Mike, who lived in Florida, had one hobby.
“What should I watch today…?”
That hobby was watching others play games. He enjoyed watching what’s commonly referred to as internet broadcasts.
After finishing all his responsibilities for the day, he leisurely logged into the multinational streaming platform Twitch to watch streams.
This hobby had only recently come into existence. To be precise, it was more like an evolution of his original hobby, which had transformed through various twists and turns.
Originally, Mike’s hobby was to joyfully watch streamers play games he developed, relishing in their cries of anguish.
Indeed, he was a man known as a one-person indie game developer. He was infamous as a creator of what the world called “garbage games” and “trash indie titles.”
Recently, he had even developed a game called ‘Fly to the Sky,’ which performed decently worldwide.
Mike took pleasure in watching players of his awful games become flustered, curse, and eventually rage-quit, relishing their reactions.
Except for the times when others played his games, he had little interest in watching internet broadcasts, to begin with.
So what sparked his newfound interest in watching streams of games, even if they weren’t his own?
It was due to a particular streamer. A streamer who resembled a character from the infamous game, Abyss, with silver hair and blue eyes—a figure known throughout the gaming industry.
Her unforgettable appearance came with a special flair, as she was not like the other broadcasters who criticized and cursed Mike for his games.
Instead, she mocked him, clearing games in unexpected ways and playfully challenged him to create harder games because his games were too easy.
Initially taken aback and irritated by her teasing, he pondered if this is how the streamers he mocked felt and came to a slight understanding.
Yet upon reflection, he realized that Kayak, the Korean streamer, was a source of refreshing stimulation for him.
Kayak, a Korean streamer, was a stimulus that brought something unique to him.
In fact, he had been quietly stuck in a slump, trapped in a bit of a creative rut with game development.
In that regard, seeing Kayak provoke him made Mike think.
He wanted to create a game that was truly difficult, with controls so terrible that it would drive players insane; a game that would make them scream in frustration.
It was the pure intention he had forgotten after spending so much time in the industry.
Thanks to Kayak, he was able to rediscover why he jumped into this industry in the first place and why he wanted to develop games.
He began to overcome his slump and, with great enthusiasm, started to create a game so awful that everyone would roast him for it.
In his spare time, he started watching internet broadcasts as a bonus.
He wondered if there was someone like Kayak out there—someone who could give him a revelation, someone who could inspire him like she did.
In the end, he couldn’t find anyone who stimulated him as much as Kayak, his artistic muse, but he wasn’t left empty-handed.
By watching broadcasts, he was able to gain a more detailed understanding of what irritates players and what they’re struggling with.
So, after finishing his work, Mike logged onto Twitch again today and opened a stream at the top.
A man was playing a side-scrolling RPG game; could he become Mike’s muse like Kayak?
“…?”
However, Mike froze mid-viewing.
It was because of a short advertisement that played when he accessed the stream.
Normally, he would wait about 15 seconds and quickly skip the ad, but this time he was captivated, unable to look away.
There was a familiar face featured in the ad video, which was different from usual for some reason.
-Pick me pick me pick me up! Pick me pick me pick me up!
It was Kayak. She appeared after a long time with an unintelligible melody and slowly started talking.
-Hello, my name is Kayak. Please click and vote here.
With a brief introduction, Kayak pointed to a corner of the screen, where the Abyss symbol was displayed along with the words VOTE HERE.
‘What is this…?’
A vote? Is some kind of survey needed?
Is this really necessary?
Suddenly, his muse appears in a Twishy ad, asking everyone to vote for her.
Mike, completely perplexed, clicked where Kayak instructed without a second thought.
Then, he was taken to a new website, separate from Twishy. It featured,
– Candidate 27 Camilla – Vote Now*
With an illustration of Camilla, a famous game character that looked just like Kayak, and a sparkling vote button right next to it.
“Is this… what I’m supposed to click?”
With his sharp intellect, Mike grasped the situation immediately amidst the chaos.
It was part of an election campaign, and Kayak wanted him to vote for Camilla, the character resembling her.
Looking around, it didn’t seem to cost him anything, and casting a vote wasn’t that difficult.
Given his camaraderie with Kayak, Mike felt he couldn’t refuse her request.
Yet, as a responsible citizen, he thought voting should be done carefully. Even if he was going to vote for Camilla, he moved his mouse to check out the other candidates.
“? Why is this happening?”
For some reason, he couldn’t scroll up or down on the screen.
The screen would flicker momentarily before bouncing back to a full view of Camilla.
If Camilla was candidate 27, there must be candidates 26 and 25, yet the screen remained fixated on her.
“What the heck is this?”
After about five minutes of trying to move the screen, Mike had a gut feeling.
Just like before, Kayak had pulled another stunt. She must’ve deliberately locked the screen to receive votes for her favorite character, Camilla.
“Locking the screen…? If the character is manipulated and the screen doesn’t move to the next, then…”
At that moment, Mike realized something.
This method of forcing votes by locking the screen… it seemed useful for the game he was developing.
Thus, after voting for Camilla as Kayak wished, Mike dove back into his game development work.
They resumed game development.
With yet another outrageous idea inspired by Kayak.
“…Is it just me, or can I already see the results?”
“I can tell who’s in first place without even looking.”
At the Eonix headquarters.
This was said just one week after the voting began due to Team Leader Hong’s idea.
The voting period was set for a month. Yet, here they were, just a week in, and comments like these were popping up.
From the perspective of the person who came up with the idea, it was quite a deflating remark.
After all the effort put into brainstorming a good idea, was it already game over?
However, Team Leader Hong couldn’t help but nod in agreement with their words.
In fact, the moment she checked the real-time voting results, she was shaking her head in disbelief.
“Wow, it’s really overwhelming. When did this happen?”
When an employee from a neighboring department popped by to check in, Team Leader Hong answered, casually pulling up the statistical graph.
“About three days ago? It suddenly shot up and kept climbing every day to the point where it’s impossible to catch up now.”
Below the overwhelmingly tall graph was a face that every Abyss employee would recognize.
A girl with white hair and blue eyes. Yes, it was Camilla.
The owner of the rapidly rising votes. She was pulling so far ahead that no latecomer could keep up. For the employees tallying the votes in real-time, it was simply absurd.
“Basically, first place is a done deal. This is totally a fight for second and third.”
“Right? This isn’t the picture I had in mind…”
“Isn’t this what people think?”
Well, rather than the opinions of many, this was certainly the result of one person’s considerable influence.
She had moved with such meticulous and strategic intent to secure this victory.
Her commitment was such that even those watching her every move were astonished.
Whispers spread among Eonix employees about who was behind this situation.
The one who knew better than anyone the identity of the mastermind was the overarching director, Oh Hong-kyun.
‘What on earth has Kayak done…’
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
