14 : The Arrival of the Babysitters 15: Part No.
14 : The Arrival of the Babysitters Part No.
14
The Arrival of the Babysitters
A large holographic screen displayed countless people in hundreds of channels.
Every man and woman appeared on that screen was doing their own important activities—singing, drawing, gaming, or playing music.
Everything carried on without anyone realizing there was a pair of eyes observing them all.
Behind the screen, a man lay with a cigarette hanging from his lips, wiggling his feet.
He reclined on a sofa, scrolling that screen with boredom.
He let out a small sigh as he saw that there was no interesting thing on the thing before him.
The young man’s long, slender fingers typed a message into a small box at the corner of the screen.
“Boring.
No newbies to watch,” the message immediately appeared in the chat.
“What’s up, dude?
Feeling like playing babysitter today?” Within a few seconds, there was a reply.
“Because Fiddle’s streaming today.
People don’t dare to stream at the same time with him,” he typed back with irritation.
“That’s doesn’t mean there isn’t one.” Upon seeing the responding text, the man who wanted to play the role of ‘Babysitter’ raised his eyebrows.
“There is?”
“Yeah.”
“…?” The last message was quickly forwarded.
His lips, with a cigarette in it, curved into a smile, as if he had just found something amusing.
Initially, he was already feeling fed up with the way streamers avoided streaming because they feared they would be streaming at the same time with a big-name streamer like Fiddle.
There was no need to mention rookie streamers, for them, that would be no different from using a tiny piece of wood to move a log.
This was common knowledge that most streamers knew.
However, he had never expected that there would be an innocent lamb wandered in without realizing it.
It didn’t take long for the link to the unfortunate streamer’s channel to be sent over.
“A music streamer?” He raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“And a pianist too—a competitor for you.” The other party replied to his message, attaching a grinning emoji.
“Damn it!
Did you do that on purpose?”
Upon seeing that the other party underrated him, he quickly typed back, adding an angry fire-breathing emoji.
“Just take a look.
They just started.
How about welcoming a newbie?”
Ignoring his message, the other party replied with a challenge message.
“Wouldn’t miss it!”
He replied, sending a sly smirk emoji before closing the chat and swiftly heading straight to the unfortunate rookie’s channel.
The new streamer’s channel was usual, but what surprising was that the streamer had chosen not to show their face—something most streamers didn’t do.
There was only a cute bear sticker covered his face.
When he looked at the background, he found that there was a large black piano.
He could easily guess that the person before him must be quite well-off, otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to possess a rare instrument like a grand piano.
His inactive eyes gleamed with more interest as he noticed familiar faces among many messages on the streamer’s channel.
The Babysitters, each was like a wolf, rapidly sent messages without thinking to hide their evil intention even a little.
Their only goal was to lure the new streamer, a little lamb, into a trap, all for their amusement.
[The Streamer Speaks Very Little]
[Are you shy?
Why not show your face a little?]
[So quiet, can you keep up with these messages?
Lol]
[I’ve been waiting for 5 minutes.
Are you going to let me look at the little bear face this whole day?]
Messages from those (dog-hearted) babysitters were sent, causing constant sounds on the unfortunate streamer’s screen.
The little round lamb had not idea that their fate was in the hands of these evil individuals.
He kept hesitating, not saying a word.
Eventually, the better side (?) of him couldn’t stand watching any longer, so he quickly typed a message.
“Just start playing already.
I want to hear your good music.”
Thankfully, the streamer noticed his message.
Therefore, the stiff figure had a little reaction.
The unfortunate streamer scratched his cheek before moving to the black piano without saying anything.
Then, the streamer moved his hands again.
At first, he didn’t know what the other party intended to do, but once the camera angle before him changed to focus on the piano’s keyboard instead, he knew this streamer intentionally adjusted the camera angle to the one that challenged the babysitters at the extreme level.
[Wow, professional camera angle!]
[Come to think of it, the streamer has nice hands.
Gotta praise them!]
[Pretty bold choice for a camera angle, heh-heh.]
[You annoying babysitters, shut up already!
Your messages are blocking the others!]
[If you’re mad, type faster.]
[Yeah, if you’re mad, type faster.]
[Type faster +1.]
[Type faster +2.]
[Type faster +3.]
While the streamer was adjusting the camera angle, the few fans he had began showing themselves to push back against the babysitters who came in to mess with him.
Despite the numerous complaints about the behavior that seemed like it was from those uneducated individuals, the number of messages from those evil people was many times greater than them.
Therefore, it completely obscured the few messages from the fans.
As for him, someone whose original intention was to come to play the role of a babysitter, he watched the situation before him with a neutral expression as if this wasn’t the first time he had seen such things.
Surely, this wasn’t his first time, since he often got bored.
And when he got so bored, he wanted to come and tease the new streamers to liven things up.
But the message-flooding behavior of the dog-hearted babysitters who intended to annoy the people in the stream wasn’t something he liked.
The young man looked at the screen with disdainful look.
Those people were just dog-hearted babysitters—mangy mutts that barked mindlessly.
He, however, was a refined canine that chose the time to bark.
A well-mannered dog.
Do you know that?
Therefore, you couldn’t be my kind of dog-hearted babysitter.
With that thought, he ignored those rubbish messages.
What refined canines wouldn’t do was bark for nothing.
His moment was when this little child made a mistake or hit the wrong note.
Certainly, inexperienced, new streamers were all like that.
He thought with much confidence.
When the one on the screen started to play, his role would begin!
“I will play Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel.”’ Once the camera angle was ready, the streamer, the little lamb, spoke softly.
The voice was so faint that even he, who was listening carefully, barely caught the words.
What?
Canon in… B, C, or D?
Having spent decades playing music, he’d never heard of this piece before.
Was this the opening the little lamb had exposed for these wolves, who were hunger for witnessing a mistake, to gang up on him?
Still, there was no harm in listening to it for a bit.
Leaning back on his sofa, he smiled satisfyingly with much confidence.
But as those slender hands began to play, the smile on his face faded.
The arrogance in his eyes shifted to astonishment.
His golden eyes widened, staring at the performance before him as if trying to dive into the screen.
[Ahhhh!
This song is so beautiful.
What is it?
I’ve never heard it before.]
[Just the first note sent me to heaven!]
[It’s so beautiful!
I can’t believe a small streaming channel like this was hiding a diamond.]
[Oh!
I came in just because I saw a piano on the cover.
Someone, please tell me what this song is.
I want to listen to it a hundred times a day.]
[Soooo romantic.
Someone please marry me!
I’ll play this at my wedding!]
Out of nowhere, a rare phenomenon occurred in the newbie of the streaming industry: the ‘Sad Dog Effect.’ The dog-hearted babysitters, who had been making sarcastic comments earlier, all collectively paused their fingers without coordination.
Only the true fans continued to praise the streamer in joy.
Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed refined canine was left with his mouth agape, his brain was in shock.
He watched the performance before him, unable to believe what he saw!
“Damn!
This kid’s no rookie!” He quickly typed a message and quickly sent it to the one who was the cause of him ending up here.
“What’s up with you?” The other typed and replied the message, adding an annoyed emoji.
“This guy’s a pro, clearly.” Without waiting for the other party to be curious, he quickly sent the link to the streamer’s channel for the other to check it.
“…” The other party went silent for a while.
“Well?” He continued asking once he saw that the streamer had finished playing the song.
“Legit.
That was insanely beautiful.
Where did he even get this from?” The response popped up instantly.
“He mentioned it’s a piece from Earth.” He continued to type while scanning through the comments that kept popping up non-stop.
“Looks like the streamer’s starting a new piece.
Let’s chat later.”
The dismissive message was quickly sent to him before the other party changed their status to ‘offline,’ which was like a hard punch on his face.
“…” Seems like that guy forgot why we came to that channel in the first place.
Damn it!
Gabriel watched numerous of comments flow in like a flash flood, letting out a sigh of relief.
Luckily, the tastes of people in this era hadn’t changed too drastically.
The popular classic piece like Canon in D was still able to garner admiration and praise just as it always had.
Upon thinking about it, he couldn’t help but respect the genius of the composer like Pachelbel.
If the composer were alive today, he could probably live off the royalties for the rest of his life.
The song which people still loved it, even though it was written thousands of years ago—what else could that be but pure genius?
Seeing the overwhelming number of comments from the viewers, Gabriel, who wasn’t adept at this sort of thing, started to feel dizzy.
He couldn’t catch up with the messages.
Alan, the AI, had to step in to filter out the essential comments for him to read.
One of those was a question about the history of the beautiful piece.
“This song is a piece from Earth, composed thousands of years ago.
The reason many of you feel it’s romantic upon listening is because it’s believed that Pachelbel composed it for his older brother’s wedding.
In fact, the piece was lost for a while before being rediscovered.
Since then, it’s become widely popular and has been adapted into many versions.
The most notable one probably is Canon Rock, which was arranged for electric guitar.”
Gabriel answered the viewers’ questions with excitement, his tone stiff like he was presenting a report in front of the class.
[So, this song has a backstory too.]
[It’s soooo beautiful.
The composer is extremely talented.]
[How did the streamer find this song?
It’s thousands of years old.
Did he secretly compose it himself?]
[To the comment above: don’t be dumb.
If he composed something this beautiful, he’d be living off royalties by now.]
[Canon Rock?
For guitar.
Can’t it be played on piano?]
[Maybe it’s not that different.]
[But I want to hear it.]
After the streamer’s explanation, the fans began discussing the song’s history, but soon, the topic shifted to Canon Rock, which had just been mentioned.
“Canon Rock?
It can be played on the piano too,” Gabriel replied in a monotone voice.
Hearing this, the viewers, who saw themselves as diehard fans, sent tons of messages to ask the streamer to play this version.
Upon seeing that, Gabriel agreed.
He did not want to disappoint the listeners.
[The streamer’s so confident—didn’t even go to find sheet music.]
[Come to think of it, I didn’t see any sheet music either.]
[That’s hardcore!
Don’t tell me he’s memorized all notes.]
[Other streamers who’ve been playing for years still need sheet music.
Maybe this is one of the few he’s memorized.]
[I don’t care about those little details!
Look!
He’s starting to play.]
As the streamer fell silent, the noisy fans also paused their fingers.
From the previous piece, they had already become fully convinced that this streamer before them had extraordinary talent.
Especially, the way he fluidly played, with deep feelings and uniqueness, making him standout among other music streamers.
Not to mention the tiny details like the way he moved his fingers fluidly and beautifully, and the way he played without needing to look at sheet music.
These were enough to erase any doubts they had about the channel’s owner.
Therefore, the audience collectively fixated on the streamer’s long, slender fingers as they once again rested on the keyboard.
When his fingers pressed down, the notes came up in order, becoming the melody that everyone was familiar with.
Both versions of Canon stand out for their repetitive melodies.
However, in Pachelbel’s original, three violins lead the composition, while Canon Rock relies on electric guitar.
This means the notes played differ between versions.
But anyone who listens closely can tell that Canon Rock incorporates more intricate elements, it goes along with the advancements of past civilizations.
The initial phase of the performance mirrored the smooth and simple melody of Pachelbel’s Canon in D.
The diehard fans, as well as the dog-hearted babysitters, were spellbound by the music, unable to believe how such a few notes could create a song this beautiful.
But as the slow, enchanting melody played on, the tempo began to shift.
The fingers on the keyboards moved faster.
The rhythm shifted from slow to fast-paced, making the listeners breathe more rapidly.
Those long, slender fingers moved like sea waves crashing onto the shore.
Therefore, the melody started to become intense, and it was full of livelier rhythm.
Without realizing it, smiles slowly spread across the viewers’ faces, and their bodies—heads, fingers, and legs—began to instinctively move in sync with the music.
Everything moved along in a simple and fun way, brimming with enjoyment.
At the last part of the song, when the quick rhythm was played, it left the audience in awe once more!
The viewers gaped, their eyes locked onto the fingers that moved fluidly like a wave!
A sense of panic quickly appeared in their hearts as they realized they had never seen a piano performance of any streamer that was so fast yet graceful.
Besides, the song he played was so beautiful that they didn’t want to believe that it was played by a single person!
The viewers were stunned, feeling as if they’d seen a ghost in broad daylight.