Chapter 6: Potato Clips and Collab Whirlwinds

It’s been a while since I ended the stream, but my head’s louder than ever.

No sound around, yet my mind’s buzzing. Doesn’t feel real. Mission rewards totaled about seven million won.

I’ve never made seven million in a month of streaming, not even half that.

But what sticks more is Lucia’s last laugh looping in my ears.

“It’s funnier ‘cause it’s so random.”

The monitor still shows Watch’s main page.

My hand drifted to the clips tab without thinking.

Highlight clips, sorted by views.

Right at the top.

[Hot Clip!] Yo! Seen My Potato? (ft. Hacker)

Thumbnail’s my character shoving a grenade at the screen.

Everyone called it hilarious, but it’s too legendary.

“…No way to deny it, officially immortalized.”

Clicked the clip. Screen shows teammates debating, then some lunatic—me—grabbing a grenade and charging.

“Carry”

“Watching now, I look like a total chuunibyou.”

Luckily, viewer reactions are great. Comments are full of Speedwagon-tier explainers and people laughing their heads off.

“Fine. Funny’s good enough.”

As I was about to shut down, a Discord ping hit.

[‘Lucia’ sent a message.]

My fingers froze.

What? Why’s Lucia messaging me?

Did I screw up during the stream? But the vibe was good, no?

Or did I mess up, and she let it slide to keep the mood? Is she calling me out now?

Pushing down spiraling paranoia, I clicked the message.

[Lucia]: You free for Discord real quick? Super short, promise 🙂

The smiley eased my nerves—probably not a screw-up.

Still, my hand trembled opening Discord. Couldn’t just ignore it.

Deep breath, joined the voice chat.

“Hey, you’re here?”
“Yup. Hi.”
“Sorry if I’m interrupting your rest…”
“Nah, just laughing at today’s clip.”

Not exactly a lie.

“Today’s clip? The potato one?”
“Yup. Even I thought it was nuts.”
“For real? I watched it like five times today. Almost crashed my car laughing on the way home.”
“That bad?”
“Dead serious. First time seeing someone scream ‘Die!’ and charge with a potato. Pure instinct play. Hilarious.”

Instinct plays usually get flamed or praised. This feels like praise, right?

“Just did what popped into my head.”
“That’s why it was funnier.”

Lucia’s laugh came through. Not her stream voice, just a real person laughing.

Like she’s letting her emotions out raw. She’s always been open, probably why she’s so popular, but this feels like she’s holding back less. Maybe she hides a bit usually?

Then, after a slight pause, she said something unexpected.

“So, Hazy-nim…”
“Yeah?”
“Kinda cautious, but… wanna play together again? No missions, just chill.”
“Together?”
“Yup. This is a collab invite.”

What, a dream?

Today’s been one big dream. Insane missions, playing with idols, accidentally taking out a hacker.

Feels like the world’s pulling a Truman Show on me.

“For real?”
“Yup, for real. Playing with you reminded me of old times.”
“Old times?”
“Yeah, I used to just mess around, shoot like crazy.”
“Really?”
“Yup. Bet my YouTube has my first squad video somewhere.”

I shot my teammates back then.

A pfft came through. She’s trying to stifle laughter, probably cracking up at herself.

“Rookie move, happens.”
“Right? So today was kinda nice. Stream, but didn’t feel like one.”
“Didn’t feel like a stream?”
“Like going back to my clueless, pure days? Made it fun.”

Glad Sia-nim had fun.

Muttering that internally, I picked my words.

Is she busy? Today’s her day off, but maybe she’s got plans tomorrow?

Should I wrap this up? Thoughts swarmed my head.

“How long you gonna keep calling me that?”

Silence.

A brief pause settled over my speakers.

Did I just say that?

“W-What?”
“Calling me Sia-nim.”

I don’t usually let people use nicknames.

Her slightly pouty tone screamed I’d messed up.

“Uh, saw your videos with Myammi-nim, such great chemistry, it just slipped out. Sorry.”
“Oh? You watch my videos?”
“Yup.”

No way I wouldn’t. Studied them for editing tips.

Swallowed the last bit. No need to overexplain here.

“Hm… got it. So, what’s your favorite?”
“Huh?”
“From my videos. What’s the most fun one?”

Lucia’s channel has over a thousand videos, excluding full streams. Pick one?

“Uh, there’s so many, gimme some time…”
“Nah, the one that pops up first is the best. What is it?”

If she puts it like that, nothing comes to… wait, there is one.

Not recent, but probably a reason I started streaming.

“Uh, probably a video from like a year and a half ago.”
“Which one?”

A simple viewer interaction video.

But I got hooked for a clear reason.

Connection with viewers. Veteran streamers have layers of memories with their audience.

That video was her pulling out stories triggered by a donation, reminiscing about “back then” moments.

Even spilled behind-the-scenes tales from her biggest streams.

“Watching it, I thought, ‘I wanna make memories like that, laughing with viewers.’”
“So you started streaming because of me?”
“Y-Yeah?”
“Hm~ got it.”

She made a nasal hum, and her mood seemed to lift. Someone starting streaming because of her? Gotta feel good as a streamer.

A streamer inspired by me. Basically a fan, right? Even I’d feel great.

“So, back to the point, you sticking with Sia-nim?”
“Uh, maybe Lucia-nim…”
“Hm… let’s settle it at our next collab.”

Huh? When’s that gonna be?

Sensing my confusion, she continued over the speakers.

“Got plans tomorrow?”
“Nah, nothing really…”
“Then we collab tomorrow!”
“Huh? Just like that?”
“We agreed on a collab. That’s the plan!”

Have a good night!

With that, she left the voice chat. Felt like I got dragged along.

Not just a feeling—I was dragged. Lost control mid-convo and got swept into her pace.

Not a bad feeling. If anything, it’s… ticklish?

As the one invited, politeness called for a reply, so I messaged back.

[Me]: Good night, Lucia-nim.

Sent it, leaned back in my chair.

What a whirlwind day. Unreal stuff piled up, capped with a short voice chat with Lucia-nim.

Ding! A message ping pulled my face from the headrest to the monitor.

[Lucia]: Why not Sia-nim?

[Me]: Thought you didn’t like it?

[Lucia]: Call me Sia-nim till we settle it tomorrow. I like hearing it. See ya!

The storm’s source might be this streamer. No clue how to keep up with her pace.

I sent a nodding emoji, flopped onto my bed, and stared at the ceiling before sitting up.

“Oh, I got a collab tomorrow.”

With a top-tier streamer.

“Unnie, I got a collab tomorrow.”

[What? With who? When? I told you to tell me right away!]

“Telling you now. Just got booked.”

[What?]

“Just a gaming stream. Nothing going on tomorrow, right?”

[True. Got it. Good work today.]

“You worked hard helping me today too. Rest well~”

[Yeah, I worked my butt off. Night~]

Call ended.

Fresh from a shower, Lucia flopped onto her bed and opened the platform app.

Highlight clips, sorted by views.

Top spot.

[Hot Clip!] Yo! Seen My Potato? (ft. Hacker)

Thumbnail’s his character waving a grenade.

“Carry”

“Carry.”

She mimicked the guy’s last word from the video.

Feeling an indefinable tingle, she opened the comments.

Her streamer instincts were spot-on—the reactions were fire.

Some comments stood out.

• Five years watching Lucia, never seen her react like this
  Fr, first time
  No way?
  My gut’s never wrong
  Is spring finally here for our captain?

“Spring, my foot.”

Muttering, she unconsciously replayed the video.

“Sia-nim, got a potato?”

“Carry.”

“Eh, whatever.”

Kinda cute, though.