Side Story 44. [BONUS STAGE] RetroAddict
Outskirts of Seoul. A large hospital lobby.
“Retro-ha~”
A man in a hoodie and shorts waved in front of a camera held by a cameraman.
“Hello, this is RetroAddict. I think this is almost the first time I’m seeing you all from outside my house.”
Waiting viewers rushed in with a flood of chat messages.
— Retro-ha~
— Hi, RetroAddict
— Now that you’re in natural light, you look even puffier
— Wait, he can move under sunlight?— Thought he was one of us children of the dark…
— Screeeeeech sunlight scaryyyy
“Yes, I was honestly terrified while preparing for this Outstream. You’d never guess, but I’m actually a huge introvert.”
— Uh… we know that quite well;;
— Of course a shut-in game freak would be an introvert, what else?
— Wait, wasn’t he an internal type?
— His internal fat is getting serious tho lol
— Ahem, that’s not a belly, it’s his gaming skill pouch
“Anyway! Today I’m here at a hospital lobby in Seoul.”
RetroAddict pointed to the interior of the lobby and gave an awkward smile.
“Can you guess why I’m here today? Drumroll please…”
— drrr drrr drrr
— Why is his acting like this?
— Is he reading from a textbook?
— This is painful, just start already…
— I think it’s kinda cute tho lol
It was tough delivering lines while being stared at by people in real life, but RetroAddict stubbornly pushed ahead with the stream.
“Tada! I’ve turned this place into a one-day arcade!”
One side of the wide hospital lobby was filled with various arcade machines. Everything from claw machines to karaoke booths, retro games, and even modern fighting games.
— Whoa, this is legit
— Better than the arcade near my place
— Look at all those retro games instead of new ones lol
— He’s living up to his name, RetroAddict ㅋㅋ
“You all know I’ve been donating to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, right? While doing so, I wondered if I could organize an event that would bring joy to the kids.”
RetroAddict explained while watching the chat.
“And since I’m a retro game specialist streamer, I thought I could show the kids the fun of arcades. That’s how this event came to be.”
The chosen hospital was where one of his viewers was currently admitted.
It had a dedicated pediatric and adolescent cancer center, and the number of young patients being treated here was quite large.
He coordinated with the hospital, persuaded the guardians, brought in machines from nearby arcades, and set up the event space…
After months of effort, it all came together today.
“And now, we have someone joining us to help host the stream.”
RetroAddict reached out to his side stiffly, his expression frozen.
“Making a surprise visit without any prior notice… please welcome Salome.”
Salome leapt into the frame from off-camera.
“Yahoo! Saloh~!”
— Yo, she really came
— The queen herself has descended
— She actually showed up lol
— Pink Sun invades~~!
— ‘I want to insert myself between those two’
— There she is again, that stray cat
After greeting RetroAddict and the other staff, Salome licked her lips mischievously.
“An event like this is obviously a good thing, and a kind one too~ But honestly, viewers might not find it all that entertaining.”
Then she put on the thick-rimmed glasses she had briefly taken off, pushing them up her nose with flair.
“I’ll spice it up with some extra heat! So you won’t get bored while watching~!”
RetroAddict clenched his fist and trembled, but he couldn’t argue.
An arcade event with pediatric cancer patients—sure, it was meaningful and wholesome. But whether it made for exciting streaming content was another matter. A good deed alone wasn’t enough to meet the internet’s hunger for entertainment.
But add in the rising queen of chaos and spicy content, Salome?
“Alright then, shall we have some fun, senior?”
“Eek! Who’s your senior?!”
“Aww~ You’re my streaming senior, aren’t you? You’ll teach me a lot, right?”
As Salome subtly snuggled up to him, RetroAddict instantly pulled away, stepping to the side. Viewers cheered and munched on popcorn as the rapid exchange played out.
If RetroAddict was the rising star of light—known for clean, consistent streaming and doing good deeds like supporting pediatric cancer patients—
Then Salome was the streamer of darkness, whose chaotic and provocative broadcasts thrived on drawing out viewers’ malice.
They were polar opposites by nature, and with Salome’s one-sided crush on RetroAddict added to the mix, the result was undeniably entertaining to watch.
“Oh, by the way, everyone! All donations today will be going directly to the pediatric cancer center, so let’s take this opportunity to do a ton of good deeds~!”
Salome gave a big wink and pitched her donation line.
“And guess what! The top three donors will receive exclusive rewards on my stream~!”
“Alright, then! Let’s kick off today’s event!”
— RetroAddict with the desperate cut-in lol
— If you leave her alone, she’ll definitely cause trouble
— You summoned Salome… accept your fate, RetroAddict…
— He didn’t even invite her thoㅋㅋㅋ
— Salome crashes the party even when she’s not invited
— Reckless chaos, zero accountability ㅋㅋ
And so, the event began.
The setup allowed kids to freely play on the arcade machines, with tournament-style competitions held for each game category.
Who could survive the longest, progress the farthest, rack up the highest score, or take the final victory—
And for the final event, the claw machine challenge—who could snag the most dolls?
There were prizes for each category, including grand prizes, participation prizes, effort awards, and more.
The children, who had been hesitating outside the event hall, finally began to trickle into the one-day arcade.
Having spent so much of their lives inside the hospital, most had never experienced a real arcade. Their faces lit up as they stood before the various machines for the first time.
“Phew…”
RetroAddict sent the cameraman toward the kids and took a moment to catch his breath.
“Hyung!”
At the sound of a voice, he turned to see a familiar boy running up with a bright smile.
RetroAddict smiled back just as warmly.
“Well, look who it is! I almost didn’t recognize you!”
The boy, who had been RetroAddict’s very first viewer, looked noticeably healthier.
His hair, once buzzed close to the scalp and slightly bluish, had grown out nicely. His once skinny arms and legs had filled out a bit too.
“How’s your health?”
“I feel great! Hardly sick at all, and the doctor says everything’s looking good.”
“You’re getting discharged next month, right?”
“Yeah. I’m pretty much all better now.”
The boy glanced toward the arcade, where the other kids were squealing and playing.
“I’m glad I could do this with them before I leave… Thanks, hyung.”
“No, I should be the one thanking you.”
RetroAddict gently tapped the boy on the back.
“Go on, play with the others. Make some good memories.”
“Okay!”
The boy bowed politely, then dashed off toward the arcade.
As RetroAddict watched him with a warm smile and turned his head—
“Snff… snrk…”
Salome was standing there, covering her mouth, tears and snot streaming down her face.
Startled, RetroAddict broke into a cold sweat.
“Why are you crying all of a sudden? What’s wrong?”
“I’m not crying… sniff… if they’re happy, that’s all that matters…”
“Yeah, well, the stream isn’t gonna be okay like this. People are gonna think I made you cry.”
RetroAddict pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her, but when Salome ignored it and just kept sobbing like a child, he had no choice but to wipe her face himself.
“What’s going on with you? First you show up unannounced, now you’re crying like this.”
“But… you have to see this in person. It’s the day one of your little wishes came true…”
“Well, I mean, yeah… I guess that’s true.”
RetroAddict chuckled softly, but then tilted his head.
“Wait, but how do you know what my wish wa—”
“Phhhffff!”
“Waaagh! Don’t blow your nose in my handkerchief!”
As he flailed from the sudden distraction, Salome quickly wiped her face with a sloppy cat-wash motion and bolted off toward the arcade.
“Alright, everyone! Let’s get started with our first event match~!”
“Don’t just take over the show! You said you were only here to watch, hey—!”
At first, many of the children were shy and hesitant, but they quickly warmed up to the atmosphere of the one-day arcade.
They took turns trying out different games, giggling and squealing as they immersed themselves.
Even though they were undergoing tough treatments in the hospital—
They were still just normal kids, full of mischief and a love for play, no different from kids outside.
“Alright! First event match—karaoke battle!”
Salome, acting as co-host, entered the karaoke booth as the first contestant and sang a song.
But Salome was tone-deaf, and ended up in dead last with a pitiful score.
“This is absurd! My heavenly voice! How could I be last?!”
She tried to make up for it with a seductive rage dance, but RetroAddict frantically held her back.
— No matter where you take her, our Salome is an embarrassment
— Apologies on behalf of our streamer…
— For the record, she also dances like crap. Totally uncoordinated
— Can’t sing or dance? What kind of… succubus is this?
— But she’s pretty… let’s just have a drink…
Next came a series of retro game challenges.
A game where a tiny dragon spits bubbles, one where a knight in armor runs to the right, one where matching three identical jelly blobs makes them burst…
The kids picked it up quickly, laughing and shrieking as they played. Meanwhile, Salome alone failed to grasp the rules, dying over and over again.
“Kyah!”
“Gahk!”
“Gueeegh!”
She contorted her pretty face in every way possible, getting wrecked repeatedly, and every time she hit game over, she slammed her face into the cabinet with a groan like a pig being fed.
— Is she really a variety game streamer…?
— This isn’t a bit… Salome’s really terrible at real-time action games…
— She’s barely okay at turn-based stuff, and only when it plays like chess or Go
— Honestly feels like she lived in another world and just started gaming
Whether she was throwing on purpose or just that bad, her losing reactions were top-tier.
Like a pro wrestler selling their opponent’s moves, Salome went all-out every time she lost in a tournament match.
The kids doubled over with laughter. The viewers were cracking up too.
“…”
RetroAddict just stood there in a cold sweat, watching the chaos unfold.
Still, thanks to Salome’s glorious self-destruction, the event was a hit, and so was the stream.
Time passed, and the final event began.
It was the claw machine tournament.
The format was simple: whoever could grab the most dolls would win. And fittingly, the prize was also a doll.
“A super-sized doll modeled after me!”
RetroAddict pulled back a cloth to reveal a giant plush that looked like a one-person sofa—shaped exactly like RetroAddict himself.
Of course, it was an extremely deformed version, and aside from the words “RetroAddict (고전 덕후)” stitched onto the hoodie, it was hard to even tell it was supposed to be RetroAddict.
— Huh? Isn’t that the merch from last year?
— It is! That was the grand prize at last year’s online fan meeting.
— I heard the winner rejected it ‘cause it was too big. So that’s where it ended up.
— Are they dumping leftover stock now? lol
— Palming off unwanted merch on a kid ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
“Hey now, this is a high-quality, super comfy cushion doll! Everyone’s gonna love it!”
That was clearly not true.
Most of the kids looked completely uninterested in the RetroAddict plush, some even visibly recoiling. Still, they joined the claw machine tournament simply because it was fun.
And then, there was her.
“I will win!”
A woman, eyes gleaming with greed for the prize.
“I will win—no matter what—!”
— Ah… right. She exists.
— Is she a RetroAddict merch stan?
— She actually wants it that bad?
— But would someone who’s never used a claw machine before really be good at it?
— Wait, isn’t it kinda messed up for an adult to try to win a prize meant for kids with cancer?
Then Salome raised her horn-rimmed glasses with a solemn expression.
“I do my best, no matter the opponent. Even if that opponent is… a child.”
— My baby’s so noble
— She’s a shame wherever she goes(?)…
— Please don’t tell people she’s our streamer in public
— But like… seriously, I don’t think she can win. The kids were pretty good earlier
“Heh… no choice, then.”
Salome grinned dangerously and rolled up the sleeve of her right arm.
It didn’t show on camera, but a swirl of pink magical energy was gathering at her fingertips.
“I’ll just have to unleash… my true power…!”
–TL Notes–
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