[TS] Malicious Sniper

I couldn’t easily judge whether this was the optimal timing I had in mind even at this moment.

But judging by the trembling hands of Curry under the desk, it was clear that this was indeed the answer.

“The Flower Shop Owner has purchased a 10 million point snack game prize!”

“…”

“I never thought someone would gather 10 million points. I thought it was impossible, right, Curry?”

“…”

[LOL]

[This is insane, seriously LOL]

[Is this evil…? What have I been watching…]

[Wow, I’m just in awe, for real LOL]

[Curry, what kind of battles have you been through…]

[You’ve been hiding how many points you have, and now you’ve gathered 10 million, what a mad lad LOL]

After glancing at the chat reactions, I stood up.

“Shall I go get the snacks?”

“…Yes.”

I had prepared a big stash of snacks in advance since I knew this moment would come.

Honestly, when composing the product list for our couple’s reality show, I thought no one besides me would be able to gather 10 million points.

However, as we progressed through the show, I realized that someone could indeed collect 10 million points.

Thinking we might end up doing the snack game several times, I pondered how much to buy and ended up just getting a huge pile.

After retrieving the snacks from the living room and returning to the room, I saw Curry smiling.

It wasn’t a joyful smile, but rather one that seemed to let go of everything.

Would they lose their mind like this, or would they somehow overcome it?

I had the ability to fix things if they got broken again.

But for some reason, I wanted to see Curry overcome it themselves amidst my teasing.

“How about leaving the snack 3cm or less?”

“Do as you wish.”

I thought Curry would remain silent as before.

Instead, they looked at me with sparkling eyes and confirmed it.

It made me smile because it was a familiar sight I had always seen.

I opened the snack packaging, took out the contents, and tore open the bag containing the snacks.

Holding the stick part of the snack with two fingers, I sent a question to the viewers.

“If the remaining length exceeds 3cm, we have to redo it, right?”

[Absolutely]

[We must redo it]

[Isn’t 2cm too long?]

[It should be about 1cm or less to have any fun]

[Given Barcode’s personality, they probably will just eat it all up LOL]

[Hah LOL]

With some rules established and all preparations complete, silence fell between us.

Correspondingly, the speed of the chat’s activity slowed down significantly.

The first to break this dizzying silence was none other than me.

“Curry, will you come closer?”

“…Let’s do it.”

I slowly took a bite of the snack, and Curry swallowed hard.

They looked at me, wondering if they really had to do this.

But thousands of viewers wanted to see this, and as a streamer, Curry had to comply and endure this snack game.

“Then… here we go.”

Curry, having made up their mind, took a bite of the end of the snack.

With a crunchy crunch sound, they slowly leaned forward, inch by inch.

The length of the snack gradually diminished, and as Curry’s breath drew closer, I could vividly see their trembling eyes.

Closer, closer…

Just before our lips could touch.

“Whoo…”

“Huu…”

Both Curry and I pulled back simultaneously.

“What about the snack?”

“Here… in my hand.”

I thought the snack must have dropped to the floor as we fell, but somehow it was resting in Curry’s palm, still intact.

I opened the desk drawer, pulled out a plastic ruler, and measured the snack’s length, clicking my tongue in disappointment.

“Tch.”

“Phew… 1.5cm… success in one go.”

[No fun]

[So boring]

[Why suddenly so angry, what is this?]

[Heating. up.]

[Huh?! You just had a peck with Barcode and now you sigh?]

[Stop holding back!!!]

[Wow that was sweet LOL]

[Isn’t this what a couple’s reality show is really about LOL]

While it seemed sweet to the viewers, an awkward silence lingered between us, the two main participants.

As I pondered how to ease the atmosphere, Curry spoke first.

“Um, you spent 10 million points.”

“Yeah?”

“…I feel like it ended too quickly, and I’m a bit empty.”

“Huu…?”

Curry was clearly showing their distaste as they forced the conversation, making me wonder.

Why would they want to prolong a game that caused them discomfort?

“This time, let’s have Barcode come closer.”

Curry continued to speak with great effort, and an unusual yearning flickered in their eyes.

This wasn’t the kind of look they typically displayed, especially not without a situation like winning 2 and losing 2 in a master promotion.

Seeing them look at me with that gaze made it clear they had an underlying intention.

They seemed to want to humiliate me.

But it won’t be that easy.

[When a person suddenly does something they usually wouldn’t…]

[Is this a death flag?]

[Why is Curry suddenly acting like this?]

[Are they finally committing down there?]

[Loose lips, heavy bottom] – [Blocked.]

After taking another snack, I popped it into Curry’s mouth.

The rules remained unchanged, and after finishing preparations, I took the opposite end with my mouth.

Facing each other directly, I never expected it would feel so burdensome and exhilarating to approach slowly.

But feeling embarrassed in a situation dictated by Curry was much better, so I gritted my teeth and leaned in carefully.

I crunched on the snack, but strangely, all my focus shifted elsewhere, and I hardly tasted it.

“Whoo…”

“Huu…”

Our breaths were so close together again, and just as our lips were about to merge, Curry shut their eyes.

Of course, I had no intention of letting our lips touch, so I let go of the snack.

I braced my hand to prevent any remaining snack from falling on the floor.

Did Curry have the same thought? Our hands naturally ended up overlapping.

“…What does that mean?”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

Pulling back from Curry, I measured the remaining length of the snack.

“3.1cm…”

Whether it was divine mischief or destiny, the remaining length of the snack was just 0.1cm over 3cm.

I definitely didn’t aim for this outcome, but it didn’t matter now that it had happened.

We had no choice but to proceed, and this time Curry was again in charge of coming closer.

Both Curry and I were exhausted in many ways.

Did we not want to continue this snack game any longer?

Curry swallowed the snack without hesitation, and as a result, our lips almost touched, but we were able to complete the snack game with 1.3cm left.

{rine9901 donated 100,000 won.}

– You two are such a great fit! So when’s the wedding!?

“Oh, Rine, thank you for the donation again. I’m really grateful.”

Donations didn’t mean much to me, but I hadn’t lost all economic sense either.

Originally, I didn’t plan to react to donations, but since Rine made the donation, I clumsily mirrored Curry’s usual reaction.

Thinking about ending the stream there, a great idea suddenly hit me.

“Rine asked when we’re getting married, what do you think, Curry?”

“…”

Curry had a look on their face that seemed to ask, “Are you even human?”

But having worn a thick skin for a while, I maintained my smile and waited leisurely for Curry’s response.

Ignoring a question about a marriage partner in front of tons of viewers would ruin the mood, and Curry, aware of this, swallowed a sigh and forced out a response.

“Well, we’re just enjoying content purely without ‘private’ feelings, so…”

“Huh? I have ‘private’ feelings.”

“…Everyone knows that Barcode is just telling a white lie for the sake of entertainment, right?”

“It’s not even a white lie.”

“Why are you doing this to me…”

“Well, because it’s fun?”

Curry looked a bit bewildered by my blunt answer.

Did they really think I had lost my mind? I sometimes felt that way, but glancing at the chat to catch reactions reassured me that it wasn’t the case.

After all, if I was going to lose my mind over playful teasing, I would have done so long ago.

Reminded again that Curry was truly a fun person, I checked how much time we had left for our collaboration.

I didn’t know if it was good or bad timing, but we had no remaining collaboration time left.

Thinking this was the optimal time to wrap things up, I opened my mouth to deliver my closing remarks.

“Everyone, that’s it for today’s stream.”

[Already ending?]

[Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go, don’t go!]

[What’s with the 4-hour time waste?]

[Give me back my time!]

[Ubang-al]

[Ba-ba]

Feeling a bit sorry for the viewers, I typed the hosting command into the chat.

“I’m going to host Curry, so don’t feel too upset.”

[Now we go~]

[Pressing on without stopping]

[They’ll leave anyway, haha]

[I can’t resist tormenting the mentally broken Curry]

[It’s coming]

[Returning to where I was born… Is this how a salmon feels?]

I pressed enter to execute the command, and thousands of refugees flooded over to Curry’s stream.

Glancing over, I saw Curry looking strained as they stared at the broadcast screen.

I adjusted my position for the camera, struck a fighting pose, and then rose from my seat.

“Curry, please stream hard for me too! Fighting!”

“…What an immensely invigorating shoutout. Truly.”

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“Yes. I’m being sarcastic.”

“Huu… I see.”

I tried to smile mischievously, and it clearly got to Curry, who was shaking.

Having enjoyed another day with Curry, I left the room and went upstairs.

Ah, I’m going to have the best sleep tonight.

Humming my way to bed, I lay down.

*

MCN.

This could be considered an agency that distributes and takes care of content from mutubers, streamers, and BJs.

Most broadcast professionals, often referred to as big companies, were associated with an MCN, and Curry was no exception.

“Huu…”

While sorting through my overflowing inbox, I sighed.

Out of 100 emails, about half were related to MCN content.

At first, I checked them one by one, but I eventually blocked MCN emails that had sent multiple offers.

Sure, I could understand a couple of times, but sending over three times is just crossing the line.

“Blocked. Blocked. Blocked.”

Since I started on Mutube and experienced a meteoric rise, I unknowingly began receiving these MCN-related emails.

I detested the annoyance, so I wasn’t initially interested in places like MCN.

However, recently, I wondered if it would have been better to simply join a specific MCN to avoid these relentless offer emails.

That thought came to mind, and believing it was a reasonable judgment, I looked into the MCN that Curry was with.

Curry was signed with a company called Crystal, and it seemed to have nothing but good reviews when I dug deeper, indicating it was a decent MCN.

I checked my spam folder to see if there were any emails from Crystal, but strangely, there were none.

Well, not sending emails isn’t that strange.

I quickly drafted an email expressing my interest in joining Crystal, then moved on to other tasks while waiting for a response.

Three days later, the reply from Crystal came back… with a firm rejection.

And not just any rejection but one that left no room for persuasion.

“Curry…”

I headed downstairs to Curry’s room, convinced that they’d pulled some strings.

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