…?”
[You did.]
[Who said they’d clear it in an hour~]
[The kids are trolls.]
[That course is super tough, more than it looks.]
[The controls are garbage, that’s why it’s hard.]
Her confidence of clearing it as the number one streamer had long since vanished.
Four hours of playtime had passed.
However, Rydell’s current position was… no different from when she had started the game.
[How many times have you been sent back to the beginning?]
[Del-boong, are you falling again?]
[One person is the dead weight.]
[All three of them are the dead weight.]
“Ahem. Well, shall we try with some other people then?”
Rydell wiped away her streaming sweat as she spoke.
While they weren’t malicious trolls… the viewers who had participated weren’t particularly skilled.
In Chain Roller’s 3-player mode, where three people were forcibly linked, one slip-up meant everyone tumbled down.
It was common for a single mistake to send everyone back to the starting village (TL Note: ‘Taecho maeul,’ literally ‘primordial village,’ is a term used in games to refer to the starting area or respawn point, often implying a return to square one).
‘No, it’s not the viewers’ fault; the game itself is just too difficult.’
Rydell sighed internally.
To blame the viewers’ skills… the game itself seemed perfectly designed to grind one’s teeth.
With all sorts of unfair patterns, one misstep would send you all the way back to the bottom.
Even Rydell, whose gaming skills were not bad, had fallen several times due to her own mistakes.
Regardless, even with that in mind, there was no solution if things continued this way.
She needed teammates with a bit more skill than the current ones.
“Thank you to everyone who participated. I’ll open the room again with the same title.”
Since they had fallen back to the starting point anyway, there was no difference in starting over from the beginning.
“Hmm, please, those of you who are quite good! Those who are confident in this ddong-game! Please come in.”
As soon as she remade the room, it was full again at a rapid pace.
Rydell, who had gulped down an energy drink to boost her morale, checked the newly joined players.
“Alright, let’s do this. Let’s go for a clear this time. Del-boong #3. And… SilverHairSilverHair.”
