One enemy left. A tense standoff.
The mont I glanced at the kill score, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
So weirdos on the forum kept trying to call out signal flare tactics as so kind of gimmick.
Like hell they could.
Signal flares are top-tier ta.
In a standard match, this thing can hold its own against forr pros.
I felt a little bad for Mugeon, but before I started using a double-barrel to pop the heads of trolling teammates, my primary weapon of choice had actually been a sniper rifle.
My signature annihilation combo involved breaking shields from mid-range with a low-magnification sniper, waiting for the wounded enemy to start healing, then closing in to finish them off with the weapon I had equipped in my second slot.
Even so, I had to admit—Mugeon was a damn good sniper.
I still rember when I ducked behind cover to avoid a shot from so guy on a hill.
I thought we’d both dodged at the sa ti, aid back in sync.
But Mugeon was just that much faster.
If we had been aiming at each other instead of a common enemy, my head would’ve been the one popping first.
And then there were the tis he tried to steal my kills.
I’d fake a shot just to bait him, but he was watching my bullets through his scope, waiting to see if they actually connected before pulling the trigger himself.
Gotta hand it to these guys who made a living off gaming.
They’re disgustingly good. No wonder they make so much money.
…But in the end, who was the real winner?
King, God, Supre—Signal Flare.
[You were lucky. I lost.]
Mugeon chalked it up to luck, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
What defines a signal flare user?
Double-barrel shotguns and smoke grenades.
Closing the gap using Crazy Shot’s speed boost, tossing smokes to confuse enemies, then taking them out one by one in the fog—that was my specialty.
If there was smoke, it didn’t matter what gun I had—I could still cook my targets.
I’d been doing this for five years. It would be weird not to be good at it.
So when Mugeon started sounding out—
[…Would it be possible for to watch you play? I’d like to invite you to a private match.]
I felt two things at once.
First, a flash of irritation—How dare you.
And second, a brilliant idea.
This all started as a simple warm-up snipe to prepare for an answer later.
But isn’t there a collab coming up in a few days?
The big promotional event the boss entrusted to ?
Might as well make this explode.
My mouth moved on its own.
[Unnecessary. You will see.]
“? I’m not sure I understand.”
[Reason. Revealed in 60 hours.]
— ?? — Did you an 60 seconds? — 60 hours?? LMAO — AAAAAHHHHH — Just say it clearly, dammit!
Winning the match had put in the spotlight.
Even the chat reactions and Mugeon’s invitation made it obvious that all eyes were on .
And wouldn’t you know it—Mugeon’s crew was hosting an internal match in exactly 60 hours.
Wouldn’t people start wondering?
Is MugeonIsAFamousMomoAnti the sa person as "1stGen1stAnniversarySongReleasesNov5," the guy from today?
If no one cared, well, that’d be a little sad.
But if the private match drew a crowd, people would definitely start talking.
Didn’t this guy try to snipe Mugeon before?
I’d keep playing dumb until the stream ended.
Let curiosity fester.
And as people kept speculating, my userna—1stGen 1st Anniversary Song Releases Nov 5—would be repeated over and over again.
No need for to constantly say, "Hey, it's our first anniversary! Check it out!"
The fans would spread the news themselves.
Pretty solid strategy, don’t you think?
Six years in the trenches, three years under the boss—I’d picked up a thing or two.
…Wouldn’t be surprised if the boss freaked out, wondering how I ca up with this.
Hehe.
…── Mugeon (Internet Broadcaster) Forum ───…
[Who the hell is this mystery sniper?]
I'M LOSING MY MIND.
[Comnts]
— Mugeon831: This is actually insane;
— Mugeon701: This guy is nuts LMAO
— Mugeon732: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
— Mugeon923: DAMN IT I NEED TO KNOW AAAAAA
— Mugeon124: Why does it feel like everyone watching the stream got caught in so kind of quiz show trap? LOL
…── Mugeon (Internet Broadcaster) Forum ───…
[What if they were hacking?]
Honestly, how else would you know exactly where soone is inside a smoke screen?
They were definitely using an aimbot or wallhack.
[Comnts]
— Mugeon334: Yeah, their way of speaking was suspicious too.
— Mugeon892: Another one from the mainland, huh?
— Mugeon984: But Mugeon never called them out for hacking?
ㄴ Mugeon734: What, is Mugeon supposed to be a hack detector? LOL how would he know?
ㄴ Mugeon325: Bro’s brain is Mugeon-pilled.
…── Mugeon (Internet Broadcaster) Forum ───…
[So, uh… WTF]
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENS IN 60 HOURS LMAO
Dude, you can’t just drop that and leave.
[Comnts]
— Mugeon020: What if there’s actually nothing? What if they were just ssing with us?
ㄴ Mugeon393: Bruh, that’d be even worse LMAO.
— Mugeon890: Honestly, I think they were just bluffing.
ㄴ Mugeon890: Snipers love ssing with people.
…── Mugeon (Internet Broadcaster) Forum ───…
[Did so digging]
This is pure speculation. If I’m wrong, shut up.
They said 60 hours.
So I checked Mugeon’s streaming schedule.
They made that comnt at 5 AM. Exactly 60 hours later, it’ll be 5 PM.
Guess what’s happening then?
Mugeon’s crew match.
Could they be planning to show up?
I an, sure, there are tons of streams happening around that ti, but would they really tease a random event like this?
[Comnts]
— Mugeon734: But like… what do they get out of this?
ㄴ Mugeon242 (OP): shrugs
— Mugeon842: This theory makes sense, but who the hell knows what MomoAnti is thinking.
ㄴ Mugeon242 (OP): Yeah, if they don’t tell us, we’ll never know…
…── Momo (VTuber) Forum ───…
[Anyone here know Signal Flare?]
Just curious.
Do they like smoke combat?
Not just preferring smoke grenades, but actively fighting inside smoke screens?
[Comnts]
— Momo849: Yep.
— Momo375: Yeah, they love it.
— Momo484: Of course. Signal Flare’s first move is always “drop smoke, pop heads.”
ㄴ Momo843 (OP): Ohhh.
ㄴ Momo484: Why are you asking?
ㄴ Momo843 (OP): Found an account that might be their alt.
ㄴ Momo484: Oh damn, wanna see so clips?
ㄴ Momo843 (OP): Hell yeah, roll ‘em up.
***
The Next Afternoon.
Cheon Do-hee was busy handling communications with the label regarding the first-generation anniversary song when a call ca in.
“You’ve been calling a lot lately.”
The caller was Mugeon.
After agonizing over it all night, scouring community posts, and racking his brain, he had finally pieced together what seed like a solid lead—and he had co to Momo for answers.
[That employee of yours—Signal Flare. You used to play a lot with them, right?]
“Up until three years ago, yeah. Why?”
[Are they good at fighting inside smoke? Like, can they pinpoint enemy positions just by sound?]
Do-hee answered casually, assuming he was asking to balance teams for an upcoming private match.
“Well, I’m not sure about pinpoint accuracy, but yeah, they love fighting inside smoke. Their double-barrel shotgun is useless at long range, so they rely on smokes to close the gap and cause chaos. It’s kind of their signature move.”
From the other end of the call, Mugeon let out a long, drawn-out groan.
[Was Signal Flare ever a pro trainee or sothing? Or were they actually a pro?]
“Nope.”
[Then how are they that good?]
The sudden praise threw Do-hee off.
This was starting to sound a little too familiar—like when a friend secretly played a match with their crush and then ca back gushing, ‘I played a ga with them yesterday, and wow, they’re amazing.’
Feeling an odd sense of irritation, Do-hee stayed silent, lost in thought. Mugeon took the opportunity to push further.
[Anyway, whether it’s your employee or Signal Flare—do you think you could ask them to extend their availability in two days? I only asked for two matches since they seed busy, but… any chance they could play a bit more?]
“They’re busy. Insanely busy.”
[What the hell is your boss even doing? She should hurry up and hire more staff.]
“What do you even know? Are you gonna pay their salary instead?”
[Sigh… fine. We’ll stick to two matches as agreed.]
Mugeon’s attitude had changed drastically.
Last week, he’d just been mildly intrigued. Now, he sounded like soone who had just realized they’d been missing out on half their life.
It was well-known that Mugeon was the kind of strear who, if impressed by soone’s skills, would imdiately send a friend request and invite them to squads whenever he got bored.
But Do-hee had never seen him this desperate before.
“If you’re that disappointed, want to fill in instead?”
[With your skills— Never mind, I take that back.]
“Oh wow, canceled that real quick. That was so rude, I think I might actually die from emotional damage.”
[Sorry, I’m sorry. But still—was the profanity really necessary?]
“Sigh.”
Mugeon dismissing her was nothing new.
And to be fair, he was much better at the ga than she was. So, Do-hee just let out a small sigh and let it slide.
What mattered more was why Mugeon was suddenly hyping up Magia so much.
The only explanation she could think of was that Magia had sniped Mugeon under a smurf account.
It did seem like they had played together sohow, and that was the only reason that made sense.
After all, Magia was a diehard Momo stan.
Soone with that much dedication to the boss could absolutely have the sa level of disdain for Mugeon—maybe even enough to snipe him as a prank.
[Oh, right. Around 5 AM yesterday, I think they showed up in my stream. I’m not completely sure, but the community’s been speculating about it a lot.]
…Why did that actually sound plausible?
She couldn’t even pretend not to know—one quick browse through the forums, and there it was: the userna Magia had jokingly ntioned not too long ago, making rounds in the community.
Do-hee groaned, pressing a hand to her forehead.
“Tell they didn’t cause any problems on your stream.”
[Not at all. It was great content. The viewers were wide awake and laughing their asses off at dawn. And again, it’s just a guess. Why?]
“Just checking… Glad it wasn’t an issue.”
Still.
Even if it was just a harmless ga.
Even if they thought they were being discreet.
They were already publicly known as an employee of Parallel, and they went sniping?
Magia. You should have told about this.
Momo’s Office.
When I arrived at the CEO’s office with her usual morning coffee, I was greeted by two sharply furrowed eyebrows.
You know those viewers who always say, ‘Momo looks so cute when she’s angry!’?
Yeah. They wouldn’t be saying that if they saw her in real life.
Her VTuber model had her eyes softened a lot compared to reality. If fans saw this, they’d think it was straight out of a horror ga.
…More importantly, why did she look so pissed off?
Grateful to be alive, I answered.
“Yes?”
“‘Yes?’ Yes, my ass. What the hell is this?”
“What’s what?”
She turned her phone around.
On screen was a replay of Mugeon’s stream.
And there I was, in full view, sniping him in the early hours of the morning.
How did she know?
I had taken so many precautions not to get caught.
Of course, I was a professional at keeping a straight face.
“Damn. To get caught this fast… Boss, your eye for detail is seriously impressive.”
“If you’re gonna say that, at least use a different userna. So? Why did you go sniping without telling ?”
“Oh. It was just a scouting mission. I figured I needed to experience his skills firsthand to make the upcoming match a more explosive promotional event.”
“Explosive…?”
“Yes. If I manage to land a shot on Mugeon during the private match, people will freak out. I even changed my userna for this—I might as well get my money’s worth.”
Momo fell silent, deep in thought.
“…Wait. Did you snipe him because I told you to handle marketing on your own?”
“Yes. It’s my first ti doing sothing like this, so I wanted to be thorough.”
“…I see. But who the hell does recon by sniping soone?”
She gave an incredulous look, as if trying to see whether I was seriously telling the truth.
I smiled brightly.
It was the truth.
And just like that, her sharp glare softened—recently, I’d been thinking more and more that cuteness was justice, and this just reinforced it.
It was nice seeing these different expressions on her.
“Well… given the attention you’ve drawn, your approach wasn’t bad. But from now on, run these things by first. This kind of stress isn’t good for my heart.”
I pouted.
“But I don’t like the idea of you owing Mugeon a favor.”
“…You already owe him one! You sniped him!”
“He owes . Thanks to , his late-night stream was amazing. I played so clean—I didn’t cause any problems!”
“That mindset of yours…”
Her hand shot up—instinctively, I braced myself.
Thankfully, it was just a head pat. Whew…
“…AAAAAAAAH.”
Nope. Fake out. It was a punch.
“Once you show up in Mugeon’s stream, you’re basically the face of Parallel. You do realize that, right? So you need to be more careful.”
“…Am I really?”
“Obviously. This was supposed to be sothing I handled with the PR team.”
“Oh. Right. Sorry. I just thought of it as sothing you assigned to .”
“No need to apologize. Just be more cautious next ti. I know you play things safe, but there are a lot of sensitive people out there. I don’t want to see you get torn apart online. So, talk to first. Got it?”
“…They’re just uncomfortable? Then maybe they should fix their posture.”
She gave a look.
“Anyway. If any drama cos from this, I’ll handle the apology stream.”
Like hell she would.
I wasn’t about to let my boss make a public apology for my actions.
“No way. I’d rather kneel in front of the cara myself.”
She smirked.
“Would you really do a stream just for that?”
Since getting cuter, I’d been getting a lot of affection, but clearly, my credibility had dropped.
Still, I was a loyal and reliable employee.
…Though, as a Momo stan, I kind of wished she’d just spend that ti streaming instead.
“If I have to, I have to. No big deal.”
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