It's a Gender-Reversed World, But I Don't Go Out Anyway - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Wall of a Star

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The opponent’s race was Terran.

According to the Namu Wiki, most of my builds would be advantageous since the opponent wasn’t particularly strong. Of course, I didn’t put too much faith in Namu, but gaining confidence from a single line of text was just how a gamer’s mind worked.

The 9-pool was simple.

First, I produced nine Drones, the workers that earn money. As a result, the population maxed out, making it impossible to produce more Drones, but—

“Oh…”

Drones had a somewhat special building production method.

Specifically, the Drone itself morphs into a building. The Drone went to my designated location, curled up into the ground, and a massive cocoon started growing.

And the population count?

It changed from [9/9] to [8/9]. As the Drone transformed into a building, there was room in the population again. With one slot freed up, I produced another worker, a Drone.

“So this is… Zerg?”

[This is so broken, while others need workers to build buildings, they’re here cheating by themselves]

[How is that cheating when Protoss workers just deliver buildings and go back to mining minerals lol]

“Why do you keep trying to start fights?”

[Try it yourself, it’s fun]

[You don’t understand because you’re not serious about StarCraft. Play Zerg for 5 days and you’ll become a fighting cock]

[It won’t last that long, after this game they’ll be foaming at the mouth about how Terran is broken lol]

“Please don’t lump me in with those people. I’m not someone who blames races and refuses to accept results.”

[lol how many people have we seen say that while watching StarCraft streams?]

[It won’t take long]

[lololol this guy always says he won’t blame races while blaming his tools, who would believe that lol]

[fr lol but call them supporters not tools you bastard]

What I built with the Drone was a Spawning Pool.

This building, more familiar by its English name “Spawning Pool” due to its relatively recent Korean localization, is Zerg’s first tech building, and building it allows you to produce Zerglings, your first attack unit.

What I was trying to do was to build this Spawning Pool quickly, even delaying the Overlord timing, then produce an Overlord to immediately make six Zerglings and charge in, with the mindset that if I get blocked, I lose—putting all my effort into attacking as fast as possible.

I had basically figured out that I wasn’t good at StarCraft through my recent heated battle with the computer, and realized my only remaining hope was early-game engagements where there were far fewer things to worry about.

As soon as one more Drone was supplemented, I immediately built the gas building, replenished the Drone, and also supplemented an Overlord. From this point on, I needed to save larvae after producing one additional Drone. That way I could use three larvae to produce six Zerglings.

For reference, one larva produced two Zerglings.

[Oh, they’re not …bad?]

[But there’s nothing to praise about since this build itself is easy lol]

[Just say “oh” to newbies even if they just scout with Overlords lol if you want to increase newbies]

[Prediction in 10 minutes ???: Should we just play UMS[1] maps?]

[Want to play strip UMS…]

[Share the map…]

Everything was going smoothly.

Was it smooth? I wasn’t sure. It felt like I did everything perfectly, but I had a bit too much money left over. But well, it was within expected range.

The Overlord was spawned, and I immediately clicked to transform three larvae into Zerglings. Around that time, something of the opponent’s color started moving around in my base. It was the Terran worker called an SCV. That worker carefully looked around my base and then immediately left.

“What? Just looked and left right away”

[Ah, they already saw everything they needed to see lol]

[Tsk…. looks like they’ll block it]

[Everyone calm down, the opponent also has a decent win rate]

[Something big is coming.]

“Oh, let’s follow that right now!”

Suddenly it occurred to me that I could find their base if I followed them, so I attached a Drone.

I first attached the Drone that was mining gas. Thanks to quick thinking, I could chase the SCV’s back.

[?????]

[It’s an early all-in strategy but… without pool…]

[Using even the gas-mining Drone… isn’t this the real all-in…?]

[This player is bold…]

“This friend was at 1 o’clock!”

[8 Drone 1 Stalker meta now, can’t block this.]

[Might win if we go in now?]

[Definitely can’t win]

[Since it’s the opposite direction, seems like it’ll just get blocked without pool.]

However, I had no time for choices. I had clearly been too absorbed in stalking and sent away a precious Drone, and above all, since I only knew the early all-in build, I clicked attack towards 1 o’clock as soon as the Zerglings came out. From now on, there was no other strategy.

Keep producing Zerglings and sending them. That’s all—a simple play.

I just left the Drone for surveillance. For some reason, I thought the opponent would attack my Drone with Marines, but it just maintained an appropriate distance and stayed still. The opponent only had 3 Marines.

Even if one more appeared by the time my Zerglings arrived, it felt manageable enough.

“Could this…?”

[Won’t this get blocked?]

[Seems doable, no?]

[No, you idiots, it’ll definitely break through.]

[I wnat daeju to break me too.]

↳ [Has been forcibly removed.]

[The man who hits 900 APM[2] when kicking…]

“I guess I’ll need to hire a moderator soon”

[Make me moderator, I can do well since I watch streams all day]

[You’re bragging about that? lol but I also apply for moderator for the same reason]

[???]

[What’s good about being a moderator?]

[Daeju gives orders]

[uwu…]

The Zerglings come out and charge straight into the opponent’s base. With the mindset that I lose if I get blocked and win if I don’t, from now on was really important.

But the opponent’s behavior was strange. As if to check my Drone, two SCVs, not even Marines, were blocking the entrance of the ramp. And sighs erupted in the chat.

[Leave]

[Let’s type GG…]

[Zerglings, we’re fucked.]

[Sometimes you lose… haha…]

“Why? Can’t we just kill the SCVs?”

[How are you gonna kill them when they have 60 HP and then kill Marines too lol]

[When they block the ramp and have Marines behind, that’s a bunker ah lol]

I couldn’t understand.

Sure, even if I was blocked, since they pulled out 2 workers, wouldn’t their production be a bit slower? I felt like I could win if I kept sending Zerglings.

The Zerglings arrived and immediately attacked the SCVs but.

“Huh?”

[lololol they’re not called Gundams for nothing.]

[Marines hurt on their own and SCVs are just thugs too lol]

Due to the narrow ramp entrance characteristics, the Zerglings couldn’t effectively hit the SCVs, and ultimately, an absurd situation occurred where 1 SCV was traded for 6 Zerglings.

I tried attaching even the watching Drone belatedly, but it was futile.

[Leave~]

[Type gg before you leave.]

[Why is the streamer quiet? lol Don’t tell me you’re crying? lol]

[Recommend a stream titled “Gold in LoL but a bug in StarCraft?!”]

[Here it is^^]

“Heh heh…”

Losing this badly didn’t even make me angry.

I thought the internet said this was a very good build against Terran, but I lost too miserably.

Honestly, enough to make my energy drop completely.

So—

[daeeeeeju: GG]

[daejujoa: k]

“Kick? Kick? You laughed? You laughed?!”

[k]

[k]

[kkkkkkkkkkkkkk]

[You’re not angry, are you?]

“No, I’m not angry but I’m a bit irritated?”

[Ah~ you don’t know, that means you’re angry.]

[Not angry but irritated vs Not scared but gonna sleep next to mom]

[Still did well, for a bug that is.]

[The man who knew no defeat -End-]

Come to think of it, had I ever felt these emotions while streaming?

In LoL, I could show good performance every game, and not only did I never lose, I kept winning to the point where viewers couldn’t even properly refute when I showed off—

“This game is really weird. Do you have to lose if you don’t know?”

What kind of game was this? It was an unreasonable game where you had to lose if you didn’t know.

[Isn’t that obvious?]

[But ‘have to lose’ and ‘love’ sound similar so I’m a bit turned on]

[Oh just die]

[But LoL is the same, isn’t it?]

“LoL is really fun. StarCraft is just fun.”

[???]

[Are you a LoL addict?]

[But now I’m not even angry at this level of emotional control]

[fr lol A streamer who can get past this level of controversy because there’s been so much controversy]

“For now… I’ll stop here.”

[???]

[Hit too hard and got hurt]

[Hey hey, are you crying?]

Honestly, I didn’t feel like continuing the game. Despite appearances, I was a gamer with such a fragile and sensitive heart that even one defeat could tear my heart in two. Of course, that’s an excuse, and I realized my limits too easily. Even though it was said to be the easiest build, I could feel quite a level of difficulty.

Feeling the need for some improvement, it seemed pointless to keep playing and just get beaten up meaninglessly until I upgraded my skills or builds.

I didn’t like getting beaten up.

But I was worried about what viewers would say if I turned off StarCraft right after losing once after just turning it on. I’d probably hear the disgraceful “pants run”[5] comments. Even though I’m not running away with my tail between my legs but rather coming back stronger.

“…Should we play UMS maps?”

To be honest, I just blurted it out, but the response was unexpectedly good.

The reasons were mostly similar.

[Oh we can play games with Daeju]

[Paradise;]

[Oh… does this mean we can make more explicit jokes if it’s not StarCraft?]

[If it’s a map where you can’t kick, it’s possible lol]

Though the intentions were impure.

* * *

(End of chapter)

T/N:

1. UMS (Use Map Settings) – Custom game modes in StarCraft
2. APM – Actions per Minute, a measure of a player’s speed in Real Time Strategy games
3. Korean laugh (ㅋㅋㅋ) literally translates to the English letter KKKK
4.”져야 해” (have to lose) and “좋아해” (love) in Korean sounds very similar
5. “Pants run” (빤스런) – Korean gaming slang for running away cowardly in their underwear