It’s not that kind of malicious broadcast

A broadcaster must always be ready to act—Arc believed that wholeheartedly.

Primarily because they often needed to create entertainment out of trivial things. To exaggerate a small irritation into a massive rage, commonly known as “shotgunning”.

Of course, not every broadcast could feature a major event. Nor could one simply broadcast the mundane day-to-day, hoping for broadcast-worthy moments to happen by chance. Especially for someone like Arc, whose main content revolved around engaging banter with viewers at a fairly high energy level.

On the contrary, sometimes a broadcaster needed to act indifferent to downplay a major event. If a broadcaster appeared flustered and started making a fuss, it would inevitably become a major incident.

Many situations that could have been overlooked often flared up due to an initial mishandling.

And now, Arc found this to be one of those classic cases, as she repeatedly reminded herself while trying her best to ignore the stormy chat window. Despite the multiple “???” messages and about 30% of the viewers spamming questions like “Dodat?”, “Blocked?”, “Cheating??? Dating??” repeatedly.

It was too significant an issue to handle recklessly.

What if, by any chance, Dodat and Lee Yena were really dating?

Unbelievable as it seemed, what if Dodat was indeed juggling three relationships?

I mean… was he really facing a comprehensive package of fan relationships, one-night stands, and infidelity right before her eyes?

Determined not to add any more fuel to the fire, Arc did her best to keep the interview flowing naturally, but—

“Um… just asking, but if you keep going down the list, does my name show up at all?”

《Ah, yes. You were exactly 4th. So close.》

“Okay… I’ll believe you. But then why was I the only one targeted… Ah, it’s because you liked me the most, right?”

《Targeted…? Ah, you must mean viewer participation. Tatiana is a user from the Russian server and streams in Russian, so it’s hard to do a collaboration with her. Second place was obviously out of reach… and for Dodat, my rank was a bit too low. Though, we might match queues now… care to try next time together?》

It felt like walking through a minefield.

“No, no! That’s not what I meant at all!”

《…I see. That’s unfortunate.》

For now, the bomb had not exploded. But would it stay safe next time?

The tension was so extreme that Arc felt an urge to charge ahead, pretending no bomb even existed. When you really thought about it, it wasn’t such a far-fetched idea.

Given the current context, this wasn’t the way one talked about an ex-boyfriend.

‘Could it be that it was just about playing as a Holy Knight and Warrior together?’

Considering it was Lee Yena, it seemed plausible.

‘Then, maybe just biting the bullet and asking her to elaborate on the previous story… might solve it.’

However, it was the imaginary nuclear bomb that was most terrifying.

Once she envisioned the worst-case scenario, she had no choice but to proceed cautiously with every step. Occasionally, she paused her conversation to monitor the chat.

…

…

…

About 20 minutes later.

With donations turned off, Arc finally succeeded in addressing all the prepared questions—

“Now, it’s very unfortunate, but to conclude the interview, I’ll ask the final question. A lot of people have joined us today, which shows how high the interest in the first female Challenger, GetDevoured, is! Could you tell us what kind of streams you plan to show in the future and what your goals are?”

《I plan to continue streaming for the Rogue Revival Movement. As for my goal… let’s see. Hopefully, when I play ranked, fights will break out because of rogue first picks. I think it’s not far off. Please look forward to it.》

She smoothly wrapped up the interview with this unexpected answer.

“…Yes. That’s a good… a good goal. This was CravingWarmAmericano! Thank you.”

In that moment, a name was erased from the list of potential victims.

* * * *

Even after the pleasantries and ending the Discourse voice chat, Arc was still muttering to herself. For the second part, she would play some ranked matches… or maybe, just to celebrate, play a rogue in a normal game?

…That sounded intriguing.

Come to think of it, it had been a long time since he had fully enjoyed Arc’s broadcasts. He occasionally dropped by to watch, but never participated in the chat.

But Arc’s chat was still bustling. Conversations about her, about Dodat… it drew far more attention than expected.

Yet, compared to Dodat’s broadcast, this was mild.

Not only Arc’s streams, but even Dodat’s broadcasts seemed interesting… but unfortunately, neither option allowed her to participate as a viewer.

The tales being spun on Dodat’s broadcast were filled with utterly ridiculous accusations. It was the kind of clamor that would’ve died down immediately if handled appropriately.

Maybe he was flustered. Uncharacteristically for a seasoned broadcaster, Dodat stuttered and wavered, becoming easy prey.

…The image of a cheating alpha male seemed to oddly suit him, making one wonder if he was doing it on purpose.

Not that it was directly related, but Arc’s chat also kept repeating questions about what exactly was forgiven. Despite the lack of responses, the questions kept coming, indicating genuine curiosity…

Answering was somewhat difficult.

Specifically pointing out what went wrong would just be a witch hunt.

The intention conveyed through the question felt impure, making it more of a problem. Even though cyber ostracism might seem like a fond traditional practice, deep down, I didn’t really want to engage in such actions, having forgiven in my heart.

Because Arc had thrown in a question related to warriors, memories of the day Dodat betrayed the Rogue Revival Movement resurfaced, prompting me to share a bit more than I intended.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t my intention to expose Dodat’s misdeeds to the world. Really.

Despite everything, there was a time when I valued him enough to hope he’d take charge of the Rogue Revival Movement.

I downed the remaining drink in one go and lightly grasped a new can.

Now, it was time to do what must be done.

“CravingWarmAmericano is broadcasting!”

“Rogue Revival Movement – Ask Me Anything”

* * * *

It had been a week since the last broadcast.

The fans of Lee Yena, who had been left out in the cold, deprived of the expected(after-party) for a week, had been burning up the forum in frustration and anger with no place to vent.

The fact that her comeback would happen on someone else’s broadcast had already left them fuming. There was some hope that through interviews, they might glimpse snippets of her private life – but the conversations with Arc, who carefully maintained boundaries, were largely uneventful.

Given this context, when words with plenty of room for misunderstanding were suddenly thrown out, it was perhaps inevitable that the pent-up frustration would explode into an uncontrollable blaze, scattering indiscriminately.

Dodat’s halfhearted responses also fanned the flames to some extent – but if one were to assess fault, Dodat’s share was relatively minor.

However, at this moment, no one cared about each person’s specific wrongdoings.

Parrot-like, Dodat kept repeating, “I’m not that kind of person,” and, “I’ve never met GetDevoured personally.”

Meanwhile, the public, driven by the hope of a bigger scoop, buzzed with anticipation. Considering that ambiguous suspicions had been flatly denied, wasn’t it time for a decisive reveal?

The broadcast titled “Ask Me Anything” appearing at that particular moment had an undeniable pull on everyone’s attention.

Normally, such a title would suit a casual communication broadcast – but now, it was viewed as nothing short of a declaration of full-blown exposé.

As viewers who had been scattered across various places flocked to the broadcast like moths to a flame, it only took moments for thousands to gather before the blank screen.

It was truly a situation akin to a black hole, sucking in all the attention.

– “Open the door! Open the door! Open the door! Open the door! Open the door! Open the door!”

– “Saw your interview.”

– “Are you close with Dodat?”

– “Is this an interactive broadcast?”

– “Congrats on reaching Challenger!!!”

– “Did you sign up for the tournament?”

– “Love you, Got Devoured sis!”

– “What’s your relationship with Dodat!!”

– “Holy Knight or Warrior name, now.”

– “Dodat says he doesn’t know you, is that true?”

– “What do you mean by comrade?”

– “Enable donations, please.”

– “Explain yourself.”

– “Are you really dating?”

Dodat, Arc, Revan, and other broadcasters experienced a temporary lull in their chat rooms. Conversely, Lee Yena’s chat window started to scroll so rapidly it became nearly impossible to read.

Watching the flurry of messages for a moment, she adjusted her settings and slowly began to speak.

“Ah, ah. Can you hear me?”

Her voice finally echoed through. The dizzying chats demanded immediate answers, most of them insisting they could hear her perfectly.

“A lot of curious folks here today. I even did an interview, which is so unlike me. It looks like people shouldn’t do what they don’t usually do.”

As the screen transitioned smoothly with a sound effect, a familiar KoK client appeared before everyone.

“Anyway… this is time for those who have questions. I will only take the first 20 questions.”

Alongside her calm voice, the sound of typing could be heard. At the top of the screen, large text appeared.

『dam12/dam12』

A phrase painfully familiar to Lee Yena’s viewers.

“Of course, I’ll only answer the winner’s questions. Feel free to join… and ask anything.”

TL’s Corner:
AMA with a twist. LOL