LS 44

After a moment of hesitation, Knockoff finally opened his mouth.

— “Um… So, I work part-time at a internet café, right?”

“Yeah.”

— “Well, these days SoGod is actually the number one most-played game in internet cafés. Did you know that?”

“Really?”

— “Yeah, yeah. I wasn’t interested in games at all before, but it had such high numbers and everyone who came in was playing it… That’s how I found out about it. There was this coupon event happening during one of my shifts, and it brought in a crazy number of people.”

Ah. That event.

Dohee remembered it. He hadn’t gone to a internet café for it himself, he didn’t need the rewards, but it had gotten such a huge response both in the community and in-game that it had stuck in his memory.

“So?”

— “Right, anyway, one day, a bunch of guys were being really loud while huddled around a computer watching some video. Curfew for minors is usually ten, but it was still before then… I work from eight, by the way.”

“Okay.”

— “They were all shouting stuff like, ‘So cool!’ and ‘That’s my favorite Nutuber!’ while also cussing and just being super noisy. The coworker on shift with me–she’s a girl–asked me if I could say something to them. She said some customers treat female staff badly, saying rude stuff just because they’re girls. It’s awful.”

“That’s messed up. People shouldn’t act like that.”

— “Exactly. So I went over instead. Just to be safe. And the video they were watching? It turned out to be one of GoSupp’s videos.”

“One of… wait, GoingSupporter’s videos?”

— “Yeah! Wait, have you seen any of them too, AssaGo-nim!?”

His speech was speeding up, and his pitch kept rising.

He sounded excited.

Dohee thought, Why is this guy’s story so long?, but… he couldn’t lie. It was kind of fun listening to it. He stayed quiet and played along.

“Which video?”

— “It was that… what do you call it? A raid? Where a bunch of people hit a boss all at once?”

“Server raids or world raids. You’ll have to do those soon, too.”

— “Ah… What if I can’t? That’s scary…”

“You can. I’ll help you. So?”

— “Oh, right! The video title was something like… oh, yeah! It was called ‘Corrupted Hana First Clear Highlight Compilation! Is the Support in Hell?’”

You’ve gotta be kidding.

Dohee suddenly felt lightheaded. He barely held back a sigh.

Seriously, of all the videos… it had to be that one?

“Corrupted Hana First Clear Highlight Compilation! Is the Support in Hell?”

That was one of the most-viewed and notorious videos on GoingSupporter’s channel.

It showed a lot of unique Support skills rarely used in normal play, and in the third phase of the Corrupted Hana fight, it included the full-blown verbal brawl between the Xeno raid team, Yapdeuk, Yeohoo, and Dohee himself.

Back then, Yeohoo was playing under a different character with another class, so someone watching wouldn’t connect the dots, hopefully. Still, Dohee could feel a cold sweat coming on.

That fight had gone viral even during the live stream, and the highlight video had been uploaded with the sole intention of letting the Support players of the world finally roast their haters.

Normally, Dohee didn’t post full streams or any videos where his voice appeared much.

But that one was different.

He’d uploaded it for posterity, with a clickbait title, and it had blown up.

It was a famous video. But he never expected that video to be what piqued Knockoff’s interest.

Of all things… why that one?

Meanwhile, Knockoff didn’t care how awkward it was for Dohee and kept talking excitedly.

— “The first thing I saw was this super flashy skill, and I found out it was the Support’s Awakening skill! You said your friend’s a max-level Support, right? So you’ve seen it too, right?”

“Yeah, I have.”

— “It’s like… red, blue, green, yellow, brown beams all glow softly and then this huge white orb floats into the air, and when it explodes, there’s this aurora effect and the screen sparkles everywhere! Whoa…”

“What?”

— “Wait, now that I think about it, there are five colors… That must be the spirits the Support summons, right? Wow. Now that I’m raising a Support, I finally understand that.”

He wasn’t wrong.

The Support class’s Awakening skill looked way flashier than the others because of the different-colored spirits it summoned.

The mix of colors created a stunning visual effect.

“You’re probably right.”

— “Wow… Anyway, it was just so pretty. I went over to tell them to quiet down, but before I knew it, I was standing there watching the video with them for over a minute.”

Imagining Knockoff just standing there, dazed while watching the screen, made Dohee chuckle a little.

He asked teasingly,

“Is a part-timer allowed to do that?”

— “Uh… probably not…?”

“Bad employee.”

— “I-I only watched for about a minute!”

“Sure, sure. And then?”

— “Oh, the customers said it was from a Nutuber named GoingSupporter. After they all left, I was too curious, so I secretly looked him up on Nutube late at night. There were a ton of videos, but when I checked the upload dates, I realized the latest one was posted over a year ago… I found out he doesn’t upload anymore. No streams either.”

“Yeah, I know.”

— “Anyway, that flashy skill, the ultimate move, you know? I got curious what it was, and wondered if there were other cool things too, so I started clicking around. But with raid and PVP stuff? I didn’t understand any of it… so after watching a few, I just stopped. Still, I ended up clicking so many that time just flew by.”

“Mhm.”

— “And then on impulse I was like, should I give it a try? Would it be fun? That thought just came out of nowhere. Honestly, back then, how do I put it…? Life just felt so repetitive and exhausting. I guess I was just bored of everything.”

“…”

Dohee quietly listened as Knockoff spoke.

— “Oh, but honestly, it wasn’t just that GoSupp’s character looked cool or that he dyed his avatars well or played obviously well, that stuff’s all impressive, sure.”

“And?”

— “The part that really got me was something else entirely.”

“What was it?”

— “I rewatched that Hana video a lot. Because, well… there aren’t many Nutube videos where you hear GoSupp’s voice that clearly…”

“….”

Suddenly, Dohee’s throat felt dry.

Did my voice really change over the years?

He’s heard me talk this whole time, and he still doesn’t recognize it?

GoSupp and AssaGo were both him, but Knockoff clearly hadn’t put it together.

Part of Dohee wanted to ask how can you not know?

But another part felt oddly relieved.

Bias is a powerful thing. Because he couldn’t even imagine that GoingSupporter and AssaGo were the same person, even their voices sounded different to him.

Or maybe Knockoff was just more clueless than Dohee had realized.

— “But then in that video, like… wow. He just came out and said it. That our class matters most in moments like this. That he saved everyone using all these amazing skills, and now they’re treating him like trash? And he cursed them out too, all cool and confident. That part just blew me away.”

“…What?”

Dohee blinked. Did I hear that right? He thought the cursing… was cool?

— “Like earlier, you asked me why I care so much about what other people think, right? But if I were in that situation, I’d have just gotten upset and maybe even cried. I don’t think I could’ve said anything. But GoSupp was just so, so cool. He laid everything out–what the others did wrong, what he did right–and he wasn’t afraid to be blunt. If he was pissed, he cursed. It was sharp, confident, and satisfying as hell to watch.”

Seriously? That of all things made you a fan?

It was almost embarrassing.

— “You know, people say… we tend to admire what we don’t have. Did you know that?”

“Really?”

— “Yeah. I could never have done what he did. To stand up in front of tens of thousands of people and defend what you love, and call out what’s wrong, that kind of confidence? It was so cool. I think that’s when I really became a fan. After that, no matter what GoSupp said, I’d just think, ‘Whoa, that’s awesome.’ I didn’t even understand half the game stuff, but because he was doing it, it looked fun. And then I started rewatching more and more… I know it’s probably a cliché.”

“Is it?”

Was it really cliché?

When asked like that, Dohee wasn’t sure.

“It’s not.”

Maybe some people would say it was a typical story.

But not to Dohee.

What was cliché to someone else might’ve been a genuinely important moment for Knockoff.

— “Thanks for saying that… Honestly, I thought you’d laugh at me.”

“Laugh?”

— “Yeah. I mean, isn’t it kinda dumb? Starting a game just because you randomly found a streamer and got obsessed. Like one day you’re watching a video, and the next you’re making a game account. Sounds pathetic, right?”

“Nope.”

— “Huh?”

“There’s no such thing as pathetic when it comes to how someone starts playing. Some people start for dumb reasons, others get super hyped and then quit right away. Doesn’t matter why you started. So tell me, are you not having fun now?”

— “W-What? No! I mean yes! I am having fun. I really like it!”

“Then that’s all that matters.”

— “Ah…”

“If it’s fun, it’s fun. That’s what games are. You don’t need some big important reason. You just play, and it turns out to be fun. That’s all it is.”

A quiet pause followed.

“But still… naming yourself after him like that? That was a little too much.”

— “Ah! No! It’s not like that! It’s not even a knockoff!”

His burst of protest quickly turned into a muttered grumble.

Dohee just laughed silently.

He felt a constant, lingering warmth in his chest, like something was gently tickling him from the inside.