“….”
I opened my eyes, but nothing was visible yet.
It must have been close to dawn; no light seeped through the closed curtains, but one thing was certain.
“My eyes hurt…”
My long bangs poked into my eyes.
“Welcome~”
The first place I visited with Min-young in a long time was a hair salon.
It felt like I had been there not too long ago, but my hair had grown quickly, so I found myself back at the salon in less than a month.
Honestly, back when I lived in a semi-basement, I could trim my bangs with kitchen scissors while looking in a small mirror, but I decided to go out with my sister since it was a rare outing.
As I stepped into the salon, I was greeted by the familiar smell and a bustling crowd.
After agreeing to wait about 30 minutes, I settled into a seat, and the salon manager, with whom I had built some rapport, sat on the sofa in front.
“Oh my~ You’re back already?”
“Ha ha… My hair just grows a little fast.”
“Well, that’s good for me. It’s so therapeutic to work on cheerful hair like yours. Is your sister getting a cut too?”
The manager asked Min-young, who had even put on makeup today, and she nodded lightly.
“Alright then, see you in a bit~”
The manager, after a brief pause, became busy again, moving around the salon.
“..Unnie..”
I sipped water from the dispenser and watched someone getting their hair shaved down neatly.
Their expression was striking, like they were preparing for the military.
As I watched that scene, Min-young called me from the side.
“Are you not streaming anymore?”
It had been over a week since I last streamed.
That question probably carried a lot of meaning and contemplation.
I hadn’t just avoided streaming—I hadn’t talked much with Min-young either during that time.
Usually, she would come over daily, even if we weren’t doing anything, just to be near me.
But lately, she hasn’t visited unless there was a specific reason.
Even during meals, there wasn’t much conversation or energy between us.
It was Min-young who finally broke the silence.
“…No, don’t worry.”
I stroked her head, which seemed burdened with concern, and spoke.
“I’m just a little tired right now. Even if I were to stream now, what’s the point if people just fight? I think of streaming as something ‘fun,’ but if people are arguing and yelling, it’s meaningless, isn’t it? So, I’ll stream again when things settle down a bit. Chocoa hasn’t been streaming either because of something similar…”
“Unnie, stop. Stop.”
“Oh, sorry… Wahh… Chocoa hasn’t been streaming either…”
For reasons similar to mine, Chocoa had stopped streaming as well.
For Chocoa, whose viewer count was finally stabilizing, this was probably a critical issue.
But for us, whose purpose in streaming was communication and fun, it didn’t matter much if we stopped.
“Your viewers probably feel the same way right now.”
“…..”
As we waited for our turn, we had a long conversation for the first time in a while.
We talked about meaningless things, as well as heavy topics, melting away a week’s worth of unspoken thoughts until it was finally my turn.
Of course, we kept our voices low to avoid bothering others.
“What were you two chatting so enthusiastically about?”
“Nothing much, really.”
The manager asked as they draped a white cloth over me.
Min-young had moved to the opposite side and was out of sight.
“So, how should we cut your hair today? Same as last time?”
“Um… First, just trim my bangs…”
Deciding how to cut my hair at a salon was always a challenge.
While I hesitated, the manager brushed through my hair and suggested.
“Your hair is long enough now… Wouldn’t you consider a bob?”
I immediately replied, “No.”
The manager seemed slightly surprised by my quick answer.
But after becoming this “me,” I could never give up long hair.
Before, I had no time to cut my hair, so it grew out naturally, but now, with it intentionally longer, I couldn’t give up the joy of fiddling with it when bored or the feeling of drying it after a shower.
“Then, how about this? Not too extreme, just add a slight wave—it’ll look amazing!”
“Amazing, you say…?”
I wasn’t entirely convinced, but the manager continued.
“Do you have someone you like?”
“……”
“Ah-ha! You do! I don’t know who that lucky person is, but they’d probably be smitten… If it were me, I’d be totally captivated!”
“….”
“How about it? I’ll even give you a discount.”
Click- click- click-
“….Wow, this is so good…”
I sat at my computer, confused by the odd noises coming from my sibling as usual.
After about a week, Baraa’s stream went live again.
The category was “Just Chatting,” which hadn’t changed since the beginning, but as always, the content wasn’t just chatting.
The stream screen showed a game—Escape from Nikita—being played again after a long time.
It seemed the stream had started mid-game, in a quiet spot, with the character sorting their inventory, a process often called “Tetris.”
Bullets were loaded into magazines, and useless attachments were discarded as mere trash wasting bag space.
This created instant room, and the player rearranged various items neatly.
-The moment I tuned in, I felt at ease.
-TTTTTT It’s been so long TTTTTT
-Wow! You know Nikita!
In a matter of seconds, all the sorting was complete, and the soft clicking sound of a mouse echoed briefly, followed by a small white hand appearing in the corner of the screen.
The small hand grabbed the mouse, and the character moved, stepping over a freshly killed warm corpse.
The character exited through a previously closed door into a long hallway, where the already cold corpse of an enemy was visible.
-…How many people did you kill…
-H-Hey! This is a murder scene!
-LOL, acting like they did it all just because the situation looks cool.
“Hm… Should’ve started the stream from the beginning.”
Although the stream was started for no particular reason mid-game, given the reactions, I thought maybe these comments wouldn’t have appeared if I had streamed from the start.
But since there was no way to change the past, I ignored it and continued.
While exploring the map and learning about it, I entered every visible building in the factory, killing everyone and looting as I went.
Soon enough, I had farmed more than enough guns and items, with about four minutes remaining.
I began searching for the extraction point, which I vaguely remembered was where a basement passageway was located.
“Hmm… It should be somewhere central, blocked by an iron door…”
-What settings are you using?
“I’m just doing a pistol run.”
-…? Isn’t that a radar weapon?
“Is it? Still, it only took about four or five headshots to kill them.”
The pistol I used was cheap and had low penetration, so even aiming for the head didn’t guarantee a kill in one or two shots.
After shooting a few more rounds into their heads, they eventually died.
From there, perhaps drawn by the sound of gunfire, players who had called in raiders and AI enemies swarmed in.
By the time I had killed them all, several minutes had passed, and the hallway had become a stench-filled, blood-soaked space.
“The initial spawn was in such a dangerous spot that I ran into raiders right away. This is unfair.”
-?? This is unfair (after killing everyone)
-LOL LOL LOL LOL
“Well, since they’re all dead now, I guess I’ll head out… Hmm…”
A faint sound.
A slight rustle came when moving while prone.
That faint noise, similar to the ones often heard in Siege, blended with the surrounding ambient sounds, becoming even harder to detect.
About two minutes and thirty seconds remained.
I was positioned right in front of the extraction point.
“…Someone’s there.”
Whether I had misheard or if someone was indeed there was uncertain, but a second sound confirmed it.
Carefully, I took out the gun I had stored and checked for grenades.
“Ugh…”
I realized that all the grenades had been used up during the hallway skirmish, leaving me with none.
Feeling regret over not having any reliable methods left, I wondered how I was going to break through this situation.
-? Is there someone?
-I’m using sound on max, and I don’t hear anything…
There were a few options.
First, I could rely on raw skill and try to react to an unseen enemy lying in wait.
Second, I could wait until the enemy, bored from doing nothing, left first.
Third, I could start searching for another extraction point, even now.
The first option was risky; entering that area would undoubtedly make noise and put the enemy on high alert.
Engaging an enemy without knowing their position was suicide.
The second option was tedious, while the third was impossible due to time constraints and my lack of knowledge about other extraction points.
I chose the second option, deciding to hold on to my expensive loot and wait until about 30 seconds remained.
I advanced cautiously, thinking that they must have left by now, while still maintaining some level of alertness.
Tututututu-
It was unexpected.
As I stopped just before turning the most dangerous corner, an enemy who had predicted my footsteps fired their gun.
Although I stopped, it wasn’t fast enough, and a bit of blood trickled from my leg.
The sound of a grenade being pulled.
I had to push forward.
As I prepared to charge, I noticed something strange.
Although I heard the sound of the grenade pin being pulled, I didn’t hear it being thrown or hitting anything.
The moment I recognized this odd feeling, I felt the inevitability of death and saw the muzzle of the gun before me.
Bang!!
“Damn… It was a fake…”