Tekken

My anguished voice kept echoing in the soundproof booth.

"Ah, ah, ah! Ah!!"

[LOLOLOL Are you actually getting beaten up for real?]

[How can someone get beaten up that much in mid-air? LOLOLOL]

[Now this is Tekken lol]

[Daeju's treating viewers to dinner tonight... Just, amazing Daeju!]

[Just delicious! Daeju!]

I was getting beaten to dust by someone who just entered.

I was really confident. And I prided myself on having at least average skills.

How much had I played this game? A whopping 400 hours.

So why am I getting beaten up like this?

The opponent was even two ranks lower than me. While rank isn't everything, usually with a two-rank difference, you should at least have an advantage or at least be evenly matched. So I came to a conclusion.

"Ah, it's an alt account. You could've just used your main... Okay! You're pretty good. Must be a pro gamer."

[???]

[Alt account excuse LOLOLOL You're something else, streamer!]

[Anyone can see it's their main]

[That's kind of pathetic lol]

[Can't help it if they're a pro gamer. Pro gamer Daeju will understand.]

The viewers' reactions were cold.

It was clear there weren't many viewers at my rank level.

I had my reasons.

In 400 hours of playing various matches, I'd rarely encountered players who could block low attacks so well, and even use advanced techniques like low parrying - blocking low attacks while counter-attacking simultaneously.

Of course, the viewer could be one of those rare skilled players, but admitting that would hurt my pride, so I couldn't accept it.

Since it was the game I'd invested the most time in after League of Legends, I had pride in this game.

"Ah really... Of all things, an alt account, and it's the first match so my hands aren't warmed up, and I haven't played this game much recently..."

[What, did you write down a list of excuses in notepad?]

[FR LOLOLOL So many excuses]

[How shameful...]

[I understand Daeju. Earlier in the game, you got hit in the head a lot]

[Early symptoms of concussion, I get it LOL]

"Um... I'll give you a gift card, but please play one more match"

The opponent readily pressed ready at my request.

They already got a gift card. They probably agreed to one more match since they had nothing to lose, but I was serious.

If I lose this match, I'll have fewer excuses left.

"Analysis complete"

[Saying things like that usually means you'll lose]

[Writing his own death flag]

[If he writes a death flag and lose, does he get off on losing?]

ㄴ [Has been forcibly removed.]

[Even that gets you kicked these days;;]

[Is there anything else worth getting kicked for?]

This time the opponent chose a different character.

"Using a character with no fundamentals..."

[FR LOLOLOL]

[Using a character from another game]

The opponent chose a character from another fighting game, one that made it into Tekken through a successful collaboration.

The name was Akuma.

Still, I was confident since I had quite a bit of experience fighting against them.

I could roughly guess what the opponent was thinking. They probably planned to harass me using ranged attacks that only some characters have. But they're mistaken if they think that'll work on me.

In 400 hours of playing, I'd learned quite a bit from getting beaten up a lot.

You think I've only faced that playstyle once or twice?

If they play like that, I had my own plans.

By the way, that character, Akuma's ranged attack was the famous 'Hadoken'.

"Huh?"

Contrary to my expectation that they'd just shoot Hadoken fireballs from afar, they rushed in and threw punches right from the start.

Although I managed to block, they kept attacking with relatively light moves like jabs and quick kicks, making it hard to figure out when to switch from defense to offense.

I was originally weak against opponents who pressure like this.

When I kept defending, they used a grab to switch positions.

The problem was that I didn't know how to use moves after position switches.

No, even after 400 hours of playing, I forgot everything after taking a short break.

"Time out! Switch positions! Please!"

[Nope, not switching~ Go back~]

[Where's there a timeout in fighting games LOL]

[Poor Daeju ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Let's kill him quickly and switch positions ㅠㅠ]

My thin thread of hope that maybe the opponent might struggle due to the position switch vanished cleanly after getting hit by a combo.

And while getting hit, I turned off the game and turned it back on.

[??? What's with the rage quit LOL]

[Rage quits and naturally turns it back on]

[Your face must be thick as steel. Where'd you buy it?]

[Do you admit defeat?]

"...Yes...well...I...admit it..."

I spoke as quietly as possible.

No matter how quietly I spoke, everything said in this quiet soundproof booth was picked up by the mic.

Needless to say, the chat was flooded with laughter, or rather, mockery.

"Next person!"

So I called out the next person loudly, and someone entered the room I created.

This person who entered had a high rank. Rather, that made me feel more at ease. Breaking even if I lose, and if I somehow win even one round, the chat would be flooded with light praise like 'Oh', 'Wow~'. My goal was just one round.

If the opponent was my 'real' viewer, they might give me at least one round. That kind of expectation arose.

And when you expect something, that's when you get betrayed.

"Ah! It's my turn!"

[Where is there my turn your turn in this LOL]

[This isn't a card game LOL]

[But if they had a conscience, they should let you hit them once, that's too much]

[At this point, might be kind of pitiful? Stop hitting our kid ㅠㅠ]

[Hey! If you coddle them too much, they'll develop bad habits. Need to raise them with discipline]

[Dangerous woman; Don't get married, not that you could anyway]

This time I couldn't even land a hit properly.

But maybe because the opponent's rank was high, there were fewer people mocking my skills than in the previous match.

They just cursed at the slightly, very slightly shameful things I said in between.

After this, although I kept losing, there were matches I won too.

And sometimes there were people who lost to me despite having higher ranks.

You could call it human compatibility.

No matter how high their rank, if their playstyle was a bad match, they could lose to me.

And I didn't miss this opportunity.

Even though I won, I gave them a gift card and praised them.

"As expected, you're really good. One of the top players I've met today?"

The more I praised the opponent, the more I could emphasize how amazing I was for beating such an opponent.

Of course, the chat cursed at me for this.

[Wow seriously so disgusting want to beat you up.]

[Anyone want to do real-life ganking, just need you to come]

[If this was at an arcade in front of me, I'd flick your forehead [1] and take all your money, and if you asked for it back, I'd flick you one more time]

[Streamer, you're so unlikeable]

Not just the chat, but even the viewer who was my opponent cursed at me through Steam whispers.

"Thank you for the high praise."

[High-praise]

[Translation: How can you be so good at the game?]

[I'm annoyed that Daeju is happy, but it feels good to get high praise]

The curses didn't really affect me anymore.

How many curses have I heard while streaming? By now, curses of this level didn't even tickle.

Usually, I wasn't the type to stream in such an unlikeable style, but had my personality changed while streaming?

Or was this my suppressed true nature?

Maybe it's a characteristic of fighting games.

Strangely, when losing in LoL, Tekken, and soccer games, it made me several times more heated than other games, so I ended up getting overly immersed when playing these games.

While I'd developed immunity to the curses flooding the chat.

What actually hurt me were the payment messages accumulated today. Because I kept buying and sending gift cards right away, quite a lot of payment messages had piled up today.

"Huh... Everyone, it says I spent 120,000 won just on prizes today..."

[Ah! The wallet has been destroyed! Did spend quite a bit~]

[LOLOLOL Spending 120,000 won in two hours, did you buy some expensive earphones?]

[Daeju who buys good meals]

[Next time please give coffee gift cards lol Thanks for the hamburger gift card for dinner today~]

[Don't mention it^^]

Well, I wasn't dissatisfied since it seemed many people watched because of the gift cards.

Rather than regretting the money spent on gift cards, I was just disappointed that I couldn't show myself performing as well as I'd hoped.

It was one of the few games I was good at, but 5,000 viewers.

And to think there were this many skilled Tekken players among my broadcast viewers.

"Next time I shouldn't brag about playing games with prizes."

[LOLOLOL Finally realized]

[Had to get beat up to realize LOL]

That was today's lesson.

5,000 people who came to watch the game broadcast.

When this many gather, no matter what game you play, there are masters in that field hiding like reclusive experts.

It would have been the same if today's game wasn't Tekken but King of Fighters, LoL, or any other genre of game.

"Huh?"

Suddenly a good idea came to mind.

"Maybe I should try getting carried by skilled viewers...?"

* * *

(End of chapter)

T/N:

"꿀밤" literally means "chestnut" but is used to describe flicking someone's forehead as punishment