2%.
The famous number that reminds you of an iconic ion drink.
Exactly 2% is left. What is left at 2% is the battery on my phone.
It was the time I had just eaten dinner with Si Hyun and was returning home. My phone was already filled with a pile of messages and calls that had accumulated. I was still receiving constant messages from friends in real time.
No wonder my phone was hot; it wasn’t just overheating after all.
After checking my phone late, I almost called back about the countless missed calls, wondering what was going on. With so many people reaching out, it must be something serious, but at that moment, I felt inexplicably tired.
I took a good nap on the bus ride home, and once I got some fresh night air after dropping off Si Hyun, I finally came to my senses.
I began to assess the situation like starting on overdue homework. It didn’t take long to grasp the situation. From the texts our friendly acquaintances sent, I could roughly picture what was going on in my head.
Yusia, Kim Jae-jun, Riri, Han Kang, Hakchu, LimeTack, and even Nicang, who I hadn’t contacted recently… How the hell did they all learn about my business so quickly?
They must be pros after all. No matter how fast I’ve grown, I can’t ignore the experience gap. Just like seasoned soldiers won’t take a newly commissioned officer seriously. Not that I’m saying I’m an officer.
Thoughts kept spiraling. This wasn’t the first time things like this had happened, but now it felt different. This was a sort of escapist behavior; lacking a proper solution to the situation, I just kept chasing after silly thoughts. Camilla is pretty, and since Camilla is me, therefore I am pretty— it was like that…
“Hmm.”
I shook my head. My focus was drifting too much. I need to come up with a response plan; if I keep stalling, neither rice nor soup will come of it.
Having grasped the overall situation from my friends’ messages, I decided to log into the Abyss Gallery to investigate the truth of the incident more closely.
*Real-Time Blazing Gallery
-1 Abyss Gallery
…
The Abyss Gallery, bustling with people as usual and ranked number one in the Real-Time Burning Gallery, felt strangely off.
Maybe it’s just me being overly self-conscious, but something about that place made me feel like they were talking about me.
‘I’m screwed.’
That ominous feeling was right on point; checking the popular posts, I saw nothing but the name Kayak everywhere.
The name is included.
I let out a slight sigh and started reading one by one from the bottom up.
As expected from the Abyss Gallery, which mainly revolves around topics related to the Abyss, today’s main subject was the match between Fusion Gaming and Optimum that took place earlier.
Hours before the match started, people were already heatedly discussing it. The way they were playfully calling each other “barks” or “spies” reminded me of the enthusiastic sports fans from the previous world.
Until that point, everything seemed fine. It looked like the fools were just happily enjoying each other’s company.
Kayak’s name appeared in the popular posts on the very next page. Judging by the content of the post, it was about when Fusion Gaming showcased a surprise Camilla pick.
It was a rather ridiculous post claiming that Kayak had influenced even the pro gaming team.
Perhaps because the post focused more on humor than seriousness, the comments were just laughter and “Haha, right, right!”
Ironically, below that, there were comments like “pilgrimage site, how did you know? ㄷㄷ” which was the punchline. Looking at the time, it was after Jun Hyuk’s interview.
The problematic posts existed on the page after that. They were also written after Jun Hyuk’s interview, starting with whether Kayak would make her pro debut and continuing with posts like “Cute little viewers” and “That Camilla girl we just saw in the commentary booth.”
Ultimately, it led to a post titled “Reasons why the Camilla-like cosplay girl is Kayak.eu.”
I’m not sure why the conclusion suddenly took that turn, but isn’t it the nature of bait to keep changing?
I was just disappointed that this situation turned out that way as well.
<Reasons why the Camilla-like cosplay girl is Kayak.eu>
The author concocted this theory from brain fantasies, and it’s quite plausible, so I decided to write it down. Don’t take it too seriously; just listen with the mindset that it could be.
First of all, today is Kayak’s break day, but for some reason, she rejected Riri’s proposal to hang out.
The Camilla that Jun Hyuk wrote today was heavily influenced by Kayak right from the build. The gallery members were unsure, but the official word just came out in the interview.
This means that Kayak helped with Fusion Gaming’s practice. I don’t know when she helped, but she did help nonetheless.
From Fusion Gaming’s perspective, they need to repay that somehow. While there are personal ways to express gratitude, what teams most commonly give is match tickets, especially for the season opener.
The hard-to-find table, especially with Camilla cosplayer in the Fusion Gaming VIP section, explains it all. The seats where the cosplayers gathered were far away from where Camilla was located.
And this is just the beginning; there’s more below. Are you seriously connecting this just because of some overlapping broadcast breaks and the VIP seats? For those who thought that, they need to see the rest of the message below!
…
– Originally, it’s surprising that someone looks so much like Camilla, but it just happens to be Kayak, who was always mimicking her? Isn’t that a bit incredible?
ㄴ Actually, since it’s Kayak, doesn’t it make more sense? It’s more plausible for Kayak to resemble Camilla than a random person does.
ㄴ Both are implausible; it’s forced debate.
– I’m a fan of Kayak, but this doesn’t seem right.
– It does make sense, though? Thinking about it, I was there live, and the voices of the Camilla cosplayer and Kayak sounded pretty similar at the photo zone.
– Seriously, the streamers who never showed their faces are imagining things just based on appearances, huh? What, hand gestures? Seats? Overlapping break days? It’s just that your dear owner might have looked pretty like Camilla; that’s what you really want, you delusional fools.
ㄴ Why are you so angry?
ㄴ But for real, if she was that pretty, she would have shown her cam ages ago.
ㄴ Maybe she’s not showing it because of personal info concerns.
ㄴ What you’re doing now is leaking personal info, though, LOL.
The comments section of a post that received simultaneous likes and dislikes was full of heated discussions. Debates were raging over whether my point or their point about Kayak’s looks was correct.
The comments were so long I couldn’t scroll down to the end. While I had participated in such debates in the gallery before, being at the center of it felt strangely weird.
A little cringy, a bit creepy, and somehow a tad infuriating? I’d call it a complex feeling.
Around that point, I decided to exit the gallery and put down my phone. Having grasped all the bait, I thought there was no need to look at any more unproductive posts.
To sum up, the current controversy revolved around two main issues. The first was somewhat complicated—the debate about Kayak being a pro.
Specifically, it was about whether Kayak would debut as a pro gamer and when she would connect with the pros from Fusion Gaming—various odd tales related to the pro scene were surfacing.
The second was the controversy about how someone figured out that the Camilla cosplayer caught on the broadcast camera might be me.
The ongoing debate was whether the Camilla cosplayer caught on camera was actually me.
Well, since “debate” sounds like I did something wrong, let’s replace it with “bait.”
For starters, I had no idea my reflection was being captured by the broadcast camera. It only hit me later when the pieces of the puzzle started aligning. So that’s why people were staring at me like that!
During the short break between the first and second matches, there was a moment when I patted Si Hyun’s head as she was vigorously shaking her sign after coming back from the bathroom. That moment was preserved for all time in the gallery. Even the part where she looked back and stared directly into the camera!
Back then, I turned away due to a strange discomfort. You could really call it Camilla’s keen instincts, considering she sensed the camera’s gaze that I couldn’t even see in real life.
I wished I had figured it out sooner, but that thought only lasted a moment. Even if I had known, would I have covered my face? Not likely.
What should I do? I was worried, but part of me thought, “Well, I guess this is how it goes.” Perhaps I had predicted this would happen someday from the moment I decided to go out.
It’s a conflicting feeling. They say a woman’s heart is like a reed, and that’s exactly how it feels. I can’t even grasp what I’m wishing for or how I truly feel.
The only silver lining is that only the footage from the broadcast booth ended up online.
While I was busy taking photos with Si Hyun at the photo zone, all those moments where I was enthusiastically snapping pictures with other cosplayers exist only in words, with no real visual evidence left behind.
I had hoped they wouldn’t capture me, and I even asked that if they were going to post anything, they should at least cover my face, but I knew all too well how many people wouldn’t stick to that.
I should consider myself lucky. If it hadn’t gone this way, I wouldn’t be able to remain so calm.
I would have had to endure both the embarrassment and the invasion of privacy simultaneously. I could picture myself kicking the blanket hard after seeing a post like, “Haha, look how cute she is acting engrossed in the kayak!”
Anyway, things turned out this way, so…
Now the question is whether to go live or not. Is it finally time for the handcam that was just sitting there to serve its purpose?
How wonderful it would be if all matters could be judged right away, without the need for contemplation!
Late at night, I sat in front of a computer with the screen off and pondered for a moment.
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