It’s not that kind of malicious broadcast

《Nerf the Rogue!》”

“We oppose this with all our might!”

《If we’re short on firewood!》”

“We have bombs left”

《That’s the best!》”

“Rogue, rogue…?”

Wait, hold on. Hold on a second. What we just shouted felt a bit odd. I’ve never spread that. How many people out here could actually shout that in real life?

I never asked them to lead such a chant. As a person with reasonable and ordinary shame, I didn’t intend to demand unreasonable things from others.

Sure enough, even the fervent demonstrators hesitated for a moment, with more than half mumbling and just looking at each other.

Perhaps it was then, seizing the brief silence that had come over them. A manager without even a microphone shouted loudly—

Ocarina, give it up!”

“Ocarina, give it up!”

Reinvigorated, the crowd responded. Improving the atmosphere was good, but wasn’t this slogan unrelated to the theme of the protest?

Well, anyway. Leaving things to others often makes you pay the price. It’s challenging.

I threw a sharp glance at the new manager who now held the microphone, then stepped back once more to observe—strange slogans seemed to be increasing.

Considering their passion, I supposed it was alright.

It’s not easy to find someone willing to lead slogans in front of a crowd. After inviting several people onto the stage, we barely found someone reasonable enough to survive the ad-lib attempts without getting booed off.

We couldn’t afford to be picky. Volunteers were quitting left and right.

Besides, this person was surprisingly managing the protest rather well… Could it be that I might sneak off somewhere for a look around?

Generally speaking, heads of various organizations give their opening speeches and then step back. The Rogue Revival Movement shouldn’t be any different.

Over there, the building on the second floor that has a beer place looked decent. A pint of beer, perhaps…

“Shouldn’t we start something soon? Like a signing event?”

While contemplating a natural escape route, Jinhee softly tapped my shoulder and made a suggestion. It was kind but I had my reservations.

“Both of your signing events ended successfully earlier, so it’s okay. There are some new people here, but… I feel too sorry to ask you to do another one.”

“No, Yena’s signing event… Are we really going to let all these people leave without doing something? Seriously?”

“… Something seems to be a misunderstanding. Just sending them off like that. The whole point of the protest was for people to come and protest.”

It wasn’t even my fan meeting…

As I thought about it, hmm. Well, it’s probably time to start handing out the snacks we prepared. It’s already been quite some time since we started. People must be getting tired by now.

Even if I need to go to the stands later, it would be right to handle this first, wouldn’t it?

But…

There were far more people than I expected.

It was an unexpected situation. Usually, it’s rare for viewers of an online broadcast to show up offline. Typically, they would only chat eagerly about coming, but the actual event would be empty in reality.

Even if a broadcaster shouted during an outdoor broadcast for viewers to come anytime, almost no one would actually show up.

Yet… perhaps because broadcasters like Ark, Revan, and StarPork, who had quite the reputation, were participating together. The area, barely roped off, was packed with people.

At a glance, there looked to be a few hundred people. I had only expected about 100 at most. This turnout was good enough to self-congratulate as a major success by the organizer.

I was glad I brought plenty of snacks. I needed to distribute them, but… oh. I cautiously raised my backpack towards Ark, who had been wearing a delicate expression since earlier, and spoke tentatively.

“Could you possibly help me a bit? There are way more people than I expected.”

* * * *

“Please line up here! One line, please! Let’s keep the passage clear, right this way!”

Despite being notorious viewers who moved in the opposite direction of whatever was asked of them online, it seemed difficult for them to act contrarily in person.

Under the leadership of the 10 appointed administrators on site, a fairly long, orderly line had formed. Even passersby curiously asking what the line was for eventually gave up simply because of its length.

At the front of this newly formed line, the fan who had braved the risk of being permanently banned by sitting at the very front was struggling to calm their pounding heart.

They were the first in line to directly face GetDevoured, a thrilling chance. As they nervously walked forward, they found themselves facing her-

For some reason, she was holding out a smartphone screen towards them.

“Hello.”

Her face, so captivating it seemed to have its own gravity. The fan didn’t even glance at the smartphone screen presented. Focused so intensely on not letting his gaze dip to her chest, they blankly stared at Lee Yena. Her soft voice reached his ears, piercing through his daze.

A familiar and yet softer voice. The reality was that no microphone used in broadcasts could capture even half of the sweetness in her voice. Her face, her gaze, her voice — the real-world ‘GetDevoured’ seemed to exist a few steps beyond normal reality.

All the jokes and greetings the fan had planned to say if he ever met her vanished from his mind. How long did he stay in that daze, staring?

Lee Yena, thrusting her smartphone a bit closer now, pointed to a prepared guideboard with her other hand.

“Here. Press it.”

“Yes, yes?”

“It’s a gacha.”

『Please receive your prize according to the gacha result and proceed to the next step.』

『5th place – Red ginseng candy』

『4th place – Red ginseng jelly』

『3rd place – Chocolate』

『2nd place – Handshake』

『1st place – Undetermined』

If anyone could have chatted, the scene would have been flooded with question marks. Accompanied by complaints about whether someone held a grudge against red ginseng, protests would have become a cultural norm on CravingWarmAmericano’s channel.

However, faced with the reality of Lee Yena herself, no one could actually say those things. The fan, standing dazedly, simply moved his hand as if entranced.

The screen depicted a round gacha machine. Upon pressing the prominently featured ‘Start’ button, a ball rolled out with a lackluster animation, soon spitting out a piece of paper.

『2nd place』

“It’s a second-place prize. It’s a bit lackluster… but, ah, Revan threatened to shut down and disband us if we made red ginseng jelly the second prize. If you wish, you can exchange it for something else.”

“No, no! I like the handshake!”

As the fan reached towards the piled-up red ginseng jelly in mid-speech, they frantically shouted, extending their right hand. The commotion was noticeable enough for those in the queue to understand what was happening.

The envious jeering, for some reason, was quite pleasant to hear.

“Why? Alright.”

Meanwhile, Lee Yena, as if genuinely pondering whether candy might be better than a handshake, muttered doubtfully to herself before slowly extending and grasping his hand.

A slightly cold and delicate hand held his and gently shook it up and down.

“Thank you for coming.”

And then, a smile.

It was the kind of moment that made one understand why people vow never to wash their hands after shaking hands with their favorite celebrity.

‘If I queue up again, maybe…’

Though knowing it was unlikely, thinking such thoughts was only natural.

.

.

.

“Just once! Let me spin it just once more!”

“The line is long; let’s keep moving-!”

“Red ginseng candy is surprisingly alright?”

“Reveal the probabilities!”

“Everyone! We’ve checked the queue already! Please don’t get back in line!”

* * * *

I had planned to just share the snacks with everyone. After all, the more people there were to distribute supplies, the more efficient and better it would be.

However, as soon as I suggested the idea, it was strongly rejected by Jinhee and Ahri.

I even announced to everyone that we’d be giving out snacks one by one… resulting in an excessive amount of enthusiasm that couldn’t be undone. This wasn’t even a fan meeting, there was no need for this.

Still, perhaps thanks to the system being improved to have people roll gacha in advance, the long queue seemed to be nearing its end. It felt like it had taken around two hours.

Taking advantage of a brief moment, I checked my phone—of course. The scheduled end time for the protest was imminent.

We were giving out snacks to support the protest, but this felt like putting the cart before the horse.

I started to regret turning down the suggestion to cut it off midway. But still, I couldn’t just announce to the people who had been waiting patiently in line that we wouldn’t continue…

Regardless of the regret, I’d probably do the same thing again.

My arm hurt.

Shaking hands was one thing, but handing out ginseng candies also felt like heavy labor now. The repetitive task made me feel a bit dazed.

A new person approached the table. Ahri was making a hand gesture from the side, indicating that they had drawn the 5th place prize. The 5th place prize… ginseng candy, I needed to grab a new bag.

“Hello. Please wait a moment while I grab some candy.”

With that, I bowed my head and rummaged through the bag next to me, asking for understanding.

“Yena.”

A voice I wasn’t supposed to hear reached me.

“…No, it’s not.”

“Is that so, GetDevoured?”

Being called by my ID in real life by someone I met first online was far more embarrassing than I thought.

What should I even say to face Lee Yeri, who was looking down at me with an indecipherable expression?

… Should I start with an apology?

Still, I should handle the task first.

“Here’s your candy. It’s a 5th place prize that feels like a 2nd place prize.”

TL’s Corner:

Caught red-handed.