It’s not that kind of malicious broadcast

『StarPork: Jinhee unnie』

『StarPork: By the way, did Yena-nim mention if she’s coming to the after-party?』

『Ark: Noㅠㅠ』

『Ark: I tried persuading her, but no response』

『StarPork: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Why though』

『StarPork: Could it be because there will be guys there, and she’s feeling pressured?ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ』

『Ark: Don’t try to understand』

『Ark: You’ll fall into deviation』

『StarPork: 😅』

『StarPork: Should we perhaps arrange a separate female-only gathering?』

『StarPork: Last time, it was fun!』

『Ark: Let’s wait a bit』

『Ark: I’ll try contacting her again a day before』

『Ark: ?Wait, is she streaming right now?』

『StarPork: Ah, yes, yes, yes!』

『StarPork: Huh, aren’t you watching???』

『StarPork: She said she’s not versatile with her hands;;』

『Ark: ??? Did Yena-nim turn on her cam? What’s that in the corner?』

『StarPork: Ah, she turned the cam on but covered it with duct tape』

『Ark: ??? Then why turn the cam on』

『Ark: Ah』

『Ark: You’ll fall into deviation』

『Ark: It’s coming』

* * * *

With a unified goal to make Lee Yena scream “I can’t do this anymore”, countless people racked their brains to curate the perfect games.

《Shall we move on to the next game? Ah, many are recommending bullet-hell shooting games.》

『Wasn’t the cam reveal build-up?』

『Yena, why did you buy a cam』

『Wow, seriously good』

『Is this really a game from the 21st century?』

《Oh… this is well made. If you look closely, there are hints everywhere. See, the tile pattern is subtly distorted in areas where traps fall. Here, too.》

The list of games lined up, which would supposedly unveil the mask of the demon king, looked quite spectacular just by name alone. Most broadcasters would draw in money just for taking on the mission of clearing even one game from the list, calling it their ‘safe asset.’

However, Lee Yena’s gameplay was even more spectacular.

『How did she see that, is she Mongolian or something?』

『Was that even made to be noticed?』

『I had to rewatch at 0.25x speed to finally see it LOLOLOL』

『If you don’t want to reveal your face, just say so…』

– Anonymous donated 1,000 won! –

【I should have just recommended those buggy, crappy games.】

The elderly voice trailing off in lament was met with a flood of chat messages echoing agreement.

In reality, among the game recommendations submitted in the last 24 hours, there were quite a few suggestions for boring, bug-ridden failure games that were neither fun to play nor to watch.

But in the end, the games that received the most recommendations on her WeTogether were those that had gained some traction on Tw*tch, albeit modestly. The resulting list of 10 games, though dismissed by many broadcasters as crap, were not total trash.

When it comes down to collective voting, it’s hard for games that could entirely ruin a broadcast to rise to the top. People gathered because they wanted to see something fun, after all.

Of course, another reason was the prevailing sentiment that even the most extreme measures would not make CravingWarmAmericano declare defeat, and even if she did, the odds of her turning on the webcam were slim.

Had they realized she was serious enough to buy and set up a webcam, perhaps a game that couldn’t even start might have topped the list. But it was too late, and the recommended games were already set in order.

《Hmm… since roguelike and roguelite have ‘rogue’ in them… I have to admit it. Let’s give it a shot.》

And among them, none were capable of making Lee Yena declare defeat.

About 5 hours later.

There were still three games left to clear. Games notorious for their devilish difficulty.

These were games with a glamorous history of driving countless broadcasters to 24-hour marathons or cosplay punishments—yet they no longer held the audience’s expectations.

Arguments about the difficulty and average clear times had already become tiresome with each of the 7 games being conquered so humiliatingly.

Seeing success as impossible, some viewers even began hoping her mental state would break down.

《Ah- it doesn’t stop. If I step wrong, I might fall all the way down. Hmm… this is fun. I’ll quickly go through the sections I’ve already cleared.》

But it seemed unlikely. Even games notorious for making players start over from the beginning with one mistake were being enjoyed by her.

In the end, those who had gathered just for a glimpse of her face had no choice but to make their decision.

They either gave up, hoping photos would later appear in the community or decided to enjoy the spectacle of the intense physical trials with a mindset of “let’s see how far this goes”.

As it turned out, the latter group was larger. Seeing someone easily conquer games infamous for their high difficulty and the apparent malice of their creators was refreshing and captivating.

『Wow, did she clear this on the first try? LOL LOL LOL』

『Is this game really difficult? It looks like it’s for kids.』

『How does she dodge patterns she’s seeing for the first time?』

『GetDevoured/controversy/hack』

『Info: Ark once played the final boss for 6 hours straight, then announced cosplay while crying』

『A crazy girl parrying with a dagger, her reaction speed though…』

『Let’s negotiate, please just turn on the Durahan cam』

『Let’s do a speedrun at this point』

《Hmm… it was fun. Well, it seems like the next game will be the last one. What a pity.》

Among the viewers, who had now attained a state of enlightenment and were rooting for her to clear the game, Lee Yena calmly entered the tenth game, which boasted the highest number of recommendations – ‘The Rogue’s Return’.

– ㅇㅇ sponsored 1,000 won! –

【No, you don’t know, this game is so frustrating she might as well quit】

An indie game where a rogue, who fell behind during a battle from the adventurer’s party, overcomes various threats to rejoin the party. Despite not even being officially localized into Korean, it once garnered quite a name for itself.

Its initial fame came from a clip where a female broadcaster amusingly covered her mouth after nearly making an unfortunate wordplay out of its name—’The Rogue’s Return’ abbreviated, but it ultimately gained traction on Tw*tch because it was the perfect game for viewers who enjoyed watching broadcasters suffer.

With complicated and uncomfortable controls, the game never explained what needed to be done.

Humidity, hunger, temperature, thirst, stress, nutritional status, contamination, toilet needs, and more—failing to manage any of these parameters resulted in death, a difficulty level excessively high even for a survival game.

Moreover, with nothing happening automatically, the game required manual operation for every action, reflecting the game designers’ clear intent to maximize suffering.

Viewers, who had not yet given up on face reveals, found solace in the mere hope lingering in the game’s name, “The Rogue”.

****

– ㅇㅇ sponsored 1,000 won! –

【What should we call this for short?】

『We can call it ‘Rogue.’

Acronym? It’s ‘RoguesDoExistOutsiders.’

You are the sort who’d call StarCraft ‘Scr’.』

According to the recommendation post on WeTogether and the description provided by the game store, the Rogue seemed closer to an open-world simulation game. It wasn’t the type I usually played. Typically, I preferred games with clear objectives and enemies.

However, since it was about breaking seals.

From the beginning, I started this challenge because I was curious about how far I could go. Choosing opponents out of fear of losing the challenge would be putting the cart before the horse.

As I passed the title page and entered the game, tall trees came into view.

Perhaps it was a setting where I had just fought a battle. More than ten bodies, oozing blood, were scattered around. Each of them lay in fairly natural postures, to the point where I could feel the liveliness of a battle that had already ended.

In the post recommending this game, it had said it was about a character who lagged behind the party. But wasn’t this more of a situation where I, thinking, “I’ll hold them off here, go ahead! I’ll catch up”, really managed to survive?

I was somewhat looking forward to the cutscene when joining the hero’s party.

Would I be able to loot these corpses? Although they looked like poor rogues, items in games didn’t always have to make sense. After all, goblins sometimes dropped legendary hero swords, didn’t they?

But The Rogue didn’t seem to be that kind of game.

Even after I rummaged through the bodies while enduring the buzzing of insects, all I found was “blood-stained bread” and such.

I stopped the fruitless desecration and stepped back. Only then did I notice, in the right corner, two bars slowly filling up.

When I clicked, I found they were parameters indicating stress and contamination.

It was quite a realistic game.

Blood was slowly oozing from my left forearm, visible in one part of my field of vision… I wondered if it was just an effect.

If I died from some infection this time, I’d have to try emergency measures on the next try.

In this genre… the key was to become adept at survival first. If I could only survive, joining the hero’s party might actually be easier than I thought. Since it wasn’t a AAA blockbuster game, its volume wouldn’t be infinite.

I needed to secure water and food. Maybe there would be some berries.

I lowered my gaze and examined the plants scattered on the ground. With an effect that gradually focused my view, I could see the texture of the leaves and the details of the insects more clearly.

It seemed that staring at a certain spot for a while was the command to focus my vision.

Even though the graphics weren’t great even when zoomed in, the visibility was impressive enough to inspire awe.

Surpassing craftsmanship, it felt like sheer determination had gone into it.

Just a few minutes ago, I had been filled with thoughts of clearing the game quickly without much interest. But, before I knew it, a sense of anticipation was welling up within me. Games created by such dedicated developers often transcended genres.

It was the only game among those I encountered today that I wanted to enjoy calmly. Entering the settings to check the controls, I found there was a separate command for closing my eyes. What could this be for?

Trying it out, the background sounds mingled with white noise became distinct.

Especially, the sound of water.

It seemed something was flowing from the left direction. If there was a valley, I could set up the first base camp there.

… Nice, this.

My heart started to beat faster.