The Streamer From Another Dimension

Chapter 1 – Prologue

—–CROW—– 

From the moment I received the call, my head was spinning. The death of Shin Ahyeon-ssi, someone I was so close to, was a bigger shock than I’d anticipated.

“Ha…”

I knew a day like this would come eventually.  Ahyeon-ssi’s health hadn’t been good for a while.

“Ahyeon-ssi…”

Of course, she rarely showed any outward signs of it. But I knew, because there were often times when I couldn’t reach her for days because of her treatments.

That’s why I assumed this time was no different. I was worried, but I never thought it would be her last.

“Thank you.”

A lot happened during my seven years of broadcasting, but meeting Ahyeon-ssi early on was the most precious thing. When I wanted to quit broadcasting time and time again, she, my manager, helped me through it.

That’s probably why I was able to keep a barely profitable broadcast going for seven years.

“But, Ahyeon-ssi… I think I really don’t have any talent.”

I crumpled the letter—no, the will—tightly in my hand. It said that my broadcasts had saved her and that she wanted me to continue, even without her.

When I arrived home from the funeral home, the pile of overdue bills caught my eye. I hadn’t been able to find part-time work due to the recent epidemic, so they remained unpaid.

“How can someone like me save anyone?”

I couldn’t even take care of myself. In the end, I was a loser who couldn’t do anything right.

“Should I quit broadcasting?”

If I quit, would there be anything I could do? Honestly, nothing else really interested me. That’s why I’d always just gotten by with part-time jobs to handle emergencies.

“Maybe this is how people become negative.”

Sometimes, during my tarot broadcasts, I’d counsel viewers. There were always some viewers who saw everything negatively. Now, I think I could understand how they felt.

The feeling of having no confidence in anything, of wanting to give up on everything. The reality I’d been trying to ignore, telling myself it was okay, felt like it was blocking my path.

“Right, let’s end this.”

Broadcasting, after all, is about showing myself, and I realized there was no point in showing myself in this state.

“But, even if I quit, I need to finish properly.”

It was my stubbornness—no, my obsession—that even in this situation, I should do things right. It might seem ridiculous for someone about to quit to think this way, but that’s just the kind of person I was.

[Viewers: 0]

Ten minutes had passed since I started the broadcast. The number indicating viewers remained fixed at zero. It had been like this lately.

“What hope does a broadcast like this give?”

Ahyeon-ssi used to say, like a mantra, that Ryu Jihan’s broadcasts gave people hope.  But I was too pathetic for that to be true.

“Hello. This is Ryu Jihan.”

There was no need to just wait for someone to show up if no viewers came. The broadcast would be automatically saved.

“The reason I started this broadcast is for an important announcement.”

With no one there, the chat was silent. I tried to ignore it and continued speaking.

“I plan to stop broadcasting from today. I really enjoyed the past seven years of broadcasting, and I’m always grateful to all of you.”

I started reading the names on my follower list one by one. There were a few streamer names among them.

“I should contact Soojeungi-nim and Yuna-nim separately.”

I’d lost contact with most of the streamers, but those two were among the few I still kept in touch with.

“…-nim, thank you. And finally, to Ahyeon-ssi, who watched my broadcasts the longest, thank you so much.”

I was about to end the broadcast, but I stared blankly at the broadcasts of the streamers I followed. Even now, as I was about to quit, I envied the streamers shining there. Even if they weren’t the best, they were loved by many. Their current state was the goal I had always wanted.

“Thank you all so much…”

Thinking I’d made all the necessary announcements, I was about to end the broadcast when the current viewer count changed.

[Viewers: 1]

And soon, a strange message appeared in the chat.

– You’ve hit 10,000 broadcast hours.

“Huh?”

The viewer who just joined said something unexpected. I checked the dashboard just in case, and it really was just past 10,000 hours.

“It’s true. I hit 10,000 hours.”

The 10,000-hour rule, that’s what they call it. They say that if you want to become a master at something, assuming you have talent, you can achieve it if you seriously work at it for 10,000 hours.

“Haha, I guess I didn’t have any talent.”

– Would it have been different if you had talent?

“Huh?”

The chat messages were bothering me, so I tried to check the viewer’s nickname by opening the chat window.

But there seemed to be an error, and the nickname was garbled and unreadable. What was this?

– Jihan-ssi, if you went to a world suited to your talent, and if you had enough talent, would it be different this time?

“I don’t know. But if such a place exists, I’d like to go.”

– Then, try it.

I was just watching the viewer type strange messages, but then I thought it must be trolling, so I just turned off the broadcast.

“Huh?”

As I got up from the computer and was about to go outside, my vision blurred, and the world started spinning. It became increasingly difficult to control my body.

[Constellation: ‘Loves Effort’…

As I lost consciousness, I thought I saw something strange in my vision.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

[You have reached 10,000 hours dedicated to ‘Broadcasting’.]

[System: ‘The 10,000-Hour Rule’ is activating. The mechanism is set to ‘Broadcasting’.]

The first things I saw when I regained consciousness were a translucent window obstructing my view and the appearance of a hospital room.

It seemed I’d collapsed at home. Was it because I hadn’t been eating properly lately?

“There’s something strange in front of my eyes.”

My body wasn’t feeling well, so I must have been seeing strange hallucinations.

But even so, a long hospital stay would cost money. I needed to be discharged quickly.

“Ah, damn it. Huh?”

Even my voice was strange. Did I catch a cold?

My whole body felt stiff, a sensation difficult to describe. Was I really that unwell? I forced my barely functioning body up and went to the mirror on one side of the room.

“…What is this?”

Silvery white hair swayed gently. A small girl with a thin, petite frame, pale skin, and those silvery locks stared back at me from the mirror.

And the girl mirrored my every movement.

I didn’t understand what was happening. Was I dreaming? Or was this a hallucination?

As I wandered around the hospital room, I finally came to my senses after discovering the patient’s name written on the hospital bed.

[Patient: Shin Ahyeon]

The name written there definitely belonged to someone I knew.

—–CROW—– 

#Only READ at DarkstarTranslations