Sanghoon leaned closer toward the top corner of the overlay.
He hadn't misread it.
There were now three people watching his stream.
"…Huh?"
The word slipped out quietly in his lips, almost breathless.
He looked back at his chat, unsure if it was a glitch or some delay in the overlay. But the number remained.
Three.
Three viewers.
There were 3 people watching him. Right now.
He chuckled under his breath, brushing his hair back with one hand.
"Okay, um… hi? To the new people?"
His voice cracked slightly at the end, which only made him laugh again.
"I wasn't really expecting anyone to show up today, so… this is kinda wild."
He cleared his throat.
"I'm not doing anything special, by the way. Just… solo queueing and talking to myself."
He paused for a moment to calm his racing heart.
"Well, I was talking to EchoKing earlier. But now I guess I should talk to all of you?"
The chat box was filled with another message.
[scarletsky: I'm new here. Is this your first stream?]
"Oh," Seunghoon blinked. "Yeah, actually. Kind of a test run but I didn't expect to have viewers."
He looked at the camera overlay. It felt… weird. But in a good way.
[scarletsky: Well, you got chill vibes. Nice plays too. I saw that Orian game earlier.]
"Thanks," Seunghoon said. A smile was tugged at the corners of his mouth. "I wasn't sure if that was good or if I just got lucky."
[EchoKing22: Nah bro. You earned that MVP.]
Seunghoon chuckled softly.
He returned to the game for a moment, cleared another wave, and roamed around the map again. But his attention kept shifting back to the chat.
"You know," he said, "I don't usually talk much when I play. Kinda just… focus and play in silence. But this feels different."
He took a breath. He didn't even know why he said it out loud. It just slipped out of his mouth. His words lingered for a second longer before the chat popped again.
[Idomama: Yeah. It's weird because there's only three of us here.]
Seunghoon laughed. "Yeah, I know right. But it's nice."
[scarletsky: Yeah. Was bored of other streams and I saw this one.]
[EchoKing22: Agreed.]
Seunghoon leaned back slightly in his chair, relaxing more into the seat.
The tension in his shoulders eased. The nerves that had been there earlier melted with each comment from the viewers. For seconds, they just talked to each other while Seunghoon played on the background.
"So… what do you guys do? Like, outside games?" he asked for a moment before focusing on the map.
Seunghoon returned his focus to the screen. His hero was already mid-lane again, the minions clashing just beyond the tower.
He used a quick auto to last-hit the first caster minion, then stepped back slightly to avoid the enemy mid's skillshot. A blue ring flickered under his feet, it was a warning from the enemy jungler's passive.
"Okay, they're here," he muttered.
He pulled back to tower range, dropped a ward by the river bush, and pinged the map twice. His top laner pinged back.
Good. At least someone was watching.
The enemy mid—Zarek, a lightning mage, tried to shove the wave hard in the middle lane. Seunghoon held his ground, staying behind his minions. He timed his third skill,
Seunghoon's fingers flew across his keyboard as a fight in the midlane broke our.
[Red has slain an enemy!]
Seunghoon smiled to himself as he stood victorious in the lane. He tped back to the base and glanced back to chat.
[scarletsky: Well nothing much. I just watching streams and read novels.]
[Idomama: I'm a student. My midterms just ended so this is my procrastination.]
[EchoKing22: Full-time nurse. Night shift later. Just killing time.]
Seunghoon blinked, surprised at the differences in their answers.
"Damn… That's… kinda cool."
And here he was.
A dropout student.
Seunghon smiled, the corner of his lip lifting as if it were involuntary.
"You guys are out here having lives. Meanwhile, I'm here in my room, playing alone and streaming in the dark."
They all laughed in the chat.
Seunghoon stared at the screen again, not to read stats or prepare for a gank, but just… to look at the chat.
Three strangers.
He was talking to three unknown people. He didn't even know their names, but suddenly, they didn't feel like strangers.
Even if he was playing all by himself, Seunghoon felt like he wasn't playing alone.
He looked down at his keyboard.
Then toward the faint red dot on the corner of his Litch overlay.
[You are LIVE.]
He smiled again quietly to himself.
"Anyways thanks for watching, guys," he said, not even thinking twice. "This… actually means a lot. I'll try to stream for a few hours while I play today."
[scarletsky: I'll stick around. Your stream's got good vibes.]
[EchoKing22: Same. I'll stay until I gotta prepare for my shift.]
[Idomama: I got nowhere to be so I'll be here.]
Seunghoon let out a soft laugh.
"Thanks, guys," he said. "Really. I know it's just three of you, but… I don't know. This feels kinda special."
He wasn't sure why his chest felt warm, or why he kept glancing at the chat box like it was something more important than his game.
After a while, the game moved on and continued. A jungle fight was brewing near the river, and he began moving toward it, instinctively scanning the map.
[ZennyDrop has followed your stream!]
At the sudden notification, his eyes flicked to the corner.
Five.
There were five people watching now.
=====
A/N:
Big thanks to everyone who dropped Golden Tickets and Gifts into the novel! ScarletSky, MeKuta22, WickedCat, Ummmname, XenonBlaster65.
Thank you so much for the support!
I still have a lot to learn as I continue this novel, but I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am enjoying while writing it!