Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 195

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 1 Episode 195
66. Trivial Circumstances (2)
As class ended, children in identical school uniforms streamed out through the gates like a flood.
Since everyone finished at the same time, the gate was packed without a moment’s breath.
Like the subway during rush hour.
One student squeezed through the crowd and shouted.
“Wait! Sorry! Let me through!”
Pure white athletic wear, a pure white cap. Beneath it, long black hair cascading down.
It was an uncommon sight for high school dismissal time. What was even stranger was the desperation in her voice.
“I, I really need to go, okay? You guys. Just a moment… ugh…!”
Grateful that I was a third-year student, I managed to burst through the massive crowd and escape.
Tap.
My pure white sneakers, matching the exposed skin of my ankles, finally touched the paved blocks instead of the school field’s grass. Simultaneously, I shot forward like a bullet.
‘Track and field club?’
‘Preparing for a sports university, I guess.’
‘She’s really fast.’
It was running so fast that the other children were left speechless.
They were right about the sports club.
Just not related to running at all.
“Haa… haa…”
So it wasn’t long before I was gasping for breath. I apparently had no endurance.
Tap.
A hand landed on my heaving shoulders.
“Unnie!”
It was a female student whose name tag glowed brightly with “Hyeonju Cha” written on it.
“Calm down!”
“…Why did you follow me?”
“Because! Look at you right now. You said you saw Sanghyeon oppa there. But it wasn’t even confirmed!”
“That’s why I’m going to check now.”
I brushed off Hyeonju’s hand and stepped toward the roadside.
I waved urgently and hailed something.
Zing.
What came to a smooth stop was a taxi. A recently introduced autonomous driving taxi.
“Unnie!”
“Don’t get in!”
Thud.
After locking the door to shut out the bothersome junior.
I glanced around.
“Hmm…”
An empty passenger seat, unnecessarily flashy ambient lighting.
It’s my first time riding an autonomous taxi.
It’s been nearly a year since commercialization, but as a student who rarely takes taxis, the operation feels unfamiliar to me.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound of someone tapping on the window.
It was Dongsu. His face was flushed red from running so hard.
Soyeon opened the window, unable to bear the sight of him in such a state.
“What is it?”
“Hey! That bastard Sang-hyun Yu just quit archery because he thought it was uncool! Why are you so obsessed with him?!”
“…You don’t know anything, so don’t say such things.”
“What?!”
“Sanghyeon…”
Soyeon paused for a moment.
“He can’t quit archery. There’s a reason for it.”
“You crazy──”
Whirr.
The window closed again.
“Please take me to Huchae 3-gil 74-8.”
“Departing from Cheonggyesan High School to Huchae 3-gil 74-8.”

* * *
Inside the autonomous taxi.
Sanghyeon let out a deep sigh.
“…Of all taxis, this one?”
It had been a major issue for a while and mostly disappeared from use.
It seems to be coming back into service recently.
I considered just getting out, but I can’t keep doing this forever. I squeezed my eyes shut and spoke with careful pronunciation.
“Saetgang Memorial Park.”
“From Huchae to Saetgang Memorial Park.”
As the mechanical voice repeated the destination, a map appeared and responded on the screen beside me.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
My heart seemed to be beating excessively. My hand gripped the armrest beside me tightly.
“Departing now. Please fasten your seatbelt securely.”
The steering wheel begins to move.
Whoooosh!
The sound of the electric motor spinning echoes as the scenery outside the window rushes past.
Zzziiing…
A phone vibration sound barely distinguishable from the motor noise.
[Juhyeok Kim]
A call from Juhyeok.
I took a deep breath and pulled out my phone.
“What is it?”
-Hey. Where are you? I need to tell you something. You suddenly disappeared?
“Ah….”
I paused for a moment to consider, checked my appearance, and then answered.
“I’m at a wedding.”
-A wedding?
“You know that colleague I met last time? It’s his wedding.”
-Ah. That explains it. Anyway, we have that interview, remember?
“Interview?”
-Yeah. The interview with Ril’s production company. It was scheduled.
“Ah… right.”
I had an interview scheduled with Ril’s production company.
-I pushed it back after the tournament. I boldly asked them to make it a championship interview, you know?
“I’m the one playing the game, so why are you the one being bold about it?”
-Just take it as a joke.
Puhaha. Juhyeok laughed.
-And we have a meeting with the Reckless Warrior production company too. It’ll be more like a preview event. They’re starting the open beta properly next week. We need to participate and broadcast advertisements for them.
“We’re in the middle of a tournament right now?”
-Are other streamers just sitting around? Advertisements are advertisements, tournaments are tournaments.
Fair point.
I scratched my head.
I’d made a mistake again. I wasn’t a professional player—I was just a streamer.
Of course advertisements would take priority over tournament practice.
“…Okay. Got it.”
-Okie~
The schedule was tighter than I expected.
I was glad I’d decided to meet up today.
“Traffic change detected. Rerouting.”
The steering wheel in the empty passenger seat moved smoothly, and the car changed lanes.

* * *
Soyeon immediately made a call.
After the signal rang for a while, someone finally answered.
-Hello?
It was Sanghyeon’s voice.
“Where are you?”
Soyeon asked, biting her lip hard.
-Why do you ask?
“I just finished school. You’re at home, right? You still live there? I know everything. It’s not just one or two people who’ve seen you.”
-…Are you stalking me?
“I’m not stalking you, I’m tracking you down. You entered the athlete village first, got sponsorships and special treatment from the association. And then you just ran away because it got boring? I know you can’t quit until you’ve paid back every penny of those taxes.”
-…Sigh.
“What are you sighing about? Do you think I’m joking?”
-Don’t say childish things unlike yourself. Just go home.
“What!? You….”
Click.
The call ended, and she let out an exasperated sigh.
“Ha…!”
She called again.
Instead of his answer, an unfamiliar mechanical sound echoed from the taxi.
“Traffic change detected. Rerouting.”
Only the dial tone sounded from her phone. Eventually, the call didn’t go through.
“…What on earth?”
Beneath the white hat, tears that she had been holding back finally streamed down her face.
Her reflection in the rearview mirror, which she no longer had any reason to look at, appeared pathetic.
Wipe.
Yet, true to her composed nature, she quickly wiped away her tears and steeled her resolve.
She could convince him.
“Traffic change detected. Rerouting.”
When this voice echoed a second time.
The girl merely fidgeted with her white hat anxiously. She didn’t pay much attention to it.
It seemed to be navigating fine on its own. She had learned in school that it was a system that switched to faster routes depending on traffic flow.
“Traffic change detected….”
When the third voice announcement rang out in succession.
Only then did she notice something was wrong.
“?”
Now that she thought about it, the buildings that should have appeared by now weren’t showing up.
Should she switch to manual guidance? She looked at the empty driver’s seat.
There were a few simple buttons visible, but she didn’t know any of them. She didn’t even know which way to go. A student couldn’t possibly understand the traffic situation properly.
“Traffic change detected… Pzzz… Fzzz….”
Bzzzzzzt…!
Finally, a strange noise erupted from the vehicle.
“!”
She frantically tried to unbuckle her seatbelt and search for the emergency stop button.
However, the seatbelt wouldn’t come undone.
“The seatbelt cannot be released while the vehicle is in motion.”
‘What…?’
The cold, mechanical voice felt unnervingly frigid.
In that same rigid tone, the taxi continued its proclamations.
“Deviation from planned route detected. Recalculating route.”
“Deviation from planned route detected. Recalculating route.”
“Deviation from planned route detected. Recalculating route.”
“Deviation from planned route detected. Recalculating route.”
.
.
.
The girl quickly grabbed her phone and dialed 119.
“Th-the taxi is malfunctioning! Please help me!”
The emergency dispatcher confirmed her location through her number.
But that location changed by the second.
“Entering speed enforcement zone. Please reduce speed.”
Ping! Ping! Ping!
Red warning lights flashed from all directions, alerting the driver to slow down.
But there was no driver to heed the warning.
Fifty miles per hour, fifty-five, sixty….
HONK!!!!
The desperate horn blast from the vehicle ahead was the last sound she would ever hear.

* * *
“You’ve arrived.”
The taxi’s automated voice chimed, and I tapped my card to complete the payment.
Whoooosh….
The moment I stepped out, a distinctly familiar scent drifted in on the breeze.
The crisp aroma of moisture mingled with the pine fragrance exhaled by the coniferous trees spreading in all directions.
I turned my head slightly, and there it was—the destination written in neat lettering.
‘Saetgang Memorial Park’
It was a space one could pass through without realizing it was a memorial park at all.
Perhaps the children who played here would never know. That this was a space dedicated to honoring the dead.
The structure was such that if you wandered near Saetgang and accidentally took a wrong turn, you could stumble in. This was an intentional design from the start.
This space asserts that death is neither frightening nor anything special or painful—merely the final destination of human existence.
And so this memorial space too was immaculate, with the names of the deceased inscribed in black marble.
Passing before it, I see my reflection against the black surface. Those names overlay my image.
One day, I too will become one of those names.
There is nothing sad or fearful about it.
We are simply making room for the next generation.
My hand, which had been brushing past the dark marble wall, comes to a stop somewhere.
A name etched there like a brand.
‘Soyeon Han.’
‘2007. 12. 03 ~ 2025. 06. 27’
Her remarkably short lifespan is noted below as well.
Her birth came in winter, when all life freezes and withers.
Her death came in early summer, when all life bursts with vitality.
‘June 27th, 2025.’
My gaze lingered deeply on those numbers.
I cannot forget that day.
At the threshold of summer’s beginning, in the fresh season when all life reaches its peak, her life was extinguished.
Absurdly, it was also a traffic accident.
An accident caused by a malfunction in the fully autonomous vehicles that had become a major issue at the time.
The exact same kind of accident I had suffered.
‘If only I had handled that phone call properly back then….’
Just before the accident, Soyeon had called me. If only I had properly explained to her then why I quit archery, what would have happened?
If I had told her that I’d been in an autonomous driving accident and warned her to be careful when riding in them….
‘Would things have been different?’
These cruel ‘what-ifs’ tear through my mind. Emotions I had carefully locked away in some corner of my consciousness now lacerate me.
My legs lost their strength.
Thump.
I leaned my back against the marble and sank down as if collapsing.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I was too busy last year to come. I’m sorry.”
White breath rises with regret.
It’s been ten years since I started coming here, yet my heart grows heavy every time.
Fortunately, I no longer shed tears.
“Soyeon.”
I spoke quietly toward the wall that couldn’t possibly hear me.
“I met Dongsu yesterday.”
This is what I always do when I come here.
I tell her everything that’s happened, as if she were still alive.
“He’s gained weight, but he’s doing well. He didn’t mention you. It seemed intentional.”
I know Dongsu was being considerate of me.
“But… I’m a little afraid.”
I confess something to her that I’ve never told anyone.
“I’m afraid they’ll find out. About the accident I had. That I could have actually saved you… I’m afraid they’ll find out.”
Yes.
This is what I fear most.
It’s terrifying for the public to learn my weaknesses, and it’s certainly frightening for Soyeon’s story to circulate among them like emotional exploitation.
But it’s already been more than ten years.
I’ve already become quite numb to it.
Yet what still weighs on my chest is this:
“That I’m as good as a murderer. If they find out… what will happen…”
Guilt.
Soyeon died in the same accident as me.
I was the last person she called before she died.
And I said nothing to her.
If I had given even the slightest explanation, if I had only warned her about autonomous vehicles, the outcome would have been different.
For my former colleagues to learn this fact—that instead of protecting someone I cherished, I drove her toward death.
This is what I fear most.
That’s why I deliberately ignored them all this time.
I didn’t even know Hyeonju became a gold medalist.
But when Dongsu contacted me through Runstar.
I realized I truly couldn’t avoid this anymore.
If I’m going to live as a streamer.
I’ll have to face them eventually.
“Still, it’s funny—when he reached out, I was actually happy. A lot of time must have passed.”
Then, surprisingly, a voice came from the black wall.
“So you come on her birthday, not her death anniversary.”
“!”
I startled and looked around frantically.
“Usually people with lingering attachments to the deceased visit on their birthday.”
The owner of the voice slowly rounded the stone wall and appeared from its edge.
It was Hyeonju Cha, an Olympic gold medalist and the junior who had been closest to Soyeon.
“Or is it that you didn’t want to run into us?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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