My Favorite Has Started A Live Broadcast!

“Bang bang~”

Strawberry held the gun with both of her little paws and mimed shooting at the camera a few times. But as if uncomfortable, she started tapping her legs against my knee. I handed Strawberry over to my sister and, unlike Rotten, which took four hours to download, I opened *Escape from Nikita*, often shortened to *Nikita*, which finished downloading in just thirty minutes.

“Just pick any character for now and send me a friend request. I’ll post it in the Discord.”

After skipping through multiple terms of service agreements, I entered the game, and the first thing that came up was a character selection screen. There were two options: American and Russian. Both looked battle-ready, but picking the Russian character didn’t seem like the best idea, so I chose the American character and skipped through the customization.

“Okay, go ahead and accept the invite, and since it’s the first round, let’s go with *Usec*. This mode randomly assigns you a weapon and places you in an AI body. It’s a cheap way to play, which is good, but sometimes the weapons, body armor, or helmet you get are pretty bad, so beginners or people looking to farm loot often use it.”

Listening to Gunkoo’s explanation, I adjusted my key settings, accepted his invite, and followed his instructions. Gunkoo appeared fully equipped with a rifle, an axe, a thick-looking bulletproof vest, and night vision goggles, while I looked down at my own character. My armor seemed too thin to stop bullets, my gun looked unreliable, and my helmet was replaced by something resembling a baseball cap. Still, at least I had a knife.

“Alright, I’ll take us to the factory. Survive as best as you can. Oh, and no team-killing.”

The loading bar filled up smoothly, and the percentage increased steadily. The screen darkened, and a small breathing sound was heard.

“Hmm… The location isn’t bad…”

I looked around and saw large trees and several factory-like buildings in the distance. Surveying the area, I found Gunkoo and got a sense of how flimsy my equipment really was.

“Oh, you got a Mosin. Not a bad spear-type weapon. If you hit the body or head, it’s usually a one-shot kill.”

I looked at my gun, which really did look like a long, thin spear. The ammo on the bandolier was thick and matched the weapon’s reputation.

“It’s a single-shot weapon, so shoot carefully. If you accidentally shoot me while looting, I’m not telling you where the exit is.”

“…Alright…”

Following Gunkoo, I stepped into the unfamiliar yet strangely familiar game.

After a short while, we stopped at a small campsite, with a little A-frame tent and a cold, dead campfire. I started searching the tent.

“Items are often in hanging clothes or boxes. Sometimes they’re hidden on shelves or in drawers. Anything here?”

“Uh… just some cigarettes?”

Confirming there was nothing else of value, Gunkoo moved on. My character, possibly due to its new status, was out of breath after only a short run, which felt annoyingly similar to my own real-life lack of stamina. Begrudgingly, I slowed my pace to match Gunkoo’s, and by sunset, we arrived at a large factory. It was filled with big oil drums, even bigger machinery, and military tanks scattered around the area, bringing friends to mind. Just as I was thinking about my friends with shaved heads, I heard a sound.

Thud—thud—

“…Suka blyat!”

Bang!

“Whoa…”

The enemy that had been cursing and stomping out towards Gunkoo quickly fired but was taken down in an instant. The enemy fell, having been hit by both Gunkoo and me, and I felt an unexpectedly intense sense of satisfaction. Though it was a game, the satisfaction of a well-timed shot, the flash of light from the muzzle, and the perfect take-down was almost comparable to clearing a difficult rhythm game like *Abyss Breaker* or *Music Dash*.

Of course, nothing could beat Chocoa chatting with me, though.

“…Is it dead?”

“When they fall, they’re dead. There’s no kill log here, so sometimes you have no idea if you’ve killed an enemy and stay locked in a standoff. Usually, you have to rely on their falling motion or dying scream.”

I absorbed Gunkoo’s tips, watching him loot the enemy’s belongings. Apparently, looting was more involved than I’d thought.

“Here, use this. It’s decent.”

Quickly equipping the helmet and rifle that Gunkoo handed me, I continued onward.

Creak—

With a rusty screech, the red door opened, and we entered the factory. The inside was filled with containers and machines, and it was high enough to have a second floor. With the sun almost set, the interior was even darker, but squinting, I followed Gunkoo’s light and continued looting. I rummaged through clothes and shelves, occasionally asking both Gunkoo and the viewers about item names or functions, filling the silence until darkness engulfed the factory. My inventory was full, and I could barely see anything, so Gunkoo suggested we make our exit, which I agreed to.

“There’s an exit somewhere over there…”

Weeeeeeeeee— Weeeeeeeeee— Weeeeeeeeee—

“…What’s that sound?”

“Oh, the radar.”

Gunkoo mumbled something to himself about how we should have left earlier and why they’d sound the raid alarm at night, grumbling quietly before turning off the flashlight attached to his rifle and switching to night vision. In the total darkness, I relied entirely on Gunkoo’s footsteps and voice to guide me.

“Our current situation is very dangerous. If they’re calling a raid at night, it means we’re probably facing a fully equipped enemy party. They’ll have night vision at the very least and possibly thermal imaging. We should hurry out.”

The siren kept drowning out footsteps and Gunkoo’s briefings, but I trusted him when he said it’d be over soon and kept pressing forward, fiddling with my trigger.

Crunch—

“Hold on.”

“Yes?”

Crunch, crunch, crunch—

“…Footsteps… Three… no, four?”

The sound was faint. Though there were no briefings and the siren had just stopped, I could still hear the tiny footfalls, giving an eerie impression of being somewhere else entirely.

“They’re underground, but they’ll be up soon… Do you want to fight?”

“Yes.”

I was a newbie with nothing to lose. Gunkoo might suffer a bit, but I was eager to fight one more time, especially since I was starting to feel sleepy.

“There are quite a few exits, so where’s the closest noise coming from?”

Gunkoo seemed unable to hear the footsteps and asked me to describe the location. I provided my best guess.

“Then they’ll probably come out near the train station. We’ll wait by the train and ambush the raiders.”

I moved to a favorable position, taking careful steps to reduce noise.

Thud thud— Thud thud—

Gunkoo and I positioned ourselves in separate trains, where we could see each other if we peeked out. The footsteps passed us by, and it seemed like there were indeed four people.

“We’re about to fight the raiders… Oh, raiders are like boss mobs, they have near-perfect aim and bring a few henchmen.”

“Are they beatable?”

“Well… I’ve killed cheaters before…”

Bang! Ratatatatatat!

A sudden gunshot echoed through the dark night, and I checked my chamber once more.

The fight dragged on. AI enemies cursed, and heavy gunfire sounded. Based on the shots, I guessed there were two shotguns and five rifles, though I couldn’t tell if they were raiders or players.

“Hmm… I think it’s over?”

The intense combat finally seemed to end with a few screams and grenade blasts, leaving the train station in silence, broken only by two sets of quiet footsteps.

“…About 10 meters ahead, there’s one lying down. I don’t think they know we’re here.”

“They’re probably using that, right? That… that…”

“Night vision?”

“Yes.”

“Most likely. Give me a signal, and I’ll target the other one.”

How to take down the enemy with limited visibility? I figured I’d have to shoot before they noticed me.

Swish… Ting!

I threw a bullet far off, and it made a loud clinking sound against metal. The enemies started shuffling.

“…Now.”

Bang!

“…Close, want to go again?”

“…”

—Lololololololol faulty gun lololol

—Hahaha! That was so unfair!

With a single-shot Mosin, my options were limited. Though Gunkoo managed to take down one enemy, the remaining two raiders quickly overwhelmed me. I was aiming to shoot at the last light source when, with a small “tick” sound, the screen turned red. Exhausted from the unexpected setback, I said I was going to sleep and exited Discord.

“Alright, we’re heading out.”

Eunah unnie patted my dozing sister on the shoulder, and I yawned as I looked at the chat. Most of it was filled with laughter and disappointment.

“Oh, right. Hey guys, her birthday’s in two days, so start saving up.”

Unnie said that before gathering up my sister and leaving.

“Strawberry~”

I rubbed Strawberry’s belly, who seemed eager to keep playing, then said goodbye to the viewers and turned off the broadcast. Right before ending the stream, I noticed the chat flooding again, but dismissed it as my imagination. I changed into pajamas and lay down on my bed.