Gender Swap: The Introvert’s Broadcast

In the original world, it wasn’t clear what the champion’s form was. Judging from the fact that it currently had a male appearance, one could speculate it was originally female.

"Hmm… I wonder if this will be fun."

Leaving the appearance aside, I checked out the champion’s skills, but they didn’t seem particularly interesting. Being a support champion, it wasn’t specialized for killing opponents.

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu]: Looks boring, but it gets fun once you play it.
[For real.]
[Sonic may not look exciting, but if you go full damage build, it’s surprisingly fun.]
[It’s niche, but it’s one of the more mainstream niches, LOL.]
[Mainstream among the niche, that’s true.]
[Got stomped by a top Sonic yesterday and my team started politicking, LOL.]

The chat seemed enthusiastic, giving me recommendations. It didn’t seem like a bad idea to follow along, so I selected the champion and started adjusting the runes.

Now, the question was: which runes would make this game the most enjoyable?

While I pondered this, the chat chimed in again.

[Mangming]: Try Comet. I think it’ll be the most fun for you.
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu]: Why is she here again?
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu]: She’s so clingy.]
[Mangming: Shut up, I told you to stay away from Dama.]
[Mangming, a low-tier trying to leech viewers off Dama, LOL.]
[Fact: Dama’s viewer count is less than a quarter of Mangming’s.]@@novelbin@@

Mangming was offering advice, likely because my indecisiveness while choosing runes was getting on her nerves. Since she was relatively good at Reore, I decided to take her advice.

"Okay, Comet it is. What about the secondary runes?"

[Mangming]: Take Manaflow Band and Scorch.]
[Oh wow, Mangming giving proper advice? What’s going on?]
[Stop backseating! Stop backseating!]
[Kang Hoo-min]: Grasp would be more fun. Don’t go Comet.]
[Kang being classic Kang, LOL.]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu]: Electrocute could work too.]

Despite the chatter, I stuck to Mangming’s advice since this was my first time playing Sonic.

"Okay, Comet, Manaflow Band, and Scorch… all set."

After finalizing the runes, the game began loading. Just in time, too—if I’d taken any longer, I might have missed it. As I waited for the game to load, I checked out the enemy top-laner.

"Wow, their top lane champ is amazing."

The loading screen displayed the opponent’s champion illustration. She was exactly my type—an assassin cloaked in a mysterious robe with just a glimpse of her toned abs showing.

"Abs on women really are impressive."

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu]: Why do you even care about women’s abs?]
[Aren’t there better things to look at?]
[Guys like women’s abs, don’t they?]
[Women like men’s abs too, so it’s fair, LOL.]
[Kang Hoo-min]: I prefer delicate and soft over abs.]
[Classic low-tier Kang taste, LOL.]

Entering the game, the team chat immediately started.

[All][LoveRidesTheWind][Taliyah]: What the hell.]
[All][LoveRidesTheWind][Taliyah]: Why is our top Sonic?]
[All][LoveRidesTheWind][Taliyah]: This is ridiculous, LOL.]
[All][LoveRidesTheWind][Taliyah]: If you die even once, I’m opening mid.]

"…Why are they complaining now? They saw this pick in the champion select screen."

If they had an issue, they should’ve spoken up earlier. Not that I would’ve changed my pick, but still.

[Some people just want to complain about the top lane, no matter what.]
[But, objectively, isn’t it Dama’s fault for picking top Sonic?]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu]: This isn’t Dama’s fault.
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu]: Games are meant to be fun, and Dama is just following that principle. Plus, as long as we win, it’s fine.]
[Perfect logic.]
[Cthulhu spitting facts again, LOL.]

As I slowly moved to the top lane, the jungle chimed in with their own chat drama.

[All][Blossom][Lee Sin]: What were you doing in champ select?]
[All][Blossom][Lee Sin]: Why start drama now?]
[All][Blossom][Lee Sin]: This is why low-tier mids are hopeless, LOL.]

Naturally, the mid-laner didn’t back down.

[All][LoveRidesTheWind][Taliyah]: LOL, you’re Gold after 200 games? Stop talking.]
[All][LoveRidesTheWind][Taliyah]: The conversation quality here is rock-bottom.]
[All][LoveRidesTheWind][Taliyah]: Muted, bye.]
[All][Blossom][Lee Sin]: LOL, a smurf in Gold? Nice.]
[All][Blossom][Lee Sin]: Your main’s probably in Bronze, LOL.]
[All][LoveRidesTheWind][Taliyah]: Yep, LOL.]

"Alright, time to mute these two."

Their bickering was like poison to my mental health. I blocked both and focused on the game.

"Okay, Q is a poke skill, the others are healing and movement boosts, and the ultimate is an AoE stun."

From the descriptions, the champion seemed decent. But seeing him in action… not so much. The hairy, burly man was far from appealing.

Sighing, I started leading the lane.

Thwack, thwack.

Using Sonic’s Q, I chipped away at the enemy top-laner’s health, forcing her to retreat and repeat the cycle. With my experience in Reore, I knew—

Ding!

[Enemy slain!]
[Sonic → Talon]

"Predictable."

Like stepping on a worm and making it squirm, opponents tended to get reckless when you kept poking at them. Expecting this, I had my ultimate ready and struck at just the right moment.

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu]: That kill setup was art.]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu]: This is it.]
[Clearly skilled at Reore.]
[Kang Hoo-min]: But still, you’ll never reach Challenger.]

Despite my victory in the top lane, the bot lane wasn’t faring well. News of double kills by the enemy ADC kept pouring in.

"At least they’re not flaming each other down there."

If they had started fighting, the odds of victory would’ve dropped even further.

As I thought about the earlier mute decisions, I wondered if those two were still arguing. Curiosity got the better of me, so I briefly unmuted them.

[All][LoveRidesTheWind][Taliyah]: So, should we go with Moonsteel?
[All][LoveRidesTheWind][Taliyah]: Or maybe ask someone who’s actually good at the game to decide?
[All][Blossom][Lee Sin]: Moonsteel jokes are peak comedy, LOL.]
[All][Blossom][Lee Sin]: If you have time to waste on that, why not just do something nice for your parents instead?

"Ugh."

I immediately re-muted them. Just that brief exposure felt like staring into the abyss. Any longer and I might have turned into a monster myself.

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu]: Why do people like that even exist?
[For real, LOL.]
[The funny part is that top Sonic is carrying right now.]
[It’s so ironic that Sonic is the one carrying, LOL.]
[Dama’s mechanics are just too good.]
[Never thought I’d see a Sonic stomping Talon, LOL.]
[Hwanhee]: Finally, I’m free from manager duty.]
[Hwanhee]: Whew.]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu]: Why’d it expire so quickly?]
[Wait, manager roles are temporary?]
[It’s only a temporary role, LOL.]
[Imagine Hwanhee panicking and Googling “how to resign as a manager” because they thought it was permanent, LOL.]

Relieved to have muted the chaos again, I continued focusing on the game.

With every kill, my Sonic’s power grew stronger, and I decided to invest in Mejai’s Soulstealer, a risky but rewarding item that scaled with kills.

But—

"Why are those two just standing still?"

The mid and jungle were frozen in place, seemingly deep in conversation. I could’ve unmuted them to check, but I didn’t have the courage to deal with more nonsense. Instead, I decided to ignore it and focus on my lane.

Meanwhile, across the city, a woman with brightly dyed hair rubbed her tired eyes as she browsed the internet.

Managing stock trades in U.S. markets had been exhausting, but her mood shifted when she stumbled upon something intriguing.

"Mangming is watching a male streamer?"

The corners of her lips curled upward.

"Now, this is interesting."