Gender Swap: The Introvert’s Broadcast

"Mangming told you about me?"

I couldn’t believe it.
The idea of Mangming talking about me to Harin felt utterly implausible.

‘…I can’t even picture that happening.’

As doubt crept into my mind—

[Harin: We were playing together after her stream ended.]
[Harin: She kept talking about you.]
[Harin: lol.]

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: Honestly, if it’s Mangming, I can believe it.]
[If it’s Mangming, yeah, sure…]
[Hwanhee: Mangming should just keep her thoughts to herself. Geez.]
[As expected, Mangming’s wild imagination strikes again, LOL.]

Looking at the chat, everyone seemed to think it was typical of Mangming.
That annoyed me.

‘What kind of person is she, to earn this reputation?’

At first, I thought her fandom was the only issue. But the more time passed, the more it seemed like Mangming herself was somewhat problematic.

"Ms. Mangming, no offense, but what kind of things do you do for people to react like this?"

I asked cautiously.

Mangming and I had the kind of relationship where light teasing was acceptable.
We were practically comrades-in-arms, having started streaming together.

‘Almost like sworn siblings.’

She was there from the beginning.

As I reminisced—

[Mangming: Uh…]
[Mangming: Honestly, I feel wronged.]
[Mangming: All I did was sometimes miss streams because of personal issues.]
[Mangming: I didn’t do anything wrong!]

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: Excuses, excuses.]
[That’s the problem!]
[“Personal issues” (a.k.a. secretly playing Reore instead of streaming).]
[Why is she the only one who doesn’t see the problem? Why doesn’t she get it? Why doesn’t she get it? Why doesn’t she get it? Why doesn’t she get it?]

The chat erupted into chaos.

Mangming’s argument was simple:
She’d done nothing wrong except occasionally skipping streams due to personal reasons.

The chat, however, suggested otherwise.
But I decided not to dig into it further—at least not on stream.

‘I’ll just ask about it on the gallery later.’

There was no need to bring it up here and risk souring our relationship.

Despite appearances, Mangming had the fearsome Mangming Gallery backing her.
Picking a fight recklessly was never a good idea.

"Alright, let’s start the game. From now on, no off-topic chat."

[Mangming: What did you have for dinner?]
[Mangming: I’m planning to have egg fried rice.]

User has been temporarily muted!

[Lololol.]
[As expected, manager discipline strikes again, LOL.]
[All hail Cthulhu.]
[Cthulhu is a god, Cthulhu is a god, Cthulhu is a god, Cthulhu is a god, Cthulhu is a god, Cthulhu is a god.]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: ?]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: That wasn’t me, though. What are you guys on about?]
[Hwanhee: ?]
[Kang Hoo-min: ?]

"I muted her."

The reactions baffled me.
I’d clearly stated that off-topic chat wasn’t allowed, and I’d muted someone who broke that rule.

Sure, that someone happened to be Mangming, but—

‘Rules are rules.’

You have to enforce them properly when needed.

Still, I couldn’t help feeling a pang of guilt.
Maybe this was what it felt like to kill your most trusted general for the greater good.

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: This guy’s nuts.]
[Legendary move, LOL.]
[Harin: That’s the right call, though.]
[Harin: I support it.]
[Harin’s endorsement, wow.]
[No hesitation, LOL.]
[Hwanhee: Dama doesn’t fear even the Mangming Gallery.]

"Come on, they wouldn’t make a fuss over something like this. It wasn’t intentional."

I handled it according to the rules.
Besides, it wasn’t a permanent ban—Mangming could chat again in five minutes.

No need to make a big deal out of it.

As the situation calmed down, a notification popped up—

Ding!

A game had been found.

I accepted, and soon my lane was assigned: top.

[Harin: Isn’t it hard to win as a top laner?]
[Harin: The impact feels too limited.]
[Harin: I don’t like playing top.]

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: Harin doesn’t get it.]
[Yeah, sure, Harin.]
[Dama doesn’t play top to win.]
[Hwanhee: He picks top to have fun, not to win, LOL.]

There’s a saying:
Those who enjoy the game will always surpass those who merely work hard.

That described my approach perfectly.

"If you focus on climbing ranks, you’ll never succeed. But if you enjoy the game, the ranks will come naturally. I don’t care about ranks."

It was the proper mindset for gaming.

Even in-game, I tried to stay positive in chat.

[Harin: Oh…]
[Harin: I used to think like that, too.]
[Harin: But then I went on a 13-game losing streak in Master.]

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: That’s because you lack talent, LOL.]
[If you had talent, it’d be a 13-game win streak instead.]
[Boo, untalented trash.]
[Kang Hoo-min: You garbage woman.]

User has been temporarily muted!

[That regular’s a ticking time bomb, LOL.]
[Unbelievable, LOL.]

After the ban, I randomly selected a champion.

What would I get this time?

Click.

It turned out to be a familiar one: a burly male champion wielding a scythe with a surprisingly pronounced chest design.

"Solrica, huh?"

This champion brought back memories from when I first started playing Reore.
Back then, I had teamed up with Yeram in the bottom lane.

The nostalgia hit me hard.

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: Damn, those chest details.]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: Incredible.]
[Classic Solrica.]
[I want to dive into that cleavage, LOL.]
[What’s with the chat today? So many women viewers here.]
[Women viewers? (Streamer is a guy, though.)]
[Hwanhee: The chat’s wild today.]

I couldn’t understand why the chat was like this.

I knew many viewers came from Red, but I wished they’d show more restraint during my streams.

I didn’t want any controversies that could lead to bans.

Focusing back on the game, I reviewed Solrica’s skill set.

"Hmm… this should work fine for top lane."

Though the champion seemed fragile, the key would be dodging skill shots and landing my own.

After locking in my choice—

[?]
[Top Solrica, really?]

The game began.

"Why don’t people just focus on playing?"

[Why don’t people just focus (while locking in top Solrica)?]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: Dama has no shame, LOL.]
[If someone picked top Solrica in my game, I’d be pissed too.]
[Well, if you’re mad, just dodge.]
[It’s not my ranked game anyway~]
[Hwanhee: Once the chat rush starts, it’s a mess.]

Despite the complaints, the game started with a mix of odd picks across the team.

The bot lane ADC chose Wukong, the jungler picked a bespectacled red-suited character, and the mid laner locked in a champion known for throwing snowballs.

Only the support, a sturdy Nautilus, seemed remotely standard.

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: Poor support, LOL.]
[The spirit of sacrifice lives in support players.]
[From now on, I won’t call them tools.]

Even though the composition seemed doomed, I held onto hope.

"Let’s do our best, team."

I typed in the chat:

[Alright, team.]
[Let’s give it our all.]
[On the count of three, let’s say ‘fighting.’]
[One.]
[Two.]
[Three.]

[Niyami.]

The game began amidst laughter from the chat.

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: LOL.]
[“Your mom” jokes in the chat, really?]
[Still, no one dodged this?]
[Everyone’s got nerves of steel.]
[Somebody else will dodge (but they never do).]@@novelbin@@

Despite the shaky start, I braced myself for the match ahead.
You never know until you try.

And so, I focused on playing seriously.