My Favorite Has Started A Live Broadcast!

The mouse, spinning around like a carousel, finally stopped, and the plain Windows default background transitioned to the game screen. The game was Ice Fire Cat.

“…This?”

“Did you maybe buy a new keyboard and want to try it out…?”

Ice Fire Cat, abbreviated as IceFireCat, was a game notorious for sending countless gamer keyboards to the trash. Sadly, Roten wasn’t among those; instead, people worried… about Baraa’s keyboard. Though, in reality, Baraa couldn’t see the chat while playing the game.

The viewers knew that Baraa was a kind person. Though it had been a short time, not once during the broadcasts had she ever gotten angry. Whenever the cam was on, she’d either space out reading chat or—awkwardly, yet earnestly—engage in conversation and progress with the stream. She was a streamer genuinely dedicated to Chocoa.

Yet, everyone had probably seen it happen at least once. If you gave a nice person the steering wheel—or rather, if you gave anyone the steering wheel—they’d eventually lose their temper. Even the kindest person occasionally swears and gets mad. This was most visible while driving, and there were always exceptions to every rule. Viewers held a tiny hope (?!) that Baraa might lose her temper, while selecting a map, once again focusing on the swirling mouse.

“Hmm… what should I play?”

It had been a while since she’d logged into the rhythm game. Though there were other games, it was good for warming up, so she decided to start with it.

“What should I play…?”

She Alt-Tabbed out of the game and started asking viewers to suggest a map.

Other people usually played with dual monitors…

Shaking her head at the large numbers flashing through his mind, she glanced back at the chat window.

Aroalo: We Could Get More Machinegun Psystyle!

– LMAO 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

– You devil!

– Huh? What’s that?

– If you know, you’re in trouble.

“…….”

The responses to other maps were pretty normal—“It’s nice,” or “Hmm, not bad”—but Aro’s suggestion got particularly intense reactions. Driven by curiosity, she Alt-Tabbed back to the game and typed out the lengthy English title in the custom search.

Baraa seemed to like Aro’s song choice and quickly found the map. The viewers’ reactions were a mixture of horror, excitement, and growing concern.

“…Is it hard?”

Though Baraa’s tone sounded defeated, it didn’t deter the viewers. In fact, they seemed to enjoy it and flooded the chat with comments.

Most of them urged her not to play it. But after a few seconds of reading the chat, Baraa, perhaps spurred on by a bit of stubbornness, went straight into the map.

True to its title, Ice Fire Cat, the map featured an insanely cute cat with black fur, pink inner ears, and yellow eyes, rotating in circles with another black cat. But there was no time to appreciate its cuteness; the countdown rapidly ticked down, and with the word Start! Hell began.

It started slowly, with tiles marked by a blue turtle and a red rabbit, and with a faint clicking sound, the cats moved.

The background music began with a tense, trembling buildup reminiscent of the calm before a storm. The speed slowed at the turtle and sped up to a bizarre rhythm at the rabbit, heightening the tension among players and viewers alike. Upon stepping on the final rabbit tile, the mood changed. The dark map instantly brightened, and with no tension release, the beat escalated. The jagged, twisted beat signaled the incoming machine-gun section.

Amid rapid beats, the machine gun began.

The pace only kept climbing toward its peak. With the tempo increase, the speed followed suit.

Drdrdrdr—dandadadandada drdrdrdr—

It was impossible to gauge how many times a second she needed to press to keep up with the tiles. The cats blurred, moving so fast that viewers marveled that Baraa, a novice, had reached the machine gun stage on her first try.

The machine-gun section continued endlessly, spitting out tiles so quickly it could indeed rival an actual machine gun.

After dozens of bursts, the cats were rotating so wildly they were no longer visible. Up, down, sideways—it was dizzying. Suddenly, the speed dropped significantly, and Baraa took advantage of the brief respite to adjust her fingers and appreciate the background.

“Wow, this feels like one of those math activities from back in school.”

The high-speed section that had been exhausting to follow ended, giving her a few seconds of rest. Beyond the blank tiles was another red rabbit tile, signaling that the machine gun round wasn’t over yet.

The speed was intense, and she hadn’t even reached halfway through the game yet. For some reason, she felt her body adapted better only while gaming. Light fingers glided over the keyboard easily, and her oddly red eyes precisely tracked the rapidly flowing tiles. Was this… reflexes…?

She was pondering, but she quickly dismissed all other thoughts. She had stepped on a rabbit tile again.

***
Eu-nah POV

“…Senior, this…”

“Impossible.”

Seated at the back of the lecture hall with earphones in, I was spectating Suyeon’s hobby with my senior, who sat beside me, concentrating on the tiny screen of her phone. I was about to ask if she could handle it, but she lightly shook her head, preemptively answering that it was impossible.

This wasn’t typical of either of us, really.

For me, I spent my break mostly holed up at home, sleeping, gaming, or occasionally watching streams, so maybe I had some odd bias. But surprisingly, I was in the upper-middle rank academically. This senior, who rarely sat in the back row and never wasted time during lectures, usually sat at the front and always held top grades.

The reason this senior was sitting with me in the very back watching Suyeon’s stream was because of what I said that morning.

“…”

Since it didn’t seem right to disturb her while she was so focused, I simply watched the screen.

A significant amount of time had passed while I talked with her, and the map changed. Not an actual change in the map, but rather in the vibe. The fast rhythm had gradually slowed, and the map began to shift to a yellow hue.

The beat finally slowed down significantly, and the tiles switched to yellow.

Tack tada dada tack tack drdrdrdrdr…

“Oh.”

As Senior let out a disappointed sigh, “52% complete” popped up on the screen.

“Guess she’s still human after all.”

“Is there anyone who can clear this on the first try?”

“…But, aren’t you worried about missing the lecture?”

Although it was the first day, meaning no serious classes were happening, the professor with the shiny head stood in front of the large chalkboard, lecturing, while most students either looked at their phones or openly slept.

“This is more fun. And her voice is nice, even if she sounds like she has a sore throat.”

“……”

Watching Senior, who’d become quite the fan of Baraa, with curiosity, Eun-ah smirked subtly and looked back at the screen.

The professor was aware that few students were listening. Looking at the chalkboard full of daunting formulas likely to nauseate humanities and art students, he surveyed the classroom, noticing that the usual two familiar faces were missing from the front row.

“Hmm…”

The only two students who always sat up front, receiving ample praise from the professor, weren’t there today. The professor, who rarely connected with students, couldn’t help but notice that the two faces were sitting in the very back, neither with books open, both focused on their phones.

With a sigh, the professor leaned against the podium, realizing no one was paying attention to his lecture.

“Ugh.”

Because of that, a few students were struck by the professor’s glare.

***
Lee Suyeon POV

“…Hmmm…”

Baraa kept dying at nearly the same spot. She’d probably died over ten times by now, and her fingers were throbbing with pain.

Pausing the game for a moment, she flexed her sore index fingers, which had been at it for over an hour, typed the word “water” in her memo, and stepped out to get a glass.

Clink.

Returning to his room, she set down the glass and began typing on her keyboard.

=Two fingers are too much. I’ll use four.

– ????????????????

– Wait, what?

Aroalo: Excuse me? Sir?

Without noticing the overflowing chat, Baraa placed four fingers on the keyboard instead of two and watched as the countdown started ticking down.