Even beyond the context of Dark Zone, the category of "streamer" has evolved to the point where it’s difficult to encompass it with just that one word.

With the development of the internet, people can access a wide variety of content at any time with just a phone, and countless efforts have been made to turn these people into viewers or subscribers.

Some streamers gained fame as general gaming streamers, but the content that broadcasters could specialize in truly spanned all directions.

Philosophy. Movie reviews. Gameplay. Cooking. Law. High-level information necessary for living in society… The range of content has become so vast that it’s impossible to even choose from it all, leading to the emergence of personalized search and recommendation engines—algorithms, as they are called.

To return to the topic at hand:

Although not as numerous as the content and videos on YourSpace, just as many channel operators and streamers exist, each with vastly different styles.

However—though it’s difficult to generalize—if you were to summarize the common goal of most of them, it would ultimately be money and fame.

To make a living.

Because they want to pursue something they love.

There are countless other reasons, but they all converge into a handful of goals that can be counted on one hand, which means their directions generally follow a certain flow.

But if you flip this idea a little, the fact that it’s "most" and not "all" means that there are people who don’t fit this pattern.

For simple self-satisfaction.

To preserve a record of their past.

And for other reasons… The proportion was infinitely smaller compared to the former, but nevertheless, within this space, there were still individuals with their own unique motivations.

And going even further from this point, there were sometimes cases that were difficult to understand through the logic of anyone who had ever been a viewer at least once.

One of these cases was streaming without operating a YourSpace channel.

As always, there were too many possible reasons for each of these cases, and—whatever the reasons might be—fans of such streamers often found themselves in a frustrating situation.

If they wanted to rewatch a part they enjoyed during the live stream, they had to search through the full video, and they couldn’t even hope for the clever edited clips that could be easily found on other YourSpace channels.

If it wasn’t because they couldn’t afford to hire an editor, the fans would be left exasperated, almost to the point of disbelief.

And here was one such case.

[General] Yujin, please make a channel for rewatching your videos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<Random meme>

I’m tired of going into Tricky to find the replays one by one.

Please open a YourSpace channel!!!!!!!!!!!!

[All Comments][Sorted by Recent]

• "Not happening~ If you’re upset, edit it yourself~"

• "She streams just for fun, but you’re expecting a lot, lol." ㄴ "She? Or he?" ㄴ "I like the idea of it being a she, so I’m sticking with that." ㄴ "Ugh, idiots, lol."

• "If you search ‘Dark Zone Yujin’ on YourSpace, you’ll find a few, isn’t that enough?" ㄴ[OP] "Are you even human if that’s enough for you?" ㄴ "Touché, lol."

• "What’s frustrating is that she doesn’t even think about hiring an editor, lol." ㄴ "So true."

• "There should be a law banning rich, carefree people from streaming, damn it." ㄴ "They should just force YourSpace integration, what a crazy world, lol." ㄴ "These are the people who would burn down the whole house because of a few pests, lol."

A true shooting star.

Suddenly appearing and dazzling those who see her streaking across the sky, leaving only a trail of brilliance, but never giving people the result they desire.

So those left behind can only chase Yujin’s traces blindly, like people pursuing a rainbow.

In a spontaneous 30-minute Q&A and brief communication stream, she might have hinted at being an awakened being and revealed that her name, Yujin, was a somewhat feminine one named after herself.

Apart from that, there were her astounding physical abilities and athletic skills, confirmed through an avatar-edited video she released while explaining hacking accusations.

This was why the theory that she was an awakened being, a semi-official speculation, gained traction.

Though the intensity of the discussions surrounding her had diminished slightly—possibly because of the legal ramifications associated with being an awakened being—the human curiosity always grows stronger when repressed.

And because of this, those who were curious about Yujin were desperately hoping she would achieve outstanding results in the Asia Qualifiers.

Specifically, they hoped that if she advanced to the finals, she would have to travel to the U.S. to prevent any potential network delays, which might reveal some of her personal information.

In the meantime,

“…No way, this person…”

Han Jin-hyuk.

A former shooting athlete who currently works as a range safety officer and instructor at a shooting range in Seoul.

In other words, one of the very few people who might have an idea of who Yujin really is.

Given that people have to go out and interact with the world at some point, it was inevitable that some people had seen Yujin, the awakened being.

But among those who saw her and later talked to their friends about it, saying, "I saw an awakened being today," how many of them were playing Dark Zone?

Han Jin-hyuk was one of the rare, almost unique, individuals who fit this overlapping category.

There was no way he couldn’t recognize her.

She was the one who had come to the shooting range a while back, fired dozens of rounds, and hit the 10-point mark with almost every bullet.

That alone would have made a deep impression on his mind, but on top of that… the sleek, sharp, yet thick snake tail that one could never forget once seen.

She was like a living anaconda—probably one of the most memorable experiences of his life.

But Yujin…?

“…This is bad.”

Of course, it might not be the case, but… in the slim chance that it was, Han Jin-hyuk might be the only person who knew the true identity of the streamer Yujin.

Naturally, there was no reason to spread this around, nor could he even if he wanted to.

Given that revealing the identity of an awakened being could set a discriminatory precedent, even a slight rumor could lead to severe legal repercussions, and considering her level, the government was probably directly managing her personal information.

Simply put, if she requested it, all news articles, reports, or internet posts related to her could be wiped clean.

He tossed and turned on the bed before suddenly sitting up.

He felt wide awake.

Even though it was nearing midnight… anyway, it didn’t take long to find the relevant information. A new entry about her had just been created on TriWiki.

Her photo was replaced with her avatar, and the only personal detail listed was her height—171 cm, which Yujin had mentioned herself.

Looking at the avatar, Han Jin-hyuk couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

“Seriously, how… did she put herself into her avatar exactly like that?”

Later on, if her actual appearance were ever revealed… how bewildered would not only her viewers but also those curious about Yujin’s identity be?

The video proving Yujin’s physical abilities, where her avatar mirrored her real-life movements, was also ridiculous. What kind of irony was this?

It was deception, but an amusingly pleasant one.

If the truth were ever revealed, it would undoubtedly be a grand deception.

‘Anyway, I’m the one most screwed here….’

It felt like picking up a document lying on the ground only to find it detailed the location of a hidden nuclear bomb.

How many weeks or months would it take before he could at least share this story with someone?

The folktale of “The King’s Ears are Donkey’s Ears” suddenly crossed his mind. At least that barber could shout into a cave. In today’s world… who knows? Maybe he’d have to bury his face in a pillow and scream.

As the night deepened, so did his worries.

“Nice to meet you. We finally get to meet like this. Have you checked the scrim announcement on the Xi private channel? Since briefings and debriefings are crucial…”

“Yes. There shouldn’t be any problems.”

After all, briefings and debriefings were part of my daily routine.

After an operation, we would reinforce what went well and correct any flaws or shortcomings that day. Overlooking anything could lead to a well-sharpened blade turning against you later.

The spacious auditorium-like virtual space was already crowded with dozens of people. Considering I arrived just before the scrim started, more people were probably still on their way.

It felt like attending a university lecture.

“…Hello. I enjoy watching your streams…!”

“Oh, thank you.”

As soon as I sat down in a nearby seat, some of the people around me greeted me.

Although I hadn’t changed much in the past few weeks, it seemed I had become famous enough that others recognized me.

The time to reflect on how I’d changed felt too short, almost nonexistent. It was as if only the results remained.

…Actually, that was always the case. By now, it was almost routine.

Considering that I joined the competitive rank towards the end, the people I encountered in Tier 2 were indeed moving with a bit more purpose than those I’d met before.

Of course, they only had purpose. It didn’t mean they were particularly skilled.

Given that, I was quite curious about what the scrim would be like.

Meanwhile, more people began to arrive.

There were name tags in the same color as the enforcer from Xi IMPRESSIVE who had guided me here, as well as from teams like TK1 and SSM… In short, they seemed to belong to specific organizations.

In other words, they were professional gamers from Dark Zone - Apex Predator.

…Though, there were a lot of female avatars for a group like that.

“Welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining today’s scrim. For those who are new or have limited experience with scrims, let me go over a few guidelines.

This scrim corresponds to the first game of the first session, and a maximum of four sessions will be held per day.

The first session is conducted without any specific tactics aside from the debriefing. The second session involves a detailed tactics lecture. The third session is for practicing and receiving feedback on those tactics, and the fourth session applies everything in a full game.”

Four sessions… that’s quite a bit.

I briefly checked today’s schedule, and there didn’t seem to be any issues. It was currently around 10 a.m. in real time, and even with time acceleration, twelve hours of play would only take me to about 2 p.m.

In other words, the marathon would only happen in the game.

“If you have any questions, feel free to ask during the debriefing later. Let’s start the first game for practice. Is everyone ready?”

“Yes!”

“Yeeees!”

As the chorus of voices merged into one, a participation message popped up in front of me, signaling the start of the first scrim.

When I touched the faintly glowing, transparent, ice-like notification, it turned green, indicating that I was ready.

It had begun.

“Alright then. Let’s meet again during the first debriefing!”

And so, somewhat abruptly and in a flash, my first scrim began.