"Phew. Now that it's been announced, I feel relieved."
Furia, who had been restreaming the official Quasdae broadcast, said that while rubbing his chest. He had been dropping hints little by little, but since this was the first time he'd officially said he was participating, he felt oddly refreshed.
And because most viewers had already picked up on it from the gradual hints, the reaction wasn't that huge.
So it was you after all
With how obvious you made it, it'd be weird if people didn't notice
We already knew
So you were the host?
Hahahahahaha
Since the response was positive, Furia felt even more at ease. With a relaxed mind, he waited for the next person, and the video played.
"Oh? I heard there was a special rules match not long ago. Maybe it's that?"
If it's a werewolf, then yeah, probably
Is the special rules main character showing up?
They were a streamer?
There weren't any famous streamers among them
Are they a minor streamer?
With news that the special rules main character would appear in the tournament, both the viewers and Furia were buzzing with anticipation. The video ended, and at last, the special rules main character was revealed.
"The star of that video was the PC game specialist streamer, Philgong!"
"Huh?"
At the commentators' words, Furia let out a slightly dazed sound without realizing it. The streamer name Philgong was far too familiar to him.
At first, he thought it might be a different streamer with the same name, but when the profile picture was revealed, Furia had no choice but to be sure it was the Philgong he knew.
"Why is hyung showing up here?"
For real
Wasn't he a PC streamer?
Did he switch over?
When did he switch?
I heard he moved from PC to Capsule about two weeks ago
Furia's viewers were a fandom that had stuck with him for a long time, from the PC era all the way into Capsule. And most of them had watched Philgong too.
So naturally, they couldn't not recognize the name Philgong.
"Guys, it's okay if I contact hyung about this, right?"
Yeah
Go in right now!
I'm going to hyung's stream first
I'll go to his stream and do a quick drop-in
I'm looking him up now
A few viewers said they were going to find Philgong's stream and left, and the number was as high as 300. Seeing that, Furia couldn't help but smile.
These were viewers he'd worked hard to keep while streaming, and yet 300 suddenly dipped out.
Looks like hyung's influence really is huge.
Philgong's and Furia's viewer bases overlapped a lot, and since Philgong hadn't come over to Capsule, Furia had been able to absorb those viewers as-is.
But now their main streamer had appeared as a Capsule streamer. Of course they were going back. It was a bit of a cruel twist, but even in that situation, Furia couldn't hide his excitement.
"I'll finally get to talk with hyung again after so long."
Meanwhile, after my name was revealed, other names started being revealed one after another, but I couldn't pay attention to any of that. I was too busy keeping track of what was happening right in front of me.
Hell
Heaven
Hell
Hell
Heaven
Hell
.
.
.
Looking at the chat filled with a mix of hell and heaven, I couldn't help but laugh. In a situation like this, I honestly couldn't tell whether it was hell or heaven.
So all I could do was laugh.
The ones spamming hell were probably mad that I hadn't told them in advance, while the ones spamming heaven were simply happy that I was in Quasdae.
On top of that, the viewers who had decreased because of Quasdae started surging back rapidly. My viewer count, which had been in the 200s, climbed fast and hit the 800s.
Tournament traffic really is huge.
And I saw a few familiar usernames in chat. Quite a few viewers who had left when Capsule became the mainstream were coming back.
As I watched the chat with satisfaction, I spotted a message that stood out.
Furia says he wants to contact you?
Furia contact requested, cuckoo cuckoo
Furia is looking for you
It was chat saying Furia wanted to get in touch with me.
It seemed like viewers from Furia's side had come to drop in. The problem was, I didn't have a way to contact him immediately. If we were using PC Discord, I could've reached him, but we were inside Capsule now.
And in Capsule, you need friend codes to contact each other, and we couldn't exactly exchange those right away.
"Since I don't have his friend code, can you tell him I'll contact him later?"
When I said that, chat told me an easy way to solve it.
If you've been invited to the Quasdae main channel, can't you add friends there and do it that way?
"Oh? That works?"
Just like the viewer said, it was a very simple solution. I immediately connected to the Quasdae channel. Maybe someone had also dropped in on Furia's side, because Furia was connected to the channel too.
Furia and I quickly exchanged friend codes in the shared channel, and I went to Furia's waiting room.
"Oh! The room is different, huh?"
It was flashy enough that you could tell he'd spent money. And it was divided into multiple rooms, too. Compared to my one-room waiting area, it was different in every way.
While I was looking around, one of the doors opened, and Furia stepped out.
"Hyung! You can come into this room!"
"Yeah?"
I followed Furia into the room. Inside, there was a sofa and a kind of luxurious interior.
It was a perfect example of what you could do if you spent money in Capsule.
After entering, I sat on the sofa as Furia did.
"You can set the camera up over there."
"Okay."
It had been a while since I'd seen him, but since we were still live, he helped me get set up quickly. After finishing the setup and sitting down, I finally started talking with Furia properly.
"Hey, it's been a really long time."
"Haha. Since I moved to Capsule, we haven't really been in touch as much."
"So you ditched hyung because you started doing well, is that it?"
"Ahem!"
Maybe it hit a nerve, because he cleared his throat. It looked like he did feel guilty about Capsule going well and not reaching out to the older guys for help.
He looked kind of cute like that, so I decided to tease him a little more.
"Just kidding. Just kidding."
"R-right?"
"Then... if you know what loyalty is, let's do well, yeah?"
"Ahem!"
At my teasing, he cleared his throat again. When I laughed at him, he started laughing too.
It was a joke I could make because I'd never actually resented him.
After we finished laughing, we did some "how have you been" talk. Since we were live, we didn't get into anything too deep.
By the time we'd been catching up, the roster reveal was already over.
"Since we're here, let's watch together."
"Sure. It's a mock auction anyway."
It would be more fun watching together than restreaming alone. So we played the broadcast and started watching the mock auction.
"Who do you hope picks you up, hyung?"
"Honestly, I think getting passed over would be less pressure. I don't really know anyone, so getting picked by someone might feel even more stressful."
"Really?"
"Then what about you, since you asked?"
"Me? Probably Ponia. It gives me strength."
"Crazy."
I couldn't help but laugh. Ponia was a female streamer with great skill and a great voice. The sheer shamelessness of how "down bad" that sounded left me speechless.
I knew there was a trend lately where people said things like, "Someone with a nice voice gives you strength," but I didn't expect him to say it that boldly.
A lot has changed in streaming culture while I wasn't watching.
Thinking that, I turned my gaze back to the mock auction. The auction order was being revealed one by one. The format wasn't much different from the PC days.
That meant position mattered most.
And my revealed position was in the middle of the second row.
The problem was I didn't know which listings were good, so I couldn't judge whether my position was good or bad. So I casually asked Furia, who was watching beside me.
"Which listing is the best?"
"Mm... I think the fiercest competition is going to be in SSR, between me and Ppyoroji."
"Then I'm screwed."
My position was right before those two. If it were extremely early, it might be worth poking at, but if it was right before the top listings, then my position wasn't good at all.
And since my tier overlapped with the people behind me too, it was even worse.
Of course, I saw it differently.
It's guaranteed I get passed over.
I'd been hoping to be passed over from the start, so to me, that position was perfect.
The mock auction proceeded step by step, and the team leaders used only tiny amounts of their allotted 2,000 points to fill their lower tiers. Time passed, and at last, it was my turn.
"It's finally hyung, huh?"
"Bad position, so I'll probably get passed over?"
Yeah
This is definitely a pass-over, right?
Back in the PC days, there's no way hyung would ever get passed over
Still, from the clip, his mechanics looked good. Though maybe that's just because his MMR is low
Pass-over is basically guaranteed
The viewers were all predicting I'd be passed over, and my auction began. And as expected, none of the UR-tier players were spending points.
Then Margus spoke.
"Ah... is he getting passed over?"
"Looking at the situation, it seems like it."
"It's a bit surprising. I didn't even consider the possibility that this player would get passed over."
"Oh? Is that so?"
At Margus's words, the other commentator grew interested. Watching that, I started to feel uneasy.
What is he about to say?
The auction time was 30 seconds.
If nobody spent points during that time, it would move on as a pass-over.
Inside, I prayed Margus wouldn't do anything.
But contrary to my hopes, Margus kept talking in an impressively troublesome way.
"That opponent in the video was me. So I don't really understand why this player is being passed over."
"Oh? So you fought Margus and won?"
"Yes. I was completely outclassed physically. Of course, since his MMR is similar to mine, he probably hasn't been playing long, but as far as raw physical ability goes, he's a monster."
"Is that so?"
Right then, a streamer spent points on me.
Ponia: 5 points!
"Ah!"
And the guy sitting next to me looked at me like he was jealous.
I ignored his gaze and frowned. I'd been right on the verge of getting passed over, and now it had failed. So inside, I glared at Margus.
But Margus's mouth didn't stop there.
"And on top of that, he's currently an interim coach for our GG team."
"What?!"
"He's our GG team's interim coach for Kill Ground speed mode."
The moment I heard that, I couldn't help but remember.
The fear of that day...
Back in the PC days, I got overhyped, they poured an absurd amount of points into me, and the team ended up finishing fourth. I couldn't help but recall that memory.
Sure enough, after hearing Margus, the other UR-tier players started joining the auction in droves.
Philip: 10 points!
Yuruba: 15 points!
Ponia: 50 points!
Chilchaek: 55 points!
.
.
.
A sudden, fierce points war broke out, and I could only watch it with sad eyes.
And finally, my auction reached its conclusion.
"Philgong goes to Team Ponia for 1,005 points!"
Mock auction result.
My final total was 1,005 points.
"Ha ha."