Taking on the role of a group leader meant my shoulders were quite heavy.
Being the leader of the pack not only put you at the core of power but also meant you had to take responsibility for everything that happened within the group.
From the minor blunders of the whole pack to the trivial mistakes of the crew members.
Even though it was the members who messed up, I often saw the leader bowing their head in shame.
What did I think while watching such scenes?
Ah, indeed, the leader position doesn’t really suit me. I’m more of a person who should assist someone else or quietly carry out my tasks under someone else’s direction.
I don’t remember exactly, but I think I had thoughts along those lines.
I wonder why those memories are surfacing now. It’s probably due to my current situation.
‘Why, you ask?’
Right now, I had climbed into that very position I had been avoiding. The director of the kayak team, or simply put, the leader of a group.
“…Alright, it seems everyone has gathered.”
One director, six players. A total of seven people gathered, quite a decent number.
It was pretty sad that I had to be the one to break the ice in a situation like this. They say a caterpillar has to eat pine needles to survive, but it was overwhelming to act against my nature.
“Yes!”
“Yep!”
“Everyone is here, Director!”
At least it was a relief that the players responded well. Their good reactions eased the awkwardness when I started speaking.
So, what should I do first? I gathered everyone, and since it’s a rule to greet each other when gathered, here we are.
[Host special) Doesn’t seem like it but secretly a nerd]
[Don’t make a blank face and do something!]
[Host panicked, not knowing what to say, would recommend ㅋㅋ]
[This person also seems to be quite the taker]
[What what what? The host and taker are so similar, it’s uncanny?]
[They’re basically a match made in heaven, go ahead and get married]
[There are definitely more people trying to connect with the taker these days…]
[Taker is like a smoke screen, how many times do I have to say it?]
[We need a team name; let’s come up with a team name]
[Whether it’s coming up with a team name, running a training, or scrims, let’s train individually ㅇㅇ from now on it’s up to the director’s discretion]
“Whether we come up with a team name, run a scrim, or make you practice individually, do whatever you want. From now on, it’s all up to the director!”
[Even the silly older sister is so cute! 😭]
…This time, I couldn’t deny it. The chat was indeed better than me.
“Shall we first decide on a team name?”
“Wow, team name!”
“It’s a team, a team!”
“What should we name it? Anyone got any good suggestions?”
As soon as I brought up the topic of naming the team, the high-energy voices burst out. Seriously, who knew they’d get so hyped over something like this?
Honestly, I didn’t think a team name was that important.
If it were up to me, I’d just slap on some names like ‘The Ultimate Strong Team 1’ or ‘Too Strong Camilla’ and hurry up to get some practice in.
After all, we only have a single week of practice. Is there even time to be fussing over team names when we could be training?
I could’ve sworn that in the past, the practice period was always two weeks. Why has it been cut down like this?
[Wasn’t the original practice time supposed to be two weeks?]
[Yeah, didn’t we practice for two weeks when we participated in the broadcaster tournament before?]
[The standard was two weeks, but the streamers struggled too much, so they shortened it.]
[They really looked pitiful, haha. You could see them getting all haggard after two weeks of the food-game-sleep routine.]
[And then, if they mess up, they just get bashed, so it’s really not a good life.]
[It’s like an indirect experience of being in a pro team haha.]
“Hm…”
Oh, I see. Honestly, it didn’t resonate with me that much.
Whether it was two weeks or three, living on just food and games wasn’t that tough for me. Even before I started streaming, I used to live that way whenever I got bored.
But for other streamers, it was definitely a painful situation.
Once the broadcast is on and you start gaming, it’s not easy to showcase your skills, and there’s also the risk of leaking strategies.
So it’s pretty common to practice behind the scenes, but then income can drop significantly.
Participating in tournaments to practice and compete is, in itself, a huge challenge for streamers. Of course, if they achieve good results or the viewers recognize their effort, that’s another matter.
Meanwhile, while I was deep in thought, folks were still throwing out team names.
“How about ‘Team Leader and Taeker’? Taeker uses ‘Tae’ instead of ‘Te’, so we attach the Chinese character for ‘great’!”
“Let’s put the title ‘Taker’ on it.”
“Uh… Since the team name only includes me and Kayak, what about you all?”
“We’re just the foot soldiers! The team led by General Kayak and the mighty Taker is made up of mere troops! In movies and dramas, they never shine the spotlight on the foot soldiers anyway.”
“Rejected.”
Taker muttered as if he was done with it, and I quietly nodded in agreement.
Why is a team called a team? A team is everyone coming together. The name of the team represents that unity.
“Ugh, this is hard. Kayak… How did you decide on team names in the past?”
“When I was on the team, we didn’t have a name. It was the early days of the tournament.”
“Ah….”
The VTuber who introduced herself as Nanning let out a small sigh.
After a moment of thinking, she finally spoke up.
“How about ‘The Twin Chariots’?”
“What does ‘Twin Chariots’ mean?”
“It means the golden chariot led by Kayak and Taker.”
“That too is rejected.”
Before I could even put myself forward, Taker had already cut it off.
After that, more suggestions came in, but there wasn’t one that felt right. Most were either centered around me and Taker or were just plain dull names.
There was no reason to keep dragging this sluggish discussion. As the director, I decided to take the lead and spoke up.
“Let’s just come up with a name later and play some regular games. It’ll help us sync up.”
“Yes!”
“I think that sounds good!”
“Indeed, great judgment from Camilla.”
This was one of the viewers’ suggestions. Usually, after forming a team, they play some practice games to understand each other’s styles.
When I participated in the tournament before, I went through a similar process. For today, let’s run some regular games, then wrap up the official schedule, and I can analyze things later.
However, there is always a variable.
“Um… I’m sorry, but I have to leave today because I have some work! I’m really sorry!”
It was Chaekyung, a female streamer who fervently followed Taker. As she announced her departure, the chat room instantly became hostile.
[Wait, are you skipping the first day’s practice?]
[There’s only a week for the practice period… Hmm.]
[Ugh, if you’re not going to take this seriously, don’t even enter the tournament.]
[Hey, keep the chat pretty.]
[No hate towards Taker, okay?]
[This is why female streamers, haha, they have fundamentally flawed attitude.]
“Please don’t insult our player… There are already some people overly invested, and that will just tire you out.”
I turned off the mic and managed the chat. Due to the chat being more hostile than usual, I switched it to subscriber-only mode as a bonus.
[Switching to subscriber chat made it mysteriously clean, haha!]
[It’s always the free riders who don’t listen and make the chat messy.]
[We need to limit the free-for-all to 5 chats a day, for sure.]
In the midst of all this, Chaekyung kept apologizing repeatedly.
“I’m sorry, my mother suddenly showed up…”
“You can’t help parents. Just go quickly.”
“Truly a good daughter.”
“I promise I’ll participate in the next practice, I’m sorry, Director!”
With that, Chaekyung left, creating an open spot on the player side.
“Oh dear, I guess the director has to step in?”
“Kayak, please join us.”
“Will the director get to witness your skills firsthand?”
“I’ve always wanted to play a game with Kayak…!”
Naturally, I filled that open spot. Just one vacancy left me with no choice. I was planning to focus on analysis today, but…
Well, it’s not a bad thing to identify problems while playing together. There are things visible only from the outside, as well as things visible only in-game.
“Which position was Chaekyung in?”
“I think she mainly played support and sometimes as a mage, like Cassia and Freya.”
“Okay, I’ll try to go with the position Chaekyung was playing.”
I checked Chaekyung’s stats sent by the viewers. Most of them were support, with a few traces of her playing mage.
My champion style is the complete opposite of hers. Not quite suited for me, but that’s okay. My role wasn’t that crucial anyway.
“Is 2 support… okay?”
“Yes, Anya can pick the champion she’s most confident with.”
It suddenly hit me again that I really messed up the draft. I’ve already recruited Anya, the ultimate support, and now bringing in Chaekyung, the rejected support.
Someone might have to change positions like Riri did in the last tournament.
“Since this isn’t a scrim, don’t worry about the composition; just bring out what you’re comfortable with. Play as you usually do.”
“Got it!”
“Oof, I’m getting nervous.”
The first game, including me as the director, began.
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