[TS] Malicious Sniper

Curry started the collab stream with Barcode and felt something was off as time went on.

During the Q&A session meant to fill the opening time, statements like “Barcode’s voice really turns me on” kept throwing him off.

It felt like Barcode was teasing him, making him feel strangely uneasy.

This was the first time Curry had a voice conversation with Barcode.

The collab invite was proposed through Lilyan’s messenger, and the details after the collab were shared via the Discord server.

So aside from a few exchanges, it was as if they were meeting for the first time.

Curry thought the atmosphere might get awkward often, but it was anything but that.

In fact, Curry had assumed that Barcode, who had only streamed for a day, would think about how to make the collab easier for him.

The Q&A segment to fill the opening time was exactly that consideration.

To help ease the tension he thought Barcode might be feeling, he had prepared a bunch of preliminary remarks.

But Barcode seemed to be more relaxed than he anticipated.

No, it went beyond not being tense; it felt like Barcode was thoroughly enjoying the situation.

When Curry asked a question, Barcode would give confusing answers, and while filling the broadcast sound with talk, he kept making Curry uncomfortable.

Curry thought Barcode was acting like a mischievous little girl.

They had only exchanged a few words, yet he felt completely drained.

The little high energy he had left was all thanks to Barcode.

The problem was that this feeling was all too familiar.

‘That bastard…’

The crazy dude who kept targeting him with three accounts.

He was the one who camped him during the promotion matches, leading him to a demoralizing record of losses.

Not just once, but multiple times, that ‘true’ jerk.

It felt similar to how he used to suffer from that guy.

‘What on earth did I do wrong in my past life…?’

Why was it that people classified as ‘jerks’ stuck to him like this?

He thought he was free from the pain of being targeted with the preseason.

But now, his energy was being drained in a different form.

“…Lady?”

“…Curry?”

“Oh, yes. What did you say?”

Was it because he felt drained?

Caught off guard by Barcode calling him, Curry responded like a machine.

“I’m going to push this lane, so please respond.”

“Ah, understoood.”

While playing a breathless and brain-dead lane phase, Curry managed the line at Barcode’s roaming call.

He positioned himself precariously, neither pushing too hard nor pulling back too much, right on the tower’s range.

It was a line commonly referred to among top laners as ‘death lane’ (죽밀라).

The opponent, Darius, forced himself forward to push the lane.

As Darius cleared the waves with his Q, Curry’s Jake instantly unleashed all six of his skills and initiated a fight.

He landed a hefty burst combo, but Darius still had about half health left.

Thinking he could win, Darius activated his ult and sought a direct confrontation.

And at that moment, Yone arrived at the top lane and cleanly hit his ER combo.

Darius met a rapidly disappointing end, and Curry seized the opportunity to mine tower gold.

“You’re genuinely doing so well, I’m impressed.”

“Even if you praise me like that, nothing will fall.”

“Hey~ Do I look like someone who’s fishing for compliments?”

“A little?”

“…If you see it that way, I can’t argue.”

“It’s just a joke, are you mad?”

Curry fell silent at Barcode’s voice full of playfulness and laughter.

He couldn’t speak as he gulped down water to replenish his quickly fading energy.

Did he misunderstand Curry’s silence in another way?

“Curry?”

Cough! Cough!

Upon hearing Barcode’s solemn voice, Curry turned his head away from the mic after swallowing wrong.

Relieved to escape the sudden sound terror, he didn’t expect.

“Answer me.”

With Barcode’s voice now chilly, he hastily turned his head and opened his mouth.

“Yes, yes! What’s the matter?”

“I thought you were mad since you weren’t answering.”

“Come on, who gets mad over such a joke? I’m not a child.”

“Right?”

The cold voice moments ago was just an act.

In an instant, Barcode returned to his usual tone, making Curry feel like he would lose his mind.

Not joking, but sincerely.

“When did you arrive?”

“Oops.”

“Oh, that was a real bummer.”

After suffering for a while from Barcode’s teasing, Curry couldn’t focus on the game and kept dying.

He didn’t notice the jungler in the tri-bush and got dived to death.

When trying to mine the last turret gold that disappears in a minute, he got killed by the roaming support and jungler.

In a brainless split, he fell to the incoming Silas without a second thought.

He had done well during the laning phase, yet, he couldn’t concentrate on the game.

Curry vaguely sensed why he was failing to focus but couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud to the person involved.

His KDA stood at 3/7/3.

Considering his KDA before the lane ended was 2/1/2.

Curry knew he hadn’t justified the investment made by his allied jungler and mid.

“Curry.”

“Yes…”

[Quadra Kill!]

[Master of the Battlefield!]

Curry captured a murder spree by Yone against his gray screen.

At this rate, he couldn’t tell whether it was Curry’s screen or a black-and-white highlight of Yone.

Feeling like a sinner, he bowed his head slightly and awaited Barcode’s words.

“I clearly pinged and called out that Silas was going down, why didn’t you back?”

“…”

“Didn’t I also tell you not to be greedy over turret gold earlier?”

“…”

“Did you make a mistake? Did you do well?”

“…”

“Answer me.”

“…I messed up.”

Like a child being scolded by a parent.

Curry quietly listened to Barcode’s lecturing.

“But, from my perspective, I honestly thought popping the bot 2v1 fight was worth it…”

“So I’m not wrong then?”

“…No.”

Curry tried to resist even slightly, but.

He quickly tucked his tail haplessly at Barcode’s overbearing voice.

Sure, he felt a bit wronged, but it was right he had messed up too.

“How about you try doing what I say just once?”

“Um… Understood.”

At Barcode’s suggestion, Curry pretended to ponder before accepting.

In fact, he realized that all the deaths he had faced were due to not following Barcode’s calls.

Revived, Curry’s Jake headed for the bot lane.

The opponents had no teleport, while Jake’s teleport was still up, and with Baron alive, it made sense for him to go to the bot lane.

Starting the split again, Curry moved carefully while focusing as much as possible.

Eventually, he caught sight of the opposing support, Leona, disappearing downwards.

Drawing Leona’s movement and position in his mind, Curry judged it was safe until this lane.

“Curry, back off.”

“What?”

“Back. Off.”

“…Understood.”

Curry instinctively questioned, but as Barcode emphasized each word, he seized the question and instantly retreated from the lane.

“If you have a ward, place it in the middle of the lane. Then you’ll understand why I told you to back off.”

“Yep. Understood.”

Curry obediently planted a ward in the middle of the lane.

Once he retreated to a safe place, Silas appeared near the warded area.

“…When did he come down?”

Curry confirmed that Silas had gone up to the top jungle before Leona and wondered how he got to the bot lane so fast.

How did Silas manage to come down to the bot lane in the first place?

Logically, returning from up and going circling around the map should take too much time.

“It’s a kind of fake using the minion’s vision. Pretending to go up and clearing the minions stuck on the second tower. Just as the next minion wave’s vision is about to reach, he jumps over the wall and heads straight down. Then from the enemy’s perspective, they’d think Silas is by Baron or went top… but I don’t think the enemy Silas has Diamond-level skills.”

“Ah… I see! I understand now!”

“…You didn’t understand, did you?”

“No! I did.”

“If you lie…”

“No, I didn’t.”

Trying to push back that he understood, but.

With Barcode’s dwindling voice, Curry had to spit out the truth eventually.

Just hearing the dwindling tone of his voice sent shivers down his spine.

Curry had been severely teased by Barcode in a short span.

After that, Curry followed Barcode’s calls.

After flawless execution, they secured an easy victory.

Of course, it was Barcode’s Yone that literally hard-carried their team.

Once they finished a game with Barcode’s Yone, Curry regained his senses and proceeded with the content.

“Now that we’ve played a game, are there any hidden tips or tricks about Yone that the average person might not know?”

“Absolutely. But if you have even a little interest in Yone, you’d know these tips…”

“That’s alright. There are way more people who don’t know than those who do anyway.”

“Then we’ll need to set up a private room…”

“Knowing that, I’ve already prepared one in advance. I’ll send you the invite.”

Curry sent invites to Barcode and acquaintances he had prearranged to assist with the stream.

After hitting start on the game, both Curry and Barcode picked Yone.

Once they entered out to the Rift, they all hit level six.

“I think you’re all aware of basic Q-flash and W-flash, so I’ll skip those.”

“What I’ll show you first is the secret of E marks.”

“Curry, after using E, could you try attacking me right until I’m on the brink of death?”

“Just focus on the marks.”

Following Barcode’s instructions, Curry used E and attacked.

How long was he attacking while staring at the red mark hovering above the enemy Yone’s head?

“Uh…?”

The color of the red mark turned black.

Not everything turned black, just part of it, and when E released, the enemy Yone died.

“When the enemy’s health is on the verge of death from the returning E damage, part of the mark turns black.”

“Wow, I’ve never known this. How fascinating…”

After that, Barcode showcased several Yone tips and tricks during Curry’s stream.

For instance, jumping over both thin and thick walls with his ultimate to reach a spot with a second tower.

Or using return E to free sleep from Juhui and Lilyan, and such, information was known to those who had at least a basic understanding of Yone.

However, for someone just starting out with Yone or those who weren’t too familiar with him, this was incredibly useful and precious information.

Once the tips and tricks section came to a successful end.

Now, it was time for a duo rank to see the master’s real application.

Having played about five games together, Curry had drawn countless favorable matchups while feeling like a barely living zombie drained of energy, wishing this time would come to an end.

And soon enough, the end of the ‘Meeting the Master’ content finally approached.

‘Freedom!’

He wanted to end this collab quickly and shout freedom.

Curry was free!

Of course, he didn’t express such thoughts on the outside, putting on a sad face while speaking.

“Thank you for all your hard work today. I can’t believe time has passed this quickly… It’s truly disappointing.”

“What? What are you talking about? We still have the ‘Part 2’ broadcast left.”

“…What?”

Curry momentarily thought he misheard.

So he questioned it, and when Barcode heard the question, he continued casually.

“You agreed to do the Part 2 broadcast where while you play ‘Yone’ in solo queue, I’ll provide real-time feedback.”

“When did I say that…”

“I didn’t even turn on my own stream to help out your broadcast, and now you want to discard me after sucking everything dry…?”

Curry felt dizzy seeing Barcode’s watery-eyed expression as he asked.

He never promised that Part 2 and had never said to not turn on the broadcast.

However, looking at the situation objectively, if he now rejected Barcode’s mention of the Part 2 broadcast, it would be almost certain that he would be perceived as a complete jerk.

Curry couldn’t see a way out of this predicament.

Struggling, he eventually asked for opinions from his staff.

Curry: What should I do, guys?

Curry: Help me out here.

Curry: Since you’re watching, you probably have a good idea of the situation.

Editor1: Boss, thanks to Barcode, we’ve got three ten-minute-long montage videos. Let’s keep going.

Editor2: The content suggested by Barcode seem good too. Two more parts should be possible.

Manager1: We will now begin an internal poll. If you think the boss’s opinion is bad, please type ‘Evan-de’.

Editor1: Evan-de

Editor2: Evan-de

Manager2: Evan-de

Manager1: The boss’s opinion has been dismissed as three strikes ‘Evan.’

Curry: This is such a bullshit %%%.

A boss who couldn’t even receive proper treatment from his staff.

Curry internally shed tears and opened his mouth with a dismal heart.

“Okay. Sure, let’s do that Part 2 broadcast…”

And so, as Barcode’s stream began to roll.

Curry was plunged into a hellish Part 2 broadcast.

---