Seunghoon found himself sitting up straighter.
His hands hovered over the keyboard, but his eyes flicked between the game and the Litch chat box more often now. There was only one viewer, but somehow, that made it more nerve-racking than if there were none at all.
"Alright… focus," he muttered to himself.
The enemy jungler appeared near mid, and Seunghoon reacted quickly to it. He sent Orian's orb out with Harmonic Pulse and repositioned with Threadline to keep a safe range. The exchange was clean and he took minimal damage.
"You see that, Man?" he said, half-teasing. "It's important to know the orb spacing. It will really help you when you're fighting someone.
The chat didn't reply immediately, but somehow just having that window open made him feel less alone.
He moved back under the enemy's turret, last-hitting it with ease. The orb danced across the screen, following his hero with grace.
A few more trades later, he roamed the bot. His team's ADC had already burned their Flicker, so he lined up a flank from behind the river.
Orian's orb hovered in the fog of war for just a second.
Then—
Suddenly, three enemies got dragged toward the orb's center before they could react.
[Red has slain an enemy!]
[Double Kill!]
[Ally has slain an enemy!]
"Let's go," Seunghoon muttered in joy. "That's how you play a setup mage."
Then the chat lit up again.
[EchoKing22: HOLY SHIT.]
[EchoKing22: That was clean af.]
[EchoKing22: Can't believe I found this stream randomly.]
Seunghoon laughed.
He wasn't trying to impress anyone, but it still felt good to be complimented. Especially live.
"Thanks," he replied, chuckling softly. "It's actually been a while since I played her."
Slowly, Seunghoon realized that he was smiling.
Was this what streamers felt?
That small rush when someone appreciated a play? Even if it was just one person?
For the rest of the match, Seunghoon kept up the tempo. He made the right calls, pinged objectives, and helped secure vision. It was one of those rare solo queue games where the team actually cooperated.
They closed the game in 31 minutes.
[Victory!]
Seunghoon leaned back in his chair, exhaling.
The post-game screen loaded slowly, filling with stats and gold graphs.
[Match MVP: Red (Orian)]
He blinked, then laughed under his breath.
Of course.
"Hi Man! You still there?" he asked aloud.
[EchoKing22: Hell yeah. That was nuts.]
[EchoKing22: Are you a smurf or something? That didn't look like Flare.]
"Not really," Seunghoon replied casually, a grin still on his face. "But I've been playing for a while."
There was a few seconds of silence in the chat.
[EchoKing22: You ever thought about doing this seriously? Like streaming more often?]
Seunghoon froze at the question.
The same question the guys had thrown at him back at the PC café.
He stared at the screen for a moment.
Then leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk.
"…Honestly?" he said, "I just tried this today for fun."
He hesitated a little bit before continuing his words.
"But… it's not bad."
Yeah…
Not bad at all.
His eyes flicked to the top corner of the screen. Just one viewer. A tiny number. Insignificant to most.
But somehow… it felt like the start of something.
[EchoKing22: Well I'll follow. Looking forward to your next stream.]
A small sound escaped Seunghoon's lips. Not quite a laugh, not quite a sigh. Just… surprised.
[EchoKing22 has followed your stream!]
"Thanks, Man."
Seunghoon stayed live.
He didn't even mean to, but after the first match ended, EchoKing22 was still there in the chat. So he figured… why not? His energy was still high, and the game had gone surprisingly well.
"Alright," he said, clearing his throat as he queued up again. "Guess I'll run one more."
[Searching for Match…]
The queue timer ticked past thirty seconds. The chat was quiet for a bit, but eventually, another message popped up.
[EchoKing22: So who's your main? That Orian looked good, so I figured that it's her?]
Seunghoon smiled faintly.
"Nope. Seryn's actually my comfort pick," he replied. "She's not meta, though. Still, she's a good use."
He clicked through the hero list on-screen, hovering briefly over names as he spoke.
[EchoKing22: LMAO. Didn't expect that.]
[Match Found.]
The screen loaded quickly, and before long, he was back in draft. He got midlane again. This time, he hovered over Seryn, wanting to show the man how to use it.
The second game loaded in without much delay.
Seunghoon sat up straighter, his fingers resting lightly on his keyboard as he hovered over Seryn.
[You have selected: SERYN]
[Red has locked in Seryn (Mid)]
He let out a slow breath as the hero's a art glowed across his screen.
"So have you tried using this hero?"
Seunghoon asked, trying to communicate with his only viewer.
[EchoKing22: Not really. I play top.]
"Ohh… I see…"
[EchoKing22: Let's gooo. Show me what off-meta magic looks like.]
Seunghoon chuckled under his breath.
"You're hyping this up too much, Man," he said, smiling to himself. "I'm not even warmed up yet."
[Welcome to the battlefield.]
Seryn spawned in at the base, her soft idle voice echoing through his headset. The rest of the team bought their items and scattered across the map.
Seunghoon took his time setting up. He bought his starter items. Then he began to walk toward lane.
As Seryn glided across the screen, he leaned forward and casually began to speak again.
"So, when I play her, I usually max Q first. It's her main poke."
[EchoKing22: Taking notes.]
Seunghoon laughed.
He didn't expect it to be this fun. He was talking through his own thoughts out loud, explaining his movements.
"So why are you watching this stream, Man? Aren't you bored?" Seunghoon's voice was light. Almost playful. He didn't even realize how easily the words were coming out of his mouth now.
[EchoKing22: Not really. I'm just chillin'. Had the day off. This popped up low on the feed, so I figured why not support new streamers?]
Seunghoon nodded as if the guy could see him.
"Fair enough," he said. "Me too. If I wasn't playing, I'd probably be napping right now."
He leaned back slightly in his chair, eyes still scanning the screen out of habit, but his attention was no longer tied solely to the game.
"I used to think streamers were just cracked players who talked non-stop. But here I am, trying it."
He laughed quietly to himself.
"I guess it's not that hard once you get started."
He cleared a wave mid, then hovered near the river bush.
"Do you play solo most of the time?" he asked.
[EchoKing22: Yeah. My friends kinda stopped playing last year. Got busy with work or uni.]
"Mm. Yeah…" Seunghoon murmured. "I get that."
He dragged his mouse across the map, setting a mental path to rotate bottom. As his hero moved, he glanced back at his screen.
That's when he noticed it.
The viewer count.
[3 viewers.]
He blinked.
"Wait… did I just—?"