Photograph (6)

"CrazyWitch22 thanks for the sub!" Zaen winked at the camera.

"Nicholas$ Thanks for the 20 silver bills. I appreciate it!"

This was Zaen's daily routine. Just like any other streamer, he never forgot to thank anyone who took their time and money to support him. Obviously, he had his fair share of issues as well like dealing with the rogue fans of the other popular streamers who religiously raided his streams every day. But thankfully, his fans were quick to shut them down even before Zaen got an opportunity to.

Unlike most of the streamers, Zaen was pretty close to his viewers and supporters as he often shared information about his daily life and how his day was going etc, just like he'd talk with a friend. In fact, when Aeron disappeared, he even asked for their help. Sadly it was in vain but hey, at least the viewers actually helped him look for his brother rather than those special force basta*ds.

Also, he never forgot to check with his fans about their health and well-being either, especially those few who popped up frequently to watch him and his insane gameplays. You could say he was as involved in his viewers' life as they were in his. But since his fan base was huge he couldn't do this with everyone. Still, he tried his best and his viewers appreciated it. His behaviour coupled with his looks made him one of the best streamers in Astran and probably in the world.

"Hey there, Asahiko! Long time no see." Zaen greeted his most loyal fan. He was someone who went to the same military school that Zaen went to hence they have known each other for over four years now. He was also Zaen's only friend from the military school, he was still in contact with.

<Haha. I thought you wouldn't notice me.> Asahiko's text appeared on Zaen's screen.

"BS. I get a notification whenever you're on, lol." Zaen smiled, his eyes were fixated on the screen while his fingers religiously spammed various buttons to control his in-game character who was beating the crap out of the opponents.

Right now he was playing one of the latest games that his viewers had been pestering him to play for some time now, "Realm of Defenders", a popular Multiple Online Battle Arena (MOBA) that was released a couple of weeks ago. Ever since its release, the game blew up and spread like a contagious disease. Everyone from the biggest gamers to small-time streamers was playing it. So Zaen obviously had to hop on the hype train as well.

He already had previous experience with these type of games so it was pretty easy for him to get kills as soon as he got a hang of the character he had picked. It was an assassin class hero whose main weapon was a dagger. His weapon of choice was also a reason why Zaen picked him as his avatar in that game. But he was a bit tricky to control, however, once Zaen managed to land his full combo on his target, it was game over for them, no matter whether they were a tank, mage, warrior, assassin or a marksman.

<I see. How's life?>

"Can't complain about anything, haha. I'm good. I heard you took the rank advancement exam, how did it go?" Zaen asked his friend-cum-viewer as soon as he got the tenth kill of the game without dying even once.

<Ugh... don't ask me about the exam. It was terrible. Forget about getting a promotion, I'd be lucky if they don't demote me after such a terrible performance, haha.>

Unlike Zaen who left the military school after completing the course, most of the trainees stayed back to make a career on the field. There were only a couple of places where they could utilise their talents. So most of the trainees either joined the police force or the border security division. While these were the options most of them get settled at, a few exceptional people could also get employed at the Special Force.

But there were only two ways to get inside the force. One, you'll have to show your worthiness to them by completing an extensive training course by passing a physical test as well as a theoretical one followed by an interview. And second, pay your way into the system. If someone has enough connections and money they could easily get past the examination which was followed by an interview in which they were asked, for one thing, that was their identity proof so that the interviewer could make sure that only the ones who paid to get the job, were selected.

In hindsight, Zaen realised his hate for the special force went a long back because of their shady and corruptive nature.

"Haha, that bad huh?"

<By the way, I heard some weird stuff happened last night in your locality. I hope everything is fine now.>

"What are you- oh, you're talking about the temperature drop thingy. Yeah, it was a bit weird but everything's fine I guess." Zaen replied as he got a double kill, "And guess what? It seems like people over at the special force watch my streams as well, haha."

<Special force? Welp, that's weird.>

"I know right! However, I think my perception of them might have been wrong. The girl I met while I was out for a run was kinda sweet. She even asked me to take a photograph with her, but sadly her superior intervened so we couldn't."

<The guy was probably jealous of you, lmao.>

"Victory!" The classical victory music went off as the enemies surrendered within 10 minutes of the game.

"Maybe, but who knows?" Zaen smiled once again focusing his attention on the chat, "Relax people, I'm not in love! All I'm saying is that she was... different and I owe her a pic with me. So if she's free and still interested in taking a photograph then I'm willing to do so. No... Don't you dare start shipping with someone like you people always do!"

Sadly, it was too late for Zaen. The male audience in his chat was already spamming the chat with the lyrics of various romantic songs they knew of, while the female audience was upset because 'their man' was falling for someone else.

Zaen slammed his head down in shame, before bidding them farewell for the day. As soon as the stream ended he logged in to his Instagraph account and sure he had a message from Miranda, hidden among the haystack of message requests.

"Wow. I thought you'd forget about me after all you have so many fans out there!" Her text read.

"Looks like my plan worked," Zaen smirked, "If I'm gonna go against the special force, I might as well make some allies there. Well, I hope Miranda wouldn't mind spying on them for me."